Writing Process – Cycling & Drafts

I mentioned previously that I write organically (aka pansing, writing into the dark). I don't write with an outline or with any idea of where I'm going. I've tried outlining, planning, making my characters stick to what I want to do, but it always backfires. Catastrophically. I'm slowly closing in on Draft 2 of my...

Scattered, Episode 17 – Collaboration with Community and Respect for the Dead

Scattered, Episode 17 is now live! After many, many months of coordination and patience, I finally chatted with Andrew Bernie of the Unrecovered War Casualties unit of the Australian Military. He and his unit collaborate with many other organizations across the world to locate and recover Australian war dead. https://yvonnekjorlien.com/2023/03/10/scattered-episode-17-collaboration-and-respecting-the-dead-interview-with-andrew-bernie/ You can listen and subscribe...

Women in Archaeology Podcast

Hey all, This is a short post to let you know I had a lovely chat with the gals at the Women in Archaeology podcast a few weeks ago. You can listen to the podcast here: https://womeninarchaeology.com/2023/03/05/scattered-crossover-with-yvonne-kjorlien/

Finding Community

I don't do New Year's resolutions. Recuperating after the madness of Christmas isn't the best time for me to force myself to change. Instead, much like Chris Guillebeau, I do an evaluation of what worked over the past year and what didn't so I can then make informed decisions about the future. But, unlike Chris,...

Not taking Stephen King’s advice

Stephen King was in my dream last night. He was doing a tour of small town bookstores and chatting to aspiring and emerging writers. Image by MidJourney I sat for a time near him as he dished out advice and heard the challenges of these small town authors. The bookstore was one of those with...

It Isn’t About the Paintbrush

I did an art course last summer. I was excited. It was the first time I'd done an art course at this location and was ready to be inspired. The art list issued prior to the course had some recommendations about the colour of watercolours, paper to bring, etc. I decided my cheap-o set would...

Progressive Elaboration

We don't like change. We don't like the unknown. For some of us, we mitigate the unknown by planning. We pride ourselves on being able to see patterns that help us prepare for future events. We plan out the steps, the details, every contingency. Then things change. For those of who write, we want to...

Bone Search and Discovery Course – available again

Short post! I have found a way to make the Introduction to Bone Search & Discovery Short Course available again. (Yeah, my Christmas break was productive 😀 ) This is a basic, entry-level introduction for civilians, physical anthropology students, and new law enforcement members. This course focuses on the context of outdoor surficially-dispersed remains: what...

Content vs. Marketing

On every author group, at every event, I hear the same thing: "I'm a writer. I hate marketing. I spend so much time marketing when all I want to do is write." Yup. It's necessary evil of being an indie author. It seems like every second year I spend a significant portion of my time...

“Ancient Apocalypse” Uproar

So..."Ancient Apocalypse". There's been quite a bit on social media and other media about this Netflix series lately. I'm not *really* on social media, but a lot of my friends are archaeologists or archaeology-adjacent and they are up on all the latest scandal. (Who needs Lady Whistledown when you have friends in the know?) The...