Jack Aubrey, Charles Babbage, writerly duels . . . Ferderick Marryat, the zap of verisimilitude and the fickleness of fame.

. . . and a band called Death.

Via supergee, a rant about fictionalizing life, about "creative journalism," about transgender, about when writers ought to be examining their own motivations and agenda, from Maria Davana Headley.

Writer and lipizzan horse-wrangler Judith Tarr has been coming out with interesting stuff this past couple weeks.

First there was the League of Shattered Authors, which opened up discussions all over the net, and here is an unflinching look at the personal fallout.

But there are good times, too, as this interview makes clear ( Read more... )

Judith Tarr raises some questions and also talks about ways for authors to take some of the power back. Disturbing, how many of the dumpees are women. But it's interesting how many female authors are saying, in effect, "Roger that. I'll find another way, then." And doing it.

Meanwhile, related, janni is running a series on long-term writers and why ( Read more... )

and plagiarism.

Forty years, the needle of guilt--and the smothering pillow of that internal sense of mediocrity--I figure, why not tell this story.

Today I got to do one of those fun things that the freelancer gets to do: meet someone for a long lunch without too much clock worry.

newport2newport and I met at this wonderful restaurant for a delicious meal, and ended up talking for hours (though it felt like minutes) about writing, process, perception, paradigm (can I think of any more p words?) and the ( Read more... )

Today's BVC post is about being a parent and a writer, here.

See coraa's post here and here for our trip so far (in other entries she's got excellent panel and roundtable notes); now we are at Writers' Horse Camp for several more days. Already Rachel and I have gotten two goals met, and I got another met. Cora's written most of a short story. Every time we come to Camp we get tons done, while having fun with ( Read more... )

Before I launch the second part of the “writers and time” discussion, I’d like to point out that msagara, whose series of posts on the publishing industry are a must-read for anyone curious about just what happens to your book once it gets bought, added a couple of cogent points to the “first time at a con” discussion, mostly about attending con events ( Read more... )