Jeremy James, Author. Thriller-ish Dark Fantasy, Web Geekery, And The Occassional Delusion.

Recent Musings

Thursday, May 29, 2008 Shelved In: NEWS: Events

Download A Humorous Science Fiction Novel For Free

Simon Haynes

Simon Haynes, author of the HAL SPACEJOCK series, is making FREE LUNCH freely available for download.

Simon is also the creator of the free and extremely useful word processor for writers, yWriter.

Simon is a very nice guy.

When I downloaded a beta version of yWriter, and pointed out a bug in the program via email, Simon fixed it within days and emailed me back to let me know the latest build corrected the issue. So, help me say 'thanks!' and go enjoy the very entertaining science fiction Simon writes (and is sharing for free).

Tuesday, May 20, 2008 Shelved In: NEWS: Events

The Creative Power Of Constraints

A Twitter Fiction Contest

Brian Clark is hosting a Twitter fiction contest over at CopyBlogger. If you're familiar with Twitter, then you know each post is constrained to a mere 140 characters.

Can you tell a story in such a confined space? If so, you could win an IPod Nano 4G. You have until Friday, May 23rd to enter.

You can read my entry here: http://twitter.com/JeremyJames/statuses/815930549 If I win, I'll be donating the iPod to a charitable organization.

In other news...

Monday, April 07, 2008 Shelved In: WRITING: Process Progress

How To Hit Your Writing Deadlines Every Time - [Updated Link]

Use A [Google] Spreadsheet To Predict THE END

If you know how many words per day you've been hitting, and you know how many words total you want your novel to be, then it's straightforward to calculate the date you'll finish.

You could do this by hand, of course. But that would be boring. And slow.

Using a spreadsheet to track your writing progress also allows you to tweak the calculation for accuracy. For example, you can predict when you'll write "THE END" by the cumulative average words per day written, OR, your words-per-day average for the last 7 days. That way, when you write 30+ pages during a ~~crack~~ coffee binge, you won't get too cocky thinking your book will be finished in a week. You'll look at your cumulative Projected Finish Date and realize that you're really only averaging an amazing 100 words per day.

I'm gunning for May 30th, 2008 to have the rewrite of THE VEINGEL completed.

Monday, March 17, 2008 Shelved In: WRITING: Life In General

How Long Does It Take Your Brain To Boot?

Or, What Happens Before The Writing Starts?

I've noticed that it takes my brain almost exactly an hour to wake up enough to write in the mornings. By "wake up enough" I mean that state of mind where you can actually hear new prose in your head demanding to be written.

It would be nice if the muse would get to work a little earlier, but when I hired her, she made me agree to flex-time.

In case you're wondering: My muse looks like the faery version of Selma Hayek, with black butterfly wings as sharp as razor blades along the edges.

Sunday, March 16, 2008 Shelved In: WRITING: Life In General

My Office

For No Particular Reason

Friday, March 14, 2008 Shelved In: WRITING: Craft

Best TV Shows For Dialogue

(Now That THE WIRE Is Over)

I know, I know. TV will rot your brain, and people don't read enough these days. A writer recommending television is like a nutritionist recommending Twinkies.

Be that as it may, I have learned a fair amount about writing dialogue from watching shows like THE WIRE, and more recently, another HBO presentation, IN TREATMENT.

Highly recommended.

Others?

Wednesday, March 12, 2008 Shelved In: WRITING: Life In General