We Write!
The best plaid lice of Men and Slans… Or words to that effect… after what amounts too long of building with as much writing as I could manage (still quite a lot – two books have come out in that time) squeezed in the edges, we’re now in our home. So: as I have this... Continue Reading →
I have a problem with bioarchitecture and the flow of work. Well, okay, yes, I like living buildings, and the ability to manipulate matter in ways that look like magic but the reader is *sure* are just a sufficiently advanced science. Too much Michael Whelan and other such fantastical paintings in my youth! But I... Continue Reading →
Sarah talked earlier this week about docking the tail of the writer. The long tail - the backlist of your books, that in theory will continue to sell forever, in the current publishing world - is something that as a writer, I intend to cultivate. For one thing, I don't have a huge fanbase. So... Continue Reading →
I've run across this meme several times. It never fails to amuse me. Writing strikes me as somewhat related. We're trying to "milk our Muse", for want of a better expression. Sometimes the output flows just fine. At others, our Muse objects to our cold hands on her creative udder, and kicks us right in... Continue Reading →
As Sarah wrote yesterday, trad publishing is an industry built off doing the dirty to those they purport to serve. They are not alone in this: they are preceded (and eclipsed by) the music industry, the film industry (Hollywood accounting is more than just a metaphor), and of course the software gaming industry. And others,... Continue Reading →
None of what I'm going to say here is arcane, or even particularly disputed. It's only the way that assembled in my head that forms an ugly picture. But most of it is stuff any veteran of midlist traditional publishing knows and will tell you. For instance, while I can't prove that traditional publishers cook... Continue Reading →
I'll be the first to admit it. The last six months or so have been difficult. It's been impossible not to be impacted by Covid-19 and this so-called "new normal". (BTW, I hate that term. This isn't the new normal. This is, at best, a temporary normal until santiy returns.) For much of the time,... Continue Reading →
Someone made a comment the other day –at a picture of a flooded road on the island – about what on earth persuaded me ‘at my time of life’ to go and live on ass end of nowhere, and to try and hack a living and a home out of the raw bush with very... Continue Reading →
Or, how I bribe myself. Yes, chocolate is often involved. Writing a book is one of those things that can be quite mentally grueling. Then again, when I'm exhausted, so is cleaning toilets. No matter which is involved, I long ago figured out that I sometimes just have to bribe myself with a reward for... Continue Reading →
I've been listening to a linguist, John McWhorter, on his passion for languages via the podcast Lexicon Valley. One of the things I realized recently is that the reason I'm enjoying it so much isn't just that I have this deep affection for the English language (although I do). It's the charm of it. It's... Continue Reading →
Mad Genius Club 