Posts Tagged ‘Ditch Diggers’

Podcasts, Projects, Transcript

[Transcript] Ditch Diggers #53: The Money Taboo

January 25, 2018

Theme Song: [00:00:04] Ditch Diggers appear, ain’t no wannabes here. With some not so nice advice for your writing career. To be clear, no punches will be pulled, but the punch may be spiked, how they like before they get on the mic. To my left we got the mighty Mur Lafferty, and if I piss her off, believe me, she’ll come after me. And her co-host Matt F’n Wallace on the right, yeah she may be half his height, but she could take him in a fight. So settle in folks, buckle in, and boot up. Time to meddle in a way to make you write or shut up. It’s hard work, but the perk is that it’s fun and exciting. Facebook will still be there when you’re done writing. Ditch Diggers!

Mur: [00:00:44] Ditch Diggers #53 coming to you live from Morgan Freeman’s gender neutral statue factory. It’s the Ditch Diggers with Mur Lafferty and Matt Wallace. How are you Matt?

Matt: [00:00:55] I’m good, Mur. I didn’t expect the factory to be in New Jersey, oddly. I feel like I judged New Jersey unfairly in that respect. But here we are.

(more…)

Podcasts, Projects

Ditch Diggers #54: Retcons and JKR

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:01:09 — 43.9MB)

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NOTE- I got an important call in the middle of this episode and was a tad distracted for the rest of the show. But Matt’s on a good enough tear that I’m not needed much anyway. I can let you know the purpose of the call some other time.

  • Matt and Mur come to you live from Morgan Freeman’s official historical retconning chamber.
  • Matt makes it clear that Morgan Freeman’s retconning chamber is NOT to be confused with a time machine.
  • Somewhere between Morgan Freeman cross-breeding bees and butterflies and Mur being responsible for the diamond trade, the Ditch Diggers explain the concept of retconning.
  • How retconning, while sometimes necessary in and accepted as part of the vernacular of the comics medium, is more often than not detrimental to writing and publishing novels, using JK Rowling’s constant retconning of the Harry Potter books as an example.
  • The difference between retconning to continue telling a story and retconning for the sake of altering the past.
  • Matt recaps the controversy over the handling of Dumbledore in the forthcoming Fantastic Beast movie (spoiler alert: No gay Dumbledore), and gives his opinion on why JK Rowling retconning the HP books is a detrimental betrayal.
  • Mur talks about how if characters in fiction aren’t explicitly identified, audiences will default to straight and white, using Hunger Games as an example.
  • What the JK Rowling situation can teach smaller authors about brand management for themselves and their book series, specifically making promises on which they can’t deliver and not engaging legitimate criticism of their public behavior.
  • How being an author in the SFF field reacting publicly to one of these situations can also affect your brand.
  • How, in Matt’s opinion, popular authors, especially in SFF, are given “passes” when they screw up if they’ve accrued enough good will points and the cliquishness of fiction communities and how they protect those authors.
  • On being aware enough to acknowledge and deal with your problematic behavior as it happens.
  • Mur and Matt are working to make Ditch Diggers a more inclusive podcast and need your help to do it through their Patreon.
  • The customary end-of-episode shilling, including Hugo Award awareness raising.

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Podcasts, Projects, Transcript

[Transcript] Ditch Diggers #52: Cleaning Out Old Business

Ditch Diggers #52

January 18, 2018

Theme Song: [00:00:05] Ditch Diggers appear, ain’t no wannabes here. With some not so nice advice for your writing career. To be clear, no punches will be pulled, but the punch may be spiked, how they like before they get on the mic. To my left we got the mighty Mur Lafferty, and if I piss her off, believe me, she’ll come after me. And her co-host Matt F’n Wallace on the right, yeah she may be half his height, but she could take him in a fight. So settle in folks, buckle in, and boot up. Time to meddle in a way to make you write or shut up. It’s hard work, but the perk is that it’s fun and exciting. Facebook will still be there when you’re done writing. Ditch Diggers!
Mur: [00:00:46] Coming to you live from Morgan Freeman’s snow bungalow. It is the Ditch Diggers with Mur Lafferty and Matt Wallace. Happy New Year!
Matt: [00:00:55] Happy New Year, Mur. It’s our first episode of 2018. These are exciting times. (more…)

Podcasts, Projects

Ditch Diggers #53: The Money Taboo

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:05:10 — 43.5MB)

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  • Matt and Mur come to you live from Morgan Freeman’s Gender-Neutral Statue Factory in New Jersey (and talk about why they chose the show’s patron well).
  • Matt talks about adjusting to his new schedule with a full-time marketing writing job atop his existing full-time fiction writing job.
  • Mur apologizes for the delay in getting the last episode posted via the blog (and how she’s a pro-am DJ).
  • Mur recaps ConFusion (including a shoutout to author Michael R. Underwood), and Ditch Diggers possibly featuring a guest appearance by Justina Ireland in the near future.
  • A brief interlude to silence Mur’s excitably adorable dog.
  • Mur talks about the importance of medicating regularly when you’re prescribed medication, the consequences of not doing that, and how to cope with it.
  • How that led to an epiphany on Mur’s part about the meaning behind being mindful. She explains that epiphany, and Matt weighs in with his take on mindfulness.
  • Everybody needs schtick.
  • The Ditch Diggers talk about author Fonda Lee’s Twitter thread concerning how much she makes from her books, the response to it, positive and negative, and share their thoughts on transparency in authors’ income.
  • How to address the core issues behind the money (of lack thereof) authors make (Matt uses pro-wrestling as an analogy).
  • The disparity in people’s reaction to women making money vs. men making money in our industries, and how it is used to derail the real discussion/discourse.
  • How to positively build on the actions of author’s like Fonda Lee, and Mur talks about her own experiences selling and publishing her newest novel, SIX WAKES.
  • A writer’s self-perception vs. the their perception of “successful” authors.
  • A lament for Ursula K. Le Guin.
  • Matt offers up his Hugo Award recommendations.
  • There are no viewer questions this week, but we do have shilling and Hugo nomination pleas to get through!

Author Fonda Lee’s Twitter thread about author income.

Podcasts, Projects

Ditch Diggers #52: Cleaning Out Old Business

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 48:01 — 47.4MB)

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NOTE: I was in Detroit for ConFusion and didn’t get a chance to post this until today- Mur

  • The Ditch Diggers come to you live for the first time in 2018 from Morgan Freeman’s snow bungalow (which is actually a bungalow made from snow)!
  • Morgan Freeman and Kryptonian technology, how he is the only man who can act as his own attorney and is NOT a fool, which is also the premise of his next movie, and his eternal feud and love affair with Betty White.
  • Matt talks about fulfilling his major 2018 writing career goal right under the wire, defying all freelance writing conventions of the industry closing down over the holidays, how it came about, and thanks everyone for their support and encouragement.
  • Mur talks about dog surgeries and her novel SIX WAKES being nominated for the prestigious Philip K. Dick Award!
  • Ditch Diggers will now be recording weekly!
  • Wrapping up their career recaps, the theme of the premiere episode of the year emerges: Old Business!
  • Mur and Matt continue to be bad at segues, and gods willing they always will be.
  • Mur assures listener Allie Wade that we WILL answer her questions about contracts by dedicating a whole episode to it in 2018. We will also get Cameron Rowe’s blueprints for Morgan Freeman’s imagined compound up on the website.
  • Mur digs into the email bag for questions unanswered from 2017.
  • The Ditch Diggers respond to a question about new authors using samples of their work as free promotion, and when and how that crosses the line into working for free.
  • @TheFaldor on Twitter asks what a good daily word goal is. Matt believes it to be more than one and less than eleven thousand. Mur is, thankfully, more helpful with her answer.
  • @WordsByStacia asks how the Ditch Diggers feel about reading fees, and Mur and Matt expound on the differences between beta readers, sensitivity editors, and manuscript doctors.
  • Having handled the old business, the Ditch Diggers look to the new business of 2018.
  • Matt launches into an epic pitch/plea for the podcast being nominated for a Hugo in 2018.
  • Mur makes suggestions for other potential and deserving Hugo nominees you might have overlooked (Matt promises to have his recommendations next time).
  • The obligatory end-of-episode shilling of books and other things.
Podcasts, Projects

Ditch Diggers #51: End of the Year Spectacular, guest starring Hurley and Wendig!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:25:34 — 83.6MB)

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  • The Ditch Diggers come to you live from Morgan Freeman’s Nicer-Than-Chuck-Wendig’s-Writing-Shed with special year-end episode spectacular guest co-hosts, Kameron Hurley and Chuck Wendig!
  • We briefly clarify who the guests are and who the hosts are, and talk about the momentous completion of the Hurley/Wendig Trilogy on Ditch Diggers (Matt insists there will be a “third act twist” which leads to an argument about what constitutes the third act in this scenario).
  • Everyone recaps their 2017 as writers. Hurley talks about throwing out two-thirds of a new book. Chuck talks about only focusing on a single book for a change (as he usually writes approximately 7,574 books per year). Mur talks about the sale and release of Six Wakes. Matt laments many personal hurdles that added height to professional hurdles.
  • Einstein had sex with everything, including James Joyce, which segues into Hemingway/Fitzgerald slash fic (briefly, but notably).
  • A digression into grandmothers, Nazi boots, radio turkeys, hills and valleys and the difference between the two (Matt is the only one confused by the old idiom, apparently).
  • The foursome discuss Hollywood, and the differences between the film/TV industry and the publishing industry.
  • Everyone looks ahead to 2018 and discusses their plans, hopes, and fears (spoiler: those are all basically the same thing).
  • The recent Patreon debacle, what happened, what it means, and what it signals for authors, and all freelance creators, in the future.
  • Everyone performs their final shilling of the year, and we wish everyone a much better 2018!
  • Chuck Wendig: terribleminds.com
  • Kameron Hurley: kameronhurley.com
  • Hurley’s Patreon: patreon.com/kameronhurley
  • Hurley’s Tip Jar: paypal.me/KameronHurley
  • Hurley’s newsletter: bit.ly/hurleysheroes
  • The Stars Are Legion: http://a.co/1NpquVn
  • Invasive: http://a.co/2JVKIw0
Podcasts, Projects

Ditch Diggers #50: Your Value

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:18:13 — 77.0MB)

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  • Matt and Mur come to you live from Morgan Freeman’s Decommissioned Disney Vault for this, their 50th episode!
  • Mur doesn’t get Matt’s cultural references, but she does bring the audience up-to-date on what she’s been working on while in the dreaded “waiting” zone of being a freelance writer.
  • Matt is choosing professional optimism and creating a shiny cocoon of success around which the whole world can burn for all he cares.
  • A bizarre and hilarious digression involving Top Gun slash fic, Patreon, and Beyonce.
  • The Ditch Diggers finally arrive at the topic of the episode, which is knowing your value as a writer.
  • Matt and Mur discuss the mass firings and sale of LA Weekly, how the new owners are despicably attempting to replace professional journalist with unpaid amateur contributors, and what writers and readers can do about it.
  • Working remotely in the publishing industry, the need to structure more entry level roles that can be performed without living in NYC, and how all of that affects writers.
  • Suggested by James Sutter, Matt and Mur discuss when and why to leave a project, partnership, or genre in which you’re heavily invested (Mur lyrically explains the “sunken cost fallacy”).
  • Twitter and email Q&A! Topics include when/how to utilize Patreon, pitching standalone books vs. pitching series, and licensing and incorporating as a freelance writer.
  • The customary shilling, including info on how to party live in person with Matt on December 9th!
  • James L. Sutter’s website
Podcasts, Projects

Ditch Diggers #49: Happiness in darkness

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:09:31 — 49.3MB)

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  • Mur and Matt come to you live from Morgan Freeman’s iPhone 7 BlueTooth Headphone store.
  • Matt didn’t know before he bought one that the iPhone 7 has no headphone jack and he is unhappy about it. Loudly.
  • Mur cites a study she read comparing apps that make people happy to apps that don’t and how much time we spend using both, and the results led her down a path of several writing career related epiphanies.
  • Matt recaps the week in professional writers getting screwed, particularly the wake of DNAinfo and Gothamist being shuttered by billionaire Joe Ricketts after both writing staffs voted to unionize.
  • The Ditch Diggers discuss what about the current online market and publishing models need to be changed and how writers have to react to begin bringing about that change.
  • Twitter Q&A! Topics include agents requesting marketing plans from querying authors, how much editing/rewriting is too much, and consuming drugs and alcohol while writing.
  • The apps and happiness study cited by Mur in this episode: http://www.timewellspent.io/app-ratings/
Podcasts, Projects

Ditch Diggers #48: Sensitivity editing with Elsa Sjunneson-Henry

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 57:34 — 41.9MB)

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Posting in a hurry cause I’m on my way to NYCC today! Hope to see people there!

– Matt and Mur come to you live from Morgan Freeman’s PSA Sound Booth with special guest co-host, author, editor, and activist Elsa Sjunneson-Henry!
– Mur has a new dog, and Matt explains what Morgan Freeman’s PSA Sound Booth means.
– Elsa’s history as a child activist, and how she was still in single digits when the CIA once investigated her background.
– Elsa talks about all of her, in Mur’s words, “many feathered hats” and the Ditch Diggers discuss how being a writer sometimes get lost when you do twenty different things as a freelancer.
– An introduction to sensitivity readers/editors, what they do, and why they’re necessary.
– Elsa talks about being a sensitivity editor and the many ways writers in all mediums/industries screw up dealing with visually impaired characters.
– How much you can expect to pay a sensitivity editor, and how to find one to hire them.
– Elsa fields Twitter Q&A! Everyone wants to know how to hire the One True Sensitivity Editor, and Elsa explains why that’s impossible and how to approach it correctly.
– Obligatory rambly end-of-show shilling.
Writing in the Margins’ Sensitivity Reader Database: http://writeinthemargins.org/sensitivity-readers/
Keep up with Elsa’s writing (and hire her!): http://feministsonar.com/elsa/
Elsa on Twitter: @snarkbat
Elsa on Instagram: @snarkbat
Upsidedown Inverted Tropes Anthology: https://www.amazon.com/Upside-Down-Inverted-Tropes-Storytelling/dp/1937009440
Dead Scare Tabletop RPG: http://www.deadscare.com/
Podcasts, Projects

Ditch Diggers #47: Being Done // Missing Stairs

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 56:57 — 42.8MB)

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So for the first time in months, I’ve missed a week. I’ve hit a low period again, and this podcast is kind of heavy, which made me hesitate to post it. But here’s this one, and then the ISBW for this week should go up tomorrow.

  • Matt and Mur come to you live from Morgan Freeman’s Lasso of Truth Loom.
  • Matt and Mur take the word “loom” for a fun test drive, and the Ditch Diggers talk about what they’re up to in their own freelance careers.
  • Matt offers up a lesson about the idea of wasted effort, and how to look at (and eventually use!) the work you do that doesn’t sell or get you the writing job you were pursuing (and Mur offers tips on grocery shopping online to save time for writers!).
  • Mur asks the question, “Are you ever done as a fiction writer?” And the Ditch Diggers discuss the idea of retiring from writing, or telling all the stories you want to tell and being “done.”
  • Ditch Diggers plea for someone with the juice to hook Mur up with a gig editing an anthology based on the ancillary secondary characters from the sitcom Friends.
  • Mur talks about working for Serial Box on the serialized/seasonal Bookburners series, the recent summit of Serial Box writers in NYC, and working with a team of writers on the book series.
  • The Ditch Diggers plans to market an “Overwatch Pajamas Mur Barbie Doll,” and Mur tells an adorable story about how her daughter thought video games were played when she was very small.
  • Matt and Mur attempt to tackle the very heavy issue of “missing stairs,” or how writers (or any industry professional) should approach addressing/exposing known harassers and abusers in their industry, especially when the harassers/abusers in question are industry “heroes.”
  • The obligatory end-of-episode shilling, including Mur’s new book on writing based on the podcast, I SHOULD BE WRITING, which is now available in stores and online.

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