Andi Marquette's Blog: Andi Land, page 10

Land of Entrapment has left the building.

HI, PEEPS!

Well, I made a boo-boo and didn’t make this announcement last month like I should have. It’s an issue of me screwing up release dates versus publication dates and DUHHHHH. So I didn’t get to issue you fair warning on this. :/

ANYWAY! This is one of the things I’ve been up to.

My first mystery, Land of Entrapment, is no longer available for sale.

You heard that right. Land of Entrapment is no more, at least not as a new book. It has retired gracefully, as all authors hope their work...

I’m up to stuff…

Hi, peeps!

So I’ve got some stuff going on with regard to books n’ things, and I’m not going to announce anything just yet, but I did want everybody to know that I am, indeed, UP TO THINGS! ALL THE THINGS!

In the meantime, I’m writing a longish short story for consideration in a Halloween anthology and I’m working on a holiday novella (you’ve got to get that stuff in before mid-summer to make the fall/winter publication schedules). I’m also working on a crime novella for another project and m...

Why you need to care about craft

Hi, peeps!

Hope the weekend treated you well. Writer and editor Nann Dunne posted this link on a Yahoo discussion list a couple days ago and I’m sharing it here because Larry Brooks knows whereof he speaks.

In this particular blog, Larry points out 7 things that will make you a better novelist (and, by extension, writer).

Guess what?

It involves WORK.

So let’s have a think about this.

Here’s a quote from Larry’s blog (linked to above) that sums up what he’s driving at:

“Just write” is, in my...

Happy holidays…wait, what? Get your short stories ready!

Hi, peeps!

Hope everything and everybody are treating you well. April has been a whirlwind of crazy bizzy, but it’s all good.

Anyway, I bring up the holidays, friends, because there are usually many opportunities to submit short stories to holiday anthologies at many different publishers. Now, I’m not going to delve into whether or not said anthologies make money, but they remain pretty dang popular every year. And some publishers turn them into really cool fundraising opportunities for good...

10 things not to say (or do) to your editor

Hi, kids! Hope this past week has treated you well. The usual crazy going on here, but let’s take a moment and chat about something else writing-related.

EDITING.

OMG your blood is pumping, your juices are flowing and you’re just salivating at the mention of the word EDITING. It’s okay. I totally understand.

Anyway, yes, I am a writer but I started professionally editing way back in the early 1990s, during the Dark Ages when starving peasants tilled the soil outside the castle and if you want...

Clothes-minded

Well, HI, peeps!

It’s been a crazy busy couple of weeks. I’ve started writing again. That is, I started back to work on some novels I’ve had lying around on my hard drive. I did write a short story that got picked up last month for an anthology that’ll be published in the next few months. So my hiatus was kind of spotty. Heh.

ANYWAY. I’m currently getting some things ready for the upcoming GCLS conference in July in New Orleans. That involves a lot of thought about swag and what to bring and...

“It was a dark and stormy night”: on openers

Howdy, peeps!

So a couple of folks expressed interest in how to write an effective opener for a novel.

To which I say, “good luck.”

Heh.

And then I supply links LIKE THIS, which have the alleged “100 best first lines from novels”, posted by the American Book Review site. I must say, Iain M. Banks’ line from The Crow Road is a grabber: “It was the day my grandmother exploded.”

Hit that link at Amazon and you’ll be able to read the first few pages to determine what that’s about.

At any rate, wh...

Some publishing tips

HI, peeps!

Behold! The Ides of March!

I threw my Facebook page open to the winds and asked people what topics they would like me to blog on. It seems the top answers are “publishing” and “how-to.”

I’ve already blogged on those topics (I’ll post the links here so you can go see), but I can do a relatively quick overview here.

So. Let us begin!

DIY or not?
So let’s say you’ve got a draft of a novel written and you’re debating publication. Let’s say this is the first novel you’d like considered...

Yet another episode of “Ask Andi Random Questions”

Greetings, peeps!

I know. I’ve been out of the loop for a bit. Traveling and the like.

I did get some STELLAR news a couple days ago, however. The anthology that I co-edited with fellow author/editor R.G. Emanuelle made the finalists’ list for a Lambda award. That would be All You Can Eat: A Buffet of Lesbian Romance and Erotica. Hit that link to find out more. Many thanks to all who contributed (list at the link), our designer, Sue Niewiarowski, and to Ylva Publishing. We are honored to be a p...

Excerpt from my story “Red”

Hi, kids! I’m slowly emerging from my hiatus. Heh. In the meantime, here’s an excerpt from my story “Red,” which appears in the Bold Strokes Books anthology Myth and Magic: Queer Fairy Tales, ed. by Radclyffe and Stacia Seaman.

It was JUST published in December 2014, and in case you couldn’t tell from the title, it’s a bunch of stories that re-tell fairy tales queerly. That is, LGBTQ-ly! WOOO! The list of authors: Andrew J. Peters, Clifford Henderson, Allison Wonderland, J. Leigh Bailey, Andi...