Learning from Adversity

When I first started writing as a pre-teen I was already reading a lot; probably 3 – 5 books every week. That was because I had a 90-minute bus ride every morning and every evening for school. Living in the country where my nearest neighbor was several kilometers away meant, once my chores were done I had two choices for my evening: watch one of the 3 snowy television channels we got on our 14″ television or read. Reading usually won. All those books taught me something – I hadn’t lived enough yet to write my own books. I mean, who would be interested in the boring life of an Alberta farm kid? This learning just goes to show that, […]

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How Am I Doing In December After NaNoWriMo?

I know that solid, well-defined goals drive me forward. They give me a sense of urgency that is hard to ignore. I should have created solid, well-defined goals for December after my wildly successful November. Alas, I didn’t do that and my writing, while consistent, has suffered a little. My plan (note, I didn’t say “goal”) for December was to finish one book (needed about 6,000 words to do that) edit two books (one of them my NaNo novel) and continue work on a third. I did finish the one book. I have continued to work on the third book (so far adding about 6,000 words to it) and I’ve set myself up to edit one of the two. Not […]

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Way Outside My Comfort Zone

I have an idea and it scares me. The idea is a story idea and before you say anything, I fully acknowledge that I have lots of those. The difference in this case is, the idea is in a genre I’ve never really read, telling a story that could be more…personal…than I’ve ever done before. A friend of mine, Leah Crichton, was telling me a couple months ago about one of her most recent novels. When she wrote it, she found it to be immensely challenging. It struck so many emotions and other raw nerves that it shook her as she wrote it. It is also, she acknowledges, one of the best things she has written to date. That’s saying […]

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I Just Typed “The End” on Scouts 3

I just typed the words, “The End”, on Scouts of the Apocalypse: Zombie Masters. Let me just savour that for a moment. “The End” normally means something is finished. For we writers, it only signifies the beginning. There are still edit passes (both developmental and line), a cover, layout, getting the book to the printers, promotion and so on. Clearly, there is lots left to do. But, it means I wrote my novel from start to finish in 36 days. Is it perfect? Hardly, but a first draft (and I feel confident saying this) never is. But there is something there for me to edit now. And this series, this trilogy, is now one giant step closer to being finished. As […]

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