Tag: Musing
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Close Enough for Rock & Roll
Ever find yourself lost in thought, only to be interrupted by somebody else’s favorite line setting up shop in your memory? Just the other day I was nonchalantly slogging through the latest round of proofreading my serialized companion novel about to be released on Kindle Vella when out of the blue, I heard my uncle’s…
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Latest Interruption
One thing I have going for me on my writing journey is that I openly embrace the various interruptions I experience as simply a part of life—besides, I’m pretty much powerless to stop them. I can’t remember the last day that passed without at least one unexpected twist & turn taking a toll on my…
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Shenanigans
Who says the life of an independent author without a competent, affordable editor in the wings has to be boring? Why, I just got to spend the last two hours poring over my serialized novel deciding whether hyphens should be in descriptors like nail-biting, or between color adjectives like red & white, or not be…
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I, Edithead
OK, so I made all that up. But why not give edithead a chance to join its well-established, illustrious kin like Deadhead, hardhead, egghead, & __head? (I imagine you just generated your own mental list of cousin words, some of which are no doubt excellent for venting or starting a fight.) I’m fully aware that…
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Back in the Saddle
I’m sure I could come up with a viable excuse for not having posted here of late. After all, I do spend a fair amount of time writing fiction which, it might be argued, is akin to weaving together random excuses with character arcs, plot twists, & doses of action. But the truth of the…
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Interference
Here of late, I’ve been dabbling in the field of memory research in preparation for a new project I’m exploring. While doing so, I’ve been curious about the role memory plays in fiction writing—notably my own. In the past, I’ve been frustrated by my struggles to remember the names of real individuals not long after…
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My Own Devices
Sometimes when I reach a milestone on my self-publishing journey, I celebrate the moment with abandon. At other times, however, I find myself grumbling that it actually means very little when viewed through the lens of the woes of the outside world. It comes as no surprise that those challenging moments can lead to an…
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And I’m Milk & Cookies
Nope, the title of this post is not a sign that I’m losing touch with reality or trying to write obtuse poetry. It relates to a memory game I recently came up with while trudging through the 1100+ revisions amassed during the final editing phase of my serialized companion novel due to be released on…
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I Don’t Know Why
Updating my first published novel didn’t look like it was going to a big deal. After all, the process is pretty straightforward according to Kindlepreneur & other sites: When I followed those steps a couple days ago, everything appeared in good order, but I soon realized only half the links in my Author’s Note worked…
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Getaway Snacks
Nope, this post isn’t about eating during a vacation, chase scene, or heist even. It’s about a concept I’m borrowing from an exercise trend that promotes spurts of activity throughout the day along with full workouts. Getaway snacks involve those few minutes I find here & there to pretend I’m doing something productive when all…
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Tea & Toast
Ah, it doesn’t get much better for me in my current circumstances than enjoying a steaming cup of black tea & two pieces of toast slathered with butter & honey. The last few days have been a challenge since my aches & pains intensified before finally backing down enough for me to get outside for…
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Morsels
Sometimes I think my writing life can be measured in morsels—tasty & bite-sized to be sure, but not, I’m happy to report, as in the sample sentence in the last connotation listed in Merriam-Webster: “a negligible person.” Yeah, I still like to look up words, especially the roots of any I happen to be focusing…
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After-Party
A recent thread I interacted with a bit on both Instagram & Threads has to do with some of the struggles independent authors face when it comes to self-promoting. During the last year & a half, I’ve grappled with coming out of my shell enough to even consider sharing my writing in any way other…
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Free-Range Reading
Happy New Year! In my last post, I mentioned coming down the homestretch of updating my first self-published novel a year and some change after its release. At that point, I’d finished all the items on my copyediting to-do list & was comfortable enough with the outcome that I added the following comment: ”Now that I’m…
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Push & Shove
Here’s to coming down the homestretch of updating my first self-published novel a year after its release. The process might seem pretty straightforward at first blush, but the gyrations involved sometimes bordered on the comical. First there was finding the latest, cleanest Word doc to match up with its Scrivener counterpart to convert to an…
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Detours & Shortcuts
Not a day goes by that I don’t see some reference or other to the mystical “writing process” on social media & in random ads, stories, or videos—often with a definitive the in tow. I’m the first to admit to occasionally giving unsolicited advice on a range of other topics, as well as seeking out…
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Good Ole #11
In my last post, I wrote about grappling with an unreasonable expectation that I’d launch my companion novel in serialized form on Kindle Vella this month. My love-hate relationship with deadlines dates back to my early days writing short stories before venturing into the world of novels & screenplays. After a brief stint exploring the…
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Me, Myself, & I
Nothing quite like coming to terms with an unreasonable expectation of my own making. At first blush, it might seem insignificant & easily fixed, but when I’m grappling with a self-imposed deadline, the hold on my psyche can be stubborn. I won’t go into the reasons behind setting this month as the launch date for…
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657 Times & Counting
In my last post (Relishing the Moment), I confessed to actually enjoying the copyediting stage of my current project in preparation for its launch on Kindle Vella this coming January. I realize more than a few writers dread this process above all others. (I wonder how many daydreams all the independent authors in the world…
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Relishing the Moment
In my last post (Deep Dive), I wrote about immersing myself in the copy editing phase of my WIP (work in progress). One week later, I’m nearly done pouring over Benjamin Dreyer’s excellent resource book Dreyer’s English & enhancing my old list of pitfalls to avoid. And yes, the revisions are piling up (over 300…
