S.L. Viehl's Blog, page 85

Arthur & Stuff

The National Hurricane Center is projecting that Tropical Storm Arthur will strengthen into a hurricane, and since Casa PBW is in its projected path we'll be making all the usual preparations. If you're in the same boat please do whatever you need to be ready (and if you're not sure, here's the NHC's advice.)

People are so used to me blogging daily that when I don't they tend to freak out a little, so I thought I'd let you all know upfront that I may be scarce again in the near future. Along with dealing with Arthur this Summer is going to be quite busy for me on the real life side of things. I have a lengthy road trip coming up soon, for example, and I'm not sure how much internet access I'll have while I'm traveling. There's also a slight chance that I'll have to put PBW on temporary hiatus for some weeks in August and September. Whenver I do have to be away from the blog for any length of time I will try to put up a notice. But if for some reason I don't, no worries -- I'll be back as soon as I can.

Last month I had a lot of fun with Just Write Thursdays, and I'd like to keep this as a weekly feature on the blog. With my Summer schedule being so hectic I'm going to have to put Just Write on hiatus now and then, too, starting next week. If Arthur allows I'll hold one more tomorrow, and then hold off on the next until the end of the month. Remember, you don't need me to keep writing, so if you want to keep on with it on your own blog while I'm away please do.

I appreciate everyone who stops by PBW, and thank you all in advance for your support.

Sub Op

Saw this interesting announcement over at AsboluteWrite.com:

"Leap Books is pleased to announce the newest addition to our editorial staff. We'd like to welcome Judith Graves as Acquisitions Editor for SHINE, our e-novella line. Judith will be accepting both agented and unagented submissions at: submissions@leapbks.info.

The nitty-gritty details:

- SHINE word counts: 15-20k
- We’re looking for solid storytelling with romantic elements, engaging voices, and characters that LEAP from the page
- All genres will be considered, but preference for: contemporary, thriller, paranormal, and mystery

Why an enovella with Leap Books SHINE?

- Introduce readers to your young adult fiction brand / style / tone / voice / worlds by giving them a short, fun, affordable read. Snag their interest in your other projects by offering a tale sure to SHINE
- If you want to step into the ebook arena, but have been hesitant to offer a full-length novel, here's your chance to test this market
- Each book will be professionally edited and have an eye-catching cover
- At a small press, you’ll have more one-on-one contact with our editors and other authors
- Each title will be launched with a 9-week (3 stops per week) blog tour facilitated by a successful blog-tour organizer
- SHINE titles may be compiled into anthologies to be sold in both print and ebook formats"

You can get all the links over at the original forum post here. Btw, according to their About page Leap Books was previously accepting only agented or con-attendee-pitched subs, so this could be a decent op for those of you who are YA short writers but don't have an agent or run the con circuit.

Name That Ten

Ten Things to Help with Creating Character Names

Briam Klems's
Use the search engine at

To figure out who your character is (which can help you come up with a good name for them) try Rick Hamper's Character Profile Sheet.

How writer Mervyn Love
Need a name that means something secret or mysterious?
Find out what your naming personality type is with
Seventh Sanctum has
Try
Find names from all over the globe at YeahBaby.com.

A Dovely Visit

So far this year we haven't found any birds nesting on our property, likely due to some recent construction nearby and a persistent hawk who has taking a liking to our backyard. On one hand it's nice to have a break from worrying about the babies tumbling out of the nests their Mamas build in strange spots, on the other I do miss seeing the little ones born and grow and take their first flight. But something I saw the other day made me think the doves haven't forgotten us:



From her color and size I think she's one of last year's youngsters, come to visit the old nest (which I did ask my guy to clean off but he forgot and then I forgot to remind him.) She sat up there for quite a while, and didn't show any fear of me when I came out to snap a few shots:



Will she be raising her own brood in the old nest? I'm not sure, but she certainly has that look in her eye:

Finished (For Now, Anyway)

After much dithering I decided to edit and finish my Just Write Thursday story, Managed, now retitled Breath of Ice. I also made it into an e-book, which you can get in .pdf format by clicking on the cover art:



I'm not finished Yet -- okay, couldn't resist the pun -- so I'll probably extend this into a novella or novel, or make it the first of a story trilogy (the possibilities need to percolate a bit longer.) In the meantime, I've also uploaded a copy of my story edits here with tracked changes, in case anyone wants to see what I do with a rough draft.

This was a lot of fun; I've had Steph and Yet in the back of my mind for a long time, and it was good to get them out on the page and see what they could do.

Sew True

To make this video Christophe Thockler used 10,000 photos, 1 km of thread, 73,000 embroidery stitches, 6 kg of scraps of fabric and 100 needles and sewing pins. I think he also took a peek at some of my dreams (includes music and singing, for those of you at work):

Black Books - Favorite Place from DaBrainkilla on Vimeo.

Just Write

Today I'm 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.

My Link: Managed Part 4 (you can read Part 3 here, Part 2 here and Part 1 here)

Image credit: Sergey Nivens/Bigstock.com

Sub Op

Dark Opus Press has an open call for their upcoming fourth annual antho, All That's Left of Yesterday, and they want to see "stories of the apocalypse, whether it be caused by disease, natural disaster, economic collapse or something else entirely, it's up to you. However, we won't be looking for zombie stories. Zombies will be saved for another anthology. As usual, we will not be accepting poetry, reprints or artwork for this anthology. Our guidelines are simple. All stories must have a dark bent to them and be between 2,000 and 5,000 words." Payment: "Payment for accepted works will be a 1 cent a word US, plus one copy." No reprints, electronic submissions only, see guidelines for more details. Reading period opens July 1st, 201; do not submit prior to that date. Deadline: July 31st, 2014.

By the Book

Reading a book in order to learn to do something is nothing new; throughout history knowledge has been preserved and passed along to future generations in book form. People who are book learners tend to seek instruction and understanding of something that they might not otherwise encounter in the course of their daily lives; it's also a very economical form of education for those who can't afford the formal variety.

When a book is both classroom and teacher much of the stress of learning can be eliminated from the equation. A book doesn't give you detentions for not getting your homework done; it always allows you to absorb information at your own pace. There is no competition for the book's attention, either; you're always its only student. Unlike a teacher a book also has no opinion of you, so it is the most unbiased of instructors.

The only major downside I see to learning anything from a book is that you have to be fully committed to learning by reading, and keep that committment. As in the book is not going to call your mom and rat you out for not doing your lessons.

Zentangles are a meditational art form created by doodling repetitive patterns in a small space. While I've been making this sort of art since childhood I've never taken any formal/proper instruction, so I found my way to One Zentangle a Day by Beckah Krahula. this how-to book. I picked it up primarily because of the subtitle: A 6-Week Course in Creative Drawing for Relaxation, Inspiration and Fun, but when I flipped through the pages at the book store I also liked the simple format of the lessons, all of which are accompanied by several illustration and photo examples.

Ms. Krahula begins with an introduction the defines Zentangles and the art supplies she uses to create her own. She also talks about the spiritual comfort she gained from practicing meditational art. She began Zentangling while recovering in the hospital from a major health issue, and that provided some invaluable insight into the benefits of the artform for me. I doodle most when I'm under a great deal of stress, as it's naturally relaxing for me. Now I know why.

I read the entire book before I began the lessons, and with each day's instructions Ms. Krahula offers great tips and technical discussion for the entire six weeks. The materials needed to work through each lesson are listed along with a detailed breakdown of whatever technique she's teaching along with example pictures. The instructions for the day's lesson are very simple and flexible and I think anyone, no matter what sort of experience they have with art, can easily follow the course. With the book pic I've posted you can see three examples of the Zentangles I've made while following the lessons. I think the most valuable things I've learned so far are consistency, how to give up control in order to be more spontaneous (a real challenge for me) and strategic shading to improve the look of the end result.

Art resets me emotionally to a better perspective and gives me a sense of well-being unlike anything else I do creatively, probably because I do it just for myself. Creating art can be stressful for others, especially if their past artistic efforts have left them feeling unskilled or otherwise inadequate, so this might not be a good book for anyone who actively avoids art for those reasons. If you haven't been successful with art in the past but are still open to learning, however, I think Zentangles are a wonderful way to try again.

Offline for Now

It's June, which means it's either raining, thundering, lightning or all three here -- and our broadband doesn't like any of them. Once I can keep a connection long enough to upload my posts I'll be back to catch up. My apologies for any inconvenience this may cause.