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Anticipation!

Monday, October 13th, 2008
          Last week was extraordinarily productive for me. I posted a podcast for Writing Thyme, finished worked on the 4th draft of my novel and sent it off to a friend to read, and posted an introduction to my short story feed Treeless Shorts. Now, I’m debating on what to do next week. Of course, I’ll post another episode of Writing Thyme. But that’s just what I do for Monday. I’ve got to work on short stories related to my aforementioned novel, and edit the ones I’ve already written.           So, that’s that. Now, about the title of this post, Anticipation! As I wrote, I sent off my latest draft of my latest novel… Read More

Coping with Critique

Monday, August 11th, 2008
          I am a part of a fortunate group of writers who has found other writers willing (and able) to read and comment on my work. The comments from the members of my group have forced me to improve my craft and hone my skills. They have helped me take what I now consider to be rough drafts and turn them into pieces I’m proud to send out. They are a group of people I call friends.           However, part of receiving critiques is getting criticism. As I get better at writing, the criticism is easier to take and has become more a process of fine-tuning an already good piece than teaching me how to write. But, as happened to me… Read More

Sifting Through the Slush

Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008
          One of the real downsides about the broadening world of self-publication/self-marketing is that it cuts out the middle-man who sometimes acts as a quality filter. That means, the consumer is either stuck with the ugly and time-consuming task for sifting through the slush (slush is a writing industry term referring to the pile of submissions on an editor’s or publisher’s desk, made by writers who neither have contracts nor agents) themselves.           How about a website that rates self-published authors/artists/musicians! The site could make money by using Google Addsense. And that would be it’s public side. It could… Read More