Writing and Underwear: More Is Better

underwear and writing - underwear hanging on a lineIt makes sense that, with financial investments and underwear, you shouldn’t try to go through life with just one, right? This sort of logic is the direction I’ve taken with writing as well. Writing, for me, has never been about making the great American novel, or trying to be the best-selling novelist of all time. It’s been a means to an end. I like to create, and this particular craft suits me. If an opportunity comes my way, there’s very little chance I’ll say no. With that in mind, I don’t expect everyone to read this article without hesitation. After all, we all have different aspirations, and some of you out there are more driven towards specific goals. Still, you should hear me out. Continue reading “Writing and Underwear: More Is Better”

Howling at the Moon

HowlingOver the years, before Indies Unlimited, I wrote by myself for myself; until whatever I was writing was ready for publication no one but me, apart from my editor, heard the sound of my voice.

I suppose I’ve always been a bit of a loner. I’ve never played or supported any sporting teams; in fact games of any description have never interested me. What pastimes I do have (and I use that term loosely) are quite solitary affairs and so it probably comes as no surprise that I’m pretty much a loner with my writing too. I used to think that was part and parcel of being a writer, I therefore felt a kinship with those iconic, and supposedly reclusive, writers I had always held in high regard. Continue reading “Howling at the Moon”

All in the Family

Guest post
by Wendy Siefken

Our journey started back in 2009 when my son was still in high school. He was having trouble with school work in the form of being dyslexic and issues with cross modalities. Basically on top of all this, he hated school work. We tried for a long time to find a way to find something he was passionate about to help encourage him to do his homework and participate in school. We had an IEP or an Individual Education Plan in place that would help with the learning issues.

The one thing we found that Charlie did like to do was read books. He first discovered Christopher Paolini’s book Eragon and even though it was slow going the first time he read it, he liked it. He wanted to know more about the author and discovered that he was also a kid in school who had written a book and published it. Charlie was always coming up with story ideas for his journals at school. He would write the stories instead of the topic given.

The principal, at his wits end, finally gave him a challenge. The challenge was to write and publish a book. It had to include subjects such as language, math, history and geography. If we finished the book and it had these subjects he would get a pass/fail grade. He wouldn’t get an A or a B; he would just either pass the class or fail. Continue reading “All in the Family”

The Secret to Collaboration

A couple of weeks ago, the Evil Mastermind wrote a post about collaboration. He said some very nice things about the process and working together. Boy, do I have him fooled, or what?

Yes, it’s true, I did ask him to join the crew of Bad Book. And that has been a great success, if you measure success by tens of dollars.

Bad Book was a spur of the moment concept I hatched during a chat session with Mader and Antrobus in November 2011. As Hise mentioned, we took turns writing scenes and chapters, sometimes leaving a perfect jumping-off point for the next author – or sometimes leaving a challenge. Mader, Hise, and I sped along on it and the end result was published in April 2012. Pretty quick turnaround.

I got the idea for Triple Dog Dare a few years ago. At the time, I had only a few of the key elements pegged; and, I knew I wanted it to be something akin to Mr. Pish meets It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. I also knew I didn’t have the chops to write that kind of madcap comedy – and my process of percolating plots can take years. So I put it on the back burner. Continue reading “The Secret to Collaboration”