Though I still have a long backlog of DSF stories I need to catch up with after my vacation, I did decide to go outside my usual magazines in the hunt for great short stories this week. Memory Foam by Forrest Brazeal (DSF): This story is by no means a masterpiece, but it shows that … Continue reading Short Story Recommendations – 2018.10.13
Author: Tobias Backman
Author Earnings Dropping
This Guardian article certainly is discouraging reading for all us aspiring writers. Even professional writers are finding it harder and harder to make a living through their art. All the while, publishers and Amazon are seeing increasing profits (but they'll probably keep complaining that the market is dwindling, so they can keep the money for … Continue reading Author Earnings Dropping
Short Story Recommendations: 2018.10.05
Once again, a week that is dominated by stories from Daily Science Fiction; I'm still catching up on the backlog of stories I have in my inbox from them since I went on vacation. To the Editor: Monsters belong in schools by Zella Christensen (DSF): A funny piece that plays of familiar fantasy tropes and … Continue reading Short Story Recommendations: 2018.10.05
A Crazy Month
So the last month or so has been pretty strange, exciting, and full of first time experiences for me, with a lot of ups and downs. I went to the US for the first time and got to experience just how simultaneously different and similar it was to western Europe. The sheer amount of second … Continue reading A Crazy Month
Short Story Recommendations – 2018.09.24
The App by Dustin J Davis (DSF): The sentence level writing is okay, the characterization pretty good considering the limited work count, but it's the treatment of theme that really pulls this story up above average. The story highlights what's it like to live in the probably not too distant future where highly realistic video-editing … Continue reading Short Story Recommendations – 2018.09.24
A Year of Critical Reading – What I’ve Learned so Far
Psychologist and expert in experts Dr. Anders Eriksson explains in his book, Peak (one of the few self-help books actually worth reading, if you ask me), that the single best indicator of how good a chess player is going to be isn't how many hours of chess they've played but how many hours they've spent … Continue reading A Year of Critical Reading – What I’ve Learned so Far
Why the 10.000 Hour Rule doesn’t Exist
When most people think about deliberate practice, it's probably in the form of the 10.000 hours rule invented by Malcom Gladwell. Hell, a lot of people who've never heard of deliberate practice, or deep practice as it's sometimes called, know the 10.000 hour rule. The rule states that: With 10.000 hours of practice, you can … Continue reading Why the 10.000 Hour Rule doesn’t Exist
Becoming a Professional Writer – The Odds Aren’t as Bad as You Think
A while back I tried to figure out what the chances of actually making it as a writer and turning it into a full time career was. Back then, I did some calculations based on how much money you'd have to make to get by, the yearly library earnings of Danish authors, and the population … Continue reading Becoming a Professional Writer – The Odds Aren’t as Bad as You Think
Short Story Recommendations – 2018.08.03
Unfortunately, I only have two story recommendations for you today. This is partly due to me having read mostly novels and stuff from my writing group the last week or so, and partly because I've been unlucky and the stories I did chose to read (many of them being okay but not exactly great). Luckily, … Continue reading Short Story Recommendations – 2018.08.03
Deliberate Practice – July Stats
Already with one day left of the month, July proved to be my best month yet in regards to getting down practice hours. I ended averaging 3.57 hours a day (my previous best was 3.42). The practice consisted of 15 hours of writing exercises, almost 19 hours of writing stories, more than 73 hours of … Continue reading Deliberate Practice – July Stats
Toby Backman 