From Bigfoot Erotica to Racist Rantings: When Author Life Affects the Rest of Your Life

Just recently, a big story that ran in national publications (People, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone) saw Virginia congressional candidate Denver Riggleman accused of authoring Bigfoot erotica. (He was outed by his opponent, aptly named CockBurn). While the details aren’t super important, the story brings to the forefront what can happen when your author life slams into your real life. While the two generally happily coexist, sometimes they bleed into each other in bad ways. Since we’re living in an age of social media, it’s a good time to examine the ways in which your writing life can impact the rest of your life.

It Can Get You Fired Continue reading “From Bigfoot Erotica to Racist Rantings: When Author Life Affects the Rest of Your Life”

Avoiding Unintended Consequences of Your Self-Publishing Life

author, you are firedI saw a recent article with the headline The Atlanta fire chief who wrote the homophobic book has been fired. When I read this, I thought it might be a good time for a post about some of the unintended consequences that can occur from your self-publishing life, if you don’t use a little forethought when publishing.

Clearly this fire chief wrote the book and intended to keep his job after writing it. However, things went awry because his job considered his content to be in violation of their standards for employees. While I don’t want to debate whether forethought could have prevented the situation that resulted here, I think the case serves as a reminder that the things we write can have unintended consequences if we’re not careful. Continue reading “Avoiding Unintended Consequences of Your Self-Publishing Life”

Reflections of a Casual (and Quirky) Writer

CanMasGuest Post
by John Kenny

I like to think of myself as something of a renaissance man. Others regard me as a dilettante. The truth probably lies somewhere in between. I perform my own car maintenance and repairs. I sew (some of) my own clothes. I’ve done all the framing, electrical, plumbing and other work in renovating several homes. I create stained glass. I’m a volunteer mentor at my local jail. I also sail, garden, bake and race sprint canoe. Yes, the latter is a real Olympic sport. This year I won two golds in my age category (not quite dead yet) at the National Championships.

I also write when the mood strikes me and/or I make the time.

All of these things enrich my life and I wouldn’t want to do without any of them.

“Self-publishing ate my life,” Eileen Goudge wrote in an IU piece about a month ago. When I read about the amount of work many of you put into your marketing and promotion, I am amazed, horrified, awed, amused, inspired and dismissive, sometimes all in the space of a few seconds. I’ve even felt pangs of guilt for not being as dedicated, but they pass quickly. Continue reading “Reflections of a Casual (and Quirky) Writer”

Walking the Tightrope Between Work and Writing

tightropeI have always admired people who can write, hold down a job, care for children, do marketing and wield a vacuum cleaner while apparently staying sane and cheerful. Sadly, I’m not one of them. I may be female, but I’m no multi-tasker. I’m more like a serial monogamist who can only concentrate on one, maybe two things at a time.

For me, family has always been THE top priority, so twenty-odd years ago I’d do technical writing during my daughter’s naps, and when everyone else was asleep.

Juggling family and writing worked back then because I was writing about real things that could be approached in neat, logical chunks, all left-brain stuff. However when I began writing fiction, I discovered that the process of creating characters and worlds is very different. Creative writing is a right-brain activity, and I’m naturally a left-brain type of person. Continue reading “Walking the Tightrope Between Work and Writing”