science fiction - Lacey Louwagie

Author Biography Book Review: Star Child by Ibi Zoboi

Star Child: A Biographical Constellation of Octavia Estelle Butler by Ibi Zoboi My rating: 4 of 5 stars A very readable and compelling biography of Octavia Butler told in prose and poetry. Written for middle-grade readers, it focuses on the author’s childhood and the historical forces that shaped her

motherhood

Writers of the Future Honorable Mention

I found out a couple weeks ago that a short story I entered into the Writers of the Future contest received an honorable mention. According to the judges, that means it held their interest enough to read the entire thing — which is a compliment, considering that the story was about

books

Wanted: A Speaker for the Dead

As my husband drove me to work the Monday after his father died, I said, “I wish we had a Speaker for the Dead for your dad.” He said, “I was thinking the exact same thing.” In Orson Scott Card’s novel of the same name, the second in the

Book Reviews

Fairy Tale Retelling Book Review: Cress by Marissa Meyer

Cress by Marissa Meyer My rating: 4 of 5 stars I deprived myself of this book for far too long because I didn’t want to read any Rapunzel retellings while I was working on the second draft of my own. But this one was worth the wait. I loved

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My new writing space, and recommendations

I’ve been meaning to post a couple recommendations here for weeks, and now that I’ve got a nifty new writing station, I’ve decided it is time to do it! My new #writing station. A photo posted by Lacey Louwagie VenOsdel (@laceyvenosdel) on Jun 14, 2015 at 5:

authors

Writing Book Review: How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy by Orson Scott Card

How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy by Orson Scott Card My rating: 3 of 5 stars There are so few books that specialize in writing science fiction & fantasy that I try to read the few that exist. I admire OSC’s storytelling even if I disagree with his

authors

Advice I Need to Put in Practice ...

“I’m saying that you should send out, today, the best work you are capable of doing today. Of course you’ll do better a year from now. But a year from now you should be writing the story that you care about and believe in at that time — not

blogging

Creative Process Blog Tour

I read about a “Creative Process Blog Tour” over at Susan Perry’s blog, wherein different creative types are answering a set of questions about their process in their blogs. (Susan Perry is author of Writing in Flow, although I first discovered her through Loving in Flow, which I read

Book Reviews

The Handmaid's Tale and The Hunger Games - What Makes a Strong Female Character?

This month, my book club discussed The Handmaid’s Tale. This is one of the books that has been formative in my life as both a reader and a writer. It was the first piece of dystopic literature I read beyond The Giver, and it awakened a taste for much,

books

Dark Crystal Author Quest - Done!

My goal was to get my Dark Crystal Authorquest submission turned in before Christmas, and I met that goal at 7:10 pm last night. It feels good to know that now it’s out of my hands. When I got the confirmation message from the Jim Henson Company (and

authors

Writing Book Reviews in the Age without Boundaries

As is my habit on Sunday nights, last night I got caught up on my book-review writing. My Goodreads account is connected to my Twitter, so this morning I found that M.D. Waters had “favorited” the tweet that linked back to my review of her book, Archetype. The review

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A Year in the Life, Week 33: Shopping

Today’s prompt from A Year in the Life was to write about a store you went to as a child. I didn’t write much about a particular store, but about my memories of shopping with my mom. I wrote for probably an hour, which is about twice as

fiction

Have Books, Will Read, Need Time

Recently, I’ve had the good luck to acquire a nice stack of new (or new-to-me) writing books. They are … Publishing E-books for Dummies by Ali Luke – This is fairly technical reading, but after checking it out from the library, I really wanted my own copy as a reference. I’

authors

Orson Scott Card's Plea for "Tolerance" is not Enough

“In the moment when I truly understand my enemy, understand him well enough to defeat him, then in that very moment I also love him.” – A.E. Wiggin Warning: this post contains Ender’s Game spoilers; proceed with caution unless you’ve already read the book, seen the movie, or

book reviews

Fairy Tale Book Review: Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer My rating: 4 of 5 stars This book had nice pacing, a good narrative arc, and perhaps most importantly, a good balance between its two primary storylines — the continuation of Cinder’s story, and the introduction of Scarlet. Initially I didn’t think I’d like

Authorquest

The Only Cure for Writer's Block? Writing.

When I teach writing, I always tell people that the only cure for writer’s block is writing. Now it’s time for me to buck up and follow my own advice. I’ve read all the Dark Crystal books I can get my hands on, cover-to-cover, poring over the

authors

Speculative Fiction ... Literary Fiction's Best-Kept Secret

A couple weeks ago, I commented on a newly published author’s implication that the reason many writers are not getting published is because they’re writing stories with fantastical elements (and received a very insightful comment from one of my readers that the nature of this particular author’s

authors

Fantasy ... Less Worthy of Publication?

Through my library work, I have access to Penguin’s “First Flights” program, which features interviews with first-time authors. A little over a week ago, I was listening to the interview with Derek Sherman, author of Race Across the Sky. During these chats, the interviewer almost always asks the author

call for submissions

The Dark Crystal Authorquest and Writing on Assignment

A few weeks ago, I decided that I needed to put my Rapunzel novel on hold so that I could wrap up a few other fiction projects. The first was my Rumpled ebook. The second is entering a submission in The Dark Crystal Authorquest contest. I found out about the

feminism

Why I'm Taking a Break from Superhero Movies

I briefly mentioned the not-so-great Star Trek: Into Darkness last week. Shortly after, I came across this article in which writer Damon Lindelof apologizes for the gratuitous scene of Alice Eve in her underwear. Then, in his defense, he mentions that Kirk was shown in his underwear in both movies.

Catholicism

Dusting off the Query for 2013

In 2012, it was my goal to submit my work at least once a month. Ever This Day was held briefly by a new Catholic press beginning a young adult line, but ultimately they passed on it. That didn’t come as too much of a disappointment, as I was

freelance writing

Freelance Writer Opportunity

My husband’s company, Wimpy Analytics, LLC., is seeking a part-time freelance writer and PR person for their website Coppergoose.com. Below is a description of the position: Wimpy Analytics, a software startup, is seeking a writing and marketing intern/part-time staff member to become part of a fun, enthusiastic

article writing

My Changing Reading Tastes and What It Means for My Writing

Over the past year, I’ve noticed a distinct change in my reading preferences. While Young Adult and speculative fiction (even better, both!) used to be my genres of choice, now I find myself more compelled to read memoir and other non-fiction genres. And while I used to regularly read

publication

One Self-Publisher Gets Its Comeuppance

Last week, my friend Jim from my writers group shared a story about a group of science fiction and fantasy writers who pulled off a hoax with self-publisher PublishAmerica.* PublishAmerica is one of those self-publishers that claims to only accept “quality” manuscripts, presumably to stroke the egos of hopeful writers

publication

I'm Officially a Goodreads Author!

My bit of writing excitement last week — which I’ve already blasted around all the social media to which I belong — was being accepted into Goodreads Author program. I’ve been a member of Goodreads for over three years now, and recently I was looking at the collection of science