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I’m happy for thrillers and all, but what I really want is to be able to reliably track down good adventure fiction.  None of this wishy-washy “but thrillers are full of adventure” crap, either.  It’s not the same thing.  The Scarlet Pimpernel is not a thriller.  The Three Musketeers is not a thriller.  Michael Crichton

People talk about pacing as if it were some great and mysterious thing. However, mostly what pacing is, is a laborious observation of three ostensibly dull areas: Paragraph length. Sentence length. Word length. Once you have a grasp on those things, then you can start worrying about: Scene length. Chapter length. Plotting (how thick and

If I were going to pick one skill to master as a writer first, it would be how to get the words down even when you don’t think you’re good enough, you’re not in the mood, you don’t deserve it, etc. If I were going to pick two, it would be that one and writing quickly.

Everything about writing and freelancing is easier when you have your priorities in order.  Everything…except looking through the fridge and trying to find out what to have for lunch. … If you liked this post, please tell me what to have for lunch.  Fastest response: Facebook.

I had to talk to my daughter, Ray, about how to know whether someone was using her.  She’s very empathic, very good at reading people, and pretty emotionally wise for her age, so people tend to lean on her when they have personal issues, and she tends to shut down at school. First we talked

I had to laugh. This morning I journaled for about a page and got my brain sorted out enough to handle a couple of freelancing issues clearly and fairly.  When I finally got caught up enough to come back to the page (I try to write three pages a day), the first thing I noted

I’m starting to recover my (dry) sense of humor about the world, not merely as a black-humor-is-the-best-defense mechanism, but in being able to laugh, rather than rail, at fools. I might end up under the treads of a tank, but at least I’ve remembered that nobody can make me stop laughing at them.  The bubble

So Joss Whedon’s ex-wife, Kai Cole, has negative things to say about him and his philandering, hypocritical ways.  I lean toward believing her; I have had critical things to say about his work before along the lines of, “If you’re such a feminist, then why does the plot go like this?”  (Don’t get me started

So it’s official:  I’ve finished Nightmare Magazine’s Top 100 Horror Books, from beginning to end.  It’s been almost three years; I’m working on several horror lists with MB Partlow and Shannon Lawrence, and this is one of them.  Shannon’s original post tracking the project is here.  (She’s doing the best job of keeping track of

I took the entire weekend off (and away from the Internet) in order to relax…and ironically didn’t sleep more than a couple of spotty hours last night. Strangely, not tired yet. Feeling a lot better, in fact – I spent a lot of time awake going, “You don’t have to let people suck the life