Month: January 2025

Beginner’s mind and the writer

Perhaps for the writer, beginner’s mind can begin with the notion of writing as a journey, an exploration with no specific destination in mind.

In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities,

but in the expert’s there are few.

— Shunryu Suzuki

I’ve only been at this creative writing thing for a year, but sometimes I forget that I’m a beginner. With that in mind, I’m trying to embrace and understand anew the concept of beginner’s mind. So in an attempt to wipe the slate clean, I’m going back to the beginning, or near beginning, of this writing journey by republishing a post from exactly a year ago. I post it to remind myself how much I need to still unlearn — and to remind me that I ain’t no guru.

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Friday Five: Q&A with speculative fiction author Angelique Fawns

‘Never self-reject. You never know who might buy what!’

Photo of Angelique Fawns, speculative fiction writer.
Angelique Fawns

Her background in journalism and television production no doubt has helped Angelique Fawns establish herself as a prolific writer of speculative fiction. And she’s one terrific and imaginative storyteller. The Canadian writer has published over 80 short stories since launching her short story writing career in 2018.

She’s also persistent, pushing aside those 500 rejections over her first three years to rack up an impressive catalog of publications.

And she’s generous. She’s turned her experience of researching the writing market of her chosen genre into a free collection of 13 of her sold stories and a look at the editors who bought them. She also has a guidebook for other writers listing a comprehensive guide to current speculative short story market. Think of it as a Writer’s Market for speculative fiction. (Subscribe to her paid Substack to obtain your copy.) She supplements that resource by posting the latest calls for submission, complete with details about each magazine, on her Substack and blog.

Continue reading “Friday Five: Q&A with speculative fiction author Angelique Fawns”