On the podcasts page I’ve updated the interview info, but I thought I’d put it here.
Want to be interviewed on ISBW? Here’s what I’m looking for:
Science fiction/fantasy/horror authors.
Traditionally published.
You have a new book out.
You are comfortable talking via skype.
You have things to say about both your book AND writing in general.
These are not absolutes, but it’s generally what I’m looking for. I’ve had nonfic/lit fic authors on. I’ve even had song writers. I’ve had self published people on. BUT overall I focus on speculative fiction and traditional publishing.
Email mightymur AT gmail.com.
As for Ditch Diggers, currently we’re interviewing on an invite-only basis.
As we look forward two weeks to NaNoWriMo, I have to talk about something very unpopular. This year I challenge you to kill your darlings.
DID YOU KNOW:
if you support this show via Patreon, even at $1 a month, you will get a daily NaNoWriMo email and sound or video show from me?
ALSO DID YOU KNOW:
My other projects include contributing to Bookburners, a serial novelette series that is six episodes in, and an ezine launching this month called Mothership Zeta? NOW YOU DO.
This is episode one, by Max Gladstone! You’ll remember him from the tiara club of 2013. —>
My first episode is number four, linked below the line.
This show brought to you by Hall of Famer Scott Bennett. Thanks Scott!
Blisters come whether you hate digging ditches or love it.
Mur and Matt establish it is very early in the morning.
Moat Building 101
Being overwhelmed with multiple projects, multiple deadlines, and how to (and how not to) prioritize your time.
Mur talks about her involvement in Bookburners, and how much time non-writing tasks take up when you’re writing.
Matt makes a bunch of fancy announcements and talks about having a novel to finish while simultaneously having to write the third book in his Sin du Jour series in a month.
Composing a plan to deal with your multiple deadlines and balancing it with the rest of your life.
Writing, deadlines, and significant others.
Mur talks about her experience with renting office space to write and removing herself from social media.
Mur and Matt take email questions and questions from Twitter on story structure, the hardest parts of writing for a living, and MFA programs.
ENVY OF ANGELS giveaway: Email mightymur AT gmail and answer the question, “What are you doing besides writing to advance your writing career?” Best, most proactive answers win free copies of Matt’s new book dropping October 20th! Keep answers brief. No essays.
Apple Harvest photo by Mike McKay via Creative Commons
Do you measure news by the bushel? I do, now. Here is the news from the harvest. Or something.
I took a good chunk of September off to finish my book, tentatively titled Six Wakes. I left social media, blogging, and did minimal podcasting. And I kinda forgot to announce this. Sorry about that.
But the book, at least draft 1, is done. I’m happy with it. It went some places I didn’t expect, which is always exciting. I know there are some things I need to fix on rewrite, and only hope that my editor and I agree on which areas need fixing. It was a hard slog. I was behind, and had really built up a lot of angst about how to write this book. But when the deadline began to loom, I got to work.
I may do NaNoWriMo this year, but on the other hand, September was my NaNoWriMo. I won’t tell you how many words I wrote, but it was a lot.
I’ve taken some days to recover. There was the mental strain, but also on the last day of writing I did so much that my right shoulder and neck muscles locked up big time. After five days of menthol patches, painkillers, massages, heat, and a massage pillow, I am finally feeling no pain when I sit at a desk. Now that I’m back, I have major work to do for the launch of Mothership Zeta this month, and some other work on some outstanding Bookburners work, and I have to think about the next thing I’m writing.
Well I’ve already thought about that last thing. I want to do a Christmas story, as I haven’t done one in a while. It will be set in the Shambling Guides universe, and have Zoe taking an unexpected trip to London during the holidays. I started it last night.
Other things upcoming for me: this month at Ditch Diggers, Matt and I are interviewing the amazing comic book writer Kelly Sue DeConnick. For ISBW I will be doing the debriefing on my novel. And for the Patreon supporters, I will be doing yet another NaNoWriMo note for every day of November. May be audio. May be video. Who knows? And to get these little nuggets of support, all you have to do is pledge a dollar. Yup. EVERYONE who supports via Patreon will get this special series of audio and video. *
For the rest of the year, I will also be showing the Softer Side of Mur when the holidays come around, as I’ll be reviewing Christmas movies and books. Many of them will be romcoms.** Unsubscribe as you like, haters. I like what I like. There is a place for SF and romantic comedy in my little heart. But I won’t be holding back. I will warn you off the bad ones. And lordy, there are some bad ones.
SPEAKING of Bookburners, episode 5 comes out this week, which starts the second chunk of stories. If you’re not aware of how we divvied it up, four of us split the season into four episodes each, and we’re more or less evenly spaced, having one story in each set of four. (meaning I could have written episodes 4, 8, 10, and 13 instead of, say, 5 6, 7, and 8. I think I wrote those four. Numbers are hard, I just remember plots.) Regardless, my first story, Episode 4: A Sorcerer’s Apprentice, is out now! Here is a peek:
Browsing Asanti’s library by herself was Sal’s new favorite hobby. She had never seen a place like this, though it reminded her most of a moldy old library relatives had shown her in Savannah, Georgia, with humidity-damaged first editions of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Gone With the Wind and A Christmas Carol.
Her team kept suggesting she should relax between missions. She really didn’t need to be at headquarters sitting around, they said, why didn’t she enjoy Rome when she had the chance? But in a city where she didn’t speak the language and had few—all right, the number was closer to zero—friends, Sal had nothing to do. There was only so long she could read, listen to music, and lie over Skype to friends in America about her life in Rome. At least here in the library she could learn something, or maybe run into a team member and have a real conversation.
That’s it for me. How are you? ***
* No I’m not calling it a podcast. I am an old school angry podcast veteran who knows that podcasts are something (ANY file – video, audio, even PDF) you subscribe to via RSS. There is no RSS feed for this content. It is emailed directly to you, and you will LIKE IT. *shakes cane at clouds*
** I’ve already started reading. Because to review a lot of content, you have to start early. This is brilliant. I have finally found a way to enjoy Xmas stuff early and no one can fault me for it.
*** Yeah, I know I don’t allow comments here. Tell me on Twitter. Or email. Just know I’m thinking fond thoughts about you, OK?
I’m deep under deadlines right now, but am resurfacing to mention that the project I’ve been working the last year on is live!
Bookburners is a serial project, the first project from the new company Serial Box, which is developing fiction “like HBO for books” – several writers are working on one full season of stories with a full arc. Bookburners is their launch project, and I’ve written four stories for it.
You can subscribe, get the app, get the audio, there are many ways to receive it! Episode two is out today, so you can get one, written by Max Gladstone, and two, written by Brian Francis Slattery. (I’ve got episode 4.)
Magic is real, and hungry—trapped in ancient texts and artifacts, only a few who discover it survive to fight back. Detective Sal Brooks is a survivor. Freshly awake to just what dangers are lurking, she joins a Vatican-backed black-ops anti-magic squad: Team Three of the Societas Librorum Occultorum. Together they stand between humanity and magical apocalypse. Some call them the Bookburners. They don’t like the label.
You know, I had great plans. GREAT PLANS. I was hitting #350 right around the time that ISBW turned 10 years old. This should have been a milestone episode.
But I have to get ready for WorldCon and I had feedback to get to. So it’s a usual episode.
I hope to record something special at WorldCon for you. Stay tuned!
Don’t forget to support the show via Patreon or by buying my books!
This show brought to you by Hall of Famer Ben Delano. Thanks Ben!
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