Posted by: Karen Duvall
Working on: The first book in my steampunk urban fantasy series, MYSTIC TAXI (though the title will probably change by the time I'm finished)
Mood: Tenuously cheerful
This is going to be a short post. My life is pretty boring from a big picture viewpoint, and the writing spotty from a writer's perspective. I have no deadlines to meet. I have no new books to promote. The agent hunt was successful, so now I wait, listening to the clatter of chirping crickets that fills my empty inbox. I crave news.
So while I wait for my agent to inform me that publishers are fighting over my book, ahem, I work on a new one. I'd love to say I spend my day writing, adding thousands of words to my manuscript on a daily basis, but sadly that's not the case. I have another job, one that pays me money.
I'm self-employed, which works out beautifully for a writer who needs to make her own hours. I break up my day with writing and work, writing and work, probably to the chagrin of my clients who think they're my only priority. They ask when their project will be done and I give them a date, though they don't realize I've figured writing time in that bumps their job in the timeline.
I'd have a hard time writing straight through the day anyway. Like I couldn't only work on my graphic design projects from eight to five. I function best as a multi-tasker, moving between the two jobs, both of which are creative so I never have to shift that area of my brain to accommodate new ideas. Actually, one will often assist the other.
So as I design a new ad for an upscale fashion boutique in Seattle today, my brain chews over the next scene in my steampunk urban fantasy novel. Challenging, but fun.
If you're curious about this other career that competes with my writing, you can see samples of my design work here, here, here, and here.
Showing posts with label Karen's Posts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Karen's Posts. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Bling-blang-blog
Posted by: Karen Duvall
Currently Working On: A steampunk urban fantasy novel that’s the first in a new series and is called Mystic Taxi (love this title! I pray I get to keep it).
Mood: Stressed out because I still haven't finished the PowerPoint presentation for a writers' workshop I'll be giving in Denver next week. Aargh!
The topic this month is favorite romance blogs, but I'm sad to say I don't really have any. Not romance blogs, anyway. But I admit to being a blog-a-holic. Ahem.
The Internet is all about information, and when it comes to blogs you get the best of two worlds: info and personality. Every blog you read conveys the personality of the blogger. It can't be helped. It's like reading someone's diary.
I really enjoy group blogs, like our Rose City Romance Writers, where you get to read viewpoints from a variety of bloggers and not just one. I like Witchy Chicks, Magical Musings, Fangs, Fur & Fey, The League of Extraordinary Adults, and of course, the ultra-fabulous Mid Willamette Valley chapter blog . This last one is the best. You must visit.
I'm especially fond of several agent blogs, if they're not overly promotional, because they highlight the literary agent's part in the industry. I have an agent, but the dear woman doesn't blog, so I have to fulfill my needs elsewhere. I absolutely love Janet Reid's blog because she's so damn honest and tells it like it is. Rumor has it she's the original Miss Snark. For reals!
I've made Bookends and Pub Rants a daily habit. There are more, but you can visit just about any agent blog and see all the other agent blog links listed on the side.
For romance news and real gossip starters, you can't go wrong with Smart Bitches Read Trashy Books.
As for individual blogs, I'm partial to Lynn Viehl and I get such a kick out of Jackson Pearse. Jackson is a twenty-four-year-old writer who's amazingly talented and reminds me a bit of my youngest daughter. And she's hysterically funny; her life is like a sitcom. Jackson writes young adult and just got a contract for her first YA fantasy novel that was sold at auction. She's now buying her first condo. I adore success stories.
My two favorite industry blogs are Writer Unboxed and Writer Beware. The former because of the fabulous author, agent and editor interviews, and the latter for keeping writers up-to-date on scammers. What would we ever do without Victoria Straus and Ann Crispin? They are true life heroes for the writer community.
Okay, just by writing this post I've spent a few hours getting caught up in reading the blogs I made links to. Sigh. That's the danger of the Interenet. It can often be too tempting and too interesting to ignore. Happy surfing!
Thursday, August 7, 2008
The Colorado Gold
I didn't attend RWA's national conference last week. Did I miss going? It's kind of hard for me to miss something I've never experienced, but I always hear how wonderful it is so I'd like to go someday. If I'd had the time and money, I probably would have made the trip last week. But alas, I have a day job and I'm financially challenged.
Though I've never been to nationals, I make it a point to attend smaller conferences whenever I can. My absolute favorite that I've never missed in fifteen years is Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers' Colorado Gold. Why is it so special? Because it's all fiction, all genres. Very, very cool. You get the best of all worlds at this conference. The next one coming up is in September and I can hardly wait! Every year I reunite with dozens of writer friends I've known for as long as I've been attending this conference.
There are several things that set this conference apart and make it special. Lots of male writers attend this event and it's great to hear the guys' perspectives on writing. The guest agents and editors hear pitches from attendees, present their own workshops and panels, just like they do at RWA conferences. But the bonus is the critique workshops with the agents and editors who run them. I've learned so much from these intimate gatherings where an industry pro has read your sample pages beforehand and offers feedback in a group setting with a handful of other attendees. I love it!
I also enjoy the pre conference party for all the committee people who help make the conference happen. In fact, every evening is party time. I eat too much, drink too much, and never get enough sleep. Though I used to attend all the workshops years ago, now I only catch two or three, and buy the CDs of the interesting ones I missed. I also give a workshop or two myself. But my greatest delight is soaking up the creative energy from all these inspirational people, my fellow writers, who share my passion for writing books. It's awesome! And it charges my creative battery for another year.
Being with people who "get me" as a writer is invaluable. I think any conference anywhere will do that. Being around people who share my same interest in writing is like being in heaven. It's the best!
Though I've never been to nationals, I make it a point to attend smaller conferences whenever I can. My absolute favorite that I've never missed in fifteen years is Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers' Colorado Gold. Why is it so special? Because it's all fiction, all genres. Very, very cool. You get the best of all worlds at this conference. The next one coming up is in September and I can hardly wait! Every year I reunite with dozens of writer friends I've known for as long as I've been attending this conference.
There are several things that set this conference apart and make it special. Lots of male writers attend this event and it's great to hear the guys' perspectives on writing. The guest agents and editors hear pitches from attendees, present their own workshops and panels, just like they do at RWA conferences. But the bonus is the critique workshops with the agents and editors who run them. I've learned so much from these intimate gatherings where an industry pro has read your sample pages beforehand and offers feedback in a group setting with a handful of other attendees. I love it!
I also enjoy the pre conference party for all the committee people who help make the conference happen. In fact, every evening is party time. I eat too much, drink too much, and never get enough sleep. Though I used to attend all the workshops years ago, now I only catch two or three, and buy the CDs of the interesting ones I missed. I also give a workshop or two myself. But my greatest delight is soaking up the creative energy from all these inspirational people, my fellow writers, who share my passion for writing books. It's awesome! And it charges my creative battery for another year.
Being with people who "get me" as a writer is invaluable. I think any conference anywhere will do that. Being around people who share my same interest in writing is like being in heaven. It's the best!
Monday, July 7, 2008
But that's not possible… is it?
KAREN DUVALL
Currently working on: Revisions for my agent on my urban fantasy novel, KNIGHT'S CURSE
When you write paranormal and fantasy, research can be a challenge. And just because what you write isn't real doesn't mean facts aren't involved. Lots of the stuff I write is complete make-believe, but a bit of fact-finding research can spark some awesomely bizarre ideas.
I don't have a folder filled with links to favorite research sites. My needs change all the time and favorite websites disappear. The Internet is a very unstable world. So I usually start my research in the same place for every book: Google. And my research isn't complete without throwing in a look at Wikipedia.
What I love about research is where it can lead. A crazy chain of website links help me create a plot and inspire interesting subplots to go with it. Because I write fantasy, my fact-finding must be creative. How many fallen angels do you know? Any thousand-year-old Seljuk Turks hanging out in your neighborhood? Do you keep the mummified remains of a prophetic saint in your closet? No? Welcome to my world.
When I started plotting KNIGHT'S CURSE, I knew I wanted a heroine unlike any other. I thought she could be a descendant of something legendary and powerful, maybe even mythological. A goddess? Been done to death. Amazonian? Meh. But I liked the idea of a warrior. So I started Googling and discovered an order of female knights from th
e eleventh century called the Order of The Hatchet. Now that's cool. So my heroine became a knight in an order that, in my world, still exists in the 21st century, only instead of fighting soldiers in a medieval Crusade they fight supernatural evil in the city.
I also wanted to stay clear of vampires and were-animals of any sort. Dragons? Too big and bulky. Griffons? Closer. Demons? Too stock for my needs, though I did use one in a small role. A little surfing online got me thinking about gargoyles. Now that had potential. The whole turning to stone thing? Oh, yeah. I was all over it.
The plot began piecing itself together from all the tidbits I'd found in my research, and I had a blast making it work as a story. All these diverse subjects connecting in cool and unusual ways made a mad sort of sense, and the glue was my own dark and twisted imagination.
Could I have written this book without the research? Probably, but it would have been a different book and might have taken me three times as long to write. The resources at my fingertips freed my imagination, even expanded it. And I ended up with enough material to write an entire series. High speed cable and WiFi. I don't know how I ever got along without it.
Currently working on: Revisions for my agent on my urban fantasy novel, KNIGHT'S CURSE
When you write paranormal and fantasy, research can be a challenge. And just because what you write isn't real doesn't mean facts aren't involved. Lots of the stuff I write is complete make-believe, but a bit of fact-finding research can spark some awesomely bizarre ideas.
I don't have a folder filled with links to favorite research sites. My needs change all the time and favorite websites disappear. The Internet is a very unstable world. So I usually start my research in the same place for every book: Google. And my research isn't complete without throwing in a look at Wikipedia.
What I love about research is where it can lead. A crazy chain of website links help me create a plot and inspire interesting subplots to go with it. Because I write fantasy, my fact-finding must be creative. How many fallen angels do you know? Any thousand-year-old Seljuk Turks hanging out in your neighborhood? Do you keep the mummified remains of a prophetic saint in your closet? No? Welcome to my world.
When I started plotting KNIGHT'S CURSE, I knew I wanted a heroine unlike any other. I thought she could be a descendant of something legendary and powerful, maybe even mythological. A goddess? Been done to death. Amazonian? Meh. But I liked the idea of a warrior. So I started Googling and discovered an order of female knights from th
e eleventh century called the Order of The Hatchet. Now that's cool. So my heroine became a knight in an order that, in my world, still exists in the 21st century, only instead of fighting soldiers in a medieval Crusade they fight supernatural evil in the city.I also wanted to stay clear of vampires and were-animals of any sort. Dragons? Too big and bulky. Griffons? Closer. Demons? Too stock for my needs, though I did use one in a small role. A little surfing online got me thinking about gargoyles. Now that had potential. The whole turning to stone thing? Oh, yeah. I was all over it.
The plot began piecing itself together from all the tidbits I'd found in my research, and I had a blast making it work as a story. All these diverse subjects connecting in cool and unusual ways made a mad sort of sense, and the glue was my own dark and twisted imagination.
Could I have written this book without the research? Probably, but it would have been a different book and might have taken me three times as long to write. The resources at my fingertips freed my imagination, even expanded it. And I ended up with enough material to write an entire series. High speed cable and WiFi. I don't know how I ever got along without it.
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Home is where the book is
I don't know about anyone else, but Blogger is giving me fits today. It keeps crashing my browser every time I visit a Blogger blog. Very irritating.
Okay, this month's topic is about that sacred of all places, the Writer's Space. I can't offer much of anything different from what others have posted so far. I'm a mobile unit, the laptop and me connected at the hip, and I write wherever and whenever I can.
Though I have an office that's about a ten-foot square of space, I rarely write in there. Except maybe email. I have a desktop computer on a stationary desk, but it's got a wide screen that is more conducive to my graphic design business. I strive to keep my two creative businesses apart from each other. It makes me feel kind of schizo at times, but there you have it.
Here are pictures of my favorite writing spaces. The Skychair on the front porch is my summer space and is usually used at night when it's too hot to stay indoors (I live in Central Oregon and we don't have air conditioning in our house). Dark is best because the laptop screen is impossible to view in bright sunlight. The Skychair is awesome, very comfy, and it swings. The writing life doesn't get much better than this.
Most of the time, however, I write on this loveseat, usually with a cat in my lap. Sometimes two because, you know, you can never have too much cat hair stuck in your keyboard. It's a tight fit, but we manage. The cats sort of wobble as my fingers skitter over the laptop's keys. Having two cats lay across your arms as you're typing is a great workout for the forearms.
I have a friend who has two specially assigned writing chairs. One she sits in to write, and the other she sits in to edit. That's an interesting concept, but I doubt it would work for me. It' just too… I don't know. Compartmentalized.
Today will be spent on revisions to my latest manuscript. My agent sent me a list of suggestions and I'm right about halfway through, hoping to finish them all by tomorrow. I can hardly wait to get my new urban fantasy out making the rounds at the big publishing houses. It's the first book in a series, so we're hopeful it finds a home soon so that I can get started on the second book. I have the first couple of pages from chapter one posted on my blog if you'd like to take a look.
Karen Duvall, author of DESERT GUARDIAN (The Wild Rose Press)
Okay, this month's topic is about that sacred of all places, the Writer's Space. I can't offer much of anything different from what others have posted so far. I'm a mobile unit, the laptop and me connected at the hip, and I write wherever and whenever I can.
Though I have an office that's about a ten-foot square of space, I rarely write in there. Except maybe email. I have a desktop computer on a stationary desk, but it's got a wide screen that is more conducive to my graphic design business. I strive to keep my two creative businesses apart from each other. It makes me feel kind of schizo at times, but there you have it.
Here are pictures of my favorite writing spaces. The Skychair on the front porch is my summer space and is usually used at night when it's too hot to stay indoors (I live in Central Oregon and we don't have air conditioning in our house). Dark is best because the laptop screen is impossible to view in bright sunlight. The Skychair is awesome, very comfy, and it swings. The writing life doesn't get much better than this.Most of the time, however, I write on this loveseat, usually with a cat in my lap. Sometimes two because, you know, you can never have too much cat hair stuck in your keyboard. It's a tight fit, but we manage. The cats sort of wobble as my fingers skitter over the laptop's keys. Having two cats lay across your arms as you're typing is a great workout for the forearms.
I have a friend who has two specially assigned writing chairs. One she sits in to write, and the other she sits in to edit. That's an interesting concept, but I doubt it would work for me. It' just too… I don't know. Compartmentalized.
Today will be spent on revisions to my latest manuscript. My agent sent me a list of suggestions and I'm right about halfway through, hoping to finish them all by tomorrow. I can hardly wait to get my new urban fantasy out making the rounds at the big publishing houses. It's the first book in a series, so we're hopeful it finds a home soon so that I can get started on the second book. I have the first couple of pages from chapter one posted on my blog if you'd like to take a look.
Karen Duvall, author of DESERT GUARDIAN (The Wild Rose Press)
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