Sitemap - 2022 - Monalisa's Musings

Craft is evergreen. Marketing is not.

Read this before your New Year's resolution to lose weight

How do I turn my idea into a story? Lessons from Harry Potter.

The Woman in Gold and Star Wars

My writing year in review: 2022 edition

Pregnant protagonists going to war

Stopping and sabotaging "AI"

Cinderella and other fairy tales

Getting ready for 2023

On being right and ahead of my time

My pre-Thanksgiving posting

Coming to America (part 3) (explicit)

Coming to America Part 2

Multiple-third vs multiple third

Interview With a Vampire series

Great British Baking Show: Not just a matter of taste (explicit)

Sudowrite AI can't think for you (part 2)

Sudowrite AI can't think for you (part 1)

Fitness and the writer

Dunbar's Number -- Why social media is not just a time-suck but a soul-sucking monstrosity

Evo-bio, bonobos, and 3rd wave feminism

Coming to America -- Part 1

Classical vs contemporary omniscient

How naive 2000s me imagined the future

Vampirism and Other Afflictions

How this writer uses higher math

There's no more pride in one's work

What if we had uterine replicators?

All the voices in your head.

A Man By Any Other Name

A Man By Any Other Name -- Part 7

A Man By Any Other Name -- Part 6

A Man By Any Other Name -- Part 5

A Man By Any Other Name -- Part 4

A Man By Any Other Name -- Part 3

A Man By Any Other Name -- Part 2

A Man By Any Other Name -- Part 1

Corporate tyranny.

"Sci-fi is when the magic your characters use is technology."

Vampires cosplay me.

Terminology and the perils of all sorts of pedantry

Monthly "Ask Me Anything" Post - Sep 2022

Slavic myths.

Teaching myself to outline. [explicit]

Indies are the red-headed stepchildren of IP

Drowning in a sea of useless content.

Why would you use limited third?

The Drake Equation and Fermi Paradox

Oh no, I've "non-consensually" read something I didn't like!

3AM musings, CorgiSan update, and more

On being an effective learner

Liars and assorted unreliable narrators

FenCon panel on Science or Magic.

Frames. What are they and why/when should you use them?

FenCon and why plot bunnies abound even when I'm not writing

Agency uber alles is destroying our heroines

Culture shocks: when an "insult" is actually a compliment

Fun with the Midjourney Bot

The Queen with Helen Mirren

Great Beginnings: JR Ward's Covet

Medicine like something out of a horror show.

"Your other pets, those people are," Yoda said.

The false dichotomy of character- vs plot-driven

A lesson in "saving" money--Government style.

Playing Fizzbin with your readers

If I wanted to destroy the world

Omniscient vs Third Limited Viewpoint

A few more things about the DespairBear and Corgisan.

When does anything become propaganda?

How did your dogs get their names?

Differences between Objective and Omniscient viewpoint (Part 1)

Kindergarten in Ceaucescu's Romania

A day without internet; what I learned.

Happy Skynet Self-Awareness Day

And just when I thought I had it figured out.

Between novels

On being a bad, bad, girl...