Wednesday 16 February 2011

Pleased to meet you

This is a great idea I saw on Lynette's blog. Would you care to introduce yourself via my probing quesitons? Followers and popper-inners are welcome. 

1. What's the best thing you ever wrote? Where can we read it?

2. What's the best piece of writing advice you heard? Did you take it?

3. What are dream publications/or publisher (for you novel writers)?

24 comments:

  1. 1) The best thing I ever wrote is my unpublished manuscript and it's not available anywhere. Maybe that'll change some day.

    2) Best piece of writing advice I ever heard? Keep editing.

    3) Dream publication? Hmmm. Probably Tor I think just because they're pretty prestigious in Fantasy/Sci-Fi which is what I write.

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  2. 1) I can be a pretty down on himself kind of guy. But as of now I'd say the greatest thing I ever wrote was my previous sentence. You can read it above.

    2)Best writing advice? You need to write if you want to be a writer.

    3) Dream publisher? The snarky side of me would say whoever would give me the most money. The realistic side of me would vote for whomever is dumb enough to offer me anything. But then again, I also have pleasant memories of reading Tor books.

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  3. Hey there! I'm a fellow crusader.

    1. My MS are still in process, nothing published yet.

    2. Best advice: Write every day, no matter what. I try, but I'm not there yet.

    3. St. Martin's Press and Penguin.

    ~kristal
    www.kristalleeromances.com

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  4. Thanks guys,

    Kristal and Michael, you're both novelists, right? Do you ever create shorter works? They're soooo much easier to place than a novel. Rusty, that sentence was quality.

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  5. My answers are:

    Best thing -- Aunty Merkel published in Nature. I don't know how to link in the comments, but you can find it on the right, if you want to look.

    Best advice: write every day. It took me a long time to get there. I didn't start writing until I was 39, but now I can't stop.

    Dream publications for me are Asimovs and Fantasy and Science Fiction.

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  6. 1. The short story I'm most proud of is "Five Dragons," which was based on a jokey conversation I had with one of my good friends. It's available in print only, unfortunately, in Escape Clause: A Speculative Fiction Annual. (Which is great, buy now!) But The Bell is pretty good too.

    2. Writing advice: "Do it. All the time." I try to live up to this.

    3. Strange Horizons

    Shock Totem

    Weird Tales

    And I secretly aspire to book publication by one of the big, old houses: Simon and Schuster or Random House or whatnot.

    p.s. Make a link clickable tutorial here.

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  7. The Bell is a lovely, twisted story, Elizabeth. I bet the Escape Clause is great, too. I've put it on my wish list.

    Nice markets on your dream list. They're on mine, too. I have rather a large list

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  8. Thanks for reading The Bell! I'm glad you liked it.

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  9. 1. The best thing I ever wrote was a short story about a Ballerina and it's not posted anywhere (yet...)
    2. The best advice I ever got is "Don't give up" and "Stop using so many damn commas!" I use both.
    3. I love the idea of getting one of my stories in to Clarkesworld, or Asimov magazine.

    You can call me Gen, and I played with the fish on your page for like 20 minutes! I can't believe how entertaining that is.

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  10. Deborah - thanks for the compliment on my sentence. A few thousand similar to that and I may have myself a novel.

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  11. Hi Gen, I'm glad you like my fish. They're kinda cute. Have you subbed your ballerina story, any where. You know you said one of your dream markets is Aimov's. A SF ballerina story would be so cool -- just a thought.

    Rusty-- One sentence at a time, that's all we can do. Keep 'em coming.

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  12. Making my crusader rounds, nice to meet you. Now following!

    Nikki

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  13. Hello Fellow Crusader! I love your idea of having everyone introduce themselves.

    1) I am not sure if it is the best thing I ever wrote, but I am still really proud of my short story "Dog Universe" because it was the first piece I ever really labored over with revisions. It is available as an audio story at Sniplits (http://www.sniplits.com/diane_gillette.jsp) but you have to pay 88 cents for it. No pressure or obligation. :)

    2) The best piece of writing advice I ever heard was from Natalie Goldman's "Wild Mind". She advised to just keep your hand moving no matter what. I find time and again that even when I am having doubts as long as I just keep my hand moving (or my fingers at least, if typing!) I can push through the doubts and worry.

    3) It would be really great to see a short story of mine in Ploughshares since I am an Emerson Alum and it made such an impression on me when I was going to grad school. But honestly, I'm just happy when anyone wants to give my poor little orphan stories a home. :)

    Happy Crusading!

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  14. The best thing I ever wrote is Purple Knot. Although fictional, the MC's journey is very personal to me. Shades of real life.

    You can read it later this year as book. Its being published by White Rose Publishing.

    Also, I'm stopping by as a fellow crusader and new follower. On to the first challenge!

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  15. A test! yikes. I'm so unprepared.
    1- Ok, so, I thought the best thing I ever wrote was my query, damn, that thing rocks. Yet, no one likes it yet. Go figure. Lol
    2- Advice... Never do anything that wouldn't make your mom proud. Let's just say, I haven't let her read my current series. I think it would test the limits.
    3- I do dream of St Martins's Press. What Urban fantasy writer doesn't? They rock.

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  16. Hi! Fellow crusader and new follower. Here are my answers:
    1. http://www.margokelly.net for samples of my writing. :)
    2. Best advice: leave out the words people don't read (you know... those sections you as a reader skim/skip because it gets boring?)
    3. Dream publishing house: Harper Teen

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  17. 1. Hmm, my favorite pieces are out on submission right now. But my favorite piece that's available to read free is this one.

    2. I like the Toni Morrison line: "If there's a book you really want to read but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it." It'd directly responsible for most of my work.

    3. I have a lot of dreams! But if I ever sold to Clarkesworld I think I'd fall over and die instantly.

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  18. Hello Amanda, I love your 10Flash story, and look we're TOC buddies -- again.

    Yep, Clarkesworld would be so cool. We can dream. . . and keep on subbing.

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  19. Hello everyone,

    Nikki-- I like your blog name, raisingmarshmallows: that made me smile.

    digillette--I'm going to check out that story. Keep your hands moving is good advice to block out that pesky internal editor.

    Congratulations on the upcoming book, Racquel. That is so cool.

    Tanya-- good luck with your query. I'm so pleased you're happy with it, now you just need to match it up with the right agent/publisher.

    Hi Margo, I'm going to check out your work real soon. Thanks for posting. Harper Teen, eh? Have you subbed to them yet?

    Wow, go away for a long weekend, and come back to loads of comments. This is fun.

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  20. Hi Deborah! Yet another crusader here.

    1. My fav piece is a hybrid of music/the written word. www.immortalthemusical.com

    2. Never stop to reevaluate while running uphill. =)

    3. I'm not picky about publishers, except for one: Broadway. =)

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  21. Hi Crystal, hope you move to the West End after Broadway.

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  22. Ooooh, this is fun!

    1. There was this essay I wrote in third year university for my English Lit class, and I got a fantastic mark for it. Lent the marked copy to a friend (no longer in contact) who wanted to see what all the fuss was about and I never got it back and don't have a digital copy of it! So nobody including me can read it anywhere, and it probably ended life in a recycling bin. Sigh.

    2. Just write. And I did. And I haven't looked back!

    3. Dream publisher is a hard one. But an acquisitions editor who likes my book a nice editorial team who understands me would be a dream come true.

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  23. Hello Adina, it must be frustrating to lose that essay. I'm sure you going do something even better soon. Thanks for stopping by. Crusading away.

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