The prize for the World Fantasy Award apparently includes freedom

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I went to see Nancy Pearl interview Jo Walton at the UW Bookstore last night. It was an opportunity to chat briefly with some local folks I only know from online (which was a nice surprise; usually I slip in and out of these things without talking to anyone) and of course Jo Walton is a very smart person.

One thing she said that stuck with me (the whole session will air on the Seattle Channel in the near future, so you can probably hear everything she said when (if) it goes online) was that she can’t have the usual fantasy writer’s career–defined as working on a long-running series or two within a particular subgenre, and she didn’t say it in a pejorative way–because she’s too easily bored. When she was supposed to be writing the fourth book in the King’s Peace series, she couldn’t force herself to do it, and she wrote Tooth and Claw instead.

Luckily, it was accepted by her publisher. Then she added that, when she won the World Fantasy Award with it, it gave her the freedom to write what she wanted. She went from Victorian dragons to alt-historical parody mysteries, and has now released Among Others, which I haven’t read but seems to be a semi-autobiographical coming of age story with magic and a gigantic reading list.

In other words, she’s writing whatever she wants.

Unsaid (by her) is that she’s a smart and skillful writer which, you know, helps. But I hadn’t expected her to attribute so much to an award.

Maybe that’s my prejudice, since I’m not all that interested in them (don’t expect to see me post a list of my award-eligible works any time soon) and it’s possible that she’s placing too much weight on it.

Still, it’s thought-provoking. There’s an awful lot about the publishing/genre ecosystem that I don’t understand.

How DARE you write such a negative review!!!

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This review is too mean!! Obviously this is all just envy! This review is less professional than the book! Grammar doesn’t matter if the book is entertaining! You mean women should deal with your mental health issues! This review is a personal attack on the author!

(I’d suspect linkbait if there were ads on that page)

Writing and productivity

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Holy crap, you guys. Yesterday I wrote over 3500 words yesterday. I am never that productive. Never.

Long time readers know I’ve been working on my productivity for years. I used to write two pages a day and crap out. I thought I could never do more.

Well, blah blah blah, I’ve been trying to do better, and it’s working out. I’m not writing faster because I’m writing sloppier; it’s because I’m changing the way I work so I can focus more.

You know what else helped? This:

Guest Post: How I Went From Writing 2,000 Words a Day to 10,000 Words a Day.

I’m not doing exactly what this author is doing: I don’t write out the upcoming plot points on a legal pad, I type them into the end the actual file and delete them as I go through. I also don’t have a spreadsheet, mainly because: spreadsheet. However, I am finding that, the more quickly I work, the happier I am with the sentences I put down. There are fewer word echoes, at least.

Anyway, I’m off to do today’s pages and if history is any judge, today is going to be incredibly difficult.

Pain and Goals (a weight loss post)

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Back in early November, when I was planning out all these posts, I threw “Pain” and “Goals” together because I figured I wouldn’t have a lot to say about them. But this is the last of the posts I had planned, and it turns out that these two things go together better than I expected. Continue reading

Randomness for 1/11

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1) Rick Santorum quotes as New Yorker cartoons.

2) The 50 most brilliant, obnoxious, or delightfully sociopathic Facebook posts of 2011.

3) The TSA’s biggest success stories of 2011, and what it means.

4) Photo tour of a remote home in the Adirondacks that was built over (and includes) an old missile silo.

5) War Horse: An Illustrated Review

6) Charles Stross makes some predictions for the future. This worked out so well for Heinlein…

7) 10 Stubborn Body Myths That Just Won’t Die, Debunked by Science

A book-lending experiment

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Update: someone has volunteered to borrow the book. Thanks, everyone.

I wonder if there are any Kindle owners who have Prime Memberships at Amazon.com out there willing to do me a favor?

Amazon.com has started up a lending library system through its Kindle device. It’s only open to people with Prime Memberships (which previously only provided expedited shipping) but they will allow you to borrow books one at a time.

For me, I’ve decided to enroll one of my short stories in the program for the usual reason: money. Amazon says they’ve created a half-million dollar kitty to be shared among all the authors whose work is borrowed each month, which each “borrow” equalling a single “share” of the overall money.

It’s a clever idea. They’re crowd-sourcing their lending program to people like me (and here I am blogging about it) for a set amount of money. What’s more, if the system is seriously underutilized they could probably fudge the data however they like. Who would know?

Anyway, I wonder if someone eligible for the program would be willing to borrow my short story The Bone Orchid? It’s an original story set in the city of Pald, a setting I’ve written about before.

I’m curious to see how big the shares are and what sort of buy-in they have. Amazon isn’t famous for sharing numbers, but I’d like to see how this comes out. And of course I’ll blog about it.

Thanks.

Reviews, Part 33

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1) Bethany Warner at Word Nerd liked Circle of Enemies: “This Connolly [is the] one Best Discovered Author for me from the Word Nerds this year, the series is that good. Check it out.”

2) Marilee J. Layman read all three books in The Wooden Man omnibus and liked them: “I’d really like another book or so of these.”

3) Yaz at Yaz’s Books N Stuff thought Child of Fire was “refreshingly unique”: “An enjoyable read, I look forward to more of Ray’s adventures.”

4) Garrett at Ranting Dragon liked Circle of Enemies: “… a novel of deep insight and character development.”

5) Former SFBC editor Andrew Wheeler at The Antick Musings of G.B.H. Hornswoggler, Gent. liked Circle of Enemies very much, and wishes the series could continue: “The Twenty Palaces books come from the world of Jim Thompson and David Goodis, where all choices are bad and all ends are horrible — where just surviving one more day and keeping yourself from getting into more trouble is a major achievement. The magic in these books has the danger and threat of old fairy tales and worse: touching it once marks a person for life.”

6) k reads at So I Read This Book gives Child of Fire an A: “You can probably tell that I really liked this book. The voices of the characters are clear and believable and the plot moves swiftly, with not a moment wasted.”

7) Fritz “Doc” Freakenstein at Guardians of the Genre expected to hate Child of Fire but very much didn’t: “Not much time is spent on either explaining the magical rules or the origins of the Twenty Palace Society that Ray and Annalise work for. This causes a bit more work for the reader than I’m used to, but it works for Child of Fire in that it forces you to focus on the plot at hand and work out the magical rules for yourself.”

Quick note, this is the last review round up post. I may link to one or two reviews in the future, depending, but not every one I see.

Look what showed up at my door this weekend:

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Stephen Blackmoore’s new novel is out from Penguin (in trade, no less) and over at the B&N review blog, Paul Goat Allen gives it a terrific review, saying: “… the story is relentlessly paced and literally filled with nonstop action from the first page to the last” and “If City of the Lost is any indication, Stephen Blackmoore could be the illegitimate lovechild of James Ellroy and George Romero – zombie noir at its bloody best!”

And I’m all: Damn. It’s a zombie novel? I knew the guy came back from the dead, but I didn’t know it was zombies. Still, it just got a great review from a guy who wouldn’t look at a twenty dollar bill if it had my name on it.

I plan to crack the spine after I read a few of the things I Absolutely Must Read First, but if you like fast-paced UF shoot ’em ups (and zombies) check this one out. (Amazon B&N)

I just don’t feel like leaving my apartment today.

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Nothing else to add to that. My wife and son come home from their east coast trip this evening (they’re in JFK as I write this) and the place is all cleaned up.

But I’m sick of going to the same Starbucks all the time. I’m going to break out my standing desk and try to do my work at home. Usually that doesn’t work, but the hummingbirds are out and I’m bored with the usual walk.

Also, back in my post about the end of the Twenty Palaces series, I said that A Blessing of Monsters would be complete in one volume. Turns out that’s not going to happen. It’s just spinning further and further out.

Logging off to work.

Randomness for 1/5

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1) Best space photos of 2011.

2) The 2011 Wonky Awards.

3) New Zealand orcas attack great white sharks in the shallows, driving one onto the beach. Video.

4) Best of Literally Unbelievable for 2011. Part 1. Part 2.

5) A Doctor Who Timeline

6) Need a dedicated writing space? Live in Chicago. Check it out.

7) Building a Minecraft village IRL.