Point of View

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POINT OF VIEW: When the Story Takes a Twist

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Every writer who has been doing this gig for a while has probably experienced something like this: A character suddenly reveals something about themselves that you’d never guessed when you first created them. Or maybe what was just a minor throw-away plot point or description suddenly blossoms and veers the story off onto a whole new course. Or that guy you mentioned waaaay back in book one suddenly wants his own plot arc in book three. As a writer, I live for those moments – when the writing feels alive, when it practically sings under my hands on the keyboard. … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: I Am My Mother’s Son

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Mom and Scott

My mother is one of the strongest people I know. She brought me up to be self sufficient, to stand on my own and to go after what I wanted. She made me my own man. There was a period in my childhood when she was single and supporting us both on a teacher’s salary. I never once felt like we were poor. I always had what I needed, and often enough I had the things I wanted. The shirt above was one of them – Quicksilver and Ocean Pacific shorts were all the rage when I was in Jr. … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: Writing Short vs. Writing Long

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Hey all… I am finally moving along on my latest novel, “The Long Redemption” – it’s set in the same universe as the “Liminal Sky” trilogy, but with a whole different setting and cast of characters. For the last three years, I have written two novels a year, and this year, I am giving myself a little break and just doing this one. It’s due by the start of October, so I have nine months to complete it instead of six. So what am I doing with the extra time, you ask? I hav set my sights on conquering SiffWah. … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: The Blood Moon

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Last night we saw the blood moon. Okay, technically it was a “super” blood moon, as it was at close approach to the earth, but it actually looked kinda small to me. But it tickled a memory, something from a very long time ago. When I was a kid–maybe four or five years old–we lived in a quiet residential neighborhood in the middle of Tucson, Arizona. This would have been in the arly to mid seventies. I remember lawns and small houses there, the oleander bushes and lone saguaro cactus in the back yard surrounded by a chain-link fence, the … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: To the Moon Part Two

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Last fall, I took a deep dive into Antarctica to write my novella “Slow Thaw.” It was an amazing experience to immerse myself so deeply into setting. Now I’m setting my sights a little higher. My next novel is a stand-alone in the Liminal Sky universe tentatively titled “The Long Redemption.” I am pulling together everything I have learned over the last four years of writing – plot, characterization, overall fabulousness – and I am really excited to get into this one. Much of this new story is set on the Moon, a place which I have never visited. To … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: Three Cats Short of a Horde

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Warning/Disclaimer: In today’s column, I discuss phrases that are colorful synonyms for when someone is “crazy.” I want to distinguish this from mental illness, which is not what I am referring to. Instead, I am referring to people who espouse crazy ideas, often knowing they are not true. Every good writer loves words. It’s an inherent part of the job, just like good lawyers love the law and good pilots love their planes. Words are an integral part of our trade, and we delight in the weird and wonderful nature of the language and enjoy twisting it around like warm … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: 2019

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It’s that time of year again – time to take stock of the ending year, and make plans and write down my goals for 2019. Looking Back So I thought I’d start by looking back at what I said a year ago: “Nevertheless, I go into 2018 re-energized. For one, it’s an election year, and I can see a blue wave rising on the horizon.” Nailed it! Yeah, we didn’t take the senate, but we go into 2019 a lot stronger than we did in 2018. “For another, I finished and sold book two for each of my trilogies with … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: Reflection

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It’s almost the end of the year, and so I wanted to take a moment to reflect on and be thankful for some of the things that keep me going, even when it seems like the world might be ending. So here we go, in no particular order. Waking up next to Mark each morning. Just seeing him makes me happy, even after 26 years together. He just fits with me. My family, especially my Mom and Dad, who never stop believing that I could be the next J.K. Rowling, even when it seems more likely I’ll be the next … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW; What a Difference a Week Makes

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scott - happy juice

Last week I was at a bit of a low ebb, bemoaning how difficult it was to market your work on social media and in the publishing world. This week, none of that has changed. Facebook still makes it hard to get your posts out there without tons of money, and Amazon… well, the Zon is still the Zon. And yet it was a good week. I sent in my final book of my second trilogy – “The Shoreless Sea,” to the publisher. And I’ve started my evil plan to storm the SFWA (Sci Fi Writer’s Association) – or “siffwah”, … Read more

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POV: Writing is Hard

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Scott

Hey all… Writing is what I love more than almost anything else in the world (except maybe Mark, Mom and Dad, and Oreos). But sometimes, being a writer is soul-crushingly hard. I’m not talking about the writing itself. Writing can make me crazy, sure. There are times when the words just don’t come, and times when you just can’t sit down to write. And times (usually at the three quarters point of the story) when you decide everything you write is shit. But that’s par for the course. What I’m talking about today is getting your work out there, and … Read more