Squidites November 11, 2009
Posted by Mary-Grace Ellington in Uncategorized.add a comment
I maintain filters on my LiveJoural blog so that content makes it to the eyes of those interested in seeing it. Recently, a friend of mine suggested a new topic for discussion, squid. I put it behind a filter and began playing with it. Did you know squid wear marinara to costume parties? This is what I’ve heard.
It isn’t surprising that most of the people interested in that filter are some of my writer friends. We are a creative bunch. We know how to get silly. We really are just getting started with our fun under the sea.
It might not be obvious why this relates to my writing life. In some ways, it is an excuse to procrastinate. In others though, I get to know my friends in random ways that generate creativity. We are talking about absolutely nothing and having a blast doing it. I am thinking of launching a story in the round. We will work together to craft a squid story. Hmmm. Maybe it will end with marinara.
I’ve asked them. Now I will ask you, what is your favorite squid and why?
RELEASE ANNOUNCEMENT! The Halfling’s Court: A Bad-Ass Faerie Tale October 30, 2009
Posted by Mary-Grace Ellington in Beta Reading and Critique, Business End, Promotion, Reviews, Writing Life.add a comment
I was lucky enough to critique this novella before it went to press. I will be writing up a review of it Monday. In short, I loved it. It was a fun read. I didn’t have a chance today as I spent the entire afternoon at the doctor’s with my son, diagnosis flu of the non-piggy variety.
From Danielle Ackley-McPhail’s entry:
www.sidhenadaire.com/books/HC.htm
And here’s the back ad copy:
Better Get Your Bad-Ass On!
THE RUMBLE OF A HARLEY…
THE GLEAM OF BLACK LEATHER…
THE SHINE OF POLISHED CHROME…
THE FREEDOM OF THE OPEN ROAD….
Motorcycles meet magic and mayhem as Lance Cosain, the halfling leader of The Wild Hunt MC, protects his turf and his people from attacks ordered by Dair na Scath, the high king of the fae.
Holding his own against rogue fae, redcaps, and the gremlins of the road, all Lance wants to do is settle down with his lady. Instead he goes toe-to-toe with the high king’s champion over an ancient dagger and the claim to a throne.
Who will triumph? The king of the road or the king of the realm?
Either way, the Hunt is on!
Based on the stories “At the Crossroads” and “Within the Guardian Bell” from the award-winning Bad-Ass Faeries Anthology series.
Finding the time… October 28, 2009
Posted by Mary-Grace Ellington in The Practice, Time Management, When Plot Bunnies Attack, Writing Life.Tags: reading, writing
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Finding the time to read or write is often difficult for me. This month has been about balance. I think maybe next month needs to be about something similar.
I was working hard to get this story for one particular anthology done on deadline. It took forever to get the pieces together. Once they came together, there really wasn’t much time left to get the story written. The deadline is Sunday. I still need to write the story. I should be excitd to get it out of me as now at least I have a plot to go on, and the main characters are cast. Yet, I am not motivated. Grrr to that. Now what? What is the next step? Do I write the story? Do I move on to the next anthology that I plan to shoot for? Do I dabble in both? Do I go back to my alien story?
I have questions and no real answers.
Instead I have been reading. I have been completely absorbed in Caitlin Kiernan’s The Red Tree. I have several more spectacular books lined up to read. I have a bottleneck of great reading to get lost in. All I want to do is read in my free time right now. That time is fairly limited. Sometimes balance just means making a trade-off.
“Everybody’s Workin’ For The Weekend” October 23, 2009
Posted by Mary-Grace Ellington in Business End, Community Involvement, Face Time, Promotion, The Practice, Writing Life.Tags: networking, writing, writing communities
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You have to love Loverboy on a Friday. Ok I can really appreciate the song almost any weekday. At any rate, here we are. We made it to another Friday.
Yesterday, I left work early feeling quite poorly. The season change has left me with angry sinuses. Lovely. I did zilch on the story yesterday. Friday is a new day. I am feeling better. The muse and I have a date.
So while I am off playing with my beautiful saint, I need you to do me a favor. I am trying to find some places to visit. I focus most of my attention on LiveJournal. I am looking for some writers’ blogs outside of LJ to begin following. I am also interested in ezines related to fiction and writing that you read and why. If you also check out forums that I could access involving writing, genre or no, please recommend those as well.
I have two reasons for the interest. The first is a little more innocent than the last. I would like exposure to more writers. New writers can learn so much from the writers that are willing to talk about the craft and well their daily lives. This has been my experience on LJ, and I’ve made some pretty good friends in the process.
The second reason is a selfish one. I want to get my name out there beyond the great emerald city of LJ. I don’t intend to do this with an OH HEY LOOK AT ME gesture. I plan to get involved in other places and hopefully add meaningful content to discussions. Perhaps if someone finds something I’ve said interesting enough, that reader will venture here and check out what else I have to say.
So yeah, go ahead. Bring on the links. They can be your personal sites as well. Just tell me a bit about why I should go there.
In the meantime, my muse – she needs a name- and I have a rug to cut and a story to tell. Have a good weekend guys.
“Where are you going?” October 22, 2009
Posted by Mary-Grace Ellington in The Practice, Time Management, When Plot Bunnies Attack, Writing Life.Tags: writing
2 comments
I’ve been working hard on the research for a story I want to write for the Dark Faith Anthology. The more research I involved myself in, the more ideas surfaced. You can get to a point where there are simply too many dots to connect.
I got myself there. I had no point of attack, no way to start the story. Finally during yesterday morning’s commute most of the pieces fell into place. Off and on yesterday, the plot started fleshing out in my mind. I finally have a direction to go in. Whether I can bring this story in for a landing by the Nov. 1 deadline remains to be seen. Wish me luck!
Oh I should also mention that once I knew where I was going with my Dark Faith story, three plot bunnies visited me. “Isn’t that the way they say it goes?”
With thanks to Dave Matthews and Jim Croche today.
Oh oh! I am in love with the two books I’ve started. “The Red Tree” and “Rosemary and Rue.” I can’t wait to share more with you on them.
Lessons Learned – Alien Short Story October 21, 2009
Posted by Mary-Grace Ellington in Lessons Learned, Writing Life.Tags: Lessons Learned
4 comments
This is actually more of a self narrative.
First, start it. Put words on paper. If you spend forever debating the ending in your head, you still won’t know how it will play out.
Leave room, and by this I mean time, for your best first readers to have a go at it well before deadline.
Don’t force the story. Let it breathe as you write.
Look for things that don’t move the story forward. DO NOT DUMP INFORMATION.
Do ask your editor questions. Queries can be a writer’s best friend. Don’t be afraid to get clarification. Also, try not to be a pest.
In the end, follow your heart with your story. Take all of the good advice. Look for common points/problems mentioned. Fix the obvious stuff (grammar, spelling, word choice). Table to rest to get distance.
I plan to come back to this once I pull it back out and revise it.
Reviews and FTC disclaimer love. October 9, 2009
Posted by Mary-Grace Ellington in Reviews.Tags: review
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I have updated my reviews with any FTC disclaimer information that I felt be relevant. Please feel free to comment on the reviews themselves if you have questions. I will say that I’d planned to finish reading The Stress of Her Regard by Tim Powers, but I just couldn’t stick with it. Tim, it’s not you. It’s me. My LJ has the full related post on that. Right, now I am off to beta read/crit a story and then invest some time in reasearch.
Beta Readers and Critique October 5, 2009
Posted by Mary-Grace Ellington in Beta Reading and Critique, Writing Life.add a comment
How do you choose the people that will be beta reading/critiquing for you?
I recently sent a story out to several people that I thought would work well in this capacity. When I got the responses back, I knew a few new things. First, I circulated the story to too many people. Call this a newbie mistake. I think I was just happy to have a finished project. Second, I wasted the time of a couple of folks that really should be writing their own stuff. They are leagues ahead of me in terms of experience and talent. I did appreciate their kind consideration though. Third, I identified a great proofreader/line editor. Fourth, I figured out who will always just say that it is great or fine no matter what. Now I need to narrow it down a bit for the next round.
What do you do with the feedback?
I have the story shelved at the moment. I also have all of the input I received from others with it. I did make all of the line edit corrects before stowing it. I will review thei feedback and then look at the story with new eyes in a couple of weeks.
What do you do when you are the beta reader/critiquer?
I am still new at this. I am learning what to leave alone as it is the style of the writer and what to comment/suggest corrections for.
What about you guys?
A Slice of Friday October 2, 2009
Posted by Mary-Grace Ellington in Beta Reading and Critique, Business End, Community Involvement, Face Time, Lessons Learned, Promotion, The Practice, Time Management, Writing Life.Tags: beta readinging, critique, Lessons Learned, Time Management, writing, writing communities
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Plot Bunny credit unkown
I am also starting to figure out what are the best uses of my time. I think that is something we all struggle with. I now have a schedule for the stories that I want to churn out between now and sometime in April. I have a collection of work to critique/beta read. I have books to read for review, for education myself in the craft and the classics, and for pure entertainment. I also have my alien story to go back and redraft. I am listing what I have on my plate as a note to myself more than anything. These are the balls I am currently choosing to juggle. It is all about choice and priority.
At the same time, I want to continue to support my friends and fellow writers. I love boosting the signal on good news.
I moderate a writing community that is mostly self-sustaining at this point. After my recent experiences with my alien story, I am planning a series on lessons learned for a new writer. I will post topics of discussion there and in other writing communities that I hold membership. I think others might like to comiserate.
Perhaps my lessons learned the hard way, might help others avoid the same pitfalls. Maybe they will just give everyone a good laugh. This will be a good way for me to get more involved. I feel like I have been somewhat absent lately in that respect.
This weekend I have some unexpected writing time coming up. I definitely plan to make the best of it.
Promoting My Friends October 1, 2009
Posted by Mary-Grace Ellington in Uncategorized.Tags: roll call
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I get so much joy out of spreading the word about my friends’ creative work. On my LiveJournal account I often post Roll Calls. This is a list linking work I would like to promote belonging to friends or people my friends have recommended over time. I also put out an open call for new names. I’ve come across some great new things to explore in the process.
In my own writing life, I have just gotten over a cold and a stomach bug. Talk about a double whammy! I need to post a review today. After that, I will be having fun in research land. I have a story that I am working on and need to finalize a few details.
