Sharon Skinner's Blog, page 13

Blogging

Blogging is easy for some people and extremely difficult for others. I’m kind of in the middle of the pack. I make an effort to blog every week as an additional way to keep in touch with readers through my website and to keep myself engaged. It’s tempting to disengage and shut down while juggling multiple priorities and traveling as much as I do. So, the blog can actually be a way to reground myself. It can also feel a bit like an elephant sized albatross slung around my neck when I am tired and worn out from everything else that I have going on. This means that sometimes there are delays and my posting date gets pushed farther into the week. This is one of those weeks.

As many midlist authors, I have a day job in addition to the writing and editing and promoting of my books. It happens to be a great job that I enjoy very much, but it does take a large chunk of my time and energy to ensure I am meeting all of my responsibilities. As part of my job this past week, I was in St. Louis, MO, attending the 2015 Grant Professionals Conference.

I truly had a good time catching up with colleagues, making new connections and gaining new knowledge. But the five days of travel were five more days away from home and sleeping in a hotel. Sometimes we get to the top of the arch and feel like we need to just let go and slide down the other side. Right now, I feel the kind of tired that we felt as kids after swimming all day at the city pool. It was fun. It was healthy. It was also a great expenditure of energy. Heck, my eyes even feel like they’ve been doused in chlorinated water.

But it’s a good tired, an, I have been busy and productive accomplished tired.

However, it means that this week’s blog is focused on me and how I am feeling, rather than providing insights into craft or thanking people or recapping a book event. Sometimes it’s good to focus inward, to give ourselves some space to feel and just . . . be. It’s a time for reflecting and regrouping and recharging, because you know what? Tomorrow is another day, another opportunity. And, as I always tell my kiddos, if we don’t take care of ourselves, we won’t have anything to give to others.

I look forward to having more to give to you in next week’s blog. Until then, be well and take good care of yourselves.

The post Blogging appeared first on SharonSkinner.com.

Travel & Flash Fiction: Four Phrase Prompt

I am traveling this week, attending the 2015 Grant Professionals Conference #gpaconf15 in St. Louis, MO. Thus, this blog is a couple of days late and will basically be another flash fiction piece. This one was developed using four prompt phrases that I strung together to tell an odd little story.

GLITTER & FUR

They’re detaining my mother in customs, again. I’d go down there and give them a piece of my mind, but the zipper on my furry suit is stuck. I knew I should have opted for the Velcro closure, but I hate the ripping sound that stuff makes when you pull it apart. Ugh. It’s worse than fingernails on a chalkboard. My teeth hurt just thinking about it.

I’d ask for help, but the divas have locked themselves in my bathroom and refuse to come out. They’ve made it clear they won’t be reemerging any time soon, not while the Merry Pinkers are running around tossing paint balls and sparkles everywhere. Not that I blame them. I doubt I’ll ever get all this glitter out of my fur.

I nearly had the Pinkers under control, but I ran out of duct tape and the clothesline knots aren’t holding. Damn plastic stuff. Nylon rope would have been better, but you take what you can get in the middle of the night. Besides, they probably would have managed to work their shears loose sooner or later.

Sometimes I wish I’d chosen another profession, but a calling is a calling. I suppose in the end that the glitter doesn’t matter, it’s likely I’ll have to burn the suit when I’m done, anyway. Too bad, though. I really liked this one, especially the faux leather tail.

 

NEXT APPEARANCE

 

 

 

The post Travel & Flash Fiction: Four Phrase Prompt appeared first on SharonSkinner.com.

More Author Appearances: TusCon 42 Rocked!

TusCon 42 was fabulous fun!

I am being exterminated.

I had a great time hanging out with so many talented and creative people and catching up with friends.

Speaking with Hal Astell at mass author signing with Eric Flint and Colette Black.

I had great co-panelists, including Frankie Robertson, Colette Black, Eric Flint, Bruce Davis, Jessica Feinberg, Linda Addison, Larry Hammer and Kathryn Lance.

My solo Reading/Panel was, as always, packed to capacity with wonderful engaged participants. I love these sessions, as the dialogue is energetic and informative and I learn as much as I teach.

This year’s Guests of Honor were great. Time passed too quickly and there were so many great panel options it was impossible to do all the things.

Bob Nelson, Madam Askew and Steampunk cosplaying Godzilla, er, Gojira.

A huge and hearty thanks to the TusCon 42 organizers, volunteers, guests, panelists and attendees. I am already looking forward to TusCon 43 with great anticipation!

Upcoming Appearances:

This coming weekend, November 6-8, 2015,  you can catch me at Tucson ComiCon.

And on November 20th, 6-10pm, come out and see me at the Chandler Author walk.

The post More Author Appearances: TusCon 42 Rocked! appeared first on SharonSkinner.com.

Young Authors Day Thank Yous Make MY Day

I was traveling again this past weekend, so it wasn’t until this morning that I had a chance to open my collected mail. In the standard stack of assorted junk mail and bills and magazines was a large manila envelope from Mountain View Elementary School. Opening that envelope and reading through the contents truly made my day.

I visited the school recently for their 2015 Young Authors Day, where I taught writing workshops to fourth graders. We talked about character and plot and how to include them in story to make it meaningful and engaging. All the students were bright, creative and very attentive. Teaching to students like this is one of the things I prize about being an author. I always enjoy opportunities to teach and share the knowledge I have acquired while studying and continuing learn and hone my craft.

But I have to admit, one of the best parts of doing school visits are the thank you notes that come in the mail afterward.

The post Young Authors Day Thank Yous Make MY Day appeared first on SharonSkinner.com.

CMX aka Comic and Media Expo 2015 was a blast!

Arizona Wycked Writers panel: Me, Gini Koch and Marsheila Rockwell.

CMX aka Comic and Media Expo 2015 was fabulous. I had such a great time as an author guest at this creative Cosplay Con this past weekend! This is the sort of event that makes my job as an author more fun than work.

I met lots of new readers and saw some of my favorite fans. Huge amounts of gratitude to Gackto for organizing, the volunteers who staffed the event, and especially to Bonny Books and Brick Cave Books for providing the awesome author presence and, of course, places for readers to buy our books.

The vendor hall opened for preview on Friday evening, and on Saturday morning, Dennis Kavanaugh, the Vice Mayor of Mesa, who was also the acting Mayor over the weekend, officially opened the event at the Mesa Convention Center. He even stopped by my booth to check out me new book. Yup. That’s us in the picture below.

I had panels each day of the event and, as you must know by now, I love talking about books and writing, so I had a lot of fun doing all of them.

Solo Panel: Writing with Multiple Protagonists—I had a great group of attendees in this panel, many of whom are writers, were extremely attentive, and who asked great questions. They also laughed at my jokes, which is always a plus.

Flash Fiction: The Heralds

Another bit of Flash Fiction. I used to write a lot of short pieces, usually based on some sort of prompt. I dredged this one up out of a pile of papers while cleaning house this past week. Enjoy.

THE HERALDS

A glimmer of light flickered in the distance. It shimmered, brightening the hillside for a fleeting moment, then faded. It flared again a moment later, farther down the slope, as the torch bearer emerged from the depression of the small vale that lay just below the height of the ridge.

Thomas shook himself and pulled his cloak tighter to keep out the chill wind that crept inside to brush icily against him. Would the harbingers bring word of renewal? Or would the approaching messengers bear doom with them?

His mount whinnied and stamped beneath him.

Behind him, his guards sat rigid, weapons drawn, awaiting the words that would determine his lot. Sacrifice or survivor. One or the other would he be this night, but neither outcome would he welcome.

The post Flash Fiction: The Heralds appeared first on SharonSkinner.com.

Developing Your Writing Process and My Next Author Appearance

Your writing process is your writing process. There are many ways to find your way in and many, many ways to execute a killer story. (Sorry, I just couldn’t help myself.) The point is, that no one can really tell you what your process should be. That is for you to discover. However, there are a great many guides in this business, who are willing to share what they’ve learned along the way. One of my favorites is Darcy Pattison. Darcy is knowledgeable and insightful and continues to learn and share along the way. Her  Novel Metamorphosis: Uncommon Ways to Revise is full of fabulous tools for revising and revisioning your novel. For a heaping helping of writing wisdom this week, I direct you to Darcy Pattison’s Fiction Notes where you can sign up for her newsletter and read past blog entries and learn more about writing and revising.

Next public author appearance for me will be October 16-18, 2015: Comic Media Expo, Mesa Convention Center–Guest Author Appearance. I will be doing panels and also signings in the Brick Cave Books booth. Here is my tentative schedule:

Friday, Oct 16th @ 7 pm: Writing with Multiple Protagonists, Pomeroy Room
Saturday, Oct 17th @ 1pm: Wyked Writers Panel with Gini Koch and Marsheila Rockwell, Robson Room
Sunday, Oct 18th @ 11:30am: First Page Critique with Tom Leveen, Robson Room

If you are coming to CMX, make sure to find me at one of the aforementioned panels, or stop by the Brick Cave booth and say hello!

And be one of the first people to get your hands on The Matriarch’s Devise by ordering a presale copy now.

The post Developing Your Writing Process and My Next Author Appearance appeared first on SharonSkinner.com.

Flash Fiction: Dream Home

Meg shivered as she crossed the cold cabin floor to put a fresh log on the dying embers in the fireplace. Squatting on the hearth, she stirred the coals, blowing gently to encourage the log to light. The embers flared, small flames curling themselves around the fuel. Meg stared into the fire.

The funeral had been held on a bright, warm day in late summer, the kind of day Kent would have called a perfect hiking day. Kent’s sister, Janice, had said that it seemed wrong somehow for the sky to be so blue, the sun so bright, but Meg had known better. Kent would have loved it. Later, her mother tried to talk her out of returning to the cabin. She told Meg  it was dangerous for her to return to the woods alone. What if something happens? she’d asked. What if there’s an accident? Meg had known what she’d meant, what she’d wanted to say. She knew that they all thought Kent would still be alive if only he and Meg had never moved up to the mountains, but Meg had been adamant. The cabin had been their dream, their paradise on earth. It had been the one thing they’d had in common from the first day they’d met, and it had become the driving force behind everything they did, their reason for working so hard, scrimping to save every cent. They had spent all their spare time planning, searching for the right place, and finally, building their dream home.

It wasn’t a big house by most standards, but it was cozy. They had built it right into the side of the mountain so that the earth could provide some protection and insulation from the harsh winter weather. There weren’t any real roads up to the cabin, just old unused logging trails, but their heavy-duty four-wheeler had gotten them in, and out again when they’d wanted, which had been seldom.

Meg placed another log on the fire, grateful for the large store of wood. Kent had always insisted they be more than prepared for any contingency. He’d loved the mountain wilderness, but he’d also had a healthy respect for it. Meg shivered again as she rose from her place in front of the fire. Throwing off her nightshirt, she slipped into jeans and a clean flannel shirt, pulled up her thick wool socks and padded into the kitchen.

It was cold in here, too. She fanned the sleepy coals in the old iron cookstove. There was a kerosene back-up, but she preferred to cook over the sturdy wood-burner. Twinges of loneliness pulled at her as she pumped water into the coffeepot, and scooped the grounds into the basket. She smiled, remembering how Kent had always been up before her.  Making the first pot of coffee had been one of his favorite daily rituals. She would lie in bed stretching, smelling the perking brew, and listen to him humming quietly to himself.

He had always seemed so close back then, even when he was out on one of his solo hikes, photographing the mountain wildlife. Meg would give anything right now to have that back. Even this cabin, this home, she thought. Yes, she glanced around the room, even this.

She poured herself a cup of coffee, watching the tendrils of steam rise from the cup as she reached for the sugar bowl, then paused, spoon hovering over the cup, white crystals suspended above black.

Kent had always drunk it black. She emptied the teaspoon back into the bowl and took a sip, letting the acidic liquid wrap around her tongue, and made a face.

She scooped sugar into her cup and stirred, fixing her coffee the way she wished she could fix her life, covering up the bitterness.

The post Flash Fiction: Dream Home appeared first on SharonSkinner.com.

Navy RTC aka Boot Camp: Grinning Through the Grind

Being at Navy RTC (aka boot camp) and living in a single room with 77 other women came with a unique set of challenges, not the least of which was figuring out how to not only get along, but to work as a team.

I admit the passage of time has dimmed to a blur the actual schedule of daily events. One day seemed much like another, filled with learning and drilling and scrubbing and polishing. (Lather, rinse, spit shine, repeat.) But a few things stand out and while not all of the big moments make me smile, I can recall some of them quite clearly. And some of them are still funny.

The first couple of weeks were spent learning the ropes, among other things. We learned to tie knots, grew to understand Navy jargon (a language all its own), and attempted to march in formation. Being a dancer for many years and having spent time on the HS drill team, I was unprepared for the lack of coordination of many of my new “ship mates.” I had no idea it was that hard for some people to step in time to cadence.

Because we were so bad at it, we spent a lot of time practicing our marching skills, such as they were, out on a large paved area called the grinder. (Yes, grinder. March around outdoors on a hard surface for hours on end in Florida in June and the name makes sense.) The weather was steamy, averaging around 95 degrees with 73% humidity. (I found the historic weather details scrolling through the online almanac.) While I admit to not remembering the temperature specifically, I do recall how it felt. Especially when standing at attention wearing a diverse cloud of insect life like a living, buzzing helmet that we could not swat away. And we stood at attention a lot. (Facial tics became the norm, but even that had to be done when no one was looking.)

The Recruit Division Commander (RDC) discovered early on that my theater background provided me with the ability to call out cadence in a voice that carried all the way from the back of the unit to the front, and she used me to this purpose. Unfortunately, that also meant that my name was one of the first she learned. And the one name that seemed to stick with her.

As if being raised Catholic hadn’t provided me with enough guilt, no matter where we went or what we were doing, and even when I was marching completely in time, the RDC was constantly yelling, “Skinner, get back in line!” “Skinner, move your ass!” or “Skinner, get in step!” It boggled my mind at first, as I knew I was doing what I was supposed to. I was often the one calling cadence, after all. But after a while, I simply accepted the fact that she had decided to single me out for whatever reason.

Some of the other activities that took place those first couple of weeks included visits to medical—as a group to get shots—or dental, where we went singly by appointment, to have our teeth checked. When my name was called for an appointment, I ran up and stood at attention before the RDC, who sent me “double time” over to dental. After having my teeth prodded and x-rayed, I was sent back to my unit. When I arrived back at the barracks, I was met with raucous laughter.

Turns out, while I was at dental, the Training Unit continued to march and drill out on the grinder, and all the while our RDC kept yelling, “Skinner, get back in line!” “Skinner, move your ass!” and “Skinner, get in step!”

After that, all the way through graduation, it didn’t matter who did what. If there was blame to place, no matter what it was, the automatic response was “Skinner did it.”

 

The post Navy RTC aka Boot Camp: Grinning Through the Grind appeared first on SharonSkinner.com.

In the Navy: Arrival at RTC Orlando

Naval Training Command, Orlando, Florida circa 1977

I really don’t recall the first leg of travel. It was 1977 and a lot of things fade after nearly 40 years. I was already out of the house when I joined, so there was no big send off. Nothing to really bookmark.

My journey really started at the depot where they loaded us on the buses. It was the middle of the night, and I shivered—not from the cold, it was June in Florida, after all, and not particularly chilly—dread and anticipation rode my being equally.

And I was tired.

It’s a long way from California to Florida. Even longer when you’re barely twenty and you’ve signed your life away for the next four years, placed yourself in a position to be told what to do, when to do it, and how to do it. After all my rebelliousness and leaving home at an early age, here I was, standing among gray-faced strangers, loading bags onto a gray bus in the gray night, not knowing what to expect, yet knowing I had agreed to place my life in someone else’s hands. Irony is not a concept I knew well before I entered this phase of my life’s journey, and I had no idea we would grow to be such bosom buddies along the way.

The bus rumbled through the dark and I don’t recall there being much conversation, but time and distance fray the edges of memory. I only know that I was quiet.

How long was the ride? Twenty minutes from the Airport to RTC Orlando, according to this site, which also contains some great photos and additional information, but for me it seemed longer.

When we got off the bus at the receiving center, we were lined up and ushered inside where we were given a stack of bedding and uniforms and instructed to label and hand over our personal belongings. From there, we were marched—not that you could call what we managed actual marching, yet—to a barracks and assigned a “rack,” the Navy term for a bed.

It was around 1:30am when we fell (or climbed, if you were on the top rack) into bed.

Suddenly, there was a great ruckus. Metal garbage cans crashed down the center of the room. Trash can lids clanged together. People yelled, screamed and blew ear-piercing whistles, directly in our faces.

Startled and bleary-eyed, 78 young women scrambled out of bed, trying to make sense of the chaos. Some of them ran in circles, still asleep and with no idea how to escape the madness. The command to “hit the line” rang out over and over, but no one knew what “the line” was, much less where to find it, nor how to “hit it.” It was like being thrust into the center of a Keystone Cops drill, only this was serious.

Finally, the “Blue Ropes” as we came to know them, started to shout clearer instructions. “Stand here!” They pointed and ordered. “Straighten up!” “Hands at your sides!” “Eyes forward.”

We finally found ourselves assembled into two more or less straight lines, standing at what passed for us at the time as attention—wide-eyed, groggy-headed, adrenaline-filled, ready-to-be-hatched sailors.

It was 0400 hours.

“Welcome to RTC Orlando.” AKA Navy boot camp.

Not what we actually looked like when we arrived at RTC Orlando.

The post In the Navy: Arrival at RTC Orlando appeared first on SharonSkinner.com.