8 Responses so far

1. 1. Steve Nagy on Jul 27th, 2007 at 11:48 am

   Nice discussion. Especially liked the points about rejections and timing with story and editor.

2. 2. Greg Gunther on Jul 27th, 2007 at 2:59 pm

   Hey, Tobias.

   Great lecture. I’ve been following your career and online presence for a few years, if you remember me. (I worked on your business card design for ‘Crystal Rain’).

   As an aspiring writer myself, you’ve been a huge inspiration and role model of how to go about becoming a writer. This video is one more example of your ongoing commitment to building your writing career, to sharing your experience with your peers (and peer hopefuls) and being a totally cool spokesman in the Industry for science fiction and up-and-coming your writers.

   Good luck on your continued success. And seriously, dude, cut back on the caffeine before you do a lecture.

   Greg Gunther.

3. 3. tobias buckell on Jul 27th, 2007 at 4:14 pm

   Thank you Steve.

   Greg, yeah I remember you. Thank you for the kind words. And as for caffeine, on doctor’s orders I quite about 3 or 4 months ago, that’s me at my natural state. It’s sad that no one will ever get to see me at that plus caffeine buzzed again!

4. 4. Lou Anders on Jul 27th, 2007 at 6:21 pm

   Good videocast!

5. 5. Jeff Vehige on Jul 31st, 2007 at 3:19 pm

   Tobias -

   Great talk so far … I’m writing this as I’m listening. You mentioned a book called ON MASTERY toward the. Is that the title? Who is the author? I’d checked Amazon.com, but couldn’t find it.

   Any hints?

6. 6. Tobias Buckell on Jul 31st, 2007 at 5:32 pm

   http://www.amazon.com/Mastery-Keys-Success-Long-Term-Fulfillment/dp/0452267560/ref=sr_1_3/102-5621130-1005727?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1185917254&sr=8-3

7. 7. Steve Buchheit on Aug 1st, 2007 at 11:28 am

   Okay, we need to get you a wireless microphone. With all the noise at work, I can’t hear a thing. Your lips are moving, I see the sound bars jiggling (on the bottom of their range). But I can’t hear anything through my speakers (full volume on the software and on the sound playback). I’ll hook up speakers at home and see if I can amplify (or go through headphones).

8. 8. Jeff Vehige on Aug 8th, 2007 at 12:17 pm

   Tobias -

   I got MASTER by George Leonard and read it. Thanks so much for the link! I learned (a) that when it comes to writing I’m a full-fledged dabbler and (b) that the reason I’ve been a dabbler for so many years is that I’ve never understood the necessity of the plateau. Time to change that.

   I also realized why I like writing to the timer instead of a word and/or page count. I found that trying to get X-amount of words or X-amount of pages written in a day is almost too daunting at times — and when I feel like that it’s easy to rush through them just to get it done. Rather, if I know I have to write for an hour and that it doesn’t matter how much or how little I get written — I know, for example, that if I sit down at 9:30 pm to write I’ll be done at 10:30 regardless of quantity of material — so long as I work for one hour, this “goalless” habit frees me to focus on the quality of the story and the words, not on the quantity of pages, and it seems that my writing is better for it.

   Wonderful, wonderful book. Thanks again.

   - Jeff