July 14 is National Nude Day. Technically, this is more for Naturists—nudists that prefer nudity for non-sexual reasons. But celebrate if you can, and choose to. Despite the post title, I’m not writing anything about nudity.
I’m sorry I have ignored this for two months. I’m still struggling to write anything, and part of the reason is my typing continues to be really bad. It’s hard to get into the process when almost every line needs to be reread and corrected. For example, the previous sentence had three typos I had to correct.
But I am doing some. I’m slowly making progress on Lying Swords, Book 2. I’ve also been doing some editing on old stories that hadn’t sold and submitting them to new markets. One of those stories is “A Veterinarian Visits the Gods.”
At the end of May I attended a writers’ conference called Narrativity in Pontiac, Minnesota. It was great! Almost four days of hearing about and talking about writing, especially writing science fiction and fantasy. Nice people, too. I think I was the oldest, but there might have been one or two senior. Two or three looked older anyway.
The first day of the event was a writers’ workshop. Those of us who took part submitted the first ten pages of a finished manuscript or work-in-progress (WIP) for critiquing. We submitted one copy to the leader of the workshop, plus one each to two other members, and received those two members’ submissions to critique.
I submitted that story mentioned above and received some very useful suggestions and criticisms. It was great. I like to think I also offered some helpful commentary in return. Everybody had to submit their project by May 3 so the critiques could all be done by May 30.
After I got home I took out the three different critiques and applied what I felt applicable to the story. A lot of that was additional info, so the story went from about 4880 words to about 5190. Then I had a chance to submit that story, but it had a max of 5,000 words, so I had to cut about 200. Done and submitted. It could be up to two more months before I get a response.
Hey, I did get a sale! $5 is better than nothing, but the real good thing is getting published. Stupefying Stories wanted flash fiction—stories under 1,000 words. The title is “Then Beggars Would Ride.” This is the second half of an old saying, “If wishes were horses, then beggars would ride.” The story is about wishing and riding, and it can be seen here: “Then Beggars Would Ride” • by Fred Waiss ~ Stupefying Stories Magazine. Please read!
I’m still reading regularly. At Narrativity some of the authors brought books, theirs or just books, to be available to everybody, so I grabbed something titled Sit, Stay, Kill by Kate Dane, one of the attendees that might be senior to me. It’s a paranormal romance—romance with werewolves. Not my preferred reading material, but not too bad. If anyone wants it, let me know and I’ll get it to you.
I read a couple more Dean Koonz novels and now I’ve started Dave & Leigh Eddings’ The Dreamers series. After I got only a few pages into book one, I realized I’ve read it before. But it’s been a long time ago so that even though I recognize what I’m reading, I have no idea what’s coming.
I’m not optimistic about Prophecy of Honor being published by Water Dragon Press. I’ve sent three letters asking about progress, and had no replies. I’m going to try again tomorrow and see what happens. I’ll keep you posted.
Harking back to the last post, SWAK means Sealed With A Kiss.
I’m skipping commentary on the Trump shooting for now. I’m planning on getting pretty political in the next few months, so I’ll just wait till then.
Try to stay just cool enough, and thanks for reading.
I’m sorry I have ignored this for two months. I’m still struggling to write anything, and part of the reason is my typing continues to be really bad. It’s hard to get into the process when almost every line needs to be reread and corrected. For example, the previous sentence had three typos I had to correct.
But I am doing some. I’m slowly making progress on Lying Swords, Book 2. I’ve also been doing some editing on old stories that hadn’t sold and submitting them to new markets. One of those stories is “A Veterinarian Visits the Gods.”
At the end of May I attended a writers’ conference called Narrativity in Pontiac, Minnesota. It was great! Almost four days of hearing about and talking about writing, especially writing science fiction and fantasy. Nice people, too. I think I was the oldest, but there might have been one or two senior. Two or three looked older anyway.
The first day of the event was a writers’ workshop. Those of us who took part submitted the first ten pages of a finished manuscript or work-in-progress (WIP) for critiquing. We submitted one copy to the leader of the workshop, plus one each to two other members, and received those two members’ submissions to critique.
I submitted that story mentioned above and received some very useful suggestions and criticisms. It was great. I like to think I also offered some helpful commentary in return. Everybody had to submit their project by May 3 so the critiques could all be done by May 30.
After I got home I took out the three different critiques and applied what I felt applicable to the story. A lot of that was additional info, so the story went from about 4880 words to about 5190. Then I had a chance to submit that story, but it had a max of 5,000 words, so I had to cut about 200. Done and submitted. It could be up to two more months before I get a response.
Hey, I did get a sale! $5 is better than nothing, but the real good thing is getting published. Stupefying Stories wanted flash fiction—stories under 1,000 words. The title is “Then Beggars Would Ride.” This is the second half of an old saying, “If wishes were horses, then beggars would ride.” The story is about wishing and riding, and it can be seen here: “Then Beggars Would Ride” • by Fred Waiss ~ Stupefying Stories Magazine. Please read!
I’m still reading regularly. At Narrativity some of the authors brought books, theirs or just books, to be available to everybody, so I grabbed something titled Sit, Stay, Kill by Kate Dane, one of the attendees that might be senior to me. It’s a paranormal romance—romance with werewolves. Not my preferred reading material, but not too bad. If anyone wants it, let me know and I’ll get it to you.
I read a couple more Dean Koonz novels and now I’ve started Dave & Leigh Eddings’ The Dreamers series. After I got only a few pages into book one, I realized I’ve read it before. But it’s been a long time ago so that even though I recognize what I’m reading, I have no idea what’s coming.
I’m not optimistic about Prophecy of Honor being published by Water Dragon Press. I’ve sent three letters asking about progress, and had no replies. I’m going to try again tomorrow and see what happens. I’ll keep you posted.
Harking back to the last post, SWAK means Sealed With A Kiss.
I’m skipping commentary on the Trump shooting for now. I’m planning on getting pretty political in the next few months, so I’ll just wait till then.
Try to stay just cool enough, and thanks for reading.
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