Nat Russo's Blog, page 2
July 14, 2020
Crash and Burn
The post Crash and Burn appeared first on A Writer's Journey.
You win some, you lose some, as the saying goes. Just as I was ramping back up on work on Necromancer Ascending, my ancient MSI laptop finally gave up the ghost. I’m talking brick territory. It had been giving me problems, on and off, for the last year or so. A few months ago, I disassembled it and gave it a thorough cleaning (I’ve worked on and maintained PCs for more than 30 years, so this wasn’t a risky activity for me). Then, over...
May 30, 2020
A whole year!?
The post A whole year!? appeared first on A Writer's Journey.
If you’re observant, and you take a close look at the dates on these blog articles, you’ll see something disturbing. It’s been nearly an entire year since my last post. So, what’s been going on that has kept me so busy? More importantly, what the heck is the deal with Necromancer Ascending!? The Long, Sad Story Okay, maybe that’s a little over dramatic. It’s neither long nor sad, really. In fact, quite the opposite. Sure, there are so...
June 9, 2019
To 1, or To 0: Translating Binary in Fiction
The post To 1, or To 0: Translating Binary in Fiction appeared first on A Writer's Journey.
Binary in fiction is often laughable to an engineer like me. You’ve all seen the same scenes I have. A scientific research facility gets a signal from outer space. After several try/fail cycles, one of the junior scientists has a Eureka! moment. “Eureka! It’s binary!” the scientist says. [At least, I hope not. I really hope the writer does a better job than that. But, you get the idea.] Within hours (o...
May 18, 2019
Do You Have a Dangling Participle?
The post Do You Have a Dangling Participle? appeared first on A Writer's Journey.
For that matter, what is a dangling participle? Those of you who have followed the blog for a while know that I periodically gather questions people ask on Twitter with an eye toward writing a larger response here. Some questions simply require more space or finesse than 280 characters will allow. This isn’t one of them. But I’m going to do it anyway, because it has been too damned long since you friendly folks...
January 13, 2019
Are You Still an Aspiring Writer?
The post Are You Still an Aspiring Writer? appeared first on A Writer's Journey.
You’ve been writing for days, months, years, perhaps decades. You have a few pages or paragraphs under your belt. Or, perhaps, you have partially finished manuscripts collecting dust somewhere. But, you just can’t bring yourself to use the word writer. Are you still an aspiring writer? If you answered yes, you’re not alone. You’re wrong. Misguided. Lacking a certain amount of self-confidence and a personal sense...
August 26, 2018
How To Beat Writer’s Block in 30 Minutes
The post How To Beat Writer’s Block in 30 Minutes appeared first on A Writer's Journey.
Have you ever reached a point where the thought of opening Scrivener (or your document editor of choice) filled you with not only dread, but disgust? Have you ever stared at your laptop and silently uttered the words, “I just can’t even…”? It may not have had anything to do with lack of inspiration! It’s just that you couldn’t bring yourself to take another slog through your work-in-progress. If you’ve exp...
August 11, 2018
How to Become An Author
The post How to Become An Author appeared first on A Writer's Journey.
Every once in a while, an aspiring author reaches out to me to ask how I did it. How did I manage to accomplish the seemingly Herculean task of becoming a published author of a series of bestselling novels? While the voices of these authors are different, the sense of incredulity and exasperation are all the same. I can tell, through inference, that they’ve asked this question before of countless other authors. I suspect t...
April 22, 2018
Research Is Writing. Stop Berating Yourself.
The post Research Is Writing. Stop Berating Yourself. appeared first on A Writer's Journey.
The most important thing you’ll do for your story is to get the details right. Spending time on research is every bit as important as writing the prose. Why? Because research is writing. If you’re an independent author who creates your own deadlines, you may want to rethink some things… Your daily word-count goal is killing you (AKA “An odd place to begin this article, but trust me…”) I hear the collec...
March 16, 2018
Quora Names Russo Top Writer for 2018
The post appeared first on A Writer's Journey.
I received a truly unexpected honor this morning. Jonathan Brill, Head of Global Writer Relations for Quora, reached out to me to inform me I’ve been named as one of their Top Writers for 2018. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the site, Quora is a question-and-answer site where anyone can sign up, post a question, and wait for answers to start rolling in. The awesome thing is that many of the people...
January 16, 2018
Discount on The Mukhtaar Chronicles This Week
The post Discount on The Mukhtaar Chronicles This Week appeared first on A Writer's Journey.
Hi friends! This week only, both Necromancer Awakening and Necromancer Falling, books one and two of the international bestselling fantasy series The Mukhtaar Chronicles, are on discount for $0.99! Additionally, the standalone novella The Road To Dar Rodon, which follows the adventure of a much younger Mujahid Mukhtaar as he journeys across Erindor seeking vengeance, is absolutely free! Sale ends Frid...
