Monica Valentinelli's Blog: booksofm.com, page 125

My Philosophy on Writers, Readers and Critics

After a very, busy week following my appearance at WisCon 2009, I felt it was time to sit down and share my philosophy toward other writers, readers and critics. In the past, two weeks I’ve met more new people on-and-offline than I have in the past year. Since many people are unfamiliar with me and my work, I thought it best to put into words that which I feel so passionately about…

I believe that both readers and critics, regardless of education or background, have a right to their informed opin

WisCon: the Recap

Billed as a feminist science fiction convention, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I walked through the doors to WisCon for the first time. Held at the Concourse hotel in Madison, this was — by far — the best organized event I’ve ever attended. (This includes both the gaming-related and business events I’ve ever visited and spoken at.) I feel that this fact alone demands a certain sort of respect, given that this remains a volunteer-run organization.

As you may recall, I signed up for four

Visit Me at these WisCon Panels

Next weekend I’m going to be attending WisCon, which is located in Madison. This will be my first time attending and speaking at the convention, and I plan on sticking to the writing panels as much as I can. The panels below are the ones I will be speaking at; if you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, I hope to see you there! Regardless, make sure you bring your favorite books or games to the “Sign-Out” for your favorite writers to autograph for you.

My Panels at WisCon 2009Reinventing the Advent

Social Media for Beginners: 15 Tips to Consider

Before the words “social media” became a buzzword, many writers like myself were engaging in adding content via places like message boards, forums and LiveJournal. Often, the phrase has become synonymous with the major social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and GoodReads, where users generate their own content to interact with one another.

When marketers talk about social media promotion, they are addressing ways to leverage the free tools that are out there to build a trendy “buzz”

The Importance of Being Persistent

In an earlier post, I wrote a letter to new writers where I described how the path of a writer is one that winds, ebbs and flows. How do you keep following the same path? One of the qualities that a writer must have is the ability to be persistent. Well, that one word can have a lot of connotations, so I’d like to explain what “being persistent” means to me.

So what does it mean? Well, if you want to be a writer it means you don’t give up. It means when you “think” you have no readers, no chance

Observations from OddCon

This is the second year I went to OddCon hosted in Madison, Wisconsin. The convention is “fan-run” meaning that fans organized, scheduled and arranged three days of events, panels and signings. There were several professional writers on hand including Guests of Honor Emma Bull and Patrick Rothfuss, alongside notable writers Sarah Monette, Lori Devoti, Alex Bledsoe, Matt Forbeck, Adrian Drake, Chris Welch, Richard Chedwyck, Cam Banks, Jamie Chambers, Michael Damian Thomas and Lynne Thomas, Matt M

An Open Letter to “New” Writers

Dear Writer,

First? I’d like to congratulate you on your decision to become a writer. Being a writer has never been an easy thing for anyone to do, at any point in history. I’m not talking about technology, I’m talking about writers like the Marquis de Sade or Edgar Allen Poe or even Beatrix Potter. Journalists like Margaret Fuller, Alice Dunnigan, Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward have challenged the way we think about our world through their reporting. From comic book writers to biographers and e

Review of www:wake by Robert Sawyer

When I first started reading science fiction, I didn’t really like it at first. It wasn’t until I started reading Frank Herbert’s Dune that I enjoyed its possibilities. To me, science fiction is at its utmost best when it extrapolates and experiments, taking the “what could be’s” and turning them into “what if’s.”

www:wake by Robert Sawyer is that kind of a book. It takes a slice of our modern, everyday life and the topic on everyone’s mind — the internet. The first in a trilogy, this book is a

Not Happy with your Writing? Pick Up a Pen instead of a Keyboard

One of the things that I’ve discovered, is that if you overload yourself on the business of writing and the essentials of everyday life, your writing can be affected in ways that you don’t even realize. I find that this is especially true if you “rush” toward a deadline.

If you find you’re not enjoying your writing anymore, or if you realize that your writing has become crunchy and mechanical, I recommend putting away your keyboard and picking up a physical pen instead. Sometimes, all it takes t

Is Your Next Writing Project Worth the Trouble? Use the K.I.S.S. System and Find Out!

There are a lot of ways to communicate your point, but sometimes the simplest vocabulary and the shortest sentences offer the the biggest benefit. While every writer knows and understands that, what’s not so simple is our process for making decisions.

Enter the K.I.S.S. system, which stands for Keep It Simple Stupid. (The acronym can also be used to describe Keep It Short and Simple, too.)

Sounds easy enough, right? Well, the challenge for a lot of writers is this little thing called “the brain.”