Hello again! Another month has flown past—and as you might’ve guessed, that 1-month construction project outside my house has stretched into Month 3. They’ve had to cut into stuff that was finished years ago to lay pipe or whatever; that’s what you see depicted above. Unfortunately, they’ve also ripped out all the greenery that the fireflies used to hang out in. They’re supposed to put it back in and then some, so I’m hopeful for that. Updates: Still outlining book…
It’s been over 3 years since I left the rat-race behind and became a full-time writer! The time keeps flying past. I’m a much happier person overall, and I’ve never once entertained the idea of going back to the grind. Income breakdown (just for fun, $$$ is never the goal): – I’m still making about $300-$400/month writing and editing at The Daily WTF. (Feedspot recently ranked us #29 of their top 100 humor blogs, which is pretty neat!) – My…
New month, new website! :D I’ve spent the past few weeks learning and tinkering with Bootstrap in order to bring swordandstarship.com online. It’s dedicated exclusively to the Sword and Starship series. I plan to eventually include “fun stuff” there (like artwork and device backgrounds), and possibly a store where people can order bundles and/or signed copies of books. If you have any ideas of what you’d like to see there, leave a comment or send me an email! In the relatively near future, I hope to…
Say hello to Book 3 so far! :) I’m experimenting with storyboarding for the first time. It’s a little tough because my computer notes change a lot faster than I can keep up with on paper, but I like this exercise because it helps me realize when my ideas don’t have enough “oomph”—too little emotional content, too little conflict. I’ve saved myself several rewrites already. (As a general note, folks: the more you kick your characters in their metaphorical nuts,…
Starting today, Harbingers is touring the blogosphere! The tour will run from May 1 through 12, weekends excluded. Each day’s post(s) will contain a guest blog I’ve written or an interview with yours truly. I discuss influences, characters, stuff about me and Sword and Starship, you name it. I’ve worked hard to ensure that each post contains at least some unique information, so it’s not the same exact thing every day. (Which is tough, since there are some questions that tend…
With the release of Harbingers, the story I began working on in 2009 with the hazy goal of finishing a single novel has now materialized into 2 published books. Hooray! But something looks a little off there. 8 years to finish 2 books? Lots of authors publish novels on a yearly basis. I’ll tell you right now: I’m not “lots of authors.” I haven’t distilled novel-writing down to a crank-’em-out science. But, I also don’t think it’ll take 4 years to outline, draft, and finish Sword…
Salaam (Hi)! I was born and raised in the United States. My mom was born and raised in Tehran, Iran. After earning her Ph.D., she came to the US for post-doctorate work. This is where she met my (American) dad. It’s also where she happened to be when the Islamic Revolution broke out in Iran, so she decided to stay. Mom converted to Christianity, and I was raised Lutheran; I’m now an atheist. As a family, we celebrate Nowruz, the…
Harbingers, the highly anticipated sequel to Blood’s Force, is now available in ebook format! :D You can find it at: Amazon iBooks Kobo Nook (Barnes & Noble) I’m still working on the paperback. It takes a lot longer to get the layout and cover just right, order and approve proofs, and so on. I’ll let you know when it’s available. Also, FWIW, I’ve been trying for over a year to get into Google Play, but they’re still not accepting new…
What a great group! I’m second from the right, desperately skimming my manuscript for an answer to someone’s question. Taking a brief break from Harbingers edits (I’m still working on it, promise!), I headed south to Washington, PA to meet up with a book club who chose to read Blood’s Force for the month of October. My very first book-related event! How exciting—but you bet I was nervous! Fortunately, this was a great group of ladies to cut my teeth…
A small update on Harbingers: I have the first 1/3 of feedback notes from my editor, so my last editing pass has begun in earnest! There are 30-ish chapters to review, some of which need more work than others. Sometimes it’s just a matter of fixing a comma or plugging in a better word. Other times, I gotta tear down what’s there and start over from scratch. If you’re curious about the details of my last-pass editing process, I’ve written more…