Okay, I admit it, I got into this game long enough ago that my first words were scribbled on white tablets, with mistakes scratched out and arrows drawn to indicate where whole passages needed to be moved. Later, I typed stories on a manual typewriter, keeping copious amounts of Wite-Out on hand. Later, because an…
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Pigeon-holed or typecast? It can happen to any writer
By Mary Gillgannon I know how picky readers can be, but I never realized it would affect me until I was analyzing the sales of my indie published books. I have twelve books available, and sales of those titles vary widely, and always have. Some of my books I’m lucky to sell five a month….
POLITICAL INTRIGUE IN FICTION
By Kevin Paul Tracy This month’s post builds on the ideas in February’s post with thoughts on infusing fictional politics into your fiction. In that post I refer to the root of all politics, economics, and how ultimately it is commodities in high demand – oil, gold, the spice Melange – and the need to…
The Curse of the First Pancake … by Shannon Baker
There’s a piece of writing wisdom that says to hone your craft, you must first write one million words. Back in my early years, I’d read somewhere that it takes, on average, twelve years from beginning writer to published author. If you’re writing every day, those might amount to roughly the same. If that’s the…
Take A Little Trip
By Mark Stevens Two random tidbits last week got me fired up. The first was from a story in The New Yorker about new research into the positive effects of psychedelic drugs—psilocybin in particular. The second was a line uttered by Alexandra Fuller during a podcast of her Tattered Cover presentation for her new memoir,…