Tag Archives: NaNoWritMo

Episode #38 – Wait..what…it’s November??

 

TSD-crackup

Hard to believe it is November, but here we are. This week we talk about the new cool way publishers want to release books and why authors may not like it, and we get into the ultimate eagle vs kiwi, RUBGY!!

Have a listen, comment on the blog, and feel free to reach out to us at 703.791.1701 to share your thoughts with us!

 

00:00 — Introduction & Catching Up

 

13:12 — Publication schedules…things are getting intense

  • Getting three novels published in three months
  • Jeff VanderMeer and the Southern Reach Trilogy. Actually they came out in February, May and September.
  • Are we all going to be expected to get books out this quickly?
  • Self-publishing is pushing this move. New York is taking a trick from them.
  • Some people can crank books out this quickly.
  • Even if these books are written before hand, what about the next three?
  • Authors are expected to do more than just writer these days.
  • Pip invents a new word for the marketing world…
  • There is more than just cranking out a first draft…like editing…
  • Foreword Literary is now Fuse Literary, but still helmed by the Agent of Awesome Laurie McLean
  • Tee and Pip argue other media competition.
  • Pip goes all Rocky Horror Picture Show
  • Readers who wait until a series are completed, but that doesn’t tell your publisher you want more…
  • Pip talks about the days of constant writing
  • For most authors it doesn’t seem sustainable
  • Pip anticipates now they will get a contract like that!

27:04 — Eagle vs Kiwi The Rugby Edition

  • To Chicago…chilly but awesome Chicago
  • Pip points out it wasn’t just a rugby game.
  • 100 years since the All Blacks played the American Eagles on American soil
  • PC Haring hosted Tee and Pip while Aly Grauer, and Mel Fox joined in the shenanigans
  • Pip points out there is no stopping in rugby, while Tee waxes lyrical on the difference between American and this game of rugby
  • Pip and other kiwis feel a little pity, but there are no pity points in rugby either.
  • Who knew there were so many American All Blacks fans!
  • Aly and Mel sum up the attractions of rugby.

34.59 — The Wrap-Up

  • Pip and Tee talk about how David Bowie makes them feel like slackers. Pip wrote a blogpiece on it.
  • It could be the pants 
  • Tee is obsessing about a Walkman
  • Some awesome kid Ziggy Stardust…there is hope for the future
  • Pip has a moment or two, and now so does Sonic Boom
  • Tee learns Bowie appreciation, and his acting
  • Pip and Tee think of Alex White and Bowie…with an inappropriate dropin
  • Tales from the Archives wrapping up by the end of the year. Plans of the fourth season to be firmed up
  • Pip is finishing up the audiobook of Weather Child
  • Ministry Protocol is now out as an audiobook
  • Pip does indeed do the shownotes
  • Pip does indeed get the tumblr address for the Ministry right
  • One-Stop Writer Shop will have a deal coming soon for all those Nano participants

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Find us on Twitter at either Tee’s or Pip’s account,
leave us a voicemail or question for the show at 703.791.1701,
or leave us a comment here at the blog.

Enjoy the ride
and we’ll catch you later.

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The Shared Desk — Episode #008: Dealing with Deadlines


It’s been a month! Where have these two been?! Well, Tee & Pip have been tackling deadlines, and that struck them as a good topic for the next Shared Desk. So join these two in a deep dive into the wonderful (no seriously, wonderful) world of deadlines.

00:00 — Introduction

  • What are you sitting on, Pip? (No, it’s not a euphemism!)
  • Running down a laundry list of what’s happened between episodes
  • The Janus Affair is now off to New York!
  • Thoughts on the Goodreads Choice Awards (We were #8 in the Top Ten…and that rocks!)

01:55 — Deadlines

  • What is it about being sick around deadlines?! (It’s something Pip and Tee do well.)
  • The importance of deadlines — why they are needed
  • Defining a deadline
  • Congrats to all the participants of NaNoWriMo
  • How we love buffers in podcasting…and with deadlines.
  • What happens during deadlines — Life.
  • Deadlines are not a terror, but a motivator for the writer
  • Good catches during the editing process
  • From an editor’s point-of-view, how do you gauge time to give contributors for deadlines?
  • Understanding benefits and consequences when fiddling with a deadlines
    • Acceptable “Life Happens” siutations
    • When the deadline is kept — promotion and touring
  • Managing multiple deadlines
  • Reviewing the future deadlines we  have on our chalkboard (Personally, I like Barn & Mule…)
  • After you reach your deadline and send things off, celebrate!
    • What did we do?
    • Tee is the g–damn Batman!
    • Pip does something she hasn’t done in a while — started a recreational read!
  • Getting caught up after a deadline, and looking ahead to what we need to do…
  • And while Tee takes a drink…Pip goes quiet.

21:03 — Seriously? Seriously.

  • Some things were going down in the publishing world…and it hits Tee’s hot button.
  • Thanks to Tee Tate and her blog, Lit Stack for bringing this to our attention.
  • Here’s Quentin Rowan a/k/a Q.R. Markham, and his story.
  • Does his story sound familiar? That’s because he copied it from someone else.
  • What pissed Tee off? He wanted us to feel sorry for him.
  • With soundtrack, the dramatic reading falls apart…kind of like this guy’s lie.
  • And now Tee and Pip go off on Quentin Rowan’s “addiction”

29:32  — Writers Off the Clock

  • Taking a breath…
  • With Pip being sick, Tee and Pip curl up with Bridesmaids.
  • A review…complete with spoilers
  • What we liked about the movie
    • Not afraid to go there
    • Meeting the various bridesmaids
    • Rock solid funny…up to a point.
  • The fourth act…what the hell happened?
    • Chris O’Dowd — kept Tee’s attention
    • Two of the Bridesmaids disappear for the remaining of the film
    • The movie stops being an ensemble piece and becomes a formula rom-com-buddy-chick-flick
    • And what the hell was the end sketch with Melissa McCarthy?!
  • This movie was marketed like The Hangover…but it felt more like The Hangover of Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

43:22 — The Wrap-Up

  • Hanging in there…
  • How we’re wrapping up 2011
    • The Janus Affair: A Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences Novel— We got the cover…and it’s BEAUTIFUL!
    • Hunter & Fox — Another pretty cover…and we’re sitting on that one, too!
    • Still trying to narrow down release dates for 2012
    • Let your favorite bookstores know about our upcoming releases.
  • One more show for the year…and what a year it has been.
  • The final show of 2011 will cover Setting Goals, and the first show of 2012 will be the Fan Appreciation show!
  • Where to find us online…including a Goodreads Discussion Group!
  • And here’s where Tee completely shuts down…
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Find us on Twitter at either Tee’s or Pip’s account,
leave us a voicemail or question for the show at 703.791.1701,
or leave us a comment here at the blog.
Enjoy the ride
and we’ll catch you later.

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The Shared Desk — Episode #007: NaNoWriMo (or The “I Hate Nathan Lowell!” Show)


With the 2011 Con Season behind them and friends jumping into the writerly madness of November, Pip and Tee spend the show looking at NaNoWriMo or the National Novel Writing Month. They got rants, they got opinions, and they got their own bits of advice for those brave enough to jump into the competition.

To all those taking the NaNoWriMo challenge — good luck!

00:00 — Introduction

  • Hold on…it’s November?!
  • Quick — Get to the topic!

00:51 — NaNoWriMo

  • What exactly is NaNoWriMo?
  • 1:53 — FIRST MENTION OF NATHAN LOWELL
  • The Two Camps of NaNoWriMo…and the camp that Evo Terra rules over.
  • Drawing a line between a Writer and an Author
  • Why November?!
  • 5:41 — SECOND MENTION OF NATHAN LOWELL
  • Just because you win NaNoWriMo doesn’t mean you’re ready for publishing. (Shame on you, Smashwords!)
  • A few words of love (both tender and tough) for NaNoEdMo.
    • February? The shortest month of the year?! Seriously?!
  • Tee & Pip find out why NaNoWriMo is in November…and Tee goes on a rant…
  • Why NaNoEdMo is so important
  • What we truly love about NaNoWriMo
    • It’s a fantastic way to get into the regiment of writing.
    • 13:22 — THIRD MENTION OF NATHAN LOWELL
    • An inside look at putting together a novel, from soup to nuts
    • If you’re going to do NaNoWriMo, you should commit to NaNoEdMo.
    • 15:01 — FOURTH MENTION OF NATHAN LOWELL (and some pining from Tee…)
  • Pip is derailed by Tee…
  • Advice in approaching NaNoWriMo…before, during, and after November…

19:50  — Writers Off the Clock

  • Unplugging in Autumn…a beautiful time to do so
  • Pip is digging the change of seasons.
  • A quick photo break…

  • Showing some love to the vineyards, especially to Corcoran’s Vineyard and Brewery
  • Take the Doctor’s advice: “A straight line may be the shortest distance between two points, but it is by no means the most interesting.”

26:21 — Seriously? Seriously.

  • And here we are with yet ANOTHER rant…
  • Pip adopts Wil Wheaton’s philosophy concerning panelists that don’t play well with others.
  • Some advice for being a good panelist.
  • Some advice for being a good moderator…and how to be a good panelist when you got a qualified moderator.
  • As a moderator and a panelist, read your audience. (If you don’t know how, learn.)
  • When panels work, it’s like a fine-tuned symphony. Cue Pip at New York Comic Con.
  • As a panelist or moderator, DON’T BE THAT GUY!

37:06 — The Wrap-Up

  • After all this ranting, Pip and Tee are exhausted!
  • Ending our 2011 con season with the badasses of steampunk, The League of S.T.E.A.M.
  • What’s coming in 2012
    • The Janus Affair: A Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences Novel— May
    • Hunter & Fox — July
    • Wrayth: A Book of the Order — September
    • 40:03 — FINAL MENTION OF NATHAN LOWELL
    • Pip, stop with the whining.
    • And there’s even more stuff coming from the Ministry…
  • Working on the 2012 Con Schedule
  • Where to find us online
  • And check us out on Goodreads AND VOTE!!!

Drop-Ins: The Silence of the Lambs, Battlestar Galactica, Sideways

More Shout-Out’s During the Show…

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Find us on Twitter at either Tee’s or Pip’s account,
leave us a voicemail or question for the show at 703.791.1701,
or leave us a comment here at the blog.
Enjoy the ride
and we’ll catch you later.

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