I taught a copywriting class last November, which isn’t something you’d generally ever see me doing. Classrooms aren’t for me. Public appearances are exhausting, and teaching a class is one long song-and-dance routine. You have to prep for it. Then, afterward, you’re exhausted and need to recoup for a week and then do it all […]
Unpacking the “Real Writers Have Talent” Myth Read More »
As the news has now broken, I wanted to share some postmortem thoughts on the Skyhorse/Night Shade deal which has now gone through. For those wondering if I took the deal: Throughout the last couple of months, a lot of information has been gathered about Skyhorse and Start, it’s epublishing arm for the new imprint.
Welcome to Skyhorse’s New Night Shade Imprint Read More »
If you haven’t read this article about Survivorship Bias (via Toby Buckell), and our tendency to give more weight to successes than failures, go read it. I’ll wait. Done? Survivorship bias plays into all sorts of things. In fact, it has a great deal to do with how we teach history, too, which I touched
Survivorship Bias and Writing Better Books (with Bonus Marketing Chat) Read More »
I recently read this piece by Judith Tarr reflecting on how the publishing world has changed since the 1980s, when writing a book a year was nice, but don’t let a publisher know you can write faster than that…. I’m often gobsmacked by how much my peers churn out every year. It’s an astonishing output,
Thoughts on the Writing Grind Read More »
I read this piece from Lauren DeStafano today about anxiety, and specifically how the challenges of managing anxiety are compounded by the demands of being an author. Though the whole piece is very good, this bit in particular stood out for me: “…there is a lot of pressure to be normal, and, as an author,
Your job is not to be a writer. Your job is to be a published author. Read More »
One of the unforeseen benefits of reading Nate Silver’s book, The Signal and the Noise, was that it encouraged me to take a look at the way I was consuming information. As somebody working in marketing, I live on data. We need to know what our target market wants, how they talk, where they go
Cutting Down on Internet Noise (and Delivering Greater Signal) Read More »
If you’re a spec fic writer, you’ve probably heard of Blue Heaven, a novel writing workshop/retreat that’s been running for 10 years now. I’d never been to Blue Heaven, but was familiar with the format. What I appreciated at this particular point in my career is that, unlike Wellspring last year, this one wasn’t solely
I’ve been reading a lot of responses to the “deal” proposed by Night Shade Books and Skyhorse/Start Publishing, and as pretty much everything has been leaked every which fucking way (kicked off, no less, by a stupidly inaccurate and ill-timed Tweet by one of Night Shade’s own owners, which should surprise no one used to
Deal/No Deal: Why I Am Considering the Skyhorse/Night Shade “Buyout” Read More »
The trouble with getting out of the fiction writing routine is figuring out how to get into it again. I’ve talked before about my latest book depression, and though I’m happy to report I’ve come out of the weeds of my deadlines and am writing fiction again, it’s a funny stop-start process, this remembering how
Learning How to Write Again Read More »
After today’s kettle bell workout, I lay on the floor for awhile just staring at the fan and the whirling wooden dragon I have hanging from it. Not because I was all that physically tired, just because I didn’t feel like thinking or doing anything else for awhile. I tried, in vain, to let my
On the Business of Writing, Creativity, and Burnout Read More »