Archive for the 'Writing' Category
August 27th, 2010 by jdsawyer
By the time I finish writing this article, I’ll have written 123,000 words in fifty days. The output constitutes two short-book-length works (one novel, one reference work), nine blog posts, two commissioned articles, and some odds and ends of work on another novel.
For the first half of the duration, I did it by accident. So, I thought it might be worth something to those of you who write or want to if I documented the experience.
Continue reading ‘Writing Odyssey: The Binge’
August 9th, 2010 by jdsawyer
A few months back, after grinding my eight-year-old generic ergo keyboard into the ground I found myself in need of a new ergonomic keyboard. The keyboard failed on a deadline, so I had little choice but to do that thing you’re not supposed to do: shop for computer equipment at Best Buy.
I’ve been writing and hacking since the age of four, though I don’t hack much anymore, so I need an ergo keyboard to keep my wrists functioning properly. The only ergo on offer was the Microsoft Natural Pro 4000, so I paid through the nose for it ($60) and took it home.
It looked gorgeous. The spacebar was sticky as if the tolerances were a little too close, but I figured it would work out. Unfortunately, I never got to see if it would–the keyboard failed in about sixty days.
A return trip to Best Buy, and some carefully measured profanity coupled with very complimentary sweet talk, got me a new one of the same model for free.
Continue reading ‘Microsoft: Consistent Quality Through The Ages’
June 22nd, 2010 by jdsawyer
Those of you following the Balticon and Contracts series on the blog have probably been wondering where the hell I’ve been – and those of you following the podcasts are really wondering.
Well, I’ve been writing and producing an album. Wish there was a sexier answer, but there it is. And it is fun 
I’m going on pod later today to record some special episodes – one will contain Down From Ten bloopers!
The other one is the occasion for the post. I’m going to be recording a special episode about guns. Particularly, about how to deal with guns in fiction, geared for people who don’t have extensive first-hand experience with them. I’m going to be covering vocabulary, safety, different types of firearms, popular myths that come from movies, and other stuff that can shoot your credibility in the foot. To this end, if you have questions, please post them to the comments here, so I can be sure to answer them.
See you on pod soon! And fear not. The Balticon Adventure and Principles of Contracts both return next week.
June 4th, 2010 by jdsawyer
As a writer, like most writers, I have one giant terror point. For some people it’s the writing. For some people it’s showing your work to friends, or to strangers. For some people it’s marketing in general. For me, it’s marketing fiction to editors. I don’t have a problem with nonfiction (as my bibliography demonstrates), but when it comes to the giant black box world of terror there’s very little that can beat marketing fiction to New York.
It’s scared me since I was 12, when I read Writer’s Digest religiously at the library every day (which, in retrospect, was my first mistake). To my twelve year old mind, it described a world full of arcane rituals, secret handshakes, nepotism, and strange protocols – and a game at which nobody made a dime to boot.
Of course, I’ve learned better in the meantime, but the terror never quite went away. For years I’ve coped by doing other things I needed to do anyway in order to go pro – focusing on craft, learning to network at cons, podcasting and learning about how to interact with an audience, building my platform, and romancing the occasional agent, but I’ve hit the point in my career where I’ve got a hell of a backlist piling up (at least, for someone at my point in their career), and a handful of fiction sales that prove that my terror (which is largely born of the sense that I don’t understand a goddamn thing about the fiction publishing culture) is well past the point of being about 75% bullshit.
Continue reading ‘The Great Ass-Moving Experiment’
May 6th, 2010 by jdsawyer
[amazon-product align="right" bgcolor="#99CCCC" height="240" width="120" frameborder="1"]189749209X[/amazon-product]It may be a minor thing in retrospect, but today it’s tickling my socks off. My first fiction print sales are now available from Amazon. The Pod Complex is an anthology of the best stories from the podosphere in genres ranging from mystery to horror with all stops in between. My own stories Cold Duty, The Man In The Rain, and Angels Unawares feature, and they’re joined by other authors like Podfather Tee Morris, Dark Overlord Scott Sigler, Dead Robot Justin Macumber, Night Terror-inducer Phil Rossi, and a host of other creative folks like Jared Axelrod, Jack Mangan, Emerian Rich, J.D. Williams, and at least four others whose stories I haven’t read yet (but, judging by the general quality of the anthology, should be page-turners).
It’s a handsome trade paperback with pretty cover-art, and will sit handsomely on your bookshelf or coffee table. Hours of entertainment – and, in my case, new and improved versions of stories you love, now available to enjoy at your own pace instead of at mine.
Share and Enjoy!
March 16th, 2010 by jdsawyer
As part of my self-education as a writer learning to market his work, I’ve been watching trends in e-books and audiobooks as well as publishing industry trends, and thinking about them in the context of podcasting as an endeavor that takes a lot of passion and commitment from very creative people.
With all the talk of the podcasting revolution a few years ago, I wonder how many people truly grasp the potential enormity of what we’re doing. Just like good old Mr. Ballantine who invented the paperback, we podcasters are creating new kinds of intellectual property. However, unlike Mr. Ballantine, we don’t fully appreciate what we’re up to.
Continue reading ‘It’s Time To Bust It Open’
March 1st, 2010 by jdsawyer
Free content – particularly in the audio fiction space – suddenly seems a lot less of a perpetual free lunch than it did six months ago, and it’s got a lot of folks freaking out in my corner of the Internet. Providers are dropping like flies this year! Matthew Wayne Selznick and J.C. Hutchins have both very publicly withdrawn from the podcast fiction space, and for the best reason there is: Money.
[Correction: MWS chimed in in the comments to correct my misapprehension of his current attitude toward podcasting, which is considerably more complex than the paragraph above makes it seem. My apologies for inadvertently misrepresenting him.]
The two of them are generation one podiobookers who appeared in the space hot on the heels of the three founders, and seeing them throw in the towel has a lot of other creators wondering: “Are we all just being idiots giving stuff away for free?” And it’s got a lot of fans wondering “What’s going to happen now? Are all my favorite writers going to give up?”
Continue reading ‘If You Build It, Will They Come?’
January 31st, 2010 by jdsawyer
I am pleased to report that the story I originally wrote for Philippa Ballantine‘s podcast project Erotica a la Carte has just sold to Circlet Press, and will be included in their forthcoming anthology Apocalypse Sex.
Buried Alive In The Blues is the story of Irene, a widow who finds herself trapped by a months-long rainstorm that’s drowning the world, but she doesn’t care, because she’s got a pass to see the best blues band in the world play at an old speakeasy in the neighboring town. But when the bass starts thumping and the lights hit the stage, she realizes she may get more than she bargained for – but that’s okay, because the blues are worth it.
If you haven’t heard the story and would like to, you can find it here. Definitely not work safe, it contains explicit sexual situations and a heavy dollop of the blues, Buried Alive is a southern gothic romance that will keep you guessing right up to the end.
I’ll keep you all posted on publication dates for the anthology!
July 24th, 2009 by jdsawyer
I am pleased to announce that my friend and sometimes actor Philippa Ballantine and I will be collaborating on a new project this year. Although my creative partner on this endeavor and I are both known for our steamy fiction, this project takes it to a whole new level.
Beginning in December, we will be working together on a Steampunk YA novel set in San Francisco, about a pair of young troublemakers who just can’t seem to stop fighting about a car, or the strange monsters that come out at night, or the steampunk world they keep stumbling into, or…well, that’s for you to find out, isn’t it? And find out you will, either through podcast or through print, when Philippa Ballantine and J. Daniel Sawyer present The Auto Motive sometime in 2010.
It’s going to be so much fun!
July 9th, 2009 by jdsawyer
I’m stopping in to give you all a quick digest on my recent activities, which have been many, prolific, and at hopefully somewhat scandalous.
First, the appearances. You can find me on recent episodes of Podioracket, The Dead Robots Society, and doing voice work as the German Army in Philippa Ballantine’s Weather Child. You can also hear my fantasy story Buried Alive In The Blues, for which I also did some of the voice work, on the excellent (if racy) anthology series Erotica A La Carte.
For those of you who enjoy my Open Source madness will be pleased to hear that there are new LinuxJournal articles – one is a review of the Indamixx portable recording studio, and the other, which hasn’t yet published, is a review of OpenGear’s new KVM management console. I’m currently stalking a couple more regular writing gigs, so if the internet gods smile upon me, you may be seeing quite a lot more out of me in this vein in the coming months.
Podcast monkeys, you may have noticed the new buttons on the right side of the page – each podcast feed now has an iTunes one-click subscription link, as well as the normal RSS buttons. There’s also now an Uberfeed, which will give you everything I podcast (except Apologia, which you can get here).
You also may have noticed that I’m now podcasting my new novel Down From Ten. This is a comedic country house mystery with elements of romance, horror, and science fiction around the edges – it’s a change of gears from The Antithesis Progression. It’s also listed on iTunes now, so if you’re listening and enjoying it, please leave a review and tell your friends.
I’m also the subject of, and participant in dialog to, a blog series about the doctrinal foundations of Christianity by Scott Roche on the Spiritual Tramp blog. If you like my arguments on Apologia, you’ll definitely find this one entertaining.
I’ve also recorded MORE Reprobates Hour episodes, which, along with all the other special features I have on my hard drive, I’ll hopefully start spooling out here again this month.
As far as writing projects go, Free Will is picking up steam and is now officially on schedule for a November release. I’m also working on a couple more secret projects, which hopefully I’ll have news about soon here.
Finally, I hope to have some good news on sales in the next couple weeks, so watch this space!
June 15th, 2009 by jdsawyer
Amazing day today full of good press for your humble narrator. It started off with your humble narrator being interviewed live on Podioracket’s BlogTalk Radio show. Shortly after I wrapped that up, an interview I did last month with WNDR Radio posted, and hot on the heels of that Dear Editor reviewed my story Cold Duty that I did for Steampod and Clonepod for Christmas last year. Lots of fun on all three of them – click the links and have a listen!
May 13th, 2009 by jdsawyer
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Here you are, all you wonderful listeners — a sneak preview of Down From Ten. Enjoy — and please distribute widely!
April 24th, 2009 by jdsawyer
Well, my friends (and enemies, and trespassers), I’ve just sold my first article that’s NOT about Linux. My essay “As The Gods Themselves…” about science fiction, religion, and the singularity is now online and available for download in PDF and MP3 format at The Journal Sci Phi.
If you enjoy world religions, are wondering where science fiction can go from here, or are curious about transhumanism or The Singularity, you’ll find something to entertain you and possibly get your dander up here.
Enjoy!
April 21st, 2009 by jdsawyer
My story Buried Alive In The Blues is now live at Erotica A La Carte. Head on over and take a listen. You probably guessed this based on the name of the venue, but this story is definitely not suitable for children. Enjoy!
April 21st, 2009 by jdsawyer
I’ve updated the Media Appearances and Publications pages, for those of you who want to be current on what I’ve been up to besides my podcasts and blogging.
