Saturday, July 5, 2008

A blog about... Me!

Andrea Snider interviews me on the occasion of the upcoming publication of The Brightest Heaven.

Write Life of Andrea & Corrina
Interview w/Song of the Muses author, Masha Holl

Monday, June 23, 2008

New Workshop: Websites 101

Websites 101 Workshop

Begins July 13

Registration Starts June 23

Duration: 2 weeks

Fee: $15

Visit http://ottercreations.mashaholl.com

for more information


Click to join the Websites 101
Yahoo Loop

Click here to join webpage101

Follow the directions in the email


Sunday, June 22, 2008

New Post on LiveJournal

What do video games and novels have in common?

Read my post in:
The Writing Life
WOW vs. FF -- and what does gaming have to do with writing books?

Monday, May 19, 2008

AWOL -- update at LiveJournal

Read all about it here:

The Writing Life

I haven't read anything new. I'm behind on reviews. And those events there are my excuse.

I think I'm getting better.

I sure hope so. I miss my werewolves.


Tuesday, April 15, 2008

On a not-so-nice day

Some days I don't feel nice. I tell myself I should go and write a good fight scene or kill off a few bad guys in one of my stories. Or level a couple of cities. Or maybe destroy a spaceship or two.

Isn't it grand being a writer? You can commit acts of utter destruction on a whim, without the bother and expense of accomplices and supplies, or the exhaustion of planning and effort.

And if it doesn't work? Well, you just scrap the scene and start over. Or if you like the plot and the action too much, you adjust the setting to the act instead of the act to the situation.

Yeah, writing is so much better than doing the actual thing.

Well, not always. No, really. Think about it. On a good day, there are many things I'd rather be doing than writing about...

Yeah. Umm. Well, never mind.

So back to writing on not so nice days.

Sometimes, even a scene of destruction won't do, because the words won't align themselves. The images won't appear, and the story-film won't roll.

What then?

I had a thought. Should I write reviews of books I hated?

There's something cathartic about saying what you think when you really can't be nice. Because I actually like to be nice. I enjoy making people happy. But sometimes, I just want to have fun.

Yes? No? ... ::sigh:: Nah. I don't think so.

For one thing, I can't think of a book I really hated.

Oh. Not true. I had to read something by Gorky in graduate school. I truly, deeply, absolutely hated and despised that.

But to write about it would involved a socio-politico-cultural rant you surely don't want to hear.

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Goings-on at The Long and Short Reviews

There's always something happening. Reviews of books for all tastes, my shortest story ever, and this month...


Win Free Books!

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Transition

I have a thing about transitions.

I absolutely hate them.

Mostly, I hate writing them. The best transitions are those that disappear under a scene change (you know, when you see the mysterious *** or ### or even a singe * in the middle of a page).

But even then, you have to start the next scene with a smooth introduction. If it were a movie instead of a written story, you would have to be sure to have a well-crafted camera movement. No jerks, no broken film. No discontinuity where your character is suddenly wearing a purple dress instead of a Marine uniform.

But transitions happen in life, too, and I hate them with just as much passion. You're motoring along, everything is fine and dandy, and then something hits you. You have to slam on the brakes on the highway, or you have to get up in the middle of a fine dinner, or you have to interrupt your TV watching right at the best scene...

Or you're trying to start a new story after you've finished a marathon session on the previous one.

It's not like I don't know where I'm going.

It's all planned out. I have met my characters and I like them. I even like my villain (as much as one can like a villain).

So I keep procrastinating.

Someone kick me. Or something. Not too painful.

Of course, getting sick for a whole weekend extended weekend didn't help.

But still.

Where is my Muse when I need her?