There’s a great skit in Portlandia where Fred Armison plays a character working on his computer, getting calls and messages on his cell phone, alerts on his iPad, and “Netflix” style DVDs in the mail, all of which drives him to distraction. It was hilarious at the time. Who would let themselves be sucked into … Read more
When I was a kid, I had a few favorite picture books. At the top of the list was The Wump World – and it’s so freaking relevant now in regards to the human-driven nature of climate change that it’s scary. Get this book for your little kids NOW (and read it yourself). In a … Read more
When crafting a story, every writer has to make some key choices: What’s the genre? What’s the tone? How about the setting? Who are the characters, and what’s going to happen to them? How will they react? And will it all end? But there’s another choice we all make, consciously or unconsciously, that can have … Read more
“What’s your damage, Heather?” We all carry damage around with us in some way, shape or form, like an unwanted hitchhiker. Damage from things that were done to us as children. Damage from things we did to others. Damage from the world and society at large. I carry the damage of homophobia. Of being called … Read more
Last week, I asked The Universe for ideas for my future columns, and The Universe, personified in one Joel Arellano on Facebook, replied: “A list of 10 Things you wish you had known before publishing your works.” I’ve been doing this writing thing semi professionally since 2014, so I should be able to come up … Read more
For most of my life I considered myself a novel writer. Novels were my preferred reading length – I love getting lost in an epic story with lots of room to explore. Give me five-hundred pages, a thousand even, and let me roam in your world. And if it’s an epic series of 10+ books? … Read more
I’m writing again, and it feels really good. 🙂 But I’m doing it a little differently this time. I’m working over my first three chapters multiple times before moving ahead, making sure that I have three things settled in my head: The thrust of the plot The interdynamics of the characters The major and minor … Read more
The first time I read one of my works aloud, I was scared shitless. That’s not entirely true. The first time was a breeze. It was the second time that almost killed me. The first time was at RainbowCon circa 2015. I was scheduled to read in a huge meeting room with at least a … Read more
Pride Season is upon us, and with it, so many things I have to do, and so little time to do them. We have two readings in Sacramento this week (thank you Jeff Adams for managing one of them!), two pride celebrations, an author lunch, and that’s just the stuff on my local author group … Read more
