lishmcbride

Lena Story Chapter 13

This picture has nothing to do with the chapter--it's my Mother's Day Present! Man Friend made it--the bones are gold leaf, and he made the frame and such, too. Also, lilacs are my favorite. 

Right now I'm outside enjoying the spectacular weather, which is really odd. Seattle? In Spring? It should be pretty rainy. Instead we've had really lovely sunshine and it's not too hot and I can smell all the lilacs in bloom. It makes me really happy even though the sun hates me (YOU WILL NOT...

MOAR BOOKS

When I say that my bookshelves are currently disorganized and that I do have more research books, this is what I’m talking about. I have a lot of books-it’s the joyous curse of being an author and a bookseller for years. Some of these shelves are actually stacked two books deep. They are only vaguely in order in some places. I dream of one day living in a house that actually has a room I can use as a library. Also a second bathroom.

This picture does not include the bookshelves I sh...

Another Author You Might Like To Follow

My friend, Stephen Blackmoore, joined Patreon recently. He writes the Eric Carter series, which is also about a necromancer, but it's a gritty noir style series. If you follow him at all on Twitter, you know that he also writes funny, tongue-in-cheek astrology posts. Stephen makes me laugh, I love his books, and he's been very supportive to me over the years. So I thought I would share his Patreon on here in case any of you are interested!

Lish

Lena Story Chapter 12

So, first and foremost, I would like to say that the photo above is from an article in The Brown Daily Herald of the a Olneyville New York System hot wiener. (This is not my photo, I don't own it, I didn't take it, etc.) But I can't go to RI and take a photo, and I wanted you all to see what I was talking about. Thanks to several amazing and awesome friends and readers, I've learned a lot about Rhode Island food in the last few weeks. Also, I now want to go to RI. I want to try coffee milk. I...

A Question About Research

Mel asked, "Do you have a bookshelf of mythical creatures with images and descriptions?"

It was on the Q&A thread, but I thought I would give this one it's own space. First, Mel is my poor, abused copy editor. Mel has to look up and try to fact check and copy edit all of my weird beasties. I have been reading mythology-type books since I was in kindergarten, and though I'm no expert, I have a pretty solid base. It also means I collect a lot of weird reference books. 

This...

QUESTION THREAD

Hi, team! How are you? I hope you're healthy and taking care of yourself out there. 

I thought I'd open up a question thread in case any of you have questions about my books, my writing, or some third thing that I may or may not be an expert on.  Fire away!

Lish

Lena Story Chapter 11

A new chapter! In which we get to see Grant use his magic! Hope you all like it. Stay safe and healthy out there!

-Lish

Poem! (I'm sorry) and a Question

First, a question! Yesterday I recorded me reading a short story from the collection Curses--a story that I wrote a long time ago. It's...long. Like, 40 mins, and almost all of that is me reading. My short stories tend to be long, which is great if you're reading, but not so much when you're listening maybe? Especially since I'm not a spectacular reader or anything (I goof a few times) and the story is older so there are so many things I wouldn't do now...anyway, I wasn't sure if I should act...

Interested in Writing or Poetry?

This is my friend, Abby. Abby is a badass. Seriously, we met in undergraduate and I basically decided she was going to be my friend and followed her around. She has a drive that I really admire. What I've always liked about Abby is her approach to poetry--she wants to make it accessible, the voice of the people, you know? A lot of writers take themselves and their art a wee bit too seriously at times, and I've always enjoyed that Abby, like me, doesn't do that.

Abby is now the poet laur...

Hey 2020, maybe slow down a little? Thanks.

So, I was going to post a video today doing another story time, but today has been really rough. My husband had to have two of his teeth extracted (he got an abscess this weekend, got it drained monday, and today had the teeth yanked), so there was some running around this morning, and I get stressed whenever I leave the house now because my lungs suck and everything is on fire.

This morning my Uncle Mark unexpectedly died. Well, I mean, his health was awful. He had a bad heart and terr...

Lena Book Chapter 10 Part 2

So I made Heads Will Roll the image for this because we have a cameo from a character from that story (and Necromancing the Stone) and because I love this art so much I always want to share it. My editor actually bought me a copy of this print and framed it for me at the time, and since then I've bought several other pieces by the artist, Hannah Christensen.

Thanks for being cool and patient. It's been slow on my end because stress, and my mom's health...and my cat's...and then Man Frie...

Toad Problem Reading

You can now listen to the DULCET SOUNDS OF MY VOICE. (It is dulcet? I don't think so. But you can listen to me ramble and then read a story. Yay! Also, I look very Pacific North West here. Like I'm about to go fishing, go to a logging festival, and then drink pretentious coffee. Sorry about that?

Anyway, not only have a lot of you been reaching out and being supportive, but a few new friends have joined and just been really delightful, so I thought a few fun things like this open to all...

Murdershack

Man Friend felt bad that I had nowhere to go and write since everyone was home. So he cleaned up his shop and made me a writing nook...complete with a meat hook, rusty hand scythes, and zombie heads. (All of those were already in there, but he added a diffuser to make it smell nice.) Basically, it looks like a murder shack. But let’s face it, this is “office” is pretty on brand for me.

Lena Story Chapter 10

So first, I didn't take this picture--but apparently sometimes the Big Blue Bug in RI gets decorated? Also, look, I wrote words! Not a lot of them, but after two weeks of nothing, I'll take it!

Big thanks to all the people who filled me in on RI life. I want to go there now. Well, not now. You know, when people are less contagious in general and I don't live in a pandemic hot spot. 

My mom is still in the hospital (for unrelated medical stuff), and we're not allowed to visit ...

Greetings from the Apocalypse!

Forgive my gallows humor. I don't mean to be flippant about any of it, but I come from pragmatic, practical stock and we use humor to deal with stress. Humor is how we take power back from scary things. I'm just a hair north of Seattle, in Snohomish County. The kids are home for six weeks--minimum. Possibly longer, depending. Libraries are closed for the month (but I can still borrow digitally! Huzzah! Thanks, libraries!). My bookclub is meeting digitally and we're cancelling all the things. ...

Ugh

So, you might have noticed I haven’t posted anything lately like I should have. Or maybe you didn’t -unless people comment or like things, I have no idea if any of you even look on here. But if you’ve been waiting, I’m sorry. This week has been a bit rough. My mom went into the hospital Thursday for surgery and was supposed to be released Sun. They kept her until Tuesday, and though she was ready to leave, I’m not sure she should have come home. She lives with us, so I’ve basicall...

My office this morning has a lot more jello than I'd like

I'm trying to get some writing done and hit one somewhat expected road block (lots of hospital time) and one unexpected. For the expected--my mom had surgery yesterday. I'm the closest relation geographically, and so I of course was here all day. ALL. DAY. Between check-in, the surgery going long, recovery going long, etc, I was here from 11 AM to almost midnight, when my mom's friend took over so I could go sleep in a bed. My mom is doing well, and I brought stuff to do--but despite having h...

Lena Book : Chapter 9 - Part Two

More words!

It's been really fun to work on something on the side like this--especially since I've been working on Curses, the book currently with my editor, for like four years. It's been a rough road. My editor liked my newest draft though, so now we're moving into editing! This is good, though of course I'm impatient and want to push ahead as quickly as possible. I want this book out in the world and four years is a long time for me to work on something. 

For those that do...

Lena Chapter 9 : It's Too Early for This Shit

This one is on the shorter side, so probably the first half of a chapter, but I wanted to keep the story going. Sometimes I don't know how long a chapter is going to be until I finish the scene, look at it, and then see if it's dragged on for 25+ pages or not.

Hope all of you are well out there and have survived the day of Obligatory Romance. We don't really do Valentine's day beyond getting the kids some candy. Smalls is weird and won't eat certain kinds of chocolate or sweets. He's pi...

Lena Story Chapter 8

Next chapter is up! Mel, my wonderful friend who copyedits this stuff for me so that it's not a total mess, was sick, and took a few days to get better. I almost posted it anyway, but trust me when I say it's worth the wait. I'm fairly adept at editing other people's work, but my brain misses a lot of goofs in my own work. 

No news on my mom--she's feeling fine. No symptoms. We're waiting to hear from the specialist. A nice fix it man came by yesterday (sent by my landlord) and agr...

Plot Twist

So, to give an update from my last post--my mom's dog, Peanut, is totally fine. She spent a few days sick and then bounced back. So no cancer, which is a relief. Meanwhile, the biopsy my mom got last week that I thought was no big deal actually is cancer, so that's a new and fun thing we're dealing with. Upside--they caught it early. My mom lives with us, so we can help her after her (very likely) surgery coming up. We're not sure if she'll need chemo or anything yet. It's early days and my m...

Lena Chapter 7 : The Happiest Census Designated Place on Earth

So I actually got my copy edits on this back yesterday (Thanks, Mel!) but a migraine kept me from looking at a screen for very long. And the thing about copy edits is that it's also my chance to reread and make sure things make sense...and I don't want to do the when my brain is being eaten by a gremlin. It means I'll miss a heck of a lot more than I would normally.

This week has been a bit of a doozy. My mom had a biopsy on Monday and due to various reasons, she had to go to the hospit...

Writer's Retreat

Remember when I said I was hoping to get Curses done and then go back to Lena during my retreat? Well, I got Curses done...so I was half right? For those keeping score, this is draft #5 of that book. I usually do a lot of drafts, but they are revision drafts, not total rewrites. So far this book has been several partial rewrites, four full rewrites, and now one major revision. I know technically it's progress, but it doesn't feel like it. Right now I'm reading through the pages to make sure t...

This Week

The holidays ate my brain. It was a rough Christmas. Lots of colds-two of my nieces got strep. Smalls got some sort of puking thing and also ate bugs (these two things are not related). But seriously, my picky kid who cries when I try to get him to try Mac n’ cheese ate crickets and mealworms without a blink.

Also, I got this lovely teapot! Man Friend searched high and low for something I can’t break. (I only broke ONE teapot. He has destroyed TWO kettles. So there!) I’m happily t...