Listing my writing projects reminds me I’m not just doing this for myself anymore. Not only are a plaintive agent and a few editors counting on me, I actually have a few hundred readers waiting for me to get my act together. Writers stop or pause writing for all kinds of reasons. For me, over…
Read More Current manuscript list…especially when I find out that some anonymous, enterprising soul has just read and given me kudos on my old, obscure fanfiction pieces on AO3. Most of ’em. Maybe around 20 of them. Stuff I haven’t even looked at in years. Dude/Dudette/Dudeperson, I totally adore you right now.
Read More I love my fansIn 2000, the same year Meisha Merlin published Grimsley’s Kirith Kirin, they also published the anthology containing my first-ever pro short fiction sale. In another universe, Meisha Merlin would have survived and possibly published my debut novel (whichever one that turned out to be.) MM had a rep for taking on daring, quirky books that…
Read More Kirith Kirin, by Jim GrimsleyThe bolo tie (bola tie, or shoestring tie) is a crazy, wonderful invention from the American Southwest: a braided leather cord with decorative metal tips, threaded through a slide-tension lock with an ornate bit of metal or stonework on the front. I’ve seen both men and women wearing them. I’m biased because I grew up in what…
Read More Badger bolo tieThe latest review is at Night Owl Reviews. Check it out. I am unreasonably happy about it, and I’m trying not to grin foolishly while I type this post. Publishing is very like taking a piece of your soul, wrapping it around a jewel, and heaving it off the top of Mt. Everest. The chances are…
Read More Another review for Moro’s PriceAt least one major SFF publisher* has cottoned on to something that small-press digital romance publishers and many self-publishers already know. The e-book market had revitalized the novella format and made it so profitable that novellas and novelettes are all many erotic romance authors publish. In wider self-published genres, shorter fiction is also well-represented. Tor.com…
Read More Return of the SFF novella?Gone at the age of 86. …But to describe her as only a poet denies the scope of her life and work. Great poetry is dear to me, all the more because I am a lackluster poet. Maya remains a titan and an inspiration, and the world is a darker place because her flame isn’t…
Read More Maya Angelou, poetIn honor of Douglas Adams, the universe of ‘the Hitchhiker’ s Guide to the Galaxy’, bemused travelers everywhere, and the elusive recipe that is the *real* PanGalactic Gargleblaster…don’t go anywhere without your towel. Towelday.org will tell you more.
Read More Happy towel dayYears ago, I took a tutorial workshop on how to make wet-shaped leather masks, and another world opened up to me. The first step was enduring a few hours of relative stillness with straws stuck up my nose and my hair stuffed in an old pair of pantyhose, while a props-maker friend (Marine Veteran, boss…
Read More Steampunk eyeglass maskI just found out that British author Mary Stewart died a few days ago. Three writers defined my introduction to ‘grown-up’ writing when I was around ten or eleven years old: J.R.R. Tolkien, Andre Norton, and Mary Stewart. By ‘grown-up’, I don’t really mean the kinds of ultra-explicit adult fare I often read and write…
Read More R.I.P. Mary Stewart,17 September 1916 – 10 May 2014On May 15, 2014, a bunch of very committed activists are coming together to protest the sly, quiet way the Open Internet is being sold off to the highest bidders. You know the culprits, or you should: the corporate oligarchs who could not have made their billions in profits without open, government-backed systems like railways,…
Read More Save the Internet, collect valuable capital‘Bite of the Recluse’ is a new, short M/M erotic romance from Evernight Publishing and authors Anais Morgan and Azalea Moone. Check out the cover, a great mix of sultry-gorgeous and corny Saturday matinee (a blend I adore, going all the way back to Vincent Price movies): Blurb: Two years ago while Tristan and his…
Read More Bite of the Recluse (M/M excerpt, adult content advisory)Two posts today, because I’m likely to get distracted and forget this one. Into every life must come some garage cleaning. Like many artists, I have paintings. Big ones, left over from a stint as a commercial decor artist for a company that only wanted canvases 36″ x 24″ or larger. And then promptly went…
Read More Bronze Oasis (art)Don’t get me wrong: I like Writer’s Digest and Publishers Weekly, and many of the other paid periodicals and free forums aimed at writers. They often have tips I can use, or inspiring stories and interviews. Publishing industry periodicals give those of us outside the NY environment an invaluable glimpse into the industry. When I…
Read More Caveat Emptor: writers’ magazines…Not authors. This would have been made clear to me over the last couple of years (If I hadn’t already learned this, like, twenty years ago), just from the repeated scuffles over on Goodreads. I’ve written about this before, but maybe it’s time to revisit it. 1. Authors need to stay the hell off review boards,…
Read More Reviews are for readers…Informed persons tell me literary agents and editors have learned to dread the first week of December. Why? Many NaNoWriMo (November is National Novel Writing Month) newbies, flush with the endorphin high of finishing large blocks of text, immediately send out queries for those miraculous manuscripts. Or the entire manuscript, depending on the market and…
Read More Editing strategies for fictionAs promised, here are six non-explicit paragraphs of Moro’s Shield, the sequel to Moro’s Price. I offer no explanations of the action, or any promise that the published version will even look like this. It’s why they call these rough drafts, or Works in Progress, after all… *** “Ready?” asked the Ambassador. “Val, you need…
Read More Sneak Peek Sunday – Moro’s Shield, M/M space opera romanceFor my wonderful readers who keep buying my crazy book, and telling other people about it, I’m working up a tiny reward. This upcoming Sunday I’ll be posting a rough draft excerpt of Moro’s Shield here, and linked here: http://sneak-peek-sunday.blogspot.com/ This will be a non-explicit, six-paragraph look at what the boys will be doing in…
Read More Sneak Peek Sunday alertHere’s a useful resource even if you don’t write for stage or screen: Scriptshadow. One of the most-referenced scriptwriting sites on the internet, this is a trove of sold-but-as-yet-unproduced scripts, calls for entry, industry news, and insightful essays on aspects of scriptwriting. It’s been two decades since I last wrote a script. But a couple of recent…
Read More Writing resource: ScriptshadowIf I had to plot out and embroider a large-ish beaded tapestry all in one go, I’d drive myself madder than I already am. Thankfully, through the magic of piecework and applique, I can do little bits of it at a time, while aiming for that final 24″ x 36″ wall hanging piece. Some of…
Read More Spring Moon embroidery