Author | Joseph L. Selby

Thoughts

The journal and sometimes blog of author, Joseph L. Selby.

  • Rewriting is HARD!

    I revise. I rarely rewrite. In fact, the only thing I’ve tried to rewrite is 7TH SACRIFICE and I scrapped the entire incomplete manuscript, so that should almost be called writing, as there isn’t much “re” involved. Coming on a year ago, I finished the manuscript for WANTED: CHOSEN ONE, NOW HIRING. I got feedback…

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  • Reading is Fundamentals

    Today’s post is written on my phone while I take the late train into work. Will be busy as soon as I sit down, so it’s now or never. Someone commented on a blog I read how the blogger must feel so proud for buying books as gifts. A coworker of mine only reads classics…

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  • Bordering on the Ridiculous

    Sara Megibow posted recently that she “did her part to help Borders” by buying a book there. And all I can think is, you either screwed the publisher or screwed the author by buying there. If Borders doesn’t pay for the books it’s selling, someone has to take the loss. Either the publisher will take…

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  • This has to have been told somewhere

    Okay those of you who read sci fi, tell me the name of this book. There’s no way this hasn’t been written before. It’s so fundamentally classic that I’m surprised I’ve given it a second thought. Idea for a new story came to me on Friday (third of the week, actually, but I didn’t write…

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  • NPH Poll

    Despite all the snow, I have been wicked busy at work. I have a number of half-finished posts, none of which I am in the mood to finish now. Instead…A POLL! Okay, not with the regular poll widget because it messes with my site design. Really, I should have said…A QUESTION! Or…A PROMPT! BEST NIEL…

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  • Loose Sheep

    Writing a novel is a daunting thing. It doesn’t happen in a day, so it’s easy to forget things that you introduced early on. One of the things you have to do during revision is find all the loose threads and take care of them. You may miss things. You can be so focused on…

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  • Another Selby Invitational

    Saturday was another Selby Invitational. Winter is a hard time to gather friends and this was no different. We had a number of last-minute cancellations due to illness. Regardless, there were nine of us in all, allowing for some larger fun party games and some smaller games. Telestrations made another appearance. If you’re looking for…

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  • What’s in a Name?

    On Twitter today, Ricki Schultz expressed her frustration with choosing a title. I commented that I love titles and do not begin a new work without one (it’s one of the rules!). she asked me how I make a title I’m satisfied. Required to offer a response in 140 characters or less, I found that…

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  • Captain Majors and the Super Squad: Soldiers of Tomorrow!

    So I don’t know where this idea came from. It hit me while I was driving home from work. It’s incomplete, though. Still, it’s worth writing down so that I can work on it later if the mood takes me. The interesting thing is that it’s not a fantasy book. I don’t get the sense…

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  • Holy Balls!

    I have been pondering it for months and I finally made a decision. An agent gave me feedback on WANTED: CHOSEN ONE, NOW HIRING. He wanted Bastin to be the main character rather than Nashau. I’ve discussed that here before. Bastin is clearly the most likable, charismatic of the group, but the story was Nashau’s…

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  • Cheating at Dreaming

    Monday night I dreamed that I was selected for the first New Hampshire HUNGER GAMES. This was not an event to celebrate Suzanne Collins’ popular YA trilogy. This was a handful of people being send into the wilderness of New Hampshire to fight to the death until only one remained. There were some differences between…

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  • Rejection

    We only went into a day of injury time before the game came to an end. Our beloved hometown heroes have lost this one in a buzzer beater. While it’s easy to feel torn up and brought down by rejection, you do that shit in the privacy of your own home, not on the internet.…

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  • The Waiting Game

    So you’ve written your novel, you’ve revised it, you’ve received feedback, you’ve revised it again, you’ve written a query, you’ve revised it, you’ve received feedback, you’ve revised it again, you’ve queried, you’ve paced madly worrying about rejection, you’ve been asked for a partial manuscript, you’ve revised the partial in fear of it not being good…

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