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The State of the Mur and another link

I’ve been gratified to see how many people have emailed me to say, “We don’t pay you and we love the show, so update whenever the heck you want.”

Of course, I’m paraphrasing. But I’m still very pleased.

I came across another link that I think is quite important to people who listen to this podcast: Jeff Vandermeer (or rather, his doppleganger, Evil Monkey) posted the introduction to the book The Evil Monkey Guide to Creative Writing. Essentially it says most writing advice is crap… and this is the intro to a writing book. I’m interested to see what else he has to say in the book.

But what I got out of it is to take any writing advice with a grain of salt. Writing - like any art - is so damn personal that there really isn’t a right way to do it. You do what works for you; what matters is getting the words on the paper. Sure, if you hear advice, and it works, then that’s excellent. BUT if it doesn’t, you have to realize that perhaps nothing is wrong with you. You just don’t jive with the advice given.

End of year roundup

I have a bad habit of reading blogs through RSS, starring something to read later, and never getting back to it. So now I’m going through all the saved blog posts since July and linking the best writing ones:

• Writer Beware Blog: Write in November, Get Scammed in December…
• Slushpile.net: Pile Up Pages While Not Peeing
• Neil Gaiman via Boing Boing: HOWTO Create a Literary Will
• Beetlegrass via Lifehacker: Seventeen Things Every Freelancer Should Know
• Pub Rants: Reading the Fine Print
• Writer Beware: Some Writing Problems To Avoid
• Writer Beware: A Little-Known Resource for Agent-Hunters
• John Scalzi: Some Perspective on being a “New” Writer

There. That should keep you busy till January. Happy New Year!

Author ISO Rejection

Reject me.

I can take it. Really.

I’m serious.

I’m sick of sending writing into the void and having nothing happen to it. Every single thing I’ve sent to NPR has fallen into a black hole. The other night I talked with a friend of mine who is a freelance writer as his full time day job and he asked me how a certain market I write for pays. I told him that it was my highest paying market and he said, “We need to get you into better markets.”

I remembered why I don’t query other markets: the queries fall into a hole and are never heard from again. The Writer. Writer’s Digest. Bust.

Rejection makes me feel like a writer. It’s a sick sort of validation. Bear with me here: a rejection says more than “I don’t want to buy this work.” It says “Dear writer, I don’t want to buy this work.” When you get nothing at all, you’re not even noticed. You’re a gnat.

Last year I was invited to contribute to a book of essays. I was excited, so I wrote something I figured was fitting. I then got a request for a rewrite. I rewrote. *crickets chirp* Now I’m at the end of the year money-chasing phase and I look to see if the book is out, and lo, it is. I search the TOC on Amazon and I’m not even in there.

No rejection. Nothing.

Damn it.

I can take rejection. Really. I prefer it to being ignored.

Where’s Mur? Where’s ISBW?

I swear that it was only when I started podcasting that I got colds that took away my voice. Oh, I can talk, you just don’t want to hear me. If you want a hint of how I sound, listen to Pseudopod’s intro this week.

So holidays and illness has destroyed my podcasting. I do have shows planned out whenever I can talk without great effort - freelancing, interviews with Nancy Kress and others, it’s all set up. As soon as I get better.

NaNoWriMo was a bust - I stumbled and realized I wanted to concentrate on the novel edits more. I’m at page 248 now. Congrats to all the ISBW listeners who won NaNo!

AC Crispin Transcript! W00T!

The fabulous Jenna Glatzer (Author of The Street-Smart Writer) offered her time and transcription abilities to give us a written account of my interview with AC Crispin! Thanks so much Jenna!

First Major NaNo Setback

Well, I’m glad I worked hard the first several days. I missed three days due to a cold and and I’m behind. Now I’ve lost my lead and I’m going to have to go at a pace of 1766 words per day just to finish on time.

On the other hand, I have 100 pages of final draft novel done. I’ve renamed it and everything. Which, honestly, is my priority this month. All I want for Christmas is a shiny package to send to agents.

Well. And an agent. And a publisher.

And a pony.

Podcast late

First the kiddo had an accident at preschool and I was dealing with that all weekend (she’s fine now) and then I came down with a cold that’s taken my voice away. So no talking in the mic until I get it back. Sorry.

Multitasking

I’ve been meaning to write about this for a while, but I think it is more important during NaNoWriMo season.

The Internet Age has made multitasking easier than ever. Actually, it’s almost a necessity. And for people like stay-at-home parents, it’s hard to live without doing it.

But sometimes you need to stop. Distractions will eat away at your concentration, your writing time, and you won’t even notice it. How many of you leave IM on while writing? Or email? You’re in the middle of a scene and someone pings you, and you take *just one second* to answer them, and your cooncentration is lost.

Right now, I’m trying to get up at 630am and turn on the computer - but not the wifi - and write my daily wordcount. Then the only thing that interrupts me is my daughter, who has heard me moving around getting tea and has decided that I couldn’t POSSIBLY be getting up early for any reason other than to make her breakfast… but I digress. The point is, multitasking usually means that you’re splitting your attention, and do you want to do that while writing?

Just take a moment and do a test for me. The next thing you do, whether it’s answer the phone or write an email or work on your next chapter, try to give it 100% of your attention. At first it will be difficult to focus on just one thing, but eventually you’ll be able to do it. See what it does for your writing.

NaNo Day 2

This morning was a little more difficult than yesterday, although I luckily woke up at 630 again, no alarm needed. My 2K words came a little harder today, although I haven’t run out of plot yet, which is good. I just need lots of time and fast fingers.

NaNo Day 1

How’s everyone doing? Did you start writing last night at midnight? Get up early to do it? Or are you planning on starting tonight?

Chris Baty suggests getting ahead start on your novel in week one when you have the energy, so shoot for 2000 words a say instead of the average 1677. For Americans, this will help during the THanksgiving holidays!

Don’t forget about the NaNomonkeys daily podcast!

And good luck.