I have two weeks off from work – hoorah! – and for my summer vacation I will be travelling to other planets via my trusty little laptop. Specifically, the other planets of my young adult scifi novel. I’m going to try for something really ambitious, like writing 20,000 words of the novel in 15 days. … More Jumping on the Wordcount Wagon
Having dallied long enough in the wondrous Land of Short Fiction, I am finally giving in to peer pressure and embarking for Novel-landia. More precisely, Young Adult Novel-landia. If short stories are the gateway drug of writing, then YA novels are undoubtedly its crack/cocaine. Not that I am encouraging young people to do drugs. Or to mix metaphors, … More Young Adult Reading List
Just finished reading Storyteller: Writing Lessons and More from 27 Years of the Clarion Writers’ Workshop, by Kate Wilhelm, half-writing-tips-book and half-autobiography-of-a-writing-workshop. A lot of the writing advice is familiar, the stuff that was drilled into us at Clarion (e.g., “No deus ex machina!”), which made for a nice refresher as well as a nice … More Clarion Nostalgia Reading and Two Types of Writers
A couple days ago I started reading High Fidelity by Nick Hornby and I got through about 300 pages in like 48 hours, even with the craziness of my Busy Backson lifestyle. Hornby is one of those writers who’s just so friggin’ readable. The amazing thing is that his first-person narrator spends most of the … More Whiny Narrators
The wondeful Chris Green and I agreed to trade interviews last week, and in the hecticness of life, this is the first chance I’ve had to sit down and answer his thoughtful questions. So here it is… the final interview meme…. 1. You have an idea for a story with all of the “Ben” hallmarks … More One More Interview Meme
More interviewing fun, this time courtesy of friend and fellow writer Chris Lynch, with whom I had the great experience of co-writing the story “This is My Blood,” published in Dreaming Again. 1. What are three of your creative keystones — books or experiences from your childhood that had a big impact on you as … More Further Interviewification
It’s pretty much run rampant around the net for the past day or two that Realms of Fantasy is abruptly and unexpectedly closing. Yet another victim of our tanking economy. ROF published some great stuff, from high fantasy to magic realism, with a lovely design and gorgeous illustrations. It will be missed! On a personal note, I’d … More Personal Note About Realms of Fantasy Closing
By this point, many of you have probably already soon this meme running around the Internet. Just in case you haven’t seen it yet, here are the Rules: 1. Leave me a comment saying, “Interview me!” 2. I will respond by asking you five questions. I get to pick the questions. 3. You will post … More Peter Ball Interviews Me
Among the many useful things that Google has brought into the world is AuthorsATGoogle. Google brings authors to their HQ to read their recent books and have a bit of Q&A and informal discussion with their employees. (Um, I know. Does your employer bring well-known authors to your workplace for informal chats with you, just … More Yet Another Cool Thing from Google
When I was doing my round-up of books I enjoyed in 2008, I noticed I read much fewer books than usual this year – only around 20 books, which is probably half what I usually read in a year. Part of this is because lately, I’ve been not-reading on my daily commute on the New … More Must Read on Subway and Other Resolutions
Bread & Magic 