Twenty-four years ago this month, I sent out my first novel – “On a Shoreless Sea” – to ten New York sci fi publishers. And twenty-three years ago, also this month, my nascent writing career came to an abrubt end. I knew I wanted to be a writer when I was nine years old and … Read more
I’m not a good waiter. Two weeks ago, I submitted my latest novel, “Dropnauts,” to an online contest called Pitch Wars. Pitch Wars is a chance to snag a mentor with publishing experience, who will spend the next three months with you reworking your novel, and in the end, it will be posted to the … Read more
I’ve always had a fascination with words. Duh, right? It’ one of the prerequisites for being a writer, just like a love of the law is for being a lawyer, and a love of art is for the artist. But recently, I’ve found a new, more specific use for this logofile obsession of mine – … Read more
The manuscript is written, it’s gone through my beta readers and is finalized in third-draft form. And it’s ready to go out to the publisher/agent/pitch wars/wherever. Almost. There’s still one last step I take before unleashing my work onto an eager and unsuspecting world. (side note: can someone be both eager and unsuspecting?) The fixit … Read more
I am at the edge of a precipice. When I jumped into this writing thing again six years ago, I hoped to be discovered, to have a huge bestseller that would catapult me into… I don’t know. Fame? Success? Money? Validation? And now here I am, facing the biggest questions of my writing career. Where … Read more
Those who read my column regularly know I am madly working to finish “Dropnauts: Redemption Book One” in time for PitchWars. I just got my editor notes back on Thursday, and now have about two weeks to whip the whole thing into shape. The news from the editor is mixed. He functioned as my beta … Read more
We just wrapped up a warm Sacramento day at Rainbowfest – an annual LGBTQ+ festival in Lavender Heights (which strangely is very flat) – with our local author group, the “Queer Sacramento Authors’ Collective” (QSAC). I’ve learned a few things doing these kinds of events, and thought I’d share some of my tips with you … Read more
Oh how pride goeth before the fall. Sometimes when you think you have this whole writer gig figured out, life steps in to give you a hard slap across the cheek. A few weeks ago, I ran across a review that was so negative it might have stopped my nascent writing career in its tracks … Read more
There’s a lot of stuff swirling around Dreamspinner Press these days. I don’t want to rehash the various issues here – if you’re connected to Dreamspinner in some way, you are probably aware of them already. I also don’t intend to get into specific author complaints against the press. Each of us has our own … Read more
I’m in my happy place. 🙂 I just finished the first draft of “Dropnauts: Redemption Book One” (I know, this one has had more names than Diddy) last week. I’m in the middle of the second draft, and that’s one of my favorite parts of writing. Why, you ask? Because: I don’t have to push … Read more