Archives
This is
my annual post where I sum up what happened in my professional life in that year and look ahead to what's going to happen in 2012. I do this so I can have a handy record that I can get to in seconds. (Hence the "last day of the year" tag.)
This was not a fabulous year for me but it was a whole lot worse for so many other people around the world that whingeing would be tacky. I'll focus on the good:
Finally, finally, finally we were able to announce,
Sarah Rees Brennan and I, that we wrote a book together, Team Human, ...
Posted by Justine at 11:02, December 31st, 2011 under 1930s NYC novel, Food, Garden, Last Day of the Year, Praising, RSI, Team Human, Whingeing, Writing goals & milestones, Writing life, Writing process, Zombies v Unicorns |
I have very exciting NEWS!
I wrote a book! The book is sold! It will be out early next year!
Even more exciting and this is the best part: I DID NOT WRITE THIS BOOK ALONE.
I wrote it with
Sarah Rees Brennan, who is not only a wonderful friend, but one of my favourite writers.
The book is called Team Human. It will be published by Allen & Unwin in Australia and Harper Collins in North America and will be out in April/May 2012.
And here is the cover, which totally proves this is all real:
(We got to sit in on the photo shoot for it. Fancy, huh?)
Writing Team Human was the ...
Posted by Justine at 3:22, September 17th, 2011 under Team Human, Writing life, Writing process |
Yesterday's post on
my lack of love for voice recognition software seems to have left some with the impression that I'm doing badly. Not so!
There are many people with RSI or other injuries like carpal tunnel much worse affected then I am. There are some who can no longer hold anything, let alone a pen. My RSI doesn't impinge on many activities other than writing. Also I have the resources to get the help I need (physiotherapy etc) to manage my condition. I'm extremely lucky.
I am, in fact, in the best shape of my life. Strengthening my core muscles and shoulder girdle (boxing is excellent for that as one of the commenters yesterday noted) has helped a great ...
Posted by Justine at 7:31, August 13th, 2011 under 1930s NYC novel, Bloggery, RSI, Whingeing, Writing life |
Okay, I totally shouldn't be writing this. But
Janni Lee Simner issued a call for authors to say that it's okay to give us bad reviews. I want to add my voice to those saying, "Go forth and shred our books into tiny pieces." ((If you hate them that is. Feel free to praise should you want to. Feel free to meh them also. Whatever you want!))
You do not have to be nice about a book you hate.
However, I also want to say that it's not our place to say so. Reviews are not for authors. They're not even about authors. You do not need our permission to write about our books. Because once they're published they cease to ...
Posted by Justine at 18:54, March 6th, 2011 under Magic or Madness trilogy, Reading, Writing life, Young Adult literature |
Holly Black recently posted on the subject of the so-called
YA Mafia, which apparently is a "cabal of writers who give one other blurbs, do events with one another, and like each other's books." Also if you cross them they can ruin your career.
In her post Holly said such a cabal does not exist. I suspect she's right. Certainly none of the YA writers I know are involved in such a group. However, there are many YA authors I don't know. Could be a few of them plot darkly together. Who knows?
Thing is plotting ain't doing. As Holly points out, YA authors do not have that power. I have recommended twenty or more of my writer friends to my ...
Posted by Justine at 18:32, March 3rd, 2011 under Bloggery, RSI, Writing life, Young Adult literature |
This is
my annual post where I sum up what happened in my professional life in that year and look ahead to what's going to happen in 2011. I do this so I can have a handy record that I can get to in seconds. (Hence the "last day of the year" tag.)
For reasons I'll explain in more detail below (but are mostly I was not online much) 2010 was ridiculously productive for me. I now have more than 100,000 words of my 1930s novel. Most of it written this year. And I declare those words to be good. ((I'm sure when I re-read them I'll be less thrilled but right now I think they're fabulous. I'll ...
Posted by Justine at 13:06, December 31st, 2010 under 1930s NYC novel, Admin, Cricket, Excuses, Last Day of the Year, Liar, Publishing business, RSI, Writing life, Zombies v Unicorns |
Due to
boring circumstances beyond my control, I will not be online much for awhile. Fortunately I’ve been able to line up a number of stellar guests to fill in for me. Most are writers, but I also thought it would be fun to get some publishing types to explain what it is they do, teach you some more about the industry, and answer your questions, as well as one or two bloggers.
I do not know
Bernice McFadden, but when she wrote to me about possibly doing an exchange of blog posts, I decided to invite her to guest post here because I have been hearing wonderful things about Sugar for years, and because her story is both ...
Posted by Justine at 11:38, April 28th, 2010 under Guest post, Publishing business, Writing life |
Last night Scott read to me
Mark Twain's essay on Deerslayer by James Fenimore Cooper. I'm sure most of you are familiar with it but I was not. Dear readers, I laughed. A lot.
Mr Twain, it seems, was unfond of Cooper's writing. In one of the bits that made me laugh the hardest, Twain sets out the "nineteen rules governing literary art in the domain of romantic fiction," and exactly how Cooper violated them. The fifth of these rules requires that
when the personages of a tale deal in conversation, the talk shall sound like human talk, and be talk such as human beings would be likely to talk in the given circumstances, and have a discoverable meaning, also a ...
Posted by Justine at 8:21, April 21st, 2010 under Fashion, Reading, Writing life |
Due to
boring circumstances beyond my control, I will not be online much for awhile. Fortunately I’ve been able to line up a number of stellar guests to fill in for me. Most are writers, but I also thought it would be fun to get some publishing types to explain what it is they do, teach you some more about the industry, and answer your questions, as well as one or two bloggers.
Margo Lanagan is probably the award winningest Australian YA writer of all time. She deserves every single one. When I'm asked who I think the best living YA writer is, which is a really dreadful question given how many wonderful ones there are and how I ...
Posted by Justine at 12:04, April 19th, 2010 under Guest post, Sydney/Australia, Writing life, Writing process |
Tessa Kum is a wonderful writer. She does not write full-time. She has not had any novels published. Like the vast majority of writers she finds time to write at the edges of her paying job. She knows, however, many career writers and sometimes
winds up in conversations where they tell her what a real writer is:
Various people at WFC (World Fantasy Convention) told me what it is necessary to achieve in order to be a 'writer'. You must make this amount of money per year from your writing, or you must sell this many stories, or you must be able to live solely from your earnings as a writer. Most of these people shot me down ...
Posted by Justine at 18:29, March 22nd, 2010 under Bloggery, Publishing business, RSI, Writing goals & milestones, Writing life |
Due to
boring circumstances beyond my control, I will not be online much for awhile. Fortunately I’ve been able to line up a number of stellar guests to fill in for me. Most are writers, but I also thought it would be fun to get some publishing types to explain what it is they do, teach you some more about the industry, and answer your questions, as well as one or two bloggers.
Kristin Cashore is one of the bright new stars of YA fantasy. I met her at a Books of Wonder event last year and we had a lovely time gossiping talking of serious matters and have been pen pals ((I love the phrase "pen pal." It's so ...
Posted by Justine at 17:01, March 16th, 2010 under Guest post, Praising, Writing life, Writing process |
My good friend John Scalzi believes that we authors should all
own our one-star reviews. I am with him. It is good and wise to toughen up and learn to, if not love them, at least enjoy them. To this day one of my fave punter reviews ever is from the Barnes & Noble site and declares that Magic or Madness is like a bad Australian episode of Charmed. Never fails to make me giggle.
Some days though I find bad reviews of my own work a bit hard to take. When that happens I turn to the
one-star reviews of Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice which are the best therapy in the universe and never fail to cheer ...
Posted by Justine at 22:04, March 7th, 2010 under Frippery, Reading, Writing life |
Due to
boring circumstances beyond my control, I will not be online much for awhile. Fortunately I’ve been able to line up a number of stellar guests to fill in for me. Most are writers, but I also thought it would be fun to get some publishing types to explain what it is they do, teach you some more about the industry, and answer your questions, as well as one or two bloggers.
David Levithan's a writer, an editor, and class president of the NYC YA scene. He got the YA drinks night going and the NYC YA Lit Festival. He does not sleep and must be at least part cyborg. (Or there's more than one of him, which his ...
Posted by Justine at 23:59, March 3rd, 2010 under Guest post, Writing goals & milestones, Writing life, Writing process |
(Or answering email or responding to IM requests or to comments or been on Twitter or read many blogs.)
Like almost every writer I know, I have a number of chronic---though not particularly bad ((I know people who have been crippled by RSIs and now can only write with voice recognition software.))---injuries, that were caused by (or flare up when) I spend a lot of time at my computer.
Sitting at a computer for long hours is not good for your body. Which is why so many writers, receptionists, data processors, computer programmers etc etc ((There are bazillions of jobs that involve long hours sitting in front of a computer.)) have repetitive strain injuries, headaches, chronic back and neck problems, ...
Posted by Justine at 21:15, February 28th, 2010 under Bloggery, Excuses, RSI, Whingeing, Writing life |
Due to boring circumstances beyond my control, I will not be online much in February. Fortunately I’ve been able to line up a number of stellar guests to fill in for me. Most are writers, but I also thought it would be fun to get some publishing types to explain what it is they do, teach you some more about the industry, and answer your questions, as well as one or two bloggers.
Today's blogger, Lauren McLaughlin, is a crazy talented YA writer, who has one of the more unusual backgrounds of all the YA novelists I know. She used to be a Hollywood producer. This means that she has more confidence than anyone else I know and is extraordinarily good ...
Posted by Justine at 0:00, February 24th, 2010 under Guest post, State of the World, Writing goals & milestones, Writing life, Writing process, Young Adult literature |
Due to boring circumstances beyond my control, I will not be online much in February. Fortunately I’ve been able to line up a number of stellar guests to fill in for me. Most are writers, but I also thought it would be fun to get some publishing types to explain what it is they do, teach you some more about the industry, and answer your questions, as well as one or two bloggers.
Varian Johnson is not only a wonderful writer---you must read
My Life as a Rhombus---he's also an engineer who builds bridges. Real ones that you can walk or drive on. Why, yes, I am very impressed. Varian's yet another writer who has a job in a completely ...
Posted by Justine at 0:02, February 23rd, 2010 under Guest post, Writing goals & milestones, Writing life, Writing process |
Due to boring circumstances beyond my control, I will not be online much in February. Fortunately I’ve been able to line up a number of stellar guests to fill in for me. Most are writers, but I also thought it would be fun to get some publishing types to explain what it is they do, teach you some more about the industry, and answer your questions, as well as one or two bloggers.
Today's guest blogger is debut author, Karen Healey, whose first book is coming out quite soon, I believe. She may mention it in her post below. Possibly. She's a busy woman. She's prolly not paying much attention to things like that. I can tell you that her debut ...
Posted by Justine at 0:00, February 17th, 2010 under Guest post, Whingeing, Writing goals & milestones, Writing life |
Due to boring circumstances beyond my control, I will not be online much in February. Fortunately I’ve been able to line up a number of stellar guests to fill in for me. Most are writers, but I also thought it would be fun to get some publishing types to explain what it is they do, teach you some more about the industry, and answer your questions, as well as one or two bloggers.
Today's guest blogger, Doselle Young, is not only one of my favourite people on the planet, he's also every bit as opinionated as me. (Though frequently wrong, like his love of Madmen and Henry Miller. Ewww.) I enjoy Do holding forth on any subject at all. He's also ...
Posted by Justine at 19:36, February 10th, 2010 under Bloggery, Cons & Other Gatherings, Frippery, Guest post, Ideas, Liar, Reading, Sport, State of the World, Words & Language, Writing life, Zombies v Unicorns |
Due to boring circumstances beyond my control, I will not be online much in February. Fortunately I’ve been able to line up a number of stellar guests to fill in for me. Most are writers, but I also thought it would be fun to get some publishing types to explain what it is they do, teach you some more about the industry, and answer your questions, as well as one or two bloggers.
Today's guest, Robin Wasserman, is one of my fave YA writers. She mentions her brilliant recent trilogy below, but she's written many other novels besides. If you have not read any of them, I insist you go forth and do so now. Well, not, now now, after you've ...
Posted by Justine at 19:25, February 9th, 2010 under Guest post, Ideas, Writing life, Writing process |
Most of you will know that Amazon has stopped selling books by Macmillan authors. (If you don't know about it
read Scott's take.)
John Scalzi has just called for people to support the affected authors: ((If you're wondering, no, neither Scott nor I are directly affected. The bulk of our books are not with Macmillan publishers.))
So rather than focus on what should happen to Amazon or Macmillan, here’s an idea, and here’s my point: let’s us focus on the writers, who are getting kinda screwed here. None of this is their fault, it has nothing to do with them, and they don’t deserve to lose sales and their livelihood while this thing goes down. If you want to ...
Posted by Justine at 19:35, February 2nd, 2010 under Publishing business, Writing life |
Well, it's of note to me, maybe not to many other peoples.
Writing is FUN. It is multo happy making.
That is all.
Go about your business!
Posted by Justine at 23:53, January 30th, 2010 under Writing life, Writing process |
Irish writer,
Sarah Rees Brennan, and I spend a lot of time IMing each other. We talk about many, many different things---including the superiority of Ireland and Australia to all other nations ((Just kidding.))---but mostly about writing. Recently when I was unwell SRB cheered me up by telling me the story of two of her not-yet-written novels. It was better than chicken soup! As any of you who have read her novel,
Demon’s Lexicon, or
her blog know, SRB is a wonderful storyteller.
It was not the first time SRB had told me the complete detailed plot of an as-yet-unwritten novel but this time I started wondering about how she does that. When I write a novel I ...
Posted by Justine at 17:42, January 26th, 2010 under Writing life, Writing process, Young Adult literature |
I'm always very flattered when someone wants to do an interview with me. I jump with joy. People are interested in what I think! They want me to blather on! I am a woman of many opinions so being offered the chance to opinionate in multiple places is most pleasing. Thank you everyone who's ever asked. I truly appreciate it.
However, many of the questions I get could be asked of any writer. Sometimes they could be asked of any person. It's a bit lowering to suspect that the interviewer doesn't really care about my particular pearls of wisdom---they want any old writer's wisdom.
Let me make it clear that I don't mind being asked generic, could-be-answered-by-anyone-with-a-pulse questions if the interviewer ...
Posted by Justine at 3:05, January 11th, 2010 under Bloggery, Ideas, Writing life |
I know many people are all bah humbug about new year's resolutions but I love them. This year I resolve to find a balance with my time online.
Let me explain: when I first became a published author of an actual novel I kind of went a little bit insane. I tracked down every teeny tiny reference to my book or me. I used every tool then available (and remember this was the long distant past of 2005) to stalk mentions online. At first there were few, very few, and I was convinced no one was ever going to read or review my baby Magic or Madness. Wah! Then there was what seemed a lot, which provided momentary flickers of ...
Posted by Justine at 1:17, January 9th, 2010 under Bloggery, Magic or Madness trilogy, State of the World, Whingeing, Writing life |
All writers fear they are a bit crazy.
Some of them are. Obviously, I am at the hardly-crazy-at-all end of the crazy-writer scale,
most other writers are much loopier than me. While that is clearly a fact, I confess that I have my moments of doubt. I have found just the cure for those moments of doubt: Patricia Highsmith.
I am reading the new bio,
The Talented Miss Highsmith by Joan Schenkar. Oh my. Oh wow. Oh Elvis. Highsmith redefines the crazy end of the crazy-writer scale. I have a million different responses to this book, but one is relief. Cause no matter how crazy I might (rarely) fear I am, Miss Highsmith will always be much much ...
Posted by Justine at 9:08, January 6th, 2010 under Reading, Writing life |
Much of the fan mail and comments I get from adults includes this phrase "I'm not your target audience" before continuing to say how much they enjoyed one or more of my books in (sometimes) slightly embarrassed tones. As if they're a tad worried to find themselves reading and enjoying a book published for teenagers. How did that happen? they wonder. Does it make me less of an
adult?
I understand the anxiety. Before I became a published YA author, I was unaware of how disdainful many adults are towards teenagers and anything that smacks of teenager-y-ness, such as books marketed at teenagers. Looking back, I now find it weird that I was unaware of this. Firstly, I once was ...
Posted by Justine at 17:44, December 28th, 2009 under Fans & readers, Writing life, Young Adult literature |
Searching for something else entirely, I stumbled across
this old post from March 2007 where I asked my faithful readers to help me choose what to write next. I decided it would be fun to do an update. Fun for me, anyways. ((Hey, it's the holidays no one's reading this right now.))
First on the list of possibilities is this one:
The compulsive liar book narrated by a—you guessed it—compulsive liar. Downside: will involve lots of outlining. I hates outlining. Plus it’s going to be so hard! Upside: whenever I mention this one folks get very excited.
Sound familiar? Why, yes, it's the book I wrote next: Liar which published in September this year. As it happens it involved no outlining at ...
Posted by Justine at 19:59, December 26th, 2009 under 1930s NYC novel, Liar, Love is Hell, Writing goals & milestones, Writing life, Writing process |
I started to respond to
comments on the
last post and realised it was turning into it's own post. So, um, here it is.
Reading all your responses has crystallised something for me that I've been thinking for a long time: That there's a gap between my expectations as a reader and what I do as a writer. The reader me desperately wanted a good ending ((That good ending does not include Lily winding up with that spineless loser Selden, by the way.)) for Lily Bart in House of Mirth and was furious with Edith Wharton for all the misery. Why, Wharton, why?!
The writer me though is unmoved by such readerly desires. I write the books the way they ...
Posted by Justine at 23:39, December 22nd, 2009 under Reading, Writing life |
The event at
Books of Wonder with
Libba Bray,
Kristin Cashore,
Suzanne Collins, me and
Scott last night was astonishing. Several people said they thought there were around 200 people there. I could not possibly guess from where I was sitting, but it did indeed appear to be many.
Here's my bad fuzzy photo of the many:
It was pretty overwhelming to be on the bill with such popular writers, especially Suzanne Collins. For those who don't know, her two most recent novels, Hunger Games and Catching Fire are currently, and have been for some time, numbers one and two on The New York Times bestsellers list, selling bajillions of copies a week. The Books ...
Posted by Justine at 17:03, November 11th, 2009 under Book tour, New York City/USA, Writing life, Writing process, Young Adult literature |
Today's
NaNoWriMo tip comes from Scott.
Go check it out.
Last night we watched Bong Joon-ho's
The Host again, which is probably my favourite giant monster movie ever. If you haven't seen it do so immediately! It more than stood up to a second viewing. We then watched the Making of The Host documentary, which was way better than those things normally are. For starters, they barely talked to the actors at all---always a very good sign. Pretty much every aspect of film making was covered: from the initial idea to the storyboards to sound design. Q: How did they create the monster's voice? A: Painstakingly.
A lot of time was spent on the logistics of filming on ...
Posted by Justine at 14:18, November 1st, 2009 under Viewing, Writing life |
I've been having a long-running conversation with a bunch of writer friends about our hopes for our careers. One of them has written a truly marvellous book, which comes out next year, and she's been telling herself not to hope for too much. She's trying very hard not to think about that book at all and to concentrate on the next one.
Which is of course what all writers should do: focus on the book you're writing, keep on plugging, don't get too distracted by what may happen next year with the book you've already finished.
Except that hope is precious. Hoping that your book will do well, that it will find readers, is not a terrible thing. I'm sure all writers ...
Posted by Justine at 2:11, October 28th, 2009 under Writing life |
You know what I wonder about authors on tour? ((You don't wonder? Well, I'm going to tell you anyways. So there.))
I wonder if they ever get sick of talking about themselves.
I mean, I know that authors are frequently the world's most self-obsessed human beings, but even so gabbing about yourself all day long gets really really old. I think that's why I like the Q & A sections of my events best. Because I get to hear what other people are thinking.
I had a wonderful event at a middle school in Seattle today. Small and intimate with about 15 girls and I was able to ask them questions and hear about their writing processes. It was my favourite part ...
Posted by Justine at 1:16, October 20th, 2009 under Book tour, Writing life |
Disclaimer: I am writing about YA publishing in the USA. Although I'm Australian I know much more about the publishing industry in the US than I do about Australia. Or anywhere else for that matter.
I know that the title of this post is going to lead to some comments insisting that it's not true that white writers have any advantages and that many white people are just as oppressed as people of colour. I don't want to have that conversation. So I'm going to oppress the white people who make those comments by deleting them. I don't do it with any malice. I do it because I want to have a conversation about white privilege in publishing. We can have ...
Posted by Justine at 13:13, October 1st, 2009 under Publishing business, Ranting, State of the World, Whingeing, Writing life, Writing process |
Lately, I have heard several published white writers express their trepidation about the idea of writing non-white characters. Some of them have mentioned that they feel they'll get in trouble if they continue to write only white characters, but that they also feel they'll get into trouble if they write characters who aren't white cause they'll bugger it up.
Damned if you do, they say, damned if you don't.
To which I can only say, and I mean this nicely, "Please!"
What exactly are you risking? Who exactly is damning you? Which of your previously published novels have attracted no criticisms and no damnation? Cause that's amazing. You wrote a book no one critcised? Awesome. Please teach me that trick!
Every single book I've ...
Posted by Justine at 16:46, September 26th, 2009 under New York City/USA, Ranting, State of the World, Whingeing, Writing life, Writing process |
Why do so many people have an obsession with how old people are when they make art?
Hmmm. I think that sentence demands a bit more context. I keep seeing comments like, "OMG, Buffy is amazing and Joss Whedon was only in his early 30s when he first created it." Or Arthur Rimbaud was one of the most influential French poets ever and he quit writing when he was 19!"
There must be something wrong with me cause I think, "So what?"
Either the art is good or it isn't. Who cares how old the person was who created it? Doesn't make it any better.
Not to mention that there's an argument that the only reason people are still talking about ...
Posted by Justine at 15:23, September 25th, 2009 under Ranting, State of the World, Writing goals & milestones, Writing life |
T'other day I was gasbagging with John Scalzi as I do when the writing isn't going well and IM calls to me. We got to discussing as how we are frequently annoyed by reviews which dismiss a book because the reviewer did not like it but can give no reasons beyond saying that the book sucked. This is something that annoys many writers. We put in all that hard work agonising over every word and someone dismisses the book like this:
This book is bad. It sucked so much. Don't read it.
Or even more frequently,
This book had golden retrievers in it. I really hate dogs. Also the mother washed her son's mouth out with soap and the book ...
Posted by Justine at 13:12, September 15th, 2009 under Frippery, Whingeing, Writing life |
Most aspiring writers ask the right questions. I worry that
my last post, which is an
echo of
many earlier posts, gives a different impression, so I feel the need to say it loud and clear: the vast majority of aspiring writers who contact me ask smart, sensible, interesting questions. It's really only the ones who are more in love with the idea of being a writer than with actually, you know, writing who ask the wrong questions. Mercifully, they are massively outnumbered by the people who love writing.
During my events at the
Melbourne Writers Festival I wasn't asked any wrong questions. My audiences were smart and full of excellent questions. The encounter ...
Posted by Justine at 6:42, August 28th, 2009 under Fans & readers, Reading, Sydney/Australia, Writing life, Young Adult literature |
Currently I am at the
Melbourne Writers Festival and thus I am fielding many questions about writing and publishing. I noticed again that many of the questions unpublished writers ask are coming at it from the wrong end of the stick. Ally Carter calls this
asking the wrong questions.
For instance, after yesterday's event an adult came up to me and explained that they are an aspiring writer working on their first novel. They said they wanted my advice but the questions they asked really confused me:
What's the best way to get started writing fan fiction?
How do you build up a following?
Should I be using wordpress, livejournal or blogger?
It took me awhile to realise what was going on. ...
Posted by Justine at 3:48, August 25th, 2009 under Publishing business, Writing life, Writing process |
I've been asked a few times why none of my protags are white given that I am white. (So far that question has only come from white people.) I thought I'd answer the question at length so next time I get that particular email I can direct them here.
I don't remember deciding that Reason, the protagonist of the Magic or Madness trilogy, would have
a white Australian mother and an Indigenous Australian father. I don't remember deciding that Tom would be white Australian or Jay-Tee Hispanic USian. But I made a conscious decision that none of the characters in How To Ditch Your Fairy would be white and that Liar would have a mixed race cast. Why?
Because a young ...
Posted by Justine at 0:14, July 22nd, 2009 under State of the World, Writing life, Writing process |
Yesterday Maureen Johnson posted most excellently on the topic of
judging yourself by numbers. She paraphrased a graduation speech by Bill Murray:
“Look, people thought I was going to be a huge failure, but then I got kind of lucky and made it. And I had and have lots of amazing friends, and we’ve seen each other’s careers go up and down. Take my advice: don’t go comparing yourself to other people. You will go insane. It’s pointless. Your fortunes may rise and fall, depending on all kinds of things you have no control over. Keep your friends. Never compare all the outward markers of success. Do what you love, because that’s all you really get and that’s all that ...
Posted by Justine at 11:01, July 17th, 2009 under Publishing business, Ranting, Writing life |
The
discussion in the fanfic post got me thinking about the differences between writing to make a living, as I do, and writing solely for fun.
Many people in that thread talked about how writing fanfic was a learning experience that prepared them for becoming a professional writer. And there's no doubt that that's how fanfic has worked for many pros. However, the vast majority of writers of fanfic not only don't become pros, they have no desire to do so. They write fanfic for a variety of reasons: fun, community, because writing is something they can't not do and so on---they don't do it as some kind of apprenticeship for becoming a "real" writer.
I know professional writers who ...
Posted by Justine at 0:00, June 23rd, 2009 under Publishing business, Writing goals & milestones, Writing life, Writing process |
Posted by Justine at 14:45, June 14th, 2009 under How To Ditch Your Fairy, Ideas, Liar, Vainglory, Writing life, Writing process |
Posted by Justine at 0:00, June 9th, 2009 under Writing life |
Posted by Justine at 12:50, May 20th, 2009 under Publishing business, Ranting, Writing life, Young Adult literature |
There's a very fine line between promoting your books and writing tickets on yourself. It's a moving line. What one person finds overly self promotery other people think is fine.
For instance, I was once told I had crossed the line because my Livejournal icons were of the front covers of my books. I thought that was nuts. I like the covers of my books. Why can't I make icons out of them? Too pushy, I was told. It's like you're only on Livejournal to get people to buy your books. Someone else told me I shouldn't mention my books on my blog because it sounds like I just want people to buy them and that's the only reason I ...
Posted by Justine at 13:39, April 24th, 2009 under Publishing business, Writing life, Writing process |
I was a little taken aback recently to meet an author who kept quoting their own work in support of their arguments. Seemed to me they were writing tickets. Um, really you're quoting you to prove your points? Isn't that redundant? Oh, look, I agree with me. How surprising!
But mostly I was weirded out because I couldn't quote anything from any of my books even if you threatened to kill me if I didn't start reciting stat. Who memorises their own books? I mean other than the writer I just met who does.
I put it to the test and asked a bunch of my writer friends if they could quote any of their work. Cassandra Clare and Robin ...
Posted by Justine at 18:23, April 9th, 2009 under Writing life |
Posted by Justine at 16:45, April 6th, 2009 under Bloggery, Publishing business, Writing life |
I've been writing stories since I first learned how to write a sentence. But I did not become a full-time writer until 1 April 2003. ((Wow, this is my sixth anniversary. How bizarre.)) In those many many years before I became a full-time writer I wrote in between doing other things. In between going to primary school, high school, university, and my various jobs. I'd always have at least two documents open when I was at uni. One was the essay I was supposed to be writing and the other was the story or novel I was writing on the sly. When the going got tough with one I'd switch to the other. Writing was something that I snatched time ...
Posted by Justine at 0:12, April 1st, 2009 under Publishing business, Writing goals & milestones, Writing life, Writing process |
Posted by Justine at 0:26, March 22nd, 2009 under New York City/USA, Writing life, Writing process |
Posted by Justine at 10:41, March 18th, 2009 under Writing life |
