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Archive for the ‘Writing’ Category

According to Ray Bradbury (who ought to know), this is the secret to creativity:

As soon as things get difficult, I walk away. That’s the great secret of creativity. You treat ideas like cats: you make them follow you. If you try to approach a cat and pick it up, hell, it won’t let you do it. You’ve got to say, “Well, to hell with you.” And the cat says, “Wait a minute. He’s not behaving the way most humans do.” Then the cat follows you out of curiosity: “Well, what’s wrong with you that you don’t love me?” Well, that’s what an idea is. See? You just say, “Well, hell, I don’t need depression. I don’t need worry. I don’t need to push.” The ideas will follow me. When they’re off-guard, and ready to be born, I’ll turn around and grab them.

― Ray Bradbury, Zen in The Art of Writing

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It seems as though every step I take I trip over yet another project to do. I have made it to the end of my workday having done many, many things, but not the items that were actually on my list.

So congratulations, all those who like quotes and pretty pictures, today is (once again) your day!

“Don’t worry about looking cool. Do you because you are awesome.”

— Hank Green

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We read fantasy to find the colors again, I think. To taste strong spices and hear the songs the sirens sang. There is something old and true in fantasy that speaks to something deep within us, to the child who dreamt that one day he would hunt the forests of the night, and feast beneath the hollow hills, and find a love to last forever somewhere south of Oz and north of Shangri-La.

― George R.R. Martin

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Or Any Age, Really

“There’s a point, around the age of twenty, when you have to choose whether to be like everybody else the rest of your life, or to make a virtue of your peculiarities.”

— Ursula K. Le Guin

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Storybundle, home of the “pay what you want and if it’s more than $20 we give you a whole bunch of extra books” e-book bundles, has a new bundle out: 

https://storybundle.com/scifiTo the Stars Adventure SF StoryBundle

The site has a rolling roster of interesting bundles, so why do I mention this bundle in particular? Because it happens to include a certain story collection with a certain author in it (a.k.a. me, in case you’re wondering).

That’s right, Writers of the Future: Volume 39 is available as a bonus book. So if you pay more than $20 for the bundle, you’ll get e-books by the baker’s dozen, including v39.

Am I biased? Sure, I happen to think our collection is great. But the bundle is curated by Kevin J. Anderson and also includes books by other names sci-fi/fantasy fans may have heard of, like Todd McCaffrey and Nancy Kress, as well as others I look forward to discovering.

Like all bundles, this one is a limited-time offer, expiring in 20 days. So if you are in the market for e-books and sci-fi, this may be the deal for you.

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Elizabeth Bear recently posted about a new Ukrainian speculative fiction anthology at Kickstarter.

Heads up about a very cool Ukrainian SFF Anthology!

The project is focused on Ukrainian and diaspora writers, all translated into English.

I enjoy supporting artists where I can, particularly those in such difficult situations. 

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I’m interested in seeing the current and future world through new perspectives. 

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Sign me up.

Here’s a link to the project.

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What does one of the great speculative fiction writers of our time have to say about AI (or at least, her own AI doppelgänger)?

Margaret Atwood: Murdered by My Replica?

Apparently, 33 of my books have been used as training material for their wordsmithing computer programs. Once fully trained, the bot may be given a command—“Write a Margaret Atwood novel”—and the thing will glurp forth 50,000 words, like soft ice cream spiraling out of its dispenser, that will be indistinguishable from something I might grind out. (But minus the typos.) I myself can then be dispensed with—murdered by my replica, as it were—because, to quote a vulgar saying of my youth, who needs the cow when the milk’s free?

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“To live is to choose. But to choose well, you must know who you are and what you stand for, where you want to go and why you want to get there.”

— Kofi Annan

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I recently took part in an interview with Madilynn Dale from The Chapter Goddess, about writing, the Writers of the Future experience, and the creative life in general. I think I’ve mentioned that I’m a little shy, but Madi gave a fun and friendly interview and I had a good time. Hope you enjoy it too.

Creative Spotlight on Award-Winning Author J.R. Johnson

This is a collection of questions answered by this amazing author for her “Creative Spotlight on Award-Winning Author J.R. Johnson” article featured here. They may or may not have been answered in the live. I loved chatting with her and hope you take some helpful information away from our chat.

Thanks, Madi!

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One cool thing about being a writer with writer friends is that sometimes, you have the opportunity to read their stories before other folks. I’ve just finished reviewing a friend’s new novel and it is excellent. 

I don’t know when it will see the light of day so I’ll wait to promo it, but it was a treat. Can’t wait until you can read it too!

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Photo by Diego PH on Unsplash

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