My friend Seth W just posted on his blog on failing at an endeavor out of our league. There’s some good advice for novice fiction writers, like me. It’s axiomatically unavoidable: you’re going to start out writing complete garbage, but that’s the only way you’re going to learn how to really write a good story. … You Are a Failure
If you’re on Facebook, chances are you’ve listed quotes that reflect your philosophy or outlook on life. They are quotes with which we agree from people we admire, but there’s never a real opportunity to showcase the ones we don’t like — unless you have your own blog and can write whatever you’d like on … The Appropriation of Nonsense, Part 1
As none of you probably know, AOL/HuffPo let go a bunch of freelance writers (no, not all of them) in the wee hours of this morning today, and yours truly was among the victims. It was pretty inevitable from the merger and the fact that, if any site among all the sites AOL/HuffPo owns is … My Amp Goes Up to 11 But the Power Just Went Out
In one of my high school classes there was a concept we discussed called the “nausea of indecision”, a phrase taken from James Joyce’s Eveline, whereby a literary figure is brought to a crucial point in the plot characterized by intense adversity. Usually at some point in the struggle there is a difficult decision to … This Post is About Vomiting and Protagonists
The Art of Manliness had a post recently on doing some writing physically instead of digitally, although one still uses the fingers with a pencil (is this mic on? anyone?). It’s obvious that it’s a post to chat-up some sponsors’ products — we all do it — but the Manliness’ penchant for the traditional and … Punch Your Laptop in the Neck
If you’re new here, I posted near the end of 2010 that I was reading through the entire Bible in 90 days so that I could do a book review on it. Since it’s a large book (actually a compilation of books), the review will have some meat to it, but it will also have … The Problem of Tyre
Journalism union The Newspaper Guild doesn’t like the fact that non-journalist rubes have have exercised their right of free association and contract when agreeing to write for HuffPo, for free. Guild organizer Lauri Lebo said this: “People write for free with the idea that they can get this mass exposure,” she said. “As for The … HuffPo May Get a Few Scabs in Need of a Good Picketing
More than a month ago I posted about a friends’ band reuniting. Since they don’t have traditional label support they’ve started a Kickstarter fundraising campaign to cover the costs of producing their new album. It kicked off only a few days and already they’ve collected about $8,712 of their $12,500 goal (the donations grow as … Not About Writing: Life in Your Way Fundraises
If you’re managing your writing or publishing blog correctly — and the jury is still out on whether I am doing it right — you’re pretty much prostituting yourself to get those uniques and Adsense hits. Like any real-life professional sex worker you’ve probably had a contest by now, either for a new book you’ve … How to Run a Blog Contest Like a Classy Hooker
Having been through media criticism courses in college, this comes as an interesting development. Seaton writes, concerning Canton and Cox’s Literature and the Economics of Liberty: Free markets, like languages, thus exemplify not anarchy but “spontaneous order.” Well-written poems, plays, and novels, on the other hand, are typically the result of a single individual who … I’ll Trade You Your Whitman For My Ten Copies of This Cummings Anthology
The Mises website ran a piece today on libertarian science fiction, by pipe-lover Jeff Riggenbach. He mentions four sci-fi authors who weren’t libertarian but came across as friendly to the ideas in some way or another: Anthony Burgess, Philip K. Dick, G. William Domhoff, and Carroll Quigley (I was half-hoping to see a mention of … Fear God, Honor the King, Then Show Him Your Plasma Rifle
The “blogosphere” (aka: the blogs in my subscription queue) has been “buzzing” about the state of e-publishing, about self-publishers who have struck it rich with their e-book, and these stories are complementary goods to the insistent posts forewarning everyone that the old guard publishing industry is really, really e-worried about this and should really, really … Dear Children: I’m Dead, Here’s A Bunch of Computer Files
Lew Rockwell had a post or two on Google’s newish ngram app, which can search and graph the frequency of words from books (those things that are like websites on paper) that Google has scanned — because, you know, the information Google has amassed already isn’t frightening enough. I did a multiple search on these … Another Use for Books Besides Table Levelling
In my current work in progress the protagonist is an early-twenties female, and more than a few times I had to stop myself and ask, “Would someone of her cultural makeup actually do/say that?”, and the fact that it’s in first person makes this issue much more crucial. And it brings up the entire issue … Dude, You Write Like a Girl
If you haven’t been here in a few days, you’ll now notice that jd.com looks different, and a little more significant than the, “Hey, did you get a haircut?” sort of looking different. There are a few reasons for this, the biggest of which was that the other blank theme I used had no ongoing … New Look, Same Mediocre Content
My friend Seth emailed this to me about my last post, about writers not having the outlets for promoting themselves that musicians have: The equivalent for writers playing shows I think is capturing an audience and building a fanbase online even before an author has a book written. That way when you have a book … Music and Writing, Part Two
The other day, and album from the band Evelyn Hope (yes, a band, not a person) came up on our iPod. They were a band started by a former associate of mine, Chris, who owned a recording studio in New Jersey. One of my old bands recorded our demo there, so I got to know … Another Post Mentioning Music and Writing
Moviefone made note last year of the coming invasion of films about coming invasion of aliens. I’ve noticed it, too, and I don’t need to actively watch TV to pick up on the trailers — all I need to hear in the background as I maniacally type away is scary music, military lingo bandied about, … E.T. Is Phoning Home and Ordering a Tactical Nuke Strike on Your School
Today marks the halfway point of my “read the entire Bible” marathon. I’m actually a few days over because I don’t plan on taking the two grace days that act as a break from reading. Why in the world someone would need a day off from something as non-strenuous as reading is beyond me. People … A Most Holy Update
I usually don’t post things like this on here, but my pals in Life In Your Way have reunited. Most of you reading this probably have not heard of them; they are a melodic metalcore band and have been good friends of mine for a while, not to mention they’ve written some of the my … Not About Writing: Life in Your Way Reunites