Monthly Archives: March 2010

Writers as Car Accidents in Progress

Watched a wannabe author explode hissef today, yea I did.

He emailed a mouthful of abuse to several members of staff of an independent bookstore, and cc’d it to a whole bunch of other folk. Carrying on coz they wouldn’t stock his self-published tome.

What have I said before about being professional? About respecting the business decisions of others? About not burning bridges? Maintaining
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One of many reasons …

… to have a crush on Steve Almond

The Payoff Will Be in Good Karma
An email exchange in which a super special literary agent reveals the depth of his integrity

http://www.thecoachellareview.com/fiction/thepayoffwillbeingoodkarma_stevealmond.html (Thanks to Pete for this).

Some of the others are: My Life in Heavy Metal, The Evil BB Chow, and CandyFreak.

In which I suffer bookshelf envy

http://www.dezeen.com/2010/03/22/house-antero-de-quental-by-manuel-maia-gomes/#more-66646

An Almighty Squeeeeee!

While the rest of today is being difficult (‘Gravity nothing, this planet sucks!’), some good writing things are happening.

I just got the proof from the lovely Tehani at FableCroft Publishing for my contribution to the Worlds Next Door anthology, Genevieve and the Dragon. And yes, I have taken myself off to a corner of the office to snoopy dance and
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Random Thoughts on a Day with a Headache

#1: if you’ve got a headache, no amount of positive thinking will make it go away.

#2: staring at a screen will most likely make said headache worse.

#3: ideas that may occur to you when you’re caught between a drugged sleep and a blinding headache will either be (a) crap or (b) really good, but completely beyond recall.

#4: you are grateful
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Well, Yes.

On the upside, just receieved the Afterword for Sourdough & Other Stories from Jeff VanderMeer, which is bookending the Introduction by Robert Shearman. Feeling very humble and grateful.

Callout for Subs – TPP

TPP pinkFrom Alisa K over at TPP:

Twelfth Planet Press is announcing a reading period for our 2011 Anthology: Speakeasy. All the details are over at [info]twelfthplanet here.

Speakeasy is a roaring, lively and exciting new original anthology, edited by Alisa Krasnostein and published by Twelfth
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The Year in Review – as of 25 March 2010

… so, I was sitting around last night after I’d finally finished tidying up the Afterword for The Girl with No Hands & Other Tales, doing what I usually do which is thinking I’m not doing enough as a writer.

Then the reasonable part of me appeared (she makes occasional cameos) and took stock. She said “Errr, have a think about what you’ve got for
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Inspiration!

… or not … I find Big Bang Theory helps with most things … http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5oc-70Fby4

What I Do When I Get Stuck – by Margo Lanagan

Appearing over at Steph Su Reads (via the Bibliophile Stalker), awesome advice from the Queen of the Wicked Tale, Margo Lanagan (long may she reign).

Lots of people (including many schoolchildren) ask me what I do when a story stops working, or just stops – stops feeding itself through my brain onto
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