There’s one swear word in the interview with the fabulous Mary Robinette Kowal.

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Detailed show notes coming.

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• 00:00:06 ISBW #152
• 00:01:07 State of the Mur: tired! Writing, cleaning, recent attendance at NASFiC. Upcoming: WorldCon and the next book.
• 00:04:08 GoTo Meeting Message
• 00:05:05 Emotional approaches to writing: being a grownup, learning. Recommended reading: Storyteller by Kate Wilhelm.
• 00:16:24 Promo: FlagShip by Flying Island Press
• 00:17:35 Interview: David J. Williams
  • Autumn Rain Trilogy, and the end of a series
  • Future plans
  • Writing habits
  • Clarion workshop experiences
  • Handling differing advice
  • Advice for new writers
• 00:37:03 Promo: Dragon’s Bard Eventide

Still somewhat shaky on the “two a week” thing. Working on it. Promise.

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• 00:00:06 ISBW #151
• 00:00:40 Quick State of the Mur Update: recent attendance at the North American SciFi Con (NASFiC). Also, Mur will be at WorldCon in Australia this year, come say hi if you’re in the area/hemisphere!
• 00:02:15 GoTo Meeting Message
• 00:03:14 FEEDBACK: do you need an agent to publish your book? (“No, but.” Please also check out previous episode on what agents do); pros & cons of using a pseudonym on the internet (the writing persona vs. the day-job professional persona); risks of identifying oneself as Twitter-friend of an agent in a query given that this will also identify the author as a teenager (CKHB adds: NONE! Really. Agents do not care how old you are, they only care if the book’s good. And you don’t want to miss out on reaping the benefits of using your Twitter-friendship as a kind of “networking.” I got a second shot at an agent who rejected me first round because we later made friends on Twitter. Just sayin’.); a listener scored a book deal! ANDREW just sold his first novel to Pyr only nine months after finishing it! Rock on, Andrew; discussion of the “pebble effect” of editing as “Bill & Ted-ing”; suggested products EverNote and Fujitsu ScanSnap for scanning and using handwritten notes; listener WALTER has finished his first novel! Go, Walter!; considering different beta readers for different sections of a novel; book trailers (fun viewing: trailer for Mary Robinette Kowal’s Shades of Milk and Honey); on “making progress” for writers just starting out – contests, mentorship programs through Podiobooks.com or online writers workshops; showing and/or telling in flashbacks; Anthologize.org for formatting blogs into ebooks; voice recording as a writing tool, and enjoying editing as “leveling up”.
• 00:24:03 GOOD COP/BAD COP: bad cop as good practice for creative types to experience rejection; getting over the trauma of having a novel bring bad luck to beta readers (CKHB adds: you should absolutely write the story of the burned bad-luck book, it’s like The Ring in novel form or something…); am I an “annoying writer friend”? (Leech Fight Song!); criticism of Con attendees’ appearance, John Anealio’s awesome hair, and general abuse.
• Apology from the Good Cop.

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• 00:00:07 ISBW #150
• 00:01:31 State of the Mur: 12,000 words written in one day to meet deadline, upcoming changes in the podcast format
• 00:05:38 GoTo Meeting Message
• 00:06:26 Balancing the hard work with the fun in writing. See also: C.C. Chapman’s Managing the Gray podcast, agent Rachelle Gardener’s Good to Great blog post (re: sacrifice and training).
• 00:14:41 Promo: Adventures in SciFi Publishing
• 00:15:55 Interview: Tracy Hickman
  • New project with his wife, Laura Hickman: Dragon’s Bard Eventide: subscribe to story chapters online, get signed, numbered, limited edition hardcover at the end
  • Book as souvenir of reading experience
  • “Writing like the Dickens” (literally)
  • Publishers as arbiters of quality, not printers of books
  • Don’t undervalue yourself
  • The 8 archetypal characters from Dramaticapedia, and gender roles
• 00:47:43 Promo: Did This Happen? (a family friendly, bite-sized look at history)
• 00:48:42 Interview: Scott Sigler
  • Experiences with self-publishing The Rookie and The Starter
  • Building his own imprint
  • Experiences with traditional publishing
  • Writing/marketing schedule
  • The “free model” of writing
  • Future plans
  • Ancestor trailer

The Alchemist and The Executioness

Editing and a dual interview!

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• 00:00:07 ISBW #149
• 00:01:18 State of the Mur: new theme song from John Anealio, new podcast at Angry Robot, magazine article & work-for-hire fiction, future plans to work on new book, listening to The Alchemist & The Executioness (an Audible.com exclusive) which was co-authored by this episode’s interviewees!
• 00:04:41 GoTo Meeting Message
• 00:05:15 Editing: using outline method (one outline of how the book is, one of how you want the book to be), the “ripple effect”, being dispassionate
• 00:13:21 Promo: Did This Happen? (a family friendly, bite-sized look at history)
• 00:14:37 Interview: Paolo Bacigalupi
  • Path to publication (novels vs. short stories)
  • Collaboration with Tobias
• 00:14:37 Interview: Tobias Buckell
  • Collaboration, inspiration, division of labor
  • Benefits of video chat
• 00:48:57 Promo: Adventures in SciFi Publishing
• 00:50:10 Feedback: some negative comments for the Bad Cop; risks of breaking a trilogy into 3 time periods & genres; copyright issues for fiction based on the iPhone; Breanne Boland asks about problems with getting known for writing about writing instead of the fiction itself; Smashwords; defeating the lure of new ideas when the old idea haven’t been written yet & “mind mapping” with Xmind; upcoming blog posts about ARCs (advance reader copies) received by ISBW; the joys of listening to ISBW while on a long trip; agent representation (breadth vs. specialization); daring to that the first steps in learning the craft of writing; balancing story planning & learning with a word count goal.

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• 00:00:06 ISBW #148
• 00:01:14 State of the Mur: recent technical difficulties, editing the novel.
• A thought: it does not matter how many times your story or topic has been done, it only matter who your characters are and how you execute the story.
• CKHB agrees: go check out my “That was my idea!” blog post, with video.
• Recommended reading: 45 Master Characters by Victoria Schmidt
• 00:09:10 GoTo Meeting Message
• 00:09:46 FEEDBACK: getting/picking a mentor; listener TIM completed his novel (yay, Tim!); donating to ISBW; writing longhand vs. typing; scenes from the POV of the villain; narrating audiobooks; basing characters on oneself; Realms of Fantasy needs subscribers; age of protagonists in YA vs. adult lit; Writers’ Confessions on Bravo Canada; a listener blogged 100 Hacks to Help You Become A Better Writer; turning off the technology; Anomaly Podcast designed a “level up” badge for ISBW; fictional vs. real cities as setting; using placeholder to return to unfinished scenes; publicly posting about rejection and the Don’t Be An Ass rule; too old to publish?; giving away nonfiction work.
• 00:38:25 Promo: Can’t Stop the Serenity
• 00:39:25 GOOD COP/BAD COP: author Peter V. Brett asks what he should do with all his early “crappy” novels; losing energy because books similar to the one I want to write have already been published; how to handle a wanna-be writer leech; choosing between publishers.

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.

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.)

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.

• 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.)

What this means: Until I get this worked out, you can’t get I Should Be Writing. I’m sorry. But the links on this site correspond with the podpress-created links from ISBW, not a direct link to the file on the server, so until that’s up and running again, there’s no way to get to the ISBW files unless I hand code the changes here. And I won’t be doing that as I’ll be spending all my free time trying to get that site back up and running.

Much apologies for inconvenience.

• 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.

• 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.

Shop Indie Bookstores

From YouTube:

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.

Shop Indie Bookstores

Here’s the YouTube link.

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.

Shop Indie Bookstores

• 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.

• 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?)

• 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?

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

• 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.

• 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.

I’m afraid.

I talk in this podcast about whether we should give children’s books content ratings like video games and movies.

No means no, and you can’t make people love you. Really.

Everyone feels it. But we have to press on.

Also, it’s hot.

Short. Unedited. Free.

It’s short, it’s unedited, it’s attempting to be daily, and it’s free.

Yes. If you want something done, ask a busy person. Welcome to ISBW Lite- It’s attempting to be daily, it’s small, it’s experimental, it’s unedited. But hey, it’s free.

Today I give an introduction to ISBW, for any new listeners we may have.

Neil Gaiman - photo by .guilty

I’m starting to wonder if I should just take August off from podcasting. It seems to be the month I have the most trouble getting content out. But no more! This week you will be DELUGED with content! Starting with the (one week late) anniversary episode of I Should Be Writing, featuring an interview with one of my favorite writers, Neil Gaiman!

Abbreviated show notes:

• It’s 4 years since I started ISBW. And boy have I learned a lot. And a lot more to go. I’m also writing a ton, hence being behind on podcasting. Also, if you use iTunes, can you give some review love to ISBW?
• Promo: World Wide Weird Podcast
• Meta thoughts on writing, accomplishment, media, etc. I take questions from Twitter.
• Promo: The Dreamer’s Thread
• 35:50 Neil Gaiman interview from WorldCon (And The Graveyard Book did win the Hugo! Congrats, Neil!)
• Promo: Inner Demons novel
• Contest! You send me writing prompts, I send you books! All writing prompts are ownership of me, the books you win are ownership of you.

NOTE- This podcast is explicit. I told Neil I’d bleep the bad word, but dangit, the quote is too good and I left it in. There’s one swear word in this interview. It’s quick, and Neil is soft spoken so people not listening carefully (like your kids) will likely miss it. But to quote A Christmas Story, it’s THE dirty word, the “f dash dash dash” word, so I’m marking this one explicit. Neil Gaiman and Matt Wallace – too explicit for I Should Be Writing. Aw yeah.

We are also proud to be sponsored by JC Hutchins’ Personal Effects series, both the free podcast novella Sword of Blood and the novel Personal Effects: Dark Art are available (order now!)

• 00:07: ISBW #123
• 00:37: GoTo Meeting Message
• 01:24: Words, pants, and my WorldCon schedule!
• 03:50: Promo: Movie Mantras
• 05:27: Art vs Popularity - This blog post says Hugo nominees are mediocre and fandom are wrong for choosing these books. These two blog posts say the first was out of line for a couple of different reasons (note, neither complained that his opinion of their own work was objectionable.) Your thoughts?
• 12:30: Promo: The Casting Game
• 14:40: Greg van Eekhout (Greg on Twitter) interview, we talk about his novel, Norse Code. We talk mythology and workshops and clams. John Scalzi’s blog post about Fantasy and Science Fiction’s new workshop.
• 37:37: Promo: JC Hutchins’ Personal Effects: Dark Art
• 39:14: Feedback: Time passes… how? Removing submissions from editor consideration, novellas, writing licensed work, The Secrets podcast, podcasting necessity, innovate, rewrite help, Holly Lisle interview, PANTS, and how to deal with writing monthly.

We are also proud to be sponsored by JC Hutchins’ Personal Effects series, both the free podcast novella Sword of Blood and the novel Personal Effects: Dark Art are available (order now!)

• 00:07: ISBW #122
• 00:37: GoTo Meeting Message
• 01:18: Pants report!
• 02:40: Words report!
• 03:20: Announcement! ISBW PDF content coming soon!
• 03:50: Promo: The Imperium Panjianium by Chris Mack
• 04:55: Antagonists
• 11:44: Promo: JC Hutchins’ Personal Effects: Sword of Blood
• 14:40: JC Hutchins interview. Buy Personal Effects: Dark Art! The party PDF is here, and more PE:DA stuff will go into the feed today!
• 38:30: Promo: Jennifer Hudock’s Goblin Market
• 40:04: Feedback: incompetence, COTTON PRODUCTIVITY VACUUM, in defense of MS Word, researching your genre, a pants voicemail from Carrie (visit her awesome blog).

We are also proud to be sponsored by JC Hutchins’ Personal Effects series, both the free podcast novella Sword of Blood and the novel Personal Effects: Dark Art are available (order now!)

• 00:07: ISBW #121
• 00:37: GoTo Meeting Message
• 01:30: Not much writing except for column.
• 01:57: Collaboration effort with JR Blackwell, Her Side
• 02:10: Goals for July
• 03:55: Promo: The Burning Skies
• 05:01: Pants are powerful and will help me write more. Seriously. I mention Flylady.
• 13:17: Promo: JC Hutchins’ Personal Effects: Sword of Blood
• 14:40: Laura Mixon interview. Storytron, Interactive Storytelling. (the dog barking ends shortly into the interview) Laura’s books on Amazon. Laura on Twitter.
• 36:22: Promo: Chris Moody’s Qattusverse
• 37:52: Feedback: Dialogue, blurbs, text to speech, new ISBW superfan!, when to edit, beta readers, and diversify!

And yes, I DO know what some non-US people consider the word “pants” to mean. Snicker all you want; I’m from the US, I know what I mean, and I am pretty sure that you know what I mean, too.

We are also proud to be sponsored by JC Hutchins’ Personal Effects series, both the free podcast novella Sword of Blood and the novel Personal Effects: Dark Art are available (order now!)

• 00:07: ISBW #120
• 00:37: GoTo Meeting Message
• 01:303: I just don’t manage to podcast during vacation.
• 02:40: Collaboration effort with JR Blackwell, Her Side
• 03:57: I have a new agent! Brandi Bowles from the Howard Morhaim agency.
• 04:27 Promo: Nephilim Push
• 06:10: New rule for writing- Don’t be an ass.
• 13:40: Promo: Matthew Wayne Selznick’s Hazy Days and Cloudy Nights
• 14:40: Matthew Wayne Selznick interview.
• 49:33: Promo: Scott Sigler’s The Rookie (use coupon code MUR to save $!)
• 51:40: Feedback: Changing POVs, how to choose what to write, restarting a lost novel, short story listing Ralan, other outlining options.

We are also proud to be sponsored by JC Hutchins’ Personal Effects series, the podcast Sword of Blood is available free now, and the novel Personal Effects: Dark Art, launched this past week (order now!)

Note- I recorded this before I spent two weeks of hardcore writing and editing. I wrote 25,000 words in four days, and did basically nothing else. So I apologize for not getting this up until now.

• 00:07: ISBW #119
• 00:37: GoTo Meeting Message
• 01:30: Balticon was a blast!
• 02:30: War launched June 1
• 05:23: Promo: John Mierau’s Serving Worlds
• 06:17: Ghostbusters’ lessons – and yes, I now remember SW’s character was not Zool – If someone asks you if you’re a god, YOU SAY YES. (most of the time)
• 13:35: Promo: Feedback: A Hero’s Calling Season 2
• 14:50: Interview with Seth Harwood, author of Jack Wakes Up
• 35:07: Promo: JC Hutchins’ Personal Effects: Sword of Blood
• 36:58: Feedback: Very awesome “I’m a writer” email, outlining including the snowflake method, wordcount, standard manuscript format (see edit below), mentors, you’re allowed to suck, kill your darlings, self publishing, more outlines, putting work online, Super Note Card is good writing software for PCs, how to send mss to publishers when you can’t afford printing, always send polished mss to agents/publishers!

EDIT- mistakenly said standard manuscript format is 10 pt Courier- I was wrong. It’s 12 pt Courier. Sorry! Thanks to people who reminded me!

In this video, we have two versions of my WAR trailer, and lots of help and love from fans. I asked for content, and got well over TWENTY comments, videos and audio clips. Deluge of love! I couldn’t use them all, but I do plan on putting each comment either on the site or in an audio promo, so don’t think you did a bunch of work for nothing.

And as usual, I forget someone in the credits- ARGH. Natalie Metzger did some graphic design doctoring on the WAR cover, and she created the amazingly creepy image of our new villain, the masked woman you’ll see in the video. Also, Will Hoffacker took the still pics of me and JR Blackwell from Balticon.

[EDIT You can get all of the ISBW video episodes on YouTube now!]

I was on YouTube looking for book trailers to get an idea of how to make a trailer for Heaven Season Five: WAR. Turns out that a lot of them suck. So I’m doing an ISBW video episode, trying to make a really bad book trailer, have that transition into a discussion, and then back out to a real trailer for WAR.

Here’s where you come in.

I need blurbs. I need text blurbs, audio blurbs, even video comments. If you like Heaven, say what it did for you, what it meant to you, how much you’re looking forward to WAR. If you haven’t been a fan of Heaven, but you liked Playing for Keeps or my short fiction, you can just send a general comment along the lines of, “Mur Lafferty writes intriguing characters,” etc. And if you want to send me video, you can record something around 10-15 seconds long, and then email me to discuss delivery.

What do you get out of this, besides a credit on the podcast? WAR is season five, the last story in an epic tale. There’s going to be a rather lengthy “Story So Far” or, as I like to call it, “Whole Tragic Story Up To Now” to read before episode 1. I need someone to read that. I need you. So everyone who sends me a blurb, whether text, video or audio, gets put in a drawing for the right to read that intro.

And of course my undying love and gratitude.

So! To wrap up, email me (mightymur AT gmail DOT com) your comments on my writing in general or Heaven in specific – text, audio or video, I need them all – and you’ll be put into a drawing to record the Intro.

CAVEAT- I admit it- Balticon threw off my schedule. WAR launches NEXT MONDAY, June 1. We need a super-fast turnaround on this. I will need your entries by TOMORROW NIGHT, May 28, 9pm, Eastern time. And if you win, I’ll need your audio back to me by Saturday noon! I trust you in this. I know you can do it. And you have my everlasting gratitude!

Camera work by John Cmar, Additional Direction by David Moldawer

The kit:
Pens
Self-adhesive #10 envelopes for small queries and SASEs
Self-adhesive large envelopes for larger queries/partials
Tracking system for queries
Stamps (USA just raised postage to $0.44)
Adhesive address labels
And a chair.

Sponsored by Personal Effects, Dark Art.

We are also proud to be sponsored by JC Hutchins’ Personal Effects series, the podcast Sword of Blood, launching for free on May 15, 2009, and the novel Personal Effects: Dark Art, launching mid-June (pre-order now!)

Frankly, it’s late. I’ll make the show notes detailed tomorrow. But for now, check out Ellis’s book, Nina Kimberly the Merciless, at Amazon, and support indie authors!

We are also proud to be sponsored by JC Hutchins’ Personal Effects series, the podcast Sword of Blood, launching for free on May 15, 2009, and the novel Personal Effects: Dark Art, launching mid-June (pre-order now!)

• 00:07: ISBW #117
• 00:37: GoTo Meeting Message
• 01:43: Crossed the 20K word mark on War
• 03:03: Promo: JC Hutchins’ Personal Effects: Sword of Blood
• 06:00: Download archives of ISBW at Murverse
• 08:30: Mur’s Four Basic Rules of Writing
• 17:34: Promo: Nina Kimberly the Merciless
• 19:22: Interview with Scott Sigler, author of The Rookie
• 42:40: Promo: Scott Sigler’s The Rookie
• 44:47: Feedback, or lack thereof

Once again we are proud to have GoTo Meeting as a sponsor this week! Get a Free 30-Day Trial!

• 00:07: ISBW #117
• 00:37: GoTo Meeting Message
• 01:27: Allergy Attack!
• 01:52: Change in show format – adding interviews, subtracting nothing
• 03:57: Progress report on WAR
• 04:40: Hope to see you at Balticon- sign up for our ISBW Workshop!
• 05:30: Join me for breakfast at Balticon!
• 05:57: Promo: Jack Wakes Up
• 07:52: What can you get out of writing magazines? We peruse two to find out.
• 18:00: Promo: How To Succeed In Evil: The Novel
• 19:17: Interview with China Miéville, author of The City & The City
• 01:02:39: Promo: The Signal
• 01:04:20: Feedback! You can do book galleys at Lulu.com
• 01:07:34: Voicemail: How DO you write a prologue? We look to Nathan Bransford’s blog for answers.

I interviewed Dr. John Kessel, winner of the 2009 Nebula Award for best novella! We talked in a coffee shop, so please forgive the background noise.

• Did I mention you can get the early info of the new Heaven book at the site, if you join the Inside Story?
• Promo: Get a $3 discount off Scott Sigler’s The Rookie with the discount code MUR
• Interview with Dr. John Kessel, author of Pride and Prometheus, winner of the Nebula award! Audio files at his website, the story here, and his free, CC licensed short story collection from Small Beer Press here. We talk education, longer short fiction, and translating a story to television.
• Promo: Amaz!ng Meeting 7
• Lastly, what direction would YOU like to see ISBW go in? More interviews? Mix of interviews and advice? I need your input!

I Should Be Writing by Mur Lafferty is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

I come up from illness to say hi and talk about stuff!

• My Story “Mother Sponge” came out in Hub magazine!
• Friend me at GoodReads!
• Promo: GreatHites
• Beginnings, prologues, and yes, you are allowed to suck!
• Promo: Nina Kimberly the Merciless
• 6 yr old Nicholas Skidmore, author
• New software: Jer’s Novel Writer, DarkCopy, JDarkRoom