Monthly Archives: February 2008
Snowy Dog Chaser
Posted on February 18, 2008 16 Comments
Because I ranted earlier today, here’s a fluffy, snowy puppy: There, that makes everything better.
A Gut Check Moment for SFWA
Posted on February 18, 2008 298 Comments
(Note: this is a long rant about SFWA. If you don’t care about SFWA, you can skip it. If you do care, get a snack.) A question from the peanut gallery: Since you’re not running for SFWA president, do you mind sharing your thoughts about that race this year? Not at all. Basically, this is […]
Registration Changes at Whateveresque
Posted on February 17, 2008 10 Comments
Because of the immense number of attempted spambot sign-ups at Whateveresque, I’ve decided to change the way I do member registrations there. From now on, I will register people for memberships there on the 1st and 15th of each month, rather than on a rolling basis, as I had done. This will accomplish two things. […]
Congratulations Holly Black and Steven Gould
Posted on February 17, 2008 35 Comments
It’s a good weekend for writers of my more or less general acquaintance: The Spiderwick Chronicles, based on the book written by my pal Holly Black, came in 3rd in the weekend box office with a healthy $19 million (which is right about what I told a friend of mine it would gross, so I […]
The Power! The Power!
Posted on February 17, 2008 22 Comments
Power went out here just short of 11am and only now resumed. I am happy to report we did not have to eat any of the domestic animals in the ensuing, thankfully short-lived civilizational collapse. Hope you all likewise managed to avoid the apocalypse.
Nipping it in the Bud
Posted on February 16, 2008 75 Comments
Dear Barack Obama Supporters: All y’all are starting to exhibit all the same exceptionally annoying pathologies as Ron Paul supporters. Please note Ron Paul’s current delegate count. Thank you for your attention.
Because GLaDoS Won’t Disassemble Herself
Posted on February 16, 2008 23 Comments
Athena, putting herself into infinite regressing freefall while she takes a small break from battling an insane computer. Note she’s so hardcore she plays Portal on portrait mode. Because landscape is for babies. Also, clearly, the desktop computer is fixed.
A Couple of Nice Things
Posted on February 16, 2008 26 Comments
A quick note of some accolades sent my way recently: * The Last Colony popped onto SFSite’s Reader’s Choice Best of 2007, along with Axis, Brasyl, The Name of the Wind (which took top honors) and six others. The Ghost Brigades was on this list last year, so it’s nice to see the series continue […]
“Zoe’s Tale” Auction to Benefit the Disabled American Veterans Charitable Service Trust
Posted on February 15, 2008 65 Comments
The Short Version: I have recently completed my newest book, Zoe’s Tale, and am offering a special pre-publication bound manuscript version of the novel to auction to benefit the Disabled American Veterans Charitable Service Trust. This is an exclusive and extremely rare version of this novel (only four other copies of this edition exist) and […]
Reminder: Free eBooks from Tor
Posted on February 15, 2008 45 Comments
I mentioned last week about how Tor was giving away free eBooks of popular titles (including Old Man’s War) to those folks who signed up to receive a newsletter; well, the e-mail about first of these titles, Brandon Sanderson’s Elantris Mistborn, just showed up in my mail queue. It’s a PDF file, and it looks […]
Kaboom
Posted on February 14, 2008 91 Comments
Windows updated today, automatically, and then as it was installing the update (“do not restart or unplug the computer!”) it crashed, offering up a blue screen of death and forcing a reboot. Now this picture represents as far as it will actually go in the signing on process — I can’t even access the boot […]
Whateverettes, RSS
Posted on February 14, 2008 8 Comments
Incidentally, for those of you who read Whatever on an RSS feed of some sort, if you’d like to see the Whateverettes but can’t be bothered to actually visit the site, here’s the RSS feed for them. Don’t say I never did anything for you.
My Gothy Valentine
Posted on February 14, 2008 27 Comments
For your Valentine’s Day pleasure, allow me to unload unto you a classic-yet-underrated slab of late 20th Century goth romantic mopery: “Stand Inside Your Love,” by The Smashing Pumpkins: This is actually one of my favorite Smashing Pumpkins songs, because for as much as Billy Corgan is an object lesson in how overcompensating neurotic self-importance […]
Customer Service Question
Posted on February 14, 2008 121 Comments
So, in my neverending quest to keep Whatever interesting to all y’all, a question: The Whateverettes (over there on the sidebar): Are you aware of them? Do you click on the links from time to time? Are they a valuable addition to your daily Whatevery? Please let me know. And remember, this is for posterity, […]
The First Step is Admitting You Have a Problem
Posted on February 14, 2008 29 Comments
To begin, know that for reasons too tiresome to recount here, I started the morning with trauma involving a cat. This occasioned me standing in front of my bathroom mirror and observing all the various places I was bleeding from the head. My first thought was not “let’s get out the hydrogen peroxide.” It was, […]
Gaze Upon its Gazeuponableness!
Posted on February 13, 2008 42 Comments
Look what just arrived in the mail: Yes, it’s one of five printed and bound copies of the completed manuscript of Zoe’s Tale that exist in all the world. One copy is mine, one goes to my wife, and two are gifts. As for the fifth copy… well, some of you will recall that I […]
Also, Since People Have Been Asking
Posted on February 13, 2008 21 Comments
Of the $164,000 I made from writing last year, about $120,000 of it was from writing fiction. The rest is from other sources, including non-fiction book advances and royalties, blogging for AOL and various one-off projects. Of the fiction money, the most significant chunk came from royalties from Old Man’s War and The Ghost Brigades […]
Three More Links About Writing and Money
Posted on February 13, 2008 11 Comments
In addition to the Jim C. Hines link about writing and income I posted earlier: * Catherine Shaffer is talking about non-fiction freelancing (NB: Up until last year, this sort of freelancing was the largest single chunk of my income); * Agent Jennifer Jackson breaks down what new writers can expect out of their first […]
Various & Sundry 2/13/08
Posted on February 13, 2008 35 Comments
More bits and pieces: * First, dig this: The super-mega-ultra deluxe versions of Old Man’s War and The Ghost Brigades: These things are wrapped in so much leather that when I took them out of the shipping box, I thought I’d stepped into a boot store. The insides of the tray cases you see here […]
More Writing “Advice”
Posted on February 13, 2008 24 Comments
Not from me, from Stephen Granade. Here’s a sample: Here’s the thing that you, the would-be fiction writer, have to understand about writing and publishing: it’s a big conspiracy. It’s a cabal. There are probably robes and secret handshakes and driving around in tiny cars while wearing fezzes. You can tell because every published writer […]
Whatever Everyone Else is Saying