Category Archives: Thieftaker

Creative Friday: Story Excerpt!

Posted on January 29, 2021 by dbjackson

For today’s Creative Friday post, I offer a teaser from my short story, “The Wreck of the Sarah Mohr,” which will be appearing in the DERELICT anthology that I’m co-editing with Joshua Palmatier (to be published by Zombies Need Brains). … Continue reading →

Posted in Boston, Character, Ethan Kaille, Fantasy, Publishing, Short Fiction, Thieftaker, Writing, Writing Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Creative Friday: Story Excerpt!

Professional Wednesday: Creativity and the Market

Posted on January 20, 2021 by dbjackson

As a professional writer — as a professional in the arts — I take on several career roles. I am an artist, of course. I create. I am an editor, and not just in the traditional sense of editing the … Continue reading →

Posted in Business of publishing, Novels, Publishing, Short Fiction, Thieftaker, Writing, Writing Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Professional Wednesday: Creativity and the Market

Professional Wednesday: A Ton of News, and Organizing My Time

Posted on January 6, 2021 by dbjackson

Welcome to my new Wednesday blogging feature, Professional Wednesdays. As some of you may remember, back around Thanksgiving I asked you for advice on the future of my midweek posts. My Writing-Tip Wednesdays were well received throughout 2020, but by … Continue reading →

Posted in Business of publishing, Dead Man's Reach, Novels, Publishing, Short Fiction, Thieftaker, Writing, Writing Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Professional Wednesday: A Ton of News, and Organizing My Time

Writing-Tip Wednesday: Goals Revisited Again, End of Year, and NaNo

Posted on November 11, 2020 by dbjackson

That is what the last month or so of most years is about. I want to set myself up to be organized, motivated, productive, and successful in the year to come. First let me wish a peaceful, healthful Veterans Day … Continue reading →

Posted in A Plunder of Souls, Dead Man's Reach, Novels, Short Fiction, Thieftaker, Writing, Writing Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Writing-Tip Wednesday: Goals Revisited Again, End of Year, and NaNo

Writing-Tip Wednesday: Plotting Or Not — Doing Away With a Dumb Debate

Posted on October 28, 2020 by dbjackson

This is my forty-second Writing-Tip Wednesday post of the year, and somehow I have gotten through forty-one posts without addressing that age-old writing question, “Do I or do I not outline?” Or put another way, “Plotter or pantser?” First, a … Continue reading →

Posted in Islevale Cycle, Novels, Thieftaker, Writing, Writing Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Writing-Tip Wednesday: Plotting Or Not — Doing Away With a Dumb Debate

Writing-Tip Wednesday: Anatomy of a Rewrite

Posted on October 7, 2020 by dbjackson

As I described in a recent Writing-tip Wednesday post, I have been working recently on a trunk series — a pair of books, the first two in a projected trilogy, that I initially wrote nearly ten years ago. I have … Continue reading →

Posted in Character, Novels, Reading, Thieftaker, Writing, Writing Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Writing-Tip Wednesday: Anatomy of a Rewrite

Writing-Tip Wednesday: “Pitch Inside”

Posted on September 30, 2020 by dbjackson

In the mid-1980s, my favorite baseball player on the planet was a young pitcher for the New York Mets named Dwight Gooden. Gooden had a meteoric career that was shortened by injuries and chronic drug abuse. But for the first … Continue reading →

Posted in Character, Ethan Kaille, Fantasy, Islevale Cycle, Novels, Short Fiction, Thieftaker, Writing, Writing Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Writing-Tip Wednesday: “Pitch Inside”

Writing-Tip Wednesday: How To Handle Profanity In Your Writing

Posted on September 2, 2020 by dbjackson

Have you watched the HBO series Deadwood? It’s a Western, the creative child of the brilliant David Milch. It’s violent, brutally realistic, and absolutely the most profane thing I have ever watched, with the possible exception of the Academy Award-winning … Continue reading →

Posted in Business of publishing, Novels, Publishing, Setting, Thieftaker, Writing, Writing Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Writing-Tip Wednesday: How To Handle Profanity In Your Writing

Writing-Tip Wednesday: World Building Lessons I’d Forgotten

Posted on July 22, 2020 by dbjackson

Back in early March, I posted about creating magic systems, and said then that I expected I would post about world building at least once more over the course of the year. And so here I am, making myself a … Continue reading →

Posted in Fantasy, History, Islevale Cycle, Novels, Research, Thieftaker, Writing, Writing Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Writing-Tip Wednesday: World Building Lessons I’d Forgotten

Writing-Tip Wednesday: Taking Stock Halfway Through 2020

Posted on July 1, 2020 by dbjackson

As of today, July 1, we are halfway done with 2020. Yeah, I know. It seems like this year has lasted a decade. And it seems like this year has flown. Time is unnervingly elastic right now, at least from … Continue reading →

Posted in Islevale Cycle, Novels, Short Fiction, Thieftaker, Writing, Writing Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Writing-Tip Wednesday: Taking Stock Halfway Through 2020