If you haven't yet read "Parallel Perspectives," from Schlock Mercenary: Massively Parallel, we have a PDF for you to download and read before you start listening to this episode. It's a 33mb file in a public DropBox folder.

Parallel Perspectives PDF for Writing Excuses listeners

Got the file? Done reading? Okay, let's go...

This week is a Project in Depth episode focusing on a 13-page graphic story ("comic book") found at the end of Schlock Mercenary: Massively Parallel, and our focus this week will be story structure. It's fun, because the process of structuring a bonus story begins much differently than most projects, and the structure was laid in support of a four-creator collaboration.

The creators? Howard Tayler, Brenda Hickey, Travis Walton, and Keliana Tayler.

(If you'd like your own hard-copy of Schlock Mercenary: Massively Parallel, you can get it from Amazon.com or directly from the publisher.)

Writing Excuses 10.11: Project In Depth: “Parallel Perspectives”

Fifteen minutes long, because you're in a hurry, and we're not that smart.

Arts

Literature

Performing Arts

Design

Food

Fashion & Beauty

Visual Arts

Business

Investing

Careers

Management & Marketing

Business News

Shopping

Books

Ellen Kushner joins us for the last episode of Season 10. Per the title, folks, it's time to be done.

What does "done" mean? How do you go about declaring a project "finished" when you know there are still things wrong with it? How do you clear your head, your work space, and your life for the next thing you need to do?

Out of Excuses: Per Brandon's plug in the episode, registration is open for the 2016 Out of Excuses WritingWorkshop and Retreat!

Writing Excuses 10.52: Moving On, with Ellen Kushner

Daniel José Older joins us for a Q&A; on showing your work around. Here are the questions, which were submitted by attendees at the Out of Excuses workshop:

	* What's the best way to meet editors and agents at conventions?
	* How do you write a good query letter?
	* What do you mention as credentials in your query letter?
	* You didn't cover self publishing at all this month. Self publishing is legit, right?
	* Can you submit the same work to more than one agent or editor at a time?
	* Can you re-submit a revised work to an agent who previously rejected the piece?

Writing Excuses 10.51: Q&A on Showing Your Work, with Daniel José Older

Marco Palmieri and Michael Underwood took the stage with Howard and Dan at GenCon Indy 2015 to discuss hand-selling manuscripts. Marco Palmieri is a senior editor at Tor, and Michael Underwood is an author, and is also the North American Sales and Marketing manager for Angry Robot Books.

We begin with a list of the things to avoid doing, including the classic mistakes like chasing editors into restrooms, but we quickly move on to where you get started, and what your task list is going to look like. We cover resources like Literary Marketplace, Locus, and Publishers Lunch, and the not-so-secret-anymore #MSWL hash-tag.

Writing Excuses 10.50: How to Hand-Sell Your Manuscript to Agents and Editors, with Michael Underwood and Marco Palmieri

We're at the end of our Season Ten Master Class, and if you've been diligent about the homework, you may very well have a finished manuscript in your hands. What do you do with it?

Daniel José Older joins us for a bit of reminiscence. We talk about some of our first submissions, and what we did right, wrong, and weirdly. We cover our criteria for selecting publishers to whom we'd like to send our stuff, and we include the shiny intangibles in that list.

 

This episode was engineered aboard The Independence of the Seas by Bert Grimm, and mastered in an abandoned missile silo by Alex Jackson.

Writing Excuses 10.49: What Do I Do With This Thing Now?

Spoiler Alert! We'll be discussing the latest John Cleaver book from Dan Wells with author, podcaster, and unrepentant bacon-lover Dan Wells! If you haven't read it, and you want to be surprised by it, stop listening and grab a copy now!

If you have read it, we apologize on Dan's behalf for any emotional scarring you may have experienced. Now... give the episode a listen, and learn how Dan managed to do that to you.

 

This episode was engineered aboard The Independence of the Seas by Bert Grimm, and mastered in an orbital communications array by Alex Jackson.

Writing Excuses 10.11: Project In Depth: “Parallel Perspectives”

Download our free app to listen on your phone