Category Archives: Spells

That Expat Girl’s Guide to Writing a Novel | Part 1: Ideas

Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work. Stephen King, Awaken This post is the first in a series on the novel writing process. Follow me or subscribe to be notified as soon as a new post goes live. I’m going to tell you a secret.Continue reading “That Expat Girl’s Guide to Writing a Novel | Part 1: Ideas”

That Expat Girl edits a novel | Part I: Editing Goals

If, like me, you currently have a sprawling, vaguely-sensical monstrosity of a first novel draft on your hands, you may very well be wondering what to do with it. Let’s figure it out together.

Edit

edit /ehd-it/ (verb, with object) | A long, dismal process of rearranging broken things, aligning the ragged edges of mis-matched puzzles, filing too-sharp points to polished facets and hiding the unfinished corners. Trace over fracture lines with molten gold; find diamonds to set in the pockmarks. Perhaps the thing is not a ruin after all.Continue reading “Edit”

After Narnia (a Flash Fic)

When Lily Underwood, Queen of the Eight Lands, Empress upon the mountain, Consort of the God-king Achram Lord of Light, and Goddess of the Five Seas and the Islands of Orawn stepped back through the wardrobe door, she found that not a moment had passed. Her scepter was gone, and her royal robes, and sheContinue reading “After Narnia (a Flash Fic)”

Of Novels and Webmischief

One of my goals this year has been to get more of my work out there — not necessarily through the traditional publishing route, but on my blog, through medium, and — rather ambitiously — by posting the first novel I ever wrote (under a pen name) free on the web. So if you’re curiousContinue reading “Of Novels and Webmischief”

How you can use Nanowrimo to build a year-long writing practice

Five days into November, the fireworks are flying, the coffee is flowing, and all over the world, novelists from all walks of life are furiously scribbling away, aiming to reach the goal of writing 50,000 words by the end of the month. Started in 1999 when Chris Baty was told, in no uncertain terms, thatContinue reading “How you can use Nanowrimo to build a year-long writing practice”