Occasionally I get this request, either sent through to my email or from someone I just met: Hey, can you take a look at my story/book and tell me if I’m wasting my time as a writer? And, man, my heart aches every time I see that. I remember that stage of my career so fucking well, and it […]
The sleep thing. The apnea. The bad habit my body has developed of asphyxiating me a couple of dozen times an hour, while my body drifts into a REM state. I’ve called it all sorts of things over the last nine months, but it always opens up a quiet moment of panic inside me. It […]
I am in another city. Theoretically, on holidays, but in practice not so much. I’ll be spending today with Kevin Powe discussing the stuff that needs doing on the Altered project. We’ll spend a bunch of time talking shop, ’cause that’s what tends to happen when Kevin and I get together. He’s spent the past few years […]
So Neil Gaiman has this speech, a keynote address he delivered in 2012. You may be familiar with it – almost everyone is, at this stage of the internet, ‘cause that shit has been linked to and reprinted more times than the goddamn bible at this stage of its career. Peeps will repeat the words […]
Yesterday’s post was written pre-conference. Today, I’m writing from the other end, at home, on my couch, half-asleep and vaguely unsettled because my nerves are still dancing the GenreCon fandango. I’m tempted to be all false modesty here, but every indication from twitter comments and in-person discussions seems to indicate that the conference was great. […]
Peeps, we need to talk about Facebook. Specifically, this trend that I’ve noticed with this year’s GenreCon where people have eschewed email and started sending me important queries about the conference via the Facebook PM system. Don’t do this. For the love of all the Gods in all the Heavens, don’t do this. Carve these words […]
My friend Kathleen posted this to facebook yesterday and it’s one of those articles where I find myself reading and nodding enthusiastically. Artists frequently hide the steps that lead to their masterpieces. They want their work and their career to be shrouded in the mystery that it all came out at once. It’s called hiding […]
I’m hopped up on a combination of cold and flu tablets and the first full night’s sleep I’ve had in about five years, courtesy of the CPAP machine, so you’ll have to forgive me if I’m feeling a little punchy today. There’s this “How to Survive a Relationship With a Writer” meme going around on Facebook […]
Okay, so I’m aware that I’ve been a serious downer for the last two days. ‘Tis the curse of not blogging for a time – all the serious, angsty things bounce around my head and come out in a burst, instead of getting nicely spaced out between more palatable topics. Today we’re going to talk […]
We like the idea of an artist destroyed by their talent. It’s part of the cultural myth we build up around art and writing, designed to move the conversation away from it being work one expects to be compensated for, much like conversations about muses and inspiration and creativity as a powerful force. It leads too […]
It’s been interesting to follow the Stacey Jay Kickstarter controversy around the internet this week, ’cause it’s one of those moments where we’re reminded that the public perception of how the arts should be valued is a) batshit crazy and b) still based on theories of creative genius that requires no work. If you haven’t […]
TheTruthGirl recently dropped by the comments and asked the following question: Writing is my dream, and all that I have ever wanted to do. The idea of a day job is odious, but a necessary evil. I guess, what I’m trying to say is, would you have any writing advice for someone in my position? […]
