Lindsey Duncan

The good news about the current novel project is I've clocked around 20k words.

The bad news is, I'm maybe two-thirds of the way to the point I wanted to be at 25k ...

#unicornisle #sff #fantasy #writerslife #amwriting

Fashionistas:

I've got this pair of denims jeans with a subtle pattern of small white flowers.

Can I pair this with a solid color shirt (purple or dark green), or are my only proper choices black, white and neutral?

Alas, no, and it's not published. Working title is Undertaking Chances.

Just a quick note that I'm on Instagram now, with plans to post some pretties (food stuff) over the holiday season - @lindseycduncan

The last thing I do before starting a story is pick a font to write in. It's got to feel like it matches the story. No, I don't have any cohesive rules for this. I know it when I see it. #unicornisle #writerslife #amwriting

So pretty!

One of my least favorite personal writing quirks:

I can't start a story without a title.

Been brainstorming for hours. Nothing seems quite right.

Sigh. #unicornisle #sff #fantasy #writerslife #amwriting

That moment where you've been going along writing a story and having a blast with it ... and you suddenly realize it's a wreck and might end up on the scrap heap. Oof. #unicornisle #writerslife #amwriting

Two disparate things make a story:

The FWO monthly prompt is "write a story involving robbery during a journey."

I've had a bug in my brain recently that I want to write about a fantasy world undergoing its own form of Prohibition.

Combine the two, and ...

#unicornisle #sff #fantasy #amwriting

And a lot more significantly ...

I just finished the first draft of The Aroma of Whispers, settling in just shy of 121k words. Editing should trim 10-15k, so I'm feeling pretty good about the length.

Regardless ... fantasy-mystery novel done!

Aurealis #183 Brand new science fiction, fantasy and provocative non fiction.

It's out! Aurealis Issue #183, containing my "Harmony In Ninths" is now available for purchase! Check it out:

www.smashwords.com/books/view/1...

#unicornisle #sff #fantasy #writerslife

Amateur cooks, of any skill level, do you use rosemary? Dried, fresh?

Me yesterday: great, I know what my next novel project is!

Me this morning: oh, look at all these posts about Fatecraft, and a dicemaker and a clockworker really did make interesting protagonists ...

Me now: I am confused again.

#unicornisle #sff #fantasy #writerslife

Current favorite line in WIP: It broke bones inside her that had no substance.

#unicornisle #sff #writerslife #amwriting

Woke up this morning realizing my quirky little zombie novel actually *is* long enough to query.

But I already have my next query project in line.

I ... I don't know.

Argh. #unicornisle #sff #writerslife

The original DAW cover, the ebook cover, and the UK cover run across the bottom of the image involving a dragon shadow, a guitar, and a selkie in that order. The background of the quote is the expanded ebook cover with a guitar on the left and part of a dragon tail on the right. "Broken Wings?" Donna's question jerked Charlie out of her thoughts. Apparently, her fingers had moved on without her. "Chica, I wasn't suggesting you play depressing country music. I mean, sure, there's nothing like starting the day with a song about a woman trapped in a…..Shit!" Swerving onto the shoulder, she somehow missed the car suddenly in their lane trying to pass an oil truck headed north. Charlie hit a quick A minor 7th and managed to get all four wheels back on the pavement.

Today's word is PLAY. Today's #BookQW from THE WILD WAYS, 2nd of the Emporium trilogy. The music festival scene in Cape Breton involves a lot of playing. And a little Great Big Sea. Also, selkies, a dragon, and oh yes, they have a cave troll...

Available in audio & digital. Shop indie if you can.

Memories of that one time I met a waitress with the same name as a character I created for an online roleplaying game (Talitha), and really had no way to explain why I was so delighted.

(Also mental: oh, so *that's* how it's pronounced.) #unicornisle #writerslife

Current state of the writer: the scene sequence in the novel I'm writing has been nothing but struggle. I sort of want to chuck it all in the trash at this point. #unicornisle #sff #fantasy #writerslife #amwriting

Just finished my first short story of 2025. Feels good. #unicornisle #writerslife #amwriting

Happy Summer Solstice everyone! You know what you can do to celebrate the longest day of the year (at least in this hemisphere)? Get yourself a copy of the 3rd issue of our magazine (links in thread), which is themed around "Illumination" this year...

And ... it's out! I loved working with these editors, and the illustrations are lovely.

Trying to decide if my next writerly project is to try and collate novel ideas for the next book (heh), or write more short stories, or do a flash / shorter boot camp thing. Oy. #unicornisle #sff #fantasy #writerslife

I may be completely biased, but "bake something" is almost always the answer.

Why. WHY.

Fancy dinner these days seem to be some kind of a main dish concept / core idea that I keep adding ingredients to that I enjoy and "feel" like they go together, plus a weird green salad.

Weird salad, you ask?

F'r example: candied bacon, blueberries and corn.

It's more that most publishers and agents seem to be looking for fantasy in the 100k - 110k word range, and some won't even look at anything under 85k ...

Working on edits for the humorous zombie novel again, and I love this book, I do, but it's 72k words. What am I supposed to do with that?

I usually have the opposite problem.

#unicornisle #sff #writerslife #fantasy #amwriting

Just read an old blogpost of mine that used an example of "a reinterpretation of a fairytale would be where Snow White is a werebear, and she's not sleeping, she's just hibernating."

I mean ...

But there's a kernel of a good idea there.

Leave me to my own devices, and I write a short story in which cicada shells are ground up for magic.