What to Expect from this Blog

I'm fairly new at this writing thing. While I've been tapping away at a keyboard as long as I could spell, and I majored in Creative Writing in college over a decade ago, I've never been published, and have only ever submitted one short story.

This blog is a way to archive my book reviews, of which I started writing one for every book I read in 2011. It's also a place for me to share my observations about writing: what I've learned as I've gone along, what advice I've culled from other sources (which will be linked and attributed when I can find them), what I've observed from the books I read.

I've done some freelance copy editing work, so I'll also post about grammar and word choice and other mechanics-related topics.

The blog title comes from the fact that I'm a pantster — that is, one who writes by the seat of her pants. I've heard it more politely called, "discovery writing." It's a direct contrast to one who outlines. An outline is a road map for a story, and can be anywhere from a paragraph to several pages long. There are many, many different ways to do it. There are blogs where you can learn how to do it. My blog, however, focuses on the process of banging out a draft not knowing how it'll end, and editing in all the craft and polish after the fact.

In true pantster style, I don't plan out my posts (except to schedule certain posts to go up at a later date or time), nor do I stick to any particular plan. I write what I feel like writing on any given day. I update at least once a week, unless I'm away from the internet for an extended period. I do take suggestions for post topics, and I welcome and respond to all non-spammer comments. Spammers will be reported. If you want me to mention one of your posts related to a topic I've written about, feel free to drop me a link in the comments; anything related to reading, writing craft or grammar is unlikely to be marked as spam, provided you're not signed in anonymously.

About reviews: I tend to read genre fiction, mostly urban fantasy, fantasy, horror, light science fiction, YA, and literary with a dash of genre elements. I do read some literary fiction, and sometimes chick lit. I rarely read romance novels, because the alpha male trope makes me want to throw the book at the nearest wall. I'm always looking for recommendations of romance books that subvert the alpha male trope. I have my favorite authors, but I'll try to point them out to you in my reviews so you know I'm biased in favor of the book. I try to hold my reviews to a semi-professional standard.