Weekly Short Stories Contest and Company! discussion
Totally Random
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Chat (Cookies and tea allowed in this room)
CHAD KROEGER: Are there any Nickelback fans here tonight?(Silence)
CHAD KROEGER: Are you sure? It's up to you guys. Do you guys want to hear some rock and roll or do you want to go home?
(Silence)
CHAD KROEGER: See ya!
Ha-Hah! Funny it used to be the neighbours would tell us it was time to go home at the music club I worked in!
Gotta love cantankerous neighbors. Hehe!
After looking through my old short stories, I realize now that I have another last name coincidence in one of them. I had coincidences in “Sixty Is the New Ninety” and “Wishes in the Night”. Now I’ve got one in “Pain and Cable” from the survival prompt. The two main characters’ names are Constance Cable and Edwin Hook. In order to create a harpoon, you have to attach a hook at the end of a cable. A harpoon was never used in the story, but those two words go together like burgers and fries. Once again, I swear I didn’t do that on purpose. Hehe!
Interesting Garrison.You know I have been wondering a little lately if anyone has read this series to recommend or not suggest it a good idea. Has anybody read the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan? For some reason I have been wondering if sometime in the near future I would get into reading it though I know the series is long and each book maxes out in about 800 pages each!
Anyone ever read this before? Is it good to you or not?
I have three of the books on my shelves, but still haven't gotten around to them...
It keeps getting suggested to me by Goodreads and I just wonder if it will be worth it. It will be a big commitment for me because I am not usually a fast reader!
Guy’s poem “Secrets Like Gravity” got an honorable mention in this month’s Goodreads Newsletter contest. Congratulations, Guy!
Congratulations, Guy! That is a hard forum and a great achievement. Most impressive. Thank you for the post, M.
Thank you Ryan and M. I wonder if any of the readers noticed it was in the 5-7-5 format?
M wrote: "Guy’s poem “Secrets Like Gravity” got an honorable mention in this month’s Goodreads Newsletter contest. Congratulations, Guy!"Awesome Guy. Great to hear you get some much deserved attention. Congrats!!! :D
Congratulations, Guy! Job well done!
Thank you CJ and Garrison! :-) The smallest of things can oft bring the biggest of smiles.
Garrison wrote: "I just realized something...
If Katniss and Peeta from The Hunger Games were Hollywood celebrities, their super couple nickname would either be Kat-Pee or Pee-Niss."
People use the second one....
If Katniss and Peeta from The Hunger Games were Hollywood celebrities, their super couple nickname would either be Kat-Pee or Pee-Niss."
People use the second one....
Aww man. :(A family I am close with is going through so much right now. All I can do is pray I guess... things have been so tough for them.
I really should be more active here...
I hope things get better for your family friends, CJ. I won't ask you what they're going through because I want to respect their privacy. Just know they're going to be in good hands someday.
Thank you, guys. I appreciate it. That is encouraging.
I’m in a bit of a bind and I was wondering if anybody here can help me or at least steer me in the right direction. If you’ve been to my author page, you would have seen an e-book called Dragon Machinegun. It’s a collection of short horror, fantasy, and sci-fi stories and those stories were written long before I joined the WSS group. What I’m trying to say is the writing in these stories is nowhere near the level you all are accustomed to seeing. The paragraphs are long, I abuse adjectives and adverbs, the writing voice is awkward, and there may be a few grammatical errors along the way as well. Needless to say, I published Dragon Machinegun prematurely.
The natural answer to this problem is to take Dragon Machinegun to a beta reading group and have them give me advice on how to fix the writing. When I look at the writing, though, I begin to lose hope of the e-book ever being saved. It sucks that badly.
I should most likely take the book out of circulation, but that would mean another project I’ve given up on. Have you noticed there are no more copies of “Red Blood, White Knuckles, Blue Heart” and “Foe vs. Blade” available? It’s because I gave up on them and they’re nothing more than big empty holes in Good Reads archives.
I’m obsessed with having a legacy. However, even though Dragon Machinegun is a part of my legacy, it’s not something I’m proud of. I’m not sure what the favor is I should be asking for. Perhaps some thoughts would be nice.
Hello. I'm not really an appropriate advice giver. Especially as it comes to a legacy of verbiage.I read a famous writer comment that true writers — and I have no idea what a 'true' writer is — throw away their juvenilia. And I read that one time when a fan of T.S. Eliot (I think) had a chance to get Eliot to sign one of his books at a party, the first thing Eliot did was check the publishing page for the edition before flipping to a page and scribble a 'correction' to one of his poems.
If you want your legacy to be bad writing, stop growing as a writer. And in time no one will remember your opus. However, if you become a famous writer, then your juvenilia will be fodder for the university students striving to find the hidden reasons you wrote what you did and how that formed your brilliance.
Sorry. Not great advice. I warned you I wasn't the right person for this kind of thing. And yet, I still write on and on. LOL! Too funny. Fortunately the world is flush with bad writing, and the sun keeps shining. At least you know you are growing as a writer, with your 'bad' stuff as a touchstone.
I like to think I've improved a lot since then. But you know what? There may be hope for me after all. While Dragon Machinegun may be beyond help, I've got three other e-books that aren't. I recently joined a beta readers club here on Good Reads and I look forward to hearing from the members. There's a light at the end of the tunnel for me yet.
Hey Garrison, there's always hope :) Some works are meant for practice, others are meant to be published, if that makes sense.
P.S.
Guy, congratulations! sorry, I'm late :) hugs!
P.S.
Guy, congratulations! sorry, I'm late :) hugs!
You're absolutely right, Leslie. Thank you so much for the encouragement. You're a sweetie! :)
Garrison wrote: "I’m in a bit of a bind and I was wondering if anybody here can help me or at least steer me in the right direction. If you’ve been to my author page, you would have seen an...a collection of short horror, fantasy, and sci-fi stories and those stories were written long before..."Everyone that wants to write feels the need to get their stuff out there. The problem is there is a downside to every kind of publishing or even tools that encourage people to immediately release their works (smashwords, I hear about them more and more and I think I dislike them).
I so badly wanted to release a work. I thought of bringing it out independently and self-publishing it but realized that way was a dangerous trickery. If I did so how many copies would I be able to afford but more importantly, would I ever be successfully able to bring it to the aimed market?
I have no idea if it would have. In this business we make mistakes but we have to dust ourselves off and start over.
I'd say to continue getting yours out there by sending manuscript to publisher to next publisher. If you want to leave any say to a people just try it out.
I should eat my own words (hehe) because I haven't yet done it myself but I want you to know that you haven't tried it and seen what can happen until you try.
So far I've not expanded much beyond on-line writing groups, like this one. I have been thinking of doing the on-line e.book self-publication thing. But haven't found the time to do it properly.I have sent a few things to 'proper' publishers - magazines and newspapers, etc. And I have had a couple of things published. But I haven't been consistent about it, which is what I was taught you need to be. So... maybe 'just' keep writing and sending to publishers. That is the trick, and what I was directed to do when I took a 'real' writing course when I was young.
I saw a writer say that the most important thing she did was to get an agent. But then, how do you get one of those? JK Rowling had a hell of time getting one because her book didn't fit into a clear genre so no one wanted to touch it. Lots of stories of famous writers struggling for years to get published.
So... LOL! A pile of useless words. I might just as well delete this as it has little that can help you out. But I won't, if only to wish you luck and encourage you to keep writing and sending stuff to publishers both on and off line.
Above all, have fun.
I'm not going to worry about traditional publishing until I know I'm ready for it and I won't be ready for it until I get second opinions on my work. As far as Dragon Machinegun goes, I'm not going to try and shill it on anybody right now. In fact, advertising for any of my self-published works is on hold until I can get things sorted out.
I finally made my decision regarding Dragon Machinegun. As of tonight, it's officially out of circulation. I don't feel the least bit sad about saying goodbye to that e-book. In fact, I feel liberated. It's the kind of liberation people feel when they shave their heads: out with the old, in with the new.
Lol! Yes. I understand that completely. I have had a shorn pate for more than 10 years. De-cluttering our verbiage is oft a boon. :-)
https://www.goodreads.com/group/14730...
I don't know if all of you guys like music as much as I do, but if you do. Here's my music writing group. Ignore the song I have on their, it was stuck in my head.
I don't know if all of you guys like music as much as I do, but if you do. Here's my music writing group. Ignore the song I have on their, it was stuck in my head.
How are all the people in the WSS??Man between writing a story for the group, another one on the side for fun, I am finding it a little tough to focus.
I have nothing to do today but shouldn't be on very long since I've used the computer way too much lately!
I've been distracted from everything for the past few months now. One reason I haven't posted anything I actually had ideas for.
This wayward WSS person has been exceptionally busy with life off the computer. Good, but missing writing.
Earlier this afternoon, I threw the world's biggest hissyfit at my computer (because it kept freezing) and my Roku (because it couldn't find a signal). I screamed obscenities at these devices until I was too tired to even consider writing "Luna the Moon Kitty". Hopefully, tomorrow will be better.
Garrison I am sure it will.Tonight I read your title your post as 'Luna the Moonie Kitty'! Now that would be a story! LOL!
I just looked up "Moonie" in the Urban Dictionary. It either means someone who's part of the Sun Myung Moon religion or a devoted Sailor Moon fan. Either way, it would make for an...interesting story as Guy suggested. Hehehehehehe!
Better yet, a cat who is a moonie moonie fan. ;-)
ď€ȼ€ʍβ€я wrote: "https://www.goodreads.com/group/14730...I don't know if all of you guys like music as much as I do, but if you do. Here's my music writing group. Ignore the song I have on thei..."
I didn't know there was a song-writing site here! I'll definitely be joining that one! Thanks!
Guy wrote: "This wayward WSS person has been exceptionally busy with life off the computer. Good, but missing writing."Join the club, Guy! Most people must think I have fallen off the planet, especially my blog readers! It has been almost a month since the last post on either one of the two. I hope to get back to WSS before too long, but as a matter of interest (I hope) I have been in negotiations with an e-book publisher that also does print-on-demand, has editorial services included, and promotional services. It is a sweet deal, and makes it all the more possible to get my poetry collection out by Christmas.
How's the book I sent coming? I have yet to reply to your last note, but it is on my list of to-dos. Of course the time I would have devoted has been used up here. . .
As the Terminator said, "I'll be baahck!
Paula
Cool December. I have only recently got into working or writing while listening to music. It beats when you've got a deadline and when you are working the hardest have nothing that helps work your brain (besides coffee!). I might join that group but it is not a complete possibility.It's funny that the story written for this week had two songs that helped inspire it. O. A. R.'s tune "Shattered" helped inspire the idea of the story and its title. That is a great song if anyone has heard it or not:
"How many times can I break till I'm shattered...?"
Garrison wrote: "Earlier this afternoon, I threw the world's biggest hissyfit at my computer (because it kept freezing) and my Roku (because it couldn't find a signal). I screamed obscenities at these devices until..."I feel your pain, Garrison. Been there, done that, and BTW still doing it on occasion.
Paula Tohline wrote: "Guy wrote: "This wayward WSS person has been exceptionally busy with life off the computer. Good, but missing writing."Join the club. Guy! Most people must think I have fallen off the planet, es..."
I forgot to add, does anyone is WSS have a poem of mine that I've done for WSS that you think would be a good one to include in the collection - or should I say, "Good enough to be published"?
Garrison wrote: "Earlier this afternoon, I threw the world's biggest hissyfit at my computer (because it kept freezing) and my Roku (because it couldn't find a signal). I screamed obscenities at these devices until..."Garrison, it is good to know that someone else has temper tantrums over malfunctioning computers! For four years I have had my Sony Vaio laptop. The first three years were essentially trouble-free, except for using the voice-recognition Window program. I still have a devil of a time getting it to understand me - no matter what I say or how slowly I say it. Having to spell every word I speak can be quite time-consuming! Because the past year or so have been nothing but problems, my laptop (named Sonya, by the way) has been the target of a lot of my frustration. Because I have only one usable hand (and my non-dominant left one at that !), it is very laborious to typ0e out something rather lengthy, only to have it lost (even if I saved it!), and then having to rewrite the whole thing!
All this to say "I feel your pain!"
Paula
Paula, you and I are the true definition of what it means to "Rage Against the Machine". Hehe!
Weekly Short Stories Contest and Company!
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How do you know when a band's encore has overstayed its welcome?
When the crowd tells THEM to go home.