Glenda Goertzen Can't Blog
Monday, May 14, 2018
Author wins Most Neglected Blog Award
"I'm sorry - my what?" Goertzen responded when contacted by the media.
Upon being presented with evidence of her blog's existence, Goertzen attributed her award-winning level of neglect to a combination of absent-mindedness and a chaotic lifestyle.
"But I'll get back to it!" she vowed. "There will be weekly updates loaded with self-promotion, pithy quotes, rants about the world's injustices, and keen observations on life’s peculiarities. Not this month, of course - I've got way too much going on - but soon!"
Recent attempts by the media to follow up on Goertzen's reckless promise have proven unsuccessful.
Friday, October 21, 2016
I'll be back
Sunday, June 21, 2015
Summer Solstice Book Launch
Thank you to the staff of the John M. Cuelenaere Public Library in Prince Albert for hosting the launch of Lady Oak Abroad. It was a wonderful event. I await with some trepidation the appearance of the Daily Herald's coverage of the launch. I might have gone on a bit of an ungrateful rant to the reporter about the lack of professional support* for female SF/Fantasy writers in the prairie provinces. It was a very short rant; maybe he didn't notice.
Congratulations to the winners of the Goodreads Giveaway Contest. Your free copy of Lady Oak Abroad will be in the mail this week. Stay tuned for more giveaways in the future.
*By "professional support" I speak of publication and promotion, not therapy. Although many of us could certainly use the latter, considering the number of rejection letters we've received.
Friday, March 13, 2015
Confessions of a Logophile
A Rewording Life is a wonderful logophilish project by author Sheryl Gordon to raise money for the Alzheimer Society of Canada. She has compiled an anthology of "beguiling, bemusing words." The one thousand contributors include Terry Fallis, Miriam Toews, Yann Martel, Margaret Atwood, Brent Butt, and yours truly (I got cuneiform). The anthology will be released in the fall of 2015 but you can pre-order a copy at www.arewordinglife.com.
Saturday, January 31, 2015
Lady Oak Abroad E-Book
Canada: www.amazon.ca/dp/B00QPX0H2W
UK: www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00QPX0H2W
US: www.amazon.com/dp/B00QPX0H2W
Saturday, January 17, 2015
Fiction Addiction
Occasionally I will introduce myself as a writer at a social gathering and the person I’m talking to will respond, with a guilty sigh, “I should read more.”
If they're lucky, I will not be swallowing a drink at the moment and spew it all over them as I laugh hysterically. It’s like hearing someone say “I should breathe more.” I want to ask, “How do you stop yourself from reading?” For writers, reading is an addiction that must be controlled if we are to experience any sort of real life at all. We learn to multitask, to sneak a few pages here and there while we eat, wait for a ride, or get ready for bed, just to keep us going.
Sunday, January 11, 2015
Chronic Challenge
I can't blog because this weekend is devoted to autoimmune repair. I will be resting, drinking litres of water, preparing bland but nourishing food to soothe my innards, and generally grumbling around feeling sorry for myself. And no, I refuse to blog about these conditions! I prefer to convert them into bizarre alien viruses in my future SF novels.
I'll tell you who does have an excellent blog about chronic disease; Madelon Smid. I was among the many sufferers of chronic illness she interviewed to research her online book, Chronic Challenge: Living Well With A Chronic Disease. Our secret identities have been concealed with code names. To be honest, I'm not sure I have correctly identified myself in the book. Our histories are so remarkably similar. You can read the book on Madelon's blog.
Update: Chronic Challenge: Living Well With A Chronic Disease is now available as an eBook available from Amazon. The Chronic Illness blog is no longer active.
Friday, January 2, 2015
Lady Oak Abroad
The first year of the new millennium has not been kind to Audrey. She’s been dumped, expelled, and run over by a bus. She firmly believes her personal life, along with the entire planet Earth, is damaged beyond all hope of redemption. She jumps at the chance to escape both when her loony old aunt goes missing from her front yard. Her search for her aunt takes her across the magical Migrara and many other worlds that overlap our own. But the universe is not the epic amusement park she thought it would be. In fact, it’s kind of a mess. As Audrey blunders through the magical and political minefields of worldhopping, she picks up a motley crew of companions; the mysterious outlaw mage Keirt, the treacherous Prince Nicholas, and the overzealous warrior woman Latiana. But no one is what they seem—not Aunt Ellen, not even the adorable little girl who lives down the block from Audrey. Even the beautiful world of Migrara hides a terrifying secret that might destroy everything Audrey holds dear. Fortunately, Audrey discovers some powerful magic of her own; and more importantly, Impulse Control.
Whether you’re thirteen or thirty-three, you’ll love the chaotic adventures of the irrepressible Audrey O’Krane. You can download it from Amazon Kindle in Canada, the UK, the United States, and other Amazon sites around the world.
No eBook reader? No problem. Download Amazon's free reader software, or read the book online using Amazon's Kindle Cloud Reader.
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Miracle Dogs
Pierre, the former agility dog champion, and his companions Dare, Mouse and Mew, finally have the life they've always longed for; a comfortable home, a human they can trust, and a lively pair of puppies who keep them on their toes. Stardom will surely be theirs as well as they prepare to perform a canine clown act at the world-famous Telemiracle.
But Pierre is worried; what will become of his troublesome puppies when they're old enough to leave home? After meeting a group of Assistance Dogs, he decides to secure his children's future by training them for this prestigious career. His plans are sabotaged by his outrageously misbehaving companions, a band of feral cats who have a score to settle with Dare, and a freak accident on the Telemiracle stage. If the Prairie Dogs ever want to see the puppies again, they will have to brave the perils of the winter prairie to perform a desperate rescue mission. It will take a miracle just to get everyone home in one piece!
Visit my web page for more information.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
The Prairie Dogs and City Dogs Audiobooks
Head to RMW Kids for more information and previews of each audiobook!
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Real Life Fiction
So what do you do with all these bit of real life lovingly collected in your journals? Well, after years of staring at my stack of journals wondering what to do with it all, I realized I needed a system. I created a binder divided into sections named Story Ideas, Settings and Props, Characters, Dialogue, and the titles of projects I’m currently working on. Then I went through my journals, picked out anything that looked useful and copied it under the appropriate section. I’m starting to wonder if I should have used my word processor rather than a binder, but there is something satisfying about pulling a collection of paper off a shelf and flipping through it either randomly or with a specific purpose in mind.
Nonfiction and fiction writers alike are inspired by real life events. The fiction writer takes a true event a step further by adding, “But what if—?”
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Manuscript Submissions: The Importance of Proofreading
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Another Thing I Love About Writing
Just because your wayward idea doesn’t work with this novel doesn’t mean you have to discard it. Save it for another journey. One day you might come back this way with a new book.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
What I Love About Writing
1. It gives me a good excuse to stay up half the night and get up at noon.
2. If the real world is getting me down, I can invent a new world where I make the rules.
3. I learn interesting stuff while doing research for my stories.
4. If someone makes me mad I turn them into a villain in a book and make all sorts of nasty things happen to them.
5. I can sit there staring into space for an hour and tell people, "Don't interrupt me, I'm working!"
6. I can get away with doing weird things in the name of research.
7. People stop me in the street and ask for my autograph (this hasn't actually happened to me yet, but I'm sure it will soon).
8. I can do your work anywhere, anytime.
9. Being a children's author gives me an excuse to read children's books.
10. I get to meet interesting people such as other authors, the people I interview for research, and best of all, the people who read my books!
Sunday, September 6, 2009
First Drafts
The first draft is the most exciting step in writing a book. I try not to ruin the enjoyment by fussing over the sort of details that get me stuck. I used to get stuck all the time because I couldn’t decide what to write next. I felt I must start at the beginning and work my way to the end. As a result I abandoned a number of projects because I became stuck for so long I lost interest. Finally I realized there is no law that says you have to write in a straight line. I could start in the middle of the story, skip to the end, then go back to the opening chapter. Now when I’m writing a story I record bits of dialogue and action in the order that they come to me and worry about sorting out the order of events later with the word processor. If I come to a part that seems to be slowing me down, and I’m anxious to get on with a more interesting section up ahead, I simply skip over the problematic part. Inserting a note such as (he explains the history of the sword to her) or (they run into some sort of obstacle here) reminds me to come back to this section later and expand upon it. The most important thing to remember about first drafts, a tip that will guarantee publication, is (insert information here).
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
The Queen of Procrastination
Although we love to write, writers are the worst (or perhaps the best) when it comes to allowing ourselves to be distracted from it. When I’m in a good mood, I’m distracted by everything around me. When I’m in a bad mood, I’m distracted by everything inside me. I’ve learned to set a timer when I sit down to write. Knowing I have a deadline of an hour helps me stay focussed. The timer also reminds me to stop for a break during those wonderful spells of creativity when I become too focussed and forget to eat or sleep.
Favourite ways to distract myself:
- Trying to toss my pen into the air and catch it using only my mouth
- Searching for an environmentally friendly product that will remove ink from my face
- Playing with the figurines scattered around my office
- Gardening
- Eating
- Chasing bugs across my desk
- Eating again
- Exercising to compensate for all the eating
- Reading, reading and more reading
I would be interested to hear what other writers do to distract themselves. Maybe I'll take a survey. In fact I'll do that right now! The new novel can wait a little longer...
Friday, August 28, 2009
10 Easy Steps to Becoming a Novelist
2. Write stories for school. Discover you enjoy school writing but hate being told what to write. Begin writing for fun. Stories grow longer and longer and finally become book-length.
3. Write sprawling epic novel inspired by the sprawling epic novels of your favourite authors.
4. Attempt to get epic novel published. Epic novel is rejected by publishers due to unoriginal content and style. Throw tantrum. Swear you will never write again. Withdraw from world to nurse broken heart.
6. Write another novel, this time inspired by your own opinions and experiences.
7. Research publishing market and submission procedures.
8. Attempt to get new novel published. More rejection letters. More tantrums, more nursing of broken heart.
9. Repeat steps 6-8 while developing your own unique style. Confidence and optimism are replaced by sheer, pigheaded stubbornness.
10. Receive book contract from publisher. Faint from shock. Promote book, pursue further publications, acquire literary agent, etc. Discover life is not all sunshine and roses now that you’re published. You still have to work very hard!
Speaking of hard work, I can't blog today because I’m hard at work on the third Prairie Dogs novel, Miracle Dogs. It feels good to be back in Silvertree. I’ve missed my dogs!
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Beware the Writer
Years ago I took a writing class from Gail Bowen. One of our assignments was to find a place to practice our people watching and eavesdropping skills. I chose the airport, thinking I would pick up some good travel stories. Unfortunately back then the Regina airport was absolutely dead at 3pm. I wandered through the empty airport for an hour looking for people to spy on, all the while stalked by a suspicious security guard.
Other promising locations to eavesdrop on conversations: restaurants, school, public transport, malls, family reunions, public restrooms. Other suggestions are welcome!
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
First entry (again)
My sole purpose for torturing myself in this way is to keep myself focussed on the writing life and touch base with my faithful readers. To atone for inflicting my ramblings upon them, I will share some of my author adventures and writing tips that I often present and gather at readings and workshops.
To begin, a few highlights of advice for writers presented by the guest authors at the previous weekend's Con-Version 25 which I attended in Calgary with my friend Bridget. SF and fantasy authors Terry Brooks, Tanya Huff, Dave Duncan, and Robert J. Sawyer were among the guest speakers.
- When critiquing another's work be truthful but helpful. Be specific. An example of unhelpful criticism: "I don't like this part."
- Find a niche in the market and try to tie it into a current trend.
- Write in a comfortable chair.
- Never miss deadlines.
- Get onto listservs and forums related to the subject you're researching.
- Less is more; don't include too much description (characters, settings, weather, etc.) Let your readers engage their imaginations.
- How you write is more important than what you write. It's your unique voice that sells the story, not the story itself.
- Don't write what you know; write what you think is cool.
Photos: Terry Brooks and Glenda; Glenda with Tanya Huff and my friend Bridget