For My Sister
Today you would have turned 31, but death cut you off at 29. Your last words still ring in my ears: Promise me that you’ll publish it–that you’ll publish all of it. I promised then and I promise it again now because you asked it off me. I will publish it–all of it. I had hoped to unleash the first installment of Sarn’s story as an ebook today, as a birthday present to you. I’m sorry sis. I tried. I have too much to do yet and I still have to go to work tomorrow. No, don’t shake your head. Don’t … Continue reading For My Sister
Off to the NY Renaissance Fair!
I’m taking a break from editing/rewriting today to attend the NY Renaissance Fair in Sterling Forest. I’m so excited! Having no running water Thursday night through this morning at my apartment, I feel like I’m halfway to the renaissance already. Losing power overnight added to the effect. I hope all is restored to normal by the time I return home from the fair tonight. Pictured with me above are the gals from Vixens en Garde, a show featuring bawdy jokes, bodices, Shakespeare and gratuitous sword play; and my cousin-in-law, the Rising Phoenixxx, the talented bath, body, lotions and notions innovator. … Continue reading Off to the NY Renaissance Fair!
Inspired
Jodi Taylor, author of the Chronicles of St. Mary’s series, which I love by the way, got her start by self-publishing. She published the first Chronicles of St. Mary’s story as an ebook! (I love that book by the way: Just One Damned Thing After Another) If you like history, time travel and a lot of comedy, her Chronicles of St. Mary’s series will take you on quite a thrill ride. Her latest book, The Nothing Girl, is today’s daily deal on Audible. You can pick up a copy for $3.95. For nine hours of contemporary fiction mixed heavily with comedy in her skillful manner, that’s a bargain. Reading … Continue reading Inspired
Over Edited?
Is it possible to over edit a piece? If you removed all instances of the ‘to be’ verb, ‘ly’ words and filter words, are you left with an over edited piece? Or a polished gem? I ask because I wrote 1200 words last night without using a single ‘ly’ word, ‘to be’ verb or filter word. The scene has a tight grittiness that appeals to me but I can’t help wondering if I went too far. How can I tell if I went too far? Or is there no such thing as ‘over edited’? When does editing cease to be polishing what’s there … Continue reading Over Edited?
Eliminating Filter Words
There’s a great post about filter words penned by Cecilia Lewis that I found thanks to a comment Aeryn Rudel left on my previous blog entry. (Thank you Aeryn and thank you Celia!) I’m adding filter words to my list of words that need to be sought out and destroyed. I was dithering over a few of them yesterday. I thought it had something to do with the fact that I was reading the text aloud that made them sound jarring and out of place. Now I know why they bothered me. They pulled me out of the head of my character. I blame the … Continue reading Eliminating Filter Words
Next up on the Copyedit Hit list is…
I have killed all three hundred and eighty words that end with ‘ly’. Yes those dreaded adverbs. In doing so, I found an alarming pattern. Here’s my top ‘ly’ offenders, in order of assassinations: suddenly, actually, exactly and finally. Now I know what to watch out for. What are yours top offenders? What ‘ly’ words sneak into your drafts while you’re typing? *** To reach the next level in my copyediting quest, I must now search out and destroy instances of ‘so’. This insidious word shows up too many times and I’m not going to take it anymore. I listened to … Continue reading Next up on the Copyedit Hit list is…
Killing Adverbs
Have you killed any adverbs lately? It’s very cathartic. Just run a search for ‘ly’ and see what you find. Why am I doing this? I bought a book on copyediting to aid me in my quest to copyedit my own work. Deleting words ending in ‘ly’ or replacing them with stronger verbs, claimed the book, as good way to tighten up writing. So a ran simple search on my Google Doc just to see how many ‘ly’ words I had used. I didn’t think there were that many because I know to avoid them. An eye-opening number of items returned in … Continue reading Killing Adverbs
Selfie
Everyone is doing it. Thought I’d post a selfie in case you were wondering if the curly locks shot is really me. It is though my hair obviously doesn’t do curls without intervention. And I don’t intervene unless it’s a really special occasion and the bride demands it. Continue reading Selfie
Thank you for all the likes, follows, views and reads
Dear Reader, I hope you enjoyed your Sunday. Perfect weather we had in my corner of the world today and I hope in yours too. Today’s post is not a story post, and I apologize that I can’t provide your daily dose of fantasy fiction. I ran into some technical issues with the audio book recordings. A quick G-chat with my cousin helped me to see the error of my setup. An error I’m working to correct. Tonight I hope to do another take. (Who needs sleep?) Cross your fingers that my neighbors will turn in early, and quietly, and … Continue reading Thank you for all the likes, follows, views and reads
What did you read this week?
Well what did you read? I really do want to know. So leave me a comment and let me know. I’m asking this because I love stories and I’m always looking for something new to read, some new author’s works to fall in love with (in audio of course). I did mention somewhere on here that I am an audiobook addict right? Audible is my drug of choice. I can’t get enough of that site. I start my day off by checking the daily deals. Follow that up by skimming through the pre-orders and recent releases while munching on my … Continue reading What did you read this week?
Divination – A Sonnet for Your Thoughts
Divination And I lay sleeping, weaving a dead dream, a late nightmare where we played tarot cards stacked in two piles on headstones that gleam. In the cemetery where we played bards, by the waning light of the sun, singing, chanting spells, drawing cards that spoke of woe. Their words echoed across the graves, ringing softly, raising souls and bones row by row. Words uttered by plastic voices that rose and fell with the guttering candle flames, that let cards foretell our late repose when our children will invoke our sweet names, by our graves, drawing tarot cards whose … Continue reading Divination – A Sonnet for Your Thoughts
Breaking Curses
Sarn has a problem. His eyes glow green all the time due to a magic that’s slowly chewing away at his sanity. Sarn indentured himself to pay for his younger brother’s education and was assigned to the Rangers at sixteen. In the four years since then, he has built a tenuous and often strained relationship with his fellow Rangers. It doesn’t help that odd things happen around him all the time. Odd things that begin to add up into a terrifying whole… Continue reading Breaking Curses
Attack of the Sluginator
I am the sluginator. I terminate slugs in my garden with extreme prejudice and a lot of stomping. Nothing like squishing those things before they eat my plants. It’s quite cathartic. If you have a slug problem like I do, don’t fret. You don’t have to buy nasty chemicals and risk poisoning the food you’re trying to grow. There’s a simple solution that I have found that’s natural. I ran across an article back when I first noticed the slugs that claimed that they can’t tolerate caffeine. After searching about to confirm this, I found post after post about fed … Continue reading Attack of the Sluginator
Audiobook Round-up
What did you read this week? I fed my audiobook addiction with some great reads. I hope you did too. From the Higgs Boson to the blackgaurds of the fantasy to everyone’s favorite serial killer, this week’s offerings sent me on a wild literary ride. The Great Courses: Higgs Boson and Beyond Dive into particle physics. This series of lectures is for the arm chair physicist in you. It explains what the heck a Higgs Boson is and why countries spent millions of dollars to build a collider in the hopes of producing one. Prof Carroll is thoroughly entertaining as … Continue reading Audiobook Round-up
Note to My Sister
September is days away. I still have to remind myself not to start searching for the perfect birthday gift for my sister. She’s dead. Gone to a better place I hope where all the woes that plagued her in life no longer pester her. Down here on earth I’m still here. Same job. Same commute. Same dream. Her dying wish still unfulfilled. Continue reading Note to My Sister
Melinda Kucsera - USA Today Bestselling Author of Epic Fantasy Adventures 
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