I Should Be Writing

We are sponsored by Scribophile! Check out their writing classes here!

I did a Google search (uh, AFTER I recorded this,) and found that the writer I reference in this podcast is Eugene Schwartz. You can read more about his method in this post.

His magic number was 33, but I'm keeping mine at 34 because he was a copywriter and I write fiction so they're one minute different. (It's like being one louder.)

Getting bored is important to creating, except that technology has not allowed us to be bored for at least the last 15 years.

I also consider my upcoming milestone birthday.

February 16, 2023 | Season 19 Ep 07 | murverse.com Copyright 2023, Mur Lafferty | CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 License

S19 Ep06

We are sponsored by Scribophile! The best place to find a writing community and join a workshop just added writers' classes,  giving them another reason they're one of the best places online for writers. Check out their classes, or just to find a writing buddy, beta readers, or form your own crit group!

Good News Good News

• Station Eternity gets a second printing!
• Team Rejection Count: 19

Main Topic: There are No Wasted Words

• Do you really need that many words before you get to the real story?
• “In media res” isn’t always the best way to start the action/story
• Ask questions of your characters to get going
• Free writing can loosen the words/ideas
• Playing with character names
• Soldier of the Mist by Gene Wolfe
• All You Need is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka (Edge of Tomorrow is movie adaptation)

Links:

• The Hot Mic
• Socials: Twitter, Mastodon, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Focusmate
• Station Eternity is OUT by the way.
• Support via Patreon!
• John Anealio on Bandcamp
• I Should Be Writing tea blends
• Support local book stores! Station Eternity, Six Wakes, Solo: A Star Wars Story: Expanded Edition and more!
• OR Get signed books from my friendly local store, Flyleaf Books!

February 9, 2023 | Season 19 Ep 06 | murverse.com Copyright 2023, Mur Lafferty | CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 License

S19 Ep5

Good News Good News

• Chaos Terminal final draft is accepted!
• Team Rejection Count: 19

Main Topic: Emotions Again

• I talk about how emotions trip us up- and by "us" I mean "me" time and time again.
• Brave Mur on TikTok

Links:

• The Hot Mic
• Socials: Twitter, Mastodon, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Focusmate
• Station Eternity is OUT by the way.
• Support via Patreon!
• John Anealio on Bandcamp
• I Should Be Writing tea blends
• Support local book stores! Station Eternity, Six Wakes, Solo: A Star Wars Story: Expanded Edition and more!
• OR Get signed books from my friendly local store, Flyleaf Books!

February 7, 2023 | Season 19 Ep 05 | murverse.com Copyright 2023, Mur Lafferty | CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 License

S19 Ep4

Good News Good News

• Station Eternity gets a second printing!
• Team Rejection Count: 19

Main Topic: Evil Mur Appears and Shares Essential Writing Advice

• The endless fount of writing wisdom that is Evil Mur was summoned for her first appearance in 2023, and she answers all questions about short stories and novels, submitting to agents, managing plots and characters, crafting realistic dialogue, and more
• Copyediting and Proofreading (this is the program Summer the producer is in now):
• ACES: The Society for Editing 

Links

• Lava Fountain Pens 
• Jason Sanford 
• File 770 
• Socials: Twitter, Mastodon, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Focusmate

February 2, 2023 | Season 19 Ep 04 | murverse.com Copyright 2023, Mur Lafferty | CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 License

Show Notes: ISBW S19 Ep02 Good News Good News

• Chaos Terminal edits are done!
• Team Rejection 2023 Count: 17

Main Topic: Keeping Yourself Going

• The path of creativity might not always be upwards, but it’s usually forward
• You can’t control reader responses to your work, so avoid responding in anger (or at all)

Links:

• The Hot Mic
• Socials: Twitter, Mastodon, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Focusmate
• Station Eternity is OUT by the way.
• Support via Patreon!
• John Anealio on Bandcamp
• I Should Be Writing tea blends
• Support local book stores! Station Eternity, Six Wakes, Solo: A Star Wars Story: Expanded Edition and more!
• OR Get signed books from my friendly local store, Flyleaf Books!

January 26, 2023 | Season 19 Ep 03 | murverse.com Copyright 2023, Mur Lafferty | CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 License

S19 Ep2 Recorded January 12, 2023

Good News Good News

• Team Rejection 2023 Count: 16

Main Topic: First Sentences

Examining what makes first sentences work

• The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin
• The Stand by Stephen King
• The Gunslinger by Stephen King
• This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone
• A Murder of Crows by Sarah Yarwood-Lovett
• An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good by Helene Tursten
• Thirteen at Dinner by Agatha Christie
• Not Your Average Hot Guy by Gwenda Bond
• Fault Tolerance by Valerie Valdes
• ...and more!

Links:

• The Hot Mic
• Socials: Twitter, Mastodon, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Focusmate
• Station Eternity is OUT by the way.
• Support via Patreon!
• John Anealio on Bandcamp
• I Should Be Writing tea blends
• Support local book stores! Station Eternity, Six Wakes, Solo: A Star Wars Story: Expanded Edition and more!
• OR Get signed books from my friendly local store, Flyleaf Books!

January 19, 2023 | Season 19 Ep 02 | murverse.com Copyright 2023, Mur Lafferty | CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 License

The end of 2022 was chaotic and I got way behind in posting episodes. Apologies! 

Good News Good News

• Team Rejection count: 388

Main Topic: Rebecca Ross, End of Year Burnout, Epiphanies & More

• Rebecca Ross, “A Fire Endless” is out, follows “A River Enchanted” to complete the duology
• The science of writing duologies
• Her epiphany for getting the writing done
• Finding agents, crafting queries
• Working with multiple POVs
• Rebecca Ross: https://rebeccarossauthor.com/ / https://www.instagram.com/beccajross
• Literary Rambles: http://www.literaryrambles.com

December 15, 2022 | Season 18 Ep 78 | murverse.com Copyright 2022, Mur Lafferty | CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 License

The end of 2022 was chaotic and I got way behind in posting episodes. Here are the final episodes of Season 18. Apologies!

Main Topic: Great Books to Give as Gifts for 2022 (I know, I know)

Picking only a few titles for the Gift Guide is Hard!

• How to Defend Your Lair, by Keith Ammann (The Monsters Know What They're Doing Book 4)
• Other Terrors, edited by Vince Liaguno and Rena Mason
• 4thewords : https://4thewords.com
• The Remarkable 2 : https://remarkable.com/store/remarkable-2
• Papier Plume : https://www.papierplume.com/
• Triangle Pen Show (website is kaput, Twitter feed is 8 years out of date)
• Goulet Pen Co : https://www.gouletpens.com
• The Story Graph : https://www.thestorygraph.com

December 8, 2022 | Season 18 Ep 77 | murverse.com Copyright 2022, Mur Lafferty | CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 License

The end of 2022 was chaotic and I got way behind in posting episodes. Apologies! 

Good News Good News

• Team Rejection count: 400
• NaNoWriMo word count: ???? (The Matchmaker & The Assassin)

Main Topic: Evil Mur gifts everyone with advice, Future Mur warns of burnout

• Lo, the dreaded mustache arrives! Take heed of the revered wisdom!
• NaNo Discord: https://discord.gg/UHnJHNke
• Web: https://nanowrimo.org 
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/nanowrimo 

November 10, 2022 | Season 18 Ep 76 | murverse.com Copyright 2022, Mur Lafferty | CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 License

The end of 2022 was chaotic and I got way behind in posting episodes. Apologies! 

Good News Good News

• Team Rejection count: 355
• NaNoWriMo Day 1 word count: 2733 (The Matchmaker & The Assassin)

Main Topic: NaNoWriMo 2022 Lift off!

You see my rocket ship head up in the clouds when my spaceship lit ignite

hit me from the ground I’m about to lift off

• Inkvent Calendar rewards
• Dealing with the Inner Critic/Editor/Bully (we have potato)
• Advice for those writing a first novel
• Shari Lewis & Lamb Chop, The Song that Never Ends was 1992, Better Off Dead was 1985, and Van Halen, Everybody Wants Some was 1980
• NaNo Discord: https://discord.gg/UHnJHNke
• Writing RPG: https://4thewords.com
• Web: https://nanowrimo.org 
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/nanowrimo 

November 1, 2022 | Season 18 Ep 75 | murverse.com Copyright 2022, Mur Lafferty | CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 License