Category Archives: Writing

January 23, 2012 · 4:40 pm

A tour of the Known Worlds: Venus

I’ve been seeing a lot of posts and Tweets and whatnot about writing lately. I had a few things I could say about all that, but I realized I had contributed more than enough to the stew of often contradictory and occasionally maddening advice that would-be writers seem to covet and trade like dog-eared baseball cards.

Enough, I say! Let’s have some fun. Starting today, and until I run out of worlds, I’m going to take this blog on a tour of the solar system — or the Known Worlds, as I call them in Spacebuckler. These aren’t the eight (formerly nine) planets you’re used to. These are the kind of worlds an 18th century Royal Navy frigate would visit…if said frigate could escape the surly bonds of Earth, of course.

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Filed under Books, Known Worlds, Space, Writing

January 16, 2012 · 7:35 pm

Back to writing! (How do you manage it?)

The past few months have been my first experience with trying to write fiction during a full-blown holiday season and while juggling a couple of really big projects at work. The result? The only thing fictional was my progress writing fiction. Not that I have cause to complain. I had a great holiday and I love spending time with my wife and daughter. I like my day job a lot, to the point that only Dan Brown-esque success would prompt me to think of leaving. I have friends and hobbies and home ownership stuff and, well, I’m good with all of it.

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January 8, 2012 · 10:17 am

The elevator pitch

I first heard this term back in the early days of dot-com, when I was out in Seattle for the AP covering Microsoft, Amazon and a plethora of startups burning through their cash and primed to flame out. These latter companies, always desperate for capital, never stopped asking for money from investors, honing their pitches down to a mere sentence or two. It’s what the marketing pros call the “elevator pitch” — the compelling pitch for your company, product or offering that can hook someone in the time it takes to ride in an elevator with your target.

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December 31, 2011 · 1:35 pm

Thanks, 2011! Hello, 2012!

Have a happy new year! And no, the end of the Mayan calendar will not bring the apocalypse. Sorry.

It was a year ago today, on New Year’s Eve 2010, that I started this blog, so it seems fitting somehow to check back in a year later. When I started, I didn’t have an agent, and my first novel wasn’t really in awesome shape (though I thought it was a gem, of course). The blog was part of an effort to show that I could have a “social media strategy” as an author, thus making myself more attractive to agents and publishers.

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Snack dip as revision metaphor

A tasty, tasty metaphor.

First off, a big blog congratulations to @StephenWilds over on Twitter, who joined the hordes…er…bunch?…of followers who signed on in November for a chance to win a critique of their work or a sneak peek at mine. An avid writer, Stephen opted for a critique. That means I may yet be inclined to share a short excerpt of Spacebuckler here on my blog at some point. Stay tuned.

Now then…remember seven-layer dip? That’s my writing metaphor du jour. It’s also an unholy mess to eat, no matter how you try to do it. Revising your work is also an unholy mess at times, but perhaps this might help, especially now that some of you out there have the first draft of a novel in hand thanks to NaNoWriMo.

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Filed under Food, NaNoWriMo, Writing

November 21, 2011 · 10:56 pm

What I’m learning from (failing) NaNoWriMo

In this case, I think the hare's winning.

So…what did I do this weekend? One soccer practice and two kiddie birthday parties, a rare dinner out for two, leaves raked, dangling tree limb removed (and wrist tweaked in the process), pork roast made, kitchen cleaned. Today I went to work, then came home and did some pre-Thanksgiving cooking (turkey brine, homemade herb butter, pecan pie). I’m wiped.

You may notice one missing item here — writing.

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Filed under Books, NaNoWriMo, Writing

November 7, 2011 · 12:20 pm

My first guest post, on writing with immediacy

I’m privileged to be guest posting over at Feliza Casano’s blog today. She’s a member of the University of Toledo Writer’s Guild and, it should be said, is doing a far better job of writing during NaNoWriMo than I am thus far.

Click here to check out the post!

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Filed under Books, NaNoWriMo, Writing

November 1, 2011 · 6:36 pm

And unto us a book is born

Happy Birthday, new book. May you grow up into something readable.

Today is the first day of the rest of your…book.

It’s odd, really. My first book was a very organic creation, one that was noodled over for years even prior to the process of writing it. I can honestly say I didn’t even pay attention to how many words I wrote per day. It just grew over time, with revisions blurring together in my head, if not in my filing system.

My NaNoWriMo book was merely a notion that was leapt upon by my agent, Sara. Her enthusiasm led me to try to find a way to do it, and then I remembered NaNoWriMo. I quickly outlined and developed the characters, and did everything else that I’d normally spend weeks and months doing.

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It’s a contest! Follow me on Twitter and win!

Follow me on Twitter and win! (Button not included.)

That’s right, I’m doing a contest. As part of my NaNoWriMo participation, anyone who’s following me on Twitter by midnight (EST) on Nov. 30, 2011, has a chance to WIN. And it’s not Charlie Sheen-style winning either, which would indicate a mere gloss of confidence thinly masking immense personal loss and self-destruction. There are tangible prizes!

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Filed under Books, NaNoWriMo, Weirdness, Writing

October 27, 2011 · 7:55 pm

Keeping the keyboard busy

OK…so let’s recap. One book out on submission. The sequel in progress. A third book — completely unrelated — to do during NaNoWriMo. Plus blogging and tweeting, of course.

Speaking of Twitter, a big thank-you to all the recent followers. You are among the chosen, the early adopters. One day, you’ll be bragging on me like the guy who bought the first iPod when it was Mac-only. Meantime, if anyone wants to get a handle on the whole sailing-ships-in-space thing — and yes, I do crash one into a planet — I suggest hitting the About the Book link. You’ll find a short description and links to blog posts where I go a little deeper.

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