An independent publishing co-op
Shortly after my first book was published, I attended WorldCon, the annual gathering of speculative fiction professionals that includes the Hugo Awards ceremony. I was excited to meet some of my favorite authors at last. On the first day, an SF writer whose first book had really impressed me showed up at an evening reception,…
The new year always makes me feel like I have another chance to get it right this time. To recover the joy of creating and spill words onto the page like a pitcher I’ve tipped over. The trouble is that by February I’ve usually discovered that I’m still me, that the ways I can sabotage…
In my house, Die Hard is a holiday movie. It’s not really Christmas until Hans Gruber falls from Nakatomi Tower. Not that we especially like watching someone go squish from a thousand feet up, but because Hans is one of the greatest bad guys to ever grace a screen, and he deserved no less than…
I’ve been feeling my mortality lately. Not that the end is looming, but I’m on the downhill side of my life expectancy, and my health is always lurking in the dark corners of my attention. Every random back twinge, every cough, every leg cramp… all of those things that never happened in my younger days…
Like many creators, I don’t like to share what I’m doing until I think I’ve honed it to perfection (as if there’s such a thing.) Not to my editor, not to my loved ones. I write slowly because I edit as I go, hoping to turn in the cleanest copy I can possibly manage. Nobody…
Last weekend, Nicole Givens Kurtz, Crymsyn Hart and I spent two days selling books at a small local convention. We had a lovely time chatting with kids and cosplayers and readers, and we even sold a few books. But every now and then someone would approach the table and say something that made it clear…
Sorry I missed posting last Tuesday. My fellow Shenanigator Nicole Givens Kurtz and I were honored to participate in a career Fair at a local facility for at-risk kids. These are the children that society seems determined to give up on, the ones who’ve been in and out of foster homes, on and off the…
Readers ask all the time where authors get their ideas. But first, I need to bring something to everyone’s attention. If you hang out on science websites at all, I imagine you’ve heard about Comet 3I/Atlas that’s visiting our solar system right now. In case you missed it, it’s an unusual little guy. The tail…
Hey, SF/fantasy/horror writers! Are you a beginner with questions about what you’re doing? Have you been at this game for years but aren’t sure what your next steps should be? Or are you looking for the perfect gift for the writer in your life? Check out the 2026 SAGA Writing Conference! SAGA is the preeminent…
Tuesday has taken me by surprise yet again, and I’m completely unprepared. So let me tell you some tales of writing times gone by. Many years ago, I went to a weekend writing conference at a mountain resort. We stayed in cabins that had four bedrooms and one large common area. On the first night,…