20
Nov
2009
Branded: The Good. The Bad. The Ugly.
New guest blog post up at Ecstatic Days: Branded: The Good. The Bad. The Ugly.
Kameron Hurley
“Women are not inherently passive or peaceful. We're not inherently anything but human.”
- Robin Morgan
Archive for the ‘the writing life’ Category
17
Nov
2009
Book Rejection Bingo
In conversation, a writing buddy of mine expressed interest in tracking down a “book rejection BINGO” card. I’m startled to say that, after much searching, I failed to find one.
So…. I made one!
06
Nov
2009
God’s War Update
Guest post over at Ecstatic Days about Surviving the Book Contract that Wasn’t.
29
Oct
2009
Two Girls -UPDATED
A first pass at video creation with Windows Movie Maker. Cinematic art it ain’t, but it looks like if you can navigate PowerPoint 7, you can navigate Movie Maker. This is a pretty hack job I did in a few hours. I’ll be interested to see how I can improve things as I figure out what the hell I’m doing. Some of the transitions are still running a little fast.
Video is based on the unpublished short, Two Girls (I wanted to start with a story I didn’t mind messing up). View below or go directly to my my YouTube channel.
Website address at the end is still, obviously, not live, but I’ve started adding it to things in anticipation of the day.
I’m still not sure if giving me these sorts of tools is a good idea or not…
24
Oct
2009
Booklife
So, I’m, like, a writer fighting to get my first book into stores. At least into Kindles? Published would be great. It’s been languishing, but hopefully that’ll change soonish.
Anyway, I’m also an introvert. I write books. I don’t market them. I’m an introvert by nature… it’s one of the reasons I became a writer. One of the toughest things for introverted writers to negotiate has always been the marketing of their books, and with the rise of ever more “social” and viral ways to market books, the landscape has gotten tougher to manage. Most of the time, I feel little overwhelmed.
I’m often caught in this weird place where people tell me I share too much, or too little, or don’t engage enough, or engage too much. And you know, all I want to do is write. I can write here or plunk away in cool silence in this big 1890s house, but at some point, if you want anybody to read anything you write, you need to crawl out of the house and back into the world.
Booklife came to me at just the right time. I’d sold a book, had it get caught in limbo, and was happily cocooning in my real life. Trouble is there are two big parts to The Writing Life. There’s the writing, and there’s the marketing. There’s the interacting with the world, and there’s creating worlds. Today, it often feels like I can do one or the other but not both at once. And… well, let’s say that interacting with the world makes me tired. I’m in marketing at the day job, and that means people and politics and social media all day. It’s the last thing I want to do when I come home.
I enjoyed Booklife because I got to see how another writer negotiated the writing vs. marketing portions of life. Because let me tell you – it often feels like they’re directly opposing forces. He gives some great strategies on how to move from writing to marketing mode and leverage social media tools. Yes, the tools he talks about may be obsolete soon, but the rules of social media (thus far) are pretty portable across mediums.
For me, it was the right book at the right time. How do you interact with the world without exhausting yourself? How do you withdraw enough that you can be creative but not lose momentum with your social media audience? It’s a tough negotiation that I’m right smack in the middle of right now, and seeing how VanderMeer is negotiating his own booklife was… comforting? I want to know it can be done. That I can build a writing career and still have some part of my life that’s still mine. I need enough left to create something.
Because I’ve spent a year being battered around by publishing woes, and I’m far too young and unpublished to become a bitter midlister just yet.
24
Oct
2009
The Irrational Politics of Web 2.0
ME: One of the folks I know is dating one of my exes! And she unfriended me on LJ!
J: Well, yanno, that’s what happens when you start dating someone. You have to unfriend all their exes on the LJ, honey. It’s, like, a rule or something.
ME: But!
J: It’s a RULE.
ME: But!!!
J: When was the last time you talked to this person?
ME: Well… um. I haven’t been going to cons, really, which is where everyone is… and, um, OK, I don’t comment much on the blogs anymore, and um…. I sort of dropped off the face of the writing earth last year. But!! I do LIKE her!! Now she will NEVER TALK TO ME AGAIN.
J: I think you will be OK.
ME: So I guess I shouldn’t friend her on Facebook?
J: Probably not.
This is the trouble with web 2.0. Sometimes it makes you feel just like you did in high school, and the feelings are just as ridiculously irrational.
Particularly because I’m terribly happy for both of them.
29
Sep
2009
Someday I Will Be Famous Enough to Fix My Covers
I saw the initial row over this, but somehow the resolution totally passed me by (I don’t spend nearly as much time on the internets these days). There are lots of stories about SF/F publishers whitewashing covers. So even if you’ve got a heroine who’s a far darker shade of pale, it’s unlikely it’ll be seen on the bookshelf.
This was one of those, “Yeah, and this surprises people because…?” But it’s important to remember that our silence as authors can be read as complicity. If you don’t say something publicly – even if you’re fuming – readers assume you’re just going along with it. And that’s a shame. Because as somebody who has sometimes wanted to drag a publisher out and kick them in the shins publicly, I can tell you I’m not so keen on doing it because it means, you know, I might be out a meal ticket.
That said, I need to choose my battles. Because if I end up with a whitewashed cover someday, I’m going to have to say something about it. Even if it means the loss of a meal ticket. Because at the end of the day, it’s about systematic silencing, erasing. It’s about lying.
That said – and understanding what JL was up against – I find this to be a pretty cool win.
18
Sep
2009
My First Podcast Interview!
Podcast interview with me at Buena Vista U! (oh man, I had no idea she was going to use *all* this stuff)
21
Aug
2009
So, what are ya’ll doing next Thursday?
I will be one of 8 guest speakers at Dayton’s first Pechu Kucha night held at C{space (20 N. Jefferson St.) in downtown Dayton, OH on Thursday, August 27th (that’s next Thursday!).
Doors open at 6:30 pm for mingling. Program starts at 7:20 (if you’re just coming for me… (oohhhh, imagine that!!) I’m currently on the program as the second-to-last speaker. Each presentation is just 6 min 40 secs, so you do the math).
I’ll be talking about, “Why science fiction (and/or fantasy)?” as a popular creative medium. This will also brush up on the old “Where do all your ideas come from?” question, and I will try not to be snarky about it. The person who asked me to participate in this event is largely unfamiliar with my work, so I think they’re going to be a little startled with my answers.
Should be a good time.
Admission is $20, but includes free beer and sandwiches. I’m not actually getting paid for this, so best guess is the $$ are going toward your beer and sandwiches… and supporting the Dayton creative community (?), etc. etc..
So if you come, indulge, and indulge often!
Novels
