J.D. Moyer

sci-fi author, beatmaker

Category: Writing Page 2 of 18

Keeping Promises to the Reader

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On August 8

In Creative Work/Career, Writing

I’m in the final chapters of the first draft of Saint Arcology, a science fiction novel set in Mumbai involving a progressive pope, a Vatican plot, genetically engineered mollusks, a society of radicalized scientists, a blasphemous augmented reality game, a fake guru, and a solution to global poverty.

The main plot climax has already occurred, but I’m not the kind of author than can just fade to black. I feel as if I’ve made promises to potential readers of this story. My checklist for wrapping up a novel includes the following:

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A Solarpunk Manifesto

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On July 19

In Alternative Economics, Culture Rants/Shares, Utopian Speculations, Writing

The other day I found A Solarpunk Manifesto in my inbox, thanks to Joe Stech and his News Refinery newsletter.

I was vaguely aware of solarpunk as a genre, associating it with progressive technological optimism, an alternative to both dystopian science fiction and steampunk. But I’d never read any attempt to describe it explicitly.

Reading the manifesto, my general reaction was yes. Count me in for science fiction as activism, post-scarcity, post-capitalism, post-hierarchical society, and the whole shebang.

While I’ve never described the Reclaimed Earth series as solarpunk, the Ringstation Coalition culture checks all of the boxes. So do aspects of my novelette The Icelandic Cure, and many of my short stories.

So yeah, I guess I’m a solarpunk author, at least in part.

Here’s the manifesto in full, shared via Creative Commons license:

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Three Spreadsheets I Use While Writing a Novel

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On July 5

In Fiction Writing, Writing

I unabashedly love spreadsheets. I view spreadsheets as intelligent pieces of paper: totally freeform, but capable of calculations, lookups, list organization, and even database formats. Spreadsheets are a powerful technology that can externalize mental processes, organization, and memory.

I use spreadsheets for tracking my goals, health, personal finance, RPG games, and all sorts of other things. When I’m writing a novel, I primarily rely on spreadsheets to keep track of characters, scenes, and timelines. Here are a few examples:

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What Is the Limiting Factor?

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On March 21

In Creative Work/Career, Metaprogramming, Writing

In terms of reaching your goals, or progressing in a given area of your life, what is the main limiting factor?

I think it’s worth spending some time and effort to consider this question. We might have assumptions about what’s limiting or holding us back that aren’t true, or are no longer true. And we might be missing problems that could be easily addressed, thus accelerating our progress.

Time and money are common limiting factors. If you want to pursue an artistic calling, how do you find the time? And since most art doesn’t pay right away (if ever), how do we survive and support our loved ones?

These are real issues for people who want to pursue artistic ideas, start a new business, contribute to their community, or do anything that doesn’t immediately pay the bills.

So sometimes people are surprised when life provides a window of time, with ample funds to boot, and the creativity or entrepreneurship doesn’t immediately materialize. Maybe the lack of time or money wasn’t the limiting factor after all.

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Blogging in 2021 and Beyond

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On March 6

In Metablog, Writing

I didn’t post at all in February, mostly because I was working on revisions of The Last Crucible, Book 3 of the Reclaimed Earth series, which is now turned in to my editor Don D’Auria at Flame Tree Press. The cover looks beautiful and I’ll reveal that as well as the release date in the coming weeks.

The recent blogging gap did make me reflect on blogging in general. A few factors have pulled me away from posting as much as I used to:

  • Sometimes I feel a sense of cognitive dissonance when I read older posts. I started this blog twelve years ago in 2009, and I don’t always agree with my past self, or relate to him emotionally. That sense of dissonance sometimes dissuades me from writing. Whatever I write, some aspect of it will seem foolish or incorrect in the future.
  • Generally I feel less sure of myself than I did five or ten years ago. Being a father, experiencing illness and death in the family, and undergoing various personal struggles have humbled me. Many of my past posts offered advice, but who am I to give advice? Every year I’m alive I become more aware of the vast number of things I do not know.
  • A few years ago the Google algorithm sharply reduced traffic to any website discussing health issues that wasn’t an accredited medical institution. This makes a lot of sense in terms of reducing the amount of health nonsense on the internet (some of which I’ve written myself). But it did reduce overall traffic to this site significantly, which was discouraging.
  • Now that I’m officially a novelist, most of my writing time goes into writing novels.

On the other hand, there are still quite a few positive aspects to blogging:

  • This site actually generates income. My friend Rob, who taught me a scalp massage technique that helped me reverse my male-pattern hair loss to a significant degree, decided to offer me a generous commission for a couple blog posts I wrote that link to his site. So that’s nice.
  • Writing about whatever is top-of-mind helps me sort out my own thoughts. That’s always been a huge personal benefit of blogging, and that continues to be true.
  • It’s useful to have my own place on the internet where I can promote my creative work, moderate comments to my own standards, and publish whatever the hell I like.

So I’m doubling down on blogging. I have to give credit to Steve Pavlina, who published a blog post every single day in 2020, for nudging me in this direction.

My approach to blogging in 2021 will look something like this:

  • Schedule a chunk of time most Saturday mornings to write a blog post or posts.
  • Write about whatever I have something to say about in that particular moment (less planning, more pantsing).
  • As always, try to write something that offers at least some value to the reader. I’ll continue to share whatever I’m experimenting with in my life, what I’m learning, what obstacles I’m facing and how I’m navigating those problems.
  • Do my best to put whatever doubts and hesitancy I have about blogging aside, and just keep writing and posting.

This feels doable. Writing a post a week is a reasonable commitment, and I expect the rewards will vastly outweigh whatever time and effort I put in (as they have in the past).

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