Category: "ruminations"
Ten Years of Shuffled Off: A Ghosts Memoir
Shuffled Off was my first novel. Every novel, every story, feels like something of a miracle, but that goes double (or triple, or quadruple or...) so for Shuffled Off. The original cover. Some folks...
Ten Years of Writing
Ten years ago, right about now, in the lull between Christmas and New Years, something magical happened to me. There were no work deadlines, no personal emergencies and I was reading Ursula Le...
Seeing Forever Extended Sample
Some books are just yours. You know them when you read them. There's something about them that speaks to you. Sometimes it's a time and a place and an age you are and the books just sings to you. When...
100 Rejections and Counting
Back in March I blogged about hitting 50 rejections for short fictions after close to two years of submitting. Well, now, about seven months later I have hit the big 100. The first 50 rejections took...
The Writers of the Future Contest - A Class Act
The Writers of the Future Contest (WOTF) is a class act. If you write speculative fiction (sci-fi or fantasy) and aren't a pro, then do yourself a favor and submit. I have been sitting on this for a...
Too Much To Do? Get Over It
So you got too much to do? Yeah me too. Sucks doesn't it? The day is just never long enough, you can just never get to it all. It is frustrating and maddening. Right? You work all day, and having...
The Psychology of Writing, Part 2: The Shock Box
If you missed it see: The Psychology of Writing, Part 1. Writer L.M May just did a fantastic blog post titled: Fiction Writers and Learned Helplessness. In it she talks about some of the psychology...
50 Rejections and Counting
On 3/18/2009 I submitted a story called "As I Shall at Death" to Flash Fiction Online. It was rejected, and that rejection was psychologically hard. Now, nearly two years later, I am around 50...
Somewhere Between Denial and Depression
I wrote the following last August the 12th as we struggled with our dear Emerson's illness. We helped her on to the next life on about August 25th (I don't remember exactly what day it was, and I...
The Psychology of Writing, Part 1
Writing is hard… No, no, that's not it. Writing is not hard; getting your writing read is hard. Hmm, that's not exactly it either. Dealing with the rejection that goes with writing is hard. Actually...
Finding the Time
Writer John Scalzi has a great post on finding the time to write: http://whatever.scalzi.com/2010/09/16/writing-find-the-time-or-dont/ It is written with his usual sharp pointed wit, and right on the...
A Big "First"
A contract, I just filled out a publishing contract! The 100 Stories for Haiti project is rolling along and legal issues needed to be dealt with. The first-ness of this continues, and I am doing my...
Goodbye Friend Leo
Leo, the dog, is a neighbor of mine and a friend. Today the cancer claimed his body and he is off to his next adventure. Yes, I am one of those dog-centric types and I have called many dogs friend....
The Wonders of "Avatar"
I saw Avatar a few weeks ago and left the theater feeling something I hadn't felt at the movies in a while: Awe. The immersive quality of the experience made me feel like a boy again (and that in...
What is the future of eBooks?
Author JA Konrath has done a lot of thinking and writing on eBooks (not to mention making money selling them). If you are interested, check out his recent posts on the subject: E-Volution:...
The Arts Are a Job Too
I gotta admit it, the arts are like a siren to me. The romance of being an actor (did tons of that in high school), a artist (a video called LightTones), a photographer (here are some recent ones), or...