Say hello to part of a new fiber art book, which I may actually finish this year: As I mentioned in this post last year, back in 2009 I was insane enough to decide that, yes, I could make a pop-up book out of fabric. Most artists make pop-up or fold-out books out of paper,…
Read More Night Flight: neighborhoodShort primer here on the meme of Too Long; Didn’t Read. Got that? <Takes deep breath.> Okay, then. There’s a funny, helpful, snarky meme out in the world right now, dating back over a decade. Sometimes it’s used to signify a short summary of a longer article, for reader convenience. That’s fine. Sometimes it’s used…
Read More When tl;dr annoys meAww, I’m really sad that this two-day conference is all the way across the country from me. But if any romance readers or writers are going to be near the Washington, D.C. area in mid-February, it might be worth the time to register: “What Is Love? Romance Fiction in the Digital Age” will be held…
Read More Romance conference at the Library of Congress*Psst. Over on the Snarkology blog, my alter ego MC Hana has a post about not destroying your writing. So before you toss the lighter fluid and the match on that pile of stinky dead manuscripts, go read.
Read More Paths to Publishing – MC HanaWander over to the Snarkology blog today for an inspiring post from Barbara Edwards. She started writing in adulthood, and wrote because of her love for words and despite some scathing comments from a creative writing teacher. She found her way into publishing when she didn’t accept a major romance publisher’s mandate to change the…
Read More Paths to Publishing – Barbara EdwardsSilly villain, monologue after you kill somebody, not before. ∞
Romy Gemmell talks today on the Snarkology blog, about never giving up, wise time management, and learning as much as possible about the craft and business of writing. She has a solid, basic list I want to quote here: “If I might offer a few of suggestions to aspiring writers it would be: Join a…
Read More Paths to Publishing – Romy GemmellThe Snarkology blog’s next guest, Maureen McGowan, had a circuitous route to publishing that includes stalled agents, defunct publishers, and an unexpected genre change. I won’t summarize further – you’ve just got to read it. Maureen has a great quote that I feel is super-worthy of being addressed separately. She writes: “My first manuscript wasn’t…
Read More Paths to Publishing – Maureen McGowanToday on the Snarkology blog: Jennifer L. Carson started imagining worlds – and people to fill them – when she was six. An award-winning editor at her high school newspaper, she realized in college that fine arts arts degrees are generally not good ways to fund necessities like bacon. But: “Editing made money.” So she became…
Read More Paths to Publishing – Jennifer L. CarsonRealizing I have to drastically trim my vivid, heartbreaking, meticulously-plotted, and character-defining 9-page battle scene. Author note 1-12-2015: It’s now down to one page. Sniffle. I’m keeping a copy of the old version, just for me.
Read More slash-n-burn revisionsToday the Snarkology blog features Kayelle Allen, a powerhouse of a M/M romance author, talking candidly about her own path to publication. She started publishing in her fifties, but she backed up her solid writing with previous decades of worldbuilding-as-a-hobby in a vast science-fiction and fantasy setting. Her website proves it, by the way. (No,…
Read More Paths to Publishing – Kayelle AllenToday on the Snarkology blog, Judy Ann Davis shares her tips on how to follow your writing dreams while understanding constructive criticism, weathering bad reviews, and adapting as a writer – without crippling your creativity or ego. I’ll share two really important observations from her essay: Some people think that reading cereal boxes makes them…
Read More Paths to Publishing – Judy Ann DavisThat’s ‘I am Charlie!’ in French, if readers have been under a rock the last twenty-four hours. Earlier today in Paris, three masked gunmen brandishing AK-47s and shouting “Allahu Akbar” stormed the offices of the satirical* newspaper Charlie Hebdo. They murdered twelve people – the editor, cartoonists, journalists, and police officers – before fleeing in two stolen automobiles. Police…
Read More Je suis Charlie! (harsh language)I tend to write secondary-world science fiction and fantasy. That means it’s probably a made-up world and culture that may have nothing to do with our Earth. Often, ‘true humans’ like us aren’t even in the cast of characters.
I have not written YA, NA or adult urban fantasy set in contemporary locales (though I love some of the genre), or paranormal romance drawn from the new ‘conventions’ of vampires, angels/demons, Fey Folk, or werewolves. There’s also a whole sub-genre of erotic fiction dealing with shapeshifters that I approach judiciously, because many of those writers deal in the same familiar contemporary vein.
I’ve stopped seeking out beta readers who’ve only read those genres. Because I can explain something only a certain number of times before losing my cool:
Over on the Snarkology Blog today, Helena Fairfax talks candidly about her journey as a published author: her first wistful dreams about escaping office work to write, her early contest win, the dreaded ‘it’s good but not right for us’ publisher letter, and her return to writing in the aftermath of a terrible tragedy and…
Read More Paths to Publishing – Helena FairfaxRecently on an online writers’ forum, a pulp writer I know offered the following snarky-but-sadly-accurate list. It’s distilled from his years of reading the typical ways authors defend their substandard, clueless, or frankly predatory publishers. Upon talking to veteran authors, editors, and agents, I realized we’d all seen these excuses. (Our usual responses in parentheses.)…
Read More when writers defend iffy publishersAnd somehow, I’ve ended up with a third marketing post. But this one might be useful to a few people, so bear with me. Wu Wei is the Chinese term for ‘effortless action’, the attainment of a purely natural way of being. It is often physically represented by a loose, graceful circle: In the NYTimes, John…
Read More Try, but not too hardSo, how many of you have seen or heard an author give a variation of this statement? “Oh, woe is me, even legitimate publishers are not promoting and marketing their authors anymore. Writers have to do all the selling!’ I would say those are weasel words, but I like ferrets. So let’s call those statements…
Read More the self-promotion mantra (harsh language)Over on the Snarkology blog, we have the first guest post in the month-long ‘Paths to Publishing’ series, from author Lynn Crain. She has a lucid and compelling essay about the importance of a great opening hook. For readers who might not know the term, the ‘hook’ is either the opening line(s), or a snappy…
Read More Paths to Publishing – Lynn CrainThere’s an old saying: I wouldn’t join any club that would have me. I’m considering all sides of that argument, right now, for reasons I’ll clarify in this post. A very kind and enthusiastic reviewer just nominated my M/M erotic romance space opera Moro’s Price for the 17th Annual Preditors & Editors ™ Readers’ Poll.…
Read More Moro’s Price up for an award!