I know I haven't been posting here much lately, so it's not going to be a huge change. However, I'm working on creating an author Website for myself, and in the process, I'm creating a new blog, with the intention to post regularly, three times a week. We'll see how it goes.
I'll keep this site here, for anyone who might visit the old posts, but I'm not planning on any new ones.
Friday, September 10, 2010
Friday, July 02, 2010
monthly writing progress, June
Words for month: 16,858. Daily average for the month is 562 words, for the year is 448 words. Wrote 13 of 30 days. Words were split between SF novel, a short story, a book review, and novellas.
No outline work this month, though I did start typing in the SF novel (which I've been writing longhand) so I can figure out what plot holes I've left in what's written so far.
Short stories: Wrote book review for Vision. Also wrote fanfic for the Scalzi/Wheaton Unicorn Pegasus Kitten contest.
Fifth World went up at flashquake.
When Pigs Fly went up at Daikaijuzine.
Submissions: 16 short stories, 1 review. (This is more than the number of rejections because I subbed to an anthology that accepts sim-subs -- the market it's been out at is on indefinite hiatus. And I'm counting the reprint sale here, too, because I entered it on my tracking spreadsheet.)
Acceptances: Daily Science Fiction accepted "Essence of Truth." Book review for Vision accepted. "Snake in the Grass," my first sale, will be reprinted when Assassins: Clash of Steel goes to press for Rogue Blades Entertainment.
Rejections: 14 short stories, 1 poem.
No crits this month.
GSHW meeting: Did not attend this month.
Reading: 5 books and a novella. The Gettysburg Approach to Writing & Speaking like a Professional, by Philip Yaffe; The Sorcerer of the North, by John Flanagan; Changes, by Jim Butcher; Silver Borne, by Patricia Briggs; From Hell With Love, by Simon R. Green; The God Engines, by John Scalzi.
Got an AussieCon voting membership so I could get the Hugo nominees in electronic form. Read one novella, the short stories, started a novel (Boneshaker by Cherie Priest).
Book-in-a-Week: Started to participate, realized it wasn't working for me, and opted out of BIW.
Joined the SF Poetry Association.
Paying work: Proofread books on San Diego and Linux. (891 pages proofread.)
Exercise: Did walk/jog intervals 4 days. Worked in garden 7 days. It wasn't all aerobic work, but it's progress.
Other than being good at keeping the subs out, the focus really hasn't been there this month. Since I'm heading on vacation for the end of July and the beginning of August, we'll see if I do any better this coming month!
No outline work this month, though I did start typing in the SF novel (which I've been writing longhand) so I can figure out what plot holes I've left in what's written so far.
Short stories: Wrote book review for Vision. Also wrote fanfic for the Scalzi/Wheaton Unicorn Pegasus Kitten contest.
Fifth World went up at flashquake.
When Pigs Fly went up at Daikaijuzine.
Submissions: 16 short stories, 1 review. (This is more than the number of rejections because I subbed to an anthology that accepts sim-subs -- the market it's been out at is on indefinite hiatus. And I'm counting the reprint sale here, too, because I entered it on my tracking spreadsheet.)
Acceptances: Daily Science Fiction accepted "Essence of Truth." Book review for Vision accepted. "Snake in the Grass," my first sale, will be reprinted when Assassins: Clash of Steel goes to press for Rogue Blades Entertainment.
Rejections: 14 short stories, 1 poem.
No crits this month.
GSHW meeting: Did not attend this month.
Reading: 5 books and a novella. The Gettysburg Approach to Writing & Speaking like a Professional, by Philip Yaffe; The Sorcerer of the North, by John Flanagan; Changes, by Jim Butcher; Silver Borne, by Patricia Briggs; From Hell With Love, by Simon R. Green; The God Engines, by John Scalzi.
Got an AussieCon voting membership so I could get the Hugo nominees in electronic form. Read one novella, the short stories, started a novel (Boneshaker by Cherie Priest).
Book-in-a-Week: Started to participate, realized it wasn't working for me, and opted out of BIW.
Joined the SF Poetry Association.
Paying work: Proofread books on San Diego and Linux. (891 pages proofread.)
Exercise: Did walk/jog intervals 4 days. Worked in garden 7 days. It wasn't all aerobic work, but it's progress.
Other than being good at keeping the subs out, the focus really hasn't been there this month. Since I'm heading on vacation for the end of July and the beginning of August, we'll see if I do any better this coming month!
Tuesday, June 01, 2010
monthly writing progress, May
Words for month: 27,064. Daily average for the month is 873 words, for the year is 425 words. Wrote 27 of 31 days. Words were split between SF novel (6,703 words), fantasy novel (4,406 words), and short stories and articles.
Outlines: Made limited progress on novella outline.
Short stories: Wrote 6 stories for SAD, plus the first 621 words of another. Oh, and an article plus a book review for Vision (though I still owe another review).
Submissions: 18 short stories (including all 6 new ones), 1 poem, 1 article, 1 review.
Rejections: 13 short stories, 1 poem. (One of these stories didn't get resubmitted because I was waiting for a market that was re-opening June 1.)
Acceptances: "Banded Jade" by Aoife's Kiss, "Being Green" for Aurora Wolf print anthology, "Writing Comfortably" for Vision, and "Fifth World" by flashquake.
Read Daikaijuzine slush.
GSHW meeting: Went. Did not enjoy the speaker much -- he believes that all fantasy should be subversive, so if you're writing in an establish subgenre, you are by definition NOT writing fantasy. No, I didn't talk to him about my work. I did enjoy getting to spend time talking to other writers face-to-face, though.
Reading: 9 books completed this month. Vanished, by Kat Richardson; Bone Crossed, by Patricia Briggs; Vane Pursuit, by Charlotte MacLeod; The New Year's Quilt, by Jennifer Chiaverini; Battle for Skandia, by John Flanagan; Alcatraz vs. the Knights of Crystallia, by Brandon Sanderson; The Lover's Knot, by Clare O'Donohue; How to Write a Damn Good Mystery, by James N. Frey; Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell
Book-in-a-Week: Did not participate this month.
Outlines: Made limited progress on novella outline.
Short stories: Wrote 6 stories for SAD, plus the first 621 words of another. Oh, and an article plus a book review for Vision (though I still owe another review).
Submissions: 18 short stories (including all 6 new ones), 1 poem, 1 article, 1 review.
Rejections: 13 short stories, 1 poem. (One of these stories didn't get resubmitted because I was waiting for a market that was re-opening June 1.)
Acceptances: "Banded Jade" by Aoife's Kiss, "Being Green" for Aurora Wolf print anthology, "Writing Comfortably" for Vision, and "Fifth World" by flashquake.
Read Daikaijuzine slush.
GSHW meeting: Went. Did not enjoy the speaker much -- he believes that all fantasy should be subversive, so if you're writing in an establish subgenre, you are by definition NOT writing fantasy. No, I didn't talk to him about my work. I did enjoy getting to spend time talking to other writers face-to-face, though.
Reading: 9 books completed this month. Vanished, by Kat Richardson; Bone Crossed, by Patricia Briggs; Vane Pursuit, by Charlotte MacLeod; The New Year's Quilt, by Jennifer Chiaverini; Battle for Skandia, by John Flanagan; Alcatraz vs. the Knights of Crystallia, by Brandon Sanderson; The Lover's Knot, by Clare O'Donohue; How to Write a Damn Good Mystery, by James N. Frey; Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell
Book-in-a-Week: Did not participate this month.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Writing Prompt: Remembering
This weekend marks Memorial Day in the United States, a day to remember the men and women who fought and died in the armed forces. If your story is set in a different world, do they have a similar custom? How do they remember those who died for their land? If it's set in our world (or some near variant thereof), does Memorial Day mean anything for your characters besides an excuse to go shopping or the day they can start wearing white again?
gathering the links, May 29
Enjoy!
Jon Gibbs, an Englishman in New Jersey:
Interesting posts about writing – w/e May 28 2010
Rejection, fan fiction, e-books, and piracy.
Margaret McGaffey Fisk:
Friday's Interesting Links
Posted while she's off at BayCon: life, science, publishing, writing.
SFSignal:
SF Tidbits for 5/28/10
SF Tidbits for 5/27/10
SF Tidbits for 5/26/10
SF Tidbits for 5/25/10
SF Tidbits for 5/24/10
The usual wonderful assortment of interviews, news, and articles.
Jon Gibbs, an Englishman in New Jersey:
Interesting posts about writing – w/e May 28 2010
Rejection, fan fiction, e-books, and piracy.
Margaret McGaffey Fisk:
Friday's Interesting Links
Posted while she's off at BayCon: life, science, publishing, writing.
SFSignal:
SF Tidbits for 5/28/10
SF Tidbits for 5/27/10
SF Tidbits for 5/26/10
SF Tidbits for 5/25/10
SF Tidbits for 5/24/10
The usual wonderful assortment of interviews, news, and articles.
Friday, May 21, 2010
gathering the links, May 21
Trying to get back into regular posting.
Jon Gibbs, an Englishman in New Jersey:
Interesting posts about writing – w/e May 21 2010
A market list, time management, why some people stop reading, and more.
Margaret McGaffey Fisk:
Friday's Interesting Links
Submissions, rejections, and whether you can make a living at writing.
SFSignal:
SF Tidbits for 5/21/10
SF Tidbits for 5/20/10
SF Tidbits for 5/19/10
SF Tidbits for 5/18/10
SF Tidbits for 5/17/10
The usual wonderful assortment of interviews, news, and articles.
Several hours' worth of time could be spent if you follow all these links! Don't forget to balance browsing with actual writing.
Jon Gibbs, an Englishman in New Jersey:
Interesting posts about writing – w/e May 21 2010
A market list, time management, why some people stop reading, and more.
Margaret McGaffey Fisk:
Friday's Interesting Links
Submissions, rejections, and whether you can make a living at writing.
SFSignal:
SF Tidbits for 5/21/10
SF Tidbits for 5/20/10
SF Tidbits for 5/19/10
SF Tidbits for 5/18/10
SF Tidbits for 5/17/10
The usual wonderful assortment of interviews, news, and articles.
Several hours' worth of time could be spent if you follow all these links! Don't forget to balance browsing with actual writing.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
rainy day reading
Everyone knows there's a lot of information on the Web about writing -- both craft and business. Lately (well, okay, starting at the end of last year -- I can be slow to post), I've noticed that there are a few different books being blogged that are well worth following.
Dean Wesley Smith: Killing the Sacred Cows of Publishing --- DWS is a lot of the inspiration for me to actually get moving on my submissions this year. If I hadn't been reading his blog (including his set of posts on motivations at the end of last year*), I probably wouldn't have submitted the two books I have this year.
Kristine Kathryn Rusch: Freelancer's Survival Guide --- Very long (almost 60 entries right now), covering everything from negotiating to networks to vacations.
Tobias Buckell: It's All Just a Draft --- Basics, short stories, workshops . . . each installment available as a downloadable RTF.
###
Not a book, but a series of posts that might be worth your time to look at are Stroppy Writer's looks at a publishing contract (Anne Rooney, in the U.K.). Currently, a dozen posts: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12. Note that not all of these posts have the tag "publishing contract" on them, so you can't just click the tag to get the entire group.
An older set of posts on reading a contract were posted back in 2004 by Michelle Sagara West. I found them well worth reading at the time. Although I haven't gone back to them recently, I can't imagine that that has changed.
###
So, there you are. Lots of reading for a rainy day. Have fun!
* Motivation posts: 1 (motivation and year end goals), 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 (fear), and 10 (extra help). The early posts talk a lot about Heinlein's rules and how DWS has implemented them. Later, he gets into five-year plans and how to set your goals based on your dreams.
Dean Wesley Smith: Killing the Sacred Cows of Publishing --- DWS is a lot of the inspiration for me to actually get moving on my submissions this year. If I hadn't been reading his blog (including his set of posts on motivations at the end of last year*), I probably wouldn't have submitted the two books I have this year.
Kristine Kathryn Rusch: Freelancer's Survival Guide --- Very long (almost 60 entries right now), covering everything from negotiating to networks to vacations.
Tobias Buckell: It's All Just a Draft --- Basics, short stories, workshops . . . each installment available as a downloadable RTF.
###
Not a book, but a series of posts that might be worth your time to look at are Stroppy Writer's looks at a publishing contract (Anne Rooney, in the U.K.). Currently, a dozen posts: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12. Note that not all of these posts have the tag "publishing contract" on them, so you can't just click the tag to get the entire group.
An older set of posts on reading a contract were posted back in 2004 by Michelle Sagara West. I found them well worth reading at the time. Although I haven't gone back to them recently, I can't imagine that that has changed.
###
So, there you are. Lots of reading for a rainy day. Have fun!
* Motivation posts: 1 (motivation and year end goals), 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 (fear), and 10 (extra help). The early posts talk a lot about Heinlein's rules and how DWS has implemented them. Later, he gets into five-year plans and how to set your goals based on your dreams.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Writing Prompt: Super, Super
There are many stories of changes that bring powers to the world -- comets, genetic shifts, artifacts, magic. One day, people wake up and everything has changed.
Suppose that in your world, something happened to create people who could do things beyond the merely human -- but only those who had never dreamed of such a thing happening, who had never wished to be superheroes or gods or genetic supermen, benefited. What do your characters do?
(Sorry about the lack of attention lately. Trying to get back to the blog again.)
Suppose that in your world, something happened to create people who could do things beyond the merely human -- but only those who had never dreamed of such a thing happening, who had never wished to be superheroes or gods or genetic supermen, benefited. What do your characters do?
(Sorry about the lack of attention lately. Trying to get back to the blog again.)
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