Renee Carter Hall's Blog, page 9
December 27, 2012
New anthology: For All Eternity
I’ll be back soon with the obligatory year-end wrap-up blog post, but for now, I wanted to share that I have a story in the new anthology For All Eternity: Tales of the Seven Deadly Sins, published by Dark Opus Press.
As the subtitle suggests, the anthology is a collection of seven stories, each based on one of the traditional seven deadly sins. My story, “A Fragment of Shadow,” is a historical dark fantasy piece set among the master glassblowers of Italy on the island of Murano, and deals with the deadly sin with which I find myself most familiar — the sin of envy. The story took a while to find the right home, and for a time I had figured it might just become a trunk story and never be published at all, but then came this call for submissions, and the fit was perfect.
The paperback version of the anthology is now available from CreateSpace, and it looks as though an ebook via Smashwords may be coming along later on.
December 6, 2012
“Six Impossible Things” now free on Amazon
Just a quick post to let everyone know that, if you haven’t already downloaded my free short story mini-collection Six Impossible Things, it’s now (finally) available for free on Amazon. (Don’t have a Kindle? Download free Kindle apps for your phone/tablet/computer, or pick up any of the major formats–including PDF and plain text–over at Smashwords.)
Not much else to report on the writing front — I was laid off from my day job a week ago, so my time lately is spent filling out applications and/or listing things on eBay…
December 1, 2012
TTA Press’ Advent Calendar
TTA Press, publisher of Black Static, Interzone, and Crimewave, is doing a fun Advent calendar for the month of December, featuring a new link every day to a piece of flash fiction or poetry (possibly Christmas-themed, though that wasn’t a strict requirement) by one of their previous contributors. (I was in issue #29 of Black Static.)
The calendar kicked off today with a link to my flash piece “Nativity,” as well as a link to the calendar’s discussion thread:
http://ttapress.com/1509/the-advent-calendar-2012/0/5/
To keep up with the contributions all month long, just go to their website and click on Interzone, Black Static, or Crimewave.
November 19, 2012
Publication updates
If you missed “Nevermore” when it was emailed out to subscribers, it’s now online to read at the Daily Science Fiction website:
http://dailysciencefiction.com/science-fiction/disaster-apocalypse/renee-carter-hall/nevermore
I’ve also found out that my flash fiction piece “Nativity” was a runner-up in the quarterly Women on Writing Flash Fiction Contest. (See the full list of winners.) I admit I’m disappointed it didn’t place higher, but it was still nice to be chosen for the top ten and win a prize, and I’m looking forward to the interview on the WOW blog. At any rate, think of “Nativity” as something of an early Christmas card for my readers. 
November 4, 2012
“Nevermore” at Daily Science Fiction
My flash fiction piece (or perhaps microfiction, since it’s short even by flash standards) “Nevermore” will be sent out in this Thursday’s email edition of Daily Science Fiction. (Technically, the animal involved in the story is a crow, not a raven, but… well, same family, anyway.)
If you’re not already subscribed to DSF, it’s free, and you get a daily dose of excellent f/sf in your inbox. You can subscribe right on the Daily Science Fiction website – just put in your email address in the right-hand column under “Subscribe.” (Your email won’t be shared, and you can unsubscribe at any time.)
If you don’t want to subscribe, you can still read the story when it’s posted on their website on the 15th.
Hoping to be around with more regular updates once I get back to a normal routine — husband had eye surgery on Friday, so that’s where most of my concerns have been lately…
October 26, 2012
NaNoWriMo! Or not.
So. After much thought, much wincing at the calendar, and much wondering where the heck October went, I’ve decided to bail on NaNoWriMo again (after skipping Camp NaNo this summer). Much like this hurricane now steaming toward us, there’s been a perfect storm of circumstances that make writing 50,000 words in November something that I really don’t want to have to focus on or worry about.
First, there’s the possibility that my husband may need surgery in early November. We’re keeping our fingers crossed that he won’t, but the chance is there, and if that were to happen, the last thing on earth I want to be concerned with is how many words I’ve written that day or week.
Second, I’ve got a story that needs to be done by November 15 that I haven’t gotten nearly as far along on as I’d like (and that I don’t want to blast out in a NaNo-style spree, because both it and the editor deserve better than me dashing something off).
And third, of course, is that half-finished novel I’ve already got sitting around, that I’d hoped to complete this year. (Forget October — where did this year ago, anyway?)
On top of all that, of the two projects I was considering doing next month, one really needs more extensive planning than I have time for right now, and the other is feeling like it’s probably going to be more like a novella. (I tried doing the write-a-bunch-of-short-stuff thing for NaNo a few years back, and it wasn’t fun, so I don’t want to repeat that.)
As with Camp NaNo this year, I know I could just start in, write as much as I can, and not worry about making the goal. The thing is, it’s really hard for me to not worry about making the goal. I’ve never been the “oh, well, who cares, I’ll just participate for the fun of it and see how much I can do” sort. I’ve ‘won’ NaNoWriMo every time I’ve participated, and breaking that satisfying little streak without making it to the finish line would leave me feeling guiltier and less productive than if I skip doing it at all. Months ago, I was excited about the prospect of doing NaNo again, but honestly, staring down the first of November, it just feels like one more thing I should be doing — should want to do – instead of something I’m actually enthusiastic about. And I’ve got enough things — creative and otherwise — that I should be doing.
So instead, my focus for the rest of this year is going to be on finishing some of the things I’ve already started. To that end, I’m trying out some new techniques. The whiteboard next to my computer has been turned into a personal kanban, to help me keep focused and not feel overwhelmed by all the unfinished stuff, and based on a recommendation, I’ve checked out Refuse to Choose from the library to see if there might be some insight there to help (even though I’m not sure yet that I’m the sort of person she describes in the book). I may still set a writing goal for the month — writing every day, perhaps, which would be unusual for me, or setting an attainable-but-still-stretching-a-bit goal like 500 words a day — but if I do, it’ll be my goal, and a lot more “want” than “should”.
(Another goal? Update this blog more often, which means getting over my fear of saying something stupid/unprofessional/amateurish/awkward/anything that could be horribly misunderstood. I’m working on it. Stay tuned.)
October 15, 2012
Video: The Potato Hunter
One of the things I love about the Internet is how it can bring things we loved long ago back to us. I’ve watched ’80s commercials, found Sesame Street clips I loved and hadn’t seen in decades, re-discovered books long out of print thanks to Amazon and eBay sellers, and much more.
When I was in high school, one of the premium movie channels (either Showtime or The Movie Channel; I don’t remember which now) showed animated shorts when there were long gaps between scheduled movies. I used to tune in when movie credits were rolling, if it was still fifteen minutes or so to the top of the hour, just to see what they’d show. There weren’t many outlets then for me to be able to see these kinds of short films, and two of my favorites from that time period were “The Ant Who Loved a Girl” (which I’ve not yet been able to find online, but I may have the title off), and this short, “The Potato Hunter.” The quirky subject matter and character styles really appealed to me, and all it took was a few seconds’ worth of YouTube searching to find the film again.
(Trigger warning for violence against potatoes.)
October 5, 2012
Ceci n’est pas un blog
(With apologies to René Magritte.)
Since this is something of a new start for my online blogging, I figure something of an introduction — beyond the bio on the About page — is in order.
First, I don’t really consider this a ‘blog’ in the most formal sense. I’m not writing articles here, I’m not trying to get famous through my blog to get a book deal, and I’m not banging away at this keyboard with the goal of building up a huge following to sell books. (Not saying that last part wouldn’t be nice, but it’s not the goal.) You won’t find articles here on how to write; there are tons of awesome blogs for that kind of thing already, and I’m less interested in talking just to writers than I am to current and potential readers and friends (some of whom may also happen to be writers). I’m not here to teach anybody, at least not beyond whatever odd lessons one might glean from my experiences and viewpoint.
I started ‘blogging’ (it seems pretentious to keep putting that in quotes, but again, I just don’t think of this as a blog except just for the convenience of having a short word to call it) several years ago on LiveJournal. I never thought of my LJ as a blog, but as what it was advertised then — an online journal. And though I’ve drifted away from LJ since, I still think of what I’m doing here on WordPress as online journaling. It’s a platform (if a rather low one, something like 2x4s laid out on the grass) to share things I think are worth sharing, either things about myself or my work, or things online that catch my attention. I may sometimes offer opinions, but I’m not aiming to be controversial or trying to make a splash.
In short, this blog is for those who, for whatever reason, are interested either in keeping up with what I’m writing and what’s being published, and/or in keeping up with what’s going on in my creative life and sometimes my offline life as well. There will likely be more announcements and links and rambly tangents than organized, well-thought-out posts, and although I’m going to try to update a bit more often than I have in the past year or two, I know I’ll never update as often as I would like to or on any set schedule.
So if all that’s cool with you, then hi, and welcome. The plate of virtual cookies is right over there, and the kettle’s on for tea.
September 27, 2012
“Secondhand” at Every Day Fiction
My flash fiction piece “Secondhand” is today’s offering from Every Day Fiction:
http://www.everydayfiction.com/secondhand-by-renee-carter-hall
(Inspired by contemplating souvenir magnets.)
