Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! I was chatting with a friend recently, about writing, and genre, and realized something. I write (mildly to moderately) literary fiction in fantasy clothing. Don’t get me wrong, I love fantasy, I live and breathe it, it is, as the kids used to say, my jam. But. When …
I finished The Red Palace (TRP) again today. How many times does a writer finish a book? A lot, in my experience. But I’ve only done this a few times. The attributionless experiment is over, who says what is now clear. More than that, revisions and rewrites have been included, small excisions, small elaborations. I …
Continue reading Finishing again, new tools acquired for next time.
Disclaimer: This was written for my own amusement and is not meant to be taken seriously as writing advice, only my opinion on some writing advice I want to ignore, perhaps because I’m lazy, so I’m going to rationalize my laziness into an act of courageous rebellion. He said guiltily. Just realized I haven’t put …
Continue reading Rules and Rebellion: An Attributionist’s Diary
Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! I’m back, in a time of war. Of course, on this green earth it is always a time of war. Always. And every New Year we listen to Imagine, and every New Year it seems an impossible dream. Some years more obviously than others. Another war. More children …
Continue reading Absentee action and the challenge of illogic.
Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! Stayed up too late last night. Lingering fatigue. Alice in Borderland season one. I normally do not go for mystery box constructed stories, but after watching 2046 recently and remembering my love of Asian cinema in my youth (Hong Kong 80s cinema, Chinese 5th wave and Kurosawa plus …
Continue reading The Triumph of Acceptance over Sabotage, and Updates on my Media Consumption
Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! The Thief and The Demon is on sale this week. Thief gets in trouble, then more trouble, then more trouble, then more. Every choice can lead to death, but he seeks freedom, and, eventually, redemption. The Demon also seeks freedom, but primarily craves power. The two are bound …
Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! Here we are at the end of 2025! It has been a year, as they say. A writing retrospective. I published my third novel this year, which pleases me no end. Having three novels to my name does make me feel much more established as a writer. I …
Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! In the land of bots does the genuine human rule? Unfortunately not, at present. The Gardener and The Goddess ebook is on sale for the next week! Grab it now! I am reading The Inner Game of Tennis (again) as part of my re-engagement with playing pool regularly, …
Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! My collage assembly plus extras has gained some momentum, so I am making good progress. There has in the process of doing this work been an ever-growing sense of unease. I’ve come to a conclusion or two about where it was coming from, and what to do about …
Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! I watched an interesting video on why folk do not read self-published fantasy. You can watch it here. I get the concerns of readers. I understand the option offered by published works, and the great undiscovered fantasies of the past, of around the world. There’s a lot there …
Continue reading An Unexpected Path to Literary Freedom. (Spoiler Alert – it’s Obscurity!)
Roderick T. Macdonald 