elspethcooper.bsky.social
Fantasy author (THE WILD HUNT QUARTET). Sword owner. Tea drinker. MS-haver. Damned scribbling woman. She/her. Find me at www.elspethcooper.com.
1,817 posts
2,160 followers
788 following
Regular Contributor
Active Commenter
comment in response to
post
Oh yeah, I know that one. You would think by now we would recognise when our writer!brains are waving signal flags, huh?
comment in response to
post
Oh heck yeah, I'll take a recommendation like that from you any day.
comment in response to
post
That looks so good!
comment in response to
post
The universe is clearly sending me a message 🐌
comment in response to
post
Oh that is gorgeous 😍
comment in response to
post
Good morning, Womble! On paper, I am reading Kate Morton's excellent The Lake House, a dual-timeline missing-child mystery with excellent chars & sense of place. On digital, having a total blast with Demon Hunts by CE Murphy, #5 of the relaunched Walker Papers. This series is so much fun!
comment in response to
post
Some people! And I bet he didn't apologise, either.
comment in response to
post
The absolute nerve!
comment in response to
post
Author of 3/4 of the epic fantasy The Wild Hunt Quartet, featuring a distressed paladin & a teenage single mom saving the world. Currently working on the final volume which has been severely prolonged by chronic illness (MS). IT helpdesk veteran, retired cat lady, 96.7% tea by volume.
comment in response to
post
Oh my. I adored the first one of these books and was saving the others to read later. *grabby hands*
comment in response to
post
Oh my. I adored the first one of these books and was saving the others to read later. *grabby hands*
comment in response to
post
As I said once at a con, if someone tells you there is only One True Way to write a book, they have a "How to Write" book to sell you.
comment in response to
post
Now, my editing brain works best in situ. I very rarely open a new document to work in apart from the main one - that only happens when I decide a scene is such a mess it needs rewriting from scratch. My process is organic/holistic rather than structured.
comment in response to
post
I don't do numbered drafts. I work in one big document that is simultaneously first, final and all stages in between. The waveform only collapses into a fixed state at a given point by the act of observation.
comment in response to
post
Full disclosure: I do use a spreadsheet to track completed scenes & wordcount, colour-coded for POV. That's as close to organised as it gets.
comment in response to
post
What is this "plan" of which you speak?
I start with the vaguest outline, add a handful of tent-pole incidents that may or may not be recorded somewhere, then the rest is just writing until a book-shaped thing happens. Finest artisanal pantsing, in other words.
comment in response to
post
Ngl, Jim had me at the ghost grandmother with attitude.
comment in response to
post
Fun bonus fact: the price of eggs was unchanged.
comment in response to
post
This was one ordinary week's groceries, for 2 adults, from Sainsburys (we can't afford Waitrose any more). I'm not sure where "they" are getting their 2.5% from, but I'm not seeing it on the ground. 4/4
comment in response to
post
Highlights:
Choc digestives (store brand) + 47%
Bell peppers +32.6%
Gala apples +21.4%
Butter +17.75%
Whole chicken +17.5%
Orange juice nfc +17.2%
Milk +13.8%
Carrots +6%
Courgettes +3.6%
The biggest shocker was the price of fresh green beans, up 96% in a year. 3/n
comment in response to
post
24.05.24 my grocery bill for a week was £62.81
The same 31 items at today's prices came to £66.82*, an increase of £4.01 or 6.38%
*For 2 items the pack size had changed so I had to derive the new value based on £ per kg
2/n
comment in response to
post
I see what you did there.
comment in response to
post
Oh yes, there has been pining!
comment in response to
post
Ha, no - one chap was believed to have been killed but has turned up only half-drowned, and there's still 62 pages to go!
comment in response to
post
Ha ha, no - it's an Elizabeth Chadwick, The Marsh King's Daughter. Good fun, well researched, but so. many. bodies.
comment in response to
post
Wotcher, Womble! On digital I'm still having a glorious time with Vivian Shaw's Dreadful Company. On paper, my supposedly palate-cleansing historical (The Marsh King's Daughter by Elizabeth Chadwick) has developed a remarkably high body count!
comment in response to
post
Thanks. It was horrible, trying to help him over the phone when neither of us could speak for tears.
comment in response to
post
Thanks, Susan. It's been six months. I thought I was getting a handle on the grief, but every now and again it sneaks up and just rips me open again.
comment in response to
post
Thanks, Paul. Neither of us could speak for tears - it was awful.
comment in response to
post
I'm convinced it's payback for me having the temerity to do some dinner prep yesterday. I mean, I sliced some chicken breasts and chopped an onion, how very dare I?
comment in response to
post
Just another day in Spoonieville, but thank you 😊
comment in response to
post
Good evening, much appreciated!
comment in response to
post
Oh, I'm ok, just my legs have decided that asking them to support me for more than five minutes constitutes an unreasonable infringement of their employment terms and are staging a wildcat strike. Yay, chronic illness 🫠
comment in response to
post
Greetings, Womble, sorry I'm late. I am currently enjoying the heck out of Dreadful Company, second in the Greta Helsing series by Vivian Shaw. Vampires in the catacombs of Paris! A smart, competent heroine! What's not to love?