As expected, Twitter’s new owner just cut the social media platform’s staff by thousands, a move that’s sure to prompt yet another round of users to close their profiles and go in search of greener social media pastures. The problem is, I’m not sure they exist. If they do, it won’t take capitalism long to … More Late-Stage Capitalism and Social Media
HOW? How is it May already?!? Y’all, this has been one busy frickin’ year. I had planned to start querying again in January and ramp up my ARC reading. Instead, I test drove and then joined a semi-pro critique group. The first six-week cycle was rough, but the second was even more labor-intensive because I … More It’s May
A Scribophile group had a contest for Drabbles (works that are exactly 100 words long) inspired by David Bowie songs. I saw it too late to enter the contest but wrote one anyway, based on Lazarus from his final album, Blackstar. Changes, Under PressureThe Man Who Sold the WorldSo many of my memoriesAre connected to … More Davie Bowie Drabble
While 2021 sucked in many ways, my experience as a writer was not one of them. I started the year thinking—once again—I was ready to query. My hope was to be agented by the end of the year, and my goal was to send a handful of queries every other week or so. As a … More 2021 Roundup
It’s been almost two months since my last blog post, and that’s because I’ve been busy AF. In the writing community, fall is a very busy time with several big events and contests going on. Who knew? First, I wanted to finish a revision, write and hone a synopsis, and refine my query letter in … More Busy Busy Busy Fall!
It’s two days before the Fall 2021 #PitMad event, so here’s my advice: 1 – Write good pitches (easier said than done) 2 – Engage with other authors by Quote Retweeting, Commenting, or Retweeting their pitches. DO NOT LIKE THE TWEETS. Don’t be that person who gives someone false hope by liking, which is how … More Twitter Adventures – Part 3
A few weeks ago I did a “first pages” feedback session with a handful of agents at an online writers workshop. The facilitator read the pages aloud and stopped when three of the four agents had raised their hand to indicate where they would have stopped reading (or, at least, at the first “red flag” … More First Paragraphs & Rejection
This past week, I went viral on Twitter for the first time. Okay, “viral” may be a strong word for it, but 3600 engagements v my usual 25-ish was a pretty big day for me. I’m now up about 500 followers from this time last week, and it all started with TweetDeck. For those of … More Twitter Adventures – Part 2
I’ve always hated Twitter. It’s just too much. I’m a completionist . . . I want to read all the books in a series and watch all the shows and see all the movies, etc. So when I first joined twitter, it was overwhelming. I shut down my account almost immediately. Then I started writing … More Twitter Adventures – Part 1
I’ve always struggled with short stories. Writing them, reading them . . . it doesn’t matter. They’ve never been my jam. I love epic stuff like Star Trek and Discworld and just about any other story following a group of people or society over a long period of time. Short stories always leave me wanting … More Short Stories and Other New Adventures
Esmari Writes 