lishmcbride

AMA, Snippet, and Hello from the Writer Cave

The last few weeks have been a lot. (Hahahaha--the last few years, right?) But between the funeral, Smalls getting sick, his school going virtual for a week, and then vanishing to my writing retreat, my cup overfloweth.

My plan for the writing retreat was to get edits for A Little Too Familiar, the adult comedic fantasy romance thingie I'm working on, done before I left so I could finish drafting Frontier (Young adult frontier era supernatural thriller/horror type thingie). That didn't ...

BTLN Chapter 7

I thought I'd post this part of the story with a picture of a po'boy so that you could properly imagine the dinner scene. One of the bummers about being a vegetarian in NOLA when I was in grad school was I couldn't eat most southern cuisine. It's delicious, but everything is cooked in bacon. Vegetarian was an almost completely foreign concept for lots of reasons--that being said, a lot of cultural cuisine clashes with a meatless diet. I was the interloper and vegetarianism is a choice, so I d...

Boxing Day Text Convo

First, tell me that dude isn't how you picture some of the gnomes?

Second, you were supposed to get this on Boxing Day. Except several things happened: A freak snow storm (in a city not prepared for snow at all), and then my grandmother passed away. All in all, the 26th sucked. Then yesterday my husband found out one of his friends and colleagues in Denver was shot and killed. 2021, getting its last kicks in.

Also, sorry to start this off with such a downer? But that's one of the ...

BTLN Chapter 6 (FINALLY)

This chapter took forever? Partially because the holidays and my booster shot, and then my family had to go into quarantine because my oldest son got Covid. Luckily, we're all vaccinated and he got a mild case. (My mom is actually in Mississippi to help take care of my gran, who also got covid. My mom is fine, but we're all a little worried about my gran. She's 93 and not of robust health to begin with.)

 Anyway, we're all quarantined at home until the 24th. Writing with Smalls in ...

Lena Text Exchange

So the vote was split pretty evenly between Sam and Lena, so I decided to go with Lena, because when I started to think about what the holidays looked like on Grant's farm...well. I started laughing. That being said, I'll try to think up a good one for Team Sam this month as well.

I'm about halfway done on the next Sam chapter. I lost several days to a last-minute Emerald City Comic Con signing (which was a lot of fun) and my Covid booster (which was less fun, but I'm grateful for it). ...

Text Exchange Poll

The holidays and all the other things have put me behind, though I plan to write a new Sam chapter tomorrow. I also usually do a Holiday text exchange between characters. (If you're new, I have some of the old ones posted on my website. Also, welcome!) 

What characters would you like to hear from for the next text exchange? Ava & crew? Sam and team? Lena and friends? Any of my characters are fair g...

BTLN Chapter 5

(Mild chapter spoilers here, so you might want to read after the chapter.)

Some chapters come easy...this wasn't one of them. That can be sort of the way when writing passages that are necessary but not always the most exciting. (Wow, I'm really selling this chapter, aren't I?) What I mean is, the beginning of the chapter includes necessary stuff, but wasn't a joy to write. It's housekeeping, in a sense. It's why most writers shake their heads when people talk about how...

BTLN Chapter Four

Today you get a chapter AND a video...and I admit the video is a bit of a spoiler. Though this video was taken in Honey Island Swamp, it's not far from where this story is set. (And it's the tour Sam alludes to. I took many, many people on this swamp tour when I lived in New Orleans and we always saw new animals.) This is a good example of the hog Sam runs into. They're big and they're fast. (We sometimes saw them running along the highway down there.) I'm not sure you get a good gauge on the...

Real Life Spooky Story!

The fall out from the wreck means I've basically had zero time to write. Yay? (No, not yay.) It didn't help that the kids had Friday off, and this week Smalls only has half days for parent teacher conferences. Bonus? I'm on the second day of a nasty headache. Today, at least, is better--I'm not getting dizzy, and I'm less sound and noise sensitive.

Other things not helping--my mom is gone, my husband is back at work, and Bigs is house sitting, so trying to write this weekend was excruci...

These Pictures Are Related, Just Not in The Way You Think

Last Tuesday I went on a little writer's retreat--I was supposed to go hole up in a friend's cabin with a few friends, but that fell through. I'd already blocked off the time and I desperately needed to go off somewhere so I could concentrate on my revisions. Since my friend Kendare also had the time blocked off, we decided to rent a little duplex and get our work done, damn it. 

And we did! I got a chapter of BT,LN up, wrote 1,000 words on a YA Project and got 100 pages o...

BTLN Chapter 3 - The Evening Fell Just Like a Star

Here it is--chapter 3 and we're back with Sam for most of it.  Blood & Chocolate is a real film that is based on a YA novel of the same name. I remember watching it on video many years ago and the parkour thing is a bit wacky, but the movie was fun. (Of course I remember liking the book better, but isn't that usually the way of these things?) There are definitely worse werewolf movies out there, and of course there are better ones. I've watched a lot of them, which should surprise no...

Big Trouble, Little Necromancer Playlist

I'll update this as the chapters go up. Sometimes people like to know what songs I'm pulling from and I like explaining which versions I like best for some reason. (I love cover songs.)

Prologue: You Can't Start a Fire Without a Spark  is taken from Dancing in the Dark by Bruce Springsteen

Chapter 1: This is How We Come Alive. I apparently misquoted this lyric. I swear I double checked it, but I looked it up just now and NOPE. So it's supposed to be That's When I Come Alive. ...

BTLN Chapter 2- Bad Scene, Everyone's Fault

Second chapter is up! This one is from Brid's perspective as she reluctantly goes on a date. 

Character building is a funny thing. Sometimes characters are painstakingly put together and you only really get a handle on them after revising the novel for a few times. Ava from Firebug was like that. Ezra, too. 

And others just stroll onto the page as if they've been sitting in the wings impatiently waiting for their cue. Lock was like that. Ashley, too. Apparently, so was L...

Prologue and Chapter 1 of Big Trouble, Little Necromancer!

Later than I hoped, but here we are! 

As the picture hints, Sam is in New Orleans. Why New Orleans? Well, he has his own reasons, but mine are different--I've always wanted Sam to go there. Partially because of city itself. There really is something special about New Orleans and its connection to the dead. But there's symmetry, too--that was where I wrote the first draft of what would eventually become  Hold Me Closer, Necromancer. And honestly, it's fun fitting in th...

Hello from Boo!

I'm almost done with the first chapter for Big Trouble, Little Necromancer! Once I'm done, it will go to copy editor, Mel, and then I'll fix my many, many errors before posting it, hopefully early next week. I know there's been a big delay on this and I appreciate your patience. I'll try to post some extra fun stuff (like I did today for the upper tiers!) to make up for it.

If you've been on here for awhile, you might remember East Bound & Down--that weird novella I did as an homage...

A Little Too Familiar Snippet

So I've been working on a lot of things this last year, and one of them is my first novel aimed at adults. It's sort of a contemporary fantasy/romantic comedy, because I like to smash genres together. Though romance may not be your bag, a lot of the things people tend to like about my books--found family, weird magic, snarky banter--will be there. I'll post preorder links as soon as I have them.

Below is a snippet from the beginning of the book from Louise's perspective. She's an animal...

Curses Swag

I know I just posted, but I got some mock ups from Vlad, my wonderful artist friend who designs all my swag. (If you have any of my books makes, stickers, or magnets, Vlad made them.) I’m super excited about the fladger—aka the lovey winged badger from Curses, as well as Vlad’s interpretation of Caen’s Bloom, which is the flower in the book. More designs to come! (I can’t wait to show you the dapper ostrich bookmark.)

Sneaky text convo answers, zoom event, and other nonsense

Okay, so first things first--I put Patreon on hold for July. That's not saying I won't be popping on here, but I wanted to give myself a time cushion because July is looking crazy. In July I'm:

* Launching Curses (so events, lots of email, local stock signing, getting swag ordered and ready, publicity stuff, minor bouts of panic, blah, blah, blah.)

* Finishing a draft of the next YA thing

*Teaching a 8 week fantasy/sci-fi workshop through Hugo House

*Revising an adult ...

Text Convo: Frank, Queen of the Gnomes

Group Text between Sam, Frank and James.

Frank: We need to talk about the gnomes.

Sam: An evergreen text if ever there was one.

James: What have they done now?

Frank: For once, I think they’re actually quiet. Which unnerved me, so Brooke has been discreetly checking on them in ghost-form.

Sam: It’s not that I don’t love hearing from you, Frank, but if they’re not doing anything, then why do we need to talk?

Frank: Have you ever wondered why...

Lena Story Epilogue

I can't believe we finally hit the end. I'm both excited and a little sad. I've really enjoyed Lena and her crew. Ah, well. All things must end and all that. Hope you had as much fun reading it as I have had writing it.

-Lish

Lena Chapter 35

So this chapter took a little longer because it's looooong. At least for me. I thought it was the last chapter of the book! Which is both exciting and also kind of sad? But it turns out there's an epilogue, which I'm writing today. And then after that, it will be onward to a New Thing. 

Lena Chapter 34

We're almost to the end of this story! I think there's maybe one chapter left and then we'll move onto the New Thing!

Lena Story Chapter 33

In the words of Mel, "This chapter is gross." 

It is. It really is, and I can't exactly say I'm sorry. My brain is gross and I'm sharing that grossness with you. (Is grossness even a word?) Anyway, chapter up!

-Lish

Comic Chat Link

I'll be talking to two (local to me) graphic novelists as well as local GeekGirl folks about comics tonight on twitch. You can join us here.  (7PM, PST)

I have chapter 33 of to Mel, the copy editor, so it should be posted in the next day or so, depending on her schedule and how quickly I turn it back around. It's a doozy of a chapter. We're almost done with Lena! I can't believe it. After that...I have a surp...

New Murder Shack friends & Head's Up

So last Thursday I thought I was being smacked down by allergies...nope. It was a cold--my first one in...I don't know how long. I've been sick for almost a week and slowly getting better. I don't have the best respiratory system, so when I get a head cold, I have to be really careful to avoid getting sinus infections as well as my asthma getting triggered. As my husband likes to joke, I was built to be an indoor kid. So far we're good on the sinuses...but I've had to bust out my inhaler. Tho...

Reading Order

Okay, so Desdemona asked about reading order, and this question was a little more difficult than it seems on the surface...because I have overlapping timelines. Overlapping timelines that aren't precise. So I'm going to put it up here, but know that the lines between the stories are a little fuzzy because though I've paid attention to such things for each specific character, I've never really thought it out as a whole. Which is a nice way to say I didn't precisely plot anything and I could be...

Lena Chapter 32

For your viewing enjoyment--a picture of me from about a billion years ago. (I think I'm seventeen?) I clearly just woke up, and this is also clearly after that one time I tried to die my hair black and it was a huge mistake. Also featured are my mom, two of my brothers, and my cousin. I still make this face until my coffee kicks in, by the way. I'm posting this because I gave Lena this shirt to wear in this chapter. It says "I'm the guy your mama warned you about." I got it at a thrift store...

This Marshmallow Represents How I Feel

So this week has been a thing. I was going to work on a new chapter for Lena yesterday, but instead I had to drive my mom and my two boys to the vet clinic to say goodbye to my mom’s dog, Peanut.

Peanut was wicked old-we think 17? She was a little chihuahua that my mom found on the side of the road about 14-15 years ago. We’re pretty sure someone had been using her as a breeding dog and then dumped her on the side of the road...with a broken pelvis. My mom took her to the vet and en...

Lena Chapter 31

New Lena up! 

I hope you're all doing well out there. I have about one more week of teaching and then I'll be able to focus more on writing again. My students have been an absolute delight, but I'm looking forward to more writing time. 

For those that want to hear the dulcet tones of my voice, I did an interview with2021-03-27 21:31:16 +0000 UTC View Post

Lena Story Chapter 30

This one took a turn from which I have yet to recover. 

This week has been absolutely brutal for lots of reasons and I'm a very tired Lish, but I'm glad I at least managed to get a chapter up! Hope you're all doing well out there  in the world.

-Lish