Archive for Writing

You Just Might Find…You Get What You Need

January 28, 2013 Art, Career, Conventions, Writing Comments Off on You Just Might Find…You Get What You Need

I’m home and recovering from COSine, a scifi convention based in Colorado Springs. It’s one of the smaller cons I’ve attended, but didn’t lack in quality programming. With a variety of panel topics such as The Hobbit – Is it worth three movies and three years?, Building a Relativistic Spaceship and Achieving a gender balance in Fantasy and Science Fiction (to name but a few), there was no end to fantastic discussion the whole weekend. I had no responsibilities this time around, but still wound up attending many of these, and getting some real quality time in with my fellow artists & authors as well.

That’s the beauty of small conventions. You get to meet literary celebs like Kevin J. Anderson & S. M. Stirling and have true conversations with them (yes I did, and they’re both warm, intelligent and amusing people). You also get to spend time with those folks you’re in the trenches with, comparing war wounds as well as writing and marketing strategies.

I always return exhausted and yet energized; and it’s always worth it. This weekend I came home with a couple of new friends, a small art commission, a deadline for a short story submission that I’m pretty excited about, and a plethora of ideas for panels I myself may be on at the upcoming AnomalyCon this March. I call that a win!

How was your weekend?

Sam Knight, Quincy J. Allen, Mary Kay Kare and David Boop.
The Hobbit – Is it worth three movies and three years? 2013-01-26 13.14.10

Scribblings From a Writer’s Chair

October 8, 2012 Random, Writing Comments Off on Scribblings From a Writer’s Chair

The short story I’m preparing for a December submission is coming along nicely! About 90% done with the first draft, and I believe revisions will be minimal.

I am. Loving. This story.

I will most likely roll it into a subsequent novel. That will probably mean much much much more research, but if there’s one thing the Renaissance Faire did, it turned me into a research junkie. And I’ve got a fellow addict in Matthew Boroson, who’s already flooded my inbox with fantastic material. By the way, Matthew just won a first place award in the Speculative Fiction Category for his brilliant novel, City of Strangers, at the Colorado Gold Writers Conference 2012!

Now, if I only had time to do some accompanying art for it. But my drawing hand is reserved for two highly esteemed associates in the writing industry, Guy Anthony De Marco and Sam Knight. More on those stories as they develop!

Back I go to my my indomitable heroine and my latte. Hope you all have a wonderful and productive day!

Writing “Shattered”

September 27, 2012 Writing Comments Off on Writing “Shattered”


I’ve been seriously upping my game this year. I started writing again about 3 years ago, after a hiatus too long to mention. And I couldn’t be happier. Honestly, part of the reason I stopped was because my writing skills weren’t up to the par of my imagination. A lot of life has happened since putting that pen down, and I believe I’ve gotten better at describing environment and emotion. I’ve also learned some of the tricky task of subtlety (my mother always said I was as subtle as a jackhammer). The biggest challenge for me now is writing believable dialogue. I’m tackling that hurdle in a short story I’m preparing for submission this Winter.

This flash fiction piece was an excerpt from my journal of free writing; the lavender paisley one I bought 3 years ago, that set me free and reminded me there’s good stuff in there if I want to share it. With a little guidance from Quincy, I augmented and refined it into something I’m moderately proud of, even more so since it’s the first piece I’ve ever submitted publicly.

It’s a moody story, but I’m proud of the tone I set. Hope you enjoy it. More to come!

Shattered

For some continued enjoyment, here are links to some of my favorite local authors’ submissions to this very same contest:

Guy Anthony De Marco: Seeds

Sam Knight: Broken

Mary Villalba: Encounter

Josh Vogt: The Way the World Ends

The Invisible Navigator

August 31, 2012 Writing Comments Off on The Invisible Navigator

Isn’t it funny how you can try to run up the same hill infinite times, but it’s not til you give up and head in another direction that you succeed? I’ve been struggling to rework a story idea, first as a graphic novel, then as a webcomic and currently a written work. It’s been like trying to sprint through a tar pit. I have read, researched and meditated, waiting for the answer to appear. And my muse is silent as the crypt.

Then 72 hours ago, a short story idea occurred to me. This one is practically writing itself. The concept keeps snowballing, and I think I may have enough material to eventually turn it into a full length novel. My veins run with adrenaline and I write down notes often. I feel…purpose, and a direction.

You can try to steer the boat [of life], but you rarely know what’s around the next bend. I think that means the navigation of your life is something that’s never completely in your own hands. Call it divine or call it chaos, it still means you don’t always get to pick the destination. For me that means it’s time to let go of the wheel and grab hold of my pen, for all it’s worth.