Steven R. Southard's Blog

What Was I Doing at ICON 49.5?

Last Saturday, I had a wonderful time at ICON 49.5. Most often held in Cedar Rapids, the Iowa Scifi Conference, or ICON, took place in Iowa City this year. Poised to celebrate their fiftieth anniversary in 2026, they decided to hold a one-day mini-conference this time, hence 49.5.

Book Signing

Conference organizers allowed me to set up at a table in the Iowa City Book Fair taking place the same day. For six hours, people stopped by to talk, look over my books, and buy some. I enjoyed shari...

How to Bargain with Your Inner Critic

Have you held a sit-down with your inner critic? You know, that voice inside that’s always telling you you’re no good, that you shouldn’t raise your hand in class, that it’s safer to stand near the wall than to get out on the dance floor. Writers call that voice their “inner editor,” because it questions everything they write—the style, the organization, the spelling. The voice tells writers nobody will buy their stories and they should give up and pursue something else.

Scoff McGrouser, cour...

Author Panel at Leaves Bakery and Books

On Sunday, I participated in an author discussion panel at Leaves Bakery and Books in Fort Worth, Texas. What it lacked in audience size it made up for in lively conversation about books with like-minded writers.

Josh Hickman, Scott Finley, Craig Shaneck, and me

Josh Hickman

Author Josh Hickman talked about his recent book Forgetting, The Trials and Triumphs of Caregiving for a Difficult Parent with Dementia. It details his struggles as a caregiver for his mother during her decline, an...

Love the Book, Forgive the Author?

Do you refuse to read books written by authors who’ve held offensive beliefs or committed objectionable acts? Are their books, however well written, tainted by the author’s extra-literary reputation?

Image created at Perchance.org. Note: I do not mean to imply or suggest that any author, living or dead, mentioned in this post or not, is demonic or akin to a devil.Controversial Authors

Rather than provide a complete list, I’ll mention a few, having found several discussed on this Reddit ...

You’ll Never Sell Books in a Bakery, They Said

Thank you to Challyn Hartogh and her staff at Leaves Bakery and Tea Shop in Fort Worth, Texas. My book signing event there last Sunday went well.

The author at Leaves Bakery and Tea Shop

Located in an eclectic neighborhood of old buildings redone as trendy shops, Leaves Bakery and Tea Shop emphasizes muffins and tea, but caters to authors as well. After all, once you buy your scone and hot drink, you feel the urge to read a book, right?

And, yes, we all get the clever pun—leaves…books a...

The Island’s Still Mysterious After 150 Years

This month marks a century and a half since the publication of Jules Verne’s The Mysterious Island. Maybe you think you don’t care, but read on. That novel changed a genre forever, and pointed readers toward new ways to think about survival.

Partial Summary

Near the end of the American Civil War, five Union prisoners escape a Confederate camp by balloon. Swept away by a storm, they must, at last, abandon their balloon and jump into the sea. They crawl ashore and identify the landmass a...

Fanfiction—A Great Way to Start

Writers start as readers. We fall in love with stories written by favorite authors. Often, we seek to write like them. Some of us invent new stories involving favorite characters and settings. That is, we write fanfiction.

Types

Many varieties of fanfiction exist. You could write new adventures, where you take the original work’s characters on fresh escapades within their world. In Fix-it Fic, you write a tale correcting what you see as a flaw in the original work. Author Katie Redefer,...

8 Rules for Writing Better

An article written by speaker, writer, and life coach Brad Stulberg caught my eye. It bore the grandiose title “8 Rules to do Everything Better.” Really? Everything?

Image from Pixabay.com

I’d love to do everything better. At the moment, I stink at mountain-climbing, neurosurgery, trombone-playing, the decathlon, and a couple of other activities. However, I’d settle for writing better, so I figured I’d see if the eight rules applied to fiction writing. What follows are Mr. Stulberg’s rules,...

Did You See Me at Half Price Books?

Thank you to Michaela Huff and the rest of the staff at the Half Price Books store near Ridgmar Mall in Fort Worth, Texas. I enjoyed a wonderful book signing event there on Saturday.

Staff member Jesse set up my table and chair in a commanding position just inside the front door. Incoming customers couldn’t help seeing me there. I focused on my new book, The Seastead Chronicles, but also offered several others, too.

I enjoyed talking to all the patrons who came in and stopped to chat...

Advice from a Writing Cowboy

If you’re an accomplished author, folks might ask you to speak to groups every now and then. I’ve heard plenty of such talks, but none like a recent one from Michael Johnson.

Blue and Michael JohnsonBio

A true cowboy, Michael Johnson lives on a Texas horse farm. Unlike many cowboys, he earned a doctorate at East Texas State University. He’s authored several award-winning books, has performed hundreds of stage shows, writes a nationally syndicated magazine column, and hosts a weekly radi...