This website brings together two sides of my life that I love – music and fiction. Another writer with her feet in both worlds is Jacey Bedford, novelist and singer with folk trio Artisan. Despite “hanging up [her] tonsils” ten years ago, she’s never managed to keep away from the music scene, running her own tour management agency and giving the odd tour herself on the side. The return of Artisan in 2015 promises to be something special, as anyone who witnessed her impromptu a capella turn at Fantasycon 2014 will agree.
Not that she’s been resting on her laurels in the other side of her life either. Empire of Dust, Jacey’s debut novel, is a space opera set in a universe where large corporations and their telepathic, implant-addicted psi-tech agents are locked in a battle for resources across the galaxy. With Empire of Dust due out on 4th November through DAW, here’s Jacey’s take on the similarities between music performance and writing – and what she’s learned from each…
You may have seen the Writing Process Blog Tour that’s been doing the rounds recently. I’ve been tagged by Neil Williamson, who in turn was tagged by Liz Williams, and Claire Weaver before her. However, I also recommend checking out Nick Harkaway‘s one on this, and Libby McGuigan‘s, and Jacey Bedford‘s – or, indeed, any of the other Writing Process blogs that have been cropping up, as they’re really quite interesting.
While my answers are mostly about fiction writing, the last part also has a little something about my process when it comes to music and non-fiction work. While it fits here, there seemed to be little point in doing this for the other questions – “because I was commissioned to do it” seems somewhat churlish an answer. I’ve also tagged three folks who I’m hoping will provide three very different insights into their own media… But first things first.
With a fortnight of madness finally at an end, I figured it might be time to catch you up on what I’ve been doing.
So. Some of you might have seen this:
As you may have gathered from that, Eastercon 2014: Satellite 4 was a weekend of the unexpected. More than a week later, I’m still trying to gather my thoughts together from one of the most surreal, scary, exciting, and ultimately rewarding conventions I’ve been to since I started attending them back in 2011.
Where to begin? How about four thoughts from the weekend?
It’s almost Easter, so it’s almost Eastercon! The BSFA’s annual convention has moved to Glasgow, and I’ll be making my programme debut this year. As I mentioned yesterday, I’m doing my first ever book signing, when La Femme launches at the Newcon Press / PS Publishing party on the Friday.
That’s not all. I’ll be crossing another first off my list this year, when I appear on two of Eastercon’s convention panels. One of these is right before the signing on the Friday evening. So, if you fancy two hours of back-to-back Booth – and an encore on Sunday – come along, hear me waffle, and I’ll scribble all over your books. Any books, really. Magazines too. Notebooks. Toaster Ovens. Small potted palms. Treasure Maps to hoards of Mexican gold…
