In my work I get to see some amazing metal chains, both as premade necklaces and by the foot. During a bout of insomnia + random Google cosplay searches, it struck me that most hobby jewelers and beaders have no idea how to take chains to the next level. These are the folks content to…
Read More Etsy Showcase: a few gold chainsIn 2004, in the midst of a fairly divisive American Presidential election, I made this fiber art book. This is one set of pages, embroidered in red and blue cotton thread on cotton and linen ground, with fore-edges tasseled in cotton thread and glass beads. This is the original poem I wrote and embroidered into…
Read More Continental Divide: 12 years laterSo this was going to be a narrow-focused publishing rant about Peter Thiel, Pixar, Diverse Voices, and hypocrisy… But then Orlando happened: first the senseless death of a harmless, gifted young woman, then the carnage last night, more innocent lives lost at the Pulse nightclub. The latter apparently caused by a young Muslim man with…
Read More Orlando (infuriating content)I may or may not be there, depending on: Heatwaves. Seriously, folks, it’s going to be 120F on Saturday. I’ve lived here for nearly 30 years. It would take extraordinary enticements to make me brave even crossing the street in central Phoenix if I’m not absolutely required to do so. I will probably be lurking…
Read More Phoenix Comicon begins today!Down to three unanswered queries out of my list from early February. I have Some Thoughts about this process, but it’s not considered polite to vent about agents while querying, so I won’t. I do notice it’s very similar to certain job interviews, wherein one tries to strike the balance between assertive but not too…
Read More May 25: a mixed-bag dayThis tweet from IngramSpark is getting a category in Filigree’s Rule, but I thought it should have its own blog post, too: *** IngramSpark@IngramSpark #Selfpublishing is a great way to promote your new book, even if you plan to use a traditional publisher in the future. *** For one, it’s wrong. Wrong wrong wrong wrongity…
Read More Oh hell, no…or bad IngramSpark…If you might consider looking at unagented work that has snagged an advance-paying commercial publisher’s contract offer. We’re a little tired of doing things this way: And we’re certain you’re tired of dealing with us. If you already share this? Thank you, bless you, may your authors win many awards and make truckloads of money.…
Read More Literary agents, please tell us…Basic, useful writing stuff first. Here is a quick shout-out to Kristen Lamb, who tells it like it is over on her blog…far better than I can. If nothing else, new writers should learn (and tattoo in glowing ink on the inside of their eyelids) that Editing Is Most Of The Damn Job. Some smug…
Read More The Reality of Writing and Diversity, 5-18-2016I’m not as precise or as disciplined about creating character hinterlands as this article suggests, but it’s pretty close to my process. Of course, this is only fashionable to admit if one becomes a success at it, I suspect. Otherwise, we are told ‘Don’t write so much backstory’, ‘You’ll never finish the actual story, will…
Read More Apparently this is how I writeFollow this link to my interview with the talented and tolerant Theophilia St. Claire, as we talk about the creative process, my experiments with contemporary M/M romance (aka my novella Maestro), and some ‘taboo’ writing subjects. Some purposefully vague news: If you’re interested in my debut novel Moro’s Price (a M/M erotic romance space opera)…
Read More Spotlight on Maestro, news on Moro’s PriceMy stars above, I want to do this. And some of this. I live near older ‘seniors only’ communities, where the first generation to hobby-paint with Bill Alexander and Bob Ross are now dying out. The hobbyists’ yeoman efforts have been making their way into local thrift stores for a good twenty years. Sounds cruel…
Read More Adding Monsters to Thrift Store PaintingsIn honor of The Sovereign and the Thin White Duke*, and as part of the Kids Need to Read charity’s events at the 2016 Phoenix Comicon, I will be donating ‘First Frost’, a black wire and crystal bead mask** inspired by that wonderful ancient fantasy flick ‘Labyrinth’. This is the second wire mask I’ve made…
Read More First Frost Mask, Phoenix Comicon3…2…1..let’s do this. It’s April of 2016, and the Hugo Awards nominations have been made public. If you don’t know what the Hugos are to the science fiction and fantasy genre (or don’t care), you might want to leave now. I’ll forgive you. If you stay, I’ll assume you already know last year’s Hugo history.…
Read More Another year, another Hugo Awards pie fightNew feature on this blog: Etsy Showcase. I’m going to be looking at other artists’ work on Etsy, and analyzing pieces that I love, like, or think I could adapt. (I’m also going to try to find the ‘ultimate expression’ of that craft, if I can.) I did not make this crystal and river pebble…
Read More Etsy showcase #1: pebble pendantAs I type this post, I’m looking at a small package filled with about $40 worth of art supplies left over from the scrapbooking binge era circa 2003 to 2006. Which I scored not long ago for $3 at a local thrift store. There are expensive, well-made plastic circle templates spun on tiny ball-bearings. Pewter…
Read More Useful Objects: craft, thrift, and mortalityA little compare and contrast game for this election season. (For those of you not American or not paying attention, yes, we’re in the middle of an incredibly nasty presidential election.) My examples have nothing – and everything – to do with the current candidates. Canada has a new Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, who stunned…
Read More Quantum Computing and lies from the pit of hellA PSA for writers in multiple genres with query-ready manuscripts (finished & polished): if you and/or your characters meet certain qualifications, you can participate in tomorrow’s #DVpit contest on Twitter. It’s being sponsored by agent Beth Phelan, and looks to include a lot of well-known literary agents and editors (usual caveats apply). This is a…
Read More Diverse Voices pitch contest 4-19-2016Rami Ismail has a great running commentary on a complaint that game design workers are ‘wage-slave’ whiners if they want to focus on a sane work/life balance. Instead of, you know, pouring 80 to 100 hours a week into a company where the funding, scheduling, and management issues might be so inefficient that the project…
Read More Rami Ismail talks about work-life balance(Because usually I have the opposite problem, clocking in SFF tomes of 130K to 160K, which must all be pruned.) Anyway, I’m glad the reader liked the book. I was a little puzzled at first, when they mentioned, “The book is too short” And I fired off a generalized funny tweet about it. Dear reader,…
Read More Dear reader, I’m sorry my book was too short