Things I Like

November 3, 2015November 2, 20158 Comments

2015-07-08 13.18.58 It’s another list today. Why? Well, because I’ve been reading Things We Like I think it’s pretty cool. Also? I’m in the midst of revising not one, but two WIPs, and my brain is a little fried. Also also? Life is crazy right now, and a list of things I like seems like something I can manage.

Short, sweet, and to the point. At least that’s the theory.

So, without further ado, here are some things I like:

Writing. I love to write stories. I love to write poems. I love to write anything and everything under the sun.
Reading. I love books. I loved reading them as a kid, I love reading them now, and I love writing my own.
Music. I used to spend hours playing my flute, but I haven’t practiced regularly in a very long time. I should get back to that.
Photography. I come from a family of shutterbugs. When I was growing up, Grandpa didn’t look quite right unless he had a camera up to his face. My childhood was very well documented, and my children are growing up the same way.
Video editing. I like making home movies out of the many video clips on my phone. It’s a fun way to spend an afternoon, and a great way to look back on things I’ve forgotten.

How about you? What things do you like?

I write because…

November 2, 20155 Comments

nostalgia I write because…

I have a story to tell.
I want to discover what and how and why I think.
I need an adventure.
I crave an escape.
I can’t not write.

What about you – why do you write?

Time to write like there’s no tomorrow!

November 1, 20152 Comments

Happy November!

Yes, it’s November, otherwise known as Time-To-Write-Like-There’s-No-Tomorrow-Month! And that’s exactly what I’ll be doing, too. I may not be participating in NaNoWriMo this year (though I thought about doing my own unofficial version), but I did sign up for NanoPoblano and a couple of Blogging U. courses, plus I’m revising a short story and rewriting the last little bit of The Lokana Chronicles.

TPMTLC According to Facebook, I’ve been working on The Lokana Chronicles for a decade now. That’s simultaneously scary, impressive, and depressing. When I started writing it, I had a different husband, a different name, and three less kids. So much about my life has changed since I started writing this book, including the book itself. What started off as one book has now become two books, and what started life as a sequel has now become the third book in a trilogy. I never dreamed that, after ten years of work, I’d still be polishing the first book (hence the depressing aspect), but I’m not giving up. I’m gonna finish this book and then the next and then the next, and then when I’m done, I’m gonna move on to something new (that will hopefully take a lot less time to finish).

In the meantime, I’ve been exiled to deep space. I’m hoping to survive any alien encounters and have some time to write, and if you’d like to read more about my deep space adventures, then head on over to my friend Sophie’s blog and check it out. She’s launched quite a few people into deep space over the last several months, and everyone’s had a pretty fantastic time drifting through the final frontier.

And now I think I’ll scamper off to bed. I really enjoyed that extra hour of sleep I got last night, but boy am I ever tired now!

Trees? Yes, trees!

October 28, 2015October 27, 2015Leave a comment

With me today is another new author, Sam Smith. His debut novel, Trees, releases on October 31 from Safkhet Publishing. Take it away, Sam!

My thanks to Kay Kauffman for asking me to guest on her blog.

Although I’ve done many things sub-literary in my writing life – organised poetry festivals and book fairs, run a small press, Original Plus, and for nearly 20 years now the poetry magazine The Journal (once ‘of Contemporary Anglo-Scandinavian Poetry’); and although I’ve had many publishers of my work, 2 of which went disastrously bust while I was working as editor for them, Safkhet Publishing is the first that has suggested that I be a guest blogger.

trees The novel by the way is Trees and Safkhet are based in Germany.

I’m based in the UK on the Cumbrian coast. Maryport describes itself as ‘By the sea near the Lakes.’ Not wholly sure
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Interview time!

October 27, 2015June 5, 20176 Comments

Today I have with me Robert Eggleton, author of Rarity from the Hollow, here to tell us about himself and his work.

KK: So, Robert, tell us about yourself.

roberteggleton RE: I would love to tell your readers rags to riches story, Kay, but the best I can do is a rags to almost middle income story. In 1951, I was born into an impoverished family in West Virginia. I started paying into the U. S. Social Security fund at age twelve and dreamed of a brighter future for my family.

In the 8th grade, I won the school’s short story contest. “God Sent” was about a semi truck driver so consumed with theological debate that he caused a terrible accident. As it often does, life got in the way of my dream of becoming a writer. Except for a poem published in the state’s student anthology and another poem published in a local alternative newspaper, my creative juices were spent writing handouts for civil rights and anti-war activities.

After earning an MSW in 1977, children’s rights and protection became my cause. I focused on children’s advocacy for the next forty years. In 2002, I started a job as a psychotherapist at the local mental health center, and five months ago, I retired from my job so that I could write and promote fiction. It wasn’t a clean escape though. I had to make a deal with my conscience. Author proceeds have been donated to a child abuse prevention program.

KK: And Rarity from the Hollow? What’s it all about?

Grudging: Birth of Saints

October 18, 201510 Comments

On Thursday, a brand new novel had a fantastic cover reveal, and I signed up with Rockstar Book Tours to help spread the word. But Thursday was a rough day, and Friday was no better, and yesterday was just wild. So today, I’m stealing five minutes to tell you about a new book from Michelle Hauck called Grudging:

A world of chivalry and witchcraft…and the invaders who would destroy everything.

The North has invaded, bringing a cruel religion and no mercy. The ciudades-estados who have stood in their way have been razed to nothing, and now the horde is before the gates of Colina Hermosa…demanding blood.

On a mission of desperation, a small group escapes the besieged city in search of the one thing that might stem the tide of Northerners: the witches of the southern swamps.

The Women of the Song.

But when tragedy strikes their negotiations, all that is left is a…

Sublime Rhyme

October 8, 20154 Comments

To read more about Fezzik’s great gift, check outThe Princess Bride!

Unlike Fezzik, I do not possess a great gift for rhyme. That, however, doesn’t stop me from trying, especially when it’s with a super fun form like the limerick:

It takes a really long time to think
Of rhymes that don’t epically stink.
One rhyme is fine,
And two are sublime,
But from more than that, I do shrink.

Today’s poems are supposed to embrace the imperfect, and be personal, and I think I’ve done that here. I love poems that rhyme, but rhyming is hard, yo! What about you – do you like poems that rhyme? Or do you prefer unrhymed verse?

Naked

October 3, 2015October 1, 2015Leave a comment

To begin with, go read this post by rarasaur. Trust me, you won’t regret it.

Finished? Okay, then.

I loved the first line. After all, how can you not love a reference to Pride and Prejudice? It’s only one of the best books ever written. But if you read the rest of the post (and the rest of her blog), it’s amazing. It’s simultaneously powerful and empowering, and I want so badly to be able to write like that.

To make people feel things. In their gut.

To feel things myself. And not in the way that I normally feel things, which is superficial, like someone doing a white-glove check to see how dusty my mantle is. I want to feel things with every ounce of my soul, every fiber of my being.

I’m tired of being enveloped in bubble wrap.

But I don’t know how to get rid of it.

Fear is powerful. And I think it guides too much of my behavior.

Time to do something about that.

Time to get naked.

What about you? Do you feel things in your gut, or do things wash over you like waves upon sand? Do you blog naked?

Time to party like it’s 1999!

October 2, 2015October 1, 20154 Comments

Reunited and it feels so good…

I can’t remember the last time I’ve gone this long without blogging. I’ve thought about it often over the last *checks notes* several weeks, but I’ve been busy. Between football games and family time and working and cleaning and moving my in-laws and all the other stuff I tend to put off till the last possible minute, I’ve been doing something wonderful.

I’ve been writing.

And it has been glorious.

Sure, it’s first-draft type stuff. Sure, it’s going to need a lot of work. But I’ve been writing. And it makes me happy.

Almost as happy as that can of pop over there on the right.

Who besides me remembers Surge? Anyone?

Release day!

September 4, 2015September 4, 201517 Comments

That’s right, my lovelies, it’s release day at long last! Starting today, you can get A World of Their Own to have and to hold, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, till death do you part.

Oddly enough, those last two bits have had a profound impact on the making of this book. A World of Their Own is dedicated to great friend, fabulous author, and beating dragon heart of the Alliance of Worldbuilders, Lindsey J. Parsons, who died unexpectedly in January 2014. All proceeds from this book will be donated to the World Literacy Fund.