Pitching your work… authors often have difficulty with it. Even authors who have no trouble spinning a fantastic story may find themselves at a loss telling people ABOUT that story in a way that makes it compelling. We cover three kinds of pitches — the one-liner or “elevator pitch,” the three- or four-paragraph explanation, and […]
Writing Excuses 6.19: Pitching » Writing Excuses Read More »
Nancy Kress just did a blog post talking about the different places that writers write and ended it by asking, “Where do you write?” Here’s where I write. Mostly. It converts from a standing desk to a seated desk, when I can get Harriet out of my chair, that is. I also write at Case
Where do you write? Read More »
From April 20-22, 2012, I’ll be attending JordanCon IV: “Car’a’con” in Roswell, Georgia as the author Guest of Honor. Also there will be Artist Guest of Honor, Sam Weber, and Toastmaster, Melissa S. Graib Dombrowski. JordanCon is a fantasy literature convention founded in honor of the late author, Robert Jordan. Jordan was the author of
Author Guest of Honor at JordanCon IV Read More »
I had my friend -e- over last night and was looking for a cocktail that seemed interesting and involved ingredients that I already had a home. I stumbled upon the Gin Basil Smash, which is a lovely, lovely cocktail. I’ve seen a couple of variations around the web, but here’s my version of the recipe.
Gin Basil Smash recipe Read More »
My friend and Medieval scholar, Michael Livingston — for whom I named Captain Livingston — has written a post about the language in Shades of Milk and Honey. In it, he translates a few lines of the novel into Old English and Middle English Anyway, at one point Mary and I were talking about voicing and language
Captain Livingston has Beowulf’d and Chaucer’d “Shades of Milk and Honey” Read More »
I have an Asus EEE PC which I modded to be steampunk. I wrote swathes of Glamour in Glass on it while riding the subway in NYC and a bunch of other shorts. These days, I don’t need the little thing and it is sadly neglected. It wants to be with a new writer who
My steampunk netbook is for sale! Read More »
Writing Excuses this week covers a topic that I find very, very interesting. I had this conversation informally with Lou in a bar and it blew my mind. This week, on writing excuses, we get him to sit down and talk in depth about the Hollywood Formula. Lou Anders, Hugo-winning editorial director from Pyr books, joins
Writing Excuses 6.18: Hollywood Formula » Writing Excuses Read More »
Rob and I had to go out of town this weekend and I was struck by how many of the places we visited had a touring memory attached to them. I played in elementary schools all over the place and we were very much in my old stomping grounds this weekend. At one point, we needed
Touring memories and yet not a tour Read More »
Hello! I’m back from my internet vacation. While it wasn’t as complete as I might have wished, it was a lovely, lovely thing. The most delightful part was that I got physical, hand-written letters almost every day. I think there were four days when I didn’t. I found that corresponding via postal mail was wonderfully
I’m back from vacation! Read More »
Today was the day from hell. It started with us walking to breakfast. (Good food at the Pepper Mill) It was slow and when we came out, after wolfing the food down. It was raining. So– we drive to Washington Elementary. We’re there at 7:45. No lights. No people. At close to 8:00 J– remembers
Retro Mary 1994: Fri 9-30-1994 midnight Read More »
Today was our 1st 2 set-up day. As usual the morning show is a hazy fog by now. The long Piper cape came undone so there was a length of clothesline stretching across the stage. Lovely. J– turned and gracefully grabbed the cape and pulled it along with him. It actually worked beautifully in the
Retro Mary 1994: Thurs 9-29-1994 10:30pm Read More »
J– and I just got back from a trip to Kinko’s to print flyers. It was kinda fun. The shows today went pretty well. We set up in an hour! Of course it was a jogging load-in but still! It’s possible. And that includes blowing a fuse and J– looking for a new outlet. So
Retro Mary 1994: Wed Sept 28, 1994 12:43 Read More »
Ernie if I didn’t think it before, I do now. My body hates me. I’ve got strep throat, an infected glue gun burn, an infected spot on my leg, a place on my face that will leave a deep scar [1. I don’t remember the last two items] and to add insult to injury– I
Retro Mary 1994: Tues Sept 27, 1994 11:30 pm Read More »
Peter Ahlstrom, assistant to Brandon Sanderson, and Valerie Dowbenko, assistant to Pat Rothfuss, join Brandon and Dan to talk about what they do for “their authors.” While this may seem like an incredible luxury — most of you listeners aren’t going to rush out and hire an assistant — there are things that can be
Writing Excuses 6.17: Writing Assistants Read More »
Well Ernie, old friend of mine, I’ve got strep throat. I haven’t had that since high school. I’m miserable. I performed today, but I’m miserable. [1. I should explain that Pied Piper was a 45 minute operetta with 35 minutes of sung music, 2 performers, and 18 puppets. At one point we had 5 active puppets
Retro Mary 1994: Mon Sept 26 1994 10:45 pm Read More »