Kelly Urgan | Fiction Editor

Spending much of today attending the wonderful sessions on crafting characters by @britfantasysoc.bsky.social

In just a few hours my TBR list has tripled! So much incredible writing!

#WritingLife

Time to be blunt. With the disintegration of trad social media, AI BS, & the constant stream of distracting bad news, it is harder than ever to get readers for SFF magazines. If what we do is important to you, please boost our posts wherever you see them. ❤️🦄

There must be a German word to describe the satisfaction as the fridge slowly empties of holiday leftovers. I have that feeling today.

I had not heard of the holidaze before but now every year starting mid November that’s what I’m going to start calling the season. 😂

I'm liking in solidarity of 'Let's stop adding more pressure to an already intense job' and 'We need to build more bridges not burn them down'. How on earth does an 'editor ranking system' help anyone!?

Why are we so bad at getting group photos!? Lovely lunch and catch up! The discussion still has me thinking!

I hadn't thought of that! The "thinking" bit is always what trips me up. I guess I need to start thinking less! I wonder if stacking a pile of books on the bedside table and only allowing myself to read the one on top would do the trick?

I'm so bad at DNFing! That is a true skill that's hard to master! Good luck!!

Has anyone ever planned out (and succeeded) what they’d like to read for the year? My moody reading habits aren’t helping me get through my TBR. Curious if anyone has tried something this? #AmReading #Books

Eye check-up this morning resulted in both eyes being dilatated and the special 'bright' lamp. The eye of sauron is now imprinted in my vision so I guess I can say I've been to Mordor and back again.

Me too!! Will share if I find one!

This is giving me some good for thought! Thanks for sharing!

Y'all: FUNDING FOR LEXICOGRAPHY PROJECTS is available from the Dictionary Society of North America. Small grants, deadline for application is Oct 31. Deets here: dictionarysociety.com/2025-project...

GO GET THAT CHEDDAR

Let me know how you get on! I need to stop buying every available craft of writing book (even though I want them all)!

Oh! This isn't a source I'm familiar with, but I'm always looking to learn more about POV. It's one of the issues I come across most often, and knowing how to help authors get back on track can be difficult.

Do you like it? Finding it helpful?

I could use something a bit slower paced to be honest, but I know what you mean. I’ve returned to many of my old favourites and have been shocked how different they are in writing style from today’s novels!

I feel guilty for never having read this one! I’ve always wanted to. Beautiful cover! Going to get a copy and put at the top of my TBR list!

A Grammar Table table showing that Chicago Manual of Style, Garner's Modern English Usage, MLA Handbook, NYT, APA, WSJ, and WaPo all use Harris's and Walz's for singular possessive, Harrises' and Walzes' for plural possessive, and Harrises and Walzes for plain old plural. The only exception here is the singular possessive for Harris in AP style, which is Harris' rather than Harris's. (AP uses Walz's for the singular possessive of Walz, though, just as the rest of them do.)

Apostrophes have been flying, so I made a table.

Blood flowed at my driving lesson yesterday. And I hadn’t even started the car. It’s made editing a pain today as my finger is all bandaged up.

Do you write historical fiction? Want to get your first three chapters read and potentially win some big prizes? Enter the Historical Novel Society’s First Chapters Competition by February 15!
 
For all the details look here: hns2024.com/hns-uk-2024-...

I'm playing around on ChatGPT because it's important to know how it's going to affect writing and editing in the future. I just want to say, "You're drunk, ChatGPT."

The character description it generated gave the main character three different eye colors and does nothing but tell instead of show!

"Put the eyeballs in the bag, please."

Words I've said recently.

Also, unintentionally, the best writing prompt I've had in a long time.

Can you use it??? Please do and send me the results.

When Women Were Dragons! I haven’t read it but now I want to!

I guess I shouldn’t worry about eating my lunch in the library. Everyone else is making the most outrageous noise with their plastic packages. 🤣

The #CIEP2024 conference has just been announced: 7–9 Sept in Birmingham! Open call for speakers.

I’m slightly devastated because I’ll be in Devon at the #HNSUK2024 conference!

This is what happens when worlds collide!

#Writing #Editing #Fiction

Book cover of Jane Austen’s England.

I really enjoyed this book but didn’t catch this lovely snippet. Thanks for sharing! The US version, oddly, dropped the ‘Eavesdropping on’ part of the title.

Spending this lovely day catching up on the Publishers Weekly AI Conference. I'm of the opinion that the 'enemy you know' is better than the one you don't. Let's be a part of the change so we can help shape it!

Pear, apple and cherry? (Wild guess. No clue. Don't know my trees as well as I should!)

If you’re in the London area and fancy a morning or afternoon out towards the end of the month, why not drop in at the Small Publishers Fair (27-28 Oct, Conway Hall)?
smallpublishersfair.co.uk

Three books about driving in the UK: the Offical Highway Code, the Theory Test and Know Your Traffic Signs.

I haven't been doing much fun reading. Instead these lovely books have been my companions since August. It's been worth it! On Monday, 10 October (my mom's 70th birthday), I passed my driving theory test! Onward to driving lessons for my practical test!!