Lilith Saintcrow's Blog, page 231

I haven’t had toast with butter and jam for breakfast in years, so today I decided to give it a whirl again. It’s still just as good as I remember. The rain has stopped for a little while, the sky is bright behind its lens of clouds, and yesterday I finished the line edits and read-through for the second YA book.

As usual after a massive revisions push, my brain feels busted in a big way. (And the copyedits for Flesh Circus are due soon. Waaah!) So, today is for grocery shopping (big fun) reading

This is what it’s like to be inside my head:

This morning I was making coffee, and I started wondering why coffee and coffee grounds mold. It’s awful acid. After a little while it occurred to me that the moss on my lawn loves acid soil, mold could be the same way. Then I started wondering what type of mold it was, and if there was any use for it, like penicillin.

This led to a long train of thought about a potential drug developed from coffee mold, and what the implications of it for the price of

Cross-posted from Deadline Dames, where you can find other writing advice, contests, giveaways, and unicorns! Okay. I’m lying again, about the unicorns. But go check it out!

A happy Beltane, and a happy Friday to you, dear Reader. If you are here for writing advice, well…I have just one piece of it this Friday.

Sometimes it’s good to take a little break. Of course the work goes on inside my head whenever I step away from the keyboard–I’m always juggling plot or mulling over a nasty word-choice pro

So far this morning it’s been:

* 1K on an old fantasy story that never really got off the ground.
* Working out.
* Waiting for the next hit of JR Ward’s Black Dagger books to arrive. These are totally, utterly cracktastic. Though switching between them, Georgette Heyer, and Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick gives me weird, weird dreams.
* Rainy and a little squally, and the grass is very lusciously green. The air smells good, and the new yellow-green leaves on the tree I can see from my writing chair are light

It’s just one of those days where I am reduced to helpless laughter halfway through. It’s either that or cry out of sheer frustration and angst. You know, those days where you wake up, things are okay for a while, you’re on a roll…and then it all goes to hell and one thing follows another and then, you have to start laughing at the sheer absurdity of each situation because otherwise you’re going to have a complete sobbing breakdown?

Yeah, like that. *headdesk*

Anyway. I have not heard from one of

And a happy Monday to you, dear Readers. I’ve had one of the busiest weekends I can remember, up to and including a video shoot yesterday. (I can’t officially announce for what yet. Stay tuned.) So I am yawning and shambling this morning.

And we have two Contest Winners! I added the comments on the post here and at Deadline Dames together, because there was some initial confusion about where to comment to win and this seemed the fairest way of resolving it. With the help of Random.org, we have ou

First, the giveaway! I have two–count ‘em, two–signed copies of my about-to-be-released YA novel Strange Angels to give away today. Comment on this Deadline Dames entry by midnight Saturday, April 25, and with the help of Random.org, your comment might be chosen! Disclaimer: I can only mail to US & Canada addresses. Sorry about that.

Let’s talk about truth in writing. A fellow writer asked me the other day:

Here’s the thing. I’m a good writer. I know the craft stuff, I have the structure, characte

Forgiveness might be a virtue. It might not.

On my last post, Reader FD commented:

I loathe the ‘to be a truly actualized person you have to forgive and forget’ message. Yeah, understanding helps and knowing ‘they’ had triggers and damages of their own, gives valuable distance and perspective, but that’s very distinct from the victim mentality of forgiving, and forgetting. I mean, come on, if you truly forgive, you are saying there are no completely unacceptable behaviours, and if you truly forget

First, check out Nathan Bransford’s excellent post on tropes and originality. This is why I tell new writers “be honest and the originality will follow”. The ring of absolute honesty will shine through a tired old story and make it new again; when it comes through your uniqueness as a filter it will be unique.

If you’re bored with posts about weight, body image, and food, you might want to skip this one. Just warning you.

Last Labor Day I started an exercise regimen. Slowly and carefully, I’ve dro

I hate summer colds with a passion. Thankfully, the exercise regimen does seem to mean I fight them off with a little bit of buckled swash instead of pulling a Camille. And it’s going to be eighty degrees today. *cries* ANYWAY.

My writing partner, the Selkie, is also known as Nina Merrill. Her newest novelette, Scarred, is out. I love me some erotic gothic suspense. It’s a hot little number, and I enjoyed it from start to finish. So, check it out if you like that sort of thing.

Also, Pharyngula ha