I'm adding a new writer to the sidebar.

I first discovered Patricia C. Wrede when I read the epistolary novel, Sorcery and Cecelia, which she co-authored with Caroline Stevermer. (I should have recognized my love for and my desire to write fantasy years earlier than it finally knocked me in the head.)

More recently, I bought and read A Matter of Magic, in which, "Magic and intrigue go hand in hand in Mairelon the Magician and The Magician's Ward, two fast-paced novels filled with mystery and romance, set against the intricate backdrop of Regency England."

But it wasn't until this weekend that I discovered Wrede's marvelous blog in which she frequently discusses writing issues. From today's entry:

Because there are two parts to “being a writer” the way they mean it. There’s writing, and there’s what happens afterward. Most of the people who talk about “being a writer,” whether they’re asking the question or whether they’re announcing to the world that they themselves want to be writers, are either talking about the perceived glamour and respect and status that they think goes along with publication and a writing career, or else they’re talking about the validation of getting published - the fact that someone, somewhere, has deemed their story worthy.

All that is stuff that happens after the writing part, if it happens at all. (And when it does happen, it’s nothing at all like the rosy dreams people have of what it’s going to be like…but that’s a different post, I think.)

And so I'm adding her to the sidebar of Helpful Writing Blogs.

Enjoy her books. Enjoy her wisdom.