Tag: women

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#amwriting

I’m sitting in my home office on a Saturday morning, enjoying the last bit of the Death Wish Coffee before I get my next shipment later in the month, and writing.  It is maybe my favorite day of the week, especially when the words are working well.

Today is one of those days, when the words are working and the story has changed enough that my re-write of existing words to change from 3rd person to 1st person has become writing fresh words that take the story in a slightly different direction.

My main character, my point of view character is an eleven year old girl when we first meet her.  She got her name when one of my best friends responded to my naming dilemma by telling me to name her Fred.  She was being facetious, but I took the suggestion to heart.  Her full name is Alliafred, but those close to her call her Fred.

The world she lives in is different from anything I’ve published before, and I’ve been really enjoying create a map of that world, though I lack in the drawing skills and naming skills.  I’ve been working on the world’s backstory for years.

In other news, I’m told to expect Where Shadows Fall to be ready to publish before the end of November, and as soon as I can, I will share the cover with all you.  I’m very excited to share this story with you to close out the Shades and Shadows series.

Now, however, it’s back to the coffee and the words.

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early morning San Francisco

I’m the first one in the office, which isn’t unusual.  Outside my window, the sun is starting to show itself between the buildings and the cloud cover.  I’ve worked from home for the last two days, and my house is not in a good position to watch the sun rise, so this is a nice treat.

I thought I’d talk a little bit today about books I’ve been reading.  Recently I finished From Unseen Fire, by writer Cass Morris, who I met at last year’s Sirens Conference. It is her debut book, and if you like well researched alternate history, this could be a good choice for you.  I’ll admit that the frequently flipping points of view made it a little difficult for me to get into at first, but her writing draws you in and you can see the research she put in before writing.  Beautifully drawn characters and a believable alternate Rome made this a solid four star read for me.

There can be no surprise that I had There Before the Chaos in my hot little hands the day it released.  My love for K.B. Wagers’ writing has been a long term affair, and this follow on to her debut trilogy was intense.  I tried to take my time and savor it, the way Hail savors her favored blue chai, but it went by all too fast.  Political and savvy, this first entry into the Farian War trilogy drops us in on Hail Bristol in a rare moment of peace, but peace was clearly not meant to last.  Kickass characters, heart stopping action, heartbreaking emotion…it’s a whirlwind.  You need to get in on that whirlwind and go for a ride. It gets a solid 5 stars.

One of the things that brings a book up to a five star experience for me is world building.  I can tell when an author has put in the hours to create a world I can crawl into.  It’s something I strive for as I write.  Both Wagers and Morris did this very well.

It looks like the day is starting here as people keep coming through that door, so I should refill my coffee cup and buckle down.  Happy Wednesday, Readers.  May it be filled with small pleasantries and deep kindness.

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the fury of women

I’m sure you can feel it.  The anger seething just beneath the surface.  The anger of women who have been ignored, belittled, harassed, abused, assaulted, raped and the status quo has failed them time and time again.

If you can’t feel it, you must be living in a cave.

The swell is coming.

I’ve been told not to be too political on my blog because it will scare readers away.  But if you read my work, you should already know where I stand.  I hope you are voters, Readers.  I hope you will vote next month and in two years and in two years after that.  I hope you will vote in every election, no matter how small.  Make your voices heard.

Let that rage fill you up and burst out in that voting booth.

I tend to fall to poetry when the need to express myself is greatest.  Here’s one I wrote last night/this morning:  Self Destruction.

With that, and my last cup of coffee, I’m off to write and edit for a bit.  New book coming soon!

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and back again…

My those two weeks of vacation disappeared in a flash! I had an amazing time visiting Rome and Pompeii and Florence and Venice and Paris!  Lots of great food and lots of wonderful vistas.

I got home last week, but was unfortunately sick with a cold I picked up in Paris.  Woke up with it that last full day.  I’m still recovering, but feel a lot better than I did this time last week.

It was nice to get home to my own bed and cuddle with my kitties though.  Now I’m working on finding my way back to my routine.

In other news, that anthology I was editing a while back is now available in ebook format!  Here’s the blurb:

REBELS AND REVENANTS features the dead and trebels and revenantshe undead, ghosts both figurative and literal, Elder Gods and Egyptian queens, and, funny enough, more than a little rebellion. Most of all, these eleven stories have heart, with a strong sense of family threading through them, either the one you’re born to or the one you make.

REBELS AND REVENANTS will teach you that when you find your place, you better stake a claim and stand by it.

 

The stories are all written by some amazing, kickass female writers in genres from Sci-fi/Fantasy to Horror, and I couldn’t be prouder of them all!  You should grab a copy and let us know what you think.

 

On that note, I need to get myself back to work.  Lots to do and all that.  Happy Tuesday, Readers!

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where no one has gone before

I recently discovered that Star Trek: The Next Generation is on Netflix.  This fills me with a ridiculous amount of glee.  I have been watching it every evening this week, starting right from the beginning.

Star Trek is a part of my DNA.  Some of my earliest tangible memories are around watching the original series with my father.  It was the first Sci-Fi for me, and it influenced a lot of the person I became.

But, it’s been a long time since I watched any of the shows and I’d been craving a bit of nostalgia, so I climbed in and made my home there this week.

It’s amazing really, how much you remember…and how much you forget.  Last night I hit the episode where Tasha Yar dies and I’d forgotten really that it was in the first season, and I didn’t anticipate the bit of tears that came upon me during the funeral scene.  Tasha was never one of my favorite characters.  I never felt that they really gave her any real structure or sense of completeness in her character.  Shame, because she really could have been an amazing character with the depth that only comes from the kind of childhood that they hinted at, but never fleshed out.

I also suddenly remembered that my early female crushes were all red-heads.  Gillian Anderson of X-Files was the first one I remember actually figuring out that what I was feeling then for her was the same as it was for any male celebrity…but rewatching the first TNG episode set on the holodeck and featuring Captain Piccard’s favorite fictional detective, Dixon Hill, I was suddenly reminded that Gates MacFadden is a gorgeous woman.  gates

As evidenced here!

Well, my Saturday calls.  My coffee is gone and it’s time to get moving.  I hope you all have a wonderful Labor Day weekend, Readers!

 

 

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it feels so good

Today has been the first real writing day since my step-father passed away in May.  It feels so good to be making words happen again.  I have a lot of other things to do this weekend, but the first was writing.

I have a lot to chose from when I sit down to write, and today I chose to work on a fantasy project that I’ve started a few times, but hadn’t quite found my way into.

This is a project that involves an ostensibly medieval society, with certain elements in that society a fair bit more advanced.  It involves female warriors and scholars who help to maintain the peace between two civilizations who have not yet discovered the world outside their island. It is the first in a series that will follow a young lady named Fred as she discovers not only herself, but the wider world and all that has been done to protect the world she knows as she becomes one of those who protect it.

Today feels good, it feels like this is the way I needed this story to go.  I’m at just over a thousand words right now.

I plan to write until I’ve at least hit 2000.  Then I’ll turn my attention to other things that need me…like laundry and housework.  The other things I’ve barely done since May.

Right then, back to making words.  Happy Saturday, Readers!

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hello again

It’s amazing how time flies by and suddenly you realize you haven’t posted to your blog in weeks.  After my stepfather’s passing, there was pride and in between and since has been the never ending parade of tasks involved in helping my mother move on.

She moved in with my brother and his family yesterday.  We aren’t done with her old house, but will be by the end of the month.  There’s always so much to do: cleaning, odds and ends to move, etc.

Next weekend is the memorial, so there’s prep for that too. Somewhere in the middle of that, I’m working the day job, and writing and editing as I can.  It leaves little left over for being social, or updating blogs.

I hope all is well with you, Readers!  May the Wednesday fill you with joy and provide you ample kindness.

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summer comes

I’ve always dreamed of getting to watch the sunrise over Stonehenge on the Solstice.  While I’ve seen Stonehenge, it was closer to the Winter Solstice than the summer version.

I’ll admit, summer isn’t my favorite season.  The heat and the sun don’t treat my worn out old body kindly.  But I do enjoy the sunsets and sunrises, when I get the chance to see them.

It’s also the time of the year when I’m the busiest.  This weekend is Pride, and I’m excited for that, especially because I’m bringing my niece to her first Pride.  I don’t mind the busy, but by the time this weekend is over, I’m going to need a really long summer nap!

When I get home tonight I will have a small, impromptu little ritual to honor the turning of the wheel and invite the burning light of summer to clean out the cobwebs, burn out the dark that has collected in the corners (and everywhere else) and bring forth the growing things that have lain quiet in the earth.

I may even try to get out and find a spot of sun this afternoon, though looking at the gloomy skies outside my SF office window, I’m not sure that there will be any to find!

Blessed Solstice, Readers.  May it bring forth a bounty in your life!

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a little pampering

I am not now, nor have I ever been what I would consider a “girly girl.” The one feature I’ve always allowed myself to be girly over is my hair, and even then, most of the time I just wear it up or braided and out of my way.

Every now and again though, I get this craving for getting my nails done and having someone other than me color my hair, and maybe doing more with my hair than just coloring it.

I’m in the middle of one of those times.

Last night I painted my nails, mostly as a way to satisfy the need without spending the time and money on going to a nail salon and getting tips and all that, which I always end up regretting.

On Thursday, I have an appointment with a new to me hair salon and a new to me hair person.  I need to have a couple inches hacked off and I need someone else to manage my color for a while.  We’ll see how long it lasts.

I haven’t decided what to do with the color yet, and I’m hoping this new to me hair person will help me decide.  Part of me wants to keep the green, part of me wants to go back to red.  Part of me wants to try something completely new!

Now all I need is to find a massage therapist and my pampering will be complete.

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international womens day

So, today is International Women’s Day and it makes me wonder what exactly that means and what is the best way to celebrate it?

I mean, some of the stuff I’ve read this morning sounds good: we’ve got women walkouts in Spain, shutting down major commute options, we’ve got protests and such all over as women demand equal pay for equal work and other such things.

I know I’ve been pretty lucky as a woman.  I haven’t dealt with sexual harassment or discrimination, I have always received pay equal to the job I do.  For a long time, that blinded me to the fact that these things happen to other women.  But, here we are in 2018 and we’re still fighting something that should have been defeated years ago.

Can you imagine if women just stepped out, really stepped out…all over the world, for one day, not a single woman did anything to benefit anyone but themselves.  Every woman: every government official, every female on any board, every C-level executive, every manager, supervisor, every garment worker, every transportation worker, every teacher, nurse, doctor, lawyer, judge, every line cook, chef, waitress, receptionist, administrator, every janitor, cashier, delivery person, every wife, mother, sister, daughter…can you picture that?

Look around you for a minute, and imagine your world without women.  We are everywhere. We work hard.  We play hard.  We rise to the occasion.

So ladies, let us rise.  Let us lift up our sisters instead of tearing them down.  Let us fight with them, not against them. Let us rejoice in their victories.  Let us demand, with one voice, that we receive our due: equal pay, equal protections, equal education, adequate healthcare by doctors who will not dismiss our pain because we are women, equal protection from crime and equal investigative power when we are victims of crimes, equal representation.

Power is not give, ladies.  Power is taken.