Podcasts, Projects

[ISBW] Productivity (Or Mommy and Daddy are Fighting!)

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ISBW Logo“Mommy and Daddy are Fighting!” is brought to you by patrons Steven V and Micah Joel, and the letter E!

I am behind again, alas. I look at two productivity methods and am entirely flummoxed by the two that seem at odds with each other: the 10X Rule that suggests if you shoot for 10X your goal you won’t necessarily make 10X, but you’ll very likely get much more than you would have had you, say, gone the compound method talked about in Atomic Habits and The Compound Effect where if you get just a little bit better every day then you will see real results. Which is best?*

* Punchline- just saw that the Atomic Habits author has reviewed both of these books on his site (see links above). So I guess I should go read those.

  • Monday, 12:30, AMA/Hangout
  • Tuesday, 3:00, I Should Be Writing Live
  • Thursday 12:30, I Should Be Writing Live

* All times EST

Links:

You can support the show at patreon.com/mightymur.
I Should Be Writing’s theme music provided by John Anealio.
January 21, 2021 | Season 17 Ep 6 (Ep 557) | murverse.com
ISBW S17 Ep6: Productivity by Mur Lafferty is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Podcasts, Projects

[DD] LIVE on Twitch, Ditchdiggers Talk BUMP!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 50:41 — 41.3MB)

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Ditchdiggers Talk BumpWe are live on Twitch to show our beautiful mugs and talk about Matt’s new book, BUMP.

We will be going live more often!

January 11, 2021 – Season 7 Ep 2 – Copyright 2021, Mur Lafferty and Matt Wallace – BY-NC-SA 3.5 License – murverse.com

Podcasts, Projects, Transcript

[Transcript] ISBW S17 Ep5: Dropping Truth Bombs

ISBW LogoI’m excited to be able to offer transcriptions of I Should Be Writing again! I’m starting with the new season’s livestreams and catching up as I can. If you want to help this endeavor, supporting the Patreon, the Ko-Fi, or the Jemi would be a great help.

Dropping Truth Bombs
I Should Be Writing S17 Ep5

SUMMARY KEYWORDS
playing, writing, people, book, animal crossing, project, feel, post, finished, read, mantra, year, writer, happy, song, words, couple, point, watership down, podcast

SPEAKER
Mur Lafferty

Mur 0:33
And here we are. Happy Tuesday. It’s Tuesday, January 19, 2021 and I’m still here. Can’t believe it. I really can’t. It’s a rough day for me. I wrote 80… 8300 words yesterday. I can’t even count. 8300 words and then I had insomnia at five. So, got up, and finished the novella and turned it in, which is good. But I haven’t had a chance to sleep today. So I’m a little out of it. My hair looks snazzy. Thank you Fyrerider. I have a new overlay for those of you who can see it. And I think it’s a little less distracting. I put my word count up here in the top left. It says two days to go, but I’ve already turned it in, because I know I’ll reach my goal when I do edits, because that’s kind of how I write. Hey Sario. Good to see you. But Santa. Santa is not there anymore. At least he shouldn’t be. I tested new alert things. He’ll be back before you know it. Yeah. Anyway, this is a podcast called I Should Be Writing. I mentioned last week that I was going through a bit of a cold shock, realizing that I’ve not been very good with turning my stuff in lately. It’s partly there’s a lot of stuff going on there. I mean, we’re in a pandemic. There was an insurrection against the capital. I’ve had a lot of problems with migraines in the past 12 months. A lot of excuses but other people managed to get stuff turned in. So, I realized I needed to bust my butt and so I counted this morning and I’ve written 31,000 words this month. And it’s not the end of the month yet and I didn’t start on the first. So I guess I should be proud of that. I’m glad you like the new overlay people. I’m pretty happy with it. Thank you. I’m glad you think that’s a good accomplishment Frigsdaughter. I’ve been still feeling kind of bad about myself because I had to write so much in a binge because I’ve been putting it off, procrastinating. I shifted and the camera went weird, okay. But it’s done. The stuff’s done. The stuff’s into the editors, so that’s a good feeling. But I wanted to talk about, you know this show tries to tell you about a lot of the insecurities and terrible things you feel are normal as a writer, as a creative person in general.

(more…)

Podcasts, Projects

[DD] Mid-career Agent Loss

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:06:03 — 42.0MB)

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Ditch Diggers Logo and fireworksMatt and Mur are back!

  • It is a new year, the new Ditch Diggers mansion HQ that is definitely not imaginary has been finished, and it is a house warming party in quarantine!
  • Mur tells an amusing anecdote about missing many of the US Capitol insurrection news (the day after which this episode was recorded) because she was with her dog at the vet.
  • Matt and Mur talk about their hiatus from Ditch Diggers over the holidays, during which Matt had heavy book deadlines, the unique circumstances of which he explains, and Mur’s NaNoWriMo goals went off the rails.
  • Mur talks about suddenly finding herself agentless before the holidays through no fault of her own or her former agent’s, and announces on the podcast for the first time that she has signed with a new agent, the great Seth Fishman!
  • Matt and Mur discuss how to approach the situation Mur found herself in, seeking a new agent while not currently having a new manuscript to pitch, and being as deep into a career as Mur is.
  • How Mur compiled her list of agents to which to reach out, and what about an author and their career incentivizes or should incentivize a prospective agent.
  • What questions did Mur ask prospective new agents, what did they ask her, how did those conversations play out, and ultimate how did Mur decide on signing with Seth?
  • What the Ditch Diggers have coming up in 2021, including a (hopefully) new release schedule, format changes, increased accessibility, and live-streamed events.
  • The first end-of-episode shilling of the year! Mur pumps the Ditch Diggers Patreon and she also writes books, including the Escape Pod 15th Anniversary anthology. Matt’s first middle-grade novel, BUMP, in which Matt could not and did not use curse words, releases on Tuesday, January 26th!

Mentioned in this Episode…

Coming next, livestream via Twitch!

January 7, 2021 – Season 7 Ep 1 – Copyright 2021, Mur Lafferty and Matt Wallace – BY-NC-SA 3.5 License – murverse.com

Podcasts, Projects

[ISBW] Dropping Truth Bombs

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 54:01 — 27.8MB)

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ISBW Logo“Dropping Truth Bombs” is brought to you by patrons Micah Joel and Tamica, and the letter D!

I spent a good deal of the weekend and Monday writing, and then finished my project in an insomnia haze Tuesday morning. So I’m a bit writing-tired and sleep deprived this episode, and it shows.

I’m talking about truth bombs that a lot of beginning creative types don’t want to hear, but I figure I’m just telling you, “Hey, in the road up ahead there’s a hole. Most everyone hits the hole and it jostles them. I wanted you to know it was there so you won’t bite your tongue or anything.”

That was my hole metaphor. I thought it was good despite sleep dep.

Pretty sure I used the wrong microphone too.

WiP Project: Puppet

18800 / 20000 words. 94% done!

Current Twitch Schedule*:

  • Monday, 12:30, AMA/Hangout
  • Tuesday, 3:00, I Should Be Writing Live
  • Thursday 12:30, I Should Be Writing Live

* All times EST

Links:

You can support the show at patreon.com/mightymur.
I Should Be Writing’s theme music provided by John Anealio.
January 19, 2021 | Season 17 Ep 5 (Ep 556) | murverse.com
ISBW S17 Ep5: Dropping Truth Bombs by Mur Lafferty is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Podcasts, Projects

[ISBW] Real Talk, or HOW badly does the truth hurt?

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:05:22 — 53.0MB)

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ISBW Logo“Real Talk” is brought to you by patrons John Tuttle and Stephen V, and the letter C!

Had a talk with someone last week that didn’t go the way I’d hoped, and I’m forced to start looking at my habits a little closer.

Still catching up on posting, More content tomorrow!

Current Twitch Schedule*:

  • Monday, 12:30, AMA/Hangout
  • Tuesday, 3:00, I Should Be Writing Live
  • Thursday 12:30, I Should Be Writing Live

* All times EST

Links:

Remember you can support the show at patreon.com/mightymur, jemi.app/mightymur, or ko-fi.com/mightymur.
I Should Be Writing’s theme music provided by John Anealio. You can find more about him at johnanealio.com.
Art by Numbersninja and transcription by FyreRider.
January 14, 2021 | Season 17 Ep 4 (Ep 555) | murverse.com
ISBW S17 Ep4: Real Talk © 2021 by Mur Lafferty is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 
Podcasts, Projects

[ISBW] Weaponizing Language

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 58:58 — 43.1MB)

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ISBW Logo“Weaponizing Language” is brought to you by patrons Solomon Costello Michaels and John, and the letter B!

I’m finally posting last week’s episodes. I’ve been writing a lot (yay) and neglecting the podcast production (boo), even though the streams are still on schedule.

WiP Codename: Necropolis

12990 / 13000 words. 100% done!

Ironically, I did want to talk about the power of language again this month, but I did not expect the president to whip his fans into a fury with some very amazing weaponized language, so this topic hit a little close to home on January 12.

Current Twitch Schedule*:

  • Monday, 12:30, AMA/Hangout
  • Tuesday, 3:00, I Should Be Writing Live
  • Thursday 12:30, I Should Be Writing Live

* All times EST

Links:

You can support the show at patreon.com/mightymur.
I Should Be Writing’s theme music provided by John Anealio.
January 12, 2021 | Season 17 Ep 3 (Ep 554) | murverse.com
ISBW S17 Ep3: Weaponizing Language © 2021 by Mur Lafferty  is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Podcasts, Projects

[ISBW] Turn it off!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 52:38 — 38.1MB)

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ISBW Logo“Turn it off” is brought to you by patrons Tish Bouvier and Arioch Morningstar, and the letter A!

I found it very hard to concentrate after the events of January 6, so I realized that in order to get work done, I had to do some self care and turn it off. News, social media, the whole world of distraction. I hope you can find some equilibrium.

Links:

You can support the show at patreon.com/mightymur.
I Should Be Writing’s theme music provided by John Anealio.
January 7, 2021 | Season 17 Ep 2 (Ep 553) | murverse.com
ISBW S17 Ep2: Turn It Off! by Mur Lafferty is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Podcasts, Projects

[ISBW] Grim and Determined

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 51:38 — 38.3MB)

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“Grim and Determined in 2021” is brought to you by patrons Wil Ralston and Fyrerider, and the letter N!

It’s a new year, and we are grim and determined. Things are still pretty terrible, so we face the new year with hope, but not resolutions.

 

Links:

You can support the show at patreon.com/mightymur.
I Should Be Writing’s theme music provided by John Anealio.
January 5, 2021 | Season 17 Ep 1 (Ep 552) | murverse.com
ISBW S17 Ep1: Grim and Determined! by Mur Lafferty is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Projects

[Fic] An Unauthorized Holiday Blaseball Fanfic: “Loopholes”

Loopholes coverNotes-

  • This is my holiday Blaseball fanfic. I have nothing to do with Blaseball, I make nothing from it. It’s a free story called “Loopholes” and it’s entirely unauthorized. If you’re not familiar with Blaseball, then check out the wiki for clarification on some of these people/terms I use. (Don’t look up Lancelot Dine-N-Dash or Eccentric Performance on the wiki; they’re original characters.)
  • If you’re here from Blaseball fandom, welcome! I write fiction, do livestreaming, and am a veteran podcaster (16 years at last count).
  • This is totally free. If you like my fiction, I’m going to start releasing stuff monthly on my Patreon.
  • I wrote this 6400 word story in two days with one to polish, so if there are typos, tense changes, or inconsistencies, I apologize. But I wanted to get it out before Christmas.
  • CW: lots of blood (very little comes from living beings), confinement, speaking of incinerations.

 

Loopholes
by Mur Lafferty

There are no holidays in blaseball.

Well. Except for the Singe, the day commemorating the first incineration. And the *******, the Day of Silence where we mark the unholy necromantic return of Jaylen Hotdogfingers. And Two For One, where folks celebrate the return of Hotdogfingers.

Blaseball exists in a multiverse, you see. If you can imagine it, then it’s probably happened at some time, to some person.

But we can’t tell all the stories at once. We don’t have that kind of time. So we are telling this story, which is the story of the Field of Eggs on the winter solstice. And a loophole in the strict rules of this world.

Look over there, trudging through the bloody Field of Eggs with his head down. It’s the keeper of the eggs, Lancelot Dine-N-Dash.

In some multiverses, Lancelot Dine-N-Dash is a blaseball manager. At last count, he managed the Tokyo Lift, or the Houston Spies, or the Hades Tigers. In these ‘verses, he is wealthy and wears pinstripe suits with polka-dotted ties.

Aside- in no known multiverse has Lancelot been known to put together a flattering outfit. (more…)