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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  • Previews of episodes to come, praise for Russian Doll, and the customary end-of-episode shilling (which includes out-of-date Hugo nomination pleas)!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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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.

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Podcasts, Projects

Ditch Diggers #72: Always A Bridesmaid with Brooke Bolander

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:12:13 — 42.5MB)

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  • Mur and Matt come to you live from Jeff Goldblum’s Douglas Adams Appreciation Center with special guest co-host, Brooke Bolander!
  • Mur explains the location of the show and how it relates to the Ditch Diggers’ struggles to book Brooke on the show (hurricanes, travel, and sick animals were involved).
  • Everyone catches everyone else up on what’s been going on in their lives and careers, including NaNoWriMo and other novel finishing efforts.
  • Mur masterfully segues into the main topic of the show, which is how to handle being nominated for multiple awards and not winning any of them.
  • Mur and Brooke talk about that feeling of almost getting there, but not, and Brooke talks about her many multi-award-nominated short stories.
  • The shenanigan engine thresholds of all three hosts are discussed, as is Robert Silverberg and dealing with the treatment of the less accepting older members of the SFF community.
  • dink jokes!
  • Public speaking for authors, and the many un-taught skills authors need to possess.
  • More dink jokes!
  • The perpetually premature onset on awards season, and everyone’s awards-eligible works.

Brooke on Twitter
Brooke’s website
Brooke’s 2018 Awards Eligibility Post

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