Posted in Writing, tagged creativity, Fiction, genre fiction, inspiration, Maya Angelou, persistence, quotes, short stories, Thoughts, work, Writers, writing on September 22, 2016| Leave a Comment »
I’m working on a new project and looking forward to finishing it up and getting it out the door. It’s been a busy month so far, but there never seems to be quite enough time to get everything done. It’s still fun to try.
My mother had this wonderful Maya Angelou quote illuminated and framed. (And who is that amusing young girl in the photo?:) She knew a thing or two about adversity, and about persistence.
Hang on, I’ve got to go take care of a few more things. Something about life and lapels…
Posted in Writing, tagged #ThingsILike, creativity, equinox, fall, Fiction, inspiration, Motivation, persistence, pie, speculative fiction, summer, work, writing on September 15, 2016| Leave a Comment »
Nights are cool, maple leaves are touched with red, and while a mosquito recently gifted me one massive and very distracting bite, the pesky little blighters are all but done for the year. It is 46F as I write this, and this year’s fall equinox will take place on September 22nd.
It’s time to come to terms with the fact that summer is on its way out.
/insert brief pause for distraught handwringing… or not
•
Actually, I think I’m ok with that. Why? Because fall is a terrific season. Because I love pie (mmm, pie:). Because if you were raised on fall as I was, its absence is missed. And because the nagging feeling at the back of my mind tells me that it’s time to get back to work.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I didn’t take the summer off. I’m still working, still writing, but I haven’t had much of a presence here. My schedule has been more erratic than usual, as fishing or family or other excursions called me away. And much of the writing I’ve done is tweaking, fixing, editing or otherwise sorting out existing material.
Fall is a great time to dig in and embark on new adventures. To make big plans. Use those extra hours of darkness to dream of the new, and on waking, make those dreams real.
I hope your summer was as fun as mine, and I hope that you, too, are ready for a change. It’s time to get to work.
Posted in Writing, tagged arts, awesome, books, creativity, Fiction, genre fiction, Hugo Awards, Hugos, inspiration, N. K. Jemisin, science fiction, sff, speculative fiction, writing, yay on August 22, 2016| Leave a Comment »
The good folks over at The Verge have the list of 2016’s Hugo award winners, complete with links and the complete list of nominees. Lots of women and authors of color this round. All in all, this year’s award race largely shrugged off reactionaries and controversy, a real win for diversity and innovative speculative fiction. Enjoy!
Winner: Best Novel
Posted in Entertainment, Likes, Science!, Writing, tagged #ThingsILike, books, creativity, Giulia Enders, inspiration, John Maguire, Mars, Mary Roach, nonfiction, science, Seth Shostak, space, Steve Squyres, Thoughts, Writers, writing on June 3, 2016| Leave a Comment »
Today’s Thing I Like is nonfiction writing in general, and author Mary Roach in particular. If you aren’t familiar with her work, check out the books linked below or this interview with Seth Shostak at SETICon 2012.
Nonfiction can be a fiction writer’s best friend. At its best, it includes detailed, character-driven explorations of real-life situations and challenges, and can provide the sort of solid foundation a more speculative piece needs to succeed. I’ve mentioned this before, but avoiding abstractitis is key to good writing.
Specifically:
No matter how abstract your topic, how intangible, your first step is to find things you can drop on your foot.
— John Maguire
Nonfiction helps you do that, and Mary Roach is a great example of a quality nonfiction writer.
I have yet to read all of Roach’s books but Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal and Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void were terrific. Her books take a somewhat off-beat topic and delve in, deep. She’s also funny. The level of detail is satisfying and succeeds in painting an engaging portrait of her subject that is also educational. Packing for Mars, for example, is a great way for writers to familiarize themselves with the nitty gritty of space exploration, how we got to where we are now, and how we’ll get to where we’re going.
To note, if you’re interested in popular nonfiction about the intricacies of digestion or Mars exploration, check out Giulia Enders’ excellent Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body’s Most Underrated Organ, and Steve Squyres’ Roving Mars: Spirit, Opportunity, and the Exploration of the Red Planet.
Read, then write:)
Posted in Funny, Likes, Writing, tagged artists, awesome, creativity, Dolly Parton, Fiction, funny, inspiration, persistence, quotes, science fiction, sff, space pirates, speculative fiction, Thoughts, work, Writers, writing on June 1, 2016| Leave a Comment »
I realized that I have been trying to write a serious version of what is clearly a goofy, rollicking space pirate adventure. Obviously!
That led me to recall the following wisdom from a modern-day sage (who should know):
Figure out who you are. Then do it on purpose.
― Dolly Parton
Posted in Writing, tagged #keepwriting, artists, creativity, failure, Fiction, finishing, genre fiction, inspiration, Motivation, nanowrimo, neil gaiman, persistence, quotes, rejection, science fiction, sff, speculative fiction, Thoughts, work, Writers, writing, yay on May 18, 2016| 1 Comment »
It’s a beautiful day today, the birds are singing, the clover is growing and I’m plugging along, making progress on numerous fronts and feeling fine.
It isn’t always this way.
Some days I can’t get a thing done and nothing seems right no matter what I do. I’m not alone in this, as I was reminded by a recent discussion on one of my listserves. A member had finally had it up to there with the frequent failure to find editorial acceptance. Folks chimed in, discussions were discussed, and this particular writer hopefully left the thread more optimistic than when it began. I know I did.
What some call failure, I call pre-acceptance. Have I mentioned this before? I probably have, because it’s a fairly critical component to my writerly attitude.* No one is going to like everything you write, no matter who you are. There will be rejection.
And that’s ok.
That’s progress, that’s experience, that’s learning one more way not to make a lightbulb. All writers, all people, get rejected.
Let’s take words out of the equation for a moment. I’m on a cookie kick so let’s stick with that.
Are you handing out delicious cookies at work? Someone will say thanks, but no thanks. It may be that they aren’t keen on chocolate chip, or that they are lactose intolerant, or that their doctor just read them the riot act about Type 2 diabetes. You don’t know, and that’s ok.
This isn’t about them, it’s about you.
Do the best you can, of course, and keep bumping that line higher. Practice. Follow Angela Duckworth’s research and go on grit rather than talent. Go online, and find helpful pep talks like the one Neil Gaiman wrote for National Novel Writing Month:
One word after another.
That’s the only way that novels get written and, short of elves coming in the night and turning your jumbled notes into Chapter Nine, it’s the only way to do it.
Whatever it takes. Your goals are worth it.
* I should mention that I didn’t start out this way. It took some time to be ok with rejection, and if I can do it, you can too. The 350+ pre-acceptances I have accumulated so far helped a lot:)
Posted in Likes, Writing, tagged artists, arts, awesome, creativity, Fiction, inspiration, persistence, quotes, Stephen King, Thoughts, usinterior, work, Writers, writing on May 5, 2016| Leave a Comment »
“Writing isn’t about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid, or making friends. In the end it’s about enriching the lives of those who will read your work, and enriching your own life as well. It’s about getting up, getting well, and getting over. Getting happy, okay? Getting happy… you can, you should, and if you’re brave enough to start, you will.”
― Stephen King
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