It’s been a while
An update on life… Having a lot of fun reading Victor’s short stories. Check out his profile to sign up!
Metaphors
Plus Ça Change – July 4, 2026 …a flood rises to drown her soul, searching for its way to the sea. There is a pulse to writing. It has a beating heart. A story is a living thing. So it wakes up, gets shit done, goes to sleep for a… Continue reading
Coinkidink???
Plus Ça Change – June 21, 2026 I’m plotting out the series of chapters about the cholera epidemic in New Orleans in 1832. Lots of ideas… focusing on Marie as a healer. She has discovered empirically a way to treat this new disease. Marie has an uncle, Josias Kerr, an… Continue reading
Horngard On the Move!/im
I have been helping Elizabeth with her new novel, Horngard. It’s one of the fastest manuscript-to-publication timelines we have ever seen. It’s already got a cover and a release date: October 6th! A lot of time (and laughs) were spent on getting the manuscript ready for production. I’ve never had… Continue reading
Healing the Plot
Plus Ça Change – June 19, 2026 As noted yesterday in Antebellum Catholic Racism, I’ve returned to detailed plotting. This is my happy place. However, I have a tendency to fall deep into a rabbit hole of research and then bludgeon the reader with the results. Over time, I’ve learned… Continue reading
Antebellum Catholic Racism
Plus Ça Change – June 18, 2026 I’ve returned to serious plotting, abandoning pantsing for the moment at least. The intricacies of family finances, property transfers, and inheritance (Gran Catherine dies) requires some serious thought on how to spin a fictional narrative that plausibly allows for all the details. Most… Continue reading
In the Flow of Time
The Origin Story of Marie Laveaux These are the research articles and musing of my discoveries writing Laveaux: Dancer. Along the way, I learned a few things about the early 19th century in old New Orleans. I list them from newest to oldest. In the Flow of Time – the… Continue reading
He Rewrites the Rewrites
In The Flow of Time – June 13, 2026 And here I thought I was done. 🙂 HA! Darn my accomplished writer friends. The critique group is going through the final chapters of Laveaux: Dancer. In almost all cases, the suggestions are tweaks, writerly ideas from skillful colleagues. Not this time…. Continue reading
Concubinage
Plus Ça Change – June 7, 2026 If you read no further, this tells you what to expect. These are the racist waters in which our characters swim. Slaves are livestock. Art. 492 The children of slaves and the young of animals belong to the proprietor of the mother of … Continue reading
Double Dipping?
Plus Ça Change – May 31, 2026 Abraham Lincoln was flatboat crew in New Orleans twice as a young man, in 1828 and 1831. He really was a studious, serious young man. The author’s conceit is, he meets Marie in 1828. He’s puzzled by the strangeness that is New Orleans,… Continue reading
