Scam Prevention SFWA Writer Beware: https://www.sfwa.org/other-resources/for-authors/writer-beware/ The Author’s Guild scam list (Not an endorsement of the guild)L https://www.authorsguild.org/industry-advocacy/%E2%80%8B%E2%80%8Bavoiding-publishing-scams/ Conventions & Workshops Superstars (Kevin J Anderson’s business focused workshop. Short and affordable.): https://superstarswriting.com/ Taos Toolbox: (Excellent writing workshop with Nancy Kress for more advanced writers): http://www.taostoolbox.com/ Writers of the Future Forums (while focused on the contest,…
More people should be using LibreOffice. Why? Because word processing is a mature technology, as mature as the doorknob, and there is no reason to keep paying tech companies like Microsoft increasingly exorbitant protection money as if we needed or wanted them to “improve” it–all the while making it easier for them to spy on…
When it comes to computers, I’m not exactly a gear head. I built my own from an 8085 chip set as a kid, but these days I just want one that works. I like to get the job done, but I’m also thrifty and I don’t enjoy spending more than I really need to. Throughout…
New writers these days are instantly awash in all kinds of advice (some even useful) but none is better, I humbly suggest, than that you don’t have to master everything all at once. This is true of writing craft, but it’s especially true of the business side of the game, from website development to marketing.…
I’m no Matt Damen, but I did okay with the ladies back in the day–I guess. I was and am a nerd. I grew up in a world of books and ideas. I was that kid in the back of the class with his nose in a book to keep from having to make small…
This week began our return to the daily commute, 3 days a week after 14 months fully at home. My day job is in IT, and the first thing we all noticed about working from home, everyone all the time, was the increase in productivity and reduction in stress. It took a while to sink…
Ever since I started writing, I’ve studied all sorts of novel development systems, methodologies, tools, and books. And I’ve once or twice cobbled together enough of these ideas to draft a novel without too much trouble–but, I’ve always been dissatisfied. Always, I’ve felt the people behind these ideas muddle their analyses, and as a result…
When I started writing seriously back in 2011, I knew the last thing I needed was to start coming home every day from my corporate desk job and spend hours more behind a desk, so instead I learned my craft standing in the bedroom, typing on a little Acer Netbook perched high atop a tall…
One of the reasons I started my Patreon page was to defray the cost of certain items and services needed to advance my writing career so I can spend more time writing. The impetus for the change was a teleprompter I started tinkering together over the holidays. Over the years, I’ve cobbled together all sorts…
Since I started seriously writing, I’ve learned there are a vast assortment of skills I might logically profit by that I just don’t have. And I’m not talking about grammar and spelling, or judging when to use active voice or how to write dialog that sounds true to life but isn’t as dull and repetitive…
