Digging in the Dirt of Life
We have images in our heads of our characters, of settings, of action sequences. What would these look like in real life? I was listening to The Creative Penn podcast a couple weeks ago. Joanna interviewed Derek Murphy and they talked about AI for art and images. I had a bit of time this afternoon... Continue Reading →
I tried to do NaNoWriMo a few years back. I lasted four days. It was all about word count. I needed to write everyday. Other people were doing this, why couldn’t I? Maybe if I just plotted and outlined…. I needed to be productive, dammit! Why wasn’t this working? Shit. The pressure was too much.... Continue Reading →
It's been a while since I posted about our research project on scavenged and scattered remains. What's going on? Last year's sites: Bags of bones! The sites in the Edmonton and Calgary areas were left for about a year. Through July and August of this year, we revisited each and collected the remains, the flags,... Continue Reading →
By the title of this post, you may have guessed I'm reading Dean Wesley Smith's "Writing into the Dark". Writing into the dark is another way of saying you write intuitively or by discovery or "by the seat of your pants". I find the term "panser" (likely derived from "by the seat of your pants")... Continue Reading →
Available on Amazon. I just published my second book. I'm currently working on my third, fourth, and fifth books (the second 'Fate' book, a non-fiction, and a magic-induced romp through hilarity and incredulity novel). There might be a sixth in there because, hey, things change and tomorrow's a new day. I was asked recently how... Continue Reading →
I am beyond tired. Tuesday and Wednesday were research field days of 11 to 12 hours each. On Thursday, I'm home and completely done in. Friday was a serious struggle against continuing exhaustion. How did I do this when I was in consulting archaeology? But that is the point: I didn't. Or, not really. Ten... Continue Reading →
There are a few things going on. For those who have not subscribed to my newsletter, this is for you. I do try to cross-pollinate, but things get missed. Subscribe to my newsletter here. In research news: New Scattered podcast episode! I talked to Dr. Nick Marquez-Grant from Cranfield University about next of kin and... Continue Reading →
I'm going to divert a bit here from my current streak of writing process posts and focus on the publishing. I am an independent publisher. I have published both of my books in print and ebook format. When I wrote "Memoirs of a Reluctant Archeologist" (2011), CreateSpace was complicated and not user-friendly. It was so... Continue Reading →
In mid-June 2022, I hit the "publish" button on the first book, Waiting for Fate, of my Fate Series. I waited over twenty years to publish this book, but it was still too early when I finally did. Hindsight is always 20-20. I once heard that one of Terry Brooks' regrets was that he published... Continue Reading →
Why did I choose self-publishing? This is a question I get a LOT. I get this question mostly from people who are struggling to write. I get this question also from people who want to be traditionally published. I think it's important to point out the differences between these two different types of people and... Continue Reading →
The Reluctant Archaeologist 