Balticon! I’m heading to Balticon on May 23-26. Most of my panels are on Sunday. Here is my schedule. If you are going to be there, stop by and say hello! Start Time Duration Room Name Session ID Title Saturday, 8:30 PM 1 hour Federal Hill 258 I’m Going to Kiss that Corpse: Why We…
Author: JDBlackrose
Catching Petals Before the Storm
Catching Petals Before the Storm. I haven’t done a Three Things post in a long time but something happened today that inspired me. Three Things We have an autistic young man who lives in our neighborhood. He rides around on a foot scooter with a big green canvas bag tied to the front. He collects…
Are You Reading T. Kingfisher?
Are You Reading T. Kingfisher? Are you reading T. Kingfisher? If not, you should be. She’s an amazing writer. One of my friends called her a “generational writer,” and I feel that is exactly right. I’ve also heard she is a lovely person and I can’t wait to meet her at DragonCon over Labor Day…
Building a Writing Habit
Building a Writing Habit I’ve written about building a writing habit before, but I’ve been thinking about this topic again because I need to create a presentation about this for the Great Lakes Fiction Writers conference in July. The Great Lakes Fiction Writers has a one-day conference every year, and it is well-attended and a…
Say NO to AI
Say NO to AI. Authors woke up the other day to a new surprise. Meta’s platform, LibGen, stole god-knows-how-many proprietary books to train its AI. The dataset is 7.5 million but I don’t know how many books were in the public domain. Nevertheless, it is an enormous dataset of mostly purloined, pirated books. The new…
Turning First Person Into Third
Turning First Person Into Third Turning first person into third person is a thankless, hair-tearing task that I would like to never have to do again, if at all possible thank you very much. I’m editing Angel Flash, the final book in the Summoner’s Mark Series. (Side Note: Pinky Promise, the most recently published book…
I Was Nominated for An Award
I Was Nominated for an Award I was nominated for an award. Can you believe it? There I am, minding my own business, when an Imaginarium email pops up. Imaginarium is a fantasy convention held in Louisville, KY every summer. I attended once but haven’t had the opportunity to return. What Did the Email Say? …
The Case of the Haunted Tiara
(Also, a link to a FREE zombie cosmetologist short story called Stars & Scars.) The Case of the Haunted Tiara The Case of the Haunted Tiara is the title of a short story I’ve written featuring my zombie cosmetologist character, Waylon Jenkins. It will appear in an anthology Queer Power: Escaping the Fright. If all…
What Is A Narration Guide?
What is a Narration Guide? A narration guide is a document that explains how to pronounce names or foreign words so that your audiobook narrator can say them properly. Doing this can set your hair on fire. Trying to find the exact right pronunciation online, or record a file, or just write the word phonetically,…
Update for 2025
Update for 2025 Hey everyone: I haven’t been writing regularly here for a while, so you are due a nice, juicy post. Update for 2025. I’m not sure how juicy this is going to be, but it will be chock full of information. So without further ado, an update for 2025. What did I do…