Tag Archives: writing advice

Monday Musings: What Matters, Part IV — Money

Posted on January 23, 2023 by dbjackson

Say you don’t need no diamond rings, And I’ll be satisfied; Tell me that you want the kind of things, That money just can’t buy. — John Lennon and Paul McCartney We were bound to get to money eventually, right? … Continue reading →

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Professional Wednesday: What Matters In Your Work? Part I

Posted on January 4, 2023 by dbjackson

On Monday, I began what will be a series of posts on the things that matter to us, and the ways in which we can make them central to our lives. Not surprisingly, I think about this a great deal … Continue reading →

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Professional Wednesday: Three Ways To Help Your Short Fiction Submission, and Three Ways To Doom It

Posted on December 21, 2022 by dbjackson

The deadline for submissions to Artifice and Craft, the anthology I’m co-editing with Edmund Schubert for Zombies Need Brains, is ten days away. December 31. As of this writing, we are closing in on 400 submissions. The anthology will have … Continue reading →

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Professional Wednesday: Special Guest Joelle Presby

Posted on November 2, 2022 by dbjackson

I first met Joelle Presby several years back at a convention, and I was struck straight off by a number of things. 1) She’s just plain nice. That’s certainly not unheard of in the publishing world, but it’s also not … Continue reading →

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Professional Wednesday: An Alternative to NaNoWriMo

Posted on October 26, 2022 by dbjackson

First off, many thanks to those who offered feedback on last week’s post, in which I asked for input regarding what I might work on next. I appreciate your thoughts. The general consensus appears to be that there is no … Continue reading →

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Professional Wednesday: Finishing a Book Actually Means More Work

Posted on October 12, 2022 by dbjackson

As I mentioned last week, I have recently finished the third book in my new contemporary Celtic urban fantasy, The Chalice Wars. This book, The Chalice Wars: Sword, will be out sometime fairly early in 2023. Book I, The Chalice … Continue reading →

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Professional Wednesday: It’s All Connected

Posted on September 28, 2022 by dbjackson

One more post about my teaching weekend at the Hampton Roads Writers Conference . . . . As I believe I mentioned last week, I taught four classes at the event. The topics were: point of view, character development, world … Continue reading →

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Professional Wednesday: What To Tell Aspiring Writers About The Current Literary Market

Posted on September 7, 2022 by dbjackson

If we have to write — and I’ve always felt that writing is an imperative, something I do to tame the voices in my head, the stories burning in my heart — then we should do it to satisfy that … Continue reading →

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Professional Wednesday: Dealing With My Latest Editorial Feedback

Posted on July 6, 2022 by dbjackson

I’ve written many times before about dealing with edits on a story or novel manuscript, and I don’t want to repeat myself any more than necessary. But I have just received feedback from my editor on the first book in … Continue reading →

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Professional Wednesday: One Hot-Mess of a Writing Post

Posted on June 29, 2022 by dbjackson

Dispensing writing advice when one is struggling a bit with one’s own work can be somewhat strange. Just ask . . . well, me. I am more than 50,000 words into my current work-in-progress, the third book in my Celtic … Continue reading →

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