Category: Dubious Writing Advice
Posted on March 28, 2016
by Aeryn Rudel
14 Comments
Getting published usually means getting paid for your work. Getting paid is a good thing, even if you’re “not doing it for the money.” At the very least, it’s some validation your writing is actually worth something. To further illustrate my feelings on the… Continue Reading “Writing for Dollars: 4 Tiers of Freelance Payment”
Posted on March 16, 2016
by Aeryn Rudel
1 Comment
Fellow Seattleite, blogger, and aspiring writer Dawn Claflin recently interviewed me about writerly things for her blog. In the interview I give highly dubious advice about writing and rejection as well as recount a bit of my meandering path to fame and fortune (Hah!).… Continue Reading “Dispensing Dubious Writerly Wisdom: An Interview”
Posted on February 10, 2016
by Aeryn Rudel
3 Comments
I live in downtown Seattle, a place populated with all kinds of characters: bearded hipsters, posh business-folk, foreign tourists of all nationalities, goth millennials, and random weirdos, just for starters. As such, I do a lot of people watching to get ideas for characters in… Continue Reading “Characters: They Walk Among Us”
Posted on January 22, 2016
by Aeryn Rudel
11 Comments
When I finish the first draft of a story or novel, I let it sit for a few days, then I go back through it like a literary hit man, ruthlessly pounding my delete key like the trigger on a suppressed .45. Notice I… Continue Reading “Proofing Hit List Part One: Definitely Overused”
Posted on December 31, 2015
by Aeryn Rudel
14 Comments
Here’s a nifty little article I found on a blog called Writers Write that details the writing habits, and more specifically, the word count goals of 39 famous authors. The article is called The Daily Word Counts of 39 Famous Authors, and it features big names like… Continue Reading “Word Count Goals of the Rich & Famous”
Posted on November 25, 2015
by Aeryn Rudel
3 Comments
Let’s talk about one of my favorite writerly topics: simultaneous submissions. A simultaneous submission (sim-sub, for short) is when you send one story to multiple markets to increase the chance you’ll put the story in front of an editor who will publish it. As with all the subjects… Continue Reading “Submission Protocol: Simultaneous Submissions”
Posted on November 20, 2015
by Aeryn Rudel
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A writer goes through a lot of emotions when that rejection letter shows up in his or her inbox, and it occurred to me these emotions are similar to those involved with grieving or loss (more or less). I’m sure you’ve all heard of the seven… Continue Reading “The 7 Stages of Literary Rejection”
Posted on October 27, 2015
by Aeryn Rudel
3 Comments
If you’ve read any of my previous posts, especially this one, then you know I’m a big fan of word count goals. I like watching the words add up in my spreadsheet, and I find having that kind of concrete, tangible goal keeps me… Continue Reading “The Quotable King: Ten Pages a Day”
Posted on October 9, 2015
by Aeryn Rudel
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Here’s this week’s list of potentially useful links for writers and rejectomancers. 1) I’m always looking for ways to bring more realism to combat scenes in the fantasy fiction I write, and one of my favorite resources is an article from Classical Fencing entitled “The Dubious Quick… Continue Reading “A List of Links: Quick Kills & Real-Time Rejection”
Posted on September 30, 2015
by Aeryn Rudel
7 Comments
Let me start this one with an anecdote. About a month ago, I met some friends I used to work with at restaurant to discuss a Dungeons & Dragons game I’m going to run (yes, I’m really that nerdy).Once everyone had arrived, we started… Continue Reading “Leaving the Hermitage: Writing & Isolation”