The Lady Astronaut of Mars, by Mary Robinette Kowal This work of fiction is short—I didn’t realize it was a novelette and was surprised when it ended because I wanted more. I loved it. Sort of an alternate history of space travel (and, oddly, the Wizard of Oz, and yet …
The 7 Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, by Taylor Jenkins Reid This is a good novel, which won’t surprise anybody who read the author’s Daisy Jones and the Six (also amazing). It’s about an aging Hollywood actress, formerly a huge star and now a recluse, who stuns everyone when she insists …
During those first couple weeks of the global Covid-19 pandemic, I couldn’t read and I’ve heard so many others say the same. It was sudden and scary, and nobody knew how things would play out. This Roz Chast cartoon in The New Yorker summed up those first few days pretty well. …
I’m just back from what we dubbed the Extreme Winter Tour 2019. I live and work (as a freelance tech content marketing writer) in Hawaii, and my daughter had never been in the snow, so we decided to take a two-part, snowy winter vacation. Full effect! First, we spent what …
What have you read lately? Here are the books, podcasts, and movies I read, listened to, and watched in January. The stars indicate the ones I especially recommend. January Books The Bookseller, by Cynthia Swanson (audiobook). This book was interesting. It’s about a single woman who owns and runs a …
I sat down at the computer this morning to check my to-do list. But instead, I became delightfully lost in mid- to late-19th century Devon, England. Literary Devon beckoned to me. The poet John Keats, who lived and wrote in the Devon town of Teignmouth, once called the place a …
Maybe you have no idea how to write a novel, but decide to write one anyway. But hopefully in an informed way. You don’t want to write a BAD novel. Maybe you’re even a professional writer already, like me. But not of novels. Perhaps it’s crystal clear to you that …
Getting started on writing a novel, it turns out, can be hard. Step 1 of my goal to write a novelin 2019 was to choose the path. I was trying to decide between two ideas, and I chose the one I am more excited about; the one I’ve already been researching …
If you’ve been following along, you’ll know I’ve been trying to decide between two fiction writing projects to devote my head and spare time to this year. And ta-da! I have chosen the new novel idea, which is historical fiction. I chose this over working on the children’s novel …
It’s time to make it happen. It’s one week into 2019, the year in which I proclaimed I’m going to write (and actually finish) a novel, and I thought I knew my plan. Suddenly, though, I have two projects to choose between. I need to make a decision. Let me …
