I set ambitious writing goals for this year. Goal 1: Finish the first draft of BENEATH A SUNDERED SKY (150,000 words) Goal 2: Finish the first draft of WHAT’S BEHIND THE CROOKED DOOR? (15,000 words) Goal 3: Finish the third (first final) draft of PRINCE OF CATS (50,000 words) Goal 4: Rewrite BLACK MAGIC AND…
Once upon a time in the early days of the intertubes, like last year, you and I could Google the same phrase and get the same results. As we continue down the path of Minority Report where every advertisement ever is customized for our interests and needs of that moment, Google is not so simple…
Despite all the snow, I have been wicked busy at work. I have a number of half-finished posts, none of which I am in the mood to finish now. Instead…A POLL! Okay, not with the regular poll widget because it messes with my site design. Really, I should have said…A QUESTION! Or…A PROMPT! BEST NIEL…
This is our first year in our new townhouse and as such, we did not know how many kids would stop by (10-12 was the final count). We WAY overbought on candy. Suggestions of taking the left overs into work have been shot down by the missus. The plan is to keep the bag until…
1. One work in progress (WIP) at a time a. A work may be suspended to revise a draft of a previously completed manuscript or edit galleys of a manuscript being published b. A work may be abandoned if it is not salvageable and a new WIP begun i. If an abandoned WIP is resumed,…
So I live in New Hampshire (Nashua). I work in Massachusetts (Boston). While this may seem extreme to drive from one state to another for someone living in the middle of a huge state (read any state not in New England, Delaware, Maryland, or Hawaii), it’s not that far. I drive 20-30 minutes to the…
Current, non-syndicated television runs in 30 or 60 minute time slots. Of those slots, the actual program will run 20-22 minutes or 42-44 minutes respectively. Its this constraint that allows a writer–if he or she so wishes to apply herself–to know the plot, the outcome, and the bad guy (if you’re watching one of the…
The ladies over at Coffey. Tea. And Literary have started a meme. I have 25 minutes to kill at work, and thus will fill that time with this meme rather than being productive. 1. If you could have a superpower, what would you have? Why? I would be a cypher. I would speak every language…
Elizabeth Poole loves Westerns. I love Westerns! TOP FIVE WESTERNS! 1a. “The Outlaw Josey Wales” – Aside from giving me my namesake, this movie has a lot of things going for it. It was the first Western where all the Native Americans were played by Native Americans. They were also portrayed as the threat they…