Friday, January 31, 2003Oh, and if you have any suggestions, anything you'd like to see that would make the experience of this website more enjoyable, please let me know. I know I took down the comments (they looked ugly...I may try and find another commenting solution) but there is still an email and a guestbook. If you email me a comment, let me know if you'd like it posted, and I will. (As long as it's not nasty, that is...but I spose that goes without saying.)
Now I'm going to walk over to my template and pull the archive code out. I think we can assume that it's not working by now, no many how many times I push the republish button, of whine, complian and be generally pitiful.
Permalink Cindy scribed this at 1:19 PM
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Tonight's chat...
Hello everyone,
Tonight's Writer to Writer chat will feature three special guests: Elaine Hopper, Sher Hames-Torres and Kim Cox. They have worked together for about seven years and have come up with several methods that help them when the muse takes a vacation. We'll meet from 9-10 PM ET at http://chat.iuniverse.com/default/default.asp?channel=Writer_to_Writer. Bring your friends!!
And, I bought my domain name yesterday! Soon, I'll be one step closer to to having a really cool professional website. I'll even have email addresses and pop3...which, if you're an AOLer who started life as an Outlook user, you know just how painful the loss of pop 3 is. So far I reall like AOL...I started out with AT&T's amazing 5 bucks for 150 hours a month deal, which was changed to double the price for half the bucks, and I ended up using cheaper ISP's like Gabersoft and Localnet. They logged me off all the time, and it was so frustraring...I stay on pretty good with AOL...I do freeze more, though, because AOL forces you to use their browser, dialer and email as this whole, memory hogging application, whereas I'm used to being able to dial in, just with my network neighborhood thing. This allowed me to run cheap tricks like, if I wanted to set up my computer to check my email every 20 minutes, it'd go on, check it, hang up. Also, at least for my puter, you have AOL, you can pretty much forget using the netscape or IE browsers.
Good Lord, what am I yammering on about this for?
Anyway, please be ware that I will soon be changing. I'll let you know well in advance, for you are all very important to me, and I don't want to loose a one of you.
Permalink Cindy scribed this at 1:14 PM
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Where have all the flowers gone?
Thursday, January 30, 2003I am not here to argue about whether or whether not we should go to war with Iraq. It bothers me, though. A lot of aspects of this whole thing do. The news is saying that Bush sold the war to the American people during the state of the union address, but I myself am less than positive of this.
But I said, this is not what I'm here for.
I can not help but think of my future lover. I am a Christian, and I beleive in a certain amount of...not predestination, because I'm not into the "We're damned no matter what" train of thought, but I do believe that everything is planned out. It keeps me from going mad when I wake up at 3 am and wonder what the heck I'm doing with my life. So, that follows, that I believe that out there, the guy I'm suppossed to ultimately end up with is out there...so where is he? Will he be alright? Did he join the ROTC in order to help pay for college? Did he enlist, like so many did, in the aftermath of 9-11, hoping to protect the people he cares about, as well as to serve his country? Or will he be drafted, eventually, if the war lingers on, and our casualties become too much to bear?
Do you think I'm soft in the head and melodramatic, or can you see where I'm leading?
It's what worries me about war, you see. So many possabilities are suddenly gone. Fathers and wives and sister in laws and mothers and friends and future this and future that...
Gone.
And it depresses me a little.
So, anyway, I have this Kingston Trio record from my parent's collection. And I was singing along under my breath to "Tiajuana Jail" and "Bad Man's Song" (How can you resist a song that proclaims "I didn't have a key/I didn't have a file/so naturally I stayed around until my trail/the judge was an old man/93/and I didn' t like the way the jury looked at me...I think they were suspicous.") And "Where Have All the Flowers Gone" (which I think may have originally been a Peter, Paul and Mary song) came on and depressed the heck out of me. It's a perfectly cylindrical storyline, it goes from the flowers dissapearing because young girls picked them, and on and on...it's a very beautiful song, but for a romantic with a very vivid imagination worrying about politics which she will readily admit she isn't very good at...
So any way, that's what I'm thinking of tonight. I really ought to be reviewing Making & Dressing Doll's House Dolls and the latest Robert Jordan book.
Permalink Cindy scribed this at 7:44 PM
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Tuesday, January 28, 2003Oh, and a PS...all these chat announcements for Writer to Writer and Writer's Realm are not written by me...I copy and paste them, and I was taking the names off to give the writer privacy...then it occured to me that not everyone would know that I was copying and pasting them. Sometimes, I can do things that amaze even me. And not in a good way.
So, Netera, of Gotta Write Network is the lady who sends these to me (And you can get on the list, too) and she does a stunning job.
Permalink Cindy scribed this at 11:42 AM
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Our special guest on the Writer's Realm chat
on Tuesday, Jan. 28
will be PJ Parrish
author of "Dark of the Moon," "Dead of Winter," "Paint it Black,"
and her newest title "Thicker Than Water."
Time: 9-10 PM ET
In The Printed Word ,
keword: books, chats, books community, The Printed Word
Bring a friend or two : )
About PJ:
P J. Parrish is actually two sisters – Kristy Montee and Kelly Montee – who decided to pool their life-long loves of writing by teaming up in 1995 to create the character of Louis Kincaid. Their collaboration is unique in that the sisters live in separate states (Kelly in Mississippi, Kristy in Florida) – which means hefty phone bills and a reliance on America Online. The sisters were born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, each going their separate ways in college.
Kristy graduated from Eastern Michigan University with a teaching degree but went on to journalism, first as a police reporter and features editor for the Southfield and Birmingham Eccentric newspapers chain in suburban Detroit. Aftermoving to South Florida in 1973, she served as reporter, editor and finally assistant managing editor for the Sun-Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale. Drawing on a childhood love of ballet, she also served as the Sun-Sentinel's dance critic for 18 years before leaving journalism in 1985 to write fulltime. She now lives in Fort Lauderdale with her husband, Daniel, who is a deputy managing editor with the Sentinel, and their seven cats. When not writing, Kristy keeps her hands busy trying to tame her jungle garden and her right brain busy by learning to play the piano.
After college at Northern Michigan University in the state's remote upper peninsula, Kelly moved to Arizona and later settled in Laughlin, Nevada. She has worked in the gaming industry for the last 15 years – doing everything from tending bar to dealing blackjack. Several years ago, she moved to Philadelphia, Miss., where she became a manager in the human relations department of a Native-American casino. Recently, she relocated to the north of the state, just outside of Memphis. Playing out her lifelong interest in law enforcement (she wrote her first mystery at age 10 called "The Kill"), she is currently taking classes in criminology. She has two daughters, a son, and three grandchildren. Louis Kincaid was born of Kelly's experiences in Mississippi and of her love of northern Michigan — where she plans to retire someday.
The sisters are currently at work on the fifth Louis Kincaid novel. They are also at work on a second series set in Las Vegas's casino world featuring a female detective.
HOST RL Maren
Permalink Cindy scribed this at 11:39 AM
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Call for subs
Friday, January 24, 2003Dec. 25th news, found at Locus Mag
Editor/critic/author Claude Lalumière has just sold two new anthologies, to two different publishers. Both anthologies will launch simultaneously at Worldcon 2003 in Toronto, and both publishers will co-operate for marketing, promotion, etc. The titles are self-descriptive: OPEN SPACE: New Canadian Fantastic Fiction will be published by Bakka Books/Red Deer Press and ISLAND DREAMS: Montreal Writers of the Fantastic will be published by Véhicule Press The guidelines for Open Space are at http://lostpages.net/openspace.html; the highlights: new fiction only; $100-$300, paid on acceptance; deadline 30 April 2003; email: openspace@lostpages.net. Guidelines for Island Dreams are at http://lostpages.net/islanddreams.html; the highlights: new fiction only; $25-$200, paid on acceptance; deadline 13 April 2003; email: openspace@lostpages.net.
Permalink Cindy scribed this at 12:56 PM
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Also want to point out that Georgia Durante will bw the guest at Writer to Writer tonight....it says so in the post below, it's the hyperlink half way down. I'm touting it so much because the woman has had a way interesting life....something you'd write a fiction book about.
And I buried the announcement, so....
Permalink Cindy scribed this at 12:14 PM
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Well, I was honored today with a wonderful promotion. As of today, I will begin my official tenure as forum manager at www.FictionAddiction.net. I am very excited...I'll be the main persoon that people come to in the forums for problems, and I'll be helping run the chats. They have some really great authors lined up, so I'm excited....hopefully aol will cooporate better than it did *ladt* year. I may end up going to the chats via Juno, because of the 12 hours free thing. I am also very grateful for the opportunity. I feel like my career is slowly building up, you know? Like I'm getting somewhere.
With my hoped for promotion on AOL to helping my lady Netera every week with chats, I'll be all chatted up. :)
Let's see...I'll also be changing domain names. I've decided to go with www.apenandfire.com because, even though a guy at a forum convinced me that I need to have my name scrawled all over the place (You may recall just a short time ago this page had my name in huge yellow letters across the top) it made me really uncomfortable. And A Pen and Fire has such a nice ring. Also, apenandfire has a sort of vauge alliteration with Andromeda Pendragon, my first charcater, who I hope to keep as a serial character. I have lots of Andromeda stories...and stories with the absolutely beautiful Prince Sevrin of the vampires, (I've got one in my head which is sort of a prequel...'Meda and her beloved Alaister are still litttle kids)
Also, a really special chat tonight at Writer to Writer. If you've never been, this is the night to try it.
Georgia Durante has been a sought after model, a stunt car diver, a ganster's wife...and she'll tell us all about it:
The Writer to Writer chat will welcome
Georgia Durante to its corner of cyberspace
on Friday, Jan. 24, from 9-10 PM ET.
We'll meet at:
http://chat.iuniverse.com/default/default.asp
channel=Writer_to_Writer.
About Georgia:
Georgia Durante has packed a lifetime of lessons into forty-eight years. Those who have known her for the past twenty years as one of Hollywood's most successful female commercial stunt drivers have been shocked by the truth of her past.Hollywood producers have known two Georgia Durantes: the steely-nerved stuntwoman with the skill to handle a three-ton high-performance vehicle in high-speed precision maneuvers; and the beautiful model and actress who, at seventeen, was considered the most photographed girl in the country.They knew only those sides of her because that was all she chose to reveal. Only now does she share the full story of her life, in The Company She Keeps. Compelling and terrifying, The Company She Keeps tells the true story of Georgia Durante's storybook beginnings in Upstate, New York when at the tender age of twelve, the radiant little girl began her national modeling career. At seventeen, she became the "Kodak Girl" immortalized with her life-size image displayed in more than 80,000 retail stores throughout the world.Soon the magnetic smile that propelled Georgia's modeling career served only to mask the pain she endured, her first brushes with mob violence, the birth of her daughter, and a failed marriage, all before she turned twenty. The roller-coaster that had become her life continued its downward ride as Georgia met, fell in love with, and married Joe Lamendola, a respected businessman, but one with a dark secret and ties to the Syndicate. Her retelling of the facts paints a picture of a victim hopelessly caught in a web constructed of her own emotions as well as the abuse and threats of the tyrant whose wife she had become. Suspense and intrigue abound as Georgia recounts the fighter she became in response to her surroundings. She, alone, determined the fate of the madman who had stalked her and kidnapped her daughter. Her constant search for meaning and the life she had always sought but could never quite find, manifested itself with many heartbreaking turns. Along the way, she's faced with:
Tragedy in her life and those whom she loves
The struggle of a child with a drug addiction
Fortunes made and lost
A confrontation with the "prince of darkness" which ends in death The Company She Keeps is powerful and raw; a deeply personal account of one woman's life. Model, Mafia wife, victim and victor, Georgia Durante saw the worst that life had to offer and escaped it. She embraced the positive, but kept the negatives so as never to forget. "Life is what it is," Georgia writes. "How we deal with it is what matters." She has dealt with it the only way she knew how: with determination and courage.###With her company, Performance Two, Georgia Durante has performed in hundreds of national and international television commercial campaigns. Her clients include all of the major automobile manufacturers as well as many of the most recognized brands and products in the world. Additionally she has appeared in numerous feature films and network television shows. Georgia's current boyfriend is the former Chief of the Strike Force on Organized Crime and she continues to make her home in Southern California.
Her website: Performance Two:The Driving Force
www.performancetwo.com
Synopsis
"The Company She Keeps" is the gripping tale of one woman's struggle to escape from the Mafia underworld. Now a successful stunt driver, Durante can dominate a two-ton vehicle at high speeds, but off road, she has careened from one emotional head-on collision to another.
What People Are saying about "The Company She Keeps"
"Georgia Durante has written a gripping, fast-paced, insider's look at an underworld she knew only too well. Breathtakingly readable." Sidney Sheldon - best-selling Author "We've all heard of the Mafia, and read about mobsters, but Georgia Durante saw them up close. She lived with them. She experienced their violence. She survived their wars. In The Company She Keeps, she tells her fascinating story. Once you read it, you'll never forget it." Jimmy Breslin - Pulitzer Prize winning columnist and best-selling Author "This wonderful story of courage offers an exciting and unique look at how organized crime in this country can destroy much more than the usual victims of its activities. Georgia Durante rose above it. I salute her." James D. Henderson - Former Chief of the Los Angeles Strike Force on Organized Crime, United States Department of Justice "Georgia Durante's life exemplifies many of the strengths I've written about. She refused to surrender to abuse, and moved from being a victim to being a victor. She's an inspiration for any woman who feels her situation is hopeless." Susan Forward, Ph.D. - best-selling Author of Emotional Blackmail and Men Who Hate Women and the Women Who Love Them "(Georgia Durante) has had quite a life, and the courage it takes to live it. I would have never imagined all (she's) been through. (She) hides a lot behind that lovely smile." Hugh O'Brian - Actor "I spent a lifetime chasing gangsters out of the lives of decent people with the help of my colleagues in the FBI. Georgia Durante chased them out of her life by herself. She should have worked with us. This is an exceptionally intriguing book with eye-opening lessons for everyone." Bill Fleming, Special Agent - (Retired)Federal Bureau of Investigation. "The Company She Keeps could very well be the woman's version of my biography, "Wiseguy". A truly unique and insightful dimension to the underworld, written with bone chilling detail. Very well done." Henry Hill - Wiseguy Witness Protection Program "Georgia Durante has great skill as an author. Her warmth, her daring and her intelligence make this book a great adventure. I couldn't put it down. Read this book! You'll be amazed, you'll be excited. You'll be grateful I made you do it." Buddy Hackett - Entertainer and Comedian "It's one of those stories that makes you want to write a better critique than anyone else's. But Georgia has written the best one of all. You'll agree with me tomorrow morning when you still haven't put The Company She Keeps to bed." Morton Downey, Jr. - Network Talk Show Pioneer "(The Company She Keeps) is the high-interest, quick paced account of life in the fast lane. At the heart is the love of danger and excitement which is, for (Georgia), almost a fatal flaw. Fortunately, a love of autos and an uncanny ability to control high-horsepower cars led to an unexpected escape route. (Hers) is a story well worth reading." Samuel Hallock duPont, Jr. - Entrepreneur and Philanthropist "Quite unreal, really. What a life."Graham Nash - Musician; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young "Once you start reading this book, you cannot put it down. This book covers everything from flashy show-people, to the mob, to ordinary everyday people. There's a surprise on every page and a twist and turn in every chapter." Dick VanPatten - Actor "(Georgia Durante) has an adventurous spirit and has led a glamorous life. She honestly shares painful experiences in this fascinating and entertaining book." Stella Stevens - Actress "(The Company She Keeps) is a story of today. Women will relate to (Georgia's) inner strength that enabled her to overcome obstacles; and men will relate to (her) courage and admire (her) perseverance." Marty Allen - Entertainer and Comedian "(The Company She Keeps) is a superbly written autobiography about a lovely young woman's struggle and victory. What a struggle; what a victory; and what a woman! Georgia is one of a kind, and so is her book." Alan Young - Actor and Author "In (The Company She Keeps) Georgia Durante, not only survived her years in the underworld, but lived to write about it. A fascinating life. A fascinating book." Nicholas Pileggi - Best selling author of Wiseguy (Goodfellas) and Casino
Permalink Cindy scribed this at 12:03 PM
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Monday, January 20, 2003Every once in awhile, I take a stab at fixing my archives. While I am usually very good at following directions, somehow, when it comes to the archives, I fail utterly. So I am falling back on my most famous last minute defense.
I whine about it.
Sometimes it works. For example, if you can't find something that should be in an obvious place, you can't get a door unstuck, complain to a friend or family member. This especially works if the person gets kind of smug when they can do something you can't. Chances are that as soon as you complain about it, it will magically become doable or findable. See, it's called using the rules. If the universe loves to find ways to embarrass you, go for it. Work the system.
And, most importantly, complain when your archives aren't working in the hopes that, magically, they'll start to do so to make your long and lengthy post look foolish.
Course, it could work the other way, you know, and when I next check my page, my archives can be as weird to look upon as ever. But there's no harm in trying.
Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, all.
Permalink Cindy scribed this at 11:19 AM
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Saturday, January 18, 2003Well, I did good on the review front this week. Soon, Mostly Fiction will have up Small Town by Lawrence Block and Utopia by Lincoln Child. You can win Utopia from Mostly Fiction, and I would suggest that it's worth the effort....I really liked the book. SfSite now has Cherryth's Explorer, Modesitt Jr's Legacies and Anthony's Up in a Heaval. Rundown? Block --- yeach, (I'll wait until the reviews up....I'm actually rather proud of it) and the rest range in the pretty good category. I plan to start posting up my old reviews, and I really, really have to update my links. It's all a slow process, because I expected to get caught up and never quite did. Which makes me think that we never really get caught up with anything, we just get breif breathers where we think we are.
I'm going to write on my book this week end. Just you wait and see.
Permalink Cindy scribed this at 11:30 AM
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Evil Warlord List as Writing Tool
Tuesday, January 14, 2003Peter's Evil Overlord List isn't just funny, it's useful. Every cliche that you can boil out of Star Wars, James Bond movies, Conan...the list is as long as my arm. Longer, actually. If you want to write a book with a person in an evil warlord like position, it would be quite sensible (and entertaining) to read over the list, and try and "beat" it. Filled with useful ideas, such as "I will not include a self-destruct mechanism unless absolutely necessary. If it is necessary, it will not be a large red button labelled "Danger: Do Not Push". The big red button marked "Do Not Push" will instead trigger a spray of bullets on anyone stupid enough to disregard it. Similarly, the ON/OFF switch will not clearly be labelled as such." (#9) or "I will hire a talented fashion designer to create original uniforms for my Legions of Terror, as opposed to some cheap knock-offs that make them look like Nazi stormtroopers, Roman footsoldiers, or savage Mongol hordes. All were eventually defeated and I want my troops to have a more positive mind-set." (#21) a list like this could help you create more inventive characters, because it'll help you avoid all the general cliches. True, it'll also make it harder than heck for yor heroes to beat him/her, but at least the journey will be exciting.
And, if you were curious, I have fallen from my pinnacle of nine at preds and eds, to 12. I *liked* being at nine, though. I mean, someone who's pretty much an unknown getting that high? That's really nifty. I'll try and be quiet about it until the 21st, when the polls officially close...and I'll give you a run down on who won, and where my groups and such ended up at. If you want to see the results yourself, please go to http://www.critters.org/predpoll/tally.html
Permalink Cindy scribed this at 10:44 AM
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Ronda Thompson will be the Writer's Realm guest on Tuesday, Jan. 14,
from 9-10 PM ET in The Printed Word chatroom, keyword: books. You
must be a AOL member to attend.
Please come and bring your friends with you!!
About the book:
Call of the Moon
Jason Donavon walked in darkness, seeking release from his curse. It
had the power to destroy everything-to take his humanity. In a world
where he no longer belonged, he felt eyes watching him. Someone or
something even more sinister than himself stalked the night. But
there was beauty in the night as well. The woman who materialized to
save him from the forces of darkness seemed from another age, another
world-but her mysterious eyes held answers to all the questions he'd
been too afraid to ask. She took him to her world, to the wilds of
the North, to the forests. Yet in a place of such primitive ancestral
customs, where nature ruled supreme, Jason knew greater dangers
awaited. He would be forced to battle the beast within, fight his
love for a woman forbidden, and discover whether salvation would come
from resisting the seductive light of the moon-or in surrendering to
it.
About Ronda:
(in her own words)
The written word fascinates me. That probably has something to do
with the fact that for many years, I couldn't understand the written
word, or make beans out of what I read. I realize now that I had
dyslexia as a child, and my son is dyslexic, also. Thank goodness
we've come a long way since my schooldays, and he was diagnosed as
being dyslexic in the second grade. With help, he's making progress
faster than I ever could.
As other children learned in school, I sat, staring at the
blackboard, watching those letters all dance around. Then my mind
would wander, and I'd be off on some grand adventure. One of my
teachers in grade school once rapped her ruler on my desk to get my
attention. She asked, "What are you going to do for a living when you
grow up, Ronda? Sit around and daydream all day?" Well, the joke is
on her, because that is exactly what I do for a living. In later
years, I did learn to read, and understand what I read, and as a
result, I found wonderful new worlds to escape into. Add my love of
reading, my fascination for the written word, and my imagination
together, and I don't think I could have become anything but an
author. My first published novel, ISN'T IT ROMANTIC?, published by
LionHearted Publishing in the spring of 98, was a finalist in the
Reader's Choice Awards for best single title contemporary of the
year, and has since been converted into screen play. I hope to see my
story on the big screen one day. Another novel of mine, In Trouble's
Arms, published by Leisure books, has also been optioned for a movie.
Fingers crossed we will see this one premier as a made for television
movie in the near future. Since I became published in 1998, I have
released a total of eight books, one novella and have contracts for
future novels. This has long been a dream of mine, and a very
fulfilling one. If I can give another half the pleasure I have
received over the years from reading, then I am satisfied with my
writing accomplishments. I've been married for years to the same
wonderful man. We have two children, three dogs, and live in Texas,
which has much to do with my love for writing western historical
romances. I also like to challenge myself by writing books in all
genres of romance. The imagination has wings, and in my opinion, no
one should clip them. I never know from one day to the next, where
those wings might take me.
Permalink Cindy scribed this at 10:32 AM
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Hello There!
Sunday, January 12, 2003Just a quick hello to all the people who are coming here via the Neil Gaiman Ecosystems blog thingy...it's really cool of you to come, but in case you're dissapointed by the realtively low Gaiman content, I'd like to direct you to the no longer updated but really complete up to a point referencing the Magian I am also the same girl who wrote the comic, sandman and movie essay under Exclusive Content at Neilgaiman.com.
And it was a surprise and a pleasure to see my web site listed there...and even more so that it seems a few of you (about 15-20) have come to my website because of it. Happiness to you all! Please come again. :D
Permalink Cindy scribed this at 12:23 PM
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I was using the preds and eds poll to research publishers a little...true, the list says ebook publishers, and while some of the places are *strictly* ebook publishers, some of them aren't. My skewered logic thought that by using the poll to research, it might help me find a place that a lot of people have good relations with, and are therefore really good. Also, I'm not against ebooks. I'm actually considering going ebook first now. Just have to think it over a bit.
Any way, I was reading the GL's for Imajinn Books (I like the Djinn/imagine play...very cool, very fantasy) and saw that they are looking for romances where one of the main romantic characters is a vampire/werewolf/shapeshifting charcater. Balancing Act won't work, because while there is a romantic subplot involving werewolves, I defanged Andromeda ages ago. So first thought, "Drat, why didn't I keep her a vampire?" Second thought, of course, was if I wanted to...er...fix that, but I decided not to. The fact she's not a vamp any more is how I got the story written. Third thought was cursing, because my current book that I'm only 50 pages into has a main character who is a werewolf, and it is a dark romantic fantasy that tales place on another world...
So, I guess it proves that you will not always be ready when an opportunity arises. Oh, well. They might not have liked the books anyway.
So, I guess, if you happen to have such a book ready....*grins happily* Good luck!!! And let me know if it works out...it'd be lovely to know if I helped.
Permalink Cindy scribed this at 11:55 AM
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In which we don't really resolve anything, but we try.
Friday, January 10, 2003So, what did I learn this week in writing?
Yes, if you were wondering, that is still the name of my journal.
Most of what I learn right now, I learn from editing. It used to be, that an editor would read a work, love it despite its flaws, and therefore contract the author and work on it. Fix its flaws, clean up the smudges. In this process the author learned an awful lot, and the editor got a product he could be proud of, that he invested a lot of himself in. It's the shiny cliche that, despite my assertion at the beginning of all this, may or may not have been true, but we all, to a certain extent, believe in. For the most part, (and anything can happen, in the publishing world) this is not something that happens now. Many editors use agents to vet a work before they see it...making the agent a slush pile reader, in effect...and both agents and editors demand perfection -- they do not have time for typos, obviously, but nor do they have time for loose plot strings, or weak middles, either. But there's the trap...most people can't afford to have their book edited. I'm not sure what I think of critique groups...I never joined one, I confess, because I thought the investment of time might be a little more than I could afford, and if I join, I want to do right by my fellow critters.
I suppose you simply work at it. It's quite confusing, trying to figure out what to do. Neil Gaiman used to quote...Zelazney? Delany? in his advice to young writers. It went something like this...
Write.
Finish what you write.
Don't edit except for what your editor requests.
This is actually good advice. One of the major extremes writers go to is that they either think that they are so emensly talented that the words that flow unto the paper are exactly what belongs there, or they edit, and edit, and edit. And edit. And edit some more.
I guess it's up to you when you stop editing. My best advice is related to the second book thing I talked about in a previous post, and that after you've written your book, put it aside. Write something else. Edit your book. Put it aside (repeat as many times as needed)...
Writer story of the day: Micheal Palmer's (Fatal) editor who signed him said, "You can't teach plotting like this, but you can teach writing." and so, despite the fact the gent couldn't write very well, he got a contract. And they taught him how to write. So that's kinda neat.
Well, as Red Green says, I'm pulling for you, we're all in this together.
Permalink Cindy scribed this at 4:16 PM
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Well, these are the two chats I go to. I've gotten a lot of opportunities through them, so if you happen to be free, please stop in. They are a lot of fun...both take place from 9-10 eastern.
Jan. 14 - Writer's Realm on AOL (keyword: books)Printed Word chatroom
RONDA THOMPSON, author of Call of the Moon.
Jan. 28 - Writer's Realm on AOL
PJ Parrish, author of Thicker Than Water
Jan. 24 - Writer to Writer chat on iU
Georgia Durante, author of The Company She Keeps
owner of Performance Two, stunt driving
Jan. 31 - Writer to Writer chat on iU
Elaine Hooper, Kim Cox and Sher Hames-Torres
Permalink Cindy scribed this at 12:39 PM
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The Writer to Writer guest for Jan. 10
is Janet Elaine Smith,
author of My Dear Phebe, Monday Knight, St. Patrick's Custody,
House Call to the Past and other wonderful titles.
Time: 9-10 PM ET
Topics: Her novels and author promotion
please attend and invite other authors!
URL: http://chat.iuniverse.com/default/default.asp?
channel=Writer_to_Writer
or log onto gottawritenetwork.com and click on chat
Janet Elaine Smith is known to many authors for her support in
helping them market their own books. She has recently started an
online business, SOS! for Authors to further that goal. She will be
sharing some of her somewhat "unconventional" methods of selling with
us.
She is also known by readers for her books. She writes in several
different genres: historical romance, contemporary romance, "cozy"
mysteries, Christmas family tales and young adult. Her latest
book, "A Lumberjack Christmas" is available as an e-book from Echelon
Press and will eventually be out as a print books as well. Her next
book, "And They Called Her General Leigh," is under consideration by
Echelon Press. It's a "comical" Civil War Romance. You won't want to
miss this one. It is, perhaps, the first of its kind. Janet says
she'd like to start a new genre and name it "hysterical historicals."
Permalink Cindy scribed this at 12:37 PM
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Thursday, January 09, 2003Um. You know. Some very nice person added me to the preds and eds poll....annd well, not only do I want to thank them, but I, well, would be really happy if any of you out there voted for me?
Please? The Article is under nonfiction articles, and it's called Building a Better World. It was originally at www.gottawritenetwork.com
http://www.critters.org/predpoll/
You can also vote for Neil Gaiman under horror for Coraline (Some of my traffic comes from Neil Gaiman dot come...and, well, Coraline is cool!) And there are a lot of other great people and places...
I'm at number 14. :D
Out of 16.
Still, I'm quite happy!
And here's something you thought would never happen....
http://www.scalzi.com/w030103.htm
This gentleman serialized a book on his website, called Old Man's War...Patrick Neilsen Hayden of Tor read it, and signed him for a two book deal. And I've been sweating my excerpts online...if anyone says anything, now I can say I have precedent. :D
Permalink Cindy scribed this at 7:02 PM
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Rouge Authoress Seeks creative World Building Materials
Wednesday, January 08, 2003Yes, I'm having fun with Blogger Pro.
But I am writing an article on World Building software...some of it is complicated enough to give me a headache, some of it seems useful, to a point.
And, on another subject, I like Pro so far, but
I miss my friends on Xanga.
Permalink Cindy scribed this at 10:17 PM
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Monday, January 06, 2003Well, the holidays are well and truly over. Now it's time to start tracking down markets, begin book reviews, and write some articles. If any of you have any good ideas for a fantasy genre related article or interview, feel free to pitch it to me (as in, I'm not interested in stealing your deas, I'm interested in finding people who need to get a published clip)...if you have a good writing style (we'll work on it if you need it) and if it fits within my page, you'll be in. Of course, you won't get paid, but clips, clips are nice. (If it makes you feel better, I don't get paid, either. :D )
When I say "my" page, I don't mean this one. I mean www.gottawritenetwork.com, which really isn't mine. My responsability is the fantasy genre shelf...check it out by going to the above link, then click on genre to genre in the coloumn on the left, then fantasy. You'll see my articles, and a bunch of book reviews. If you like what you see, email me, and we'll see what we can do. Also, if you have ideas for the Dark Comics section, lay em on me.
I learned the hard way that you have to work for free in our choosen field before you can start making money. I know. It really does hurt....but the payoff, in the end, of being a writer is worth pretty much anything.
Permalink Cindy scribed this at 2:06 PM
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Sunday, January 05, 2003So, I'm still playing with this site.
My tip for the day: www.ralan.com ....he really gathers some wonderful markets and information together.
Permalink Cindy scribed this at 2:08 PM
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Saturday, January 04, 2003Two very cool things....
My dear friend Will Entrekin's utterly amazing "Sage of Angels" got honorable mention in the 2002 Once Upon a World fantasy/romance novella contest. It'll be published on CD-Rom and in downloadable formats. when I read this story, I was amazined at the power and intricacy of it....
And, a cool blog: http://lon.blogspot.com . Christain writes things that are evokative and sensible, all at the same time.
Permalink Cindy scribed this at 11:03 PM
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Friday, January 03, 2003Well, welcome to my new first page of my homepage! Wow...three days to do this, and I haven't gotten the archives up. Sigh. And blogger's giving me some slight troubles, that I've been trying to ignore....
I hope you like this new feature! Make comments! Ask questions! :D I've love to hear from you.
Permalink Cindy scribed this at 10:10 PM
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Sometimes people just cut you to the heart. They don't mean to. Sometimes they simply don't know both sides of the story, or they mean well, but they think they know better. It's a shame, you can't tell people what you need, because you don't want to force them to give it to you. Even if it's something as simple as respect, or encouragement.
Ah well.
I really ought to edit some of these past typo ridden posts. Why don't we just not and pretend I did? I'm feeling bummed out and lazy.
Maybe I'll go write on my short story, Monochrome.
Permalink Cindy scribed this at 7:48 PM
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Thursday, January 02, 2003And, I want to wish every single one of my readers a wonderous and exceptional 2003.
Permalink Cindy scribed this at 7:08 PM
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Something I realized earlier this week is that all writers, starting out, make exactly the same list of mistakes. Even the best ones. I think we need to write to get these mistakes out of our system, we need to write out the cliche's and all that in order to mature as writers. Somebody...maybe it was Eddings?? said that you write about 3 million pages of crap before you start writing good things. This is true. The only way you become a "mature" writer (i.e. someone who when they get published more people go "Hey! He can write!" than not) is to, well, write. It is a very rare creature that writes something publishable right at the start. So write yourself into growth, write to learn how to show not tell, write to find your voice, write to figure out how not to play pov musical chairs in the same scene.
And don't give up. Which you weren't going to anyway, but I thought I would say so.
Permalink Cindy scribed this at 6:59 PM
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Congratulations to Neil Gaiman! His audio version of American Gods won the Golden Headset award for best unabridged audio!
Permalink Cindy scribed this at 6:32 PM
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Wednesday, January 01, 2003Well, I'm making some changes...I'm making this page my start page (I'll be moving it over as soon as the bugs are fixed.) This way you'll be able to see changes to my site - new interviews or review links, or some bit of news you may find useful - quickly and easily, and be able to comment on them, too! Of course, you are still welcome to email me.
Permalink Cindy scribed this at 12:34 PM
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