Don’t you hate it when a writer uses a super-exciting headline to draw people in and then totally doesn’t deliver on the promise of that headline? Right. So you can start hating me right about now. The most daring thing I did at Comic-Con was, during the discussion on which I was a panel member, leaning so far back in my chair to see one of my fellow panelists that I darn near tipped over. (more…) Read more
Whenever someone asks what I do for a living I tell them I’m a writer. “What do you write about?” is the inevitable response. And that’s when I start hemming and hawing. (What with being a writer and all, I should probably learn what hemming and hawing actually is beyond having a vague sense that hawing is something best done alone.) If you follow this blog, you know a better question is what don’t I write about. In the last... Read more
I hope this doesn’t seem too obnoxiously self-serving, but, if you haven’t yet, it would mean a great deal to me if you’d join/”Like” my Facebook page. People hitting the “Like” button on the top of that page is genuine encouragement to me. Thanks! Bye! Next post from me will be … well, actually, I might bang something out from Comic-Con tomorrow; I will be bringing my camera, after all. But after that I want to get back to what... Read more
I try to be humble. But there comes a time when a man just has to shuck his stolid business suit, don his cape, grab his big stick, put on his form-fitting tights, and declare for one and all to hear, “Verily, shall I rocketh Comic-Con!” Or, really? Doubt I will? Then witness this listing of this Sunday’s Comic-Con confabs — if you dare: (more…) Read more
Apropos of my Still Dreaming of Landing That Big Book Contract? is this, from the Association of American Publishers: All major adult print segments—hardcover, paperback and mass market—showed a decline in sales in May, according to the AAP’s monthly sales report. While e-books showed a steep uptick of 146.9% for the month, bringing in $73.4 million in sales, adult hardcovers dropped 38.2%, adult paperbacks dropped 14.3%, and adult mass market fell 39.4%. For the calendar year, e-books brought in $389.7... Read more
A friend of mine, Zach Bailes, was walking around downtown Nashville when he came across these two buskers. Check out the woman on spoons! Awesome. Read more
In case you haven’t seen this insanity. Behold the screen-save: And look at Rachelle’s inbox. Clearly, everyone on ChristianMingle.com knows she’s a lesbian. Note, too, how the fish in the ChristianMingle.com logo is totally interfering with the mingling. Final proof that the Christian fish is a carp? Read more
If you follow this blog at all, you know that we spend a lot of time here looking into those aspects of ourselves and life generally that don’t exactly make for, say, flirty cocktail party talk. “You seem like a really fun person to know,” a new acquaintance might say to one of us. (more…) Read more
So here’s a letter I got in last week: I have a question, John. I am an avid reader of your blog. I am not sure if I’ve ever commented before, though. I am just loving your posts on being gay and being a follower of Christ. I love Jesus. I always have, ever since I have known of Him. My first remembered introduction to God was around age two, and it’s been true love ever since. In fact,... Read more
As many of you know, for at least a year now I’ve been telling any writer who’ll listen to forget about selling a book of theirs to any “real” publisher, and instead get busy figuring out how to sell their own work to their own audience. My case has been that (for one) about the only real thing left that traditional book publishers can do for an author is distribute their books to book stores — but that, in the... Read more
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