Category Archives: writer’s life

Creativity, writer's life, Writing

Writing Challenge: Write a Story in 100 Words

My first actual paid stories were six 100-word stories (often called “drabbles”) in 2016. I was paid US$5 for each. Hey, it’s a paid writing credit. Someone read them and thought they were worth paying for. It was a big shot of validation early in my career.

I tried to write 100-word stories, because a famous New York literary agent (the late, dearly-missed Janet Reid) thought they were excellent ways to force writers to consider every word. In fact she ran a weekly contest wherein she’d give you five words you had to use, and you had to supply the other ninety-five.

The best I ever got from her was an “honorable mention” (US spelling) for Shakespeare’s Last Stand. I’ve included it below, along with one of my first published stories, My First Cosplay.

Shakespeare’s Last Stand

The legendary Shakespearean actor awoke to, “Assume crash positions!”

Glancing around as panicked faces craned to peer out the windows, abject fear at the angle of their descent ghosting their visages.

What do they know of fear? Peons!

Fear the indignities of ageing. Fear indifference and degradation! Flying to an audition? Audacity! Sitting in Economy, among the Greek chorus? Not even a window seat? Humiliation!

If they must die, let them die enlightened. One final stage then and not a critic to besmirch the memory, he thought as he arose, clearing his throat for their attention.

“To be, or”

Not.

This next one, My First Cosplay, was intended to be more than just a punchline, it’s meant to be read a second time, to understand the underlying horror. It was first published at Specklit.com on 17 July, 2016.

My First Cosplay

This should be a great night!

Human Cosplay is new to my species. Dressing up in another being’s guise is incredibly empowering. It’s almost as much fun as making the costume.

Entering the bar, everyone notices my impressive appearance. I must have done well to draw such immediate attention.

There are my co-workers, at the back: the cool crowd, finally accepting me.

“Dreegli, what have you done?” Cute little Shrel asks, exasperated, eyes wildly tracing the blood dripping down my sides.

“I … came as a Human?”

“You’re supposed to emulate them, not kill them and wear the carcass.”

“Oh…”

If you get the chance, I highly recommend taking part in “flash fiction” or “drabble” writing challenges. They will greatly enhance your writing abilities.

If you enjoyed these two stories and would like to read some more flash fiction, Kindle Unlimited users can download Flash! a collection of 20 such stories for free.
Creativity, Science Fiction, writer's life, Writing

Kill Your Darlings: There Goes A Whole Theme

Image by MasterTux from Pixabay

One theme I wanted to explore in the first Deacon Carver book was how bureaucracy weighs down organizations. One of my key scenes for demonstrating that was in Deacon’s onboarding process, where he confronts the concept of “cost-to-company.”

Now, late in the development of this story, I realize that this theme may be one too many to try to carry, and really, this scene in particular serves no other plot purpose than to highlight the theme.

So, here, for your enjoyment is the most-likely-deleted onboarding scene.

+++++

The ship’s bursar handed Deacon a tablet.

“What’s this?”

“Compensation package. You need to agree and give banking details.”

“That…” Dee looked at Char with a newfound respect. “You make that much working for the IU?”

“No, no, no,” The bursar interrupted. “This is our cost-to-company of keeping you. From that we’ll deduct IU income tax, the cost of your billet and meals, the cost of transporting you around, medical coverage, sundry other expenses like uniforms and port entry taxes.”

“Wait, so how much of this do I end up getting?”

“Next screen.”

“What? That’s like next to nothing.” Deacon looked over the numbers carefully. “So you’re going to give me this, then take back twenty percent off the top for income tax. Then you’re going to deduct costs that I can’t control…. You’re going to force me to absorb costs that I might be able to source cheaper,” Deacon saw a look of puzzlement, “Medical Insurance? That’s a hell of a premium you’re charging. I could get better for cheaper.”

“But our sickbays and medical facilities only accept one insurer: This one.”

“So in the end, my take-home pay is eighteen percent of … what did you call it?”

“Cost-to-company.” Char spoke softly. She remembered her anger when she’d seen these numbers.

“Cost-to-company.” Deacon concluded.

“We do feed you and keep you safe.” The clerk pointed out.

“So if I eat elsewhere I can get reimbursed?”

“No.”

“If you don’t keep me safe, I can get reimbursed?”

“No. But it’s good medical insurance. If we can’t fix you we’ll find someone who can, and you won’t pay for it.”

“If you can’t fix me, it’ll be because I’m dead.” He turned to Char.

“Seriously, why do you put up with this?”

“I was under arrest when they recruited me. The alternative…I didn’t really have one. You do, though. You can walk away. But honestly, you don’t really have any expenses while onboard, so even though it’s only a little, you save almost all of it.”

“Save? I’ve got…” Deacon chose to pick his next words carefully. “It’s less than day’s work from my old job. Now it’s a month’s take-home pay?”

Char chuckled, responded to a ping from her infopad. “I’ve got to go. Come to my office when you’re done here.”

“Can you supply a recognised financial institution with an account in your name?” The clerk continued, oblivious to Char’s departure. “Otherwise we’d have to hold it in escrow for you until such as time as you’re discharged, at which point we can give you a lump sum with interest. You can borrow against that escrow as needed, say, when in port.”

“From what I hear, the IU is dying. Anything held in escrow will be bad debt.”

“Be that as it may, this is how we function. Do you have a financial institution you want to register with us?” Dee shook his head. He wasn’t letting these people anywhere near his finances.

The clerk held the tablet up for Deacon’s thumb print.

“Idiots,” Dee muttered under his breath as he pressed his thumb. “And now I’m one of them.”

Creativity, Science Fiction, writer's life, Writing

Writing Assignment: 500 Word Scene

In my writing course, we were tasked with writing a scene. it was to be exactly 500 words in length, and during the scene, the reader was to become aware of a truth without it being said.

Here was my submission:

The Man in Black

The Man in Black sauntered into the bank, right past the Pinkerton’s detective, sitting just inside the door. The detective stood up, slowly drawing his six-shooter. There was no way that thief would rob this bank twice.

The outlaw just stood there, staring at the clerks cowering behind counters, as if his mere presence was an announcement.

The silence dragged on.

Finally, The Man in Black bellowed, “Well?”

The newly-minted Bank Manager approached cautiously. He’d never met an outlaw before.

If this was the famous gunman — the suave, debonair brigand wanted in four states for larceny and two more for violating young ladies’ honour — he certainly looked nothing like his Most Wanted bulletin.

He was shorter than expected. His clothes were too big, hitched by a makeshift rope suspender. His gun was slung loosely on his hip. His spurs didn’t jingle jangle jingle; They were bent and beat up. In fact, his boots were brown.

He’d lost weight. His face was sunburnt. His hands were gnarly, no sign of his famous rings. That scraggly beard was not fit for kissing women.

No wonder he was so hard to find.

However, that was his famous black hat, red beaded brim, black feather slicked back, sitting a bit low, touching his ears. The iconic black vest…did it have holes? The signature black denim trousers with red piping, held up by that rope, were torn, almost worn through at the knees, cuffs rolled up and dusty.

“Are you The Man in Black?” The Manager asked, unsure.

“I am now. An’ I got me an I.O.U.” The outlaw pulled a crumpled telegram out of his vest pocket. He straightened it out, showed the Manager. He pointed at each word, speaking slowly. “Wichita. Central. Bank. That’s this here place.” He pointed at other words. “Ten. Thousand. Dollars. I came for my money.”

The Manager repeatedly tapped a different word. “Reward,” He said.

“What’s that, French? What’s it mean?”

“It means you just gave us ten thousand dollars.” A discrete nod, and the detective disarmed the outlaw.

They tied up The Man in Black and put him in an office where they could watch over him until the Sheriff could collect him.

“But for the clothes, this don’t really look like him.” The Pinkerton’s detective looked up from the bulletin. “You sure he’s The Man in Black?”

“You heard him, he is now.”

If you enjoyed this story, you might enjoy my short story collection The Maiden Voyage of Novyy Mir and Other Short Stories.
Creativity, writer's life, Writing

(Where is) A Writer’s Toolbox (Part 3)

This is long overdue, and I apologize. But it will be a while yet. There are two reasons you haven’t seen this post yet:

First, because I’ve discovered great new free tool for writers, however I haven’t figured it out completely yet. And I’m not sure it’s stable. I’ve installed it in four websites. In two it works perfectly, in the other two, it doesn’t work at all, and I can’t figure out why.

Second, I’m feeling a little pissed. After I quickly launched my first two parts, a ‘friend’ cannibalized my content and posted it on social media, a little each day, gaining a whole bunch of exposure, new followers, and grateful friends in the writing community, without acknowledging that I was the source. When I contacted her about this, she deleted the posts, then blocked me.

So I’m feeling a little salty about posting things I’ve learned that could help the community.

I do intend to post it eventually, but for now, I’m waiting.

Creativity, writer's life, Writing

A Writer’s Toolbox (Part 2)

This is a three-part post.

The first focuses on software and websites that offer Software as a Service. The second is focused on people, the third on building a WordPress site.

People and Groups


The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association, (SFWA) runs a semi-annual mentoring program. I was fortunate to have a mentor for the first 3 months of 2023. It’s not just for members (I’m an Associate Member, the lowest level), and anyone can apply, not just science fiction  or fantasy writers. (There’s a large romance community within SFWA).

I used to be a member of the British Science Fiction Association (BSFA), but it didn’t compare to the SFWA, so I’ve let that lapse. I know next to nothing about the Society of Authors, perhaps someone here knows about them? I understand that they’re a good ally.

Brandon Sanderson is one of the best-known active fantasy authors. He was also a lecturer at Brigham Young University. All of his lectures are on YouTube. It’s a lot, but if you have time, they can be very informative.

Writing Excuses is a podcast I mentioned elsewhere. It was created by the aforementioned Brandon Sanderson and Mary Robinette Kowal (current President of the SFWA) among others and is in season 18. Each episode is about 15 minutes long. it’s fun and informative, and develops a real sense of community as you listen to it. If you wish, there’s writing prompts at the end of each lesson. I found seasons 6-13 to be very beneficial.



Janice Hardy runs a website called Fiction University. They dissect craft, focussing on what does and doesn’t work. They also occasionally post writing prompts where you can post your effort for feedback. 

Need some motivation to write, or at least an external goal?

Jane Friedman‘s newsletter is considered a must-read in the publishing world, and it’s free.

NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is a free challenge to join, every November. You’ll be assigned a team, based on geography, and you’ll each be challenged to complete 50,000 words in one month (Making the goal isn’t as important as attempting). Of note, participants often get real discounts on software like Scrivener, Plottr, Atticus, etc. If you’re looking to form a writing group that’s all local to you, this can be a great way to find writers.

They’ve also added Camp NaNoWriMo, a July run of the same program.



As you get further in your writing career, you might want to pay attention to the following sites. 

Victoria Strauss’ Writers Beware (sponsored by the SFWA) helps writers avoid scammers trying to separate you from your money. 



The Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi) is a very helpful organisation (I’m a member) that vets service suppliers (like editors) and will also give you advice on any publishing contract you’re offered. When Disney started underpaying writers, and withholding royalties, ALLi and SFWA were on the front line raising awareness in the media and hiring lawyers to pressure Disney into honouring its contractual obligations.

At some point, you’re probably going to want to build a newsletter so you have some form of direct link to your fans (they subscribe to it). There are many newsletter delivery services that offer a free option if your newsletter is below a certain number of subscribers (usually 1,000).. Mailerlite, Convertkit, and Mailchimp are the ones usually recommended. If you have money to burn, Constant Contact is great (I used it for a client). A friend swears by Email Octopus, but I’d never heard of it.

BookFunnel will help you find readers for your newsletter, and help give them a digital gift. BookFunnel works well with most if not all of the newsletter services mentioned above.

Draft2Digital and its subsidiary, Books2Read are very helpful in distributing and selling books, if you self-publish.

Additions from friends in the writing community:

As well as Email Octopus, my friend recommends “a great book on newsletters, Newsletter Ninja by Tammi LaBrecque.”

David Gaughran has an email list, a series of classes on advertising and many books on creating a fan base, and how to work with Amazon, Bookbub, etc, and overall thoughts on marketing. 

The annual Inkers Conference ( both virtual and in person). This is a writing conference that provides tons of topics like craft, marketing, etc. You can then watch all the sessions at your leisure for three years post event as they are all filmed and posted. This is also a very active community on facebook. You will also get invited to some free one-off sessions.

The Editorial Freelancers Association is where you can search for a professional editor.

That’s it for Part 2. Go to Part 1. Go to Part 3.

Creativity, writer's life, Writing

A Writer’s Toolbox (Part 1)

This is a three-part post.

The first focuses on software and websites that offer Software as a Service. The second is focused on people, the third on building a WordPress site.

Software and Websites

For note-taking almost any app will do. Don’t overlook your email app. I often write or dictate notes on the go directly into my iPhone email app and send them to myself. I use the story title as subject to make it easier to search them later on my laptop.

When it comes to writing, long form, I love Scrivener. I was about 80,000 words into a novel when I found that Word just couldn’t give me what I needed – the ability to re-arrange scenes, find specific points in the story, try different flows for pacing. Scrivener makes all of that easy (and so much I don’t use, like research, timelines, plotting tools). It has a 30-day free trial. I bought it on day 6. I can use it to write the scene that is the set up and the scene that is the pay-off at the same time, then move them to their respective places in the story. Within 6 months, I had a 135,000 word draft of a complete story. (It still needs revision, but that’s on me, not the software)



If you’re a more linear writer, then Word may work fine for you. I know other writers who swear by Google Docs, but I’ve not used it.



Plottr is a relatively recent piece of software that helps writer who are plotters, well, plot out their novels. Again, I’ve not used it, but I’m told it works for many types of plotting, like linear and snowflake plotting.



Grammarly advertises everywhere, and it can be very useful for discovering your mistakes, but it can also over-power your voice. That’s also true for these next two recommendations. I don’t use Grammarly, I use the free levels of both Hemingway App and ProWritingAid. And I use them both, in that order, as they do slightly different things, and catch slightly different mistakes. Hemingway will tell you how readable your text is, and at what grade level, as well as flagging complex sentences. It also catches passive voice.

ProWritingAid will catch many more grammatical and spelling errors. You don’t need the paid versions, in my experience, as long as you’re not offline when you need them. None of these supplant the need for a human editor.



If you’re a self-pubber, you’re going to want to format ebooks at some point. Scrivener does this quite nicely, but there are some specialized tools that may be better. Vellum and Atticus are the two that come to mind. I’ve not used either, as I know Scrivener well enough for my needs, but they both have a high profile in the self-pubbing community. 



Canva lets you make decent covers without needing to know Photoshop, but if you’re serious, you’ll end up using (or hiring someone who is using) Photoshop .



I do my print layouts in InDesign, but Vellum or Atticus should be able to do those also. Technically, you can do those layouts in Word, but I wouldn’t expect to get good results without a lot of pain.



I want to mention BookBrush. this is for creating ads for self-published works. Again, there are many paid tiers, but the free tier offers a lot of good stuff. You upload your book cover, select from a generous listing of free mock-ups and download the image of your cover embedded in the mock-up. A much more limited version of this, but also free, is DIY Book Covers.

That’s it for Part 1. Go to Part 2. Go to Part 3.

consumers, economics, writer's life

Marketing on Instagram vs Twitter

Two months ago, I started selling my own clothes online as “Skrap Apparel on Etsy.” I don’t have a marketing budget per se, so I’m trying to find organic reach through Twitter and Instagram. I set up new accounts on each (Insta. Twitter.) and I have about the same amount of followers (less than 20).

Recent ad on Twitter

Whenever I have a new article of clothing to promote, I make a post and put it on both Twitter and Instagram. As my accounts are new, and I’m not paying to promote, I only get a dozen or so views on each platform.

BUT…

My results so far have been surprising and not at all equal.

According to Etsy, my store has gotten 84 visits from people “visiting directly”, which means they’ve had to type out or copy/paste the URL. And only 4 from clicks from Twitter, which Etsy can identify because they are clickable links. Now those 84 ‘direct visits’, where someone has had to copy-paste the URL, are, I believe, from the only place I’m posting my URL in an clickable format: Instagram posts.

So, with the same minimal exposure, I’m getting 21 visits to my shop from Instagram users for every 1 visit from a Twitter user, even though it’s easier to click and visit from Twitter.

Same ad on isntagram

Now one obvious advantage of Instagram is the character limit. With a message geared towards Twitter, I have a lot of room for hashtags on Instagram, and I keep lists of ones that work.

So maybe I’m finding my audience there, whereas I’m not on finding them on Twitter. That’s possible, but that’s also because Twitter chooses to constrain my ability to reach out, forcing me to do more work there to hopefully find a similar result. It’s not worth my time right now to do that.

So, how dos this all convert to sales? It hasn’t much yet, not enough to make any conclusions. I’ve had some problems with Etsy and pricing, you can read about it all here.

writer's life, Writing

Making Money Ain’t Easy

Look, we’re all struggling to make money, authors as much as anyone else.

“Buy My Book! But My Book!” Ad Nauseum

As a writer, you can focus all your energy on getting people to read your books, but there’s a number of drawbacks. You pimp and pimp your books on social media, watching as you lose more followers than you get.

First, you need to have enough material out there that when people read one, they will have more to consume. If you’re new, or a slow writer like me, this isn’t easy to achieve.

So many writers look to alternative strategies to make money.

A simple one is to get more revenue from your existing work. This can mean submitting your shorter works to foreign markets for translations – which is time-consuming and doesn’t earn much, but might build an audience for later material. Or, it can mean making a Patreon-type program, where people are encouraged to pay money to get early access to your writing.

Again, this doesn’t work well with slow writers, and can also be difficult for writers who simply don’t have enough material to entice a recurring payment. Also, if you haven’t found your fans on social media, how will you find them on Patreon?

Then there’s the tip jars like Kofi. Without giving anything away, you simply ask people to tip you some money. I don’t know anyone who’s having success with that.

A couple of my designs

A different strategy strategy is to try to create multiple revenue streams from different products completely. That’s what I’m trying to do, by edging into Print-on-Demand t-shirt and all-over-print clothing.

This is your RedBubble, Etsy, Printful type work. Depending upon how you want to structure it, and how much control you want, you can find a solution that lets you design using their tools (great for silly slogan stye t-shirts) or go full-on photoshop CMYK designs on all-over prints.

Again, you have a problem of how to find an audience, but in theory Etsy or RedBubble are also trying to sell your work, so you have a very little bit of support from a very large player.

There are no easy answers.

critical thinking, writer's life, Writing

Trigger Warning: Rant About Trigger Warnings Ahead

My first exposure to the use of “trigger warning” came about as a teacher. As part of our training, we were briefed on them, so it wasn’t a complete surprise that our students knew about them too.

I was teaching ESL in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. One of my students, about 13 years old, attended an international school where they’d just had an assembly on triggers and trigger warnings. From that point on, whenever I mentioned grammar or homework, she’d shout “Trigger!”

This did not get her out of doing her class work or homework, and eventually she stopped.

There was a discussion on the Alliance of Independent Authors facebook group about trigger warnings. Apparently there’s a serious discussion around embracing the inclusion of trigger warnings on books.

I understand that some things in stories can trigger strong emotional reactions. Story-telling is about evoking emotions, sometimes a writer pushes too far. But the list being discussed, available here, is just absurd.

According to it, you should use a trigger warning if you mention a brand by name, if anyone is pregnant in the story, if there are any references to Harry Potter, spiders, or alcohol…

There are valid things on the list, such as rape, decapitation, torture, but they’re invalidated by the absurdity of the rest of the list.

Simply getting your feelings hurt because a story has “slut shaming” isn’t being triggered, it’s being uncomfortable.

All of this led me to think, how would the books of my childhood stack up to this list?

Let’s find out:

I’ll start with one of the most influential books in science fiction, Dune:

Abusive relationship
Assault
Attempted murder
Attempted rape
Child abuse
Child death
Childbirth
Cults
Death
Drugs
Emotional abuse

Fatphobia
Fire
Genocide
Hallucinations
Homophobia
Hostages
Incest
Kidnapping
Miscarriage
Murder
Needles

Physical abuse
Poisoning
Pregnancy
Racism
Sexism
Slavery
Terrorism
Torture
Violence
War

So Dune (The first book) needs 32 trigger warnings. Did you enjoy watching the movie last year? Shame on you.

Surely Lord of the Rings isn’t so crass?

Abusive relationship
Ageism
Alcohol
Amputation
Animal abuse
Animal death
Assault
Attempted murder
Blood
Bones
Bullying

Death
Decapitation
Demons
Fire
Genocide
Gore
Hallucinations
Hostages
Kidnapping
Murder
Physical abuse

Poisoning
Racism
Sexism
Skeletons
Slavery
Spiders
Stalking
Suicide
Torture
Violence
War

The Lord of the Rings needs 33 trigger warnings. I guess you’d better never read that book again.

A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones) probably needs all of them. Let’s check anyway.

Ableism
Abusive relationship
Ageism
Alcohol
Alcoholism
Amputation
Animal abuse
Animal death
Anxiety
Assault
Attempted murder
Attempted rape
Blood
Bones
Bullying
Cheating
Child abuse
Child death
Cults
Death
Decapitation

Demons
Depression
Emesis
Emotional abuse
Famine
Fatphobia
Fire
Genocide
Gore
Hallucinations
Homophobia
Hostages
Incest
Infertility
Kidnapping
Lesbiphobia
Misgendering
Misogyny
Murder
Occult
Pedophilia
Physical abuse

Poisoning
Pregnancy
Profanity
Prostitution
Racism
Rape
Self-harm
Sexism
Sexual abuse
Sexual assault
Sexual harassment
Sexually explicit scenes
Skeletons
Slavery
Slut shaming
Stalking
Starvation
Suicide
Terrorism
Torture
Violence
War

A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones) scores 65 hits on the list, not quite the full list, but close.

Just for fun, let’s try Romeo and Juliet!

Abusive relationship
Alcohol
Assault
Attempted murder
Blood
Bullying

Child abuse
Child death
Death
Depression
Drugs
Murder

Pedophilia
Physical abuse
Poisoning
Sexism
Suicide
Violence

Congratulations, Will, your play only needs 18 trigger warnings. Woohoo.

Creativity, writer's life, Writing

A Short Story Publishing Strategy, Sort of

Finally, a publishing strategy for my short fiction!

Back when I was in university, I wrote some short fiction. I even got some backhand praise for it (“It’s too real, you’re writing a memoir and passing it off as fiction”), if not the best grades.

But I’ve always been drawn to the epic novel, the longest of long forms (think Lord of the Rings, which was written to be one volume with five parts but was published as three volumes).

I don’t know when I stopped writing short fiction, but I do know when I restarted.

There’s a new York literary agent named Janet Reid. For a while, she ran a weekly contest. She’d give you five words and you had to use them in a story of exactly 100 words. You had from late Friday until late Sunday to complete this task.

It was hard. It was fun.

It taught me a lot about brevity (ironically, something this post might lack). Then I started looking through my backlog of stories and found that a lot of them could easily be told in a much shorter form than an epic novel.

I discovered that 2,000 – 3,000 word stories were my jam. I started reading up on short fiction markets and submitted some stories. Then I sold a couple of them. I had my first professional sale, many semi-pro sales and some interesting contracts that I wouldn’t sign (You can read about here).

After six or seven years, I had a backlog of about 30 short stories and another 25 or so drabbles (those 100-word stories).

I gathered the best of the best, 14 short stories and 12 drabbles and made a book. Then I made three more. No, I don’t have enough content for four books.

But I do have a strategy.

I write across a number of genres, so I decided that for Amazon Kindle, I’d release two short “samplers”; one of space opera stories and the other of a speculative fiction variety. Both would have three stories and three drabbles. I’d make a third ebook sampler of just the complete set of drabbles and offer it to anyone who signed up for my newsletter.

The 14 short stories and the 12 drabbles, I’d bind as a paperback. This would allow me to learn about that whole process before I was ready to release one of my ‘epic novels’.

In a surprise to myself, I ended up also making an ebook out of the complete collection, and offering it everywhere except Amazon (It conflicts with the samplers).

So now those short stories have become four titles and five publications (four published and one given away)!

I’m still new to all this, and I’m finding it hard to keep track of where everything is available and when. Why don’t you take a minute to check out skrapbooks.com (my publishing company) to see if there’s anything you’d be interested in.