Ah, squiders. Have you ever had a book that you picked up, read part of, and then put down, through no fault of the book itself? You told yourself you’d get back to it. But then time stretched on and
Obligatory Nanowrimo Post 2015
Ah, Squiders. It’s October. Best month of the year, of course, for many reasons, but it being October means it’s almost November. And November means Nanowrimo. And so October, these days, also means getting bombarded by Nano everywhere you look
Writing Classes: One Size Does Not Fit All
Writing is an interesting thing to learn, because nobody’s processes are the same, nobody learns the same, nobody focuses on the same things while actually writing, and there’s no guarantee that something that was an epiphany for one person will
Community Stories: Inkshares and JukePop
Oy, my main website got hacked. Boo hiss. ANYWAY. There seems to be a trend toward community input these days. The general public has become the gatekeepers, and I think that’s okay. Things like indiegogo, Patreon, and Kickstarter allow people to support
Mother Characters in Scifi and Fantasy
There’s not a lot of mother characters as main characters in speculative fiction. I can think of exactly two in books that I read (Dragonsbane by Barbara Hambly and Boneshaker by Cherie Priest). Part of me is sad, because there’s
Library Book Sale Finds: Nine Princes in Amber by Roger Zelazny
The problem with the library book sale books (now I’ve been to another one) is that I’ve got a whole bunch now, and I can’t tell which ones I picked up versus which ones my husband picked up (unless they’re
A New Way to Tackle the TBR Pile
If you’re like me, Squiders, (and I suspect you are to some extent) you have a ton of books sitting around, waiting to be read. Physical books, ebooks, books you were super excited for and yet have not touched, books
The Dangers of Library Book Sales
Ah, Squiders, library book sales. Dangerous, dangerous things, aren’t they? One of our local ones, in celebration of Western Welcome Week, is having a week-long one where you can fill up an entire bag of books for $3. Three. Dollars.
My Gateway Novel: Wishsong of Shannara
Whenever we find something we like–a TV show, a band, a sport, whatever–there’s always something that introduces us to whatever it is, our “gateway,” if you will, that we never forget, especially if whatever turns out to be transformative in
Character Archetypes: Wrap-up
Well, Squiders, I hope you’ve enjoyed this look at some of the character archetypes. We could go on forever, honestly. Some people denote eight different character archetypes, others twelve. Still others can break down each archetype into another six or
