Bill Bodden's Blog - Posts Tagged "guest-blog"
Guest Blog by Alex Bledsoe: Speaking Of Monsters
I first met Alex Bledsoe at a reading from his first novel, Blood Groove, in May of 2009. Since then, he’s released a number of other novels across three series and a half-dozen or so short stories. His sequel to Blood Groove, Girls With Games Of Blood, currently awaits my attention on my to-read shelf. He has also launched a series of fantasy novels involving the exploits of a detective, Eddie LaCrosse, and he recently created a new series about an isolated group of people in East Tennessee, the Tufa.
Alex and I shared billing in two anthologies, and spent time together reading from our stories to promote the books: Haunted: Eleven Tales of Ghostly Horror, and Sidekicks!. His story in Sidekicks! is one I admire tremendously; at the same time spare and rich in words, he delivers a clever story with a surprising ending that was the perfect tale to lead off the book.
Alex’s own website can be found at alexbledsoe.com, where one can find his appearances schedule, more information on his books, and his own blog.
***
SPEAKING OF MONSTERS
by Alex Bledsoe
With each Eddie LaCrosse novel, I try to strike out in a new direction, bringing in fresh influences. For example, Dark Jenny was my take on Arthurian stories, while Wake of the Bloody Angel contained everything I loved about pirates.
The latest, He Drank, and Saw the Spider, draws from the works of Shakespeare: not directly, but if you’re familiar with his plays, you’ll probably spot plenty of things you recognize, tweaked to work in Eddie’s world. And one of those things is a monster, who I call Tatterhead.
First, I should say that I love monsters. From Frankenstein’s creation to Godzilla, from King Kong to the kaiju of Pacific Rim, I just adore them. I love their scale, their strangeness, their ability to destroy beyond all reason, and the fear they inspire. And a lot of that is because monsters don’t actually exist: in the real world, things are limited by biology, physics and evolution. A five-hundred-foot lizard simply couldn’t exist, but man, what if one did? That’s the thrill they give you, whether you’re five or fifty.
Tatterhead’s antecedent is pretty clearly Caliban, the “monster” from The Tempest. Just as many of Shakespeare’s plays can work in various unlikely settings (The Tempest itself provided the framework for the SF classic Forbidden Planet), even individual characters can be made to represent things that never even existed when Shakespeare wrote his plays.
In the play, the magician Prospero is marooned on an island with his daughter. Caliban is the island’s only other corporeal inhabitant, son of the witch Sycorax and supposedly fathered by a devil. Caliban is depicted as primitive and amoral, and even tries to unapologetically rape Prospero’s daughter. He plots ludicrously to kill Prospero in one of the play’s goofier sub-plots. And he’s been used to represent the oppressed masses of almost every era since Shakespeare’s. After all, the island used to belong to him, until that rich/powerful/European/capitalist/paternalistic/trope of your choice Prospero came along.
But is he really a monster?
There’s a lots of scholarly stuff written about that, and I’ll leave it to you to pursue it if you’re so inclined. For me, he was: partly human, but partly not, and with a legitimate grievance against Prospero for taking over “his” island. And were Prospero not a magician, Caliban might’ve wreaked much more monster-like damage on the island and those on it.
When I set about putting a Caliban-esque figure in He Drank, and Saw the Spider, I wanted him to be a monster, but one that could speak, feel, and interact with Eddie and the other human characters. In fact, I wanted his “monster” status to be a bit ambivalent to both the characters and the reader, so their view of him would change as the story progressed.
Luckily, Shakespeare’s actual physical description of Caliban is rather vague, so I wasn’t locked into anything. Much as when I depicted dragons in Burn Me Deadly, I tried to apply some level of biological realism; I didn’t want a character so far outside Darwinian nature that he’d be laughable. That’s why I made an issue of his distinctive odor, something that often precedes him; it’s hard to believe a monster wouldn’t smell at least a little unpleasant.
As for his personality–is he friend or foe?–you’ll have to read the novel. Which also features a sorceress, a slumming prince, a wise-crackering reporte–uh, I mean, scribe, bad sheep jokes and a barn full of babies. It’s available January 14th from Tor.
Alex and I shared billing in two anthologies, and spent time together reading from our stories to promote the books: Haunted: Eleven Tales of Ghostly Horror, and Sidekicks!. His story in Sidekicks! is one I admire tremendously; at the same time spare and rich in words, he delivers a clever story with a surprising ending that was the perfect tale to lead off the book.
Alex’s own website can be found at alexbledsoe.com, where one can find his appearances schedule, more information on his books, and his own blog.
***
SPEAKING OF MONSTERS
by Alex Bledsoe
With each Eddie LaCrosse novel, I try to strike out in a new direction, bringing in fresh influences. For example, Dark Jenny was my take on Arthurian stories, while Wake of the Bloody Angel contained everything I loved about pirates.
The latest, He Drank, and Saw the Spider, draws from the works of Shakespeare: not directly, but if you’re familiar with his plays, you’ll probably spot plenty of things you recognize, tweaked to work in Eddie’s world. And one of those things is a monster, who I call Tatterhead.
First, I should say that I love monsters. From Frankenstein’s creation to Godzilla, from King Kong to the kaiju of Pacific Rim, I just adore them. I love their scale, their strangeness, their ability to destroy beyond all reason, and the fear they inspire. And a lot of that is because monsters don’t actually exist: in the real world, things are limited by biology, physics and evolution. A five-hundred-foot lizard simply couldn’t exist, but man, what if one did? That’s the thrill they give you, whether you’re five or fifty.
Tatterhead’s antecedent is pretty clearly Caliban, the “monster” from The Tempest. Just as many of Shakespeare’s plays can work in various unlikely settings (The Tempest itself provided the framework for the SF classic Forbidden Planet), even individual characters can be made to represent things that never even existed when Shakespeare wrote his plays.
In the play, the magician Prospero is marooned on an island with his daughter. Caliban is the island’s only other corporeal inhabitant, son of the witch Sycorax and supposedly fathered by a devil. Caliban is depicted as primitive and amoral, and even tries to unapologetically rape Prospero’s daughter. He plots ludicrously to kill Prospero in one of the play’s goofier sub-plots. And he’s been used to represent the oppressed masses of almost every era since Shakespeare’s. After all, the island used to belong to him, until that rich/powerful/European/capitalist/paternalistic/trope of your choice Prospero came along.
But is he really a monster?
There’s a lots of scholarly stuff written about that, and I’ll leave it to you to pursue it if you’re so inclined. For me, he was: partly human, but partly not, and with a legitimate grievance against Prospero for taking over “his” island. And were Prospero not a magician, Caliban might’ve wreaked much more monster-like damage on the island and those on it.
When I set about putting a Caliban-esque figure in He Drank, and Saw the Spider, I wanted him to be a monster, but one that could speak, feel, and interact with Eddie and the other human characters. In fact, I wanted his “monster” status to be a bit ambivalent to both the characters and the reader, so their view of him would change as the story progressed.
Luckily, Shakespeare’s actual physical description of Caliban is rather vague, so I wasn’t locked into anything. Much as when I depicted dragons in Burn Me Deadly, I tried to apply some level of biological realism; I didn’t want a character so far outside Darwinian nature that he’d be laughable. That’s why I made an issue of his distinctive odor, something that often precedes him; it’s hard to believe a monster wouldn’t smell at least a little unpleasant.
As for his personality–is he friend or foe?–you’ll have to read the novel. Which also features a sorceress, a slumming prince, a wise-crackering reporte–uh, I mean, scribe, bad sheep jokes and a barn full of babies. It’s available January 14th from Tor.
Guest Blog by Alana Joli Abbott: Wibbly wobbly timey wimey
Despite working on several projects together, including us both being contributors to Haunted: Eleven Tales of Ghostly Horror, Alana and I have never met in person. I admire her writing talents, and am amazed at just how much writing she does besides her fiction work.
***
Wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey
Alana Joli Abbott
A lot of people will tell you that the hardest part about writing isn’t getting the ideas. It’s not coming up with snappy dialog, although that’s a challenge. It’s not even revision. Common wisdom says that the most difficult part of writing is writing.
I’m here to tell you that for me, that isn’t it either. For me, the most difficult part of being a freelance writer is finding – or making – time.
Here’s a little about me. I’m a freelance writer and editor. I’ve been doing this gig – sometimes part time, sometimes full time – for almost ten years now. I write games . I write fiction . I write blog posts about trending topics. I write obituaries and edit autobiographical essays by notable writers. I write a lot of book reviews. I do some project management. I even ran a
successful Kickstarter to fund the self-publication of my third novel after the original publisher went defunct.
I’m also a stay at home mom, a practicing black belt in kempo, and the secretary of my daughter’s pre-school board. (Yeah, we have one.) And here’s the truth. There is never, never enough time.
When I was a kid (before I realized I was destined to write speculative fiction – this should have been a clue), I used to wish I had a little pocket dimension where I could go and hang out to read books or do my homework, but not lose time in the real world. Even that early, I knew I wanted extra hours in the day. I would imagine this lush green meadow under a bright sky where I could relax. Or take a nap. Or practice running so I could stop being so bad in gym class. I wished that I could master the tesseract ala Madeline L’Engle’s Wrinkle in Time, so that I wouldn’t lose time traveling. Come to think of it, I still crave those things, although I’ve realized that the Internet, one of my great tools of the trade, wouldn’t work very well in a pocket dimension.
I’d like this to be a post about how I mastered time management. I’d like that – but it wouldn’t be true.
Finding time is, to me, the hardest thing about writing because it’s an area where I constantly feel like I can improve. I squeeze in hours for writing contracted assignments during school. I stay up late. Sometimes, very rarely, I get up early. And the work gets done. But every day I feel like I’m still trying to figure out how to do it better. In fact, I only have two tips.
Take a little bit of downtime, even when it feels like there isn’t any. Because some nights, if I don’t sit down and catch the latest episode of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D with my husband or do something equally light on brain activity, I’ll sit at the keyboard and just feel tired. Example: on a night I spent an hour relaxing, in the next two hours, I wrote three essays. The next night, in the same three-hour period but with no me-time, I agonized over finishing one.
Try to find writing gigs that you love and really want to work on. I’m doing revisions on that third novel – the one funded by Kickstarter – right now, and it’s almost as much fun to be back in that world, doing those rewrites, as it is to be reading a book just for fun. Not quite, but almost.
If you’re a writer or are self-employed in another pursuit, how do you manage your time? What tricks have you learned to create more hours in the day?
Also, if you know where to find a pocket dimension on eBay, I’d love the listing…
--
Alana Joli Abbott is a freelance writer and editor whose short fiction has appeared online and in anthologies, including Haunted: 11 Tales of Ghostly Horror. Her most recent interactive fiction game, Showdown at Willow Creek, is a Western detective novel in a multiple choice format. Her third novel, Regaining Home, is forthcoming at DriveThruFiction and other online booksellers. You can find her at her home page at Virgil and Beatrice or at her Friday column on comics and interactive fiction on Black Gate.
***
Wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey
Alana Joli Abbott
A lot of people will tell you that the hardest part about writing isn’t getting the ideas. It’s not coming up with snappy dialog, although that’s a challenge. It’s not even revision. Common wisdom says that the most difficult part of writing is writing.
I’m here to tell you that for me, that isn’t it either. For me, the most difficult part of being a freelance writer is finding – or making – time.
Here’s a little about me. I’m a freelance writer and editor. I’ve been doing this gig – sometimes part time, sometimes full time – for almost ten years now. I write games . I write fiction . I write blog posts about trending topics. I write obituaries and edit autobiographical essays by notable writers. I write a lot of book reviews. I do some project management. I even ran a
successful Kickstarter to fund the self-publication of my third novel after the original publisher went defunct.
I’m also a stay at home mom, a practicing black belt in kempo, and the secretary of my daughter’s pre-school board. (Yeah, we have one.) And here’s the truth. There is never, never enough time.
When I was a kid (before I realized I was destined to write speculative fiction – this should have been a clue), I used to wish I had a little pocket dimension where I could go and hang out to read books or do my homework, but not lose time in the real world. Even that early, I knew I wanted extra hours in the day. I would imagine this lush green meadow under a bright sky where I could relax. Or take a nap. Or practice running so I could stop being so bad in gym class. I wished that I could master the tesseract ala Madeline L’Engle’s Wrinkle in Time, so that I wouldn’t lose time traveling. Come to think of it, I still crave those things, although I’ve realized that the Internet, one of my great tools of the trade, wouldn’t work very well in a pocket dimension.
I’d like this to be a post about how I mastered time management. I’d like that – but it wouldn’t be true.
Finding time is, to me, the hardest thing about writing because it’s an area where I constantly feel like I can improve. I squeeze in hours for writing contracted assignments during school. I stay up late. Sometimes, very rarely, I get up early. And the work gets done. But every day I feel like I’m still trying to figure out how to do it better. In fact, I only have two tips.
Take a little bit of downtime, even when it feels like there isn’t any. Because some nights, if I don’t sit down and catch the latest episode of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D with my husband or do something equally light on brain activity, I’ll sit at the keyboard and just feel tired. Example: on a night I spent an hour relaxing, in the next two hours, I wrote three essays. The next night, in the same three-hour period but with no me-time, I agonized over finishing one.
Try to find writing gigs that you love and really want to work on. I’m doing revisions on that third novel – the one funded by Kickstarter – right now, and it’s almost as much fun to be back in that world, doing those rewrites, as it is to be reading a book just for fun. Not quite, but almost.
If you’re a writer or are self-employed in another pursuit, how do you manage your time? What tricks have you learned to create more hours in the day?
Also, if you know where to find a pocket dimension on eBay, I’d love the listing…
--
Alana Joli Abbott is a freelance writer and editor whose short fiction has appeared online and in anthologies, including Haunted: 11 Tales of Ghostly Horror. Her most recent interactive fiction game, Showdown at Willow Creek, is a Western detective novel in a multiple choice format. Her third novel, Regaining Home, is forthcoming at DriveThruFiction and other online booksellers. You can find her at her home page at Virgil and Beatrice or at her Friday column on comics and interactive fiction on Black Gate.
Guest Blog Post: Steve Lickman
What is Metastasis?
me•tas•ta•sis :noun, plural me•tas•ta•ses
1. Pathology .
a. the transference of disease-producing organisms or of malignant or cancerous cells to otherparts of the body by way of the blood or lymphatic vessels or membranous surfaces.
b. the condition produced by this.
2. Transformation
- Random House Dictionary
Are you alone? If not, take note of the two closest people. If you are, imagine the two most important people in your life are sitting next to you: one on your left and one on your right. Now know this. At some point one of the three of you will be infected with cancer. Actually, if you imagined one or more men with you, chances are that two of you will suffer from it.
Sorry if you find that an unpleasant thought, but those are the statistics . The older I get the scarier those statistics become. But I know I’m not alone. Cancer scares us. It’s the slow death sentence, the wasting disease of mystery. For all that science has learned about cancer there is still so much we do not know. Worse, there is no shortage of people who will pray upon our fears to spread misinformation.
To help combat this uncertainty WolfSinger Publications has released Metastasis, a charity anthology to benefit cancer research. Edited by Rhonda Parrish, the collection contains 26 speculative fiction stories and poems. Each story examines the impact of the disease. None of them flinch away. For example, my own story, "Next Placement", deals with how cancer treatment can damage an individual’s sexual identity.
It was not a simple story to write. But the moment I read the open call for submissions, I knew I had to submit something. I am no stranger to cancer. Several of my friends and family have felt cancer’s touch. In fact, on the day Metastasis was released I learned that my beloved 10 year old corgi had nasal carcinoma. He’s fighting it now, but there is no cure. My family must one day make the tough call to throw the towel in on his fight.
Again I know I’m not alone. The numbers don’t lie.
So aside from raising awareness, how does this anthology help? Over 62% of all proceeds from the sale of Metastasis are being donated to the American Cancer Society. WolfSinger Publications recently announced that Metastasis was their best selling print book for 2013. That’s good news. Not just for the authors involved, but for cancer research as well. But it would be sweeter if we could keep the momentum going.
I won’t lie to you. Metastasis is not an easy read. But I think it is a damn good one. Make no mistake; the stories inside it will make you forget your cares. Just not in the traditional sense.
Metastasis can be bought from the following places:
Amazon.com
Smashwords.com
Barnes & Nobles.com
You can learn more about Steve Lickman at his website, beerandmonsters.com
me•tas•ta•sis :noun, plural me•tas•ta•ses
1. Pathology .
a. the transference of disease-producing organisms or of malignant or cancerous cells to otherparts of the body by way of the blood or lymphatic vessels or membranous surfaces.
b. the condition produced by this.
2. Transformation
- Random House Dictionary
Are you alone? If not, take note of the two closest people. If you are, imagine the two most important people in your life are sitting next to you: one on your left and one on your right. Now know this. At some point one of the three of you will be infected with cancer. Actually, if you imagined one or more men with you, chances are that two of you will suffer from it.
Sorry if you find that an unpleasant thought, but those are the statistics . The older I get the scarier those statistics become. But I know I’m not alone. Cancer scares us. It’s the slow death sentence, the wasting disease of mystery. For all that science has learned about cancer there is still so much we do not know. Worse, there is no shortage of people who will pray upon our fears to spread misinformation.
To help combat this uncertainty WolfSinger Publications has released Metastasis, a charity anthology to benefit cancer research. Edited by Rhonda Parrish, the collection contains 26 speculative fiction stories and poems. Each story examines the impact of the disease. None of them flinch away. For example, my own story, "Next Placement", deals with how cancer treatment can damage an individual’s sexual identity.
It was not a simple story to write. But the moment I read the open call for submissions, I knew I had to submit something. I am no stranger to cancer. Several of my friends and family have felt cancer’s touch. In fact, on the day Metastasis was released I learned that my beloved 10 year old corgi had nasal carcinoma. He’s fighting it now, but there is no cure. My family must one day make the tough call to throw the towel in on his fight.
Again I know I’m not alone. The numbers don’t lie.
So aside from raising awareness, how does this anthology help? Over 62% of all proceeds from the sale of Metastasis are being donated to the American Cancer Society. WolfSinger Publications recently announced that Metastasis was their best selling print book for 2013. That’s good news. Not just for the authors involved, but for cancer research as well. But it would be sweeter if we could keep the momentum going.
I won’t lie to you. Metastasis is not an easy read. But I think it is a damn good one. Make no mistake; the stories inside it will make you forget your cares. Just not in the traditional sense.
Metastasis can be bought from the following places:
Amazon.com
Smashwords.com
Barnes & Nobles.com
You can learn more about Steve Lickman at his website, beerandmonsters.com
Guest blogger: LaShawn Wanak
I first met LaShawn at Odyssey Con in Madison, Wisconsin a few years ago, and am continually amazed at her fearlessness and the strength of her convictions. We both submitted stories to
Dark Faith: Invocations
; mine didn't make the cut, but hers did, and I encourage you to read it.
***
Novel Evolution IGNITE (or how to endure Revision Hell)
I have a confession to make. I always tear up at Digimon.
You know the parts where Digimon is in danger--Digimon, Pokemon, Beyblade, whatever, I have a 9 year old, don't judge me--and it looks like the poor thing is beaten to a pulp and it's going to die--wait, no, sorry--pass out. Just when things look bleak, the kid/trainer/pseudo cock-fight master yells, "Come on! You can do it! Keep trying! You can't give up now!" And blazing golden light flare up around the Digimon/beyblade/pokemon and they become STRONGER and they BEAT THE BAD GUYS and SAVE THE DAY and even TAKE OVER THE WORLD.
It's all sappy and sweet and manipulative tripe, yet, dang it, I always get weepy eyed over it.
Because sometimes they don't win. Sometimes the Beyblade breaks or the battle is lost. When that happens, the kids don't give up. They take their broken Beyblade/Digimon/Pokemon, fix them up, then they do more training. Some day, they're going to win that ultimate battle. Someday they'll get that shiny trophy. Someday they evolve that pokedigimonblayde into something beautiful and powerful; who knows, maybe it'll even be capable of destroying the world. But it can't happen without the constant training.
I've been working professionally on my first novel for over nine years now. I say professionally because, in reality, I started writing this novel in college, but I didn't get serious about it until nine years ago. I then threw out what I originally had and started over from scratch. I finished the novel in 2010, workshopped it at Viable Paradise in 2011, and now I'm working on the second draft. I sent it out to my reader list, they said it was better, but there's still some problems to fix, which means I have to do yet another draft.
This is what they call Revision Hell. I want this book to be done. I want it all over with. I want to quit.
Thing is, there's this part inside of me that refuses to quit. There's a tiny little pokemon/digimon/Beyblade trainer inside of me that says, "Don't give up, LaShawn! You can do it! Tackle those issues! Write those extra scenes out! Cut those characters! Make that plot point clearer! Come on! You can't give up now!" Occasionally, though, that little trainer gets drowned out by low self-esteem monsters. "You can't do it," they cry. "How long have you've been working on this? Quit wasting your time. What was that line about polishing turds? Give up. You can't win."
This is why it's so important to have beta readers. People you can trust to say, "This is crap." or "This is crap, but if you do this, this and this, it won't be crap anymore." Or, "Don't give up. You're almost there. I really like this. Keep writing!"
For the longest time, I wouldn't show my work to anyone, thinking I could trust myself to figure out problems on my own. They say that writing is supposed to be a lonely business, but I've found that not to be the case. You need another pair of eyes. You need people you can trust who can give you the advice you need to make your story better. And you need people to help cheer you on. To give you the motivation you need to get yourself back out there, on the field, to keep going, even when you want to quit.
Without that outside influence, I would have given up long ago.
So let this post be your personal cheerleader. If you're in revision hell, don't give up. Keep working on your book. Each editing pass will make it more fit, more ready. There are plenty of ways to find readers. Join a critique group, or attend a workshop Viable Paradise is now open for submissions, just to throw out a suggestion) And keep revising. Even when you don't want to. Even when you want to quit. Finish that book.
And one day, when you release that book into the world, and it digivolves into a ravenous, New York Times slaying best-seller that rips out people's hearts and brings about the Amazon Apocalypse, just be sure to thank me on your credit page.
***
LaShawn M. Wanak is a graduate of Viable Paradise. Her short fiction can be found at Daily Science Fiction, EscapePod and Ideomancer as well as in the anthologies What Fates Impose and Dark Faith: Invocations . Her newest story, “21 Steps to Enlightenment (Minus One)” will be published at Strange Horizons on February 3, 2014. Visit her at her blog, The Café in the Woods .
***
Novel Evolution IGNITE (or how to endure Revision Hell)
I have a confession to make. I always tear up at Digimon.
You know the parts where Digimon is in danger--Digimon, Pokemon, Beyblade, whatever, I have a 9 year old, don't judge me--and it looks like the poor thing is beaten to a pulp and it's going to die--wait, no, sorry--pass out. Just when things look bleak, the kid/trainer/pseudo cock-fight master yells, "Come on! You can do it! Keep trying! You can't give up now!" And blazing golden light flare up around the Digimon/beyblade/pokemon and they become STRONGER and they BEAT THE BAD GUYS and SAVE THE DAY and even TAKE OVER THE WORLD.
It's all sappy and sweet and manipulative tripe, yet, dang it, I always get weepy eyed over it.
Because sometimes they don't win. Sometimes the Beyblade breaks or the battle is lost. When that happens, the kids don't give up. They take their broken Beyblade/Digimon/Pokemon, fix them up, then they do more training. Some day, they're going to win that ultimate battle. Someday they'll get that shiny trophy. Someday they evolve that pokedigimonblayde into something beautiful and powerful; who knows, maybe it'll even be capable of destroying the world. But it can't happen without the constant training.
I've been working professionally on my first novel for over nine years now. I say professionally because, in reality, I started writing this novel in college, but I didn't get serious about it until nine years ago. I then threw out what I originally had and started over from scratch. I finished the novel in 2010, workshopped it at Viable Paradise in 2011, and now I'm working on the second draft. I sent it out to my reader list, they said it was better, but there's still some problems to fix, which means I have to do yet another draft.
This is what they call Revision Hell. I want this book to be done. I want it all over with. I want to quit.
Thing is, there's this part inside of me that refuses to quit. There's a tiny little pokemon/digimon/Beyblade trainer inside of me that says, "Don't give up, LaShawn! You can do it! Tackle those issues! Write those extra scenes out! Cut those characters! Make that plot point clearer! Come on! You can't give up now!" Occasionally, though, that little trainer gets drowned out by low self-esteem monsters. "You can't do it," they cry. "How long have you've been working on this? Quit wasting your time. What was that line about polishing turds? Give up. You can't win."
This is why it's so important to have beta readers. People you can trust to say, "This is crap." or "This is crap, but if you do this, this and this, it won't be crap anymore." Or, "Don't give up. You're almost there. I really like this. Keep writing!"
For the longest time, I wouldn't show my work to anyone, thinking I could trust myself to figure out problems on my own. They say that writing is supposed to be a lonely business, but I've found that not to be the case. You need another pair of eyes. You need people you can trust who can give you the advice you need to make your story better. And you need people to help cheer you on. To give you the motivation you need to get yourself back out there, on the field, to keep going, even when you want to quit.
Without that outside influence, I would have given up long ago.
So let this post be your personal cheerleader. If you're in revision hell, don't give up. Keep working on your book. Each editing pass will make it more fit, more ready. There are plenty of ways to find readers. Join a critique group, or attend a workshop Viable Paradise is now open for submissions, just to throw out a suggestion) And keep revising. Even when you don't want to. Even when you want to quit. Finish that book.
And one day, when you release that book into the world, and it digivolves into a ravenous, New York Times slaying best-seller that rips out people's hearts and brings about the Amazon Apocalypse, just be sure to thank me on your credit page.
***
LaShawn M. Wanak is a graduate of Viable Paradise. Her short fiction can be found at Daily Science Fiction, EscapePod and Ideomancer as well as in the anthologies What Fates Impose and Dark Faith: Invocations . Her newest story, “21 Steps to Enlightenment (Minus One)” will be published at Strange Horizons on February 3, 2014. Visit her at her blog, The Café in the Woods .
MY Guest bloggage
Alana Joli Abbott graciously offered to host a guest post by myself over at her blog. In it, I talk about the Cthulhu Mythos, mythology in general, and what I'm working on now. Here's the link:
http://alanajoli.livejournal.com/1815...
Next week I'll be back posting my own self to my blog. Stay tuned!
http://alanajoli.livejournal.com/1815...
Next week I'll be back posting my own self to my blog. Stay tuned!
Quick Note
I'm the guest blogger today over at the journal of Sarah Hans. Sarah was my editor for Sidekicks!; she is a fantastic person and great to work with.
The post is all about networking, a practice that is essential for writers, whether novice or veteran:
here's the link: http://sarahhans.com/2014/02/24/guest...
The post is all about networking, a practice that is essential for writers, whether novice or veteran:
here's the link: http://sarahhans.com/2014/02/24/guest...
