Sarah A. Hoyt's Blog, page 116

How to (Almost) Kill Your Writing THing

*I don’t normally echo posts here from Mad genius Club, because a substantial number of you read both. But I have a feeling this one is somehow important to echo. And it explains some of the stuff that’s been going on. – SAH*

The price for the gift is to exert the gift.

Have you ever realized that most of the depictions of magic in fiction are a decent description of the writer gift?

I mean, it should be no surprise to anyone, right? What else are we writers going to talk of? W...

It’s not that I am late….

Okay, I’m actually late as f*ck, and this is under the heading of “I’m alive, worry not.”

So, I went to bed last night with 10k words remaining on the (yeah, definitely it is) cursed novel, thinking I’d get up today early and finish.

Except autoimmune struck HARD as soon as I lay down. I didn’t wake up till 10:45, and I’m one of those people who considers getting up at 7 am “late.”

And then we had an appointment at noon.Which ran late, because I was talking to keep myself awake. I just ...

It’s Mostly About the Money A Guest Post By Confutus

*Sorry guys. I’m still trying to finish the novel, and there’s other stuff happening that is making life confusing. Not bad but confusing. Thanks to everyone who is supporting this novel-finishing effort by sending me (GOOD) guest posts. You guys are the best- SAH*

It’s Mostly About the Money A Guest Post By Confutus

A couple of years ago on the Arizona Ballot, there was a voter initiative dealing with some school choice matter. As I looked through it, trying to evaluate the pro and ...

Pardon My Lateness

I hope no one was alarmed by my sudden disappearance. I know, these days you never know what can happen to a person who is not paying attention. The watermelons in my garden might have ganged up on me, and killed me in a sugar rush. Or perhaps the bugs that ate my tomatoes might have held me hostage (for more tomatoes.)

In fact, I was my usual ditsy self and completely forgot that Dan had an appointment for his eyes — which means a ride mumble hour away (he has weird eyes and needs a specia...

Lying to the Young

All societies lie to their young. You sort of have to, for the same reason that translation is as the French have “betraying a little.”

I had to make my peace with that last while trying to tell mom something funny the kids had done, only it wasn’t funny in Portuguese, so I had to change it around.

For years I felt guilty over it, but it was the only way to communicate how very funny her grandkids were (and they were.)

And that was before we got into trying to explain to her how… yo...

Speech vs. Violence: A Guide for Idiots and Academics (But I Repeat Myself) A Guest Post By Martin L. Shoemaker

Speech vs. Violence: A Guide for Idiots and Academics (But I Repeat Myself)  by Martin L. Shoemaker 

Speech is not violence. Anyone who says otherwise is an idiot or an academic. But I repeat myself. 

Speech is me saying, “I’m gonna bash your head in with a baseball bat.” Violence is me bashing your head in with a baseball bat. There’s a difference. 

When I say this, some idiot or academic (but I repeat myself) will bring up a psychological study that purportedly shows that speec...

Dancing on the Edge

When I was little, the room in which I spent most time — being of a sickly disposition, in a society not yet used to the existence of antibiotics — didn’t have a window. Well, it kind of did, but it was a slit high up on the wall behind me, to capture the light that came into the living room through the two sidelights on the front door.

But on the wall, in front of me, there was a picture of an angel walking behind a boy and a girl, while the boy and the girl, blithely walk at the edge of...

The BOB List — A Guest Post By Doug Irvin

*I want to point out that despite us having been called “the Church of Heinlein” that’s not the Bob. Also, I’m up to my neck in a plot that’s escaped my control, and am probably going to ride it, on tattered fingernails to the finish. I’m okay, my muse is just torturing me.* – SAH.

The BOB List — A Guest Post By Doug Irvin

*Foreword addendum. The date this first appeared, 2/15/2021, my state was hit by crippling harsh weather. Temps dropped well below freezing, the electrical network c...

A very Special book promo and Vignettes by Luke, Mary Catelli and ‘Nother Mike

Book promo

If you wish to send us books for next week’s promo, please email to bookpimping at outlook dot com. If you feel a need to re-promo the same book do so no more than once every six months (unless you’re me or my relative. Deal.) One book per author per week. Amazon links only. Oh, yeah, by clicking through and buying (anything, actually) through one of the links below, you will at no cost to you be giving a portion of your purchase to support ATH through our associates number. A COMM...

I can’t Even

One if you had done me a lovely guest post, on the run, about why searching for “nuclear secrets” in Trump’s house made as much sense as panning for gold in your shower. And I’ll post it below.

But hours after he sent it to me the story had changed. It was obvious they’d gone to everything in Trump’s house on a fishing expedition, and they were talking crazy cakes charges.

None of this makes any sense. It would flop as comedy, because it’s too frigging stupid.

… So, I used to have...