Category: Writing

  • Sometimes Heroes don’t know that they are.

    Monday Morning I lost a close friend. Alex was an amazing person, prone to random acts of generosity. They gave much of themselves and rarely asked for anything in return. They dealt, as so many of us do, with depression and a poor self-image, and often I wished that they could have seen themselves as…

  • I’ve created a Patreon

    I’ve created a Patreon

    Patreon may be one of the best things to have come out for creators in the recent crowd-sourced age of the internet.  It has enabled so many content creators to live independently, making the things they love and serving those things directly to the people who want to buy them.  It’s a game changer. But…

  • The Comfort of Formula
    Photo Credit: Lauren Finkel Photography Flickr via Compfight cc

    The Comfort of Formula

    I try to avoid formulaic stories when I write. Formulas are the opposite of original, after all, and originality is the thing we all strive for. When I intentionally use a trope, it is usually for the purpose of subverting or poking fun at it. As a consumer of media, however, I occasionally find formulaic…

  • No New Projects
    Photo Credit: Ken Kistler Photography

    No New Projects

    I’m bad at finishing things. This is, I’m aware, a symptom of one of my sundry mental illness diagnoses, the constant starting of new projects and then losing steam/interest midway and abandoning them. It’s part of why I’ve always been more successful at writing short stories than anything longer form. But I’ve got a new…

  • When Your Brain Rebels

    I wasn’t doing great last week. Sometimes that happens. Sometimes my brain isn’t so much trying to kill me as it is trying to make me just not exist, or turn that existence into moving through an empty fog, where even getting up and doing anything seems to take monumental effort. That the House voted…

  • #ThingsOnlyWomenWritersHear

    #ThingsOnlyWomenWritersHear

    Joann Harris (author of [amazon_textlink asin=’0140282033′ text=’Chocolat’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’meadhbh-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’0f712fd9-2457-11e7-8403-6d541317d711′]), started a little hashtag on Twitter Tuesday morning that’s been trending all day: #ThingsOnlyWomenWritersHear. I may have been glued to it a while. Sometimes it’s nice to know you’re not alone. The most common thing I get is “Wait, you write sci-fi/fantasy? Not romance?” I…

  • Write Things You’ll Never Publish
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    Write Things You’ll Never Publish

    Only about 33% of what I write is ever actually intended for publication. I know what you’re thinking: “But Mavey, darling, there’s only so much time in the day and I need to get paid.” Don’t we all. With a full-time job, half a dozen pets, a handicapped mother that I’m the primary caregiver of, and…

  • Caught Between Fire and Stone
    Photo Credit: Tom Simpson Flickr via Compfight cc

    Caught Between Fire and Stone

    Depression paralyzes. Anger motivates. When you get them together? It can feel like you’re a bee flailing at a pane of clear glass, endlessly bouncing off to no effect. I have been so very angry. It started last November when this country elected a President and filled Congress with people who see me as second…

  • Bad Copy-Editors and How Not To Be One
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    Bad Copy-Editors and How Not To Be One

    One of my favorite modern authors, Seanan McGuire, is editing her next book. This is usually a call for rejoicing (and, of course, it is) but she’s taken to twitter to complain about the copy-editor assigned to her. Quite justifiably so. The twitter rant in question, however, could be used as a lesson to other…