Dancing with writer burnout

Burnout. That’s something we all dance with as writers. I hit the wall late last fall and didn’t work my way past burnout until just recently. Oh, I could keep writing on the work-in-progress, though it felt like a slog … Continue reading →

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Sep 06, 2024
Getting organized…oooh that awful housework stuff!

  (vector by happymay, from Depositphotos, uploaded in 2014) So why is it that it took until I was sixty-six years old to regularly start making my bed without being prompted? Until recently, I had the attitude toward housework as … Continue reading...

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Sep 03, 2024
Lessons learned from writing The Cost of Power

I learn something new from every book I write, even after twenty-five odd books out there. Sometimes what I learn is a writing craft detail. Other times it’s a production or promotion detail. I’ve learned a lot from the last … Continue reading →

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Aug 30, 2024
One and Nineteen Years with Horses

For some reason, I end up buying horses in August. Maybe it’s because prices are usually better since people want to get horses off of their books before winter, but probably it’s just because that’s when the timing is right … Continue reading →

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Aug 24, 2024
Happy book birthday, RETURN!

It’s a book birthday! The Cost of Power: Return is out today, both in ebook and in paperback through Ingram Spark. I haven’t set up the paperback link in Bookshop yet, because my experience has shown that I need to … Continue reading →

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Aug 20, 2024
Writing Organization: Early Days with Reminders

One of the drawbacks of how my brain functions is that complex organizational schemes only last for a short period of time, generally. Some things remain relatively intact—my use of the 8 ½” x 11” Moleskine weekly planner, for one, … Continue reading...

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Jul 15, 2024
State of the Horses, July 2024

  There’s been a lot of quiet progress on the equine front. Mocha and Marker moved to summer pasture in May. Mocha immediately began establishing her rule not just over Marker but the neighboring gelding, Blue. In past years, when … Continue reading...

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Jul 07, 2024
Writing Process–Scene Matrix for The Cost of Power

Over the past few days I’ve been working my way through nearly a thousand pages of manuscript to whip The Cost of Power into some sort of continuity shape. After running all three books through a line edit, my next … Continue reading →

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Jun 16, 2024
Reorganizing the office

It’s amazing how inspired I can get from reorganizing my office. Starting the process always begins with me reaching a point of frustration, because whatever structure I have been using suddenly just doesn’t work. Brain fog tiptoes in and I … Continu...

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Jun 14, 2024