Rules. Advice. Words of wisdom. We writers are bombarded with information on how to write better, how to make our work more saleable, how to increase our daily word count etc. There are books on the subject. Blogs (including this one, which I hope you all find helpful ~winsome smile~). Whole conventions, with scores of […]
Category > Writing
things I got from the surrealists
Recently I went to LA to go on an art date with some friends. We went to this show: In Wonderland: The Surrealist Adventures of Women Artists in Mexico and The United States. (More about the exhibit at the LA Times, the Huffington Post, and by our own Andrew Penn-Romine.) It was an amazing, thought […]
Guest Post by Jesse Bullington: I Have No Idea What The Hell I’m Doing
Today’s guest post is by Jesse Bullington, author of the novels The Sad Tales of the Brothers Grossbart and The Enterprise of Death, as well as numerous short stories. Jesse offers a surprising admission about his own writing career — and  provides some encouragement to those of us who are still trying to figure things […]
On giving up
We’ve all been there: the hill is so steep, and we can’t even see the top. We have no idea when that first sale is coming, and even if we’ve made the first–as I well know–that does not mean the second or third will follow any time soon. There are days when we feel like […]
The Persistence of Recordkeeping
I screwed up earlier this week. I submitted a story to a pro market, and verified its status the next morning. Imagine my dismay when I saw, in the list of previously rejected stories, the same one I’d just sent them. I did what needed to be done, promptly sending a withdrawal and apology to […]
Where’s Your Head At?
Ready, set, WRITE! Right? When you sit down to your writing session, do you jump right in and start typing furiously? Or do you sit down, check emails, check Facebook, send a few tweets, visit a couple blogs, then get up to make a snack, clean your desk, then sit back down only to repeat […]
Focus and the Distracted Writer
I just spent the last month revising two very different short stories, both aimed at markets with looming deadlines. Coming off the post-holiday distractions, I was confident that neither story would take much work (I was wrong) and a whole month seemed like plenty of time to get my work done (I was right, but […]
Voices of Insecurity
Do you struggle to fight off voices of insecurity as you write? From my conversations with fellow writers and creatives, I know I’m not alone in this. These whispers of inadequacy can stop the flow of words and ideas into our first drafts and can undermine our effort to editing and revise and polish are […]
Go to a Workshop? No Thanks
All month long we’ve been discussing workshops. Which ones are out there, what they have to offer, how to get to them, and how to work around the inability to attend one. I’m going to offer a different perspective: not wanting to go to a workshop, ever. It happens invariably at every convention where SFF […]
Guest post from Jeff Duntemann: Taos Toolbox
We asked Taos Toolbox 2011 graduate and veteran SFF writer Jeff Duntemann to tell us about the workshop experience at Taos Toolbox. Many thanks to Jeff for his contribution! Taos Toolbox 2012 Where: Taos Ski Valley, New Mexico When: June 10-23, 2012 How much: $3100 if application is received by February 1; $3300 thereafter Application […]
