A lot of people are bummed that Stan Lee died. I get that, but I'm more of a mind to revel in his amazing run: Lived to 95, left a permanent mark on our culture, built an empire, entertained literally BILLIONS of people, and once looked this bad-ass:
This my dog. RAVENS v BENGALS, my guy rocking the Barry Sanders No. 20 jersey for no other reason than Fuckyou, Detroit vs. Everybody. Get this man a Faygo.
To all my pals struggling to make it in their creative fields — from the time I decided it was my primary goal, it took me 14 years to get a book deal. During that time I got better and better at my job. Keep working. It doesn't come easy. Do it because you can't NOT do it.
This was a secret, but the facehugger's out of the bag, so here's the news.
--
NEW NOVEL
--
No pre-order link yet. I'll holler when it's up. I'm a *huge* fan of this franchise. Honored to be a part of it.
--
Game on, man ... game on.
--
#Xenomorph
#Alien
#Aliens
@TitanPublishing
I've been getting hit with the "wrong number text" catfishing scam lately. A "young woman" accidentally texts you, then strikes up a convo and tries to lead some lonely schumck through a process that I assume ends with sending money — I let my writer-brain do the talking for me.
So, you want to date an author? You should prepare for illogical mood swings while they are writing, okay? I SAID FUCKING PREPARE FOR MOOD SWINGS YOU SON OF A BITCH! Oh, hey, that's a pretty sunset ... I should write about it. Oh my gosh, you are so great!! Wait, I HATE LIFE!
Me watching every Olympic sport I haven’t seen before:
9:00 pm: “Oh my God this is a stupid sport.”
9:05 pm: “Is that judge crazy?!? That landing was incredible!”
If u want reading material to get through the slump, please think of ordering from your local bookstore. Amazon will be fine in the long run, your local, not so much. You shut-in? Cool, most bookstores are used to shipping. Locals already have a razor-thin profit margin.
#COVID19
Hey, author-pals, see if your books are at pirate site , because if they are you aren't getting paid for them. Just submitted my DMCA notice (). Do the same and RT
#writing
#publishing
@That1teddygirl
Totally soft. The kid could dig some coal when he arrives. And if he gets the tuberculosis, tell him to toughen up and be like Grampa, who flee solo to another state when he was four and a half, LIKE A REAL MAN.
Talent is nothing. If you aren’t here to work your ass off and you can’t take a punch (endless punches), give up now — the creative life ain’t for you. All that time you spend bitching about how things ain’t fair could be spent making shit and learning how to sell it.
If you’re a fiction author, I hope u spend the next few years developing your fan community. AI fic is coming. If u think media companies won’t use it ad nauseam, you’re naïve. In 10 years, maybe even 5, if u don’t have readers who like YOU, the person, it’ll be hard to compete.
You want to know about hell? I'll tell you about hell — hell is a squiggly red underline beneath a word that is spelled correctly and is also grammatically accurate.
Before and after photos of the sportsball game between my
@Lions
and her
@NYJets
. If you don’t follow the fooseball, her team had 47 sneetches to my team’s 17 quaffles.
ALIENS: PHALANX
My next novel, out 2/25/20
• Pre-orders links:
• Autographed copies:
• Yep, an official ALIENS tie-in
• Yep, it's canonical
• Nope, not suited for 10 & under
#alien
#aliens
#xenomorph
#xenomorphs
#comegetsome
Just finished recording EARTHCORE Episode 1 for tomorrow's podcast. Such a trip to think where I was career-wise when I recorded Ep 1 of the original version back in 2005. I was unpublished, and recording in my closet. Hail to my Junkies who have brought me so far. HAIL!
I admit I'm super confused how the nation that first put a human on the moon supposedly can't figure out how to properly and accurately process mail-in ballots for our most-cherished right — voting in an election. We used to be good at solving problems and building things...
I am never, ever, ever writing a book this big again. Never. MOUNT FITZ ROY is off to the publisher. This book release will be a little different, we'll share more about that when we can (as well as the release date when we have it).
I will tell you this: when you wind up with that person who not only really gets who you are, but has been waiting for your ass to show up, all the other bullshit you went through to get here becomes treasured, because it helped make you the person they were waiting for.
I admit I'm confused about the Gillette ad outrage. I despise the portrayal of the stereotypical "dumb male" in TV advertising, but this ain't that — the message I got from the Gillette ad was to stand up and defend those who can't defend themselves. Seems like a good thing.
Creators, I keep tellin’ ya to spend time connecting with your audience. Any chance companies have to use AI and avoid paying creators, they will take. Those who don’t find ways to build an audience will be those who have to find other lines of work.
Louder, for the people in the back: AUDIOBOOKS ARE THE SAME AS PRINT BOOKS ARE THE SAME AS EBOOKS! ALL-CAPS!!
🧠
If you consume stories by any method above, you are “reading.”
At this point, 90% convinced Apple is intentionally tarpitting my iPhone 6s to force crotchety bastards like me to drop $1k on a fucking phone. “Tarpittng” is my own word for “slowing down because fuck the customer.” Coin that phrase.
Tomorrow I start a new novel. I think that first day of discovery never will never get old. All the anguish and joy and self-doubt yet to come is part of the journey. Someday I won’t be able to make that journey, so trying hard to celebrate while I still can.
If you are a world-building author, I suggest you look into making a private wiki to track the numerous details and keep things consistent. It can be a $$ solution, but it has helped me immensely. Hat-tip to
@paolini
for turning me on to the idea at a con several years back.
Was just talking to an aspiring writer, who has the Big Idea and said: “I have to figure it out, then I’ll do it.”
.
I said: “Do it, then figure it out.”
Guys, I have been watching this movie ELECTION for three hours, and I think it has like 80 hours to go and there is no plot. It’s all jumping cats and two dudes who look like Bond villains in the Bond movie where the bad guy is a rich American asshole. Bad storytelling, frankly.
Just finished my livestream where
@Ray__Porter
read a section of MOUNT FITZ ROY. He narrated the audiobook, but I haven't listened — this was the first time I heard Ray bring my work to life, and it was fucking magic. He's soooooooo good.
The way I was raised is this: a true leader is responsible for what happens under his/her/their watch. Full stop. Maybe that means you look bad, because it was your turn and shit went bad. Cowards blame others. Cowards don’t take the heat. Take the heat. Own it.
Did you make a thing? Did people pay money for that thing? Did the people who paid money for that thing enjoy the thing? Then the thing you made was good. It’s that simple. Don’t let people not involved with you and your fans get in your head — they don’t know shit.
Tomorrow, I finish the final draft of a novel. Prepare for the onslaught of “All things are possible!” and “Hard work pays off!” tweets before I start the next book and return to your regularly scheduled programming of “writing is a buncha bullshit” and “I want all words to die.”
15 years ago today, I put out my first podcast: Episode No. 1 of EARTHCORE. Here we are, 1,137 episodes later, and we're still kicking out an episode every Sunday (& sometimes extras!). To all y'all who've listened in, I say "thank you." To the next 15 years, I say ...
BRING IT
The
#AZCardinals
are signing S Tyler Sigler from Division III Wheaton College after a minicamp tryout, I’m told. Would be a cool story if he catches on
I just spent 2 minutes licking an envelope and trying to figure out why it wouldn't stick. Spoiler alert: some envelopes have a pull-tab-sticky-strip.
.
Also, this just in: pull-tab-sticky-strips taste pretty good.
One of the tragedies of the Internet is that people who think they are very smart but are demonstrably stupid are able to find other demonstrably stupid people to tell them they are very smart.
Finish the first draft. Finish the first draft. Finish the first draft. Finish the first draft. Finish the first draft. Finish the first draft. Finish the first draft. Finish the first draft. Finish the first draft. Finish the first draft. Finish the first draft.
I’ve heard so much about this book. I met the author,
@mattdinniman
, when we did a panel together at
#DragonCon
. On that day, Book VI in the series was the No. 1 audiobook in the world. Fun to see Jeff basking in the glory. Book I sarts off like a rocket. My first
#LitRPG
read.
I fondly remember meeting
@MykeCole
for the first time at Balticon. He was a new writer with his first novel; I asked how I could help him along his path. Years later, his nonfic LEGION VS. PHALANX will be a primary reference source for a new novel of my own. Full circle.
PROSECUTOR: "We have clear evidence that he committed a crime. Hundreds of experts have put in thousands of hours. We have indictments."
JUDGE: "Hold on, let me ask him. Did you do this?"
CRIMINAL: "Wasn't me."
JUDGE: "Good enough! You're free to go, have a nice day."
I.m writing a novel under an NDA, so I can't provide details, but I stamped my feet and held my breath until I turned blue to get the publisher to allow me to tell you the book's name. Here is is. Don't ask me what it's about, I can't tell you. Don't ask me when it's out, I cant
There's an enormous amount of info still to process about this election, but I really, really, really want to get the back story behind the Four Seasons Landscaping scenario.
People, I have heard that — now that marijuana is mostly legal — people are planning on leaving pot brownies for Santa. Santa doesn’t need your weed, okay? He has a job to do. Anyone flying magic reindeer faster than the speed of light should NOT be high.
Two more days of the writing retreat, time for the morning walk. This path looks harmless,
right? Not like a Stephen King novel open or anything. Right? RIGHT?
I am a happy reader (listener) today. New
@LordGrimdark
, read by Steven Pacey. To me, this is one of the strongest storytelling combos in the world. I want to listen at half-speed, just to make it last longer.
For crying out loud,
@Google
, these are two of the four default "Science" stories on Google News. You reach millions of people. You have a responsibility to be better than this.