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.

From the website Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal:

You gave me dreams of dragons.

Anne McCaffery, 1926-2011

This weekend is SFContario!

I’m tearing myself away from NaNoWriMo (32,819 words, by the way, which puts me past last year’s count. YAY!) to staff the Dragon Moon Press table, which this year will feature:

When the Hero Comes Home (anthology), edited by Gabrielle Harbowy and Ed Greenwood

Small Magics and Cold Magics by Erik Buchanan (of course)

Destiny’s Blood by Marie Bilodeau

Triptych by  J.M. Frey

Authors J.M. Frey and Marie Bilodeau will both be at the convention (Marie on Sunday only), and both will happily sign books whenever they get the chance.

Also, panels!

Weapons and Armour – Fri. 8 PM, Parkview
An examination of the historical and ongoing technological race
between weapons and the equipment that makes them obsolete. (Erik
Buchanan, Stephen B Pearl, Adam Shaftoe(M), David Stephenson)

Are there any new stories? Sat. 4 PM, Parkview
It’s been said that there’s a limited number of stories – the number
varies with who’s saying it – but each generation of writers seems to
come up with a few truly new ones. How can you break out of the
classic story forms and do something really new, while still being
understandable to readers? Is it even worthwhile to try? (Erik
Buchanan, Derek Kunsken, Ira Nayman(M), Craig Russell, Michael
Swanwick)

Accents and Speech Patterns – sun 11 PM Ballroom BC
When representing accents and ways of speaking in fiction some authors
choose to add slang terms while others may write entire novels in a
vernacular accent. When is it too much? Is it worth sacrificing
readability for authenticity? Our panel will give tips, strategies and
techniques for accurately representing speech in fiction. (Richard
Baldwin, Erik Buchanan, Ian Keeling, Stephen B Pearl(M), Robert
Charles Wilson)

So do come by this weekend, if you have a moment and want to have some fun. It’s a great little con and this year is hosting the Aurora Awards.

Or, if you don’t have the cash to spare, but want to get your hands on some fine DMP books, the dealer’s room is open to the public from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

As I mention from time to time, I’m a fight director and an actor. About a week ago, my friend Kevin Robinson, a stunt coordinator, asked me to come out and stunt-double for an actor on a show he is working on.

So I said yes.

The video is a bit dark, but that’s me, wearing a wig and padding, on the left.

A great bit of fun, thanks to Kevin and Chris Mott, his assistant, who made sure I was safe and that most everything went off smoothly and on time.

Congratulations to J.M. Frey for making the list with her great debut novel! Looking forward to seeing many more good books from you.

Here’s the link!

And in case you don’t know about Triptych, learn more and buy it here.

Well done, J.M.!

See you at SFContario!