Podcasts, Projects

Ditch Diggers #76: Ennui

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:08:19 — 40.6MB)

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  • Matt and Mur come to you live from Jeff Goldblum’s Teeter-Totter Playground, which is really just one teeter-totter in the middle of a room that his guests all think is an art installation but that Jeff desperately wants them to use.
  • Matt is stressed and yearns to live in Goldblumian fantasy, and Mur is using self-awareness to guide her out of a depression fog as she drives towards her most recent book deadline.
  • Depression, phlebotomy, and tormenting butchers are all discussed.
  • The main topic of the episode is finally revealed, and that is the myth that once you make that first big sale as a writer, your work is done and your career is made.
  • Matt and Mur talk about experiencing the highs and lows of a long, steady freelance writing career, specifically how they’re both currently experiencing a quiet year after a big professional year.
  • Dealing with the illusion, vastly perpetuated by social media, that everybody is constantly announcing big deals and exciting news except for you.
  • Matt can’t think of a non-sexual-sounding metaphor for orally ingesting CBD oil.
  • Mur talks about feeling like nothing matters when you’re in-between big projects and big announcements, and trying to fill her time by redirecting energy into meaningful tasks.
  • Matt and Mur talk about how to get past that initial slong of trying to get into a new project, and how to build momentum.
  • Q&A! Matt and Mur are referred to as “entrepreneurs” and are very excited about it, eventhough the question that follows is vague. Plus, conspiracies and Matt resisting his old urges to say dickish things, and much more!
  • Obligatory end-of-episode shilling.
Podcasts, Projects

Ditch Diggers #75: Feedback

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:05:40 — 40.0MB)

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  • Mur and Matt come to you live from Jeff Goldblum’s Genius Bar, because it is time once again for a Ditch Diggers feedback/Q&A episode!
  • Matt is pissed off and Mur is emotionally and physically drained, so they are both ready to do the best episode ever!
  • Matt rants for several minutes about Apple and Mac products. (spoiler: they both anger him)
  • Mur is tired because they keep stealing her blood. No, seriously. Well, it’s not technically theft, but still. But anyway, Mur is literally too metal for life.
  • Mur is behind on listener-submitted I Should Be Writing questions, but that’s not what we’re dealing with right now.
  • What lesson did the Ditch Diggers learn from their first published novels that made a big difference?
  • In a future episode, Gail Carriger will return to DD to talk about public speaking for writers!
  • A drachma is 100 leptas and the plural of “drachma” is “drachmae.”
  • Phillip asks Matt about novella series, and low-key calls Matt out for constantly bemoaning the disappointing commercial performance of his novella series.
  • ML Moos asks about internet trolls and “agent blacklists” (mostly to hear Matt light up a particular troll who neither Matt nor Mur have ever heard of).
  • A listener responds to a previous question about publishing rights and languages in the Finnish market.
  • Short story, novellete, novella, and novel lengths are discussed and defined as well as such things can be in this or any genre.
  • How typical is it for authors who sell movie rights to retain control over character and story decisions about their work? (spoiler: very rarely if ever)
  • How private is your identity when you use a pseudonym? (Matt’s meta erotica fiction pen name is going to be John Smith)
  • Scams played on new authors trying to get published (this could obviously be an entire episode of its own, but Matt and Mur give general guidelines to protect yourself).
  • Previews of episodes to come, praise for Russian Doll, and the customary end-of-episode shilling (which includes out-of-date Hugo nomination pleas)! 


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Podcasts, Projects

Ditch Diggers #74: Drinks with an Agent

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 19:53 — 17.3MB)

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  • Mur comes to you live from the Double Tree Hotel bar in Dearborn, Michigan as she flies solo this episode for a special sitdown with her agent, Jen Udden! It’s “Drinks With An Agent!”
  • Mur hits Jen with a listener question about how your suddenly defunct publisher’s reputation “taints” your work moving forward as you try to find a new publisher.
  • Jen talks about the different situations to which this problem applies, and how to proceed accordingly.
  • Jen also talks about how an agent perceives/handles this particular situation.
  • Mur and Jen discuss leveraging offers from small press when querying agents, and an agent’s value in the negotiating process.
  • Generous margarita pours and Mur’s reaction to them.
  • The common writerly problem of falling in love with ideas and staying in love with those ideas even when they don’t sell, and how to stay flexible.
  • Mutual author/agent respect and appropriate affection is demonstrated.
  • Knowing what your goals are, and living at home to achieve them.
  • Jen talks about her podcast, Shipping and Handling, and lets everyone know she is open to submissions!
  • Mur misses Matt. She says so.
  • Jen on Twitter
  • Shipping and Handling Podcast
  • Jen’s Submission Guidelines

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News, Personal

Update on me

HEY- Hugo nominations are open until March 15! If you’re eligible to nominate, don’t forget to do so!

January was crap. That’s all there is to it. It’s over now, which is great.

I have talked about hemochromatosis here, but the update is I can’t find a good hematologist. One did a quick breast exam, sent me for a mammogram, then set up a breast surgery appointment without discussing the mammogram results. (No, I didn’t go. Got another opinion.) The one I went to after that told me I didn’t in fact have both genes for the disease, and I could stop getting phlebotomies, but she wanted to check me yearly. Went in for checkup last year and POOF, she was gone, they had no record of this “misdiagnosis!” Turns out I DO have both genes, they even showed me the lab report, and the new hematologist who has taken over my case has determined I must have monthly phlebotomies to get my iron levels down quickly because it’s been building up.

Punch line- I haven’t met my new doctor. I speak to him through his physician’s assistant.

Second punch line- breast-surgery-recommending doctor (#1) has moved to my new hematologist’s office. I have said under no uncertain terms will I allow her to be my doc again. And if you know me, you know I’m not good at standing up for myself.

Are there any good blood docs in this fucking area of medical innovation?

Since this is my fifth pint of blood I’m losing in as many months, it’s starting to get to me, and I’m losing several days to exhaustion. I was going to try to get work done this morning, but it turned out that I wanted to complain/blog about my health instead. I really am getting older. Next, I’ll kvetch about the weather.

Nah- I’ll tell you that I have one ISBW and one DD ready to go, I just need to get them posted. Hurrah!

Writing: I started a new original book and a new project (vague, I know) recently. I will tell you more when I can. I also have a book for a younger audience coming out this summer, but it’s not announced yet, but it’s on Amazon for pre-order, so… that’s weird. This is not an announcement.

 

Oh and Reedsy listed Six Wakes in the 100 best sci-fi books of all time.

 

Podcasts, Projects

Ditch Diggers #73: Teddy Ruxpin Sings Sean Grigsby

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:13:44 — 49.4MB)

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[Good lord- this went out without the link. And only one of you told me…]

The Ditch Diggers come to you live from Jodie Foster’s Very Busy and Very Important Staff Room with special guest, author of SMOKE EATERS and DAUGHTERS OF FORGOTTEN LIGHT, Sean Grigsby!

  • Matt explains that this is their second go at recording the intro, and how he is Busy and Important.
  • We discuss the history and mythology of Teddy Ruxpin (no, really), and Sean promises to perform a metal cover of the Teddy Ruxpin theme.
  • Sean was supposed to be a guest at Ditch Diggers Live! at WorldCon 2018, but it didn’t work out.
  • Sean talks about who he is and the books he writes.
  • Also, Sean is a firefighter who, the day before recording, literally saved a puppy from a fire.
  • The Ditch Diggers and Sean discuss how the various non-writing jobs/careers they’ve pursued (such as firefighting and pro-wrestling) influence both the way they approach writing and the way they approach the business of publishing.
  • Legendary pro-wrestler and wrestling promoter Bill Dundee’s sexual fetishes are briefly discussed.
  • Matt asks Mur and Sean, “If you could go back ten years and tell your younger self one thing about the publishing industry, what would it be?”
  • Twitter Q&A! The incendiary topic of which cheese is best is thoroughly dissected, and we answer some actual freelance writing industry questions, too.
  • The customary end-of-episode shilling occurs.
  • Sean’s website: http://www.seangrigsby.com/
  • Sean’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/SeanGrigsby
  • Smoke Eaters: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0857667734/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_U_x_58mvCb6F0HE95
  • Daughters of Forgotten Light: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0857667955/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_U_x_P9mvCb1S9SE45

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Podcasts, Projects

ISBW #403: Slumps, and Sherrilyn Kenyon Interview

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 36:31 — 23.9MB)

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Frankly, I’m in a podcasting slump, and change needs to come to keep me from podfading. I talk about some of those changes here, and then we get to the Sherrilyn Kenyon interview.

Did you know you could have heard this show earlier if you supported the Patreon?

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