On Kissing (I Think Deeply About Making Out so You Don’t Have To!)

My first round revisions for MIDNIGHT THIEF involved ramping up a romance arc. Specifically, this required MOAR KISSING.

And it was kind of difficult.

Okay, okay, I know this is hard to believe, given the hot and heavy action MIT neuroscientists get on a daily basis, but really truly, it was. Maybe it says something about me that I wrote five unique fight scenes in my novel, but by my second kiss scene, things were already starting to feel repetitive.

(Those tempted to explain in the comments section exactly what that says about me, do so at your own risk. Did I mention that I write a lot of murder scenes? :-P)

I'm Back! And in LA!

Hi everyone,

Long time no see! A lot has happened since my last blog entry. I defended my dissertation in mid-September, and after that, promptly jumped into a car with my husband for a cross-country drive to our new home in Los Angeles. So now we're settling down -- him at his new job, and me in my new life as a freelance science writer/novelist. In the next few weeks, I'll be working on getting the blog back up to speed. In the meantime, how are you? And for those of you familiar with the Los Angeles area/writing community, any tips for things to do, places to see?

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Why "Please and Thank You" Mean Different Things in American and Britain

Hello all.  I recently completed a dissertation draft and I'm taking a quick breather before I dive back in to prepare for my defense.  So no actual blog entry, but I wanted to direct your attention to an interesting article written by an American linguist living in the UK.  It's about words like "please" and "thank you,"  and how they mean different things in the two different cultures.  It's a fascinating article (the video is worth watching as well), and useful to writers for understanding the interaction between culture and language.  Go take a look!


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How To Market Your Book At Cons

Guest post by Bryan Thomas Schmidt.

So, you’ve done all the research. Whether from online sites like Locus, or a general search for science fiction convention lists like this or this, through word of mouth or reading the back of Asimovs and Analog, you’ve identified several Cons for which the stars seem aligned (locations, dates, guests, size, costs, themes, etc. all seem to fit your needs, wants and schedule. Great. But hold on a minute. Before you make contact, first things first. And the first thing here is you need a good bio.

A good bio should be short but highlight the key things which would make you desirable as a panelist/guest and attendee.

Let’s start with mine:

Using Pinterest as a Reader, Writer, and Author

First, congratulations to Sam for winning the Near Witch Giveaway.

Second, MIT graduation was last Friday. Unfortunately, I wasn't in it. In the grand tradition of doctoral dissertations, my defense has been moved back a few months. I'm now shooting for the end of summer. My next few months will be split between dissertation writing and revisions of Midnight Thief, so blogwise, I’ll still be scarce for a while.

But even when time is scarce, there's always time for another social network! I've been checking out Pinterest recently (Here I am!), trying to see if I should integrate it into my social media strategy (Oh, who am I kidding? I just like the pretty pictures.). I thought I'd share some of the ways that it might be useful for book people: specifically readers, pre-published writers, and published writers.

Edit:  Since coming across Roni Loren's blog post on copyright violation, I've removed some of the embedded images on this post. For the moment, I'm still using Pinterest, but I'm looking into the copyright issue.

Point of View and Freewheeling Thoughts

First of all, a huge thank you to everyone for your well wishes and congratulations. I’m super excited about bringing Midnight Thief into the world, and I’m looking forward to sharing more details about the deal and process (BTW, if anyone has any specific questions, lemme know!). But first, for today, something different.

My freshman year of college, I took an expository writing class. One of the most important skills we learned was how to transition smoothly between different ideas. It was good, solid, advice, and improved my writing greatly. But like all writing rules, it doesn't always apply. I was reminded of this when I read Victoria Schwab's The Near Witch.

The Other Reason I Haven't Had As Much Time to Blog Lately

From Dystel and Goderich's latest deals roundup:

Livia Blackburne’s MIDNIGHT THIEF, a debut YA fantasy novel about a talented thief who joins an assassin’s guild only to find that what she thought was the perfect job is much more sinister than originally imagined was sold to Abby Ranger at Hyperion by Jim.

More details to come...