Archive for the 'Unsavory Excursions' Category
April 5th, 2013 by jdsawyer
Clarke Lantham, the hero of my detective series, lives and works around the San Francisco Bay. One of the features of the books that draws frequent comment is how much the Bay itself is a character in these stories.
Truth be told, it’s an intentional feature. I’ve been a lot of beautiful places in my life, even lived in a few of them (and some ugly places too), but there is something about the San Francisco Bay that can keep a soul fascinated for eternity.
If you’ve wondered what it is, and you want a taste, check out this video. It may explain a few things. Set aside about five minutes to just watch and enjoy. Moments of great beauty deserve undivided attention.
March 7th, 2013 by jdsawyer
Some of you might 
have run across the sneaky early e-book release already, but this is the official announcement.
Over the last few years, on this blog and elsewhere, I’ve gotten a lot of questions from authors and podcasters and other people wanting to either get into the audio habit or to up their game. This book answers all of them, and a lot more that you didn’t know you had. It’s written in the same quirky, fun style as Throwing Lead: A Writer’s Guide to Firearms and the People Who Use Them
Available now in ebook and paperback, AWP Books proudly presents my newest nonfiction book Making Tracks: A Writer’s Guide to Audiobooks (And How To Produce Them). Now available at fashionable ebook retailers everywhere, available in the next day or two from most fashionable paperback retailers (find links to order now at the bottom of this post), like these:
Paperback
DRM-free ebook for your Kindle, Nook, Kobo, or other reading device.
Also check out my interview today on The Creative Penn where I talk about the book and delve into some of the story behind it.
If you have ever found yourself tempted to pick up a microphone and join the podosphere, make an audiobook, or learn to be a voice over artist, this is the must-have, easily-digestible book you’ve been waiting for.
Back cover copy follows:
Continue reading ‘Released: Making Tracks’
March 5th, 2013 by jdsawyer
Today’s blog post 
was supposed to be a big release announcement, but I’m holding that for a few hours because I received a wonderful email from Mark Coker (CEO of Smashwords) informing me that my story Control Room is featured as a Breakout Book in the UK iBookstore today. This is my first time on the front page there, so do tell your iBookstoring friends!
Huge thanks and kudos to Apple and Smashwords for the big support boost!
Click Here for the announcement on the Smashwords blog.
Click Here to buy the story now at the iBookstore.
What is Control Room, you ask? Well, it goes something like this…
One room…
Infinite possibilities.
He sits alone, with no name. A faceless creature with a single purpose, he lives in a small room. He knows only his consoles, his buttons, his screens–the surfaces of a control room for a great machine that he calls “the universe.”
Or, if you’re not of the Apple tribe, grab it for your preferred device by looking in the column at far right.
September 28th, 2012 by jdsawyer
As the universe has rudely interrupted my studio diaries posts, here’s something to tide you over. A very accessible guide to the basics of contract law using Firefly’s episode plots to illustrate the basic concepts. Very fun, and very clever. Find it here.
January 10th, 2011 by jdsawyer
It’s mid January, and time for your vegetables. This year’s first link salad is here–I hope you enjoy this sampling of my weidrness and wanderings from around the web!
Continue reading ‘Link Salad, Jan 10, 2011′
December 27th, 2010 by jdsawyer
Time for your vegetables again — these are some of the highlights of my research journeys hither and yon in the great wasteland of cyberspace. Hope you enjoy!
Continue reading ‘Link Salad 12/27/10′
December 19th, 2010 by jdsawyer
The new Clarke Lantham Mystery is here. Explore the true meaning of Christmas with murder, mayhem, ghosts, and unfortunate accidents of physics!
It’s hard to beat being thrown in an out-of-state jail on a trumped up charge 
as a Christmas present, but detective Clarke Lantham loves a challenge. So when he calls up his brother for help with bail, he thinks he’s prepared for the ordeal of spending a holiday weekend with relatives who put the “strange” back in “estranged.”
That was his first mistake. Unfortunately, with an old client gumming up the works, a ten-year-old niece with a ghost problem, and the occasional murder competing for his attention, it’s unlikely to be his last.
Currently available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords.
December 3rd, 2010 by jdsawyer
Time for your vegetables again. Here’s some of the fun stuff that’s flitted across my desk in the last few weeks.
Crazy Silly Creative Things
To start off with our garnish, you could do no better than watching this 3 minute video about what Welshmen really do with sheep. Don’t worry, it’s work safe–but you won’t be while watchign it. This is seriously, amazingly cool.
Johnny Carson presents The Great Flydini, an utterly silly and borderline obscene magic act that will leave you in stitches. Don’t let obscene put you off — it’s work safe.
While you’re at it, put down your drink before reading this story about the trials of moving house with a pair of neurotic dogs.
Continue reading ‘Link Salad, Dec. 3, 2010′
December 2nd, 2010 by jdsawyer
The question came up on Twitter today: Are cons worth the time and money?
Opinionated though I am, it’s not an easy question to answer. So here’s a quickie list of the pros and cons garnered from a scarce four years of con-going experience:
Continue reading ‘Cons: Are They Worth It?’
November 29th, 2010 by jdsawyer
If 2007 was the year I got serious about writing, then 2010 was the year when attitude and education caught up with intent. Think of it as the difference between declaring a major (2007) and doing your first internship in a Ph.D. program (2010). Up till this year, I did one book a year and a couple short stories, maybe a screenplay, plus a lot of sketches, articles, and reading (in additional to the normal load of producing).
This year, I’m on track to do 6 short stories, 1 novella, 3 novels, 1.5 nonfiction books, and 15 articles. Fully 1/9th of my lifetime’s word output has happened this year. And I also landed a collaboration deal for a nonfiction with one of the veterans in the business (you’ll hear more about this during Q1 of next year).
During the same time, I upped my education a lot. I’ve gotten my footing in what had previously been a bizarre and foreign business to my way of thinking, learned how to apply past lessons to the current domain, and taken several other business projects forward specifically because of the gaps this education has filled in.
One of the things that surprised me is the lesson I learned ten years ago at the beginning of my time in and around independent film is even more important in the writing business than the film business. I’m henceforth calling it Sawyer’s First Law of Apprenticeship:
Continue reading ‘Sawyer’s First Law’
