The Fiction River anthology series is doing a subscription drive on Kickstarter, and they're already into stretch goals. They're offering various subscription levels at various prices, including a single electronic issue for $5, some multi-issue genre packages, up through a year's subscription in electronic or print or audio. Some packages come with extra stories -- electronic or print -- by anthology authors, and one lets you choose a character for each of three anthology stories Dean will write for up-coming issues.
There are also special packages left for writers that bundle some online lectures in with your Fiction River subscription. One that lets you choose a future anthology theme and co-edit it with Dean has already been snapped up, as have all the subscription-plus-online-workshop bundles.
If you're looking for a new tablet anyway, there's a Kobo special package that comes with a Kobo tablet, codes to download the previous ten volumes of Fiction River, plus ARCs to the two Kobo special edition issues coming up (with extra stories), plus three up-coming issues.
And like I mentioned above, they're already into stretch goals.
Since they passed $7500, everyone who supports the Fiction River subscription drive at the $5 level or higher will receive one additional electronic copy of Fiction River from the second year.
They hit $10,000 recently, so they'll create a special edition of Fiction River called Debut Writers’ Showcase. This will be a separate ebook of Fiction River authors who were published first with us. Plus, we’ll extend their biographies and ask them really cool questions such as, “Since you’ve been published in Fiction River, what’s happened in your writing career?” One of the goals of Fiction River is to bring you fresh voices in storytelling. We’ll send this edition to everyone who supports the Fiction River subscription drive at the $5 level or higher. (I'm one of their debut writers, so that'll be fun to do. :) )
This is a great project, with a lot of awesome writers. It's well worth supporting, especially since you're already getting a couple of extras. Check it out.
Angie
Showing posts with label helping out. Show all posts
Showing posts with label helping out. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Abusing Child Protection Laws
Kaitlyn Hunt is an 18-year-old high school girl who's in love with another girl, a 15-year-old who goes to her school. They met when Kate was 17, and the younger girl's parents disapproved of the relationship, but rather than, say, talking to Kate's parents about it, or trying to resolve their concerns in a civilized manner, they waited for Kate to turn 18 and then called the police.
Kate was expelled from school, and arrested in February for "lewd and lascivious battery."
According to Findlaw:
Florida does have a Romeo-and-Juliet law. These are generally intended to provide some rational exceptions for two young people who are close in age. Unfortunately, the Florida law would only let Kate petition to have her name taken off the sex offender registry after she's convicted; it would do nothing to save her from the rest of the legal meatgrinder, and she could still spend those 10 years in prison for the heinous crime of having a girlfriend who goes to her school.
Oh, and if one might be thinking of giving the younger girl's parents the benefit of the doubt, and assuming that it's the relationship with an "adult" that they're objecting to, they've also accused Kate of turning their daughter gay. So... yeah. This is pure, hateful homophobia at work here.
Please sign the petition on Change.org asking to have Kate freed. This is a ridiculous abuse of the laws intended to protect children from actual predators, and of the sex offender registry -- unfortunately one of many. We need to make it clear to parents who disapprove of their kid's boyfriend or girlfriend that criminalizing teenagers who fall in love with other teenagers won't be allowed to stand.
Angie
Kate was expelled from school, and arrested in February for "lewd and lascivious battery."
According to Findlaw:
Under Florida law, engaging in sexual activity with a minor between the ages of 12 and 16 is a felony. Because the law does not make an exception for consenting minors, Hunt could potentially face up to 10 years in prison if she is convicted, and up to $10,000 in fines.
Florida does have a Romeo-and-Juliet law. These are generally intended to provide some rational exceptions for two young people who are close in age. Unfortunately, the Florida law would only let Kate petition to have her name taken off the sex offender registry after she's convicted; it would do nothing to save her from the rest of the legal meatgrinder, and she could still spend those 10 years in prison for the heinous crime of having a girlfriend who goes to her school.
Oh, and if one might be thinking of giving the younger girl's parents the benefit of the doubt, and assuming that it's the relationship with an "adult" that they're objecting to, they've also accused Kate of turning their daughter gay. So... yeah. This is pure, hateful homophobia at work here.
Please sign the petition on Change.org asking to have Kate freed. This is a ridiculous abuse of the laws intended to protect children from actual predators, and of the sex offender registry -- unfortunately one of many. We need to make it clear to parents who disapprove of their kid's boyfriend or girlfriend that criminalizing teenagers who fall in love with other teenagers won't be allowed to stand.
Angie
Monday, December 3, 2012
Aicardi Syndrome and a Pose-Off
Fantasy writer Jim Hines did a blog post asking fans to donate to the Aicardi Syndrome Foundation, an organization that raises research money for Aicardi Syndrome, a disease that affects 1 in 105,000 little girls. He says, "It causes brain malformation, visual problems, seizures, developmental delays, and other medical complications. Most research puts the life expectancy for people with Aicardi between 8 and 16 years."
The Aicardi Syndrome Foundation is the only source of funding for research into this disease. It also helps families with daughters who've been hit with it. It's a great cause, and I urge everyone reading this to throw some money their way, even if it's only a few dollars.
If you do donate, and report your donations to Jim, he'll do another set of book cover poses at each milestone. If you haven't seen this post before, check it out -- Jim demonstrates the ridiculousness of the positions SF/Fantasy/Paranormal female characters are twisted into on book covers by attempting to get into those positions himself, and having his picture taken. It's hilarious, and also underscores some serious shenanigans on the part of the big publishers, 'cause seriously dudes, this is stupid, and it's all based on the idea that the men who buy these books just want to see boobs and butts, and the women who buy these books will go along with stupidly impossible objectification on the covers, because women will sigh and shrug and buy whatever makes the men happy. [cough]
[If you're still going, "Wait, what--?" then check out this pic, parodying one of the Avengers movie posters. In the real poster, Black Widow is doing the boobs-and-butt pose, but all the men are in normal, tough-guy-ready-for-combat poses. This artist turned it around, giving Black Widow a normal pose and putting Captain America into the standard female boobs-and-butt pose. The other men are just displaying their butts. It's awesome. :D ]
And as if that weren't enough, Jim is challenging John Scalzi to a pose-off at two of the milestone points, $1000 and $2500. I really hope they make the $2500, because the pose-off should be great.
Aside from which, Aicardi Syndrome sucks, and deserves support. Please help out.
Angie
The Aicardi Syndrome Foundation is the only source of funding for research into this disease. It also helps families with daughters who've been hit with it. It's a great cause, and I urge everyone reading this to throw some money their way, even if it's only a few dollars.
If you do donate, and report your donations to Jim, he'll do another set of book cover poses at each milestone. If you haven't seen this post before, check it out -- Jim demonstrates the ridiculousness of the positions SF/Fantasy/Paranormal female characters are twisted into on book covers by attempting to get into those positions himself, and having his picture taken. It's hilarious, and also underscores some serious shenanigans on the part of the big publishers, 'cause seriously dudes, this is stupid, and it's all based on the idea that the men who buy these books just want to see boobs and butts, and the women who buy these books will go along with stupidly impossible objectification on the covers, because women will sigh and shrug and buy whatever makes the men happy. [cough]
[If you're still going, "Wait, what--?" then check out this pic, parodying one of the Avengers movie posters. In the real poster, Black Widow is doing the boobs-and-butt pose, but all the men are in normal, tough-guy-ready-for-combat poses. This artist turned it around, giving Black Widow a normal pose and putting Captain America into the standard female boobs-and-butt pose. The other men are just displaying their butts. It's awesome. :D ]
And as if that weren't enough, Jim is challenging John Scalzi to a pose-off at two of the milestone points, $1000 and $2500. I really hope they make the $2500, because the pose-off should be great.
Aside from which, Aicardi Syndrome sucks, and deserves support. Please help out.
Angie
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Artist Wanted
For anyone with an artistic bent, Josh Lanyon is looking for a cover for a short story. He's getting the rights back to an anthology story soon and plans to self-publish it. Drawing/painting/photomanipping isn't his thing, though, so he's holding a contest -- if he chooses to use your cover, he'll pay $50 for it. (I know that's not a lot, but it's pretty much the going rate on this end of the industry.)
Luck to anyone who gives it a shot. :)
Angie
Luck to anyone who gives it a shot. :)
Angie
Friday, July 16, 2010
Literature Map
This is kind of fun. :) It's a map of writers, placed by who else readers who like them also like. So frex., if a lot of people like Bernita Harris AND Charles Gramlich AND Shauna Roberts, they'd all appear near each other in the map.
Unfortunately, the map is missing a lot of lesser-known writers; obviously this is a hole that needs to be filled, right? You can go to this page and enter the names of writers you think should be on the map, in the "Suggest a new Writer" box at the top. You can also vote for or against the top ten almost-made-it writers in the list below. If you suggest someone who's already been suggested, it counts as a vote for that writer. If you suggest someone who's already on the map, it'll just tell you so; that's not a problem.
Note: looking at the list of names to be voted on, most of them are (sort of) valid but have some problems with how they were entered. Sticking with full names, first-name-first, is probably best; using multiple formats of someone's name just splits the votes.
From this page you can enter the name of a writer, and if they're on the map, you'll be shown that writer's chunk of the map -- their name, surrounded by the names of other writers "near" the first writer. So if you like the writer whose name you entered, you might also like the others, because a lot of readers like both. Different names are at different distances; I'm assuming nearer names are more likely to share a reader's list with the central name.
This is fun to play with -- it's a great time sink. :) There definitely need to be more writers on the map, though. Come enter your favorites!
Angie
PS -- thanks to Emily Veinglory for linking to this.
[EDIT: links, links, I do know how to do links. :P I originally posted this on a Yahoo mailing list where HTML links don't work, and forgot to fix them for here. :P ]
Unfortunately, the map is missing a lot of lesser-known writers; obviously this is a hole that needs to be filled, right? You can go to this page and enter the names of writers you think should be on the map, in the "Suggest a new Writer" box at the top. You can also vote for or against the top ten almost-made-it writers in the list below. If you suggest someone who's already been suggested, it counts as a vote for that writer. If you suggest someone who's already on the map, it'll just tell you so; that's not a problem.
Note: looking at the list of names to be voted on, most of them are (sort of) valid but have some problems with how they were entered. Sticking with full names, first-name-first, is probably best; using multiple formats of someone's name just splits the votes.
From this page you can enter the name of a writer, and if they're on the map, you'll be shown that writer's chunk of the map -- their name, surrounded by the names of other writers "near" the first writer. So if you like the writer whose name you entered, you might also like the others, because a lot of readers like both. Different names are at different distances; I'm assuming nearer names are more likely to share a reader's list with the central name.
This is fun to play with -- it's a great time sink. :) There definitely need to be more writers on the map, though. Come enter your favorites!
Angie
PS -- thanks to Emily Veinglory for linking to this.
[EDIT: links, links, I do know how to do links. :P I originally posted this on a Yahoo mailing list where HTML links don't work, and forgot to fix them for here. :P ]
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Two Good Deals, One For a Great Cause
A couple of the vendors who sell my stories are having special deals right now.
Fictionwise is having one of its 40% rebate on everything sales, for purchases made with a credit card. The link takes you to the two of my books they sell, but the rebate applies to everything. The way this works is when you purchase a book with a rebate, the rebated amount is credited to your "micropay" account, which can be spent later like cash. I like their rebate-on-everything sales because usually their rebates only apply to DRMed books, and I don't buy those. You don't have to join a club or anything; just create the usual online buyer's account and your rebate amount will be stored there for whenever you want to use it.
All Romance eBooks is having a promotion where authors and/or publishers are donating their royalties for the month of May to the National Center for Lesbian Rights -- which supports the rights of all LGBT people now, not just lesbians. The NCLR is representing Clay Greene in his attempt to get justice from Sonoma County for the horrible way they treated him and his partner, Harold Scull.
From NCLR's info page on Greene v. County of Sonoma et al.:
Clay and his partner of 25 years, Harold, lived in California. Clay and Harold made diligent efforts to protect their legal rights, and had their legal paperwork in place, including wills and powers of attorney, naming each other. Harold was 88 years old and in frail medical condition, but still living at home with Clay, 77, who was in good health.
In April 2008, Harold, who was very frail, fell on the front steps of the home he shared with his partner of 25 years, Clay Greene. Harold had endured open heart surgery, was on a number of medications that made him uncomfortable, and was in declining physical and mental health. When Harold fell, he did not want Clay to call an ambulance. But Clay knew that the fall was serious and that medical attention was required. He did what any of us would do—he called the paramedics. When Harold, in a fury, told the paramedics that Clay had pushed him, they reported the allegations, which were found to be unsubstantiated.
Then Harold and Clay's nightmare truly began. Instead of handling Harold and Clay's case appropriately, the County of Sonoma filed for conservatorship of Harold's estate, seeking control of Harold's finances. Without authority, the county auctioned off everything that both Harold and Clay owned. Virtually all of the couple's belongings, including numerous pieces of art, Hollywood memorabilia and collectibles, were sold at auction or have disappeared. In an early visit by County employees to review the contents of the home, workers remarked on the couple's treasures, with one noting how much his "wife would love" a piece and a second commenting how "great that would look in my house" on another. When Clay objected he was told to "shut up."
County workers also removed Clay from his and Harold's home and placed Clay in an assisted living facility against his will. Three months after he was hospitalized, Harold died in a nursing home. Because of the County's actions, Clay missed the final months he should have had with his partner of 25 years, and he has been unable to recover his possessions.
That's really despicable. The county claimed Harold and Clay were only roommates when it came to visitation rights or the authority to make medical and financial decisions, despite Clay having a legal power of attorney (which was ignored). But it seems the county was treating them as legal partners who owned property in common when it sold the entire contents of their home to pay for Harold's medical costs. They couldn't even be consistent in their gross mistreatment of this couple.
All my stand-alone short stories up on ARe are part of the fund raising effort. I'll donate all my royalties from ARe to Clay Greene's legal fund at NCLR, to help him get some sort of justice out of this mess, and give Sonoma County officials the slap they clearly need to jar a few brain cells loose. If you've been thinking of trying some of my work, this'd be a good time to do it -- some good stories and helping out with a worthy cause. (And in actuality, I'm donating all my royalties for the quarter -- through the end of June -- since my statement doesn't break it down any farther than that.) Here's ARe's info page about the fund raiser, which includes a list of all the authors and publishers participating, with links to their books.
Angie
Fictionwise is having one of its 40% rebate on everything sales, for purchases made with a credit card. The link takes you to the two of my books they sell, but the rebate applies to everything. The way this works is when you purchase a book with a rebate, the rebated amount is credited to your "micropay" account, which can be spent later like cash. I like their rebate-on-everything sales because usually their rebates only apply to DRMed books, and I don't buy those. You don't have to join a club or anything; just create the usual online buyer's account and your rebate amount will be stored there for whenever you want to use it.
All Romance eBooks is having a promotion where authors and/or publishers are donating their royalties for the month of May to the National Center for Lesbian Rights -- which supports the rights of all LGBT people now, not just lesbians. The NCLR is representing Clay Greene in his attempt to get justice from Sonoma County for the horrible way they treated him and his partner, Harold Scull.
From NCLR's info page on Greene v. County of Sonoma et al.:
Clay and his partner of 25 years, Harold, lived in California. Clay and Harold made diligent efforts to protect their legal rights, and had their legal paperwork in place, including wills and powers of attorney, naming each other. Harold was 88 years old and in frail medical condition, but still living at home with Clay, 77, who was in good health.
In April 2008, Harold, who was very frail, fell on the front steps of the home he shared with his partner of 25 years, Clay Greene. Harold had endured open heart surgery, was on a number of medications that made him uncomfortable, and was in declining physical and mental health. When Harold fell, he did not want Clay to call an ambulance. But Clay knew that the fall was serious and that medical attention was required. He did what any of us would do—he called the paramedics. When Harold, in a fury, told the paramedics that Clay had pushed him, they reported the allegations, which were found to be unsubstantiated.
Then Harold and Clay's nightmare truly began. Instead of handling Harold and Clay's case appropriately, the County of Sonoma filed for conservatorship of Harold's estate, seeking control of Harold's finances. Without authority, the county auctioned off everything that both Harold and Clay owned. Virtually all of the couple's belongings, including numerous pieces of art, Hollywood memorabilia and collectibles, were sold at auction or have disappeared. In an early visit by County employees to review the contents of the home, workers remarked on the couple's treasures, with one noting how much his "wife would love" a piece and a second commenting how "great that would look in my house" on another. When Clay objected he was told to "shut up."
County workers also removed Clay from his and Harold's home and placed Clay in an assisted living facility against his will. Three months after he was hospitalized, Harold died in a nursing home. Because of the County's actions, Clay missed the final months he should have had with his partner of 25 years, and he has been unable to recover his possessions.
That's really despicable. The county claimed Harold and Clay were only roommates when it came to visitation rights or the authority to make medical and financial decisions, despite Clay having a legal power of attorney (which was ignored). But it seems the county was treating them as legal partners who owned property in common when it sold the entire contents of their home to pay for Harold's medical costs. They couldn't even be consistent in their gross mistreatment of this couple.
All my stand-alone short stories up on ARe are part of the fund raising effort. I'll donate all my royalties from ARe to Clay Greene's legal fund at NCLR, to help him get some sort of justice out of this mess, and give Sonoma County officials the slap they clearly need to jar a few brain cells loose. If you've been thinking of trying some of my work, this'd be a good time to do it -- some good stories and helping out with a worthy cause. (And in actuality, I'm donating all my royalties for the quarter -- through the end of June -- since my statement doesn't break it down any farther than that.) Here's ARe's info page about the fund raiser, which includes a list of all the authors and publishers participating, with links to their books.
Angie
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Will You Read My Story?
Josh Olson, the writer who did the screenplay for A History of Violence, wrote an article for the Village Voice entitled I Will Not Read Your Fucking Script, explaining exactly why he, and many other pro writers, won't read scripts, stories, novels, outlines, treatments, etc., that hopeful newbies try to hand them. Although his tone is rather harsh [cough] he makes some excellent points and I agree with him; pro writers don't owe random newbies anything. If they're asked by a random newbie (or even a newbie with a vague connection, like a spouse's brother's roommate or similar) to read a story -- or recommend the newbie to their agent, or share names/numbers/e-mails for editors, or whatever -- then "Sorry, no," is never a rude response and doesn't merit any immediate abuse or later bad-mouthing to others.
There've been some interesting responses from around the net, and Cleolinda over on LJ has the best collection I've found, along with some personal input of her own. She's a published writer herself, and has had relevant experience.
The original piece and some of the responses focused on obligation and courtesy and favors, and whether or not a pro owes anything to random newbies. Some of the other commenters point out that there are also legal issues involved, and that pro writers can be and have been sued for plagiarism because they read (or could have read, whether they did or not) some newbie's story or idea, and later came up with something on their own which the newbie thought was too similar. See David Gerrold's link in Cleolinda's piece, in particular, for an excellent take on that side of the question.
This issue affects every writer, both published and hopeful, and I recommend everyone read this set of posts.
Angie
There've been some interesting responses from around the net, and Cleolinda over on LJ has the best collection I've found, along with some personal input of her own. She's a published writer herself, and has had relevant experience.
The original piece and some of the responses focused on obligation and courtesy and favors, and whether or not a pro owes anything to random newbies. Some of the other commenters point out that there are also legal issues involved, and that pro writers can be and have been sued for plagiarism because they read (or could have read, whether they did or not) some newbie's story or idea, and later came up with something on their own which the newbie thought was too similar. See David Gerrold's link in Cleolinda's piece, in particular, for an excellent take on that side of the question.
This issue affects every writer, both published and hopeful, and I recommend everyone read this set of posts.
Angie
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Making Amends
Icarusancalion over on LJ has posted an explanation/apology/amends for something she did, attacking and slandering a Buddhist temple and its Lama over a period of years because she couldn't face her own responsibility for her failures as a nun and a Buddhist.
Her hateful and lying words from the past have been used by others to hurt this temple and her old teacher, and she hopes that her confession and explanation will rise high enough in Google rankings that when people go looking for information on the subject, they'll find her post to mitigate the lies she helped spread, which are also still out there, propped up by others with similar issues.
Aside from this being a pretty awesome melding of ancient tradition and 21st century technology, I think this is a worthy cause and then some, so I'm linking in all my personal fora. I encourage everyone to read this (it's not that long) and if you agree that it's a worthy cause, to link as well. Thank you.
Angie
Her hateful and lying words from the past have been used by others to hurt this temple and her old teacher, and she hopes that her confession and explanation will rise high enough in Google rankings that when people go looking for information on the subject, they'll find her post to mitigate the lies she helped spread, which are also still out there, propped up by others with similar issues.
Aside from this being a pretty awesome melding of ancient tradition and 21st century technology, I think this is a worthy cause and then some, so I'm linking in all my personal fora. I encourage everyone to read this (it's not that long) and if you agree that it's a worthy cause, to link as well. Thank you.
Angie
Friday, May 8, 2009
Goals and Deviations
My publisher had a couple of anthologies with deadlines in mid-April that I was sort of casually working on stories for. I hadn't made any promises and so hadn't committed to anything; it was a matter of, "Humm, that theme sparked an idea -- let's see where it goes." The wordcount limit was 8K in both cases, and as has been happening more and more often lately, as I got into each of the stories it started looking like they were going to be longer. In one case, I think it's heading for novella-length, which is significantly more than 8K. [cough]
So the deadlines came and went and I shrugged and set the stories aside. No big deal; I can finish them and submit them as stand-alones whenever, at whatever length they end up.
I'd promised myself I was going to get my urban fantasy novel done and submitted (and hopefully published) this year, so I turned to that and started working on it with great energy and determination. I was doing well and had added almost 15K words to it since mid-April and I'm thinking another 15K or so (give or take 5K) and I should be done and ready to break out the sandpaper.
Then a couple of days ago my publisher said that they were still looking for stories for the pirate anthology, and they were also running low on stand-alone short stories. The anthology was the one where the story was looking at novelette length rather than novella, so I figured I could rip out a subplot and bring it in under 8K. Good deal, right? I have another shot to submit this story and I help out when my publisher is feeling a little squeezed.
So I set the novel aside (again) and I've gone back to working on the short. It's a fun story, pirates with a twist, and it's looking good; I have a better idea where I'm going with it now -- letting it simmer in the back of my subconscious has done it some good -- and with the modifications I have in mind, it should come in within the length limit.
Of course, my novel is still sitting there, staring at me with an accusing typeface. [wry smile]
It's said that whenever you get onto the right track, the universe will conspire against you. When you set out to make a major change in some aspect of your life, to move away from some self-sabotaging behavior you've been stuck in, when you're making some real progress, "things" will turn up to try to shove you back into your old patterns. Weird things. A meteor will hit your dog, as Steve Barnes says. It's not always a matter of lame excuses either -- often it's a matter of being tempted away from your larger goal by opportunities to achieve smaller ones, if only you'll set the larger goal aside. Or something will come up, a lost job or moving house or a family emergency which takes up all your time and attention, which is a good excuse, not a lame one. These things are important and have to be dealt with. But still, it's a delay in achieving that big goal.
I've been having a pretty lousy year, writing-wise -- actually longer than a year. I had a short story come out in December of 2007, then another in October of 2008, then one in January of 2009. That's really pitiful. I mean, if they were novels I'd be really proud, but shorts? :/ I wrote very little in '08, almost nothing for the first nine months. That 40K words in two weeks in October was awesome, but that novel (different one from the one I'm working on currently) is still unfinished.
I finally determined to buckle down and get back to writing regularly and submit more this year, including the urban fantasy novel. And I was making good progress on it when the call for short story help went out from my publisher, and I figured, Hey, I've got some things I could work with, I can help with that. So it's a good thing, right? If I finish this short for the anthology and it gets accepted, that'll be another publication this year, and I can get back to the novel after.
But I'm kind of wondering whether something else might pop up after I'm done with the pirate story.
Having a novel published has been a major goal of mine for a very long time. I'm getting closer to accomplishing it than I've ever been in my life, but right now it's stalled. Publishing another short would be very cool -- and it'd be my first anthology contribution -- but it's still a deviation from my larger goal.
I'm focused on the pirate story and I'm approaching the home stretch. I'll finish this one and submit it, and we'll see what happens with that. But then the plan is to get back to the novel. We'll see whether any other really good opportunities to help someone out pop up at that point.
Anyone else bucking the universe? What's popping up to distract you away from your goals, writing or other?
Angie
So the deadlines came and went and I shrugged and set the stories aside. No big deal; I can finish them and submit them as stand-alones whenever, at whatever length they end up.
I'd promised myself I was going to get my urban fantasy novel done and submitted (and hopefully published) this year, so I turned to that and started working on it with great energy and determination. I was doing well and had added almost 15K words to it since mid-April and I'm thinking another 15K or so (give or take 5K) and I should be done and ready to break out the sandpaper.
Then a couple of days ago my publisher said that they were still looking for stories for the pirate anthology, and they were also running low on stand-alone short stories. The anthology was the one where the story was looking at novelette length rather than novella, so I figured I could rip out a subplot and bring it in under 8K. Good deal, right? I have another shot to submit this story and I help out when my publisher is feeling a little squeezed.
So I set the novel aside (again) and I've gone back to working on the short. It's a fun story, pirates with a twist, and it's looking good; I have a better idea where I'm going with it now -- letting it simmer in the back of my subconscious has done it some good -- and with the modifications I have in mind, it should come in within the length limit.
Of course, my novel is still sitting there, staring at me with an accusing typeface. [wry smile]
It's said that whenever you get onto the right track, the universe will conspire against you. When you set out to make a major change in some aspect of your life, to move away from some self-sabotaging behavior you've been stuck in, when you're making some real progress, "things" will turn up to try to shove you back into your old patterns. Weird things. A meteor will hit your dog, as Steve Barnes says. It's not always a matter of lame excuses either -- often it's a matter of being tempted away from your larger goal by opportunities to achieve smaller ones, if only you'll set the larger goal aside. Or something will come up, a lost job or moving house or a family emergency which takes up all your time and attention, which is a good excuse, not a lame one. These things are important and have to be dealt with. But still, it's a delay in achieving that big goal.
I've been having a pretty lousy year, writing-wise -- actually longer than a year. I had a short story come out in December of 2007, then another in October of 2008, then one in January of 2009. That's really pitiful. I mean, if they were novels I'd be really proud, but shorts? :/ I wrote very little in '08, almost nothing for the first nine months. That 40K words in two weeks in October was awesome, but that novel (different one from the one I'm working on currently) is still unfinished.
I finally determined to buckle down and get back to writing regularly and submit more this year, including the urban fantasy novel. And I was making good progress on it when the call for short story help went out from my publisher, and I figured, Hey, I've got some things I could work with, I can help with that. So it's a good thing, right? If I finish this short for the anthology and it gets accepted, that'll be another publication this year, and I can get back to the novel after.
But I'm kind of wondering whether something else might pop up after I'm done with the pirate story.
Having a novel published has been a major goal of mine for a very long time. I'm getting closer to accomplishing it than I've ever been in my life, but right now it's stalled. Publishing another short would be very cool -- and it'd be my first anthology contribution -- but it's still a deviation from my larger goal.
I'm focused on the pirate story and I'm approaching the home stretch. I'll finish this one and submit it, and we'll see what happens with that. But then the plan is to get back to the novel. We'll see whether any other really good opportunities to help someone out pop up at that point.
Anyone else bucking the universe? What's popping up to distract you away from your goals, writing or other?
Angie
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Help Travis Out
If you know Travis Erwin at One Word, One Rung, One Day, then you probably heard that his house burned down on Sunday. :( Erica Orloff and Stephen Parrish have set up Habitat for Travis for people to donate money (through PayPal) to help Travis and his family rebuild their house. Please help out, even if you only have a dollar or two. Thanks!
Angie
Angie
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