Between reading for classes, reading to figure out how other people write great short stories, and reading short stories when I’m too tired or busy for a novel, I read a lot of anthologies. In a conversation with someone on Twitter I realized that I almost never review or recommend the anthologies I read. I…
Category: Reviews
Nine: Truth, Lies, and Writers Block
It’s been a blissful weekend and it continues today. We will hike, eat, play games, and so forth. Last night we watched Nine. The story is primarily about writers block, which is the problem writer/director Guido Contini faces as he tries to write his ninth movies. He’s had wild success but his last two films…
Submission Game Update
At this point in the Submission Game, I have 8 stories in the hands of editors. I’ve submitted 15 since the beginning of the year. According to the rules of the challenge, I have to resubmit every story to a new market once it is rejected. I’m beginning to see the results of that as…
Straczynski’s The Resistance Graphic Novel
It’s been a stressful week, not because of anything the week did to me but just because we are about to leave July and enter August and with August comes the school year as well as two deadlines. Last night I attended J. Michael Straczinski’s first chat with his Patreon supporters and it was wonderful….
Semper Gumby
Last night ended our anniversary celebration week. It’s a significant number so we’d planned a huge trip including a dream marathon for Steve, a tour of vegan restaurants for Carolyn, and attendance at Origins to commemorate how large a part gaming played in our romance. But you all know that our plans were reduced to…
Masterclass Review: Dan Brown on Writing Thrillers
Another excellent Masterclass instructor. I would say the best so far, but I think that I am going to say that a lot with MasterClass. I signed up in November with the intention of just doing this for a year, but I often say to Steve when we finish a class, “You know, these are…
Stay In Place Virtual Writing Conference Impressions
Yesterday I attended (or attempted to attend) the Stay In Place Virtual Writing Conference. Here are my impressions: First the good. The speakers were excellent! I especially enjoyed Jodi Lynn Nye’s talk on humor. In fact, she is one of those teachers that once I get a taste of, I want to follow her everywhere…
Masterclass Review: R.L. Stine on Writing For Young Audiences
So far this one has been the best of the Masterclass instructors. Even though this focuses on writing scary books for kids, what he talks about extends to adult books as well. he makes a point of differentiating when it is important. The production values of all of the Masterclass courses are all top notch….
Writing and the Ebb and Flow of Health
Yesterday was a good day with a lot of energy. Today I woke fatigued, which is undoubtedly part of the natural cycle of this illness. That reminded me of Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s excellent book, Writing with Chronic Illness. We are often so hard on ourselves about writing. We set daily word count goals and if…
Brittany Runs a Marathon
Anyone who knows me knows that it takes a lot to make me cry. I’ve gone years between tears. Last night we watched Brittany Runs a Marathon (an Amazon movie) and by the climax I was sobbing my eyes out. The movie is a deeply emotional and deeply humorous journey of a woman finding herself…