Point of View

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Point of View: Sense & Sensitivity

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man reading book, surprised - deposit photos

As a writer, it’s important to stretch yourself—to write about things (and people) who are unfamiliar to you. It’s one thing to create a race of aliens that has nothing to do with the human race—then you can pretty much go hog wild with however you want to portray them (unless you unwittingly tap into some negative human stereotypes Jar Jar Binks, I’m looking at you). But what about when you’re writing about an existing human culture? I’m a gay man. I can write gay characters pretty much with impunity, because they’re not just what I know, but what I … Read more

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Point of View: Boys Who Like Boys

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Boys Holding Hands - Deposit Photos

Somewhere along the way, I lost the thread. I let the other side frame the debate, making my identity all about sex. I forgot that my identity as a gay man didn’t rest on sex, or sexuality, and it took a beautiful song to remind me. I was scanning through my Mastodon feed and ran across a video from 2021, made during the heart of the pandemic – a song called Boys Who Like Boys by an openly gay singer named Eli Lieb. Intrigued, I clicked on the link. I’d never heard of Eli Lieb before this. As I watched … Read more

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Point of View: (Re)writing the Story

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Reset - Red Button - deposit photos

Thirty years ago, I wrote a book called “On a Shoreless Sea.” It was a fantastic novel, or so I thought at the time – a clever blending of sci-fi and fantasy set on a generation ship. This was the one that would launch me to sci-fi writer fame and fortune. I printed out ten copies (yes, those were the days of the paper submission – so sorry for the grove of “copier paper” trees I slaughtered) and UPS’d them to the largest publishers in the biz. Then I waited. One by one, they came back, the last one arriving … Read more

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Point of View: Gardening is Writing II

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Scott Garden

Back in the before world, in 2019, I wrote a column for this space called “Gardening is Writing.” My premise was simple. Many of the same skills to grow a successful vegetable garden could be applied to writing as well. Then yesterday, I ran across a framed image at a Starbucks, of all places, that reminded me of the art I used to draw when I was in high school. I sent it to one of my high school art teachers, Laura Brouse (check out her current art – it’s amazing), who still has a bit of my art after … Read more

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Point of View: What I’m Working On

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writer - deposit photos

We’re just back from BayCon last week and my brain is still buzzing and not up for generating any BIG IDEAS for this week’s column, so I thought I’d do something I haven’t done in a bit, and share what I’m working on (personally and via Other Worlds Ink, our small press). The Great North First off is the rerelease of The Great North. It’s a future post-apocalyptic sci-fantasy loosely based on the Welsh “Valentine’s Day” legend of Dwynwen, but with a decidedly gay twist. The wonderful folks at Mischief Corner Books first published this in 2017, and I’m excited … Read more

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Point of View: Am I Narrow or Wide?

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arms wide - deposit photos

In indie publishing, we use the words “narrow” or “wide” to differentiate between two vastly different strategies. Selling narrow means utilizing only one vendor—typically Amazon—and essentially putting all of your eggs in one basket. It can have its own rewards, as with the ranking thing, but you are also subjecting yourself to the whims of one vendor. And if they ever decide to shut you down, which Amazon has done before, you are entirely at their mercy. If instead you decide to go “wide,” it means you are selling your books through multiple different vendors. I started out my indie … Read more

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Point of View: Running a Group Sales Table, Part One

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Davis Pride

This week I thought I’d do a practical advice column for my writer friends. It’s been a while since I did one of these, and being fresh off of not one but two Pride events, with a third to come next weekend, it seemed like a great time to offer a primer on how to set up and run a group sales table. Choosing an Event Big city Prides can be quite expensive. Our local Sacramento Pride festival is now $750 for a booth for two days, and SF Pride is $1600 for a booth, canopy, table and chairs for … Read more

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Point of View: Am I Doing Enough?

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man shrugging - deposit photos

I’m not doing it right. I mean, that must be what it is. I’ve been at this writing thing in a serious way for almost ten years. Along the way, I’ve had some successes – a few Rainbow Awards, some high-flying (of short-lived) rankings on Amazon, and I have a couple bookshelves full of copies of my published works. So why does it feel like I’m starting over at square one, every single day? Once a month, the Independent Book Publishers’ Association magazine arrives with new tips: I need to be launching a TikTok video channel. I should be courting … Read more

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Point of View: The Trouble With AI

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Artificial Intelligence - Deposit Photos

I’ve avoided writing this particular column for months, in part because generative AI is such a hot button topic at the moment, and partly because I needed to work through my own thoughts and feelings on the matter. And maybe because I suspected it would be one long-ass article. I’ve been feeling this weird sense of jamais vu, that is, increasingly feeling that what should be familiar no longer is. We’re moving rapidly into a “sci-fi” world, and the things that used to excite me in the abstract – like self-driving cars and missions to Mars – no longer do. … Read more

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Point Of View: Dogs & Puppies

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keeshond - deposit photos

Last week, I asked my readers what they wanted me to talk about in this column, and got a wide variety of responses. I’m going to take them all seriously, even the first one: “More dogs and puppies.” Very well. Funkel Blue Sen, this one’s for you. I grew up in a “dog house” – in my family, we had dogs for as long as I can remember. While there was a husky and a samoyed in the mix at least once, most of these were keeshonds (pictured above – not one of ours). Keeshonds are sweet and super intelligent … Read more