Wednesday, December 20, 2023

My primary writing soundtrack

 I don't ALWAYS listen to the album Everybody Digs Bill Evans when I write, but I bet I do 50% of the time. I listen to it over and over again, then listen to it over and over and over again. 

I don't really know why, other than it has a sort of Pavlovian effect on me. I now associate the opening measures with the sound of writing.  This album is what writing sounds like to me. So it gets me in the mood. In fact, if I listen to it outside of the context of writing--in a car or coffeeshop or a a party--I feel the urge to write. Like some sort of drug addict. 

I think this is a really good thing. For me.

Oh, and Peace Piece may be the most beautiful song ever made.


Review from Project Muse: The Five Impossible Tasks of Eden Smith

 I dig this review from Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, from Project Muse: "It is a dangerous and wonderful place that Eden realizes she has always longed for, and readers will likely agree." muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/article/


A lot of the reviews so far focus on the world in this book. I'm mostly happy about this, as this was really my first ambitious attempt at world-building. I guess I built a world people like.

Wednesday, December 6, 2023

Got a box of books!

 One of my favorite movies ever is Back To The Future. At the end of the movie, when Marty returns to the now-idealized present, his once-loser-now-winner dad opens a box containing copies of his new novel. When I first saw that movie in the 1980s, I thought, “Yeah, that would be the best feeling…opening a box of your own book.”


Guess what? IT IS! It’s amazing. So fun. 



Wednesday, November 29, 2023

Pre-order The Five Impossible Tasks of Eden Smith

 My latest book is officially available for pre-order. Early reviews are awesome! Order it today and put a picture of it under your Christmas tree. It comes to bookstores on January 2, 2024. 




Support my local Tacoma bookstore and buy it from Kings Books.

https://www.kingsbookstore.com/book/9780823453122