Category Archives: writing

Being Part of a Writers’ Reading Group

Hanging out with other SFF fans can be fun. Hanging out with other writers can be a growth opportunity, If you want to combine those, I highly recommend writers join a reading group made up of other writers. Why? Reading is fun. And what more fun way to do it than in the genre ofContinueContinue reading “Being Part of a Writers’ Reading Group”

READERCON 32

So this past weekend (July 13th to 16th, 2023) I attended ReaderCon! For anyone that doesn’t know, Readercon is a Sci Fi and Fantasy con focussed on the written word, both reading and writing. Unlike many cons, it does not have video games, role-playing game rooms, dress up/costume events, or many of the other thingsContinueContinue reading “READERCON 32”

Clarion West 6-Week Flash Fiction Workshop

So I’m doing the Clarion West 6-week flash fiction workshop. I thought I would write about it here in case people are interested in doing it in the future and would like to know what’s involved. We were assigned into groups of 7 and we have just completed the first week. This comprised some onlineContinueContinue reading “Clarion West 6-Week Flash Fiction Workshop”

Guest Post: On Physiology in Cold Environments for Dan Koboldt’s Fact in Fantasy

For those of you that enjoyed my recent guest blog posts on Dan Koboldt’s long running Science in SciFi/Fact in Fantasy blog series on worldbuilding cold environments, the third and final installment has just posted. It’s based on my training in Antarctica, and this final installment being about physiologic response to cold, this one leanedContinueContinue reading “Guest Post: On Physiology in Cold Environments for Dan Koboldt’s Fact in Fantasy”

Guest Post: On Physics and Emergency Survival in Cold Environments for Dan Koboldt’s Fact in Fantasy

For those of you that enjoyed my recent guest blog post on Dan Koboldt’s long running Science in SciFi/Fact in Fantasy blog series on worldbuilding cold environments, I have a followup out on emergency survival in these situations. It’s based on my training in Antarctica. This second installment just posted to Dan’s website: Dan isContinueContinue reading “Guest Post: On Physics and Emergency Survival in Cold Environments for Dan Koboldt’s Fact in Fantasy”

Guest Post: On Worldbuilding Cold Environments for Dan Koboldt’s Fact in Fantasy

So the recent daily blog experiment ended, but I have not been doing nothing – I was fortunate enough to be invited to do another guest blog post on Dan Koboldt’s long running Science in SciFi/Fact in Fantasy blog series. This one is on cold environments. It’s based on my experience working in Antarctica andContinueContinue reading “Guest Post: On Worldbuilding Cold Environments for Dan Koboldt’s Fact in Fantasy”

Writing Choices: Quality vs Quantity

If you follow my blog you will know that on 5/1/23 I decided to try an experiment. I wanted to see if, by writing a blog entry every day, I could create a ‘writing habit’. It was intended as a 21 day straight series, but I have decided to end it early. Why? So inContinueContinue reading “Writing Choices: Quality vs Quantity”

Generating Durable Short Story Ideas

I know that for some it starts with a character. Stephen King, when writing novels, puts characters in situations and sees how they evolve. I don’t know if he does short stories that way, but I imagine some people do. For me, it usually starts with an idea or a question, or a destination (ending).ContinueContinue reading “Generating Durable Short Story Ideas”

Getting the Most out of Books on Writing

I recently splurged on books, specifically books about the craft of writing. Excited by my new purchases, and already two chapters deep into one of them, and thoroughly enjoying it, I gushed to one of my writer friends. I was a little surprised to hear from them therefore that they too had read this self-sameContinueContinue reading “Getting the Most out of Books on Writing”

Futurescapes: Workshopping the first 3000 Words

So on 5/2/23 I made a blog entry about the Futurescapes application and lead up to that workshop. Today I thought I would round out that with a post about my experience with the actual workshop. As a reminder I did the SFF 3000 word novel workshop. There are also KidLit, Horror, and longer 100ContinueContinue reading “Futurescapes: Workshopping the first 3000 Words”