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A Letter From a Friend
I’ve written many times about toxic fan groups, and one of my oldest friends in fandom wrote me a letter about it. Printed with permission and light edits to remove personal information. Yesterday I got into a twitter-spat with a friend from many years ago. It was really kind of terrifying, but it gave me the opportunity to reflect on one of the things I am most thankful for.: Having known you. That fellow and I were once quite tight. What’s scary is that looking back I was well on my way to ending up like he has. The man I spoke to yesterday was once just like me and…
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Why I don’t blog anymore
EDIT: I go into details about time investment in the comments below. Dear Colleen, I bookmarked many posts on your site for information about self publishing and contracts, but when I came back to read the posts later everything was gone. Now I get page after page of broken links and comments without posts. Did you know that most of your website is completely broken? Kelly Dear Kelly, I stopped blogging in public regularly almost 8 years ago, (UPDATE: I now blog on my Patreon behind a paywall, so the 15 million hits this blog once got will now pay me directly instead of an advertising service that pays me…
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Hal Foster: It’s never too late to be great.
Whipped this up. Hope it is inspiration for you.
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Brain Fog
You used to be able to do long division in your head. Now you can’t do simple math on paper. You always knew what time it was, never needed a watch, and had the entire television schedule memorized. No one bought a TV Guide because they had you. Now you can’t keep up with your favorite shows because you can’t remember the storylines. Or when they were on. You never had to study because one pass over a book and you had it down. Now you can barely remember what you’ve read a half hour after you put the book away. You write for a living, but you stumble over…
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This is Not 0’s and 1’s
This is not cochineal, and lapis lazuli, and Indian lac, and alum, and linseed oil. The human being who made this image is not chlorine, and carbon, and magnesium, and sulfur. This is not 0’s and 1’s. The copy of this art is not 0’s and 1’s. The extraordinary human experience of art is not 0’s and 1’s.
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Guest Blog: Sarah Beach on The Metaphysics of Creativity
THE METAPHYSICS OF CREATIVITY About a month ago on another website, there was a discussion about fanfiction and professional writing, and the distinctions between them. Some of the posters contended that it was a matter of the quality of the writing, in terms of craftsmanship. Me, I think that’s a mistake. Some professional writers can be sloppy craftsmen, while some fanfic writers have exceptional talent. Colleen and I (we’d both followed the discussion there) continued a conversation spun from this discussion. Our conversation led into other territory, and it seemed to me it would make an interesting guest blog topic. So, here’s some wandering on where my thoughts went. Professionalism…
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Guest Blog: Julie Ditrich on Unlocking and Accessing the Darkness Within: 7 Keys for Comics Creators
[WARNING: Some comics, film and book plot spoilers ahead!] “Monsters are real, and ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win.” Stephen King A few weeks ago at Australia’s Supanova (Brisbane) pop culture convention, I had the privilege of meeting US comics creator Jhonen Vasquez whose satirical work Johnny the Homicidal Maniac I greatly admire. Despite the fact that I’m not usually drawn to creative properties with the words “homicidal” or “maniac” in the title or indeed ones that hint at or overtly promise great acts of depravity, my business partner and artist Jozef Szekeres persuaded me to read it and I’m very grateful to him…
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11 Things Designers Should Avoid: Guest Blog by Val Trullinger
Often I get interns and designers who are dab hands at InDesign and Photoshop, but lack crucial skills that aren't always taught in design classes. Namely, how to work with other designers, clients, and an art director. It's wonderful that you can design mind-blowing work, but if you can't get along with your studio, you're doomed. This is a hard lesson for some. Luckily, that's why the gods invented art directors: to school the uppity.