Random late night thoughts

I’ve been going on a lot of late night walks lately, just wandering restlessly around Provo.  Tonight I had some interesting thoughts about how much I’ve changed in the last year.  Surprisingly, I’ve grown a lot. Last  year at this time, I was all geared up for World Fantasy Convention.  I had just finished Bringing… Continue reading Random late night thoughts

Worldcon 2011: Thursday

Wow, the last couple days have been packed with awesome con-stuff, but I’ve got a short break so I thought I’d blog about it. Thursday was great, attended a few panels but mostly just wandered around meeting people.  I’m a little surprised with how many people read this blog.  Got Brandon to sign my Kindle,… Continue reading Worldcon 2011: Thursday

T minus 24 hours and counting…

That’s right!  After much wrangling, I formatted it this morning and published it to Amazon this afternoon.  In less than 24h hours, it should be up for sale! In many ways, Bringing Stella Home is a lot different from Genesis Earth.  For one, the scope is much larger, with the rise and fall of galactic… Continue reading T minus 24 hours and counting…

Buy me lunch and I’ll teach you how to make an ebook

Okay, this is insane.  For a long time, I’ve kept up with Writer Beware as a source for quality news about publishing scams, but now…huh? Recently, Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Katherine Rusch have been giving a TON of warnings about “agent-publishers” –agents who are electronically publishing their clients when they’re supposed to represent their… Continue reading Buy me lunch and I’ll teach you how to make an ebook

Disappointment and a shift in direction

So the latest round of judging for the 2011 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award came out today…and Genesis Earth didn’t make the cut. Oh well, at least I made it to the quarter finals.  Most of the reviews were encouraging, though the one from Publisher’s Weekly made me wonder if the reviewer had something against science… Continue reading Disappointment and a shift in direction

Killing the sacred cows while doing data entry

Sorry for the lack of blog posts; I’ve been working 40 hours a week at this temp job, which doesn’t leave a lot of time for other things outside of writing.  I’m still plugging along at about 1k to 2k words per day, but a lot of other stuff is falling behind.  Fortunately, the job… Continue reading Killing the sacred cows while doing data entry

Paradigm shifts and finding balance

Yesterday, I was going to write a post about how pathetic this past week was: I only wrote about 1.5k per day (while unemployed), and spent most of my time on the internet reading blogs. However, after reading some more of Dean Wesley Smith’s blog series, Kililng the Sacred Cows of Publishing, I have to… Continue reading Paradigm shifts and finding balance

Thoughts on traditional vs. indie publishing

In case you didn’t know, the publishing industry is in the throes of a major revolution.  With the growing popularity of e-books and the collapse of distribution channels and chain bookstores such as Borders, traditional business models are proving simply untenable. I’ve been perusing several internet sources to make sense of all the craziness, among… Continue reading Thoughts on traditional vs. indie publishing

Got a bite!

Just yesterday, I got a response to a query for Genesis Earth that I emailed to an agent at Nelson Literary Agency, LLC.  Apparently, my query piqued their interest and they wanted to see the first 30 pages of my manuscript! It’s not a huge development, of course–they haven’t requested the full, just a partial–but… Continue reading Got a bite!

Trading old hangups for new ones

So I started my internship with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy last week, and it’s been quite interesting.  Trying to figure out the new routine while starting a new novel has been quite challenging, but somehow, I’ve written at least something every day (except Sunday–I try not to write Sundays now). I can… Continue reading Trading old hangups for new ones