2010 11 Mar

Musical inspiration

Author: RFLong Categories: WIP, Writing Craft, Writing Life, links and stuff

In the absense of anything much to say ;)

I’m working on a YA urban fantasy with an Irish setting. Can you tell?

I’m also using The Call, but can’t embed that. It’s well worth a watch though. There are a number of songs informing this story – from Celtic Woman to Green Day.

I love using music as a basis for stories. Sometimes, as I think I’ve mentioned before, the right song comes along at the beginning, and sometimes its later on when the story is formed but not yet complete. Music acts as the soul of many of the tales I tell. It adds that extra layer and draws everything together. Songs filter through everything I write.

So I like to share them from time to time.

Enjoy.

2010 04 Feb

Control, plans and other wafflings

Author: RFLong Categories: Writing Craft, Writing Life

In a fit of organisation I decided I need to blog here a little more regularly. Or at least that’s the plan. And get some more guests as Sarah was so awesome. (Anyone wanna guestblog?) And in the spirit of that decision, I thought I’d actually write about writing. Not just craft, although there will surely be some of that, but also about my writing life, the things that impact me and don’t and hopefully some of it will be helpful.

And if it isn’t helpful hopefully I’ll make you laugh. At me.

Oh dear, I’m not sure this is working out the way I planned.

I’m pretty sure someone else did a post similar to this recently but I can’t for the life of me find it. If I didn’t dream it (entirely possible) I will be happy to link back if anyone can identify it for me. But here’s my take on Control, anyway.

A writer friend of mine emailed the other day to let me know that due to a conversation a few of us had been having via email she had experienced something of an epiphany.

“I’ve been stressing for a year and a half over things I can’t control.”

My first response was: “Aren’t we all.”

Which led to my second: “WHY do we put ourselves through that?”

Read more…

2009 30 Dec

Guestblogging over Christmas

Author: RFLong Categories: Guestblogging

Hope you all enjoyed “Old Friends” and meeting Tyria.

Speaking of kick-ass female characters in fantasy, I wrote a guestblog. It went up while I was away, but come and talk Our Heroes and Self Rescuing Princesses at Paranormal Romantics!

2009 17 Jul

Writing writing writing

Author: RFLong Categories: links and stuff, romance divas

I’ve been a busy poster of late. I’ve also been editing a novella, participating in Romance Divas Not Going to the Conference Conference and generally faffing about on the internet.

Found this. It’s been posted elsewhere. I saw it yesterday (er… I think) and its wonderful. (Anyone with sensitive ears beware. She swears a little bit. No really, she does!)

Another thing I’ve been obsessing about is the “live” radiocast of the Apollo 11 moonlanding mission.

And the most recent mission. Actually I spend a fair amount of time on the Nasa site. No really. I do. I blame the obsessions of my other half. And as if I needed to prove to the world how nerdy I really am deep down inside, yesterday I tweeted about Copernicium. Couldn’t help it. It wasn’t the periodic table per se, because frankly that’s just so much gobbledegook to me, but I like Copernicus. And its kind of cool.

Finally, as mentioned above, Romance Divas are holding the Not Going to the Conference Conference. There’s tons going on and I’m late mentioning it, but there is still time. (And all the posts are still there to read). Click on the banner. You can join today (its free and a goldmine of information).

(Linnea Sinclair’s presentation is particularly AMAZING! And there are more to come! SQUEE!)

So that’s it. Lots to do while I try to finish this rewrite. And most of it (apart from Copernicium) writing related. Kinda.

2009 03 May

Team Inkwell

Author: RFLong Categories: romance divas

Here we are a couple of days into May and we’re having great and productive fun at Romance Divas with MayNoWriMo. I’m working on finishing Moy Tura Echoes and I’m a hair’s breadth from the end. Unfortunately the end keeps moving. I was aiming for 90k, but I’m now at 91k and still going. Especially as the characters have just changed the end. Or at least part of it. They tend to do that.

Particularly these characters.

So hopefully tomorrow. Hopefully. I really want it finished now. Pretty please?

I’m on a great team though, with loads of hard work being done. Yes, we’re largely making things up as we go along (what’s new, huh?) and that’s part of why I’m enjoying it I think.

Here an excerpt detailing where it all went haywire this evening…

She didn’t even cry out when his sword went right through her.

Hell in a handbag!

Current Mood: (exhausted) exhausted
2009 18 Mar

Fantasy Romance at Minding the Muse

Author: RFLong Categories: Guestblogging

I’m guest blogging today at Danielle Devon’s site “Minding the Muse” on the subject of Fantasy Romance, what it means to me and how I got around to writing it.

Come by and comment.