It was hard, and she tried to talk me out of one of my precious blogging ideas–she didn’t succeed–but CE Murphy is here at last.

“Blogging is hard,” I said to May while I was trying to come up with a topic for today’s guest blog. “Let’s go shopping!”

Inevitably, this led to a discussion of shoes. This is inevitable only because I accidentally turned May on to Duo Boots last year, and while I am not *generally* weak in the face of shoes, I turn out to be very weak in the face of boots that will fit my sturdy calves.

The truth is, actually, writing is hard, whether it’s blogging (me, I keep a journal, because blogging to my mind is more topical and focused than a journal) or writing books. It requires a certain discipline, ’cause at the end of the day nobody but you is making you do it.

That’s one of the hardest bits of being a professional writer. I took solitaire off my work computer (which is not hooked up to the internet) about six months ago, because when writing was hard going I
was spending hours and hours losing games instead of working my way through the hard bits. It’s soooo much easier to do anything other than write. Clean the kitchen, clean the kitty litter, go for a walk, aaaaanything at all.

But it has to be done. One way or another, if you want to be a professional writer, you must write. No way around that one, I’m afraid. You do whatever it takes to get yourself into the chair: word wars (a battle with someone else to see who can write the most words in 30 minutes!), a promise that you can quit “after 100 (or 200, or 300, or…) words”, a chocolate bar with your name on it (though you better put that at the end of a 3 mile walk, because writing is a sedentary job!), look at your looming deadlines, get up early, stay up late, write on the commute; a friend of mine says if you have time to watch TV, you have time to write. It’s a matter of making choices, and that’s more difficult than it seems. Even for me, who’s been writing full time for more than three years now, it’s not as easy as I think it should be. Many days I still have to drag myself to the keyboard to get any work done. I think that’s just part of any job, and has to be dealt with.

On the positive side, on days when the writing isn’t easy, I can always wear my knee-high, 3″ heel suede Duo Boots stilettos to work in, if I want.

CE Murphy is the author, most recently, of THE QUEEN’S BASTARD, in which she believes there is no mention at all of shoes. House of Cards was released in March, and the second book in the same series, Hands of Flame, will be released in September.

Liz!

(I’m sorry this is waaaay late but I’ve not been online much lately.)

Liz, you’re getting an email, and I’ll be popping Iron Angel in the mail soon (well, I’m going to try very hard on the second part)!

Now, you may not know this, but I, together with New York Times bestselling author Jeaniene Frost, are campaigning for Kate and Curran porn by book 4 of the Kate Daniels series, written by the fabulous Ilona Andrews.

Ilona’s looking for titles for book 3, which should be Magic ___________.

She said no to Magic Sex, so I guess she’ll just have to save that title for book 4, but in the meantime, we need Book 3, so head on over and give book 3 a name–there’s a prize!

Via zornhau, Paul Krugman on the NYT Economics blog:

I’m startled at Brad DeLong’s ignorance: he thinks there’s something new about science fiction novels where the science in question is economics.

I’m honestly looking forward to the summer, because if nothing else, I’ll have to pick up on the economics blogs thing.

*eyes Google Reader mournfully*

I’m not usually one for short stories, but I love this one.

Janni Lee Simner’s Frog Princes

I can’t wait for her YA novel to be out next year, and in fact, I’m so excited about it, I’ve already asked to interview her when it comes out.

Sharon Lee, one-half of the couple who writes the Liaden Universe books (I’ve only read the first one, but I like!):

For instance, I, the Writer, do not agree to:
1) never kill off a beloved character
2) always provide a H(appy) E(ver) A(fter) ending
3) always write the same book
4) always write the same kind of book

You, the Reader, do not agree to:
#adore everything I write
#finish reading a book that doesn’t work for you
#buy a book in a genre you loathe, just because I wrote it

The rest of it is here.

I’ve nothing else to say except, “I agree! I agree! I agree!” Now back to the textbooks.

In Iron Angel, the second book of the Deepgate Codex, we meet the other sons of the goddess Ayen, and we travel to the other side of the world.

It feels almost as though we’ve taken one big step backwards from Scar Night’s finer focus on Dill and Rachel, such that in Iron Angel, we look at the bigger picture, but without losing the pacing and certainly not the feel of being balanced on the knife edge of action.

It is by far a better book than Scar Night–which incidentally, I appear to have forgotten to review. It is less…rough, for lack of a better word. The story flows, rather than occasionally stopping and starting around passages of lovely description.

The worldbuilding is, again, amazing. It’s not only the level of detail, but also that the details given to you are just enough for you to draw your own pictures without dragging the book down, something I felt was an issue in Scar Night.

And all this is capped with what I consider to be an glorious ending. There will be people who will disagree with me, but I think it is a pitch-perfect ending for this book.

Iron Angel rates 4 out of 5.

(The publisher sent the book to me.)

I’m giving away a copy. I do think this book is that good. Comment to put your name in the draw.

1. On a scale of one to ten, rank your current level of insanity–where ten is belongs-in-lunatic-asylum insane–and tell us why.

One, because my deadline is still a few months away. And if I need reminded of the insanity of the rest of the world in the meantime, I can always switch on the TV.

2. You’re not really going to end Book Three with “Everyone dies after 80,000 words” right? Seriously though, do you think that there might be a Third Book syndrome that follows Second Book syndrome?

I don’t think my publishers would let me kill everyone off after 80,000 words. I haven’t heard of Third Book Syndrome, so… fingers crossed.

3. According to your bio, it says that you left game design to pursue a career in writing and photography. You’re a published writer now, so what happened to photography?

I still sell pictures to magazines and newspapers through a stock library, but I don’t concentrate on it full time now.

4. Do you think that SFF writers might be more political in general? Or are they just more vocal than other (fiction) writers about it?

SFF has a long tradition of exploring dystopian political structures, such as in George Orwell’s “1984″, Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” or Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451″. This type of fiction can act as a powerful metaphor for current events, or even as a warning. SFF is a perfectly-shaped hole for that particular peg. But are SFF writers in general any more political or vocal about politics than other writers? Certainly not, when compared to journalists. We’re more political than romantic fiction writers, I suppose. But that’s probably because Romance, as a genre, doesn’t really lend itself to hard political analysis (and nor should it).

5. Iron Angel and Penny Devil. Would you say that the differing titles for the US and UK markets refer to different facets of the book? If yes, how so?

The title “Penny Devil” has now been dropped. We all thought it would be a bit daft to have two different titles for the same book. It confused me, and I wrote the book. The titles refer to two different characters. “Iron Angel” will also refer to something subtle and clever, just as soon as I figure out what it is.

6. Having picked up the violin at a rather, umh, late age, how’s it coming along?

Late age? What do you mean late age?

Well, it’s coming along like a sick cat in surgery. It’s a very sick cat, and I don’t rate its odds too highly.

Alan Campbell’s current release is Iron Angel, coming soon to a bookstore near you.

Talking about Iron Angel, I’m giving away a copy. But just so you know, it’ll probably take awhile to get to you, since I can’t afford to ship it any faster. Just comment, and mention why you want it, and you’re in the draw!

Just to whet your appetites, check out this interview by Fantasy Book Critic of one of my favorite new victims authors.

I’m giving away a copy of his new book too, except that I can’t afford to ship this book anyway but slowly, so I’d recommend that you just buy it because it is that good. Scar Night was a big book too, so if you read really slowly, you could buy that and start on it whilst waiting for Iron Angel to get to you.

Via the amazing Janni Lee Simner: Men Who Explain Things.

* I’m linking to the original essay, not the shorter one in the LA Times.