Two new projects to announce, which I'm really excited about.
First, after six years, Armand Rosamilia and I are putting our heads together again to work on some projects. Armand was the publisher for Carnifex Press back in the day, and gave me my first editorial gig working on "When the World Runs Thin." So now we're going to work on a few projects together, one of which might be on-going.
There's going to be a new anthology first. It's called "Nonproliferation" and will be all (Post)-Apocalyptic stories that don't involve nuclear disaster. Stories can be 2500-7500 words long. Check out the submission details on the website.
The other project is one that I'm quite excited about. I haven't quite pinned down a title (I have a few in mind), but it's going to be a quarterly magazine geared toward adventure and hard retrofuture pieces: you know, steampunk, dieselpunk, clock-work stories, and even some gaslight fantasy. I'm very excited for that, because I think we're onto something unique with a few of the ideas we're throwing around. Keep an eye on Rymfire Press in the near future -- and here of course -- for the announcement on that one.
Showing posts with label editing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label editing. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Polishing It Up
So it's nearly Christmas, and I'm in full swing on the editing process of the novel. It's going well (or at least I feel it is), and I'm working on adding in some material that I passed over during the initial writing of the piece. I've also had a big breakthrough in how the magic works in my world, which has become a much more important aspect of the story than I'd originally thought. So I'm pleased overall.
Editing has always been something I enjoy. A lot of my colleagues (fellow writers) loathe the editing process, finding it boring and tedious. To me, it's the editing process that really brings out the brilliant parts of the story. The time and effort that gets put into editing really brings out the writer in every writer, because it really utilizes the skills of looking at the story in a broader sense, taking into consideration characterization, theme, plot, and everything else on a global scale, rather than scene-by-scene. It's a process I like, and I'm eager to be going through it with a novel that I feel has some real potential (moreso than my previous attempts at a novel).
I'm hoping to finish -- or at least have a good portion done -- before the end of the year, as January will be very busy. I'm working to change a bunch of things in The JB Dryden Company that I hope will bring in some more money. One of those things is to bring The Milwaukee Writers Workshop under the fold of the company and start offering a variety of services geared toward the writers I already serve. I'm both excited and nervous, because it's a big step for me to charge for things I've given away for free for so long, but I think it's a good step for my company and my career. At least, I hope it is.
I've never been one for resolutions with the new year, but I believe my goal for 2010 is to get this novel sent out. Having spent years sending out short works, I know the feeling of rejection but also of acceptance and having people read your work. It's a great sensation. Doing it on the scale of a novel is something entirely new to me, though, and it scares me more than sending out short stories ever has, so I've been hesitant to do it with the other piece I have (which is complete). So we'll see how that goes.
Best wishes to everyone for the holidays. I'll probably see you next year. Cheers.
Editing has always been something I enjoy. A lot of my colleagues (fellow writers) loathe the editing process, finding it boring and tedious. To me, it's the editing process that really brings out the brilliant parts of the story. The time and effort that gets put into editing really brings out the writer in every writer, because it really utilizes the skills of looking at the story in a broader sense, taking into consideration characterization, theme, plot, and everything else on a global scale, rather than scene-by-scene. It's a process I like, and I'm eager to be going through it with a novel that I feel has some real potential (moreso than my previous attempts at a novel).
I'm hoping to finish -- or at least have a good portion done -- before the end of the year, as January will be very busy. I'm working to change a bunch of things in The JB Dryden Company that I hope will bring in some more money. One of those things is to bring The Milwaukee Writers Workshop under the fold of the company and start offering a variety of services geared toward the writers I already serve. I'm both excited and nervous, because it's a big step for me to charge for things I've given away for free for so long, but I think it's a good step for my company and my career. At least, I hope it is.
I've never been one for resolutions with the new year, but I believe my goal for 2010 is to get this novel sent out. Having spent years sending out short works, I know the feeling of rejection but also of acceptance and having people read your work. It's a great sensation. Doing it on the scale of a novel is something entirely new to me, though, and it scares me more than sending out short stories ever has, so I've been hesitant to do it with the other piece I have (which is complete). So we'll see how that goes.
Best wishes to everyone for the holidays. I'll probably see you next year. Cheers.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Strangely Motivated
The Editor-at-Large of Every Day Fiction just got back from Clarion West this past weekend, and I caught up on his blog (after a brief discussion about a rejection I received from EDF - only my second). It got me thinking about the amount of writing I actually produce in a given time.
When I started writing consistently, I was in my sophomore year of college - yes, I said college. I had written a few bits and pieces in high school but only at the mercy of the Muse. When I started writing more frequently, it was more on the pressing of deadlines for classes. Material was spotty at best and rarely worth more than a once-over after it was critiqued.
(I learned something then that I have stuck with since: your drafts (first, second, possibly third) are going to be poor. They're drafts for a reason. So it's ok to produce material that you're not initially pleased with so long as you give it out to others to read, and then polish after. But I digress.)
It also taught me to write when I didn't feel like it, write when I could have been doing other things, and write when it needed to be done. Writing is - and always will be - a job for me. I enjoy it at the same time that it gets on my nerves when I feel like I have to do it. I've set it aside for a bit too long, though, and I haven't really produced anything new in about two months (possibly longer). I feel that I have a lot of good ideas, but it just takes time out of doing things that are a lot less brain-cell-using and fun.
So outside of strapping yourself in a chair and forcing yourself to write, I offer you these bits of advice to get yourself writing on a regular basis - which I will begin to use, too, in conjunction with a program I'm starting with the Milwaukee Writers Workshop.
When I started writing consistently, I was in my sophomore year of college - yes, I said college. I had written a few bits and pieces in high school but only at the mercy of the Muse. When I started writing more frequently, it was more on the pressing of deadlines for classes. Material was spotty at best and rarely worth more than a once-over after it was critiqued.
(I learned something then that I have stuck with since: your drafts (first, second, possibly third) are going to be poor. They're drafts for a reason. So it's ok to produce material that you're not initially pleased with so long as you give it out to others to read, and then polish after. But I digress.)
It also taught me to write when I didn't feel like it, write when I could have been doing other things, and write when it needed to be done. Writing is - and always will be - a job for me. I enjoy it at the same time that it gets on my nerves when I feel like I have to do it. I've set it aside for a bit too long, though, and I haven't really produced anything new in about two months (possibly longer). I feel that I have a lot of good ideas, but it just takes time out of doing things that are a lot less brain-cell-using and fun.
So outside of strapping yourself in a chair and forcing yourself to write, I offer you these bits of advice to get yourself writing on a regular basis - which I will begin to use, too, in conjunction with a program I'm starting with the Milwaukee Writers Workshop.
- Make a schedule. Even if you only decide to write for an hour a week, make sure you keep yourself to it. It does you no good to set it and not adhere to it. If it's important enough to you, tell your family and friends and ask them to respect it.
- Don't self edit. Every writer thinks that they "could've worded that better" and that's fine, but wait until polishing to take that task up. It doesn't help the story when you're first writing it.
- Finish the story. They're no good if they're sitting on a shelf, or in a file, unfinished and unable to be read and worked on. So finish them already.
- Find a distraction-free space. Everyone is distracted by different things. For me, it's my cats (or computer games, or books). So find somewhere that you know you work well and go there to write.
- Critique and Polish. Once you finish the story (and you will finish), give it to a critique group, so they can offer feedback. Then polish it and send it out.
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