Nov/094
Self-Publishing
It’s almost Friday and in keeping with my new Tuesday / Friday blog update schedule, I’m here to throw a little wisdom your way, kids, because I am nothing if not informative.
The hullaballoo about the new Harlequin Horizons self-publishing imprint gave me an excuse to post some thoughts on self-publishing in general. You read right, gang. This isn’t a blog about Godzilla, board games, or the coolness of robots and cartoons. Although I’m not promising that one or more of those topics might rear their head along the way. They tend to do that in my internet postings, and I’ve just learned to live with that. But onto the topic at hand.
Nov/091
On Writing: Query Letters
One of my fellow DFWWW writers posted that the trailers for 2012 were a model for “the worst query letter ever”. While I’m not one to resort to simple statements of authority, I think I can say here that he’s wrong. 2012’s commercials, for all their lack of detail and big FX, are designed to sell the movie for exactly what it is. A by-the-numbers disaster flick. It’s not meant to be anything else. So the commercials concentrate on what’s important: Melodrama and Disaster. Everything else is secondary. Whether you think you’ll like the movie or not, the trailers are expertly designed.
Nov/090
Call Me Irresistable
Being a professional novelologist is a weird gig, gang. It’s not because I get paid to make up stories, although that is a bit odd if you think about it. Yet no odder than getting paid a million dollars to swing a bat at a ball or drive a car really, really fast. And it’s not because people look up to me for my accomplishments, meager as they are in a sociological or cosmic sense.
It’s because, as a modern writer, I’m not allowed to be quiet. Simply put, I’m expected to be something of a celebrity, a personality.
Oct/091
Musings
This is a third attempt at a blog today. Nothing’s really got that A. Lee Martinez snap. What is that snap? Where does it come from? Do I even know what that is? Am I even being serious? (Am I ever being serious?)
Honestly, I don’t know the answer to any of those questions. Writing is weird like that. I write things. I get paid. Even if it doesn’t prove I’m good at it, proves that at least I can keep a roof over my head doing it. And I get positive feedback on this blogging stuff. Of course, that’s kind of a self-selecting audience. Very few people take the time to post a comment telling me how obnoxious I am although I’m sure those folks are out there, too.
Jul/094
Musings
I don’t like being considered “funny”. Because funny is so damned subjective. Anyway, my stories are stories first, comedy second. I’m not trying to be wacky or goofy or madcap. I’m just writing offbeat fantasy that appeals to me. Personally, I think it’s some truly original stuff, and, if I don’t mind indulging my own ego just for a wee moment, it’s more absurdist pastiche of the fantasy genre with elements of integrated realism. Now if someone could figure out how to summarize that in a pithy phrase on a book cover, I might be in business.
