Archive for the 'About Writing' Category
The Dangers of Missed Deadlines, or Pretty Ruby
This spring, I attended a writer’s workshop in Flagstaff, Arizona. There, I agreed to get the final draft of my current WIP novel, The Creative Fire, done by August 31. Now, all of us came up with carrots or sticks. I came up with a stick, since I am personally motivated by sticks. My stick [...]
Movie Recommendation: Winter’s Bone
Went out to see the movie Winter’s Bone in Queen Anne last night. I highly recommend it for writers. It has a strong female character, a society that is itself a character, knockout dialogue, real social dilemmas, and it never missed a beat.
We often think our stories need to be big – to be about [...]
Starry Heaven: Last Full Day
Wow. All done now except the closing party. I’d call this a rousing success. Highlights of the last two days:
We attended a great wine social event complete with excellently interesting science people at The Wine Loft last night. I could have kept talking to them for hours. Everyone was interesting and erudite.
I’m quite ready to [...]
Starry Heaven Day 3: The Phase Shift
Workshops have rhythm. The rhythm for Starry Heaven starts with critiquing the beginnings of each others’ books. Beginnings matter – they are what sells manuscripts to agents and publishers, and what initiates readers into the world of the book. So we have been sitting in a large group sharing impressions of each others beginnings.
Today, we move to a new phase [...]
Starry Heaven Day 2: Fire, a Walk, and the Night Sky
A great morning of critiques. Excellent food. We followed that by spending the day hiking. Good thing we went today since they are going to close the forest tomorrow or the next day. The fire is still burning, and has gotten bigger. It is still not too near us, and has burned no structures, although [...]
Starry Heaven Post 1: Fire over Flagstaff
I am in Flagstaff. Arizona, at the Starry Heaven writer’s workshop. That means there are 11 of us critiquing each other’s novel manuscripts. We’ve spend months prepping, and it’s quite fun to meet in person. I knew two of the people from before, and had met a few of the others in passing. Some are [...]
Pardon my Absence
I have been quieter than usual in the Interwebs the past few weeks. All is not well. To be more exact, my youngest brother is not well. He’s gone and gotten a fairly rare and difficult cancer, which has provided me with time with him (yay!), sadness that he is doing as well as I [...]
Reading Recommendations: The Freelancer’s Survival Guide
I highly recommend Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s online work-in-progress, “The Freelancer’s Survival Guide.” I am quoted in it. I have learned from it. I have learned from Kris in other ways. And to top it off, Kris is a damned fine novelist as well as being one of the best sf short fiction writers of our [...]
The iPad: After Week Two
This is just a quick update, and then I’ll do my next iPad piece in John DeNardo’s Mind Meld on the topic next week, returning this blog to it’s regularly scheduled programming.
I still love the iPad.
Promised experiment on reading: Not as good as the Kindle, but it is readable. Hint: turn down the screen brightness [...]
Arundhati Roy: The Woman of True Words
Arundhati Roy came to Seattle last night and spoke to a sold-out crowd at Town Hall. The rest of my family stayed home in an odd resonance: the family teenager was putting the finishing touches on a school project about Gandhi. If they don’t yet, schoolchildren will be studying Arundhati. For those who don’t yet [...]
