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
Short Story Recommendations – 2018.07.19
Another week have passed (and a little more than that), and it's time for another round of reading recommendations. This week brings stories from Daily Science Fiction (because I'm a regular reader of their stories) and Escape Pod (because I'm going through a bit of an audiobook/podcast period at the moment). Homegrown Tomatoes by Lara … Continue reading Short Story Recommendations – 2018.07.19
Fiction Writing Practice – Quality vs. Quantity
Those of you who have been following the blog for a while will know by now that I'm putting a lot of effort into utilizing deliberate practice to improve my fiction writing skills. For the last couple of month I've been focusing on getting my practice time up, going from practicing on average 1.5 hours … Continue reading Fiction Writing Practice – Quality vs. Quantity
Short Story Recommendations – 2018.07.09
It's time for my second round of short story recommendations. This last week or so it seems I've been reading a lot of Daily Science Fiction (DSF), or at least that's where I've found the best stories. This isn't really a surprise though as DSF is one of my absolute favorite short story magazines. They … Continue reading Short Story Recommendations – 2018.07.09
Short Story Recommendations – 2018.07.02
This is the first post in my series of short story reviews/recommendations. Below, you'll find a list of short stories I've read lately and a brief description of each. Let me know what you thought of the stories in the comment section or if you have any short stories or magazines you can recommend yourself. … Continue reading Short Story Recommendations – 2018.07.02
Toby Backman 