Here are the things I think a person who wants to write fiction (professionally) ought to do, and I will guarantee you right now that the list will be missing things I don't know about, but anyway ( Read more... )

Two story rejections received in one day. Well, then! It's off to new markets with the both of 'em.

70 Days of Sweat, Day Two: 1,000 words

Total: 2,100 words

Current short story: 5,300 words. I have reached a turning point!

In other news: Felix has another of his periodic freaky eye infections, characterized by one of his eyes swelling shut, a trip to the doctor, and antibiotics. He's taking it well--isn't being terribly fussy--but he ( Read more... )

I'm new to the Serious Writing thing...
( Read on for my entry-level thoughts on submitting short stories. )

I'm going to do the 70 Days of Sweat writing challenge that starts tomorrow, because I was planning to start writing 1,000 words a day anyway, after reading From Idea to Story in 90 Seconds, so why not do that and post my progress for a bunch of other writers who are doing roughly the same thing ( Read more... )

Yesterday I spent a couple of hours drawing, for the first time in too long, as a respite from struggling with problems in the plot of a new story I've been developing. Then I went to bed. I woke up at around 2:30 a.m., and had so many new ideas for the story that I had to get up and write notes. This morning I'm happy to report that the notes ( Read more... )

The other day I posted a wee snark about wishing to learn to write rough drafts faster, and I got a comment that I've been thinking about ever since:

May I suggest only a little faster? Somewhat faster? Don't knock your muse on the head and demand more, she works, let her set the pace.

So I'm going to riff on this muse idea... ( psst, under here! )

I hereby declare this book to be the most useful one I read all year. It briefly gives clear directions for cutting 10% of the words from your prose, systematically, so that the writing improves in clarity and accuracy. I tested the process on my latest short story, and in less than 24 hours I painlessly removed over 600 words from a 5,200-word ( Read more... )

I just finished writing the first version of a thoroughly weird ghost story, and despite my concerns about the ending (I almost said grave concerns, get it? You DIG? Oh yes, I'm loopy), despite fears and misgivings about the quality of the writing toward the last third or so, I feel like the story itself is decent. And creepy. I seem to be ( Read more... )

My 16-month-old son, Felix, bops his head whenever I play music. He was rocking out to "Obsession," by Animotion, just now. If I'm a child of the '80s, does that make him a grandchild of the '80s ( Read more... )