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Awesome! I've written every day for a week, hoping to take that into Feb, and I agree, it's game changing for how I feel about my writing and progress. But I prefer getting words on the page to editing so that's the part I'm more afraid of

Great work! Cool to see someone else doing the 100 rejection goal, I was beginning to think I was crazy. Dig the stats, keep it up!

I saw Bester at a Worldcon in Brighton.He was a bit of an iconoclast. He had a better life as a journalist..dancing with Kim Novak etc.. than he would have had as an author. Famous also for Tiger, Tiger. I believe that without Bester William Gibson would not be what he is. Don't forget that by the time many innovators die, they have been copied so much the impact has gone. Great review😊

I believe Mark Clifton was a good writer.His stuff was really about industrial psychology.Hi critics tell us more about their own mental states and predices. The Guardian and Holdstock..😮😮

I definitely relate to staying up way later than I would otherwise because I'm making so much progress on a creative project. I think those late nights are sometimes worth it, and I just have to gauge at midnight or so whether I think the next two hours of work will be worth the two hours less of sleep. Often they are, but knowing when to close the computer has been a learning experience for me. When it comes to not being ABLE to sleep, I have other more mundane reasons to have trouble sleeping, but I've had to turn to medicines/supplements which have worked pretty well for me. Not medical advice etc. etc. of course, but melatonin or similar supplements are a good way of forcing your brain to think sleepy thoughts when it refuses to do so on its own. Just gotta keep an eye out and make sure whatever dose of whatever you try isn't making you more tired during the next day.

Absolutely, note taking is seriously one of the greatest tools in the writing box. A great tool I found working double shifts over the summer is Voice memos. iPhones can dictate them now, making it easy to copy rough voice ideas into text, then transferring into a note taking app to expand upon the ideas. Good stuff!

I wish you well this year! I have been writing since I can remember, and have been vastly prolific. Especially as a child. Also as a young adult. Now I am going on, fingers crossed, to a masters in writing. I know I am a phenomenal writer, and the publishing world seems like a structure very about, right time, right place, right connections, and money. I have struggled with navigating where to send my creations and how. However, I am trusting that I will flourish as a storyteller, and that I am seeking and building doorways and paths to publishing and sharing.

There are platforms like Amazon that allow people to self-publish, more or less regardless of the quality of the work. As far as I've been able to tell there are no real downsides when starting out by publishing this way. You keep the IP and you're not losing out on any marketing assistance because a traditional publisher likely isn't going to spend much on you anyways unless you're already a best seller. I've been using this as a sort of mental "safety net" for my writing. I know if I want my work published, it WILL be published, and if people like it then they'll have the opportunity to find/read it. This allows me to focus more on telling the story I want to tell to the best of my ability, rather than on how I'll get it in someone's hands when it's done.

Wishing you strong discipline for keeping to your goals! I myself plan to finish my 1st novel this year (been working on it for ~2 years now). Looking forward to freeing my time up for another project.

I'm on year 20, my friend. I would recommend altering the aspiration. Being published shouldn't be the goal, it should be the cherry. Each project can be its own goal, and success is just finishing it. If it gets published, it gets published. You made what you wanted to, and that's all that really matters. I know it sounds trite, but it's true.

If someone isn't a professional in the publishing business, don't show it to them. An amateur is unlikely to give useful feedback. Family can be the worst of all. Showing them work setup you up for unfounded criticism from family members, or unfounded praise. I've seen this far beyond writing, to any endeavor. The other problem is, you've lost control. They can distribute it.

you’ve got this king!

Hey Eason, I've been catching your recent videos for the last couple days. I understand your feelings on writing/getting published and I commend your effort in daily writing--consistency definitely pays off. I started writing seriously in 2019, and returned to college to pursue a Creative Writing degree in 2022, which I'm nearly finished with now. I've had a few short stories published in the last couple years, but ultimately I find the submission grind taxing and frustrating. I've decided on self-pub routes for my forthcoming books--I'm not happy with the state of trad publishing, and did not like any of my options for prospective trad publishers that I identified during my market research last year. I've had to reimagine what success as a writer looks like. Between 2020 and 2022, I made a huge effort to make writing and editing my job and it nearly killed my passion. Now, I work full-time in an unrelated field while I pursue my degree and make time to write and work on my own publishing company. I've chosen a difficult path, but I find a lot more joy in the craft when its not carrying the burden of my expenses. I also found that once I stopped caring about financial success as a writer, opportunities and growth seemed to come much more often. What I've realized is that success is not just about "good things happening" (getting published, getting paid, followers, etc.) but it's also about maintaining a loving, balanced relationship with writing, life, and the world around us. It wasn't that good things weren't happening before, but my profit driven (and rather negative) mindset was blinding me to what good was occurring. Now, my definition for success is "am I happy with the work I'm putting out into the world?" and "Am I enriching my own life and mind with my craft?" The answer right now, is yes. I think creatives need to stick together in this sea of never ending content (most of which isn't even created by people anymore), so please feel free to reach out if you need a fellow writer to talk to or want to swap stories and critiques. My writing email is on my youtube profile :)

I would say show it to friends and family, but check in once in a while to see where they are up to. It's unlikely their feedback will be objective, but the parts where they slow down or stop probably need work. At least this was my experience: Everyone I showed earlier drafts of my book to told me it was good, but only two people actually read through to the end. Most didn't even get through the prologue. This told me I needed to open with an engaging scene rather than an exposition dump. One person complimented that it was nice that it wasn't a fish out of water story, when it was; We just hadn't seen him swim. Now it opens with a snapshot of what his life was like before things went sideways. I was worried the midsection might sag, and sure enough, my mum got about halfway through and told me that while the story was good, it just kind of stopped. Now this section follows up on things that were introduced in the new opening chapters and ties them in with the main plot. Another friend got lost near the end, where the main plot had finished but there were still another five chapters for loose ends to be tied up with little to no input from the protagonist. So I introduced those story elements sooner and gave him something to do about it. So that's how my book was improved with feedback, and those who didn't finish it were arguably more helpful than those who did.

You bring up some interesting points. I think it really depends on what you're asking your beta reader to look for. For example, maybe you're writing in a female pov when you're a male author. In that case, I would want female beta readers to tell me if that POV feels accurate. That sort of advice shouldn't affect the soul of the story. The only reason it would change the soul of the story would be if you asked the beta reader, " How would fix this?"

Hmm I kinda agree with you, however to sell a book, as you said yourself, we sometimes need to make sacrifices.

About a month ago

I think this is a great idea. Can get writing juices flowing and lead to other creative expressions. Thank you.

Start with the haiku! use it as a hook. Then explain how you came across that idea... then explain how this habit developed and then go on to explain how this has changed you as a writer.

Definitely excited for the new year! Not everything that's arbitrary is False or unhelpful. I'm hoping to finish what will be by far the longest novel I've written without succumbing to that same middle-of-the-novel blues quite as much as I did last year.

I am a huge fan of RAH, though he became quite pervy with Stranger, Time Enough for Love, etc. But the earlier books are still worth reading. In this example, William of Orange is the constututional monarch ruling a human empire seeking to absorb martians, venereans, jovians, etc. A great read

Great review! I agree with all your points. It would have been great if it was a little bit longer, but I think it's still perfect as it is. Greetings from Mexico.

Daniel, I’m on your team. How can I help?

I saw a copy of House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds in that last bookstore you went to. Highly recommended!

There is an Oxfam in Leeds that has a lot of stuff. If you need anything I can take a picture in a couple of days and send it to you. Or come to Leeds! :D

As someone who also writes fiction as well as music, the iterative process is SO different. I can write 10 songs in two weeks if I'm really on a tear, but at my fastest I'll be writing 5-10 pages a day so it's so much harder to 'fail fast' as the tech people talk about. I can't really write 50 novels real quick to hone my skills, and even 50 short stories will take like a year at best. The struggle of sitting with a piece of art for weeks or months at a time and very quickly beginning to hate it is SO real.

Daniel, second comment. On the channel. Oh, and you have a new subscriber. I really enjoyed your review. Your insights and your personal opinions about them are very well expressed. But if your goal is to grow the channel, as opposed to just sharing your thoughts (which is valid in this social media, TH-cam enabled world), please kill the soundtrack. Soft jazz is not helpful. Please find more upbeat background music. Even if YOU love that track... I'm not sure you're going to attract a lot of interest from random listeners with it. And please pick up your tempo. No one needs to hear a ferret on crack (or is that a stoat on speed for the English among us?) shouting at us what they think, but the laid back pace of the dialog is enough that some listeners would click away without listening. If I were not busy enjoying your opinion and agreeing with it, I would have done so. I know a few people trying to build TH-cam channels and they tell me they record their videos, then take a break, then come back and watch them from beginning to end to see if they can spot ways to make them better. None of my friends are ready to quit their day jobs or anything like that, but it seems like good advice just the same. I hope you post more as you continue reading Bujold's work. I look forward to hearing your opinions.

Daniel, I'm going to post 2 separate comments. This one is about your review. I'm delighted you enjoyed The Warrior's Apprentice so much. The whole series is on my Top5 list and I never understand why it's not on EVERYONE's Top5 list, mostly for same joy I take in her character creation that you noted. THERE'S A REASON SHE WON 4 HUGOS and multiple other awards for this series! You would think that expanded into a wider current readership, but it seems like a stealth series to so many people. I don't understand. I hope you keep reading them, and if you do, consider that Miles does not "get lucky" with circumstances that occur, he brilliantly adapts and overcomes. He plans ahead and is not surprised as often as you or I would be... because he really IS a warrior's apprentice. His entire life he's been desperate to be accepted as a genius tactician like his father. A hero, like his lineage. He really is ready for the role he finds himself in. Later books develop this, and sure "plot chaos" is part of the fun of the books, but Bujold is not drawing him as lucky, he really is supposed to be THAT competent and clever. Like Sherlock Holmes level of clever. And while you've seen the quality of character creations, keep an eye out for the world building too. Bujold just slips background information into the story. She does it so smoothly you often don't realize you just got a history lesson or a technology lesson (this is Sci Fi after all!) that is vitally important to the story you are about to read..... Not every book is as strong as "The Warrior's Apprentice", ... most are better. (OK, some are not as good, but really, you'll almost certainly find a favorite besides this one!) Other than that, consider that you reviewed a book written in 1986. Imagine how clever Bujold has become with an extra 30+ years to refine her craft AFTER winning 4 Hugo's, several Nebulas and god knows how many other awards..... I love all her recent stuff too, and when you find the time, I highly recommend you read "The Curse of Chalion" from 2001 and later works in her "World of the Five Gods" or her other series. They all enjoy the same brilliant character creation and worldbuilding. I've lost count of the times I've gone back to Chalion and wiped tears from my eyes at the pathos and depth of emotion she wrings from her characters and situations.

loved this video. your sentiment that just spending time with characters that you love is something i've heard Passion of the Nerd here on youtube say about Buffy before. i haven't actually seen Firefly, but it's another Whedon show so i'm guessing the feel of the characters is at least a little bit similar. i think a movie or show not being too "plot heavy" can work as a framing device also, like in The Florida Project, where the story is told through a child's perspective. if one of the grownups at the motel had been the point of view character, it would have been a very different movie.

I need to get off my @$$ and watch the Before movies already

yoo great explanation and nice video!! i also really love those scenes and whole movies, i almost forgot about dazed and confused, but i forget how cool it was to watch and will go back to it soon :) another movie like that i watched recently was `all about lily chou chou´ in which may also could be seen as boring, but its also shot so beautifully and i can rly reccomend it!

Have not read this yet, sounds amazing. Good review. Moon is a Harsh Mistress is one of my favorite books ever and have read it multiple times. I need to finish his other books!

Your input volume setting is way too low when recording this

I also have a lot of notebooks and some of them aren't complete. I have two books for write my book (i only use one and I will use the other one someday). I also have a journal but its not daily (bc I don'r have that consistence) but I try to write in that one. I have a lot of little notebooks and I have no idea what to do with them So yeah, no, you are not insane. You can even have another notebook for your novel for make the worldbuilding (if you need to, believe me when I say I will use another notebook for that) and other one to make you characters. AND if you like to learn things you can use a notebook to learn, to write down the things you are learning

Well I don't have any notebooks but i have about a dozen pages on my Notion account which is the online tool i use instead of notebooks so I can DEFINITELY see why one would keep a separate physical notebook for each of those things.

I've read the first few of these! first from a chronological point of view, so I haven't gotten to Miles yet but you're right the characters are fascinating. I like to recommend C.J. Cherryh's scifi, especially the Chanur series as similarly thoughtful but action packed and character driven books.

why hv u stopped making videos? you're review was excellent.

The old SF magazines aren't just fun to look at, they make for great reading too. This is how all the SF authors of the era started out, so short fiction was the lifeblood of science fiction. I especially recommend Asimov's and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. Most stores won't buy them, so I highly recommend picking them up when you can.

Nice haul!

Excellent job on this video. Wish you all the best.