Point of View

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POINT OF VIEW: The Fixit List

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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 list. Every author who has been around for long enough has one. It’s the list of things you know you do wrong, the ones you’ve been called on again and again by your editors but somehow never stop doing in the heat of writing. I … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: Going On Blind Faith

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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 do I go from here? How do I make it all make sense for my life, my relationship, and my bank account? Is this writing thing going to lead me somewhere? By many measures, I am already a “success.” I have fans who adore my … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: Fifteen Days of Immersion

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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 reader this time around as the time table was too compressed to manage both, so the manuscript was at a bit rougher stage than I would have preferred. He loved the story! That alone made me dance and throw my hands in the air like … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: Working the Crowd

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Sac Pride QSAC Booth

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 for getting the most out of them, especially in your interactions with your booth/table visitors. Bring Lots of Books: If your table has just a few individual books, folks are generally less likely to stop by to see what you offer. I bring 5-10 copies … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: Getting a Little Perspective

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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 if I had seen it when it was first published, back in 2015. I patted myself on the back for being so much more evolved these days, both in writing skill and in my reaction to my sometimes bad reviews. I’d even half-convinced myself that … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: Winning the Draft

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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 my poor little writer’s brain to be extra creative and come up with all sorts of new things, like I do in first draft. The story is still fresh to me – in fact, it’s the first time I actually get to take a step … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: Setting Goals (And Making Them)

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I am both immensely thrilled and a whole lotta stressed today as I write this. I set myself two missions at the start of this year – one, to get into the Science Fiction Writers’ Association (SFWA, pronounced Siffwuh) by writing and selling a qualifying short story. And two, to take steps to snag an agent for what I hope will be the next step in my writing career. Well, missions one accomplished. This week I got not one but four rejections from the major sci fi magazines to which I have submitted. I know, that’s totally not where you … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: Immersed In Another World

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immersion - deposit photos

I’m writing as much each day as I have at any point since Nano four years ago. When I get this deep into one of my stories, I start to practically live in that another world. I’m approaching the end of my latest novel, a solar punk sci fi tale that blends gee-whiz tech, epic scenery, crazy twists and turns, and a pervasive sense of hope I feel like we sorely need right now. I’m writing 1200-2000 words a day, and the story and its characters are on constant rotation in my head. All throughout the day I notice little … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: The Power of Downtime

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Everyone needs downtime. Even writers. I know this, and yet I am spectacularly bad at actually letting myself enjoy any of it. Writer brains, as any writer will likely attest, are strange creatures. Mine is a magpie, flitting through life and chasing whatever is bright, shiny, and new. The other day, we had lunch with friends, and one of them comes from a family of K’s, where every sibling’s first name starts with “K.” And then she mentioned that one of their daughter’s names started with an “E.” And off my little writer brain went. Families with kids whose names … Read more