writing
An explanation
In work, in life, I tend to focus. The only way I can get through a tight deadline is, basically, to do nothing but write. In the morning I check my email and let my brain wake up with tea and the Internet, then it’s coffee and work, from 7 or 8 in the morning…
Read MoreGarment of Shadows
March 4, 2012. I open a FedEx envelope from my publishers and find this: It is accompanied by a letter, giving a deadline: So I get to work, reading the manuscript aloud, using a red pen to correct spelling errors, change punctuation oddities, and make small corrections to smooth and clarify the story. I find…
Read MoreCartographer King
A writer’s life is not all words on a page. A working writer finds herself doing an extraordinary number of odd jobs, such as the day I spent tracking down the identity of an insect the publisher intended to use as the illustration for a new edition of Beekeeper’s Apprentice: No, I said firmly, that…
Read MoreIndies and Es
I promised yesterday that I would post today on the question of Independent Booksellers and their relationship with eBooks, and here we are. Yes, Indies sell eBooks, more and more Indies all the time. They (and I, frankly) have too long been frustrated by watching their customers browse the shelves, stand reading a book for…
Read MoreTo E or not to E?
(Because this post has become a bit longer than I’d intended, I’ll divide it in half, with the first part All About Laurie, and the more important bit tomorrow.) Twice a year, publishers send their authors a royalty statement (and, with luck, a check to go with it.) These are daunting documents, page after page…
Read MoreLaurie’s busy year: an annual report
2011 has been a busy year. A ridiculously busy year. A year so nuts, it has forced me to declare 2012 The Year of No. Meaning that if you’re about to ask me to write a short story, participate in a seminar, or show up at your festival, I can only say that if you’re…
Read MoreThe SEND button
For the past year, I’ve been working with Michelle Spring on a book about writing for the Arvon writing foundation. The Arvon Book of Crime and Thriller Writing will be published in 2012, both in the UK and US markets. And I can say that with assuredness because I have just this morning hit the SEND…
Read MoreGo, Lisbon! (Go, Pirates!)
I’m in Lisbon today, or at any rate, I’m over at Go Lisbon! talking about my time in Lisboa. Do drop by for a visit to one of my favorite cities.
Read MoreMysterious California
I love libraries. I adore them, always and continuously. My abiding affection had a boost last night, with an event in the Sunnyvale (CA) library, where some of the staff remembered me as part of an event—oh, how many years ago could it have been? Thirteen? Fourteen?—with Sisters in Crime authors. This time it was…
Read MoreIn which our heroine sets out for Lisbon
Sometimes, the story comes before the setting—that is, I decide to write a story set in a specific place (and if you’re one of those who wondered about the Japan adventure mentioned at the start of Locked Rooms, yes, I’m going to Japan for the research next year.) But other times the story shapes itself…
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