For years, I’ve been a start your writing first thing in the morning guy. I get up around 4:30 AM most days. On good days, I feed the cats and hammer a few words into the word processor by 5, then braindump into my journal before planning the day. I can jam out a good […]
On Staying Small and Going All In I’m up at 4:00 AM talking to D— from tech support, trying to work out (for the ninth time since October) a weird glitch that means I can receive emails but not send them through some of my accounts. I’m very familiar with the tech support script at […]
What does a recipe look like? If you looked one up in the old pen-and-paper days, there’s a familiar layout: ingredient lists; procedural instructions; a photograph to make your mouth water. These days, on the internet, the recipe has all those things… and a long, digressive story up top that contextualises how and why the […]
So, picture this: It’s a new year and—for once—you’re ready to go out and kick ass. You’re ticking off daily task checklists and things are humming along. Your ambitious plans are achievable, and you’re delivering on your resolutions. Work is good. Health is good. Life is fucking great. For the first time in a long […]
I’ve ended up taking a short, unscheduled break from writing newsletters over the last fourteen days. Regular GenrePunk Ninja transmissions will resume in October, and some of the ideas in this week’s entry might be expanded out. Mainly, though, if you’re hungry for great advice about writing and publishing, however, I’m going to direct your […]
Like many of you, I have good weeks and bad weeks on the writing front. This week has been rocky, and if you’re feeling like things are unsettled and unfocused too, that’s a pretty natural response to this point of the year. Ordinarily, my response in this newsletter would be offering advice: here’s how to […]
Welcome to GenrePunk Ninja supplemental, where I occasionally post foundational essays written before I launched the GenrePunk Ninja newsletter, especially if they’re timely to other conversations occurring online. This essay originally appeared in Eclectic Projects issue 2 in 2023. Estimated Reading Time: 30 Minutes | Don’t like reading online? Get an ebook copy here. Here […]
This week’s newsletter is the second of a trilogy, dealing with a fundamental challenge of being a writer: not all the advice you’re offered is a great fit for you, even if it worked perfectly for the person offering the advice. Over the years, I’ve routinely found this out the hard way, applying advice indiscriminately […]
Writing advice is never a one-size-fits-all thing. Context and philosophy is everything, yet there’s a tendency for both the givers and receivers of advice to assume a bon mot of wisdom applies without questioning the resources, genre, goals, and ideology behind it. I’ve built a career out of helping writers figure out their craft and […]
Welcome to GenrePunk Ninja supplemental, where I occasionally post foundational essays written before I launched the GenrePunk Ninja newsletter. This essay originally appeared in Eclectic Projects issue 1. Estimated Reading Time: 22 Minutes | Don’t like reading online? Get an ebook copy here. On Heinlein’s Habits & The Rise of the New Pulp Era SECRET […]
I run into writers who think the reason their book isn’t selling is the price. The first question, when a new release isn’t working, revolves around discounting. “Should I make this ebook 99 cents?” or “Should I give this away for free to generate interest?” These are both solid strategies when used the right way, […]
What is the story of your writing right now? Not the story you are writing, but the story you’re telling yourself about who you are and how you work as a writer. We all have a sense of who we are as writers, which shapes the projects we take and the way we approach our […]
