Ruth Nestvold's Blog, page 26
February 1, 2015
Advice for C.C. Finlay
I got a kick out of this. I received many alas-o-grams in my day, but I always kept trying, since Gordon was so wonderful about rejecting promptly, which meant I could turn my stories around way faster than with any other market. I had the great good fortune of selling one story to GVG, “Mars: A Traveler’s Guide,” which ended up being nominated for a Nebula. :)
Originally posted on Oliver Buckram:
Congratulations to C.C. Finlay (CCF), who has just been named the editor of The Ma...
The first draft of Facets of Glass finished!
I put in a pretty intense writing week in order to earn my little monster, as I explained in this post.
So in order to complete the challenge by the end of the month, I wrote 8000 words this week. The week before, my word count was 5700. And all of that constantly looking up details about glassmaking, travel times in the 17th – 18th century, Bohemian glassworks, regions in Venice, etc. etc.
I know from experience that writing projects that don’t require a lot of research can result in way mor...
January 30, 2015
An Open Letter To WordPress
This is all so terribly true! I *hate* the new editor. And I *hate* the new stats page. WordPress used to ask me which I preferred and why, but now they don’t anymore. Go figure.
Originally posted on Fish Of Gold:
Dear WordPress.com,
I am loath to write yet another letter to you, since I typically prefer to spend my time writing actual blog posts, but I���ve been bitching on Twitter and in your forums to no avail, so maybe you���ll pay attention to a blog post. It���s not likely,...
January 21, 2015
An update and a suspicious gift for #WIPpet Wednesday
It’s my granddaughter’s fifth birthday today. Which, of course, is really cool. But OMG was she in high energy mode today. Worse than Christmas (a comment I’m pretty sure most parents will understand.)
OTOH, after I picked her up from day care and was bringing her home, we met a neighbor we don’t have much contact with, and she asked if Mira was my daughter. Kinda nice at my age to be mistaken for the mother of a five-year-old. :)
Anyway, with birthday and spaghetti and a sick older sister we...
January 19, 2015
Two free science fiction books
This week, I’m giving away books again, science fiction stories and a novella this time.
The Future, Imperfect is a collection of near future, dystopian short stories by Ruth Nestvold. Environmental changes — slow in some regions, catastrophic in others — have had a major effect on our world, not for the better. While water wars and pandemics have devastated the Mediterranean region, and a major earthquake and the resulting destruction of nuclear power plants and sensitive research facilities...
January 18, 2015
Writing for (a) Cthulhu
My writing progress this past week has been better than usual, and this is the reason:
At the last Villa Diodati workshop in France, VD13 (for which I still have to write a report, mea culpa), Sylvia was crocheting these lovely little monsters, and she promised to make one for me and Nancy if we finished our WIPs by the end of January.
Well, when I got back from France, I got a bit distracted by Life complications that cropped up while I was gone. My writing suffered for a while as a result....
January 16, 2015
Fantasy Maps on Fiverr
What an excellent idea! If I ever get around to publishing the Rose Knight stories I wrote with Jay Lake, I think I will try this too. :)
Originally posted on The Indie Colophon:
Having a map of your invented world is pretty much a staple in fantasy fiction. When your story covers foreign terrain existing��only in your head, it helps to give your reader a guide. I knew I wanted a map for my fantasy novel, I just had to figure out how to take it from my imagination to reality.
My...
January 14, 2015
“More precious than gold” : an update and an excerpt
We may already be two weeks into the New Year, but this “Invocation for Beginnings” just showed up on a list I’m on, and I had to share it:
Since I’ve gotten over the head cold, the year has been pretty productive for me. Here’s hoping I can keep up the momentum! Some of the things I’ve gotten done since my last update:
– made the cover, formatted the text, and published the final installment of Yseult, Part IV
- published a new installment of my “Starting out as an indie author” series, “Wh...
January 12, 2015
Why “write the next book” isn’t enough; Or: What to do if your books aren’t selling.
In this installment of my series, I am going to take it as a given that you’ve written a good book and either had it professionally edited, or critiqued by several colleagues in a workshop or through critique exchanges, or sent the manuscript out to multiple beta readers — or all of the above.
It the story is lame, the writing bad, or the manuscript riddled with spelling mistakes and grammatical errors, changing the cover or blurb won’t help increase sales. If your book hasn’t already been th...
January 11, 2015
25 of the most majestic libraries in the world
I had to share this, especially once I saw that the city where I live is represented:
I’ve been to five of the lovely sites listed, which isn’t bad at 20%. :) View the rest of the amazing book paradises here:
http://www.boredpanda.com/extraordinary-libraries/
These are my favorites, even if they aren’t Stuttgart:
I’ve been to both Prague and Den Haag but not the libraries. Hopefully someday I will be able to remedy that situation. :)
