I just wanted to let everyone know that I will be AWOL for a little bit. I am attending a legal symposium for the military--so I guess it's the opposite of AWOL. But regardless, I am away from my computer. Moreover, when I return in a week or so I will need to get hard … Continue reading Going AWOL
Tag: writing process
My Publication Tracker is a Mess!
Look at that! It's a mess! How is someone supposed to make sense of all that? Well, of course, it's not supposed to be all on one page... My tracker has a total of 56 works on it. 3 have been "retired," meaning that I am no longer submitting them in the original form. Some … Continue reading My Publication Tracker is a Mess!
Publishing Updates
I recently received another acceptance from The Centropic Oracle! They did such a great job with my story A Brief Glimpse of Everything, that I am excited to see what they do with the next one. This one is a revision of a story called Old Bones that was originally posted on this blog. Of course, … Continue reading Publishing Updates
Engineering in SF and Fantasy
Tor.com recently had an article featuring a round-table of leading speculative fiction authors discussing engineering in Science Fiction and Fantasy. It is a very interesting discussion. Engineering, and science in general, can be a great component to a science fiction story. But I find there are some key flaws or weaknesses that make it hard … Continue reading Engineering in SF and Fantasy
Writing Lessons Learned – Don’t Kick the Habit
I've learned a lot about writing in the past several months. I'm the kind of person that learns things best by doing rather than being taught or told how something is. I've been doing this thing seriously for less than a year, but I've already picked up a lot of useful skills and ideas about … Continue reading Writing Lessons Learned – Don’t Kick the Habit
My Story is now out in the Bards and Sages Quarterly!
I'm happy to report the July issue of the Bards and Sages Quarterly is out now at multiple retailers. This issue features my Iric flash story "The Tree Sign." I've been looking over my digital copy and am very satisfied with how the whole thing came out. It's a decent-sized book--Smashwords says it's almost 57,000 … Continue reading My Story is now out in the Bards and Sages Quarterly!
Writing Updates
I've been pretty bad at updating this blog during the past few weeks. I've been on military orders and my work with the Army had been a lot more intense and rigorous than I expected. Add to that the deep academic nature of much of what I do, which tends to leave my brain melted … Continue reading Writing Updates
Are Most Writing Competitions Just Money Grabs?
Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I am away from home on temporary duty and didn't have a workable internet connection. I finally just changed my cellular plan to unlimited data and am now using my phone as a wifi hotspot. Here's a post on a topic that has been bothering me as of … Continue reading Are Most Writing Competitions Just Money Grabs?
SHARE: 5 Things Being a Journalist Taught Me About Writing Fiction
People come into writing from different places, and every author's unique experience reveals something about the writing process. Martinez offers several good tips here, but numbers three and four really stand out for me. Good dialogue can help keep a story interesting. You can maintain momentum by delivering background and exposition in dialogue, rather than … Continue reading SHARE: 5 Things Being a Journalist Taught Me About Writing Fiction
REBLOG: The #1 Rule Of Writing
Victor has some great thoughts here, presented in parable, which is always a useful technique. I fully agree with his point, though I don't know if I have enough authority yet to demand others listen to my opinion. All I can say is that I agree that writers need to work up from the bottom, … Continue reading REBLOG: The #1 Rule Of Writing
JM Williams 