Emily H. Bates's Blog

I’ve felt for a long time that a change was needed, and with the new year and all, it felt like this was the time to make that change. This blog is dear to my heart and has introduced me to some of the most wonderful people on the blogosphere, but it is home no longer.

I know I’ve probably lost a lot of readers, given that I posted about three times total last year, but if any of you want to follow me on in my writing journey, you can find me at indigowood.wordpress.com.

I’ve adopted a pen na...

Growing up, my favorite Narnia book was easily The Silver Chair. I loved when Prince Rilian came out of his enchantment, slew the giant serpent, and destroyed the silver chair. I loved dear old Puddleglum. I loved the trenches that spelled out words.

But mostly, I loved Jill Pole.

Jill wasn’t a Pevensie. There weren’t prophecies about her. She was just a girl struggling through school the best she could.

But when Eustace told her about this magical place he had visited, a beautiful place far...

I scorned NaNoWriMo for YEARS. And even after I finished it last year, I wasn’t sure I’d ever do it again.

Aaaand then October rolled around. And folks, NaNoWriMo does not let you out of its clutches so easily. For which I am grateful, because I’m SO EXCITED. (eep!)

I’ve created my novel on the website, and my outline is well on its way. Bring it on, November!

If you’re doing NaNo, add me! Username is ehbates. I’d love to see what you’re typing madly on this November!

At the park today, Scout made friends with this adorable little boy who was about her age. I got talking with his mom and found out she has one son in the Air Force (so much respect for her there) and one son prepping for Olympic trials (which son, incidentally, began his diving career with the same woman who coached me in high school).

Stories are everywhere, folks. This is what makes Humans of New York so brilliant. Every person on earth has a story to tell, including you. Take a little tim...

I have a new story peeve that goes hand-in-hand with my gripe about characters who refuse to stay dead. And that is . . .

SUBPLOT POPULATION EXPLOSION.

So here’s the thing. I’ve been Netflixing Once Upon a Time season 5. And while the first half of the season was fine, the second half of the season was apparently concocted to bring back EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER we have ever seen on the show. And if you’ve watched any of that show, you know that’s a LOT of characters. Every episode is some under...

I’m supposed to be cooking dinner, but Elfwyn (I finally came up with her screen name!) is asleep, and Scout is out back with Grandma. So I’m granting myself twelve minutes to crank out this post that I’ve been mulling over.

In the past couple of weeks, my respect for two different authors has grown enormously because of their willingness to publicly admit that they made a mistake. Not only that, they both took steps to correct what they had said wrong.

Our world today seems to view any chang...

After several months of survival mode, I’m finally sleeping a little more and am ready to reenter the blogging sphere! I’ve missed reading all your beautiful words and am looking forward to catching up with everybody.

For you writerly types out there who are considering self-publishing, I’ve now added a page detailing my book layout design services. I love giving books that final polished sheen that a good layout provides, and hope to be able to help with some of your books in the near future...

“My life reminds me of a sign that hung by a rusty staple to a run-down barbed-wire fence in Texas. It read:

Burned out by drought,
Drowned out by flud waters,
Et out by jackrabbits,
Sold out by sheriff,
Still here!”

(Gordon B. Hinckley)

Hey there. Haven’t been around much. We’re in the middle of the first of two moves we’re making this year, and we had an outbreak of pink-eye this morning, not to mention that it’s allergy season and there’s been a cottonwood seed blizzard of DEATH outside...

In order to complete my music minor in college, I had to participate in a performance group–which, given the short amount of time I had to get the required credits, meant I sang in the university’s non-audition choir.

As if that weren’t uncomfortable enough for me already, the choir director told us on day one that we had to do three things that were outside of our comfort zone and report back to him.

Now, given that anything other than reading a book in a corner was outside of my comfort zon...

I was doing really well at buckling down and writing while the girls are asleep, but then Jessica Day George quoted Oscar on Twitter and there went my productivity out the window.

So now I’m here to offer you some distractions from your work. Aren’t I nice?

First off: fully-clothed female superheroes. I abhor the scanty outfits, and Mike Lunsford’s designs are brilliant. With the possible exception of Wonder Woman. Not sure what’s going on with the khaki pants there. But still much preferable...