Still looking for “community”
S’funny to have a rant all ready in my head and then sit down and check the last entry only to see I’ve already written it. Must mean it’s a real thing then. Every post, every tweet, every email newsletter I get, even if they’re ostensibly about “helping” me become a published author, they ALL WANT MONEY from some method or another. There will be a nice, long article about character development or some shitLearn More
The Writer’s Community
I never wanted to come to the point where I piss and moan about The Internet, but I’m at the end of my rope with Writer’s Communities online. I risk looking as foolish as claiming we wore onions on our belts (which was the fashion of the time) when I talk about how it was Back In The Day, but things are so different now. And they’re not necessarily better. I used to be aLearn More
Short Stories are Key
I’ve never been one to write or even enjoy short stories. Or so I thought. When I decided I was a writer, I believed that everything substantial that I wrote needed to be some part of the process of turning into a book. Because books were what people paid money for, and that was how you made money at your writing. Short stories, blog posts, even long and detailed emails to family or friends, wereLearn More
The Miles Franklin Award
I want to stress that I have nothing against the Miles Franklin Award, as I see only positive things about it. I just don’t feel like it should be so… celebrated. I mean, your book is published and Out There and being read. Why is it so important after that, that you get $60,000? Maybe I’m being myopic about it all, but when I watched the winners being announced on stream and heard one pastLearn More
Just Not Good Enough
It’s time to be completely honest. Both with you and, most importantly, with myself. My manuscript just isn’t good enough. And that’s fine. No really, it is. Because I’d rather know than not. I’ve seen way too many writers, both online and in print, who put work out there not knowing it wasn’t good enough. Heh, which seems like a misnomer, because of logic surrounding my reading them in print. Because if they got published,Learn More
Critter Quitter
After two weeks and three critiques, I’m pulling the plug on keeping the first chapter of my novel up there. It’s gotten ridiculous. When the critter opens with telling me that since I was involving telepaths AND plasma rifles that I should be in “fantasy” and not “sci-fi” I have to wonder where the hell they’re coming from. When they start saying they don’t understand who’s who because I’m ambiguous with pronouns, like I getLearn More
First Critter for “The Council”
Desperate for critiques, Beta Readers, feedback of any sort, I slowly but sure started to spread myself far and wide. At first, just sending off a copy of the entire manuscript every time somebody said they’d like to trade beta reading. Never heard back from any of them. Then I started joining Critique My Work sites, but they were hard to navigate unless you wanted to pay for a membership, or put in the timeLearn More
My First Novel
I’ll tell you a secret: My first novel wasn’t actually the one that I’ve been pushing as my first novel. My first novel was a NaNoWriMo completion and was like every idea I’ve ever had while drunk. Amazing in theory but ultimately more of a mess than anything else. Nah, it was cute. I did a bit of historical fiction with my own story about how I came to be an Australian. I cranked awayLearn More
New website!
Yup, you guessed it, the new website that I’m referring to… Is this one. Well done. So, whaddya think?