Sometimes places strike me and they end up getting a kind of fantastic layer painted over them, although it feels more like I’m carving and discovering the true shapes underneath than adding something. Minneapolis, for example, is a noir fairyland constantly hovering on the edge of freezing. Fat flakes descend through the orange-and-green haze of […]
Memories: The Mythology of Places Read More »
Submissions: 186. Acceptances: 7 (pro sales: 2). Fewer subs, fewer acceptances – but double the pro sales 🙂 Words written fiction: 552,436. Indie books/stories published: 5. Most of that fiction wordcount is ghostwriting; I finished five novels last year and started a sixth. Three of them were kids’ novels, and between 30-40K; the other
2014 Writing Stats Read More »
We moved back from Cheyenne when I was two — Dad got out of the Air Force and went back to the farm. The Farm. The older and further removed from the farm I am, the less saying “I grew up on a farm” means. Even Lee has no idea what it means to grow
Memories: Branding Cattle Read More »
This year’s reader goals: Research Complete a list of the top SF/F/H pulp works, begin reading selections (in progress). Keep up with Locus Online for new book-length fiction, so I’m not completely clueless on new releases this year. Find a good horror fiction review site for same. Reporting Write up a brief blog post with the best-of
Here are my recommendations, the creme de la creme of my 2014 reading. I slushed over a thousand stories last year, and read two hundred and fifty books. So stop hounding me to watch your favorite TV show. I don’t want to hear it. Each list is presented in no particular order. Short Stories: I
Fiction Recommendations 2014 Read More »
It turns out that when you retread your memories over and over again, they become less “your memory” and more “the memory of your memory.” After 9/11, some researchers went out and recorded people’s memories of the event, three thousand people’s worth. Eleven months later, they asked the same questions, and thirty-five months later. The memories were
What’s your earliest memory, sunshine? Read More »
I’ve been thinking more about memories, memoirs, telling personal stories rather than just fictitious ones. So how do you start a memoir? Where? I’m tempted to look it up. “Top 10 Ways to Start Off Writing Your Memoirs.” “You Weren’t Paying Attention, Were You: 5 Strategies for Assembling Your Past Without Pissing Off Your
Finally reading Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott, which, if you don’t know it, is a writer-book that starts off by advising writers to dig into their pasts. For some reason it struck me this morning that, although both sides of my parents’ families gossip and definitely have a few legendary stories, neither side really
Family Stories (Where did they go?) Read More »
*Research in progress. Lately I’ve been having–or, rather, subjecting other people to–conversations about how to make stories that are better than well-crafted. I’m at this weird point where I acknowledge that becoming better at my craft is going to be a lifelong project…but there’s something more out there to writing than just craft.
How to Make a Story a Classic* Read More »
I worked out a program for learning how to write this morning, in the broadest (and most general) possible steps. 1) Read. 2) Write. 3) Study by typing stuff in and analyzing it as much as desired, in a way that satisfies curiosity. 4) Research and practice building understanding on the following concepts: clarity of
The Ethics of Button-Pushing Read More »
