Blog
Every Client is Temporary
There are writers, and there are working writers. A working writer is someone who makes his living writing to specification, on contract, by assignment, and so forth. In other words, he or she writes for clients. Most working writers would gladly trade the day-to-day grind of word counts, painful edits, vague outlines, and rougher-than-rough... »
Here’s to the Next 527,040 Minutes
As 2015 comes to a close, I have to say that I’ve learned a lot this year. It wasn’t my best year, but it wasn’t my worst. I had a little fun, I spent a lot of time working (and trying to catch up), and I face the new year with a mixture of... »
When Politics Get Personal
Writers are an expressive lot, and like any group of human beings, they have politics. I am always a little surprised when an action writer is anything other than a conservative or libertarian, to be honest, but I recently found out one of the long-time writers of a series to which we’ve both contributed... »
No, You Won’t Be Suing Anybody
Writers all hate each other. We’re all jealous of one another’s success and we’re all quietly convinced that another man’s paycheck comes at our expense. For most writers, there’s nothing more painful than hearing that someone like John Scalzi just signed a six-figure deal, because Scalzi’s also the sort of person who spends his... »
Your “Bestseller” Won’t Make You Rich
A couple of years ago, Patrick Wensink, writing for Salon, admitted that his Amazon bestseller, Broken Piano for President, made him nothing. It didn’t make him rich. It didn’t even make him a comfortable sum in terms of a year’s income. It amounted to peanuts, to chickenfeed, to numerous other metaphors for a relatively... »
What It’s Like to be a Working Writer
I got a message from a friend and fellow author today who was curious to know how I felt about the subject of ghostwriting. I have performed extensive ghostwriting over the course of my career. Not only have I written as Don Pendleton for 22 Mack Bolan/The Executioner/Stony Man novels for Harlequin/Gold Eagle/Worldwide Library,... »
The Nebulas, The Hugos, The Sad Puppies, and the SJWs
One of the ongoing frustrations for every writer who is not also a politically correct, progressive true believer — and there sure are plenty of authors who are — is that in the online world where most of us ply our trade and promote our work, the depredations of “social justice” types are unavoidable. Social justice... »
The Ugly and the Uglier in Self-Publishing
Considering self-publishing? You aren’t alone. If you’ve always wanted to be an author but couldn’t “get published” before, you need only plunk down a few dollars in fees to make it happen directly through Amazon or with the help of a number of self-publishing houses. These companies are only too willing to take to... »
Boundaries
When I started writing about assertive living — a philosophy I call “martialism,” which isn’t militaristic despite what the name implies — I stressed heavily the importance of setting and maintaining boundaries. Boundaries establish your expectations of other people. It’s a question of mutual respect: If you establish and then defend certain guidelines for... »
I Dreamed An Entire Coming-Of-Age Boxing Movie
Last night I dreamed an entire coming-of-age boxing movie. Start to end, complete with a plot arc and a humorous ending suitable for end-credits. The film was obviously very derivative of The Karate Kid, Never Back Down, School Ties, and Warrior, and was leaning more toward feel-good sentimental drama than comedy. It started to... »