But first, a note:

I wasn't able to draw the winners when I originally said that I would, because planning and prep for Spocon got away from me. I apologize for that. At the same time, if something happens to prevent my posting winners immediately—and we live in a chaotic environment; things happen—please don't start emailing, Facebook messaging, and Tweeting me asking whether I've drawn the winners. When I draw the winners, I post them here. All you do by following me to other forums to ask why I'm late is make my stubborn kick in, and then I wind up even later.

Selecting winners takes time. I need to feed the data into the RNG, and then count, by hand, to be sure that ineligible comments (followups on original comments, comments which do not follow the stated rules) aren't selected as the winners. It can take up to half an hour, with something like this, where there are multiple factors involved. My having time to tweet from the airport doesn't mean I have time to sit and count.

Thank you for understanding.

And now...

Winning an ARC of A Fantasy Medley 2, georgiamagnolia!
Winning an ARC of When Will You Rise?, apocalypticbob!

You each have twenty-four hours to send me a mailing address, and thank you for playing! More giveaways to come!

Welcome to the forty-seventh essay in my fifty-essay series on the art, craft, business, and occasional insanity that is writing. All fifty of the essays in this series are based around my original fifty thoughts on writing, which means I only have three essays to go. Hooray! Our thought for today:

Thoughts on Writing #47: Different Strokes.

And now, because context is king, our expanded thought:

It's okay to be silly. It's okay to be serious, too. If a serious writer sniffs at you for writing comedy, or a comic writer tries to call you a stick in the mud, laugh. You're the one who's doing the writing.

There's this amazing tendency among humans to go "what I'm doing is awesome, what you're doing is not." We apply it to everything, from flavors of ice cream to professional callings. The thing is, it's very rarely fair. We're almost never comparing two roller coasters, one of which has a triple inversion and a great storyline, the other of which has gone three days without killing a park guest. Instead, we're comparing kittens and puppies, apples and oranges, and sometimes, kittens and oranges. So how do we handle things with grace?

Today we're going to be talking about apples and oranges, why both are awesome, and why no one gets to tell you which one to put in your lunch box.

Ready? Good. Let's begin.

( My thoughts are not your thoughts; my process is not your process; my ideas are not your ideas; my method is not your method. All these things are totally right for me, and may be just as totally wrong for you. So please don't stress if the things I'm saying don't apply to you -- I promise, there is no One True Way. This way for my thoughts on doing the hard stuff.Collapse )