Sometimes stories get rejected. It happens to good stories. It happens to bad stories. It happens to my stories, and your stories, and pretty much everyone who isn’t Neil Gaiman’s stories. That being said, there are reasons behind every rejection, even the rejections of stories that might be pretty good. They’re not always good reasons. [...]
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I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again – the net is awash in advice by, of and for writers. This is a good thing, insofar as getting information into the hands of folks who are interested in using it to become better at their craft is generally a good idea. There’s advice on writing, [...] It’s a little late for Thanksgiving, but then again, I’ve never been a big fan of shoving all the thankfulness onto one day. That always seemed to me to be a recipe for being an unappreciative jerk the other 364, because, hey, Thanksgiving’s got it covered. A suitably reverent tweet in the morning, maybe a [...] There is nothing intrinsically sacred about the act of writing. Yes, it’s a strong creative outlet. It’s a wonderful career for those of us lucky enough to be able to do it for a living. And it fuels one of my favorite hobbies, which happens to be kicking back in my hammock with a good [...] Sometimes, the biggest obstacle to your writing is writing. Sounds counter-intuitive, I know. I mean, writing’s writing, right? (Right.) It doesn’t matter so much what you’re writing, as long as you’re putting words on page, because, hey, it’s all writing, and the act of writing is sacred and glorious and wonderful, and if you don’t believe [...] 1-Fail To Know Or Care Who’s Going To Be There Complete and utter unfamiliarity with the folks you might be talking with and their work is always going to go over well. If someone’s a guest – or especially a Guest of Honor – it’s probably for a reason, and “they’re local and they know someone [...] 1-Why do so many writers spend so much time writing about writing? Because deep down, many of us are still in thrall to the delightfully archaic notion of “Write What You Know” – which, in some form or other has been zombified since the first writer picked up a travel guide and said, “Gee, I guess [...] If there are more proper nouns in your back cover text blurb than non-proper ones, you’re probably doing something wrong. When I worked in a bookstore (yes, one of those quaint things that sold bits of dead tree bound up with black squiggles in them), there was a pretty regular process to the courtship between reader [...] Question: What is the appropriate price-point for an ebook? Answer: Whatever the point of intersection is between the readership’s level of interest and willingness to shell out cold hard cash. Until we reach that point, everything is just the accrual of data points. I for one have no particular dog in this fight; I’m merely horrified [...] |
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This Essay Sucks So You Should Never Read Anything Ever Again
It’s not entirely true that comments sections are where brain cells go to die in agony. It’s only mostly true. Yes, there are some online forums (or fora, or foraminifera if you’re feeling shellfish) where there is reasoned, respectful debate, and the original content is as meritorious for sparking inspired followup debate as it is [...]