by Melinda Snodgrass | Jun 5, 2012 | Blog
If you want to watch the transit of Venus NASA is hosting a webcast from a telescope in Hawaii. You can watch it here. Presumably we’re all science fiction people, and this is a very rare event. Doubt any of us will be around for the next one. Enjoy.
by Melinda Snodgrass | Jun 5, 2012 | Blog
After the fantastic experience of the partial eclipse I was really looking forward to the transit of Venus. Alas, clouds are in our future. Which is hard because New Mexico needs the rain so desperately, but I really wanted to see this event since I’m not going to make the next one. I’m trying to figure out if I could drive far enough west to get out from under the cloud cover. Probably not and still do all the things I’m supposed to do today. Like...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Jun 5, 2012 | Blog
I realized something after a very busy and productive day yesterday. I like to write. I mean that literally. I like to sit at a keyboard, and put words down. People might say, “Well, duh. You’re a writer. Of course you like to write.” But oddly that is sometimes not the case. I know a lot of writers who like to have written, but they don’t necessarily like to write. I get excited when a sentence is pretty. Or when...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Jun 2, 2012 | Blog
I can plot like a fiend. I’m really good at it. It’s usually very easy for me. Easy when I know the final scene of a book or a story. I had a final scene for my Old Mars story, but had a feeling placing the action off stage wasn’t going to work. Sure enough Gardner and George told me it didn’t work. They liked the family dynamic and the tensions within the family so I started to rebuild the story around that. But I don’t...
by Melinda Snodgrass | May 29, 2012 | Blog
This may seem like simplistic advice to many people, but it’s odd how many folks don’t understand how publishing actually works or is supposed to work. So I turned to my friend, John Jarrold for help and advice on how to approach this. Here is the statement he sent me: “A very basic point for new writers: the money only flows one way in professional, mainstream publishing (or in small press publishing) – FROM the publisher, TO the author. If you are paying for...
by Melinda Snodgrass | May 21, 2012 | Blog
Somehow in all my years on this planet I have never seen any kind of solar eclipse. Lunar eclipses many times, but yesterday we had an eclipse party. At about 3:00 p.m. my friend Ian and I packed up a couple of folding chairs, and a big jug of water and we headed down to Bernalillo where we picked up our friends Pat and Scott. They had a chair, and lemon cookies and sun tea (appropriate). An aside. I finally got to meet the puppies that Pat and others had rescued up in...
by Melinda Snodgrass | May 15, 2012 | Blog
I wish that was a reference to something exciting and nefarious, but it’s just me describing my morning. I’ve been putting cards on the board for the Wild Card movie, and started stressing over needing a B story. Then I realized I already had a B story, and it intersects nicely with the A story (always what you want). Next issue — do I need a small C runner in this movie? I feel like I do. I’m not sure there’s enough going on without...
by Melinda Snodgrass | May 11, 2012 | Blog
Here’s a few simple rules that need to be followed. When you get exposed for having done something cruel and dickish that has haunted your fellow actors all their lives. Do not first say you “don’t remember the incident.” Stand up and own it. Second, apologies do not include the words — “If my actions, words, offended anyone….” You don’t start apologies with “if”. Apologies go like this....
by Melinda Snodgrass | May 5, 2012 | Blog
I liked it a lot. I went with GRRM, Parris, Raya and Ty yesterday afternoon. Our timing was perfect. The crowds weren’t bad (Santa Fe isn’t much of a movie town), we had great seats, and anticipation was high. I was going to get my fix of gorgeous men — my personal favorites, Captain America, and Loki. I know, I know, Thor is gorgeous too, but I like more sensitive suffering types. Or I guess in Loki’s case, bat shit crazy, but...
by Melinda Snodgrass | May 3, 2012 | Blog
I love King for a lot of reasons. Some of them personal. He treated a terrified newly minted writer with great kindness, humor and friendship when I got assigned to autograph with him at an S.F. convention many years ago. I didn’t even have a book out. All I had was a cover flat. He had a line that went out of the building, but he was so nice to me. He’s a gent. But I also love him for this article in the Atlantic. I hit insert before I had...
by Melinda Snodgrass | May 2, 2012 | Blog
I realized my last post about combat and writing about combat experiences wasn’t as clear as it could have been. I didn’t mean to imply that you can’t write about combat if you haven’t experienced combat, though it probably came out that way. I really hate the argument that you can only “write what you know” since I’m an upper middle class white girl who hasn’t been to Mars, or fought demons, etc. etc. If had to write only about...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Apr 28, 2012 | Blog
I’ve now read one book SHADOW OPS: CONTROL POINT by an Iraq veteran, Myke Cole and I am in the processing of reading a terrific novel in my crit group by an Afghanistan veteran, M.T. REITEN, (not sold yet, but that’s going to happen soon), and I’ve discovered something fascinating. Neither of these men have their heroes resort to redemptive violence. Or use torture or even condone it. They’ll fight when attacked, but they don’t glory in...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Apr 24, 2012 | Blog
It’s not just because he’s my friend, but an absolutely brilliant book is now available in paperback, BITTER SEEDS by Ian Tregillis. Book two in the Milkweed Triptych, THE COLDEST WAR, will be out in July, and the third and final volume, NECESSARY EVIL, drops in April of 2013. These books are brilliant so run don’t walk to order/buy/download them. I believed in the power of this series so much that I pitched it to my manager, and Ian and I wrote a kickass...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Apr 23, 2012 | Blog
I just read this stunningly depressing article by Frank Rich one of my favorite editorialists. I don’t know who We the People hold back this tide of money unleashed by Citizens United. I make monthly donations to the President, and various candidates I support, but they are $25 to $50.00 dollars. Are there enough of us to counter this tsunami of money? Maybe working the campaign, being on the ground to mobilize our voters and get them to the polls is the only answer....
by Melinda Snodgrass | Apr 18, 2012 | Blog
I’m just in the mood to be pissy this morning. First, I hate Joomla. It makes me feel stupid because I can’t even effectively upload photos much less link to a video and have it actually show up as a picture. Then I was putting away my test scores from the dressage show, and I started thinking about the woman who won first place over Vento and me, and I got annoyed all over again. She has a fabulous older horse (15 or so) who is trained to within an inch of his...
