Archive for the ‘SFWA Blog’ Category

Guest Post: Writers and Families

My family has a strange attitude toward my writing, which I think is almost always the case unless the writer comes from a family of professional creators. (By professional, I mean people who actually make a portion of their incomes from a creative endeavor — writing, art, dance, etc.) When I met my cousins in Debrecen, they told me they’d heard I’d become a famous writer, of fantasy like J.R.R. Tolkien. Of course, I’m not at all a famous writer, and what I write is nothing like Tolkien.

Confession of a Museum Bunny

by Deborah Walker Ideas for my stories come to me in museums, in galleries, in libraries. Find me upstairs (and it’s always quieter upstairs) in the British Museum trawling the past looking for future inspiration. Old books, paintings, objects are part of our material heritage. Survivors of the ravages of times, sometimes cherished throughout the […]

Guest Blog Post: In Praise of Ripening

The word has gone out that Kindle publishing is a great way to make money fast. Churn out a short novel or how-to text with series potential, follow up quickly with a sequel, price the ebooks at $.99 or $2.99, enroll in Amazon’s KDP Select program and go for as many downloads as possible during your five free days. Then sit back and enjoy huge monetary success.

Guest Post: Panel Deportment and Demeanor

The problem with seeing one’s purpose on a panel as primarily that of speaking–“sharing” insights or regurgitating something recently read that relates to the subject–is that it turns panelists into lecturers. Speaking for myself, I’ve often found that the thinking, reading, and note-taking I’ve done in preparation for a panel may often have nothing to do with what the other panelists are talking about.

Baltimore Science Fiction Society Hosts Writing Workshops

The Baltimore Science Fiction Society (BSFS) is proud to announce the beginning of a series of day long writing workshops run by active and acclaimed professional writers in the genre of science fiction and fantasy. The first will be on Saturday, August 25th at 10 AM at BSFS headquarters at 3310 East Baltimore Street in Baltimore, Maryland, and will be taught by Brenda Clough.

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America joins with the rest of our nation and the world in mourning those who were killed and injured in Aurora, Colorado early this morning, through the actions of a man whose motives are quite simply unfathomable. Our thoughts go to their loved ones and to all affected.

Pearson Buys Author Solutions

Last March, word went out that self-publishing giant Author Solutions Inc (owner of AuthorHouse, iUniverse, Xlibris, Trafford, WordClay, Palibrio, and several others, and contractor for the self-pub divisions of several major publishers) was looking for a buyer.