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Posts Tagged ‘writing’

Show Up and Get It Done

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , on November 6, 2013| Leave a Comment »

As you can see from the widget in the sidebar (just there, to the right:) I am indeed doing NaNoWriMo this year and I’m making decent progress. I am not worrying about writing a work of unimpeachable genius. I am not sweating typos. I am not questioning my character’s motivation or whether he really would want to eat the fried pigeon at that corner street cart (he does, he told me so). I’m just showing up and getting it done.

Show up and get it done. That is a decent summary (ok, paraphrase, she’s a little more forceful:) of Cat Valente’s NaNo Pep Talk for today, and I was happy to see it. I was also happy to see her push for the possibility of writing that is done fast and also well. It’s not all going to be good, but there’s no reason why it should be bad. And no matter what happens, it certainly won’t be a waste of your time.

Check out the Pep Talk, enjoy the wisdom of a voice of experience. Then whatever your project may be, show up and get it done. Good luck!

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Mwahah-Awesome: Ender’s Game Hack at MIT

Posted in Funny, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , on November 4, 2013| Leave a Comment »

In classic MIT fashion Lobby 7 has been hacked, Ender’s Game style.

…rogue fans of the legendary science fiction book series Ender’s Game hacked Lobby 7 sometime over the weekend.

Credit: Hairuo G. ’17

See the link above for more fun photos.

In other news (and after whole minutes of deliberation), I’m doing NaNoWriMo again. Yes, on top of the other special projects I have going on. Feel free to check out my progress in the NaNo sidebar widget. This also means that I will be extra busy so posts here are likely to be, well, not here. As much.

/nano ftw!

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NaNoWriMo 2014: Team Pantser

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , on October 30, 2013| 1 Comment »

Hey, nice, I’m cited in Danika Dinsmore’s new post about “pantsing” and NaNoWriMo. And she’s right, “Really, there is no one way or best way to write a novel, there’s just the way that works for you.”

I also love the random idea generators she links. It’s like a slushy machine that pours out stories, tasty, delicious, multi-colored stories!

Now if I can just figure out how to make time for a novel, I’ll be all set:)

Danika Dinsmore's avatarwriting to support my teaching habit

Every year during National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) the discussion of “pantser” (one who writes by the seat of his or  her pants) vs. “Planner” (one who outlines in advance) pops up. For the past two years I’ve been boldly promoting the “Planner'” approach:

Weekend Workout: Prepping fo NaNo (or not)

Reading that post, I sound very convinced and quite smug. Really, there is no one way or best way to write a novel, there’s just the way that works for you. And this year, I’ve joined Team Pantser. Not necessarily because I’ve seen the light, but because I’m being forced to for lack of planning time. As a matter of fact, I can’t even begin until Nov 4, so I’m going to have to haul literary ass to catch up.

I was inspired by a recent discussion on this topic on a speculative fiction writers forum, and we heard…

View original post 606 more words

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Sing with Me

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , on October 24, 2013| Leave a Comment »

“Writing and reading decrease our sense of isolation. They deepen and widen and expand our sense of life: they feed the soul. When writers make us shake our heads with the exactness of their prose and their truths, and even make us laugh about ourselves or life, our buoyancy is restored. We are given a shot at dancing with, or at least clapping along with, the absurdity of life, instead of being squashed by it over and over again. It’s like singing on a boat during a terrible storm at sea. You can’t stop the raging storm, but singing can change the hearts and spirits of the people who are together on that ship.”
― Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

By this definition, I spent the morning singing. Hope you did too.

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Why I’m Smiling…

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , on October 23, 2013| Leave a Comment »

I’m very pleased to report an acceptance from the good people over at Cast of Wonders.

When you start off, you have to deal with the problems of failure. You need to be thickskinned, to learn that not every project will survive.

— Neil Gaiman

All too true, but I’m glad that this project did:)

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The First Pancake Problem

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , on October 22, 2013| Leave a Comment »

I’m working on a draft of something today, and it helps to remind myself that the important thing, the first thing, is to get it down. I can fix it later, and even if I don’t to quite my satisfaction, I’ve still done something.

“Anyone who’s ever made America’s favorite round and flat breakfast food is familiar with the phenomenon of The First Pancake. No matter how good a cook you are, and no matter how hard you try, the first pancake of the batch always sucks. It comes out burnt or undercooked or weirdly shaped or just oddly inedible and aesthetically displeasing. Just ask your kids. At least compared to your normal pancake–and definitely compared to the far superior second and subsequent pancakes that make the cut and get promoted to the pile destined for the breakfast table–the first one’s always a disaster. I’ll leave it to the physicists and foodies in the gallery to develop a unified field theory on exactly why our pancake problem crops up with such unerring dependability. But I will share an orthogonal theory: you will be a way happier and more successful cook if you just accept that your first pancake is and always will be a universally flukey mess. But, that shouldn’t mean you never make another pancake.”
— Merlin Mann

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More on Why Science Needs Fiction

Posted in Likes, Science!, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 17, 2013| Leave a Comment »

As a followup to my last post on Reading for Generation Mars, I’d like to reference this piece by Becky Chambers at the Tor.com blog. She wrote it after meeting a (real! live!) astronaut and realizing that what she does is important to science and progress too, and not in an abstract way.

The fact is that if space exploration—in whatever form—is going to continue onward, it needs all the support we can muster. We need public outreach, like what the astronaut was doing, to be aware of the work that’s already being done, and to spark the next generation to follow in their footsteps. We need quality education, and a larger emphasis on scientific literacy, both in the classroom and beyond.

And we need science fiction. Now, more than ever.

We need to consider which futures are worth pursuing, which ideas we’ve outgrown, and what dangers (both practical and ethical) could be lurking along the way. Science fiction is the great thought experiment that addresses all of these things, and there is no branch of it that is not hugely relevant today. We need stories based around existing technologies, to help us determine our immediate actions. We need near-future stories that explore where our efforts might lead us in our lifetime. We need stories that take the long view, encouraging us to invest in better futures for distant generations. We need space operas, to remind us to be daring. We need apocalypses, to remind us to be cautious. We need realistic stories, and ridiculous stories, and everything in between, because all of these encourage us to dream (perhaps the ridiculous ones most especially). We need all of it.

I found this to be a really nice summary of so many of the reasons why fiction, and science fiction in particular, is important. Sure, it’s just one element in a matrix of education, outreach and exploration, but it’s in there.

Now I’m going to go write something:)

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The Future Powered by Fiction

Posted in Likes, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 9, 2013| Leave a Comment »

If you or someone you know is between the ages of 13 and 25 and into science fiction, check out the Tomorrow Project’s new competition. Together with the Society for Science & the Public, ASU’s Center for Science and the Imagination and the Intel Foundation, they have put together “The Future Powered by Fiction” competition:

… an innovative fiction competition geared at 13- to 25-year-olds worldwide, asking them to contribute science fiction stories, essays, comics and videos to explore the kinds of futures we want to work toward together.

Fun! Prizes! A chance to shape the future! If this sounds good to you, visit the above link for full submission details.

I think this is a terrific idea and only regret that my crazy cool nephew isn’t old enough to get in on the action. Even if you don’t qualify, or you’re a teacher interested in this as the groundwork for classroom activities, the site has some great material for building these kinds of creative projects, including examples of previous winners, themes and tools to get started.

It’s free to enter, is open to entries from anywhere on the planet (sorry, extraterrestrials!) and the deadline is November 14, 2013.

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What Makes a Good Short Story

Posted in Likes, Writing, tagged , , , , , , on October 8, 2013| Leave a Comment »

While this article* might be more appropriately titled “What Makes a Bad Short Story,” it’s still an interesting read from Heidi Pitlor, editor of The Best American Short Stories series and someone with an astonishing exposure to the depth and breadth of short stories.

…”Sometimes, story writers seem to forget to write scenes.” This sort of thing is fine if scenelessness is done intentionally. But too often, we as readers enter a story via a small action (a door opening, a phone ringing) and then are held captive while the author utilizes a disproportionate amount of space introducing a character, his marriage, his children, his divorce, his parents and his emotional limitations before we return to the room he just entered or the phone call that just begun. In a 17-page story, each page matters. Each sentence matters. Pacing matters.

This may be more of an issue in literary fiction than genre fiction, but it can happen anywhere. (I’m currently reading a genre novel where life-and-death chase scenes are regularly interrupted by peaceful jaunts down memory lane. Srsly?) If you want me to rush headlong into a story, don’t put up speedbumps. And while we’re at it, don’t take life so seriously:

Here are some things I wish I saw more frequently: humor, genre-bending, humor, risk-taking, a more direct addressing of real world matters, humor.

Having somewhat goofy tendencies myself, I’m pleased to see her emphasis on humor. Because what’s the point if you can’t laugh, am I right?

* Yes, there’s a typo in the article. No, it’s not a big deal, no matter what she does for a living. Would you rather she’d refused to publish the piece in an obsessive attempt to ensure its perfection, before finally giving up and tossing it in the trash? I would not:) Do the best you can, but keep moving ahead.

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Busy Day

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , on September 27, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Busy, busy today, too much to do and not enough writing time. I did just get a great rejection (or as I like to say, a pre-acceptance), from a senior editor who asked to see more material. If that isn’t fuel for the fire, I don’t know what is.

Here’s hoping your day is also productive and encouraging…

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