My Writing Pledge: Involves Fish Guts

Photography: Daniel Leininger

My non-compete frightens me, I admit. Books are so out of my reach that I no longer felt like trying.

One day, I read a lovely Scalzi rant, where I found out that this utter idiot named Andrew Burt had five SFWA-qualifying short stories, and one novel—self-published with fewer sales than Amazon reviews, so I’m not sure it counts.

And I thought: damn it. I will be better than that idiot. I can eventually get short stories published… but I can’t do that novel.

Then I stumbled upon something that can be chopped up into a bunch of standalone stories, but the whole thing is still a novel-length work, stitched together.

And so I pledge: I will publish enough of those short stories to qualify as more than a novel and five short stories: 10 short stories for the novel, and 6 short stories. All SFWA-qualifying. And then I will be better than him.

Yes, I do always need someone to gut like a fish. Why do you ask?

And bring me my catnip, puny humans.

Blogging Advice for Writers: 6 Myths About Blogging, Glory, and Fame

Photography: dogfrog

Of late there have been some insightful rants and comments about the rather naive idea that blogging is a golden goose that lays money, fame, and Amazon rankings overnight; that just having a blog is somehow enough to instantly catapult your career and Be Popular.

So I’m here a little early to debunk six myths people have about blogging. In detail. With quotes from bloggers who are experts specifically about blogging.

Feel free to send this post to anybody who’s getting pushed to blog—and to anybody who’s doing the pushing.

And now, the six myths….

Now I Know: It’s a Good Life If You Don’t Weaken

Photography: ldcross

For Outpost Mâvarin’s Weekend assignment #204: My Favorite Year.

To tell the truth, I’ve had a hard time answering the the assignments for the past few weeks. For better or worse, I end up thinking back to times in my life that other people would call dark. Very, very dark. There’s a reason I’m a here-and-now kind of person: after 20 years of hell, every year of my life has simply been getting better.

Or another way of putting it: my favorite year is the one now, even far before it’s finished, because it is furthest away, in every sense of the word, from those two decades of pain.

Of my years, the ones that I would actually think about letting another human being live, there are about … five “good” years, relatively speaking, not counting 2008, in which case there’d be six. And they are mostly not good years in the way that people typically think of it; they are simply… years.

I’ve had one year in my life that might be considered all-around good. It was 2007, when I managed to put enough together to buy a house, and the PTSD was on hold for most of the year and thus “good” and “bad” did not wash each other out.

2007 built itself upon passable years, which is why I expect 2008 to be better. And 2009 to be even better than that. And so on.

Sometimes, the center holds.

Now I Know: It's a Good Life If You Don't Weaken

Photography: ldcross

For Outpost Mâvarin’s Weekend assignment #204: My Favorite Year.

To tell the truth, I’ve had a hard time answering the the assignments for the past few weeks. For better or worse, I end up thinking back to times in my life that other people would call dark. Very, very dark. There’s a reason I’m a here-and-now kind of person: after 20 years of hell, every year of my life has simply been getting better.

Or another way of putting it: my favorite year is the one now, even far before it’s finished, because it is furthest away, in every sense of the word, from those two decades of pain.

Of my years, the ones that I would actually think about letting another human being live, there are about … five “good” years, relatively speaking, not counting 2008, in which case there’d be six. And they are mostly not good years in the way that people typically think of it; they are simply… years.

I’ve had one year in my life that might be considered all-around good. It was 2007, when I managed to put enough together to buy a house, and the PTSD was on hold for most of the year and thus “good” and “bad” did not wash each other out.

2007 built itself upon passable years, which is why I expect 2008 to be better. And 2009 to be even better than that. And so on.

Sometimes, the center holds.

Blogging for Writers, a Sneak Peek: Where Should I Blog?

Photography: Dlade

I wanted to get this article out so anyone who doesn’t have a blog yet can get rolling with a little advice on that very basic of questions: where should I blog?

The big three these days are Blogger, LiveJournal, and WordPress.

Here’s a run-down of their pros and cons.

It’s Not Enough to Have a Blog: Advice for Writers Who Wanna Join This Blogging Thing

Blogging has been cool for writers ever since Neil Gaiman had an online journal around the birth of American Gods. Then there’s Warren Ellis and his various forums, John Scalzi’s Whatever, Elizabeth Bear’s they must need bears …. as well as all the reasons for having at least a website that Rachel Vater mentions.

(Rachel is Lit Agent X, by the way. Better add her to your bookmarks or your feed reader.)

But blogging is a new thing for a lot of writers, oddly enough. If you’ve never worked in various mediums before, blogging will be a rather different experience. And even if you have, blogging still merits a different approach than anything else out there.

So I’m starting a weekly series on blogging advice for writers.

It's Not Enough to Have a Blog: Advice for Writers Who Wanna Join This Blogging Thing

Blogging has been cool for writers ever since Neil Gaiman had an online journal around the birth of American Gods. Then there’s Warren Ellis and his various forums, John Scalzi’s Whatever, Elizabeth Bear’s they must need bears …. as well as all the reasons for having at least a website that Rachel Vater mentions.

(Rachel is Lit Agent X, by the way. Better add her to your bookmarks or your feed reader.)

But blogging is a new thing for a lot of writers, oddly enough. If you’ve never worked in various mediums before, blogging will be a rather different experience. And even if you have, blogging still merits a different approach than anything else out there.

So I’m starting a weekly series on blogging advice for writers.

Mythos Madness: Cthulhu and the SFF Online Writing Workshop

Yes, this is relevant.

I’m writing a story for the February SFF Online Writing Workshop Monthly Challenge.

By the way, there’s a commendable crit contest going on there, complete with prizes. I hope to get this little story in shape in time for the contest, which means before the end of February.

I don’t want to put anything out there half-baked, though, even for critiques; so I might not make it. But that doesn’t mean you won’t make it.

Started with 0 words:

They send me out to kill legends. Or as a practical joke. Seniority gets no respect at the Academy.

Stopped for tonight with 684 words:

“And JJ couldn’t crack their servers?”

“They appear to keep inner circle correspondence on plain old paper. Who knows where all that is? Up some Yellow Party’s bum, maybe.”

Target: somewhere under 7500 words.

Low Down with the Big Talk: Waxing Philosophical in Fiction

“Suddenly, you have doubts. Suddenly you question whether or not everything you’ve done has been one enormous, futile lie. If everything you sacrificed, you sacrificed for nothing.”
– Harry Dresden, Small Favor*

There’s something missing in the world. I believe that all pain is based on this inevitable self-discovery. We try to make sense of that missing hole, to fill that disturbing void in reality with meaning. By trying to make sense of the wrongness of the world, we create an ephemeral part of it. Is this writing? Or just philosophy?

Perhaps it’s both.

A Blog About the Examined Writing Life

For an intimate portrait of the writing life, there’s no blog better to read than Elizabeth Bear’s they must need bears.

She usually updates a few times every day with little slices of a writer’s life, as well as slices of regular life, too. Her thoughtful posts, short or long, are full of humor.

I wish I knew her. That’s the best compliment, I think, you can give to a blogger.

My favorite recent posts, which illustrate her range:

• Cat v. Monkey: The Furnishing
• Memo to me: Get off my back.
• fighting meme with meme (or) how to usenarrative as a weapon.
• and then they were eaten by bears

Also, she is a Holmesian and thus is perfect.

I am too tired and exhausted to beat on WordPress anymore, which also means I’m too tired and exhausted to write anymore tonight. Goodnight ye.