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POINT OF VIEW: Back in Beta Land

beta reader - 123rf purchased

Hey all, I am on the downslope, the final approach, the last few miles before reaching manuscript-sending home. “The Shoreless Sea,” book three in the Liminal Sky trilogy, is finished, and the beta reads are coming in. This is always a nervous-making time for me, as I am sure that at least one of my beta readers will want me to re-write the whole damned book. *pulls out hair in anticipation* So far, I’ve been lucky… but there have been some big issues raised. For “The Rising Tide,” one astute beta called me on killing off a character too early … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: To The Moon

Moon Scott

Hey all, Next month I will embark on one of my most ambitious novel projects ever, tentatively titled “Moonbase: Redemption”. It’s set in the same general universe as the Liminal Sky series, but will be a stand-alone novel. Although the jumping off point is in a similar time frame as “The Stark Divide,” this one will encapsulate a lot of my hopes and dreams for the future. Most of it is set on the moon, as the title suggests, and so I am taking a deep dive into all things lunar. I bought a lunar globe and a lunar atlas, … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: Taking a Break

garden - pixabay

Hey all, Welcome to the Holidaze. I just sent off “The Shoreless Sea for beta reading, and it’s not due back until the end of the month. Once I get it off to the publisher in mid December, I won’t start on the next project until the start of the new year. So I have that rarest thing in a writer’s life, a little brain downtime. Not that my regular job isn’t handily filling those extra hours. But it is nice to have a bit for the creative part of my brain to reboot and refresh before the next thing. … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: Leaving a Legacy

legacy - pixabay

Hey all, The shocking sudden death of author Ethan Day this week, along with the passing of my own stepfather Tony a few weeks ago, has gotten me thinking about death, and mortality, and artistic legacy. Ethan’s own legacy will be measured at least in part by his many published books, and by his time stewarding the Gay Rom Lit con, along with his wonderful co-conspirators. But he will also be remembered for his sweet, happy demeanor, and the integrity with which he lived his life. For me ,this was most evident in the way he wound down his Wilde … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: When We Fail

failure - pixabay

Hey all… In Church this morning (yeah, I go to church with the hubby), the Pastors talked about the idea of failing forward – how failing sometimes sets us up for success. Johannes Haushofer, an accomplished professor, even wrote a CV (a fancy way to say resumé) of all his failures, explaining it like this: Most of what I try fails, but these failures are often invisible, while the successes are visible. I have noticed that this sometimes gives others the impression that most things work out for me. As a result, they are more likely to attribute their own … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: Relief and Sadness at the Finish Line

Scott GRL prep

Hey all, It’s a strange juxtaposition of events for me this week. Tomorrow my latest novel, “The Rising Tide,” comes out, the long-awaited sequel to last year’s “The Stark Divide.” Forever is evolving, both the world and its people, and at the same time leaving Old Earth far behind. And trouble is brewing… Just three days before this new book’s release, I finished the first draft of “The Shoreless Sea,” the third and final book in the Liminal Sky trilogy. Shoreless Sea is my second trilogy-ending book this year, after the Oberon Cycle’s “Ithani,” which comes out in February. And … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: Switching Gears

Shifting Gears - pixabay

Hey all, For the last three years, I’ve been deep in the weeds of writing not one but two sci fi trilogies – “The Oberon Cycle” (Skythane, Lander, Ithani) and “Liminal Sky” (The Stark Divide, The Rising Tide, and The Shoreless Sea). I love-love-love sci fi, but even as a reader, I would take breaks, often alternating between sci fi and fantasy to cleanse my reading palette. And so it is with my writing. Two months ago, about two-thirds through “The Shoreless Sea,” I took a break – well, not so much took a break as a double-time – writing … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: Life is Short

Tony Wilson

Hey all, I’m writing this from a place 868 miles away from home. I’m in Tucson at my Mom’s house, and I’m here because my stepdad Tony passed away four days ago on a trip to visit his sons in Australia. We think it was quick. We hope it was. He went to sleep, and in the morning he was gone. We forget how mortal we are. We get caught up in the day-to-day details of our lives, and forget the big picture. We forget how our time on this mortal plane could end at any time. When we were young, … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: Hope and the Holidays

Grandma Hazel - 1937

Hey all, I am not going to say much about the events of last week for the moment. I am still too angry. But I will say this. Vote. Get everyone you know to vote. Phone bank and text and email. Because women matter in this country. And a price has to be paid for what happened this week. *deep breath* This is still a writing blog, though. I remind myself of that, just like I remind myself that I have to take care of myself and my husband Mark. That we have to sometimes shut off the TV. Take … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: Hope

hope - pixabay

Hey all, I’m feeling an unreasonable groundswell of hope this week. Totally unwarranted, based on the world we now find ourselves living in. An aberration, really, out of line with this grayer, meaner country. But maybe it’s not. Some of my hope is writing-based. I got a couple pieces of great news about my Liminal Sky series which I’ll share with you soon. I have my first legit bookstore reading this month (join me at 7 PM Thursday at Time Tested Books if you live near Sacramento). And my mother shared “The River City Chronicles” with her pastor. That one … Read more