Doug

  • Doug started the topic Comments from an Editor in the forum Blogs 3 years, 1 month ago

    This morning I got a rejection slip–bummer–but it included a couple of helpful items I’d somehow never seen before. I’ll cut & paste them here:

    >Your paper is written in the first person. The problem with a person new to writing doing so in first person revolves around the overuse of the pronoun β€œI.” The goal to writing in first person is to…[Read more]

  • Congrats! Belated, but sincere. That is no small accomplishment.

  • Doug posted a new activity comment 3 years, 1 month ago

    And I just happen to be reading a book about writing titled “Murder Your Darlings.” πŸ™‚

  • In recent years, I’ve gotten to like watching movies at home. I mean, watching something almost every night. Blame the Internet. There’s Hoopla and Overdrive for borrowing from libraries, and Amazon & iTunes for renting online. It’s not like the old days when I stopped by Blockbuster or Kensington Video on Saturdays for something to watch that…[Read more]

  • Doug started the topic Writing Prompts in the forum Blogs 3 years, 2 months ago

    I started listening to the audiobook of 1001 Sci-Fi Writing Prompts yesterday. The first part deals with aliens: first contact, and abductions.

    A prompt of my own came to mind: Aliens select one human to persuade them that our species is worth allowing to live, and shouldn’t be wiped out. The human they choose happens to be a total misanthrope.

  • Thanks, everyone. And Karen, well done on getting with an agent and Penguin Random House. For my part, I’ve rejoined Duotrope and will start the hunt for an independent small press. The challenge will be to find an honest one–from a rather extensive cautionary article from SFWA, it would seem like for every honest one, there are a dozen sharks…[Read more]

  • Doug replied to the topic Cover reveal! in the forum Podium 3 years, 2 months ago

    Looks wonderful! I like the silhouettes in the foreground, and the misty tree branches. You’re lucky πŸ™‚

  • Doug posted a new activity comment 3 years, 3 months ago

    Thanks for the feedback. I’ve subscribed to Adam Croft’s podcast and it sure looks interesting. I listened to one episode today. He has a sponsor called Ingram Spark, and for curiosity’s sake I checked them out. It looks like maybe a vanity publisher…? But anyway, thanks for giving me info to consider as far as which path to take.

  • Hi all,

    Hope everyone’s holiday season is going well.

    Right now I have two novels. I put one up on Amazon a few years ago, but when I re-read it a while later, I withdrew it in horror. And this was a book I’d had critiqued. Since then I’ve torn it apart and put it back together.

    The other novel I’ve just about completed, and is patiently…[Read more]

    • This is such a HUGE subject Doug. And the quick answer is you should do whatever works best for you and your book. There are, I think, essentially three options!

      Trying to interest an agent who will then approach publishers on your behalf (a must if you want to be pub’d by a big press) which can take a long time unless you’re one of the lucky few…[Read more]

      • Thanks for the feedback. I’ve subscribed to Adam Croft’s podcast and it sure looks interesting. I listened to one episode today. He has a sponsor called Ingram Spark, and for curiosity’s sake I checked them out. It looks like maybe a vanity publisher…? But anyway, thanks for giving me info to consider as far as which path to take.

  • Maybe I should also mention, that the timer I use is an online timer like a bomb with a fuse. You set the time, and the fuse slowly burns down while the clock ticks. When it runs out there’s a big “KABOOM!” I’ve been tempted to set the time, turn my speakers up on high, then try to write so many words before the thing goes off.

    Maybe someone…[Read more]

  • Thanks. I’ve found what helps for me, when it’s really getting *bad*, is to set a timer. For the next 15 minutes I look at nothing but the story! Writing or revising. Then I can goof off a bit if I want. Not too long. Then I set the timer again.

    Doing this, I’m finding it helps get me into the mode where I’m safety into the story.

  • I’ve read William Gibson quoted as saying, it’s the biggest time-waster ever devised by man! I hate to think of how much time I’ve wasted with it, from 1996 until now. Ah well.

    So far I’ve discovered the strategies of two authors.

    Margaret Atwood: She has two computers, one connected to that ever-ensnaring Web, the other not connected. We…[Read more]

  • Congrats, Athelstone! Treat yourself to something nice. Raising a cup of writing fuel (coffee). πŸ™‚

    ~Doug

  • Thanks for the replies. Crazy season? Well, who can deny it? As I type this it’s 6:50am in the eastern US, and folks are no doubt lining up outside the big-box stores, readying for the stampede.

    And now, here’s my entry.

    ###

    “I dreamt about you last night.”

    “Excuse me, Ebenezer?”

    “Yes, Jacob. I was possessed of a very strange dream, and it…[Read more]

  • I’ll post mine tomorrow. Couldn’t post it before then, for seasonal reasons.

    A question for our members in Britain and other countries: Do you have a certain name for the start of Christmas season? I don’t know how it came to be “Black Friday” in the US, shopping frenzy or no. When I was a kid, that term was unheard of; it sounds like a horror…[Read more]

    • Hi Doug,
      I live in northern England, but am a bit of a ‘bah humbug’ at this time of year as I’m no longer of Christian belief, so don’t celebrate that side of it – and I find the whole over-indulging thing all a bit too much. The best I can come up with is (Christian) Advent (though I’m sure that’s a worldwide thing).

      • Ah @janette, but its the winter solstice! That’s how I see it – and all the build up excitement is just a way of making the dark bearable!! Although I do wish it meant we could celebrate on the actual solstice (early presents!) but I guess that’s a step too far!
        @dougk when my mini was at primary school (4-11yrs), we mums used to just call it…[Read more]

    • I am very much of the view that the Christmas season starts on 24 December and ends on 12th Night. It pains me no end that we’re supposed to start Christmas in about October and just go back to normal after Boxing Day, but then get back into the party mood for new year and then forget it all again. That’s the end of my curmudgeonliness for today

  • Doug replied to the topic Positive thoughts in the forum Group logo of CoronaMoCoronaMo 3 years, 4 months ago

    Something new I’d like to share. I listen to audiobooks and podcasts every day at my job, and every so often it occurs to me there’s some classic or another I somehow never read. So, why not spin it on audio while I type? So far I’ve listened to The Gulag Archipelago, Dracula, Steinbeck’s The Moon is Down, and Shakespearean plays.

    And I’ve known…[Read more]

  • This is an idea I got just now, and thought I’d dash off here. Usually I don’t care much for movies where Christmas collides with Halloween: holiday cheer and Halloween horror don’t mix, I believe. But this idea hit me nonethless.

    Santa Claus becomes:

    ***SANTA ZOMB***

    St. Nick shook himself back to consciousness. Sitting up in the snow, he…[Read more]

  • Doug started the topic Robotomania in the forum Coffee Shop 3 years, 4 months ago

    Yesterday I got a heads-up from an audiobook about Hanson Robotics. Those things have really come along, and not only that, they seem to have built one as Philip K. Dick!

    I wanted to insert a pic of it here, but there doesn’t seem to be a way to do that. So I’ll include a link instead. If you Google it, there are also YouTube videos of people…[Read more]

  • Doug started the topic Keep at it, Keep at it! in the forum Blogs 3 years, 5 months ago

    Hi all,

    I turn 59 next month, getting up to the age where you’re growing conscious of your own mortality. When I was a teen, why I could do anything! I took it for granted I was gonna live forever! When I gave in to my writing life-calling at 27, I still had my whole life ahead of me. But not so now.

    The trouble is, I’ve wasted a lot of time…[Read more]

  • Doug replied to the topic Positive thoughts in the forum Group logo of CoronaMoCoronaMo 3 years, 5 months ago

    BTW Jules, I’m finally listening to that audio of Hamlet! And yes, it lives up to its legend.

    I wonder what literature would be like today, had there been no William Shakespeare? I’ve read that he inspired Hermann Melville to keep going with Moby Dick.

    • So glad your enjoying it! It’s amazing how many writers and artists Shakespeare infuenced – many in genres you’d never expect! 😊

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