Category Archives: Writing

It requires no effort to look at the broken mess of your latest attempts and to decide that you are a loser. It requires no skill, takes no strength, and uses no calories to lie flat on your back and … Continue reading →

Some of the stories you write you just know are good. Not only do all your friends praise it, but when Ray Bradbury read it he praised it, too. So how come a story like that gets rejected over and … Continue reading →

If you are a writer, then you should be writing regularly. And when you submit a work for publication, you should be starting to work on your next project. You don’t want to have all your eggs in one basket … Continue reading →

Although I am a professional writer (I’ve actually made money at this. I know, surprising), people will on occasion ask me about the profession and how to do it. Today someone asked me how I decide what to write about, … Continue reading →

Over the weekend I got word from a publisher that they had snagged one of my novels out of their slush pile for “further consideration.” They also advised me to be patient. Obviously, I appreciated the contributing editor letting me … Continue reading →

I don’t mean to whine and I’m not looking for sympathy or answers. I’m just mulling things over, getting them out of my head and onto paper, as it were. This is for my benefit and you’re just listening to … Continue reading →

A few years ago when I was working on one of my books, I got an email from my overworked editor in London. The copy editor in New York didn’t like one of my sentences and had proposed a change. … Continue reading →

Anticipation. There once was a ketchup commercial that was built upon having to wait a long time for the product to drip out of the bottle. The idea was that slow and thick meant it was better than competing brands. … Continue reading →

The science fiction author Jerry Pournelle has been keeping a blog on the internet since before the word “blog” was invented. He simply called it a journal and it is located at www.jerrypournelle.com. Every so often, he’ll comment that “my … Continue reading →