For the past four-and-a-half months, I’ve hardly written anything, focusing instead on four anthology projects (Broken Time Blues, a reprint anthology, a young-adult anthology, and the re-release of Rigor Amortis). Before I get back to writing, and while the business of editing is fresh in my mind, I thought I should post my own version […]
Author Archive > Erika Holt
Maintaining a Willingness to Learn
This is a post on editing, rewriting, and being willing to take a critique, and I fear that writers recently edited by me will think this post is about, or aimed at, them. It’s not. Well, mostly not. It’s about my own journey as a writer; the most important lesson I’ve learned from being critiqued […]
Aspiring vs. Achieving:Claiming the Title of “Writer”
A while back I participated in a discussion on Twitter about when (or if) writers should refer to themselves as “aspiring.” We weren’t talking about people who haven’t started writing yet, but will unleash the next great bestseller on the world immediately upon their retirements (seems everyone is an aspiring writer by this definition), but rather people […]
Guest Post by Susan Forest: Inspirational vs. Mechanical Writing
Today’s guest post is by Susan Forest, editor and award nominated science fiction, fantasy, and horror writer. Thank you, Susan!  Ever write in “flow?” Oh, to be transported to that other world, to live there, to have the words pour unconsciously onto the page, coming from some deep, hidden well of the soul. That is a […]
New Year’s Eve Cocktail Recipes
Because It’s Friday; It’s New Year’s Eve; It’s the last weekend of holidays for some; ‘Tis the season; and I have nothing profound to say on writerly topics just now (okay, mainly for this reason); below I have collected a few favorite cocktail recipes from Inkpunks and friends. Enjoy! Erika Holt, Inkpunk THE CHRISTMAS COSMO […]
The power in pain
The phrase “tortured artist” brings to mind several famous figures: Ernest Hemingway, Virginia Woolf, Kurt Cobain, Vincent Van Gogh, and many others. While the phrase is often used in a somewhat disparaging sense, implying a sort of purposeful cultivation of a negative attitude, in reality these individuals suffered through tragic and often unavoidable circumstances, whether severe health issues, […]
Writing Groups: Why You Should Join One
A few years ago I quit my job to focus on writing. Prior to my last day, and in preparation for my new career as a novelist, I took a day course on how to write the break-out novel from respected New York agent Donald Maass, and picked up a few writing books (all of […]
So you want to be an anthology editor… Are you sure?
A mere five months ago, I’d never even considered editing as a potential occupation. Truthfully, I didn’t much care for editing—even my own work—seeing it only as a necessary evil on the path to writing success (which, for the record, remains elusive). Editors were mysterious, anal people I submitted to, got rejected by, and who seemed […]
