Tate Hallaway's Blog, page 42
April 5, 2010
Philip K. Dick Winner
As a past special citation winner of this award, I like to pass on this news:
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2010 Philip K. Dick Award Winner Announced
It was announced on Friday, April 2, at Norwescon 33, in SeaTac, Washington, that the winner for the distinguished original science fiction paperback published for the first time during 2009 in the U.S.A. is:
BITTER ANGELS by C. L. Anderson (Ballantine Books Spectra)
Special citation was given to:
CYBERABAD DAYS by Ian McDonald (Pyr)
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March 31, 2010
Change Genres Class (On-Line)
*** PERMISSION TO FORWARD GRANTED***
Workshop: Changing Genres: How to Decide What to Keep & What to Dump, What to Change, What to Enhance, When Following Trends, Jumping into Different "Lines" or Going Down a New Road
Speaker: Beth Daniels
Date: April 5 - 30, 2010
DESCRIPTION: The publishing world is in constant transition with different aspects in novels changing, sometimes over a decade, sometimes - it seems - nearly overnight. Will you be ready? Or are you already thinking of jumping from...
March 30, 2010
Dealing with Blank Pages
On Facebook, I got this question in response to the status update that I was beginning work on the sequel to ALMOST TO DIE FOR (NAL, August 2010):
How do you motivate yourself when you're staring at a blank page? It kills me every time.
The deeply personal reply to this is that I'm actually MORE afraid of working on the novel in progress than I am of a blank page. In fact, I actually open up a new document every time I sit down to write. I do that in order to lie to myself. The lie I tell...
March 29, 2010
RT Review
Jill M. Smith reviewed Honeymoon of the Dead (Berkley, May 2010) for Romantic Times Book Reviews. She gave it 4 stars (highest = 4 1/2) and said:
The fifth and final chapter of witch Garnet Lacey's adventures comes to an offbeat conclusion. Garnet has grown throughout the books, but this time, some of her earlier misdeeds come back to haunt her. This highly enjoyable series embodies the old saying, what can go wrong... Thanks to Hallaway for hours of escapist delight.
Given that I didn't KNOW t...
March 26, 2010
Novel Survey Parts II and III
Somehow I missed Jim C. Hines' publication of the novel survey results part II wherein he tackles the myth of the "overnight success" and "you have to know someone." Both myths -- BUSTED. Check out the results!
Here also is novel survey results part III in which he asks the question: "Can you boost your odds?" of being published by attending conventions, being in a writers group, having an advanced degree in creative writing, etc. The answer to this one is less clear, but interesting...
March 25, 2010
Self-Promotion Class
***PERMISSION TO FORWARD***
SELF-PROMOTION: Does the very term make you cringe? Do you suffer from "Not-Doing-Enough-Self-Promotion" guilt? Do you think self-promotion is something you'll have time to learn AFTER getting The Call? Here's THE online workshop for you:
April 5th – 18th -- "GUILT-FREE AUTHOR PROMOTION: Picking the Right PR Options For You"
PR consultant/Berkley author Marcia James and a slate of promotion-savvy guest lecturers will present this two-week online workshop that...
March 24, 2010
Still Irritated
The more I think about the question my friend asked yesterday, the more I'm irritated by it. (For those of you just tuning in, the question was:)
When people who aren't writers suggest that if you hate certain parts of writing, maybe you shouldn't do it, do you want to wring their necks, or do you just think it's time to be less honest about your feelings?
Yesterday, I answered: wring their bloody necks. Today, I say: do it, twice. It's justifiable homicide.
Thing is, I suspect that one of the r...
March 23, 2010
Art isn't a Luxury
A fellow writer and friend of mine asked this question:
When people who aren't writers suggest that if you hate certain parts of writing, maybe you shouldn't do it, do you want to wring their necks, or do you just think it's time to be less honest about your feelings?
Wring their bloody necks!
As I told her privately, I think there's a bunch of things wrong with the basic assumption of this question. At the heart of it is the issue that, in this country at least, art of any kind, including...
March 22, 2010
An Old Joke, but a Good One
This morning, while taking Mason to school, I had to stop the car to let a wild turkey cross the road on Summit near Victoria. I excitedly pointed it out to Mason, who looked up from his Pokemon book and said, "Huh, the chicken must have had the day off!"
My son, the comedian.
March 19, 2010
What She Said
