It's been a week since Halloween, a week since the end of October, a week since the culmination of Short As Fictober, my self-imposed, month-long writing journey. I haven't written much of anything since then, but I have had a moment to reflect on the experience and make a plan of sorts.
Category: writing
Short As Fictober
Writing is a strange and giant beast, that I sometimes lose sight of the simple fact that it's supposed to be fun. I'm looking forward to what kinds of stories will happen over the next 31 days. Who's with me?
Remembering David Berman
Because my car up and died shortly after moving to the Pacific Northwest, I'd ride my bike to and from work, which generally meant a commute home around one o'clock in the morning. On the ride, Berman's musical vehicle, The Silver Jews, would keep me company in my headphones.
Submissions Open for Barstow and Grand’s Third Issue
Barstow and Grand, the Chippewa Valley's premier literary journal, is currently accepting submissions for its third issue. What kind of stuff is B & G looking for? Poetry, creative non-fiction, fiction, and even hybrids of the genres.
Learning Short Fiction World Building with N.K. Jemisin’s HOW LONG ‘TIL BLACK FUTURE MONTH
How Long 'Til Black Future Month? is a solid collection of Jemisin's short fiction spanning her career. And in each selection she delivers on her world building, much in the same way she did in The Fifth Season: inserting information as it becomes relevant to the narrative, avoiding huge info dumps.
From Alison Smith’s “Her Left Hand, The Darkness”
from New York Public Library "If no one is expecting much, it’s not hard to exceed their expectations." " ‘Don’t try to be an author,’ she said as we stood outside a lecture hall in the bitter cold. ‘You cannot control that. Instead, try to be a writer. And to do that, you must write. … Continue reading From Alison Smith’s “Her Left Hand, The Darkness”
Review: Den of Thieves
I like a good heist flick (Logan Lucky is a recent top-notch addition to the genre), but Den of Thieves missed the mark for me in a couple spots, and it's important to figure out/talk about why.
Writing Just for the Hell of It.
On the suggestion of an old friend, I started listening to Writing Excuses, a weekly podcast co-hosted by authors Dan Wells, Brandon Sanderson, Mary Robinette Kowal, and web cartoonist Howard Tayler. In each episode, the hosts and the guests will do a quick dive into some element of craft. In fact, the seasons are structured around … Continue reading Writing Just for the Hell of It.
Purdy Good 