[My Guest Post] A Message to New Writers at SFWA.org

This month, I decided to write a column geared for new writers at SFWA.org. This month, I talk about how it’s okay to ditch all the writing advice and focus on your craft. Then, I offer several resources where you can turn to sharpen up your plots and trim your prose.

The mentality that you have to “get your first stories published or else” is incredibly foreign to me. I opted for an undergrad degree that allowed me to simply learn and write. Due to the flexibility of my Creative Writing program, I developed my own course requirements to focus on multiple forms of writing. While there are benefits and drawbacks to any academic program, I have no regrets: the environment allowed me to concentrate on the words I wrote as opposed to selling them. — SOURCE: Message to New Writers: It’s Okay to Focus on Your Craft

I hope you’ll give Message to New Writers: It’s Okay to Focus on Your Craft a read. I recommended Nascence as one of the resources and author Tobias Buckell was kind enough to provide me with a quote.

I feel that this issue is worth exploring, especially given the glut of writing advice and popularity of different topics. No, this article may not be relevant to you, but it’s definitely something to think about when you’re fresh out of the gate.

[Recommended] 23 Authors Share Tips for Writing a Book

An article written by Steve Silberman is making the rounds, and I thought I’d share this with you if you haven’t seen it. Dubbed “Practical Tips on Writing a Book from 23 Brilliant Authors,” the article shares a plethora of advice. I really liked Steve’s comment about dialing back Facebook and Twitter to focus on his work.

A few things became clear as soon as their replies came in. First of all, I’ll have to throttle back my use of Twitter and Facebook to get this writing done (and I may never rev up my idle Quora account after all.) Secondly, scheduling intervals of regular exercise and renewal amid the hours of writing will be essential. And thirdly, I’ll certainly be buying and downloading a software program called Scrivener, which is a powerful word processor specifically designed for writing books and keeping vast amounts of related data in good order. — SOURCE: Practical Tips on Writing a Book from 23 Brilliant Authors

Authors include both fiction and non-fiction writers, ranging from Carl Zimmer to Cory Doctorow. If you have a chance, check out the article. There’s some great tips in there!

Growing Pains are a GOOD Thing for Apex Publications

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to drop by and mention today that Apex Publications, which operates Apex Magazine, Apex Book Company and The Zombie Feed, is growing. They’re in the process of inking a deal with a major distributor and their books will be on a shelf near you.

This is fantastic news for Jason Sizemore and it’s been a long time coming. However, with new opportunities comes some amount of growing pains. The distribution deal means that he has to literally change his business model overnight to fulfill demand. To offset the printing costs, he’s started a peerbacker program with several tiers of rewards. While his business is doing well, this growth opportunity means he’ll have to order a large print run of books, which isn’t something he normally does.

This fiscal requirement goes above and beyond our normal business operations and normally, I wouldn’t be opposed to that. In this instance, however, the issue is time. The distributor is anxious to get Apex out on the market. To do that, I need to come up with the initial investment for a full-scale run. So I’m trying out a Kickstarter clone called Peerbackers. Any funds raised by Peerbackers will supplement the additional business loans I’m taking to cover the new production costs. — SOURCE: Our peerbacker Project: Apex Lands Major Distribution

I think it’s pretty cool that a publisher has the ability now to share news as-it-happens and ask readers, authors, editors and fans to be a part of that success. I have a vested interest in this deal doing well, too, for I have a story out now with The Zombie Feed Volume One anthology and a dystopian science fiction story coming out through Apex Book Company this year.

If you’re interested in helping Apex Publications, visit: Apex Publications Lands National Distribution Deal.

The Games I’ve Been Playing

An avid gamer, I play a range of games usually for two reasons 1) have fun and 2) pick apart their design. While most of my design skills are focused on the hobby games industry at the moment, I still try to play a variety of games.

Sumoku by Blue Orange GamesBecause I wanted to branch out of the games I normally play, I picked up Sumoku by Blue Orange Games. Dubbed “pure adding fun,” it’s more like maddening math hells — but in a good way. Sumoku has a high production value, and by that I mean the pieces are molded well and the plastic isn’t painted, so it won’t flake off at some point. The mechanics are really simple and takes about ten seconds to learn. Basically, you roll a die to get your target number. Then you pull out a number of tiles according to how many players you have. (Yes, you can play solo, which is a nice feature.) After you have that done, you set up the tiles in a crossword puzzle-like arrangement, where each row is a multiple of your target number. The only thing is, you can’t repeat colors in the same row, which is where it can get pretty challenging.

I really like Sumoku because I don’t normally play with numbers that often and it gives me a chance to use different brain cells. Plus, it’s portable and all the pieces fit back into the bag. W00t!

For my Nintendo DS, I’ve been playing Super Hero Squad, but have gotten stuck on a boss battle which is maddening, maddening I tell you. The mechanics are pretty slick because you have to balance your teammate’s powers with playing the characters you enjoy. I laugh every time I play it – the one-liners are great! For traditional video games, I’m playing through Final Fantasy XIII once again as time allows. This game is really good if you don’t have the time to play through a continuous storyline. I royally screwed up the mini-game last time and for me to go back and play through all the difficult battles would have required hundreds of hours. Takes less time to start over and since I’ve already beaten the game, I know what happens. Just in time for the sequel. Heh, heh.

Esoterrorists Cover ArtFor hobby games, on the other hand, we’ve been playing short adventures and running them in three-or-four session rotations. Over the past couple of months, we played an adventure for Esoterrorists, which was written and designed by Robin Laws. One of the big selling points for me, is the character creation process. (EASY!) We were investigating grisly murders and a bizarre summoning. After that, our team voted to switch over to Savage Worlds. (I ALMOST misstyped that as Savage Words.) Each week we’ve been focusing on a different style of play and I’ve found the initiative system turns combat into a much, more epic event — regardless of whether or not we’re playing pulp or not. Next week we’re going to break out the Savage Worlds Adventure Deck and I’m curious to see how those gaming enhancements will work out.

Once Origins Game Fair is over and done with, we’ll start playtesting an adventure I’m working on for Trail of Cthulhu, which was designed by Ken Hite. I’ve also got a list of games to play and help review for FlamesRising.com, some of which are higher on the priority list than others. Not to mention, it’s looking like I’ll be playing Magic: the Gathering here shortly, too.

The nice thing about gaming, is that there’s always something new to play and it’s a great way to do something with other people that doesn’t require eating or drinking. Less filling and good for my head. Win, win!

Sign Up for My Newsletter for Free Fiction

Based on the feedback I’ve received over the past couple of months, my monthly newsletter is going to take on a more personal tone. Each month, newsletter subscribers will receive free fiction in their In Box.

To read free fiction, all you have to do is sign up for my monthly newsletter. I use a third party provider called “MailChimp.” They have a great privacy policy and whitelisting service built into their interface.

I hope you’ll consider being a part of my growing community of readers, colleagues and friends. Thanks so much for supporting my work!

– Monica

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