Author Archives: Elizabeth
Writing exercises
This weekend Patricia Wrede briefly discussed writing exercises in the context of how writers can try to improve. In the comments, I said I used to see little point to exercises. But after becoming a plotter rather than a pantser, … Continue reading
10k results and summer plans
A few weeks ago I raced my first 10k. I didn’t finish nearly as fast as I wanted–my time was 1:19:16–but I finished. I’d never run that distance before and lost a month of training to a foot injury. That’s … Continue reading
Learning online: Coursera and EdX
A while back I mentioned playing the “if I went back to school, what would I study” game. Which I also mentioned isn’t going to happen. It gets tempting, though–there are a lot of things I’d like to learn, partly … Continue reading
Recipe: Fresh Mint Ice Cream
Last year I planted three kinds of mint–apple, lemon, and lime–in the hopes that it would spread and keep weeds down. It’s doing quite well, especially the apple mint, which is now beginning a war with the day lilies. (Sometime … Continue reading
Scrivener: Making Outlines Neater with Synopses
For the novel workshop I’m going to this summer (er, next month, yikes), I need to send people an outline. I had an outline already: a bunch of index cards stuck to my white board, color coded by point of … Continue reading
Garden progress
Almost everything I planted has come up. (Amazing.) My spinach and lettuce are starting to look like baby spinach and lettuce, adorable. The spinach didn’t do well enough to need thinning, but the lettuce will, maybe this weekend. I planted … Continue reading
Day Off
The blog is taking today off, because after a long and busy workday, I have the brain to either write or to blog, not both. Instead, have this post from last April, in which I wonder about outlining endings. Having … Continue reading
The Wizard Hunters by Martha Wells and Bewitched, Blooded, and Bewildered by Robyn Bachar
The Wizard Hunters is the first book in Wells’ The Fall of Ile-Rien, Ile-Rien being the country she’s set several novels in. I was first introduced to her through short stories in Black Gate, and as it turns out, these … Continue reading
How Not to Find Writing Time
We’ve probably all heard the conversation that starts with a writer complaining that they can’t find time to write, to which someone responds, “You don’t find time, you make it.” This makes perfect sense to me, after several years of … Continue reading
Why I have blisters today
I joined Fitocracy back in mid-February. Quoting them: “Play Fitocracy to track your fitness activities, earn achievements, beat quests, and compete against your friends.” My emphasis is on tracking my fitness activities–the site gives you nice charts of time or … Continue reading