So, readings. If you write and share your written work with others in some form, you will eventually be asked to read aloud. Whether this is to promote a published work, or simply to practice in front of your (hopefully supportive) writing group or mom, you will find yourself before an audience in a coffee […]
Category > Not-Writing
The Power of Creative Collaboration: a Personal History.
I used to be Mormon. My fellow inkpunk Galen used to be Mormon, too. We became friends because we were atheists who found ourselves stuck in the LDS Church, and we bitched about it on the same online forums. You may be asking yourselves, that’s all fine (or John, that’s not fine at all), but […]
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 […]
If writing fantasy means I’m “weird,” so be it
I am weird. Or so I’m frequently told by family, friends, acquaintances, and former co-workers, sometimes directly: “you are weird” or, if they’re feeling exuberant, “you are super weird,” and sometimes by implication through widened eyes, raised eyebrows, nervous giggles, and/or quickly suppressed, incredulous smirks. So, what makes me weird, you wonder? Well, I (gasp) […]
Con Season Thoughts
As I’m preparing for SDCC and WorldCon and PAX and the eventual WFC, I see common themes emerging from each of these, with respect to my pretending-to-be-a-writer thing I gots going on. So, I decided to consolidate those things in a post here. This isn’t an all-encompassing list, but just a list of things I […]
Fail better.
I live in a state of constant failure. Even this post represents a failure, since I’m not writing on the topic I’ve been struggling with for the past week, and I’m repurposing an old personal blog post instead. I take on more that I can realistically handle, and I aim much higher than I can […]
The Inkpunks Disband
This may very well be the most difficult blog I’ll ever have to write. It is with tears in my eyes and a destitute heart that I bring you the news that the Inkpunks have disbanded. I have been given the task of delivering this devastating news to you, our loyal friends, fans and followers. […]
Community
I blog a lot about not-writing. Even my one “writing” post looks more like not-writing. Anyway. Community. No, not that Community. I went to FOGcon this weekend, where I got to hang out with fellow inkpunks Jaym and Erika, as well as a swath of friends (Emily, Jeff, Ann, Andy, Amy, Abner (that’s a lot […]
Motivation, procrastination, and the only thing we have to fear
Once again I put out a call for blog post suggestions, and Charles A. Tan had a few. (We can always count on Charles.) There were some great ones there, including “motivating yourself to write.” I read through them all. Then I checked my Direct Messages and played with the cat. So yeah, I thought about […]
Aspiring vs. Achieving:Claiming the Title of “Writer”
A while back I participated in a discussion on Twitter about when (or if) writers should refer to themselves as “aspiring.” We weren’t talking about people who haven’t started writing yet, but will unleash the next great bestseller on the world immediately upon their retirements (seems everyone is an aspiring writer by this definition), but rather people […]
