June 2012
1 post
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Perfect: A Short Story
It’s 10PM and there is a gun against your temple.
“Tell me about your day,” the gun demands. “Start from the beginning. Tell me everything.”
This is not the beginning but this is the best you can do. You’d rather be working out.
[[MORE]]
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It’s 6AM and the radio is waking you up. You drop to the floor to do push ups. You’re 24 years old. You...
May 2012
19 posts
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“I write to give myself strength. I write to be the characters that I am not. I...”
– Joss Whedon
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“We have to continually be jumping off cliffs and developing our wings on the way...”
– Kurt Vonnegut
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“You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.”
– Ray Bradbury
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“If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn’t brood....”
– Isaac Asimov
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“I am a drinker with writing problems.”
– Brendan Behan
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“If you steal from one author, it’s research; if you steal from many,...”
– Wilson Mizner
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Writing Wrongs & Righting Writes
By now it’s been well established, mostly by me, that writing fucking sucks. It’s a horrible, wonderful, horrible way to spend your time.
But editing, holy fucking shit. Editing is the worst.
Trying to decide what words to cut out is harder than trying to hold down a job.
The other day on Twitter a friend asked me how to cut their word count, ”the copy is too good to let...
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“Once a little boy sent me a charming card with a little drawing on it. I loved...”
– Maurice Sendak (1928 - 2012)
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“Finishing a book is just like you took a child out in the back yard and shot it.”
– Truman Capote
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Go The Fuck Outside (feat. Henry Rollins)
A couple of days ago I posted a quote from Henry David Thoreau, “How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live.”
It seemed pretty apt. See last week I went to see another Henry; former Black Flag singer turned all around legend Henry Rollins, in Australia on his latest speaking tour.
I’m a big fan of Mr. Rollins. Or Uncle Henry, as he likes you to...
April 2012
15 posts
2 tags
Changed my profile pic to real me.
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“How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live”
– Henry David Thoreau
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“What is this, rocket science? I mean, come on, guys.”
– Stephen King, responding to critics about his simplistic symbolism
No, Stephen, it isn’t rocket science and here’s why.
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Put your novel away & stop writing
You’ve just finished writing your novel. Now what? Get drunk. Get sober. Leave the house. Whatever you do, stop writing.
Lock that piece of shit in a drawer and forget about it for a few weeks/months/years/ever.
The first feedback you need is your own, but at this point you’re too close to read your work objectively. So walk away. Run away. Screaming, preferably.
It’s...
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“If I saw your body burning in the street, I’d put you out with gasoline.”
– Henry Rollins
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“I’m writing a book. I’ve got the page numbers done.”
– Steven Wright
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Why you should buy a copy of The Sensualist by...
Ever heard of Daniel Torday? Nope, me neither. At least I hadn’t, until I happened upon the website of independent publisher Nouvella books.
This was back in February. Since then I’ve spoken to him a couple of times on Twitter. He’s nice. The head of Creative Writing at a college in Pennsylvania, he’s published short fiction in Esquire, Harvard Review and Fifty-two...
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“Invent your own mythology or be a slave to another man’s.”
– William Blake
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IA Writer as a religious experience
My religion is language. It is a good religion. It’s free to join and everyone is admitted, regardless of race, gender or sexual preference.
There is no single God, but a series of higher beings, saints if you will, who have ascended to their status by being influential teachers, writing the scriptures from which the rest of us learn.
Their number is neither finite nor limited by...
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“I write as straight as I can, just as I walk as straight as I can, because that...”
– H.G Wells
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Where do ideas come from? (Hint: It's Book Satan)
This is my 100th blog post. I asked for topic suggestions and had a great response. My wife even made a suggestion; that I should write about ideas.
Being my wife, she wins by default. So here we go.
A question writers frequently get asked is where they get their ideas. The question usually comes from non-writers, though sometimes other writers ask out of frustration, jealousy or jealous...
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Script Frenzy: Cut The Bullshit & Enjoy It
Script Frenzy is an annual script writing event in which you have 30 days to write a 100 page script. Sound like your sort of challenge? It’s not too late to take part, you can sign up here.
If it sounds daunting it needn’t be. Writing is fun, and writing ridiculously quickly is a fucking riot - both in terms of amusement and property damage.
If you’ve never written a...
March 2012
25 posts
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“I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound and stab us… We...”
– Franz Kafka (via thejourneyinlove)
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I'm approaching my 100th post on this blog, and...
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“I am a galley slave to pen and ink.”
– Honore de Balzac
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What are words worth?
An asshole recently asked me why some writers think they should be paid when there are so many competent writers willing to produce content for free.
“Writers shouldn’t just think they should be paid,” I spat.
“They should expect it.”
This kind of ignorance about creative labour boils my piss, as it should boil yours. Let’s just say they’ll never...
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My favourite word this week is 'delightful'. My...
Let me know!
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“The unreal is more powerful than the real. Because nothing is as perfect as you...”
– Chuck Palahniuk (via venula)
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Wow, 300 friends!
Thank you. You’re all so very wonderful :)
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“Writing is like prostitution. First you do it for love, and then for a few close...”
– Moliere
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“How I hate those who are dedicated to producing conformity.”
– William S. Burroughs
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“You don’t write because you want to say something, you write because you...”
– F. Scott Fitzgerald
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