Emporia State University Archives » Video Games are Real

Writing a Book Doesn’t Make You an Author

April 14, 2012

The first of my hopefully long-running contributions to Phil Jourdan's Slothrop blog is now live. The title, Writing a Book Doesn't Make You an Author, isn't meant only to be an attention grabber, but is actually true. I know, truth, right. Here's a taste: The role of author has transformed almost as drastically as has media distribution support system. Authors can no longer be expected to simply produce content. Anyone with $10, a manuscript, and access to the internet can get a book listed on Amazon within minutes. Rather, the role of the author is to be an active, participating member of a book-loving community—by both consuming and creating content—and most importantly by legitimizing the importance of the literary community itself to those who may not be a part of it. Head over to Slothrop to read the post. Leave a comment. Let Phil know how much you love the…

Story Seeding and Social Media, I’m teaching both at the Tallgrass Writing Workshop in June.

April 3, 2012

I am honored to have been asked to teach a couple of sessions at the 2012 Tallgrass Writers Workshop at Emporia State University in June. If you will be in the Emporia area, you should register. Let me manipulate your mind to reflect my morbid desires. THE POWER!!!! I'll be teaching: PLANTING A STORY: How to Grow a Plot from a Single Seed Author Stephen Graham Jones has said that many of his story ideas stem from misheard conversations. This session will explore the process of building an entire story from practically nothing, with special consideration given to dismantling the sham known as writer’s block. SURVIVING ONLINE: Why Social Media is Not a Waste of Time for Authors Some writers claim that time spent engaging in social media is time wasted. But what is an author but a communicator of ideas, and what is social media but a platform for…

Episode 008: ESU Visiting Writers Series with Caleb J. Ross (or at least 15 minutes of it)

September 15, 2011

A few days ago I had the pleasure of being the first writer to participate in the 2011-12 ESU Visiting Writers Series. This was an enormous honor for me, as my time at ESU, those many years ago, was a formative (and formidable) time in my life both as a writer and as a person. Unfortunately, those times did not serve my tech savvy side well, as I failed to change the batteries in my audio recorder and thus came away with only the first 15 minutes of the 2 hour presentation. Oh well, hopefully ESU will invite me back soon. This episode contains a reading of a couple of stories I've read before. But it's worth checking out this new episode if only for the immensely humbling introduction from my ESU professor, Amy Sage Webb.