Posts Tagged ‘writing’
Have a little patience
Gah. Gah, I say. So, I sent off the packet to the Murder in the Grove contest a little over a week ago. Their literature said they'd contact me once they received it. But I hadn't heard anything back, and the deadline was approaching, and since I'd sent it priority I thought it was OK…
Read MoreSobering thoughts, Part 2
How do you know? A question that can apply in so many areas, but in creative endeavors specifically it has many applications: 1) How do you know where to start?2) How do you know where to end?3) How do you know if you're any good?4) How do you know if you should bother trying to…
Read MoreSobering thoughts, Part 1
I was at a convention over the weekend, and was able to sit in on several panels related to publishing. Some of it was pretty basic — our "Query Letter" session leader spent half of the hour going over such basics as 1-inch margins, submission guidelines and researching the right publisher, all of which are…
Read MoreAustin messes with me
Movie madness! It's a remote post! Not that you'd know it. Texas is messing with me for a few days: I'm down in Austin for the film portion of the South By Southwest (SXSW) festival extravaganza which begins today, switches to an interactive and then music portion, then dies in a haze of beer and…
Read MoreRights hook
The Big C So, it's taken about a month since I finished the book — and several delays, not excepting a need to rewrite part of the last quarter, my own procrastination and the fact that "American Idol" is now on — but the synopsis is done. It's 13,000 long. It has to be 1,400…
Read MoreRinging the tin bell
New York Subway N Train Map Ever since I been Ridin, right on the Subway Train You can hear the whistle blowin' Ya might think I'm goin insane — The New York Dolls, "Subway Train" Something happened when the weather dropped into single digits. I think my brain froze. Kind of lost interest in the story…
Read MoreMaking choices
Gah! Having been traumatized by the whole publishing process in the past — traumatized enough to not have really done more than put a toe in the water — I'm trying to approach things this time around with a sense of rational organization. Nevertheless, part of me is running around the house, hands flailing in…
Read MoreThe end, and now, the beginning
I finished two major undertakings today. I'm not saying there's any connection. Except that they're done (one more so than the others). First off, I finished Stephen King's "Dark Tower" series. While I'm still not of a mind that it's well-written, and suffers from having segments published years before the next segment was even put…
Read MoreWriting conundrums, part 37b
Future pencil source I don't comment on it much, but I'm in the middle of writing. (Writing something other than this blog entry, that is.) I'm about 3/4 of the way through a draft on The Book, and I know where things are going, it's just more of a matter of how they're getting there.…
Read MoreLiterary tales
Sat down with a bunch of writers last night and it all boiled down into the classic whine — even for those who already have agents — of just how goddamned difficult the industry is. My fiction may both suck and blow at the same time, but I've almost never sat down and really devoted…
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