the archives

Category: writing

  • Letting Go of Shame

    I just read this great piece by Daniel José Older called Writing Begins With Forgiveness: Why One of the Most Common Pieces of Writing Advice Is Wrong. There’s a paragraph I really want to share with you, so I’m going to quote it here: Here’s what stops more people from writing than anything else: shame.…

  • I should probably post something here

    Just so you all know I’m not dead. I know, I haven’t posted in over a month, and now I am posting it’s just a boring general update on my life, not something fascinating about the backstory of Athering. I apologize. I’ve been fighting off illness, physical and mental, for most of February and March,…

  • Mental Illness in Athering

    So today I’m taking a little bit of a detour from Character Snapshots in order to talk about Athering’s approach to mental illness. I’ll be using examples from the books (Bellica and The Jade Star of Athering), so spoilers ahead. Why? Well, it’s #BellLetsTalk day, and I like contributing to it on the blog. As…

  • SFFSat: A snippet from my current novel, Anala

    Hey there! I haven’t participated in this in a while, for various reasons, but I decided it’s time I start again. Especially as I’m working on a new book and writing every day — I have lots to actually share. If you’re new to SFFSat, basically every Saturday a group of writers share sentences from…

  • Happy New Year!

    I am writing this from the past, because I know myself well enough to know I would never be able to write this and post it on time for when I want to post it (11:59pm, December 31st 2014). That, or I’m trapped in the past and this is the only way I can communicate…

  • Imagination is like Compost

    So a few days ago I saw this image floating around Facebook: (VeryBestQuotes.com is an interesting site, though I wish they would provide sources for the quotes.) I find that I somewhat agree with this. Imagination is super important, yes, and possibly more important than knowledge. However. Imagination is like compost. You get out of…

  • How to Procrastinate

    Working hard or hardly working? HA HA HA HA HA no seriously, I have a problem.

  • Getting a straight answer from a doctor

    So while I’m recliner-bound for 2 months I’m planning on getting a lot of writing done.

  • Worst. Birthday Gift. Ever.

    Apparently I have weird-shaped legs. Also I suck at picking out birthday gifts for myself.

  • Distraction is the better part of valor

    I broke my femur, but I still don’t know if there is also tendon or ligament damage. My future is as fuzzy as it was a few days ago.