Month: June 2014

Two people have already offered to donate to RAINN in regard to the MZB book. My thinking is this: after I am done with the MDA Lockup in July, I will put the Marion Zimmer Bradley book on “sale” in August. The person with the highest substantiated donation to RAINN will get the book and do whatever they wish for it, for good or ill.

All donations for the book will be welcome, and the person who donates the highest amount of money will receive the book. If there is a tie, we will hold a drawing.

Having never done anything like this before, I’ll investigate how it’s done. I think the easiest thing to do will be to have you go to the RAINN site to donate, and send me the appropriate acknowledging email. At any rate, look forward to it.

I look forward to making this book do some good in the world.

Julia Dvorin, a fellow member of the Clockwork Lasercorn Team, has written me a very eloquent letter asking for help in a fund raiser for Hadley Rille Books. Please consider supporting their fundraising cause. Here’s Julia’s letter.

And please feel free to spread the word.

***

I’m writing to ask for your help. As you may remember, my publisher, Hadley Rille Books, is an independent small press that has done a terrific job over the last few years of publishing high-quality speculative fiction from diverse voices (like mine!). For the last 9 years, it has been run as mostly a heroic labor of love by its founder, Eric Reynolds, and a few volunteers—but now Hadley Rille is in one of those growth stages where it needs significant additional funding in order to get to the next level and get more books in front of more readers. A few other authors and I have jumped in to assist Eric in putting together an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign to help raise money so that Hadley Rille can publish and promote more great speculative fiction books. So I’m reaching out to people like you who I think might be interested in helping a spunky, high-quality, independent small press like Hadley Rille stay in business…and hopefully someday soon publish more of my books! 😉

How can you help? Well, if you already believe the continued existence of independent small press publishing is important*, or simply enjoy quality speculative fiction that prioritizes new voices from women and other historically marginalized points of view and want some cool prizes, feel free to click here to go straight to the Indiegogo campaign and make a contribution.

More importantly though, I really need some help in spreading the word about this funding campaign. This kind of fundraising is called “crowdfunding” because it takes a crowd to make it happen (as opposed to a couple of institutional or wealthy patron donors). When you tell your friends about this project, that doubles or triples the amount of people that we can reach, and if even just one or two additional people that you tell support the project, all together that becomes the crowd needed for funding this project. So please, please, help me reach out to all the other people out there that you know, and ask them if they might be willing to support this project too. You can talk to people—especially other readers—about Hadley Rille and the Indiegogo campaign. You can forward this email, or link to the Indiegogo campaign page on Facebook or Twitter. You can tell all your friends that work in PR about the little indie press that could (what, you don’t have friends that work in PR? Well, maybe your friends do…). The campaign runs through the end of July, so you have about six weeks to tell everyone about it and keep reminding them. Research shows that it often takes at least three or four times of telling someone about something before they take action on what you told them…so don’t give up!

Ok that’s it…thanks for listening, and thanks in advance for your help.

Cheers,

Julia

P.S. I’ll be sending out a few additional email updates as the Indiegogo project continues, so if you really aren’t interested in this project or in helping me out, and don’t want me to keep emailing you, please let me know and I will take your name off my email list. I do not in any way mean to offend or annoy. 🙂

P.S.S. The full link to the Indiegogo page, in case you want to cut and paste and share it with others, is this: http://igg.me/at/supportHRB/x/7768005

*Why is small press important? We believe independent small presses provide a vital “middle way” between the faceless corporate machine of the big publishing houses and the gutsy if lonely jack-of-all-trades DIY attitude of self-publishing. We like to think that small press publishing is the way publishing really should be: collaborative with and respectful of authors, and focused on the goal of sharing quality stories in attractive packages that delight a diverse audience. If you agree, please help support us!

This one isn’t triggery. I promise.

***

First of all, thank you for the overwhelming amount of positive reinforcement about yesterday’s post. There are a few things that have been brought to light, some of them known, some of them not so well known.

1. There are an abundance of adult survivors of every kind of abuse out there. We often don’t talk about it much because there’s stigma, and there’s not wanting people to know, and there’s not wanting to relive that abuse.

2. Many adult survivors have trouble breaking the cycle of abuse. If they do, there are these irrational fears. I don’t have children, for example, and one reason is the irrational fear that I would abuse them. Yes, I know that it’s not true. That’s why it’s IRRATIONAL.

3. The best thing I’ve found that helps me cope is to talk about it. To a counselor. To the Internet. To friends. I diminish the experience each time I talk about it. I’m not saying you should follow my strategy. I’m saying that survivors of abuse need to find a way to cope, and that a counselor is a great first step.

4. Many people can separate an artist from their work. I am not one of those people. If I had remained ignorant, The Mists of Avalon would have held a special place for me still. Now, it is like poison that it is in my home. I have decided to sell it and donate the proceeds, perhaps to one of those people who can separate. If MZB can help support childhood victims of abuse, well, hey, let’s just call this the Scalzi rule. You may know that Scalzi often donates money to appropriate organizations opposed to misogyny and racism in the name of misogynists and racists.

5. I am not my abuse. I appreciate all the supportive notes and hugs that you have been sending. I appreciate the empathy. That said, while I have chosen to reveal this particular information on the occasion to encourage a fandom stand on MZB, Breen, and other abusers, I am still the same witty, urbane and charming person whom you meet at conventions. What happened to me is SIGNIFICANT and HORRIBLE, but it does not define me, much as it does not define any victim of abuse.

So, hey, please use my post as you will. It’s out there, it’s meant to be public. And please think about all of us when you do use that post, past, present, and future. My goal is to be honest, but it is also to be a poster child for recovery. There can be life after these devastating events. A good life with wonderful people.

I’d like to keep some people from taking my journey. That’s where the post comes in, and especially, that’s where sharing the message comes in.

Triggery triggery triggery triggery mctriggery from trigger town.

Continue reading “Marion Zimmer Bradley from the Perspective of an Incest Survivor”

I’ve been keeping up with my writing schedule and very little else. I’m thinking of hanging a gone fishin’ sign up for the moment.

I promise I will be back as soon as this first draft is in hand.

You may have noticed, over time, that there are less entries at Writer Tamago than there have been in the past. I am still doing the author interviews, and I have plans for a few more interesting projects, but I have to tell you that the main reason that you’ve seen less content here is because I’ve been a more productive writer, which is sort of what the point of this very blog is in the first place.

Reports of what I’ve been doing, and plans for world domination under the cut.

Continue reading “Trident of Attack”

Panelists: Melissa F. Olson, Wesley Chu, Trisha Woolridge, Liz Gorinsky, Sally Weiner Grotta

Sally announces Pixel Hall Press party. There will be writers’ guidelines there.

Sally: What do readers want from writer?

Melissa: Lots of books coming out. Writers need a new way to become important to readers. Also, social media opportunities.
Wesley: Readers want to be interactive. Get closer to the world they’re reading about.
Trisha: In YA/MG, marketing is also to parents, librarians and teachers. Networking, interaction on line and at conferences.
Liz: Connections with communities. By doing this, you can connect with dozens of your readers at the same time. Book release sites. Talk to writers of similar stuff.

Sally: What about serialization?

Patreon–serialization of novels. Base of people. Better with established relationships.
Some writers can write serialization. Other authors prefer to have entire novel written first.

Crowd Sourcing: Holly Lisle sends out her first draft to a mailing list.
1000 strong readers can support you for life.

Book tours: Some people design their own. Overall, this is an impractical way of reaching readers.

Try a focused even like World Con.
Blog tours are also a good idea.
You can do stock signings at book stores.
Touring with other authors or being on panels with other authors is a good idea.
Make sure you have questions and choices of topics. Don’t go ni cold.

Specific etiquette on how you act on social media. Sell your book by selling yourself. Most people and readers are interested in the author and their personality.

Book blogging. Usually, there are specific guidelines.
For bookstores, have a press release and photo ready. Make sure your book has an ISBN.

Talking to book clubs is always a good idea.

Watch out for people who sell services to independent writers. They can feed on your dreams.

Chu’s blog tour. Thirty-six posts in 3 weeks. One every day. Shock and awe!!!! Entertainment is number one.

Have friends and use them….but not in a bad way. Show up for author friends, and they show up for you.

Email list. Some like it, some feel it is old school. It can provide readers with material between books.

Trisha loves conventions. Also study guides. School visits.

Melissa uses a newsletter.

Release materials can come from publishers to fans first.

Time considerations: Does this eat your time? What’s the return on your investment. Do I write more books?

Some writers write a week’s worth of web content on the weekend.

Do what is suited to you. Don’t do everything.

Melissa uses short blocks of time for social media, and long blocks of time for writing.

Normally, I’d be putting up a sticky post to encourage all you writers to check out Paradise Icon over Icon weekend, which is October 31-November 2 this year. However, the workshop filled up in ONE FREAKIN’DAY!!!!

That’s right, our 10 slots are filled, and happy journeyman writers will be gathering in Cedar Rapids to read and critique and be on panels and have seminars.

Some old friends and some new are coming our way. I’m excited. No, I’M EXCITED!!! ALL CAPS TRIPLE EXCLAMATION MARKS EXCITED!!!

I’m also apologetic if you were thinking about the workshop this year. We’ll no doubt run it again next year, and I hope you will consider it then.

But right now, I’m just shell-shocked. The first year it was just me and Shannon Ryan, pioneers that we were. Last year we had 8, and we had room right up to the con. This fill up in one day, well, I believe the correct word is woah.

Fran Wilde talks to several authors, including me, about our favorite book swag over at Apex.

And here’s the latest update.

Beginning Wii Weight: 223.8 (My heaviest ever)
Wii Weight on 6-3-14: 204.1 (a gain of .8)
Total: 19.7 pounds LOST

Weight Watchers on Initial Weigh In: 224
Weight Watchers on 6-3-14: 205.8 (A loss of 1.2.)
Total: 18.2 pounds

Weight Watchers has me close to my all time low of 205.4. I am 1.9 from my all time Wii low of 202.2. About a week ago, I was the hoover vacuum of food at Wiscon, so to get most of that 3 pound gain off in a week I feel is good.

Firm Summer Goal: To be under 200 by the time I go back to school. Given the time I plan to spend working out and watching my eating this summer, and that I have two months, I will do this thing. I’ve been hovering in the lower 200’s for long enough.

Last week: Con crud slowed me up, but obviously not too much. I am ready to get back to exercising.

Impediment: Iowa is full of small bugs that I seem to be allergic to, as are many Iowans. This means I’ll be inside for a lot of exercise. Sigh.

Well, back to it. Health, I am in you!