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First Failure
Facebook is constantly trying to connect me to people it thinks I want to know, and most days I ignore it. However, I happened to glance up at the little suggestion box and see author Jane Yolen’s name the other day. Apparently we have quite a few friends in common. But, odd as it is, that Facebook connection goes back…
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The Long and Short of It: A Cowardly Writer
I never started out writing short stories. Or even poems. In my mind, when I sat down to write at the ripe old age of twelve (spiral bound notebook and pen in hand) I was writing a frakking novel. It’s always been novels. Not to say that they’ve always been good novels, of course; simply, this is how my brain…
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Rock ‘n’ Roll
At least, that’s what writing has felt like lately. A story, moving along at a good pace, surprises left and right. I’m working on Dustman (working title) right now, which is a peripheral novel in the Aldersgate Cycle; that is, it takes place in the same world, and has a few cameos from some familiar characters, but isn’t part of…
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Fiddling in short form.
Last night I finally wrote* a synopsis of The Aldersgate. I’m not sure why I hadn’t done this before, since I’d queried it and submitted it to a publisher–but somehow, there it was, un-synopsized (which, I’m aware, is not a word). Normally I kind of dig doing synopses–I did three of them in one weekend a few months ago, and…
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Writing is happening!
Well, at last! It looks like I’m able to dictate pretty easily right in to WordPress. That means I can get posts out much quicker, without having to put strain on my wrists. I suppose it goes without saying, but young writers: take care of your wrists. Sure, some of it has to do with genetics. Some of it has…
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Rewiring the writing approach
So, it’s been over a month and I’m still the gimpy writer. The wrists have certainly improved, but 99% of that has to do with, you know, not typing. I would be lying to say it hasn’t been beyond frustrating, especially considering the move and the many other things I won’t bore you with. Suffice it to say, I’m having…
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“Dead’s End to Middleton”
My short story, “Dead’s End to Middleton” is available at Crossed Genres–as of yesterday, in their Steampunk themed issue. It’s got steampunk technology, and guns, and aliens, and explosions. Should be entertaining, anyway! With the moving and whatnot, I’m a little delayed, I’m afraid! Ah, well. There’s some great stories in the issue, and Crossed Genres is well worth taking…
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Friendship is a sheltering tree.
Things have been a little toward the crappy side lately, and while I’m not going to get into the details, one of the most pressing and irritating issues is that I’ve got some pretty severe carpal tunnel going on. I’ve had to resort to using dorky looking braces, taking lots of Aleve, and not typing. The not typing thing is…
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A bunch of awesome.
So I promised yesterday–after a somewhat overly introspective and slightly self-indulgent moping session of a post–that I’d outline some of the cool stuff that’s going on right now! That time is now. Behold, the bullet list! Awesome #1 – I am going to be speaking at the end of February at Franklin & Marshall College in Pennsylvania along with Ken…
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… and then some stuff happened.
I’ve been trying to write a post in what feels like forever, but it hasn’t happened. Well, now it’s happening. The last week kinda sucked, with our cat nearly dying. We were quite surprised when she didn’t (I thank all the lovely kitty mojo love from Twitter). It’s likely she’s had a stroke, and she’s recovering well. We’re keeping an…
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Six Ways Twitter Can Make You A Better Writer
Many people consider Twitter solely for networking purposes, for meeting people with common interests and conversing. And while that’s a big part of it, Twitter can also be a very useful tool for improving your writing. When I first started building my Twitter follow list, I started with a lot of writers. And soon I discovered, mostly through feeds of people…
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One more time, with feeling!
In many ways, 2009 taught me about all the myriad things I don’t have control over. It’s been humbling, to say the least, to learn so much about this industry. It’s been a little embarrassing to admit just how much I didn’t know, walking in to 2009. What I didn’t have in business savvy and general know-how, however, I made…