What would you like to tell readers about yourself?
* R. L. King is an award-winning author and game freelancer for Catalyst Game Labs, publisher of the popular roleplaying game Shadowrun. She has contributed fiction and game material to numerous sourcebooks, as well as one full-length adventure, "On the Run," included as part of the 2012 Origins-Award-winning "Runners' Toolkit."
* Her first novel in the Shadowrun universe, Borrowed Time, was published in May 2015.
* When not doing her best to make life difficult for her characters, King is a software technical writer for a large Silicon Valley database company. In her spare time (hah!) she enjoys hanging out with her very understanding spouse and her small herd of cats, watching way too much Doctor Who, and attending conventions when she can. She is an Active member of the Horror Writers' Association and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and a member of the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers.
Today R. L. King will be talking about how she handles balancing life and writing.
* Thank you very much for inviting me to your blog! You asked me to talk a bit about how I balance life and writing.
* I consider myself quite lucky that my situation makes it fairly easy for me to keep a balance between my writing and the rest of my life. For one thing, I have a good job as a technical writer that I like a lot, and best of all they let me telecommute! Since I live in the Silicon Valley and the roads are horrible during commute hours, that saves me about two hours a day where I’d otherwise be in the car.
* When I’m working on a project, I tend to write whenever I can: lunch hours, after work, evenings, weekends—and that’s the other area where I’m lucky. I have a very supportive spouse who loves the fact that I write and who’s proud of my accomplishments, so he’s (mostly!) patient with the fact that I can sometimes let other things slide when I’m in the middle of something. There are lots of reasons why he ends up in the dedications of all my novels, and putting up with my cluttered ways is by no means the least of them!
* We don’t have kids, which also makes things easier—I have a lot of respect for parents who manage to fit writing in around the edges of caring for kids, because I can see by watching them just how much work it is. That’s dedication! I don’t think I could manage that. My “kids” are a small herd of feline assistants, who most of the time either don’t bother me when I’m writing or sometimes even hang out with me (my tabby boy is my “mews”—he’ll sit on my desk and put his paws on my shoulders and go to sleep like that, which is nice.)
* I sometimes wonder if I’d be able to keep up the output rate I do if I had to deal with more obstacles in my life, honestly. I know I would still write—I can’t not write—but probably not as much as I do now. I’m in awe of other authors who manage to write as much as they do while juggling far more real-world responsibilities.
* Thank you again for the invitation!
* Stone and a Hard Place
* Dr. Alastair Stone, Occult Studies professor and powerful mage, has his hands full trying to keep the two sides of his life separate as he trains a new apprentice, deals with a malevolent entity trapped in the basement of a wealthy old woman's massive home, and battles dark mages intent on enslaving it for their own ends.
* Debut novel of the Alastair Stone Chronicles.
* The Forgotten
* Dr. Alastair Stone is back, this time teaming up with Jason Thayer, a young man hunting for his missing sister. Embroiled in a web of odd homeless people, a growing conspiracy, and deadly danger, they soon realize that even if they find Jason's sister, they might not be able to help her.
* What do you do when you discover an extradimensional plot that threatens the safety of the entire world, but you can't tell anyone about it because literally anyone on Earth could be part of it?
* Book Two of the Alastair Stone Chronicles.
* Jason let out a loud sigh, his natural tendency to want to move nearly overwhelming now. “How do we know if it doesn’t work? Do we have to stand in here forever?”
* Stone was about to answer when he stiffened, startled. “It’s back,” he said, pointing at the mirror.
* Jason spun around. Sure enough, the reddish figure had reappeared behind them in the mirror, looking as angry as ever. It said something to Stone in its bones-and-parchment voice, punctuated by many growls and other sounds of displeasure. The mage nodded. “She’s there now, then?” he asked.
* The figure snarled and glared at Stone. It appeared to be contemplating another lunge out into the real world, but eyed the mage warily and decided against it. Instead, it spat at him. The spittle flew out, contacted its own side of the mirror, and ran down toward the table with a sizzle. Then it reached out with a ropy, muscular arm and attempted to sweep all the objects off the table on its side of the mirror. The candles, knife, and chalice went, careening silently over the edge and out of sight. The book remained, and the creature screamed in agony as its arm contacted it.
* “It’s fighting me—” Stone said under his breath. “I’m going to release it now.” He reached up with both hands and put them on the mirror again. Loudly and clearly, he uttered a long sentence in the strange Latin-like language, then pulled his hands back abruptly and clapped them together in a sudden, sharp sound that made Jason jump. He stumbled, reeling back, realizing with horror even as he did so that he had no way of stopping himself. He was going to fall over backwards, taking out a good chunk of the circle when he landed.
* As he went over, he got a last look at the creature’s face. Instead of looking angry, it looked suddenly surprised and triumphant. That lasted about two seconds. It flung itself forward again, clawed hands eagerly reaching in front of it, reaching for Stone, for Jason—
ANNOUNCEMENT! R. L. King is giving away a $40 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour! So be sure to leave a comment AND use the Rafflecopter below. Also, visit the other tour stops for a greater chance of winning!
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