Category: Gaia Nova

Thoughts on the recent escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

For the last couple of days, I’ve been going back and forth on whether to write this post. It’s not something that’s directly in my wheelhouse, and few things turn me off to other writers and artists more than when they feel a need to publicly post their every knee-jerk reaction to the political issues… Continue reading Thoughts on the recent escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Taking Bringing Stella Home off of Permafree

I have a lot of free and permafree books. Most of them are short, though: short stories under 10k words, with one novelette between 10k and 20k words and one novella between 20k and 40k words. Until now, I had only one permafree full-length novel: Bringing Stella Home at just under 100k words. (As a… Continue reading Taking Bringing Stella Home off of Permafree

P is for Parenthood

I’m currently in the process of writing the second edition of my newsletter exclusive, Science Fiction from A to Z, adding a bunch of new chapters and rewriting all of the old ones. For a blog post this week, I thought I’d share one of the new chapters. Let me know what you think! I… Continue reading P is for Parenthood

2020-01-16 Newsletter Author’s Note

This author’s note originally appeared in the January 16th edition of my email newsletter. To sign up for my newsletter, click here. For my birthday last year, Mrs. Vasicek got me the first three books in the Dune series by Frank Herbert. I looove the new cover art, which is mostly why I wanted them,… Continue reading 2020-01-16 Newsletter Author’s Note

My New Writing Process (or why I don’t believe in pantsing anymore)

For the longest time, I thought I was a “discovery writer.” That is to say, I believed there were two kinds of writers—pantsers vs. plotters—and that I was very much a pantser. It was what I was comfortable with. It was what I defaulted to when I sat down to write. It was the style… Continue reading My New Writing Process (or why I don’t believe in pantsing anymore)

April update

Sorry to go dark for so long. I’ve been sick off and on for the last two months, first with a sinus infection, then with a lung infection, and lately with a persistent stomach flu. Thankfully, I’ve been functional through all of it, but not at 100%, which is why I’ve neglected the blog. I… Continue reading April update

Seven years of ebook pricing data

Last October, Dean Wesley Smith wrote an interesting blog post on the subject of pricing. As an indie writer (or really, as a small business owner in general), pricing is one of those things that’s constantly on my mind. Pricing too high can be fatal for any business, but pricing too low can be a… Continue reading Seven years of ebook pricing data

Trope Tuesday: Manic Pixie Dream Girl

Oh dear. I’m probably going to take some heat for this one, especially if it gets picked up by File 770. What is a “manic pixie dream girl”? Tvtropes puts it this way: An upbeat young woman whose love gives the brooding male hero a new lease on life. Wikipedia puts it this way: …the… Continue reading Trope Tuesday: Manic Pixie Dream Girl

Early January Update

The holidays are over. Blergh. I don’t generally do well when my routine gets broken up by outside forces, which is why this blog has fallen by the wayside for the last week or so. I’m also not very good at creating structure in my life where none exists, so during times like the holidays… Continue reading Early January Update