On Tuesday, August 14th, I attended the RMFW event at the Tattered Cover bookstore that featured a panel of the Writers of the Year nominees. They gave out raffle tickets, and I was the lucky one to win a breakfast with an editor at this year’s Colorado Gold conference. I spent an hour with Denise…
Author: RMFW Guest Blogger
Genre by any other name…
Hi, my name is Cindy Skaggs, and I write genre fiction. As ridiculous as it appears to readers, this kind of genre-as-vice mentality is an ongoing battle. Having worked in a large public library system while I finished my education, I know for a fact that librarians don’t care where something is shelved except as…
Kesey & Me
Who or what first inspired you to write? I’ve always believed the reading experience is not only subjective, but highly situational. By that I mean that reading The Catcher in the Rye at fifteen is a fundamentally different experience than reading it at forty. Because while books do not age, their readers, and the world…
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Short Story Market: A Report from the Field
Three years ago, I decided to try Ray Bradbury’s challenge to new writers to write a story a week for a year. I’ve seen other people do it, although most of them were writing pretty short pieces. I averaged 3,595 words per story, with 186,937 words total by the time I finished. The challenge was…
Being Teachable
I am reluctant to say this, as writing is a very meticulous skill with rules that must be learned and practiced, but here it is: I never graduated high school. Then life happened. I started writing a book in my early 30s. While charisma and the art of storytelling can take you far, if you…