The journal and sometimes blog of author, Joseph L. Selby.
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A Body at Rest Tends to Stay at Rest
So yesterday I started writing again. Vacation + sickness means no writing, but taking that kind of break can make it hard to get started again. I compare it to a cold engine. It’s hard to get the thing to turn over once it’s been sitting still for awhile. Writing is definitely like this. I…
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Boy, Interrupted
I set ambitious writing goals for this year. Goal 1: Finish the first draft of BENEATH A SUNDERED SKY (150,000 words) Goal 2: Finish the first draft of WHAT’S BEHIND THE CROOKED DOOR? (15,000 words) Goal 3: Finish the third (first final) draft of PRINCE OF CATS (50,000 words) Goal 4: Rewrite BLACK MAGIC AND…
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Insight. Powerful Powerful Insight
Some people like “How To” books. They buy “How to be a better ____” books over and over again when to me they so often repeat the same information or contradict one another. Sometimes they read like the person read the other book and decided to do his best “this isn’t really plagiarism” impersonation. Needless…
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More Music!
For my old job I used to travel to Europe. Sitting in a bar in Amsterdam, I often heard a style of electronica that really spoke to me. It was a popular house music there that everyone seemed to know, but no one would explain to a silly American. It was unlike anything I heard…
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Slingshots
As weapons go, I did not have many growing up. I wasn’t allowed toy guns or squirt guns because my mom was certain I was going to go around squirting my neighbors or pretending to shoot my neighbors. All that meant was I borrowed my neighbors squirt guns and squirted my neighbors that way. It’s…
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Middle Grade vs. Young Adult
A combination of bad advice and bad writing as a result of that advice has kind of got me stuck on PRINCE OF CATS. I have two other projects I’m working on right now, but in a few months, I’ll be back to it, and I’ll have to fix it, which is a daunting prospect.…
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Biography
Joe was born in 1977 in Columbia, MO, his parents’ fifth and last child. He wrote his first short story in 1983 (which was promptly stolen by Hollywood ). In 1999 he graduated from Truman State University in Kirksville, MO, with a BA degree in English – Creative Writing and Theatre – Playwriting. In his…
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Getting One’s Head in the Right Spot
Some people are reserved. Some people are not. Some people are in between. Me, I like being the center of attention. I often say I am a misanthrope because if I’m injected into a social situation where I am not the center of attention, I tend to remove myself. But if eyes are on me,…
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Which Airbender Character are You?
Here’s today’s exercise: If you have not yet watched Avatar: The Last Airbender, go to Netflix and watch it right now. We’ll wait. Actually, if you have watched it, take this time to watch it again. It’s definitely worth a repeat viewing. Okay, now we’re all refreshed on the awesomeness that is Aang and the…
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Exploring the Subgenre
An agent asked me at the end of last year, “Do you have any sword and sorcery?” I love sword and sorcery. Okay, I love Conan. I have extolled the greatness that is He-Man and Thundarr the Barbarian here before and they’re both just rip-offs of Conan. If you say sword and sorcery, I think…
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The Wrong Type of Crazy
If you haven’t been following the story from the beginning, here’s the summary. In 2009 I challenged myself: finish a novel or give up writing. I had way too many starts and way way way too few finishes. So this was it. I had a new job. I had a long commute with dedicated writing…