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Sandra Wickham, physical trainer, writer, Inkpunk, and all around pleasant human being (don’t believe the picture) is our next Taos Toolbox profile.

Tamago: When did you decide you wanted to be a writer?

Sandra: I wrote my first full-length novel when I was nine years old. It was awful, I’m sure and exactly like the books I was reading at the time by George MacDonald. My grandmother typed it up for me and I remember her asking me not to write in yellow pencil crayon because it was hard for her to read. I used to write with and on anything and everything I could find back then. My parents still have a copy of it. I got away from writing for a long time and have just returned to it in 2008.

Tamago: How did you come to join the Inkpunks?

Sandra: We were a group of friends before we were the Inkpunks. We met through conventions and social media, people started to notice us as a group online so I came up with the idea of starting up a blog together. (yes, I’ll take credit for that!) We have since had a couple extra awesome people join us and we continue to be a group of friends that happen to blog together and support each other in writing and in life.

Continue reading “TT Profile #9: Sandra Wickham”

Yesterday, I did the first truly negative thing I have done in my tenure as ELA Coordinator. I have canceled a class here, or there for a teacher, but yesterday, I canceled many classes for many teachers. Some of them were not expecting it. A brief background as to why? Fewer students in ELA and college conservatism for class numbers as our enrollment shrinks. So, classes that might have been okay to offer a semester ago were not okay to offer this time.

I feel horrible. Friends and spouses have been trying to cheer me up, and I know that this is the flip side of the power differential. I can only do what the college lets me do. Some people would let that absolve them from responsibility, and it does. I had no power over this decision at all (which makes me feel like a total tool. I won’t lie there.), so it is done. It had to be done.

And yet…

Continue reading “The Flip Side of the Power Differential”

Note: Apparently this soup is so good that even the Internet will eat it, having destroyed my first entry of it thoroughly and utterly. So MAKE IT.

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Alternately entitled Soup for George. 🙂 This recipe is taken from Best of Clean Eating 2

Ingredients:

1 t extra virgin olive oil
1 small chopped yellow onion
2 large chopped carrots
8 oz white mushrooms, quartered
3 cups reduced sodium low fat chicken broth (this cook added an additional 3 cups of liquid)
1 lb spaghetti squash, skin and seeds removed, flesh cut into 1/2 inch pieces (this cook microwaved the squash for 7-10 minutes, and then put the prepared flesh into the soup)
1 lb redskin potatoes, cut into 1 inch cubes
2 t dried sage
6 oz nitrate free, reduced sodium, low fat ham, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1/4 cup skim milk
2 oz light cream cheese

Instructions:

1. Heat oil in a large stockpot on medium for 1 minute. Add onion, carrots, and mushrooms. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. (this cook cooked these vegetables into a skillet and added them to a stockpot with the other ingredients in it.

2. Stir in broth, squash, potatoes and sage. Bring soup to a boil on high, then reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for ten minutes. Stir in ham and heat through. (see above for modifications.)

3. Meanwhile, in a small pot, add milk and cream cheese and heat on low. Cook, whisking constantly, for 1 minute or until mixture is smooth. Ladle 1 cup soup into mild and whisk. Pour milk mixture back into stockpot and stir to combine. Serve immediately.

Serving size: 2 cups! Calories: 277. Total Fat: 7 grams. Carbs: 38 grams. Fiber: 4 grams.

Today is the day that my interview is up at Rebecca Roland’s Spice of Life. Thanks, Rebecca!

It’s the last week before classes here at Kirkwood, and so the day job has been a little bit intense. I am still waiting on enrollment numbers to let my teachers know if their classes are go or not, and it’s getting later and later in the day. Definitely going to move the orientations to a week earlier. Definitely.

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Not too much new in my world.

I’ve been watching the Jay Lake Fundraiser for tumor sequencing (good job, Earth One!), as SF writers support one of their own, who needs medical help. Another fellow writer, Ferrett Steinmetz, just had triple by pass surgery (ouch!). Both of these gentlemen can use your good thoughts, and in one case, your hard cash.

And I’m noticing the flu is beginning to hit some of you on the friend’s list. Rest well and heal.

There’s been some kerfluffle about the new SFWA Bulletin cover. Two steps forward, one step back. Honestly, women fighters would wear clothes. It’s cold out there, killing abominable snow men. Yes, it is.

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Next week I’m going to hook up with some fellow writers and spa and write in Vegas. It should be a good time, and I wonderful vacation after all the semester prep. Right now I’m reading a great deal of research, so I have some writing to do while I’m there. I hope to get a lot of stinky, smelly first draft written of the new book.

The old book? It’s doing fine. So far, one rejection, one partial, and two not interested/expired by a certain time. We are still in a holding pattern with the rest of the agents submitted to. It’s only been out since the 31st, so early days. I will use this opportunity to again plug Query Tracker, which I love as a submitting novelist.

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I think tomorrow, if there is time, I’ll post either my first research post on Egypt, or I’ll give you a new veggie soup recipe. If you have an opinion, vote now. The Egyptian research is interesting. The veggie soup is delicious, and I will probably make it again, it’s that good.

Short story and novel writer Rebecca Roland gives us a very detailed overview of her writing process.

Tamago: Do you have a regular drafting process, or does your drafting process vary from book to book. Can you describe it to us generally, or at least for one project?

Rebecca: My process has changed from book to book as I’ve learned what works and what doesn’t work. My first two novels, which are trunk novels, were written completely by the seat of my pants. My third novel, which became my first published novel Shards of History, started as a short story. I wrote the first draft of the novel, then rewrote much of it once I’d gotten to know the main character a little better. Then I went over it a couple more times to add characterization and details, and I also added a new first chapter.

For my latest novel, tentatively titled Death is the New Normal, I decided to try something different and skip the inevitable throw-away first draft. I heard about the book The 90-Day Novel. It has over 200 questions you can answer to get to know your main character and/or antagonist better. I went through a good number of them and came up with 47 pages of notes, including an outline, before writing this novel. Then I churned out a draft and ended up pleased with it, which is a first for me. Usually I hate those first drafts. Now I’ll see if it holds up with my beta readers.

Tamago: Is your writing process the same for short stories as it is for novels?

Rebecca: I actually outline more for short stories than for novels, at least until the most recent novel. I come up with an initial idea, be it a setting or a character or some cool concept, then I keep asking myself questions until I figure out the characters and conflict. I usually have an ending in mind when I begin, but it often changes once I get to that point because I discovered something interesting about the characters or the story along the way.

Tamago: How do you know when a story is working?

Rebecca: When a story is working, I find myself in the zone, corny as that sounds. The writing flows and I’m energized and excited. Also, I know when I’ve taken the story in the right direction because I feel like things are clicking, like a sort of ‘eureka’ moment. It’s an intuitive experience, and I’ve learned to be more receptive to those feelings. Before I went to the Odyssey Writing Workshop, I had no idea when one of my stories wasn’t working. At Odyssey I critiqued a lot and learned quite a bit from the process. It taught me to look for the weaknesses in my own writing, as well as knowing when a story is working.

Continue reading “The Writing Process and Rebecca Roland”

Maura Glynn-Thami is a doctor AND she writes. That’s got to come in handy for her writing. She took some time out to answer a few questions.

Tamago: When did you decide you wanted to become a writer?

Maura: A long time ago, but I didn’t have the guts to do it right away. I was going through some old papers this week-end, and found something I wrote when I was 17, trying to figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up. At the time I concluded that writing would be best, but that I needed to go live a little first. I wasn’t anticipating that it would take 35 years, but I am finally getting serious. Still not grown up, though!

Tamago: What kinds of works do you usually enjoy writing? Do you have any themes you come back to?

Maura: There seem to be a variety of voices in my head. (I know, there are meds for that kind of thing.) I’m pretty new at this, so I’m still exploring. I like fantasy, sci-fi and mainstream fiction, and would be comfortable writing any of these. Realistic fantasy seems to be where I am the most at home. I’ve learned that I like writing in first person, and that the quality of the prose is important to me. Underlying themes seem to be nature and technology, breaking out of isolation, and of course, the ever popular struggle with mortality.

Tamago: How does your work as a medical professional help you with your writing?

Maura: Doctors learn to be pretty observant, and to create patterns from seemingly unrelated symptoms to make a diagnosis. That helps in writing. I can also write very realistic depictions of trauma, illness, childbirth and various bodily functions! But most helpful is the incredible privilege of working with people in very intimate and intense situations. Doctors get to witness and learn about scenarios they could never have made up.

Continue reading “TT Profile #8: Maura Glynn-Thami”

Too many good posts on art and doing art today, from a wide variety of places, that I’m going to link you to them, and call it a post. Since I’m in for a half day because I’m going to the dentist, this also has the advantage of being a time saver.

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George Galuschak links me to Gail Simone Brutal Tips about Breaking into Comics: This advice really applies not just to comics. Man, she smacks us around in there, but she’s right.

Tobias Buckell I Told my Intern…(thoughts about being a writer), which I think is a good chance to take a breath and look at why you do art, and how it plugs into life.

Steve Bucheit On My Honor I Will Do My Best: Steve reflects on responsibility of violence and other factors in media portrayal. Co

Cynthia Leitich Smith: An Open Love Note to Debut Writers: Nicely done. It’s especially important to support the fragile, fledgling writer, who is not yet used to rough handling.

Recently, I found out about Fashion Flu, an online fashion magazine. Fashion Flu is about fashion then and now. There are good tips on make-up and hair, and the website talks about current trends as well as vintage.

Here are a couple of articles I found interesting for those of us into vintage.

How to Make the Retro Trend Work for You

Fancy Fur–Do’s and Dont’s

Woven throughout Fashion Flus articles are trends which emulate vintage returned. There’s also a lot of talk about accessories and classic fashion. I enjoyed browsing through the index.

Hmmm, wonder if I’m going to have to buy some hair jewelry this year?

There are quite a few things coming up! Woot! Woot already! By the end of this week, I should have another vintage fashion spotlight. Remember those? We also have one more Taos interview ready to go, and at least three writers and their process interviews in the wings. Next week, I’ll be up on someone else’s site in an interview myself. At some point I want to post some pictures of my new vintage dresses and talk about them. Gotta find some time to do some hair and make up. 🙂 I hope to get to this in February. And, starting a new book means RESEARCH! So you’ll be getting some research on a variety of what will seem like disparate topics.

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Let’s talk about starting a new book. I’m as done with Abigail Rath as I can be for now. I am waiting until February to finish up the revisions on The Were-Humans (thank you, my wonderful beta readers!). So, the logical thing to do is to begin the new book. Which I have.

To prepare for writing a five book series, almost all of them stand alone books, I have done some plotting. Before I wrote Abby, I spent a few months plotting about 90 years of Klarion soap opera. I did research on the houses and the clothes, some on the period in general, and I started the third book. What I discovered was that it wasn’t working the way I wanted to because I am still too married to its previous incarnation. So, I stopped that, did a mad NaNoWriMo, and generated a middle grade novel from the primordial goo that came from it .

I took Klarion book 3 to Taos. It got some good crit. But I did this VERY IMPORTANT thing at Taos, which might have been the most important nugget of writing I took from the workshop. At the beginning of the second week, I asked several kind Taosians to come to my room and help me figure out NOT the human part of the book, which I know very well, but the cosmological part of the book, which was a mystery to me. What we came up with is very exciting stuff to me, with lots of double crosses and intrigues, twists and turns, that span across the Egyptian pantheon and the changes that occurred religiously in Egypt to create the situations that Erasmus’ Klarions ancestors have to deal with. This is the WHY of the book, and it means that many of my human characters are puppets (awww!!!) until about book 3, when one of them is too smart for the celestials’ own good. Anyway, thanks to the Taosians who helped me plot. And thanks to my husband Bryon, who recently told me that the Klarion scroll was made by Solomon. Check out Solomon, by the way, and see his traffic with demons.

Continue reading “Your Mission, Should You Choose to Accept It”