Entanglements- A Blast From The Past From July 2013

*Forgive the recycled post. I’m having minor surgery. So, no time to write a post – SAH*

Entanglements- A Blast From The Past From July 2013

This is a post I don’t know how to write, but which – yet – I feel needs to be written.  Last week I talked about whirlpools, and this is a particular form of whirlpool.  Not the only one, mind you, nor the worst.  Arguably the worst whirlpool on your way to bestseller status is the need for a roof over head and three squares a day.  It is the reason my husband – arguably a better writer – hasn’t made it there yet.  He’s better at the earning at a regular job thing, and therefore the designated bread earner.

But entanglements are a serious stumbling block for many writers and in fact I would say most writers have experienced at least some of them.  Like whirlpools they come from something that is beneficial, something that most writers need. Read more

Seriously?

I never wanted to live in interesting times. Interesting times should happen to other people, far away.

The truth is, I’m starting to believe I’m a main character, and whoever is writing my story is a very …. interesting writer indeed.

Looks up at the ceiling. Shouts “this better have a happy ending. No, I don’t mean the final ending. I know the hero always dies.” Read more

Writing as a Practice

Writing is as much as everything else a practice.  No, I don’t mean “practice” though, of course everything you ever write is practice for the next thing you write. And believe me, please, as someone who has 34 (I think I haven’t counted recently) novels out and whose volume of writing is at least double (and probably more) that, practice does matter.

But this is something different.  There will be days (also trust me on this) where you think you’re not getting better; everything you write seems like absolute drek; and there is no progress in acceptances or income or whatever you’re using to judge your progress.

These are the days to view writing as a practice. Read more

It’s True! Size Doesn’t Matter

Okay, the title might be an exaggeration. It’s not that size doesn’t matter. It’s that size sort of matters but only on the extremes.

What? Why on Earth are you looking at me like that?

Oh.  No. I’m not actually having a Sexy Vinyl Vixens moment.  I’m talking about the relative size of stories, you know: short shorts, short stories, novellas, novelettes, novels.

Now that we’ve made that clear, throw all those words out the window. You’ll feel much better. And you’ll make a lot more sense to the man on the street. The man on the street, you see, insists on calling anything a “book.”  “I read your book” could be a 15k word story or a 450k word goat-gagger.  They don’t care. They care that they read this book and either liked it or didn’t (and if they can get at the author, in person or by email, by gum, the author is going to be made to care, too.)

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The Apocalypse and the lonely writer

Your Reputation Precedes You – by Chris Nuttall

Your Reputation Precedes You – by Chris Nuttall

 Never do an enemy a small injury.

-Machiavelli

I got asked to give some writing advice, so … here is a story for you.

A year or so ago, I wrote a short story for a collection.  The organiser was kind enough to accept it.  Everything went swimmingly until I saw the proofs and discovered – horror of horrors – that he’d spelt my name wrong.  It was an outrage!  It could not be born! Read more