Archive for the ‘Tips for Beginners’ Category

Guest Post: Elusive Genius

Too often the burden of “genius” is placed on the fragile shoulders of individuals trying desperately to create, to live up to expectations, to outdo their own previous creations, and to essentially justify daring to call themselves artists (or writers, or musicians, etc.) to begin with.

Guest Post: There is no That

It’s 2130 on a Sat­urday night, and I’m alone in my apart­ment, in front of my laptop.

I can’t shake the feeling that there’s some amazing party, filled with fas­ci­nating people, some­where nearby. Artists and intel­lec­tuals and adven­turers, all mixing and charging the air with sto­ries. I wasn’t invited.

Rejection and Reinvention

Since I can’t tell why, for sure, a story was rejected, I keep submitting to places that meet my minimum requirements. When I run out of places, I put the story in a folder that’s labeled ‘stories I still believe in’ and I review it once in a while.

Five Tips to Improve Your Amazon Author Central Page

If you’re selling books on Amazon, you’ll want to set up your page in their Author Central program. Use your Author Central page to provide more information for your readers: upcoming events, a full listing of your books, pictures and videos, and even excerpts from your blog.

“From Slush to Sale” at the Baltimore Science Fiction Society

On February 23rd, at 8PM, the Baltimore Science Fiction Society, located at 3310 East Baltimore Street, Baltimore, MD 21224, will host Scott H. Andrews (Beneath Ceaseless Skies), Damien Walters Grintalis (Electric Velocipede), Rahul Kanakia (formerly of Strange Horizons), Leslie Connors (Apex Magazine) and moderator Sarah Pinsker (published in multiple magazines) for a round table discussion titled, “From Slush to Sale: Behind the Scenes at Science Fiction Magazines.”

An Introduction to Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction, Part 1: Definitions

For writers who are interested in writing middle grade or young adult fantasy or science fiction, the first step is puzzling out what exactly those categories mean. Science fiction and fantasy, after all, has a long tradition of featuring young protagonists — including such classics as Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey, Pawn of Prophecy by David Eddings, and Arrows of the Queen by Mercedes Lackey — even if those novels weren’t originally published as middle grade or young adult books.