Attack of the REAL blob flash fiction contest

So, apparently, the blob really does exist. Off the the Alaskan shore. Here's the story in the Anchorage Daily News. So far "they" know:

1) It's not an oil slick
2) It's organic
3) It's gunky
3) It has hair-like strands
4) It's 12-15 miles long
5) No one has ever seen anything like it

So, what do you know about it? Write a speculative flash (under 1000 words) story about this Alaskan blob and email it to me before August 1, 2009. The winning story will be posted here and the winning author will receive a copy of Awesome Lavratt. Winner will be announced August 15, 2009. Please paste entries in body of email and include your real name, and pen name if applicable.

And though I promised I'd never do this...

Here's our newest family member, Allegro.

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I'm in the library!

I used to take the kids to the library about once a week to load up with books. While we were there I would occasionally look at the shelves, hoping that one day my name would be on one of those book spines. That day has arrived. I'm not sure how, though I suspect it has to do with my guardian angel editor and my writing club. You see, my book isn't yet available through the usual channels the libraries use to order books.

I've been working on my website. Discovered that though Dreamweaver says it uploaded my page successfully, it's not there. Hmmmm. So, it has once again become a two-step process until I can figure out the problem. Thank goodness for Mozilla's FireFTP add-on. I've been compiling a list to ALL the reviews for Awesome Lavratt, which, of course, I should have done long ago. That will be added probably tomorrow.

I rewrote a story on Monday and solved a problem with the new one yesterday. I still have to write that one and polish the other. So many words, so little time...

The Redwood Writer author event at Copperfields on Sunday was great. The book story thought so, too. They sold 100 books by our club's authors.

I'll be presenting a mini workshop on social networking in Petaluma, CA on August 4th. More details later. I'm looking forward to SpoCon at the end of the month in Spokane, WA. I haven't received my schedule yet, but the panels have been posted on their website. They look like a lot of fun.


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Writing, networking and author interviews sneak peek

My story, "For Chance to Dream" is now available in issue #25 of Beyond Centauri. If you find it in a bookstore, let me know. Otherwise, it's available online at from the publisher, Sam's Dot Publishing. Beyond Centauri is for ages 9+. You can get a subscription or just buy one issue. My first print magazine sale! And my first sale to this demographic! My copy hasn't arrived yet. Can't wait to see it!

The social networking blog entry is up over at Redwood Writers as promised. I also posted the link on some of the sites contained therein and received a lot of great responses, including more suggested sites.

I'm also doing a workshop on social networking on August 4th in Petaluma, CA sponsored by Redwood Writers. More details later.

Yes I know this is Friday. There should be an author interview up. Well, last weekend was spent, instead trying to whip a new story in shape. But I have some great interviews on the way. Karina Fabian, Juliette Wade, Gregory Frost, Dani and Eytan Kollin, and David Brin. As always, interviews go up on Fridays (obviously not every Friday).

I haven't decided whether or not Warehouse 13 is going to deliver. Sometimes you have to watch more than one episode because there's so much setting up of the situation and characters in the pilot.

I have decided that I'd rather watch a bad SF series than a SF, err that's SyFy now, channel movie. They continue to disappoint. Is it that they can't afford good writers? Are they hiring their nephews and nieces to write them? They sort of like paint by numbers. Like there's a workbook with blanks for (disaster), gigantic (name the animal or insect, past or present), (profession) of estranged spouses who now have to work together. Ok, ok, I'm climbing off my soap box now.

Anyone know an expert on biometrics or DNA testing? My story is languishing for lack of information. I sooo don't have time to do proper research. I'd be happy to pay in acknowledgments. :)


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blogging, feeding and digging

I finally figured out how to be an author on Goodreads. Better still I have this blog feeding there. I love reciprocation! I also figured out how to feed automatically to Facebook from Networked Blogs. Outstanding!

I'm posting a blog entry at Redwood Writers in a couple of days in which I'm revealing all of the 50 or so author social networking sites I'm on.

Meanwhile, hubby is now a Facebook fiend just two weeks after joining and now he has a blog as well. His blog is End 21st Century Slavery. My husband, the activist. :)He says he's going to blog every day. Now I have to help him to feed and digg it.

I got another story rejected on Sunday. This was a reprint that was accepted to the first place I sent it. Just goes to show, that the selection process is subjective and the piece has to fit the venue.

I recorded Warehouse 13. I'm off to watch. Of course, I'm getting a little annoyed at the fact that I find shows I like and then they disappear for months on end, sometimes never to return. Some of that was due to the writers strike, so maybe it will happen less now.

If you're local there's a multi-author book celebration for this month's meeting of Redwood Writers. More info at the blog or on their website.


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Writing - the short story process

Today's goal was to finish a short story for sending You Know Where. I'm about halfway through. It's interesting because all the pitfalls seem to be coming up faster. The talking heads, the meandering plot, unimaginative characterization... you get the idea. Usually I find these things on the next pass. In this short form, they stop me cold. Or is it that I recognize them sooner and don't want to have to overwrite only to slash whole chunks out later? I'm in a time crunch here.

So what do I do when I'm stuck? It's a question I've asked several authors in interviews.

My brainstorming buddy wasn't online today, so all those questions I would have asked him, I had to ask myself. I actually opened a word document and poked and prodded at my prose with things like, "How do I tell this story without TELLING it?" I answered, "Start with a murder." I also came up with some cool SF tech to introduce during one of those talking heads scenes that will let me keep the scene.

Yes, I asked myself questions, yelled at myself and told myself to quit being dialog heavy. And answered myself. All on the same word document that I saved as Notes for IA story. Didn't you know that writers are crazy? But it worked. Then I had to work on the story arc and realized that what I really had was a detective story with SF trappings. I don't read a lot of detective stuff and I don't want it to be canned. So now I'm trying to figure out how to have the protag solve the mystery without it looking inevitable, expected and linear.

I also wasted time on FaceBook. Of course, I can't say time spent on FB is all a waste. I did build my network. Now if only some of them would buy my book. :)

I want to finish writing what will be a blog post for Redwood Writers next week, so I switched gears and worked on lists for that for a while.

But there was progress on the short story. I now have more cool tech, a full background and motivation for the bad guy (or girl, in this case) and it starts with a murder, which I've already written. Hopefully I'll finish the first draft before the weekend is out.

What else? I received more new books in the mail. The Immortality Factor by Ben Bova and a Japanese SF translated into English. So more reading. I've learned to go back to my old practice of reading books in tandem. Reading Valis and The Book from the Sky was brutal. But now I'm reading a book by Philip K. Dick's widow, Tessa and another book about Deborah in the bible at the same time. Those will be vastly different. I think it will make it go faster. Up next is The Unincorporated Man by the Kollin brothers. Then Immortality Factor.

Once I have this story out of my hair, I can get more reading done. I still have a story that needs a great deal of reworking. Maybe next weekend I'll do rewrites of both - in tandem. No, that would be REALLY crazy.

Look for another author interview next Friday. I'll let you know who on Tuesday.


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