S.L. Viehl's Blog, page 54

Wishing You

Just Write Stuff

I didn't notice that the one-year anniversary of my Thursday Just Write feature whizzed by at the end of May, but it came up in e-mail conversation with a reader who didn't know I was publishing new works on the blog.

So for the benefit of the not-so-regular visitors, in the year since I began writing and posting new stories on PBW, I've managed to publish three new works with my byline: Breath of Ice, In the Leaves, and Club Denizen . At present I'm working on Ghost Writer , which I expect will take me a couple of months to finish as it's definitely turning into a novel.

As a ghost writer I've been knocking out on average 71K in contracted work per month, which is pretty much equal to what I was doing for traditional publishers in my heyday. This month I'm about to wrap up an extended series for one client, and begin my ninth short series for another. As a result the time I have to write stories that aren't going to pay the bills is very limited.

I am aware that some readers don't want to read the .pdfs on the computer, or find them a hassle to download on their particular e-readers, and that it's frustrating to follow a story in progress when you're used to reading only finished works. I wish it could be different, but this is the best I can manage right now -- and since anyone on the planet can access my Just Write stories for free, I feel that's a fair trade-off for any inconvenience involved.

Thursday has become my favorite day of the week now because I can take a few hours to write whatever I want, and share it with you all. That's important to me, and lots of fun, and I hope you'll stop in when you get a chance and check out the latest story in progress.

If the Shoe Fits

The story of Cinderella is well known around the globe; some scholars believe up to three thousand versions of the story are told by nearly every culture on the planet. Here are a couple of interesting spins presented by the Victoria and Albert Museum (with narration and background music, for those of you at work):

Cinderella's Shoes from Victoria and Albert Museum on Vimeo.

Just Write

Today I'm back! and off to write something new and post it online before midnight. Everyone inclined to do the same is invited to join me.

For more details on Just Write Thursdays, click here to go to the original post.

Image credit: windujedi

Tiger Eyed

I'm back, and thanks to everyone for your patience while I was off writing and dealing. To have some fun today (and find out how sharp your color vision is) try this online eye test and discover which animal shares your range of color vision.

I was expecting to score badly, but the new and improved eyes actually did pretty well with a score of 21 and no errors:





I'm pretty sure most tigers can see anything better than me, but it was an interesting test.

So which animal's eyesight do you have? Let us know in comments.

(Test link swiped from Gerard at The Presurfer)

Still Off

I'm off today; explanation here.

Still Off

I'm off today; explanation here.

Off to Write and Clean

I need to unplug from the internet for a couple days to finish a project for a client, tidy the office and clean the rest of my house. I've run out of pre-written posts to put up in my absence, and I'm kind of sick of doing the blast from the past thing, so expect a repeat of this along with some pretty images to fill in while I'm away.

See you in a couple of days.

Sub Op

Cantina Publishing has an open call for their upcoming Untethered: A Magic iPhone Anthology: "iPhones are magic. I mean, do you know how yours works? Could you take it apart and put it back together? We can’t go out without our smartphones. They organize our lives, find our locations, and sync with all our other tech. We sleep with them beside our pillows. Yet… their workings are a mystery. What does “magic iPhone” mean to you? Consider the supervillain who mind-controls a city’s populace, or the employee who stamps the runes that make your iPhone 8s so lightweight. This anthology is based on the success of anthology editor Janine A. Southard’s recent novel, Cracked! A Magic iPhone Story, which stars an explicitly magical iPhone (found by story gamers in modern-day Seattle). That iPhone comes pre-loaded with a romance finder app of dubious morality that not only sends its users on terrible dates, but also sucks their life forces. Editor’s Note: I’m looking for stories that cleverly incorporate the idea of a “magic iPhone” into any setting you like. I will, of course, be psyched to read variations on my crazy romance app, but I’m also excited to read something totally different. I’m accepting all genres except straight-up erotica or hard-core horror. (We’re aiming this anthology at general audiences, after all.) I think the idea lends itself well to comedy and dark fantasy, but… I guess that was obvious already." Length: 3-7K, Payment: $100.00, no reprints, electronic submissions only, see guidelines for more details. Deadline: October 1st, 2015.

Pale & Precious

This fascinating film from the UK's Victoria and Albert Museum offers a gorgeous overview of the history of pearls as adornments and jewelry (narrated and with background music, for those of you at work):

Pearls from Victoria and Albert Museum on Vimeo.