Howdy all! Just a quick check in for today to see how everyone was doing this weekend.
In case you're wondering, I've moved my writing blog to Word Press: A writer and her adolescent muse This month I committed myself to write at least one micro poem each day. I've posted several here for your reading pleasure :-)
Also for my other writing blog (where I focus on genre/serial writing), I interviewed a serial author (my first ever), Walter B Shillington.
Have a wonderful weekend!
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I hope everyone is having a great Saturday! After several days of clouds and rain, we finally have sunshine in my neck of the woods. So far, spring has been mostly kind. I still wonder though if summer will come at us with a vengeance for spring's kindness. Hope not.
Anyhoo, I've read a few interesting articles recently and would like to share them with you:
1. If You're An Average Worker, You're Going Straight to the Bottom
2. Book content as a solo endeavor
3. Why I write serial fiction (and why you should too)
4. Can an Algorithm Write a Better News Story Than a Human Reporter?
I can't help but feel we're on a verge of more drastic changes (good and bad) all thanks in part to technology.
Announcement: Sometime around Memorial Day weekend, this blog will be moving to another home. I will share the new site's address before then.
Have a great weekend everyone!
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In death, life and hope are reborn.
The Dawning by Carrie A Golden (as published in Piker Press)
Blue moon shines down low
where the shimmering glaze of snow
-hides the souls of the land
Whispers fill the white wilderness
where each shadow weeps of emptiness
-but the ground brims with muted spirits
The sky explodes with streaks of radiant light
and bare trees sparkle with great might
-as the surface ascends towards the heavens
In a single burst the icy soil opens and shoots high
and a veil rushes to cover the celestials on nigh
-leaving behind the void and the darkness
The once-hushed voices immerse the air with melodic chorus
as each star wakes to twinkle in rhythmic consensus
-the liberated then rise to join as one with the multitude above
Joyful singings slowly fade to a quiet breeze
and the now hollowed earth lies in a peaceful ease
-a phoenix drifts towards the blushing horizon, carrying a birch tree leaf
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The reluctant dreamer
-faces yet another closed door
why continue to hope when the way is shut?
The persistent dreamer
-continues to hope in spite of the shuttered way
for this obstacle may lead to treasures otherwise unfounded.
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My goodness! Where did the time go? I hadn't realize until today that it's been about two weeks since my last post. I've been distracted by various things and projects and have let this blog slipped my attention. Ever have those kinds of weeks?
Work and other life events have kept me from writing a whole lot; but, I've managed to post one new chapter each week for my web serial so that's something.
I've also come to a point on this blog that I'm at a loss (momentarily) as to what to post about. My creative well runneth dry for fresh ideas. I may need to dig a new well. Or, dig deeper with the current one.
Until next time...
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Several years ago when I decided to take my writing seriously, my writing was borderline. It teetered between terrible and okay. In my mind, this is how I look back on it now. I relied heavily on passive verbs and adjectives (can't forget adverbs either). My stories were okay. Readable; just not great or even publishable.
It was the very beginning of my apprenticeship as a writer to hopefully becoming a publishable author.
I found, through participating in Script Frenzy, a way to hone (at least, a serious attempt to) my writing skills. Through screenwriting, I learned to cut out most of those passive verbs and replace them with active verbs.
In writing a screenplay, the story entails of action and dialogue. It general contains very little to no narrative or prose writing.
I believe it is good to try out various forms of writing (including screenplays) as a way of improving your writing craft.
If you're a fiction writer, what other forms of writing have you tried to help improve your craft?
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I read an interesting article on a blog earlier this week:
The Connection Between Poetry and Blindness, and How We Can Use It
I've wanted to comment, but something keeps stopping me. What kind of advice or tidbits could I offer the readers of this particular blog? I'm legally blind and deaf which have affected my writing (in ways that are bad and good). I don't even know where to begin, and I also don't feel that I am qualified enough to comment.
Okay, it must be my lack of (writerly) confidence in myself.
I really, really need to work on that.
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My (apocalyptic) poem, The Dawning, is in this week's edition of Piker Press.
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Question. Do you usually outline before you start writing your book? Or, do you wing it and trust that the muse/story will take you where it needs to go?
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It's raining out and you have no where to go today (is that really possible???). If you're looking for blogs about writing (both business and craft) to read and enjoy, here are a few to check out:
1. Magical Words
2. Writing the World
3. The Heart and Craft of Life Writing
4. Clarion
This is the first day of the entire week where I don't have to leave my house. All because it's raining! I refuse to do any house work today; instead, I'm going to focus on reading and writing.
Hope you'll have a productive and relaxing weekend.
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It can be difficult to be a writer these days. The pressures to publish and to build a platform continue to grow on a daily basis to a point that it is quite easy to become obsessed with these and forget the real reason you write.
It keeps happening to me. I keep finding myself more concerned with the business side of writing when I should be focused on improving and perfecting my writing craft.
So, why do I write then?
First and above all else, I write for me. For my soul and my spirit. Writing is something I have to do. Writing is therapeutic, but it can also be painful. It allows me to face my demons either directly (non fiction) or indirectly (fiction). Many times, writing tends to be the only life-line that keeps me on this planet. Above all, it gives me purpose.
Secondly, I enjoy sharing my work with others. So much so that I'm willing to give most of it away for free! It is not about money. I don't write to make a living. I tried that route and frankly, I don't want my writing to become a chore or a job. On the other hand, it is easy to be sucked into the business side of writing. You want to be well-read and praised. It is only human to have these desires. So you become increasingly focused on getting published and building an ever expansive platform, so absorbed on trying to be "successful" like other writers and authors that you lose sight of the real reason why you're a writer. You become frustrated and blocked. You may even decide to give up on writing altogether because you deemed yourself as an unworthy writer who no one wants to read or publish.
Recently, I began to travel down this slippery path until a friend reminded me why I was a writer.
Now, I will direct this question to you. Why do you write?
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Writers struggle with many things that tend to distract or even stop them from writing. For me, I always put the pressure on myself to write the perfect draft the first time. How insane is that? This is probably the number one cause of the "writer's block" that seems to inflict me routinely.
You'd think I know better by now.
Wrong. It's a constant battle that I fight daily. Many times I lose; but, there are times when I do win and what a glorious feeling that can be.
What about you? What kinds of struggles do you go through that tend to inhibit your writing craft?
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"An artist is a creature driven by demons. He doesn't know why they choose him and he's usually too busy to wonder why." William Faulkner
As a writer, can you relate to this quote? Are you an artist driven by demons?
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Last year, I wrote a post on another blog about disabilities. The title was "Everyone has a disability." The question I'm going to ask here is: should we allow our disabilities to stop us from realizing our dreams?
My answer? Absolutely not!
Let me back up a little to explain why I'm talking about this.
When I was two years old, I was barely talking. When I did speak, it was baby gibberish. I threw frequent temper tantrums. I startled easy. My parents knew that something wasn't quite right with me. They spent the next two years taking me to various specialists throughout New York and Vermont states.
It was in the early 1970s.
None of the specialists knew exactly what was wrong. There were a few who said I had behavioral issues that should be addressed by psychologists.
Finally, my parents took me to an audiologist who diagnosed me with moderate to severe hearing loss in both ears. It was during this same session when I was placed in a sound proof room, with a head phone on. The audiologist, Audrey, then amplified the sound of my voice. When she did that, my baby jabbering slowly grew more coherent.
At the age of four, I heard the sound of my own voice for the first time.
For the next few years, I went through intense speech therapies to help me get caught up with my speech development. But, I was always very self conscious of the fact that I spoke strangely. The English language was exceptionally difficult for me to grasp especially when I couldn't hear everything that was taught in the classroom.
I withdrew within myself and dwelled in my own self-made worlds with all my imaginary friends. Here, I was important. Here, my existence mattered.
At the age of 11, I discovered a way to bring my worlds and friends to life.
Through writing.
Yet, I never considered myself a writer. I never thought about writing as a full time career. All I knew was that I needed to write.
As I got older, I noticed the growing difficulties of getting around in the dark. I kept bumping into things and people. I kept tripping over items that were below my chin. Eventually, I went and saw an opthamologist.
My diagnosis? Retinitis Pigmentosa (more specifically, Usher Syndrome type II).
I was going blind. Slowly.
Whatever dreams and hopes I had at that time, I gave up and let them all go. I even stopped writing.
I was 21-years old.
I spent the next several years feeling quite sorry for myself. Miserable. Lonely.
Then a man came into my life (who would later become my husband). He gave me a gift one day in the form of a journal.
It was a gift that changed my life as I began to write again.
My world became alive once more. The misery within my heart and soul melted away and disappeared completely.
It was then when I realized I was meant to be a writer. A flawed one at best, but a writer nonetheless.
So, should disabilities stop you from realizing your dreams?
Absolutely not!
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I'll be experimenting with web fiction this year as a way to keep me writing on a more regular basis as well as to improve my skills in storytelling and world building.
If you dare, you can check out my progress with the story at The Underverse.
I'm having fun with this project so far!
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I'm in the process of working on a YA web serial fiction; so far, I'm enjoying it!
Has anyone attempted this particular venture? Success-yes, no?
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Today is my birthday.
Mostly, it feels like any other Saturday. After all, birthday is just a number. Right???
I've noticed, though, that the older I get, the more I tend to look back at all the events of my life. Why is that we judge the worth of our lives by particular events (graduating from high school/college, getting married, having children, climbing the corporate ladder, etc.) to determine if we've been successful or not?
Why is it that the older we get, we tend to fall into depression (or even desperation) because we're full of regrets for the things and dreams never fully realized?
Is that our heart and soul speaking? Or, the world's expectation of what should have been accomplished?
Who should we really be listening to?
Are we here to please the world and everyone in it? Hmm...some days this is a nice thought but would that bring us true happiness and joy? A true sense of contentment and fulfillment?
Most likely not.
To measure ourselves by others' standards is probably only inviting heartaches and bitter disappointments. I mean, our own personal standards (whether they are conscious or subconscious) are difficult enough since we expect only perfection out of ourselves and anything less means we're total failures.
Are we robots? No, we're humans which mean we are imperfect creatures, and these imperfections are what make us unique.
Special.
Original.
Combine all of these into an artist and you have a masterpiece.
So, why should we want to try and live up to everyone else's standards? To be more like them?
To be successful???
Just by being you, creating and sharing your art, your imperfections and uniqueness with others, is success in and of itself.
"I cannot give you a formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure – which is: try to please everybody." – Herbert Bayard Swope
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A guest blogger's post about serial fiction at my other blog; feel free to come over and read!
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I attempted to write my own writing manifesto and recently (gulp!) published it. I created a "Manifesto" page above if you'd like to read it.
Have a great rest of the weekend everyone!
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Share your favorite blogs with us! Nope, you can't include your own (darn it!). The blogs do not have to be about writing either. They can be about anything.
Here are the five blogs that I just can't live without:
1. NFL Gridiron Gab: What can I say? I'm a football junkie!
2. Indiewire: Great for any movie lover
3. The Adirondack Lifestyle blog: Whenever I get homesick for my mountains, I visit this blog.
4. Jeff Goins the writer
5. Writerly Life
Now its your turn!
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I've been reading a lot of articles and blog posts about ebooks lately. I'm keenly interested because I hope to launch a few of my own projects as ebooks later this year. There's been a lot of chatter especially about how much an ebook should really cost; or, more importantly for those unknown writers who want to self-publish, but are unsure as to what price to set for their ebooks.
I was excited when I ran across an article written by Seth Godin on this very subject matter. Let's see what he has to say:
How much should an ebook cost? This is the wrong question.
The right question is: How much will an ebook cost?
Because the answer isn’t up to one author or one publisher or even a price-fixing cartel. It’s up to the market, which is a far more complicated entity. There are no shoulds in the market, just reality.
On one hand, the marginal cost of delivering a single ebook is close to zero. It might cost Amazon and B&N a dime to transmit it, but it certainly costs the publisher nothing.
Seth pretty much says that the market (aka readers) will drive the cost of ebooks. For example, the demand for Stephen King's ebooks would be a lot higher than for a relatively unknown author; so what would a publisher do? Set the price higher for King's ebooks because the demand is much greater.
These are your basic economic concepts of supply and demand which is the backbone of our market economy.
Oh yeah, what kind of price should you set for your ebook? Here is Seth's pricing model for ebooks:
Zero: promo titles
$1: backlist service titles, useful but not irreplaceable
$7: backlist titles from authors you love
$15: current bestsellers
For an author just starting out, you will keep your pricing lower until you developed a sizable readership and then you can begin to increase the prices of your ebooks.
If you want to read this article in its entirety, here's the link: How much should an ebook cost?
Hopefully, this will give you a clearer picture on how to price your own ebook.
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2011 wasn't a very productive year for the writer in me. I'm almost too happy to see it leave. On the other hand, I really shouldn't say it was a complete waste either.
I did have two of my poems published: The King of Diamond and Diremption.
I also submitted a short story (Nightstalker) to the Lulu's Short Fiction contest. Although I didn't win, I now have an "ebook" published. This story will be a work in progress of an ongoing fictional series (one of my serialized fiction projects) which I'm now compelled to continue in 2012.
I also created a new writing blog (The Adolescent Muse:artistic crossroads) where I'll focus on some of my passions as a writer: genre writing and zombies. I also created an author website .
Okay, so 2011 wasn't that bad after all!
My Outlook and Goals for 2012
1. Write!
2. Read!
3. Work on my serialized fiction projects
4. Finish revising several poems and short stories and find them each a home
5. Write a writer's manifesto
How about you? Was 2011 a good year for the writer in you? What are your goals for the new year?
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Here's to wishing you and your family a very merry and safe Christmas!
(I'll be back after Christmas with final thoughts for 2011)
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I'm glad you didn't stop writing. I agree completely. When my son was three years old he still couldn't speak. He had to go to a speech therapist twice a week for a year. He later went on to become a talented actor, and musician. In high school he joined the Forensics Team (public speaking) and won a gold medal at the State competition. He never let his early speech disability stand in his way.
When I was in 8th grade, I scored so low on the CAT reading comprehension portion that the school put me in reading lab with other students reading "See Spot Run" and I swear, I went home in tears. I was a straight A student in reading lab!
Come to find out, I didn't have a reading comprehension problem. There was a problem with my taking timed tests while attempting to retain what I was reading. How else was I making A's in Earth Science and History?
I do suffer from a mild case of ADD and OCD, but they are a plus in my line of work (computer programming). :)
Deb, I bet you are very proud of your son! :) What an inspiration. Thank you for sharing this.
My goodness, Diane, that must have been a very frustrating experience! I'm glad they finally figured out the real reason behind your struggles.