This is a re-blog of a great interview I just found, courtesy of Publishers Weekly: Steven Zacharius of Kensington Publishing Corp. talks frankly about changes in print and digital publishing, the harsh reality of low sales for the majority of self-published authors, and what lies ahead for one of the last big domestically-owned publishers duking…
Read More Kensington Publishing Corp.Tune in today as J.J. Abrams capitalizes on the concepts of interactive storytelling, deep maps, secret histories, and some really fabulous book production. …Not that I’m snarking too much, because I am always thrilled when this form of interactive art media snags more willing victims. I am even looking forward to reading this newest addition.…
Read More Hey, look, Someone Important discovered Book Arts!This started as a simple review of Alfonso Cuarón’s new movie Gravity. As usual with my posts, it morphed into something else. In this case, a study of three very different sci-fi films, and only one that lived up to its potential. First: Gravity. The commercials had to be dumbed-down for a general audience, I’m afraid.…
Read More Gravity, Elysium, and Titan AEOkay, okay, so I did just announce that I want to do a few more standalone novels, for the challenge in brevity. One of my fantasy favorites, Patricia McKillip, has done nothing but standalone novels for the last decade or so. Even though there are series I wish she could finish. (Pat, are you there?…
Read More ‘Saga’ is not a four letter wordTime to dig out an old but fun project, and subject it to public ridicule: Flame Banner, from 1995, rebuilt slightly in 2003. A very few people might have seen the early version of this hanging in the 1995 DragonCon art show (or maybe 1996, I don’t remember.) Dimensions: approx. 60 h” x 11 w”…
Read More Flame BannerA year after I outlined it, I’m starting the first actual writing on a new standalone M/M fantasy novel or novella: Mask of Falling Stars Nearly-blind expert maskmaker Parril Morni ignores his better judgment and travels to the city of Altenlida to help his aunt secure the winning bid on some very important festival masks.…
Read More Mask of Falling Stars – begins!Well, yes, most writers do. But there is a special, oddly pure bond when it comes to readers of my free stories, whether those are fan fiction or original fiction. I’m not making money directly from those stories. I get nothing out of them except the initial satisfaction of writing, and the reviews and comments…
Read More I love my readersWhere do people (non-writers) get the idea that writing is a glamorous and lucrative career? For most of us, it is emphatically not. I would have earned more as an optical scientist or by selling term life insurance. That I did not take those or other sane paths speaks to my deficiencies, not strengths. Never…
Read More The Writing Life or something like it(Psst. If you don’t care about the Marvel Comics Universe, or fan fiction, don’t read this post. It’s okay, I don’t mind.) So, I don’t blow a lot of my spare time on Tumblr, Twitter, or Facebook, because there are just not enough waking hours in the day, or scientific equipment that can measure precisely…
Read More Stark Raving Mad (language advisory)I’ve blogged about how industrialization has simplified the process of making art and craft: hobby stores gave us relatively cheap and pre-prepared art materials, artists like Bob Ross showed us how to cleverly fake our way toward a sense of achievement, and Ebay and Etsy give us outlets to peddle the results. Sometimes it’s a…
Read More Pour a drink and lift a paintbrush (language advisory)First, y’all know what a revenge query is? Revenge queries are the boomerang query letters that a relatively seasoned (i.e. jaded) writer has lined up, to send out to new markets the same day that the first query comes back with a rejection letter. Rejections are a lot like band-aids, turns out – it’s better…
Read More More art I should not be doing.Courtesy of Scottsdale Estate Collection and their great Ebay site, you can now find some of my beaded jewelry for sale online, including pieces seen on this blog. There are well-meaning folks who insist that fine jewelry can only be gold, silver, diamonds, etc. Sure. I’ve even made some of it. But a cadre of…
Read More My beadwork jewelry for sale online(Nope, don’t look at me. I didn’t enter this year. Moro’s Price came out last year, and I didn’t even know what the Rainbow Awards were at the time.) But several fellow authors from Loose Id are on this year’s honorable mentions list, and may be finalists when the formal announcements are made tomorrow, October…
Read More 2013 Rainbow Awards honorable mentions are out! (Adult content advisory)I just found out that one of my fiber art pieces has been juried into the wonderful new show Eco Editions, which will be seen at my friend Laura Russell’s 23 Sandy Gallery, in Portland, Oregon, from November 15 – December 28, 2013. I’ve been in 23 Sandy shows before, and they’re always beautiful and thought-provoking examples…
Read More Art and the Animas River…steal words from other people. Now, hold on there, pilgrims. I know that most artists ‘steal’ from each other. Most of the time we try a little finesse, taking bits here and riffs there, and sewing it up into a recognizably different package. There are only a few basic plots, after all. But with the…
Read More What to do when you can’t write…(adult language advisory)Use every pre-made tool you can, but learn how to make your own tools and components. I have mixed feelings about assemblage art: collage, stampcraft, scrapbooking, 3-D mixed media, and similar techniques. I love them. I’ve made money from them both in the corporate art world and in freelance work. I benefit enormously from the…
Read More Craft credo #2 (adult language advisory)(Beginning an intermittent series about making stuff. These are my personal philosophies about art and craft. As such, they are guaranteed to piss off some people. Please don’t feel singled out, and please feel free to answer me with your own thoughts on the matter.) Credo 1: The more we call some artifact or process…
Read More Craft Credo #1 (adult language advisory)“Laugh and the world laughs with you. Weep, and you weep alone,” runs the quote from poet Ella Wheeler Wilcox. Maybe not. The NY Times Bestseller list almost always has at least one example of ‘Misery Literature’. Misery memoirs (and their cousins family histories and autobiographies) have been made into major movies and won significant literary awards. And…
Read More Misery Memoirs and Pay-to-Play PublishingErotic romance author Kathleen Tudor also writes M/M erotic romance as D.K. Jernigan. To celebrate her upcoming Circlet Press editorial retreat, Kathleen is hosting an author giveaway over on her blog and Facebook page. Up for grabs is a paper copy of the sizzling Storm Moon Press M/M erotic romance anthology Dracones, with a story…
Read More D. K. Jernigan author giveaway (adult content advisory)Like many writers, I do lots of other creative things. I’m a gluten-free cook always looking for the best and most affordable ingredients (there will be posts on that later, I promise). I’m a costume and props maker. As a fiber artist, I’m under contract to provide award ribbons for a major twice-yearly regional art…
Read More My art for sale online