Editorial Response

I promised that I’d let everyone know what the response was on the story I submitted once I got it back.

Well, journey thou hither to learn the results.

Cohort!

I’ve followed the autobiographical story of author Tobias Buckell’s breaking-in to the novel writing world with great interest.  And since reading his latest installment, “The Value of Friends“, I’ve been thinking about the idea of my “cohort” of fellow speculative-fiction writers.

A “cohort” of writers, as suggested in Tobias Buckell’s piece, are a group of writers who are familiar with each other and who break-in to the industry roughly as a group.  They are writing contemporaries.  As mentioned in his article, the cohort is a supportive community who help each other and encourage each other.  There’s no formal delineation.  It’s a pretty ad-hoc organization.

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Weekend Assignment: Oh Beautiful, for Spacious Skies…

Weekend Assignment this week asks what the America of 2062 will look like:

Next Tuesday is my birthday, I am not quite 50 yet, but when I was a little girl I liked to sit and imagine what the world, more specifically, America, would be like when I reached 50! Having nearly arrived at my goal age, I am now aiming for another 50 years! So, in honor of my 48th birthday, I want you to search your imaginations, and tell what I can expect in the year… 2062!

Extra Credit: Tell me, is the world anything like you imagined it would be when you grew up? What’s different? What’s the same?

And so, I slip on my time-visor helmet, and prepare to reveal to you the FUTURE!  Or FUTURES! as the case may be:

Hiatus Monday

It’s another tequila sunrise, starin’ slowly across the sky, said goodbye…

That’s right, it’s another Hiatus Monday, and so I thought I’d start your day off with a sad song, courtesy of the Eagles.

Every time I write a Hiatus Monday post, I think of this song… in part because the phrase “It’s another Hiatus Monday” slides so easily into “Tequila Sunrise”, and in part because “Tequila Sunrise” is a bit of a sad song, and Hiatus Monday posts are kind of sad posts.  They’re such little things.

Have a great week, see you back here, tomorrow!

Writing Quote: Getting the Edit

Today’s writing quote comes from one-time managing editor of Harper’s: Russell Lynes.  The story of writing goes, of course, that writers love their own work.  We’re simply enamored of it.  We have to be; how else do we summon the courage to expose it to the world, and even – horror of horrors – submit it to the whims of an editor to consider for publication.  It takes more than a thick skin; it takes a belief that what we’ve written is good and worthy of publication.

So, perhaps, it may come as no surprise that, unless we’re well acclimated to the idea, some writers may have a little difficulty hearing that what they’ve written… needs work.  Some writers might even grow a little hostile to the notion that their work is anything less than perfect already.  But here’s a quote to set you straight about that inclination, should you ever feel it welling up inside you:

No author dislikes to be edited as much as he dislikes not to be published. 

~Russell Lynes

Yes indeed.  If you’ve already gone through the trouble of submitting your work, and you now get feedback that the editor requires changes, consider the alternative.

Hiatus Saturday

The summer semester is halfway-ish over.  But I suspect that when fall hits, the Hiatus days will still continue, at least for a while, because the extra burden of career planning tasks will not yet be over at that time.

But… though the end is yet a good long way off, there is an end in sight.  Which will make me a happier camper, too.  I’ve noticed a slight drop in my traffic around here since I started these hiatus days.  Fewer days with meaningful content updates means less cool stuff to read means fewer people coming to read it.  Anyway, carry on, dear friends.  Carry on.

Choose Your Own Adventure…

Dear Wife and I were talking the other day about books, and about reading.  We’re both pretty avid readers.  But whereas I read almost exclusively in the speculative fiction genres, and venture outside those boundaries only rarely (if you’re going to read for enjoyment, you might as well read what you enjoy, and so I do), Dear Wife reads widely across many different genres, including non-fiction.  As we were talking, Dear Wife commented that she didn’t want B.T. to read only fantasy and science fiction.

“Didn’t you read anything else, when you were a kid?” she asked.  “Like, the Hardy Boys or something?”