Hope everyone who celebrates Thanksgiving had a good one. Me, I'm still full.

We're now officially in the holiday season. Like every year, this time of year presents some unique challenges in terms of balancing work with recreation. Staying focus becomes more difficult with all the family and other obligations that pop up. With that in mind, it'll be interesting to me to see how I do on my own writing progress. This week so far has not been a good one for progress. Fortunately, I still have a few more days.

Here's this weekend's links, then I have to get some writing done. Have a good one.

Women Who Pretend... [More]

NOTE: This post originally appeared on my old blog, but in an effort to bring forward the various book reviews and other relevant posts I'm re-posting here so I can have them all in one place. Plus, since this is Thanksgiving week, it buys me a few days to work on my fiction and other, newer blog posts while still ensuring I get my fill of turkey.

I picked up a copy of Lord Darcy by Randall Garrett a while back as part of my research into a potential future project that would blend the genres of fantasy and mystery. Lord Darcy is just that: alternate historical fiction blended with mystery. It's a world where Richard the Lion-He... [More]

By my count, this is my 17th consecutive weekly writing progress update. How's that for some consistency?

Here's what I've accomplished this past week:

Pages edited went up 18 from last week's 38 to a current number of 56. Total page count went down by 5 from 377 to 372. That gives me 23 pages for the week (remember this is editing, so a reduction in total page count works, too. ;-) ). Not as good as last week's 25, but I'll take it. If I'm remembering correctly, I wanted to hit at least 20 pages/week, so I made it (this time).

Percentage complete went up to 15.05% from last week's 10.08%.

Total word count is interesting. When I star... [More]

Here's this weekend's batch free of commentary since I'm knee deep in work.

Have a good weekend.

Secrets Of Great Characters, According To 6 Science Fiction Authors
Amazing stories need great characters. And when you're writing a story set in a futuristic or fantastical world, it's more important than ever for readers to be able to relate to your characters. It's also harder than ever, because your characters' lives and experiences will be totally different than your readers'. How do you make people identify with someone who lives in the future, or on another planet? How can your main character ... [More]