A recent discussion online on self-care for scientists in academia (@realscientists and #AcademicSelfCare on Twitter) prompted this post. Writers–that is, fiction and nonfiction freelance writers–often have mental/emotional/physical problems that can be helped–if not entirely prevented or cured–by some judicious self-care. But we can forget that when deadlines are knocking on the door (loudly) or the Read More…
Category: the writing life
This Writer’s Saturday
I stayed up until after midnight Friday, working on the rewrites, and then was later than usual getting up today. More work on rewrites today, now working front to back to shape toward the new ending. In amongst the computer sessions came the other stuff. As soon as the light was bright enough picked up Read More…
Whirlwinds…
Working on the rewrite of Cold Welcome. On Monday, I sent Editor the latest draft of the new ending, and in light of Editor’s comments worked on it some more, then started in on front-to-back run (actually crawl!) through combining her original letter, the marked up manuscript line edits, and the changes that would be Read More…
Progress Report
The new ending that used to be somewhere else entirely has been grafted onto the old one, and though it looks a little strange now (“What is that crocodile head doing on that sheep?” the observer might ask) it’s all coming together. Once I saw the legs off the sheep, stretch it lengthways, paint the Read More…
Tuesday Toolkit for Writers
Every person has a toolkit, a set of skills (physical, mental, emotional) that they use to navigate their life. When you learn something–anything–it becomes part of that toolkit, and the more tools you have, the more of life’s challenges you can handle with less strain than the person without those skills, that knowledge, that attitude. Read More…
Monday Science: Thanks, Twitter
Writers must read, and science fiction writers must read science, engineering, technology especially if not actively engaged in doing STEM stuff. But we still have only 24 hours a day. How to make time? How to find cool stuff? Journals help, but skimming several journals a week still doesn’t fill the well. Twitter, used carefully, Read More…
Hardware
Back when I was young (and dinosaurs roamed the earth) writers used very limited hardware. A pencil and some paper. A pen and some paper. Both writing instruments had been somewhere improved since earlier times–there were fountain pens, so you didn’t have to dip and write a few words and then dip again, and the Read More…