Frustrated!

That’s how I feel about wordpress right now. In the past I could come in and hit “import” and all my posts from my blogger account would show up here in my blog feed.

Not so anymore. Error messages and “unable to access your account” has become the norm. Blogger is easy. WordPress I just don’t get. But this is where I paid for a domain name. *sigh*

Any suggestions on an “easy” fix?

 

First IWSG of 2014–Too Many Ideas, Too Little Time

The title of the post says it all. My biggest insecurity this month is that I’m too slow at writing. Too much of a perfectionist to get the most out of the few short hours I get every week to scribble something down. My head is full of ideas right now. They look something like this–

3 sequels to THE MAGIC WAKES (Science Fantasy)
YA Contemporary Science Fantasy
Romantic Suspense
A Space Opera
YA Contemporary

That’s 7 novels full of conflicted characters fighting for space in my head. They aren’t waiting patiently for their turn and that’s making it hard to concentrate and WRITE. Then there are the short story ideas, but we won’t get into that this month.

I didn’t quite finish Search For Knowledge (one of the sequels) in December, but I’m really close–4 more scenes to reach THE END. My goal is to finish it by Saturday. Fade Into Me (the YA contemporary scifi) needs another 10K words or so to reach the end. Hopefully I’ll start on it next week.

Every day I must make myself sit down and write. 

My goal is to finish those two stories in January. 

Clear some brain space. 

It sounds like a good plan right? 

Then why is it so hard?

I need someone to push me. Someone to email me and say, “Did you write another scene today?”

Anyone willing to do that for me?

I’m also heading up a blogfest on Unicorn Bell this month.

You can learn all about it and sign up for it HERE. Posting will be all week and I’ll highlight some of my favorite posts on UB during the week.

Purpose of IWSG: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!

Posting: The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writer – aim for a dozen new people each time. I’m currently #136.

Also, in case you’ve missed the Facebook page…

My New Role Over at Unicorn Bell

Most of you know that I co-host a writing/critique blog called Unicorn Bell. There are currently 5 of us over there trying to give back to the writing community. We are looking for two more people to moderate with us. You can read all about that HERE.

We are also dividing our talents and each moderator is focusing on one specific area. And guess what I decided I want to do?

Blogfests and contests!

I want to bring the fun back! We are going to enjoy writing again for the sake of writing. Whether it be something serious or silly, we want to write something just to see if we can. No strings or expectations attached.

We will have several throughout the year and anyone and everyone is invited to play. I’ll make sure I advertise them over here as well.

Here are some of the ideas we’re tossing around…

Blogfests
Love is in the Air
Twisted Fairy Tales–genre wars
Breathe More, Talk Less–dive into the senses, little to no dialogue
Critique Partner Pitches–you’ve got to sell yourself!
Facebook Blog Hop–no strings attached, just a list to browse and find new friends
Action vs. Suspense

Contests (with prizes!)
100 word Drabble–use specific words
1st Paragraphs or Pages
3 line Pitches
Every Which Way the Wind Blows–Themed topic
Dialogue Challenge–Dialogue between two people, no tags. Can you make it work?
QueryCon 2014–Our annual 3 week intensive workshop and agent/editor judged query workshops

I obviously won’t get to do all of them, so which ones peak your interest? 
Anything else you’d love to see as a blogfest? 
Tell medown in the comments.

Now, for our first blogfest of 2014…in honor of the quickly approaching Valentine’s day…

It’s a celebration of that little thing called love. Be it steamy or sweet, puppy, kitty, teen, aggravating, first kiss or final goodbye, let your scene tug at our heartstrings.

Head over to UB to sign up in the Linky.

No Kiss Blogfest 2014

Let’s start the year out with a blogfest! I almost missed this one this year, it came up so fast. Anyway, Amalia Dillin is giving Frankie Diane Mallis a hand this year with all the details.

Today we are posting either scenes we’ve written with an “almost kiss”, or sharing one of our favorites from a book, TV show, movie, etc. Since I’m coming in late to the game, I’m sharing a clip from Fringe and my love of all things just a bit weird.

Sometimes a little “almost kiss” can bring the answers your MC seeks…

Waking Up Dead by Margo Bond Collins

From Goodreads:
When Dallas resident Callie Taylor died young, she expected to go to Heaven, or maybe Hell. Instead, she met her fate early thanks to a creep with a knife and a mommy complex. Now she’s witnessed another murder, and she’s not about to let this one go. She’s determined to help solve it before an innocent man goes to prison. And to answer the biggest question of all: why the hell did she wake up in Alabama?

My Take:
This book had me from the very first chapter. The voice is great. It somehow stays light and fun while delving into solving a gruesome crime.

Callie’s relationship with Ashara and her Maw-Maw is so naturally funny and heart-warming that sometimes I forgot poor Molly got hacked up. There are moments of delicious suspense where I was on the edge of my seat, almost wanting to yell at them to watch out! Here’s a quick list of the goods and lows of the book.

Thumbs Up

• the voice
• the relationship between the characters
• the logical progression of their detective work
• the suspense

Low points

• I really wanted to know more about Callie’s death (Since this is the first of the series, I’m sure more will come)
• The language (I’m not big on swearing and this one had a lot for me)

I give Waking Up Dead by Margo Bond Collins a 4 for a great story with voice that hooks.

1-5 scale and what it means:
1: I couldn’t even finish it / just plain bad
2: I hope I didn’t pay for this / disappointing
3: I didn’t hate it, but it was still missing something / forgettable but inoffensive
3.5: On the line between good and ok / like, not love
4: Solid mind candy / worth reading
4.5: So very close to perfection! / must read
5: I could not put it down and I’m still thinking about it! / a true treasure

UB Search for Moderator and Awesome Things My Kids Say

Unicorn Bell has been a part of my blogging routine for almost three years! I can’t believe how fast time is going by. Huntress dreamed up this idea in March of 2011 and we’ve tried our best to help other writer’s in any way we can ever since. We’ve given critiques, advice, ran contests, blogfests and hops, introduced new authors and carried off two three week long free conference called QueryCon.

Over the years we’ve worked with some wonderful people as fellow moderators. As time went by and life got busier, we’ve had to let some of them move on. We are now looking for one to two new moderators who feel like they can help us grow our audience and help writer’s everywhere meet their goals. Here’s an idea of what would be required.

• Cover one week of posts every 6-7 weeks (depending on how many moderators we have at the time). This means coming up with the posts or soliciting them from guest posters, formatting and making sure any questions or comments are responded to.
• Comment during critique weeks so our submitters get a wide range of opinions. 🙂
• Be available for a google+ planning meeting when needed (once a month, sometimes not even this often, and more frequently during QueryCon planning)

Would you like to join our team and build a writing platform to impress agents and publishers? We are taking applications. Send requests to unicornbellsubmission@gmail.com with ‘Moderator Request’ in the subject line. We’d love to know what your writing experience is as well as where you are active on social networking. 

And now…

There have been some funny comments the last week. I’ve forgotten most of them because I didn’t write them down, but, here’s my favorite.

Scene: Church Christmas party. Hubby and I are sitting listening to a piano/violin duet. 

Child #4 walks up and shows us the craft he’s been working on at the back of the gym–“Look, I gave Mary nun-chucks!”
Child#3 started teaching himself to play the Star Wars theme on his trumpet. He’s only been playing for a few months and he’s super motivated to learn faster than they are teaching at school. He’s taught himself Taps, We Wish You A Merry Christmas, and now he’s making great progress on the aforementioned Star Wars Theme.

I must be doing something right. 🙂

Without Bloodshed by Matthew Graybosch

START WITH THE BAD GUY

Charity asked me to write a post to celebrate the release of my first novel, Without Bloodshed, and wanted me to share my methods for character development. As the title suggested, I started with the bad guy.

Why did I start with the bad guy? I can name several reasons: Sauron, Lord Foul the Despiser, the Warlock King, and Darken Rahl. None of these four are actual characters, despite being the primary antagonists in their respective novels. They’re “Dark Lords”, evil for the sake of being evil, and sought to dominate or destroy the worlds they inhabit because that’s how Dark Lords roll.

I thought I could do better, and set out to prove it with Imaginos, the antagonist of my Starbreaker series. The first step in creating a better antagonist was to ask, “Why does Imaginos want to rule the world? What would he do with the world once he took over?”

The answer immediately followed: “He wants to save the world.” This is not the sort of motive one expects from a fantasy villain, and raises other questions. If Imaginos wants to save the world, what makes him the villain? It can’t be his motive, so what are his methods? From what threat does he mean to save the world? Did he set out to defeat a monster, only to become one himself?

To answer the first question, I turned to the 1988 Blue Oyster Cult concept album from which I took my character’s name. Like the original, my Imaginos is an “actor in history”, alternately influencing human events or taking advantage of them to serve his own purposes. He manipulates, he uses truth as willingly as lies, he kills. He does all of this to save his not-quite-human people from genocide at the hands of an entity who pretends to be God when interacting with human beings. Further inspiration came from “Prophecy”, a song from Iced Earth’s Something Wicked This Way Comes album:

We’ll take their identity and live among them free

All the while, plotting events that mold their history

We’ll build the perfect beast with the knowledge that they seek

If it takes ten thousand years, we never will retreat

The lyric above posed another question: who or what is the “perfect beast” Imaginos and his companions would build with the knowledge humanity seeks? I decided that protagonist Morgan Stormrider would be that beast, and that his search for revenge against Imaginos for the murder of his lover Christabel Crowley would be part of Imaginos’ machinations.

But as Morgan himself will ask: if the false God who seeks to destroy Imaginos’ people is such a dire threat, why couldn’t Imaginos reveal himself to Morgan, present his case, and persuade Morgan to fight beside him?

The answer to this question concerns the nature of the Starbreaker, the one weapon capable of killing ensof: entities like the false God that Imaginos opposes, as well as Imaginos himself. This dark sword (which I admit is inspired by Stormbringer) is sentient, and would claim its wielder’s body as a host should the wielder unleash the Starbreaker’s full power — as must be done to destroy one of the ensof.

Once unleashed and in control of a host, the only way to bind the Starbreaker again and force it into dormancy is to kill the host. Any attempt at deicide by one of Imaginos’ people using the Starbreaker is a suicide mission. But what if Imaginos could create a devil-killer capable of controlling the Starbreaker in its unleashed state, and giving this assassin cause to destroy not just the false God, but Imaginos himself, since Imaginos is fully aware of the threat he himself poses to both his own people and humanity?

With just a few questions asked about my villain, I not only roughly characterized my villain, but created a greater threat for him to oppose, a protagonist who will oppose him, and identified the primary conflict between them. From an hour’s effort at characterization I also got some plotting and world-building done.

Not bad for a long-haired metalhead, right?

Of course, Charity also wants me to give other aspiring writers some tips. Let’s see if any of these help:

1. Figure out what your antagonists want, and why. The more effort you put into your bad guys, the richer your plot will be.
2. Do everything you can to humanize all of your characters, not just the ones you want to win at the end.
3. Remember that while tragic heroes have a fatal flaw, a tragic villain might have a fatal virtue.

Matthew, thank you so much for visiting today and sharing these great insights. And your tips are priceless! I think I’m going to ruminate a bit longer on my antagonists!

Summary:

“All who threaten me die.”

These words made Morgan Stormrider’s reputation as one of the Phoenix Society’s deadliest IRD officers. He served with distinction as the Society’s avenger, hunting down anybody who dared kill an Adversary in the line of duty. After a decade spent living by the sword, Morgan seeks to bid a farewell to arms and make a new life with his friends as a musician.Regardless of his faltering faith, the Phoenix Society has a final mission for Morgan Stormrider after a dictator’s accusations make him a liability to the organization. He must put everything aside, travel to Boston, and prove he is not the Society’s assassin. He must put down Alexander Liebenthal’s coup while taking him alive.

Despite the gravity of his task, Morgan cannot put aside his ex-girlfriend’s murder, or efforts to frame him and his closest friends for the crime. He cannot ignore a request from a trusted friend to investigate the theft of designs for a weapon before which even gods stand defenseless. He cannot disregard the corruption implied in the Phoenix Society’s willingness to make him a scapegoat should he fail to resolve the crisis in Boston without bloodshed.

The words with which Morgan Stormrider forged his reputation haunt him still.

Statistics:

Genre: Science Fiction
Length: 319 Pages
Pub. Date: November 17, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-62007-278-3 (ebook)
ISBN: 978-1-62007-279-0 (paperback)

Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Barnes & Noble
Kobo
Goodreads 

Bio

Matthew Graybosch is the author of Without Bloodshed, a near-future science fantasy thriller set in the Starbreaker universe. Without Bloodshed is published by Curiosity Quills Press and currently available.

His other works include:
“Tattoo Vampire”: a short story featuring Morgan Stormrider
“The Milgram Battery”: a short story featuring Morgan Stormrider, available in the Curiosity Quills Primetime charity anthology
“Steadfast”: a novelette featuring Naomi Bradleigh

According to official records maintained by the state of New York, Matthew Graybosch was born on Long Island in 1978. Urban legends in New York suggest he might be Rosemary’s Baby, the result of top-secret DOD attempts to continue Nazi experiments combining human technology and black magic, or that he sprang fully grown from his father’s forehead with a sledgehammer in one hand and a copy of Bulfinch’s Mythology in the other — and has given the poor man headaches ever since.

The truth is more prosaic. Matthew Graybosch is a novelist from New York who lives in central Pennsylvania. He is also an avid reader, a long-haired metalhead, and an unrepentant nerd.

Find Matthew Online:

Website 
Facebook 
Twitter 
Tumblr | Direct link: https://twitter.com/MGraybosch
Goodreads | Direct link: https://twitter.com/MGraybosch
Google Plus

Pizza Quiche and Snow Days

Yes, there is supposed to be a road there.

Are you close to giving up on me?

I know I’ve been really quiet and not reliable about posting since the beginning of November. The truth is I can’t think of much to post about. Life is moving on in its normal fashion and my biggest goal is to concentrate. On something. Anything.

I’d like it to be writing.

Looking for a place to “go”

Which means any free time I get I’m staring at my document willing myself to write the next scene. It’s so hard! I want to go back to the beginning and make the changes I decided on during that long drive home after Thanksgiving. BUT, I know if I do that I’ll start editing, revising and generally putting off getting to the end of this story.

I’ve set the goal of writing 5 new pages every day. It’s not much, but my kids have been out of school since last Thursday due to snow and ice, so it’s better than nothing. I’m also allowing myself to edit 5 pages a day in the hopes I’ll satisfy that craving and still keep writing. The deal is I have to write the new pages before I can edit. It’s working out pretty well.

This is what the neighborhood kids did for 5 days straight. Yes, that is my solid ice driveway.

Icicle from our house

My hubby also reached his 12 foot goal. In three weeks time he managed to “swap up” our 7.5 food Christmas tree to a 9.5 foot tree for $0. He then sold that tree and bought a 12 foot tree. Total cost? $25 out of pocket. Not bad. Not bad at all.

The only problem with this tree, other than we have to get out the BIG ladder to decorate it, is that most of the lights didn’t work. Hubby was very disappointed but realized it would still be cheaper to keep this tree and buy more lights. I suggested we don’t buy lights until after Christmas when they all go on sale. Yes, I’m cheap. Anyway, I then pulled out our big Charlie Brown lights that usually go on our house. They aren’t up for two reasons– 1. our roof is too steep for either of us to feel comfortable up there, and 2. It snowed like crazy before we could convince ourselves to pay someone else to do it.  

Are you wondering about that pizza quiche? It’s my favorite pie ever. No one else in my family likes quiche so it was my attempt to get them to try it. Standard recipe, but you use sausage and pepperoni for the meat and a blend of cheeses. It’s so yummy. I made one earlier in the week and have been living off it. Sadly it’s now gone. *sigh*

Next week will be my week over at Unicorn Bell and I’ve decided to do photo prompts or “fill in the caption”.

Have you seen any amazing photos in the last week that I should take a look at before choosing? Just share the link below.

Thanks!

Pieces of Chaos by Tommy Smith

Today we’ve got another author interview. I met Tommy Smith at the Springdale Library event a couple months ago. His newest book PIECES OF CHAOS is now out.

When and why did you begin writing? Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?

I wrote for years without sharing much of it with others or pursuing publication. I began selling my work, first in the form of short stories, in 2006.

What I write is deliberately infused with challenge. In a number of cases, I’ve confronted aspects of my life or the world around me and flung out the results. Imagine these results as a variety of spices while the products of the imagination are the dish-to-be sizzling in the pan. My writing isn’t crème brûlée. It may lack the sense of escapism that some would seek in reading.

What was the hardest part of writing your book?

My newest release is a collection of short stories, some of which have seen other markets over the years and some of which have never appeared elsewhere. Since each story has its own back story, I’ll save some time and mention which story was the hardest to write; that would be “The Capellan Dream.” It was my first published short story, though not the first written. It appeared in Black Petals back when it was still a print magazine.

“The Capellan Dream” is the story of an obsessed artist whose work is stolen. For some time after I wrote that story, I wasn’t that happy with it. Over time, though, I became more at ease with it. Today I can look back and appreciate that I wrote it, and I’ve even chosen to include it in a book that might be a defining example of what my work is with Pieces of Chaos.

What genre do you consider your book(s)?

Poisonous was horror. Pieces of Chaos varies more as it’s comprised of short stories. Much of it is horror but not all of it. All of it is, however, dark fiction.

Have you ever hated something you wrote?

Hate is a strong word. Yes. Generally anything I’ve written in the middle of doing a lot of drinking. Most people will never see any of that.

What is your favorite theme/genre to write about?

I’ve mostly written horror and fantasy. Some of the fantasy markets have thought my work too dark for their tastes. I have a rejection letter from a fantasy publication stating as much in exact words. I’ve gained more of an audience for my horror writing, so my tendency has become to lean more toward the horror side. It’s most accurate to say that I write dark fiction. It’s a label that is nonspecific but unrestrictive.

How did you come up with the title?

This is simple, so I’ll make things even easier by giving a long, drawn-out answer. Pieces of Chaos is a collection of just that. I’ve always known that my first story collection would be a collection of chaos and that I would mention that in the title. “Chaos” is also part of an internet handle that I used years ago.

Bio: Tommy B. Smith is a writer of dark fiction and the author of Poisonous and Pieces of Chaos. His work has also appeared in numerous publications over the years to include Morpheus Tales, Every Day Fiction, Black Petals, Night to Dawn, and a variety of other magazines and anthologies. His presence currently infests Fort Smith, Arkansas, where he resides with his wife and cats. More information can be found on his website.

Blurb: This book is a collision of ink and paper and an awakening of possibilities. Captured within are fragments of glass, metal, bone, ice, dreams, visions, and lives. Inside its pages, you will read of a lost village and the burning affliction of its people. You will share in an engineer’s unveiling of a hidden conspiracy. You will visit with a child confined to a tiny rectangular world on the brink of dissolution, and you will follow a girl on her trek from a home of crime and poverty across barren fields of ice to where an unspeakable force dwells. These are but a few of the works you will find among this collection of fourteen tales which blends the cosmic, the psychological, the human, and the inhuman in bringing together the essential dark fiction from author Tommy B. Smith’s pen of chaos.

Links:
Website
Facebook

December IWSG, 5th Grade Fan Art and Getting Close to the End

Last week I had the privilege of spending time with a class of 5th graders discussing THE MAGIC WAKES and writing. My mom teaches math, but she’s been reading TMW with her homeroom class. Although this novel isn’t really for their age group, they are enjoying it. Mom just skips over the kissing parts. 🙂

They are only halfway through the story, but they had some wonderful questions. I was impressed with their deductive reasoning and predictive skills. They guessed one thing to come but have lots of surprises in store too. The cool thing was that their guesses were some of my earlier options that I later twisted into something else.

Perhaps the neatest part was at the end of the class. Mom and I had made lot’s of necklaces (Talia inspired) to give them, and some of the kids gave me pictures they had drawn.

I planned to scan them to show you, but my son’s computer is stupid and I can’t figure out how. I’ll keep working on it. One girl drew a new pet for Talia to replace Keeta. Another drew the sunsrise, and finally another was a card telling me how awesome my book is.

For a day, I considered writing a MG book. Who knows, maybe I will someday.

November in general was a great month for me and writing. It usually is. However, my insecurities for December are growing. There is so much to do and thus far I’ve not had the time to sit and write once this month. (I wrote this post sitting at the dentist office) My fear is that with the permission and goal to write every day for Nano I’ll stop again. The family indulges me in November, but now they expect my attention and for me to be running around all day getting “things” done.

Some of you may have realized that in life I’m not a super assertive person. I know I need to say “NO, this block of time is for writing,” and yet I feel so guilty for doing it. I also know that I need to read the end of this story while my mind is moving forward with it. I’m currently 54K into THE SEARCH FOR KNOWLEDGE thanks to Nano, but I need at least another 10-15K to reach then end of this sparse draft. The other problem is it’s so easy for me to fall back into editing now that November is over. Especially now that I know which of the two new guys is the traitor secretly working for the demon possessed maniac who wants Talia for his own.

Yeah. 🙂 I wrote 50K not sure which it was. Hopefully that will make it hard for the reader to guess too early as well.

I’m so close.

But the hustle and bustle of “real life” (blah!) is slowly sucking the motivation out of me. Somebody kick me now!

Purpose of IWSG: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!

Posting: The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writer – aim for a dozen new people each time. I’m currently #154.

Also, in case you’ve missed the new website, or the Facebook page…just click the links. 🙂