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That whole 'writing every day' thing didn't really work out the last month or so, and I'm not going to come up with excuses. I need to make time and focus on my writing, because I feel better when I write. That's basically what it comes down to, in the end - I need to make time to do the things that make me feel better, both physically and mentally. And yes, I realize that this is a mind-blowing revelation - it's only taken me nearly 35 years to figure it out, but I'm a slow learner. So, updates: Complete draft of book 2 of Paranormal Investigations, Inc. Due: April 30 Q1 Status:  This one got put on the back burner, as this series is the one that feels too much like Maureen Johnson's Shades of London series. New due date:  Uncertain Q2 Status:  I started working on this again, but it's been slow going. New due date:  Going to call this March 31, 2016 EOY Status:  Haven't worked on this for quite some time, but I'm going to keep w

So, hitting 50K is extraordinarily not likely to happen this year, but I have managed to write every single day. In addition, I've managed to actually get a better sense of what I'm doing with this story, and I'm getting more and more excited by what I'm doing. I want to continue on with what I'm writing, and also see how long I can keep the writing-every-day streak going - it feels like it's been too long since I've actually written that much and wanted to keep going. Project: Living Cities Deadline: November 30, 2015  April 30, 2016 New words written: 11,443 (since the last check-in) Present total word count: 19,346 Things accomplished in fiction: the detectives both realize that something is "different" about each of them; more information about the first victim comes to light, and the senior detective starts getting an idea of who - or what - is behind this; a second victim is found.

I am still working on my Nano story, though I am woefully far behind on my word count. On the other hand, I've managed to write at least a little bit every single day, and I do feel like I'm getting somewhere, and that helps. But that's not what I want to write about today. For the last couple of months, I've been dealing with chronic pain in my hip, and in the last month, I've been walking with a cane. I've had some form of chronic illness for years, but they generally fall into the realm of "invisible" ailments. Walking with the cane has made the invisible visible for the first time, and that has been an eye-opening experience. I'm in my thirties, and tend to look a bit younger, so I get a fair number of double-takes when people see a "young" woman walking with a cane. I have noticed that people are more likely to get out of my way, or apologize if they move in front of me. I need more room and more time to move around, and that mea

So, I'm a touch behind. I know, I know! At least I have been writing every day. Not a LOT, mind, but at least something. Project: Living Cities Deadline: November 30, 2015 New words written: 5552 (since Monday) Present total word count: 7903 Things accomplished in fiction: detectives are introduced; victim has been identified and family notified; something strange happens to the junior detective on the case.

I'm stealing the format of my updates directly from  Cherie Priest's  blog, as it's remarkably streamlined: Project: Living Cities Deadline: November 30, 2015 New words written: 2351 (between yesterday and today) Present total word count: 2351 Things accomplished in fiction: A body has been discovered; our lead detective has seen the body, and is unimpressed; and a young man can't remember where he was last night, but there's an awful lot of blood on his hands... So far, Nano is moving along. I actually stayed up Saturday night until midnight to start writing the second the time changed over, since with the clocks falling back an hour, I got an extra hour to write. I'm still not 100% sure where things are going to end up, but I have a better idea of whodunit, which is important to know when writing a crime novel. (Also, can I just say how amused I am that Chrome recognizes "whodunit" as a word?) Anyway, I've got about twenty minutes left

So, remember that whole "I'm going to get back into writing shape by writing every day before Nanowrimo" thing I was planning on?  Clearly, that didn't go as planned.  That's OK!  I have plans and schemes and...we'll see what happens. I decided to scrap my original plan, as it simply wasn't gelling for me.  Instead, I'm pillaging an idea from my husband.  He's an incredibly imaginative person and comes up with great ideas for settings for role-playing games, so I'm taking one of those settings and running with it.  The more I write the outline, the more I'm realizing that watching all those episodes of NCIS and Castle are going to come in handy.  At least, I hope they will. Anyway!  I hope to post fairly regularly with stats, if nothing else.  Happy Halloween/Samhain/Dia de los Muertos for those that celebrate!

It's been a while since I've done a book review, and since I've just finished this one, it seemed like a perfect time to review it.  I've been reading  The Bloggess  (Jenny Lawson) for several years, and thoroughly enjoyed her first book,  Let's Pretend This Never Happened .  When she started discussing her new book,  Furiously Happy , I knew I would pre-order it. The author has had more than her fair share of struggles with mental illness, including anxiety and depression, and this book includes several essays that deal with those struggles.  There are moments of hilarity mixed in with serious discussions of self-harm and suicide, and the balance feels like what you would expect when a fantastic author allows her brain to run wild.  Even when things are at their darkest, she still finds some glimmer of light; even when things are at their brightest, she subtly points out the shadows in the corner. I've been in a pretty rough spot the last couple of weeks, a

So, what happens when your writers' group includes at least one person with lots of project management experience?  You get together with a list like the below to plan for Nano.  Memorializing it here, so I can refer back to it. 1)       Talk about what we might want to do a.        Genre? Spec fic b.       Conflict type? (Man vs Self/Man/Nature) Man vs Self and Man c.        Character based? Location based? Thematic? Character based, with some theme (superhero/villain) d.       Specific details, scenes, locations, or characters? Eliza Jimenez - main character, admin at Serrano Transportation, new-ish (moving up from the mail room, doesn't realize that the company is a front for the Company of Miscreants Colin Serrano - CEO, 3rd generation of Serrano Transportation, AKA [VILLAINOUS NAME] e.       Goal for nano? (finish an old story, write a new one, just hit 50k, etc) New story, aiming for 50K 2)       What’s blocking us from doing that? a.        N

Before I get into this prompt, I realize that I never gave another update on the Feina-kitten!  So, after the vet gave her the fluids and shots, he told us that she would do better for a day or two, and would probably crash after that.  We waited...and waited...and that crash just wasn't coming.  After a few days, I got an appointment with a specialist to see what the heck was going on now.  He looked her over, asked a lot of questions (which the other vet hadn't really done), and re-ran her blood tests.  They came back as normal as is possible with a 15-year-old cat.  Never have I heaved a bigger sigh of relief.  She's still doing great, as are the other two cats.  All is well in the Franklin kingdom. On to the writing!  I've been holding off on this prompt for a bit, because I was having a devil of a time figuring out what I wanted to write.  Now that I've got an idea for this year's Nanowrimo, I think this will work well.  The prompt: Write dialog in whic

After Monday's writing session, my writers' group decided it would be a good idea to spend Mondays coming up with ideas, and Fridays either writing a snippet based on Monday's ideas, or sharing those snippets.  Basically, we're trying to get a little bit of training in before the marathon that is Nanowrimo. As a reminder, after Monday's session, this is what I have to work with: Setting - a foggy bridge at sunset, lit by gas lanterns Story hook - Murder most foul Character 1 - Ivan the terrible (unrelated) Character 2 - Desert nomad Character 3 - Yogi Character 4 - Witch in training Atmosphere - T-rex "I...I had no idea the spell was that powerful," Ilana whispered as she looked down on the body on the bridge.  Well, what was left of the body, really - the head had fallen off the edge of the bridge, lost in the fog surrounding the structure.  She turned to Swami Joey, her blue eyes starting to fill with tears.  "Is this my fault?  Did

And we're back!  Time to get back into writing on the regular, as  NaNoWriMo  is starting soon and as I've learned from past experience, going from not writing at all to trying for 50,000 words in 30 days is basically like trying to run a marathon without so much as jogging beforehand - it only ends in tears. My writing group decided that, since we're closing in on That Time Of Year and none of us really knows what the devil we're doing yet, that we would each come up with a setting, story hook, atmosphere, and two characters, then shuffle them together and pull out of a hat to figure out what we're doing.  My contributions: Setting - Ancient Rome Story hook - Murder most foul Character 1 - Detective (older, hard-nosed, a la  Inspector Rebus ) Character 2 - Plucky sidekick Atmosphere - Edge of rebellion What I got: Setting - a foggy bridge at sunset, lit by gas lanterns Story hook - Murder most foul Character 1 - Ivan the terrible (unrelated) Characte

A few months ago, I woke up and needed to write something down.  Fortunately, I had pen and paper handy.  I hadn't actually looked at it since I wrote it, but something pulled it to my attention today.  As poetry goes, it's not great, but it's something that pretty accurately describes my mindset right now. Hey, how's it going? What's up? How are you? People checking in all the time each day. Hey, how's it going? What's up? How are you? Quick connections, touching base on the way. Hey, how's it going? What's up? How are you? The words are sincere, at least they sound that way. But if you listen, if you look in their eyes, You know there are things they don't want you to say. How's it going? Pretty badly the panic's creeping in. There are too many people, too much sound and light. It's all pushing in, there's no room to breathe, No way out, no escape, no place to run and hide. What's up? My pain level - today&#

Sadly, it's not good news.  Feina's liver isn't doing its job, and there isn't a ton we can do.  The vet gave her some sub-q fluids and a shot of vitamins, antibiotics and steroids to help her appetite come back, but it's basically, as Eric puts it, rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.  It's been exceptionally draining over here, as Eric and I have each broken down a few times, but we know she's not hurting.  She just probably won't make it much longer. This is one of the first pictures of both Eric and Feina I received, back when Eric and I were long-distance, and it remains one of my favorites.

I realize it's been a week since Worldcon ended, but it took me some time to organize my thoughts.  It was the first Worldcon I'd ever been to, and going so soon after GenCon was a little bit of a culture shock in some ways. This year's Worldcon was held at Sasquan in Spokane, Washington.  My husband and I spent a large portion of Wednesday driving the 5+ hours to Spokane, and realized that the sky was getting more and more smoky as we went.  By the time we got to the hotel, the smell of smoke permeated everything.  Turns out, the winds from the  wild fires  had turned in just the right direction to blanket Spokane with smoke.  The entire city smelled like a barbecue. The convention center was kind of spread out, which was nice - it never really felt like there were a ton of people crammed into one place, even in areas like the Dealers' Hall, and that's always been one of my biggest issues with conventions.  It helped that the convention attendance was quite sma

We're just going to ignore the fact that we're halfway through the third quarter, and play catch-up. Complete draft of book 2 of Paranormal Investigations, Inc. Due: April 30 Q1 Status:  This one got put on the back burner, as this series is the one that feels too much like Maureen Johnson's Shades of London series. New due date:  Uncertain Q2 Status:  I started working on this again, but it's been slow going. New due date:  Going to call this March 31, 2016 Complete draft of Church of Book Due: August 31 Q1 Status:  I think I'll meet this goal, even though it isn't the same Church of Book it was when I first drafted these goals.  I've basically started from scratch, and it's my current Camp Nanowrimo project. Q2 Status:  ...Not so much.  I'm still working on it, though! New due date:  June 30, 2016 Win at least one of either Camp Nanowrimo or Nanowrimo Due: November 31 Q1 Status:  In progress for the April Camp Nanowrimo Q2 Sta

I've decided to take the story I started for Camp Nano this summer and expand on it, because the idea's something that's interesting me more than things I've already got in the pipeline.  Of course, this means starting yet another project, and as you can see on the right-hand side of the blog, I have a few things started. This is a story that I started writing out long-hand, which has been helping with regards to discovery-writing, but I'm not really comfortable with just letting things take wing on their own.  Apparently, I'm not able to just completely discovery-write.  I decided to do some outlining in Scrivener today, which has been helpful in getting my ideas in place.  I think I'm still going to draft long-hand, but I'm going to make sure my outline is handy - sort of like this: Admittedly, this is how I tried to start last year's Nano, which didn't work.  I'm hoping that not having the time pressure on will help, but we'll s

Well, Camp Nano didn't quite go as planned, but I'm still noodling with the ideas I came up with for it.  I think I'm going to keep going with it, writing it long-hand for the first draft - it's working well for getting the discovery writing juices flowing. I survived  GenCon , though this year's strain of Con Crud seems particularly strong.  Our booth was bigger than ever, and we were a highly sought-after destination.  It is awfully nice to be wanted. Anyway, I'm hoping to get back into a "normal" routine again.  Of course, the week after next is  WorldCon , being held at Sasquan in Spokane this year.  At least I'm not working this convention, so I'll have the opportunity to go to panels and possibly, just maybe, relax.

Working on Camp Nanowrimo again this summer has been like pulling teeth.  I gave myself a smaller goal than in April (30K instead of 50K), but it's still been rough.  I'm working on a short story for a proposed anthology a friend in my work writers' group is contemplating, which on the one hand is nice, because it's giving me the opportunity to work on something new.  On the other hand, it has been going incredibly slowly.  As in, I'm not willing to update my stats, slowly.  I decided to start working on it long-hand, as I've found that to be a way of getting through writer's block in the past.  It's helping some, and it means that I literally have no way of knowing what my word count looks like, which does take some of the pressure off.  It means that I'll be typing like the wind at the end of the month so I can get something official, but there are worse things in the world. At any rate, I'm still here, still writing.  I hope all of your cre

Time to get back in the saddle, and figure out what the next thing to write is.  I think I'm ready to poke at Paranormal Investigations again, and I think this week's  writing prompt  will help: Pick your gee-whiz, whatever it may be, and describe it in 150 words from ten different perspectives. Yes, that's 1500 words. Something tells me this is going to be a long post that I'll need to come back to a few times before it's finished. Alison (main POV character):  I was certain that I had to be imagining things when I was attacked by a ghost at the coffee house where I work.  I couldn't even be sure it was a ghost, until a group of people told me that that's what she'd been, and that they wanted me to help them protect the world from ghosties and ghoulies and long-legged beasties, et cetera.  I still don't know who exactly they work for, or how, but they seem pretty desperate - obviously, if they're recruiting me. It's not like I see ghos

Not all that easy, at least for me.  It's coming up on Father's Day, which means that there are ads everywhere as people try to convince children that Dad really does need more socks or another tie or more tools.  Naturally, this always makes me think of my own father, which is its own minefield. On July 4 this year, it will have been 17 years since my father died.  As I'm now 34, it means that he's been gone for half of my life.  He died suddenly, while my mother and I were away visiting family and my brother was working the night shift.  I spoke to him on the phone maybe two days before that, and I remember telling him that I loved him at the end of the call, and being really confused with myself as I did so - that wasn't something my family did.  We didn't say it, because everyone knew that we loved each other.  It was "sappy."  Knowing that those were the last words I ever said to my father has given me some measure of peace, though it does mean

Well, that didn't take long.  I sent in my initial submission yesterday, and received my rejection notice this morning.  The editors were very kind and provided feedback about my submission, which was wonderful, and I can't argue with their reasoning - they didn't see the humor in the synopsis.  Considering how concerned I was about writing humor, it doesn't surprise me at all. My problem is that now I don't know what I want to work on.  I do want to go back to Living Memory  (the novel the short story I was planning was drawn from), but that story has a tendency to turn dark really easily, and I'm not in a good head-space for that at the moment.  I've got a month until the next Camp NaNoWriMo, and a coworker is throwing out ideas for an anthology with relation to that, so hopefully I'll get some ideas from that.  I may go back to Church of Book - I haven't really looked at that since the end of April, so maybe spending a month away will help get t

Well, it's almost the end of May, which means that the deadline for my initial submission to  the Terry Pratchett memorial anthology  is coming due.  Instead of working through the Writing Excuses Master Class, this week I'm going to be working on my submission.  It requires a brief author bio, a two-line synopsis, and a 500-word writing sample. I'm planning to use some of my edited Nano work as my writing sample, so below is the draft of my bio and synopsis.  I'd really appreciate any feedback you guys can give me on this - just remember I have to send this off by Sunday! Author bio: Stephanie Wood Franklin has been telling people she'll be an author since she was eight.  She lives in Seattle with her husband and two step-cats Synopsis: Julia needs to fill the gaps in her memory. She encounters Dr. Evans, a psychiatrist with a unique treatment for memory issues, and ends up travelling the labrynthian halls of her mind, finding out why some doors should re

This week's episode title is basically what I ask myself every time I go to write a new blog post.  The  writing prompt : Write your first thirteen lines, and see how much you can fit into that space—character attitude, point-of-view, mood, genre, conflict, setting, and more. Julia kept her head down as she walked the windy streets of Seattle. She still wasn't sure if she was doing the right thing, but the ad had been clear that no "therapy" would take place without the introductory evaluation, and she needed the cash. She hadn't expected her food costs to go up so much when she went vegan, but everything meatless was so much more expensive than she had imagined. She was starting to wonder if fitting in with the popular kids at school was truly worth it. She found the office - at least, her phone told her she was in the right place. When she looked up, all she could see was a narrow townhouse in a neighborhood filled with similar buildings. Hesitantly, Julia

Two posts in one week?  Look out - I'm on a roll!  (Of course, now that I've said that...)  The writing  prompt  this time: Start writing your story! Write 500 words, focusing on just one of the promises you've identified for your story. Then stop, and start writing another 500 words with a different promise. Aaaand then do it a third time. For the sake of brevity here, I'm going to aim for 250 words each instead of 500, and working on two promises for now.  So, looking at the promises I outlined  last time , here we go: Promise: I want the reader to be uncertain of what exactly happens in the main character's mind. Julia found herself in a dark hallway, with doors on either side.  The doors looked vaguely like the ones that had been in the house where she grew up, painted wood with silver handles, but only the doors closest to her had any kind of detail.  She decided to pick a door at random and see if she could get in - she didn't see any locks on the

Once again, I'm demonstrating just what a clever woman I am.  I apparently missed a writing prompt, so pretend this one happened before the last post, yes?  They actually tie together pretty well, and I'm hoping they'll help with the synopsis for the anthology submission I'm still working on.  The  writing prompt : Decide on the promises you want to make to your readers in your story. Then outline according to those promises. Promises, promises.  OK, here goes: I want the reader to be curious about the idea of memory monsters. I want the reader to be uncertain of what exactly happens in the main character's mind. I want the reader to root for the main character/narrator as she travels in her own memory. I want the reader to fear for the main character's sanity. Outline: Meet Julia (main character/narrator) Recently moved to a new town Finds herself flashing back to things she doesn't actively remember Decides to seek help Meet Dr. Evans

It's time to try writing some fiction again, I believe.  I came across  this  call for submissions for an anthology in honor of Sir Terry Pratchett, and I think I want to put together a submission.  My only concern at this point is that it's meant to be humorous, and being funny on the page has always been a struggle for me.  Hopefully, the master class writing prompts will help me get back into the swing of things.  The  writing prompt : Make a list of all the awesome things you want your story to accomplish. Then put them in the order in which you want them to happen. Since the theme of the anthology is memory, I want to use  something  I wrote a while back for Nanowrimo as a starting point.  (That link doesn't include the whole draft of the story - I should probably get on that.)  Of course, that story ended up turning into a horror tale, and I'd like to avoid that.  Still, there are some things I can play with: Patient gets into her own mind consciously Patie

I'm still here, still trying to write.  The likelihood that I'll win this month's Camp Nanowrimo is dropping with every hour, and I've just overall overbooked myself.  I have no idea if I'll be able to fix it anytime soon, either - while my depression seems to be doing better, my anxiety is through the roof and becoming just as debilitating. But that's not why you're here, reading.  The next project I'm planning is to submit a proposal to  this anthology , which is in honor of Sir Terry Pratchett with proceeds going to Alzheimer's research.  It's going to be a little hard for me, because I'm not particularly good at humor, but I really want to try.  I'll be playing with a few ideas, and seeing what I can put together. Meanwhile, back to trying to wring some words out of the ether.  Good luck, all!

Well, I'm slowly getting back into the swing of things.  I've been writing fairly regularly, and I think I stand a chance of making it for Camp Nanowrimo this month.  (Note to self:  the next time you think about doing two swaps on Ravelry that are due the same month, which also happens to be a Nanowrimo month?  Don't do that.)  It seems like a good point to check in against the  goals  I set for myself at the end of last year.  Things have obviously shifted in priority, so it's also a good time to redefine those goals. Complete draft of book 2 of Paranormal Investigations, Inc. Due: April 30 Q1 Status:  This one got put on the back burner, as this series is the one that feels too much like Maureen Johnson's Shades of London series. New due date:  Uncertain Complete draft of Church of Book Due: August 31 Q1 Status:  I think I'll meet this goal, even though it isn't the same Church of Book it was when I first drafted these goals.  I've basical

It's been an interesting few months to be a fan, and things have come to a head this last weekend with the announcement of the nominees for the Hugo Awards.   io9  has probably the best write-up about the situation, but the short version is that a couple of fairly big authors decided to put together "slates" of potential nominees, and used their clout to help get these slates onto the short list for the Hugos. Now, anything that relies on feedback from the public at large is going to have groups that have agendas that have nothing to do with the actual merits of the award.  It isn't all that surprising that there was some backlash from last year's nominations and wins , but it's still incredibly frustrating. As readers of this blog/people who know me IRL know, I'm a lot of things.  I'm a feminist, in that I believe people should be treated equally, regardless of gender.  I'm a minority in world of fandom in a lot of ways - I'm a woman, I

Originally, I was planning on putting this exercise off for a bit, but I'm realizing that I need help in this area.  I actually went back to the Church of Book story I was working on for NaNoWriMo, and I decided that while the setting and idea were good, the plot I was putting together wasn't.  I'm trying to come up with a new outline, and what do you know - March's theme for the master class was outlining!  So, the  writing prompt : Take a favorite piece of of media (but not something YOU created,) and reverse engineer an outline from it. Inspired by last night's Wrestlemania, I thought I'd take a stab at outlining one of the running storylines that was bumped up yesterday.  This could be a little bit tricky, as wrestling storylines are pretty ad-hoc, depending on who's hurt in a given day.  But let's try it anyway!  Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar for the World Heavyweight Championship (spoilers ahead): Roman Reigns starts as a member of the Shie

Let's try to finish up February's prompts, now that it's halfway through March. The  prompt : Sketch out the events before and after your dead-drop scene from last week and three weeks ago. I'm going to go back to Alison and Matthew (from  Take three ), starting with the before. "I think it's time to get Alison out in the field."  The statement from Veronica seemed to come out of nowhere, and neither Alison nor Matthew was expecting it.  Luthor, working away on his multi-screened computer, swiveled around in his chair to face the rest of the group. Alison blinked bemusedly, trying to focus on the older member of the squad after staring at pages of handwritten notes for hours.  "In the field?  I...didn't know there was a field to be in."  She turned to Matthew, whom she had presumed to be the leader of their motley crew.  "Why didn't anyone say there was a field?" Veronica stood up and began riffling through a shelf o

This morning, I was fighting panic (still left over from yesterday, in fact), and so I decided it would be best if I worked from home.  I have never been so grateful for that option before.  My husband called me around 8:30am to let me know that Sir Terry Pratchett  had passed . I had the honor of meeting Sir Terry once, in 2003.  He was perfectly lovely, and signed my two favorite books of his -  Small Gods  and  Hogfather .  He also gave me verbal permission to translate a section of Hogfather into Spanish, to use as a writing sample for a literary translation program I was investigating. I didn't discover the Discworld books until I was in college, and for that I do feel some regret.  Once I realized the glory of the Discworld books, I devoured as many of them as I could, wishing I had found them earlier.  They gave me a sense of comfort while making me reevaluate tropes I thought I knew. When my husband and I moved in together, we took the step of combining our libraries.

As I'm sure some of you may have noticed, I haven't been around all that much lately.  I didn't intentionally abandon the internet, but every time I started to write about what was going on, I kept hearing that voice telling me that no one would really care.  My life is pretty good, it kept saying.  My "problems" aren't nearly as bad as some of the other people's problems.  Do you want to be that person who does nothing but complain? I really hate that voice.  Long story short, my depression decided to tighten its grip on me for the last couple of months, and it made getting words on a page very difficult.  Depression, for me, doesn't just tell me that no one cares about what I write - it tells me that people will actively be angry or annoyed if I put my problems out into the world, or try to make them read the crap I put together (because of course it's crap, it's coming from me).  It also keeps me from telling the people around me, the peop

Time to try to catch up on Writing Excuses' Master Class.  This  prompt  is going to interesting, I think: Pick one of the dead-drop characters from the exercise two weeks ago, and turn them into a secondary character. Now take one of the characters with whom they interacted, and write the same scene again, but from this new character's POV. We're going to go with Alison and Matthew, the last try on my  previous post  for the Master Class. Matthew was certain that Alison was going to get herself killed.  If he'd had his way, he would never have pushed this kind of job on such a green recruit, but he didn't have a choice.  He sat back in the shade of a tree, trying to keep an eye on the girl without being completely conspicuous.  "Keep going," he muttered under his breath when he saw her linger at a jewelry stand.  "You can shop later!"  He nodded to a couple of women walking by, but realized that they hadn't even looked twice at him.  T

My friends, I'm in a bit of a quandry.  Recently, the third book in Maureen Johnson's Shades of London trilogy dropped, and so I began re-reading the first book to remind myself of what was happening.  This is my standard operating procedure with series - I like to remember all that went before the new book, so I don't have to keep asking myself who different characters are. My problem, however, was that as I read  The Name of the Star , I realized that there were significant...similarities, to my own Paranormal Investigations, Inc. series.  I know for certain that I read this book before I started writing PII, so I have no doubts that I was influenced, but...well, it gave me a bit of a shock.  I know that stories have been told multiple times over the years, and that the books aren't exactly the same (no Jack the Ripper in my book, for instance), but it's still a little painful when realizing that someone else had a similar idea, and they wrote it better than you

New month, new beginnings with the Writing Excuses Master Class.  This month is apparently going to be focused on characters, which is great, because that's where things tend to fall apart for me.  The writing  prompt  (and yes, I realize I'm a week behind): Take three different characters and walk them through a scene. Convey their emotional states, their jobs, and their hobbies without directly stating any of those. The scene in question: walking through a marketplace, and they need to do a dead-drop. Take one: Janet kept her eyes fixed firmly on the road ahead of her as she jogged around the track.  She felt awkward without her iPod and keys, but the phone call had made it clear that she needed to come right away - no time to do her normal stretching routine, even.  The track wrapped around the waterfront, passing in front of the busy Saturday Market.  Sunny weekend days were at a premium, and it seemed everyone in the city had decided to go shopping today. When she