Bullet Journaling: The Writer's New Best Friend

Column by Christopher Shultz May 12, 2020 2 comments
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Bullet Journaling: The Writer's New Best Friend

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Image via Cottonbro Studio

The luckiest writers get to rise in the morning, start writing when they feel like it, and then quit writing when they feel like it as well. They have nothing else to do with the rest of their day, other than chores around the house and any other everyday life things (including paying bills, going to the doctor, and all the un-fun stuff we have to do).

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Trying to Juggle Writing AND Parenting? Authors Share Advice

Column by Annie Neugebauer May 11, 2020
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Trying to Juggle Writing AND Parenting? Authors Share Advice

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Image by Kosmolaut

I’ve grown to love one- or two-question interviews of multiple people; it’s like a double-blind conversation among interviewees. It’s also a cool way to round up advice in one place and get a broader view of what people recommend, so you can pick and choose what rings true to you.

In this case, I reached out to some of my favorite authors who are both writers and parents. The questions were simple: what’s your advice for doing both?

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Writing Advice From Metal Songs

Column by Elle Nash May 8, 2020 1 comment
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Writing Advice From Metal Songs

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If you find yourself facing writer's block, frustrated and incapable of injecting the kind of feeling into your work that you’re looking for, and just overall feeling down about the state of your writing project, maybe you need to crabwalk your way to the mosh pit and make a few noses bloody, first. Consider this a playlist if you like, but I consider the following some of the best writing encouragement I’ve ever received. Take heed from these brutal overlords of shred and get back to work.

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Horror Book Recommendations for Geminis

Column by Sadie Hartmann May 8, 2020
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Horror Book Recommendations for Geminis

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I'm a Gemini. Full stop. I wasn't born on the cusp of another sign, I don't borrow from any other astrological attributes. I fall squarely in the camp of Gemini. To provide a little context to my familiarity with astrology I'll have you know that I don't read my daily horoscope. I don't really ascribe to the idea that ruling planets have such and such effect on my life.

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10 Hacks To Get The Most From Your eReader

Column by Peter Derk May 7, 2020
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10 Hacks To Get The Most From Your eReader

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Let’s talk about some behavioral and non-technical things you can do to improve your eReader experience. I’m not talking about hardcore stuff like unscrewing panels or rooting your device or turning it into a Playstation 4 or whatever. Those guides are out there and...well, if you want to play a Playstation 4, they invented this thing called Playstation 4. Playstation 4, a device designed specifically to play Playstation 4 games, turns out to be the best gizmo when it comes to doing Playstation 4 stuff. Go figure.

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Ask Nick: Publishing 201 — Do I Need to Attend Conventions or Conferences?

Column by Nick Mamatas May 6, 2020
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Ask Nick: Publishing 201 — Do I Need to Attend Conventions or Conferences?

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Hello, and welcome back to Publishing 201—an occasional column in which I'll answer your questions about writing and publishing, so long as they haven't been asked and answered a million times already. There is plenty of 101-level advice out there, and thousands of writers who can repeat it, but very little has been written for writers further along in their careers or aesthetic development. If you have a 201-level question you'd like me to answer, reach out!

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Brian Panowich Talks Hard Cash Valley and More

Interview by Steph Post May 5, 2020
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Brian Panowich Talks Hard Cash Valley and More

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The world may be on fire right now, but brilliant books are still being conceived, written, published and sold. Hard Cash Valley—the much-anticipated third novel by Brian Panowich, following in the path forged by Bull Mountain in 2015 and Like Lions in 2019—is one such novel. Panowich’s latest offering sets readers back in familiar McFalls County, but pairs Dane Kirby with Special Agent Roselita Velasquez as they follow the twisted trail of a murderer on a hunt of his own.

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Book Promotion In The Age of Pandemic

Column by Rob Hart May 4, 2020 1 comment
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Book Promotion In The Age of Pandemic

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Bookstores and libraries are closed. 

In-person gatherings are either discouraged or banned (at least in states not run by sycophants).

The media and entertainment industries are in tailspin—either bracing for layoffs or overwhelmed by coronavirus coverage. 

Which begs the question—what the hell are authors supposed to even do right now? 

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10 Horror Novels You Should Not Try to Reinvent Unless You Are Awesome, Brave, and a Little Stupid

Column by Jay Wilburn May 1, 2020
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10 Horror Novels You Should Not Try to Reinvent Unless You Are Awesome, Brave, and a Little Stupid

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Maybe writing any novel requires you to be awesome, brave, and a little bit stupid. If that were true, I could put any novel from any genre on this list. Instead, I limited myself to horror, and chose novels that represent broader categories or tropes that are easy to execute badly. Many examples exist of authors who did just that. There are fewer—but still important—examples of authors who created their own unique take on a popular idea that worked really well.

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All Stories Are Existential

Column by Joshua Isard April 30, 2020 1 comment
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All Stories Are Existential

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Many readers would consider existential novels to be a sub-genre of literary fiction, including works by Sartre, Camus, de Beauvoir, and maybe a few more contemporary names like David Foster Wallace and Milan Kundera. Really, though, all fiction is existential, and if yours isn’t, then it’s probably pretty boring. Here’s why.

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