One More Detour on the Writing Road

A few years ago, while I attended my first C2E2 comics convention, I made the mistake of wandering through the dealers’ room. I was able to withstand the temptations of the cool clothing, books, and collectibles. I avoided the posters, and the original artwork.

But then I passed a leatherworks booth, and stopped. So many lovely things. I wound up buying a rustic shoulder bag in a rich cognac shade. I also bought a notebook. Whip-stitched, ruddy brown, with an ornate hook-and-eye closure and paper that appeared handmade.

I’ve never written in it. Every so often, I page through it, and ponder the possibility of using it. But I fear spoiling those roughened silk-like pages with scraps of dialogue that will likely never be used, or notes that will never be formed into a story. I would want anything I wrote in that notebook to stand the test of time. I would want it to mean something.

Moleskine* notebooks. I know folks who buy them by the pack and use them to the exclusion of all others. Some time ago I splurged on a three-pack, which rested unopened on a bookshelf until one day I finally tore off the cellophane. I use one of the notebooks as a mileage log, but the other two remain unused. Blank. Clean.

Cheap notebooks, on the other hand, get filled up pretty regularly. They’re the medium that holds so many messages, the story notes, lists, doodles. Maybe it’s because they’reinexpensive, so I don’t mind filling them with words that may never go anywhere else. Maybe it’s because the pages are often removable, so that at any given time, I can tear out all the used ones, and have a clean notebook again. Another fresh start.

Still, I like to think that someday, I will grab a pen and make that first mark in one of those special notebooks. They say that you can’t enjoy a new car until it sustains that first ding or scratch. Only then does it become something that you can sit in comfortably and drive. Maybe after I write that first line or sketch that first flower, they will become like any other notebook. A tool, nicer than some, but a tool just the same.

Do you own something that you love but have never used? If so, do you think you’ll always keep it pristine, or will you finally wear it, or use it, or make that first indelible mark?

*I confess that the name puts me off. In my mind, I delete the ‘e’, which leaves me with the odd notion that the covers are made from mole pelts.

Mirrored from .

…and so little 2015 left in which to do it.

A week has already passed since Code of Conduct launched. There’s an interview over at the Bookview Café website in which I discuss some background and research related to the Jani Kilian series, how I’ve changed over the years as a writer, and how having all day during which to write hasn’t proved the boon to productivity that I thought it would.

In other news, I’ve been working on getting all the i’s dotted and t’s crossed with respect to the Rules of Conflict reissue. The date? January 26, 2016. I will be at Confusion the weekend before, and hope to have copies of the POD edition to show off. In the meantime, I plan to reveal the cover soon–not sure when. It’s very different in tone from the Code of Conduct cover. Dark. Almost noirish. Here’s an early peek at the cover copy:

So many bones, buried so deep. But not deep enough.

After eighteen years, Captain Jani Kilian’s life as a fugitive has ended. Captured by the Service, she now faces court martial. It will surely lead to her execution.

But relations with the idomeni have deteriorated. Jani’s knowledge of that alien race and her friendship with Nema, their ambassador, earn her a reprieve. And if she is able to help stabilize the crisis, she may be in line for a pardon.

Jani knows she should grab this second chance and hang on. But as tensions between human and idomeni mount and her genetically-modified body breaks down, she finds herself locked in a struggle with an adversary who has as much to lose as she, and who will do anything to ensure their secrets remain buried.

Finally, if you check the right sidebar, below the Code cover, you’ll see there’s a place to sign up for my newsletter. The first issue will come out after the holidays. It will be a joint Kristine Smith-Alex Gordon production, and will contain things that won’t be available anywhere else–snippets, background information about my books, first peeks at covers (when possible since Amazon etc often jump the gun), opportunities to enter giveaways for ARCs and other goodies, and whatever other neat things I can think up. Still pondering the frequency, but I believe I can say that they will come out on a bimonthly basis at most, though quarterly is more likely. I reserve the right to send out a special edition in case of amazing news like an award or movie deal–oh that it would come to pass–but the usual disclaimers apply. I won’t flood your inbox with missives, and will never share your email address.

And with that, I shall sign off. I’ll be working on Alex Gordon stuff for the next two weeks as Jericho copyedits are due to drop, so I’m not sure if I will have time to post again before Christmas. As is often the case, I will have to play it by ear.

Mirrored from Kristine Smith.

Every so often over the last few years, a fan of the Jani books would email me and ask if I was working on anything new. I always appreciated these messages, even though I never gave much of an answer.

Thank you for writing…I’m working on a few things, and as soon as I have news of anything new, I will post….

And that would be it. When I did post here, I wrote about cooking, gardening, my dogs. Life in general. About writing and works-in-progress, though, not so much. A couple of short stories saw the light of day. Other vague rumblings.

Well, I’m very happy to announce that there’s news, and it’s not so vague.  This is me, too.  And I have a book coming out in January–1/6/2015 to be exact. Info, synopses, pertinent links, etc, are all available at the Alex Gordon site.

I’m excited, and glad to at last be able to let folks know about GIDEON. It is a different genre–supernatural suspense/paranormal with dashes of horror and romance. Some Illinois history. It challenged me in many ways, this tale–I felt like I was starting from scratch as a writer. Writing present day. Needing to get streets and neighborhoods right…then needing to cut it all out because it slowed down the tale. The things that required the most research were the things I wound up cutting–maybe there’s a lesson in there somewhere.

Why “Alex Gordon?” It was picked a few years ago. Gordon was my dad’s name, and Alex went well with it. As it turned out, there were a few other folks with that name, including a baseball player whose team is doing rather well at the moment. I’m not him.

I don’t think there’s much more to add, but I’m happy to answer questions. Closer to the release date,  I will be posting GIDEON excerpts and outtakes in conjunction with the Harper Voyager site. Until then, I will be working on JERICHO, the followup. Eventually, I will update this website and either integrate or link it with the Alex Gordon site. “Kristine Smith” the writer isn’t gone–if and when I get the Jani books out as ebooks or write more SF/F, it will be under that name. The paranormal/thriller/suspense work is Alex’s. For the sake of simplicity, I will move all my blogging to the Alex Gordon site, so that all the cooking, gardening, and dog updates can be combined with the book and convention news.

And now, it’s late, and I need to get some sleep. The cable just went south in the middle of THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH–thank you Comcast!–so the house is very quiet. In a few hours, I’ll get up and start thinking about pacing and scaring people and which plants grow in Oregon’s Northern Coast Range. Same god, different mountain top.

Thanks again to those of you who wondered, and asked. Glad I’m finally able to tell you what’s been going on.

Mirrored from Kristine Smith.

…on a rainy, cold, grey winter day.

NYT bestselling author Jack Campbell had some nice things to say about the Jani Kilian books in the latest issue of SFSignal:

an excellent read steeped in espionage and double-dealing that captures the reality of it all better than most thrillers set in the modern day.

It always makes me feel good when folks who know say that I nailed aspects of Jani’s life/experiences.

Still trying to work out a deal to reissue the books. When something finally works out, I will scream it from the mountaintops. Or dune tops, seeing as this is NE Illinois.

Mirrored from Kristine Smith.

I have never read anything by Dyer, but that may change because this is one of the best “Ten Rules” essays I’ve read.

2. Don’t write in public places. In the early 1990s I went to live in Paris. The usual writerly reasons: back then, if you were caught writing in a pub in England, you could get your head kicked in, whereas in Paris, dans les cafés … Since then I’ve developed an aversion to writing in public. I now think it should be done only in private, like any other lavatorial activity.

I also especially like 4, 6, 8, 9, 10…oh hell, it’s a good list. No. 6, Using regrets for fuel. Pretty much my motto: It’s all material.

Mirrored from Kristine Smith.

In a file room, inventorying documents.

You know your mind is not 100% on-task when you pause to consider how you would get out of the file room if the Bad Guys ™ locked you in. Door knob is actually a handle equipped with a combo lock, but it is on the outside and handle could be jammed.

But. Hinges are on the inside, and 3 of 4 have already partially popped due to use. I have a pair of heavy-duty scissors to use as a pry. The room is equipped with sprinklers, so if I had matches/a lighter in my purse, I could set those off, thus notifying Security.

The rooms are modular–movable walls, so I could also possibly knock out panels if desperate enough.

Glad that’s settled.

Mirrored from Kristine Smith.

Been here since yesterday. A long weekend writers retreat with a few other, well, writers. Writing exercises, brainstorming, business talk. More on the exercises in a few days, when I am home and have digested the results. It’s been an interesting process so far, though.

We are staying in a place with kitchenettes in the rooms, so we bought groceries and are doing most of our own cooking. I thought I would miss eating out, but I am finding I don’t. Except we did have high tea at the Drake today because that is one of the things one does when one is in Chicago and has the chance.

The weather has finally, finally been lovely. Coolish because we are near the lake, but sunny and dry. It’s even supposed to warm up as the weekend continues. The long-awaited spring one hears about in song and fable.

Mirrored from Kristine Smith.

Blogging. Writing, fiction or non-fiction. Novels. Shorts. Flash.

Spot-on, this. Especially about reading critiques and comments.

Mirrored from Kristine Smith.

My agent, Jenn Jackson, lives in the Northeast. That means that for the last few days, she has entertained a visitor named Sandy.

She lost power for a time, but now has it back. Her family, friends, and coworkers at DMLA made it through the onslaught. In appreciation for that and more…

…I’m going to auction a critique of a partial manuscript of a novel here on my blog. A partial manuscript will consist of up to 50 pages in standard manuscript format (approximately 12,500 words). In order to maximize benefit for the bidder, I’m going to limit this to the kinds of projects I represent, which includes both adult and YA fiction (not MG). (See my guidelines for more information.)

Here’s how to bid: Check the current high bid in the comments below and place a higher bid by leaving your name and bid amount in a new comment. At the end, I’ll notify the winner, and they should make an online donation in the amount of their bid to the American Red Cross for Disaster Relief. I’ll ask the winner to forward me a copy of their receipt for the donation and then we’ll arrange for delivery of the partial and discuss a timeline for my response.

Link is here. If you have an manuscript in the right genre (see above), this is the sort of offer you don’t see every day.

Auction runs until Monday, November 5th, 5pm Eastern Time.

Mirrored from Kristine Smith.

An oldie but a goodie from science writer Ed Yong:

The writing process.

Mirrored from Kristine Smith.