by mike | Nov 20, 2025 | Books, California, Horror, Native Americans, Publishing, Research, Uncategorized |
Writer’s block has been around since primitive men and women had difficulty deciding what to scrawl on cave walls. This 2012 post would have been relevant even back then. Okay, I don’t mean to belittle a malady that is prevalent among so many writers. It’s just that...
by mike | Nov 20, 2023 | Adventure fantasy, Editing, Humor, Publishing, Science Fiction, Sword & Planet, Sword & Sorcery, Uncategorized, Writing |
Back in the day—the “day” being the 1970s and ’80s—I emulated my two muses, Edgar Rice Burroughs and Robert E. Howard, with a spate of novels in genres such as Lost Worlds, Sword & Sorcery, and—of course—Sword & Planet. My five-book Reglathium series—which has...
by mike | Jun 13, 2022 | Books, Horror, Horror Movies, Movies, Publishing, Science Fiction, Uncategorized, Writing |
A magazine called Astounding Science Fiction, later renamed Analog Science Fact and Fiction, was highly influential in bringing the sci-fi genre into the mainstream many decades past. One of its editors, John W. Campbell, also wrote for the magazine, and in 1938 he...
by mike | May 9, 2022 | Books, Editing, Publishing, Uncategorized, Writers' Conferences, Writing |
I had a “gimmick”—for want of a better word—that I used when facilitating novel-writing workshops and classes at writers’ conferences and other venues. While discussing the fear of having their work rejected by publishers—something many wannabe authors deal with—I...
by mike | Feb 7, 2022 | Books, Fantasy, Humor, Publishing, Research, Science Fiction, Sword & Planet, Uncategorized, Writing |
When the pandemic drove us indoors in early 2020 (and wiped out the NCAA basketball tournament; I’m still not over that one…), I found a number of ways to keep busy. At that point I hadn’t written a new book in years, but circumstances being what they were, I decided...
by mike | Nov 8, 2021 | Aging, Books, Editing, Publishing, Read & Critique, Uncategorized, Writers' Conferences, Writers' Retreat, Writing |
To be honest, I had planned on working into my seventies—where I am now. As a writing coach, editor, and teacher I totally enjoyed what I did, especially when I saw so many of my students and clients find success as published authors. So what changed? I’ll get to...
