Kelly McCullough's Blog, page 102

Reassuring Places

This is a comment by Dancing Liza to an earlier post. I thought I'd copy it here, so we can answer the question, if we chose to:

I was reading a writing magazine the other day and they did a feature asking writers if they had any "essentials" they kept in their writing spaces and/or any pre-writing rituals that helped encourage them to get down to business. For example, one man kept a little aquarium on his desk that he said helped him feel so tranquil, he could just shut off the rest of the w...

This is a comment from Dancing Liza to an earlier post. I...

This is a comment from Dancing Liza to an earlier post. I thought I'd copy it here, so we can answer the question, if we chose to:

I was reading a writing magazine the other day and they did a feature asking writers if they had any "essentials" they kept in their writing spaces and/or any pre-writing rituals that helped encourage them to get down to business. For example, one man kept a little aquarium on his desk that he said helped him feel so tranquil, he could just shut off the rest of...

Why Do You Hate Verbs, Artist?

Last night I couldn't find the paperback novel I've been reading, so I picked up a book that I'd taken out of the library. It's by someone I consider a colleague and happens to be on the Nebula ballot this year.

I started reading it. Then I threw it down in disgust.

The plot sounds awesome. The prose is beautiful. But there is a distinct lack of verbs.

Why? For the love of God, why, I ask you, do people feel that it's artistic or atmospheric to have sentences (no, technically FRAGMENTS) without...

Smart Things

Charlie's ongoing series on publishing misconceptions—book length.

Lilith Saintcrow on why she loves this job.

Claire Light on the structure of story.

Book Cover Design - A Quick Look

Having sold a book*, people are of course already asking me about cover art. Do I know what it will be? Have I seen it? Do I know when it will be done?

Let me answer these questions in order: No. No. And...no.

And, in anticipation of the next question, no, I don't know if I will have any input on it. Let's just say that, having spoken to other authors, I'm not going to hold my breath on that one.

However, if you are interested in what goes into a book cover's design, Lauren Panepinto over at Orb...

Confidence and Confidants

This is not a post about writing--at least, not at its core. It matters very much to the process of writing, though, so I'll share it here.

______

It's been a long time since I've written on this blog. More than a year. I don't bring that up as a commentary admitting to my absence; it's germane to why I'm writing here today.

I didn't write on here because I wasn't writing at all. Last year I struggled a great deal with a lot of things, most of which I'll talk about here in time, all of which wer...

Saturday Cat Bloggin (Midway Edition)

Ms. Piggy (Morehouse) sits pretty on the radiator.

Friday Cat Blogging

3 cats in a 1 cat space…this is not going to end well.



Otter cat has lost her shell cracking stone :-(



Piano cat does not want piano played.



Or perhaps piano cat is just sun cat in a different beam.



I controlz da TV wif my mind…I mean head.



I just have very large bones!

Smart Things (Updated)

More on common publishing misconceptions from Charlie Stross. What authors actually sell to publishers. And Territories, Translations and Foreign Rights. If you're at all interested in the business of publishing this series is a must read.

Ursala Le Guin being interviewed about the Google Books deal. She doesn't like it any more than I do. In fact, she likes it a lot less.

The NYT with some more or less hard numbers on epublishing.

Updated to add: Jim Hines on why advances matter.

Smart Things

More on common publishing misconceptions from Charlie Stross. What authors actually sell to publishers. And Territories, Translations and Foreign Rights. If you're at all interested in the business of publishing this series is a must read.

Ursala Le Guin being interviewed about the Google Books deal. She doesn't like it any more than I do. In fact, she likes it a lot less.

The NYT with some more or less hard numbers on epublishing.