Do You Have What It Takes To Make It Writing?

February 10, 2010

Are you a productive writer, or somebody who just dabbles?
Do you want to supplement your income with writing or make writing your career, but find it hard to make time to write?
Do you have what it takes to make it writing? The hardest thing is realizing that you don’t, but there’s no shame in it. [...]

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The Book Pile: The Man Who Loved Books Too Much

February 8, 2010

I’ve been meaning to write a review about Allison Hoover Bartlett’s The Man Who Loved Books Too Much for awhile, now.
The book was given to me as a Christmas gift; it was one of my favorite gifts received last December.
The Man Who Loved Books Too Much is the true story of John Gilkey, a thief [...]

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Will Write for Food

February 5, 2010

In the comments of a recent post, a member of the writing group I’m in said this about e-books becoming more common:
“I suspect it will be easier to get an audience via the e-book revolution, and harder to make a career”
- Mark Felps
I’ve seen things get harder when the self publishing boom of the 90s [...]

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What’s Worse than Piracy?

February 4, 2010

“Obscurity is a far greater threat to authors and creative artists than piracy.”
- Tim O’Reilly
Tim O’Reilly’s quote (often attributed to Cory Doctorow), has always rung true with me. Not that I like the thought of people taking and trading an artist’s work for free, but if people are sharing your work illegally, it’s likely that [...]

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The Problem with E-books (Pt. 1: Because I Know There Will Be More)

February 2, 2010

While I’ve spent some time touting e-books, I am not one of those people shouting, “Death to print! E-books now!”
E-books have some serious drawbacks, and the biggie to me as a writer and a reader: an inability to share.
Oh, sure–the Barnes and Noble Nook allows limited sharing with other Nook owners. And if you own [...]

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Listening to TV Talk

February 1, 2010

Whether you watch television or avoid it, writers can learn a lot about storytelling by listening to people talk about the TV shows they watch.
Not a week has gone by at any job I’ve ever had where people didn’t talk about their favorite shows. The day job is a great place to learn what people [...]

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The Platform of Silence

January 29, 2010

J.D. Salinger is dead.
I’m not going to talk about what an influence he was on my writing because it was just last year that I finally got off my lazy goddamn ass and read that stinking book he wrote–you know, that one everybody talks about and stuff; the really famous one with the rambling narrator [...]

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A Delicate, Floating State

January 27, 2010

Things change.
I grew up with three major networks on television and PBS. UHF channels were like cable…that is, until cable came around.
I grew up reading books — I love books! Lately, though, most fiction and non-fiction I’ve purchased has been electronic, read on my iPhone with the Kindle app and Stanza.
Later today, Apple will announce [...]

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Looking Ahead

January 25, 2010

My first novel was well received by agents, but I heard this more than a  few times:
“I don’t know how I’d market this. Humor, or horror? It’s not at all scary.”
There is a reason it’s not scary: it’s not horror.
My first novel, Hell Comes with Wood Paneled Doors, is a humorous coming of age story [...]

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Ten Things Writers Can Learn from Conan O’Brien

January 23, 2010

“Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen.”
- Conan O’Brien
Last night was Conan O’Brien’s final episode of The Tonight Show.
Before he was a late night TV host, Conan was a writer, working on Not Necessarily the News, [...]

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