A New Post About Short Fiction and a Kickstarter Campaign

After a lengthy hiatus from blogging (I’ve actually been spending my days writing a new novel) I have a post up today at the SFNovelists Blog Site, which I help maintain along with approximately 100 other writers of fantasy and science fiction. Today’s post is called “Short Fiction, Anthologies, and an Ongoing Kickstarter Campaign,” and it is about exactly that. (This is what we call truth-in-advertising, folks!) Writing short fiction is a terrific way for aspiring writers to hone their craft, and this post discusses the benefits of writing stories, as well as the fun of crafting them for themed anthologies. And finally, it offers a few details about a new project — Temporally Out of Order — that a group of us are trying to get off the ground.  Please check out the post here.  And learn more about the Temporally Out of Order kickstarter campaign here.  Thanks, and enjoy!!

Two Days on the Blog Tour

I was on the road yesterday, driving home from North Carolina after a fun and successful signing tour that began with a book launch party at ConGregate in Winston-Salem, and then took me to Rock Hill, SC, Gastonia, NC, Richmond, VA, and Raleigh, NC. Along the way I reconnected with old friends, and met some new ones. It was a great trip.

But I did miss out on telling you all about yesterday’s stops on the Summer 2014 Plunder of Souls Blog Tour. So let me tell you about those, as well as about today’s stops.  Yesterday I was the blog of my good friend Stephen Leigh, with a post about minor characters who assert themselves and become major characters. The post can be found here.

I was also at Magical Words again, with a post about some of the odd things people sometimes say to writers.  You can read that post here.

Today, I am once again at Drey’s Library with a post about the books on my enormous and growing “To Be Read” pile that I am most excited to delve into.  That post can be found here.

And finally, but definitely not least, I also have a post up at SFNovelists that touches on the best part of my recent signing tour:  the fact that I was accompanied, at least for some of it, by my fifteen year-old daughter.  That post is called “Notes from the Road: The Shared Journey,” and you can find it here.

I hope you enjoy them all.

The Summer 2014 Plunder of Souls Blog Tour Begins!

Yes, perhaps that’s a lot of fanfare for a blog tour, but I’m excited and hey, it’s my blog, right?  So, yes, the Summer 2014 Plunder of Souls Blog Tour is underway, with a post today at the SFNovelists website.  SFNovelists is a blog I help maintain along with over a hundred other published authors of fantasy and science fiction.  It’s a great site, and a terrific resource for fans of the genre and for aspiring writers.  My post today is actually about setting up and maintaining a blog tour, so for those of you interested in using social media as a promotional tool, it might be helpful.  I hope you’ll check it out.

Today’s post comes as I prepare for the release of A Plunder of Souls, the third book in my Thieftaker Chronicles, which began with Thieftaker (Tor Books, 2012) and Thieves’ Quarry (Tor Books, 2013).  The book will be released on July 8, two weeks and a day from now. So stay tuned, because the Blog Tour is just getting started, and there will be lots of new posts and even some book giveaways along the way.

A Post About Writing and Photography

I’m at SFNovelists today, with a blog post about the similarities among various art forms.  Specifically, I’m discussing a few lessons I’ve learned doing photography that translate to my writing life.  The post can be found here. I hope you enjoy it.

A Post About a Writer’s Resolutions

Today’s post can be found at the SFNovelists blog, a site I help to maintain with over one hundred other published authors in speculative fiction.  The post is called “Writing Resolutions for the Coming Year,” and it is my annual post listing my goals and resolves for the coming New Year.  I hope that you enjoy it.

And I want to wish all of you a merry Christmas and a New Year filled with laughter and joy.  Have fun, people, and be safe.

Two Related Posts on the Business of Writing, Both Up Today

I have two related, cross-linked posts up today.  They are both on the business of writing and publishing.

The first post is my regular Monday post at the Magical Words blog site, which I maintain with fellow authors Faith Hunter, Misty Massey, John Hartness, and Mindy Klasky.  Today’s Magical Words post is called, “‘It’s Just Business’: Loyalty Versus Pragmatism in the Publishing World,” and it is about the various factors that go into a writer’s career decisions.  You can find the post here.

The second is my monthly post at the SFNovelists blog site, a site I maintain with over one hundred published authors of speculative fiction.  That post is called “Professional Comportment and What it Does For a Writer,” and it is about the ways in which an author can maintain a good relationship with his/her publisher.  You can find the SFNovelists post here.

I hope that you enjoy both posts and find them helpful and informative. Thanks!

Fall’s Here, and the Blog Tour Rolls On!

It is officially fall, so I suppose that the Summer 2013 Thieves’ Quarry Blog Tour has to be over. But the Fall Blog Tour is now underway and today I am all over the place.  I have my usual Monday post up at Magical Words, the group blog on the craft and business of writing that I maintain with Faith Hunter, Misty Massey, Mindy Klasky, John Hartness, James Tuck, and several others.  Today’s post is called “On Writing: Outlining Vs. Pantsing Revisited,”  and it’s about the reasons I have grown more committed to outlining my books

My second post is at SFNovelists, another group blog that I maintain with over one hundred other published authors of fantasy and science fiction. This post is called “Thoughts on Giving a Reading,”  and it offers a bit of advice to aspiring writers getting ready to do their first public readings of their work.

Finally, I am a guest today at Mike Dariano’s blog, 27 Good Things.  Mike invites artists and recognized professionals in various fields to blog about three Good Things to Read, three Good Things to Watch, and three Good Things to Use.  It’s a fun site — I certainly enjoyed writing my entry.  So what things did I choose?  Well, you’ll just have to visit the site and see.

I hope you enjoy today’s posts.

Blog Tour Post on Conventions!

After a bit of a hiatus, the Summer 2013 Thieves’ Quarry Blog Tour is back with a post about conventions — specifically DragonCon (which I will be attending next week) and WorldCon.  The post can be found at SFNovelists, the group blog I help to maintain with over one hundred other authors of fantasy and science fiction.  It’s called “A Quick Guide to Making the Most of Conventions.”  I hope you enjoy it, and I hope to see many of you at DragonCon next week!

I’ll be attending the con as D.B. Jackson. During the weekend I will be on panels (Urban Fantasy Track, Writer’s Track, Alternate History Track), I will have a reading and an autograph session, I will be in a booth in the exhibition hall selling books, and I will be at parties and in the hotel bars having fun and chatting with friends old and new.  Come by and say hello!

A Post About Adding Historical Detail To Your Writing

The Summer 2013 Thieves’ Quarry Blog Tour stops today at SFNovelists, the group blog I help maintain as part of a group of over 100 published authors of speculative fiction. This newest post is about the little details I like to use to help breathe life into my historical fantasy novels, the Thieftaker books (Thieftaker and Thieves’ Quarry). The post is called “The Little Details that Make Historical Fiction Come to Life.” I hope you enjoy it.

The Summer 2013 Blog Tour Continues With Three Posts!

The Summer 2013 Thieves’ Quarry Blog Tour moves into high gear today with three posts going up at various sites. The first, which can be found at http://www.sfnovelists.com, tells about the evolution of the Thieftaker books from alternate world fantasies to historical fantasies. The post is called “The Book I Didn’t Write.”

My second appearance of the day is an interview I did with my wonderful friend C.E. Murphy. The Q&A is up at her blog and it includes a book giveaway!

Finally, I also have a post up at the Sideshow Freaks Blogspot, the blog of Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show. The post is about the different levels at which a book works, for both author and reader. Follow this link. I hope you enjoy all of the posts.