Writing

How To Collaborate On Fiction in 2016 Using Pair Programming Methods with Skype, and Google Docs

I just finished a new collaboration. It's a short story of nearly 10,000 words that will be in Bridging Infinity (you can pre-order here), edited by Johnathan Strahan "The latest volume in the Hugo award-winning Infinity Project series, showcasing all-original hard science fiction stories from the leading voices in genre fiction." The writer I collaborated… Continue reading How To Collaborate On Fiction in 2016 Using Pair Programming Methods with Skype, and Google Docs

Writing

Why I Did Xenowealth: A Collection as a Kickstarter

To dig into why I did the Kickstarter, as opposed to selling it to a publisher: I make more off the Kickstarter. I'd talked to one publisher about it, and they turned it down. And I've run the numbers. A mid list author like me, for a short story collection, can expect something like $1,000-$5,000.… Continue reading Why I Did Xenowealth: A Collection as a Kickstarter

Writing

Some Thoughts On the Herding of POC Writers Into Diversity Panels

Kate Elliott writes: In the wake of 2009’s #Racefail discussion, LJ blogger delux-vivens (much lamented since her passing) asked for a wild unicorn herd check in to show that people frequently told they don’t read SFF and aren’t present in SFF circles do in fact exist. In some ways I personally think of this as… Continue reading Some Thoughts On the Herding of POC Writers Into Diversity Panels

Writing

Four Hacks I’ve Used to Focus Harder While Writing with a Computer, Plus One that Rules Them All (For Me)

I'm ADHD, which means for most of my life I've been dealing with distractions and interruptions that constantly thread through life on what can be sometimes a minute by minute basis. I was not diagnosed until I was an adult, by a psychologist who was at a very long practice ceremony next me that I'd… Continue reading Four Hacks I’ve Used to Focus Harder While Writing with a Computer, Plus One that Rules Them All (For Me)

Writing

I Would Like To Talk To You About Me, Dialect, and Caribbean Stories

I realize I've never talked that often about including dialect in my own fiction right here on this blog. Certainly in panels, and in interviews, and in passing. But I've never sat down and done a big post about it. It was one of the hardest things about writing my first novel, Crystal Rain.  … Continue reading I Would Like To Talk To You About Me, Dialect, and Caribbean Stories

Writing

Survivorship Bias and Why 90% of the Advice About Writing is Bullshit

I love this quote from the recent marketing guide that Smashwords published: "we cannot promise you your book will sell well, even if you follow all the tips in this guide. In fact, most books, both traditionally published and self-published, don’t sell well. Whether your book is intended to inspire, inform or entertain, millions of… Continue reading Survivorship Bias and Why 90% of the Advice About Writing is Bullshit

Writing

Eight Things I Told My Intern… (About Being a Writer)

I have a new intern, joining the team with another intern I already have been working with from the local college. They do cool things for me that help with some outreach, PR, admin tasks that I struggle to keep up with. New intern came with a notebook and lots of questions for her first… Continue reading Eight Things I Told My Intern… (About Being a Writer)