Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Because they had it, a bit before the launch date, and now, a little over a week later, they don’t. Which I discovered yesterday when I went to pick up Jeff Vandermeer’s latest. It bugged me. It also didn’t. This bookstore, and it’s a great bookstore, […]
Tagged: Publishing (13)
When Your Local Bookstore No Longer Has Your New Book (After A Week)
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Also tagged bookstores, indie press, novel, Seinfeld, The Reeds, writing
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Absolutely Useless Thoughts: 6
Might as well number them. Because I think I’m going to be doing them on a regular basis. So the first officially regular collection of Useless Thoughts, is AUT: 6. Makes about as much sense as anything else in the world right now. 1. Do we ever regret what technology does? Are we so enthralled […]
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Also tagged Alexa, Amazon, aquaculture, Authoritarianism, Boomers, CES, China, dystopia, evolution, fish, Gen X. Millennials, Google+, Iowa, oceans, Pluto, Salt, shopping malls, social media, Technology, Trump, Uber, water, writing
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The Waiting (is the Hardest Part)
Writing is hard. I know, cry me a river. What isn’t hard? Watching TV? Maybe. Ok, maybe watching TV isn’t hard. Watching good TV is another story. Or finding good TV. Or anything good. Especially if you’re searching for something on Netflix. Canadian Netflix. Which is the worst Netflix in the world. But writing, too, […]
The Endless Road to Publishing
I’m pleased to announce that my novel, Waiting for the Man, will be published by ECW in spring 2014. How did we get here? Well. It’s quite possible that there are sentences in this novel that are older than my son. Very few of them but I wouldn’t doubt it. My son is 12 years […]
This is my signature on my new book contract (signed this morning)
Yes. It is done. I signed on the proverbial dotted line. For the novel. More news to come. If I said I wasn’t relieved I’d be lying. See this space for more information soon. What kind of information? Like the publisher. And the pub date. Stuff like that. The deets as we say. Who’s we? […]
And Then It Gets Cold
The geese are flying south. Frost crunches underfoot. The trees glow red and orange. The stupid NHL is stupid. The old Expos make the playoffs and are eliminated in rather spectacular fashion (something I had asked for last week – because I am a small and petty man – and something I might have found […]
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Also tagged autumn, design, Expos, Facebook, fall, frost, Ian Rankin, MLB, NHL, scratch, The Guardian, Twitter, Washington National
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The New Book Business
Here’s the thing. Yes, every writer should be pleased to be free of the shackles of the publishing industry. If you consider the industry to be like a bunch of evil plantation owners enslaving the poor writers of the world. It’s not, of course, but it is an industry and as in any industry it’s […]
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Also tagged book industry, books, Harry Potter, Hogwarts, JK Rowling, vampires, writers, zombies
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Think Before You Press Send
A lot has been written about the state of writing. Or, more specifically, about the state of the business of writing. Meaning the publishing industry. I’m not going to write about that here. I’ve been posting interesting stats and reports and blogs on my Facebook page (which you are free to visit and “like” in […]
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Also tagged books, Books in Print, Facebook, Fifty Shades of Gray, noise, Self-publishing, Speedo
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Matchbook Stories
What happens when you about double the character count in a Twister? I don’t know. That sounds like nuclear physics. In the writing sense, however, you get a “matchbook story” – and apparently that’s what I’ve done. However, I don’t see any matchbook. Publishing a short story on a matchbook cover? That’s cool. Or it […]
Premature Sense of Redemption
My agent passed along a rejection note this morning, his only comment being “argh.” I read the email. By page 50 the editor admitted the novel was getting hard to read. That’s fine. You don’t have to like it. So why was it getting hard to read? Because it was getting “darker” and because he […]
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Also tagged big 6, Green Eggs and Ham, Morgan Freeman, Redemption, Rejection, Tim Robbins
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