Author Archive: Eric San Juan
Eric San Juan
February 17, 2010
For six weeks I’ve been sitting on the finished first draft of a dystopian science fiction novel. I had a goal of finishing it by last New Year’s Eve, met the goal, and then set it aside. The idea was to take a break so that when I returned to it for rewrites, I’d be doing so with fresh eyes and renewed energy for the project. And right now, I’m chomping at the bit for a return. I’m not sure why, exactly. I have a lot of work to do on the second draft. A LOT of work. I’m talking “change the gender of one of the main characters” level of “lot of work.” Normally I’d find this borderline intimidating to the point of frustration….
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Eric San Juan
January 20, 2010
My blog sucks. I’m well aware of this fact. It’s not for lack of trying, it’s … well, okay, maybe it’s partially true that lack of trying comes into play. After all, it’s not that I’m incapable of dazzling you with insightful commentary about all manner of things, from the Tantric underpinnings of the television show Lost to the undisputed fact that pineapple is a delicious pizza topping, it’s that I’m unwilling of dazzling you with insightful commentary about all manner of things, from the Tantric underpinnings of the television show Lost to the undisputed fact that pineapple is a delicious pizza topping. Yeah, that’s the ticket. Also, the truth is I’m just very busy right now. Or trying to be, at least. Hell, even…
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Eric San Juan
January 19, 2010
The semicolon is a tiny slice of unbridled awesome. Columnist Moira Redmond agrees, as outlined in this fun Slate column I stumbled across. As my departed-much-too-soon friend Frank Lauro once said, “You can have my semicolon when you tear it from my cold, dead hands.”
Eric San Juan
January 5, 2010
Collaborating with another person is a funny, sometimes touchy thing. It can be a minefield. It can be enjoyable and easy. It can be a great experience. It can be a chore. It can make you a better writer and it can make you wish you never agreed to the project in the first place. I’ve worked with many people over the years, most recently on A Year of Hitchcock and Pitched!, and every experience differs wildly from the last. Writer Alan Moore said of collaborations: Collaborations all have a different nature, they all work in different ways, because any two individuals are gonna have a different chemistry between them. You have to be sensitive to the person that you’re working with and they have…
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Eric San Juan
December 28, 2009
I’m not much for New Year’s resolutions. They’re either a laughable waste of time, a recipe for disappointment, or both. But I do believe in setting goals, especially when it comes to what I want to accomplish with my writing. I’m way too scatter-brained and easily distracted to stay focused without a clearly defined set of goals in front of me. So with this in mind, last December I outlined a set of goals to accomplish in 2009. They were as follows: 1) Finish refining my middle grade fantasy novel and BEGIN SEARCHING FOR AGENTS. The book needs at least one more pass before it’s ready for prime time, but that should not stop me from being ready to start the querying process. 2) Finish…
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