S.L. Viehl's Blog, page 113

Comments Catchup Day

See you in comments.

The Science of Nope

I'm unplugging in order to head into the city and take care of some business, which means no, I won't be around today. So that your stop here was not entirely wasted, I'd like to direct you to a very interesting article over on Life Hacker about a scientific process that allows you to say no effectively (and said link was brazenly swiped from Gerard over at The Presurfer.)

Somewhere

I've been on a few road trips like this one (some background sound effects, for those of you at work):

SOMEWHERE U.S.A. from Vitùc on Vimeo.

Being Who You Are

Some of you may have heard the story of seven-year-old Tiana Parker being sent home from school for wearing her hair in locs (a violation of some moronic school policy, apparently.) Instead of changing their daughter's hair to what school officials at the time deemed appropriate, Tiana's parents wisely decided to remove her from the school. You can read more details about the incident here.

I'm seriously confused by the idea that Tiana's hairstyle could be condemned as "faddish". According to the dictionary, the word fad means "a temporary fashion, notion, manner of conduct, etc." Yet locs didn't come into style yesterday; I'm pretty sure they've been popular since before the Pharoahs were building pyramids. I can attest from personal experience that they're not a fad; I went to school with lots of Islander and African-American kids in South Florida, and many wore their hair in dreads (that was what we called locs in my youth.) That was forty years ago -- and since locs have been a popular hairstyle long before that and ever since, how could anyone consider them a temporary fashion? I mean, besides a bunch of ignorant racists using idiotic rules to hurt a child?

Dr. Yaba Blay, co-director and assistant teaching professor of Africana studies at Drexel University, also heard about Tiana's story, and reached out with this essay on the incident, as well as a beautiful collection of letters and photographs for Tiana herself. Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and poet Alice Walker (who also wears her hair in locs) is among the contributors. Reading through all the messages and seeing all the lovely photos of ladies in locs really made my day. I'm not surprised so many took the time to open their hearts to this little girl, though -- it demonstrates the power of love over the prejudice, and why it is so important to be who you are, not what others want you to be. And isn't that what we should be teaching our kids?

Elsewhere Steampunking Anne Stuart

Today I'm over at Disenchanted & Co. so we can steampunk author Anne Stuart. Stop by if you get a chance and enter the giveaway to win all this stuff:



(Girl, markers and furnishings not included.)

Recycle X 5: Note Pads

A couple of months back I preordered some art books for my kid, and last week they finally arrived. I try to recycle all the boxes and packing materials I receive via my own shipping, but this package came with a strange mound of five folded cardboard filler pieces:



Generally I toss pieces like this in my paper recycling box to use for mailing photos I don't want bent or as frame backing, but these pieces are all brand-new, and the way they're folded and preforated intrigued me. I decided to make them my next recycle/upcycle project, and challenge myself to find five different ways to make them into something else.

The first idea I had involved the most banged-up, creased piece:



I carefully separated it down the middle along the preforartions:



I then got some old manuscript pages from my paper recycling box and cut them in half:



Using one side of my three-hole punch, I punched two centered holes in the top of the carboard pieces and the short end of my trimmed papers:



To put them together, I thought about using binder rings, ribbons or even some twist ties. Then I remembered I had some of the larger size of Tim Holtz's Idea-ology brads leftover from another project, and grabbed those:



Together the brads, paper and cardboard pieces make two nice refillable note pads (of which I can never have enough):



Making your own notepads saves money, recycles used paper and even junk mail; all you need is something with a blank side. You can also customize this easy project with your own touches by covering the cardboard with pretty fabric or paper and/or using different-colored paper and bindings for the note part.

Stayed tuned in the weeks ahead for more ideas on how to recycle cardboard into writer stuff as I use up the other pieces.

Sub Ops Ten

Ten Things About Submission Opportunities

Dark Oak Media has an open call for their upcoming Big Bad 2 – An Anthology of Evil Volume 2: "The immediate success of The Big Bad has been mind-blowing, and Dark Oak has signed us on to do it all over again! Emily Lavin Leverett and I are back to create another anthology of the greatest bad guy stories we can find. This is a mixed anthology, which means that there have been some folks invited to participate, and we will accept some stories through open calls. The invitations have gone out, and we have ten open slots, so we expect the competition to be fierce. Send us your best short story (3,000 – 9,000 words, if it has to be longer contact me first) that features a bad guy or evil character as the protagonist. It can be fantasy, urban fantasy, superhero, sci-fi, horror, whatever. Just send us your best bad guy story. We’re taking ten. That’s right, there are only ten slots available in this anthology." Payment: "This is a royalty-based anthology, with exclusive rights for one year. This is not a “for the love” antho – Dark Oak is a real publisher that sends out real royalty checks. I should know, I’ve already received one for Big Bad 1. After the first year we retain rights to publish electronically in the anthology only, and in print in this anthology only, but you can take it and sell it somewhere else, or sell it yourself as a standalone." See open call post here for more details. Deadline: November 1st, 2013.

DreamSpinner Press has an open call for their upcoming Feelgood antho: "Dreamspinner Press is seeking romantic short stories with medicine/physical health themes. Examples: A Band-Aid, a kiss, and a lollipop make kids’ boo-boos all better, so Mason decides to try that when his boyfriend bangs his knee on the coffee table; Two doctors in separate departments of the same hospital keep running into each other in unlikely places; A physical therapist struggles against falling in love with his patient; Don’t forget dentists, optometrists, and the dermatologists who do laser tattoo removals; Two researchers collaborating on a medical advance start talking about more personal matters. Editor’s Note: Because of the packaged nature of the anthology, all stories need to stand alone." Length: 3.5 - 12K; also noted: "Manuscripts shorter or longer will be considered but will have to be extraordinary." Payment: Unspecified, but I found this note: "Short stories and novellas for single-book anthologies are purchased for a flat amount based on the length of the work." Also no mention on reprints I could find so you might query on them; electronic submission only, see guidelines for more details. Deadline: October 1st, 2013

Good Mourning Publishing has an open call for their upcoming super hero-themed romance antho: "This is an open call for an anthology of short romantic fiction which takes place in a super hero universe; at least one of the love interests has to be a superhero or villain. Any story containing copyrighted characters is not permitted (Captain Marvel, Spider-Man, Psylocke, etc.) but fanfiction which has been edited to be a stand-alone story with original characters is acceptable [PBW notes: this bit concerns me for a number of reasons, so I recommend sending in only your original fiction for your submission]. All gender pairings, sub-genre, and content rating are accepted for this book, but the main theme has to be romance." Length: up to 15K; Payment: "$30.00 USD for accepted works" + "a free paperback copy of the book upon publication." Editor notes that authors will retain all rights. Electronic submission only, see guidelines for more details. Deadline: December 31st, 2013.

Hazardous Press has an open call for their upcoming antho: "We are now open to submissions for Tales of the Black Arts, a swords & sorcery anthology, for POD paperback and eBook publication. We are looking for dark fantastic tales in the tradition of Moorcock’s Elric stories, Wagner’s Kane tales, or the Morlock Ambrosius stories by James Enge. As you might expect from the title, magic must play a central role in the story, not just be in the background. Length: "Word Count: 2,000 to 15,000 words." Payment: "$25, plus one paperback contributor’s copy." No reprints, electronic submission only, see guidelines for more details. Deadline: October 31st, 2013.

Inaccurate Realities has an open call for submissions for their January time travel-themed issue: "Prompt: Play with the wibbly wobbly structure that is time and space. Finally all those hours watching Doctor Who will come in handy. Is there a time or place you’ve always wanted to visit? Ever wondered how a certain historical event really happened? Does your character need to deliver a warning to the future? Example: Doctor Who, Tempest by Julie Cross, Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier, Once Every Never by Lesley Livingston, Time Between Us by Tamara Ireland Stone." Length: 2-5K; Payment: Pay: $15-$25 based on length; query on reprints, electronic submissions only, see guidelines for more details. Deadline: November 15th, 2013.

The Pedestal is open to poetry submissions for their December 2013 issue: "For Issue 73, we will be accepting submissions of poetry (only) from September 1-November 30. There is no need to query prior to submitting poetry. There are no restrictions on length, theme, style, or genre. Submit up to six (6) poems via the provided link. Please submit all poems in one (1) file." Payment: "$40 per accepted poem"; no reprints, electronic submissions only, see guidelines for more details. Reading period: September 1st - November 30th, 2013.

Supernatural Tales is open for submissions: "I must insist that a story submitted to Supernatural Tales might - however tenuously - be described as a tale of the supernatural. Awfully restrictive, I know, but there it is. That said, a conventional and predictable ghost story of the kind we've all seen, heard and read a thousand times should not be submitted to ST. Come to think of it, such stories should not be written in the first place. Horror is all very well, but there are plenty of horror magazines out there. Try them first if you're into writing about people's viscera exploding all over the tea things. You will impress me by showing subtlety and wit, as opposed to gore-porn and OTT prose." [PBW notes: I think I'm in love with this guy now.] On length: "It's hard to spell out what I'm looking for in a short story, but I think the word 'short' is awfully useful. The shorter a story - and I mean this in a blindingly obvious sense - the easier it is to fit into a little magazine. So while I set a quite arbitrary upper limit of 8,000 words on a submission, in practice anything that long had better be superb. I have a soft spot for very short stories in the 1,500 word range. But, as with the long 'uns, the short-shorts have to be pretty damn good to stand out." Payment: Story that receives the most reader votes earns £25; other contributors receive two free copies of the magazine. Electronic submission only; see guidelines on reprints and for more details.

Third Flatiron has an open call for their upcoming Mars-themed antho, and want to see "short stories that revolve around age-old questions and have something illuminating to tell us as human beings. Fantastical situations and creatures, exciting dialog, irony, mild horror, and wry humor are all welcome" (some other details on the sort of stories they like to see can be found in this interview.) Length: 1.5-3K; Payment: "3 cents per word (U.S.), in return for the digital rights to the story. All other rights will remain with the author. We no longer offer royalties, as we're now into our second year. If your story is selected as the lead story, we will pay a flat rate of 5 cents per word, in return for the permission to podcast or give the story away as a free sample portion of the anthology." No reprints, electronic submissions only, see guidelines for more details. Deadline: September 30th, 2013.

Timeless Tales has an open call for short stories for their upcoming Puss and Boots-themed issue. I can't copy any of the guidelines for reposting here, but basically the fiction they're looking for should be a retelling of the theme fairy tale, so you'll want to send in any spin on Puss and Boots. Length: up to 2K (1.5K preferred); Payment: $15.00; reprints okay, electronic submissions only, see guidelines for more details. Deadline: Midnight PST November 1st, 2013.

World Weaver Press has an open call for Fae, their upcoming fairy-themed antho: "Have you ever noticed that, despite the name, there is often a conspicuous absence of fairies in fairy tales? Historically speaking fairies have been mischievous or malignant. They’ve dwelt in forests, collected teeth or crafted shoes. In Fae, we want stories that honor that rich history but explore new and interesting takes on fairies as well. We want urban fairies and arctic fairies, steampunk fairies, time-traveling and digital fairies. We want stories that bridge traditional and modern styles and while we’re at it, we want stories about fairy-like creatures too. Bring us your sprites, your pixies, your seelies and unseelies, silkies, goblins or gnomes, brownies and imps. We want them all. We’re looking for lush settings, beautiful prose and complex characters." Length: under 7.5K; Payment: $10 and paperback copy of the anthology; no reprints, electronic submissions only, see guidelines for more details. Deadline: November 30th, 2013

Many of the above sub ops were found over among the marvelous market listings at Ralan.com.

Unplugging

I'm bailing on you all today so I can get some writing done. So that your visit here was not entirely wasted,
PBW in runes:



(Generator link swiped from Gerard at The Presurfer)

For Laughs

For no other reason than a really good laugh today, the genius of Monty Python and John Cleese (comedic sketch with talking and audience sounds, for those of you at work):

November Nag

From the way the work & family schedules are filling up it looks like this year I'll have to be content with staying on the sidelines for National Novel Writing Month. Being in the cheering section, however will give me time to do some pep talks, natter on in motivational posts and provide links to whatever free resources I can find for the participants, aka serving as an unofficial NaNoWriMo nag (which is almost as much fun as joining in.)

If you're still on the fence about whether or not to participate, here are

Ten Reasons to Decide Today to Write Your Novel This November

1. As soon as you do, you can begin the important preliminary work of endlessly agonizing over the title.

2. Every waffling writer who hasn't decided will openly envy you.

3. Good friends will worry about you until November. Concerned friends will try to talk you out of it before November. Real friends will offer to babysit for you during November.

4. It gives you a legit reason to stockpile notebooks, pens, Post-Its and all the other office supplies you love, plus real motivation to fix that lock on the spare room door.

5. "Someday" can now have a date: November 1st.

6. Thanksgiving dinner can be at the parents/in-laws/sibling's home this year. You'll also have a built-in excuse as to why you had to bring a store-bought pie.

7. The announcement will offend that dimwit you know who has been writing the same novel since high school (and will stop said dimwit from asking you to read the latest rewrite.)

8. Three words: Love Scene Research.

9. When the ex asks you what you'll be writing the book about, you can simply smile mysteriously (and repeat this torture for six more weeks.)

10. You'll have an utterly luxurious forty-nine days to prepare, versus the usual one hour of absolute panic on October 31st.