Category: Staff Articles

Writing advice and insights from the staff of Indies Unlimited.

Watch That S#!t

Mostly for the benefit of our new readers and commenters, but also in the way of a gentle reminder to those of you who have been following a while, Indies Unlimited is a family-friendly, PG-13 type site. That doesn’t mean there is no suggestion of naughtiness, but it is important not to have the landscape cratered by F-bombs.

The vast preponderance of people who post and comment here are writers, but there are others as well. Writers tend sometimes to be dark, edgy people who may be prone from time to time to utter words such as those you may have heard your Dad say when he dropped a hammer on his toe, or got cut off in traffic, or saw your report card.

I am no paragon in this regard. I do make an effort to be sufficiently creative in my communication as to avoid the use of words or terms that might give offense to those with delicate sensibilities. I don’t always hit the mark. None of us is perfect. Neither am I suggesting we have to resort to dang, shoot, heck, or golly-gee. There is a middle ground.

I do ask that commenters try to be more artful in their expression than to simply rely on profane or abusive words. These words are crutches anyway—shorthand for a more expansive and fulsome expression of thought. On the whole, everyone here has comported themselves with a commendable sense of decorum. There have been very few exceptions. I do not wish to be cast in the role of a censor.

So, I’m just saying as nicely as I know how, “Let’s watch the potty-mouth.”

Ed’s Casual Friday: The Sims 2, My Writer’s Kryptonite

Ed's SimWe’ve all got it. A particular something that from time to time saps our diligence and determination away, so that it’s Thursday when we get back to the chapter we meant to finish last weekend. Or, for that matter, get back to that blog post. Ahem. Whatever that thing you put your writing aside to do, that’s your Writer’s Kryptonite.

Not all Kryptonites are created equal, of course. Some are all for the good, like say spending quality time with family and friends. Others, like spreading coke-fueled mayhem on the streets of Las Vegas, less so. (By which I of course mean “Coca Cola” and “Las Vegas, New Mexico.” Nice little town.) Mine, however does precious little for me. Continue reading “Ed’s Casual Friday: The Sims 2, My Writer’s Kryptonite”

Fans

I have done what could be considered “professional writing” in three contexts. I was a sportswriter/columnist in San Diego. I played in bands (we got paid, sometimes it was in beer, but still…). Now, I get paid for freelance writing and for my novels. As of this week, I can officially say novels (plural). I just published ‘The Biker’ on Kindle. And soon, I will tackle Createspace and Smashwords. So, the book just came out. And I have been thinking about building a “fan base”. The whole idea and the terminology makes me uncomfortable. Getting fans as a fiction writer is a tricky thing.

Continue reading “Fans”

Glass Houses

Valerie Douglas

I live in a glass house it sometimes seems and some people sure do like to throw stones. I’m a writer, you see, and unlike a painter almost everyone thinks they can do what I do.  After all, we all learned to write in grade school. Even worse, I’m an independent writer and people make assumptions about that. Personally, I don’t have any complaints there, it’s part of the job, but lately it seems almost habit for some people to add the line ‘it needed and editor for spelling and gramatical errors’ to every indie writer review. (That, by the way, is a direct quote from a review.) Continue reading “Glass Houses”