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Jeffrey Ricker

Queer writer of speculative and YA fiction

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Category: writing

Rules of the road(runner), or Ghost (world) rules

writingApril 25, 2016

I think the first time I heard the term "ghost rules” was when my friend Rebecca used it in a writing for children class in grad school. At the time, I was working on a middle-grade science fiction book (which I need to finish one of these days, but I’ve already got enough on the …

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When should you give a shit?

writingApril 18, 2016

(Sorry, this is kind of a long one. If you want to skip the intro, click here. Also, my sailor mouth comes to the fore a bit in this one. If you don’t like the four-letter word that rhymes with spit, you may want to skip it entirely—but I think you’ll be missing out, if …

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Crises of confidence, or "who do you think you are?"

writingApril 12, 2016

Sometimes I have crises of confidence. I know, right? "What a shock," you say. Even though online we present our best possible faces to the world, always doing interesting things or going to exciting places or shooting photos from just this right angle because that makes my nose look less crooked and the funny wrinkles …

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You are more than your writing

writingMarch 28, 2016

Literary agent Kristin Nelson sends out a monthly newsletter (I think it’s monthly—I should pay better attention!) with news about her agency, her writers, and tidbits about the writing industry in general. It’s really worthwhile and often entertaining; consider signing up for it here at her agency's website. Anyway, in her February newsletter, she talked …

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When patience is a virtue you have no time for

writingMarch 21, 2016

So, I’m trying to grow my hair out. Oh, brother, I hear you say. What does this have to do with writing? Hang on, I’m getting there. Back in 2014, I finally let my hair get long enough to send it off to a charity that makes wigs for kids who are cancer patients. Granted, …

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A thousand? A thousand

writingMarch 16, 2016

Holy cow! This is my 1,000th post on this blog. (In interest of full disclosure, it’s probably the 1,002nd post, because there are two posts I wrote but never published, but we’ll just go with 1,000 because it’s a nice, round number.) Anyway, a thousand days of random mutterings and half-baked ideas over the course …

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Why all writing advice books are bad—and good, too

writingMarch 14, 2016

A while back I finished reading a book on writing, which I picked up when a friend referenced it in a post on Instagram. It’s a book that’s received loads of accolades and is often referred to in the same breath as Stephen King’s On Writing (which I haven’t read yet, but really want to). …

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Wait, what happened to Wednesday?

writingMarch 3, 2016

Normally (well, most of the time), on Wednesdays I have a list of stuff I’ve been reading that has caught my interest or made me feel generally a little less stabby, but this week I’ve been under the gun with a deadline (not a fun writing one, sorry; it’s been a freelance editing job, which …

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How do you keep from getting distracted?

writingFebruary 29, 2016

One of the classes I was scheduled to teach at the community college this term is called social media for writers. As it happens, not enough people signed up for it, and I’ll admit, I was a kind of relieved, because I would have felt a little bit like a fraud. I deleted my Pinterest …

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"So How’s That Book Coming Along, Jeff?"

writingFebruary 21, 2016

I’m glad you asked! At the moment, I’m on Chapter 14 of the sequel to The Unwanted (working title is Prophecy Boy), and I’ve outlined it to be 18 chapters long. So, I’m more than 75 percent done. This is a good thing, I think. I’m writing this post on Friday, and I’m hoping to finish …

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