On August 2, 2014, my wife DeeAnn drove me home from Seattle, where I’d just finished the Clarion West Summer Six-Week Workshop. The week before the workshop started, we were in California for our nephew Jared’s wedding. DeeAnn drove me…
Category: writing
I Did Not Understand This Metaphor in 1982
But I’m, y’know, older now. And when McCoy says “It never rains but it pours” to Kirk in Wrath of Khan, I know exactly what he means. Skip to 1:11 for the relevant dialogue: youtu.be/jRYlPifDUBg It’s also appropriate for this…
I am no longer eligible for WOTF
That would be the Writers of the Future contest. Because their rules specify: 5. The Contest is open only to those who have not professionally published a novel or short novel, or more than one novelette, or more than three…
I Want You to Do Two Things
HELLO READERS I DO NOT NORMALLY ASK VERY MUCH OF YOU BUT TODAY I WANT YOU TO DO TWO THINGS NUMBER ONE BUY FONDA LEE‘S DEBUT NOVEL, ZEROBOXER NUMBER TWO VOTE FOR LAURA J. MIXON TO RECEIVE THE BEST FAN…
I Do Not Write Award-Winning Short Fiction
…and I don’t expect I will for several more years, if ever. I’m just not that kind of writer! (He said coquettishly, batting his eyelashes.) But it does seem to be that time of the year, and it’ll be a…
I Spend a Lot of Time Dealing with Puzzles
I’m not complaining, mind you. I enjoy making puzzle games and running events. But here’s a snapshot of my hours worked, from January 2014 to early October: (Blurred-out names indicate personal and/or secret projects) I spent the most work time…
I am now an Associate Member of SFWA
That’s the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America to you: (For the record, I’m glad Jim Kelly told me this summer to wait, and I’m glad Mary Robinette Kowal told me last week to go for it.) But speaking…
I Survived My First Surrey International Writers’ Conference #SiWC14
And the proof, as usual, is on Twitter: twitter.com/search?q=%40curtiscchen%20%23siwc14&src=typd Highlights included: finally meeting Stephanie and David in person, after many online writing Hangouts; seeing my VPXII classmate Katrina again and getting an autographed copy of her book; learning about book…
I Am Not Canadian
I recently came across this post on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like “microblogging” service: http://weibo.com/1654694194/BnIEU7RQ6 What do you mean, you don’t read Chinese? Fine. Here’s Google’s auto-translation: To be fair, I can see how someone in China might be confused, since I…
doinitrite fairuse publishing theIinMEAT thisbusinesswecallshow VP12 waitforit writing youarenotthework
I Will Not Get Paid This Much for Any of My Novels
But it’s nice to see that publishers still believe in science fiction. Last month, this bit of news showed up in the Publishers Lunch daily newsletter: Try not to think about the fact that Weir originally self-published his first novel,…