Writing on Thin Ice

Drumroll Please! (Or not...)

2010-07-25T19:25:00.000-07:00

Well the contest results are in and…

…I can’t reveal them.

I know, I know. I’m frustrated too, because I was anxious to let everyone know, no matter what the outcome. But the sponsoring companies are planning on making their big announcement at a festival in Toronto come the end of August and asked the two finalists not to make any public announcements until then. So of course I’ll respect their wishes.

What I will say is this. Thank you so much to everyone who supported me throughout this very long process. Your kind words, your encouragement and your willingness to help out a fellow writer made me feel like a winner no matter what. So thank you. And I promise as soon as I'm able, I'll let you know the results.

Well This is It!

2010-07-14T09:38:00.000-07:00

For those who have been following along on my journey through the Fresh Blood contest, we have almost reached the end. Today is the last day of voting and the winner should be announced in the next few days.

So in light of that, I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has supported me through this contest!

And if you haven't voted yet, please, please, please do! It only takes a few seconds (no registration required) and each vote could potentially make a difference.

To vote, just send a blank email to freshblood@chizinepub.com with Fresh Blood Vote - Heart of the City in the subject line. You can vote once per unique email address (so multiple votes are welcome as long as they come from separate email addresses) and voting closes tonight at midnight EST.

Thanks everyone!

I'll let you know how it all turns out!

Contest Countdown: Less Than a Week to Go!

2010-07-09T20:55:00.000-07:00

It’s been a whirlwind of a week (so much of a whirlwind in fact, that I couldn’t even remember the word whirlwind, I must admit. Was it worldwind? Whirlwin? Whorlywind?)

I think the contest has fried my brain.

What contest? you ask. If you’ve been following my blog at all over the last few months, I’d venture a guess that you won’t be asking--freshbloodfreshbloodfreshbloodfreshblood--but if you’re just stopping by for the first time, I’d direct you here to find out a little more.

I’ve been doing my best to put out a last-minute push, doing a mini blog tour and sending out emails and just generally making a pest of myself *I say this last while ducking my head and smiling sheepishly.*

I did want to take a minute to say thank you to everyone who has jumped in during this final push to help me out with the contest promotion, most notably (Sia McKye and Helen Ginger and Spencer Seidel), but a lot of other great folks as well. And you can be sure there’ll be a HUGE thank you post after the contest, no matter the outcome.

So anyway, I feel like I’ve lost touch with the real world, particularly in the last few weeks--as a friend said, contests like these are a huge time-suck (in a good way though)--and I’m really looking forward to getting back to some form of normalcy. After so many months of focusing on this contest, I don't think I'll know what to do with myself afterwards (though there’s this funny little voice in my head shrieking: Synopsis! You will finish that synopsis! I wonder what that’s all about. Hmmm…)

In the meantime, our newest four-legged addition is getting so big. I thought I’d share a new picture of her.

She’s gotten so pretty. The dog we thought was solid black now has the most beautiful silvery markings on her face. It looks like a ring around her nose and mouth. And just today I noticed a few silver furs starting to show up on her back paws. She’s just been a bright light in my life these past few weeks.

Anyway, I’m going to try my damnedest to update my blog at least once more before the contest is over. Voting closes on the 14th of July and the winner should be announced on the 15th or thereabouts. It’s hard to believe that next week we’ll know who the winner is. I’m still digesting the fact that I made it to the Final Two.

And I also know that I’m okay with whatever the outcome is next week. While I’d love to win--it would be the fulfillment of a lifelong ambition--I’ve taken away some wonderful things from this experience: great feedback, more confidence, a better understanding of self-promotion, and most importantly, a whole bunch of wonderful new friends.

Of course with less than one week left I’d be remiss if I didn’t throw out my little plug one more time… So if you haven’t yet voted in the contest, I would be grateful for your support, or if you would even be so kind as to give a shout-out for the contest in your tweets or on your blogs or other social networking sites, I would really appreciate that!

Voting only takes a few seconds. It’s as easy as sending a blank email to freshblood@chizinepub.com with Fresh Blood Vote - Heart of the City in the subject line.

Voting ends on July 14th at midnight EST and they’ll accept one vote per unique email address so multiple votes are welcomed as long as they’re coming from separate email accounts.

You can read more about the contest as well as excerpts from both the remaining competitors and comments from the judges here.

Thanks again everyone. However it turns out, I can’t wait to let you know the result!

I also wanted to take a minute to share an award. The awesome Versatile Blogger Award below came to me from two wonderful bloggers: VR Barkowsi at VR Barkowski: a Writer's Blog, and abitosunshine at abitosunshine Love and Writing. There are four rules that go along with this great award. They are as follows:

❦ Thank THE GIVERS and link back to their blogs.
❦ Share SEVEN things about myself.
❦ Pass along to SEVEN bloggers. (Okay, I'll admit, that's not the original rule, but I like the symmetry of all the sevens!)
❦ COMMENT on their blogs to tell them of the award.

Versatile blogger award

❦SEVEN (pretty random) THINGS ABOUT ME:

- I hate peanut butter. I will not eat it. If someone uses a knife in the peanut butter jar and then uses it in the jelly jar, I will know.

- Though I've always loved words, my best subject in school was, by far, math.

- When I was three years old, I stepped in a wasps’ nest that was hidden beneath fallen leaves. To this day I am phobic about wasps and bees.

- After a challenge from a writing group member, I have written something every single day (including holidays) since April of 2004. The only exceptions have been maybe four or five days when I was too sick to even lift my head off the pillow.

- Men’s neckties are one of my favorite fashion accessories, and I have some pretty crazy ones: dinosaurs, UFOs, alien Christmas lights.

- In college I took a weaving class as my art credit because, frankly, I suck at art. Strangely, it was probably the hardest and most time-consuming class I ever took, but to this day, my family makes fun of the fact that I took “basket-weaving” for college credit.

- I am more comfortable with animals than with people.

❦PASSING THE AWARD ALONG TO SEVEN VERSATILE BLOGGERS.

Tiffanie Minnis at Writers Movement
Zoe C. Courtman at No Letters on My Keyboard
Creepy Query Girl at Creepy Query Girl
James Baron at 4 Books in 1 Year - A Writer's Challenge
Hart Johnson at Confessions of a Watery Tart
JC Phelps at JC Phelps
Sandy Shinn at Sandy Shinn

Dear Blogging Community: I Really Need Your Help!

2010-07-04T08:15:00.001-07:00

Okay, so here's the thing. I just added a post about how wonderful everyone has been and here I am about to test that in a way that's so not in my nature.

But after I added my last post, I engaged in a bit of nosiness, checking out my competition in the Fresh Blood contest since he has a Facebook fan page.

And what do I see but a whole post talking about how he's been written up in a bunch of local papers and blogs. Yikes! I knew this guy was tough competition but I'm feeling now like he might just be unbeatable!

So I'm reaching out to the blogging community, which has been so wonderful and supportive and welcoming, with another plea for help.

I know many of you have put in votes for the contest, but would any of you be willing to help spread the word about it on your own blogs or social networking sites? I know it's a lot to ask, and I wouldn't ask if I didn't really, really need your help.

I know there's a very good chance I won't win this contest, but I don't want to just roll over without a good fight! So if you would help me out (or know someone who might be willing to), I would be so grateful! And I would be willing to provide any information you'd need.

The basics of the contest are this: Fresh Blood is an international fiction contest sponsored by Dorchester Publishing, ChiZine Publications, and Rue Morgue Magazine. My book is one of two finalists competing for the grand prize of a publishing contract with both Leisure Horror (mass market paperback) and ChiZine Publications (limited hardcover run).

It takes only a few seconds to vote. It's as simple as sending a blank email to freshblood@chizinepub.com with Fresh Blood Vote - Heart of the City in the subject line.

You can vote once per unique email address, so if you have more than one email address, you can even vote multiple times!

Voting closes on July 14th at midnight EST.

Thanks again to everyone for your support. And feel free to email me at: iamstereotomy [at] gmail [dot] com, too!

Feeling the Love

2010-07-04T07:33:00.000-07:00

I’m learning something through the Fresh Blood contest. Something that has nothing to do whatsoever with writing. Something very exciting.

Do you want to know what it is?

I’m learning that people can be pretty wonderful! In the last few days alone, two friends who I haven’t seen in years have been ceaselessly promoting the contest and soliciting votes for my novel on Facebook, a fellow writer has taken to consistently bumping the thread I posted asking for help on the ABNA forums, a published author on Gather has exchanged numerous emails with me, offering her knowledge on self-promotion as a former contest winner (different contests), and the editor of Murky Depths, a publication that has published two of my short stories has sent an email to everyone in the magazine’s Facebook group with news of the contest.

And that’s only in the last few days.

So I just wanted to take a minute to just say thank you to everyone who has taken time out of their busy lives to vote, to send words of encouragement, to help me drum up support for my novel, or to offer some of their wisdom on self-promotion and networking. I can’t say thank you enough times. But I want you all to know that I’m grateful, sincerely, truly grateful.

And if you’re just stopping by for the first time, I would really appreciate your vote in the contest. I won’t bore everyone by going into my whole spiel here again (you can read all about the contest either at Chizine or in various posts on my blog) but the short version is that I’m a finalist (one of two) in an international novel competition where the prize is a publishing contract with Leisure Horror. The winner is determined by popular vote so I need all the help I can get!

To vote, you need only send a blank email to freshblood@chizinepub.com with Fresh Blood Vote - Heart of the City in the subject line.

You can vote once per unique email address so multiple votes are welcomed as long as they each come from a unique email address! Voting closes on July 14th at midnight EST.

Again, thank you to all of you, for not only following/reading my blog, but for offering your encouragement and support through this. This is such a wonderful community, and I’m so appreciative of everything.

Here's Where I Ask for Your Help in Achieving a Lifelong Goal

2010-06-23T19:40:00.000-07:00

It’s hard to believe that three weeks from now the contest will be over. Now I know you know which contest I’m talking about because I feel like I’m in repeat mode right about now. Fresh Blood. Fresh Blood. Fresh Blood. FreshBloodFreshBloodFreshBloodFreshBloodFreshBlood. And oh, by the way, did I mention Fresh Blood?

(For those of you who might be stopping by for the first time, my unpublished novel, Heart of the City, is one of two novels competing in the finals of Dorchester Publishing’s Fresh Blood contest and the grand prize is a publishing contract with Dorchester's Leisure Horror imprint.)

Anyway, I promise I’ll get back to my regularly-scheduled writing blog soon, but I’m hoping you’ll humor me for a little while longer because this is, after all, my dream, my ambition, my life-long goal, and I know--even at the risk of being a pest--that I have to give it all I’ve got. Otherwise I wouldn’t be being true to myself.

So I’m asking for your help…

If you could take just a moment to vote in the contest, I’d be so grateful. Voting only takes a few seconds. It’s as simple as sending a blank email to freshblood@chizinepub.com with Fresh Blood Vote - Heart of the City in the subject line.

They will accept one vote per unique email address. Voting is open until July 14th at midnight EST.

If you’re interested, you can visit the contest page, where you can learn more about the novels competing, read chapters and excerpts, and see comments from the judges.

And if anyone would be so kind as to give a shout-out for the contest on their blog (or any other social media you use), I would be especially grateful.

I also want to say thank you. Thank you to everybody who’s supported me with votes, encouraging words, and simply by putting up with the fact that the contest has taken over my life.

Thank you most of all for taking a minute out of your own busy lives to help me move one step further toward making my dream come true. One vote could make the difference.

The Little Novel that Could!

2010-06-18T14:47:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time there was a novel. It was a humble novel that had no great literary aspirations other than to entertain. Its author very nearly filed it away forever, until, on a strange little whim she polished it up and sent it off to a little contest known as ABNA 2009.

And the little novel moved through the rounds of ABNA. And the little novel made it all the way to semifinalist and got some really positive feedback. And its author was surprised and gladdened at this.

After ABNA, the little novel got another revision and off it went again to yet another contest, the Fresh Blood contest sponsored by a whole bunch of great folks with some really great prizes. The little novel could be published by Leisure Horror if by some major miracle it could win!

Okay, so I’ll stop being cutesy, but the upshot…

The little novel that could is now in the final round of the Fresh Blood contest. I got the news just Wednesday that Heart of the City (the much maligned title, I admit) is one of two novels remaining that will compete this month for the grand prize: a publishing contract with both Leisure Horror (mass market) and ChiZine Publications (limited hardcover run).

Thank you all so much for supporting me through this. I know it gets tedious hearing my plea for help month after month, but please know that I appreciate every single vote you cast and every single word of encouragement that’s come my way.

And I’m going to ask once again this month for your help…for your vote.

To vote, you need only send an email to freshblood@chizinepub.com and in the subject header be sure to put Fresh Blood Vote - Heart of the City. Voting will be open until July 14th at midnight Eastern Time.

For more information on the two remaining novels (first chapters, cover copy, author bios, etc.) and comments from the judges, please visit Chizine.

And of course, if you visit the site and decide you’d prefer to vote for my competitor, I’ll understand and completely respect your right to do so.

Thank you all so much for your support. The blogging community has been so welcoming and wonderful. I’m so glad I’m not a part of it!

We Interrupt Our Regularly-Scheduled Writing Blog...

2010-06-14T12:00:00.001-07:00

...to introduce my new four-legged friend, Kali. And for the moment, writing is the furthest thing from my mind!

One Week and Counting...

2010-06-08T06:36:00.000-07:00

A month seems like such a long time, doesn't it? Thirty whole days, give or take a few depending on the month. And then suddenly we're turning another page on the calendar and wondering--at least if you're like me--where the last month went.

Despite no turning of the calendar page, today it occurred to me that there's a week left until I find out whether my novel has made it into the Top 2 in the Fresh Blood contest. A week. How did that happen?

It's a strange feeling, one that I can't quite put into words, knowing that there's a possibility, no matter how small, that next week at this time I could be one of two authors competing in the final round of the competition for that coveted prize of an actual publishing contract, particularly for a novel that came very close to landing in the good old round file. It's exciting, definitely. And flattering.

If I'm honest, it's also terrifying.

And here's my confession for the day... It's not the idea of losing that I find frightening. It's the possibility of winning.

Losing a contest doesn't bother me. A contest like this is a wonderful opportunity, for which I'm always grateful. But contests don't come with guarantees. And when my time is up in a contest, I only take it as a sign to move on to the next opportunity. And in this case, the truth is that I've come way beyond the point I ever imagined getting to in the contest.

Of course I'd love to win the contest. It would be a dream come true. But when I think about the possibility, my mind races to the inevitable place it always loves to go... Is the novel good enough?

Win or lose, I hope my novel is good enough, because come next Tuesday, if I don't find a place in the Top 2, you can bet I'll be gearing up to start shopping it around.

And if I do find a place in the top 2? Well you can believe that I'll be doing my damnedest to promote the contest and the wonderful people at Dorchester, Chizine and Rue Morgue who've sponsored it.

But Speaking of Promotion

You know, I read a post a week or so ago about contests. It was a wonderful, helpful post about winning contests. For me, it was a very timely post as well. But reading through the comments, I was dismayed at how many people expressed such strong displeasure about an author in a contest trying to promote his or herself.

Now don't get me wrong. I admire their idealism, their belief that a contest should be won on merit. I'll also admit that the responses gave me pause, for one because the strong reaction surprised me and for another because I've always been glad to help out a fellow author if I could.

And I do have some thoughts on the subject...

While I understand the belief that a contest should be purely based on merit, I think there is a point behind the public vote portion. In those contests where the prize is a publishing contract, I'd suspect that the publishers sponsoring the contest are looking to see how well authors promote themselves, which is a big factor in publishing these days. If you're willing and able to promote yourself prior to publication, then it bodes well for promoting your book after publication.

Also, most of the popular-vote-based contests are not, in fact, exclusively based on popular vote. For example, in the contest I'm in, a panel of judges (editors and published authors in the genre) determined the finalists up to the top 5. It was only at that point that it became vote-driven.

I think most authors are reticent about asking people for support in these contests. I know, for me, it's been, at times, painful. But it's also been a great learning experience and a chance to network and meet some wonderful people that I will consider friends long after the contest closes. I also believe that most authors don't actually expect anyone to vote for them in any contest (save for family and closest friends). Support in a contest is a gift, not an obligation.

It's hard to ask for votes. But while it would be nice to think that the masses will be drawn to the contest sites to vote based purely on their like or dislike of an entry, it isn't realistic. An author participating in such a contest must realize that their competitors are out there seeking votes, so to sit back and hope for people to just find the contest site and vote is pretty much assuring yourself a loss. It's nice to be idealistic, but the bottom line--at least for me--is that often there's something very big at stake in these contests and I don't think it's wrong to pursue that as hard as one possibly can.

Anyway those are just some of my thoughts on hte subject. I hope you'll all forgive my little personal ramble this morning.

So Thank You! (And Voting Information)

To those of you who've supported me in the contest this month (or in past months), I thank you with my whole heart.

And if you haven't voted yet this month, please drop by Fresh Blood and cast a vote.

I would love to have your support for my novel, Heart of the City, but if you find another novel you'd prefer to vote for, I certainly understand.

And for those who want the quick version of how to vote: please email your vote to freshblood@chizinepub.com. In the email's subject line put: Fresh Blood Vote: Heart of the City. The information must be in the header for the vote won’t count! One vote per email address is allowed.

Thank you all so much for bearing with me today. For better or worse, I'll let you know how I make out next week!

Post at your Own Risk

2010-06-05T13:34:00.000-07:00

It's funny how things happen.

As one of the senior employees in the department and also the department trainer of the company where I used to work, I always tried to keep one ear tuned to what was happening around me, particularly when our boss was away. I did it mostly to make sure there was no imminent crisis brewing, something that might inevitably require my attention.

One day, I noticed a flurry of activity in the next row of cubicles. Several of my co-workers were hovering together, looking at something. I glanced over, but they didn't seem to need my attention. Since I was pretty busy at the time, I just went back to the task at hand.

The activity continued, people in various combinations bending their heads together, remarking over something. There were several bursts of laughter, a few exclamations, and a whole bunch of chatter.

As expected, only a few moments later I heard my name. I stopped what I was doing, and looked up to find one co-worker gesturing for me to come over. I got up and walked around to them.

"You need to look at this," she said, thrusting a single piece of paper toward me.

Let me stop my story here and ask you this: Have you ever experienced a moment so surreal that you seriously questioned whether you were awake? Has the very weirdness of something ever made you think that the entire day leading up to that point must have been a dream? Well, that's how I felt at that moment.

I took the piece of paper and looked at it. There, staring back at me, was a poem I'd written at least a year before. It was a poem comparing my place of employment to Dante's ninth circle of Hell.

"Have you ever seen this before?" my co-worker asked. "This is really weird. I wonder who did this."

Staring at the poem, I wondered if someone had slipped a hallucinogenic into my bottled water that morning. How could someone have found the poem? Yes, it was posted on Writing.com, but nobody in my office knew the link to my portfolio. Hell, nobody knew I even had an online portfolio. Further, few people there even knew that I was a writer.

So, silently, I continued staring at the offending poem, my mind spinning faster than a top. This couldn't be happening.

What were the odds of someone finding something buried so deeply in my portfolio? Even if they'd stumbled onto my portfolio, what was the likelihood they've have found that particular poem? (Yeah, I know...Hello, Dummy, have you heard of a thing called Google??)

"I wonder who could have done this," one co-worker said, over and over.

A little bit of time must have passed, because eventually, I realized that several sets of eyes were focused on me.

In spite of myself, I felt my mouth lifting into a grin. I tried to keep my face hidden, tried to keep my reaction from showing, but it was useless.

"You wrote it!" the co-worker who'd called me over said finally.

I started to shake my head in a No. I opened my mouth to protest, and instead I found myself laughing.

"You wrote it," she said again, and in spite of my better judgment, I nodded.

My co-workers, of course, were simply delighted with this revelation, delighted that a member of their own department had written the incriminating item.

I came to find out that a woman who works in another department did an Internet search on Google. For keywords, she used our company's name (which I'd used in my poem--and who'd ever see it, I thought, when I wrote it way back when--and the word "Hell."

Sure enough, my little poem had popped up right at the top of the search results.

By that afternoon, most of the 200+ people in our office had read my poem. Throughout the day, I passed by groups of people chuckling over a copy. In the break room, people were quoting lines from the poem. They were loving it. And I was famous--or maybe infamous would be the better choice of words--all because I'd posted something on the Internet.

I'm fairly computer literate. I should have known better. I should have considered the possibility, but at the time I'd written the poem, it had seemed so incredibly remote. Hardly worth worrying about. I'd never even imagined someone finding it through an Internet search.

Admittedly, I did find the whole thing pretty hilarious. After all, I'd entertained nearly the entire staff, and only a few people knew the true identity of the piece's author. I trusted the people who knew not to give me up to the authorities.

Of course, the truth is that if executive management had seen it, and if they'd been able to trace it back to me, I would have gotten fired for it and it would have been completely justified. I don't think the chief operating officer of our company would have taken too kindly to being likened to a demon from the pits of hell (even if it did sort of fit).

My ex-husband tells me I have a knack for finding new and unusual ways of getting myself in trouble.

My mother, upon hearing the story, told me. "You never learn, do you? Using the name of your company in a poem. Not too bright."

The bottom line is that we all take inspiration from our lives. Sometimes it's themes. Loss. Injustice. Revenge. Other times, as with this poem, it takes on a more concrete representation. Real people, whether we admit to it or not, often populate our pages. We're writers. Words are our tools, our weapons, our shields.

And we speculative fiction writers sometimes take it a step farther. That waitress who spilled coffee all over you and wasn't even apologetic about it...how satisfying would it be to write her into your latest story, only to have her eaten by giant, mutant squirrels? Your boss, who belittles you at every turn...well, what marvelous fates can be cooked up for him?

It's harmless, mostly, but sometimes--as I found out--it can come back to bite you.

I don't believe in censoring. As long as you aren't causing harm to anyone, I believe you have the right to write whatever you desire. Still, as writers who sometimes post our writing publicly, it's a good idea to use discretion.

Luckily for me, there were never any repercussions from this little debacle--though if there had been, I suspect I would have laughed myself silly all the way to the unemployment office because boy, what a way to go!--but though I blocked the poem from public view and changed the company name within the poem, for the rest of my stint with the company, I never knew when a copy would resurface and do me in.

Besides, it could have been much, much worse. Rather than the poem, someone could have discovered the short story I wrote where the company's COO meets with a most unsavory end!

(Since I'm doing a novel-in-a-month challenge this month, this is a post that originally appeared in a Writing.com newsletter back when I was one of the editors. Since it's one of my favorite writing-related stories to tell, I thought I'd recycle it in my blog!)

High-Octane Noveling in June

2010-05-31T12:06:00.000-07:00

For the record, I think I might be a little crazy. See, a week or so again I was reading a blog post by my friend, The Watery Tart, and in her post she mentioned participating in a June version of the National Novel Writing Month’s 50,000-words-in-30-days challenge sponsored by her writing group. I responded with a comment saying that it sounded like fun, and a few back-and-forths later, I was committed to the challenge.

Now I’ll admit it. I’m a self-confessed NaNo junkie. I’ve participated in NaNoWriMo for the past seven years, and loved pretty much every minute of it. But still… Twice in one year… And with everything else going on in my life right now… This is maybe not the smartest idea I’ve had.

But I’ve also been in a pretty bad writing funk lately. I still sit my butt down in the chair every single day and write, as I’ve done for the past six-plus years. But there’s been no joy in it, and the thought of that high-octane, quantity-over-quality, fast-as-my-fingers-can-fly-across-the-keys style of writing, well, it’s awfully compelling. Besides, I've had this idea tossing around in my head and...

So I’m going to go for it. Yes, I have a novel revision I want to start. Yes, I have the Fresh Blood contest to promote. Yes, I have a synopsis to finish and a novel to submit. And no, my work schedule isn’t going to suddenly going to give me huge buckets full of free time. But I’ve learned with this whole writing thing, sometimes you just have to go with it.

I still planning on promoting the contest (please see: And Then There Were Three), and I’ll be damned if I don’t finish that synopsis and start submitting that novel, although the starting the revision process for the next novel might just have to wait until July. But I can fit in 50,000 words in 30 days. After all, it’s all about that can-do attitude, right?

So if anyone else is interested in coming along for the ride, please feel free to check out the BuNoWriMo group on Facebook. It’s a great group of people, we’re starting tomorrow, and it’s going to be a wild ride.

Fresh Blood and Dark Pages

2010-05-20T20:46:00.000-07:00

As some of you might already know, a few days ago I found out that I’m officially in the top three in the Fresh Blood contest, the prize of which is a publishing contract with both Leisure Horror (paperback) and ChiZine Publications (limited hardcover run).

Advancing this far in the contest has been a wonderful surprise. Making the final three, this is perhaps the first time I’ve seen even the glimmer of a possibility of making it to the end. But to do that, I need to ask for your help.

This month’s round is the “scary scene” round, so if you go to their website, you can read scenes from each of the three remaining novels. You can also still see the postings from the other months including first chapters, cover copy, and author bios. Just arrow down to the bottom of the page where the contest is broken down month by month. Plus you can also see comments the judges have made on each of the novels over the months. Voting information is at the bottom of the page.

The quick how-to for voting is this: send votes to freshblood@chizinepub.com. In the email’s subject line put “Fresh Blood Vote: Heart of the City.” (**Votes without this in the subject line will not be counted). One vote is allowed per unique email address. And while I really appreciate your vote, if you visit the contest site and decide you'd rather vote for one of the other two novels, I will absolutely understand.

I know so many of you have already sent in votes over the past few months and I want you all to know how very much I appreciate it. I don’t take a single one of your votes for granted.

On a second note, I wanted to take a minute to mention that Blade Red Press’s Dark Pages anthology (which contains my short story, “Neptune’s Garden”) is now available through Amazon. I just got my contributor’s copy today and it looks absolutely beautiful. Edited by Brenton Tomlinson, the anthology includes authors from all over the world.

On a personal note, I know the amount of work the editorial staff took with me to make my story the best story it could be, so I have no doubt that this is a top-notch anthology, and I’m proud to be a part of this wonderful book.

Mayday! Mayday! We Have a Plothole!

2010-05-17T13:19:00.000-07:00

Wait a minute--this isn’t the novel I was planning on revising next.

That’s what I said to myself all of five minutes ago, after opening up the rough draft of one of my novels. And it’s true. Editing that particular manuscript was about as far down on my list of priorities as it gets.

Up until about half an hour ago, I’d had it all planned out. First, I was going to complete one final wave of revisions on my mainstream novel and then begin the querying process in the hopes of leveraging my win in this year’s Family Circle fiction contest to attract an agent for that book. Then I wanted to dig into the edit of my urban fantasy novel, the one that’s been wallowing for years, neglected, on my hard drive. I’d decided that now was the time to dust it off and work on it because it would fit in perfectly with what’s hot in the market today.

But this novel... the novel I just opened... my seriously flawed science fiction novel... the novel I am finding myself now seriously wanting to dive into next... well, this novel was not even in my long-range forecast.

I wrote this particular novel during National Novel Writing Month in 2008. It was one of my more ambitious NaNo projects, and also one of my more extreme writing-without-a-roadmap endeavors. I remember starting that year with three entirely unconnected images and the knowledge that I wanted to write a novel around them.

I did manage to do it, winding up the month with over 75,000 words and a novel that felt as if it had come out of nowhere. It was probably one of my most enjoyable, inspired months of writing. But come December 1st, I also realized that I probably had an unsalvageable manuscript.

Why?

Because you could fly a 747 through the plot holes (and that might be a gentle assessment).

Now, one of the great things about participating in National Novel Writing Month each year is that if that year’s novel sucks, I can trunk it without guilt. So I filed away the hard copy of my novel, buried the electronic copy deep in my Writing files, and wrote off that manuscript as a learning experience.

Still, every now and again I’m drawn back to it. I couldn’t say exactly why, except that I keep feeling like there’s something there. And I’m realizing I still have passion for that novel: for the characters and settings, for the whole damn concept. Because, as unsalvageable as I’ve deemed it, it’s also, in some strange way, my favorite of all the NaNo novels I’ve written. I know that doesn’t make a lick of sense, but there it is.

So though it might feel like chasing a whim, I think I’m going to trust my instincts and go for it. I don’t know how I’m going to approach it yet. I don’t know how I’m going to even begin to figure out how to make the story make sense. I don’t even know if it’s possible.

What’s the worst that can happen though? That at the end of the process I’ll still have an unsalvageable manuscript? I can live with that. Because on the flip side, well, you never know…

So let me ask you this: Have you ever salvaged something you’d originally deemed unsalvageable? Do you tend to trust your “writing” instincts even when they go against your common sense? Have you ever loved a project enough to pursue it even when you thought it was futile?

And Then There Were Three!

2010-05-15T19:35:00.000-07:00

A little while ago I received word that I am officially in the Top 3 in the ChiZine/Rue Morgue/Leisure Books Fresh Blood Contest, so a big THANK YOU to everyone who sent in a vote for me. This month saw the elimination of Jonathan Janz's The Sorrows, which looks to be a fabulous book and one that, no doubt, will find a home soon.

Making the Top 3 feels a little (okay, a lot) surreal for me. I don’t know if it’s the fact that I never dreamed of making it this far, or if it’s seeing other contestants get eliminated one by one while I’m still here. Or maybe it’s that I’m now realizing that I have a one in three chance at a pretty major publishing contract for a novel that, quite honestly, I fully intended to trunk without ever submitting.

So for those of you who haven’t been following along with my journey in the contest, the judging criteria for the contest finals changes month to month. Back in December, when they notified me that I’d been chosen as one of ten finalists, I was asked to submit a series of materials including an author biography, potential back cover copy, an introduction to the evil thing in the book, and my creepiest scene. This month, the judging criteria was the scariest/creepiest/most atmospheric scene.

I struggled with what scene to submit for this round. I didn’t want to submit my opening scene--although it was probably my first choice--because readers would already get to see that scene in my first chapter, which was the criteria in the first round of judging. I also didn’t want to submit a scene too close to the book’s climax for fear of giving away too much of the ending. I also struggled because, while the book is horrific, I can’t say that it’s meant to be scary.

So I expected to take some hits from the judges this round.

I did take hits, too, and that’s okay. Not only is it part of the contest--they warned us at the very start that it would be brutal and at times it has been--but it’s all part of this business of writing. As writers, we have to be able to take criticism if we hope to succeed, and we have to develop a thick skin. I’m okay with that. Hey, whatever it takes, right? Besides, two of the judges ended their comments by saying that they’d been left wanting to read more, so I’m feeling pretty good about that.

I do have to admit that this was the only round of judging that made me wish I could respond to the judges, just to be able to explain that some of the things would make sense in the context of the book (in particular, the mention of a prophylactic, as well as the fact that the lightning storm indeed was integral to the plot of the book and not just that old dark-and-stormy-night plot device--I promise!). That, and that I really, genuinely hear you when you’re telling me my title sucks and I will be more than happy to change it, and wish I could change it this very instant, but it is out of my hands until the contest is over, lol.

Seriously though, I am grateful for this opportunity and I am grateful for those of you who’ve helped me to get this far in the competition. There are and have been some wonderful novels competing and I am honored that my novel is counted among them.

And with the newest results, voting opens again for the contest. I’ll be posting more on it in a day or so, but if you’re stopping by and would be kind enough to support my novel (that with the oft-maligned title, Heart of the City) with a vote, you can find this month’s contest information here. And if, while visiting, you find that there’s a different novel you’d like to cast a vote for, I understand and thank you anyway for supporting this great contest.

Knowing the Short Story Markets on a Writer's Budget

2010-05-14T11:52:00.000-07:00

Know your markets. It’s one of the cardinal rules for anyone seeking short story publication, right? Open up the guidelines for just about any magazine and they'll say the same thing: please be familiar with our magazine and the kinds of work we publish, before submitting.

And on the surface, that seems simple enough. Buy the magazine, read through it, see if it’s a match in style and content to the kinds of work that you do…all of which would be simple enough for one magazine and one short story.

But how about for a prolific short story writer? Personally, I tend to like to have at least 15 to 20 short stories submitted at any given time. That’s a lot of magazines to buy and read. And, let’s face it, that’s a lot of money that I don’t exactly have. Are you with me? I’ll bet if you’re a short story writer, you are indeed.

So what’s a short story writer to do? Take out a second mortgage…or just go with submitting blind, the big no-no of short fiction submissions?

As someone who’s encountered this particular obstacle in my years as a short story writer, I do have a few ideas about that…

It's an Internet World

First off, remember that with the internet, it’s a different world now. Many online markets, including wonderful professional and semi-pro markets such as Strange Horizons and Abyss and Apex are free to read online. Even subscription-based online magazines such as Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show often offer a few sample stories or a teaser of the current issue’s stories in order to entice subscribers. The teasers, while not complete stories, are often enough to give you a fairly good idea of the magazine’s flavor and to help you judge whether or not your own fiction would be a potential match for the publication.

Many print magazines, too, now have websites for promotional purposes. Check out those websites, and many (such as Weird Tales) have stories posted right on their websites for anyone to read. Every now and again you’ll even find that true for a serial anthology.

But what if there isn’t anything available online?

Not to fret.

There's always the bookstores

Visit your local bookstore. The large bookstores have excellent magazine sections, and as a former department manager in a Barnes & Noble, I can assure you that they don’t object to your spending an afternoon there. One of the reasons customers are encouraged to spend large chunks of time perusing books and magazines--and yes, even reading those without buying them--is that the stores make good money from their in-house cafés. And let's face it, the longer you stay, the more likely you are to buy that cappuccino and that slice of oh-so-yummy lemon pound cake. So don’t be afraid to pick up a stack of literary magazines and find a comfy chair so that you can spend the afternoon reading. Just be respectful of the magazines and don’t ruin them for someone who might actually want to buy them.

And while you’re in the bookstore, hit the anthology section. There are usually a few shelves in each fiction section (general literature, sci-fi/fantasy, etc.) devoted to anthologies. So if you're interested in submitting to a serial anthology such as Writers of the Future or Polyphony, you can often find earlier editions to read through right there at the bookstore.

Before you leave the anthology section, be sure to pick up a few of the Year’s Best anthologies to read through. Those short stories came from somewhere and are not only a good example of a story from the particular magazine that originally published it, but also a good example of a truly notable story.

So if you do have a little bit of money to spend, why not spend it on one of these Year’s Best anthologies because you’ll be able to research the types of stories published by multiple magazines for the price of a single book. And chances are good that the book will be an excellent read, besides.

And then there's the library

Don’t forget your local library. Libraries are excellent resources. Not only can you check out those Year’s Best anthologies but many magazines put out Best of anthologies every few years.

In addition, these days many libraries are linked together as chains, and if any library in the chain has a book, you can have it transferred to your own local library to pick up there. Ask if your library has an online system where you can search for and request books right there online and receive a phone call when they’re ready for you to come pick up.

Most libraries also carry an assortment of magazines for you to read in-house. And if the magazine you want is something they don’t carry, ask. Though most libraries have limited budgets, they’ll often be happy to order something different upon request. And the upside to this is not only are you able to read the publication for free but you’ll be helping out the publication--particularly if it’s a small press--if the library takes out a subscription to them.

Share, share, share.

Another way to cut down on the expense of knowing your markets is to share with other writers. If you have a writing group that consists of folks who write in similar genres, perhaps each of you could buy a different magazine and then swap amongst yourselves.

Some magazines even offer discounts for writers interested in submitting, so be sure to check out their websites before you purchase.

Other ways to research

If all else fails, do your research other ways. Many editors have blogs that you can follow, where they offer little tips and insights into their likes and dislikes. Sometimes, even better, you can find the blogs of slush readers, who often share very helpful statistics and are willing to interact with followers of their blog to answer questions about likes and dislikes, etc. The websites of most magazines have links right to these blogs if you take the time to look.

Sites like Ralan’s Webstravaganza (a great market listing site) and Duotrope also showcase interviews with magazine editors, which contain invaluable information.

Themed Anthologies

And last but not least, many themed anthologies are one-time-only affairs, so while you might be able to research what that particular editor has an affinity for, you won’t actually be able to read a sample of the publication because there just isn’t one.

Remember, it's an investment

Ultimately, there are ways to know your markets without spending a lot of money. It still involves work, of course, and reading takes up quite a bit of time, but it’s worth it for several reasons. For one, by knowing your markets you will increase your chance of submission success many times over. It will also be appreciated by editors who waste an awful lot of time on stories that are blatantly wrong for their publication, submitted by authors who have never read a single story in the magazine. Knowing your market is definitely an investment in your own writing success.

Blog Jog Day!

2010-05-08T19:25:00.000-07:00

Thank you for stopping by my blog. I’m a published short story writer making the transition to aspiring novelist and my blog is a chronicle of my journey, part personal experience and part information-sharing. Please explore all this Blog has to offer, then jog on over to The Orbs of Wonder. If you would like to visit a different Blog in the jog, go to Blog Jog Day.

Fresh Blood - One Week and Counting

2010-05-07T20:28:00.000-07:00

So one week from tomorrow I'll find out if I progressed through to the next round of the Fresh Blood contest sponsored by Dorchester Publishing/Chizine Publications/Rue Morgue Magazine. Although I have no expectations, it's also pretty exciting to realize that next week I might be one of only three novelists remaining in the competition. That would mean a one in three chance at that publishing contract.

I don't know what it is about those one in three odds--I mean the one in four odds were pretty damn good, too--but it just feels, well, different somehow. More real, even though that doesn't really make any sense.

So I've spent my last few weeks dutifully trying to drum up enthusiasm for the contest and votes for my novel. And the contest has been a good thing in other ways because it's encouraged me to reconnect with people I'd lost touch with, and has resulted in new connections and friendships with some great writers. It's also prompted me to get that long-wanted blog up and running and led me to some new blogging friends, too. It's also forced me to keep focused and always moving forward, despite my life being a little chaotic these days, and that's a good, needed thing.

So, you know it's coming, right?

I wanted to ask for your support in the contest. This means a lot to me, and as the last eliminated contestant was eliminated by a margin of FIVE votes, I know that every vote counts.

If you would take a minute to check out the contest, I'd greatly appreciate it. You can click here to visit the contest website. There you can read more about the books competing, including the first chapters, cover copy, brief author biographies, as well as the judges’ comments for each round of the finals.

For the short voting how-to: Please email votes to: freshblood@chizinepub.com. The email’s subject line should read: Fresh Blood Vote -- Heart of the city

**One vote per unique email address is allowed, and votes without the book’s title information in the subject line won’t be counted. Voting for this round ends May 14th at Midnight EST.

You can also read more about my novel and my journey in the contest in a previous blog post: Fresh Blood? Who me?

And of course, if you check out the website and find an entry that's better to your liking, I will, of course, understand completely and still appreciate your support of this great contest.

Thank you all for being so supportive of my newbie blogging efforts as well as for your support in this contest. Hugs to you all.

Lisa

From Small Press to Pro: Choosing Markets for Your Short Fiction

2010-04-27T13:54:00.000-07:00

I engage in a fairly regular debate with several of my writing friends about how to choose markets for your short stories.

Their side of the debate: Go for the credits. Quantity is the way to go. The more you can see your name in print, the better.

My side of the debate: Be selective. Aim high. Only submit to markets that you’d be proud to list on a writing resume.

I don’t think there’s technically a right or wrong side to this debate, mind you (though I’m sticking staunchly to my point of view when it comes to my own submissions). What I think is that different approaches work for different people.

Years ago, I belonged to a writing group that would only submit to professionally-paying markets. They believed anything less than that was a waste of time. They felt that small press credits cheapened one’s writing resume.

For quite awhile, I adopted that philosophy and only submitted to professional-level publications. The one major problem with that was that I ended up with a pile of stories which, having been rejected by the one or two appropriate professionally-paying markets to which I’d submitted them, ended up in an early retirement from the submission rounds because there was nowhere else to send them. After all, not every story is suitable for every publication. There’s the matter of genre, word count, subject matter, style.

So I opened my eyes a little bit to the other markets, both semi-pro and small press. But that’s not to say that I tossed away the group philosophy, because I believed (and still do) that there was something to what they were saying. I just needed to modify it for my own needs.

Because the truth is that there are wonderful semi-pro and small press markets out there that make admirable credits. You just need to choose wisely.

So how do you do that?

Know your markets

I don’t mean just their submission guidelines, although that’s important. What I mean is to know what publications have good reputations in your genre of choice.

Read short fiction reviews at places such as Tangent Online and Locus to see what reviewers are saying about various publications. It’s a great way to find out what kind of reputations publications have.

Head to the bookstore (or library) and pick up copies of the Year’s Best anthologies in your genre, which always list the publications in which the stories originally appeared.

And don’t forget to flip to the back. In addition to the stories chosen for the anthology there are almost always pages of honorable mentions, which indicate what publications originally published the stories as well. Y

ou’ll be surprised to see how many of these stories come from small press publications. Get published in one of those small press publications and your work might get in front of somebody who’s somebody in this industry.

Read the publications themselves to check out the quality of stories. My rule of thumb is that if I can’t find the merit in the published stories then I don’t want my own work appearing alongside them.

Check out publication statistics

One of the reasons I like Duotrope is that they offer publication statistics such as the acceptance rate (expressed as a percentage). And while these statistics are definitely going to be biased--those who use Duotrope, those who actually report to Duotrope, those who reliably report all submission responses to Duotrope, etcetera--they’re a decent guideline.

What I mean by that is if Duotrope reports that a market has received 100 submissions and 92% of those submissions are acceptances, it would send up a red flag for me. I certainly don’t want to place a story in a market that accepts almost everything submitted to them. Conversely, I can feel pretty good about a sale to a market that Duotrope reports as accepting less than 1% of the submissions they receive.

Paying or nonpaying markets

A paying market is always a plus. To get money for something you’ve written is, after all, one of the best affirmations that you’re on the right track. But that doesn’t mean you should discount nonpaying markets. Particularly in the area of literary fiction, there are a number of college-run, nonpaying literary magazines that have great reputations and that would make a great credit. There are also anthologies that donate proceeds to charity rather than paying authors, which is a worthwhile credit to make.

Ultimately, I think paying or nonpaying isn’t nearly as important as the magazine’s reputation.

Watch response times

This doesn’t go so much to the quality of the publication as for your own personal preference. Some magazines may take over a year to respond, tying your story up for a good long while. Other publications only respond to accepted stories. Most magazines report their approximate response times in their submission guidelines. Some have blogs where editors keep submitters updated on progress with their slush piles and submissions in general. Other sites, like Duotrope and The Black Hole offer response times reported by other submitteers.

Always keep your ultimate goal in mind

For me, choosing what markets to submit to is ultimately a matter of what credits I would like to add to a query letter that goes in front of an agent or editor. And bear in mind that sometimes this will vary from genre to genre. I have small press credits that I’m thrilled to add to a query letter going in front of an agent who represents science fiction or horror but would never add to a query letter going to someone who represents mainstream fiction because they’ve probably never even heard of it. And conversely, I might think twice about adding my Family Circle fiction contest credit to a query for my horror novel.

So back to that debate I have with my friends.

Here’s what I think. For someone who just wants to see their name in print, then by all means, submit anywhere and everywhere with abandon. But for someone who has a bigger goal in mind, such as publishing a novel, I think he or she would do well to be at least a little bit selective.

Personally, I like to see each credit as a stepping stone to something bigger. I had an agent tell me, recently, that I had a nice writing resume. It made me feel like I was on the right track after all.

So I think having too many credits at too many tiny, non-paying publications can be potentially troublesome. I think it can dilute the weight of other publication credits that might cause an agent or editor to look twice. Because let’s face it. In the age of the internet, anyone can set up a publication and solicit submissions. New 4theLuv markets are popping up in numbers every single day and disappearing just as quickly.

Ultimately, there’s nothing wrong with aiming high. Don’t be afraid to shoot for the top, and whatever you do, don’t shortchange yourself. Make sure your target markets are the right ones.

But Then Again...

2010-04-26T20:48:00.000-07:00

I’m starting to get quite annoyed with myself. I promised myself I'd have a blog post up tonight. In fact, I spent the last hour or so writing one, only to decide in the end that there was no way I wanted to post it.

Truthfully, I’ve started at least four separate blog posts over the last few days. I’ve written about discouragement, choosing markets, writers supporting writers, and making the transition back and forth between working on novels and short stories. Each post I left just shy of completion.

I think what it comes down to is second-guessing myself, that feeling of wondering whether or not I have something worth saying, and if so, whether I’m saying it right. Did I pick the right topic? Did I do it justice? Does what I'm saying even make sense?

We’ve all had those times, haven’t we? Times when you wonder if you’re sharing too much, or maybe conversely, being too distant, when every word feels just not quite right.

I think second-guessing is at worst a plague to some writers, and at best, a now-and-again nuisance. But I’d suspect that most of us succumb to a bout of second-guessing at least every so often.

So I think tonight I’m going to throw out a question (or maybe questions) to anyone reading… Do you experience bouts of second-guessing? When are you most likely to second-guess yourself when it comes to writing? What do you do to overcome it?

Good News, A Confession, and a Whole Lot of Cringing

2010-04-16T20:41:00.000-07:00

Now this is going back a few years, but for awhile I served as one of four editors of a weekly horror newsletter for a large online writing community. During that time, there was one editorial I wrote that seemed to strike a chord with people.

It was an editorial about rejection, and in it I shared a rejection that I’d received for a short story submission. It was a particularly critical rejection, and I wanted to use it as a leaping-off point to talk not only about rejection in general, but also to talk about those more person--and sometimes brutal--rejections. And of the comments I received, the bulk were telling me how brave I was for sharing my rejection with the 10,000 readers of the newsletter.

Brave? I laughed at that.

Because here’s my confession. That was easy. Sharing my rejection I could do without a moment’s hesitation.

And the second part of that confession is that what I find, by far, more difficult is to share my successes.

I couldn’t explain it. I really don’t know why, exactly, that is. But it’s true. The minute I even contemplate sharing those good things, I find myself getting self-conscious and tongue-tied.

I’m getting a little better with the whole thing. Getting better, mind you, not feeling better about it. And that’s mostly because I know that it’s something I have to get over if I ever want to succeed as a writer, because one thing that’s been drilled into me is the fact that even after being published, authors are responsible for their own success and that, in large part, means self-promotion. And I’m determined to learn how to promote myself, how to build a platform, how to connect and network with readers and other writers.

And yes, I know this isn’t a new song I’m singing.

So tonight I wanted to both share a bit of good news and to ask for your help.

Yesterday night I found out that my novel, Heart of the City, has advanced to the next round of the finals in Dorchester’s Fresh Blood contest for unpublished horror novelists, so I’m now one of four finalists competing for the grand prize of a publishing contract with both Dorchester’s Leisure Horror imprint and a limited hardcover print run with Chizine Publications.

And I’m asking for your vote. Though I made it to the Top 5 based on the decision of a judging panel, from here on out the competition is completely vote-driven. Each month now, until the end, the contestant with the least amount of votes will be eliminated. So I would really, really appreciate your help.

The info for this round of the contest can be found at Chizine's website. Voting instructions are at the very bottom of the page.

And for those who want the quick how-to of how to send a vote…

You can email your vote to freshblood@chizinepub.com. In the email’s subject header please put: Fresh Blood Vote - Heart of the City. (Votes that come in this in the subject header won’t count!) One vote per unique email address is allowed.

Okay, I can stop cringing now. And you can rest assured that when I’ve suffered through a string of rejections--which ought to be any day now, lol--I’ll be broadcasting it proudly!

And I do want to say thank you to everyone who has supported me so far in this contest. It’s meant the world to me, and it never ceases to amaze me how wonderfully supportive our community of writers is.

I’m also wondering if I’m the only one who feels that way about sharing good writing news. Do you want to shout your good news from the rooftops? Or are you like me and want to just whisper it from a dark corner?

Stepping in It

2010-04-10T19:57:00.000-07:00

“You’re really stepping in the sh*t lately,” my father commented to me earlier, after I’d shared some good news with him.

I understood what he meant. That I’ve been pretty lucky the last few months.
Well, at least in writing-related things, anyway.

The latest bit of good tidings had come my way this morning. I received an email from an agent requesting the full manuscript of my novel.

Now this came about in sort of a roundabout way. I’d entered an agent-sponsored contest a few weeks ago, and I didn’t win. But a few hours after the winners were announced, I got an email from the agent to tell me that while I hadn’t won, I’d been among his top picks and that if I sent along my query letter, he’d be happy to at least give me a little bit of feedback.

So late last night, off went my query letter.

This morning, I woke to find a return email in my mailbox…requesting my full manuscript.

Flash forward to the conversation with my father. As he went on to say, he didn’t in any way mean to belittle my accomplishments these past few months, but we got to talking about luck and what role it played in these little (or occasionally big) "good things."

It’s an interesting question, and one that I’d guess a lot of writers think about. I know I think about it

And I do think luck plays a part in it, for better or for worse. But I also think that to some extent we make our own luck. And I think that we can only be “lucky” if we’re out there and open for it.

It might require some measure of luck to hit the right editor (or agent) with the right story at the right time, but that luck isn’t going to happen if you aren’t putting any story in front of any editor (or agent) at any time. And conversely, the more stories you put in front of more editors (or at least the more times you put a single story in front of editors) the better chances that you’ll hit that coveted bull’s-eye.

And okay, so that’s probably an oversimplification. And yes, there are so many other factors that figure in. And yes, there are always going to be those beginner’s luck stories where someone succeeds on their first go-round. But I like to stay on the side of the numbers.

Like a lot of you, I’m putting my work out there on a regular basis, whether it’s short stories or novels. If I find a worthwhile contest, I enter it, even if it means sleepless nights of word-crunching to prepare my entry. For better or for worse, I’m always trying to look two steps ahead to see where my next opportunity may lie. I’d rather face a million rejections than miss out on the one opportunity that might change everything. I don’t want to take any chance that I’ll miss that fickle friend, luck, when it comes winging my way.

And maybe that’s not luck at all. Maybe it’s just perseverance. And maybe I am stepping in the sh*t lately, as my father so eloquently put it, but that’s because I’m always walking, and I don’t plan to stop anytime soon.

I also want to say a big thank you to Nicole Ducleroir for the Sweet Blog Award! Nicole’s blog, One Significant Moment at a Time is one of my new favorites, so please take some time and check it out.

The Meaning :
Sweet Blog Award is an award for blog which you think is so friendly and make you enjoy to visit it often.

So now there's two things:
1. I give this award to ten people
2. The people I give this award to need to make a post about the award (include the picture & the person that gave it to you!)

I’m passing this award to…

I’m going to defer on this for a little while. Since I’m so new to the blogging world, I want to take my time and make sure to put some thought into this. So stay tuned…

A Writer's This -n- That

2010-04-07T19:39:00.000-07:00

I’ve started three separate blog posts today, and abandoned each of them. Ironically, one of them -- which I got a whole two paragraphs into before it fizzled out -- was about lack of focus. Need I say more?

So in the spirit of being unfocused, I thought I’d just embrace randomness today, and share some of my writing-related news.

• There’s one week left to vote in this round of the Fresh Blood contest where my unpublished novel, "Heart of the City," is one of five finalists competing for a publishing contract. From this point on, it’s all vote-driven, so I’d really appreciate your vote. To vote, just send an email to freshblood@chizinepub.com. In the subject line write: Fresh Blood Vote: Heart of the City. You can leave the body of the email blank. For more about the contest or read the cover copy for all the finalists, visit Chizine. This opportunity means the world to me and I want to say a BIG thank you to everyone who’s already supported me in the contest. You can also read more about my entry and my experience in the contest in a previous blog entry: Fresh Blood? Who Me?.

• This week I found out that my short story, “The Midnight Girls,” was chosen as a Million Writers Award notable online story of 2009. “The Midnight Girls” appeared in Abyss & Apex # 30.

Having my story in Abyss & Apex was a wonderful experience in and of itself. Not only was it my first semi-pro sale of a speculative fiction story, but Abyss & Apex is an absolutely wonderful publication that showcases top-notch fiction and poetry. Plus, my story was nested in with stories from writers whose names I knew: Bud Sparhawk and Aliette de Bodard. So to now receive this honor is just amazing.

• I finished my revisions for Blade Red Press’s Dark Pages Anthology, which should be coming out in a few months. I was excited to finish the edits, and I appreciate the amount of time the editor spent with me to make the story the best it could be. I think this is going to be a wonderful anthology and I’m thrilled to be a part of it. You can see the ToC at Blade Red Press.

• I got new eyeglasses so I’ll actually be able to see what I’m writing. ;-)

So that’s my randomness for the week. Next week my goal is to refocus, pick a project, and get moving on it.

How about you? What bits of randomness do you have to share this week?

Off to a Great Start...or Maybe Not So Much

2010-03-30T20:28:00.000-07:00

I thought I was done. My manuscript was written, revised (and revised and revised and…), polished, proofread. I’d written my query letter. I was working on my synopsis. My novel was ready for the world.

Then I entered a contest. Not a big one, mind you. It was one of those agent-sponsored one-sentence pitch contests, which I love. So I’d fashioned a one-sentence pitch that I was really pretty pleased about, and the only other thing the contest had asked for was the first paragraph of the manuscript. No problem there.

When the contest’s submission period opened, I pulled up the file for my manuscript so I could retrieve my first paragraph.

Now let me stop there for a second, because here’s the thing... I like the beginning of my manuscript. I think it’s compelling. I think I have a great hook. A man learns that his terminally ill daughter has been promised to a mysterious technology upon her death, a technology that harnesses souls as a source of power.

One problem though. Looking at the first paragraph, that wasn’t actually how the book started. Oh sure, a few paragraphs in all those things happen, but that first paragraph, well all it contained was a knock on the hotel room door disturbing a man’s rest.

Really? Was that really how I’d started my novel?

The paragraph was, I was dismayed to realize, boring. How could that be, after the number of times I’d been over the manuscript? How could I not have seen that?

Maybe because I knew. I knew what happened in the beginning of the novel. I knew about the devastating telegram that my protagonist received a few paragraphs in. So I’d never really looked at the first paragraph as a standalone, as the very first impression the reader would have of the novel, a paragraph that would either make a reader want to read more or wouldn’t.

Hell, if not for the contest forcing me to see my paragraph as a standalone, I might never have really looked at it that way.

It was a frustrating revelation, but it was also eye-opening. Maybe more importantly, it made me reevaluate my novel in a way that I’d never done before, to look at a single paragraph all on its own. And not just a single paragraph. A first paragraph.

And let me tell you, it's an interesting exercise.

The good news is that not only do I think I know how to fix it now, but I think my fix might add a whole new element to the novel, one I’d never considered before. I can already see it in my head, and I love the scene I’m envisioning. It’s vibrant and active, and while the main hook will still come a few paragraphs in, I think my new start is going to make a reader want to read on, and that’s what we, as writers, are ultimately going for, right?

So yes, I thought I was done, and now--thanks to a one-sentence pitch contest--I know I’m not. In fact, right now I’m facing down quite a bit more work to incorporate my new ideas. But you know what? I’m happy. I’m happy to have solved a problem that two days ago I didn’t even realize existed. I’m happy because ultimately the changes I'm going to make might mean the difference between selling the novel and trunking it. I'm taking this as the gift that it was.

Has that ever happened to anyone else, one small thing that leads you to suddenly view a manuscript in a whole different light? I’m curious.

Pardon Me, But Your Roots are Showing

2010-03-26T20:25:00.000-07:00

The last few months I’ve found myself thoroughly entrenched in the world of novels: writing, revisions, market research, queries. It’s a world in which I’m feeling more and more comfortable. My roots though, well my roots are in short stories, and this week I’ve had the comfort of returning to my roots.

I spent a good part of tonight working on revisions for a short story that will be appearing in an anthology in a few months. The revisions for the story have been fairly extensive, but I always find it a great learning experience to work with an editor on making a short story publication-ready.

Before I sold my first short story I never really thought about the work that might still have to go into a story post-sale. I can’t exactly say that I believed that just because an editor decided to accept a piece for publication that it would be perfect. It was more, I guess, that I had never actually given it much thought. In fact, I realize now how many things I’d never realized about the short story publication process.

What I’ve come to realize is that sometimes you need to put as much work into a short story after you’ve sold it as you do when getting ready to submit it. And that’s not a bad thing. Sure, sometimes it’s exhausting, and sometimes--when you just can’t seem to get a particular scene right--downright frustrating, but any time you have the opportunity to make a story even stronger, you should go for it.

I’ve sold a number of short stories, from small press anthologies to national print magazines, and the editorial process is always a little different. Sometimes there aren’t edits at all, or the edits are minor and happen behind the scenes. Other times the edits are extensive and require weeks of back and forth between writer and editor. Sometimes it’s just a matter of saying, “I agree,” and okaying the editorial suggestions. Other times it’s a process of rewriting and rewriting again to get it just right.

The edit I’m working on now is definitely one of the more challenging ones. It’s for a great anthology of dark speculative fiction that I’m excited to be a part of--I’ll let you know more about it soon--and the story I sold to them is an older story, but one for which I’ve always had a special fondness. The editors have really impressed me, too. Their editorial suggestions have been insightful and detailed. They’re making me work to get it right, and I’m grateful for that, because I know that the all the effort is going to pay off in the final product.

Truthfully, I welcome these chances to work with editorial staff for another reason, too. I think it’s helping to prepare me for the bigger edits that will come if and when I sell a novel. I’m learning not only how to work with editors, but how to be an author that editors want to work with. I’m realizing it’s not only writing skills that make a good author, but interpersonal skills as well. In some ways, writing isn’t as solitary a gig as people would believe.

I sent those edits off a little while ago, and I felt good about it. Hitting send on that email brought me a great sense of accomplishment. And what I love most about it is knowing that at the end of this journey, I'll have an anthology to hold in my hands, one with my story inside.

Now it’s time to return to the world of novels with its synopses and pitches and query letters, but it’s always nice to return to my roots. I think I’ll do it more often.

Synopsis or Bust

2010-03-25T19:54:00.000-07:00

Oh synopsis…how do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

One…

One…

Hmmm…

Okay, so I have no love of synopses. Still, with the excitement of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (ABNA) quarterfinalist announcement this week in my online writing circles, I found myself motivated to get back to the novel synopsis I’ve been avoiding the past few weeks.

I’m excited about getting this novel out into the world. Of all the novels I’ve written over the last few years, this one is my favorite. And despite it being knocked out in the pitch round of ABNA this year, it’s also the one for which I have the most hope.

Besides, I have that ABNA entry deadline to thank for actually getting the revisions finished finally. And when I say finally, I mean finally. I’d been working on those revisions off and on for years.

Still, there’s that dratted synopsis to contend with before I can get it out there. I’ve been wrestling with it for weeks. Honestly, I think I’m having the same trouble with the synopsis that I had with the pitch, and that’s juggling the story elements and characters.

My novel, The Road of the Dead, is more complex a story than I usually write. It has multiple storylines and multiple character arcs that weave together throughout the story. It’s told through multiple points of views. So whenever I dig in to work on that synopsis, I find myself getting tangled. How do I balance my three primary characters without the synopsis sounding choppy? And that blasted Chapter 1, which is so important in setting up later events but isn’t told from the point of view of one of those primary characters but rather by a recurring but vital secondary character…how on earth do I do handle that in the synopsis?

I’m determined to get through it though. It’s synopsis or bust for me. It’s only a synopsis after all, not some evil nemesis, right? Or is it?

And if anyone’s reading, I’m wondering… Have you ever tackled a synopsis for a multiple POV novel? How do you handle multiple story arcs in a synopsis without the synopsis becoming choppy and cumbersome? What are your struggles with the writing of a synopsis?

Lessons Learned from ABNA

2010-03-23T12:50:00.000-07:00

I’m watching today as some of my fellow writers await news of their fate in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (ABNA) competition. At some point today--and if Amazon holds true to tradition, it might be well into tonight--the announcement will be made of those making it on to the Quarterfinals.

Last year, I was among those awaiting news. This year, I’ll be cheering from the sidelines since I got knocked out of the competition in the pitch round.

It brings mixed feelings. Sure there’s disappointment. I would love to have that competition anxiety today, to feel my heart beating a little faster each time my computer chimed its new message alert, to have that beautiful feeling of potential there, that this-year-it-could-be-me high. But I’m finding that I’m also excited for those people who might be moving on, particularly those people who I now count among my friends. There’s also curiosity. One of these people will be a published novelist soon. (Not to mention curiosity to read the excerpts.)

Besides, I’ve already gotten something out of this year’s ABNA: a polished manuscript. That deadline forced me to get myself in gear and finish the revisions I’d been working on off and on for a few years now. It forced me to work on my pitch. That’s prize enough itself.

I’ve also made some great new writing friends. Plus, it’s been a lesson in networking, and many of the other contestants have graciously supported me by voting in the “Fresh Blood” contest, where I’m a finalist.

Maybe more importantly, it’s also been a great reminder that no matter how much work you’ve put into a novel, no matter how strongly you believe in it, the details matter. You need to have a strong pitch (or synopsis or other marketing material) to get your novel read in the first place.

So while it stung a little to get knocked out so soon in the competition this year, particularly after making it to the top 100 last year, I’m still happy I entered and will be looking forward to doing so again next year (hopefully with a much stronger pitch).

Good luck to those who are still waiting for news on their entry. I wish each and every one of you the best, both in ABNA and beyond. This is just one step in the journey. Onward!

Dear Author, Don’t Quit Your Day Job

2010-03-18T16:22:00.000-07:00

I’ve come away pretty much unscathed from the judging of the first two few rounds of the “Fresh Blood” finals (and for more about the contest and my entry, please see my previous post, Fresh Blood. Who me?). That’s not to say I haven’t gotten criticism, because I have, but it’s been mild and quite constructive. Some of the other contestants haven’t been quite so lucky.

We were warned at the start of the finals that the judges were prepared to “pull no punches” (to quote the copy on the website). Their point, in part, was that if an author isn’t prepared to handle editorial criticism, no matter how rough, then maybe this isn’t the place for him or her.

I think it’s a fair point. Criticism, sometimes brutal, is a part of this business of writing. And though so far in this contest I’ve escaped the worst of it, I’ve received my share of the tough stuff. It’s funny, too, because as a writer actively pursuing publication, one of the comments I get the most is about putting myself out there and opening myself up to so much criticism.

Truthfully though, taking the criticism is not nearly as hard as some people believe. I think being a short story writer for so long now has prepared me well to handle it when it comes my way.

Take, for example, my critique circle. One of the best things that ever happened to my writing was a critique group that I joined a number of years ago. The group had a zero sugarcoating philosophy. Criticism was served raw.

It was sometimes brutal. It was the kind of group where, when you opened up your critique, you needed to sit down, inhale deeply, and find your center before reading what your critiquer had to say. It was also wonderful. If you got praise, you knew it was genuine, but the criticisms, once the cringe effect wore off, helped me polish my fiction (particularly since even now, with the group mostly defunct, I still hear their voices in my head sometimes as I’m editing). It also helped prepare me for the criticisms that often come with rejection of a submission and--dum da da dum--even after publication.

I’ve received plenty of editorial criticism over the past few years. In fact, my favorite rejection letters (which I call “Don’t Quit Your Day Job” letters) are the ones that say: we didn’t like this because... The bottom line is that personal criticism, no matter how rough, is something to appreciate. For one thing, it means that an editor thought enough of your work to respond personally. For another, it sometimes contains a gem of wisdom that can potentially mean the difference between the next response to a submission being a rejection or a sale. That said, my one caveat (to myself and other short story writers) is to trust your instincts. Just because a criticism comes your way doesn’t make it automatically right. Ultimately the short story (or poem or novel or essay) is yours and you need to make the final decision as to what’s right for it.

Post-publication criticism is the one area I’d never considered before I actually received some. Sure novels get reviewed…but short stories? Apparently, short stories too.

For me, that post-publication criticism has always been the hardest to take. Maybe it’s partly because the sale itself feels like an affirmation that a story has merit, so to hear someone else say, “Nah, didn’t see anything to this,” is difficult. I had one critic call a short story of mine “pointless.” Wow. That was rough.

But for me, it’s also difficult in part because while I might end up agreeing with the criticism, I can’t change it. For example, recently someone who reviewed a short story of mine, “How We Fly,” (Abyss & Apex, 1st Quarter 2010) criticized that I’d used the same simile several times in the course of the story. They were absolutely right in their complaint. I went back and searched my document only to find that I’d used the word “vellum” four times. Yikes. It wasn’t intentional. In all the edits that story went through--and there were quite a few--I never noticed the vellum overload. Unfortunately, there’s nothing I can do about it, which makes that criticism very hard to bear.

Ultimately, as writers, criticism is something we have to learn to live with. Some people say that writers need to be thick-skinned, to let the criticisms just roll off of them. While I understand that, I disagree. I think our skins needs to be porous. I think we need to hear the criticism, absorb it, mull it over, and then either take it or let it go, and then move on.

Besides, there’s one thing of which I’m pretty certain. There’s probably nobody out there who’ll be as critical of my work as I am.

So if there’s rough criticism coming my way in the “Fresh Blood” contest, I say bring it on! I’ll welcome it, if only for the fact that it would mean I’ve made it through to another round of the finals. Moreover, I’m ready and eager to hear what the judges have to say, both positive and negative, because while there’s a one in five chance that I’ll win (odds that I love) there’s a four in five chance that I won’t, and I plan to take away whatever I can from this contest. While I may not win, there might just be a piece of advice somewhere in these rounds that will help me to make my novel even stronger and result in a sale the next time out.

Fresh Blood? Who, Me?

2010-03-15T19:51:00.000-07:00

Today, voting opened up for the next round of the “Fresh Blood” novel contest. I didn’t even get beat up too badly by the judges this round--although I’ve determined that they simply hate my title. I wanted to share the contest information tonight, and ask for your vote to help me move forward, but I also thought it might be fun to share a little bit about my journey with this particular novel, and a little bit about the contest itself.

Those of you who know me personally probably know that National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is something I look forward to each November. I’ve participated every year for the past seven years. Heart of the City was my 2007 NaNo effort, a post-apocalyptic science fiction novel.

The concept actually came from a short story I’d written for Apex Digest's annual Halloween contest. The contest isn’t for Halloween stories, but rather has a different theme each year. That particular year the theme was “post-apocalypse,” and I have a particular weakness for apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, so I couldn't pass up the chance.

I was happy with the concept I came up with for the contest, but not so happy with the story. As a friend of mine explained, the concept was too big for the 2000 words the contest allowed for a story. It needed to be, my friend told me, a novel.

To no one's surprise, I didn't win the Apex contest, but then November rolled around and with it another year of NaNoWriMo, and so Heart of the City got written. (And okay, so maybe they’re right about that pesky title. Now if only I could think of a better one.)

I didn’t love the novel after I wrote it. My initial reaction was that it would be a trunk novel and no more. Then Amazon announced their second Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award competition, and on a whim, I decided to pull out Heart of the City and see if there might just be something salvageable there. so I spent a huge quantity of time rethinking and revising it, and then submitted it to the contest.

Much to my surprise, I made it to the top 100 in the contest. In the process I got a review from Publisher’s Weekly, a prize in itself. The review was mixed. They called the story “compelling,” and my ending “artful and unexpected,” but warned that the science wasn’t “rigorous” enough and the characterization could be stronger. I was thrilled with the review. The positive comments gave me the motivation to want to get it back out there in the market, and the criticisms gave me areas to work on.

So work on it I did.

Then Leisure announced their “Fresh Blood” contest. It’s a contest for unpublished horror novelists, the idea being to find the next big writer of horror fiction. The contest was run in competition with Chizine and Rue Morge. And the prize was a publishing contract with Leisure Horror--a publishing house whose horror I’ve been reading since I was in my teens--along with a contract for a limited hardcover run with Chizine. Beautiful prizes, really.

Sounds good, right? I knew I needed to enter. But there was one catch. I didn’t actually have a horror novel written.

Or did I?

I thought about Heart of the City. Certainly it was a dark novel. Sure, it had some strong horror elements. But could I classify it as a horror novel? I wasn’t really sure. Then I thought: what the hell, why not take a gamble. So I submitted it.

A few months later I got the notification that I was one of ten finalists. I was blown away, both shocked and thrilled.

Now, I’m one of five remaining contestants competing for the prize. The rounds going forward will be judged solely on votes. From this point forward, the author with the least amount of votes each round will be eliminated. Each month, there will be different judging criteria. This month it's based on cover copy for the finalists’ novels.

So here’s my plea... If you could take a minute and throw a vote my way, I would be so appreciative. The info for this round of the contest can be found at: http://chizine.com/freshblood/march.htm and voting instructions are at the very bottom of the page.

For those who want the quick version of how to vote, you can vote as follows:

Send your votes to freshblood@chizinepub.com. In the subject header, make sure to put "Fresh Blood Vote," as well as the name of the book for which you're voting. (That would be Heart of the City).

Thank you all so much.

The Art of Highway Singing - or- Learning How to Network

2010-03-14T19:36:00.000-07:00

Tonight I contemplated networking. Truthfully, tonight I’m still contemplating networking. I'll admit it’s not my strongest area. There are people who are born networkers. Unfortunately, I’m not one of them. Networking to me feels a little bit like standing in the middle of the highway and singing. It isn't a comfortable thing at all. So for me networking is going to have to be a learned art. But that’s okay, because I’m realizing that it is learnable.

In the next few days, though, I’m going to get the chance to put my networking skills to the test. A novel manuscript I wrote a few years ago is one of the five remaining entries in a competition to find the next new horror novelist. It's an amazing opportunity. At this point I have a one in five chance of a publishing contract with a prominent genre publisher. The catch? The remainder of the competition is based on public voting. And while there will be--American Idol style--a panel of judges to help the undecided make their voting decision, let’s face it...the determining factor is going to be how well the contestants can drum up votes.

So tonight I sat down and made a list of places where I’ve set out networking feelers over the past few years, and I was actually pleasantly surprised. And you know what? There was a little bit of a lesson in my list, too. Sure there are the obvious places: friends, writing groups, work colleagues. But beyond that, how about the places where I share my love of amateur photography? And what about alumni groups? And why couldn’t I ask for a shout-out in the newsletter that I once co-edited?

It was a good lesson for me, a reminder that as a writer (and as a person), not to focus too narrowly, but rather to really look around at all available channels. More, it was a reminder to not compartmentalize the “writer” part of me from the rest of me. It’s a lesson I’ll remember.

So will I win the contest? I’d love to win, of course, but only the next few months will tell. I do know one thing. Win or lose, I plan on taking my lessons on the art of networking with me into whatever ventures come next.

When the details of the next round become available, I’ll be sure to post them here. And if anyone out there is reading yet--I know my blog is still very new--I’d love to hear about your own networking lessons.

Lisa vs. The Blog

2010-03-10T17:52:00.000-08:00

Should I admit that I set up this blog last September? I was excited about it, too. I knew what I wanted to name it. I knew how I wanted it to look. I knew the kinds of things I wanted to write about. All I needed to do was start.

But how does one start a blog? With an introduction, right? So if my blog was going to be about writing, then should my introduction be about my writing? Or should it be more personal? Or both?

Can we say “overthinking,” boys and girls?

I found myself staring at the blank page as an adversary, which rarely happens when I’m writing fiction. My little blog became my nemesis. It became The Blog.

Periodically I would recommit to the idea of blogging. Yes, it was time again to think about The Blog. It was time to write that first entry. I’d open up a blank document and write a line, maybe two, maybe even a whole paragraph. Sometimes I’d even start off feeling that high of inspiration. But it never took long for the resistance to set in, and eventually I’d put it aside for “tomorrow.”

So flash forward six months and then some, and I’m once again contemplating The Blog, still untouched, and the whole concept of, as a writer, how much do I reveal.

Now in all fairness to myself, it’s been a rough six months. I separated from my husband of 16 years and had to have Bandit, my faithful feline companion of 17 years, put to sleep after a prolonged illness. So I’m cutting myself some slack.

And due in part to the events of the past six months (and a few others prior to that), I also understand my resistance to The Blog. It’s the intimacy of blog writing and the fact that I’m an intensely private person.

I’m a fiction writer. My short stories have seen print in a number of small press and semi-pro publications over the last few years, so I’m no stranger to having my words read, and some of those stories have been quite personal for me in ways that people who know me may or may not recognize. But fiction, by its very nature, puts a comfortable distance between the writer and the story. In a short story or a novel, I’m not, after all, writing about myself. I’m not a writer whose fiction is thinly-disguised biography. You won’t find my life’s story in the pages of my fiction. Rather, the pieces of me that find their way into the arcs of my stories are more intangible.

I know some might argue--and rightly so--that there’s often more truth in fiction than not. Still, though the emotional core of a story might be drawn from real life, or maybe a theme, a subplot, some universal truth, ultimately the story itself is fiction.

A blog, though, well that’s an entirely different beast.

Still, the more I’ve thought about it, the more I believe that even a private person can have a blog. And, of course a blog doesn’t necessarily equate to a journal (though I do believe that a successful blog should have some degree of intimacy; otherwise, what’s the point?).

So I think perhaps my reticence itself should serve as the best introduction, a feeling-out of sorts into this whole new world of blogging, taking that first tentative step onto that thin ice before I’m ready to dance on it.