So an update on my first NaNoWriMo. We’re just finishing day 14. If you’re on track, writing 1,667 words a day, then you should be at 23,338 words. Me? I’m at 13,119 words, and I’m at the crux. Continue reading NaNoWriMo is Depressing
My First NaNoWriMo
I’ve never done NaNoWriMo (and don’t want to have to type that name a lot – too many caps!). I’ve witnessed Twitter friends go through it. They’ve made it sound painful, honestly. Somehow it always seemed like a form of torture that i didn’t need to impose on myself. Continue reading My First NaNoWriMo
I Dreamt a Movie
I’ve been having sleep difficulties recently. Sometimes this means I can’t sleep, for tossing and turning. Other times it means I have very vivid dreams.
I want to tell you about one dream that i had a few nights ago both because it’s stayed with me, and because it was so undreamlike. Continue reading I Dreamt a Movie
Books You Hate
Have you ever been so disgusted with a book — the story, the editing, the whatever — that you’ve felt the desire to chuck the book against a wall? I have. As a reader, I’m annoyed, dissatisfied. As a writer, it’s an interesting lesson on what can go wrong, and pulls on the fear that maybe I won’t see the problem.
I’ll give you examples, but I’m not going to name names. In both cases, the book was traditionally published, and the author is a respected writer in their genre. Continue reading Books You Hate
Walking away from a sale
The hardest thing for a new writer to do is to walk away from a sale. I should know, I just did it.
I sent a short story to an anthology. They accepted it. The money offered is not much, but then again, I’m not a ‘name’ writer (yet!). The exposure, or at least having another publication to list, was worth the money.
Then the contract arrived. Continue reading Walking away from a sale
Goldilocks Worlds
National Geographic has a great visualization of what we know about exoplanets and their habitability. This image shows that thus far, we’ve found fifteen planets (including Mars) that are a) the necessary distance from their star to have the right surface temperature, and b) are the right size to be considered “Earth-like”. Continue reading Goldilocks Worlds
Finding blog topics – Star Wars Logo edition
Every writer is told to ‘build a platform’ (get your audience started) before publishing. How do you do that? Well, they’ll tell you to be active on social media and have a blog —
Great, I can do both of those.
— and have fresh content regularly.
Oh. One thing that can be hard to do is come up with topics for a blog. Harder still is finding a topic that someone else hasn’t already done better. Continue reading Finding blog topics – Star Wars Logo edition
Solo: A Star Wars Story
Rogue One was the first Star Wars film that I didn’t see on opening night. Still, I saw it opening weekend. And again, later. (In 1977, I was 13 – the perfect age for that film, and I saw it again, and again, and again …) Continue reading Solo: A Star Wars Story
On Willful Suspension of Disbelief
I just saw Black Panther, and it got me thinking about willful suspension of disbelief. I?ve got no problem with Vibranium, or a hidden African nation that is superior to western nations in all ways. I don?t have a problem with clothing that defies the laws of physics. This is Marvel?s Comic Universe, I?ll suspend my disbelief for these. But there was one thing in this film that tweaked me, pushed me out of the film for just a moment. Continue reading On Willful Suspension of Disbelief
Getting the Gang Back Together
When I was a kid, I was a model maker, and was absolutely obsessed with Star Wars. Of course those two paths crossed (to someone?s great profit, I’m sure).
Prior to Star Wars, my show piece was a WWII era Corsair done up as Pappy Boyington’s bird. There was a Spitfire, a P-38 Lightning and some others. Back then I built in 1/48 scale. Continue reading Getting the Gang Back Together