Author Ryan Schneider's Blog

How many books should a writer write in 1 year? 1? Less than 1? More than 1? One indie author I know comes to mind; this person writes 6 to 8 books per year. The books this person writes are good books. The books written by this person sell well and receive good reviews. This person writes full-time. That's how this person is able to produce 6 to 8 novels in a year. It's roughly a book every 6 to 8 weeks. Some people would say this is too many; that the quality must be poor. Not so, apparently, given the quantity of books sold, overall high praise, and career advancement. And money earned. And let's face it, that's a good thing. But for now, let's remain focused on productivity. I've written 5 novels in the past 12 months, with publishing beginning next month. And I have 6 more in development, open, right now, at this very moment, in Word, nearly ready for the first draft to begin. Other writers I know (or know of, mostly through social me...

What I Didn't See: Stories  by  Karen Joy Fowler The collection won the World Fantasy Award and the title story won the Nebula. Fowler wrote  The Jane Austen Book Club , a New York Times Bestseller made into a film, and won the  2013 PEN/Faulkner for   We are all completely beside ourselves . The Green Leopard Plague and Other Stories  by  Walter Jon Williams Two stories in this collection won the Nebula Award. Williams was a Philip K Dick Award Finalist and placed numerous times for the Nebula and Hugo Awards. Strange Ladies: 7 Stories  by  Lisa Mason The collection received five stars from the San Francisco Review of Books. Mason was a Philip K Dick Award Finalist and New York Times Notable Book Author. Mason’s OMNI story, “Tomorrow’s Child,” sold outright to Universal Studios. Collected Stories  by  Lewis Shiner The collection is an ebook exclusive for Storybundle, includes forty-one stories, and has an...

I see this all the time. Please note, world, that everyday  is not the same as every day . They mean different things. Memorize the following from Grammarist.com: Everyday vs. every day Everyday  is an  adjective  used to describe things that (1) occur every day, or (2) are ordinary or commonplace. In the two-word phrase  every day , the adjective  every  modifies the  noun  day , and the phrase usually functions adverbially. For example, every day you eat breakfast. You brush your teeth every day. Maybe you go for a walk every day. These are everyday activities. When you’re not sure which one to use, try replacing  everyday / every day  with  each day . If  each day  would make sense in its place, then you want the two-word form.  Everyday , meanwhile, is synonymous with  daily  or  ordinary , depending on its sense. (http://grammarist.com/usage/everyday-every-day/) ...

"Game of Thrones meets Dune?"   You be the judge.   Award-winning author Nicholas C. Rossis is heating up the charts in the realm of epic fantasy and sci-fi. For a strictly limited time, you can get the first novel of his best-selling series, Pearseus, for FREE.   What is it about?   It's New Year's Eve, the year of 2099, but the distinguished guests aboard the Pearseus won't get to countdown seconds; soon they'll be counting bodies and survivors after the spaceship's crash landing on another planet. The good news? The planet is seemingly hospitable both in resources and in terms of the natives' attitude towards earthlings. The bad news? They might have come on this planet bare of possessions, but what they haven't been able to shed are the shortcomings of their human nature. Will that be the sole threat to a unified future, or is the new land and its first inhabitants not as innocent as they look? Schism  is the prequel to the...

Roselle Park councilwoman quits over 'Christmas' tree lighting "It came down to the addition of a single word..." It certainly did. In the first sentence of the article. Full article here: http://www.nj.com/union/index.ssf/2015/12/roselle_park_councilwoman_quits_over_tree_lighting.html

This Author Spotlight features Gwyneth Jones author of Grasshopper's Child Gwyneth Jones was born in Manchester, England. She took an undergraduate degree at the University of Sussex, in History of Ideas (with Latin), specializing in seventeenth-century Europe, which gave her a taste for studying the structure of  scientific revolutions, and societies (scientific and otherwise) in phase transition; a background that still resonates in her work.  She's written many genre novels for teenagers, mostly using the pseudonym Ann Halam, and several highly regarded science fiction novels for adults, notably the Aleutian Trilogy: White Queen, North Wind, and Phoenix Café ; Life , the fictional biography of a woman scientist of genius, and the ‘near-future fantasy’ series, Bold As Love based on alternative cultures, horrific new science, revolution and rock music in a darkening world.  Collections of her critical writings and essays ‘Deconstr...

Day 30 Yay! I wrote a lot and reached 74,802 words when it was time to validate the manuscript on the NaNoWriMo website. I actually signed up for NaNoWriMo this year on November 3rd, three days after it began. I therefore wondered if I could continue NaNoWriMo for an additional 3 days, writing until December 3rd, which would give me a chance to actually complete the novel.  My first goal was to write 50,000 words. My second goal was to reach 60,000 words. My third goal was to complete the novel. I'm very close. So those three days would've helped a lot. I therefore contacted Grant Faulkner on Twitter. Grant is the Executive Director of NaNoWriMo. I figured he would know. So I asked him if the three-day rule would apply (start from the bottom): Grant was very gracious and of course the whole thing was very tongue-in-cheek. Thanks, Grant, for being a good sport! So, the writing continues. I didn't get started writing today as ...