Right Sizing Your Life

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Back in the old days before I was an author, I used to work on computer games, doing art and such. Someone I knew at the time wrote a great article called ‘right sizing your life’. A few of the discussions I’ve seen over the past few days brought the old essay to mind, so I thought I’d go over some of the salient points. The truth is, any independent, freelancing solo businessperson has to deal with similar situations and problems. And we can find similar solutions as well.   What Is “Right Sizing”? Our modern society has a tendency …

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Feed The Birds

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As you can see by the photo, I’ve got some new friends! We just moved from one apartment to a brand new one. Still in Boston, but it’s a nice change of location for us. We’re in a brick building now, right on the street, instead of high in the sky. And we’ve got cute little birds that hang out all over the street. Our move-in day was last Wednesday, but starting Thursday I began feeding them out our window. Before long, word spread, and now whenever I open the window we get at least a few dozen little birds …

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Creating When Life Gets Messy

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It’s been a slow start to my writing year. I was doing OK for the first few days, but then we hit a snag. The world sorta blew up, and watching that — plus the fallout afterward — took a toll on my writing. The wind out of my sails, I actually ended up with the longest streak of NO writing days that I’d had in over a year. The why doesn’t matter that much; different things will impact different people differently. That’s normal, and to be expected. What bugs me might not bother you at all, and vice versa. …

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A Year At Pulp Speed Five

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Going from a million words in 2020 to 1.8 million words in 2021 is sort of a big jump, and I’ve had a few folks ask “why?” Why bother? Or why jump so big? It’s true that maybe a smaller goal would be easier to accomplish, but that’s not really the point of a challenge, is it? Well, for me, anyway, the main point of a challenge is to have fun. I enjoy pushing myself, seeing what is possible, what I can do. It’s a blast, seeing where the limits really are and then chasing them out a little further. …

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New Year, New Challenge: Welcome to 2021!

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Last night I accomplished a goal I’d set for myself years ago: to complete a million new words in a year. I’ve come close in the past, even made over 800,000 words in 2019. But I’ve never crossed the threshold before. The million-word-barrier sat there like it was the twin of the old sound barrier. And, like the sound barrier, the million word barrier turned out to be psychological, not physical. Once I sat down to really do the work, it turned out to be much easier than I’d ever imagined it could be. As a result of this success, …

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The Pursuit of Happiness

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A writer recently asked an interesting question. I’m paraphrasing, but the general idea was this: “Do you believe that the prerequisite for success as an author is to write X words every year, where X is a very large number?” My answer was: No, I’d disagree strongly with that statement for several reasons. 1) There are (rare, but existent) authors who produce just one book a year and make a full-time living.2) I’d have to know how big “X” was, which in this case is sorta like asking “how long is a piece of string?”3) We all define success differently. …

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We’re About To See Another Indie Author Shakeout

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[et_pb_section admin_label=”section”] [et_pb_row admin_label=”row”] [et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text”] We’re about to see another major shakeout in the indie writer world. The first one happened around 2012 through 2013. Two factors contributed. The most obvious was KDP Select, which created a massive surge for writers who participated, at great cost to those who didn’t. Free books lost a ton of ground, which dried up a major tool. But the other factor in 2012 was that for the first time there were so many good indie books that quality began to matter a lot more – not just in writing, but in presentation …

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Will the real “Write to Market” PLEASE stand up? Or – why you’re probably doing it wrong.

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EDIT: I’ve been informed that the debate this post responds to did not start out as civil as it appears now and that John’s blog article was edited before I read it. I do not in any way condone personal attacks on another author. Aside from being bad form in general, in this case, it’s tragic, since if John had actually read Chris’s book before posting, he would have known that he agreed with all of the major points Chris espouses. I’m glad John toned down his post. I hope he actually picks up a copy of the book and reads …

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How to Break in as a New Author Today?

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I had someone ask that question in a Facebook group I’m in, earlier today. Here was the advice I gave. It’s not new advice. It’s old, but still sound and solid. Check it out: The steps haven’t really changed. They’re still the same as they were when Michael Anderle took off, a year and a half ago. Step 1: Imagine a Venn diagram, with two circles. One circle is things that people like to read. The other circle is things you like to write. Where they overlap? Write that. Step 2: When picking your genre, be prepared to write at …

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The Writing Advice Not Taken

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Also known as “The writing advice I wish I’d had in 2011.” I ran into someone on a Facebook group today, asking for help. This person had a bunch of books out, and none of them were selling. I went and analyzed the writer’s work, and recognized a familiar set of problems. The writer was doing a bunch of things wrong – most of them, the same things *I* messed up, early on. Hey, these are easy mistakes to make. There’s no guidebook. (Well, there are, but the advice is often conflicting and confusing.) After assessing the writer’s work, I …

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