Matt and Mur come to you live from Morgan Freeman’s slightly better lawn furniture, which they’re actually sharing live and in-person in front of a small audience, slightly inebriated (Matt, Mur, the audience, or all three? Who knows!)
Even during Ditch Diggers, a podcast about rolling up your sleeves and doing the job of writing, people are catching Pokemon while we record.
Matt and Mur are joined by their special guest co-host, illustrator Natalie Metzger.
The Ditch Diggers discuss the moistness of the environment.
Networking! Matt and Mur talk to Natalie about how networking led to her landing a gig illustrating SFF titan John Scalzi’s short story collection, Miniatures.
Subterranean Press, specialty books, and goats.
Natalie talks about the networking “long game,” participating in fandom, and just plain getting to know people over a long period of time.
Networking while dealing with shyness, introversion, anxiety, and other socially limiting conditions, and how to work with them rather than “overcome” them.
Natalie sums up her philosophy on networking: “Give, don’t take.”
Matt explains the Glengarry Leads.
The Ditch Diggers take questions from the audience, including dealing with anxiety and shyness at cons, and how George RR Martin does NOT in any way frequent prostitutes.
I’m absolutely thrilled to announce that I signed a contract to produce an I Should Be Writing nonfiction book. I’ll be taking the things that I’ve learned in the eleven years of doing the show and putting it into an attractive book that will hit the stores next August!
Well, its attractiveness isn’t my job, but the writing is, and I’ll be doing my best.
Thanks to all the listeners who made it worth it to get this far into the show and not stop. I love y’all.
More info when I have it! Published by the fine folks at Quarto Publishing Group!
(pst- if you subscribed to my mailing list over there on the right, you’d have gotten this information already.) —->
I wrote about the Hot Doctor a few years ago before my blog shat itself and died, so I’m going to update this theory.
Take a single woman. Usually over 35, mature, having made some mistakes, but now she’s independent. A career woman. Then she encounters two men. One man is any combination of this list: older, unpleasant, ugly, bad with money, downright verbally abusive, withdrawn, unemployed, no sense of humor, initially uninterested in her. The other man (the Hot Doctor) is any combination of this list: gorgeous, younger, wealthy, funny, devoted, with an amazing job, friendly, charming.
Now before someone gets mad at me, I don’t judge someone based on looks or wealth status, I’m just saying that when writers build these guys, they sometimes slap an unattractive face or low economic status on a very unpleasant person. And I’m not talking about the awesome plain looking guy that women ignore until they see “what was in right front of me the whole time.”
The Hot Doctor shows himself to be utterly wonderful and dotes entirely on the heroine. And she ALWAYS chooses the first guy at the end.
Something’s Gotta Give: Diane Keaton falls for Jack Nicholson for reasons I wasn’t really clear on. She chose him over Keanu Reeves. KEANU.
Hot Doctor.
In Sex and the City, Miranda dates cute bartender Steve on and off but he can’t handle her economic status being so different from (read: higher) his. So she finds a Hot Doctor. Enough like her that neither are intimidated, but different enough to make their relationship interesting.
Hot Doctor.
Aside #1- in looking for images for this post, I ran across an article on Cosmo that agreed wholeheartedly with me regarding the Hot Doctor and Miranda. VALIDATION.
Aside #2- Jack Nicholson comes back again in As Good As It Gets which doesn’t have a hot doctor, but does have a woman falling for unpleasant, misogynistic Jack for no fucking apparent reason. If it had a Hot Doctor, he would have been dumped.
Recently I saw Bridget Jones’s Baby, which was a solid, fine romcom. I enjoyed it. But it pulled a Hot Doctor: Patrick Dempsey is a wealthy, charismatic American who is a relationship expert and, according to his successful pairing website, a 96% ideal partner for Bridget. (Mr. Darcy is 8% compatible.) Bridget sleeps with them one week apart and becomes pregnant, unable to figure out who the father is. The movie is about her trying to deal with both of them as the pregnancy progresses.
Hot Doctor-type. He is comfortable and having fun in birthing class, while Darcy looks like he is nauseated.
This could have been solved early on with an amniocentesis but she freaks out at the size of the needle and refuses. Now I’ve never had one, and I don’t have a needle phobia, so it’s easy for me to say this, but if there was a social disaster happening with two men waiting to hear about how their impending fatherhood, I’d do the needle thing.
Throughout all this Darcy is uncomfortable and standoffish, and Bridget does list all the things that had been wrong in their relationship when they tried to be together. Patrick Dempsey is funny, charming, and supportive, and hot as hell.* But at the end, she chooses Darcy, and they marry. (He also ends up being the father to the kid, but Bridget does choose him before they know for sure.)
The movie tries to make Dempsey unfitting for her only twice: he lies to Darcy that he has a better chance of being the father (he says they didn’t use a condom, while Bridget’s super-old vegan condom broke with Darcy), and then he gets all American New Agey when she’s in labor, telling her to “breathe through the pain.” She punches him in the nose, and Darcy dryly tells him to breathe through the pain. (Admittedly, that was an awesome line.)
This kind of storytelling is common as hell, and I wonder if it’s Hollywood sending women frequent messages that we should settle. These stories don’t do enough to make the hot doctor-types look bad, and they don’t do enough to make the Other Guy look good (Steve in Sex and the City is the possible exception to this but the Hot Doctor was still better suited to be with Miranda.) I just get confused because these kinds of stories are supposed to be our wish fulfillments, but they dangle the Hot Doctor in front of us and then whip him away and replace him with Jack Nicholson because of Movie Reasons. It’s ridiculous.
First the SUPER EXCITING OMG NEWS – ARCs of SIX WAKES have arrived, and they are sooooooooo shiny.
Loooook at it. ———————>>>
Anyway. Other things, I’ve revamped my Patreon tiers to include some fiction, early access to podcasts, and some other treats, including a level where I will send you a drunken annotated copy of my books.
And the last in the marketing scheme, I am building a newsletter, so if you wanna sign up, check it over there in the sidebar. Note that I abhor popup newsletter solicitations, and will never do that to you. That said, I hope you sign up anyway.
What will you get? News. Man, it’s a newsletter, what do you want? Secrets as to what was deleted in a book? Giveaways? GOLD? Well, I can do some of those, actually, but not the gold. Sorry. Maybe if I manage to sell another book soon.
That’s it, really. Check out the Patreon for new tiers. Sign up for the newsletter. LOOKIT THE NEW ARC OF MY BOOK.
I’m sick. My week has been focused on (not in this order): phlegm, napping, page proof edits of Six Wakes, Steven Universe bingeing, and making sure my kid gets to and from her new high school with her fractured ankle, which she broke on the second day of school.
It’s been an eventful two weeks.
I’ve been toying with a creative idea I wanted to play with, and I’ve been hesitating, because a) I have little courage, b) I know “Friends” is problematic and… c) yeah, it’s uncool to talk about liking “Friends” when you’re around the SF community.
But I’m sick. And my fucks to give are focused on phlegm and my kid’s ankle and really wanting a Peridot/Lapis buddy cop spinoff, and I really don’t care what people think of my “Friends” fanfic. So let’s go.
The thinking behind this is that several storylines seemed to uncomfortably jam the six friends into situations where all of them are rather unnecessary. Especially in regards to Carol and Susan’s life. So I’m giving you Carol Willick’s blog – she was rather forward thinking in making a web page and journal in 1994: (more…)
Travel and excitement has us posting this late – both Matt and Mur have their birthdays on July 25, and, both of us being attention whores, we celebrate as much as possible.
Mur and Matt (mostly Matt) explain how and why Morgan Freeman has balls for us all (okay, it’s all Matt).
Mur and Matt share a birthday! They are both Children of the 25th, and this is Ditch Diggers’ 2016 Birthday Spectacular!
Mur talks about Netflix optioning her novel, the announcement coming two years after the deal, and excitement fatigue.
Why the Honda Fit is sexier than the Ford Fiesta, but NOT as sexy as the Mini Cooper.
The optioning process, and how much control authors have over their optioned properties.
Expecting the worst as a publishing author.
Mur talks about her big career developments over the past year, including Bookburners and writing Star Wars.
Mur closes her yearly recap by talking about survivor’s guilt in 2016, and she admits Matt is wise.
Matt begins his recap by talking about not getting optioned for film/TV, and the lessons he learned from getting caught up in the process of trying to turn his books into TV series.
Matt and Mur discuss varying levels of involvement in the film/TV side of your books and the perils and pitfalls involved.
Matt talks about refocusing on writing and selling books, and the leverage it ultimately gives you.
Matt talks about how his reasons for wanting to do well in his career have changed for the better.
Ditch Diggers Birthday Spectacular Q&A via email and Twitter!
MONETARY UPDATE:We’re up to $265! Come on folks, let’s get me into clothing that won’t make me overheat and die!
Update 8-16-16: We didn’t get the attention I’d hoped for, so I just bought myself a Power Rangers dress to run in anyway. We did raise $265 for Worldbuilders, and that’s nothing to sneeze at. Hope to see people at the Wrun with Writers event on Friday!
The whole thing with Voltron started with me commenting on Twitter regarding NC politics, cheering on our Attorney General Roy Cooper. So I posted this on Twitter.
Wrun with Writers is our twist at Stroll with the Stars, which is a common SF convention event where people can go walking with guests from the con. Last year Adam and I were talking about our love of running, and we said we would run together, and then suggested making it an event. Thus Wrun with Writers was born.
It’s not a race; it’s just a 5K (3.1 miles, or one standard Pokemon egg) trek, as fast or slow as you like, around Kansas City. Then breakfast. Cause you will deserve a breakfast.
The first one happened at Spokane WorldCon, which was on fire. We had four people, including we two organizers. It wasn’t very smoky, but ash was falling from the sky. It was quite apocalyptic and thrilling, actually. I’m looking for pictures on Twitter but it’s hard to search a year back. Trust me. It was epic.
So this year we’re doing it again, and hoping for more than four people. And apparently now I’m doing it in a Voltron costume. Only, I want some incentive, and Adam’s offer gave me an idea.
I will only run in a ridiculous outfit if people give to charity. Adam’s pledged $100 and by gum I’m holding him to that, so I guess we’re already at Voltron. But let’s up the stakes.
More than $500??? I will take suggestions, with the caveat that I will not wear something that will cause health problems (I’m running, after all) or cause me to hate the world, ie sexy Ghostbuster. I will not do Sexy Ghostbuster. I will do legit Ghostbuster. Let’s call that:
$600-Legit Ghostbuster (hell, I might just get this cause it’s awesome) and I’ll find a proton pack. Or proton pistols Holtzmann style.
* My $100 will not count toward the grand total.
Note- I leave for WorldCon next week, and I will have to order the costume, so this has to be a quick fund drive. I’m posting it Monday night, but will be promoting it Tuesday all day.
The charity: Worldbuilders! Worldbuilders is a charity founded by author Pat Rothfuss in order to use the collective power of readers, fellow authors and book lovers to make the world a better place. Money earned goes toward Heifer International, one of my favorite charities.
So how do you do this? Let’s cut out the middle Mur and encourage you to donate directly to Worldbuilders, and then mail your receipt to mightymur@gmail DOT COM and I’ll add it to the total. And we’ll see how crazy this gets.
I’ll be attending MidAmericon II August 18-21, and here’s my schedule:
Reading: Mur Lafferty Wednesday 4:00pm-4:30pm, 2202 (Readings) (Kansas City Convention Center) Am I slightly worried about having a reading at 4pm on Wednesday? Yes. Yes I am.
Mur Lafferty
Literary Beer : Mur Lafferty, Helen Pennington Wednesday 7:00pm, Literary Beer Space (Kansas City Convention Center)
Mur Lafferty, Dr Helen Pennington
The Care and Feeding of Minions Thursday 2:00pm 2503B (Kansas City Convention Center)
A panel of aspiring Evil Overlords need Minions to carry out their evil biddings. But now that minions have heard of collective bargaining and have seen what non evil overlords offer their workers, it isn’t as easy as it once was. Ms. Lynn Gold, Mur Lafferty, David D. Levine, Julia Mandala
Ditch Diggers Podcast LIVE
Thursday 7:00pm
(Not sure what the program will say about it, or where it is yet, but dang, y’all, another DD live. I can’t wait.) Mur Lafferty, Matt Wallace
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Wrun With Writers Friday 09:00 Marriott Lobby (Kansas City Marriott Downtown) Strolling with the Stars has been a Worldcon fixture, but what about those who want something a little more pulse-pounding? Something a little more sweaty? Something that will help shake off those morning doldrums and jump-start the day with a three-mile run? Mur Lafferty and Adam Rakunas would like you to bring your running shoes on Friday morning at 9am for a casual, no-drop fun run around the area. All participants get bragging rights and exclusive ribbons! Adam Rakunas, Mur Lafferty
The Fine Art of Satire
Friday 1:00pm 2502A (Kansas City Convention Center)
How do you avoid stepping over the line into farce or polemics? Eileen Gunn, John Kessel, Mur Lafferty, Milt Stevens, Esther Friesner (M)
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Social Media, or, Why I Haven’t Finished My Novel Saturday 1:00pm 2502B – A/V (Kansas City Convention Center)
Social media is addictive. So much so it can impact upon the work of authors. Our panelists discuss the importance of limiting themselves, differentiating between Social Media interactions for personal and professional reasons, and maybe even inspiration gleaned from Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, Snapchat and the myriad sites available. Melissa F. Olson (M), Jack Campbell Jr., J.R. Johansson, John Scalzi, Mur Lafferty
Literary Agents: Friend to Authors
Saturday 4:00pm 3501B (Kansas City Convention Center)
Literary agents do a lot more than “simply” negotiate deals for authors. They can act as mediators, guide careers, and offer support when it is most needed. Agents explain what they do and how they add value to a writer’s career. Joshua Bilmes (M), Mur Lafferty, Eleanor Wood, Lauren Roy, Stephen Saffel
