Tricia Sullivan's Blog, page 4
March 14, 2015
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March 12, 2015
About the Top Headhunting Agency in Philly - Kane Partners
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March 11, 2015
Midwest Staffing Conference
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Everything You Need to Know about Recruiting Agency Kane Partners
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February 23, 2015
The Top Interview Tips from Philadelphia Headhunters
http://kanepartners.net/top-20-interview-tips-the-definitive-list/ 1. Confidence is everything.
Your body language is a dead giveaway. Sure, everyone is nervous, but the people who know the job will display superior body language. They will light up when discussing the subject. You don’t have to lie and you have no problem admitting what your “faults” are.
Your body language is a dead giveaway. Sure, everyone is nervous, but the people who know the job will display superior body language. They will light up when discussing the subject. You don’t have to lie and you have no problem admitting what your “faults” are.
February 1, 2014
About self-promotion
There has been some talk lately about authors and awards, and whether it is a good thing to post about the awards your work may be eligible for in the year gone by, or not. The blog that I read today that sparked me to write was Alastair Reynolds’ but there have been a bunch. I’m not thinking about awards right now and I don’t want to get into the area that Alastair addresses, about the way people fight online.
It’s just that reading different views on the subject has made me think about how I feel about self-promotion when it comes to myself.
When I started out as a writer there wasn’t a whole lot of internet to shake around in, and the only piece of self-promotion advice I can recall being given was the suggestion that I have bookmarks printed with an image from my new book cover to give away at conventions (which I did not do, because I was lazy). There was no need to worry about how (or whether) to do a blog tour or what interviews to do or what bloggers to target with your allotment of advance review copies or how to best use Twitter or Instagram.
I feel old!
But also, I feel like I am in over my head with some of this stuff, because the scale of self-promotion that genre authors are now expected to deal with is way more than I ever signed up for. I got into writing because it enabled me to be out in the world without ever having to leave my own head. The fun gets sucked out of it when I’m required to maintain a public persona. I do what I can, in my very minor way. But it goes against my grain. I am a person, not a brand.
I’ve heard it said a number of times over the years that women are at a disadvantage here because we are socialized to avoid blowing our own horns, and that backlash comes a woman’s way when she does. I’m not disagreeing with that, except in the case when it’s used as a lever to imply that women must be more pushy in order to compete. For myself, I just can’t get with that. I reckon people should do what they want, what works for them as individuals.
I don’t want to have to shout about my work. I want to do my work. That’s what I came for. And frankly, I’m a little tired of feeling that this attitude is a deficiency on my part.
At the same time, I’m tired of feeling like I should apologize every time I make an announcement about something coming out, lest I be mistaken for one of those people who bombard everyone in their immediate vicinity with announcements about their 17-volume self-published series (and who can blame them, since this is how self-publishing works?)
How can I feel both of these things at the same time in a single brainsack? I HAVE NO IDEA. I can only conclude that something is crazy here—and you know what? It ain’t me.
Being an author is like being a parent. No matter how hard you’re working, it will never be enough. By the time you figure out how you should be doing it, time has moved on and the parameters have changed. No matter what you do, somebody will be convinced you’re doing it wrong. It’s a messy, sprawling business.
For a few years I made a concerted effort to blog, go on Twitter, become more visible. I felt I had fallen short with promoting my work when my kids were babies and I had no broadband. I realised I would need to hold up my end better. It’s true that I’ve made some great friends online. But honestly? I can’t see any difference between my visibility before I got on social media and after. It was low before and it stayed that way.
One reason why it’s taking me a long time to get this new website off the ground is that between my studies and writing I’m really very pressed. The other reason is that I’ve enjoyed being inaccessible for a little while. It’s been a relief. I’ve been able to hear myself think. And, coming back even a little from this break, I’m conscious of a shift in my thinking about these things.
I’ve finally got a novel coming out this year, and I’m going to need to do some stuff to publicize it. I‘ll make announcements. I’ll blog about stuff. I will do what I can to push the book, within reason. I’ll be available to readers who are interested in my work, as ever.
Honestly, though? The more of this drumming that I have to do, the less I am writing fiction.
Life is short. I know what I’m here for.
Cross-posted from my Wordpress site http://triciasullivan.com/2014/02/01/about-self-promotion/
It’s just that reading different views on the subject has made me think about how I feel about self-promotion when it comes to myself.
When I started out as a writer there wasn’t a whole lot of internet to shake around in, and the only piece of self-promotion advice I can recall being given was the suggestion that I have bookmarks printed with an image from my new book cover to give away at conventions (which I did not do, because I was lazy). There was no need to worry about how (or whether) to do a blog tour or what interviews to do or what bloggers to target with your allotment of advance review copies or how to best use Twitter or Instagram.
I feel old!
But also, I feel like I am in over my head with some of this stuff, because the scale of self-promotion that genre authors are now expected to deal with is way more than I ever signed up for. I got into writing because it enabled me to be out in the world without ever having to leave my own head. The fun gets sucked out of it when I’m required to maintain a public persona. I do what I can, in my very minor way. But it goes against my grain. I am a person, not a brand.
I’ve heard it said a number of times over the years that women are at a disadvantage here because we are socialized to avoid blowing our own horns, and that backlash comes a woman’s way when she does. I’m not disagreeing with that, except in the case when it’s used as a lever to imply that women must be more pushy in order to compete. For myself, I just can’t get with that. I reckon people should do what they want, what works for them as individuals.
I don’t want to have to shout about my work. I want to do my work. That’s what I came for. And frankly, I’m a little tired of feeling that this attitude is a deficiency on my part.
At the same time, I’m tired of feeling like I should apologize every time I make an announcement about something coming out, lest I be mistaken for one of those people who bombard everyone in their immediate vicinity with announcements about their 17-volume self-published series (and who can blame them, since this is how self-publishing works?)
How can I feel both of these things at the same time in a single brainsack? I HAVE NO IDEA. I can only conclude that something is crazy here—and you know what? It ain’t me.
Being an author is like being a parent. No matter how hard you’re working, it will never be enough. By the time you figure out how you should be doing it, time has moved on and the parameters have changed. No matter what you do, somebody will be convinced you’re doing it wrong. It’s a messy, sprawling business.
For a few years I made a concerted effort to blog, go on Twitter, become more visible. I felt I had fallen short with promoting my work when my kids were babies and I had no broadband. I realised I would need to hold up my end better. It’s true that I’ve made some great friends online. But honestly? I can’t see any difference between my visibility before I got on social media and after. It was low before and it stayed that way.
One reason why it’s taking me a long time to get this new website off the ground is that between my studies and writing I’m really very pressed. The other reason is that I’ve enjoyed being inaccessible for a little while. It’s been a relief. I’ve been able to hear myself think. And, coming back even a little from this break, I’m conscious of a shift in my thinking about these things.
I’ve finally got a novel coming out this year, and I’m going to need to do some stuff to publicize it. I‘ll make announcements. I’ll blog about stuff. I will do what I can to push the book, within reason. I’ll be available to readers who are interested in my work, as ever.
Honestly, though? The more of this drumming that I have to do, the less I am writing fiction.
Life is short. I know what I’m here for.
Cross-posted from my Wordpress site http://triciasullivan.com/2014/02/01/about-self-promotion/
January 31, 2014
Do it like a fungus
It's been so long since I blogged that I feel all shy.
photo from srslycute.com via www.globalanimal.org
Thing is, I've been restricting social media use to the bare minimum to avoid distractions, and it's working really well. Still, in the interest of not disappearing altogether, I'm going to see if I can't manage the occasional blog from time to time. Nothing ambitious.
Yesterday I visited Ravenstone Press, which is the new children's imprint run by the same people who bring us Solaris Books. They are publishing Shadowboxer this October as a YA title, and we had a good meeting about how that will work. I came away very happy.
My new website is all echoey and empty due to my administrivia failures.* Until I've got more pages up, I'll just say that the SF Gateway now have some of my backlist available as digital downloads worldwide, specifically Lethe, Someone to Watch Over Me, Dreaming in Smoke and Maul. For readers new to my work, I'd say Maul is the most accomplished thing on the list, Someone to Watch Over Me was generally ignored when it came out and shouldn't have been, and Dreaming in Smoke won the Clarke for 1999. Lethe is my first novel, different in tone to the others, more traditional SF. I was 26 when I wrote it.
Of Lethe: I've just heard from Imogen Church that she has finished recording the audio book. I'll give a shout when it's on the market.
Other than that, I'm heavy into the energy eigenvectors and the spin states. Indistinguishability. Up next: entanglement. Utterly boggley--I'm told you don't grok it, you just do the maths and hope for the best.
The SF novel is creeping forward. Do it like a fungus, do it like a mold. That's my rallying cry for this one.
* (I will be posting this on the new Wordpress site and also on livejournal for now, until I am better organised.)
photo from srslycute.com via www.globalanimal.orgThing is, I've been restricting social media use to the bare minimum to avoid distractions, and it's working really well. Still, in the interest of not disappearing altogether, I'm going to see if I can't manage the occasional blog from time to time. Nothing ambitious.
Yesterday I visited Ravenstone Press, which is the new children's imprint run by the same people who bring us Solaris Books. They are publishing Shadowboxer this October as a YA title, and we had a good meeting about how that will work. I came away very happy.
My new website is all echoey and empty due to my administrivia failures.* Until I've got more pages up, I'll just say that the SF Gateway now have some of my backlist available as digital downloads worldwide, specifically Lethe, Someone to Watch Over Me, Dreaming in Smoke and Maul. For readers new to my work, I'd say Maul is the most accomplished thing on the list, Someone to Watch Over Me was generally ignored when it came out and shouldn't have been, and Dreaming in Smoke won the Clarke for 1999. Lethe is my first novel, different in tone to the others, more traditional SF. I was 26 when I wrote it.
Of Lethe: I've just heard from Imogen Church that she has finished recording the audio book. I'll give a shout when it's on the market.
Other than that, I'm heavy into the energy eigenvectors and the spin states. Indistinguishability. Up next: entanglement. Utterly boggley--I'm told you don't grok it, you just do the maths and hope for the best.
The SF novel is creeping forward. Do it like a fungus, do it like a mold. That's my rallying cry for this one.
* (I will be posting this on the new Wordpress site and also on livejournal for now, until I am better organised.)
October 12, 2013
stuck at computer with cat on lap
So I may as well blog.
It's Sunday morning and the kids have had friends for a sleepover, Steve has headed out to teach in London. I have uni work to do today but the cat has just come in and is on my lap acting like he hasn't seen me in ten years.
I've just downloaded some new software for my website. I've had several ridiculous problems when I've tried to update it, so it's remained in the same sorry state for a long time. Rather than try to fix the site I've got, I'm just going to put up a new one sometime in the next few weeks. I'm going to have an integrated blog and I expect I'll get rid of my paid LJ account at that point and just keep this journal for checking on friends.
In a couple of weeks I'll be at World Fantasy Con, but only for the Friday afternoon. Steve has work that weekend, so I'm driving down on the Friday and coming back same day. Not looking forward to all the driving, but I'm really glad I'll be seeing friends there. I'm on two panels:'The End is Now' at 2 pm and 'Do Awards Really Matter?' at 5 pm. I don't know the other participants yet, but I'll try and update this when I find out more.
Sadly, I won't be able to manage Bristolcon this year. It's really too bad, but not a lot I can do. Every time I go to a con on a weekend, Steve has to stay home with the kids. Weekends are his best chance at earning money, so I have to ration my Saturdays and Sundays carefully.
I've started 'The Quantum World'. So far, so good! It's challenging, for sure. But my math skills are improving all the time and I'm hoping it will just be a case of going over the material again and again until it sinks in. I'm also re-doing the big physics course from last year, because I never took the exam. I've forgotten half the stuff! Entropy, entropy--or was it 'Infamy, infamy!'
Writing-wise, I'm still doing the new SF novel. I have a wall covered with big pieces of paper with sticky notes all over them showing relationships and sequence. And I have a GIGANTIC file of material that doesn't fit the structure. I've just gone right back to the beginning and I'm working through it on a different tack. Yet again, I have had to cut a lot of really good stuff, which feels like a test of character.
I'm like: Sullivan, you are really brave for cutting stuff that doesn't fit the developing story logic, but you do realise you're going to have to write something better than what you had to replace it?
To which I respond:
It's Sunday morning and the kids have had friends for a sleepover, Steve has headed out to teach in London. I have uni work to do today but the cat has just come in and is on my lap acting like he hasn't seen me in ten years.
I've just downloaded some new software for my website. I've had several ridiculous problems when I've tried to update it, so it's remained in the same sorry state for a long time. Rather than try to fix the site I've got, I'm just going to put up a new one sometime in the next few weeks. I'm going to have an integrated blog and I expect I'll get rid of my paid LJ account at that point and just keep this journal for checking on friends.
In a couple of weeks I'll be at World Fantasy Con, but only for the Friday afternoon. Steve has work that weekend, so I'm driving down on the Friday and coming back same day. Not looking forward to all the driving, but I'm really glad I'll be seeing friends there. I'm on two panels:'The End is Now' at 2 pm and 'Do Awards Really Matter?' at 5 pm. I don't know the other participants yet, but I'll try and update this when I find out more.
Sadly, I won't be able to manage Bristolcon this year. It's really too bad, but not a lot I can do. Every time I go to a con on a weekend, Steve has to stay home with the kids. Weekends are his best chance at earning money, so I have to ration my Saturdays and Sundays carefully.
I've started 'The Quantum World'. So far, so good! It's challenging, for sure. But my math skills are improving all the time and I'm hoping it will just be a case of going over the material again and again until it sinks in. I'm also re-doing the big physics course from last year, because I never took the exam. I've forgotten half the stuff! Entropy, entropy--or was it 'Infamy, infamy!'
Writing-wise, I'm still doing the new SF novel. I have a wall covered with big pieces of paper with sticky notes all over them showing relationships and sequence. And I have a GIGANTIC file of material that doesn't fit the structure. I've just gone right back to the beginning and I'm working through it on a different tack. Yet again, I have had to cut a lot of really good stuff, which feels like a test of character.
I'm like: Sullivan, you are really brave for cutting stuff that doesn't fit the developing story logic, but you do realise you're going to have to write something better than what you had to replace it?
To which I respond:
August 17, 2013
fuck tensors
I'm in the beanbag in the sitting room, under headphones. Lemon cake. Tea. Debussy on headphones. Notebooks and index cards all over the place. Putting together the bones of this novel.
Last few days I have been conscious of the changing light. This time of the summer always feels poignant to me, because I know that in just over a month the year will turn over to the dark side and life will become much harder work. I have a stack of physics books by my bed that I intended to read or revisit over the summer in preparation for the new academic year. I look at them every day and try to make myself feel guilty for not having ploughed through more than a couple of chapters. But you know what? I'm glad I haven't got to them. Instead, I have actually recharged my batteries for the first time in a long time.
I am blessed with very good health. Yet at the beginning of summer I was falling ill with every little bug. Some of my exam revision was done in bed because I was knocked down by every ratty schoolchild-borne virus, and for several weeks after exams I was unwell off and on. On two occasions in July I had to cancel plans to meet friends whom I really wanted to see because I was running a fever. Me, a fever! What?
I have a tendency to behave as though energy is limitless and I'm always so surprised when I wear out. I know in my head that for many people--anyone with chronic illness, for example--energy has to be measured and conserved with microscopic care. But I forget how this works until some physical setback strikes me in even the tiniest way. And then I realise how much I have been taking for granted.
When we were on holiday I slept and slept and read stuff on my kindle (I particularly recommend The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngoze Adichie). Right now, I'm charging up for winter. I'm getting out in daylight as much as I can, 'resting the eyes' (as my grandmother used to say) on the landscapes of Shropshire, seeing people (Nine Worlds Geekfest was great) and I'm moving forward with my writing work. In October I will probably angst about all the physics I'm not doing. In my heart of hearts I know this is because I don't love physics with the love that a genuine physics person would feel. I really can't help that. I work very hard on my courses, but this analytical problem-solving is never going to come naturally to me. I'm a stranger in a strange land, and that's OK.
So by choosing to come home to writing for the summer, I will have forgotten how to find the moment of inertia of an ice cream cone, even if it's only one scoop and the density is uniform. And I think I need to learn tensors for The Relativistic Universe and my copy of Vector Calculus with All the Tensors in it is staring accusingly at me but you know what? Just for now, fuck tensors.
Last few days I have been conscious of the changing light. This time of the summer always feels poignant to me, because I know that in just over a month the year will turn over to the dark side and life will become much harder work. I have a stack of physics books by my bed that I intended to read or revisit over the summer in preparation for the new academic year. I look at them every day and try to make myself feel guilty for not having ploughed through more than a couple of chapters. But you know what? I'm glad I haven't got to them. Instead, I have actually recharged my batteries for the first time in a long time.
I am blessed with very good health. Yet at the beginning of summer I was falling ill with every little bug. Some of my exam revision was done in bed because I was knocked down by every ratty schoolchild-borne virus, and for several weeks after exams I was unwell off and on. On two occasions in July I had to cancel plans to meet friends whom I really wanted to see because I was running a fever. Me, a fever! What?
I have a tendency to behave as though energy is limitless and I'm always so surprised when I wear out. I know in my head that for many people--anyone with chronic illness, for example--energy has to be measured and conserved with microscopic care. But I forget how this works until some physical setback strikes me in even the tiniest way. And then I realise how much I have been taking for granted.
When we were on holiday I slept and slept and read stuff on my kindle (I particularly recommend The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngoze Adichie). Right now, I'm charging up for winter. I'm getting out in daylight as much as I can, 'resting the eyes' (as my grandmother used to say) on the landscapes of Shropshire, seeing people (Nine Worlds Geekfest was great) and I'm moving forward with my writing work. In October I will probably angst about all the physics I'm not doing. In my heart of hearts I know this is because I don't love physics with the love that a genuine physics person would feel. I really can't help that. I work very hard on my courses, but this analytical problem-solving is never going to come naturally to me. I'm a stranger in a strange land, and that's OK.
So by choosing to come home to writing for the summer, I will have forgotten how to find the moment of inertia of an ice cream cone, even if it's only one scoop and the density is uniform. And I think I need to learn tensors for The Relativistic Universe and my copy of Vector Calculus with All the Tensors in it is staring accusingly at me but you know what? Just for now, fuck tensors.
August 8, 2013
work in progress
I've hit on a writing strategy for the summer that's working really well. Instead of my usual approach, which would be to try to get 2000 words a day every day with maybe one day a week off, I'm doing every other day 4000 words each.
What I like about this is that on the off days I'm free to spend time with the kids and get stuff done--always lots of that. And on the on days, I'm so pedal-to-metal that there isn't time to think about what I'm doing. I have to just do it. I actually love writing fast. It's like downhill skiing. OK, I crash into trees a lot, but it's still really fun. It forces me to get over myself.
On the physics front, I saw this article yesterday about places going unfilled in teacher training courses for secondary school physics. I get e-mails and phone calls regularly from the teacher training agency; they are actively recruiting physics teachers and it's really, really nice to be wanted for a job! SO REFRESHINGLY DIFFERENT FROM BEING A WRITER!!!! I have been waffling about whether to go all the way for the BSc honours degree (360 credits) or just take the flat BSc (300 credits) and get on a training programme. If I apply this year for next fall I should be a strong candidate for School Direct, and they pay you a salary to train on the job. This would be really helpful and I'm thinking seriously about applying while I'm doing courses in quantum physics and relativity or maybe quantum physics and astrophysics. Eep! I'm studying quantum physics from October! All the math is finally starting to pay off in setting me up to learn the freaky things.
Trouble is, although I could always pick up the extra 60 credits later, I doubt very much I can teach full time and pick up 30 credits a year and also write at any sort of useful rate. I could teach and write or teach and study but not do all three. And I'd really love to have the honours degree just in case some day I wanted to do a Master's in Applied Maths or maybe statistical biology or...or...gosh, so much interesting stuff out there! I want to learn it all. I keep wishing I'd gone for neuroscience instead of physics because it's such an exciting area right now, but the OU doesn't have the kind of courses I'd need.
So I am not sure. One thing I am sure of is that this SF novel will be going down by the time I go to Fantasticon in September. I don't care if I have to blow up a universe or two to simplify the plot, I'm finishing it!
What I like about this is that on the off days I'm free to spend time with the kids and get stuff done--always lots of that. And on the on days, I'm so pedal-to-metal that there isn't time to think about what I'm doing. I have to just do it. I actually love writing fast. It's like downhill skiing. OK, I crash into trees a lot, but it's still really fun. It forces me to get over myself.
On the physics front, I saw this article yesterday about places going unfilled in teacher training courses for secondary school physics. I get e-mails and phone calls regularly from the teacher training agency; they are actively recruiting physics teachers and it's really, really nice to be wanted for a job! SO REFRESHINGLY DIFFERENT FROM BEING A WRITER!!!! I have been waffling about whether to go all the way for the BSc honours degree (360 credits) or just take the flat BSc (300 credits) and get on a training programme. If I apply this year for next fall I should be a strong candidate for School Direct, and they pay you a salary to train on the job. This would be really helpful and I'm thinking seriously about applying while I'm doing courses in quantum physics and relativity or maybe quantum physics and astrophysics. Eep! I'm studying quantum physics from October! All the math is finally starting to pay off in setting me up to learn the freaky things.
Trouble is, although I could always pick up the extra 60 credits later, I doubt very much I can teach full time and pick up 30 credits a year and also write at any sort of useful rate. I could teach and write or teach and study but not do all three. And I'd really love to have the honours degree just in case some day I wanted to do a Master's in Applied Maths or maybe statistical biology or...or...gosh, so much interesting stuff out there! I want to learn it all. I keep wishing I'd gone for neuroscience instead of physics because it's such an exciting area right now, but the OU doesn't have the kind of courses I'd need.
So I am not sure. One thing I am sure of is that this SF novel will be going down by the time I go to Fantasticon in September. I don't care if I have to blow up a universe or two to simplify the plot, I'm finishing it!
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