Category: How To Think Sideways

  • Ohio 3: A thing about family – the VERY good writing day

    Ohio 3: A thing about family – the VERY good writing day

    Today was a tough writing day — not because of getting the words, but because the words are about things that hit me hard. Family, and what that world could mean, and should mean, and also what it sometimes doesn’t. This chapter is deep inside the magic of the world… and the conflict there comes…

  • OHIO 3: MURDER… and another solid writing day!

    OHIO 3: MURDER… and another solid writing day!

    The words went happily and twistily today, and I’m delighted with what I got. Evil is afoot, (and probably a couple of knees, and a hand or two), and my main character has just had her whole life flipped upside-down. Nice thing to have happen in Book Three. So now I’m getting to work on…

  • Second take on Ohio 2 done in first draft

    Second take on Ohio 2 done in first draft

    So… I didn’t use a word of the first version of Ohio 2. Even my “and’s” and “the’s” are brand new, and fresh and sparkling. NOW, HOWEVER… the novel sits for a week or two or maybe three while I outline Ohio Three. Ohio Three will also be brand-new. I won’t even be reading the…

  • Last day of the year…  and about ready to get back to work

    Last day of the year… and about ready to get back to work

    It hasn’t been the best year in my life. It hasn’t been the worst, either. I wrecked four first drafts of my Ohio Series (books two through five) by exuberatant pantsing. After a longish Think Week and some time spent away from fiction writing and away from deadlines, I’m rested and ready to go through…

  • Civilization Versus The Full-Body For-Keepsies Panty Raid… and The Survival Value of ADD

    Civilization Versus The Full-Body For-Keepsies Panty Raid… and The Survival Value of ADD

    When I was a kid and my family lived on the western tundra of Alaska, my dad took me hunting and fishing with him. We were bringing in food for the table in a place where agriculture was impossible. I loved tagging along and helping out. I was nine, so for hunting I was just…

  • Replotting Ohio 2… The Experiment that Went BOOM!

    Replotting Ohio 2… The Experiment that Went BOOM!

    Book 2 has a lot of salvageable material. A lot of awesome world stuff, some wonderfully funny scenes, some pretty scary scenes. It was fun for me to read, and I made myself laugh a bunch of times, got a little teary-eyed, did a light revision and passed it off to my Editor. Matt, however,…

  • Still replotting, still restructuring on Ohio 3

    Still replotting, still restructuring on Ohio 3

    There’s damn little I’m going to be able to save. Ohio 3 is lost in the weeds. So at this point, I’m barely even looking for things to save. I’m just looking for the story I wanted to tell but didn’t, and if I can use any of what I already wrote, great. If not……

  • Here’s that Wrong Left Turn In Albuquerque… and it’s as bad as I dreaded.

    Here’s that Wrong Left Turn In Albuquerque… and it’s as bad as I dreaded.

    The first sixty pages of Ohio 3 held up fine. Starting on manuscript page 61, I went in exactly the wrong direction, dropped the really good local character I had in place for one who broke my otherwise tight worldbuilding through two novels and the start of this one all to shit, threw in a…

  • Starting the Ohio 3 Read-through/Revision

    Starting the Ohio 3 Read-through/Revision

    Okay. I have the manuscript printed out. I did some brainstorming in the shower on how I can save as much of what I remember of the story as possible WITHOUT breaking what I did in the first two books, or the last two. Worst case, I’ll end up writing a completely new novel. That’s…

  • Ohio 2 Revision: To page 398 of 431

    Ohio 2 Revision: To page 398 of 431

    Pretty decent day. This part of the book took significant reworking, and I’m betting this is going to be one of the places where my editor finds out I struggled a bit. But I love what I finally ended up with.  And I stand a pretty good chance of finishing the revision on Monday. I…