The Day Rolled out a little after 2 this morning. Coffee and emails to wake up, and then a shocker from the Smashwords blog. Mark Coker has decided to end his association with Flipkart, the small ebook retailer in India. That effectively hands Amazon a monopoly in distributing ebooks on that continent. Although I understand why he’s doing it, I don’t like that even in the title of his post he seems to blame Amazon. Regardless … Read more
Hi Folks, This will be an extra blog post. On 1 September I’ll be back to posting nuts and bolts how-to information for writing. I’ve come to see my daily journal, the other major blog post from this site, as eminently more important than this one. In it, I outline my day (the day of a professional writer) and write a Topic of the Night on most nights. I also generally pass along whatever important tidbits … Read more
The Day Well I’m back. I decided to fire up this journal again. When I shut down this blog 11 days ago, I wrote, “over half of the subscribers aren’t interested, so why bother detailing my daily journey as a writer?” What a stupid question. And the answer is “Um, well, because I was doing it more to hold myself accountable than for any other reason. And the half who ARE interested make it worthwhile.” So … Read more
The Day If you read this earlier, I’ve edited it. Rolled out a little before 3 this morning. Had a fairly good walk, mostly asphalt, with some heart and lung-pumping hills. Only a little over 4.5 miles, but the hills made it a good workout too. Had a trip to Sierra Vista for groceries and cat stuff and a new coffee maker. It was early afternoon before I got back and haven’t written a word of … Read more
Happy 4th of July Independence Day to everyone. Hope it’s an enjoyable one for you. The Day Slept ’til almost 3 this morning. Woohoo! But a little late to work. Okay, first, a very brief announcement. Beginning with tomorrow’s post (so July 4), this particular post will go out at 7 p.m. instead of 6 p.m. As it is right now, sometimes this post cuts into my real writing time. Can’t have that. I wrote the … Read more
Hi Folks, I was just looking at my site stats. Shouldn’t do that, I know, but I did. Ugh. Seeing those stats prompted me to write this interim post concerning a pair of curiosities. Curiosity Number One Of 500+ subscribers to this blog, I typically get around 80 views. Oddly, that’s on the in-between posts, like this one. The “big” posts in the Microsoft Word for Writers series that I’m doing right now generally get around … Read more
Hi Folks, This is another in the non-series series of posts that I hope you might find useful. This morning I rolled out of bed right at 2 a.m. I’ve been getting up between 2 and 3 for quite awhile now. I consider it working the morning shift. Quiet time. Writing time. And on this particular morning, I awoke realizing I had a short story due. In April 2014, I challenged myself to write at least … Read more
Hi Folks, Over at Smashwords, any of my fiction—short stories, novellas or novels—that’s regularly priced at $2.99 or higher is 50% off this week only, now through March 7. To take full advantage of this offer, simply select the books you want and then apply coupon code RAE50 when you check out. Be sure to check for short stories, collections, novels and novellas on my page and on Eric Stringer’s page. Also, you’ll find short stories … Read more
Hi Folks, Just an announcement today. I’m ever cognizant that there are writers too far away to attend my on-site seminars and writing intensives. And frankly, I’m not doing many of them anymore anyway. To that end, I put together some audio lectures. There are several on various aspects of the craft itself, and today I decided to put the best technique I’ve ever learned back in the lineup. It’s called Writing Off Into the Dark. … Read more
Yeah, sort of. If you’re a writer, you need resources, and the fact is, I’m a good one. I’ve recently revamped the Writers’ Resources listing in the right sidebar of my page. That sidebar contains a list of copyeditors as well as various useful tools: several dictionaries for everything from slang to sex; language translators and conversion resources for measurements, mileage, money and more; invaluable information for would-be independent publishers; character naming conventions; free apps; free … Read more