lishmcbride

Winter Text Exchange 2019 Edition

So I'm still working on the next chapter of Lena's story, but I wanted to put something up for you all. (I've been prioritizing getting Curses revised, because I need to get that back to my editor in Jan.)

I love doing these text exchanges, and it's been awhile, so here's one from Sam, James and Haley. In case you've forgotten, the little girls they're talking about are Sam's little half sisters from Hold Me Closer, Necromancer.) If you're new and haven't seen the old ones, you can read...

Lena Story Chapter Six: Bye, Bye, Bye

In case you hadn't seen the art for  Lena's original short story, Heads Will Roll for Tor.com, I wanted to share it. The art is by Hannah Christenson and I love it--though she got an earlier draft where Lena had a sword, not her spear. I don't care, I still love it! Look at Steve, Lena and Wuf! Look at Ed! I've bought several of Hannah's prints over the years, because I love her art so much. If you haven't read the original story, it's still up for free on Tor.com, or you can download it...

Lena Story Chapter 5, "Not Every Body is a Wonderland."

So I got copy edits back on this a few days ago, but everyone in my house got the plague and then I had a migraine and everything got delayed. But here it is! Yay!

It's been really nice to see Sam, James and Ramon again. It's been years since I wrote them, and I was surprised how much I didn't remember about how Sam's magic worked. Hopefully I caught all my goofs. (I almost forgot the protective circle! That would have been a rookie move for Sam to make.)

-Lish

Thank You and Q&A!

So, I think yesterday was supposed to be Thank You Patrons Day on here. I meant to post something but my house has become a house of plague and I've been dealing with some weird stress and depression issues. And before you all chime in with SAD suggestions and vitamin D--I know. I live in Seattle. It's a thing here. But I like the darkness and Fall/Winter are kind of my favorite. So while I do watch my vitamin D intake this time of year, it's not something I generally struggle with.

Tha...

Lena Story Chapter 4

So I've been trying to keep up with posting on Monday, but that didn't happen this week. First, it was a bonkers weekend--super busy, lots of crazy surprises like my brand new fridge breaking. We had it for a week. Yay. Car trouble in my van and my mom's car, Smalls has a fever, and we had five extra kids in my tiny house over the weekend. SO MUCH FUN.

This chapter was also a little longer and had a lot going on in it. Upside? There's a cameo I think you're very much going to enjoy!

Writing Habits

There's a good chance that some of you are doing NanoWrimo (National Novel Writing Month) and trying to throw down 50,000 words in November. Go, you! Writing is hard. I was reading Malinda Lo's pep talk for writers (I've included it) that talks about putting your butt in the chair. I'm a big fan of Lo--she's smart, insightful, and wicked talented. You should go read her books. I loved Ash and Huntress broke my heart, but was so damn beautiful. Anyway, her post had me thinking about writing ha...

Lena Chapter 3

First I need to tell you that I didn't take this picture. It's from an ad campaign that Travel Scotland did and it's absolutely adorable. This campaign, and harassment from author ML Brennan on twitter, is why my kelpies look the way they do. Oh, and if you haven't read ML Brennan, her Generation V series reminds me a lot of my books. Ford is a terrible vampire and a film major and vegetarian. He's an adorable nerd. His mom hires a kitsune to keep him safe and the kitsune spends most of her n...

Lena Story Chapter Two: This Ranch Does Not Spark Joy

Chapter two is up! Shout out to Mel, my copy editor friend, who has been tirelessly looking over drafts of East Bound and now Lena's book because my drafts are a mess. I'm a big fan of shifting tenses between first person present and past because I'm a grammar anarchist, I guess. Things still squeak by, which is my fault, not Mel's, but I appreciate all her work and questions that help clean things up before they come your way.

Hope you're enjoying Lena's story so far and as always, fee...

Lena Story Chapter 1

So...I don't have a title yet. I'll try to think of one as I get a little further in, but for now, it's just going to be filed under "Lena story." Titles are hard, y'all.

Things you need to know going on, or at least will find helpful--Hel is not a typo. It's the general term used for underworld in Norse mythology. Yes, it's similar to the Christian Hell in name as both were derived from the same word (I believe). 

You have hopefully read about Lena and Steve before. If not, ...

Chapter 17 East Bound and Down

Last chapter! Now that I'm done I'll put all the edited chapters back into one document and read through it and see if it even makes sense. It's been a weird and fun experiment and I'm so happy you've all been along with me for the ride.

Now on to the next story! I was planning on doing a Lena and Steve story...but then I also had an idea for a Kat and Ezra story...so I'm torn. Do any of you have a preference? I could alternate between them I suppose...so cast your vote!

* Lena an...

Swamps of Sadness and Getting out of the Mire

If any of you have watched The Neverending Story, you will instantly recognize the image above. For those of you that haven't, what you're seeing is the exact moment in the movie where I would totally lose my shit as a child. And as an adult. Atreyu, the warrior, is on a quest with his best horse friend, Artax. They have to make it through the Swamps of Sadness, which Atreyu thinks will be no big deal. They have faced so many big, scary, difficult things--how will sadness stop them? What they...

East Bound Chapter 16

Annnnnddddd we're back! Thanks for your awesome patience as I got Curses back to my editor. Draft 4 is in her hands and is the longest book I've ever written (100,800 words. I usually land between 85,000 and 90,000.) We're hitting the end of East Bound and I'm going to try to get these chapters to you quickly!

Also, now I want a funnel cake. Enjoy!

-Lish

Reward Chocolate

This is a very exciting bar of chocolate. Want to know why? Because it means I've turned in another draft of Curses. At 100,000 words, it's my longest book yet. (I average around the 90,000 range usually.) My friend bought me this last Thursday to be opened either when I hit a low spot and needed encouragement to soldier on, or to open when I finished. I have very good friends.

(I opened it when I was reading through the last few chapters.)

I'm going to take tomorrow to rest, and ...

Curses Snippet

I am barreling down on the end of Curses, so hopefully my editor will give this draft a thumb's up. In the mean time, here's a fun snippet for your day. (For clarity, I should mention that in this part of the book, Tevin is pretending to be a rich industrialist named Padraig. That's why someone calls him that. Just FYI.) I can't wait for you all to see the new book!

*****

“Fine day for it.” Fredrick grinned as he surveyed the countryside. “Nothing quite like being in nature....

Curses Snippet

I'm barreling through this draft and am fairly happy with what I have so far. (Whether my editor agrees or not...we'll see. But I thought I'd share a fun scene. Merit is my beast character, Tevin is my beauty character. Kate and Amaury are his siblings and Val is his cousin and friend. Glendon is a baron that's an old family friend of Merit's. This takes place after Tevin's mother has traded him to get herself out of jail. His siblings and cousin decided that they'd stay, too. 

Enj...

Pictures, Update and a snippet!

The last few weeks have been busy. I went on a writing retreat with 8 other authors. We stayed at in old victorian in Forest Grove, Oregon and it was really nice. Not only did I get a 25,000 words on the re-re-write of Curses, but I got to meet some new writers, and talk shop with old friends. Talking shop is a huge boon and I learned a lot during our long weekend. (Kendare, one of the authors pictured, has a new book coming out soon. If you haven't read her stuff, take a look. After I read A...

*sighs*

I’m not having the best day. Here is a picture of my dog, Athena, waiting for us to throw the ball for her. You know, just in case you guys aren’t having the best day either.

East Bound and Down Chapter 15

I wrote most of this before I went to Tennessee thinking for sure I would get it finished when I was on my trip. 

Spoiler alert--that didn't happen.

What did happen is that I got to see several of my friends from my old MFA program--amazing writers and people I hadn't seen in years. I checked out Knoxville, drank some new beers, ate too much, and saw a baby giraffe. I also swam in a quarry/swimming hole, which was lovely. It was nice to refill the well. I did manage to spend ...

Ch-ch-chaaannnges

Hi, team--I know, it's been a lot of noise from me lately. I promise it will go back to story posts and not a lot of me yelling things at you soon. Or maybe you like that? I don't know. That's actually what this little post is about--what do you want, exactly? I'm changing the page about and adding and editing things. (As you might have noticed.) Part of this is because some things have shifted and I wanted to update my page to reflect that. I mean, I didn't even have Pyromantic on m...

Return of the Book Swag!

I just got some new magnets featuring your favorite Pygmy chupacabra! I also got more Sexy Gary buttons back in! (Stickermule had a sale. I love Stickermule.) I also have a bunch of bookmarks in my Closet of Book Swag (some of which actually have my old twitter handle on there! It’s like history, only no one cares!). What I’m saying is, it’s time some of this stuff went to caring homes. Want some bookswag? DM me a name and mailing address and I’ll ship some to you! Just a little thank...

Next Project?

So we're getting close to the end of East Bound and Down. The feedback has been pretty good about the project, but not everyone shares their feelings. I've enjoyed the process, though throwing up chapters with little editing is scary. (Thank you Mel for the copy editing help--any and all left over typos and goofs are mine!) So I've been thinking a little about what to do next. Any short projects anyone would really care to see? I've been loving doing longer stuff on here, but maybe that's not...

East Bound Chapter 14

This chapter is a little different. We take a break from Bo and jump around to a few of the other characters. Justice is back, and we get a little of Junior and Liv and Rey as well. I hope it's not too confusing, but we're getting close to the end here, and things are starting to heat up. I was kind of trying to mimic cutting between scenes like they do in films. Not sure if it worked, but I hope it's a fun read!

Auction for RAICES

I'm taking part in an auction to raise money for RAICES. 100% of the proceeds go to RAICES, a nonprofit that helps separated families, detained families, unaccompanied minors, and others who are seeking asylum in the United States. 

This auction is full of books, swag, illustrations, and awesome services. Take a moment to check it out. They are already past their first goal of (a combined) 5,000 in bids and they're going for a second tier! I have a signed hardcover of Hold Me Close...

East Bound and Down Chapter 13

Bo has her precious Phoenix back, but now there is some fresh trouble for them to deal with, because of course there is. Also, you get to meet some of Bo's family. 

East Bound Chapter 12 Part 2

So I didn't get any writing done last week. Turns out helping my mom pack, clean her house and move her stuff cross county (by ourselves) took a lot of energy. It was a crazy week. I was reminded how big Texas is. I fell out of a (parked) UHaul in Houston and have a pretty large scab up my arm. To be fair, Uhaul trucks are quite tall and my mom and I...are not. So that was fun. We saw a lot of cows and horses, a few goats, hawks, elk and antelope. I learned that there is such a thing as a Cow...

East Bound and Down Chapter 12 part 1

I'm flying down to Mississippi tomorrow to help my mom move up to Seattle. I will try to get the rest of the chapter up in the next day or so, travel depending. Right now I'm just running around trying to do ALL THE THINGS before then.

Curses is back with my editor, so you'll see me back on here frequently making up for some lost time. Thanks for your patience and support. 

-Lish

My Brain Go Squish-an Update

This grainy and terrible photo probably isn’t exciting to you-but to me it means I’ve finished writing this book...again. (Third full rewrite on this monster.) I’ll be spending the next day or so reading though it and making sure it makes sense...as much as my books make sense. You have all been amazingly patient while I worked on this. You’ll be getting at least one new East Bound post this week before I fly down to Mississippi. I’m helping my mom pack up her uhaul and drive it up ...

Update and Curses Snippet (May 15)

This book continues to be all banter. I'm at that point in rewriting where it feels like there's no plot and it's just my characters chatting back and forth. This is a totally normal feeling for me--I focus on the scene I'm writing and somewhat forget all of the things that came before so it feels like nothing happens ever. Then I reread it and go, "Oh, wait, no, they're all very busy." It's worse with this book, because it feels like a totally different plot than I'm used to. I have to keep ...

Interview

I did an interview for a blog recently and thought I'd share it here in case any of you were interested! 

Snippet and AMA!

Deadline brain--it's a thing. Trying to rewrite Curses (again-I think this is the third full rewrite? Plus lots of revision?) and I keep forgetting to do things. I need to start leaving myself post-its around the house like Joan Wilder in Romancing the Stone. Actually, I just want to be Joan Wilder. Anyway, I thought I'd share a wee snippet from the current rewrite. All you really need to know is that Fedorova, one of the suitors, has been turned into a swan.

Also, it's been awhile, so ...