My Writing

Articles and essays about my writing.

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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Last Day "By Darkness Revealed" is free on Kindle

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Yup, I have BY DARKNESS REVEALED free on Kindle. Ends at about midnight. Why give my book away? I know that subject is controversial, but I have reasons. First? Because I’ve been indie publishing for a year now. Happy anniversary! Here’s a free book. =) No, seriously – I mean that. It’s been a fun year so far. I’ve learned a ton. And I have oodles of fresh material coming out later this year, so it seemed like a nice time to give something to the reading community. DARKNESS has a 4.9 star rating on Amazon – if you like …

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Swimming in the Sea of Ebooks

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There’s 1,410,714 ebooks on Amazon as of this writing. By this time next year, that will have gone up to over 2 million. By this time in five years, I expect it to be over five million. By this time in twenty years, I expect it to be…well, really, really, REALLY doggone high. 😉   Breakout vs. Slow Boil Guys, it’s important to understand something about writing: the one book breakout is RARE. It almost never happens. Of course, we see lots of them, so we think it’s the goal to shoot for. It’s not. Most writers who only produce …

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NaNoWriMo 2011: or "Oops, I did it again."

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Every doggone year, I want to do NaNoWriMo right. I want to get out there, and write not just 1600 words a day – but more than that! And every doggone year, it seems like things just explode around me every November. Instead of getting more work done, I get less. Instead of having more wordcount accomplished by the end of the month, I find myself wondering if I can actually finish NaNo at all. In 2009, I had to write 20,000 words in the last day, in order to finish the book in time. In 2010, I wrote just …

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Aw, and I'm in Good Company, too.

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Robin Sullivan just posted to her blog this morning that she, too, was banned from the Absolute Write site. Her ban message? You have been banned for the following reason: Just get the hell off my site. You’re relentlessly snotty, rude, and you’re a f***cking bald-faced liar. I’m done with you. Date the ban will be lifted: Never Stars added by Robin; the moderator used the full expletive. Well, seems like I’m in good company. For those who don’t know, Robin is the head of Ridan Publishing, a great little company she’s built which is helping quite a good number of …

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Guest Blog at "Mythos of an Indie"

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J.E. Medrick invites some of the writers for the “Twelve Worlds” anthologies to do a series of interviews and guest blogs over on his site. Mines up now – actually, has been up a few days now, and I’m a little late getting the word out over on my own blog. 😉  Been a busy week though. I wrote about dreams, and how giving up old dreams can be a big factor in the decision to go indie writer, or not. And how it behooves the indie writer to find new dreams to dream…  Upbeat stuff, take a peek!

Pay'in For It: How should writers pay for help with self-publishing?

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In the wake of Barry Eisler and Joe Konrath’s discussion of Eisler’s move to self publishing (turning down a $500,000 contract in the process), Dean Wesley Smith has posted some thoughts that he disagreed with their views on how to get help in those bits of publishing a writer wasn’t able to do, or didn’t want to do: things like covers, formatting, and uploading the books. Today Dean, Joe, and Barry all posted a chat they had where they discussed these different opinions. Dean insisted that these services were “day labor” and that authors should resist paying a percent. Joe …

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Short Story to Appear in "Twelve Worlds" Charity Anthology

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Yup – a brand new Ryan Blackwell story will be in the upcoming Twelve Worlds anthology, due out next month. I was also honored to have my story chosen to be the first in order, which puts it up in its entirety in the ebook sample. I’m thrilled to have participated in the project with such a dedicated group of writers, and look forward to doing more with them in the future. Here’s the cover for the book:   It’s an awesome painting by artist Les Peterson, who donated his time and effort to the cause. Twelve Worlds will include …

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A followup on "The Hocking Effect"

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Jim Hines just wrote an interesting article the other day regarding Amanda Hocking’s success and what it means for other people.  He’s speaking about her in a fairly cautious manner, though – reminding folks that she’s an outlier, and probably not indicative of what any one writer will be able to accomplish any more than say, Stephen King or J.K. Rowlings is predictive of average success in traditional publishing. As I mentioned in my own post on the subject, “Expectations of Success”, I completely agree.  Outliers are indicative of the maximum current potential of success in a given field, and …

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