As mentioned before, I was a medieval reenactment fighter (SCA). I was super bad at it, too. How bad? In ten years of fighting, the farthest I ever made it in a double elimination tournament was three rounds. For comparison, an eggplant with a sword taped to it will automatically last Read more
One of my favorite ways to procrastinate on writing is to generate meaningless statistics about my writing. I’m a mathmatologist. I believe that somehow, numbers will reveal the future to me. Recently, someone asked me the average number of rejections a short story of mine receives before it is accepted. Read more
User almost_a_human wants to add you to their contact list. Accept? Ignore. User almost_a_human wants to add you to their contact list. Accept? *sigh* Well, it’s been popping up every day for a month now, I guess I’ll give this person a shot. Maybe it’s someone I know. Or at Read more
A while ago I made my post comparing stories to vases. Lately I’ve noticed a repeating flaw in my first drafts. I see it reading over all my earliest writing: I’ll write about absolutely ANYTHING but the central point of the story. Or, like, anything interesting. I’ll twist scenes to avoid Read more
At Clarion, Cory Doctorow said, “Resist the temptation to think like a dandelion.” (At least I hope I got him quoted right in my wee notebook.) The line I have written under that is: “The cost of reproduction is zero! Spread!” Being Cory, he might have been talking about electronic Read more
I used to think that writing would be like being an acrobat… performing breathless feats, leaving my audience stunned on the ground. Sure, there would be practice, grueling hours of it (didn’t we have “writing exercises” in school?) but that wouldn’t be the real work. I would practice and practice Read more
Warning: this is an ANGRY POST. “You’re so lucky you had an awful, abuse-filled, poverty-stricken childhood! It’s not fair! I don’t have all that RICH MATERIAL.” said Aspiring Author To Be Unnamed. I didn’t murder him. What a saint I am. See, the thing is: I had the ability to Read more