Voting is open for the Apex Magazine Story of the Year 2014! Choose your favorite story from last year. (Yes, my story “Keep Talking” is on the list. Why not buy the issue and see how awesome it is?)
We writers get worked up about cover letters. I know I do. I stare at the screen every time, trying to decide what to say. So, to help me, and you, or perhaps simply to dispel the myth that cover letters matter at all, here are the cover letters that Read more
I totally totally won Apex Magazine’s Story of the Year, against some pretty AMAZING competition! I am flabbergasted! The magazine has also put the story up on their website now for your free enjoyment. Thank you to everyone who purchased a copy of the issue! I’m not worthy! I’m not Read more
A first draft of a story looks like this: The final draft of a story looks like this: They are both words on pages, nothing more. Why can’t we just write the final draft the first time? We forget that we’re making ART. You don’t just start from the beginning and Read more
When I asked my friends what would be a good subject for my writer’s blog, the vast majority answered, “Writer’s block!” (And I stared at them mutely because that’s been the subject, in a way, of ALL my posts.) Either they hadn’t been reading my blog before offering advice (Gasp! Read more
The thing you do to be sane and happy should besomething you can control. -Cory Doctorow How to fight writer’s block? Well, we identified it as a mood, so what causes the mood? Boredom with the project? More advice from Cory (and I was chuffed when he gave it Read more
I am terrible at plot. (And character, description, mood, theme, setting, and everything else, but particularly plot.) Andy Duncan taught me this plot trick. I don’t know where he got it. You write the names of your characters on a sheet of paper. Now draw an arrow to and from Read more