Author: Laura

2 Comments

That time I got stuck in England…

  By ,

So you might remember we had a global pandemic which affected a lot of travel plans. One of those plans was a family transatlantic cruise from Southampton to New York–or, as my mother repeatedly described it, “the Titanic route.” That trip was eventually rescheduled for April of 2023, and so last month we flew to London, visited some tourist sites, and then hopped a train to Southampton.

En route, I checked my phone and realized our train journey wouldn’t make it. The final leg was shut down due to an accident (someone had gotten onto the tracks). I worked to re-route our party, knowing we had a countdown to board the ship. But as we prepared to disembark early and find an alternate route, another message came in: our cruise was canceled, less than an hour before boarding began, due to a technical issue on the ship. (Later information revealed that it was an engine/scrubber problem.)

Well, then.

Continue reading
One Comment

Review: Les Misérables (with a Z)

  By , ,

I wrote this a couple of weeks ago on a plane en route to ClickerExpo, but I forgot to finish and post it live. Here we go!

Les Miserables playbill

I had the opportunity to see the new tour of Les Misérables this week, and I’m still trying to decide how I feel about it.

I came awkwardly to my Broadway nerddom. When young Laura told my piano teacher I wanted the learn the “Phantom of the Opera music,” I meant Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, and I was honestly boggled when she gave me the title track to Lloyd Webber’s show, which I’d never heard of. Then that stage passed, and I came of theater age during the heady early ’90s. This of course meant Les Misérables was a key influence.

Continue reading
No comments

D-Dames is here! D-Dames are here? The book of D-Dames is here!

  By ,

Plural titles can be tricky, because the correct phrasing will sound wrong if the listener doesn’t know it’s a title. But, to the point, a new book is out!

D-Dames

D-Dames is a collection of short stories about women with elemental magic in World War 2. These stories were written originally and separately for the elemental anthology series from Tyche Books and edited by Rhonda Parrish, but now they are collected for easy enjoyment together. And I’ve also added, through the power of ebook expansion, annotated versions!

(Ebooks are cool, because they’re kind of little Bags of Holding, able to hold a great deal more without increasing your shelf footprint or carrying weight.)

Continue reading
No comments

Typo Bounty Program!

  By , ,

I self-publish, and I publish traditionally. My work may be read by one editor or a half dozen. I’ve read it myself 5 or 25 times before it goes to press. And still somehow a typo can occasionally slip through.

Bert knows this is wrong.

It doesn’t happen a lot; I work hard to put out clean manuscripts. But I recently found an error in a story I’d sold (published elsewhere), and then this week a glitch ate some layout code and spat up paragraph break errors among hundreds of pages, all of which must be found and fixed manually.

Sometimes it’s human error. Sometimes it’s software. It’s always frustrating, even if they’re generally uncommon. But one advantage of independent publishing over traditional is the ability to correct that stray typo sooner rather than later (or not at all).

Announcing the Typo Bounty Program! /perky kazoo music/

Continue reading
No comments

Authors & Publishers, check your machine learning licenses

  By ,

Check your machine learning licenses. Even if you didn’t know you had granted one. Especially if you didn’t know you had granted one.

I have just been alerted by my narrator to a clause tucked into my Findaway Voices distribution agreement. It was the last bit of attached Schedule D, distribution policies about things like poor recording quality, hate speech, and [highly inappropriate behavior with animals and minors], and other categories I never expected to apply to our work, so I hadn’t seen it.

Continue reading
No comments

Route 66: Classic Signs

  By
This entry is part 17 of 17 in the series GDB & Route 66

One of the best parts of Route 66 is the old signs, many with neon, all with fun old design. And there are a few newer signs intended to blend with the vintage ones.

I took these photos on my Route 66 trip a few years ago, but in all the travelogue posts, I forgot to publish this one! Please enjoy this blast from the past.

Continue reading
One Comment

Laura’s Big Guide to Conference Networking, or, How To Meet People in Mutually Beneficial Ways Without Feeling Like a Salesman or Wanting to Chew Your Eyes Out

  By

I see a lot of writers stressing about talking with other writers at events. The stereotype, of course, is that writers are writers because they would rather sit in a dark room by themselves than interact with other people. And yes, it’s true, I spend a lot of time with my imaginary friends.

But writers are not only capable of socializing like normal functional humans, it’s essential that they do. Publishing is too big to go alone; you’re going to need to take along some colleagues, for everything from critique partners to comparable marketing to moral support.

I’ve been attending 2-5 conferences a year (except in 2020) for writing and my day job for the last couple of decades. I’ve done a lot of conferences. Here are some things to keep in mind and to try!

Continue reading
One Comment

It’s Giftmas Time Again! 2022

  By
Giftmas 2022 with greenery and candle background

If you’ve been around with me before, you know Giftmas is an annual charity fundraiser, and if you’re in a big hurry today, no worries — here’s the link to do good. If you’ve got some time, you can read my musings on light in darkness, too. Thanks!

Solstice. Festivals of Lights. The Christ Mass. Holiday lights. Winterlights.

Even with so many traditions among our eight billion global citizens, light in the darkness is a universal thread in mid-winter observances. There’s a reason we drape LEDs over anything that holds still (and some things that don’t) and spread glitter and sequins to reflect every photon from every facet. In the dark of winter, we celebrate the light.

Continue reading
No comments

Want a holiday card?

  By

I did a lot of advance planning before I went to Japan for November — but I forgot to set up my card collection form! So now we have to move fast.

If you’d like a physical Christmas card from me, please enter your mailing address in this form by November 28.

Worried about sharing a physical address? I understand, and here’s exactly how it will be used: Only I will see the collected addresses, and a few minutes after the labels are confirmed to print correctly, the file is deleted. Your address is not used for anything else besides this year’s card list (which is why I have a new request form each year).

Let me know if you would like one!

2 Comments

I’m Not Doing NaNoWriMo, but for a good reason

  By ,

So, I’m not doing National Novel Writing Month this year, but I have an excuse.

This is the first time in…I dunno, a lot of years that I have not even started NaNo. This was a bit of a tough choice, because I like having a streak, but this was a year I knew I would not have the time to dedicate to word count. Not because there’s Thanksgiving or normal stuff, but for a Legit Reason.

Continue reading