The Blue Night Blog

January 7, 2015 by Filigree 2 comments

Paths to Publishing – Helena Fairfax

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…

January 6, 2015 by Filigree

when writers defend iffy publishers

Recently 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.)…

January 5, 2015 by Filigree

Try, but not too hard

And 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…

January 2, 2015 by Filigree

Paths to Publishing – Lynn Crain

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…

December 31, 2014 by Filigree

when a short story won’t let me toss it

I have a bad habit of starting stories that I’m not skilled enough to tell. I lose my temper at them, shelve them – and then fail to forget them, like a normal writer should. You know, those writers with hundreds of short stories in their backlist? Not me. I feel like I don’t want…

December 30, 2014 by Filigree 14 comments

New Year’s blog hop

…from the authors (and friends) of the House of Manlove M/M erotic romance critique group. Just a friendly gathering of authors musing about their goals for 2015. # What are my 2015 writing goals? Finish and sub Moro’s Shield, the sequel to my M/M space opera debut Moro’s Price. 48K out of 70K words written.…

December 29, 2014 by Filigree 2 comments

A late December gloat

Okay, I’m going to be really evil, and gloat about a story that none of you will probably ever be able to read. Neither the author nor I are daft enough to release it in the wild. Not yet. As far as I know, it is the very first piece of fanfiction set in one…

December 29, 2014 by Filigree

Paths to Publishing blog hop calendar

During the month of January 2015, I’ll be participating (as Crane Hana) on Melissa Snark’s Snarkology blog. Each author will be posting on their paths to publishing: pitfalls, triumphs, and tips to maybe ease the way for other would-be authors. It’s a celebration of where we’ve been and where we hope to be, and it…

Aside

I’ve learned that I can maybe tell something by the type of Amazon bio a self-published writer offers. If it’s short and strong, the prose is likely to be solid and interesting. If it’s one unbroken meandering paragraph with a lot of unnecessary details – look out, the book will probably be the same way.

December 22, 2014 by Filigree

All marketing is creepy lies…

…I am lying to you right now, with this cheerful snarky blog post that purports to tell you all about the magic trick I’m doing, and that you shouldn’t fall for it. This blog sells absolutely nothing but my intermediate abilities as a writer and artist. But there’s a good chance that, if I were…

December 17, 2014 by Filigree

Why your marketing shouldn’t seem like marketing

When you are in sales and marketing, you don’t want to come across like this guy, Harry Wormwood from the movie Matilda, played here by Danny DeVito. Harry is an all-out crook who turns back odometers, glues on bumpers, and puts sawdust in transmissions. You want to be like this guy, the late great Cal…

December 13, 2014 by Filigree 5 comments

Toffee Bacon

…I thought that might get your attention. To add to the holiday foodie season, here’s a recipe I stumbled upon last week. I’ve seen other variations, up to actual toffee made with bacon bits inside. My food thermometer and I have an uneasy truce: I don’t ask too much of it, and it doesn’t trick…

December 9, 2014 by Filigree

Reading and researching, for new writers

On three separate online writing forums, I’ve recently been treated to the same unfortunate spectacle: writers (often very young ones, but not always*) who know very little about classic or even current science fiction and fantasy, and who want to write in the genre. They don’t read it, or they may not read much at…

December 5, 2014 by Filigree

Moro’s Price first chapter (adult content advisory)

(Adult content warning, just in case you’ve forgotten the disclaimer on the left sidebar: the following post contains male/male erotic references. Don’t read or follow the links, if that’s not your thing.) (Note added 12-6-2014: Thank you, thank you, a thousand times thank you to all the readers who have tweeted and re-tweeted the link…

November 26, 2014 by Filigree

New fiber art: Tempe Festival of the Arts award ribbons

Warning: if you are not a crafty type, this will be a very boring post. I’ll forgive you if you go look at pictures of Grumpy Cat instead. Twice a year, I have the honor of making the seventeen award ribbons for the Tempe Festival of the Arts, a major regional art fair in the…

November 24, 2014 by Filigree 3 comments

opinions on the new header

Over two years in, I decided it was time to change out headers on the Blue Night blog. I’m curious: all five of you who regularly read this thing, which header art do you like? Here’s the old one. Here’s the new one. Same world, same motif, probably the very same night – just…