Writing
Eric San Juan
September 29, 2010
Every now and then someone mistakes me for a person with a clue and asks how to approach a publisher about a book. There are no grand secrets — by now everyone knows that — just some basics on how to get started. In a series of posts last year I outlined how my first book landed on shelves, but skip all that for now, because I want to get to probably the most important part of the process aside from the writing itself: Your query letter. A query letter is simple, in theory. It’s you saying to an agent or publisher, “Hey, want to see my book?” Not so simple in practice, though. I won’t get into the details because other people have done…
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Eric San Juan
September 27, 2010
My Jersey journalist-in-arms John Saccenti put together a little 50-word fiction contest on Facebook. Had a few moments to spare and thought, why not? So, at exactly 50 words, here is my entry: THE MACHINES We forgot to unplug them. And so the Machines fell upon us while we slept, a storm of metal and gears filling the sky like so much angry cloud. With scraping and thunder and screaming and wheels, wheels, wheels, the Machines tore into us, and all were turned to meat. Fin
Eric San Juan
September 20, 2010
Driving home from work the other evening and ideas are rolling through my head. Sitting at a traffic light and it occurs to me, “Say, I should self-publish a science fiction anthology next year, maybe something with a Mars theme. Invite writers to submit stories, do it via CreateSpace and list it at Amazon. Yeah, that would be fun.” What the bloody hell is WRONG with me?
Eric San Juan
September 16, 2010
So here’s a problem I still haven’t learned to cope with: Idea overload. Whatever I happen to be working on at any given moment, well, I’d rather be working on the next thing instead. Sometimes even the thing after that thing. There are always too many projects that appeal to me; too many stories I want to write; too many things I want to try. At times it’s a little overwhelming. It’s overwhelming RIGHT NOW because there are a solid half-dozen big writing projects I’d like to be working on … but I don’t, because attempting that juggling act is a Bad Idea. I handle it by doing my best to stay focused on just one or two major projects at once. Otherwise, I’d be…
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Eric San Juan
September 13, 2010
Waaaaaay back in February, I breathlessly posted about my desire to begin the second draft of a science fiction novel I’ve been kicking around. First draft was done. Readable. But needed work. First I planned to start the second draft early in the year and wrap it up by late spring. Then I pushed it back to March in order to slam out some other, shorter projects. Then Stuff Every Husband Should Know came up and took priority. Then I had to finish scripting Pitched! 2 so we could get it out in 2010. Then I took the rest of the summer off from writing because damn did I need a breather. So now, many endless months later, I finally start on Ye Olde Second…
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