On writing: when hatchet jobs are a good thing

Posted inWriting
I've mentioned before that good editors will almost always improve your work. Writers (myself included) are often too close to their own work to be completely objective about it. It's difficult to get outside your own head and read your work the way a reader would -- and that's a vital part of the polishing process. After all, if you're not writing with readers in mind, you may well be writing crap. Another blogger recently made an excellent post about working with editors, specifically newspaper editors. That's what I happen to be Monday through Friday, so I was especially delighted…

Want to be published? Learn to query

Posted inWriting
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…

Sound advice for aspiring writers

Posted inWriting
A fellow Eric brought these links to my attention and I thought they were well worth sharing. There is a wealth of advice here, and while not all of it will be applicable to you, if your aim is to write you'll want to read these and take 90 percent of 'em to heart. The Guardian first gives us Ten Rules For Writing Fiction, as offered by noteworthies like Neil Gaiman and Elmore Leonard. They followed it up with Ten More Rules, bringing folks like Michael Moorcock and ian Rankin into the fray. The vast majority of this advice is…

Staying Focused, Keeping Busy

Posted inWriting
Someone recently asked me how I stay focused. It seems like I'm constantly juggling projects, working on new things, producing new material ... but how do you keep your nose in your work (especially when also dealing with a full-time job and family)? Aside from the fact that my focus is an illusion -- the truth is I'm a lazy, not-very-driven person by nature and always have been -- the secret is, there is no secret. It's damn hard. It's never easy. And that's all there is to it. For the person not yet making his or her living solely…

Total. Author. Meltdown.

Posted inWriting
Wow. This juvenile meltdown by a published author is making the rounds on the Internet right now, and it's great reading. The gist is simple: reviewer on Amazon.com gives a book a bad review, the author responds to the review, and total bugfuck hilarity ensues. The author descends into a meltdown laden with conspiracy theories, secret supporters (none of whom we actually see), and a seemingly insatiable need to dig their hole ever deeper. If you at all like watching train wrecks, this is fantastic morning entertainment. I just can't fathom what's going through someone's head when they do this.…