Ever since graduation in May, I’ve been doing my best to support myself and be 100% financially independent. I haven’t gotten a steady, well-paying day job yet, but fortunately summers in Utah are cheap and I’ve more or less been able to make ends meet. That’s not to say it’s been easy, though. I’m operating… Continue reading Looking for work (and possibly an adventure)
Author: Joe Vasicek
Joe Vasicek is the author of more than twenty science fiction books, including the Star Wanderers and Sons of the Starfarers series. As a young man, he studied Arabic and traveled across the Middle East and the Caucasus. He claims Utah as his home.
Story notebook #2
A while ago I rediscovered my first story notebook and wrote a few posts on it. I promised I’d do the same for my other story notebooks, so here’s the next one. For those of you who may be surprised that I’m sharing all my story ideas, let me explain why I’m doing this. First,… Continue reading Story notebook #2
New Background
My old blog background was starting to get old, so I decided to change it. What do you guys think of the new one? Is it too busy and distracting, or do you think it works? The image, by the way, is of the Greater Carina Nebula, taken from NASA’s excellent Astronomy Picture of the… Continue reading New Background
Braving the unexpected rough spots
Right now, I’m going through this unexpected rough spot in my novel, where I know what’s supposed to happen (or at least I have enough of an idea to wing it fairly well), but the writing just isn’t coming. This happens every time I hit the two thirds mark, and it really sucks. Currently, I’m… Continue reading Braving the unexpected rough spots
Forward to new ground
A couple days ago, I finished writing through the material I’d written for Worlds Away From Home back in 2008 before I dropped the project. For the first time since March, I find myself drafting entirely new material. It’s a little bit unnerving; I’m a much better reviser, I feel, than straight up writer. Revising… Continue reading Forward to new ground
الثريا والرواية
So today I was working on my novel, Worlds Away from Home, and I decided to change the name of a minor character from “Soroya” to something that sounds cooler. I’d given the rest of her family Arabic-sounding names, because they’re basically far-future Arabs living on another planet (their tribal name is Najmi (نجمي), which… Continue reading الثريا والرواية
Utah drivers are jerks
They really are. Yesterday while I was biking up to campus, a young woman (probably a college freshman) pulled out of a driveway to make a right turn and failed to look both ways before turning. As a result, she struck my bike, bending my rim and forcing me to replace it. I got her… Continue reading Utah drivers are jerks
Thoughts on the convolutions of discovery writing
It’s been forever since I posted, so I figured I’d put something up and let you guys know what I’ve been up to. I’m happy to say that Worlds Away From Home is going well; I wrote just under 20k this week, which is more than I’ve written in a long time. I hope to… Continue reading Thoughts on the convolutions of discovery writing
The Madness Season by C. S. Friedman
In the 21st century, Earth was conquered by an alien collective consciousness known as the Tyr. Now, five hundred years later, humankind has been scattered across the Tyr-occupied worlds as slaves. It is a dark and uncertain existence, under the rule of masters who do not care whether their charges live or die. For the… Continue reading The Madness Season by C. S. Friedman
Falling back into the groove
Today I surprised myself and wrote nearly 4k words, some of which might actually be good enough to keep. Huzzah! The novel is coming along very nicely, and I’m starting to get really excited with where it’s going. That’s huge, because up to this point, the nagging “this is crap, what are you doing with… Continue reading Falling back into the groove