eimarra | Entries tagged with writing

This weekend, Patricia C. Wrede posted to her blog about multitasking manuscripts. It’s an excellent discussion on how writers should figure out for themselves whether or not to work on more than one project at a time. She describes chronic multiple-project people as falling into three distinct categories. This one rang a bell for me:

The second kind of writer who comes to me with this question is the one who is spinning off ideas faster than she/he can keep up with. They want to work on eight projects at once because they’re afraid they’ll lose a brilliant idea if they don’t write it down immediately. They’re all about the “Oooo, shiney!”

Did somebody say shiny?

( Read the rest of this entry » )

Originally published at Erin M. Hartshorn. You can comment here or there.

I’m behind in listening to the I Should Be Writing podcast, but back in . . . episode 199, maybe? . . . Mur Lafferty suggested writing down all the things you do that take time. She wasn’t saying you have to actually write down how much time you spend on e-mail or playing computer games or reading with your kids, just that anything you spend significant time on (personal grooming excepted) should be on the list. The idea is that your top time priorities (family, work, whatever) are probably not going to change, but as you look at things lower down the list, that’s where you can find more time for writing (or drawing or quilting or crocheting or whatever your own interest happens to be).

It’s a scary exercise. Sure, obviously, I’m going to put down time on the computer — but to be completely honest with myself, I have to divide that up because some of that is work (copyediting, proofreading, indexing, marketing my freelance business), some of it is writing or writing-related (writing, research on markets, e-publishing my works, submissions, research for stories), some of it is social interaction (Facebook, Twitter, blogging, reading and commenting on blogs, on-line chats, Forward Motion), and some of it is just plain goofing off (and sometimes, research and social interaction belong here, along with any computer games, reading Webcomics, following random links, looking at the new free books available for Kindle or Nook apps, and so forth). I’m not really good at drawing the lines there, and to a certain extent, I need both the social interaction (my husband being the only adult I see on a regular basis) and the puttery aspect of not having my brain going full-blast all however many hours I’m awake.

At least I know where I need to work on things. Writing needs to take precedence to Facebook and Twitter. Puttering should only happen after I’ve worked or written for the day. The work/writing duo is something I’m not sure what to do with. I find it hard to work on my own words when I’ve been devoting my brain to somebody else’s for most of the day, but because the freelance work represents actual (rather than potential) money, it has to take precedence. Maybe, practically speaking, I can’t work and write on the same day. If true, that’s just one more reason to make sure writing happens before puttering. *sigh* Guess that means I won’t be checking out what Agatha’s up to first thing Monday morning.

This doesn’t even take into account the off-line things I do with my time, from running errands to weeding and planting to quilting to reading and so on. And a lot of days, it’s one of those or writing, not both. (There’s a reason my son complained the book I handed him earlier today was covered with dust. Housework generally isn’t high on the list.)

What about you? Where are you spending your time?

Originally published at Erin M. Hartshorn. You can comment here or there.

Love of the other. That’s why I read and write science fiction and fantasy — whether the other is an alternate version of our own world, a might-have-been, a might-yet-be, or someplace so fantastic a human could never survive. Other cultures on our own world. Other races we could meet. Other.

That said, what makes a story resonate with us is the recognition of people we know, of feelings we have, of things we have seen. It’s love and hate and jealousy and the adventure of the unknown. It’s feeling left out and the triumph of winning. It’s running into a new situation and being confused, then using our own skills to solve the problem. It’s life.

But one of the lacunae in my reading has been works from other cultures on our world. I’m trying to correct that: I just purchased The Apex Book of World SF, and I try to keep up with The World SF Blog. I’ve also recently discovered InterNova. I’d also like to read some of the books pointed out by Jeff VanderMeer in An Overview of International Science Fiction and Fantasy, 2010, but I don’t know when I’ll get to them in my immense TBR pile.

Have you read anything from outside your own culture recently? Any recommendations?

As always, thanks for stopping by and reading!

Originally published at Erin M. Hartshorn. You can comment here or there.

I neglected to post here when I put my novella Dreampunk up for sale last week. I wanted to make sure it had gone in to the extended distribution on Smashwords first. Well, it has. And Alex Fayle posted a marvelous review today on his blog.

Here, somewhat belatedly, is a sample for those interested.

( Read the rest of this entry » )

Originally published at Erin M. Hartshorn. You can comment here or there.

Speaking of opportunities, here are some currently open anthologies (paying pro rates) to look at:

Bloody Fabulous, edited by Ekaterina Sedia. Prime Books. Urban fantasy, focused on fashion. 1,000-7,500 words preferred; December 1st deadline. Pay is 5 cents per word. For more on what she doesn’t want, see this.

Fantastic Stories of the Imagination, edited by Warren Lapine. Wilder Publications. No word length restrictions, but he does discourage shorter stories. No theme, no specific requests for genre, other than it be genre — “the entire science fiction, fantasy, and horror spectrum.” Closed when filled. Pay is 10 cents per word to a max of $250.

Sword & Sorceress 26, edited by Elisabeth Waters. Norilana Books. Fantasy with strong female characters. Just opened to submissions last Saturday. Up to 9,000 words; May 13 deadline. Pay is 5 cents per word as advance against royalties. Pay attention to the formatting requirements.

Not a pro-paying market, but also worth looking at:

Warrior Wisewoman 4, edited by Roby James. Norilana Books. Science fiction featuring strong women characters. Up to 10,00 words; July 31 deadline. Pay is 2 cents per word.

Good luck to anyone submitting stories, and as always, thanks for stopping by and reading!

Originally published at Erin M. Hartshorn. You can comment here or there.

Results are the outcome of everything that we do.

I follow a training program for running, I get results: I can run farther, and my thighs start slimming down.

I spend hours writing instead of frittering away time on the Internet, I get results: thousands of words added to works in progress, new stories to submit.

On the other hand, not all results are good. I stay up too late watching Battlestar Galactica on Netflix with my husband, and I get results, too: I’m exhausted the next day. Do it two or three times in a row, and I become an incredibly grumpy person who has trouble focusing on anything.

Again, it gets back to choice. Results are cause-and-effect. What I choose to do affects what results I achieve.

So what results are you looking for this week?

Originally published at Erin M. Hartshorn. You can comment here or there.

You didn’t think I’d forget my mantra, did you?

What am I not making excuses for now?

Running — I’m two-thirds of the way through the Couch-to-5k running plan, and I’m contemplating entering a 5k race on May 7.
Paperwork — Not only does it have to get done now, but I’m spending time tweaking my system so it’s easier to deal with papers as they come in (at least once every week or two, when I’m paying bills), rather than letting them just pile up.
Planning ahead — I’m thinking about a five-year plan. Not in detail of what specific projects I want to have done when, but in more general terms of where I want to take my career and its different aspects over time.
Writing — Not a lot done on that this week, but that’s because (to refer to Tuesday’s post) I’m juggling, and those balls are in the air while I deal with taxes and so forth. They’ll come down again, though, when it’s their turn, and I’ll write. That’s not an excuse; it’s the reality of how I work.
Family — My work day is limited by the time I spend with my husband and kids, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

What about reasons, instead of excuses?

Well, the water transmission main that broke this week put a crimp on housework, with dishes and laundry stacking up for an extra day. (That was a little problematic for the boy, who needed a clean pair of sweats for his gym class. I figured a little dirt in the water wouldn’t hurt the wash for those, so he had them, and then they were washed again after the water was clean.)

What about you? What commitments are you holding yourself to?

As always, thanks for reading!

Originally published at Erin M. Hartshorn. You can comment here or there.

When I joined GSHW, one of the questions I was asked was, “How many bodies, and where have you hidden them?” My response (I don’t remember whether it actually showed up in the newsletter):

Um, let’s see . . . two with a chainsaw, one was burned to death, I lost track of the knife ones, and there are at least a few with a sword. Some had their hearts ripped out by a werewolf. At least one death by poisoning. Most of a clutch destroyed by a game. Oh, then there’s this planet . . . I kill people a lot. You were talking about fiction, right?

I still haven’t gotten around to killing the planet; that’s an SF novel that’s on the to-do list for some time. On the other hand, I have bumped off a couple more people with blunt objects to the head. That’s all I can think of at the moment.

I’ve maimed some others. Carved things in people’s skin. Taken away people’s memories. Threatened to toss them off flying ships. Being a writer is fun!

Not everything has been finished. Not everything that has been finished has been accepted for publication somewhere.

Doesn’t matter. I’m having fun writing it. The next time you see me and I have an evil grin on my face, don’t ask why. The odds are good I’m planning another killing.

Originally published at Erin M. Hartshorn. You can comment here or there.

When people think of balance, they often think of a static situation — a pair of scales, equal weights on both sides. Dynamic balance — the kind you need to ride a bike or walk on a tightrope — isn’t usually what people are striving for in their lives. There’s this idea that you can get everything together and cope for once and all with everything you have to do.

Nope.

That’s why I prefer to think of juggling. When you’re juggling, the more you’re juggling, the more is out of your hands. If you’re doing it well, things fall into place, right in your hands. And occasionally, balls get dropped, but it’s not the end of the world. That describes what I live with.

There’s the personal — wife, mother, manager of family finances, cook, washerwoman, gardener, and more.

There’s the professional — copyeditor, indexer, proofreader. Running the business, dealing with finances, finding new work.

There’s the writer — um. Current count of projects on my list for the next couple of months? I’ve got one short story now, but I’m hoping to participate in the Story-a-Day challenge on Forward Motion in May. I’ve got the Mayan book I’m working on for Moongypsy Press, and Daniel’s book (under Doru’s name) that I promised to have up by the end of this month. I have four other books in various states of completion that I want to send out to NY publishers, at least 2 of which I’d like to get done in the next month or two. I have another project, Bridge, which I started this month but really won’t talk about until December or January. I have the steampunk adventure stories. I want to write another novella to submit to the UPC Science-Fiction Award this year. I just got an idea for a new series yesterday, and I was reminded of an old idea for a series that I probably won’t get to before next year. Oh, and then there are the short stories already written that I keep sending out to markets (occasionally selling one), as well as the ones I’m considering putting up for sale.

So, yes. Juggling.

No balls dropped so far today, but the day is young.

Originally published at Erin M. Hartshorn. You can comment here or there.

What is the GSHW, you may ask. (I didn’t say you had to; I said you may.)

GSHW stands for Garden State Horror Writers, but it’s not exclusively a collection of horror writers. Historically, it started as a branch of the RWA, and it currently classifies itself as a multi-genre writers’ group, open to anyone who wants to write. Now, I don’t live in the Garden State, so why did I join?

Initially, I joined because my friend Ed is a member, and he kept urging me to come to meetings. I was impressed by the people they got in to talk to the group — Elizabeth Bear, John Joseph Adams, Ellen Datlow, Gregory Frost, and more. Tomorrow’s meeting will feature Jonathan Maberry.

It made sense to join a writers’ group because I would be exposed to new ideas, make new friends, and see facets of the industry that I won’t while sitting at my computer (no matter how many blogs I read). I don’t make it to all the meetings — less than half, in fact, with family and other commitments — but I enjoy the ones I get to, just as I enjoy hanging out and talking to people at the diner afterward. For the meetings I miss, there’s often a recording available so I can hear the talk (teasers available at the Website if you want to check them out), which is nice. Additionally, the Yahoo Group is full of supportive people talking about successes, trials, and what’s going on in the business.

I get a lot for my membership, even with as few meetings as I get to, and I really appreciate the GSHW. I encourage others to check them out, or find a writing group closer to home that may offer the same sorts of things.

Originally published at Erin M. Hartshorn. You can comment here or there.

I had an epiphany this morning at 5:00, but I can’t use “epiphany” because E was yesterday. I suppose I could have used “F is for five o’clock,” but the time isn’t as important as the content. I was awakened by the girl fussing (she got herself back to sleep), and I started to complain to myself that I was just barely going to fall back asleep before it would be time to get up and get the kids ready, then start on my day — same old, same old. That’s when it hit me — I chose this life.

Okay, that may be obvious to others. Epiphanies do tend to be personal, after all. Still, I’m going to explore what I mean.

I chose marriage and children. I chose work that I could do anywhere we lived because I didn’t have to look for a new employer. I chose to start telling the stories in my soul. And, if it comes right down to it, I choose to do our taxes because I’m a bit of a control freak.

Every part of the day before me is a direct consequence of something I chose, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’m married to a wonderful man whom I love, we have incredible kids, and my work allows me to be who I am.

There are downsides — the only family here is the one my husband and I have made; our closest relatives are several states away. I don’t have any close friends where we live, though certainly part of that is that I’m not good at reaching out. With the Internet, though, I’m in touch with friends and family that I haven’t seen in decades, and I’ve made several excellent new friends through on-line communities (especially Forward Motion).

This is my life, and I’m grateful for it.

Originally published at Erin M. Hartshorn. You can comment here or there.

. . . or why I’m reading Amanda Hocking’s Trylle trilogy.

Like many people recently, I’ve heard of her success on Kindle, and from curiosity, I downloaded the sample of the first book, Switched, to my iPod Touch Kindle app. I wanted to know what she was doing that hooked readers. Now, I know not everyone likes her writing (my friend Alex initially liked the sample, but quit reading halfway through the book), but I had to read it, given the sample. (It’s possible I just haven’t gotten fed up with Wendy’s angst yet, and I’ll agree with Alex in the long run. We’ll see.)

You see, the first book I wrote, for NaNoWriMo 2003, was called Changeling. Summer wasn’t precisely a changeling; she was half-fey. However, she didn’t know that. She’d never known her father, and now weird things were happening to her and she didn’t know why. Where my book failed, though, was in figuring out what happened when she learned the truth. I didn’t have a real society for her to interact with, or real plans for what exactly she had to overcome. My story was overly simplistic compared to Hocking’s because I neglected world-building.

However, if you want to know why her sample hooked me, read the following scene from Changeling. I had to know how she took something so similar and worked through it. (Yes, I know the writing is wooden. It was my first. Sorry.)

( Read the rest of this entry » )

Originally published at Erin M. Hartshorn. You can comment here or there.

This is the more detailed report of what I got up to in Boston last weekend. If you’re not interested, come back next week. I’m sure to talk about something else. This discussion is chronological. Events that I don’t remember times for (such as visiting the Art Gallery, which had some amazing stuff) are not included.

( Read the rest of this entry » )

Originally published at Erin M. Hartshorn. You can comment here or there.

Just some quick notes today.

I didn’t post from Boskone itself because Wi-Fi at the hotel was $13/day, and I couldn’t get my iPod Touch to log on correctly in the lobby, where access apparently was free.

My son had a terrific time, got his picture taken with Bruce Coville, went to a kaffeeklatsch with both Bruce Coville and Jane Yolen, played games with other kids, learned how to armor a knight, and attended several panel discussions (including the one where he vehemently disagreed with the audience member who said that our education system traumatized kids for math and science, which is why they also won’t look at science fiction; those are his favorite subjects).

I also had a good time, and this year I attended a wider variety of events than my usual, including the play on Saturday night (“The Giant’s Tooth,” based on a story by Bruce Coville).

Between the busy weekend and the long drive home, I’m still feeling a little tired, but I should be up to posting some notes later this week.

Originally published at Erin M. Hartshorn. You can comment here or there.

Tomorrow is time for my annual pilgrimage to Boston to attend
Boskone, to see other writers face-to-face, to get all tongue-tied
around editors (Oh, no, wait — I’m actually planning to try to talk
to them this year, even ask a few questions for a Vision article!),
and to overload my muse with new ideas to write about.

I’m taking my iPod Touch, so I won’t be out of contact — at the very
least, I’ll try to hit Twitter and Facebook a couple of times over
the weekend. I’m also testing my ability to post to my blog by
e-mail, as well as the new plug-in that should cross-post entries to
LJ. I’m not live-blogging by any stretch of the imagination, but I
should be in touch.

Every year, I have trouble deciding which panels to attend. Since I
write across the board, everything is interesting. This year is going
to be slightly different — yes, I will still attend panels and
sometimes have trouble choosing between a couple of different
options. However, there is the aforementioned attempt to be more
sociable and talk to editors, and this year, I’m taking my son with
me.

He’s done the children’s counterpart to NaNoWriMo, the Young Writers’
Program, a couple of times, and he even printed out copies of one of
his books a couple years ago and distributed copies to his classmates
– which means he’s actually planning to go to a panel discussion or
two himself. He’s also really excited at the chance to meet and talk
to Bruce Coville (even planning on staying up late Friday to go to
Bruce Coville’s 10 p.m. reading) and to see the swordplay
demonstrations. So sometimes my choices will be determined by what he
wants to do.

It’s going to be a lot of fun, that much is certain. Boskone always
is, no matter who I see or what I listen to!

Originally published at Erin M. Hartshorn. You can comment here or there.

I am a writer; however, that is not my only creative pursuit. I knit, I crochet, I bake and cook, I quilt, I garden. I've even been known to dabble in origami, although my husband is much more serious about it.

One of the hardest things in any creative pursuit is deciding upon a style. With writing, my starting point -- genre -- was defined by my reading. With crochet and knitting, I focused on afghans because that's what my mom crochets. Teaching myself to knit and branching out into sweaters and other clothes were the result of me looking for more challenges, something to set myself apart. How I work depends on how I got started.

That has made quilting an interesting pursuit for me. I did not grow up around anyone who quilted. There are no quilt shops nearby where I can go for casual interaction or to join a circle. My knowledge of quilts was based on half-remembered plots from a Trixie Belden mystery, a vague notion that patchwork was mentioned in the Little House on the Prairie books, some discussion in the McCall needlecraft book I taught myself to knit from, and Earlene Fowler's mysteries. Which means I had some notion that appliqué existed as a style, but mostly I knew about pieced blocks and crazy quilts.

Thus, my starting point. I made a nine-patch crib quilt for my son when he was three (and using the crib mattress in a toddler bed), then started a modified pinwheel bed quilt for my niece, which I finished piecing and quilting a handful of years later. Meanwhile, I acquired a fabric stash, waiting for me to decide what to create with all my treasures. I pulled out the fabric recently and tried to decide what to make, where to start.

But because my friend Kelly (Redheaded Quilter and Quilting Examiner) quilts, and I've seen pictures of some of her work, and because I've discovered the American Quilter's Society, now I'm beginning to see just how wide the range of choices is. Geometric, cutwork, folded, patchwork, paper-pierced, appliqué, sashiko, samplers and art quilts that include more than one style, bargello, miniatures, pictorial, trapunto. Cottons, flannels, batiks, hand-dyed, painted, pencils, beads, yo-yos and ruching and other dimenional effects, silks, brocades, and evidently love letters. It's sort of like writing -- if I'd only ever seen one type of story and was suddenly introduced to a library and told I could pick anywhere to start.

Being me, of course, that means I've embarked on multiple projects, each a different style. There's the hand-appliquéd Celtic knot (not nearly this fancy, but isn't that gorgeous?) with a folded patchwork border. There's the one with blocks based off the bright hopes pattern, but with three stripes where each of the rectangles is. There's the ideas I'm toying with for the bright green and purple fabrics, which revolve around the Lone Star quilt pattern, but are definitely influenced by the "Stardust Memories" quilt that placed at an AQS show. And there's the mystery quilt that I'll be working on through the winter, as AQS doles out the clues. (This is the fabric I plan to use for the focus blocks on that mystery quilt.)

Where am I moving from my starting point? A bit of all-over-the-place. Given how eclectic I am in my reading (pretty much most genres and subgenres) and the number of pursuits I have, I suppose that makes sense. Maybe I'll settle down to my own style (my own quilting "voice") after I've done a dozen or two and have had a chance to experiment.

I guess that's another thing all the creative pursuits have in common. We make them our own by practicing them. What pursuits do you have, and how have you found your niche?

Current Mood: contemplative

A while back, a friend of mine asked me whether I ever get neurotic about my writing. My initial thought was "All the time!" but I couldn't think of good ways to say it. I don't know that I'm going to express it well now, but I'm going to try.

I've been fretting today about so many things beyond my control -- why aren't I more like a friend who is on panels at cons and who calls more than one author by their first name? does my increased acceptance rate really indicate I'm getting better (After all, I can't be that good. I'm still not getting personalized rejections at the higher levels.)? what if I never break in at a pro level? would I be better off stopping now before I get my hopes up any more? . . . and so on and so forth.

I've been through this dark valley before. The shadows always pass, though the other side doesn't really look any brighter. I keep going because this is who I am, and I know it will pass, just as I know that the feelings of self-confidence and certainty that everyone will start accepting my stories will pass. I have to write regardless of how I feel about it, write and finish and submit. The feelings aren't important, just the work.

Which doesn't make today's neuroticism go away, but it does at least give me some perspective.

Current Mood: fretting

When I was in graduate school, one of the professors on my thesis advisory committee told me he didn't think I was committed enough to graduate school and the work I was doing. At the time, I was flummoxed. I was there; I put in all-nighters at least once a week it seemed, and I was a go-to person for orienting people to the lab & procedures. Also, for having references handy or knowing where to find who had done something. How dare he say that I wasn't committed?

He held up one of his own students (one of my classmates) as an example of what a graduate student should be. "He's always thinking about new experiments, new things to try. When he's out running, he's thinking about the latest results. When he's eating, he comes up with new variables." And so on. All this managed to do was give me a resentment of a very nice guy who was always very helpful -- and who was *almost* as good a cook as I was. (He made very good chocolate soufflés, but he almost got an egg in his face when I was helping him at a party and he seemed surprised that I knew to crack eggs I was going to separate in a small dish in case the yolk broke. Okay, not really. I was just tempted to walk out of the kitchen. Let him crack his own eggs if he doesn't think I'm competent. Then we got into a discussion on the varied actions of copper bowls and cream of tartar for incorporation of air into the egg whites, and all was forgiven.)

I'm writing about this now because I finally get what the professor was saying.

Oh, I figured out long ago that I wasn't meant for a career in science, and the thought of running a lab and teaching and applying for grants is the stuff of nightmares. But I figured out he wasn't talking about commitment in terms of time and energy. He was talking about passion.

Like the way I say, "Oh, it's Monday -- there's a new Writing Excuses podcast to download and listen to!" Or the way I tear the wrapper off the new Locus, even if I only have time at the moment to look at the "People & Publishing." It's the way I hunt out new agent, editor, and author blogs to get different views on the industry -- and follow them on Twitter as well because I want to know what's going on. It's the way I keep trying to figure out how to get more time in my day so I can commit more of my ideas to screen, even though there are so many I will have to abandon because there is no time to do them all. It's in the way I watch TV and see how plot lines are being developed and themes crossed and events foreshadowed and think about what techniques I might want to use in my own work. It's being really happy with my plan for a book I've barely started -- and getting a brainstorm for a parallel plot that intensifies everything. It's that my entire life is saturated with writing and becoming better at this and writing and getting published . . . and writing.

It all comes back to the writing.

I have found my passion, and it's more than a commitment. On the other hand, getting a guy to say "commitment" was pretty impressive, without expecting a scientist to talk about "passion," too. ;-)

Current Mood: joyous

Or at least for those of you who have read some of my writing.

I've put a lot of effort into improving areas I'm weak in, such as showing character motivations. Yes, I still have a long way to go there, but I'm working on it.

What I'm curious about today, though, is what do I do well? If you had to say, "This is your strength as a writer," what would it be? (And procrastination doesn't count as an answer here.)

Current Mood: contemplative

If you don't regularly read Science Fiction and Fantasy Novelists (a group blog), you should check it out. The other day, Kelly McCullough wrote a very encouraging post, Don't let Writing get in the way of writing.

He mentions hundreds of unfinished works. Wow, do I feel better!

"Finishing things is important, but it’s not nearly as important as doing things that keep you writing."

Go, read.

Current Mood: excited

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September 2017

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The Plot Bunny Farm

Living at an angle oblique to reality

Entries tagged with writing

multita–oooh, shiny!

Where did the time go?

X is for xenophilia

Utterly lovely review of Dreampunk

S is for submission opportunities

R is for results

N is also for No Excuses

M is for mystery, mayhem, and murder

J is for juggling

G is for GSHW

F is for family, friends, freelancing, and fiction

A trip via Serendip to reading

Boskone 48 in Review

Home again, home again

Bound to Boston

finding a creative voice

neurotic writer

Why I'm a writer, not a scientist

question for the studio audience

ode to the unfinished prose

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September 2017

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