Meeting writers

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Earlier today I went on the Underground tour with Lawrence Watt-Evans and his wife, Julie, and last night I had dinner with them and Kurt Busiek, too.

And it was really great. All three of them were terrific people–which I’d expected, sure, but things were much more comfortable than I’d imagined. My son was a little impatient with grownup talking after the Tour was over, and I knew he wanted some of my undivided attention, but aside from kiddie tyranny, it was fun.

Holy cow, but I just socialized with people w/in the genre. Huh.

Reviews part 18

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Behind the cut: Continue reading

State of the suckitude

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I’m having real trouble with my WIP. It’s not The Buried King; that’s on the back burner for now, based on the excellent advice of my agent. At the moment it’s A Key, An Egg, An Unfortunate Remark.

There’s a solid idea behind the story, and a solid setting to build it on, but as I’m writing it the whole thing feels slack.

And I think I have an idea why. I’m trying something different here, with a main character who is very knowledgeable and competent, and the stakes are both personal and very wide-ranging, but there’s a kind of emotional distance. The main character and her, well, sidekick, are a little cool-headed about things. Almost like a pair of amateur detectives from the 11th installment of an British mystery series from the 30’s. Sort of blase (imagine and accent mark above that last “e”) and unflappable.

Sort of.

Anyway, I’m used to characters who are more emotionally invested. I’m trying something new to stretch myself, but I think it’s hurting my method. I’ll need to do a couple of things to establish strong feeling soon.

And you know what? That wasn’t the post I was planning to write at all, but the act of typing about this WIP helped me find a solution. Thank you, modern blogging.

Tonight I’m actually heading out of my apartment (gasp!) to meet friends I know online but have never met in person. Two of them (I’m actually unsure how many people will be there) are highly-acclaimed writers. An occasion like this calls for a clean t-shirt.

Author photos and online dating profiles

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I’ve been thinking about author photos for a while. Mine is this one:

Author Photo Harry Connolly

Yeah. That’s me. It’s not a great photo, but it’s hard to take a good picture of me. At least it’s better than this one or this one. So it’s not great, but it’s the best of a long day of shots. However, look at this one. I’d love to have a photo like that. Hell, I’d love to have an empty, uncluttered table to work at.

And authors have to fuss a little over their photos. Catherynne Valente wrote a post a few months back about her own picture, and how people thought she looked “mean” because she wasn’t smiling. Jeff VanderMeer took a swipe at the “male author with his arms crossed” pose.

So, hey, maybe I should wipe the smile off my face and cross my arms. Or I should look at stats on what sort of photos are most attractive.

That’s right, that’s the blog for OK Cupid, the online dating site. I’ve linked to them before, because they have a huge data set to draw on, and some of their statistics are pretty interesting.

In studying their profile pictures, they’ve found that men are much more likely to post an unsmiling photo as women (by 61% to 35%). Let’s ignore that flirty Facebook kissy expression; writers, don’t make that face for your book jacket. What’s more, they looked at the number of contacts each user received, broken down by photo type. For women, the flirty face (and smiling) while looking directly at the camera were the best choices. For men, it’s looking away from the camera that gets the most interest, especially if he isn’t smiling. Forget about the abs pictures. I have abs, but you can’t see them under all this damn fat.

Now, obviously this shit doesn’t track one-to-one. OK Cupid users are looking for luuurrrve! (or sex, I guess) and, although OK Cupid has been better in other posts, those stats are all about the heteronormativity. Authors just want to look interesting–or at least, not so crazy that potential readers decided to give their books a pass. But it is an interesting way to look the photos we put out into the world, and the expectations people have for them.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to look over this post on taking an enticing picture. Golden hour, here I come.

Randomness for

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1) Ghosts in the Hollow, a record of abandoned buildings in the Appalachians. Video. Via Cherie Priest.

2) Have some publishing wonkery: “Sell-through” explained.

3) “YOU! The one who is moving now! ANSWER!” Video

4) Revolt in the Fifth Dimension. Video part one, part two. I loved these Spider-man cartoons as a kid, even the weird, trippy space episodes like this one. This clip is worth playing for the music alone.

5) In Legoland space, no one can hear you scream.

6) Do you love Legos and zombies? Well, this link is for you: Video.

7) Oyster beer? I’d try it.

State of the family

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My wife is having a great time in Italy (I just received a pic of her standing beside the Mediterranean with mud all over her).

My son has promised a Nerf gun sneak attack this morning. I know he wants me to set up a large defense, but I’ve been a little busy.

I am working on my new WIP, and I’m sorta hating it. When I have it open, and I’m working in the file, it’s good. When I’m making breakfast or putting away dishes, I don’t want anything to do with it.

A short, happy story

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The tale of my very first book sale is up on Jim C. Hines’s blog and LiveJournal. For new readers here, it’s not the usual book sale story: It’s a tale of quitting and shame.

Of course, I’m typing this on four hours of sleep so ‘asli lkasj mnfsi lasl jfasi back to bed. Hope everyone is enjoying their day.

It’s one a.m.

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In two and a half hours, the shuttle van will be coming to pick up my wife for her week-long trip to Italy. She’ll be gone about a week and a half, and I will be staying home with my son.

There will be much writing time claimed, much pizza eaten (and salad) and some small amount of computer games played. I hope to clear the final level of Swordplay Showdown.

By which I mean that I’ll be checking email, but not doing a lot of internet reading/socializing. At least, I don’t think I will.

Have a great weekend, everyone.

(Oh, and I did a “Take Five” piece for Suvudu. It’s funny. Check it out.

Randomness for 9/7

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1) Author believes publishers ghettoize women readers and writers.

2) The Herald-Sun takes a necessary step. Has there been any doubt that this was coming, and had been coming for a long time?

3) Steam Trek, a parody. Video. Funny and cute. This is what people do when they turn off their TVs.

4) The Book Depository becomes even cooler than you thought possible. Live global tracking of book buying.

5) Common myths about good study habits, and how people (not just kids) learn.

6) Part of the 2008 economic meltdown explained in comic form.

7) This may look like a fake commercial from a horror movie, but it’s a real toy ad from the 1970’s. Prepare to feel your skin crawl. Video.

This is me.

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This post by Ally Carter comes at just the right time, because I’m having a bought of the crazies myself. Mine are probably not like yours–I tend to become quiet, lie in darkened bedrooms, and mutter to myself about all the ways I’ve screwed up.

I’m not fishing for encouragement; I’ve said before that encouragement makes me uncomfortable. Still, I’m going to have to come to some kind of balance, or work out a way to put marketing and sales out of my mind. I’ll find success the way every other writer does: by writing books people want to read.

It’s not going to happen by looking at Twitter traffic, or by skimming the Random House bestsellers to see where my book is rated, or by checking Amazon.com sales rankings, or any of that. I just have to work on my next book.