When I was a younger writer, I was obsessed with figuring out whether or not I was “good.” At most writing workshops I went to, from 14 onward, I was always the best or, at least, most experienced writer in the bunch. I’d been writing fiction and studying fiction since I was 12 and sending […]
Why Being “Good” Isn’t Good Enough Read More »
Forgotten Fantasy Favorites: An irregular series In the rush of GRRM and Joe Abercrombie madness these days, I couldn’t help but notice that a good deal of excellent grimdark-y fantasy from the last thirty years seems to have been tucked under the rug and forgotten, as if nobody wrote about incest or political intrigue before
Forgotten Fantasy Favorites: Assassin’s Apprentice Read More »
Back when I first started this blog in 2004, I grew an audience that was primarily and deeply feminist. My regular traffic was about 400 visits at day, which – at the time – seemed like a whole lot of people. Then I wrote a post about “women-only” forums that pissed off a whole lot
The Blog Post that Lost Me Half My Audience Read More »
Forgotten Fantasy Favorites: An irregular series In the rush of GRRM and Joe Abercrombie madness these days, I couldn’t help but notice that a good deal of excellent grimdark-y fantasy from the last thirty years seems to have been tucked under the rug and forgotten, as if nobody wrote about incest or political intrigue before
Forgotten Fantasy Favorites: Sword Dancer Read More »
Hey! Guess what!? I’m part of the establishment now! Or, rather, I have an article in Locus Magazine this month. Check out the teaser below, and then go grab (or view) a copy of the October issue to read the rest: “Everybody Already Knows”: How Silence About the Realities of Publishing Hurts Authors Families
New Article in Locus Mag: Silence in Publishing Read More »
In 2005, I was a robust 25-year-old living in Chicago and working as a project assistant for an architectural and engineering firm. In the fall of 2005, I started to lose weight. This was a good thing, I figured. I worked out a lot. I ate right. It’s just that losing weight got… easier. It
The Horror Novel You’ll Never Have to Live: Surviving Without Health Insurance Read More »
One of the ideas I always struggled with – as a person who makes a fair amount of money now and is happy to pay taxes toward stuff like schools and roads and Medicare to help people out – was why so many of the folks who are the target beneficiaries of those services and
Why My Single-Mother Sister Hates Food Stamps Read More »
Here’s the latest roundup of what I’m (perpetually) reading: Ascension by Jacqueline Koyanagi There’s been some buzz about this one in the circles I follow, and for good reason. Complex, fascinating heroine (she has a chronic illness!) running around a space-opera-ish universe. I’ve heard the book likened to really good Firefly fanfic, and that’s not a
Books I’m Reading (and you should be reading too) Read More »
I did my first radio interview this weekend (it won’t go live for three weeks. Patience, grasshopper). I’ve done a podcast before, but radio was new, and I was pretty excited. So I asked ahead of time for the questions so I could prepare some responses. Which, you know, you should always do. What invariably
Magic. Mystery. Polyamory: How to Talk About Your Next Book Read More »
It might come as a shock to some, but I haven’t always been a published author (ha ha). Oh, sure, I’ve been writing and sending out stories for 18 years, but it’s only since 2011 that I’ve had a book (and then three) on the shelves. Here on my blog – which I’ve had since
When a “big name” author ranted about my review of their book Read More »