Got a lot done this weekend. Not everything I wanted, but still a lot. And now we eat dinner and write. (at least that's the plan)
Mur Lafferty and how big-D is a sneaky sunnuvabitch. Hey, Mur, I know you have your comments off, but, yeah, a lot of us do care about hearing from you (on your blog and your podcast). I tend to keep a pretty good watch out for big-D. But it's snuck up on me at least 3 times without me noticing (after the first four year long bout when I realized I suffered from Depression). And when I realized it had gotten it's hooks into me again, I had the added thoughts of, "damnit, it got the better of me again. I suck at this." And now, while reading Mur's post, the thought going through my head was, "Wait, is it big-D that's really keeping me from the keyboard, and I've just been making excuses for it?" And now I have a lot to think about.
Oh Nathan Fillon, you had me at "read". Now there's a PSA that should be more widely distributed. Loving to read is about the only positive lesson my father taught me. You don't here me talk about him much, and there's a reason. But if I had to give him credit for anything, it's reading. We always had books in the house and we always had library cards in our wallet (I currently have 3). It's also something that I loved about The West Wing. Everybody talks about the "walk and talk" and the snappy dialog. What they don't often mention is the characters, especially President Bartlett, were shown with books and were shown reading. Show kids that you love to read.
"Rule No. 8: Is secret." Colson Whitehead's rules for writing. (Grokked from Jay lake)
Death by writing group. I've been in a few writing groups. Some of which like to tear people down, no matter what. And I've been in groups that coddle the precious snowflakes. Neither is a good way to go. And while I agree that whatever else, you should be honest in your critique, sometimes that critique should be, "I don't think this is the group for you" and leave it at that. I have critiqued works that give me insight into what slush readers experience on a daily basis. And while I've been cruel in some critiques, I always try to find at least one good thing about the piece. And I have said, more than once, "I don't think this is really ready for a full critique. I would read it after a rewriting, though." Fortunately I haven't had to say that with the groups I belong to now (of which I need to start attending meetings RSN).
That article on ripening all the cool kids are pointing to. Lots to chew on in there. While I guess the idea had been floating in the back of my head, this is the first time it came to the fore that Kindle/e-book publishing is affecting the book publishing industry the same way that desktop publishing affected the graphic design industry. That makes a lot of things make a lot more sense now I consciously see it in that light. The arguments are the same on both sides of the fence, they all track in the same arcs. That's going to take a lot more thought.
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