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# Lena Brassard

Urban Fantasy • Fantasy Romance • Contemporary Romance

## Sitemaps

- [XML Sitemap](https://lenabrassard.com/sitemap.xml): Contains all public & indexable URLs for this website.

## Posts

- [Blog](https://lenabrassard.com/blog/) - Blog of Lena Brassard, author of urban fantasy, fantasy romance, and contemporary romance.
- [Best Reads of 2025: Soon by Lois Murphy](https://lenabrassard.com/2026/01/11/best-reads-of-2025-soon-by-lois-murphy/) - January 11, 2026 My doorstopper review of Soon by Lois Murphy, one of my 3 best reads of 2025.
- [Pulitzer Challenge: One of Ours by Willa Cather](https://lenabrassard.com/2026/05/07/pulitzer-challenge-one-of-ours-by-willa-cather/) - May 7, 2026 One of Ours by Willa Cather won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1923. The Pulitzer Prize is awarded to works of "distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life." This is one of (at the time of this writing) 10 Pulitzer-winning books that are no longer under copyright and are available
- [The Joys of Self-Publishing](https://lenabrassard.com/2026/04/15/the-joys-of-self-publishing/) - April 15, 2026 I woke up to an inbox full of self-publishing delights that dropped overnight. Back in the Smashwords days, if you didn't want your furry erotica pseudonym publicly linked to your middle-grade adventure pseudonym (for example), you had to have separate accounts. This was their own policy, not a shady workaround some scammer came up with.
- [Amazon Review Suppression](https://lenabrassard.com/2026/04/08/amazon-review-suppression/) - April 8, 2026 UPDATE: As of April 11, 2026, I can now can see 1- and 2-star reviews on Amazon. They did not send me an "oops, our bad, you're actually approved" email, so there's no explanation for the change. I'm leaving this post up for posterity because who knows who's still being blinkered, when it might happen
- [No one owes you a relationship](https://lenabrassard.com/2023/04/09/no-one-owes-you-a-relationship/) - April 9, 2023 Since I didn't stay offline as much as I should have and stumbled into Discourse, I'm going to go on record stating emphatically that no one owes you a relationship. No one owes you a debate about whether they owe you a relationship. No one owes you "closure" of the relationship they don't owe you.
- [2026 Pulitzer Challenge: Alice Adams by Booth Tarkington](https://lenabrassard.com/2026/04/01/2026-pulitzer-challenge-alice-adams-by-booth-tarkington/) - April 1, 2026 Alice Adams by Booth Tarkington won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1922. The Pulitzer Prize is awarded to works of "distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life." This is one of (at the time of this writing) 10 Pulitzer-winning books that are no longer under copyright and are available free
- [2026 Pulitzer Challenge: The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton](https://lenabrassard.com/2026/03/07/2026-pulitzer-challenge-the-age-of-innocence-by-edith-wharton/) - March 7, 2026 The way my mother always explained it, the traditional man wants a woman to be subservient, but he never falls in love with subservient women. He's attracted to independent women. "He's like an exotic bird collector," she said. "He only wants a woman who is free because his dream is to put her in a
- [2026 Pulitzer Challenge: His Family by Ernest Poole](https://lenabrassard.com/2026/01/01/2026-pulitzer-challenge-his-family-by-ernest-poole/) - January 1, 2026 His Family by Ernest Poole won the first Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1918. The prize is awarded to works of "distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life." This is one of (at the time of this writing) 10 Pulitzer-winning books that are no longer under copyright and are available free
- [2026 Pulitzer Challenge: The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington](https://lenabrassard.com/2026/01/28/2026-pulitzer-challenge-the-magnificent-ambersons-by-booth-tarkington/) - January 28, 2026 The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1919. The prize is awarded to works of "distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life." This is one of (at the time of this writing) 10 Pulitzer-winning books that are no longer under copyright and are available free
- [I Made a Storygraph Challenge](https://lenabrassard.com/2026/01/09/i-made-a-storygraph-challenge/) - January 9, 2026 Join my 2026 Project Gutenberg Pulitzer Prize Challenge on Storygraph
- [2025 Reading Recap](https://lenabrassard.com/2025/12/26/2025-reading-recap/) - December 26, 2025 I've been using StoryGraph for a full year, so I have book-nerd stats. Books Read I read 74 books and 28,075 pages in 2025. One book was a paperback; the rest were ebooks. Did Not Finish DNFs aren't included in the "books read" count, but pages read before quitting are included in pages read. I
- [Perhaps me regretting my literacy will entertain you.](https://lenabrassard.com/2025/11/08/perhaps-me-regretting-my-literacy-will-entertain-you/) - November 8, 2025 A necessary part of my DIY speech therapy is listening to my recordings to evaluate the successes and needs-work of my smooth jazz DJ voice. When I'm reading something that causes me to have outbursts, those interjections revert to my default offended-crow squawk. Between the switch-flipping and the commentary, it's hard to keep a straight
- [Brace for the Next Wave of "AI" Book Slop](https://lenabrassard.com/2025/11/06/brace-for-the-next-wave-of-ai-book-slop/) - November 6, 2025 KDP publishers can now one-click "AI" "translate" their books into other languages. (In beta for now.) Do you know how many shitty "translations" have already been done on the cheap by "translators" running text through Google Translate? Hey, at least now when readers mercilessly ridicule you because the "translation" of your book is nonsense, you
- [Fight This Book: Cat's Cradle](https://lenabrassard.com/2025/07/26/fight-this-book-cats-cradle-part-1/) - July 26, 2025 I was searching my mother's bookshelves for a particular ancient paperback. Her books are mostly romance or romance-adjacent, so the cover reveals led to reminiscing about the eras of fabulous painted covers and boring floral covers that didn't even give us fabulous painted stepbacks. One anomaly, however, prompted a very different reaction. Obviously, there was
- [Somehow, somewhere, sometime, somebody did something](https://lenabrassard.com/2025/09/23/somehow-somewhere-sometime-somebody-did-something/) - September 23, 2025 A book was recommended to me. The premise was fun, but the author exhibited a writing tic that had me screaming and casting the book aside by Chapter 4. The prose was littered with somehow, somewhere, sometime, someone, and something. Someone tidied my study while I was at the museum. Is it really a mystery
- [WordWeavers January 2024](https://lenabrassard.com/2024/01/30/wordweavers-january-2024/) - January 30, 2024 Join me for WordWeavers, a social media Q&A for writers, which I shall defiantly complete without social media.
- [Sewing Daisies](https://lenabrassard.com/2024/04/03/sewing-daisies/) - April 3, 2024 In which a charming show has appalling murder statistics, I thriftily repurpose fabric and make many hems, and those aren't daisies.
- [Adventures in DNFing](https://lenabrassard.com/2025/09/12/adventures-in-dnfing/) - September 12, 2025 In which I whole-heartedly endorse a policy of DNF early, DNF often, and find a book you'll actually enjoy.
- [Well, this is [profanity redacted]](https://lenabrassard.com/2024/05/10/well-this-is-profanity-redacted/) - May 10, 2024 I have strong feelings about $20 ebooks, and none of them are positive.
- [The "Art" of "Writing" a Book "Description"](https://lenabrassard.com/2016/08/11/the-art-of-writing-a-book-description/) - August 11, 2016 I hate writing book descriptions. They are not descriptions; they are ads. And they are not written; they are designed following analysis of a target entity to manipulate money out of that target entity. This bothers me for a number of reasons. I have an obsessive personality disorder, which comes with "demand sensitivity" and "demand
- [PSA: US Taxes and My Fellow Freelancers](https://lenabrassard.com/2025/02/24/psa-us-taxes-and-my-fellow-freelancers/) - February 24, 2025 IRS Direct File has made 1099-MISCs ineligible this year, following in other "free file" footsteps. File by mail.
- [Building Great Sentences (or not)](https://lenabrassard.com/2024/11/14/building-great-sentences-or-not/) - November 14, 2024 No love for Building Great Sentences: How to write the kind of sentences you love to read by Brooks Landon.
- [Robot Voices Still Suck](https://lenabrassard.com/2025/03/12/robot-voices-still-suck/) - March 12, 2025 Amazon just expanded the pipeline dumping bot-voice audiobooks into Audible. I won't be inflicting that garbage on anyone.
- [PSA: Mental Health Crises](https://lenabrassard.com/2018/06/09/psa-mental-health-crises/) - June 9, 2018 TRIGGER WARNING: SUICIDE This post is directed toward folks not themselves experiencing a mental health crisis, in hopes of increasing understanding of those who are. I'm putting all of it under the fold. If you're fragile, don't click it. Following the news about Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain, the internet is full of disbelief that
- [Progress Report: It's all over but the screaming](https://lenabrassard.com/2018/04/18/progress-report-its-all-over-but-the-proofreading/) - April 18, 2018 We're whizzing toward preorder time! Editor Angie has done what she can. I have addressed her recommendations. The sad placeholder text on the cover has been replaced. We tried a dozen "realistic" options for the claw-mark tattoo, and the cheap "suggestion" looks less obnoxious, so that's how it will stay. I'm looking at the book file like a
- [Silent Song Preorder and Release Date](https://lenabrassard.com/2018/04/24/silent-song-preorder-and-release-date/) - April 24, 2018 Silent Song is as good as it's going to get and has been uploaded to sellers to be released on May 1. This is not tentative---the sellers have the final file, not a placeholder. It's a done deal. The short preorder period is only to allow for technical difficulties that always seem to occur at one
- [Someone Asked: Thank You, Next](https://lenabrassard.com/2019/02/08/someone-asked-thank-you-next/) - February 8, 2019 I've recently had a small flurry of emails inquiring along the lines of when I'll be releasing another book. First, for the 99% of readers of my previous books who apparently missed it, I released a book in May 2018! You can request it through your Overdrive-affiliated library or purchase from the following sellers: Ebook
- [Grave Oversight Ebook Live](https://lenabrassard.com/2022/01/29/grave-oversight-ebook-live/) - January 29, 2022 Grave Oversight (Grave Oversight Book 1) has made its way to the major players in the retail sphere. Preorders don't matter in my position, so you can get it today! Each and every book is chock full of: • Ghosts • For your soap opera needs, amnesia and an evil twin • A maybe-immortal swordsman
- [Ren's Retirement Omnibus](https://lenabrassard.com/2022/09/13/rens-retirement-omnibus/) - September 13, 2022 I'm not writing contemporary romance anymore, but I needed to do a trial run of some processes to work out the kinks before the fantasy romance is ready to go, so it seemed like a good occasion to make a bundle of the three contemporaries I self-published as Ren Benton. Thus, I bring you the
- [PSA: Black Love Matters Ebook on Sale](https://lenabrassard.com/2023/07/18/psa-black-love-matters-ebook-on-sale/) - July 18, 2023 Black Love Matters: Real Talk on Romance, Being Seen, and Happily Ever Afters is currently $1.99 in ebook form. It's a collection of essays, edited by columnist and librarian Jessica P. Pryde, exploring romance in a media landscape where Happily Ever After has long been overwhelmingly white.[efn_note]And cis and het and capped with a Christian
- [Review: Notorious Sorcerer by Davinia Evans](https://lenabrassard.com/2023/09/25/review-notorious-sorcerer-by-davinia-evans/) - Review and recommendation of Notorious Sorcerer by Davinia Evans, a fantasy full of alchemy, mutual aid, and the quest for freedom.
- [Unicorn Review: Letters to Half Moon Street by Sarah Wallace](https://lenabrassard.com/2024/09/24/letters-to-half-moon-street-by-sarah-wallace/) - September 24, 2024 Letters to Half Moon Street by Sarah Wallace is a delightful epistolary romance set in a queer-friendly, magical Regency London.
- [PSAs: Pratchett and Anti-Competitive Shenanigans](https://lenabrassard.com/2025/02/14/psas-pratchett-and-anti-competitive-shenanigans/) - February 14, 2025 Lots of Terry Pratchett books are $1.99, and Amazon removes "download and transfer via USB" to device lock readers.
- [Grave Oversight 2 Has Legs](https://lenabrassard.com/2025/01/22/grave-oversight-2-has-legs/) - January 22, 2025 Grave Oversight 2 has grown from nothing to most of an outline that doesn't suck. I guess we're doing that now.
- [Nailing the Coffin Shut: 2024](https://lenabrassard.com/2024/12/31/nailing-the-coffin-shut-2024/) - December 31, 2024 Taking a look back at 2024 through the lens of publishing, including both "day jobs" and personal projects.
- [📌Directing the Flow of Help](https://lenabrassard.com/2024/11/09/directing-the-flow-of-help/) - November 9, 2024 Figure out what kind of help you can offer and stay too busy doing that to succor the perpetrators of harm.
- [Haymarket Books "Ten Free Ebooks for Getting Free"](https://lenabrassard.com/2024/11/22/haymarket-books-ten-free-ebooks-for-getting-free/) - November 22, 2024 Haymarket Books is offering 10 free ebooks from their catalog to fuel your resistance, defiance, and action for the times ahead.
- [Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer (that are actually useful)](https://lenabrassard.com/2024/11/23/writing-tools-50-essential-strategies-for-every-writer-that-are-actually-useful/) - November 23, 2024 Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer by Roy Peter Clark is a craft book I recommend often.
- [Holes, Sketches, Signs, and Shells](https://lenabrassard.com/2024/10/22/holes-sketches-signs-and-shells/) - October 22, 2024 Making progress on the striped sweater, drawing small things, learning ASL, and missing the mark with conchas.
- [Holey Sweater](https://lenabrassard.com/2024/09/17/holey-sweater/) - September 17, 2024 I've watched enough movies in the past 9 months for my ADHD to finish crocheting a sweater. On to the next!
- [KotSQ: Third Revision Miscellany](https://lenabrassard.com/2024/09/09/kotsq-third-revision-miscellany/) - September 9, 2024 I've basically been doing revision 3.5 on the first half of the book, so there's no real "progress" to report.
- [KotSQ: Second Revision #18](https://lenabrassard.com/2023/08/07/kotsq-second-revision-18/) - August 7, 2023 Revision update for Kiss of the Shadow Queen, in which some solutions are obvious and naming things remains a trial.
- [Introducing My Serial: Grave Oversight](https://lenabrassard.com/2021/07/13/introducing-my-serial-grave-oversight/) - July 13, 2021 UPDATE: The serial experiment has ended. Look here for the story in book form. Today marks the launch of Kindle Vella, a serial fiction platform for stories delivered in "episodes" that readers unlock with tokens. I had a partially written serial going to waste, so when Amazon announced this was on the horizon, I dusted
- [KotSQ: Second Revision #19](https://lenabrassard.com/2023/08/18/kotsq-second-revision-19/) - August 18, 2023 Revision update in which fidgets are fixed, rogues gotta rogue, and terminally literal pedants can get bent.
- [KotSQ: Revision Update #17](https://lenabrassard.com/2022/10/19/kotsq-revision-update-17/) - October 19, 2022 I ordered myself a $50 treat (a year's supply of tea) with my "sorry we got caught ripping you off for years, here's a sliver of your money back" class action settlement. It was delivered somewhere else, which I know because I was doing yardwork that whole day, had my eye out for the truck
- [KotSQ: Revision Update #8](https://lenabrassard.com/2022/05/06/kotsq-revision-update-8/) - May 6, 2022 Feeling really good without the voices of millions screaming for attention. Who knew? (I did, because I'm an old who didn't even have internet in the house until I was 22 and alert enough to track the long-term trajectory. Let's just say it's not a coincidence Grave Oversight's villain is using it as a tool
- [EU Availability via Apple](https://lenabrassard.com/2024/08/14/eu-availability-via-apple/) - August 14, 2024 Apple interprets the Digital Services Act in privacy-hostile way that will limit book availability for EU readers.
- [KotSQ: Third Revision #11](https://lenabrassard.com/2024/08/10/kotsq-third-revision-11/) - August 10, 2024 Revision update in which every other character is so cool, Hero might as well announce "I'm the problem."
- [KotSQ: Third Revision #10](https://lenabrassard.com/2024/08/05/kotsq-third-revision-10/) - August 5, 2024 Revision update in which the big city gets entered, better words get chosen, and sensible choices get a makeover.
- [Expanded Library Availability](https://lenabrassard.com/2024/07/12/expanded-library-availability/) - July 12, 2024 Good news! My contemporary romances written as Ren Benton are now available through libraries that use Hoopla.
- [KotSQ: Third Revision #9](https://lenabrassard.com/2024/07/29/kotsq-third-revision-9/) - July 29, 2024 Revision update in which motivation is tweaked, backstory unfurls, and one scene is just shy of a total gut job.
- [Site Refresh](https://lenabrassard.com/2024/07/24/site-refresh/) - July 24, 2024 The site is back from technical difficulties with improved performance, a new look, and a twinkle in its eye.
- [Chapter Breaks](https://lenabrassard.com/2024/07/10/chapter-breaks/) - July 10, 2024 A student asked, "How do you know where to put chapter breaks?" Short answer: vibes. Read on for the long answer.
- [Lemme Show You What Telling Means](https://lenabrassard.com/2024/06/18/lemme-show-you-what-telling-means/) - June 18, 2024 In which I valiantly attempt to demystify those three little words that have been distorted beyond all meaning: Show, Don't Tell.
- [Free Book Bonanza](https://lenabrassard.com/2024/06/20/free-book-bonanza/) - June 20, 2024 Today marks the convergence of Romance Bookworms' Stuff Your Ereader Day and the Fantasy & Sci-Fi Book Blast.
- [KotSQ: Third Revision #8](https://lenabrassard.com/2024/06/17/kotsq-third-revision-8/) - June 17, 2024 Revision update for which search engines will now replace my carefully handcrafted summary with "AI"-generated slop.
- [KotSQ: Third Revision #7](https://lenabrassard.com/2024/06/10/kotsq-third-revision-7/) - June 10, 2024 Revision continues with the road trip portion of the adventure, prop management, nitpicks, and just a little cowbell.
- [KotSQ: Third Revision #6](https://lenabrassard.com/2024/06/05/kotsq-third-revision-6/) - June 5, 2024 Revision update with shuffling, procrastination, unintentional soap, and the unsurprising failure of premature editing.
- [My Stance on Content Warnings](https://lenabrassard.com/2024/06/03/my-stance-on-content-warnings/) - June 3, 2024 Apart from being a gesture of basic human decency, content warnings are an accessibility issue. Short version: I'm in favor.
- [WordWeavers May 2024](https://lenabrassard.com/2024/05/30/wordweavers-may-2024/) - May 30, 2024
- [KotSQ: Third Revision #4](https://lenabrassard.com/2024/05/14/kotsq-third-revision-4/) - May 14, 2024 Revision update in which Act 1 is in the rearview, typos are loud, and I check off a bunch of Past Me's go-back-ands.
- [Contest Finalist (Take 2) and Technical Difficulties](https://lenabrassard.com/2020/07/10/contest-finalist-take-2-and-technical-difficulties/) - July 10, 2020 I was told the site required a database upgrade to continue functioning. I tried to upgrade the database... and the site stopped functioning. It was impossible to upgrade from the version I had to the most recent version, so the only way to get the most recent version was to start over with a new
- [Three Small Updates](https://lenabrassard.com/2020/09/22/three-small-updates/) - September 22, 2020 I have limped across the 50,000-word mark to dip the characters' toes into the Big City, as foretold. It took longer than anticipated because I strayed from the outline, got lost in the weeds, consulted the outline, and determined the outline is indeed the best way to achieve this story's goals. ALL HAIL THE OUTLINE
- [KotSQ: Third Revision #5](https://lenabrassard.com/2024/05/18/kotsq-third-revision-5/) - May 18, 2024 This revision whizzes along with substantial deletions, minor continuity adjustments, and probably-misplaced clues.
- [KotSQ: Third Revision #3](https://lenabrassard.com/2024/05/11/kotsq-third-revision-3/) - May 11, 2024 Revision update in which empty logistics, infrastructure, and transitions get the boot. You'll thank me later.
- [WordWeavers April 2024](https://lenabrassard.com/2024/04/30/wordweavers-april-2024/) - April 30, 2024 Join me for WordWeavers, a social media Q&A for writers, which I shall defiantly complete without social media.
- [KotSQ: Third Revision #2](https://lenabrassard.com/2024/04/29/kotsq-third-revision-2/) - April 29, 2024 Revision update with really long sentences and an innovative solution to weather sure to thrill my editor.
- [KotSQ: Third Revision #1](https://lenabrassard.com/2024/04/21/kotsq-third-revision-1/) - April 21, 2024 Revision 3 kicks off with right words found, problem solving through tomfoolerly, and converting telling to showing.
- [KotSQ: Second Revision #28](https://lenabrassard.com/2024/04/15/kotsq-second-revision-28/) - April 15, 2024 In which this round of revision is finally done (if not done well) and I relax in the liminal space between drafts.
- [KotSQ: Second Revision #27](https://lenabrassard.com/2024/04/06/kotsq-second-revision-27/) - April 6, 2024 The (maybe) penultimate progress report for this revision round, sponsored by Haffast & Spoonless, Esquires.
- [This Week's Writer Rant](https://lenabrassard.com/2024/03/31/this-week-writer-rant/) - March 31, 2024 In which I rant about data harvesting via incomplete writing and editors who don't follow their own "rules."
- [WordWeavers March 2024](https://lenabrassard.com/2024/03/30/wordweavers-march-2024/) - March 30, 2024 Join me for WordWeavers, a social media Q&A for writers, which I shall defiantly complete without social media.
- [Yarn, Pastry, and Never Mind the Corpses](https://lenabrassard.com/2024/03/21/yarn-pastry-and-never-mind-the-corpses/) - March 21, 2024 In which I've done something wrong 100,000 times, movies and cookbooks suck, and accessibility gets tweaked again.
- [KotSQ: Second Revision #26](https://lenabrassard.com/2024/03/16/kotsq-second-revision-26/) - March 16, 2024 In which I squeeze some revision into a break from writing that actually pays, and I'm only mostly dead inside.
- [Turkeys, Hoard, and Delicious Failure](https://lenabrassard.com/2024/02/29/turkeys-hoard-and-delicious-failure/) - February 29, 2024 Wild turkeys of the nonalcoholic variety, overcoming parental hoarding one bottle at a time, and foiled by molasses.
- [WordWeavers February 2024](https://lenabrassard.com/2024/02/28/wordweavers-february-2024/) - February 28, 2024 Join me for WordWeavers, a social media Q&A for writers, which I shall defiantly complete without social media.
- [Kobo Plus Comes to US and UK](https://lenabrassard.com/2023/04/06/kobo-plus-comes-to-us-and-uk-2/) - April 6, 2023 (Something went horribly wrong with this post yesterday that doesn't appear to reproduce with copy-paste into a new post, so let's try this again!) Kobo has had a subscription program in Canada and other countries for a while, and as of April 5, 2023, they've opened Kobo Plus to the US and UK, as well.
- [Reads, Frogs, Rolls & Excess](https://lenabrassard.com/2024/02/20/reads-frogs-rolls-excess/) - February 20, 2024 In which I read two good things, screw up a sweater, make the internet's favorite rolls, and overdo ice cream again.
- [Book Availability](https://lenabrassard.com/2024/02/16/book-availability/) - February 16, 2024 There will be disruptions in book availability as I migrate from a distributor to stores. Updates will be posted here.
- [The Beauty and Wonder of Coconut](https://lenabrassard.com/2024/01/15/the-beauty-and-wonder-of-coconut/) - January 15, 2024 The snow arrived, I'm possibly way too into coconut, and yarn has to wait while I untangle my vocal chords.
- [KotSQ: Second Revision #25](https://lenabrassard.com/2023/12/29/kotsq-second-revision-25/) - December 29, 2023 Revision update in which I'm nowhere near done revising but Editor Angie wanted this hot mess in her inbox anyway.
- [WordWeavers December 2023](https://lenabrassard.com/2023/12/31/wordweavers-december-2023/) - December 31, 2023 Join me for WordWeavers, a social media Q&A for writers, which I shall defiantly complete without social media.
- [Blanket, Fluff, and Stick a Fork in this MFer](https://lenabrassard.com/2023/12/28/blanket-fluff-fork/) - December 28, 2023 A blanket is done and delivered, a cake is Frankensteined from a desolate pantry, and good riddance to the year.
- [WordWeavers November 2023](https://lenabrassard.com/2023/11/30/wordweavers-november-2023/) - November 30, 2023 Join me for WordWeavers, a social media Q&A for writers, which I shall defiantly complete without social media.
- [Cleaning, Rowing, and Beating](https://lenabrassard.com/2023/11/25/cleaning-rowing-beating/) - November 25, 2023 In which precious relics require cleaning, blankets are halfway to plaid, and food is aggressively beaten.
- [KotSQ: Second Revision #24](https://lenabrassard.com/2023/11/18/kotsq-second-revision-24/) - November 18, 2023 Revision update in which genre walls are closing in, figurative ticks are marked for death, and time is running out.
- [KotSQ: Second Revision #23](https://lenabrassard.com/2023/11/07/kotsq-second-revision-23/) - November 7, 2023 The latest revision update, in which guts are spilled, pulses are checked, and there's no downslope in sight.
- [WordWeavers October 2023](https://lenabrassard.com/2023/10/29/wordweavers-october-2023/) - October 29, 2023 Join me for WordWeavers, a social media Q&A for writers, which I shall defiantly complete without social media.
- [Plaid, Sunblock, and Faux Fleur](https://lenabrassard.com/2023/10/26/plaid-sunblock-fleur/) - October 26, 2023 In which the plaid blanket is a go, the sun is blocked, and I manage to make arrangements of fake flowers sinister.
- [Site Maintenance](https://lenabrassard.com/2023/10/16/site-maintenance/) - October 16, 2023 Recent updates to the site. Readers who have the blog bookmarked may want to add /blog at the end of that URL.
- [KotSQ: Second Revision #22](https://lenabrassard.com/2023/10/09/kotsq-second-revision-22/) - October 9, 2023 Revision update in which competence is shown-not-told, I refuse to make comfort "sexier," and nitpicking is necessary.
- [KotSQ: Second Revision #20](https://lenabrassard.com/2023/09/07/kotsq-second-revision-20/) - September 7, 2023 Revision update in which paranoia and procrastination have a makeout session and care is worldbuilding.
- [Laptop, Stripes, and Millstone](https://lenabrassard.com/2023/10/02/laptop-stripes-yarn/) - October 2, 2023 In which the laptop is a source of never-ending delight, colors are tricksy, and two wisdoms are dispensed.
- [Millstone, Cranberries, and Workbooks](https://lenabrassard.com/2023/10/13/millstone-cranberries-workbooks/) - October 13, 2023 The millstone project advances rapidly, cranberry season is upon us, and a cook's workbooks are meant to be written in.
- [WordWeavers September 2023](https://lenabrassard.com/2023/09/30/wordweavers-september-2023/) - September 30, 2023 Join me for WordWeavers, a social media Q&A for writers, which I shall defiantly complete without social media.
- [Growing Wide (And Not Just in the Hips)](https://lenabrassard.com/2017/11/07/growing-wide-and-not-just-in-the-hips/) - November 7, 2017 Well, November is off to a screaming start. *twitch* After much agonizing, formatting, uploading, metadataing, waiting, giving up on certain entities because of the waiting, resorting to other means, and linking (so much linking), I am finally pleased to announce the successful embiggening of my sales platform to most sellers. My books are now available at
- [Great Googley Moogley!](https://lenabrassard.com/2017/11/20/great-googley-moogley/) - November 20, 2017 Previously on Distribution of Our Lives, the aggregator I'd been using to get into Google Play announced it was closing its doors and left me in the cold to die. I trudged door to door, pleading at each, "Please, kind sir, won't you allow me to warm myself by your Google-accessing hearth?" Many doors closed
- [Romance Bookworms Stuff Your Ereader Again](https://lenabrassard.com/2023/09/20/romance-bookworms-stuff-your-ereader-again/) - September 20, 2023 Today only, Romance Bookworms is hosting their quarterly Stuff Your Ereader Day, this time with never-before-featured books!
- [Footbridge, Cake, and Swoat](https://lenabrassard.com/2023/09/19/footbridge-cake-swoat/) - September 19, 2023 In which a footbridge receives investigation politicians should, cake is striped, and a crochet project from 2021 is finished.
- [KotSQ: Second Revision #21](https://lenabrassard.com/2023/09/15/kotsq-second-revision-21/) - September 15, 2023 Revision update In which the secret purpose of trains is revealed and I should have been writing action and intrigue this whole time.
- [Queer Your Bookshelf Day](https://lenabrassard.com/2023/09/04/queer-your-bookshelf-day/) - September 4, 2023 September 4 is Queer Your Bookshelf Day, with 260 participating titles across genres, featuring queer characters.
- [Supporting Characters](https://lenabrassard.com/2022/11/29/supporting-characters/) - November 29, 2022 Several things to consider while filling your story world with characters who aren't the main attraction.
- [Quarterly Short Story Refresh at Ko-Fi](https://lenabrassard.com/2023/05/20/quarterly-short-story-refresh-at-ko-fi/) - May 20, 2023 If that happy little Valentine's Day flash caused concern that I'd been bodysnatched, here's some reassuring(?) trauma, slow-burning rage, and malicious compliance iiiiin spaaaaace. Click the title or image to read "I Want to Understand Their Screams." It's not paywalled at the moment, but being paid for my labor is a pretty reliable way to
- [Cake, Pie, and Chrysanthemum](https://lenabrassard.com/2023/08/25/cake-pie-chrysanthemum/) - August 25, 2023 In which Cake is offensively inadequate, pie is over the top, and buncha other words to fill the limit up.
- [Artistic Process](https://lenabrassard.com/2023/08/20/artistic-process/) - August 20, 2023 My chaotic artistic process in a visual medium, using the dog from my never-ending bespoke tarot deck project.
- [WCAD Walkthrough: Chapters 23 through 27](https://lenabrassard.com/2015/12/21/wcad-walkthrough-chapters-23-through-27/) - December 21, 2015 I'm going to do this whole sequence in one shot, since most of the chapters in it are short. Subjects touched upon herein: clone wars, sorcery, lemon nipples, damn dirty apes, echoes, foreshadowing, and stage-2 gardening. "HERE THERE BE SPOILERS!" SIGN LOST IN BLOG MIGRATION! Clones Brian McDonald has this nifty storytelling blog, from which
- [The "Good" Villain](https://lenabrassard.com/2020/01/22/the-good-villain/) - January 22, 2020 Let me begin by saying I love a good fall from grace. I know all too well it's hard at times to find any virtue in being noble when the ignoble are thriving all around. I understand the narrative allure of a good-hearted character who finally says, "Fuck it, I'm going rogue." The issue for
- [The Experiment Ends](https://lenabrassard.com/2021/12/29/the-experiment-ends/) - December 29, 2021 'Scuse the noise while I fire up the chainsaw and remove the cobwebs from this blog. Right, where were we? Ah, yes, The Great Serialization Experiment. The first Grave Oversight arc is completed. As is, it's around 80,000 words, which is a fair length for a tight urban fantasy novel and exactly what I hoped
- [Worldbuilding Is Not Velvet Skull Wallpaper](https://lenabrassard.com/2020/04/08/worldbuilding-velvet-skull-wallpaper/) - April 8, 2020 Yesterday's writing ended up being less about yesterday's scene than I would have liked, so today I finished that one. (I write these posts around noon when I exhaust my 4 a.m. supply of creative steam + caffeine, so I will sometimes fail to rise to the rest of the day's aspirations set forth therein.)
- [WCAD Walkthrough: Chapter 1](https://lenabrassard.com/2015/09/28/wcad-walkthrough-chapter-1/) - September 28, 2015 Beginnings are loaded with decisions that affect everything that comes after, so Chapter 1 will probably get more attention than any other single chapter. Subjects touched upon herein: point of view, relevance, name dropping, F-bomb dropping, setting, and foreshadowing. Although I don't think much can be said about any book's first chapter that will "spoil" the rest
- [The Sentence-Writing Book](https://lenabrassard.com/2017/08/11/the-sentence-writing-book/) - August 11, 2017 Writing Tools: 55 Essential Strategies for Every Writer by Roy Peter Clark is a Kindle Daily Deal for $2.99, price matched at B&N, Kobo, and Apple. Since I can never remember the name, I call this “the sentence-writing book.” Whether you’re writing letters, memos, homework, articles, blog posts, or fiction, this book is filled with
- [WCAD Walkthrough: Chapters 12 & 13 & 14](https://lenabrassard.com/2015/11/16/wcad-walkthrough-chapters-12-13-14/) - November 16, 2015 Chapter 12 divorced 11, and 13 and 14 don't want to be separated because they're fornicating, so you get a triple shot this week. Brace yourself; it's going to be a wordy one. Subjects touched upon herein: character arc, something in my eye, an overblown construction metaphor, flames on the side of my face, echoes, foreshadowing,
- [WCAD Walkthrough: Chapters 3 & 4](https://lenabrassard.com/2015/10/12/wcad-walkthrough-chapters-3-4/) - October 12, 2015 Now that we're out of the Introducing You to the Whole World woods, chapters will get shorter, less scaffolding, more forward momentum of plot, which means I'll have less to say about many of them, since the point of the walkthrough isn't to recap the plot. Ergo, posts of less-epic length covering multiple chapters await ye.
- [Status Report](https://lenabrassard.com/2016/05/13/status-report/) - May 13, 2016 "How did he call her a noxious weed and not get a drill bit in the larynx?" About two minutes ago, I finished handwriting the rough draft of New Book (code named The Duchess and the Enchilada). There is a LOT of work to be done (starting with typing 332 handwritten pages...), but it is
- [Using Movies as Guides for Writing Narrative](https://lenabrassard.com/2023/07/30/using-movies-as-guides-for-writing-narrative/) - July 30, 2023 This isn't a Never Do This Shit post because movies are great for teaching a lot of general storytelling concepts. Many of film's lessons about pacing, rising action, characterization, doling out exposition, the content of dialogue, and more can be directly applied to stories that are meant to be read rather than produced and watched.
- [KotSQ: Second Revision #17](https://lenabrassard.com/2023/07/21/kotsq-second-revision-17/) - July 21, 2023 Since last time, I added a dark mode toggle to the site for folks who find a black background easier to read. The button floats at the lower right of the screen, and you can click back and forth to your heart's content. Please be aware dark mode removes at least one accessibility feature (underlined
- [PSA: June 30 is Stuff Your Ereader Day](https://lenabrassard.com/2023/06/30/psa-june-30-is-stuff-your-ereader-day/) - June 30, 2023 Today (June 30, 2023), Romance Bookworms is hosting their quarterly list of a massive number of free romance and romance-adjacent ebooks, sorted by retailer (so non-Amazon readers don't have to sort through a bazillion Amazon-exclusive books) and by category and labeled with keywords to help with your yea/nay right at the source. Even I, Hater
- [KotSQ: Second Revision #16](https://lenabrassard.com/2023/06/24/kotsq-second-revision-16/) - June 24, 2023 We're now past the halfway point (as measured by how much of the previous draft has been eaten). Present working draft is around 95,000 words, which is 100% of many other books, so it doesn't feel much like a celebratory milestone. I know I love this book because no matter how tired and defeated I
- [KotSQ: Second Revision #15](https://lenabrassard.com/2023/06/14/kotsq-second-revision-15/) - June 14, 2023 I needed a name for a canal. For those who haven't heard me say this a thousand times, I hate coming up with names. My go-to tool for this dreaded task is Google Translate. I run several words characteristic of the name-requiring thing through every available language, make a list of promising results, and then
- [KotSQ: Second Revision #14](https://lenabrassard.com/2023/06/08/kotsq-second-revision-14/) - June 8, 2023 Sat in on a class about web accessibility. Learned a couple of things I can still improve here, mostly in relation to links. Hearing about different ways people use assistive technology (e.g., they may ask for all links on a page to be read to them as a list, so the link text should include
- [Happy Netanevil's Day](https://lenabrassard.com/2023/02/14/happy-netanevils-day/) - February 14, 2023 In honor of the occasion (it's love-related, I promise), I posted a short story on Ko-Fi. Click the title or image to read "A Threat Is Only a Heart Turned Backwards." It's not paywalled at the moment, but being paid for my labor is a pretty reliable way to encourage me to do more of
- [KotSQ: Second Revision #13](https://lenabrassard.com/2023/05/29/kotsq-second-revision-13/) - May 29, 2023 Finally got through the go-back-and-fix portion, including the "maybe move that later thing here" notes I had left in some places to be addressed in Round Three. Easier to deal with the hole from the extraction when I get to it later than to perform the extraction, transplant, and repair all at once and cross
- [KotSQ: Second Revision #12](https://lenabrassard.com/2023/05/07/kotsq-second-revision-12/) - May 7, 2023 I've been doing the slice-of-life thing for a year now, which is a long enough trial to conclude I'm not a fan. Rather than engendering empathy, it seems to invite people to view other's lives as entertainment and complain when the season doesn't live up to expectations. There's no benefit to me, but there is
- [KotSQ: Second Revision #11](https://lenabrassard.com/2023/04/20/kotsq-second-revision-11/) - April 20, 2023 Just found out that for a mere additional $1800, Kiddo's driver's ed class will do what we actually needed it to do. Cannot emphasize enough that I do not have a car and therefore do not have insurance to put her on and therefore cannot clock 60 hours of practice driving, hence the entire purpose
- [KotSQ: Second Revision #10](https://lenabrassard.com/2023/04/12/kotsq-second-revision-10/) - April 12, 2023 Night before last, I got 2 hours of sleep. So it would be easier to take a nap if the opportunity presented, I didn't take any of the caffeine I use to self-medicate the ADHD. I stole about 2 more hours during the day[efn_note]The floor is perfectly comfortable when the divine hand of Fatigue is
- [KotSQ: Second Revision #9](https://lenabrassard.com/2023/04/01/kotsq-second-revision-9/) - April 1, 2023 I've always preferred the ease of sheet cakes to the hassle of un-panning, stacking, and fussily frosting layer cakes, but I've figured out that if I make the layers, top-frost one in its pan, and wrap-and-freeze the other, not only do we not have to race to eat a ton of cake before it gets
- [KotSQ: Second Revision #8](https://lenabrassard.com/2023/03/26/kotsq-second-revision-8/) - March 26, 2023 To compensate for my terrible mood herein, here's a bop about being possessed by the ghost of Edgar Allan Poe. I wish I still had a car so I could get in it and badly sing this song at the top of my lungs repeatedly for the 20 minutes it takes me to get to
- [KotSQ: Second Revision #7](https://lenabrassard.com/2023/03/15/kotsq-second-revision-7/) - March 15, 2023 Today's surprise knowledge bomb was about shagbark hickory. Nature is inspiring. *toddles off to write horrifying things* And hey, it's super cool that one can be as ancient as I am, be referred to by others as "a walking encyclopedia" (thanks, unlimited storage capacity for useless information!), and still, on a fairly regular basis, have
- [KotSQ: Second Revision #6](https://lenabrassard.com/2023/03/06/kotsq-second-revision-6/) - March 6, 2023 I had to make a dessert with slim pickings in the ingredient department, and this is how we get things like cranberry-orange coffee cake with a layer of thinly sliced canned cranberry jelly instead of studded with whole berries. It felt very much like having to incorporate the groan-inducing "surprise" ingredient on a baking competition
- [KotSQ: Second Revision #5](https://lenabrassard.com/2023/02/27/kotsq-second-revision-5/) - February 27, 2023 I'm replaying Planescape: Torment in 10-minute increments between meetings and also rereading The Dark Tower[efn_note]My kid recently finished reading the series for the first time and wants to have deep discussions my memory is too hazy to participate in. She was expounding on something, stopped, and said, "This is sucking up a lot of my
- [KotSQ: Second Revision #4](https://lenabrassard.com/2023/02/22/kotsq-second-revision-4/) - February 22, 2023 Between whatever's causing my 1 a.m. anxiety attacks and those cutting short my already limited sleep, I've attained heretofore unimaginable levels of irritability. It's an excellent time to not have social media to breathe fire all over. Being horribly distracted for 12 days meant resorting to busywork to simulate productivity. One of my doodle-scribbles aspired
- [Talk to me like one of your fictional French girls](https://lenabrassard.com/2023/02/17/talk-to-me-like-one-of-your-fictional-french-girls/) - February 17, 2023 Wanting people to be direct and being direct myself has been "rude" all my life, and the current trend is to blame my "rudeness" on "autism." (Not one of my diagnoses, officially or self, but it's a handy ableist blanket for some people to throw over "every behavior that's inconvenient for me.") While editing a
- [KotSQ: Second Revision #3](https://lenabrassard.com/2023/02/06/kotsq-second-revision-3/) - February 6, 2023 Eventually, in order to level up, you have to start getting a lot better at things you suck at rather than 0.1% better in areas of existing competence. To that end, last year, I started working on short fiction. I have a natural inclination to complicate and expand, so I've always struggled with the tight
- [KotSQ: Second Revision #2](https://lenabrassard.com/2023/01/27/kotsq-second-revision-2/) - January 27, 2023 Witness me! I purchased only the yarn I need to finish a sweater and did not fill up my cart to get "free" shipping like a well-trained little consumer. Even with $6 S&H and 10% sales tax, the total squeaked in just under $20. Maybe all these squares will actually be a sweater by next
- [KotSQ: Second Revision #1](https://lenabrassard.com/2023/01/12/kotsq-second-revision-1/) - January 12, 2023 Every new visible crack in the publishing infrastructure inspires me to move one of my eggs to a new basket. Accordingly, I've added a Payhip store to my direct sales options. Still only the same old ebooks there for now, but I'm ghost-administering a workshop through Payhip's course platform and taking notes on how I
- [KotSQ: Prelude to Revision Round Two (The Improvening)](https://lenabrassard.com/2022/12/31/kotsq-prelude-to-revision-round-two-the-improvening/) - December 31, 2022 I won't be doing a year-end recap. I don't particularly enjoy spewing negativity into the world and can't put a positive spin on another terrible year in a long line of terrible years[efn_note]I think this is year seven of this particularly grim phase. If we blame it on Saturn's quarter cycle, we can say there
- [All's Well](https://lenabrassard.com/2022/12/05/alls-well/) - December 5, 2022 If you visited in the past 24 hours, you may have seen a "Save As" popup rather than a website. I too found this concerning! Especially since I couldn't get into WordPress to attempt any of the proposed fixes and had to venture into the shadowy labyrinth of my web host's unintuitive interface. Although you
- [Back in the Saddle](https://lenabrassard.com/2022/11/22/back-in-the-saddle/) - November 22, 2022 Sold two lamps, my signed hardback book collection, and a set of dishes, convinced people to prepay for their holiday baking, and am living without frivolities such as dental floss and medication for the foreseeable future. Added to the few dollars I was saving up for Not This, I was able to scrape together enough
- [KotSQ: Revision Update #21](https://lenabrassard.com/2022/11/10/kotsq-revision-update-21/) - November 10, 2022 A couple months ago, I made a double batch of orange cinnamon rolls, wrapped up one pan, and threw it in the freezer. I took it out to thaw today because I've earned no-effort sugar and gluten. That's right, kiddies. This round of revision is done! 🥳 *arthritic twerking* 240 rough draft pages have become
- [KotSQ: Revision Update #20](https://lenabrassard.com/2022/11/08/kotsq-revision-update-20/) - November 8, 2022 I missed the first 20 minutes of John Wick 2 the only time I had an opportunity to watch it and had no idea what it was supposed to be about, so I headcanoned that Keanu was at odds with Common for being unworthy of Queen Latifah in a different movie.[efn_note]Just Wright. (Also currently on
- [KotSQ: Revision Update #19](https://lenabrassard.com/2022/11/05/kotsq-revision-update-19/) - November 5, 2022 Look, I worked in healthcare for 20 years. I have a body of knowledge and first-hand anecdotes that are terrifying before applying imagination. This is incredibly useful for maintaining my social obligations at a tolerable level. In defiance of recent technological woes, 221 rough draft pages have become 348 revised pages. A lot happened in
- [Craptop](https://lenabrassard.com/2022/10/27/craptop/) - October 27, 2022 Thanks to planned obsolescence, my only-a-few-years-old laptop is in its death throes. It's been one decline after another for the past several months, but this week's adventure is accepting keyboard/mouse input only when it feels like it, which means it's now 99% useless. She who laughs last, though. When I moved, I had to give
- [KotSQ: Revision Update #18](https://lenabrassard.com/2022/10/23/kotsq-revision-update-18/) - October 23, 2022 I bought a dozen composition notebooks in different colors for Project Notebooks rather than my habitual Compost Heap of Ideas, which eventually requires a full day to organize before it reaches critical mass. I cleaned my "desk" (the dining room table), which involved organizing and culling the latest Compost Heap of Ideas, kept a scratch
- [KotSQ: Revision Update #4](https://lenabrassard.com/2021/03/17/kotsq-revision-update-4/) - March 17, 2021 I wanted to be here 10 days ago, but I'm in a high-stress situation that vacuums up most of the mental energy this job requires. Nevertheless, the first act is done (for this round of revision). Between cuts and additions, 39 pages of Old Draft is now 48 pages of New Draft. I talked a
- [KotSQ: Revision Update #3](https://lenabrassard.com/2021/02/20/kotsq-revision-update-3/) - February 20, 2021 I'm going to take a picture of a progress bar and post that when I update because I can tell you right now I will not log in every day to keep a current total in the sidebar. (5% progress bar image lost to blog migration.) Rather than guess a target number of pages/words that
- [KotSQ: Revision Update #1](https://lenabrassard.com/2021/01/29/kotsq-revision-update-1/) - January 29, 2021 It's been almost three years since I finished a crap draft of a personal project. That one got ditched mid-revision because the "men are the absolute worst" was a little overpowering for a M/F romance... so much so that I realized I can't write romance set in the "real" world anymore because I no longer
- [Done!](https://lenabrassard.com/2021/01/18/done/) - January 18, 2021 The finished rough draft of the fantasy romance clocked in at a maximum of 115,064 words... and then I scrolled down a little and discovered 15 pages of copy-pasted outline parts, what-if brainstorms, and descriptive dumps that didn't get deleted after they served their purpose. After sweeping those into the bin, the final count is
- [January Milestone (Almost There!)](https://lenabrassard.com/2021/01/10/january-milestone-almost-there/) - January 10, 2021 I stalled for a couple of days on a Very Important Scene that didn't want to be written. There's obviously something wrong with it, but I wasn't in a good frame of mind for diagnostics, so I put [XYZ needs to happen somehow] and made it a problem for Future Me.Part of the problem may
- [Last Milestone of 2020!](https://lenabrassard.com/2020/12/27/last-milestone-of-2020/) - December 27, 2020 Who has two thumbs and wrote 100,000 words of a fantasy romance this year? *points my two thumbs at my fantasy romance writin' chest* The most recent chunk of words brought us to the final new location, paid off all my references to the Assassin Witness Protection Program, sprung There's Only One Bed But We're
- [December Milestone](https://lenabrassard.com/2020/12/13/december-milestone/) - December 13, 2020 Most people with whom I have online contact are scaling back their December holiday obligations this year for obvious reasons, so I'm seeing much less stress attributable to those obligations. I have, however, noted an uptick in random snits of sufficient severity to make me reconsider several relationships. Whenever it seems like everybody is being
- [November's (Second) Milestone and Fewer F*cks to Give About F*cking](https://lenabrassard.com/2020/11/25/novembers-second-milestone-and-fewer-fcks-to-give-about-fcking/) - November 25, 2020 I started off so strong with that November 5 milestone, I truly believed I'd have another 10K by November 20. Naturally, I immediately hit another roadblock. One day, the only words added were "I DON'T KNOW HOW TO TURN THIS CONVERSATION TO THE DEAD." Unlike my chronic problem with transitions between physical locations, I can't
- [November's (First) Milestone](https://lenabrassard.com/2020/11/05/novembers-first-milestone/) - November 5, 2020 I don't know where 70,000 words will ultimately fall in terms of final word count, but it's "spiritually" in the midpoint sequence. There's a difficult-to-survive battle in the arc of escalating physical conflicts that will culminate in the final boss fight, where Heroine will have to use every skill displayed in these smaller skirmishes (and
- [October's Milestone](https://lenabrassard.com/2020/10/14/octobers-milestone/) - October 14, 2020 The award-winning-based-on-the-first-twenty-pages fantasy romance has crossed the 60,000-word line. I was feeling fairly productive until I got to another "they need to get from Point A to Point B" scene and came to a screeching halt for a week. I'm frequently derailed by that type of scene, and it usually turns out in revision that
- [My Writing Manifesto](https://lenabrassard.com/2018/04/02/my-writing-manifesto/) - April 2, 2018 Several years ago, I had a publishing experience that was so wretched, I said, "Fuck it. I hate writing. I quit." I did quit, but I slowly came to realize what I hate is publishing. In fact, I love writing, I'm miserable without it, and breaking up was a dreadful mistake. But before we got
- [40K(ish) Milestone and The Dangers of Being Way Too Literal](https://lenabrassard.com/2020/07/24/40kish-milestone-and-the-dangers-of-being-way-too-literal/) - July 24, 2020 Amidst the distractions and technical disasters (nope, still not fully fixed), I finally limped past the 40,000-word mark on the fantasy romance, which encompassed the "Inexplicable Anger That Somebody I DON'T EVEN LIKE Could Have DIED" scene, with a side of "I Saved Your Miserable Life So Now We're Even/Actually I Only Got In Your
- [Meaningless Numbers; Meaningful Pans and Stabby Things](https://lenabrassard.com/2020/05/28/meaningless-numbers-meaningful-pans-and-stabby-things/) - May 28, 2020 I cannot overemphasize how meaningless word count is at this stage of this project. Ordinarily, due to my aversion to complete sentences during rough drafts, doubling the rough-draft word count is a fairly accurate reflection of the finished product, and I can juggle the numbers for rough and projected and anticipated length and know that
- [Another Milestone](https://lenabrassard.com/2020/04/25/another-milestone/) - April 25, 2020 I can hardly believe it, but I'm at the end of Act I. I shouldn't be surprised, since this is roughly consistent with my output when I've had 40 hours a week to devote to writing in the past, but I've been working 90+ hours a week for other people and writing nothing of my
- [Keys found, keep searching](https://lenabrassard.com/2020/04/18/keys-found-keep-searching/) - April 18, 2020 Today I dipped a toe into Fight Scene II, prior to which the heroine acknowledges confronting three skilled soldiers will have a much different outcome vs. three inept bandits, so she would prefer avoidance if at all possible. (It's not at all possible.) I also got to point out that she was trained from childhood
- [Patchwork](https://lenabrassard.com/2020/04/09/patchwork/) - April 9, 2020 It may not be much objectively, but considering I've barely touched any non-contract writing since 2018, ten thousand words feels like a significant milestone to me. It's best to not contemplate how many more I'll need. My "outline" for this story is 53 pages. One might think that's sufficiently thorough to have figured out everything
- [This Is My Fight Club Song](https://lenabrassard.com/2020/04/06/this-is-my-fight-club-song/) - April 6, 2020 It was a pace-scribble-transcribe day. I made good on my goal to write the bandit fight---if you can call three petty crooks getting owned by a superior strategist a fight. It's a Princess Bride-style scuffle that makes everything look ridiculously easy for her so there's a baseline of comparison when the difficulty escalates and
- [Here, have another another 1200 words of Falling Lessons](https://lenabrassard.com/2018/10/10/here-have-another-another-1200-words-of-falling-lessons/) - October 10, 2018 I think we're coming up on 10,000 words, which is the most I'm willing to post of anything in case I drop dead and my heir wants to dump everything into KU for ease of asset management (can't have more than 10% free on the web in that case). Conveniently, it also happens to be
- [Here, have another 1200 words of Falling Lessons](https://lenabrassard.com/2018/10/09/here-have-another-1200-words-of-falling-lessons/) - October 9, 2018 In which Phin's boss gets on the "men are trash" train. Y'all, I wrote this months ago and haven't changed a thing in response to current events. Part of the reason it repels me so much is that it stinks of capitalizing on a news cycle, although the news just caught up to what I've
- [Here, have another 1800 words of Falling Lessons](https://lenabrassard.com/2018/10/08/here-have-another-1800-words-of-falling-lessons/) - October 8, 2018 Here we have what is known in some circles as the "story problem"---the reason the protagonist can't follow through on her entirely reasonable desire to walk away from a messy entanglement. Again, only semi-revised and untouched by my editor, and posted only in a so-far vain attempt to dredge up some personal enthusiasm for returning
- [Here, have another 1000 words of Falling Lessons](https://lenabrassard.com/2018/10/07/here-have-another-1000-words-of-falling-lessons/) - October 7, 2018 Because it would be great to live in a world where men step up and tell other men not to be shitgibbons instead of relying on the women the shitgibbons don't listen to to fix the shitgibbon problem! Again, not thoroughly revised and never known the touch of an editor. Part 1 is here if
- [Here, have 3500 words of Falling Lessons](https://lenabrassard.com/2018/10/06/here-have-3500-words-of-falling-lessons/) - October 6, 2018 This isn't polished by me or edited by my editor, so I don't even know if it's coherent English, and the book will probably never be finished, in part because it was turning into an "I hate men" book, which is, um, not great in heterosexual romance, but since I feel that sentiment is currently
- [Someone Asked: Post-Release Edition](https://lenabrassard.com/2018/05/08/someone-asked-post-release-edition/) - May 8, 2018 From the mailbag: Q1: Did you learn anything while writing this book? A1: It's too soon to call it "learned," but I did have a realization in the postproduction period (too late to apply to this book, but maybe next time). In real life, I over-explain as much as possible, hoping to be thorough and
- [Paperback in the pipeline](https://lenabrassard.com/2018/05/03/paperback-in-the-pipeline/) - May 3, 2018 I got the second batch of paperback proofs today, with the brightness and contrast adjustments. These don't look like they took a bath in black ink, so I approved them. Paperback should start to pop up at online retailers within a few days. I'll update the Books page with links as I find them. The
- [Temporary Description for Silent Song](https://lenabrassard.com/2017/09/28/temporary-description-for-silent-song/) - September 28, 2017 "Whatever it looked like from the outside, there’s only ever been one woman."—Lex Perry I had it all. Fame. Fortune. A once-in-ten-lifetimes love with a brilliant, beautiful, battle-scarred goddess. And an addiction that was done sharing my attention. I survived. My fall from grace never stopped fans from throwing money and panties at me. All
- [Covers Refreshed](https://lenabrassard.com/2017/08/29/covers-refreshed/) - August 29, 2017 I've wanted a brighter cover for 10KH since about five minutes after publication. While I was changing that, I made some minor tweaks to WCAD to make the text less flat and help with brand consistency. Someday maybe I'll upgrade to mantitty, but I have a really hard time finding stock photos of men that
- [Crap Draft Accomplished!](https://lenabrassard.com/2017/05/22/crap-draft-accomplished/) - May 22, 2017 I had my doubts this day would ever arrive (it's been a rough seven months in many, many respects), but I finally scrounged up enough oomph to blast through the last 20,000 words or so and reached the finish line of the first full draft of New Book. (I wrote a similar post about 10KH on
- [Cover Refresh](https://lenabrassard.com/2016/12/02/cover-refresh/) - December 2, 2016 I've been designing more covers lately than writing, during which I stumbled across a shinier piece of stock art I could use for WCAD. The ebook is working through the system as I post. Paperback refresh coming soon.
- [Someone Asked: What and when?](https://lenabrassard.com/2016/11/13/someone-asked-what-and-when-2/) - November 13, 2016 Several people have whipped through 10KH already and asked something along the following lines. Q: What's the next book about, and when can we expect it? A: As to what, I don't talk about works in progress for a multitude of reasons, but I'll give you a visual hint. PORTION OF A COVER THAT ENDED
- [Release Day!](https://lenabrassard.com/2016/11/01/release-day/) - November 1, 2016 On November 1, 2016, a 2812 KB bouncing baby book was born. Please join me in welcoming the new addition to the Benton family! *noisemakers!* *confetti!* *who's going to clean up this mess!* Thank you to the 120 brave souls who preordered, almost all of you without the benefit of a preview. As a result
- [It's a book!](https://lenabrassard.com/2016/10/01/its-a-book/) - October 1, 2016 I know, I know. Ebooks are real books. It still feels different to hold your physical book in your hands, so I'm going to show you pictures like I just had a baby. Look at its cute little wraparound cover! PHOTO OF TEN THOUSAND HOURS PAPERBACK LOST IN BLOG MIGRATION! And its adorable graphic
- [Status Report: Preorder Live](https://lenabrassard.com/2016/08/16/status-report-preorder-live/) - August 16, 2016 I set up the preorder for Ten Thousand Hours with Amazon for November 1. There's no Look Inside (thank god --- the draft they have as a placeholder isn't fit for human consumption) and only 10 pages so far are sort of ready to post here as an excerpt (not worth bothering until I get
- [Cover Reveal: Ten Thousand Hours](https://lenabrassard.com/2016/06/28/cover-reveal-ten-thousand-hours/) - June 28, 2016 November is a long way away, but this part of the project came together quickly once I had a title change, so I thought I'd post it as evidence things are moving forward. ORIGINAL COVER OF TEN THOUSAND HOURS LOST IN BLOG MIGRATION! It felt kind of empty on the bottom until I drew
- [An Antidote to Writing Poison: Inciting Incidents](https://lenabrassard.com/2015/12/14/an-antidote-to-writing-poison-inciting-incidents/) - December 14, 2015 I was just banned from a writing forum for insinuating explicitly stating its poobah was giving shitty writing advice, so I'm going to interrupt your regularly scheduled program for this special announcement. "The problem with your first page is there's no inciting incident" is WRONG. Unless your goal is to write a terrible action movie,
- [WCAD Walkthrough: Chapters 21 & 22](https://lenabrassard.com/2015/12/14/wcad-walkthrough-chapters-21-22/) - December 14, 2015 This might actually be brief. Structurally, nothing fancy happens in the middle of the middle, and I prematurely covered some of the content that otherwise would have gone here. Subjects touched upon herein: boys are can be jerks, foreshadowing, stage-2 gardening, and last-minute inflation. "HERE THERE BE SPOILERS" SIGN LOST IN BLOG MIGRATION! Easter eggs Ben and
- [WCAD Walkthrough: Chapters 19 & 20](https://lenabrassard.com/2015/12/07/wcad-walkthrough-chapters-19-20/) - December 7, 2015 Subjects touched upon herein: the talking heads, this is 0.000035% less a cursing book, professional jargon, look at somebody being all well-adjusted (in one regard), fatal flaws, foreshadowing, and stage-2 gardening. "HERE THERE BE SPOILERS" SIGN LOST IN BLOG MIGRATION! Take me to the river (or the lake) Sit-and-talk scenes are ungood. Characters are supposed to
- [WCAD Walkthrough: Chapters 17 & 18](https://lenabrassard.com/2015/11/30/wcad-walkthrough-chapters-17-18/) - November 30, 2015 Subjects touched upon herein: Act II, point of view, bare naked old ladies covered in tomato sauce, professional jargon, echoes, foreshadowing, and stage-2 gardening. "HERE THERE BE SPOILERS" SIGN LOST IN BLOG MIGRATION! It's all fun and games until somebody loses Welcome to Act II, where Ben and Tally have decided to be together, so everything
- [WCAD Walkthrough: Chapters 15 & 16](https://lenabrassard.com/2015/11/23/wcad-walkthrough-chapters-15-16/) - November 23, 2015 You came back for more? I'll be gentle this time, since your eyes are probably still sore from all the abuse last week. (It was only yesterday for me, so mine are still chafed, too.) Subjects touched upon herein: story origins, structure, foreshadowing, and stage-2 gardening. "HERE THERE BE SPOILERS" SIGN LOST IN BLOG MIGRATION! Where do you
- [WCAD Walkthrough: Chapter 11](https://lenabrassard.com/2015/11/09/wcad-walkthrough-chapter-11/) - November 9, 2015 Chapter 11 is in solitary confinement because it's a malefactor and I don't want it corrupting the others. Subjects touched upon herein: bitchy chapters, spectral readers, working titles, bad kisses, a little foreshadowing, and a little stage-2 gardening. "HERE THERE BE SPOILERS" SIGN LOST IN BLOG MIGRATION! I do not, in fact, love all my babies
- [WCAD Walkthrough: Chapters 9 & 10](https://lenabrassard.com/2015/11/02/wcad-walkthrough-chapters-9-10/) - November 2, 2015 Subjects touched upon herein: insights, more description, more echoes, more foreshadowing, and more stage-2 gardening. "HERE THERE BE SPOILERS" SIGN LOST IN BLOG MIGRATION! A lying liar who tells lies Chapter 9 begins with the words "She had always been a lousy liar." Ben knows Tally lies. He knows also that it's a defense mechanism and that she
- [WCAD Walkthrough: Chapters 7 & 8](https://lenabrassard.com/2015/10/25/wcad-walkthrough-chapters-7-8/) - October 25, 2015 Subjects touched upon herein: spectral readers, repetitive word use, authorial voice, loadbearing sentences, foreshadowing, and stage-2 gardening. "HERE THERE BE SPOILERS" SIGN LOST IN BLOG MIGRATION! In which I make a grievous error in judgment During the final pass of revisions, I decided right about here (Chapter 7) that writing these posts was slowing down
- [WCAD Walkthrough: Chapters 5 & 6](https://lenabrassard.com/2015/10/19/wcad-walkthrough-chapters-5-6/) - October 19, 2015 Subjects touched upon herein: contrast, point of view, theme, foreshadowing, and more stage-2 gardening. "HERE THERE BE SPOILERS" SIGN LOST IN BLOG MIGRATION! The mamas and the papas It's been two years since Ben's mom last laid eyes on him, and her response is a scowl. He maintains his good humor in the face
- [WCAD Walkthrough: Chapter 2](https://lenabrassard.com/2015/10/05/wcad-walkthrough-chapter-2/) - October 5, 2015 Subjects touched upon herein: character voice, contrast, tension, description, symbolism, foreshadowing, and the meaning of cookies. "HERE THERE BE SPOILERS" SIGN LOST IN BLOG MIGRATION! Fourth floor: thumbscrews, analgesics, and ladies' lingerie Tally has a very anxiety-driven thought process. My copyeditor called out that her point-of-view scenes cram more thoughts into one paragraph than Ben's
- [New beginning, new blog](https://lenabrassard.com/2015/09/21/new-beginning-new-blog/) - September 21, 2015 WCAD is the first novel I've written since 2010. Five years is an eternity in writer years. Some writers can crank out twenty books in that time. That represents a whole career worth of books for most other writers. However you measure it, it's a long time to be away. It was a learning period for
- [Nanners, Technobabble, and Getting What I Paid For](https://lenabrassard.com/2022/10/09/nanners-technobabble-paid-for/) - October 9, 2022 The Green Banana Lovers didn't tap out this time until there was only one banana left, which isn't enough to make banana bread.[efn_note]One of two acceptable uses for bananas, the second being bananas Foster (sans booze for me).[/efn_note] I considered making a half batch of the batter and baking it in a cake pan to
- [Daily Carbio](https://lenabrassard.com/2022/10/11/daily-carbio/) - October 11, 2022 Today's baking whim was KAF's Triple Berry Cinnamon Swirl Bread, but with finely diced apples instead of berries. They used a decent amount of cinnamon for a change, so no further anarchy was necessary. Very soft and fluffy inside, rather like the doughnut dough I use to make cinnamon rolls. Not super sweet (which I'm
- [KotSQ: Revision Update #16](https://lenabrassard.com/2022/10/06/kotsq-revision-update-16/) - October 6, 2022 A Duolingo lesson was suspiciously insistent that rabbits aren't dangerous, to which I forcefully responded, "Only rabbits can eat you!" When I googled that to see where it came from, there were ZERO results on the entire wide worldly web---not a near match, not a did-you-mean, nothing. I'm wondering if it was a pre-internet garage
- [KotSQ: Revision Update #15](https://lenabrassard.com/2022/09/13/kotsq-revision-update-15/) - September 13, 2022 I am having a saga surrounding a publishing project unrelated to this one. The store I expected to be delayed because my account wasn't approved until 2 days after I'd uploaded everywhere else had the book live 2 hours after I was able to log in[efn_note]And an hour of that was me having to reformat
- [Blowing Dust Off the To-Do List](https://lenabrassard.com/2022/08/22/blowing-dust-off-the-to-do-list/) - August 22, 2022 I've been taking care of long-overdue maintenance stuff that certainly wasn't going to get done after an extra book pushes it further down the priority list. I decided to have a no-creative-work week and get all the housekeeping out of the way so it's no longer clawing at the fence of the enclosure where all
- [KotSQ: Revision Update #14](https://lenabrassard.com/2022/08/23/kotsq-revision-update-14/) - August 23, 2022 I've long known my resting murder face has a lot to do with how I have to hold my jaw so I don't constantly clench/grind my teeth, but I've only recently realized how much energy suppressing that consumes. So many little physical things are a constant battery drain. If somebody invented a bite guard that
- [KotSQ: Revision Update #13](https://lenabrassard.com/2022/08/11/kotsq-revision-update-13/) - August 11, 2022 There sure have been a lot of opportunities lately to practice keeping my eyes on my own paper. Like most people, I'll have a kneejerk reaction to an Inflammatory Thing, but if I take two minutes to think about it rather than responding immediately, I frequently come to a realization the Inflammatory Thing has no
- [It's Been a Real Slice](https://lenabrassard.com/2022/07/18/its-been-a-real-slice/) - July 18, 2022 Screw slice of life. It's time for slice of bread and other baked goods! I went through my sourdough phase the year before it was cool, so I've made some pretty wet doughs, but King Arthur's Pan de Cristal was my first 100% hydration. This was a spur-of-the-moment decision and of course I didn't have
- [KotSQ: Revision Update #12](https://lenabrassard.com/2022/06/17/kotsq-revision-update-12/) - June 17, 2022 (For real this time. 'Scuse the premature posting way back when, if you caught it in the 20 seconds it took me to frantically revert to Draft status. When you're chronically sleep deprived, "Preview" and "Publish" are way too close together.) I've set a goal of writing one short story per month, both to build
- [Scenes. Again.](https://lenabrassard.com/2017/10/14/scenes-again/) - October 14, 2017 From the interwebs: My book is a romance, not erotica, because you can take out the sex scenes without affecting the plot! If you can take out any scene without the whole plot falling apart, it's a bad scene. In romance, sex scenes are markers of relationship development. In many books, the characters are intimately
- [Observational Hierarchy](https://lenabrassard.com/2020/05/08/observational-hierarchy/) - May 8, 2020 The following is written with a presumption of intact sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. I am not qualified to lead a discussion about sensory impairments in writing. I apologize to everyone excluded by this falsely "all-encompassing" treatment. Observational Hierarchy In the absence of sensory impairment, there is an observational hierarchy of things that demand
- [Theme!](https://lenabrassard.com/2018/05/16/theme/) - May 16, 2018 If the word "theme" gives you flashbacks to high school lit class and your withered soul is croaking "Kiiiiill meeeee," relax. This is not about guessing the intention of some writer who’s been dead for 400 years (or, more accurately, guessing what the teacher’s guide guesses was the intention of some writer who’s been dead
- [KotSQ: Revision Update #11](https://lenabrassard.com/2022/06/13/kotsq-revision-update-11/) - June 13, 2022 I'm getting impatient and almost added the book description to the Fantasy page. It is... not ready, to put it mildly. I did stick it at the top of the manuscript doc, though, so I have to look at it at least briefly every day upon opening and can noodle with it as inspidesperation[efn_note]in·spi·des·per·a·tion noun
- [KotSQ: Revision Update #10](https://lenabrassard.com/2022/05/28/kotsq-revision-update-10/) - May 28, 2022 Today I learned "complacent" doesn't mean what I thought it meant, and though I'm going to blame it on near-universal misuse of the word when people actually mean "complaisant," I'm painfully embarrassed about every time I've used it incorrectly. I knew "complaisant" was a word, but I can't remember seeing it in... 30 years? And while
- [KotSQ: Revision Update #9](https://lenabrassard.com/2022/05/22/kotsq-revision-update-9/) - May 22, 2022 Somebody asked me a while ago why I'm not worried about revealing the whole story to potential readers by doing these posts. I just don't think "they went to a location and performed an unspecified task" is all that spoilery? In fact, I think anyone who came in search of juicy clues would be peeved
- [The 40K Doldrums](https://lenabrassard.com/2020/06/30/the-40k-doldrums/) - June 30, 2020 I'm just shy of 40,000 words on the fantasy romance, so---predictably---the wind machine filling my sails has been switched off. This always happens around this point of writing mass, where it becomes clear I've put a lot of time and labor into a project and finally have something substantial to show for it. You'd think
- [Death Blossom](https://lenabrassard.com/2022/05/13/death-blossom/) - May 13, 2022 The winter here was too mild for the bulbs, and the only iris that's bothered to put in appearance is this little nihilist. With daylight and overhead lights and a little bit of flash, up close, you can tell she's extremely dark purple, but under any other conditions, she reads as void black---which is all
- [KotSQ: Revision Update #5](https://lenabrassard.com/2022/02/07/kotsq-revision-update-5/) - February 7, 2022 Picking up where left off before we were so rudely interrupted by writing a whole other book for no good reason. 54 rough draft pages have evolved into 68 revised pages. Since it's been a while, I'll remind everyone my first drafts have few complete sentences and almost no description, so I can easily add
- [KotSQ: Revision Update #6](https://lenabrassard.com/2022/03/16/kotsq-revision-update-6/) - March 16, 2022 64 rough draft pages have become 89 revised pages. This installment reunites us with the age-old problem of knowing it's only the second of many, many passes and therefore doesn't have to be perfect, only better, but also getting upset because it's not perfect. In the name of aggressive imperfection, I'm adding things I know
- [KotSQ: Revision Update #7](https://lenabrassard.com/2022/04/05/kotsq-revision-update-7/) - April 5, 2022 78 rough draft pages have become 112 revised pages. Road Trip! (Day 1 of 2)This installment brings us a third of the way into the story. So far, Heroine has handled with relative ease (and insignificant injuries) everything thrown at her. We've demonstrated she can hold her own against a couple of types of foes
- [Bye-Bye, Birdie](https://lenabrassard.com/2022/04/27/bye-bye-birdie/) - April 27, 2022 The combination of escalated fuckery and my general dislike of social media have led me to finally cut the cord on the bird app. I've long known the endless barrage of bad news and increasing amounts of time cleaning up bigots, bots, and spammers in order to make the place remotely habitable aren't beneficial to
- [Deleted Scene from Silent Song](https://lenabrassard.com/2019/04/11/deleted-scene-from-silent-song/) - April 11, 2019 Silent Song is a second chance romance. As such, there's a whole other story about what happened between Gin and Lex years ago. Part of figuring out who they are now and how their relationship works now involved looking at their shared past, so I have a ton of material about The Old Days. The
- [NDTS: Evil Cousin Alphonse](https://lenabrassard.com/2019/09/02/ndts-evil-cousin-alphonse/) - September 2, 2019 Years ago, I read a romance novel in which the main characters had basically resolved all their conflicts by the midpoint. The story could have ended right there and been a satisfying novella, but somebody wanted 300 pages instead of 150, so on page 151, Evil Cousin Alphonse burst onto the scene with not one
- [Ergonomics for Writers (Not)](https://lenabrassard.com/2020/04/04/ergonomics-for-writers-not/) - April 4, 2020 There are four people in this house, all on different sleep schedules. I get up at 3-4 a.m. Generally, the person in the living room at that time turns off the TV and goes to bed soon after, leaving me in peace and quiet until the next person gets up around (fingers crossed) 10 and
- [My Supervillain Name Is Unnecessary Preposition Fiend](https://lenabrassard.com/2020/04/05/my-supervillain-name-is-unnecessary-preposition-fiend/) - April 5, 2020 I got peace and quiet today! 🥳 I didn't produce many new words because I spent all day whipping a sample submission into shape, but that is now winging through the ether to its destination, so tomorrow, bandit fight! I don't ordinarily do a nitpicky revise-as-I-go. My first drafts are usually half the length of
- [Sossidge World](https://lenabrassard.com/2020/04/07/sossidge-world/) - April 7, 2020 (I am completely unemployed thanks to a canceled contract and have lots of nervous energy to burn, so blogging will be daily until one of those things changes. If you're a blog subscriber and the email notifications get irksome, there's an "Unsubscribe" option at the bottom of every email. I fully support anyone's quest for
- [What Day Is It?](https://lenabrassard.com/2020/04/13/what-day-is-it/) - April 13, 2020 This morning, someone tweeted "Happy Friday!" and I thought "lol it's funny because it's only Wednesday." (For readers from the future, the crucial context is that it was actually Monday.) I've been working from home for 15 years, so I don't even have the excuse of a change in routine. Therefore, the only logical conclusion
- [A footstool by any other name](https://lenabrassard.com/2020/04/14/a-footstool-by-any-other-name/) - April 14, 2020 I made a character sit on a hassock. The word came easily, so naturally I began to worry a hassock was some kind of clothing rather than a surface that could be sat upon. While my sense of it as a padded footstool is one definition, another (primary, per some sources) definition is a pillow
- [Scene vs. Scenery](https://lenabrassard.com/2020/04/16/scene-vs-scenery/) - April 16, 2020 Someone today expressed vindication about all their slice-of-life scenes that have been criticized in the past, with a belief that everyone's salivating to read about going to brunch now. Nah. Criticism of slice-of-life scenes is often phrased as "it's boring to read about stuff I do every day." The person offering the criticism is undoubtedly
- [Progress Report](https://lenabrassard.com/2020/04/21/progress-report/) - April 21, 2020 I hit a patch I didn't want to write. It ended up being only a couple hundred words of transition between connected scenes, but they had a repelling forcefield around them (probably because they'd be better as a scene break, but I'll figure that out in revisions). While I avoided that for two days, I
- [Lejjen Dairy](https://lenabrassard.com/2020/05/02/lejjen-dairy/) - May 2, 2020 A minor theme in the original plan for this story was "heroes are chumps." The example the heroine used to argue this point was executed as the reward for all his good deeds. I saved the world, and all I got was this lousy pyre. Well, a lot has changed since the original plan! (A
- [The Week in Writing](https://lenabrassard.com/2020/05/15/the-week-in-writing/) - May 15, 2020 Since I last noted my progress here, I've gotten a few scenes into Act II. Act I pushes a protagonist to go on a journey. Act II begins when the protagonist says, "FINE! I'LL GO ON YOUR STUPID JOURNEY!" (I wrote a bare bones 3-act structure post in the distant past with a little more
- [Sooty Arms Triumph Over Embroidered Waistcoat](https://lenabrassard.com/2020/06/10/sooty-arms-triumph-over-embroidered-waistcoat/) - June 10, 2020 About two weeks ago, I realized the impracticality of hauling gold over a mountain (on foot) to a counterfeiter. Jewels are more easily portable, so I changed my pilfering from gold to jewels and my sooty-armed blacksmith/counterfeiter to an embroidered waistcoat-wearing jewel fence. Yesterday, as I got into writing the road trip toward exchanging the
- [Requiem for a First Act (in D Minor)](https://lenabrassard.com/2020/06/14/requiem-for-a-first-act-in-d-minor/) - June 14, 2020 Many, many years ago, I decided I wanted to write a story about a woman who had been, basically, an urban fantasy heroine before being forced into retirement by an injury that impeded her ability to kick ass. During the years of her ass-kicking career, she was too busy saving the world and trying to
- [KotSQ: Revision Update #2](https://lenabrassard.com/2021/02/13/kotsq-revision-update-2/) - February 13, 2021 This stretch was all building my to-do list. Why not just dive in on page 1 and start fixing things? Because if I spend time perfecting page 1 and then figure out on page 237 the story would be better if the whole first scene was deleted, I wasted time putting a lot of bows
- [Very-Little-Progress Report](https://lenabrassard.com/2020/08/27/very-little-progress-report/) - August 27, 2020 It's been over a month since the last update and I'm only halfway to the next 10K milestone because life is bad and suffering actually is not conducive to creativity because it sucks up all your mental energy, so this will be short. I finished the "Wanna see something that will give you nightmares?" scene,
- [We Interrupt Your Scheduled Program with This Unimportant Announcement](https://lenabrassard.com/2021/04/28/we-interrupt-your-scheduled-program-with-this-unimportant-announcement/) - April 28, 2021 The fantasy romance is on hold for a minute while I play the "no, really, a serial is a viable option" game again. I don't quite have to start from scratch with that story, but it's also not what you could call "finished" with a straight face, so I have some work to do before
- [Point of View](https://lenabrassard.com/2018/07/12/point-of-view/) - July 12, 2018 I recently attended an editing workshop hosted by a trad-pub romance editor who said, "Head hopping is fine! All the greats do it, and it works fine!" I didn't catch much after that because of the steam whistling out of my ears, but I'm pretty sure we'd disagree on other fundamentals. Then I came home
- [No. Just no. All of the no.](https://lenabrassard.com/2018/07/06/no-just-no-all-of-the-no/) - July 6, 2018 I woke up earlier this week to find that all of my spoons were gone. I had to declare spoon bankruptcy. I felt for several days like I would never be able to acquire another spoon for the rest of my life. As a result, I crawled into my shell and bolted the doors closed
- [Knowledge Aforethought](https://lenabrassard.com/2018/05/23/knowledge-aforethought/) - May 23, 2018 Once upon a time, there was a great war between the kingdoms of Plött and Påntz. Countless battles were waged, despite the fact that nobody cares which side you're on as long as the story wins in the end. Plotters have written great stories and terrible stories and all kinds of stories in between. Pantsers
- [Basic Structure Overview](https://lenabrassard.com/2018/06/10/basic-structure-overview/) - June 10, 2018 This is really basic stuff. You will find hundreds of versions of what I'm going to say here, and the honest ones will say, "This is basic stuff." Many others, however, will present this basic stuff as if their take on it is revolutionary. This latter group is either (a) lying because their how-to books
- [NDTS: Consistently Crappy Sentences](https://lenabrassard.com/2019/03/10/ndts-consistently-crappy-sentences/) - March 10, 2019 I read a book earlier this month that caused an urge to write a salty email to an editor who should have done a lot more work than they did and sugary emails to the editors who've kicked my ass over the years and taught me to self-correct a lot of problems before a manuscript
- [NDTS: Self-description](https://lenabrassard.com/2016/04/02/ndts-self-description/) - April 2, 2016 It's difficult to learn from excellent writing because excellent writing sucks you into the story and feels effortless and magical while you're reading. Bad writing is an undervalued teaching tool. When you come across writing you hate, it screams at you and beats you about the head with its wrongness. If you systematically eliminate all
- [Status Report: We're Off to See the Wizards](https://lenabrassard.com/2016/08/10/status-report-were-off-to-see-the-wizards/) - August 10, 2016 Ten Thousand Hours is now in the hands (or at least the inboxes) of Familiar Editor and Unfamiliar Editor, heralding the arrival of the certainty I've wasted the past year of my life. It's a vulnerable period, being separated from any book for the first time, with the added strain of the separation being for
- [Reading Angst](https://lenabrassard.com/2018/02/18/reading-angst/) - February 18, 2018 I've been having a hard time reading contemporary romance lately, with an 80% didn't like/didn't finish rate. These aren't books I randomly selected---I read samples and negative reviews and didn't see any red flags to keep me away from the buy button. When I spent my money, I believed I had made a good decision
- [Someone Asked: Grimdark Edition](https://lenabrassard.com/2018/05/10/someone-asked-grimdark-edition/) - May 10, 2018 Mailbag questions: Q1: Why did it take 18 months to write Silent Song? A1: Because 2017 was a trash fire. I spent much of the year trying to save the world. It was late September before I backed away from that pursuit because it wasn't doing a damn bit of good in the grand scheme of
- [Ten Thousand Hours Q&A](https://lenabrassard.com/2016/10/03/ten-thousand-hours-qa/) - October 3, 2016 I'm not going to do a walkthrough for 10KH because I was substantially less cowardly while writing it and don't have guilt driving me to explain every word I wrote (or didn't). I have gotten some questions (okay, one so far), though, so for the sake of having something to call blog content, I'll presume
- [NDTS: Telling Conflict](https://lenabrassard.com/2017/04/30/ndts-telling-conflict/) - April 30, 2017 The category of Shit Never to Be Done presented today falls under the heading of "show, don't tell" in the grandest sense of the meaning. A lot of things, frankly, aren't important enough to be shown, in which case I'm all for briefly telling what needs to be known and moving on to showing the
- [Intellectually Challenged to a Nonviable Degree](https://lenabrassard.com/2018/01/03/intellectually-challenged-to-a-nonviable-degree/) - January 3, 2018 A couple of weeks ago, I stumbled into a group of writers complaining about the internalized misogyny of reviewers. Many of the points were valid. A man can screw his way across a continent and still be lovable, but a woman who isn’t a virgin is a filthy whore. A man can be an asshole and
- [Someone Asked: ETA on the next book](https://lenabrassard.com/2018/06/16/someone-asked-eta-on-the-next-book/) - June 16, 2018 Q: You said [alarming thing], and now I'm worried there might not even be a next book. Will there be, and if so, when can we expect it? A: I'm currently 23,000 words into the rough draft of another contemporary. Judging by the position of the Act I/II break, I guesstimate the full rough draft
- [Writing Tools: Synastry](https://lenabrassard.com/2018/07/04/writing-tools-synastry/) - July 4, 2018 Synastry is a comparison of two or more astrological charts to evaluate their interaction. I'm not going to debate anyone about the wisdom of relying on such measures in real life, but it can be a cool writing tool if you need character inspiration or affirmation that you're on the right track. When you pick
- [Someone Asked: What and when?](https://lenabrassard.com/2016/06/15/someone-asked-what-and-when/) - June 15, 2016 What comes after What Comes After Dessert and when will it be out? The plan is to release New Book on November 1, 2016. (This is, of course, subject to change due to unforeseen disasters or miracles that occur in the meantime, but that's the date I'm aiming for.) It's about lousy marriage proposals, the
- [WCAD Walkthrough: Final Thoughts](https://lenabrassard.com/2015/12/28/wcad-walkthrough-final-thoughts/) - December 28, 2015 Subjects touched upon herein: babies, exes, disappointment, learning experiences, and the interdimensional hell portal that is life. No spoiler alert because no spoilers. "WAIT JUST A DAMN MINUTE. There are 40 chapters in the book. How come you only did a walkthrough of 27 chapters?" A lot of writers have that "My books are my babies!"

## Pages

- [Home](https://lenabrassard.com/) - Home of Lena Brassard, author of urban fantasy, fantasy romance, and contemporary romance. Books. blog, and newsletter signup
- [What Comes After Dessert](https://lenabrassard.com/what-comes-after-dessert/) - What Comes After Dessert by Ren Benton, ©2015. Standalone contemporary romance. Can a reunion between childhood sweethearts be more than bittersweet?
- [Grave Oversight](https://lenabrassard.com/grave-oversight/) - Grave Oversight by Lena Brassard, ©2022. Book 1 of an urban fantasy trilogy. An amnesiac ghost pursues a killer who shares her face.
- [Silent Song](https://lenabrassard.com/silent-song/) - Silent Song by Ren Benton, ©2018. Standalone contemporary romance. Second chance for celebrities driven apart previously by addiction.
- [Ten Thousand Hours](https://lenabrassard.com/ten-thousand-hours/) - Ten Thousand Hours by Ren Benton, ©2016. Standalone contemporary romance. A fling fits into the gaps of a busy schedule, but is there time for love?
- [Books](https://lenabrassard.com/books/) - Urban fantasy and fantasy romance books from author Lena Brassard, as well as contemporary romances written as Ren Benton
- [Info](https://lenabrassard.com/info/) - Bio, contact, tip jar, and privacy policy
- [Policies](https://lenabrassard.com/policies/) - The site's privacy policy, as well as policies specifically pertaining to cookies, comments, accessibility, and affiliate links.
- [Newsletter](https://lenabrassard.com/newsletter/) - Subscribe to Lena Brassard's author newsletter to receive new-release notifications and other vanishingly rare inbox invasions.

## ElementsKit items

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## Categories

- [Book Haul](https://lenabrassard.com/category/book-haul/)
- [Caz and Phin](https://lenabrassard.com/category/caz-and-phin/)
- [Covers](https://lenabrassard.com/category/covers/)
- [Intentions](https://lenabrassard.com/category/intentions/)
- [Kiss of the Shadow Queen](https://lenabrassard.com/category/kiss-of-the-shadow-queen/)
- [Making Friends Wherever I Go](https://lenabrassard.com/category/making-friends-wherever-i-go/)
- [Never Do This Shit](https://lenabrassard.com/category/never-do-this-shit/)
- [PSA](https://lenabrassard.com/category/psa/)
- [Q&A](https://lenabrassard.com/category/qa/)
- [Silent Song](https://lenabrassard.com/category/silent-song/)
- [Slice of Life](https://lenabrassard.com/category/slice-of-life/)
- [Sugar and Gluten](https://lenabrassard.com/category/sugar-and-gluten/) - Food, mostly baked goods. If I make something delicious that takes a decent picture, I’ll either give the recipe (if it’s mine) or point you toward one elsewhere (if it’s not mine).
- [Ten Thousand Hours](https://lenabrassard.com/category/ten-thousand-hours/)
- [What Comes After Dessert](https://lenabrassard.com/category/what-comes-after-dessert/)
- [Writing](https://lenabrassard.com/category/writing/)
- [Grave Oversight](https://lenabrassard.com/category/grave-oversight/)
- [Vella](https://lenabrassard.com/category/vella/)
- [Samples](https://lenabrassard.com/category/samples/)
- [Maintenance](https://lenabrassard.com/category/maintenance/) - If I’m making changes that affect the user experience anywhere users might have an experience with me (including but not limited to this site, my newsletter, and Ko-Fi), I’ll explain it here. NOTE: If it’s a change that requires/requests an action on the user’s part, it will be in the News category.
- [Ko-Fi](https://lenabrassard.com/category/ko-fi/) - Directing readers to Ko-Fi for stories, bonus content, and interaction exclusive to that venue.
- [News](https://lenabrassard.com/category/news/) - Low-chitchat feed reader designation for actionable items, such as “here’s a sample of my new book with preorder links,” “something fun to read,” “this book is discounted for a limited time,” or “check out this auction to help someone survive a little longer in the hellscape of for-profit healthcare.”
- [Progress Report](https://lenabrassard.com/category/progress-report/) - Rambling about the current status of writing/revision. Only semi-comprehensible because I have to speak in generalities to avoid spoilers.
- [Writing Craft](https://lenabrassard.com/category/writing-craft/) - Nerding out about the nuts and bolts of writing. Probably more interesting to writers than to readers looking for a good time.
- [Media Recommendation](https://lenabrassard.com/category/media-recommendation/) - Books, movies, music, and games that I like. Formerly known as “Unicorn Reviews” due to the rarity of me, a total sourpuss, liking anything.
- [Discount Ebooks](https://lenabrassard.com/category/discount-ebooks/) - Like it says on the tin. These are most often books on my wish list that I’m not exactly recommending as I haven’t yet read them, but if I spot a book I love that is also a bargain, I will definitely make that known.
- [Non-Writing Art](https://lenabrassard.com/category/non-writing-art/)
- [Pulitzer Challenge](https://lenabrassard.com/category/pulitzer-challenge/)

## Tags

- [Book Covers](https://lenabrassard.com/tag/book-covers/)
- [Cover Design](https://lenabrassard.com/tag/cover-design/)
- [OMG Will You Please Learn What A Scene Is](https://lenabrassard.com/tag/omg-will-you-please-learn-what-a-scene-is/)
- [Outlining](https://lenabrassard.com/tag/outlining/)
- [Paperback](https://lenabrassard.com/tag/paperback/)
- [Silent Song](https://lenabrassard.com/tag/silent-song/)
- [Structure](https://lenabrassard.com/tag/structure/)
- [Ten Thousand Hours](https://lenabrassard.com/tag/ten-thousand-hours/)
- [The Basics](https://lenabrassard.com/tag/the-basics/)
- [Theme](https://lenabrassard.com/tag/theme/)
- [What Comes After Dessert](https://lenabrassard.com/tag/what-comes-after-dessert/)
- [Writing Tips](https://lenabrassard.com/tag/writing-tips/)
- [dogbreath](https://lenabrassard.com/tag/dogbreath/)