tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-286161492011-04-21T14:19:16.867-07:00I like the sound of my own voicetlhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00036228653809890985noreply@blogger.comBlogger281100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28616149.post-1157725139682879062006-09-08T07:12:00.000-07:002006-09-08T07:19:14.916-07:00

I'm not even sure why I HAVE a blog. I never update this stupid thing.My favorite thing about writing a blog is that, months later, I can look back and see what I was doing at the time. But I hate detailing the minutiae; why should you care -- why should I care -- what I had for dinner Tuesday, or that I was feeling blue Friday, or any of the thousands of other transitory things that happen

tlhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00036228653809890985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28616149.post-1153532597701895582006-07-21T18:39:00.000-07:002006-07-21T18:43:17.703-07:00

Do you ever feel as if you were a wind-up toy, slowly winding down after something horrible happens, and that you're screaming to everyone you know that you're going to stop some moment soon but they don't seem to hear you and they just laugh and tell you it's all in the past and you're stronger for it and you just want to sleep until that Doom you feel waiting for you when you stop arrives and

tlhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00036228653809890985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28616149.post-1152161392246012042006-07-05T21:27:00.000-07:002006-07-06T10:17:54.380-07:00

So I spent the day lounging around on the couch being generally sick and catching up on my reading.I polished off two Berkley paperback cozies I picked up the other day. I have to admit, I grabbed them because the titles appealed ("The Ghost and Mrs. McClure", "The Ghost and the Dead Deb") and because of the very sharp art-deco covers. And the hero sounded sexy. They're what I usually consider

tlhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00036228653809890985noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28616149.post-1151375514883451522006-06-26T19:31:00.000-07:002006-06-26T19:32:31.736-07:00

You scored as Lara Croft. A thrill-seeking, slightly unscrupulous, tough-as-nails archaeologist, Lara Croft travels the world in search of ancient relics perhaps better left hidden. She packs two Colt .45s and has no fear of jumping off buildings, exploring creepy tombs, or taking on evil meglomaniacs bent on world domination. Lara Croft88%Maximus79%Captain Jack Sparrow71%Batman, the Dark

tlhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00036228653809890985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28616149.post-1151004471875624212006-06-22T12:21:00.000-07:002006-06-22T12:33:48.930-07:00

I was browsing the bookstore shelves the other day and, amazingly enough, found a book that looked interesting (the fact that I was in the mystery section may have had something to do with this).Since it was the first in a series, I quickly scanned the back of the next one to see see if it'd be worthwhile to buy them both right away.Big mistake.The cover for the second book had the right names,

tlhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00036228653809890985noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28616149.post-1150820547933934792006-06-20T08:54:00.000-07:002006-06-20T09:22:27.993-07:00

Is it terrible that I find 'rejection obsession' to be hilarious?Several of the blogs I read regularly have posts on the topic up today. Miss Snark and Evil Editor discuss the hidden meanings of rejection letters, and on Pub Rants, the issue is writers responding in an unprofessional manner to rejections.I wish these rejected authors would get a clue. Yes, it hurts. Yes, by god, you've been

tlhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00036228653809890985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28616149.post-1150305517065520802006-06-14T09:44:00.000-07:002006-06-14T11:09:31.486-07:00

Okay, maybe not all are horrible, but too many are.Why, oh, why must writing websites be so damn ugly?It's like a Law, the Law of Ugly Writing Websites or something. Agents, small presses, helpful people offering writing advice, scammers, if it's even tangentially related to writing, it's bound to be hideous and dated (ugh).The look is from the late 90's; one mile-long page of oddly spaced and

tlhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00036228653809890985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28616149.post-1150302801992007602006-06-14T09:17:00.000-07:002006-06-14T11:07:36.653-07:00

Browse if you dare (link is nofollow).I have a confession to make.I like reading slush.Sometimes, when I should probably be working, I'll go to iUniverse, or Author's Den, or (shamefully) rosedog.com, and dig through until I find some really delightfully awful prose.And then I giggle to myself about how horrible it is, and feel vicariously embarrassed for the author, and contemplate blogging

tlhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00036228653809890985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28616149.post-1150222159670349562006-06-13T10:19:00.000-07:002006-06-13T12:00:16.653-07:00

“A critic is a man who knows the way but can't drive the car.” ~ Kenneth TynanI like to critique. It's a passion, a mission, a driving need to tell others what the hell is wrong with them. Some might say I have a real gift for it.And it's not easy to write a good critique.You have to provide feedback on both technical and craft flaws, nurture (as opposed to smother, inflate, coddle, or pander to)

tlhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00036228653809890985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28616149.post-1150210313522699892006-06-13T07:49:00.000-07:002006-06-13T07:52:20.836-07:00

I had something amazing to blog about this morning but I forget what it was.Don't you hate that? You're lying in bed, hashing out this great idea for tomorrow, and you wake up and can't even remember the basic idea.Oh, yeah. I think I'm cranky and am going to write some posts on the common reactions to critiques. Because I am TIRED of seeing the same damn responses every damn time.Later.

tlhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00036228653809890985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28616149.post-1150155714477862282006-06-12T16:39:00.000-07:002006-06-13T11:10:19.593-07:00

"When you believe in things that you don't understand . . . you suffer!" ~ Stevie WonderTo continue with my thoughts from earlier, it seems to me as if the people who get sucked into these publishing scams fall into two big categories and one little tiny one.The first, and probably largest, group is people who are inexperienced. They just don't know better; they've finished a memoir or a book of

tlhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00036228653809890985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28616149.post-1150149800726722272006-06-12T14:33:00.000-07:002006-06-12T22:35:35.563-07:00

There but for the grace of God...After reading A.C. Crispin's latest blog post about the abuse the Writer Beware staff takes, I wasn't so much surprised that people can be so stupid as appalled by it.I understand it's human nature to take out anger at a message on the messenger, and to lash out when wounded, but to waffle and equivocate becase you want something to be true and haven't examined

tlhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00036228653809890985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28616149.post-1149823733890161032006-06-08T20:23:00.000-07:002006-06-08T20:30:06.126-07:00

Grrr. I just booted up Windows while rummaging around for my Sims 2 disk so I could reinstall it on my nice fresh Windows install.I've been anticipating starting over with a clean slate (plus all my gorgeous lots, I do love building houses). And then I remembered.I sent my Sims 2 disk to Iraq.With a good friend who'll be coming home in November. And all I can say is, he'd better bring the damn

tlhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00036228653809890985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28616149.post-1149823095957941792006-06-08T19:57:00.000-07:002006-06-08T20:19:08.780-07:00

A man's dreams are an index to his greatness.I had the weirdest dream last night. ("Eeeeps!", I hear you shrieking as you run away; no, no. It's short, I swear.)Yesterday I discovered a really sweet space simulator, Celestia. It's essentially a planetarium (universarium?) that lets you explore the universe from your desktop. It has a constellation mode where it draws lines between the

tlhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00036228653809890985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28616149.post-1149577008745491772006-06-05T23:47:00.000-07:002006-06-05T23:56:48.753-07:00

Whew!Okay, I've been MIA for a few days; I had a slight computer malfunction and, well, ended up having to reformat my hard drive. This computer isn't that old, and it's been receiving regular transfusions of parts, but it still seems to be moving slower and slower as time goes by.Fortunately, I made very thorough backups. So I lost nothing except a Sunday's worth of web-browsing. And we had

tlhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00036228653809890985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28616149.post-1149285822988487772006-06-02T14:31:00.000-07:002006-06-02T15:46:23.983-07:00

Many a small thing has been made large by the right kind of advertising.~ Mark TwainSooooo... I don't think I'm going to be using technorati tags any longer.A fellow known as Made From Dust thoughtfully left me this comment on my last post:Writing is an amazing tool when used for the right purposes, especially when done well. Rather than write, I have started a photography blog to tell some

tlhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00036228653809890985noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28616149.post-1149262549812567882006-06-02T07:53:00.000-07:002006-06-02T12:43:54.076-07:00

"Talk: excessive. Time: limited."The busy crew at Absolute Write have been given access (for a scant 24 hours) to their database. The general gist of the official thread as of this morning is that they're waiting for their new host to do a restore, and that it's looking tentatively optimistic.This is fantastic news. The ex-host hasn't won any brownie points by their handling of the situation or

tlhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00036228653809890985noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28616149.post-1149089650835810732006-05-31T08:12:00.000-07:002006-06-02T09:31:46.960-07:00

Go here to see the original post on Jenna Glatzer's blog.Absolute Write's former hosting company has missed the deadline to hand over the databases again.It's disgusting; there's absolutely no reason for it. It's data, for christssake. If you have a grievance, make a copy for your records (which is probably illegal too, but hell, it's better than holding an entire company hostage until they sue

tlhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00036228653809890985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28616149.post-1149024214220293762006-05-30T14:09:00.000-07:002006-05-30T14:26:05.306-07:00

Iseult, Iseult, what grace may death not keepAs sweet for us to win of death, and sleep?It occurred to me recently that I had no idea how long a chapter is supposed to be. Yes, I know this is a non-question; a chapter is as long as it needs to be to convey the information it's supposed to convey, and all that.But still... what's a good length for a chapter? I'm not big on constraints, but

tlhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00036228653809890985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28616149.post-1148836625413185592006-05-28T10:08:00.000-07:002006-05-30T14:27:06.410-07:00

I am a serial almost-commenter. I swear, it's the most annoying thing... I write long, detailed, well-thought out, lovingly edited comments, and then I don't post them.Usually it's because I realize at the last moment that it's all useless anyway. This might be years of internet communication participation speaking, but I can't seem to shake the feeling that I'm either preaching to the choir if

tlhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00036228653809890985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28616149.post-1148573617017639832006-05-25T08:27:00.005-07:002006-05-30T19:55:46.406-07:00

Barbara Bauer is on Writer Beware's Top 20 Worst Agents listSo it looks like Absolute Write will be back online again soon. Get this -- it turns out that AW's host's owner, after panicking and pulling the plug on AW, is now rolling out her own similarly targeted writing site (link is nofollow). For shame.And for stupid, too; I have no doubt this new site will manage to build an audience of

tlhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00036228653809890985noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28616149.post-1148526737846705582006-05-24T20:04:00.000-07:002006-05-25T08:03:12.250-07:00

Barbara Bauer is on Writer Beware's Top 20 Worst Agents listAbsolute Write was a great source of entertainment and a little enlightenment for me last year when I was still thinking about maybe writing something else again someday. While I don't really participate there anymore, nobody should have their hosting yanked because of some blustering bully.So, while I am usually not one to jump on

tlhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00036228653809890985noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28616149.post-1148503778403954792006-05-24T13:34:00.000-07:002006-05-24T14:07:26.496-07:00

That is most of it, being a wizard--seeing and listening. The rest is technique.I can't believe I just found out about this, completely by accident. Pretty despicable, if not entirely unexpected; essentially, the owners of the animated The Last Unicorn were supposed to pay the author a percentage of the net profits and never did.I think I've seen something like this before while trying to find

tlhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00036228653809890985noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28616149.post-1148495634993276902006-05-24T10:51:00.000-07:002006-05-24T12:12:38.070-07:00

if dreams are like movies, then memories are films about ghostsSome notes on psychic abilities that should probably be considered if one is going to write about them. Note, while this is inspired by a synopsis I saw today on the Evil Editor blog, it's not aimed specifically at anyone or meant as an attack. There wasn't enough information there to make the assumption that the author of the

tlhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00036228653809890985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28616149.post-1148420931419456552006-05-23T14:40:00.000-07:002006-05-23T17:12:00.126-07:00

Okay, I might have been cruising rejectioncollection.com instead of writing, but in my defense, uh... I found some hilarious ones.Aspiring author Rejected once, but not twice. got the old 'doesn't meet our standards' rejection. It's not hard to guess why once you reach the part about "Being that this was my first book, I knew that I would be rejected. If I had been Steven K. it would have been

tlhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00036228653809890985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28616149.post-1148413148809193112006-05-23T12:20:00.000-07:002006-05-23T13:47:32.490-07:00

I was reminded today of a bit of oddness I encountered a few years ago (see? Contrary to popular opinion, I do have a sense of time outside of the broad categories of 'the other day', 'today', and 'later'.)I had just picked up the latest in a series by an author, quite respected, who has written many, many novels in the sci-fi and fantasy genres. I had stopped following him for a while, and

tlhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00036228653809890985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28616149.post-1148410359040289592006-05-23T11:22:00.000-07:002006-05-23T11:54:10.390-07:00

So, I was thinking about Frazer's The Golden Bough last night. No, I don't know why, exactly -- I think perhaps it has something to do with my recent reinterest in the writing community. It's odd to see how perspectives change, especially among younger writers and readers. I think a lot of the sense of history has faded from the genre scene... or maybe it was never really there because it's

tlhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00036228653809890985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28616149.post-1148407637263381672006-05-23T11:05:00.000-07:002006-05-23T11:10:37.000-07:00

Wow, that was easy. I just clicked a few buttons, filled in a few fields... and now I have a blogspot blog. If I had known it was that easy, I probably wouldn't have bothered getting a domain name and setting up textpattern for my usual blog.I don't expect to post much here that isn't writing related, since I really only made this thing so I could participate in blogspot comments in the writing

tlhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00036228653809890985noreply@blogger.com0