Writer's Digest Book Rescue

I've decided that I will not make any lengthy posts until I finish my short story collection---and in celebration, I'm going to post a FREE short story on this blog---yep, one from the collection. Not sure which one I will put up here...

I hit a snag. I turned to a book I got from Writer's Digest Books---it is called "Fiction First Aid." I looked at it and it made me look at my character's motivation closer---and then I wrote LONGHAND and started writing the rest of the story that way [with some way cool Liberty of London journals I got at Target on sale for $2, I might add---and yes B, one may be coming your way at our next writer's group meeting] and had a big breakthrough....

First, the story about the psychic is really probably more about the priest. I was centering the plot on the wrong character---the psychic is merely the catalyst for the story. Because her story was more --well, crazy, I was paying attention to her. Kind of like the kid who yells and screams when he only has a skinned knee....

Okay, this post is too long when a story collection is unfinished...then I'm going to launch the publicity blitz [whatever that means] .

Hopefully by next post I will have a short story up here....

God on the Quad-- UNC Safe Place

A week or so ago [dang, where has time gone?] I went back to my beloved Alma mater with L, one of my cool daddy friends from UNC. L was there with her daughter C, visiting the campus, and since I had not seen C since she was a baby, it was great to catch up.





After getting some noms from Whole Foods to have as a picnic, L met another friend and I took off my shoes and spread out on the cool grass of the quad--well, Polk Place technically. For those of you who have never been to UNC-Chapel Hill campus, there is a reason they call it the Southern Part of Heaven...and it's not because I'm biased. Some American Association of Architects labeled it as one of 50 US campuses designated as "works of art." Google it... love the pictures...


This is a picture of where I chilled out---courtesy of the blog 'justinsomnia'---or maybe not courtesy [if I'm stepping on any toes, I'll take it down, dudes]

At any rate, I forced myself to look up at the sky and the trees and just took time to STOP and be quiet.

Sometimes, I've heard shrinks say that if you have a panic attack, you should close your eyes and picture your "safe, happy place," which I always thought was a load of crap until I actually tried it. For some reason, this campus has always served as that visual oasis. I also sometimes pray as I think about it, and I visualize walking with Jesus across campus [for some reason, Jesus is always wearing a gray plaid shirt and jeans, but that's another entry].

If you haven't rubbed your bare feet across soft grass in a while, I highly recommend it. It was as if I could hear every bird, every twig, every squirrel shuffling through the blades of grass...and I found myself wishing that I could find a job in the Chapel Hill area and move there so I could experience that every day...and then, call it Divine revelation, I pictured my Jesus image, and could almost feel God say, "Is my sky any less blue where you are? Are the grass and the trees completely different? "

It was then I realized that it was not so much the location, but that I needed a change in my attitude. That I needed to learn more about how to be QUIET and how to rest and LISTEN.

So, it wasn't the burning bush by any stretch of the imagination, but I'd like to think I had an encounter with God on the quad. And I'm very blessed for it.

I wrote this poem on the quad that day...

As I was chilling out at the quad, I saw this older--but still young (at least compared to me)-- student [well, he looked about 23-25--he had long hair so it was kind of hard to tell] and he walked across campus with such defiance--not rebellious defiance, but just defiance against the mundane pratter of here and now, and beating against the vague voices of restlessness that would demand he start a dot com empire, wear a tie everyday, and make a million dollars at all costs.

For some bizarre reason, being I guess more rested, I wrote a poem right then and there about this unknown student, and how I wish I had carried more of that 'good' defiance with me. It reminded me of when I was at UNC and I felt that everything was possible---and to a certain extent, I still do, but rarely with the loving abandon I had once before.

Here's the poem--and yes, it's a draft so no one get all critical of it. I'm NOT a good poet.

And yes, copyright, all rights reserved, yada, yada, yada...

I think I would have loved you....

I think I would have loved you
sometime, somewhere,
maybe when I was younger
and without unraveled cares
of emptied patience long forgotten
behind yellowed teeth and empty breasts...

...as you walk boldly across campus
I think I would have loved you
sometime, somewhere
and traced my fingers across the corners of your tribal tattoo
calligraphy in Celtic knots and ivy dreams
on your sun-drenched abdomen

And I would not be intimidated
by your Sampson-length golden honey locks
I think I would have loved you
sometime, somewhere
your silky sheen mane fondling your shoulders
in the same way mine did a thousand years ago

And I would not be annoyed
by your crusade to challenge everything
and drink your desires off the cuff of your sleeve
I think I could have loved you
sometime somewhere
and dreamed outrageously with you

But now I must bathe in dusted cobwebbed-settles
and men with rusted crucifixes dangling on
secondhand gold-plated chains
and set the alarm for six a.m.
I think I could have loved you
sometime, somewhere...

Some more top websites for writers

In case you missed it, Writer's Digest listed the top 101 websites for writers. This is a great issue.
A link to the article is here:
Writer's Digest Top 101 Websites for Writers

A few of them that I enjoy that I have used before are--
Duotrope
Shaw Guides
Dictionary dot com
Coffee Time Romance [I've guest blogged there]
JA Konrath's blog

Of course, there are many, many more that I want to check out that are on the list...

Still plugging away...
I registered on the Kindle forums and Kindle Boards there, so say hi if you're around.

Kindle Adventure - Part 2

The Kindle venture is going slowly---I've mastered a total of three [whoo hoo!] sales, so no hopes of quitting my day job yet :)
However, if being absolutely honest, I've done very little, if anything, on promoting it. The short story will be a part of a larger collection, so I'm wondering if I should just stick my toe in the water now and pull out the stopper when I get the whole collection up...I'll keep everyone posted though...

BTW- does anyone ever get writing ADHD? I'm kind of convinced it is something that can be damaging to your writing---seems like I keep wanting to start new projects and I have to force myself to finish what I'm on...

The LOST finale from a novelist's perspective: glass half-empty or half-full?

As you know, I've dedicated this blog to nothing but the fine art of writing, and have been determined not to get off topic too much with pop culture stuff...

...yeah, like that was going to last.

With all kinds of stuff in the blogosphere about the ending and did it deliver, etc. I couldn't resist weighing in on this...esp since I was, and have been a proud card-carrying LOST geek for quite sometime now. So I've really been interested in how these writer dudes were going to paint themselves out of this corner.

For the record, while this will be one more blog entry on the LOST -issue, notice that I'm trying to take it from a writer's perspective. I have my master's in English, so I'm not just some random dude munching on Cheetos like the Comic Book Guy in the Simpsons [Worst. Episode. Ever.]

And in the interest of full disclosure, I must say I'm in the Sawyer camp--though Desmond is my all time favorite, brotha.

So SPOILER ALERT ALL OVER THE PLACE...[but unless you've really been on an island in the middle of nowhere, you should know how it ends by now.]

Overall, the ending wasn't what I expected, but when was LOST ever?

At first, I was not so convinced they were in purgatory, mainly because according to multiple fan sites, the LOST gurus had denied that theory. So unless it's just a sucker-punch... let's just assume that they were in purgatory since that seems to be the general consensus, at least until the LOST gurus break their silence. If that were the case, I'd like to have known they were in purgatory in about season three---I think that would have made it interesting to frame the characters' motivation in terms of eternal consequences, though it would have moved the needle from sci-fi/mystery to religion.

Randomly, for the record, I think we try to take too much of the mystery out of religion. We try to explain everything away. Everything has to have an explanation.

Well, it doesn't.

As a writer, the whole "they were dead all along" kind of reeks of the easy way out, just a few steps away from the "it was only a dream" scenario...but for some reason, I didn't find it as irksome with LOST. I credit this in part to good acting, characterization, and the fact that, let's face it, the island has had themes of love/hate, heaven/hell, death/life, salvation/damnation for the whole six years, so it's not like we can't say it never occurred to us. It did. In season one [but was denied by the LOST powers that be]

I can NOT say --despite my earlier comment--that I felt cheated. [I could watch Desmond take out the garbage for an hour and not feel like I had wasted time. ] The reason was because this was essentially a character study. It wasn't so much what the island was, but who the people were and how they were all searching for some type of redemption or second chance. When Jack's eyes closed in the last scene, that was the perfect bookend. The first scene in season one was an opposite mirrored reflection of season six. That was cool. Why was it cool? Because I think it communicated to the viewer what the writers have been trying to say: we've been here before. We'll go there again. The cycle of life and death and forgiveness and grace.

I found myself getting a bit choked up [which was strange for me, as I was somewhat disappointed in the purgatory situation]. But I think it was because this was so character-driven [and great acting, too, btw] that I didn't mind.

It's like a magic show. We all know he doesn't REALLY saw the lady in half. But we liked to believe it. That's why we go along with it.

The flash sideways was great --esp. with the reunion scenes, which the actors managed to do without becoming cheesy [a hard thing to do].

Of course it left some unanswered questions, but I have to agree with Newsweek in the "Some Questions I Hope Lost Doesn't Answer" story [see www.newsweek.com] in that, this show was trying to essentially cover everything: the secret of existence, why are we here, what is my purpose in life...
...and they can't give us answers to that because, outside the realm of faith, that doesn't exist.

So WHY do I think-- as a writer-- the LOST glass is half-full?

When was the last time a network TV show made you think? I mean REALLY think.

And a flash forward? Bleepin' brilliant.

These challenged the viewers to actually do a bit of detective work on their own. [like one of my other favorites, "Boomtown," that was cancelled, in my opinion for trying to make viewers think].

Let's face it, for many networks, they want to go the easy way, the safe way, the canned laughs, the "plot-out-of-a-box" dramas---and while I am a Law and Order addict, do we really need another cop/ lawyer/ medical drama?

It was something different that actually made allusions to literature, philosophy, the Bible, science and of course, Star Wars.

When was the last time a network TV show mixed such genres - successfully-- combining both philosophy and religion, science vs. [and including] faith, paying for past sins. It made folks think that even if you aren't in purgatory [which, for the record, being Protestant I do not believe in so I am not the best to ask about it] you have to deal with your past. You cannot run from who you are. Responsibility always finds us, no matter how far we run...
...and self-sacrifice is the ultimate act of love.

Now, compare that to some other final episodes when we wanted to know if Ross would end up with Rachel or if the show really was about nothing.

Simply put, the glass is half full because we drank half of it already.

See you in another life, brotha!

Starting My Kindle Adventure-- Kindle Chronicles - part one

Well, I made the leap.
I decided to go ahead and publish my first short story with Amazon Kindle--inspired in major part by JA Konrath's blog ["A Newbie's Guide to Publishing"---I highly recommend it]

I am just starting and am being realistic about expectations here.
The short story I published is the entire text of "This is Not Barcelona" [an excerpt of the story is available by clicking on the link to the right...though don't read my bio information at the bottom of the page because it has a major SPOILER ALERT in it.

This short story is a part of a collection that will be released this summer called "Welcome to Shangri-La, North Carolina."

Of course, I will be posting shameless self-promotion on this blog.

I will also make this a chronicle of my Kindle journey, so you can see how one writer starts out from absolute zero and tries to building a following. I promise this: to be bluntly honest. I think we all must have realistic expectations -- JA Konrath has definitely been an incredible success, but success like his does not happen overnight. As he says, the keys are two words: QUALITY and QUANTITY.

The first challenge I've had has been formatting. There's some quirky things with Kindle. Also, my wonderful writing group buddy B alerted me to a few typos, so I went back and corrected them. However, B found that she couldn't get the "corrected" version of the story -- i.e. Kindle wouldn't let her buy it twice...but we'll see how that goes....

The short story sells for 99 cents and the collection will probably sell for $1.99
Here is the link:
This Is Not Barcelona

Yes, you CAN get a copy of this story even if you do not have KINDLE---all you have to do is download the FREE Kindle ap [either for PC or for MAC] and go from there.

Time will tell...I'll keep you posted.

Writing Tips I Swear By

Steps to getting published---
It sounds so simple, but yet, so deceptive....the FIRST step to getting your book published [and the most important] is.....
FINISH THAT BOOK!!!!!!!!!!

I have to be honest--- I have had maybe 20 to 30 people ask me for advice on getting their novel published, and out of those, only 3 have actually finished their novel.

True, finishing a novel (or any type of writing of any length) is a daunting process. However, I have found that it is significantly cheaper than therapy :) The point is, you cannot simply get something published unless it is finished. And not only finished, but finished and in pretty good shape.

So remember these three things to finishing your novel:
1) It's a marathon, not a sprint.
2) You will have to rewrite.
3) Just finish it.

REMEMBER-- Sprinters need not apply.

If you find that overwhelming, just realize that all books are composed of chapters, all chapters are more or less, several different "scenes" or short stories compiled into one. Break it down. If the entire project is overwhelming, just try to do a few short scenes.

Writing a novel utilizes the same philosophy that it does in eating an elephant. How do you do it? One bite at a time. (DISCLAIMER: before anyone calls PETA on me, this is just an expression. I'm not REALLY advocating eating elephants.)

When you're working on a novel, realize that this is a marathon. Not a sprint. Nothing worthwhile in life is easy. If you want to get instant gratification from finishing a project, then write short stories, flash fiction, poetry...not a novel.

Other writing tips that I swear by

1) Read
Look at the books you enjoy reading and ask yourself why you enjoy reading them? Is it the characters? The setting? Also, examine HOW the author managed to create these characters and the story--is he/she more descriptive or more action oriented?

2) Write, write, write, write
Write a lot. Even if you don't feel your first efforts are very good. Then rewrite. Then write some more.

3) Send it off
If the Great American Novel is sitting in your desk drawer, it's never going to get published.

4) Don't take rejection personally
I think ALL writers have had several rejections before they got published. Don't let it discourage you.

5) Remember: it's not a sprint. It's a marathon.


6) [to be credited to one of my old journalism professors who will remain nameless] JUST TELL THE DAMN STORY