Got pretty decent words today on The Wishbone Conspiracy. 2027 new words, taking me to a total of 23,873 words in the novel. I mostly like what I got, though I had a bit of a hard start. And that’s what I want to talk about today. The “Write on three different novels each week” experiment worked very well. Until it … Continue reading →
Yesterday, a couple things went wrong. First, the writing dragged because I didn’t know where the novel was going. I made it up to 21,843 words — so it wasn’t a complete wreck. But it was not that flowing, flying race against the timer that is so fun. Second, I chose to get sidetracked figuring out some Amazon ads for Hunting … Continue reading →
In spite of everything (and there’s a lot of “everything” going on right now), I took the entire day off yesterday to play a video game. Not just any video game, though. The one for which I went out and bought a Playstation several years ago, and the one for which I dug out my X-Box and bought a NEW … Continue reading →
I never recommend writing contest sites that charge an entry fee. No exceptions. I’ve never entered one, because I was out to make a living from my writing, and contests were an unnecessary diversion from my path. Your mileage may vary. But I received an interesting request from someone building a “perpetual writing contest site” and once I removed all … Continue reading →
The chat will start at 1PM EDT. It may run over an hour (the last one did). Here’s your invitation if you haven’t yet signed up: http://app.webinarjam.net/register/4436/e963ecd928 Here’s our discussion schedule: Genre: Discussing What Genre Isn’t, and Why This Matters When To Go to War Over a Book…And When NOT To Writing As A Business (or A Hobby): From Getting … Continue reading →
I’ve set up today’s writing chat so I should be able to answer some live questions along with the ones asked previously. IF YOU HAVE WRITING QUESTIONS… Today’s topics are: Story Planning (Plotting) Character Development Writing from Different Points of View What About Genre Writer Myths AND Writing Myths Revision and Editing (Are NOT Synonyms) And I have downloadable notes sheets and … Continue reading →
Where this comes from: A new SFWA member happy to have qualified—who is also one of my writing students—contacted me privately to present misrepresentations of what I said here that were being presented in SFWA’s private forums. I will post MY first reply, the reply from SFWA President Steven Gould, and my definitive response: MY FIRST REPLY: The potential for … Continue reading →
Writing was, and is, my passion. I worked at my fiction from the time I was twenty-five until I was thirty-one without ever making a dime, and never begrudged a minute of that time. While I was writing, I was happy. I was creating. I was learning to write better. I was finding my stories and my voice. I was … Continue reading →
I’ve been corresponding back and forth with a student of mine for a while now, and think you’ll find the story of how she hit print inspiring—and amazing. So I’d like to introduce you to Lauren Orbison, author of Tortellini [link goes to her site], and her tell you this story herself. Lauren garnered serious interest from a couple of … Continue reading →
I did that interview with Simon Whistler… http://rockingselfpublishing.com/author/simon/ (link opens in new tab) …that went live last Tuesday, and from doing that interview I bumped into Hugh Howey, and from doing that, I encountered an entire series of links to writers who have done the HARD math on self-publishing. I’m only giving you two. There are many, but these two are CRITICAL … Continue reading →
