I’m back! Sorry I’ve been away, but a job layoff, travels, sickness, and holidays have kept me away from the mic for a while. All of the podcasts have suffered, and I apologize.
- Did you hear Citytalkers on Escape Pod?
- Wondering what to write next.
- Promo: Dark Age: A Fantasy Pod-Novel
- Our main topic: why write if you don’t really want to?
- Check out The Artist’s Way
- Promo: Playing For Keeps is out in print now!
- Feedback, much email and voicemail.
- Check out the feed for a NanoMonkeys episode. EDIT Feb 17, 2009 – the Nanomonkeys site expired and was snatched up by a porn site, so we recommend not searching for this podcast.
- Do you like ISBW? Tell a friend, or join our facebook group!
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13 Responses to ISBW #82 – Maybe you shouldn’t…
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ISBW Endorsed Programs
New from the Murverse- ISBW Special #46 – Stonecoast Writer’s Residency January 31, 2012
- ISBW #230 – Feedback January 30, 2012
- Short Story Alert- Gimme Shelter January 27, 2012
Mur,
I had problems with the file (ITunes only had a 2 minute file, can’t play it from the site).
Did anyone else have issues with it or is technology once again kicking my rear?
You’re not alone, RubyVee. I only got 8:10 in iTunes.
Sorry to hear about the layoff, Mur. Great episode. I didn’t now your new novel was available, but I’m subscribed and can’t wait to listen!
It’s good now.
Your advice works at all levels of writing; not just writing in general as you spoke about, but it can apply to individual projects too.
Dear Mrs. Lafferty,
I’m a fan of the show and have been a casual listener for quite a while, after this episode I felt compelled to write and tell you that the show was very touching: sad, hopeful, enlightening, and inspiring.
Keep your head up. (To use a worn cliche!)
I just started listening to your podcasts (since NaNoWriMo, I believe) and the few I have heard I’ve liked. I think I could offer some advice too, to the teenage writers.
First off, some parents (like mine) think that writing all of the time is a waste of time. Do it anyways. Don’t listen to what they have to say. If you want to write, do it.
Second off, I think you were right on about priorities, Mur. Writing should be one of your first priorities if you want to write. I was going to do basketball at school, but then I found out about NaNoWriMo. I then found myself with a choice: sports or writing? That was an easy decision to make and I’m glad I made it the way I did. I managed to succeed at NaNoWriMo my very first year because I placed writing above all else. I even snuck and wrote on Sundays (my parents don’t let me write then because it’s “a day of rest from the activities you do the rest of the week.”
If you truly want to write, you’ll find a way.
It always blows me away when writers don’t consider books for their research (or think books are too time-consuming or expensive). I grew up with mountain lions, but I still felt like I needed to know more about what made them tick for a recent writing project.
So, I ID’d the ‘Mountain Lion Almanac’ using Amazon.com, figured out which library closest to my house had it using Worldcat.org, reserved it online so it would be set aside for me personally. They emailed me a day or two later and I picked it up over my lunch hour. It was perfect.
One relevant book can convey more than the sum of 1000 websites — especially concerning what it FEELS like to live somewhere foreign (or specific scientific quirks of beasties, for instance.) Sure, I could have dug online for hours to find out that mountain lions whistle just like cheetahs or that they leave signals to tell whether their meal is finished – but why waste so much time on drivel, when I’d rather just read what I was looking for?
If you are one who is addicted to buying your books, at least check out a metasearch engine like Fetchbook.info to get the best price.
There are so many writers who are either former librarians or are married to current ones. Coincidence? Research skills (Boolean, limiters, publishing cycle knowledge) will save you immeasurable time.
(Do you really want to just trust the search results ranked by ad revenue?)
– Erika
Did i mention the 10,000′s of ebooks and millions of articles big public libraries let you full-text search and read for free from your desktop — including audio book downloads and foreign language software like Rosetta Stone? Sorry, I’ll stop now. It’s a sore topic.
I just hate to see people paying for article services without realizing what they’ve already paid for through taxes.
I just finished listening to your podcast (for the first time). I did like it, even though the topic was a bit of a downer. It’s something that all writers should think about though… is this really what you want to be doing?
I just wanted to follow up on the question about two-book stories. A two-book story is called a duology. Off the top of my head, I can think of these examples:The Sarantine Mosaic by Guy Gavriel Kay (Sailing to Sarantium and Lord of Emperors) and just about every series Sean Russell has written, staring with The Initiate Brother and Gatherer of Clouds.
So, while they are not as common as trilogies, duologies are published. Whether they’re published by first-time authors is another matter! That, I’d have to do more research on.
I’m sorry to hear about your day job. I hope you find a job you can love soon!
With regards to why write if you don
I didn’t think this show was a downer. Actually, it inexplicably brightened my mood. Since I’m the sort of person who feels disinclined to write whenever I’m obligated to, this made me want to write more.
The title I Should Be Writing has always made me feel kind of guilty, actually.
Sorry, Mur, but I’m having a tough time accepting your advice this time around. It hit me especially hard since I’m in the middle of a two month writing slump.
Sure, it’s sometimes easier to veg out, or find something else to do. It can even make you happy for a while.
But here is what I realized. When the last sparks of sentience huddle around the last of the dying black holes, spending all their time poring through the collected memories of the universe because, hey, there aren’t any new memories to make, there is an infinitesimal chance that one of my stories could be there.
Maybe they’ll discard it, knowing that they’re losing the battle with entropy by inches, and so sacrifice it to preserve the remnant a few nanoseconds more. Maybe they’ll see it as an awkward reminder of a very silly adolescence, like a yearbook photo with gleaming metal braces. But maybe all those artifacts of the longings and happy struggles of the past will all add up to something meaningful to them, if only a wistful, “That was sort of fun.”
It’s a strange thought, that some homonid’s arrangements of symbols might be there at the end, to be a part of the Universe’s bedtime story. But could any of us really pass up the chance?
C’mon, Mur. We’ve come to expect you to push us, even when we’re tired, and cranky, and wishing you’d leave us alone so we could watch Heroes. That’s why we tune in every [indeterminate time period determined by your schedule and don't worry about us just get around to it when it's not too much trouble]. The people who don’t want you to guilt trip them aren’t going to stay listeners anyways. So crack the whip, and maybe cackle with sadistic glee just to make your point. The vast, dying, entropy-drenched future will thank you.