Monthly Archives: November 2014

Thanksgiving 2014

Happy Thanksgiving to those of you to celebrate it; may the rest of you have a day also featuring pie. I’m thankful for many things, and one of them is the past six months on the road with my splendid … Continue reading

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The One Twitter List You Should Be Keeping

Are you a writer on Twitter because you’ve been told you need to be on there? Are you trying to establish “a social media presence” while not quite sure what that involves? One useful tool for making the most of Twitter is the list feature.

Twitter lists are great. I’ve got a few set up for industry professionals, close friends on Twitter, members of various writing groups and organizations, former students, and people in a variety of fields. But there’s one that is more important than any of the others.
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End of the Year Reading Recommendations

I spent a good chunk of my summer reading through a multi-volume fantasy series for the sake of completeness. The series will remain nameless, because I can’t in good conscience recommend it, but it did impact the amount of other … Continue reading

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Video: Literary Techniques for Speculative Fiction Online Class

Here’s another video, this time for the Literary Techniques for Speculative Fiction Online Class. This is my favorite so far. Discussion and in-class writing exercises designed to introduce a number of techniques to use in your own writing such as … Continue reading

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Twitter Basics and Best Practices for Writers

This year I switched the focus of my social media efforts to Twitter, because it seemed to me Facebook was an increasingly ineffectual way to reach fans. Because of that, I’ve been spending a lot more time looking at the people following me on there as well as thinking about Twitter, its philosophy, and its uses overall.

Why does a writer want to be on Twitter? The reason is more than just “sell books”. It’s often a way to network with existing fans (who will buy more books in the future), cultivate new fans, connect with peers and other industry professionals, to find out industry and writing news and yes, of course, to procrastinate in a thousand different ways.
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Video for the Flash Fiction Class

I’ve been having enough fun with the free version of Powtoons that I’m thinking about upgrading. Here’s a video for the flash fiction that I’m 90% happy with. Please like it or share it if you enjoy it.

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Moving Your Story from Idea to Finished Draft Video

Video! Please like it or share it if you enjoy it.

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Putting Stuff Up

I’ve been putting some stories up on Amazon and Smashwords – I’ve got close to 75 that could go up there, so it’s slow slogging but eventually everything will be up on Amazon, Kobo, and Smashwords. Here’s the categories they … Continue reading

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