“In my experience, each failure contains the seeds of your next success—if you are willing to learn from it.”
— Paul Allen
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Posts Tagged ‘writing’
Seeds of Success
Posted in Other, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, creativity, failure, persistence, success, Thoughts, writing on November 15, 2024| Leave a Comment »
A Great Big Bundle
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, #wotf, #wotf39, books, bundles, genre fiction, Writers, Writers of the Future, writing on November 12, 2024| Leave a Comment »
I just received word that my Writers of the Future book (volume 39 for those who are following along) is currently part of a great big story bundle from Arc Manor.
HOW DOES THIS WORK? You may select either the base bundle of five books or the enhanced bundle of 14 books (including a surprise title by a bestselling author).
For each choice, there is a suggested price and a minimum price. When you select either of the two options (base bundle or enhanced bundle), you will be taken to a checkout system that displays the suggested price. You may change this to any price you like as long as it meets the minimum price requirements.
The base bundle has big name authors like Joe Haldeman and Nancy Kress and Kevin J. Anderson. The enhanced bundle contains those authors and more, including Jody Lynn Nye, Robert J. Sawyer, my collection and more!
If that sounds like something of interest to you, scroll down the linked page to see what’s included, and enjoy!
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Something to Look Forward To
Posted in Other, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, commercial fiction, creativity, Thoughts, Writers, writing on November 11, 2024| Leave a Comment »
The other day, I started a book billed as a mystery for fans of Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club. Premise, fine I guess. Characters, meh to mediocre. Overall story, tone and execution? Not for me. It takes a lot for me to put down a book, particularly before the first body falls, but in this case, I did it.
I only share books I like here, so I won’t mention the title. I will say that it’s lovely to find a reliable author. The good news is that Osman has started up a new series and I am looking forward to it. Here’s an interview with Osman and Lee Child, author of the Jack Reacher books.
And while I think the idea that writing is a good job for those who have already had careers is a mite limiting, it certainly has worked out for these two authors.
To me, it’s never about what happens. It’s about: why do I care what happens? And that’s all character…
My default is to write commercial fiction, because that’s just how my brain is. I want to do something that the maximum amount of people love; I want to write something that’s good and then sits right in the heart of popular culture. You want the sort of book where, if you’re on a long-haul flight and you open the first page, it takes you through that entire flight – that sounds trite, but it’s not, because how do you keep someone through an entire flight? You keep them with story, and you keep them with character, and you keep them with wit and with a personality that people want to spend time with.
— Richard Osman
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Writers, Rejoice!
Posted in Science!, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, #writingscience, creativity, Writers, writing on November 1, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Typing monkey would be unable to produce ‘Hamlet’ within the lifetime of the universe, study finds
“It is not plausible that, even with improved typing speeds or an increase in chimpanzee populations, monkey labor will ever be a viable tool for developing non-trivial written works,” the authors muse.
So human writer monkeys can rest easy. In case you were worried!
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Childhood Flashback, Bookshelf Edition
Posted in Entertainment, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, books, classics, documentaries, fantasy, publishing, science fiction, Writers, writing on October 30, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Funny how something can play a big role in your life without you knowing all the details behind it.
My childhood bookshelves were filled with science fiction and fantasy, and a lot of those books were published by Del Rey.
I’m not sure I knew what was behind the publishing house name, or that it was a she, or that she was instrumental in promoting speculative fiction that did not feature hobbits or Conan. Reading through the list of Del Rey books is a walk through some of the classics. The Sword of Shannara, the reissued The Princess Bride, Foster, Heinlein, Hambly, Clarke, McCaffrey, Anthony and many more.
The woman who revolutionized the fantasy genre is finally getting her due
In publishing, the people who work behind the scenes rarely get their due. But on Oct. 1, 2024, at least, one industry pioneer got the limelight. On that day, PBS aired “Judy-Lynn del Rey: The Galaxy Gal,” the first episode of its new documentary series “Renegades,” which highlights little-known historical figures with disabilities.
A woman with dwarfism, Judy-Lynn del Rey was best known for founding Del Rey Books, a science fiction and fantasy imprint that turned fantasy in particular into a major publishing category.
Read the article or watch the PBS episode for more of the work she did to move this form of fiction into the mainstream.
Here’s the episode:
(Also, as a somewhat related aside, how did I never have a Star Wars Intergalactic Passport?!)
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The Road Is Made of Words
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, creativity, persistence, Thoughts, Writers, writing, writing advice on October 27, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Write. There is no substitute…But start small: write a good sentence, then a good paragraph, and don’t be dreaming about writing the great American novel or what you’ll wear at the awards ceremony because that’s not what writing’s about or how you get there from here.
The road is made entirely out of words. Write a lot…it’s effort and practice. Write bad stuff because the road to good writing is made out of words and not all of them are well-arranged words.
— Rebecca Solnit
So write bad stuff. Good stuff too, just try not to worry too much about which is which.
Just keep going.
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Sounds Like Fun
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, climate fiction, genre fiction, Writers, writing on October 26, 2024| Leave a Comment »
A fall Saturday with a side of free fiction, sounds like fun to me!
Who Walks With You by Premee Mohamed
With her glasses knocked off and, presumably, buried alongside her, it takes a while to realize what she’s looking at. Ah: light entering not through the usual place (the roof, which is transparent) but somewhere else (the wall, which is supposed to be opaque).
That’s right. She remembers now. The outside came in.
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Chase That
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, creativity, inspiration, life, purpose, Thoughts, Writers, writing on October 25, 2024| Leave a Comment »
“That thing that gives you butterflies, that lights you up. That world you see when you close your eyes. Chase that.”
— Eddie Pinero
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A Morning Meditation
Posted in Other, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, creativity, do you have chill?, inspiration, Thoughts, Writers, writing on October 23, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Stretched out in bed as morning rays usher in the day, it helps to remember that
today’s weather
the world’s weather
what to write
note: look up major volcanic eruptions in the modern era
if the cat moved two inches to the right I could breathe
bills
donations
bills
ouch, why do my feet hurt
location of the Golden Spike
the garage is a mess
write write
the neighbor cut down the milkweed before it went to seed
odds of a power outage this winter
dinner
breakfast
a certain Tuesday in November and
what comes next
write write write
should have bought more than two boxes of Girl Guide cookies
but at least they’re mint
work work work work work
doesn’t matter
yet, just
Now.
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Nnedi Knows
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, creativity, excerpt, free fiction, Writers, writing on October 20, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Read an Excerpt From Nnedi Okorafor’s She Who Knows
When there is a call, there is often a response.
Najeeba knows.
She has had The Call. But how can a 13-year-old girl have the Call? Only men and boys experience the annual call to the Salt Roads. What’s just happened to Najeeba has never happened in the history of her village.
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