Nick Thacker's Blog, page 24

A Silly Robot’s Guide to Writing Sci-Fi: Part 1 – Research

Note from Nick: This is a guest post from areally good friend (like, “stood-in-my-wedding-and-I-in-his” sort of friend). So there. He’s a great writer, an awesome storyteller, and he makes a mean Southern-style cornbread (the only kind).

Enter Will:

Over at sillyrobots.wordpress.com we have a saying:

Well not really, but I like to think we do…or something like that.

Anyway… I’m a writer like most of you. I write mostly science fiction short stories, but I have written a crappy novel as well. It’s...

Oblique Strategies – Tips for Igniting Your Creative Fire

“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.”?Scott Adams

[image error]Creativity is one of those elusive creatures that strikes you down at the strangest moments and can seem to abandon you when you most desperately seek it. No matter which industry you work in, all of us need to stoke the fire of creativity at some point, which can make its capricious nature all the more maddening. The greatest minds throughout history have all had to deal with the creative strugg...

Episode 2: Set Yourself Up for Success

[image error]This is part of the writing series Specific Generic Advice, and you see the full list of posts here. It’s sort of like a “Selling Books” 101, but really awesome.

We talked last week about writing a great book. It might seem weird, then, to talk about planning, preparing, and setting things upafterthat, but I still think that writing a great book issoimportant it should get talked about first.

So, then, what issuccess?Obviously it’s a point we all want to reach. If we’re already there, we wantst...

Specific Generic Advice – Episode 2: Set Yourself Up for Success

This is part of the writing series Specific Generic Advice, and you see the full list of posts here. It’s sort of like a “Selling Books” 101, but really awesome.

We talked last week about writing a great book. It might seem weird, then, to talk about planning, preparing, and setting things upafterthat, but I still think that writing a great book issoimportant it should get talked about first.

So, then, what issuccess?Obviously it’s a point we all want to reach. If we’re already there, we wantst...

What Are You Doing to Grow Your Online Home Base?

It’s a day late, but if you’re in America, I hope you’re enjoying Veteran’s Day (it’s weird, I think, to say “Happy Veteran’s Day”).

I hope you’ll take a brief moment to honor those who have served in our military at home and abroad, and that we recognize the ultimate sacrifice many have paid to keep this nation great and free.

I ran a giveaway here not too long ago that’s recently ended, and three lucky winners have been selected to receive Anne Dorko’s awesome Anatomy Theme for WordPress (a $...

7 Best iPad Apps for Freelance Writers

[image error]Note from Nick: This is a guest post from Hugh Yearsley, a freelance tech writer. Also, since this post is about apps, thereare affiliate links throughout. Just sayin’…

Enter Hugh:

Writing on a freelance basis can be fraught with enough problems at the best of times without technology being a barrier, so you need to be on top of the game at all times. Whether you’re at home or on the move, to be as competitive as possible in an increasingly tough market, you need to be able to work on the move,...

Episode 1: Write A Good Book

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This is part of the writing series Specific Generic Advice, and you see the full list of posts here. It’s sort of like a “Selling Books” 101, but really awesome.

Possibly the most obvious words I’ve ever uttered (or “typed”),write a good bookprobably isn’t too helpful for you.

However, we can both agree that these words are true. If you want to succeed in a world whereliterallyanyone can publish, anyone can be a writer, and anyone can sell books if they want, youneedto have a good product.

It’s...

Specific Generic Advice – Episode 1: Write A Good Book

This is part of the writing series Specific Generic Advice, and you see the full list of posts here. It’s sort of like a Writing Fiction 101, but really awesome.

Possibly the most obvious words I’ve ever uttered (or “typed”),write a good bookprobably isn’t too helpful for you.

However, we can both agree that these words are true. If you want to succeed in a world whereliterallyanyone can publish, anyone can be a writer, and anyone can sell books if they want, youneedto have a good product.

It’s...

Want to Grow Your Blog? Try A Giveaway

In case you haven’t noticed, we ran a giveaway here last Friday.

It was a pretty sweet deal, too: leave a comment (or follow us on Twitter, or tweet about it, or all of the above…) and enter to win a copy of the premium Anatomy theme for WordPress. The contest is still running throughout the week, so make sure you enter as much as possible until then!

It’s been going well — really well. Here’s a look at the traffic results:

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(That last day on the end was Friday!)

Essentially, we had a ~20% jump in...

A Better Way to Engage Your Readers: Go Responsive

Note from Nick: This is a guest post from Anne Dorko, who buildsamazing WordPress themes, like her newest Anatomy Theme. If you’d like a chance (or a bunch of chances!) to win a copy of the theme, read through the post and you’ll see the contest rules at the bottom!

As a writer, you are probably also a reader.

As a reader, you know from personal experience that readers want access to their content any time and anywhere at their wanton whims.

You have readers of your own (or at least you plan on...