I make the bulk of my living as a corporate copywriter and freelancer. That means I spend a lot of time writing spam and junk mail. Oh, I could tell you I write “marketing collateral” or I “develop B 2B and B2C messaging campaigns” but unless you’re actually in marketing and advertising, that’s probably […]
I’ve talked often about how I can’t really plot my way out of a paper bag. Much of this is simply due to lack of practice. When I started writing stories, I was far more interested in the people, and later, the settings, to care much about why and for what overall purpose and to
Writing Craft: How I’m learning to plot my way out of a paper bag Read More »
One of the most annoying and astonishing parts of being a writer is how little control you have over an actual book once you sign a contract. Unless you get it written into your contract, you don’t contractually have a say in what covers end up on your book or whether or not anyone consults
The Business of Writing: A Rant About Audio Books, Covers, and Contracts Read More »
I’ve heard people call WorldCon a business con. I went to my first one right after Clarion twelve years ago and had a dull time. The panels were dull. The people all seemed very alien. I was bored to tears. Even the parties were awkward, because the only folks I knew were my Clarion buddies.
The Business of Writing: Attending Conventions After a Long Absence Read More »
The first panel I sat down to watch at WorldCon had a panelist lob out a sexist comment about 5 minutes into it. Also, if I never hear the term “token male on this panel” again, it will go far toward restoring my faith in humanity. You’ll never see me saying I’m the “token female
Ranting on panels: Just you and a million of your closest friends Read More »
So, hey, I’ve been a little distracted the last couple of weeks. But the good news is that it appears I have a more-or-less final schedule for WorldCon in Chicago from August 31st-September 3rd. I expect this schedule to change slightly before and perhaps even during the con (there appears to be some disorganization in
So, after my mega-crazy writing spree on RAPTURE, where I found myself sitting for 14, 16, and even one memorable 20-hour-stretch just… sitting, I decided it was time to finally give in and put together a treadmill desk. Depression and anxiety runs in my family, but I’ve found that if I can be consistently active,
How I Built My Treadmill Desk for $200 Read More »
I’ve been going through some behind-the-scenes growing pains in my whole writing fiction career thing right now (a popular place to be at when one finishes a trilogy, I hear), which good sense and propriety says not to detail too publicly. This is against my nature, as longtime readers will know, so I’ve had to
Whine, Whine, Whine: Why I Stress About the Writing Life Read More »
I was always OK at writing the Big Conflict in a novel. You know, the war, the genocide, the revolution, the revolt, the coup, the big hulking thing that the novel centered around. But it took me a lot longer to figure out how to write about interpersonal tension, and longer still to realize that
Last night I was watching a show about emotions – how people overcome grief and trauma, how depression and happiness shape our lives. The parent of one of the VA Tech students who was killed a few years back said he talked to a nurse who said that the most unnerving part of her experience
WorldBuilding 301: The Difference is in the Details Read More »