Podcasts, Projects

ISBW #416: On Success and Failure

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 6:29 — 7.4MB)

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I read this tweet and it really spoke to me and made the think about my own successes and failures.

Podcasts, Projects

Ditch Diggers #82: LIVE from WorldCon

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 49:48 — 57.4MB)

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Ditch Diggers comes to you ACTUALLY LIVE from WorldCon 2019 in Dublin, Ireland!

  • Once again, Hugo-nominated writer and owner of Escape Artists, Alasdair Stuart, acts as Matt’s official proxy in Matt’s absence.
  • Our guests for this 4th Annual Ditch Diggers Live are legendary authors Ursula Vernon and Gail Carriger!
  • This year, Mur and Alasdair host a special game of Superfight featuring customized publishing industry scenarios such as the sudden firing of a new writer’s editor (which actually happened to Ursula).
  • Ursula and Gail choose their heroic personas and also face-off in “dungeons” containing such things as pits of gladiators who definitely did not skip leg day, and may or may not be shiny.
  • Surprisingly, butter is apparently the best power to have in this game.
  • Spoiler Alert: the cat dies.
  • The mime card persists. You’ll see.
  • The writing of award speeches are discussed, including and most especially Ursula’s near-mythic “Whale Fall” speech when she accepted her Hugo in 2017.
  • Alasdair discusses his Inner Matt, and Gail agrees we all have one.
  • The audience is either too terrified or too knowledgable to ask questions of our guests, so the Ditch Diggers lob a pair of final dungeons filled with arm-wrestling statues and lava at Gail and Ursula (razor stiletto heels, cement shoes, and sausage lassos are deployed).
  • Our heroes survive the publishing industry by learning the ultimate lesson: it’s all about helping each other, and sometimes there are sausages.
  • Everyone shares their final thoughts, which for Gail involves more butter and for Ursula involves square dancing.
Podcasts, Projects

ISBW #411: WorldCon Thoughts and Movie Options

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 17:54 — 20.2MB)

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No, no big announcements. Just figured I’d cover movie options again because it’s a mystery to a lot of people.

And yes, that is two shows in two days. Check me out. Ditch Diggers WorldCon Special is with Matt for QA.

And yes, Patreon still won’t let me in.

 

Podcasts, Projects, Travel

ISBW #410: The Boss of Me

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 8:02 — 9.1MB)

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I’m back from hiatus and travel! And I decided something at WorldCon this year. Listen to find out what that is…

 

NOTE TO PATRONS- I lost my phone in Glasgow and had to replace it. The problem is, I am a fan of two factor authentication, which is great until you lose your phone and don’t have the ability to get any of your 2FA notices… so I can’t currently log into Patreon to post early/exclusive content. I have a note with Patreon support, let’s hope they get back to me soon.

Podcasts, Projects

Ditch Diggers #81: Lessons Learned from Finishing

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 25:02 — 15.0MB)

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Mur and Matt come to you live from the tunnels between what may or may not be Jodie Foster’s and Jeff Goldblum’s subterranean mansions (and also there’s a tree house? Maybe?) with another 20-Minute Ditch! Fresh from separate yet simultaneous book deadlines, Matt and Mur talk about what deadlines have taught them, from managing expectations to communicating with editors to eating existential dread (which you don’t do). Also, Mur is about to leave for WorldCon in Dublin, where Alasdair Stuart will join her in Matt’s absence for the fourth annual Ditch Diggers Live! If you’re attending WorldCon, don’t miss it!
Mentioned in this episode:
Superfight, A Game of Absurd Arguments
Personal, Travel

Return to the world, and attending WorldCon

I’m back from hiatus, and in a whirlwind of packing to get ready for the Dublin, Ireland WorldCon. I’m very excited for this one since I love Dublin, and I have many good friends nominated for Hugo Awards (Including Ditch Digger writer and electric monk, Alasdair Stuart, for Best Fan Writer–You can see his writing on the Ditch Diggers site, actually!) Now I just have to pack to get there…

I’m old now, 46, and half the stuff I’m packing are medications and vitamins. So it goes.

Anyway, I wanted to get a post up this week to talk about the con, and post my schedule. Note- I don’t have an autograph session, which irked me but I realized it after the deadline of “you can complain up to this date”– which I totally understand, they can’t muck with the schedule this close to the con; I’m more blaming myself. But if you want a book signed, you’re welcome to come up to me in the hallway or after a panel. Don’t be shy.

Here is my schedule! (sic)

  • Fuzzy lines: decategorising creative work
    15 Aug 2019, Thursday 14:00 – 14:50, Liffey Room-2 (CCD)
    Authors write blogs, fanzines go online, publishers create fanzine-like websites, fancasts publish fiction, YouTube videos offer original dramatic performances. Is a fan artist defined by economics or by context, and what exactly constitutes a series anyway? How do we define the categories into which our creative outputs fall, and must every project fit into a category?
  • Creating Podcasts: Ideas, People, and Themes
    15 Aug 2019, Thursday 16:00 – 16:50, Wicklow Hall-1 (CCD)
    Podcasts are living, breathing conversations that at their best entice the participants and the audience in the free flow of entertaining, engaging, and enlightening conversation.  How do you pull this off?  How do you you pick the ideas, people, and themes  that give the right mix of energy and chemistry?  Come get some clues into how the magic is done from some of the best in the business. (And then go see our panellists’ podcasts over the rest of the convention.)
  • Kaffeeklatsch: Mur Lafferty
    16 Aug 2019, Friday 15:00 – 15:50, Level 3 Foyer (KK/LB) (CCD)
  • Hugo finalists discussion: Best Novel
    16 Aug 2019, Friday 16:30 – 17:20, Stratocaster BC (Point Square Dublin)
    The panel will discuss the finalists in the Hugo Award category for Best Novel.
  • Tabletop RPG as inspiration for creative writing
    17 Aug 2019, Saturday 16:00 – 16:50, Wicklow Room-3 (CCD)
    Tabletop roleplaying games (RPGs) take us to fantastical new worlds and allow us to explore these places with others; it’s no wonder that they inspire us far beyond the table. In this panel, authors will discuss how games they have run or played in provided inspiration or source material for future creative endeavours.
  • What I read when I was young
    18 Aug 2019, Sunday 10:00 – 10:50, Second Stage (Liffey-B) (CCD)
    The books we read in childhood often have a lasting influence. In this panel, finalists for the Hugo Award for Best Novel discuss the books that had a profound effect on the people they became. How did these works change them? Was this influence a good or a bad one? Is there a book they think everyone should read at least once in their life?
  • Ditch Diggers podcast: live recording
    18 Aug 2019, Sunday 14:00 – 14:50, Wicklow Hall 2B (CCD)
    Join the Ditch Diggers team of Mur Lafferty and Alasdair Stuart as they record their yearly live RPG where authors travel through the haunted woods of publishing to get to the golden castle of the NYT Bestseller list! On deck for this year’s game is Ursula Vernon. Promises to be asinine and include dice.
Podcasts, Projects

Ditch Diggers #80: Mur is Bad Cop Today

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 19:37 — 13.2MB)

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We recorded this a month ago and then the hammer of deadlines fell.

We come to you from Jody Foster’s Gorilla Preservation, and talk about how, if you want to make a career, you are not the one story you’re in love with.

We talk about Wonder Boys. And Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. And Mur is really mean.