Author | Joseph L. Selby

Category: Uncategorized

  • Query Doldrums

    I’ve pretty much known what was wrong with THE TRIAD SOCIETY since I finished the first draft of the manuscript. It’s taken all this time to articulate what’s wrong with it, but there is a reason I did not launch immediately back into revision. There was something seriously wrong. I knew it. And I needed…

    Read more

  • Have Fun Storming the Castle

    Current, non-syndicated television runs in 30 or 60 minute time slots. Of those slots, the actual program will run 20-22 minutes or 42-44 minutes respectively. Its this constraint that allows a writer–if he or she so wishes to apply herself–to know the plot, the outcome, and the bad guy (if you’re watching one of the…

    Read more

  • Per Your Request…A LIST!

    The ladies over at Coffey. Tea. And Literary have started a meme. I have 25 minutes to kill at work, and thus will fill that time with this meme rather than being productive. 1. If you could have a superpower, what would you have? Why? I would be a cypher. I would speak every language…

    Read more

  • JEHOVAH’S HITLIST (Chapter 1 excerpt)

    Since Blogger decided “schedule” meant “post now,” MSM part 2 was posted yesterday. Now, this being a journal and not a blog, I could totally go today without posting and that would be okay. But things are about to get busy for me at work. (Granted, it’s a new department and from what I can…

    Read more

  • Maximizing Social Media (Part 2)

    Maximizing Social Media (Part 2) This is a continuation of the previous post I made on maximizing social media. That one ran into problems shortly after it was posted because Facebook made some changes to fan page construction. It has been partially fixed. For a Facebook fan page to export to Twitter, the update has…

    Read more

  • Wash Your Pants

    My wife is inspired. This means: I don’t have to cook dinner (yay!), it will most likely be delicious (yay!), you get another post (yay!). Elizabeth Poole and I often discuss our differing writing styles. She’s a plotter. I’m a pantser. Once I get a solid grip on the plot and the characters, I can…

    Read more

  • Know Your Footprint

    This was originally going to be part of my “Maximizing Social Media (part 2)” post, but that thing is already flipping long and at some point, you just stop reading super-long blog posts. Since it’s the weekend (when fewer people read blogs, statistically speaking), I thought I’d post this part here as a preamble to…

    Read more

  • Another List!

    Elizabeth Poole loves Westerns. I love Westerns! TOP FIVE WESTERNS! 1a. “The Outlaw Josey Wales” – Aside from giving me my namesake, this movie has a lot of things going for it. It was the first Western where all the Native Americans were played by Native Americans. They were also portrayed as the threat they…

    Read more

  • In which I post a second time about semi- and/or unrelated topics

    My wife went to Philadelphia this summer to see a men’s regional Barbershop competition. (My wife is a competitive Barbershopper.) While there, she bought me some barbecue chicken seasoning. The odor was pretty strong and I was unsure if I would like it. DEAR LORD THIS STUFF IS GOOD! I only bring that up because…

    Read more

  • Description is Tricky

    Hannah Mosk commented recently that her first drafts are very short. They end up being mostly dialogue. She goes in during revision and fleshes the story out to its full potential. I’m getting better at this, but it used to be incredibly hard for me not to do anything but dialogue. That’s where the story…

    Read more