Hey, all–
The Golden Crown Literary Society gave out its awards last night for various categories in lesbian writing. Here’s the list o’ winners.
Congrats to all!
Author: Andi Marquette
Andi Marquette once wanted to be a seafaring pirate. But she realized that could be a problem, growing up in the Rocky Mountain West and Southwest. So she became an editor, anthropologist, and historian instead. But that, too, didn't satisfy her weird cravings for stories and strange realms. Now, she's a writer ensconced in Colorado and when she wants to go pirate-ing, she just makes something up.
Time warps and writing
Hiya, peeps–
If you haven’t strolled down 80s lane with me and you’d like to, pop on over to Women and Words. Because I totally went on a nostalgia tour.
One of the comments over there mentioned Armistad Maupin’s work, and yes, I’ll concur. His first Tales of the City captured a particular era and community at a critical juncture in its history. I mentioned several movies that might have some of you walking down your own nostalgic road. Unless you were born AFTER the era, in which case, it’s a great historical lesson, especially if you want to set any of your writings in the 80s. 😀
And that led me to THIS thought. No interwebs, no smart phones (and very few mobile phones), not much by way of cable TV, VHS, and satellite TV dishes nearly the size of the ones at the VLA. OMG how DID we survive? Easily. Because that’s how things were. Those of us who came of age in that era are thus immigrants to the digital world, as opposed to the younger generations who were born into it/with it. Those folks don’t know what it is to NOT have the interwebs and mobile/smart phones. So think about how technology and what’s available figures into plots and characters.
So that’s how a jog down memory lane made me think about writing.
Happy weekend!
Writing news n’ stuff
Hi, folks–
Some cool stuff I ran across. For those who are not in the know, there’s a new professional organization out there for indie authors. The Alliance of Independent Authors can be checked out HERE.
Jane Friedman, guru of many things publishing, is one of the advisors, as is Mark Coker of Smashwords, Joanna Penn of Creative Penn, and Victoria Strauss of Science Fiction Writers of America.
Jane offers a video discussion about publishing, self-publishing, marketing, and groovy things like that at this link.
I’m a fan of professional organizations, because they offer networking venues, workshops, advice, and other benefits (some writers’ organizations can offer health insurance). So if you’re an indie author who’s looking to benefit professionally, the Alliance of Independent Authors might be for you.
Having trouble keeping with the writing? There’s an app for that. Write or Die is designed to encourage you to keep writing. Download the app and start typing in the box provided. There are 3 settings. The gentle mode provides a kind reminder to keep writing if you’ve stopped and haven’t written after a few seconds. It’s a pop-up box. The second, or “normal” mode, emits an icky sound if you’ve stopped writing that doesn’t stop until you start tapping away again. And the “kamikaze” mode starts erasing what you’ve typed after a few seconds. Whichever mode you choose, the app will dole out “prods” until you’ve met your word count and/or time goal.
Whew. Scary. Anyhoo, I’ve also posted a teaser from book 3 in my space opera series, the Far Seek Chronicles. You can check that out RIGHT HERE.
All rightie. Hope everybody’s having a great week!
Happy writing, happy reading!
Teaser, book 3, Far Seek Chronicles
Hi, kids! As some of you know, I’ve been working on several projects and they’re coming to fruition (I know, I know. FINALLY!). One of those is the third installment of my Far Seek Chronicles, the ongoing space opera adventures of Torri Rendego, her crew, and soldier Kai Tinsdale, who serves in the hated Coalition’s military. For those of you who read this series, you know what the situation is between Torri and Kai. For those who don’t, here’s the link to the series info here on my site. You’ll find links to excerpts, as well.
I’m hoping to get number 3 (I’ll announce the title later on, and post a much longer excerpt as we get closer to publication) out by the end of the summer, and I hope to have the manuscript into the publisher in the next couple of months. At which time it’ll undergo editing and re-writing and all that. Hopefully book 3 will be ready early fall.
Stay tuned for more news/fun stuff with regard to the Chronicles!
In the meantime, here’s a teaser from Book 3.
Continue reading
In Memoriam: Ray Bradbury
What does one even say about one of the finest voices in modern science fiction? In writing? Others will most definitely offer more lyrical and soulful tributes to Mr. Bradbury, and for that we can all be glad and appreciative.
source: New Yorker (resized here)
But I learned a few things, too, from Mr. Bradbury.
More processing
I was reading the latest issue of Writer’s Digest (I highly recommend you try a subscription to this mag — it usually contains good writing and promo tips for authors plus interviews with authors) and came across an interview with Andre Dubus III, who wrote The House of Sand and Fog (among many others). The film based on that book was an Oscar nominee. The book itself was a finalist for the National Book Award.
Dubus is a larger-than-life kinda guy. Boston brawler born, who looks like the literary love child of John Mellencamp and Kurt Russell (that’s Zachary Petit’s description and I agree), he’s comfortable sharing a laugh and a pint as well as writing these intensely dark and poignant stories that leave us wrung out, alone, and wondering where the good is in being human. He taps the deep and lives his truth, which may be why his writing resonates with so many.
How does he do it? I like to find out about other writers’ processes. That is, the actual mechanical things they do to prepare for a writing session. Here’s Dubus’ process, from the article in Writer’s Digest:
“Andre Dubus III is both artist and businessman. It’s methodical: Every morning, Dubus wakes up and takes his kids to school (he lives in Massachusetts with his wife, who is a professional dancer, and two of his three children). He returns home. It’s empty of everyone except the dog. He takes a cup of black dark roast coffee down to the basement, where he’s built a 5-by-11 sound-proofed room. He sits at a desk in front of a blank wall, types the previous day’s longhand writing into the computer, then turns the machine off. He sharpens a pencil with a knife, reads three or four poems — for ‘the high bar of language that poets always give us prose writers’ — and then stares at the page.
‘I try to put myself in a state of openness and receptivity and not try to say anything and not think it, but dream it. And then I pick up where I left off.’
He writes for two to three hours, goes to the gym to clear his head (he still works out ‘like a demon’), and that’s it.
When it comes to creating a piece of writing, Dubus believes the story has to percolate in our mind — and that you shouldn’t write it too early.
‘There’s a profound difference between making something up and imagining it,’ he says. ‘Imagining it instead is falling into your psyche, your imagination, and finding some aspiring writer asks him a career question, he says he gets uncomfortable — he’s happy to help, but wants to know if the person has done the real work first: painstakingly crafted the words.”
From “Meet the Real Andre Dubus III,” by Zachary Petit (Writer’s Digest, July/August 2012), p. 43.
The interview itself is not available on the Writer’s Digest site unless you’re a subscriber (it’s in the print version, though), but you can get some of Dubus’ other words of wisdom from the site HERE.
So, writers. What’s your process? Does it seem to work? Would you change it if you thought it would open new windows for you? Just curious.
Happy Sunday.
Things writers should NOT do, part 2
Hi, kids!
So this whole writing thing can bring you down. It can stress you out, maybe make you say stupid things and do even stupider things.
Yes, a lot of this should be obvious. But to some, maybe not.
I blogged about that HERE, with regard to responding to a bad review (hint: DON’T).
And here’s another example of unprofessional and rude behavior. In this case, an author took offense at a forum administrator’s moving of his thread to a more appropriate section of the forum. That forum was the “small press/self-published” thread. The author had a very public meltdown on the forum, then took the nasties to Twitter, where he continued his insults. Read the comments on that blog that documented his behavior/meltdown, because many of those commenters note more of this author’s claims.
“What gave you that idea…”
Hi, kids–
Hope everyone will have a happy and safe Memorial Day weekend. Amidst whatever you’re doing today, please remember that this is also a day to remember those who have died in military service to the nation. Here’s a link for more information on that.
Anyway, got a nice comment from “Lisa,” on the “Book List” page here on my site. For those not in the know, my Book List is a list of books in both my series (mystery AND sci fi) and the order in which they should be read. You can either print it out from my site or download a .pdf (there’s a link on that page) to frame it or put it up by your bookshelf or Kindle/e-reader. Or use it to line the bird cage. Whatever floats your boat.
So join me while I answer (or attempt to answer) Lisa’s questions!
In Memoriam: Donna Summer
Some of you may know that I am a huge music fan. All kinds, across genres, across nations and eras. Like our sense of smell, music evokes all kinds of emotions in us. Certain songs can take us back to situations in our lives that were happy, sad, painful, or joyful. They may remind us of people we used to know or perhaps people we’ve lost. Music is evocative, and we imbue it with significance based on our own experiences and contexts, which we often shared with others.
Donna Summer’s music does that for me, and it always will. Upon hearing of her death May 17th, I immediately got out her “Bad Girls” album and listened to it, and went right back to the late 1970s, when I was a young teenager trying to find ways to cope with being different in the rural area where I grew up. Music became a conduit for me to an outside world. The internet wasn’t around yet. Neither were cell phones. I got my music info from pop magazines, TV, the radio, and snail mail penpals. Through music, I could access whole cultures and scenes without leaving my own community.
Source: Bossip (re-sized here)
Please continue…
Call to Arts with Neil Gaiman
Hi, groovy people–
This might be viral-ing around writer world, but I wanted you to see it if you haven’t already. This is author Neil Gaiman‘s recent (as in, May 17th or thereabouts) commencement address at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.
It’s about 20 minutes long, but he’s a wonderful speaker as well as writer and his message, I think, will hit home for all artists, writers, creator-types, tinkerers, wanderers, eccentrics, irreverents, and anybody else who ever thought “what if” and then followed that little hint in the back of the mind to see what was over the next hill.
Happy Friday, happy writing, happy dreaming!
Andi Marquette 