I about froze my nose off on the first part of the walk. The wind was right off the mountains, straight into my face.
There may be a hiccup in here. The phone was acting wonky, and it might have timed out on me. I can’t tell but the final time counter was 20:33 on the recorder. I don’t think we ended up with that in the file.
600 miles behind my heels.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Whooot! 0.03% of a light-second! Feel the time dilation!
I mean this is the nicest way possible when I say that I hope you aren’t taught anything different about characters or setting. I think those, along with dialogue, are already your biggest strengths as a writer. Learning something that makes change to be more like anyone else in those regards, successful or not, would be tragic.
Actually, I think I do character and setting about as well as anybody out there.
What I’m really looking for is how they relate to form stronger, more compelling plots.
This shouldn’t *change* anything about how I write. I’ve got a fairly well developed “voice” now and I really like it.
But getting away and talking about writing … this could be good.
Nate, I know that in your mind you have already committed the time and/or money to yourself. OK. But, please don’t saddle yourself with anything in the way of tasks or responsibilities that become yet another clever form of procrastination. To sit and read and critique the works of other writers whose current offerings you don’t much appreciate as a prerequisite for the honor of being able to (maybe) tap out a few thousand words of your own strikes me as a questionable gambit at best (let alone the silliness of dragging along printers so as to make the agony official). Is there nowhere else in the world that would represent a ‘friendly space’ to offer you some special inspiration to get the gray cells zinging? If you do feel the need to to hone your skills by rubbing up against others, then by all that is holy, please do so… but at the very least do so amongst people whose talents you admire. Make a bold, personal move. Think outside the box. Heck, kick the box until it becomes a tetrahedron! Hire someone to ferry the daughters and/or do the cooking for a few days. Camp out in a coffee shop. Call up some good writer friend in another city (Scott, Mur, Deborah, Seth or whoever) and move into their spare room for a few days. Take a driving trip of the Northern Rockies. Rent a cabin in the woods. Remove yourself to a cloister. Sign onto a tramp steamer. * Grrrrr! * I’m running out of both words and off-handed suggestions, but I think you get the idea.
PS: Nate, there is nothing, I repeat, nothing, wrong with your writing skills.
Hey Nate, funny you should mention that barsoonian tale. I had noticed it in the kindle selections (as a you might like) a few weeks ago and was thinking it was just taking the John Carver series and doing a redo with a female protagonist.
I’ll have to take a different look at it now…
BTW if we are talking the same title it is listed as “Jane Carver of Waar”
Hey, Nate, I went into Amazon today and was looking at a possible purchase and there you were as a suggestion to purchase, too—-right next to David Weber. Yep. Just the two of you. You are definitely coming up in the world. Wooohoooo!
NICE! 🙂