I figured out how to fill in a plot hole and give my MC a better reason for her promotion.

Show don't tell has always been a problem for me when writing fantasy. How do you explain the history of the country or world without a detailed prologue or a lot of characters constantly thinking about the old days? I mean really, how many of us are talking to our friends or colleagues and thinking about U.S. history, the fall of the Roman Empire, or the politics in South America (unless, of course, you are a history buff or actually discussing something along these lines).

So instead I had my character take a little trip (a logical trip, not a random vacation trip) with her soldier trainee to meet the lord who sponsors their camp. This little trip helps to elucidate how (and why) you would have an awesome army camp without having it be part of the national government without a lot of out-of-place explanations or "thoughts" that are not realistic to how people really think. After all, the trainee is from a different camp, and lords like to talk, so I can inform my readers without an awkward info dump.

Hopefully the idea that this is literary genius is not limited solely to me!

The Polar Vortex is back.

Maybe.

Some people are saying that the cold sweeping the country this time is just the normal cold associated with winter and not another unnatural sweep from the north, but either way, it is freezing out.

The picture here was taken in Chicago (that is Lake Michigan in the background) on January 6th when the Midwest was at the mercy of the polar vortex. I don't live in Chicago--my Midwest home is several hours and a couple states north of there--but I understand perfectly the horror associated with such cold.

My school was closed for the last two days, making that 5 already this year, because the temperatures were in the upper teens below zero each day, and that doesn't account for windchill. My guess would be that the cold sweeping even the southern states will have a negative ecological impact because plants that are not supposed to be cold (like citrus trees) are probably freezing, and cold days aren't good for my heating bill either. I split my bill 6 ways, and my electric bill for January went up $20, which means that overall we had a $120 increase in January over December. Not a good sign, and I'm sure I (and my 5 roommates) am not alone.

About the only thing good about this cold is that, when it is 16 below, I don't go outside. Quite the opposite. I stay inside with a nice hot mug of apple cider, turn on the TV, and fire up my laptop. Bundled up in slippers, sweatpants, a long sleeve shirt and a sweater, I work on editing.

A lot.

So I'm going to complain about the cold, and the long-term repercussions, and my high electric bill, but I'm also going to say this: when life gives you lemons (at least until the lemon trees freeze down south), make some lemonade. If you can't leave your house without risking frostbite from just 5 minutes of exposure, stay inside and write. Or edit. Or clean (only if you've already done some writing and editing, of course).

Make the best of what you have, because who knows how long the next cold spell will last.

I love old TV shows. I just finished watching all of the episodes of Third Watch and am moving on to Smallville (which only ended in 2011 but started in 2001, so it more-or-less qualifies as an old show). The reason that I love them is two-fold: 1, I can binge watch them because there are already a hundred (or 2) episodes out there for consumption; and 2, I can watch a plot grow and change over the course of years.

As a series writer, I like to watch how the same characters grow and face new obstacles over an extended period of time, and TV shows are great for that because there is often a new challenge or "bad guy" every season.

I realize as I am writing this that Third Watch has no sweeping bad guy for most of the seasons, and so far in the first season of Smallville the bad guys seem to mostly be a series of incidents with people changed by exposure to the meteor rocks (they haven't yet been labeled kryptonite) and Clark's non-relationship with Lana.

But I expect that Smallville will probably grow into something more Buffy-esque over the next 9 seasons, where rather than isolated incidents there will be isolated incidents and one major bad guy per season (the master in season 1, Glory in season 5, etc.) That happened in Supernatural as well, and if it worked there...

But back to the purpose of this post, watching these shows gives me ideas on how to keep my characters, and my story lines, from becoming stagnant, boring affairs where the same problems keep cropping up, just with different names (any hint that Buffy and the Winchester boys are always facing the same problems will be considered blasphemy).

So to all of you writers out there that write (or plan to write) series, go to Netflix, Hulu+, Vudu, or the video store (if you can find one that is still open) and spend some time watching successful shows that went on for a long time (Smallville and Supernatural had 10 year runs (Supernatural is still going) and Buffy had 7. Not only will it be fun, but you can comfort yourself with the idea that you're not slacking off--you're researching!

For those of you who don't know, ABNA is short for Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award, a terrific contest brought to the unpublished novelists of the world by Amazon and CreateSpace. Contestants can enter a novel 50,000-125,000 words in length with no entrance fee and compete for a Grand Prize of a publishing contract with Amazon plus a $50k advance. Four 1st Place winners get a publishing contract and $15k advances.

So basically, it's the best writing contest around, imo.

And there was some concern that ABNA would not be around this year. The contest is typically well-advertised (if you know where to look) and opens in mid-January. This year there wasn't a peep, all of the admins on the ABNA discussion boards were very secretive, and us die-hard contestants were living in anticipation and fear. But it has been announced that it opens February 16th, which means that it is time for me to whip Talented: Fire (or maybe I should call it The Talented?) into shape.

Last year I made it to the semi-finalist rounds, and this year I am (obviously) hoping for more. I've just got to get from top 25 to top 5 and I can get published by a traditional publisher. This isn't the Holy Grail that it used to be, but it would sure be nice not to have to pay a copy editor and cover artist out of pocket!

Anyone else planning to enter ABNA, or know someone who is?

Nothing gets my blood pumping (in a writing related way) more than reading about other writers. Now that I'm back in the game, I'm spending a day or two immersing myself in what other writers are up to. Of course, I do this by looking at other writing blogs because I am too busy (and not well connected enough) to go hunt down actual authors and and find out one-on-one what they are doing.

I just checked out some of the latest blog posts on Randy Ingermanson's website Advanced Fiction Writing and felt that little thrill travelling up my arms that will build up until I am overcome with an urge to get writing (or editing, because I like that too).

I like Randy's site because he's a successful author, a funny guy, and unlike me he is consistently active on his site, so there are always new things for me to explore and get inspired by. If you're like me and get amped up by reading about other authors, I really suggest checking out Randy's site! 

...and this time I plan on staying.