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Restless Brain image provided by a Lisa Snellings sculpture, used with permission.

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A much more … sane ISBW returns to talk writing tools and to play the fantastic interview conducted by Chris Lester of the Hugo-nominated Tor editor, Liz Gorinsky!

• 00:00:06: ISBW #147
• 00:00:43: State of the Mur: working on the administrative side of writing lately — selling novella (Marco and the Red Granny: 27K words) to Hub, getting agent comments on novel-in-progress (Codename: Project Underground), attending Create South in Myrtle Beach, trying to balance flow of ideas with ability to write them…
• 00:04:23: GoTo Meeting Message
• 00:04:57: Writing Tools: the lament of the office-supply junkie, and the basics you really should have.
• 00:19:51: Promo: The Leviathan Chronicles
• 00:22:07: Interview: Liz Gorinsky, Hugo-nominated Tor editor (conducted by Chris Lester):
  • What an associate editor does
  • Steampunk
  • Trends
• 00:59:20: Loose ends (feedback in the next episode) & contact info

Here’s where you can learn more about Metamor City, Chris’s award winning project.

Grant has family-friendly humor down to a science, and his writing, voice acting, and audio production is top-notch. If you have kids, or are a fan of history, I highly recommend this show. I’d say the only downside is I’d like it to be longer, but Grant does know how to leave an audience wanting more. It debuts today, and below is one of the promos.Check it out!

You like Restless Brain? Let me know!

Restless Brain image provided by a Lisa Snellings sculpture, used with permission.

Regardless! I talk about what happened in May, what I’ve been up to, and assure you that the podcast is back and going nowhere anytime soon. We return to calm, clean, solo podcasting here.

Note- I did mention that the interview with Gail Carriger is “coming up” – I had planned on releasing the meta cast before ISBW #146, so that’s why I said that.

This is live from Balticon with return guest Gail Carriger (@gailcarriger), songwriter John Anealio (@johnanealio), and Bad Cop Matt F. Wallace (@mattfnwallace). This is not safe for work or kids. We are explicit here. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Tidbits before the detailed show notes come: John’s awesome songs are “I Should Be Writing” and “George R. R. Martin Is Not Your B****.” NYT BESTSELLING author Carriger just scored two more books, making her Alexia Tarraboti series 5 books total *so far*. I still highly recommend them. And Matt Wallace is now a screenwriter and thinks he’s better than all of us.

(NOTE- at the beginning when I flub the show number, I whine that I haven’t even been drinking, but because my audience was laughing at me, all you hear is “been drinking.” I promise I was sober for this one.)

(Note, ISBW still does not advocate the harming of anyone. That’s all Matt.)

• With Dad: The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster.
• With Mom: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan.

Remember you can email us at princess DOT scientist AT gmail.com!

I asked him about Thing a Week, when he was making a song every week for a year, and how it affected him. I was going to blog about it, but then I thought, why not just drop that snippet of the interview into the feed? (the interview was not for ISBW) So here it is. Nothing shiny, not an official show, just four minutes of me, JoCo, and the forced march.

(We were backstage during the Paul and Storm opening act, hence the music in the background.)

This did influence my views about my WIP, and I’ve been writing more this week. Thanks, JoCo. I don’t want to think about writing every day. I want to think of it as a forced march. Forward, always forward.

I’ve been involved with Escape Artists in one way or another several times in the past five years. Steve has published several of my short stories, and asked me and Ben Phillips to helm Pseudopod when it launched. I had to step down in 2007 because i had a day job and simply had to let some outside things go.

I’ve been working behind the scenes on the EP thing for a couple of weeks now, sifting through slush with some truly dedicated volunteers. We re-launch after our hiatus next week on Escape Pod’s fifth anniversary with Steve’s last podcast. Then I will take over hosting for three weeks, then we will run our traditional Hugo short story offering. July is when I’ll settle into the job fully with hosting and editing. We’ve got some new things coming up for the podcast this summer.

But never fear! The podcast is awesome because of Steve’s vision: fun SF, and I’ll never turn away from that.

I’ve got a great team helping me, and I’m very excited to see where we can steer this ship. Thanks for all the congrats that came through Twitter and email so far, it really means a lot to me that people have confidence in my ability to take this amazing podcast and keep it strong.

Meet Major Anne Lafferty. She has some… issues. She merely has hobbies that are different from most people’s and tries to excel in her military career and make her father proud. When she can, she combines her hobbies with her career. If she doesn’t get caught.

Co-authored by Mur Lafferty and Scott Sigler. Narrated by Scott Sigler. Not for kids. Seriously. At all. Ever.

More Crypt here.

• 00:00:06 ISBW #145
• 00:00:43 State of the Mur: driving to RavenCon! Travel, getting hacked (again), fresh reinstall and re-uploading of podcasts – please go to The Murverse for all your ISBW podcast archive needs – working on novella, trying to get schedule back under control.
• 00:05:28 GoTo Meeting Message
• 00:06:07 Back to Basics: people deserve to get paid for their work.  Agents: do your homework. Resources: Writer’s Digest, Media Bistro, Agent Query
• 00:13:48 Promo: Merciless Storytellers: Performance Without Pity (podcasting competition)
• 00:19:00 Interview: Blake Charlton, med student and author of Spellwright
• 00:36:24 Promo: Scott Sigler’s The Starter. (Get a discount with the promo code “MUR”)
• 00:37:22 Feedback: Media Bistro’s AvantGuild as a recommended resource for nonfiction freelancers; the Zoom H2 and other voice recorder options, Holly Lisle as a recommended resource for revising one’s manuscript (http://howtoreviseyournovel.com/); do people change when they start to write?; comparing gaining experience in writing to gaining experience in The Sims; Discount! Use promo code MUR to save on Scott Sigler’s The Starter.
• 00:41:41 Good Cop/Bad Cop with Matt Wallace*: how to avoid the paralysis of fearing you’re going to “waste” a great idea when you’re not yet a good enough author to write it; setting boundaries with clingy writers
  * He said he didn’t want you to be able to contact him directly, but I say PHOOEY! You like the bad cop? Click away.  Hunt him down on his own turf. Thus sayeth the show notes writer. –Carrie.

(Note, ISBW does  not advocate the harming of anyone. That’s all Matt.)

• With Dad: Piper Reed, Navy Brat by Kimberly Willis Holt.
• With Mom: The Pool of Fire by John Christopher.

• 00:00:07 ISBW #144
• 00:00:53 State of the Mur: working on novella, other short fiction, pondering some self-publishing production expenses.
• 00:02:42 GoTo Meeting Message
• 00:03:18 Level Up! A geeky role-playing-games perspective on learning from your mistakes: failure gets you experience points. Anyone else want real badges for life experiences, like in the Boy/Girl Scouts?  There are nerd merit badges, and NaNoWriMo badges, and the You Can Do It: The Merit Badge Handbook for Grown-Up Girls (show-notes writer Carrie owns this one: scroll down to see sample badges)… can we design and produce some Author Badges?  (The Duotrope shop also has t-shirts that say things like “author” and “published.”)
• 00:13:48 Promo: The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd
• 00:15:00 Interview: Ellen Datlow, Editor (find her on LiveJournal.) New anthology, Darkness: Two Decades of Modern Horror.
• 00:36:59 Promo: Can’t Stop the Serenity: Worldwide Charity Screenings for Equality Now
• 00:37:59 Feedback part 1: Ask a Lawyer! with attorney Steve Tupper (aka Stephen Force, host of Airspeed, an aviation & aerospace podcast): Legal implications of hotlinking/resizing & hosting artwork to accompany fiction excerpts? Discussion of exclusive rights in copyrighted works in the U.S. and fair use (see also 1841 decision Fulsom v. March, explaining piracy). The fact that you’re not making money off the use of a work does not mean it’s “fair use”. Brief discussion of licenses. Brief discussion of internet links. Obligatory disclaimer.
• 00:54:56 Feedback part 2: chapter length and pacing (recommended listening: Writing Excuses episode on Pacing with interviewee James Dashner); fan fiction addiction; definition of “dark fantasy.”
• 00:58:50 Mur gets advice from “Bad Cop” Matt Wallace>: overcoming fear of success.

What we’re reading now:

• With Dad: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang by Ian Fleming.
• With Mom: The Pool of Fire by John Christopher.

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• 0:00:06 ISBW #143
• 00:00:40 State of the Mur: working on various freelance projects, a novella currently titled “Marco and the Red Granny”, blogging/pocasting for Tor, ISBW and The Artist’s Way.
• 00:02:00 FEAR OF SUCCESS (topic inspired by Beth Revis’ blog post on Fear
• 00:05:35 GoTo Meeting Message
• 00:06:23 CYNICISM
• 00:13:05 Promo: Heldenleben (German-language fiction)
• 00:14:30 Interview: Don Vaughan, Founder & President of Triangle Area Freelancers, which is devoted to non-fiction freelance writing. Suggested resources: Writer’s Market, conferences (such as the TAF 2010 Conference on March 27, 2010).
• 00:34:16 Promo: Trickster Moon Productions
• 00:37:00 More things you should know about: New feature on ISBW: Good Cop/Bad Cop with Mur and Matt Wallace; Ohio University, Lancaster survey for podcast listeners, Interview with Scott Sigler on Ginger Campbell’s podcast Books and Ideas

Upcoming interviews- Ellen Datlow, Blake Charlton, and, thanks to Chris Lester, Liz Giorinsky, Phil and Kaja Foglio, and more!

Episode 13-2 from YouTube:

Episode 13-1 from YouTube:

It’s another feedback week!

Shownotes after the cut.

• 00:06: ISBW is brought to you by GoTo Meeting
• 00:18: ISBW #142
• 00:49: State of the Mur: busy. Artist’s Way, Artist’s Way Video Podcasts, Artist’s Way on Facebook, ISBW, short stories & a novella, waiting for feedback on novel, and, you know, life.
• 02:16: GoTo Meeting Promo
• 03:04 Promo: N.K. Jemisin’s novel The Ten Thousand Kingdoms published by Orbit Books.
• 04:05 Feedback: legality of fan fiction (it is a copyright violation, but authors may not care unless you try to get paid for it); listener Ross made a New Year’s Resolution to get in front of his computer & write every day and it seems to be working (yay Ross!); ISBW’s show notes writer CKHB on agents misplacing manuscripts (yes, it happens! keep track of your submissions!); looking for advice on finding the right balance when writing short stories (suggested reading: Beginnings, Middles & Ends by Nancy Kress); where to start an epic fantasy (consider starting at the moment the protagonist’s life changes); thoughts on not taking rejection too seriously; advice for people whose style is easily affected by what they read (it’s a new-writer thing); how many main characters is too many; keeping parents away from one’s writing or warning them about content; how to find literary magazines that like myth-based poetry (CKHB suggests trying the Duotrope’s Digest search engine); using Wordle as a method for creating titles; ISBW now on streaming Stitcher Radio for smart phones; standard manuscript format — Times New Roman or Courier New? 250 words/page or precise word count? (CKHB’s research agrees with Mur’s: no agent or editor has ever rejected something just for being in TNR or Courier, and manuscript formatting expert Anne Mini at Author! Author!  says that you estimate word count as 250 words/page for TNR, 200 words/page for Courier); iPad and software development concerns; the writing activities that count towards one’s 10,000 hours of practice to become a “master” of the craft; listener Lincoln wrote 5 novels since he started listening to ISBW (yay Lincoln!); Mur will be speaking about podcasting at Write Now! 2010, the Triangle Area Freelancers’ Annual Non-Fiction Conference on March 27th (and TAF President Don Vaughan will be interviewed on an upcoming episode of ISBW); a poet transitioning to fiction asks about beginnings & characterization (suggested writing books: the Nancy Kress book, Orson Scott Card’s Characters & Viewpoint and other books from the Writer’s Market collection), and Ursula K. Le Guin’s essay books); where to find Beta readers.

Some people have asked if they are behind in the Artist’s Way now. No no no no! Go ahead and get your book and get started. We are not going at any fast clipped pace here, mainly cause I can’t get a video up weekly, it seems.

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From YouTube:

Princess Scientist returns with her dad to finish up their talk on A Wrinkle in Time, and she talks about her love of Diary of a Wimpy Kid. We also are starting to get some emails, so be sure to send us your feedback! princess.scientist AT gmail.com

What we’re reading now:

• With Dad: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang by Ian Fleming.
• With Mom: The City of Gold and Lead by John Christopher.

To get started, you need The Artist’s Way, a notebook, and a writing device. If a skeptic, be warned, the book focuses on spirituality, but you don’t have to have faith to do it.

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Here’s the YouTube link.

What we’re reading now:

• With Dad: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle.
• With Mom: The White Mountains by John Christopher.

Shop Indie Bookstores

Shop Indie Bookstores

My apologies for having a podcast about something timely and then back-burner-ing it for other things. I still think it’s relevant, especially when we pull in the iPad discussion. If you haven’t followed the news, the Macmillan Amazon links are back up.

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• 00:00:06 ISBW #141
• 00:00:39 GoTo Meeting Message
• 00:01:27 State of the Mur: Snow! Ice! Cabin Fever. Project Underground is ready for beta readers.
• 00:04:32 The Amazon/Macmillan kerfuffle. What do readers think? How should consumers (as well as creators) handle the market changes due to Kindle, iPad, and publisher competition?
• 00:17:10 Promo: Beware the Hairy Mango
• 00:18:23 Interview: Ursula Vernon, author-illustrator of: Digger, Nurk, Dragonbreath, and Dragonbreath 2: Attack of the Ninja Frogs. You can find her at UrsulaVernon.com or Red Wombat Studio… and if you can’t decide right away, go to Metal & Magic and enjoy the awesomely cute drawings as you ponder which link to click. You can find her books at B&N, Borders, Powell’s, and your local indie bookseller.

Princess Scientist's Book Club

Our daughter has decided she wanted her own podcast to talk about books and science, her two favorite things (that aren’t pokemon). So we decided to start one with her. We started last fall, but decided not to announce till we had a couple in the can. I’ll be posting them here in the next couple of days till you’re caught up with episode 3, or you can just go to Princess Scientist’s Book Club to subscribe!

(Why princess scientist and not the pink tornado? She liked that name better when it comes to doing science.)

(This is us talking about books with a seven-year-old, so understand it’s not for everyone.)

• 00:00:07 ISBW #140
• 00:00:38 GoTo Meeting Message
• 00:01:29 State of the Mur: wrapping up 2009 podcasting content, Jar of Awesome method for choosing among writing projects, editing.
• 00:04:33 Promo: Steve Saylor and Ringtone Feeder present The Caffeine Collection, a dynamic audiobook.
• 00:05:48 Possible ISBW community project: The Artist’s Way– let Mur know if you are interested in participating by commenting here or by email.
• 00:07:50 Today’s topic: the freedom and curse of being an amateur writer.
• 00:12:19 Promo: The Audio Market List–an online audio market resource for fiction writers.
• 00:13:48 Interview: James Enge, author of This Crooked Way. (He can also be found at his Livejournal or on Facebook.
• 00:28:59 Promo: Purgatory, a podcast novel by Tim Dodge.
  00:30:26 Interview: John Claude Bemis, author of the middle-grade novel The Nine Pound Hammer. (referenced book: Lev Grossman’s The Magicians.
• 00:49:55 Promo: V for Vertigo
• 00:50:32 Feedback: creating an author website or blog if you are unpublished or have only a very small number of credits; naming your characters — Charlie suggests using the names in the New Orleans Public Library’s listing of Criminal Court Defendants 1880-1918; word count; studying creative writing in college; running out of steam towards the end of a novel and how to tie it all together — check out Holly Lisle’s How To Revise Your Novel writing course; an in-depth listener review of Dramatica Pro; a listener has a friend who may be giving up on writing after an agency rejection; choosing which project to start (whichever you pick, write them all down first!); listener Chris follows Ray Bradbury’s advice and tries to write 1 Story a Week for 52 weeks “to get the junk out”; thoughts on books using only one P.O.V.; starting to write a story with characters and no plot yet; translating the behavior of publishing houses (anyone interested in a future podcast on agents?)

Me. Matt Wallace. Christmas. It gets weird. Not for kids.

• 00:00:07 ISBW #139
• 00:00:57 GoTo Meeting Message
• 00:01:32 Very Special Christmas Episode with Matt Wallace, recorded on the eve of Beethoven‘s birthday (probably December 15^th, but according to that Wikipedia link, there’s some ambiguity). Recommended reading: Connie Willis’ short story collection Miracle. A Very Special Christmas Podcast: The Failed Cities Monologues, Hath a Darkness at Variant Frequencies. Watch at your own discretion: Santa is a D*** (NSFW!)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wilderdom/CC BY-SA 2.0

Happy New Year!

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• 00:00:07 ISBW #138
• 00:00:39 GoTo Meeting Message
• 00:01:14 New Year’s Kick in the Pants: about failing to write/podcast because of fear. Recommended reading: author Matt Wallace
• 00:06:21 State of the Mur: rewriting Heaven, working on Underground, hosting the Tor.com fiction podcasts. Condolences for Tee Morris’s loss (ChipIn fundraising link below).
• 00:09:16 Promo Night Light Stories podcast
• 00:10:04 Advice we need to keep hearing. Fear, failure, experimenting, resolutions. DO NOT DESPAIR, and keep striving.

Detailed show notes provided by Carrie Kei Heim Binas

• 00:00:07 J.C. Hutchins, author of 7th Son: Descent, presents ISBW
• 00:00:21 ISBW #137
• 00:00:50 GoTo Meeting Message
• 00:01:39 Congrats to all listeners who finished NaNoWriMo!!! State of the Mur: one project completed and sent to agent, working on short stories, blogging for Storytellers Unplugged (go read the December 6th post on FEAR), had book signing earlier in December.
• 00:04:19 Promo: Erin O’Briant’s podcast novel Glitter Girl
• 00:05:12 Today’s topic: Stop Thinking (confidence and self-motivation: see also Carrie Kei Heim Binas’ blog post, What would you do if you knew you could not fail?)
• 00:13:15 Promo: Friday Fables
• 00:14:16 Interview: Gail Carriger

• pseudonyms
• recommended reading: A Thousand Miles Up The Nile

• 00:38:43 Promo: J.C. Hutchins & the print debut of 7th Son: Descent – serialized novel at BoingBoing, audiobook, and other content also available online.
• 00:40:22 Feedback: developing characters based on real life; starting one’s first foray into fiction writing with a novel; Mur’s recording software; translating RPG concepts into fiction; looking for opinions on Dramatica Pro; NaNoWriMo experiences & keeping one’s writing a secret; listener Paul blogs about NaNoWriMo; advances (don’t quit your day job); iPhones and podcasting; feeling like a writer/like a success; feedback to WorldCon; planning characters for a novel; future answers for copyright questions!; Name That Color (risk of thesaurus-style word overload); “technical” writing in fiction and finding the right balance for level of detail; are writers’ groups worth joining?

And Happy Holidays to everyone.

Zuzu’s Bell

Lucifer despairs on the celebration of His birth.

Lucifer stinks with the feces of the hopeless, the wretched. Daily he bathes in the tears of the woebegone; he hopes to find the one moment where He Above overlooks, disregards, forgets. Then it will be Lucifer’s time.

His back twinges with memories of wings long gone. His wings shattered upon striking Earth Below, but his shoulders remember. Always.

But it is this night when the fiery sky opens. Unholy ichor sprays as white wings burst from Lucifer’s back and he looks up to hear the unexpected.

One silver bell.

(Copyright 2009, Mur Lafferty. Some Rights Reserved. BY-NC-ND)

Super special thanks to Rick Stringer of Variant Frequencies for the holiday card PDF!

I Should Be Writing is also sponsored by Dr. Wicked’s Write or Die software!

• 00:00:07 ISBW #136
• 00:00:37 Sponsor message from GoTo Meeting
• 00:01:27 State of the Mur: novel edits are taking priority over NaNoWriMo.
• 00:03:40 Promo:Dr. Wicked’s Write or Die software
• 00:04:49 Main topic: For parents.  Priorities, being a writer, being a success, being a role model, and following your dream.
• 00:13:43 Promo: J. Daniel Sawyer and Book 2 of The Antithesis Progression: Free Will (and Other Compulsions)
• 00:14:55 Interview with J. Daniel Sawyer
• 00:30:13 Promo: The Metamor City Podcast
• 00:31:54 Interview with Chris Lester: visit him at ChrisLester.org or find him on Twitter
• 00:52:47 Promo: Digital Magic
• 00:53:45 Interview with Pip Ballantine

Detailed show notes provided by Carrie Kei Heim Binas

It’s been a hell of a ride. Thank you for your support. Special thanks to Dr. Phil Plait, The Bad Astronomer, for advice regarding some of the adventure in this episode.

• 00:00:07 ISBW #135
• 00:00:39 GoTo Meeting Message
• 00:01:27 Happy NaNoWriMo!  Special episode: three interviews, no feedback.  Mur is still editing as well as NaNo-ing, and trying to pace herself to avoid early November burnout.  You are invited to be Mur’s NaNoWriMo buddy, but it make take her some time to return the favor.  [You are also invited to be my writing buddy!  I’m not as popular as Mur, so I’ll probably be able to “friend” you back a little faster.  –Carrie.]
• 00:03:58 Promo: P.G. Holyfield and Tabitha Grace Smith of Angel Between the Lines write short stories for each other’s podcasts.  On Nov. 16, 2009, download P.G.’s Exit Strategy at Stories from Wolfram & Hart, and on Nov. 18, 2009, at 9:30 EST, visit Stickam.com to view the live video recording of Tabz’s story for Tales of Children, Love’s Sacrificial Song.
• 00:06:06 Interview with author Nathan Lowell of the Solar Clipper series – 6 books written in 2 ½ years.
• 00:24:01 Promo: J.C. Hutchins & the print debut of 7th Son Descent – serialized novel, audiobook, and other content also available online.
• 00:25:40 Interview: David Niall Wilson author of Vintage Soul – novel originated as a 2005 NaNoWriMo project.  Register to read this year’s NaNoWriMo read-along book, The Heart of a Dragon , and be David’s NaNoWriMo buddy
• 00:38:38 Promo: Jon Armstrong and Underland Press present Jeff Vandermeer’s Finch listen to an interview with the author at If You’re Just Joining Us
• 00:39:48 Interview: Chris Baty, creator of NaNoWriMo (don’t forget to check out the NaNo Video podcasts).

Show notes provided by Carrie Kei Heim Binas.

• 00:00:07 ISBW #134
• 00:00:38 GoTo Meeting Message
• 00:01:26 State of the Mur update: giving a talk at BlogWorld re: podiobooks, and working on edits for “Project Underground”
• 00:05:26 Promo: J.C. Hutchins & the print debut of 7th Son Descent – serialized novel (at BoingBoing), audiobook (at podiobooks.com), and other content (at JCHutchins.net) also available online.
• 00:07:04 Main topic: “That’s just words”? The importance of language.
• 00:15:09 Promo: Tuning in to SciFi TV
• 00:16:27 Interview: Devo Spice (aka Tom Rockwell) Recommended sites: The FuMP (Funny Music Project), Dr. Demento, The Real UHF, and Working Indie Musician
• 00:34:48 Promo: A. P. Stephens & The White Shadow Saga
• 00:35:49 Feedback: Neil Gaiman writes a book via Twitter; Is it worthwhile to invest in 3rd-party editing before shopping a novel?; Advice on writing from the perspective of a character who slowly goes insane; New website — Lit Drift ; Possibly useful organizing software — Writer’s Café; 100 Questions for Character Development – Geocities closed down, so we were unable to use the link originally sent to us, but Carrie found another similar list here.

Show notes provided by Carrie Kei Heim Binas.

This is the thing about podcasting-or any self-publishing, because podcasting your fiction is simply free self-publishing in audio format-if you do the work and don’t tell people you’ve done the work, and that the work is worth their time, no one will pay attention. So no matter if your insecurities loom large, and your ego is a forgotten raisin under the fridge of your psyche, you have to be able to market your work.

And to do that, you have to believe in it. When you believe in something, you can make others believe in it too.

This summer, my friend JC Hutchins came out with a podcast where he discussed how “disbelief is the enemy.” He and I talked about this some, and it seems to be one of those totally true things that you don’t think about till it’s said aloud. When you do this thing, this content creation, and then the self-marketing, you have to believe in it – every aspect.

I always wondered why the NPR pledge drives work. My local NPR phone number is drilled into my head (1-800-962-9862) because of their pledge drives. It drives me mad. I can’t stand it. And yet, I give. I give because I know these people pushing it believe in NPR, and I do too. And I realized our marketing is the same; we believe in our work, and we have to do the NPR thing to make a splash, to make people remember us (1-800-962-9862), but those true fans that we have believe too, and they tolerate us. Because they know we’re our own best cheerleaders, because they know we believe in our work, and because they believe too.

When I did my marketing on twitter and my blog last year at Playing For Keeps’ launch to hit as high as I could on Amazon, I was terrified I’d turn people off. And I’m sure I did. In fact, I know I did. But the little raisin ego tried to understand that I can’t please all people, and that if I get ten fans behind me, supporting me, it’s worth losing the one who got sick of me promoting. Because if I don’t believe in my stuff, and tell you that I believe in it, no one else will.

So it was with interest that I watched JC’s marketing efforts of his new book, 7th Son: Descent, which came out two days ago. He tweeted and he blogged and he encouraged others to play too, pretending to have their twitter or facebook or blogs hacked by one of his characters. He started the day with the caveat that if someone wants to unfollow him to avoid the deluge, then he wouldn’t take it personally. He believed in this book. And he had fans who believed in the book. And goddamn did they deliver. To sum up (from JC’s site):

• 188 overall, up from 209 at 11:55 pm (we started yesterday at 3,711)
• 31 in Science Fiction/Fantasy (up from 34)
• 11 in Science Fiction (up from 12)
• 3 in Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > High Tech
• 55 in Mystery & Thrillers (holding steady)
• 36 in Mystery & Thrillers > Thrillers (holding steady)
• 14 in Hot New Releases (Sci-Fi/Fantasy) (up from 16)
• 3 in Hot New Releases (Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction) (up from 4)
• 39 in Hot New Releases (Mystery/Thrillers) (holding steady)
• 26 in Hot New Releases (Mystery/Thrillers > Thrillers) (holding steady)
• 6 in Movers and Shakers (down from 5)

Note: Since some books in the Amazon charts are free Kindle titles, I’ve adjusted the list below to reflect what positions we “earned.” When these free titles are removed…

• 20 in Science Fiction/Fantasy — 11 free titles were removed
• 5 in Science Fiction — 6 free titles were removed
• 1 in Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > High Tech — 2 free titles were removed
  
• 50 in Mystery & Thrillers — 5 free titles were removed
• 2 in Hot New Releases (Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction) — 1 free title was removed
• 38 in Hot New Releases (Mystery/Thrillers) — 1 free title was removed

I watched with glee as my good friend who wrote a damn fine book finally saw some print success after years of building his podcast and his audience, and it really made me think about the concept of belief. This is not snake oil sales, cult-building bullshit “belief.” This is not seeing who you can fool, who you can scam. This is honestly believing in your work, and honestly telling people about it. And that they should believe too.

He believed in 7th Son because it was a good book. And he made us believe. So if you don’t believe yet, check out the PDF below. It’s free, and it’s the first 10 chapters of the book. And if you believe, pass it around, and pick up a copy yourself.

Episode 15, at which Kate explains her revelation. They return to The Sheridan.

• 00:00:07 ISBW #133
• 00:00:38 GoTo Meeting Message http://www.gotomeeting.com/podcast
• 00:01:12 State of the Mur update: final season of Heaven (War) is finished! Upcoming projects:
  • Project Underground
  • NaNoWriMo – other WriMos are welcome to visit the MightyMur profile page (Mur is happy and flattered that so many people want to be her NaNo writing buddies… but it may take time for her to friend you back. Please be patient!)
  • List of helpful iPhone/iTouch writing-themed apps for future blog post
  • Mailing books to winners of the writing prompt contest
• 00:04:38 Promo: Jennifer Hudock’s Goblin Market
• 00:05:43 Main topic: Cautionary tales for novice writers, including advice re: NaNoWriMo & podcasting novels. Balancing you’re allowed to suck with is it ready to put out there?
• 00:13:45 Promo: The Scotchcast
• 00:15:03 Interview: Lou Anders of Pyr Books and Pablo Defendini of Tor.com at DragonCon
  • Short fiction website mentioned during interview: SF Signal
  • How to submit to Tor.com?
  • Email short fiction to Patrick Nielsen Hayden at pnh at panix.com
  • Email comics to tordotcomics at gmail.com or pablo.defendini at tor.com
• 00:50:52 Promo: Well Told Tales
• 00:51:48 Feedback & Announcements: Event! December 10, 2009 (Thursday) from 7pm-8:30pm reading/singing/performances with Jeff VanderMeer and Natania Barron at Chapel Hill Comics. Mur will also be at BlogWorld in two weeks to talk about podiobooks. Feedback: Who is the antagonist in the typical romance novel? Update from listener Tom, re: balancing multiple projects. Writers’ conferences. Writing contests. Who does the podcast intro music? Beatnik Turtle! More thoughts on use of language originating with the specifics of the real universe in the context of a fictional and other-worldly novel.

Show notes provided by Carrie Kei Heim Binas.

Did I mention it’s free?

(intro, chapters 1,2 and …) Chapter 3- Ideas are EASY. Work is HARD (Direct PDF download — Direct PRC download)

• 00:00:07 ISBW #132
• 00:00:38 GoTo Meeting Message
• 00:01:12 Mur tackles ISBW administrative activities
• 00:02:49 Mur names her new assistant, Carrie Kei Heim Binas — check out Carrie’s writing blog at Heim Binas Fiction
• 00:03:37 State of the Mur update: finishing recording War, edits from agent on Heaven, more work on “Project Underground”, and then NaNoWriMo in November (if all goes according to plan) to write Playing for Keeps 2: No Takebacks
• 00:04:44 Upcoming NaNoWriMo focused interviews! Possibly Chris Baty [update since recording- INTERVIEW CONFIRMED!], definitely David Niall Wilson, and Nathan Lowell
• 00:06:05 Promo: The Kingdom Crisis Anthology
• 00:07:05 FEEDBACK: July emails: Is printing a single copy of a book “publishing”?  What is a good synopsis? (Suggested reading: Mastering the Dreaded Synopsis, Writing the Novel Synopsis, Writing a Synopsis (with lots of links from a romance writer.)  How do I protect my short stories? Is it legal to mention famous people in books?  How do I best present my children’s picture book for publication?  (Suggested reading: Editorial Anonymous, the blog of a children’s book editor.) Line-by-line editing vs. “big picture” editing. Polite ways to withdraw a short story from consideration. New beta software for managing timelines: Aeon Timeline.  How do you manage your various writing obligations (freelance vs. fiction)? Is it proper to use italics and exclamation marks in manuscript submissions?
• 00:19:24 FEEDBACK, continued: August emails:  How does an author refer to objects or situations with culture-specific names if writing a fantasy or SciFi story based in a world that has no knowledge of these cultures? Using children and plants to show the passage of time. What is a story bible? Letting authors know the value of their blurbs for other books. How should I handle my disobedient characters? How can I balance my screenplay writing with my novel writing? ISBW’s News from Poughkeepsie inspires listener Jason Ramboz to create the Fifty First Lines project – free ideas to take and use (under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license). Recommended podcast: Writing Challenges. How do I tell a story without explaining everything?  How do you outline short stories?  When should you apply for a copyright? Applying for contests instead of submitting to a magazine. How do I get a job writing for RPGs/writing for money?
• 00:35:03 FEEDBACK, continued: September emails: How do I get access to the ISBW archive episodes that aren’t currently on iTunes (Download them HERE.) How do I handle too many ideas for too many different kinds of writing? Concerns about needing to write more on a daily basis/how can I look at my output and be proud of it? Advice on alternate media/releasing books in podcast form, etc. Cory Doctorow calls for YA writers to donate digital books to a class for blind students.  Should I rearrange and edit the first parts of my draft novel now, or finish writing first? Writing franchise fiction (or not). Starship Sofa is launching its first anthology complete with free ebook.
• 00:47:28 Promo: Into the Blender
• 00:48:44 Contest winners announced (thank you to the 19 people who submitted writing prompts!)

Show notes provided by Carrie Kei Heim Binas.

Additionally, Carrie weighs in with some good synopsis advice:

My personal listener feedback on how to write a good synopsis — I’ve read that a synopsis is the place where you can “tell, don’t show.”  After all, there’s not enough space to show, but if (for example) a major plot point happens because a character gets really angry at another character, you can just say “this makes the hero very angry, and an epic battle ensues” without going into much detail.  However, I think that the best synopses are ones where the tone of the synopsis matches the tone of the manuscript.  An epic tale should have some hints of grandeur in the synopsis, but a lighthearted tale can have a hint of humor in it, etc.  My own main character is a bit irreverent, and the story is told with a rather “confidential” tone, so in my 6-page synopsis, I found room to drop 2 or 3 quotes of the MC’s language straight from the text of my novel, so that the reader could “hear” her voice more effectively.

• 00:00:07: ISBW #131
• 00:00:38: GoTo Meeting Message
• 00:01:12: State of the Mur roundup (vacation, DragonCon, writing)
• 00:02:43: Plan for the fall: War, “project underground”, and NaNoWriMo
• 00:03:58: Announcement!  Upcoming interview with David Niall Wilson
• 00:06:32: Promo: The Dreamer’s Thread
• 00:07:47: WorldCon interview with Hugo nominee Jay Lake
• 00:26:52: Promo: Lost Gods
• 00:28:10: WorldCon interview with Campbell award nominee Felix Gilman
• 00:39:07:  Gilman references The Warriors, a 1979 cult action/thriller based on the 1965 novel of the same name by Sol Yurick.  The book and movie are modern retellings of Xenophon’s Anabasis.
• 00:48:03: Promo: Jennifer Hudock’s Goblin Market
• 00:49:08: WorldCon impromptu Round Table chat with James Patrick Kelly and John Kessel
• 00:53:26: Pat Cadigan joins the round table
• 01:05:12: Recommended reading: Tom Reamy’s San Diego Lightfoot Sue and Other Stories (1979) and Blind Voices (1978)

Show notes provided by Carrie Kei Heim Binas.