Hello World

Blogging and I aren't the best of friends. We've had a few affairs over the years, but kept parting ways.

Part of that is because I tried to keep up a vet blog. I had some fun stories from vet school, and really wanted a place to chronicle the positive and memorable moments as I progressed through my career... but after getting home from work at the end of the day, the last thing I wanted to do was talk about work. So I kissed it goodbye and let it slide into obscurity.

I knew I'd still need a so-called "platform" for my writing career. I ignored that fact while working on my first MS, because it seemed so far off, it didn't really matter. And I didn't want to have simply Another Writer Blog with my completely unqualified ponderings on the same topics others have covered far more articulately and with far more authority. After all, I was just another aspiring novelist with an unfinished MS and not much else to talk about.

Then I got an agent. I survived the rigors of query-land and ended up with the wonderful Caitlin McDonald. Publishing went from Distant Dream to Something That Might Happen.

While I was marveling over seeing my name on the Donald Maass Agency's client list, it struck me that it would be nice for that to actually link to somewhere. A website with my own name, ideas, and experiences. Where I don't have to obscure my identity because of confidentiality, where I can actually build a fan base and interact with them. Talking about writing is easy to do! I could talk about writing all day long!

So here begins my official journey as an author. Expect to read about the ups and downs of writing and publishing, of course, but I wouldn't be a proper SF nerd if I didn't squeal over spacey and science-related things with you! And while I've bid my vet blog farewell, there are thoughts and lessons to be gained from the world of veterinary medicine that are applicable to writing, which I hope to continue to discover and share.

I look forward to seeing what the future brings! (Though I do hope it's more Star Trek than Battlestar Galactica!)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Old Sci-Fi Movie Drinking Game

Science fiction has been pushing the boundaries of human imagination for over a hundred years, always presenting us with "what if?" and "imagine!" Even when our scientific awareness of the universe could barely tell up from down, writers toyed with what technology might be able to do and what life on other planets might mean. While this is wonderful and commendable, it's also, a lot of the time, hilarious. The golden age of science fiction produced a lot of very silly movies. They were ahead of their time, but looking back, cinematography has advanced as much as scientific knowledge. Once upon a time, my husband and I gathered a few classic movies, including Forbidden Planet and The Day The Earth Stood Still. They proved so wonderfully, lovably ridiculous, thus was born the Old Sci-Fi Movie Drinking Game. Here are the rules. Drink when you see... Random shots of the space ship Blatant sexism, including but not limited to: girl gets hysterical; girl is u
Keep reading

Why does it always take so much longer than I expect?

If you noticed the dearth of blog posts through July, I can offer my explanation. Namely, I went underground, avoided literally everything, and tried to finish a book. And for more than four weeks in a row, I was absolutely certain, "I'll finish it this week !" It mystifies me how these things take so much longer than intended. Near the end of June, I had about 80% of the novel rewritten for a major revision, and just ("just") needed to tie together the climax. This involved two converging POVs and 5 major character arcs, but I had a plan, I swear! I typed out my plan and it seemed sound. Then every day, I'd get a few thousand words farther and realize, wait, that plan doesn't work. So I'd spend a day sorting out a new plan. Inch forward, and throw it out the next day. Repeat. Something very frustrating about writing full-time is that it doesn't bend to my will the way my previously academic career would. In school, lectures took a certain
Keep reading

Recent Reads: American Gods

I finally read American Gods. It's oft talked about, referenced, and used as an example, and it was high time I got my butt through those 465 pages of pure Neil Gaiman bizarro genius. Mostly, when people discuss this book, they sit strongly on one side of the fence or the other: they love it or they hate it. I hate how often and sweepingly that you-love-it-or-you-hate-it statement is made, but in this case, it's so true, I really mean it. In the beginning, I was pretty skeptical--it's weird, it's slow, it's confusing. But with the whole novel under my belt now, I can firmly say I'm in the "love it" camp. It's still definitely freaking weird. But when has anything written by Neil Gaiman not been freaking weird? It's weird in a completely brilliant way. I was also worried about the pacing; critics complain how it's a meander without plot, and I generally hate that kind of book. I was afraid with my tiny, commercial-genre-fiction attention
Keep reading