Short Film Friday: Box 616

Images that Inspire

Quotes of the Week

If you do not breathe through writing, if you do not cry out in writing, or sing in writing, then don't write.
—Anaïs Nin

Maybe the hardest thing in #writing is simply to tell the truth about things as we see them.
—John Steinbeck

And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.
—Friedrich Nietzsche

I do not write with ease, nor am I ever please with anything I write. And so I rewrite.
—Margaret Mitchell

Write hard and clear about what hurts.
—Ernest Hemingway

Quantity produces quality. If you only write a few things, you're doomed.
—Ray Bradbury

A good editor may spot when something is missing; a bad editor tries to tell you what to put there.
—Mary Lee Settle

Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt.
—John Muir

The terrible thing about being a writer is that you don’t decide to become one, you discover that you are one.
—James Baldwin

Tuesday Tips: Goal Setting

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Basement Blues...

Short Film Friday: Slaughterbots

Images that Inspire

Quotes of the Week

Whatever you’re meant to do, do it now. The conditions are always impossible.
—Doris Lessing

The final lesson a writer learns is that everything can nourish the writer. The dictionary, a new word, a voyage, an encounter, a talk on the street, a book, a phrase learned.
—Anaïs Nin

I put myself in the character's shoes, talk to myself until something honest comes out, and write it down.
—Lin-Manuel Miranda

Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself.
—Charlie Chaplin

Don’t send your first three chapters until they are so good you couldn’t bear changing a word: If you don’t love it, we won’t. You only get one chance to read something for the first time so don’t think you can fix that problem later. There won’t be a later.
—Jonny Geller

Whatever you describe to another person is also a revelation of who you are and who you think you are. You cannot describe anything without betraying your point of view, your aspirations, your fears, your hopes. Everything.
—James Baldwin

The worst enemy to #creativity is self-doubt.
—Sylvia Plath

If you don't have time to read, you don't have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.
—Stephen King

Books are no more threatened by Kindle than stairs by elevators.
—Stephen Fry

Tuesday Tips: 13 Mistakes

Next up!

Corners of Inspiration

Short Film Friday: Skywatch

Images that Inspire

Quotes of the Week

Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.
—Steven King

Happiness is pursuing work that sustains the spirit.
—Walt Disney

If history was taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.
—Rudyard Kipling

There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it.
—Alfred Hitchcock

Sometimes good things fall apart, so better things can come together.
—Marilyn Monroe

The time to begin writing a story is when you have finished it to your satisfaction.
—Mark Twain

There’s always room for a story that can transport people to another place.
—J.K. Rowling

Anything that gets your blood raging is probably worth writing.
—Hunter Thompson

Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.
—Pablo Picasso

We all have time machines, don't we, those that take us back are memories...And those that carry us forward are dreams.
—H.G. Wells

Always go a little further into the water than you feel you’re capable of being in. Go a little bit out of your depth. And when you don’t feel that your feet are quite touching the bottom, you’re just about in the right place to do something exciting.
—David Bowie

To gain your own voice, you have to forget about having it heard.
—Allen Ginsberg

Tuesday Tips: Story Structure

I am a big plotter. I outline heavily. Outlining is where all my ideas come together into a story.

A story structure is like the skeleton of the story that you will then layer the guts and meat of the story. Each draft is another layer. Remember the early drafts? That's why they are not pretty and even a bit scary.

Try to add the clothes or skin to early and your story won't look right!

You want Zombies? This is how you get Zombies...

--The Anthologies from Tannhauser Press!

Short Film Friday: Regulation

Images that Inspire

Quotes of the Week

I think it’s terribly dangerous for an artist to fulfill other people’s expectations.
—David Bowie

I’m writing a first draft and reminding myself that I’m simply shoveling sand into a box so that later I can build castles.
—Shannon Halen

No true artist will tolerate for one minute the world as it is.
—Friedrich Nietzsche

I don't try to guess what a million people will like. It's hard enough to know what I like.
—John Houston

Part of the process of #writing is not so much to explain your vision but to discover it. I think that’s what you do when you write: You find out what you think.
—Robert Towne

Trust your own instinct. Your mistakes might as well be your own, instead of someone else’s.
—Billy Wilder

The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do.
—Thomas Jefferson

Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius, and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.
—Marilyn Monroe

There is more power in telling little than in telling all.
—Mark Rothko

That delete key is on your machine for a good reason.
—Stephen King

Tuesday Tips: Budgeting Basics for Writers

Now available on audible for a single credit or one low price!

--36 hours of Scifi action-adventure, survival, romance, and tragedy!

Still no flying cars...

Welcome to 2020

It's 2020 and still no flying cars, dammit.

2019 was a year of change and distraction. I sold my house, bought another, moved twice, and had surgery on my left hand. All hosed my writing.

Oh well, I guess I will just have to write a novel set in 2020 to make up for it.

The first novel I will release this year is SHADOWS OF THE SENTINEL. Bail the Cat will return in this one. All new characters otherwise and I expect a March release. I hope the final draft will go to the editor on January 31 to make the march release date.

My other novel I plan to release this year is TIME ENOUGH. A time travel novel set in 2020.

There will also be short stories, anthologies, and collections, as usual, that will likely sneak in there.

--Wish me luck!

Short Film Friday: Invaders

Images That Inspire!

--You must check out the Sci-Fi Air Show!

Happy New Year, Humans!!