Tiffani Angus
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How to be constantly busy while temporarily unemployed

15/8/2023

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Be a writer.
No, really. 

Be a writer with a million projects happening simultaneously. I have a novel that is nearly finished (that 2 agents want to see! You'd think that would light a fire under my ass ... but keep reading), a non-fiction book due at the end of the year, a 10-12K draft of a novelette/novella/not sure yet due in a week or two for an upcoming trip to the Milford Writers' Conference, a novella series project I have been wanting to start for over a year (and have done a bit of research for), a short story collection I'd love to get back to. And maybe something else I'm not remembering?

Be a new small business owner who is constantly riding social media to get the word out. (Social Media is *exhausting*) The fiery death of twitter means everyone from the book world has gone scrambling into various other platforms, so anything posted needs to get shared everywhere, in various styles, with different character limits, etc. I can pre-schedule some things, but not all things. And then, checking in on the stats is sort of soul killing. But I have to keep on trying.

Oh, and be a new small business owner who has to constantly plan new content (videos, worksheets, the text copy to go with it all, the images needed that match the branding, etc.), plan the associated social media posts, learn new software, film and edit videos, build the animations (intros and outros, etc.) for said videos, learn another platform to host the videos and the business, build all of the related structure around each new bit of content/course. And on and on. 

Take every opportunity that comes your way so that you can keep your name/books/brand/business out there, on people's minds or just adjacent. I recently did an online workshop and will be doing another in less than a month. I did an in-person small SFF convention to hand-sell books, and I'll be doing another one in October. Where I'll also be running an in-person workshop. Oh, and giving a talk at a local WI the following day.

I am letting myself (HA! LETTING MYSELF!) sliiiiide into mid-Sept when I go to Fantasycon and Milford all in 9 days before I shift to finding some paid work-work. But all that stuff I just listed? Will STILL be here, on my plate, to be done. Somehow I have to fit in working to be able to eat and pay rent. 

So, yeah, be a writer--a writer like 99.9% of all writers, who don't make 6+figures on a book deal--to find out how to be constantly busy while being (officially) unemployed.



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Underhill Academy for SFF Writers is now open! (yes, I have done a new thing!)

5/7/2023

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I left academia a bit over a year ago. In that time, I have written one non-fiction book and started on another, worked to finish a novel, worked on some short fiction, and done lots of other *stuff*. One thing that has taken a lot of time behind the scenes has now come to fruition:

Along with business partner, author, and fellow ex-academic Trip Galey, I have started an online site/shop so that I can keep on doing the thing that I loved best about being a senior lecturer in creative writing and publishing: teach and work with writers. When I left the university in 2022, I left saying that the teaching was the best part. Well, now I can keep on doing that without all of the weird university bureaucracy. 

Underhill Academy for SFF Writers is a place where Geeks Teach Geeks (for reals: Trip and I write and publish SFF/H, have PhDs in creative writing with an emphasis on SFF/H, consume SFF/H, go to SFF/H conventions, and on and on; we own our geek cred!). Oh, and yes, I designed the logo: there HAD to be a dragon!

We have some pre-recorded courses available (some are even free!) and will be adding more all the time. We're also offering editing and support/coaching, which we both found some of the most rewarding parts of being teachers; working one-on-one with writers makes us happy, to be perfectly honest! And soon we will be running live courses on all manner of topics to give online learners more face-time with us as well as a cohort of other writers they can meet and network with. 

There are other online learning platforms out there, but at Underhill Academy we focus on SFF/H writing because sometimes those genres get ignored in traditional educational settings, or they're taught using very old texts by teachers who don't read or write the genres. We want to be there for the new SFF/H writers out there who can't go to uni for various reasons or who need some extra help. So do check us out at 
https://underhillacademy.com/ 

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Strong Women - Strange Worlds online reading 18 May! (FREE with prizes!)

10/5/2023

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I'm thrilled to be taking part in the Strong Women - Strange Worlds Third Thursday QuickReads event. It's a live online Zoom “book tasting” of SFF/H stories by women & non-binary writers (each 8 minutes long). I'll be reading from my short story "Mama Leaf", which is part of the new Milford anthology Eclectic Dreams.

​There is a Q&A at the end, and there will even be prizes and giveaways! This takes place 18 May 7pm EST (which is 12am 19 May GMT; think of it as midnight May 18/19 for those of us in the UK!). It's FREE but registration is required: https://bit.ly/3G9X5xz
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April 12th, 2023

12/4/2023

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Spec Fic for Newbies has been out now for 2 weeks and is doing great, so Val (my co-author) and I joined Lauren at Horrortree to geek out some more about the porousness of subgenres, how they're like rivers (Val's great simile!), how we created the table of contents, what's on tap for the second volume. You can read the transcript at the link above or find the video here. 
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Eclectic Dreams Milford anthology news

5/4/2023

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The Milford SF Writers' Workshop has compiled a new anthology to benefit the Milford Bursary for SF Writers of Colour, Eclectic Dreams. I'm honored to have a story in the collection: "Mama Leaf", about a desperate woman in the colonial backwoods who turns to dark power to protect herself from her husband's wrath. But what is super exciting is the fact that we got a previously unpublished story by Neil Gaiman (!!!) for the book; he attended Milford over 20 years ago and is generous enough to still support it. Oh, and just to say, my story is the one following his (yes, I am weirdly excited about that)!

There are several outlets that can get you a copy, both in the US and UK; click here.


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Spec Fic for Newbies earns a #1 New Release banner!

30/3/2023

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On the Amazon US site, Spec Fic for Newbies got a #1 New Release banner the day after it was published! I'm pretty chuffed about that!

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Spec Fic for Newbies is HERE!

28/3/2023

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​My new book, co-written with Val Nolan, is HERE! Today is publication day for Spec Fic for Newbies: A Beginner's Guide to Writing Subgenres of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror! Always wanted to try your hand at, say, Steampunk or Military SF or Body Horror but aren't sure how to get started? Spec fic for Newbies is for you! Or maybe you're a more advanced writer who is finding they're stuck in the middle of a draft of an apocalyptic book that is going dystopic and unsure how to get unstuck? Spec Fic for Newbies is for you, too!

This book is the next best thing to being in a creative writing class with either Val or I and combines our two decades of creative writing teaching with our experiences as published authors and workshop attendees, along with our absolute unashamed nerdiness! It has 3 chapters (1 for each main genre), each with 10 sections covering a huge selection of subgenres and major tropes (like zombies, vampires, and robots, which are each so big they're almost subgenres on their own!). Each section supplies a quick history of the genre, breaks down what's cool about it, what to watch out for, offers extra 'stuff' like a spotter's guide or a writing element spotlight, and concludes with two activities to get you started. Oh, and we're working on volume 2 to come out in 2024!

Available all over the place, in paperback or ebook via our linktree!
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Chatting all things nerdy at the Coffee in Space podcast

24/3/2023

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Spec Fic for Newbies is out within a week, so Val (my co-author) and I joined Dan at the Coffee in Space podcast to nerd out about apocalyptic fiction and toilet paper, word count restrictions, the subjectivity of squicking people out, the permeability of subgenres, considering your audience and genre context, the fact that ancient humans weren't idiots, theme (which we cover in the book intro!), how our conscious and subconscious minds don't play together well, and having too many writing projects at once.

​Listen in here to Coffee in Space!
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Talkin' about *How* I write over at The Real Writing Process podcast

23/11/2022

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Earlier this year I met Tom Pepperdine who runs The Real Writing Process podcast. It's a wonderful podcast that features writers talking about, well, their process. Usually authors do interviews when they're plugging their newest book and the questions mostly revolve around that particular book, how it got started, what it's about, etc. What's great about Tom's podcast is that he asks questions that get to the heart of how a writer works, what they do or don't do, and what rules they follow or just can't (like me with the "write every day" rule: not gonna happen!). He asks questions that make you really consider what it is you DO when you sit down to work on a new project, from conception to drafting to editing to even publication. I got to sit down with him over some gin and we talked for an hour about everything and anything. You can find that specific episode here, but do take a look at the table of contents and listen to other interviews, some with established authors and some with newer ones. (And this podcast is available on a number of platforms; an internet search will show you your options!).

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MCM London Comic Con panel (Sunday 30 Oct)

24/10/2022

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After being invited to be on a panel last year at Comic Con in London, this Sunday I get do it again! This time I'll be talking about BookTok with authors Travis Baldree and Tasha Suri. More info here.
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    Tiffani Angus

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