“If you don’t imagine, nothing ever happens at all.”
― John Green
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Archive for the ‘Writing’ Category
Make Things Happen
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, creativity, Fiction, Thoughts, Writers, writing on February 25, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Perseverance Rover sol 354
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, JPL, Mars, MarsPeserverance, NASA, science, Thoughts on February 23, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Read, Read, Read
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, creativity, Fiction, inspiration, quotes, Thoughts, Writers, writing on February 21, 2022| Leave a Comment »
“Read, read, read. Read everything — trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You’ll absorb it.
Then write. If it’s good, you’ll find out. If it’s not, throw it out of the window.”
― William Faulkner
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To Magic
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, inspiration, Thoughts on February 18, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Sharing the Love
Posted in Holidays, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, Fiction, free fiction, genre fiction, Murderbot, sff, Valentine's Day on February 14, 2022| Leave a Comment »
I can’t share the lemon meringue pie I made for Valentine’s Day, but I can share three free books from Tor.com.
Download Tor.com’s BUNDLE O’ LOVE — Before February 19th! | Tor.com
You’ll need to sign up for Tor’s free e-book club, which means they’ll offer you a free book every month. I don’t mind that. (Yes, they’ll use your email to promote other books but you can always use a throw-away address if you don’t want to hear from them.)
This bundle is only available for the next few days but if you haven’t read these titles it’s a great opportunity for three good books.
Especially Murderbot. Because everyone loves Murderbot.
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And Have Fun
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, creativity, inspiration, quotes, Thoughts, Writers, writing on February 11, 2022| Leave a Comment »
“The thing about creativity is, people are going to laugh at it. Get over it.”
― Twyla Tharp
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2021 Fiction from Tor.com
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, Fiction, free fiction, genre fiction, inspiration, sff, Writers, writing, yay on February 10, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Looking for new fiction? Like free stuff? Me too, and Tor.com has just released its free compilation of delicious good stuff from 2021. Click the Buy Now button here to access the ebook via major retailers.
Have fun!
Some of the Best From Tor.com 2021 Is Out Now!
Table of Contents
- “Masquerade Season” by ‘Pemi Aguda
- “The Lay of Lilyfinger” by G. V. Anderson
- “The Red Mother” by Elizabeth Bear
- “The Tinder Box” by Kate Elliott
- “Questions Asked in the Belly of the World” by Aliza Greenblatt
- Black Leg by Glen Hirshberg
- “The Wonderful Stag, or The Courtship of Red Elsie” by Kathleen Jennings
- “Blood in the Thread” by Cheri Kamei
- “Sand” by Jasmin Kirkbride
- “Now We Paint Worlds” by Matthew Kressel
- “#Spring Love, #Pichal Pairi” by Usman T. Malik
- “Let All the Children Boogie” by Sam J. Miller
- “#Selfcare” by Annalee Newitz
- “The Far Side of the Universe” by noc
- “A Better Way of Saying” by Sarah Pinsker
- “Baby Teeth” by Daniel Polansky
- “The Future Library” by Peng Shepherd
- “Aptitude” by Cooper Shrivastava
- “Judge Dee and the Three Deaths of Count Werdenfels” by Lavie Tidhar
- “L’Esprit de L’Escalier” by Catherynne M. Valente
- “An Easy Job” by Carrie Vaughn
- “Small Monsters” by E. Lily Yu
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For the Writers Among Us
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, creativity, Fiction, genre fiction, publishing, sff, speculative fiction, speculative fiction novels, submissions, Writers, writing, writing a novel on February 7, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Attention writers!
Are you un-agented? Have you been waiting for a high-profile publisher to send out a call for submissions? Do you happen to have a science fiction, fantasy or horror manuscript lying around the house, waiting for its dare-to-be-great moment?
Then this, my friends, is your lucky day!
Angry Robot has announced a week-long open submission period for un-agented works. I don’t happen to have one handy but maybe you do? If so, may the odds be ever in your favor!
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The Submission period will run for one week, from Monday the 21st of February to Monday the 28th February.
We are looking for:
– Novel length works.
– A synopsis of the full work in a separate Word document.
– An elevator pitch and author bio in your email.Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror.
– Adult fiction.
– Finished manuscripts.
To apply, please send us:
– A sample that consists of the first three chapters of your work (or first fifteen pages if the chapters are short).
– A synopsis of the full work in a separate Word document.
– An elevator pitch and author bio in your email.
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Holes, the Filling Of
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, continuing education, Fiction, inspiration, reading, Writers, writing on February 2, 2022| 1 Comment »
I have a minor confession: I have never read Charles Dickens. I may have started A Tale of Two Cities but I don’t think I finished it. Scratch that, I know I didn’t finish it.
Many of Dickens’ major novels were written for publishers who paid by the word. The man wasn’t stupid. He wrote A Lot of words. He also wrote across class boundaries, giving readers a window into the lives of those they might not otherwise encounter.
We live in a world shaped by his works and ideas. Movies, characters, what makes up some of the foundations of modern Christmas, a lot of that has to do with Dickens’ works.
But I haven’t read the original source material.
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If someone wanted to remedy a hole like this in their literary education, where to start?
One nice thing about the classics, they are everywhere.
- Books by Dickens, Charles – Project Gutenberg
- Tips and Tools to Make Reading Charles Dickens More Enjoyable: Dickens also wrote shorts, including sketches of life at the time.
- Discovering Dickens – A Community Reading Project: As a bonus, this site contains a lot of detailed notes on the anachronistic elements in the stories covered. If you’ve ever wanted to know what a copper-stick, jack-towel, plaister or tarwater was, they’ve got you covered. Check out the notes for Great Expectations.
- Where To Start Reading Charles Dickens
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Writing A Better Future
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, cli-fi, climate change, creativity, Fiction, genre fiction, inspiration, sff, Writers, writing, writing contest on February 1, 2022| 1 Comment »
tl;dr scroll for climate fiction contest info
You may have noticed that we are in the midst of a climate shift that is affecting all facets of life. What comes next, and how do we fix it?
Science is great for understanding what will change but to better understand the squishier bits like how it will impact our lives and societies? That is where fiction excels.
I’ve mentioned climate fiction before but if you’re interested in what’s out there, here are a few examples:
- Stories to save the world: the new wave of climate fiction | Books | The Guardian
- The definitive climate fiction reading list – 20 books to explore cli-fi | Fix
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Want to try at hand at writing us all into an optimistic future? Good news, Fix is back with another short story contest titled Imagine 2200: Climate Fiction for Future Ancestors.
We’re looking for stories of 3,000 to 5,000 words that envision the next 180 years of climate progress — roughly seven generations. The winning writer will be awarded $3,000, with the second- and third-place winners receiving $2,000 and $1,000, respectively. An additional nine finalists will each receive $300. Winners and finalists will be published in Fall 2022 in an immersive collection on Fix’s website and celebrated during a virtual event.
- Entry is free!
- Submissions close May 5, 2022, 11:59 p.m. U.S. Pacific Standard Time.
- The contest is open to writers anywhere in the world.
- Authors must be 18 years or older at the time of submission.
- Submissions must be fictional stories between 3,000 and 5,000 words.
- We do not accept previously published or simultaneous submissions (stories can only be submitted to this contest and not to others, until we have informed you of the result).
- Only one submission will be accepted per entrant.
There is no cost to enter and story copyright and ownership remains with the author. More details here.
Let’s write ourselves a better future!
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