Vicarious Bragging

Hello Everyone! I know it's been a long time since I posted here. I claim stress, insanity, and laziness as my excuses. :-) Be that as it may i know that they are horrible excuses and I am trying to correct them all and get some writing done here now and again.

I had to write today and brag for my friend. She's an amateur writer who has been going through a heck of a hard time lately, so much so that she's commented a few times questioning her ability as a writer.

Folks we all face it. Someone we care about says we don't have it in us or some editor tells us that our story didn't fit and we think its because we suck. Whatever it is we all face discouragement. There's only two ways to deal with it. Either accept it all as the black hole you think it is and give up, or say to heck with the naysayers and soldier on making your writing as awesome as it can be.

I'm proud of my friend. She took the second route. I hope my friendship has helped her in doing that but whether it did or not she pressed on, and guess what? She just got accepted to a magazine that is a perfect venue for her and will be released at an awesome convention getting her story directly into the hands of hundreds of people interested in just what her story is, Steampunk.

Her success has inspired me to renew my efforts in my personal writing and I hope it'll do the same for you. And hey, right now is a perfect time to push your writing talents since Nanowrimo starts next Monday.

If any of you have any news you want to share, anything good at all writing related or not, put it up in the comments and we'll raise a hoorah your way as well. :-)

Ready, Set, Write!

OK so it is REALLY late right now, about 3am local time, And I've been at the computer for the last five hours writing a story. Why you may ask?

Well the short answer is I'm insane. ;-)

The longer answer is I have a deadline to meet and I really want a shot at getting into this magazine.

So this got me to thinking why on earth is it so important that I submit to this magazine? It's not like they're gonna know that I didn't submit. They aren't waiting for MY particular story. Heck they probably don't know I exist yet. So why am I staying up so late?

I'm addicted. And I don't want any twelve step program to cure it. I am totally in love with the written word and the thought that someone out there just might like my words enough to share them with others and pay me for the privilege to do so. And beyond that I'm having a major Steampunk phase in my life and this particular magazine is perfectly positioned to reach that exact market. So if I can get in then people I want to know about me will find me.

If any of you have something steampunky or want to pull an all nighter to write one check out Fissure Magazine. They have an upcoming Steampunk issue open to submissions till July 30th.

And now i'd like to know if any of you have ever found yourself doing something like this. Have any of you pulled an all nighter for something you love? writing, painting, singing, whatever. Let me know. I can't wait to hear your stories. :-)

Hooray for Steampunk!

So you've probably heard me mention Steampunk before. I love it! its great fun and class and grit all rolled into one. But being an emerging concept I think I'd be remiss if I didn't try and put together my views on what Steampunk is.

Plus I cant very well have you all be my little Steampunk minions if you don't know what it is. ;-)

So if you go by the all knowing ever infallible Wiki, Steampunk is "a sub-genre of science fiction and speculative fiction, frequently featuring elements of fantasy, that came into prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s."

Accurate, but dry. Steampunk to me is taking the simple complexity of steam and clockwork power and mixing it with the capabilities of our technology and even beyond. It's a genre of fiction, yes. I very much enjoy writing in this genre, in fact I'm developing a serial story concept based on a Steampunk time traveler. But boy is Steampunk more than that.

What started as some eccentric writings in the 80's has exploded into the world to take on not only literature, but art, music, fashion, and technology. One of my favorite bits about this Steampunk movement is the attitude of do it yourself. There are people out there who have made so many things Steampunk its crazy! a lot of it is pretty rough shod I'll grant you, but some of it is exquisite craftsmanship and imagination of the highest caliber.

So if you want to look at this a bit more here's a few links I really enjoy that you might find entertaining. Heck if nothing else it could inspire you to write a piece on those crazy nut jobs in top hats. ;-)

1. The Steampunk Workshop This is the place I first found the name for this style I've loved for decades.

2. Girl Genius This is a great web comic that is ALL Steampunk. Brass and gears and mad science all delivered with great art and humor. I check it out every day it updates.

3. Abney Park Holy cow, I can't tell you how much I enjoy this band! My two Favorites by them are Sleep Isabella and Herr Drosselmeyer's Doll. I listen to these guys incessantly lately as I'm writing.

4. Datamancer Another great tinkerer with an amazing knack for taking things modern and giving them an antique elegance and mystique.

5. Steampunk Emporium As soon as I get a few bucks to spare I am seriously buying a whole getup from here.

6. A Gentleman's Duel This has got to be the funniest thing I've seen Steampunk.

7. Steampunk Literature This is a list of books that fit in Steampunk. I haven't read most of them but the classics I definitely have and a few of the newer titles. Needless to say I'm working on adding my own work to this list. ;-)

8. Dr. Steel No Steampunk list would be complete without a mad scientist in the mix. His music is OK but I love his videos on YouTube.

Obviously this isn't a complete list of all things Steampunk. Heck, it's still such a fluid concept that one person's idea of Steampuink can be completely different from another person's.

So what's your take on it? Do you know Steampunk and have something to add? Whats your impression of it if you've just found it? Any other intriguing sub-cultures you know of? Speak up in the comments. :-)

Money? Yes please.

So I found something the other day I think any starting writer should do. its a free workshop starting February 1st on how to do a book video. Now it is on a romance blog, not my favorite genre, but they do have the most videos so it should be interesting. Check em out at Happy Endings Blog.

What is a book video you may ask? I hadn't seen them myself until recently but essentially they are for a novel what a movie trailer is for a movie. One that I think is great is on YouTube for Katie Macalisters novel Steamed

So why do I care about this and why should you if your a writer? Money. Pure and simple its all about the Benjamin's. I want to make money off of this eventually. So if that's the goal I better start learning now how to do my own marketing and promoting. This book video thing could cost hundreds of dollars as time goes on. So if I can do it myself not only do I not have to pay that out but i get more money coming in my way cause no one is going to look out for my interests better than me. :-)

Good News and Upcoming Good Stuff

In some earlier posts I talked about why I thought I'd get published and set myself the goal of submitting pretty much every week. That was 3 weeks ago.

That first story I sent out, a steampunk story, was rejected. Not because of writing craft but because they had some similar stories within the last year and didn't want to revisit similar territory so soon. But they did ask for me to send more to them. A good sign I think.

And yet, as any starting writer would be, I was a bit crestfallen and was tempted to let it sit for awhile in a drawer. Thank heaven for good friends and ego. My friend Jean told me in her trollish way to get over it and get it out. And even more motivating I figured I couldn't very well face you, my readers, if I couldn't take my own advice and shoot it right back out.

So I did. And guess what happened? It didn't get rejected! I heard back from the main editor that she liked the premise of my story and was sending it on to her editing team. No it was not outright accepted, not yet, but this is forward progress. I'll take it!

So Maybe in a while you'll see a post of me doing the happy dance with my first acceptance letter. Guess we'll see. Until then I'm getting back to writing, you should too. ;-)

Let the madness commence!

Welcome one and all to , what I hope will be, a fun and educational little place to park your mouse.

As a matter of forewarning I am crazy! Not so much the bouncing-off-the-walls mad chuckling sort of crazy as much as a Willie Wonka distorted-view-of-the-world sort of crazy. But don't rule out the occasional mad chuckle. :mwa ha ha::

Mainly I'm going to bring you the best I can about writing speculative fiction and the market and culture surrounding it. But like I said I am crazy and easily distract... oh shiny thing.

So be prepared because I'm liable to go from something on writing and story craft one day to jabbering about the latest drop dead gorgeous video game the next with a bit of rambling about kids and family life thrown in for good measure.

So come along and be careful of the gremlins. They do love to mangle words so.