If you haven’t read this article about Survivorship Bias (via Toby Buckell), and our tendency to give more weight to successes than failures, go read it. I’ll wait. Done? Survivorship bias plays into all sorts of things. In fact, it has a great deal to do with how we teach history, too, which I touched […]
Survivorship Bias and Writing Better Books (with Bonus Marketing Chat) Read More »
I recently read this piece by Judith Tarr reflecting on how the publishing world has changed since the 1980s, when writing a book a year was nice, but don’t let a publisher know you can write faster than that…. I’m often gobsmacked by how much my peers churn out every year. It’s an astonishing output,
Thoughts on the Writing Grind Read More »
I read this piece from Lauren DeStafano today about anxiety, and specifically how the challenges of managing anxiety are compounded by the demands of being an author. Though the whole piece is very good, this bit in particular stood out for me: “…there is a lot of pressure to be normal, and, as an author,
Your job is not to be a writer. Your job is to be a published author. Read More »
One of the unforeseen benefits of reading Nate Silver’s book, The Signal and the Noise, was that it encouraged me to take a look at the way I was consuming information. As somebody working in marketing, I live on data. We need to know what our target market wants, how they talk, where they go
Cutting Down on Internet Noise (and Delivering Greater Signal) Read More »
If you’re a spec fic writer, you’ve probably heard of Blue Heaven, a novel writing workshop/retreat that’s been running for 10 years now. I’d never been to Blue Heaven, but was familiar with the format. What I appreciated at this particular point in my career is that, unlike Wellspring last year, this one wasn’t solely
Have gotten more done on new book in three days than I have in four weeks, which I suppose is the sign of any good writing retreat. I’m somewhere in North Carolina, enjoying very Pacific-Northwest-like weather. I also have limited access to wi-fi (mostly self-monitored, but the wi-fi really is kinda spotty), hence the radio
Hiding About, With Bonus Creatures Read More »
I’ve been reading a lot of responses to the “deal” proposed by Night Shade Books and Skyhorse/Start Publishing, and as pretty much everything has been leaked every which fucking way (kicked off, no less, by a stupidly inaccurate and ill-timed Tweet by one of Night Shade’s own owners, which should surprise no one used to
Deal/No Deal: Why I Am Considering the Skyhorse/Night Shade “Buyout” Read More »
People ask me a lot about how I balance my day job and my fiction work and manage my time. The short answer is “very carefully.” But the longer answer is here, in this great interview with me hosted by David E. Bowman of The Ohlmann Group, a local ad agency here in Dayton where I
Unlocking creativity for more powerful fiction & persuasive ads Read More »
As @DelReyUK broke the story, I’ll take that as permission for the GW UK cover reveal… It’s finally here! I’m happy to reveal the cover for the UK version of GOD’S WAR, which is coming out at the end of May/early June. I’ve also gotten word that there is a UK audio version of the
GOD’S WAR UK: Cover Reveal Read More »
The trouble with getting out of the fiction writing routine is figuring out how to get into it again. I’ve talked before about my latest book depression, and though I’m happy to report I’ve come out of the weeds of my deadlines and am writing fiction again, it’s a funny stop-start process, this remembering how
Learning How to Write Again Read More »