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Desperation and Impatience

By Bev Vincent, on May 17th, 2012

Several years ago, I wrote an essay for the HWA handbook On Writing Horror titled “For Love or Money: Six Marketing Myths.” While I called them “marketing” myths, in fact they were really publishing myths.

Recent events which you may already have heard about via the blogosphere inspired me to write this entry. The moral of that story [...]

The Invisible

By Gerard Houarner, on May 4th, 2012

This is a “reprint” of a “lost” post (you’ll notice on the list of my posts that there’s about a year’s worth of stuff that never made the transition to the new blog). Don’t know if the references are still available (for instance, Nick Kaufman’s post, but you should google him and check out [...]

Asking questions or getting answers?

By Bev Vincent, on April 17th, 2012

A couple of months ago I wrote about my experiences interviewing people. Since then, I’ve had some more thoughts on the subject that I thought I would share.

I recently read an interview where an ardent fan asked questions of a well-known director. The interviewer had several hypotheses about the director’s work that he wanted the [...]

Working the Craft, or Trying Not to Suck Dead Grizzly Ass

By Gerard Houarner, on March 4th, 2012

My good buddy Tom Piccirilli, whose “noirella” Clowns in the Moonlight ( http://www.amazon.com/Clown-in-the-Moonlight-ebook/dp/B0078B6VK2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1330741769&sr=8-1 ) was just released, recently posted on Facebook: “Worst thing about working through your novel for a second draft? Realizing that all those brilliant lines you wrote actually suck dead grizzly ass.”
Yes. Yes they so sadly do.
Of course, his suck is what [...]

Prepare to be boarded

By Bev Vincent, on February 17th, 2012

I’m not sure I’ve ever been this busy before. At least as far as writing is concerned. I have a major deadline coming up in about 6 weeks and I’ve got the nose to the grindstone, working every waking hour, to get this book done on schedule. It’s fun, but it’s hard. There are distractions. [...]

Patchwork Dreaming

By Gerard Houarner, on February 4th, 2012

Or…”interrupted by a person on business from Porlock” — sustaining the vision of the story you want to tell as life’s storms rage around you.

Trust me, it’ll make sense.

Quite some time ago in a LOCUS interview, Jay Lake talked about the challenges of containing the story he’s working on in his mind, or living in [...]

The Day Job

By Bev Vincent, on January 17th, 2012

I’m on a deadline and couldn’t think of anything to write about this month, so I dredged up an oldie but a goody from 2005 that is still as pertinent to me today as it was back then. I updated a few of the details but the sentiment is the same.

When people who’ve known me [...]

Disruptive Thinking

By Gerard Houarner, on January 4th, 2012

Looking through clip files for an SU piece this month, I came across a July 2010 article on disruptive thinking. A quick web search led to a ton of more material on the topic, including a military field manual on Intelligence, so I thought it might make a cool kick-off for the coming year.

Like so [...]

Promotional consideration

By Bev Vincent, on December 17th, 2011

At every convention I’ve attended, there’s a table full of promotional items. These usually consist of postcards or bookmarks, but sometimes there are fliers or little gadgets intended to entice people into purchasing a product. Usually a book, in my experience. Everyone is clamoring for everyone else’s attention, and if you don’t have the weight [...]

The Latest Best Argument Against Perfectionism

By Brian Hodge, on December 9th, 2011

We all have certain foibles whose antidotes we can’t be reminded of too often. One of mine is perfectionism.

I can’t really say when it started, but for years I’ve wrestled with periods of self-imposed expectations so acute that they verge on paralyzing. Putting something down becomes excruciatingly difficult, because, well, what if it doesn’t measure [...]

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