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"I have a Wonder Woman lunchbox I’m going to mail out. There are little goodies inside. When you get the box, take one out, and put something inside for me. Send me a picture with you with the lunchbox. When I get the pic, I send you an address and you send it to the next person. And so on. Email me - include your address - at mightymur AT gmail DOT com if you’re interested." 

That's author Mur Lafferty describing a new game she's playing to connect with her readers.  Besides writing the book on podcasting, she's published short stories, written stories for 15 role-playing games, one textbook, and scores of podcasting scripts--and she knows how to keep a reading community together.

If you want to hear her work, check out Geek Fu Action Grip and  I Should Be Writing, inspirational material for fledgling writers and struggling nerds.

This week, she's sharing some of her wisdom in my deceptively simple feature, Five Easy Questions. In the spirit of Jack Nicholson’s mad piano player, I run a weekly set of quality interviews with writing pioneers—delivering some practical, unexpected advice about web publishing.

If you want to read the whole interview, click here.

Jason Boog:
You built a fantastic web community around your blog and your podcasts. How did you create and nurture this community? Any advice for fledgling writers looking to find like-minded readers on the web?

"What if Heaven wasn't all it's cracked up to be? Friends Kate and Daniel find that after their untimely deaths, Heaven leaves them dissatisfied and itching for something... else. So they're off, with a passport to discover more afterlives, heroes and gods. During their adventures, they find out that their travel isn't a journey taken on a whim, but may be orchestrated, or even prophesied."

That's the promo for author Mur Lafferty's newest project--a story created expressly to be read out-loud in a podcast. The book is an experiment for this unconventional writer who has written for role playing games, podcasts, videogame news sites, Lulu.com, and maintains popular audio shows like Geek Fu Action Grip and I Should Be Writing.

This week, she's our special guest in my deceptively simple feature, Five Easy Questions. In the spirit of Jack Nicholson’s mad piano player, I run a weekly set of quality interviews with writing pioneers—delivering some practical, unexpected advice about web publishing.

Jason Boog: 
You are currently podcasting your book Heaven. How did you write this book? How does podcasting the book change things (for example, why  did you decide on dividing the book into seasons)? How did you find your listeners? Continue reading...

Few writers have worn as many hats as Mur Lafferty. Besides writing the book on podcasting, she's published short stories, written stories for 15 role-playing games, one textbook, and scores of podcasting scripts.

If you want to hear her work, check out Geek Fu Action Grip and  I Should Be Writing, inspirational material for fledgling writers and struggling nerds.

This week, she's sharing some of her wisdom in my deceptively simple feature, Five Easy Questions. In the spirit of Jack Nicholson’s mad piano player, I run a weekly set of quality interviews with writing pioneers—delivering some practical, unexpected advice about web publishing. 

Jason Boog:
You've been a freelance writer for about seven years. How did you survive those tough, lean early years? How did you find the editors and websites who helped you along the way? Now you have a very full plate of projects--how did you balance your work life and your writing life? Continue reading...

"As someone who is damn near addicted to the high of writing, editing is such a bore. When you’re done writing, you can convince yourself that you’re brilliant – being high does that to a person. Editing drags you back down to earth and says, in fact, that you aren’t. You can be brilliant, but it will take work. It’s real work, the kind that keeps you thinking in detail about the intricacies of plot, character development, level of detail, setting, show-don’t-tell, and structural word usage."

That's novelist Mur Lafferty explaining how she beats the urge to write without editing. Editing is a crucial skill that we all--especially the flighty, easily-distracted guy writing this sentence right now--need to re-learn.

The Internet simply makes it too easy to publish. We need to learn how to edit before we send our work to a magazine editor, agent, or any kind of reader. That's why I picked Lafferty as our special guest. Her essay, "My Albatross," lays out the basics of novel editing in the clearest form I've ever seen. Read her essay and learn.

Welcome to my deceptively simple feature, Five Easy Questions. Click here to read the complete interview.

In the spirit of Jack Nicholson’s mad piano player, I run a weekly set of quality interviews with writing pioneers—delivering some practical, unexpected advice about web publishing.