Writing, as so many books and other sources like to tell us, is a solitary activity. We think of the “great” writers, holed up in their studies, never seen for days at a time, chain-smoking and drinking their absinthe and
Editing: Breaking Everything Down
I’ve been taking an editing class, not necessarily because I feel like I don’t know how to edit, but that I am ridiculously inefficient at it and can probably use all the help I can get. This class’s point is
Putting the Pep Back Into Nanowrimo
Continuing our October Nano-prep series, today (tonight, I guess, technically at this point) we will discuss what to do when the initial excitement of doing Nanowrimo begins to ebb. (Don’t worry if you have no idea what I’m talking about.
Scheduling
I talk to a lot of people who tell me that they’d like to write a novel (or short stories, or anything) but they just don’t have the time. You know what that says to me? It’s not really a
Nanowrimo Prep and Avoiding Plot Death
Nano looms ever closer, my friends. (Also, it’s my birthday!) I talked last year about Nano Zen and Plot Death — this cheats Nano Zen a bit, but I do think it’s important. It’s hard to experience Plot Death if
Being a Nano Rebel: The Zotukou Clause
This is an advanced topic, so if you’re a Nano newbie or still thinking about if you even want to bother, I suggest you read the Nanowrimo – Is It Worth It? post from last year. The nice thing about
Hooray, October!
It’s October, Squiders! Best month of the year. Bold claim, I know, but how can you resist? The leaves are turning on the trees, the heat of summer is burning off, and then there’s Halloween and my birthday and Nano-planning,
Working on Multiple Projects
Perhaps you’re one of those sane people who works on a single project at a time. You sit down and work on a one thing from start to finish and then, when you’re done, you move onto the next project.
Subgenre Study: Sword and Sorcery
GUYS I got to touch an ALPACA. Although it was fairly bad-tempered. I may let you see when I finish photoshopping twisty evil moustaches on the pictures. Anyway, on to the topic at hand. Sword and Sorcery is perhaps the
Trying to Figure Out Middle Grade Versus Young Adult
I have this novel. I wrote it in 2006, edited and polished until the end of 2009, and began submitting at the beginning of 2010. My query kept getting me partial requests, but nothing beyond that, so I rewrote the
