With the shift to so many digital things, it seems the “e-” prefix can be attached to anything: e-book, e-commerce, e-trading, e-business, e-signature, e-etc. As 2014 approaches, I propose a new e-thing: e-hermitage! E-Hermitage I’ve written about my experiences taking a 101-day social media break. I even followed up with additional thoughts after returning. I […]
Archives for 2013
I’m Not Good at Self Promotion
I’ve said before that when it comes to self promotion, I’m not the best. Want proof? Over a month ago, I had a novella called Old Man released as an ebook. Now, I did write a blog entry about writing the same story in different formats shortly before Old Man was released. But I never […]
Getting the Jump on New Year’s Resolutions
It’s a simple pleasure: driving along in an open lane on a wide road and having a light turn green right before needing to slow down. All the cars standing still from the red light begin their crawl through the intersection, but you sail through. Every year, so many people make resolutions for the new […]
The Importance of Young Adult Fiction
When I was 12, an age deemed by many to be perfect for young adult fiction, I gravitated toward John Cheever, John Irving, and Stephen King. I wanted to read what my mom, sister, and step father read. So…Cheever’s short stories were a good intro. King was a no-brainer; “The Body” was the greatest thing […]
Writing for Different Mediums
On November 19, my novella Old Man will be released as an e-book. Old Man is years in the making, originally intended as a comic book. When that didn’t work out, it became a well-received screenplay. And…when that didn’t work out, it became an e-book. I’m glad that it made it to a novella because […]
The 2014 John Picacio Calendar
John Picacio’s art speaks for itself. A two-time winner of the Hugo, with enough Chesleys and other awards that I like to imagine he steps on them in the same manner I used to step on Dungeons and Dragons dice scattered about my bedroom floor. Vistit him and it’s like, “Oh, hey…sorry about that: Hugos […]
Shawn Kupfer is Full of Fear and Anger — An Interview
When we last left Shawn Kupfer, he was going Supercritical. These days, he’s still writing the 47 Echo series, with a big change in the way it’s being published (spoiler alert, but not really: he started his own electronic press). He’s also added a weekly podcast to his already busy schedule of blogging. This time […]
In Praise of Slow Writing
The advice goes something like this: Write as much as you can, as fast as you can. Always be “delivering.” The more you produce, the more money you will make. Speed, speed, speed!!! It works for some. If you’re writing a series, there are worse things in the world than fans wanting your next book […]
Four Years
It’s been four years since I wrote this, the first entry on The Juggling Writer. At the time, I planned to write 3 entries a week on a Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule. At first, I was more productive than that. Then, after saying most of what I had to say about writing, things slowed down. […]
The Cult of Failure
Check out many business blogs, and there it is: talk about failure being a great thing! “It’s cool to fail because failing means you’re taking risks!” “It’s cool to fail because it means you’re learning!” “It’s cool to fail because I read somewhere that it’s cool to fail, so failure is cool…and I can’t wait […]
An Honest Assessment (Of Your Own Work)
Writers have a reputation for being a bit defensive. Really, it extends to artists and many other creative endeavors. (Hell, it’s really just a human trait.) People are often their own worst critics. Despite people claiming to be their own worst critics, feelings for what one does are often kept inside. It’s not that often […]
Redesigning the Old
While I’ve had a blog set up at christophergronlund.com, I haven’t done much with it. The Juggling Writer and now, Men in Gorilla Suits, gets most of my attention. That’s changing… The Juggling Writer Guarantee I promised to never create lists and things, here, just for the sake of doing entries. (Which is why I […]
How to do Things
I have a LiveJournal account I rarely update anymore. About the only thing I do with it these days is look at the archives on whatever day it happens to be when I remember to take a look (e.g. it’s currently July 14 (I write blog entries on weekends), so I can look back over […]