Today I'm adding a new feature to the "For Writers" post: a writing prompt!
This prompt caught my eye not only because it is rich in possibility, but also because it can fit almost any genre: romance, horror, thriller, mystery, you name it. So break out your notebook/keyboard and write!
This month's writing prompt (from @DailyPrompt):
Two women meet at a film developing counter. They both have pictures of the same man.
Is it their husband/lover? Is it their father, and they had no idea they were half-siblings? Who is the man, and why do they both have pictures of him? (Note: if you have issues with the idea of a "film-developing counter" in this digital age, then feel free to change it to: the women are at one of those "print centers" where you can print out your digital photos; maybe one of them is even having the photos turned into a photo-pillow, or having it put on a celebratory banner . . .).
~ ~ ~
A while ago, there was quite a dust up in the Internet world over an indie author who had a meltdown over bad reviews and behaved badly across several social media outlets. Well, indie authors aren't the only ones behaving badly. Here is a link relating to a traditionally published author (and her agent) who haven't quite mastered proper social media etiquette, either.
Wendy Darling's review of The Selection
And Publishers Weekly's article on the subject:
Should Authors and Agents Weigh In on Citizen Reviews?
I understand the author/agent's response, I really do. I used to sell items on eBay and would occasionally get the most ridiculous negative feedback. I required a Paypal confirmed address, and clearly stated it several places in my auctions; then, when I rejected payment from an unconfirmed address, the buyer would leave stupid negative feedback like, "Seller won't take my payment!" Well, duh! The really sad part is I was selling educational products, so if the buyer couldn't bother to read and follow instructions in an auction, how could they educate children!?! But I digress, lol.
I've also had a few negative reviews on my short stories, and I'm really glad that I haven't written a novel yet, because novels are reviewed SO much more often than short stories.
But I do know how it feels to have negative reviews, and I rant and rave and scream about them . . . at home, in private. And then I move on.
Responding to a negative review can never, NEVER end well. First of all, you aren't going to change the original reviewer's mind. Best case scenario, if you're extremely graceful in your rebuttal, you might--MIGHT--come across as merely egotistical or filled with sour grapes. More likely is the scenario we've seen played out time and time again: a volley of back and forth between author and commentor that escalates until it ends in single word postings questioning each other's genetic lineage.
For the love of all that's holy, even if you think you are Miss Manners, DON'T REBUT NEGATIVE REVIEWS. Don't draw attention to them, and, if you're lucky, they'll eventually be replaced with good reviews and fall back to page 147 where no one will ever see them. (SIDEBAR: also, don't have all your friends post false positive reviews in an effort to artificially push the negative review off the page; but that's a topic for another post).
This is one of those issues that makes me long for the good old days before every single move a person made was available on YouTube, and before there were nine million Internet sites for a person to rant on. Back in the good old days, as long as you kept the paparazzi at bay, you could behave as badly as you wanted, lol.
But in the social media age, everything a person does is out there for the whole world to see, and it sticks around FOREVER (thank you, "Way Back Machine").
Can you imagine if Hemingway, or Hunter S. Thompson, or Poe had their every move tweeted, YouTubed, and videotaped for Entertainment tonight? What a nightmare that would have been for them!
~ ~ ~
Whew! Two rants in one month. If this keeps up, I'm going to have to change the name of the blog to "Ed Angry" (obscure reference to the Weekly World News, for those who care).
How about a couple of helpful links to put us back in our happy place?
Crock Pots, Commuter Trains, and Artist Dates: Making the Time to Write Instead of Just Talking About It, by Marley Gibson
The 22 Rules of Storytelling [Infographic]
Character Development Tricks! from @writingcraft
5 Must Read Blogs for Indie Authors
~ ~ ~
See you next week!
Horror, fantasy, and science fiction author
Monday, April 15, 2013
Monday, April 8, 2013
After Hours, April 2013 Edition: Big Brother is Watching YOU!
Note: Most of the time I just roll my eyes at the latest government news and rant in private. There is plenty of eye-rolling because I'm a political amalgamation of both the democratic ideals and republican, so I'm usually ticked off at one party or the other. But a local news story really has my dander up, so today you're going to get an irate essay on the government over-reaching under the guise of public health and safety. You've been warned.
I have always loved to read dystopian stories and I occasionally write them: stories where the government looks the other way while rednecks take "border control" into their own hands, stories where people willingly give up all forms of creative expression in order to experience bliss at the hands of a pill . . .
And just as some of the old "dream" technology of science fiction has become a reality, so has some of the dystopia, in the form of authoritarian government.
Seat belts were the gateway drug for big brother, and, high on the victory, he's just been jonesing for more control.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not anti-safety; I understand that the intention of a lot of this "government oversight" is to save lives, and I understand that the costs of not having these rules is paid by everyone.
Take smoking, for example. It's definitely unhealthy, it affects more than the smoker, and we all pay in health care costs. I didn't like the laws, not because I smoke but because I believe both in personal freedom and personal responsibility. But once the ball got rolling, there was no stopping the stop-smoking legislation. While my sense of personal freedom is bruised, I do like walking into a bar and not choking and gagging and having my eyes water. I get to enjoy my terribly unhealthy drinks while breathing fresh clean air.
But where is the line between personal freedom and big-brother authoritarianism?
A ban on trans fat in restaurants? A ban on big gulps? And now, in my own small town, a ban on chewing tobacco in public parks? REALLY?
Instead of protecting the public, this one falls firmly under the government trying to protect the individual from his or her self.
In an article on the topic ran in my local paper, they quoted talk show host Dennis Prager: “Eventually, citizens will have to carry calorie cards that limit how much an individual will be allowed to consume in any given day. If health trumps liberty, why not?”
Sounds pretty dystopian to me. I just want to write about dystopias, not live in one.
I have always loved to read dystopian stories and I occasionally write them: stories where the government looks the other way while rednecks take "border control" into their own hands, stories where people willingly give up all forms of creative expression in order to experience bliss at the hands of a pill . . .
And just as some of the old "dream" technology of science fiction has become a reality, so has some of the dystopia, in the form of authoritarian government.
Seat belts were the gateway drug for big brother, and, high on the victory, he's just been jonesing for more control.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not anti-safety; I understand that the intention of a lot of this "government oversight" is to save lives, and I understand that the costs of not having these rules is paid by everyone.
Take smoking, for example. It's definitely unhealthy, it affects more than the smoker, and we all pay in health care costs. I didn't like the laws, not because I smoke but because I believe both in personal freedom and personal responsibility. But once the ball got rolling, there was no stopping the stop-smoking legislation. While my sense of personal freedom is bruised, I do like walking into a bar and not choking and gagging and having my eyes water. I get to enjoy my terribly unhealthy drinks while breathing fresh clean air.
But where is the line between personal freedom and big-brother authoritarianism?
A ban on trans fat in restaurants? A ban on big gulps? And now, in my own small town, a ban on chewing tobacco in public parks? REALLY?
Instead of protecting the public, this one falls firmly under the government trying to protect the individual from his or her self.
In an article on the topic ran in my local paper, they quoted talk show host Dennis Prager: “Eventually, citizens will have to carry calorie cards that limit how much an individual will be allowed to consume in any given day. If health trumps liberty, why not?”
Sounds pretty dystopian to me. I just want to write about dystopias, not live in one.
Monday, April 1, 2013
April 2013 Update
I'm currently working on final edits of a new horror short story. It's very close to done, but there's something missing that I can't quite put my finger on yet. I'm ready to be done with it, so my frustration level is pretty high. I hate knowing something's wrong, but not knowing what, and thus not being able to fix it.
I'm also editing a reprint, "Inhuman Resources," which originally appeared in Zombidays: Festivities of the Flesheaters. I love the story, but trying to place reprints is another source of frustration. Very few markets accept reprints, and most of those that do either pay less (which makes sense; it is, after all, a "used" story, lol) or not at all.
I'm also working on a longer project with the working title, "Primrose Place." No, it's not a romance; it's a contemporary fantasy with a cast of quirky characters, a touch of comedy, and plenty of the supernatural. It's about belonging, family, and finding your place in the world. I don't dare call it a novel, because we know what a problem novels are for me. So while this one is in its "zero draft" stage, we'll just call it "a really long short story with a whole lot of characters."
Notice the trend here? Three frustrating projects! No wonder I've been having to take frequent breaks. Hopefully I'll have at least two of these projects done by next month's update, and my frustration level will be back to its normal "just slightly aggravated."
See you next week!
I'm also editing a reprint, "Inhuman Resources," which originally appeared in Zombidays: Festivities of the Flesheaters. I love the story, but trying to place reprints is another source of frustration. Very few markets accept reprints, and most of those that do either pay less (which makes sense; it is, after all, a "used" story, lol) or not at all.
I'm also working on a longer project with the working title, "Primrose Place." No, it's not a romance; it's a contemporary fantasy with a cast of quirky characters, a touch of comedy, and plenty of the supernatural. It's about belonging, family, and finding your place in the world. I don't dare call it a novel, because we know what a problem novels are for me. So while this one is in its "zero draft" stage, we'll just call it "a really long short story with a whole lot of characters."
Notice the trend here? Three frustrating projects! No wonder I've been having to take frequent breaks. Hopefully I'll have at least two of these projects done by next month's update, and my frustration level will be back to its normal "just slightly aggravated."
See you next week!
Monday, March 25, 2013
Horror, Sci-Fi, & Fantasy, March 2013 Edition
I took a trip down memory lane with another horror fan this week. We discussed the movies that gave us nightmares, the movies that made us say, "Meh," and our favorite guilty-pleasure, deliciously cheesy horror movies.
Two horror movies in the cheesy category are:
Undead, which has a great scene where a guy fights zombie fish;
Brain Damage, which is a ridiculous movie, but inexplicably made me want to wear a turtleneck to bed for years afterwards;
And one movie that we both loved (and is probably cheesy, but neither of us could remember because we haven't seen it in years) is:
Damnation Alley (which is technically sci-fi, but it has some pretty horrific post-apocalyptic action).
I STILL remember scenes from Damnation Alley, and I only watched it once. After our little trip down memory lane, I bought the movie from Amazon . . . but I'm afraid to watch it, afraid its magical spell will be broken, especially with the outdated special effects. There's nothing worse than ruining a movie you've loved your whole life by watching it again and finding out it really isn't that great by today's standards.
Okay, enough nostalgia. On to this week's links!
~ ~ ~
This season of The Walking Dead is almost over, so we'll have to get our zombie-fix elsewhere for a few months:
via @fearnet: Gift Guide: Chocolate skulls with edible brains!
via @fearnet: Gift Guide: Zombie Cookie Cutters!
via @horrorfreaknews: George Romero is Penning a Horror Comic for Marvel?!
via @io9: First Hints About How Zombieland Will Become a Weekly TV Show
‘Zombieland’ TV Series Coming to Amazon; Original Writers Returning as Showrunners
from Zombie Zone News: Upcoming Zombie movies (they also have lists of zombie movies, sorted by year).
from Horror-Movies.ca: A List of New Zombie Movies Worth Watching
from Flickchart: The Top 100 Zombie Films of All Time
Zombie Books to munch on. A Listmania! list by Patrick S. Dorazio
from Tor.com: 15 Essential Zombie Reads
~ ~ ~
See you next week!
Two horror movies in the cheesy category are:
Undead, which has a great scene where a guy fights zombie fish;
Brain Damage, which is a ridiculous movie, but inexplicably made me want to wear a turtleneck to bed for years afterwards;
And one movie that we both loved (and is probably cheesy, but neither of us could remember because we haven't seen it in years) is:
Damnation Alley (which is technically sci-fi, but it has some pretty horrific post-apocalyptic action).
I STILL remember scenes from Damnation Alley, and I only watched it once. After our little trip down memory lane, I bought the movie from Amazon . . . but I'm afraid to watch it, afraid its magical spell will be broken, especially with the outdated special effects. There's nothing worse than ruining a movie you've loved your whole life by watching it again and finding out it really isn't that great by today's standards.
Okay, enough nostalgia. On to this week's links!
~ ~ ~
This season of The Walking Dead is almost over, so we'll have to get our zombie-fix elsewhere for a few months:
via @fearnet: Gift Guide: Chocolate skulls with edible brains!
via @fearnet: Gift Guide: Zombie Cookie Cutters!
via @horrorfreaknews: George Romero is Penning a Horror Comic for Marvel?!
via @io9: First Hints About How Zombieland Will Become a Weekly TV Show
‘Zombieland’ TV Series Coming to Amazon; Original Writers Returning as Showrunners
from Zombie Zone News: Upcoming Zombie movies (they also have lists of zombie movies, sorted by year).
from Horror-Movies.ca: A List of New Zombie Movies Worth Watching
from Flickchart: The Top 100 Zombie Films of All Time
Zombie Books to munch on. A Listmania! list by Patrick S. Dorazio
from Tor.com: 15 Essential Zombie Reads
~ ~ ~
See you next week!
Monday, March 18, 2013
For Writers, March 2013 Edition
On tap today: an improved editing tool, an inspirational book, and some bad news about the Amazon Associates program.
~ ~ ~
Pro Writing Aid now has a handy-dandy plug-in that works in Microsoft Word! No more pasting your text into the web editor, checking the report, and then going back to your original file to make corrections. You can now do it all right in Microsoft Word. The plug-in requires a paid subscription, but I find it's well worth the $35 yearly fee for the convenience. There is a 14-day free trial available so you can try it out and see for yourself just how handy it is. Disclaimer: I'm not affiliated with Pro Writing Aid in any way; I just really hate editing and love any tool that makes it easier for me, lol.
~ ~ ~
I am affiliated with the next product I think you should check out: Chicken Soup for the Soul: Inspiration for Writers is now available for pre-order! It includes my story, "Putting Together the Pieces."
I tweeted a link to this great article: "When The Romance Is Dying," by Joss Alexander. Although it's about falling out of love with your WIP, we can fall out of love with writing in general, too.
Writing is tough: fighting tooth and nail for a little time to write, the guilt over tasks left undone and family ignored, constant rejection, constant criticism from friends/family/or co-workers about your "silly little hobby." And if you're a genre writer, you even get looked down on by other writers: "This conference is only for literary fiction authors . . . you know, serious writing," or "You write romance?" followed by derisive laughter. No wonder we suffer from writer's block!
You are not alone. Other writers are going through the same struggles, every single day. And you'll be inspired to hear the stories of how they made it through the struggles and prevailed.
If you are falling out of love with your WIP, or falling out of love with writing, then this book is the perfect "date night" to rekindle the romance!
~ ~ ~
You may have already heard about this, but it bears repeating to ensure that everyone is aware of it: Amazon now penalizes members of their Amazon Associates Program for free ebook downloads. You can be penalized and lose your commissions even with only a few free downloads, if 80% of the downloads attributed to your account are "sales" of free ebooks. So if you have links to free ebooks on your site, plus links to other ebooks you are selling, the free downloads can erase the commission on the books you've sold. This is bad news for authors giving away free ebooks to promote other books in a series, and bad news for readers because some sites are electing to no longer list free ebooks. You can read more about it here: Daily Cheap Reads.
~ ~ ~
See you next week!
~ ~ ~
Pro Writing Aid now has a handy-dandy plug-in that works in Microsoft Word! No more pasting your text into the web editor, checking the report, and then going back to your original file to make corrections. You can now do it all right in Microsoft Word. The plug-in requires a paid subscription, but I find it's well worth the $35 yearly fee for the convenience. There is a 14-day free trial available so you can try it out and see for yourself just how handy it is. Disclaimer: I'm not affiliated with Pro Writing Aid in any way; I just really hate editing and love any tool that makes it easier for me, lol.
~ ~ ~
I am affiliated with the next product I think you should check out: Chicken Soup for the Soul: Inspiration for Writers is now available for pre-order! It includes my story, "Putting Together the Pieces."
I tweeted a link to this great article: "When The Romance Is Dying," by Joss Alexander. Although it's about falling out of love with your WIP, we can fall out of love with writing in general, too.
Writing is tough: fighting tooth and nail for a little time to write, the guilt over tasks left undone and family ignored, constant rejection, constant criticism from friends/family/or co-workers about your "silly little hobby." And if you're a genre writer, you even get looked down on by other writers: "This conference is only for literary fiction authors . . . you know, serious writing," or "You write romance?" followed by derisive laughter. No wonder we suffer from writer's block!
You are not alone. Other writers are going through the same struggles, every single day. And you'll be inspired to hear the stories of how they made it through the struggles and prevailed.
If you are falling out of love with your WIP, or falling out of love with writing, then this book is the perfect "date night" to rekindle the romance!
~ ~ ~
You may have already heard about this, but it bears repeating to ensure that everyone is aware of it: Amazon now penalizes members of their Amazon Associates Program for free ebook downloads. You can be penalized and lose your commissions even with only a few free downloads, if 80% of the downloads attributed to your account are "sales" of free ebooks. So if you have links to free ebooks on your site, plus links to other ebooks you are selling, the free downloads can erase the commission on the books you've sold. This is bad news for authors giving away free ebooks to promote other books in a series, and bad news for readers because some sites are electing to no longer list free ebooks. You can read more about it here: Daily Cheap Reads.
~ ~ ~
See you next week!
Monday, March 11, 2013
March Update & After Hours Combo
Whip me with a stack of rejection slips, I missed another blog post (and almost missed this one)! I promise I'll get the hang of this . . . someday.
It actually worked out for the best, because I have two pieces of great news to share:
My short story, "Alecsander's Empire" will appear in the May/June issue of 69 Flavors of Paranoia. This humorous urban fantasy story originally appeared in the anthology, Loving the Undead, and I'm excited that 69FoP has decided to resurrect it!
My inspirational essay, "Putting Together the Pieces," will appear in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Inspiration for Writers, available May 21st.
See? I don't blow-off my blog posts for just any old reason! Exciting stuff has been happening!
I've also been working on one new horror story and an older orphan story that needs to be finished.
Now, on to the regularly scheduled "After Hours" post:
1) If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be and why?
A Russian olive, because I think they are beautiful. They have thin, silvery-green leaves and thorns. Unfortunately, they are classified as an invasive species in some places.
2) Describe your favorite pair of shoes.
In general, I'm not much of a girly-girl . . . except when it comes to shoes! My favorite pair is a wedge with an extra-high heel (five inches) covered in silver glitter. My family calls them my "drag queen" shoes. Sadly, I don't get to wear them as much as I'd like. There are surprisingly few places/occasions to wear them in North Dakota (the farm and home show? across a parking lot covered in a foot of snow? I think not).
3) What is your favorite quote?
I have two:
"You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you."--Ray Bradbury
"In the depths of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer." --Albert Camus
4) Did you wear hand-me-downs as a kid?
No. I didn't have any siblings until four days before my twenty-first birthday, and my father was in the military, so all the rest of my family (cousins, etc.) always lived far away from wherever we were stationed.
5) What was the most unintentionally stupid thing that someone has said to you this week?
I was complaining about something and my husband of twenty-three years turned to me, shrugged, and said, "Not my problem."
REALLY!?! I'm pretty sure it's right there on the marriage license, in the fine print: "Any problem your wife may have, no matter how small or irrelevant, most certainly IS your problem, or else she will make it so!"
See you next week!
It actually worked out for the best, because I have two pieces of great news to share:
My short story, "Alecsander's Empire" will appear in the May/June issue of 69 Flavors of Paranoia. This humorous urban fantasy story originally appeared in the anthology, Loving the Undead, and I'm excited that 69FoP has decided to resurrect it!
My inspirational essay, "Putting Together the Pieces," will appear in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Inspiration for Writers, available May 21st.
See? I don't blow-off my blog posts for just any old reason! Exciting stuff has been happening!
I've also been working on one new horror story and an older orphan story that needs to be finished.
Now, on to the regularly scheduled "After Hours" post:
1) If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be and why?
A Russian olive, because I think they are beautiful. They have thin, silvery-green leaves and thorns. Unfortunately, they are classified as an invasive species in some places.
2) Describe your favorite pair of shoes.
In general, I'm not much of a girly-girl . . . except when it comes to shoes! My favorite pair is a wedge with an extra-high heel (five inches) covered in silver glitter. My family calls them my "drag queen" shoes. Sadly, I don't get to wear them as much as I'd like. There are surprisingly few places/occasions to wear them in North Dakota (the farm and home show? across a parking lot covered in a foot of snow? I think not).
3) What is your favorite quote?
I have two:
"You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you."--Ray Bradbury
"In the depths of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer." --Albert Camus
4) Did you wear hand-me-downs as a kid?
No. I didn't have any siblings until four days before my twenty-first birthday, and my father was in the military, so all the rest of my family (cousins, etc.) always lived far away from wherever we were stationed.
5) What was the most unintentionally stupid thing that someone has said to you this week?
I was complaining about something and my husband of twenty-three years turned to me, shrugged, and said, "Not my problem."
REALLY!?! I'm pretty sure it's right there on the marriage license, in the fine print: "Any problem your wife may have, no matter how small or irrelevant, most certainly IS your problem, or else she will make it so!"
See you next week!
Monday, February 25, 2013
February Horror, Sci-Fi, & Fantasy
Welcome to the monthly horror/fantasy/sci-fi post!
On the fiction front, I just started reading:
Okay, onto the links!
For the ladies out there who are fans of steampunk and love shoes, I found this:
Metropolis Hades Atriedes Steampunk Victorian Gears Buckles Oxford Platform Metal Heels.
I admit, I'm not much of a "girly-girl," but I love shoes. And anything that combines two of my biggest loves, spec-fic and shoes, is awesome in my book!
From @io9: Philip K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle is coming to Syfy http://t.co/zZqWaAIz
I'd like to see Bear Grylls do a zombie apocalypse episode. Until then, we have this:
Zombie Survival Gear, the 13 essentials
I'm actually not upset about this theory. I think it's quietly elegant.
via @mjkrey: Could this be the official ending to John Carpenter's The Thing? http://ow.ly/hQVUM
via @blackgatedotcom: New blog post from Goth Chick News: Amazon Studios Scores Zombie Invasion http://ow.ly/2v1UmT
Top 10 Nightmare-inducing Aliens
And this week's "just for fun" link (because it reminds me of the Truffle Shuffle) is:
The Harlem Shake
See you next Monday!
On the fiction front, I just started reading:
Okay, onto the links!
For the ladies out there who are fans of steampunk and love shoes, I found this:
Metropolis Hades Atriedes Steampunk Victorian Gears Buckles Oxford Platform Metal Heels.
I admit, I'm not much of a "girly-girl," but I love shoes. And anything that combines two of my biggest loves, spec-fic and shoes, is awesome in my book!
From @io9: Philip K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle is coming to Syfy http://t.co/zZqWaAIz
I'd like to see Bear Grylls do a zombie apocalypse episode. Until then, we have this:
Zombie Survival Gear, the 13 essentials
I'm actually not upset about this theory. I think it's quietly elegant.
via @mjkrey: Could this be the official ending to John Carpenter's The Thing? http://ow.ly/hQVUM
via @blackgatedotcom: New blog post from Goth Chick News: Amazon Studios Scores Zombie Invasion http://ow.ly/2v1UmT
Top 10 Nightmare-inducing Aliens
And this week's "just for fun" link (because it reminds me of the Truffle Shuffle) is:
The Harlem Shake
See you next Monday!
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