Lifehacker.com has a great article on The Science of Storytelling that explains why stories are so powerful, and why a good one works so well with an audience.

My favourite quote:

When we are being told a story, things change dramatically. Not only are the language processing parts in our brain activated, but any other area in our brain that we would use when experiencing the events of the story are too.

Read the whole article here.

Neat!

Ever tried to find a book where you couldn’t remember the title or the author, just vaguely remembered snippets?

You’re in luck!

What was that book? is an online community that reunites folks with the booksthat they’ve lost.

This may be one of the best ideas ever.

Hat tip to io9, which is where I learned about them.

The folks over at Black Gate gave a very thoughtful review for “When the Hero Comes Home.”

You can read it here: http://www.blackgate.com/2012/05/01/when-the-hero-comes-home-a-review/

And they gave me a mention!

Erik Buchanan’s “The Evil That Remains” is nicely structured, has a strong thematic idea, builds a credible setting with a few well-chosen touches, and uses the fantastic in a memorable way.

So yay! for “When the Hero Comes Home,” and our wonderful editors Gabrielle Harbowy and Ed Greenwood.

If you haven’t picked up your copy yet, what are you waiting for?

Buy it here!

From io9:

Ten of the Most AwesomeSword-Fight Scenes Ever.

And I especially agree with their choice of number 1.

This is really, really cool, in a “let’s clean up the whole planet” kind of way.

Came across this article on io9:

10 Worst Mistakes that Authors of Alternate History Make

An interesting read, and some good tips to work on if you might be thinking of working on a novel that plays with history.

…not that I know anyone planning to do that.

…Really.

Oh, and they added this one this evening:

Another Mistake That Alternate History Authors Fall Into

Enjoy.

As for me, I’m editing. It’s like writing only less fun.

But it makes the work so, so much better.

The cake is now baked, the whisky’s been poured
And downed as we wrapped the whole Christmas hoard.
It’s way, way too late as we stumble to bed,
Hoping to lie down and sleep like the dead,
But knowing that soon the child will arise,
And wake us all with her loud, happy cries.
It’s that time of year, so what can you say,
But Merry Christmas! And may you nap later today.

I received an email today from Kevin Newland Scott, who was participating in Deck the Halls: Grown-Up Storytime at the Salem Public Library in Salem, Oregon.

And there, he read my story, “A Visit from Cousin Charles.” (which you can find here)

A quote from his email:

Everyone wanted to know where I had found the wonderful Christmas ghost story — and it was a lucky Google. I was looking for a Christmas ghost story by Robertson Davies, and chanced to turn up one that mentioned him.

I am all sorts of thrilled!

Thank you for picking my story, Kevin, and I am very glad the audience enjoyed it.

And now I’m wondering if I can get another one written by Christmas. Hmmm…

Merry Christmas to everyone who attended the event, and heck, Merry Christmas to the rest of you!

What if there were a technology that would allow you to learn how to do new things with no conscious effort?

According to scientists at Boston University and ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories in Kyoto, Japan, it might be possible.

Click the link above to read the whole article, and then imagine opening your eyes in the big chair and and saying, “I know Kung Fu.”

Cool.

I wrote 50,440 words. I also took 6 days to recover. The question is, was it worth it?

The answer is, I’m not sure (how decisive of me, eh?).

Yes, I wrote 50,000+ words on my new novel. On a normal month I write around 20-25,000. So I doubled my output. The problem was, it wasn’t a sustainable pace.

Like a lot of other people who tried it, I have a full time job and a small child. I also have a nasty exercise habit that gets me out of bed at 5:30 a.m. and a convention I go to in the middle of it all. All of them are immoveable objects in my life.

So what did I give up?

Sleep.

I averaged 5 hours a night or less for a month. Yes, I can do that. No, it is not happy making. It leaves me zombified and drinking too much caffeine, which in turn (because I am allergic to caffeine) leaves me shaky, irritable, prone to mood swings and given to sudden exhausted collapses, one of which happened on a weekend with my daughter.

That was not happy making.

The other issue is that the name of the game in NaNoWriMo is volume, not quality. I can already see that there’s at about 10,000 words that are going to be cut entirely. And there’s a fair amount of the rest that will need some serious re-working (even more serious than usual, and that’s saying something).

So while I highly recommend NaNoWriMo for those who need impetus to put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard, I will not be taking part next year. Instead, I am focusing on three writing projects between now and then:

1. Editing my new book, a young adult piece set in Victorian London.

2. Finishing the third book in my “Magics” series for Dragon Moon Press (which was my NanoWriMo project last year).

3. Writing a new historical fiction piece that’s been brewing in my mind for a while.

Will I get it all done?

I think so. And hopefully with more sleep than I got in the last month.