And that's 652 posts over almost six years. I remember when there were only about a hundred people around here, and many fewer regulars... wheeze... Hey! My next book, One King, One Soldier, comes out on the 27 of this month. If'n you want to know about it, you can see reviews at bookslut.com, Science Fiction Weekly, or snippets on my own website, alexirvine.net On time to write: I do it after my kids go to bed, mostly.
Irvine, I've been meaning to ask you, I saw your name on a book relating to some of Asimov's work. Is it the same Alex Irvine? If so, what's the scoop on that book? I'm a huge fan of Asimov's work, and I'm curious as to how you got to play in his playground.
That's me. It came out of the blue, the guys who have rights to Asimov's robot universe have done a series of books, and they asked me to do one. I'm not a huge Asimov fan, but the project sounded interesting, so I thought what the heck. I think they want me to do another one as well, but they're not easy to work with and I still haven't seen the second half of the advance. So that will likely be my only foray into Asimoviana.
This thread needs a little dusting off, and I don't think there could be a better reason to dust it off. I got an acceptance letter today, for the story that I was completing this summer and that was mentioned several pages back. I was pumping my fist and dancing around the house with elation. I have now placed two stories in three publications over the past couple of years. More importantly, I'm 3 for 5 the last five submissions. I sent this thing to only one place and it got accepted, pretty enthsuiastically, there. And the thing was, I felt confident that it would get published. I felt the same way before the first time, but there was no way I could justify that sort of confidence. now I've hit the point where I believe anything of quality that I write has a very good shot. That's the cool part. It's a website, Storysouth.com. I believe it's a magazine that went digital. It's a good site.
Awesome news, dude. I'm still chugging along with my column. Occasionally play with my novel. Need to send that to a few more agents. Have a few other manuscripts I do work on once in a while. And I started a sitcom script, but never finished it. Remember - November is National Novel Writing Month. Do you NaNoWriMo?
Congratulations! How did you find the publications that accepted your stories? "Short Story & Novel Writer's Market"? Searching online?
I think I had heard of them through a writer's market book years ago. I found them online just by googling, following links, etc.while looking for markets for the previous story.They rejected that one, but put me on an e-mailing list, so I kept them in mind. As implied, it has a southern focus, as does my story. So it was a very good fit. They may be in with the Web Del Sol network. For those unfamiliar, that's a confederation of E-zines Those are pretty good publications. But don't quote me on their membership. I remember an earlier exchange, probably in one of the BSW threads with Irvine, where I said that after my first credit, I felt a tremendous relief and didn't write for a long time. Irvine said his first credit got him to sit down and start writing more. UI'm having the Irvine reaction this time.
Two things: 1. CONGRATULATIONS!!!! That's awesome. 2. Thanks for resurrecting the thread. Maybe it will help get me off my butt to start writing again.
Get off your butt.It's good for you. Do you have any . I just got the link to the first edit. "He wants to clean up some loose ends and narrative lines." My first gut reaction was something along the lines of "don't touch my stuff!!!!!!" but that's fading. My problem is that I like loose ends. I think literature is a little too clean. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to work with the editor when they want to make changes? I think things will work out, but I want to know if anyone has any advice.
I'm gonna pass this year. I really should work on finishing what I did last year before I start a new one.
I'm signed up to do it this year... but I'm just afraid I won't have time. Lesson plans... paperwork... grading papers... writing a novel? Umm..... well, I'll try. I also want to do that hundred words thing. Check out 100words.net. It seems pretty cool too.
Good, bad, indifferent, or otherwise, it's up. http://www.storysouth.com/fall2004/contamination.html Monster, Maybe I'll participate in the novel thing. give me a couple of days and we'll see.
hey! I think I've found an artist to work with on some comics. Finally. Time to get to work in earnest.
I've started, albeit not very much. I will post what I write here. Check out otehr parts of my site if you visit.
I figured out why I have trouble writing when I'm teaching classes that require me to grade papers. In grading papers, I have to be extremely dishonest. I can't write in the margins "this is a half-ass job to which you have clearly given no thought whatsoever...", I have to write, "This is an interesting point. The paper would be much better if this idea was developed more fully." And so forth. My wife may have found a solution. I was grading a paper that had sentences like, "everyone will make mistakes during there duration of their lifetimes." and "Therefore; this slack is negative and unmoral people live by this and then there is good which humans that provide relief for humanity are considered to be moral." (This is a native-born speaker of English, not an ESL student, and she has no reported learning disabilities... and in fact she's a college sophomore). My wife listened to me complain, then had to hear me think through the "this is why I can't write well when I'm grading papers" epiphany, when she gave me a blank sheet of paper. "Write the truth here," she said. I did. We'll see if it helps. I pass this on so that other people who find it hard to write and grade papers in the same day (week/month/semester) can try it.
So does your E-Z Pass to Heaven come before you die or do you pick it up when you arrive? I don't teach, but have an office near the English faculty. Quite interesting hearing some of their one-on-one sessions.
Doc W, I absolutely sympathize with what you're saying about grading. Ay yi yi. I was just involved in a cool project. Anyone here play the video game Halo? I was part of the writing team that created an audio drama/online scavenger hunt/viral marketing campaign called I Love Bees, as part of the buildup to Halo 2, which comes out tomorrow. It was just written up in the NYT, and there's been quite a bit of interest among Halo gamers etc. Check the game portal out at ilovebees.com Or check out the Haunted Apiary, BigSoccer for players of this game, at forums.unfiction.com Something different than I'd done before...
Hey Irvine, Now you KNOW you've made it big. Some folks are hocking autographed books of yours on ebay! http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=377&item=4504484153&rd=1
Just read the entire thread...most interesting...I am working on a memior, almost finished and am awaiting Dr Wanklers honest (he promised) review. A couple of years ago while sitting at work I wrote in longhand a story about the antique furniture business ( my second love) and showed it to a friend who loved it. She in turn showed the story to a friend at D Magazine ( a Dallas monthly) and they contacted me and bought the thing for $750.00 ! the story ran in the sept 2002 issue of D Home. I then submitted a second article, also accepted and paid for which should have run in the october 2003 issue of D Magazine entitled "Dallas Antiques". The story never made the light of day, the editor at "D" told me they would not run it "at this time" although I could keep the money...I later found out some of the "antique" dealers in town spent a lot of advertising dollars to keep my story out of the magazine ( the story delt with fakes and the con job that is the antique furniture business in this city) I have not submitted anything since although you could say I'm batting a thousand....be happy to e-mail either story to anyone interested..just pm me. england66
I began a book in early August. I am 80-90% complete, and it will have very few edits (probably no serious ones). I am on a roll and will complete before X-mas barring some sort of serious setback. Working title: to Martino. I believe it's the best work I have ever done, but Hu knows. Am very excited about it, but of course in the end it's all a crapshoot.