Extendo Characters
This post was originally conceived back at the beginning of July. For some reason I kept putting it off, and off, and off–hopefully not because I knew on some level it was a bad idea! Authors do a lot of things to promote their books. We see those efforts played out in the blogosphere with […]
The Unknown Commenter
When I started this blog way back in May of 2011, I had a lot of decisions to make. What would it be about? How often would I post? What would the blog look like? You know the drill, you’ve been there (most of you, anyway). One of the easiest sets of decisions I made […]
Goodreads Is Not Your Living Room
“Imagine that you are a reader who has shelved your own books in your own personal, idiosyncratic way, with shelf tags that amuse you and help you remember where things are, your own personal organisation of the way you think and read … And suddenly there is an author in your reading space complaining publicly […]
Musical Monday: Birdhouse In Your Soul
They Might Be Giants–a quirky band if ever there was one. I remember seeing them on TV somewhere before I’d ever heard them on the radio and thinking, “Who are these guys?” They make me think, which is good, and they make me smile, which is even better. This song contains what may be the […]
On the Edge
Last week I heard an expression that I either hadn’t heard before, or had and just forgotten: “Upstate New York has four seasons: Almost winter, winter, still winter, and road construction.” The road crews are finishing up a project in town that’s been irritating, inconsistent, and inconvenient. It’s 45 degrees (F) this morning. Goldenrod is […]
Monday Musing: But Wait
Over the weekend, an article appeared in The Guardian about a self-published author who turned down an offer of publication from Amazon’s Montlake Press. Now, there’s nothing inherently wrong with this. It sounds like she had a better deal, and more control, as an independent than she would get from Montlake. Currently, her book is […]
Fitting Ends
Every so often I see a blog post that dovetails nicely with something I’ve been thinking about. When it happens, I usually scrap whatever I was planning to blog about, if indeed I was planning anything. This week was one of those weeks. On Tuesday, Jemi Fraser wrote about a disappointing experience with an author. […]
Monday Musing: Troublesome Omni
People talk about Point of View on a regular basis. One of the things folks suggest is that beginning writers have a tendency to use first person, because it’s a voice that a beginner will find easiest to deal with (and there may be a tendency for beginners to write more personal stories, which might […]
The Disappointing Dome
Once upon a time there were TV shows. These shows aired in 30- or 60-minute blocks of time, once a week, roughly twenty-six times a year between early September and mid-May. They took a few weeks off here and there, for major holidays, and were occasionally pre-empted for special events and other programming. Each week’s […]