Ditch Diggers

Ditch Diggers don't always write fiction. They write whatever they need to. So occasionally we talk to other writers, and this week we are talking to Daily Dot pop culture writer Gavia Baker Whitelaw.

We talk live on how to take care of yourself. Then the memory got full on the portable recorder, so we lost the rest. We will revisit this in the future, promise. 

Do you want to work for exposure? No? How do you say it politely and professionally? We have your back!

• The Original Freelance Writer's Rebuttal Guide: http://www.matt-wallace.com/presenting-the-freelance-writers-rebuttal-guide/
• Mikki Kendall's Twitter: @karnythia
• Mikki Kendall's website: https://mikkikendall.com/

• Matt and Mur come to you live from Morgan Freeman's 24-hour news network control room where we are discussing the latest hot button topics on the news! (Mur has a new applause machine, but it's not working right now, so you'll have to infer the applause.)
• Sound f/x as the new vernacular, and addiction to sound f/x machines.
• Mur and Matt are tackling ISSUES on this HOT BUTTON EPISODE of Ditch Diggers, those things that are heatedly being discussed on writer social media in recent weeks.
• Matt explains (poorly and too meta, according to Mur) what hot button issues are and how they come into being.
• Mur explains (far more eloquently) the nature of click-bait and how it drives/poisons discourse on the internet.
• Hot Button #1: The infamous "if you don't write every day you're not a real writer" article and the larger "real writer" myth.
• Hot Button #2: The "don't you dare smack talk your copy editor on social media" debate, and the larger issue of how important discourse gets derailed by pretense and false premises, the difference between discussing issues and discussing individuals, and authors criticizing other authors.
• Hot Button #3: "Literary" magazines publishing genre fiction, and also not paying authors.
• Matt and Mur go on a tangent about the detriment of labeling fiction, particularly for SFF and horror, and how the market has shrunk.
• Returning to the hot button, Matt and Mur talk about the difference between the business of "literary" magazines and SFF magazines.
• Twitter Q&A! Questions include outlining book series, "bonehead" things aspiring writers do again and again, and knives.

Matt and Mur shill their books, GREEDY PIGS and RENCOR and SIX WAKES respectively, and remind Hugo voting listeners Ditch Diggers is up for best fancast, so vote for us

• Mur and Matt welcome parents: author Adam Rakunas and author, games, transmedia, and screenwriter Andrea Phillips as guest co-hosts!
• Adam and Andrea are both full-time freelance writers and full-time primary caregivers to their (what seems to Matt to be, anyway) many children.
• Recording this episode was delayed because Adam's daughter vomited on literally everything in the world, which sets a perfect tone for the topic of the show.
• Andrea and Adam share their backgrounds as writers, how and when they started, and where they are now.
• Full-time caregiving while full-time writing, and how each affects the other.
• Matt asks if having kids changes your professional goals as a writer (e.g. lights a larger fire under your ass to succeed).
• Andrea talks how being a mother unduly influences others' perception of her and her writing, the struggles of that, and about crowdfunding her Lucy Smokeheart series of fiction.
• Mur asks about scheduling conflicts and other insightful things as the sole Ditch Digging parent among the regular hosts.
• Our guest co-hosts tackle Q&A from Twitter!

• • Andrea's Twitter
  • Andrea's Patreon
  • Adam's Twitter

• Mur and Matt come to you live from Morgan Freeman's Dojo (where we're punching Hollywood) with special guest co-host writer, director, and martial artist Lexi Alexander!
• Lexi is excited to talk about the writing side of her career as a director of films like Green Street Hooligans, Punisher: War Zone, the Oscar-nominated Johnny Flynton, and pretty much ALL of the TV series.
• How we needlessly shake the confidence of English-as-a-second-language writers in America, and how a chance encounter with Quentin Tarantino cured Lexi of that self-confidence issue.
• Lexi recounts how she began her career as a writer and filmmaker (it involves Chuck Norris. No, seriously).
• It's easier to be accepted as a woman in a martial arts/competitive combat sports environment than it is to be accepted as a woman filmmaker in Hollywood.
• Lexi talks about the many challenges women writers and directors face in the entertainment industry, including her own experiences.
• Lexi tells the Ditch Diggers about her recently sold pilot script, the process of writing it, and what inspired/motivated both.
• Lexi talks about what stopped her from writing for a long time, how she almost left the business to become a war correspondent, and what brought her back.
• Mur asks about the difference between working on your own film projects and writing/adapting the work and ideas of others, and how you survive doing both.
• Lexi takes questions from Twitter!
• Mur and Matt attempt unsuccessfully to end the show several times, but Lexi is just too damn enthusiastic and complimentary about everyone. (New goal: Get both Cory Doctorow and Lexi on the show together.)

Lexi on Twitter: @Lexialex

Lexi's website

Lexi on IMDb

• Live from Morgan Freeman's bear sanctuary, it's the Ditch Diggers with special guest co-host Tobias Buckell!
• Mur recounts Toby blowing her mind this past January at ConFusion in Detroit, which prompted his appearance on the show.
• Toby talks about accessing your inner asshole (the tactful version uses Toby's description: "the power of no") in negotiations as a freelancer.
• What happened when Toby had to stop accepting con invitations on his own dollar, and how it took him to the next level as an author and speaker.
• Toby on releasing his earlier work as a self-published book and educational tool for writers.
• Toby talks about trying out Patreon as a partial income replacement for a year, what prompted it, and how it's going.
• Twitter and email Q&A! Many of Toby's fans ask him questions ranging from professional advice to the inside scoop on characters from his Xenowealth universe.

• Mur and Matt come to you live from the mud room of Morgan Freeman's trophy solarium (because they haven't earned the right to go inside yet).
• Ditch Diggers has been nominated for a Hugo Award! You did it! Mur and Matt will go up against the likes of The Coode Street Podcast and Tea & Jeopardy in Helsinki for Best Fancast (even though we're all professionals. Because there's only one podcast category)! Thank you to all Ditch Diggers listeners who supported the show and don't forget to vote for Mur and Matt for the Hugo itself!
• It's listener's choice! Mur and Matt select questions from their listeners to address in detail as the topic of the show.
• First up, for those who write many kinds of things, which writing medium/format to focus on when you being pursuing freelance writing as a serious job. Blogging? Books? Screenwriting? Should you focus on one thing or two things or all of them?
• Secondly, Mur and Matt talk about writing prep, everything from outlining to creating playlists. What's necessary for the task ahead and how much is too much?
• Regular Twitter and email Q&A.