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Labor Day Labors

9/4/2019

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Most of this was written the evening of Labor Day, but I didn't finish it until 9/4.​ And I want to thank the people responsible for the 491 separate visits to my site and the over 1200 page views. Awesome! Thank you and keep it up. And while I don't want anyone to think they're obligated to buy one of my books, it's okay if you do. Just give in to that feeling. ;-) 

To continue from last time, I have now completed the re-write to make it more of a Romance...I think I have. But I still need to polish it—get rid of the adverbs and my normal over-writing. I did that somewhat during the rewrite, but I'm sure I need more. The deadline is Sept. 15, so for the next two weeks, or until I get done, that's what I'll be working on.
And in my spare minutes I'll be thinking about character names. A few people have wondered if I could have two books-a paranormal Romance, and another as a paranormal thriller with a romance subplot. N.K. Wagner thought it would be great, but pointed out that I'd need to change names of the characters. And, I figure, the name of the fictional island nation that the story takes place on. So I'll be thinking about those, plus I must decide which names I want in which version. For example, I definitely want Michael Macduff as the hero in the thriller, and I definitely want Samantha as the love interest in the Romance.
The toughest choice will be Atlantis. First, I'm not sure which version would be better with that name for that character, but it also means I'll have to come up with a different title for one of them...which I would have to do anyway. Right now I'm favoring "Olivia," but that may change.
Whoop! Forget all that! Cancel the names changes. I'm not even going to manage getting the polishing finished in time so I definitely have not the time to change the names. I will submit the Romance version with all names intact. If I am fortunate enough to sell the book, then I'll worry about changing the names for the fantasy version.
On a personal note, I brought my wife home from the hospital today after her second neck surgery last week. Caring for her will probably take a little more of my time than it has in the past few weeks, but less than it did after her first surgery in May.
And that's it. I'm sorry there isn't more, but if you've read up till here then you understand.
One more thing: I've often recommended Page and Spine as a source of good reading material and also a great place to submit your writing. One of the regular features is The Writers' Table. I wrote a critique column for that tab for two years, appearing the last Friday of each month, critiquing the stories that had been published that month. I enjoyed it, but stopped so I'd have more time for my own creative writing. In TWT, authors give general or specific advice about writing, usually with samples of how to or how not to. So if you want to learn more about writing, read that!
Thank you and please keep reading.
 
 
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Two From One

8/16/2019

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One last note on the subject matter from last time. One of my more popular erotic stories received nine comments. Curiously, one of the Anonymous comments panned the story because I spent too many words describing the physical contacts of the mutual seduction in too much detail. Another commentator praised the writing for the details of the seduction.
So always keep in mind that all criticisms, and praises, are very subjective. They are influenced by the critic's experiences, upbringing, personal preferences, and anything else unique to that person. Keep that in mind and you won't be too devastated by criticisms, nor too ego-buoyed by praise.
Submissions: I wrote a 650-word story over two years ago that I hoped Daily Science Fiction would buy. No such luck, and I had not submitted it to any other market. But revealed through one of my many e-mail newsletters was a publisher looking to publish an anthology of very short stories, each 500 words or less, about wishes. It so happens that this short story was about wishes. I edited it down from 650 words to 489, and submitted it. I'm hoping to be one of the top three (they get paid) but just getting published will be a good deal.
I enjoyed the challenge of editing it down those 150+ words. I do tend to over-write, and when I finish the "final" draft of a story or novel, I always need to go back and hack out the over-writing. And then do it again, and maybe again.
My paranormal Romance/Thriller has met with little enthusiasm from Romance publishers. So I decided to de-emphasize the romance and write it as a paranormal thriller with a strong Romantic element. But then in another of my newsletters I discovered that one of the major print Romance publishers was having an open call for un-agented submissions. The only requirement is that the novel must have and HEA or HFN ending. That's "Happy Ever After" or "Happy For Now." The deadline for that submission is September 15. So instead of de-emphasizing the Romance, I'm going to emphasize it more and de-emphasize the thriller part. So far I've eliminated one chapter that was antithetical to the Romance mood and I'm going to have to rewrite at least two other scenes for the same reason. And probably rewrite a key encounter to make it more Romance-oriented, but I think I'm going to ask for help on that one.
I have at least a small personal connection with four successful women in the writing or publishing professions and I will ask (beg) for their opinions on that particular point. Though three of the four are FB friends, I'm able to contact them privately about something like this. Whatever the results, I'll let you all know next time. But because the deadline is less than a month away and my work hours along with my household duties still give me little time to write, I doubt I'll be able to add to this blog again before the 15 of September. But I'll try!
And then, to cover the bases, I'm going to continue the other version, de-emphasizing the romance and stressing the thriller-parts (and violence) a little more. So I may end up with two different novels when there was only one.
Thank you for reading, please continue to do so...anything in print!
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To the Moon, and Then to Smut

7/28/2019

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This was originally going to be posted on July 20, but business and router problems delayed it. Sorry.
Fifty years ago, Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon. The Russians have still never done it, the Chinese haven't done it, but the U.S. has done it a few times.
“We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win.”...John F. Kennedy
That was an attitude that proclaimed America's greatness. There was no need to boast about making America great...What America accomplished would prove it without boasts, without swagger, and without the President going out of his way to be a butt head.
On a completely different subject, I read, and write, erotica. Or is it pornography? There is a very thin line between erotica and porn. Not only is the line thin, but it is blurry and mostly subjective.
One opinion is that if the sex is about the story, it's erotica. If the story is about the sex, it's pornography. I'm not sure I totally agree with that, but it is certainly a legitimate point of view.
I'll offer my own take on the matter. If it's romantic; if the sex is an expression of romantic love, or even just strong affection, then it's erotica. If the story is obsessed with size and bodily fluids, it's probably porn.
Back when I had time to write I enjoyed writing erotica and used it as an outlet when I was having trouble with the many facets of my serious writing. Sort of like a pianist working on Chopsticks when he needs a break from Chopin. Not that my serious writing is comparable to Chopin as far as quality is concerned.
But what's the benefit of reading it, beyond whatever personal entertainment value it might have?
It's like this: one way to learn how to do something right is to see it done wrong. In athletics this is easy. Coaches will often show film of players' mistakes as a learning tool. Viewing mistakes is a useful tool in acting classes, art classes, and writing classes.
If you are trying your hand at the writing craft, and for whatever reason there's no organized class specifically for writing available, you have to use the tools you can find to help you. And finding good clear examples of bad writing is not easy. Even the amateur writing on Fan Story is pretty good, usually.
One example of bad writing that nevertheless hit the best seller list is one I've mentioned before: Fifty Shades of Grey. That book is a perfect example that sometimes content trumps quality. Also, as I've written before, her fourth book, Grey, is much superior in quality.
And the free erotica/porn stories often offer examples of really poor writing. They tell instead of show. That is probably the most common example of how not to. They spend the first few paragraphs describing the circumstances of the story, the appearance and characteristics of the characters, and then finally getting to the "nitty gritty" of the action.
Another characteristic of poor writing in the erotic stories is character movement, and that's what I want to dwell on a little bit.
Some writers of sex scenes, especially in a group sex setting, get sloppy about who is where when. Suddenly a participant who is last seen standing in the doorway dressed is suddenly, without transition, on the bed, naked, and engaging some part of his (her) anatomy in intimate activity.
And sometimes you have two or three people in physical situations that would require world-class contortionists, if you can picture exactly what the often unclear descriptions are trying to convey. For the most part these stories are unedited for quality and clarity, though reviewed for content.
These are good examples of how not to.
When you are writing any kind of scene, whether fiction or non-fiction, if you have any movement of characters you need to make it clear to the reader what those movements are. You may have the picture clear in your mind, but the reader can't see that. You must use words to convey the situations and movements. I find constructing action sequences as one of the most challenging and satisfying parts of writing.
About forty years ago I wrote my first novel. It was terrible. But it did serve as a learning experience. I had one scene where the hero, sword in hand (yep, it was fantasy) had to fight his way against perhaps a dozen foes while he worked his way through connecting rooms furnished with chairs, tables, couches, windows, doors, etc. I tried simply writing it as I envisioned it, but found that I wasn't clear even to myself.
I'm a lousy artist but stick figures and labelled squares are adequate. I sketched out the entire setting and the action sequence so I could see the sequence of events and how the furnishings affected the action.
Then I rewrote the scene, frequently consulting the sketch and using lines and arrows to show character movements.
I've only had to do that once since, but for every complicated scene of character movement I still draw a mental picture of the setting and characters and make sure I've written it in such a way that the readers will have as clear a concept as I do of what's going on.
And that'll do it for this time.
If anyone wants to know the internet site that I read and contribute my naughty smut to, ask on the contact page or in the comments and I'll tell you. If you want to know specifically which stories are mine, I might tell you that too, if you ask. Or I might not.
Thank you all for reading. I hope I'll be able to contribute the next blog post in less time than it took to post this one.
 
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My Biggest Fantasy May Be Finishing My Fantasy Series

6/23/2019

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​As has become habit, a quick note on the personal stuff: Our wedding anniversary was the 19th...and the birthday of our second child. And the 21st was my parents' wedding anniversary. When my father died in 1990, they'd been married forty-five years. The boss and I have been married for forty-three years so we just might pass the folks. But Mom and Dad were much older than we were when they got married. Dad was thirty-eight and Mom was almost thirty-one. We were twenty-five and twenty-one.
Due to the demand by my employer to work five ten-hour days a week, plus the continued lack of mobility for the boss, I only get to exercise two days a week, and don't get to write really, ever. This blog entry is the only thing I've written in two weeks.
However, it is not all bad. Although I'm getting nothing down "on paper," I'm getting plenty of ideas. I've developed a clearer picture of Tara's background and I've expanded her personality. That will force me to go back to what I've already written and add details, but that's what writing is all about.
I've also developed a clear though undetailed picture of the climax of the story...it will involve a surprise that has been hinted at already in what I've written. And even as I go through my days I realize more details and more characters. Also, the motivation and character of the primary villain has revealed itself to me. He/she/it (still undetermined) is, of course, psychotic. This character's psychosis is likely to be a version of the psychosis of a past or present world leader of some country. In the past, think Stalin, Hitler, Idi Amin, Pol Pot, Genghis Khan.
In the present, think...well, you all can use your imaginations and/or research news reports. However, here's a link to one candidate: https://www.quora.com/Who-is-the-worst-leader-in-the-world-right-now-and-why
As for fantasy, I want to recommend my favorite author, Robert Heinlein. Heinlein is known as one of the best, if not the best, science fiction author of the twentieth century. He won four Hugo awards and lots of others. When the Science Fiction Writers of America decided to create a Grand Master Award, he was their first choice.
But Heinlein also wrote fantasy, both novel length and shorter. His most obvious fantasy work is the novella, Magic, Inc. This is usually available in book form paired with Waldo. And, though Waldo is presented as science fiction, it is a fitting introduction to the fantasy world of Magic, Inc. Other shorter stories of his that fall more into the genre of fantasy than science fiction can be found currently in the collection, The Fantasies of Robert A. Heinlein. An older collection, 6 X H, has some of the same stories. The larger current issue has "Waldo" and "Magic, Inc." as well as the six in the older collection.
I borrowed a few details from "Magic, Inc." when I wrote Witchery.
A full-length fantasy novel of his is Glory Road. The fantasy aspect sort of sneaks up on you as you read it. It has inter-dimensional travel, ray guns, modern surgery, astronauts, the war in Southeast Asia, and the Irish Sweepstakes.
But it also has dragons, non-earthly creatures of many forms, six-legged horses, and a very well-described sword duel. I may have borrowed from Glory Road for either Witchery or Prophecy of Honor, but not consciously. I did borrow quite a bit from Heinlein's The Cat who Walks Through Walls when I wrote Prophecy of Honor, though someone who read both might not see any resemblance.
In case I've never mentioned it, Daily Science Fiction is a free source of science fiction and fantasy. If you sign up for it, they'll send a story to your email address every weekday. Well worth the non-monetary investment. I haven't managed to sell them anything yet, despite three or four attempts, but I'll be trying again soon...when I have time to write.
And that's it for this time. Thanks for reading. Now that you've read this, please read something else. Preferably one of my books or short stories (here's a link to my writing in the Page and Spine archives: https://www.pagespineficshowcase.com/fw-stories.html )  or something else, but something you'll enjoy.
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Personal Stuff Overwhelms Public Stuff

6/1/2019

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​June first. If my father was still alive, he'd be 112 years old today.
The boss has returned home. She was medically released, so we had to get her out of the hospital. The surgery does not seem to have done much good...or it may just take a longer time than anticipated for results to show. She is showing increased strength, so that's something. Neither one of us has said it, but we both have admitted to ourselves the possibility that her condition might be permanent.
On less depressing news...I got my lawn mowed! It had been three weeks. The lawn mower quit on me three weeks ago. With only being able to get it into repair on Thursday or Friday, it took a week to get it to the shop and another week for them to fix it. But it cost less than half their initial estimate, so that was good.
My reading time may take a hit. I've been in the habit of getting into work about 6:25 and have 25 minutes or so to read before clocking into work. But now I have to start work at 6, so I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I may have to finish The Talisman at home. I picked up Tony Wedgeworth's Altered Creatures book, The Hunted, today. This is another story about Santorray, the Blothrud. I think (I hope)that Tony is working on organizing a Writers' Open Forum for this summer. We had one in the City Hall in 2017. We didn't have one last year, but I know Tony hoped to have it in the new available space in the library. I had a presentation researched and planned, and I hope to do that this year. Its title: Pornography, Erotica, and Blocking a Scene.
I'm not going to go into any details about those subjects here and now. I'll hope you can attend, if and when. I'll give details after.
I'm going to offer up a plug for an excellent poet, N.K. Wagner: https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn%3Aaaid%3Ascds%3AUS%3A50ae09ce-4221-48c2-800a-59dd29986eab
The link will take you to a free promotional presentation of her published poems. You'll see is a talented photographer as well. And, she is the editor/publisher of Page and Spine Fiction Showcase. It is an excellent publication to submit your writing efforts. They will offer feedback even if they do not accept your submission for publication. That is very unusual. So, if you wish to try, you've got four months to prepare your best effort. They do not accept submissions between June 1 and October 1.
One more recommendation—one I've mentioned before. Anne R. Allen and Ruth Harris have a great blog. If you have any interest in writing, you should subscribe to it (it's free) and read it.
And that is it for this time. I'm sorry it's so short, but there's just been too much personal stuff going on to keep writing at the top of my to-do list.
Until next time, please read.

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Writing A Blog Can be Tough...or at least Semi-Tough

5/12/2019

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Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers (even though this is getting posted when the day is almost over).
I feel obligated to add a new post to this blog...yet, I've got little to contribute.
My wife's health difficulties are still undetermined, but getting worse, mostly. Her stay in a care facility with at least fifty minutes of physical or occupational therapy six days a week produced almost nothing.
She's home now, but keeping me pretty busy doing what the CNAs in the facility did...except I can't be down the hall and ignore her light for a half hour or so.
On the reading front, I'm now reading The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub. This is horror, and the macabre, and more fantasy featuring an alternate world. Except for the main character, Jack Sawyer, age twelve, the few heroes are understated and their influence is vital, but mostly brief...except for the werewolf.
But the villains are given much more coverage. And there are so many! And they are "twinners." They are bad people that exist in our world, and their "twins" that exist in the other world—The Territories. It seems almost all people have such a twin. But in some cases—Jack's, for instance, his twinner in The Territories died at a young age.
I first read The Talisman at least ten years ago, maybe many more. I could remember almost none of the story. Later, King and Straub co-wrote a sequel titled Black House. Most of the sequel is a new adventure for the now adult Jack Sawyer.
Black House takes place north of LaCrosse, Wisconsin.
It isn't often that a person can go to the real location that's the setting of a fantasy novel, so of course we did, as close as a map would get us. No black house, of course. But there was a yard sale.
I remember very little about Black House, so I suppose I'll take that up next. But I don't own a copy, so I'll have to depend on the library. Or, I suppose, I could buy a copy.
But The Talisman will be on hold for a week. I'm on vacation, mostly to take care of the boss, and the book is still at work. If I'd brought it home I'd be reading it now instead of writing this...which is why I leave it at work.
For a little change, allow me to recommend some reading that is not of this century, and not speculative fiction:
Dan Jenkins was a contributor to Sports Illustrated for many years. But he also wrote some excellent sports fiction. I highly recommend Semi-Tough. They made a movie from it starring Burt Reynolds, Jill Clayburgh, Kris Kristofferson, Robert Preston, and, with such a good cast, it was a piece of crap movie. It bore very little resemblance to the book, which is great.
Jenkins wrote a sequel to Semi-Tough titled Life Its Own Self, and that is also good, though not quite as good as the original, since the original was centered around the Super Bowl, and the sequel is about Billy Clyde's life after football and his romance with Barbara Jane Bookman.
Jenkins also wrote a golf novel titled Dead Solid Perfect. It has the same style that makes his two football books entertaining. If you like golf, either to watch or play, you'll like that one.
But, if none of those strike your fancy, I still urge you to read...my books, the ones mentioned here, or something else. But please read!
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"Believe half of what you see, Son, and none of what you hear."...Marvin Gaye

4/23/2019

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My very sincerest apologies for not contributing anything to this blog for over a month. I hadn't even realized it had been that long.
My wife's health continued to decline and pretty much every minute not at work (five ten-hour days per week) or taking care of the necessaries—sleep, eat, meal prep, cleaning, etc.—has been involved with my wife's health one way or another.
She finally gave up and admitted that she needed to be someplace other than home where she could get care and help all day as well as therapy to try to improve.
She hates not being home, and she knew she would, but gave in to necessity. Now we just have to hope and pray that she can improve.
Sorry about the personal note. I wouldn't mention near that much, but by way of explanation for my absence from this page.
I'm going to try to walk a fine line here and discuss communication rather than just writing. After all, writing is only one form of communication, and it is futile unless someone reads the writing. It is futile to talk, no matter how wise and valuable your words, unless someone hears them.
Art, music, drama, sign language—either the formal signing the deaf use or the more informal signs we all recognize, pantomime, all are means of communication. And all need to be "received" to do any good.
As I've mentioned, the fantasy series I've undertaken to write is titled Lying Swords. Not only do the swords lie, but characters lie. Some lie all the time, some lie seldom. Even the heroes lie, though seldom and never to each other.
Lying in politics is something most of us take for granted, but the frequency and boldness of lies has been raised to a new level since early in 2016.
I suppose everyone is familiar with the Mueller Investigation and to some degree with the findings.
Among other things, we know that the President's Press Secretary baldly and boldly lied to the American people, the press, television news, everyone, apparently simply to offer some kind of justification for her boss's actions. She confessed that.
But the bigger lies were those committed by representatives of our country's greatest national enemy—Russia. There is absolutely no doubt that the Trump campaign benefitted from the lies Russian agents presented on social media and other internet platforms.
The Russkis did their jobs well. I recall one brief exchange on Facebook with a young woman who was convinced Hillary Clinton was a killer—that she was guilty in some way of homicide. When I asked her what was her source for that belief, she scoffed. How could I expect her to remember which source out of so many produced those "facts."
I managed not to cry. But as a former teacher, I am appalled that people would simply believe the most ridiculous accusations without even caring if there was any evidence.
As Paul Simon wrote, "A man hears what he wants to hear, and disregards the rest."
And Robert Heinlein observed this: "The truth of a proposition has nothing to do with its credibility. And vice versa."
Please remember that when you are reading almost anything on line, especially on social media, from conservatives, liberals, or anyone in between, just because it is presented as fact does not mean that it is. It might be a lie. I urge you all to fact check everything...especially the stuff sent to you specifically.
Before there was an internet and the USSR still existed behind it's "Iron Curtain" (a label credited to Winston Churchill) there was Radio Free Europe, where the western nations of democracy, including the United States, did their best to get the truth to the citizens behind that curtain.
And in Russia, the State was the only source of "facts" and news. The Communist Party-run newspaper was Pravda. It is still the primary newspaper and news dispensary in Russia, despite satellite communication and the internet. "Pravda" means "truth." The people of Russian and the other members of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics were subjected to strict censorship. They only heard or read what the State wanted them to know, and that source of "truth" also constantly insisted that it was the only truth, and that any other source was lying for their own purposes.
Today, every citizen in this country has the opportunity to get their news from multiple sources. They can get two or three different—sometimes opposite—points of view and fact check them all to decide what is truth.
Sadly, many millions of people are too damn lazy to do that.
In the movie Hero, Dustin Hoffman's character says to his son, near the end of the movie, "All there is is bullshit, pardon my vulgarity here. Layers of it. One layer of bullshit on top of another. And what you do in life like when you get older is, you pick the layer of bullshit that you prefer and that's your bullshit, so to speak."
Sadly, that is pretty much true.
People who watch only one news channel, or read or listen to only one point of view, be it only conservative or only liberal, are voluntarily submitting themselves to the same kind of censorship the Russian people had forced upon them for decades.
Please, do the country and yourself a favor. Stop censoring your own source of the facts.
Thank you for reading, please communicate any reaction, if you wish, through the comments offer available here or the contact page, and read. Ditch the radio, ditch the television, even if only for an hour or so, and read.  
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    I'm a former teacher and current warehouse grunt that loves writing.

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