Karen Mahoney

Website Update

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 19:55:13 GMT

So, my website (and the blog that goes with it) is in a bit of a mess because I sort of changed things around, and then didn't have time to put everything back where it belongs. That describes my approach to domestic stuff in RL, too... ;) Hence the sign up at the moment that says:

After much thought and fiddling around with templates, etc. I've decided that I will return to blogging over there once I've fixed things next week. Um... hopefully I really will get it fixed up okay next week. *shifty eyes*

However, I will make more of an effort to stop by LJ in the future. I'll also mirror anything super-important, and use LJ to make occasional locked/private entries.

Trying for the best of both worlds, here...

Have a great weekend! :)

Sometimes...

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 17:04:29 GMT

Sometimes, what you think is a block to writing progress, isn't a block at all.

Sometimes, that so-called 'block' is not a wall but a ladder. Okay, so the ladder is very (very) tall, and you're not sure you can even see the top, let alone reach it... but it's a ladder, all the same.

Sometimes the wall is all In Your Head.

(Sometimes it's not, that's also true.)

Sometimes... Sometimes, it's important to realise that when you're stuck, you might actually be stuck for a reason.

A Very Good Reason.

Sometimes, that reason might not be immediately apparent.

Sometimes, you might find yourself blaming other things for your stuckness.

(Sometimes you will even believe it really is those other things that are at fault.)

Sometimes, you just have to sit back and take the time to figure out what the heck is going on.

Sometimes, you might need to give yourself a good talking to.

Sometimes you will have to push through regardless of the need to take a break.

Sometimes, you'll regret that. (The pushing through, I mean.)

Sometimes, it's important to realise that 'leveling up' is best left to video games and to Scott Pilgrim.

Sometimes 'leveling up' as a writer is not the right analogy.

Sometimes, writing is a lot more like going under...

Or, digging deep...

Or drowning.

Sometimes if you go under, dig deep enough, and manage to come up for air just in time - that's when you'll figure out that you were never actually stuck in the first place.

You were just waiting.

Three Things (on Friday)

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 19:02:23 GMT

Three things that either caught my eye recently, or are helping me to ~~procrastinate~~ relax...

1) My two favourite comics - so far - from DC's huge relaunch are:

Batwoman #1 Animal Man #1

Here's a preview of Batwoman... and one of Animal Man. Check them out and maybe you'll be tempted to pick up a comic to try. They are both seriously, seriously amazing.

2) Talking of comics, I couldn't resist the first issue of Buffy Season 9:

(Beautiful cover art by Jo Chen.)

3) Season 3 of The Vampire Diaries started last night. Did you watch it? (No spoilers in comments please, for those who haven't seen it yet!)

Hint: It was bloody brilliant. ;)

Writing Goals (mid-Sept to 1st December)

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 19:08:43 GMT

Lots to achieve before the end of the year, so I signed up for jonowrimo again. I'm glad I returned to LJ just in time! (Thanks, as usual, go to the lovely jbknowles for running her annual 'challenge'). Here's what I posted for my goals for the next 2.5 months:

I have a pretty big goal, but it's split between 3 projects. The TOTAL goal is 100,000 new words written by December 1st. It sounds a lot (it sounds huge to me, because I don't write as fast as I used to!), but I need those words. It breaks down (roughly) as:

1) 20,000 new words as part of a rewrite.
2) 10,000 new words for an MG proposal.
3) 70,000 new words for the first draft of a YA novel.

So... 100K in 11 weeks should be possible if I write about 10,000 words per week.

And, as I said in comments, it doesn't seem half as bad when you consider that's actually 2,000 words per day, 5 days per week. It even sounds sane when you look at it that way! ;)

At the moment I'm waiting on page proofs for The Wood Queen, and once I've gone through those (they're needed super-quickly this time because of getting the files to overseas publishers) I'll be able to focus properly on my main goals.

Is this thing on?

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 11:49:56 GMT

*brushes away cobwebs*

Because of some website maintence (which might take a while, knowing me), I will be blogging back over on LJ for the next month or so.* I've been keeping up with most of you, though - some of your blogs are in my Google Reader, some I get pinged whenever you update, and sometimes I get really wild and just read a few pages on my F-list...

Finally paid for my LJ account again, after months of looking at those adverts and getting irritated every time I visited.

So. I am busy, busy with copyedits and revisions while also trying to write the 3rd and final Iron Witch book.

How you doin'?

*Maybe I'll stick around here for longer. I miss the old place and the sense of community that is lacking elsewhere.

The Iron Witch in the US!

Tue, 25 Jan 2011 20:33:53 GMT

It's here!! :)

But I am over HERE talking about it on the Deadline Dames. I hope you'll join me - my day to post just happened to fall today (perfect!), and I'll be giving away some lovely Iron Witchy books...

I decided to post here as well as on my main blog because... well, I want to make sure my LJ buddies get a chance to enter the giveaway. Free books are free books, right? ;)

Thanks to all of my online friends for making my launch such a cool experience, and THANK YOU for the many wonderful reviews I'm seeing around the blogosphere already. I never know whether I should link to them or not, but I might link to a couple here and there - I'm so proud! People seem to be enjoying it so far, and that makes me happier than you could imagine.

I will say that Kirkus gave TIW a great review, for which I'm very grateful. I think you can only read the full text if you're a subscriber (until Feb 1st when it will go 'public' on the site), but here are a couple of highlights:

And what a plot! Complex in structure, it includes a secret society of alchemists whose motives are veiled, the mystery of Donna’s dad’s death and a budding romance ... The success of the story depends heavily upon the geographical contrast between small-town Ironbridge, Mass., and the dark forest that leads to the home of the wood elves. The suspense and tension built into the story lead to a smashing climax...

*beams with pride*

(x-posted from kazmahoney.com)

The Iron Witch... preview!

Fri, 31 Dec 2010 19:54:08 GMT

First of all: HAPPY NEW YEAR to all my LJ pals!! :)

Secondly... What better way to celebrate 2011 than to read the first couple of chapters of TIW? Hehe...

If you've been waiting to read some of The Iron Witch before you decide to part with your hard-earned cash at the end of January, the wait is over. ;)

Flux have done this awesome 'Book Excerpt' on their website where you can read the first two chapters - for free! You can check it out here. I hope you'll tell me what you think.

I'll see you on the other side - have a great evening and a fab start to the new year, wherever you are in the world!

THE IRON WITCH in January 2011!

Sat, 11 Dec 2010 19:49:10 GMT

I have great news to report! In light of the decision by Random House to release TIW earlier in the UK on 20th January 2011, I have just been told that Flux will also be bringing TIW forward to January!

Even though none of the publication date info will change on sites like Amazon, B&N or Borders, we are looking at The Iron Witch being in stores across the US by Tuesday, January 25th 2011. I'm seriously thrilled about this! We're back to just a few days difference between the two editions, and I hope that readers in the United States are as happy as I was to hear this from Flux today. Huzzah! :) This also means there's a good chance you'll see TIW floating around at ALA's 2011 Midwinter Conference in San Diego (January 7-11).

Once again, online stores will still say February 8th, but the book will come out 2 weeks earlier in the US. Don't worry, I'll remind you nearer the time... once or twice, maybe... ;)

(x-posted from kazmahoney.com)

I'll be right here...

Mon, 22 Nov 2010 17:44:33 GMT

After all the back and forth over it, I've finally decided to set up camp at my website, at least until the release of The Iron Witch (eeek!), so if anyone wants to read my blogging shenanigans that's where I'll be. You might want to pay particular attention in December as I have some cool holiday giveaways planned. *bribes you shamelessly*

Of course, there's also Twitter and Goodreads. And I will still comment on LJ when I can - you can't get rid of me that easily. ;)

There's a handy RSS feed over there if you want to add it to your Google Reader (or whatever you use to read blogs), and triciasullivan set up an LJ feed so you can read it on your friends page:

wonderwomankaz

How Beautiful the Ordinary

Thu, 11 Nov 2010 21:11:29 GMT

A blog post in which Kaz rants about the lack of tolerance that still rears its ugly head... even among the so-called tolerant young people of London.

Also, to make up for being Angry Kaz - and to spread the word about a cool book - you can win a copy of this:

Go here:

How Beautiful the Ordinary

Comments closed here today, if you want to enter the giveaway please do so over there. Cheers!

Monday Mutterings...

Mon, 08 Nov 2010 17:09:13 GMT

Life hasn't been all that easy, lately. A combination of ongoing family/personal issues, writing deadlines (which I am, of course, grateful to have) and Real Life redtape & form-filling have conspired to leave me way behind on things.

This includes email - especially email from readers and bloggers. Just so you know and in case you are worrying that I didn't receive your request/email, I will definitely be replying to you, I just need to get some boring Life Stuff sorted out first. Thanks for your patience and understanding. Oh, and the same goes for sending out packages to a few people... The books are right there in front of me on my desk. They are staring at me with the Stare of Doom(tm).

I'll get on top of things again, I know, but the Migraine of Doom(tm) all day yesterday didn't help matters.

But today I will pwn everything on my To-Do list; I swear it! ;) I even spoke to a tax specialist today. Ugh. I don't want to talk about that.

NaNoWriMo Update: Because I'm so behind on things, it is with great sadness (wow, I'm so formal today! *g*) that I must take a step back from my attempt to blog throughout November. I'll still be writing like the wind (I hope!) and wishing everyone the very best with their own writing, but I need a break from the interwebs.

Of course, we all know that when Kaz says she needs a "break" that doesn't usually amount to much. But you are more likely to find me on my website blog or on Twitter for the forseeable future.

Good luck, everyone! :)

(x-posted to kazmahoney.com)

NaNoWriMo: (Fri)Day 5

Fri, 05 Nov 2010 22:10:12 GMT

Do you see what I did there, with the subject heading? (Genius!! *g*)

I was too busy to post yesterday... I hope Day 4 of NaNoWriMo was good for you guys. Let me know!

So here's the ~~NaNo~~Random Friday Five:

1) I am so behind on everything and it's driving me crazy. I just can't seem to get on top of my email, and feel like archiving everything and starting from scratch. *sigh* I won't, though, because there's stuff that really needs a reply. Also, I fully intend to catch up on LJ comments - never fear, trusty friends!

2) I finally wrote Actual Words toward my NaNo total. I refuse to say what my current total is because it's pretty pathetic. But at least I wrote something. Phew!

3) I've had some good news lately, on the publishing front, and if you missed it (um... assuming you're interested, which you might not be (which would be totally fine)) you can check it out on the news page of my website. I'm still trying the whole experiment where I keep those things separate from LJ, but I don't know if it's working for me. We'll see.

4) There's every chance I might just move my blogging back there again, please don't kill me. But then... I'd miss my LJ icons. ;)

5) This week's episode of The Vampire Diaries (EP208: 'Rose') was AMAZING! Of course, I always think that - because it's true! - but this one was particularly packed full of drama, angst, new villains, secrets revealed, brotherly road trips, and the Obligatory Damon Moment of Awesome(tm).

How on earth did that get in here?

NaNoWriMo: Day 3

Wed, 03 Nov 2010 15:55:43 GMT

It's the third day of NaNo and, guess what? I haven't even started yet! haha...

Wow, I'm not setting a very good example here. The thing is, I'm just putting the finishing touches to a Smart Pop essay (revisions) and the TIW page proofs. Phew! I have a good excuse. Two, in fact. ;)

Today's NaNoWriMo content is a quote by the incomparable triciasullivan (she has a great contest going on over at her LJ, by the way). I stole this from a recent interview she did - am too ~~lazy~~busy to find the link right now - but I LOVE what she has to say here:

To writers who are not-so-experienced, I would say, look, writing is hard and often seemingly without reward, but it’s only energy. You spend it, the next day you get more, as long as you are alive. So if you have this inclination, then use it. Respond to what the world throws at you. It’s better to direct your energy toward your own original vision than to be relegated to a life of consumption. Don’t let yourself be squashed down and made smaller.
Tricia Sullivan

NaNoWriMo: Day 2

Tue, 02 Nov 2010 20:04:21 GMT

*whispers* I'm not actually here today...

But! You can find out what these three things/people have in common over at the Deadline Dames, where it's my turn to blog:

Check it out: Kaz's (Unofficial) Guide to NaNoWriMo

Tuesday Tunes

Tue, 02 Nov 2010 17:51:06 GMT

I've mentioned this before, but I am majorly crushing on The Pierces. I love their macabre sense of humour, which comes across brilliantly in their videos. I saw them singing on Later...with Jools Holland a while back, and they are so good live.

Here's a perfect Halloween video for you (yeah, I'm a bit late... sorry about that!):

And here's their latest song, released on the new 'Love You More' EP:

Mon, 01 Nov 2010 14:52:24 GMT

No subject line today... I'm letting the date speak for itself. Why?

Because it's NaNoWriMo, of course! What? Do you live under a rock or something?

So I'm not doing NaNo officially, nor do I have time to run something cool here like I did with the Summer Camp. But sora_blue asked if I wanted to write 50K with her this month (and one or two others), and I said "yes" - because I can never say "no" to Chandra. ;)

Our version = We can work on anything we like, even if it's something that's part finished already. Also, we can work on more than one project. (This is why we aren't doing NaNo 'officially' - I've never signed up for it, actually, though I did write more than 50K in November of 2007.)

For the record, I'll be finishing THE WOOD QUEEN (I totally screwed up part of it and got badly derailed; then there were the TIW page proofs; short story stuff; essays for publication; excuses, excuses, blahblahblah... so yeah, that needs to be completed & sent in). Then I'll move onto something else. Not sure what quite yet, but so long as I write my 50K it doesn't matter.

I'm going to try to post daily throughout November, whether it's to note progress (or lack of it!) or to link to cool NaNo-related stuff online, or just to put up an inspirational quote or two. Even if I don't manage to post every single day, I'll make sure to post a weekly update so that sora_blue and her friends can check in with me. (And anyone else who wants to.)

Good luck, all brave NaNo writers! Let me know what you'll be working on, whether officially or not.

Oh. My. God.

Thu, 28 Oct 2010 22:51:25 GMT

Ursula K. Le Guin is blogging.

Ursula. Le Guin. Blogging.

BLOGGING!!

Check it out: right here... and here... with more here.

I love this:

The opposite of spare time is, I guess, occupied time. In my case I still don’t know what spare time is because all my time is occupied. It always has been and it is now. It’s occupied by living.
Ursula K. Le Guin

I should really be in bed...

Tue, 26 Oct 2010 00:28:31 GMT

...but look what I just found!

Photos of the boys, back when they were babies. *g*

SO CUTE!!

Here are my boys, Felix and Logan, as they are now:

And here they are... 6 years ago (click on all pics to embiggen):

And now I really should go. It's 1.30am and I'm posting cat pictures on LJ instead of sleeping...

(Apologies for not putting these under an LJ cut, I'm too tired to fiddle right now.)

Witchy Updates, Goodreads & ARCs, oh my!

Mon, 25 Oct 2010 20:20:43 GMT

First of all, just a quick note to say that you may (or, indeed, may not) have noticed the US publication date of The Iron Witch has changed - but only very slightly. (Phew!) Previously, it was due to be published on February 1st, 2011 in the US. Now it's moved back one week to:

February 8th, 2011

Mark your calendars! Um... okay, you're probably not actually going to do that. Trust me though, I'm marking my calendar. Heh.

The reason for the change isn't anything dodgy or dire. Flux have changed all their pub dates to the 8th of the month, where previously it was always the 1st of the particular release month.

For US bloggers/reviewers: It's come to my attention that some people have been told that TIW isn't available for review until January 2011, and then the lovely Kristi at The Story Siren posted her regular 'In My Mailbox' vlog - including an ARC of The Iron Witch - causing some confusion. Sorry about that, guys. What this apparently means is that Flux are now completely out of ARCs. However: they will be making finished copies of the book available to some bloggers in January. You'll need to contact them for info - I don't have any ARCs or review copies.

There's currently one ARC up for grabs on Goodreads - only available to readers in the US, Canada & Mexico, as it's coming direct from Flux.

This has been your Occasional Witchy PSA.* Thanks for listening! ;)

ETA: It's possible I may get some UK ARCs soon - I'll update you on that if it happens.

--
*Public Service Announcement

Friday Five: 5 Books (x 3)

Fri, 15 Oct 2010 19:31:03 GMT

What have I been reading lately? I'm glad you asked me that, my friends. Here is today's Friday Five - with a difference. Yeah, today you're getting not-one-but-three lists in one post! I know, it's like... totally crazy. I'm really behind on talking about books though, so you'll have to live with the overload now.

5 Books I've just read, or am currently reading:

1) Slice of Cherry by Dia Reeves

2) Passion Play by Beth Bernobich

3) The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff

4) The Forest for the Trees by Betsy Lerner

5) Hunger by Jackie Morse Kessler

5 Books received from lovely people:

1) A Wish After Midnight by Zetta Elliott

2) Silver Phoenix by Cindy Pon

3) The Secret Keeper by Mitali Perkins

(Thanks so much to Ari for all three of these. You are very bad; I'm meant to be your Book Fairy! *g*)

4) The Red Pyramid (The Kane Chronicles, Book 1) by Rick Riordan

(Thank you to triciasullivan for spoiling me!)

5) Bloodshot by Cherie Priest

(Thanks to cmpriest for arranging for me to get this ARC. You rock!)

5 Books that I wish I could get my grubby hands on RIGHT NOW:

1) Midsummer Night by Freda Warrington

2) What Alice Knew by Paula Marantz Cohen

3) Blessed by Cynthia Leitich Smith

4) Jane by April Lindner

5) Last Sacrifice by Richelle Mead

I'm going to try saying more about some of these later on; no time now as my internet is about to run out (ugh). Have a great weekend! :)

Meet Laura Bickle & win FREE books!

Thu, 14 Oct 2010 12:16:03 GMT

Not here, but over on the main site.

You can win signed copies of this:

See you there! :)

Comments closed on LJ for today.

Sometimes writing is hard...

Thu, 07 Oct 2010 18:00:59 GMT

...but I'm still so incredibly glad to have these opportunities.

No matter how many times I find myself thinking, "I can't do this! My deadline is sneaking up on me and HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?!"

No matter how often I wish writing a sequel were just the same as writing a 'Book One' when you didn't even know there would be more books...

No matter how often I find myself wailing, "I'm a terrible writer! Why did they give me a contract?!"

I just turn around and give myself a good talking to. (I can do that, you know. You should try it! *g* Sometimes it works wonders for negative thinking.)

I tell myself:

It's okay to write badly.

It's even okay to write really badly.

So what that you cut 20,000 words? You will write them all again, and better this time.

Be grateful.

You can do this.

Breathe.

So far it's working, even though today was a real struggle. Even though the end still seems too far away.

How are you getting on today? Anyone else pushing through despite how damn hard it can be?

(And, for the record, I don't always find it this difficult. Writing can be fun! And it can also be invigorating and inspiring and lots of other great words beginning with the letter i. It's just particularly tough at the moment.)

Headless Chicken

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 15:32:58 GMT

I can't believe how busy I've been and how much time has passed and how I still don't have internet in the new flat.

Ugh.

But hopefully all that will change next week. *crosses fingers and hopes*

I've been thinking a LOT lately (I know, that's not always a good thing!) - in between running around crazily trying to Get Stuff Done - and I've come to some conclusions. Let me share them with you, in the style of a nicely ordered list:

- I'm really missing having an online journal. Not a blog. A journal, like I used to have here on LJ. Well, I still have my LJ and I do use it from time-to-time (like for KSC in the summer, which was awesome fun), but I don't use it for what I feel it ought to be used for. I just miss having somewhere to throw out thoughts of a random nature, whether about writing or life or whatever. In fact, it's no coincidence that this LiveJournal has always been subtitled: Writing, Life & Soul. Because that's what it's supposed to be about.

- But then I moved my regular blogging-type activities to my website, and neglected my journal over here.

- If I'm being honest, I've been neglecting blogging a lot lately... whether here, there, or wherever. Partly because of Twitter (which I genuinely love - maybe because I feel some of the 'community' vibe of LJ has been lost in recent months?), but also because I've been so busy in Real Life. Moving hasn't been easy; not as easy as I thought it would be, anyway!

- I miss London. I whined about this to tessagratton in an email the other day. (Sorry, Tess! *g*)

- There's something about writing a journal entry that can set you up for the day, and I think that's lacking in my life right now. I feel scattered.

- So, I'm going to try posting here more often. Even if it's just a few lines; even if it's more of a 'journal entry' and less of a 'blog post'. Even if there aren't so many pretty pictures to look at.

- Because... maybe I can still put some of that other stuff over on my website. I've changed the tab that used to read 'Blog' to 'News' (it's here, just in case you're interested), and I can use the blog facility there as more of a news/updates page. More publishing-related, maybe? And I can always link to extra-exciting things so friends who want to keep up with that don't miss it.

- This is an experiment (a work-in-progress!), and I reserve the right to change things up and try new things depending on what does and doesn't work for me. ;) I may still mention publishing-related news and stuff here, but it won't form the majority of my entries. If there's a lot of news I want to share, I can just post a link to the website. We'll see...

- Some of my recent thinking was brought into sharper focus by sarah_prineas's latest posts along these lines. You can read the original 'rant' (her words!) on the wonderful Shrinking Violet Promotions blog. There's a follow-up over there, too; and another on Sarah's LJ. All the comments are well worth reading.

- Expect lots of rambling, in future. It could even be that I use some posts as a way of 'thinking aloud' re. writing problems. I won't be sitting here hoping for a ton of comments, or whatever. That's not what a journal should be about - though of course having a discussion open up can be very cool (see the above point about Sarah's posts). I think I can do that without giving away too many spoilers or being 'too' open about process. I just want to get back to blogging the way I used to, you know?

- And speaking of writing problems, I've been having terrible trouble getting my head back in the writing game since moving into my new place. However! I have finally begun to make progress and Actual Words again, so I'll say more about that soon. :)

How To Be Alone

Tue, 28 Sep 2010 10:12:29 GMT

I'm sure most people on my f-list have already seen this, but... oh, how this speaks to me right now. I think it's beautiful.

If you have 4 minutes to spare, please watch & listen. (And then check out Tanya Davis online.) ♥

Psst... Wanna win something?

Wed, 22 Sep 2010 16:59:46 GMT

Maybe... a copy of the forthcoming (October 2010) A Visitor's Guide to Mystic Falls by Smart Pop Books... which someone called 'Karen Mahoney' has contributed to - what a coincidence! *g*

Click to embiggen

Well then, you're in luck! Step this way to my humble website. Or click on Damon/Ian, he'll show you the way. ;)

(Comments disabled here, just for today.)