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.

Heaven’s library

2,943 words today, even though today was the first day of Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers.  I’ve reached the major climax of the book–the moment I’ve been replaying over and over in my head.  Perhaps this novel is not as bad as I’d thought–perhaps I can pull this off.  The current incarnation is terrible,… Continue reading Heaven’s library

Outlining for a discovery writer

I’m almost finished with the rough draft of Bringing Stella Home, but I can’t shake the feeling that this draft really sucks and is full of holes.   Part of that is probably that I wrote the whole thing  out of the top of my head.  The only part that I really took the time to… Continue reading Outlining for a discovery writer

Genesis Earth pitch and other assorted thoughts on writing

Today I got together with Charlie after her work and discussed how to pitch my novel Genesis Earth.  We did it in the following way: I took a few minutes to explain what the book was about, while she wrote down the words that stood out and excited her.  Later, I took the words and… Continue reading Genesis Earth pitch and other assorted thoughts on writing

Things to do before June 8th

BYU’s Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers conference is coming up in less than a week, and I’m pretty excited for it! I’m signed up for the afternoon sessions only, but it should still be a great experience. From what I’ve heard, this conference is several steps up from CONduit and LTUE in terms of… Continue reading Things to do before June 8th

Fine tuning and David Gemmell ROCKS!!!

With Danke’s help, I’ve tweaked the site yet some more: updated the header image, put in the site description under the title, moved the comments link at the bottom of each post (where it really belongs–having it at the top is confusing), etc.  Now, the site is even better than ever! All this playing around… Continue reading Fine tuning and David Gemmell ROCKS!!!

Breaking 90k and other mundane excitements

(I almost always have trouble figuring out titles for these blogs posts.  I mean, my writing life isn’t all that exciting–I just write.  Check out my study abroad blog from last year for true (if old) excitement). I broke 90k words in Bringing Stella Home today.  According to my goal of 120k, that’s the 3/4 mark.… Continue reading Breaking 90k and other mundane excitements

The second wind of inspiration

The more I write, the more I’ve come to realize that in order to finish a novel, you have to rediscover something powerful about the story that motivates you to tell it.  The thing that motivates you to start the story is rarely the thing that drives you to finish it. Around the second half… Continue reading The second wind of inspiration

4k a day

It’s late, but I really need to write something of my recent thoughts on this blog, so this is going to be a stream-of-consciousness word-vomit sort of post.  But please keep reading, it probably won’t be uninteresting. I haven’t been posting much on this blog recently, but I’ve been thinking a lot about my writing… Continue reading 4k a day

“That’s what it looks like when the infection sets in.”

So said Howard Tayler at CONduit today when he saw the expression on my face at the Aspiring writers Q&A panel.  We chatted a bit afterward, and he said something very encouraging: that if I continue to pursue my writing career with the same hunger he saw on my face, he believes I will be… Continue reading “That’s what it looks like when the infection sets in.”