It’s the time of year when everyone is getting ready to head to Clarion and Launchpad and conventions. It’s busy and social, signings will abound, and you might even meet some of the authors who have shaped your life. And that is one of the things that makes our genre so incredible. But hey, there’s […]
Author Archive > jaymgates
I nominate thee!
It’s award season again! Wait, didn’t I write a post that started out that way like, last week or something? Well, yes I did write that post, but it wasn’t last week, it was over 6 months ago, and can be found here. I do recommend (re-)reading it, because I’ve been reading like a hurricane […]
In Her Forehead Are the Blessings of Allah
Fair warning: you do not ever, ever want to watch a movie with me that has horses in it. Yeah, one or two movies don’t get it stupid, but the majority? Mmmm. This post isn’t going to correct EVERYTHING Hollywood gets wrong, but that’s not what it is about. It’s more about examining the horse […]
Don’t Self-Reject!
Writing is hard. Collecting the library of information necessary to be a successful writer is hard. But maybe the hardest thing for a writer is collecting those inevitable piles of rejection slips. Fear of those rejection slips, however, is a killer. No, I’m not going to give you a pep-talk about J.K. Rowling or Stephen […]
I Love You, Hon, Will You Critique This For Me?
Writing partners and romantic partners? Best of both worlds or trap? That’s pretty much going to vary on a case-by-case scenario. However, there are many well-known couples who collaborate on projects. The Girl Genius creators, who finally withdrew themselves from Hugo eligibility so that someone else could win, are an excellent example. However, since every […]
Guest Post: On Seeing It Through
by Gabrielle Harbowy Sometimes, writers submit their works to a publisher for consideration, and then withdraw them. Usually, they’re withdrawing them because they’ve been picked up elsewhere. When that happens, I’m very happy for them. Sometimes, though, writers withdraw a manuscript because at some point since hitting “send” on their submission, they’ve reconsidered and made […]
The Great Con
The Big One We’re in the thick of con season now! ReaderCon, Comic-Con, WorldCon, Dragon*Con, World Fantasy. All big, all very expensive (It’s hard to do any of these for less than $600). So many choices, so little time/money/endurance. Have you been debating which cons to go to? Wondering what you are missing? Here’s a […]
That Trusty Ol’ Toolkit
It might not be intuitive, but a successful author is–most likely–a well-organized author. It’s all nice and romantic to imagine an office piled ceiling-high with stacks of paper, unpaid bills, absinthe bottles, etc, but let’s leave it at romance. If you don’t have to hunt for information every 10 minutes, if you can answer a […]
Hey, Look At ME!
Publicity, promoting yourself and getting your work into the view of other folks is hard to do. Information overload. We’ve got so many people, so many books, so many cool things to see and do and read. How does one get noticed? What often surprises me is the glut of bad advice out there. The […]
Decompression
(I have to thank the wonderful Diana Rowland for the inspiration to write this post!) “Bugs the crap out of me when I see someone spout the “if you don’t write every day you’re not really a writer.” ~Rowland I saw Diana’s tweets on this subject yesterday, and wanted to throw my fist up and […]
