Blog Posts

  • Blog Posts,  My Writing Journey

    My Writing Space (featuring: the Happy Board)

    Want to see what my writing space looks like? Or, at least what my desk area looks like? I actually enjoy switching up my routine and writing in different places around my house, because I tend to procrastinate when things feel too familiar or repetitive. But I do have a “writing base,” as you will, and my favorite part of it is my Happy Board. This is where I like to put things that inspire me or make me feel inexplicably happy when I look at them. So, for those of you who are curious, I thought I’d diagram some of my favorite components of my Writing Base and Happy Board.…

  • Blog Posts,  My Writing Journey

    What I’m Working On: Summer 2018

    I think we’re overdue for an update on my current projects! I picked the picture of the robot juggling all the lightbulbs because…well… IN DEVELOPMENT: “SETI@home” A 1-2k word personal essay about my late grandpa and a nostalgia-driven look at the SETI@home project. SETI stands for “Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.” It’s the program Jodie Foster was working on in the 1997 movie Contact. The SETI@home project was a small offshoot of SETI, developed in 1999 as a way for everyday people to donate their CPUs, or computer processing cycles, to help process radio signals from space. The most exciting part of this is that I’ve contacted the director of the SETI@home…

  • Blog Posts,  My Writing Journey,  Rejections

    I Got My Fifth Rejection!

    Wow! I just sent off a story to a magazine that gave me an estimate of six weeks wait, and they replied in three days! Since I’ve been hearing back from these venues so frequently, I’m planning on making this the last time I share each and every rejection on its own. From now on I’ll share every five rejections or so, at which time I’ll make a compilation list. That way you can still read every letter word-for-word, but it doesn’t turn my entire blog into a never ending list of rejection posts. In the meantime, I have so many posts planned that I can’t wait to share with…

  • Adventures in Research,  Blog Posts,  Family Life,  My Writing Journey

    Adventures in Research: Bad Luck Bananas

    I’ve researched a lot of random things in the name of my writing. To my left is a bookshelf with titles on it such as: The Conlanger’s Lexipedia, The Secret History of the Mongol Queens, Science and Society in the 16th and 17th Centuries, the Crystal Bible, Crowning Anguish: Memoirs of a Persian Princess from the Harem to Modernity, The Secret Life of Plants, and — my personal favorite — Barbecued Husbands. You can tell a lot by looking at people’s bookshelves. Particularly if they’re a total weirdo or not. The thing is, even though the research is done for my book, it often just translates into a familiarity with…

  • Blog Posts,  My Writing Journey,  Rejections

    I Got My Fourth Rejection!

    I’m pretty sure this blog is about to devolve into a big list of rejections, but sharing these letters with everyone has become part of my process now, so without further ado: Dear Christine, Thank you for sending ‘[TITLE]’ to [VENUE]. Unfortunately, we’ve decided it’s not quite right for us. We have to reject many good stories for a variety of reasons unrelated to their quality. We appreciate your interest in our magazine and wish you the best in finding a home for your story. We thought the exchange between [H] and [S] was compelling, but we wanted more connection with (and resolution to) the first-contact thread. Best Regards, [EDITOR]…

  • Blog Posts,  My Writing Journey

    I Got A Silver Honorable Mention!

    Great news! The Writers of the Future contest has posted their official winners for the Second Quarter of Volume 35, and I got a Silver Honorable Mention! This means that out of thousands of contestants, my story “ALIENS!” made it to the top 25. So while I didn’t win or even place, I’m happy to see my work is at a competitive level with other writers. It’s incredibly validating. I had this to say about “ALIENS!” in a post I shared a few months ago: What I’m Working On “ALIENS!” Sci-fi short story about 5k words. This project was inspired by my years in Japan, one very interesting SCUBA instructor,…

  • Blog Posts,  My Writing Journey,  Rejections

    I Got My Third Rejection!

    Want to see my latest form rejection? Dear Christine, Thank you very much for letting me see [TITLE].  I’m sorry it didn’t strike me as quite suitable to our present needs. Sincerely, [NAME] Editor So. This is the third rejection I’ve received for the same story. It’s the one I call “Satellite” in this post where I describe my current projects. I mentioned that it is very “niche.” It has a unique structure and style, one that doesn’t fit with most of the sff venues I read. I figured I’d go ahead and send it out to some larger publication venues in the odd chance that they might pick it…

  • Blog Posts,  My Writing Journey,  Rejections

    I Got My Second Rejection!

    Want to read my actual second rejection letter? Dear Christine, Thank you for the opportunity to read “[title].” Unfortunately, your story isn’t quite what we’re looking for right now.  In the past, we’ve provided detailed feedback on our rejections, but I’m afraid that due to time considerations, we’re no longer able to offer that service. I appreciate your interest in [name of venue] and hope that you’ll keep us in mind in the future. Take care, [name of editor] I think sharing my rejections might become something of a tradition on this blog. After I got the first one I decided to print them out and start collecting them in…

  • Author Appreciation,  Blog Posts

    25 MORE of the Best Blog Posts by Patrick Rothfuss

    Two months ago I shared what I thought were Patrick Rothfuss’ top 25 blog posts, so click here for PART 1. But that meant leaving a lot of really great ones on the cutting room floor! There were interviews and funny stories, important milestones and comparing babies to fruits that were left out, and I really couldn’t bear to do that. Also, reading all eleven years of his archives was a lot of work and I’d like to squeeze some more juice out of it. So, without further ado, here are 25 more (plus some change) of Pat’s best. Who Does Pat Get All Geeky About? 26) Books and Interview with…

  • Blog Posts,  My Writing Journey,  Rejections

    I Got My First Rejection!

    Hey guys, amazing news! I got my first rejection! It was for my “Satellite” short story that I briefly described in this post. I knew it’d be a hard sell, and sure enough, here’s the reply I got: Dear Christine Tyler,  Thank you for submitting [title of story] to [anthology], but we’ve decided not to accept it for publication.  We appreciate your interest in our magazine. Sincerely,  [name of editor] I thought I’d share this with you guys for a few reasons: One, if you’re thinking about submitting your work, you might be interested in seeing what a form rejection looks like. This is the kind of reply you get…