Sarah A. Hoyt's Blog, page 235
March 11, 2019
Weaponized Criticism by S Andrew Swann
Weaponized Criticism by S Andrew Swann
Writing is a performance.
The act of writing implies communication to an audience. Writers, especially in the fiction trade, pour our hearts and souls onto the page in hopes that we can engage others to feel some of the emotion we’ve felt. I don’t care how long you’ve been doing it; there is little that can compare to the emotional reward of hearing that you effectively achieved that goal. There is no finer compliment that a reader can pay you, than say...
March 10, 2019
Vignettes by Luke, Mary Catelli and ‘Nother Mike and Sunday Book Promo
*Note these are books sent to us by readers/frequenters of this blog. Our bringing them to your attention does not imply that we’ve read them and/or endorse them, unless we specifically say so. As with all such purchases, we recommend you download a sample and make sure it’s to your taste. If you wish to send us books for next week’s promo, please email to bookpimping at outlook dot com. On...
March 9, 2019
I’m not doing a post
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Yes, this is totally meta. Normally I’d put a guest post up, but it’s Saturday and I don’t feel like it. I have a house to clean. (Bonus points to those who tell me where the quote “Fundamentally, we have a caldron to fill” comes from.)
I want to write after I clean.
So I’m not going to write a post.
The stomach flu seems to be done with me or vice the versa.
The pic at the top is to play with. And here’s the unedited beginning of what I’m working on today:
Other RhodesSarah A. Hoyt
T...
March 8, 2019
People Who Hate People – A blast from the past from July 2012
People Who Hate People – A blast from the past from July 2012
A few of you have asked me to write about Human Wave, and I know I have to – having come up with this harebrained idea, I have to continue with it and give it some shape. Like a cat or a kid, it followed me home and now it’s my job to look after it.
Leave aside for a moment the fact that I think each of us, Human Wave writers can do more for writing and for the culture in general by writing fiction than by prattling on about what...
March 7, 2019
Sufficiently Advanced Malice
Image by maciej326 on Pixabay
It has long been discussed, when talking about public figures “is this malice or stupidity?”
I remember the previous administration inciting this question, and I don’t remember that it was ever resolved.
Post 2016, having observed both the transparent malice and rampant stupidity of public figures (mostly, but not all, on the left) as well as the way they think that stupid malice or malicious stupidity are attractive, has led me to formulate a new axiom, which I...
March 6, 2019
Two Worlds, Not Alike at All
Image by Free-Photos on Pixabay
As you all know (or at least should strongly suspect, since we’ve talked about various aspects of them all the time) we live in interesting times.
Technology is changing so fast that it’s changing the way everything happens from courtship to cooking, from politics to leisure. And most of us aren’t exactly particularly well adapted for this level of change. Not even those of us who welcome it and try to change with it, surfing on the surface of the change like...
March 5, 2019
When Amazon Killed Bookstores
Image by louda2455 on Pixabay
Remember when Amazon killed bookstores? Cool story bro.
Except for the fact that it is entirely fictional.
I came across it most recently in a facebook group where someone informed me that in 1993 bookstores (chain and indie) in his area were doing perfectly well. This is fine and it was true in our area too, more or less. More less than more, if you looked closely because the seeds of destruction were already sown, but we didn’t know it/see it, unless our lifes...
March 4, 2019
Provincials
Having had occasion in the last month — because I’m the one who speaks both languages — to mediate two bureaucracies of the same organization across two countries, I’m now convinced most people are not just bizarrely provincial. They’re unaware that the customs of their tribe are not a law of nature.
And people run on automatic with this, even when it doesn’t make any sense.
For instance, when I changed my name at citizenship, I didn’t know I was going to have to engage in a pissing contest o...
March 3, 2019
Vignettes by Luke, Mary Catelli and ‘Nother Mike
So what’s a vignette? You might know them as flash fiction, or even just sketches. We will provide a prompt each Sunday that you can use directly (including it in your work) or just as an inspiration. You, in turn, will write about 50 words (yes, we are going for short shorts! Not even a Drabble 100 words, just half that!). Then post it! For an additional challenge, you can aim to make it exactly 50 words, if you like.
We recommend that if you...
March 2, 2019
Lost in my own Mind With No Breadcrumbs – A Blast From the Past From July 2013
*This post amused me, because ALL the drama has got more so in the last –omg — 8 years. And organized fandom, cons, and increasingly trad pub mean even less than they did then. Meh. Shine on you crazy diamonds. I’ll be in my office and I’m not to be disturbed. – SAH*
One of the problems with being a writer is that you end up living way too much in your own mind.
This is fun when what you’re doing is… oh, coming up with wonderful worlds, or even horrible ones, alluring characters, or perhaps e...
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