Easy Writing

Okay, here is a sentence I never thought I would ever type. I’m finding Frank Sinatra music is easy to write to. Yes, me. Frank Sinatra. Got a problem with that? I guess it’s all those 4-4 beats and jaunty melodies, but it just kind of keeps the fingers going–at least it did this morning. […]

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Lesson Learned

Okay, I’ve learned a bit of a lesson. The idea of splitting a short story out of a novel is great, and all. But let me tell you that the process can be a bit of a pain in the backside. The sub-plot story of my two pilots is rounding into shape, but the process […]

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Submission Paralysis?

I’m not really a new writer, but with my break in service I get to do a bit of an imitation of one. With the announcement that Asimov’s is accepting electronic submissions, I thought it might be worthwhile to talk about the current state of the submittal game things today vs. where it was a […]

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Tobias Buckell Makes Time Fly

After a very brief writing stint this morning, we went to the gym for our traditional three-hour torture test. Among the items I spent the time listening to this time was A Jar of Goodwill, by Tobias Buckell. It’s just been published in audio form by Clarkesworld this month. It’s a really nice piece that […]

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Day Off, Day On

Two early morning meetings for my real job put the brakes on any real progress yesterday, so I decided to take the day off from word creation. This represents the first day I haven’t created words in probably a month. I’m not sure, really. I should probably be tracking it. Regardless, today I jumped back […]

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Zombies, Grass, and Other Fancy Stuff

I admit I’m not an expert in the field of zombie stories, but I’ve got to think Maureen McHugh’s The Naturalist is a really outstanding example. For those of you who mow the lawn with self-propelled push mowers, here’s a little learning I had last night…when the self-propeller dies, those things are a pain in […]

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Piecing Things Together

I pulled all the threads of my “pilot story” together to look at them as a stand-alone short story. Strangely, they came up to–you got it–right at 9,500 words. I seriously wonder if I’m ever again going to write a story that doesn’t weigh in at something other than 9-12K. This was an interesting process, […]

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Recommended Listening

I’ve mentioned a time or two that I’m spending quite a bit of time at the gym the past few months, and that this has given me quite a bit of opportunity to listen to various podcasts. I thought it was only proper that I mention a few pieces that I’ve particularly liked. If you […]

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Green Patents and Whatnot

I came across this story about issues with getting things done in the world of Green Tech, which, I think, highlights our current issue. I mean, more research is great and more innovation is also good. But the issues around implementation of greener technology is not the technology or even the general interest of the […]

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