Good Morning! (or Afternoon, or Evening, or Night) Today, I’d like to say something about blog writing contests, alert you to upcoming conventions, and provide a brief update of my writing efforts. Blog Contests I don’t usually do these contest things. Seems…plebeian or something. (Actually, I’m just scared poopless to enter.) I will, however, occasionally … More Around the Horn and An Update
In my last post, a lovely reader commented that writers seem to want an inordinate amount of attention. Here’s a snippet of Mr. Rob Garbin’s comment directly: Another aspect that I learned about the creative is that we tend to want and need more attention. Emphasis mine. As much as I want to agree with this statement, do … More Attention whores
I don’t often talk about what goes on over on SFFWorld.com because, well, you would go hang out there if you were interested, right? Right. But this morning I’m going to impart some advice to the newbie and not-so-newbie writer based on something that happened over there. Chuck Wendig recently wrote a post extolling the … More Banned
Never leads to where I think it will. When we read a book, we form certain ideas about the characters, the world setting, and, even, about the author. I’ve seen it said that a good book is the amalgamation of the writer’s words and the reader’s imagination. The thing is, the two may not see … More Yapping with authors
I moderate over on SFFWorld.com. It’s a place to read and talk about genre (Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror/Speculative/Whatever-You-Want-To-Call-It) fiction. Many of the moderators, and members, review books, conduct author interviews, and do shout-outs about upcoming books hot in the genre industry. It also has a discussion forum that has run for decades. I think it started sometime … More How not to be THAT writer
Twenty years ago, I would never have thought I could write a book. Talented writers write for a living. They reached into their souls to show us truths that shine bright enough to compete with the sun. Not everyone can write a masterpiece. That is self-evident. Another thing that was made clear, if you can’t … More The Self
I didn’t really want to enter the fray, but here I go. Have you seen all the hoopla about Book Country? Do you even know what it is? Book Country is an off-shoot of a rather large publishing house (Penguin). Basically, it is another venue to workshop your book. The difference between Book Country and … More Throwing it out there
The other day, Todd Newton wrote about the difference between ‘authors’ and ‘writers’, and how those of us in the trenches think of ourselves as one or the other, or aspire to be one or the other. Let’s be clear. An author is defined like this: au·thor/ˈôTHər/ Verb: Be the author of (a book or … More It’s all about the money
I’m completely re-writing my novel, Devil’s Blood, at the moment. And I’ve tried really hard not to get distracted with other stuff. But while re-reading some of my old notes on what I needed to check for on the old novel, I came across a list of things to search for and destroy. Things like: … More Writing a Novel
N. E. White 