• Where Do All The Writers Go?

    I’ve been an aspiring writer of fiction (largely science fiction novels) for over twenty years now, and have yet to publish a book-length work.  I have published a few short works, including one poem (free style), but nothing—short or long form—to a paying market.  Not a particularly auspicious beginning to a writing career, especially when…

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  • It’s A Two-Way Street

    I’ve been submitting queries about my trilogy of science-fiction novels to agents and a few editors for about fifteen years now (possibly more), and I would say that probably around half of those agents and editors now have a regular policy of not responding to an unsolicited query if they don’t intend to pursue it further.  Some don’t…

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  • Writing; Also Reading

    In the almost twenty years since I started writing fiction, I’ve noticed a change in the way I read that same genre.  I started my career as a scientist many, many years ago, and the only thing I wrote for a large part of my life were scientific papers.  The only thing I read with any frequency was…

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  • The Introverted Writer On The Internet

    As a somewhat introverted person and aspiring novelist, I have a tendency to sit in front of a computer and watch the world go by electronically. (Isn’t it amazing what electrons can do for us?)  Like many introverted people, I spend a lot of time alone.  Not lonely, mind you, but alone—there’s a big difference. …

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  • It’s Got To Be “Right”

    Over the past several years, beginning in late 2011, I’ve been sending out queries to literary agents around the country, trying to persuade one of them to take on my first novel and sell it to a publisher.  (This is what most people refer to as the “traditional” method of getting published.)  So far I’ve…

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