00:01 I Should Be Writing #45: July 27, 2006
00:57 Jim Kelly chastized me at TrinocCon, so now I have a plan.
01:37 Stressful week with birthday and sick kiddo.
02:30 Discussion on Escape Pod.
03:55 You have to let your work go.
08:00 Interview with Jim Kelly and John Kessel are elsewhere on this feed.
10:40 The short list for the Parsec Awards has been announced!
11:25 New fiction podcast: Obsidian River.
11:55 Little Owl Mentoring Program
13:14 Thanks for listening!

 

 ISBW #45 - Letting Go [14:36m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (468)

Here is my interview with Jim Kelly and John Kessel I did last week at TrinocCon.

I’d had some Excedrine to help with a bad headache, and the caffeine made me super-wired. Apologies.

 

 ISBW Special #13 - Kelly/Kessel Interview: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (459)

I just got back from Trinoc*Con, our local scifi convention. I have to say it was the best ever. This year I had the awesome Jim Kelly there to introduce me to people, so I had lunch with Jim Kelly, David G. Hartwell (senior editor of Tor) and Kathryn Cramer (writer/editor)*, got some time to record an interview with Jim Kelly and John Kessel (writer and NC State Univ. Faculty of their MFA program) which will be posted soon, and met authors like Gregory Frost and F. Brett Cox. I briefly spoke with Gene Wolfe after a panel, and he and his wife are such nice and gracious people, they’re amazing. Wolfe is unexpectedly funny. I’ll tell that story in the next podcast…

One thing that came up more than once is that there are so many people whose fear of sucking or fear or rejection is so bad that they never send things out. These are people with scores of short stories in the drawers, possibly several novels. Now, I thought I was the queen of all the weak reasons one doesn’t make it as a writer. That’s why I started this podcast: to identify those and overcome them - and sure, when I’m done, the reason that I’m just not good enough - yet - may be the remaining reason I don’t make it, but it won’t be one of the excuses.

But I never really identified with not sending stuff out. Ever. Jim and John were talking about writers they knew who were talented, but they were waiting to send stuff out until… What? Perfection?

It’s actually kind of scary how many people are waiting for this magical time. They ignore the reality that they will get rejected. They ignore the truth that rejection and criticism are actually good things; your work cannot exist in a vacuum, you need outside eyes, to gauge your work and give you a sense of how it is. I know people who have resisted crit groups as well as submissions. I wanted to yell, “So how the hell are you ever planning on getting published?” But I’m polite, so I didn’t.

I’m going to address this not sending out thing. And it’s hard for me because I don’t have that particular problem. I can’t really understand it. I want to be a professional writer so badly, and I’ve wanted this since I was 12. I know that going through the submissions process is necessary, kind of like taking the SATs to get into college. You can be the best student in your class, but few colleges are going to give a damn if you don’t take the SAT.

Here’s my favorite reason why rejection and criticism don’t scare me: most of you know I wrote for several RPGs. My editor on one book held no punches. He used the word “choad”** in some edits back to me. Twice. Once, he used it as a verb, “choading” I believe is how he used it. I figure if I survived that, I can survive anyone else’s opinion of my work.

Does rejection hurt? Does harsh criticism hurt? Yes! Sure it does. I’m honestly a little worried about what the Viable Paradise workshop will reveal about the weaknesses in my writing. But it also hurts when I’ve been running for a while and I’m sore the next day. But both instances of pain can either indicate that you are growing, or can give you an excuse to quit.

You will never be a professional writer if you don’t send stuff out.

I’m serious here! Yes, it would be awesome if the editors and agents came seeking us out. It would also be nice if cheesecake was diet food and cigarettes made your lungs stronger and your breath smell like candy.*** But that’s not the way it happens. They don’t need to seek out the hermit-like writer - they have enough non-hermits in their slush pile clamoring for attention.

Remember: criticism and rejection will not kill you. If you’re someone waiting for the “right time” - I call bullsh*t. Send it out. It might get rejected? So what? There’s no right time to send out a manuscript. Write it, run it through an edit or two, but don’t spend months, or years, on it. Send it out. Please.

*This was a chance meeting, a “can we sit with you” kind of thing, not a “so tell me all about your writing” kind of thing. It was totally airwolf to hang with them, but I have no illusions. It was just great to meet them.

**This, in case you don’t know, is slang for penis.

***Yes, I’m an ex-smoker of 10 years. Yes, I still miss it on occasion.

00:01 I Should Be Writing #44: July 16, 2006
01:14 I got into Viable Paradise!
01:30 I Look Forward to Remembering You aired on Escape Pod last week.
01:54 I started a new short story and got a rejection.
02:16 Steve DuPont should be writing
02:35 Interview with Victoria Strauss, author of The Awakened City and contributor to the popular site Writer Beware and blog.
23:51 Paul S. Jenkins should be writing
24:20 New anthro magazine market!
24:47 Thanks for the support regarding my novel. Mike asks a question about editing. Chris asks about e-queries.
30:00 Lisa has a voice comment about artist’s block.
34:15 Thanks for listening! Welcome if you’re here from Media Bistro. Next week I’m at TriNocCon, hopefully I can get interviews.

 

 ISBW #44 - Interview with Victoria Strauss [36:11m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (473)

Hi everyone-

I’m working on getting the interview for the next ISBW. I’ll keep you informed.

Till then, I love love love this post from Slushpile.net. Read it. Learn.

SPECULATIVE LITERATURE FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES FALL MENTORSHIP PROGRAM - I know, I keep saying this isn’t an SF podcast, but dangit, this is the king of stuff that falls on my radar. Still, you can get mentored by John Scalzi or Jenn Reese, to name two involved. Hop to it, deadline for applications is July 25 (my birthday! wheee!)

There’s a new short form online writing contest. The prize is pretty darn sweet.

Wisdom from James D. Macdonald that I found really interesting: A strong verb is one that changes a vowel to make its past tense: swim/swam, hang/hung/, eat/ate. A weak verb is one that retains its vowel and adds “-ed” to the end: walk/walked, look/looked, fail/failed.

Beautifully broken down information about some of the SF magazines here.

I’m behind…

Agent Kristin tells us that sometimes being efficient and prompt can blow up in your face.

Justine Larbalestier reminds us that writing is a whole world of NO. (but we know that “no” won’t kill you, right?)

There’s a new Internet SF market started and edited by William Sanders: Helix. [edited to correct who was behind the project]

A listener reminded me I was remiss of linking stuff in episode 42, so here are more links:
Voices of Tomorrow Podcast
DragonCon
Dracula Tape
Balticon Podcast

And an update to episode 43: Miss Snark disagrees with me about credibility. And she’s the agent. Listen to her.

If you’re not a subscriber to Geek Fu or Escape Pod and you want to hear the story I sold a while ago, “I Look Forward To Remembering You,” well, click that link right there.

 

 My Story on Escape Pod 61 [35:50m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (722)

ISBW Unplugged - live from Origins.

I missed my deadline.
Jim Baen died June 28, 2006.
Our topic: Agents, what they do, what they don’t do.

And this news didn’t make it into the podcast, but I just learned that I will be attending Viable Paradise this fall!

Links to agent blogs:
Miss Snark
Pub Rants (interestingly, Agent Kristin is currently doing an Agenting 101 series)

 

 ISBW #43 - Agents [20:26m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (466)