Fiction Scribe

Hi all! Happy Thursday Thirteen. Today’s Thursday dawns…cloudy and rainy. Lovely.

Anyway, time has been flying for me this week, which is good because that means work has been going quickly. Let’s keep that momentum going, shall we?

Yesterday I hosted the very fun Soup to Nuts Carnival Dessert portion. That brought to mind how I was introduced to blog carnivals not all that long ago and how I’ve benefitted. If you’re unsure about blog carnivals, here are…

1. Meeting new people!
2. Finding new blogs.
3. You can fashion your carnival to be about whatever you want.
4. Traffic love for all!
5. You have full control of who gets in your carnival.
6. Carnivals are mobile and can move from blog to blog, so if there is a month you’re busy just ask someone else to host it.
7. BlogCarnival.com makes running a carnival so easy you barely have to do any work.
8. Showcase your best posts.
9. Saying “I saw your post at the … carnival” is the easiest way to open a comment on blogs showcased.
10. A little boost to your Page Rank is always a good thing…
11. Have I mentioned how many new people you get to meet?
12. There is no limit to how many carnivals you can submit to!
13. Blog carnivals can work for whatever level of work you’re willing to put in - hosting or participating.

Check out my other Thursday Thirteens at Write Anyway, Long Relationships, and The Book Stacks

Hello everyone! Welcome to the first ever progressive dinner carnival. I am hosting the very delicious dessert portion of this carnival. If you’re here on your first course (dessert first? Tsk, tsk.) here is how the progressive dinner works:

Drinks and hors d’oevres will be enjoyed at The Gonzo Papers
Followed by Appetizers at Change Therapy
Moving on to the First Course at Fallen Words
The Main Course is at Chatting to My Generation
Dessert is being served here

And due to popular demand we have added a further treat which is:
Drinks after Dinner Reception hosted by The Lives and Times

On to the delectable lovelies of dessert!

My good friend Susan of West of Mars has shared a lovely piece of fiction for the ladies involving brownies. Need I say more?

Kilroy has given us two pieces to peruse with Adventures in Photography from Fear and Loathing and What Happened To My Mouse?!? from Things I’ve Found In The Blogosphere

Anthony from The Lives and Times is joining the dessert course with the double-take titled post The Lives and Times of The Lives and Times…

Peggikaye of Pearls And Dreams talks about her struggle in a very moving post: Aging Eating Disorders

Jeremy from Religion, Politics, and the Great Pumpkin joins in with a savoury treat titled Liberal Fascism: From The Minimum Wage To Organic Baby Carrots.

Ali Gator of The Ali Gator takes dessert seriously with the contribution Egyptian Hijab

Dan-O of Danogo knows what kind of creative desserts I like and has contributed Pushing the Limits of Creativity for Personal Development and Business Innovation

Mistress Regina, lovely lady of Tales of Ladies, Goddesses and Bitches has graced us with her presence in the form of the naughty dessert piece: The Price We Pay (Mature audience only)

Rita of My Path to Fitness has a presence that reminds us why we shouldn’t be too indulgent with sweets because you may find yourself wishing exercise wasn’t so hard…

…aBoVe SuSpIcIoN… of Myopic Broadcast shuns capitalization in her poem …sHaMe…

Laura Collins of Are you “Eating With Your Anorexic?” joins in to remind us to take a stand when she asks “Where is YOUR Blog?”

Tip Diva from Tip Diva is out to help us all with cool hints to help people Eating on a Budget

Mitch from FYI About.com is speaking my language in Weight Loss Exercise and Weight Loss Motivation

Albert of Urban Monk has a few things to say about What Compassion and Loving Kindness is Not

Dr. Martin Russell of Self Help, 101 is joining us today with the interestingly titled The Quicksand Guide To Professional Help

Roger of Raw Food Diet, Bodyweight Fitness & Self-Mastery reminds us to go easy on the dessert in talking about Why I’ve Barely Worked Out Lately and…

My friend John from John is Fit has stopped by to let us know about The Benefits of Chewing Gum

Thomas K from The Sporadical has one of the stranger contributions to dessert with his post about your brain, Head for a Hole

Scott the Poet from Poet Learnings has contributed a poem for your consumption titled The Rain

Tsai Jie from Diary of a Second Life Courtesan wonders Sex not most important thing in SL?

Jacob Share from JobMob is wondering: Do You Need Help Writing A Resume?

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper of A Voice Crying in the Wilderness likes dessert served short and sweet with An Ode to Good Women

Rebecca Dean of Miss Copy likes her dessert with a bang in Miss Copy Causes Car Crash in Japan!

Monica of Your Dose of Lunacy thinks Ron Popeil Would Be Proud

The Success Coach of For Your Success says, It’s Official, Stephen Colbert Is An American Icon!

deepali of Paradigm Shifted doesn’t have a rosy outlook for the world or capitalization in an ode to coffee (why mass consumerism will ruin us all)

Isabella of Alphablogs joins in the dessert mayhem with Seth Godin, Steve Mann and Jeremiah Owyang on Social Media for Business

Silicon Valley Blogger of The Digerati Life presents a dessert of a financial nature in The Exciting Financial Year That Was At The Digerati Life

David Mills of Undercover Black Man hopes to instill a bit of humour into dessert with Playlist: Making fun of the Chinese

Helene of Health Plans Plus knows what all those sugary desserts do to your teeth and offers help by way of Finding an Affordable Dental Plan - Questions to Ask

Kuanyin of Wailea Daily Photo finishes off what has been a lovely dessert with a lovely images post Ocean Lure

Thank you for stopping by the dessert portion of the progressive dinner! If you’re interested in hosting a course for the next progressive dinner on April 30th, contact Kilroy at The Gonzo Papers (linked above) or mail kilroy60@gmail.com for more information.

If you would like to contribute to more carnivals, the progressive dinner hosts are also hosting these carnivals:

I am hosting the Scribes carnival, which is going up next Monday, so you have to get your entries in quick! Submit here

You’re invited on February 15th for the Gonzo Gratitude! Carnival {What are you thankful for?}

Anthony is hosting the Surfer’s Paradise Hullabaloo! Carnival at The Lives and Times… on February 18th

Anja has two carnivals coming up at Anja Merret - Chatting To My Generation; the Observations of Life Carnival on February 17th and on February 23rd, the Personal Power Carnival

At Change Therapy, Isabella is hosting three carnivals in February. The Buddhist Carnival runs February 15th; the Carnival of Eating Disorders runs February 22nd; Canada 9-5 {a showcase for Canadian Business Blogs} runs February 28th.

You’ve seen them. Any aspiring writer who has looked at contests or getting his/her work published has come across at least one.

Scams. Con artists. So-called companies designed most often to get your money and sometimes (rarely) to get your writing.

I don’t think anyone needs any big hints about why these sorts of things have made my pet peeve list. Taking advantage of other people’s dreams isn’t generally considered to be a good, nice thing. And the sad truth is that where you finally get one taken down, ten more will pop up to replace that one.

Not always, but often, people will try to take advantage of you. It happens to pretty much everyone at some point or another. Some people don’t even mean to do it, but they do. The boss at the business sees you’re a fantastic worker and have been improving the company overall. Said boss also knows you’re too nice to ask for a raise…so you’ll never get one.

If you set out in the writing world wanting to spend money to get published and/or try to shove your work in front of anyone who will take a glance at it, you will be taken advantage of. If you don’t do your research and learn to distinguish cons from legitimate people, it’s likely you will be sucked into a con.

I highly recommend you check through Preditors and Editors on a regular basis. Talk to people about where they have been and what they’ve been through. Get advice. Research both offline and online. Get opinions.

The more time you take to getting to know how things work and talking to people, the less likely one of these silly cons or scams will look appealing to you.

Needless to say, it’s definitely not always easy to keep yourself motivated and organized when it comes to writing. Life events happen. We lack the will power to get our bums sitting down so we can write. Or, even when we do, we suddenly find the words won’t come.

Whether you write for a newspaper, a blog, or yourself in a novel in progress, we all struggle at one time or another with our writing. It’s no surprise that along with inspiration, motivation is a very hot topic for writers.

I recently read a post on the Blogging Tips blog that lists twenty-seven ways to be a smarter writer in 2008. Don’t be fooled by the blog title, though – these tips also serve as excellent advice for non-bloggers.

With tips like “Practice Every Day”, “Go On Location” and “Get Your Writer and Editor a Divorce”, they provide one of the best tips for writers list I’ve come across. They even point out things I’ve mentioned like taking a pen and paper with you wherever you go.

I’ve found that if you have a problem – of any sort that you have some control over – then taking an active role in solving the problem is the first step in the right direction. This list might not work for everyone, but quick tip lists are often the best place for people with limited time/attention spans.

I think I am going to start with switching away from the computer and back to pen and paper for a while. It should prove interesting.

Though humorously portrayed, too much blogging, like too much of pretty much anything, can be bad for you.

You knew that.

But could your blogging be ruining your writing abilities? In writing communities, this can be a very hot topic. What writer would want to do something to permanently ruin their ability to write?

You writing stopping your creative writing sounds a bit far out there, and it is. Blogging in itself won’t ruin your creative writing abilities by any means. It may influence them, but it won’t ruin them.

As a blogger, what you have to worry about is blogging too much. Do you spend more time blogging than you do creative writing? And no, you can’t count your character blog(s) as creative writing. It’s still blogging.

Do you blog more about what you’re going to write than you do actually writing? Do you spend more time reading other’s blogs than you do writing?

As with everything, moderation is key. I’m a feed reader woman myself with entirely too many blogs on it, but I still only spend a half an hour maximum reading it. I have a weight loss blog site, a personal blog, and a book/character interview blog. With those three combined, I still don’t spend more than an hour blogging.

The thing about blogging is that it can easily sweep your time away. If you want to know how much time you’re taking for both blogging and creative writing, keep track of the times and what you do during the day. If you’re spending more time blogging than creative writing, then something needs to change.

That is, if you want to get that novel done any time soon.

Hi all!

I have been terribly busy since 2008 and it never seems to let up. Being the woman I am, this has led me to feeling philosophical about what I want my life to be.

But, there are things to do before I let my philosophy brain take over completely.

I have been nominated twice for this award by two very lovely people, so I think it’s about time I get to putting it up and awarding it to others!

Jim Melvin of The Death Wizard Chronicles and WriterWoman of She Writes Poetry have granted me the Roar for Powerful Words award.

The rules follow:

* Link back to the person who tagged you.

* List three things that you believe are necessary to make writing good and powerful.

* Tag five others and comment on their blog informing them that they’ve been tagged with this award.

Without further ado, three things I believe are necessary for making writing good and powerful:

1. Write truth. Whether it’s your personal truth, the truth your imagination knows, or truths you hold true to life, write the truth. Truth shines through. Truth can be written with confidence. Truth speaks of experience and belief. Truth speaks of power.

2. Be passionate. Be passionate about what you write. Care. Want. Need. Have the desire to write about a subject and to speak to others through your words about certain subjects.

3. Work for it. If you’re not willing to put the work (research, time, editing, proofreading) into your writing, then don’t do it. Find something else that speaks to you.

And there you have it! I would like to pass on the award to five people who do the above:

Elisa of Watching Dr. Who
Gillian of Food Past
Randi of Parenting Toddlers
Rooze on Literary Mary
And all of the writers on Fallen Words

Thank you to those who nominated me and to those I have nominated.

I say … and you think … ?

1. Booze ::
2. Counter ::
3. Action ::
4. Trial ::
5. Wheelchair ::
6. 1-800 ::
7. Chop ::
8. Relatives ::
9. Bed sheets ::
10. Funnel ::

Courtesy of Luna Nina

I’m hosting part of a progressive dinner blog carnival! (No, I’m not talking about the Scribes carnival.)

Have you ever been to a progressive dinner? You start out at one house or restaurant to have hors d’oeuvres and cocktails, then move on to a different one for appetizers, and continue moving from place to place all the way through dessert.

That’s the idea behind the new Progressive Dinner Blog Carnival…

Soup To Nuts is ONE BLOG CARNIVAL presented in five “courses”, each with a different host.

Entries are being accepted NOW.
Dinner will be served on Wednesday, January 30th.

{You can submit one post, per blog, on any subject - please do not use any post more than once}

You can participate in 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 courses

(more…)

Dear readers, this week we have the author of a very powerful book joining us. Judy Gregerson’s Bad Girls Club is a story of strength and secrets, trials and family loyalty.

Please join me in welcoming Judy to Fiction Scribe.

Hello and thank you for stopping at Fiction Scribe, Ms. Gregerson. Tell the readers a bit about yourself.

Well, I’m the mother of two college-age daughter. I have a great husband who’s very supportive of everything I do. My background is in advertising and publishing and I’ve worked for a couple of big daily newspapers. I live in the Pacific Northwest but grew up on the eastern end of Long Island which is very much like Cape Cod. I’m a hermit who loves people, so I can be happy if I’m out with people or if I’m home alone.

What brought you into the world of writing? When did you start?

I was always interested in writing. But in my twenties I started working on my first book, Save Me! A Young Woman’s Journey Through Schizophrenia to Health. I had a writer friend who encouraged me and I was very, very fortunate in that the first editor I sent my book to bought it. After that book, I took a long break, left NYC, moved to Seattle, started a family and then came back to writing.

You’re currently on virtual tour for your novel Bad Girls Club. Could you tell us a bit about the book?

Bad Girls Club is a story told by Destiny, a seventeen-year-old who desperately wants to save her mentally ill mother and make her well and also rescue her little sister from her mom’s outbursts. Her dad is clueless about how bad things are. He just won’t face it. And one summer, the whole family spirals out of control and Destiny has to make life and death decisions for herself and her sister.

What inspired you to write Bad Girls Club? Where did the idea begin?

(more…)

Happy Thursday Thirteen!

This week’s Thursday Thirteen continues to be all about you. I’m going to ask you thirteen question about you and your writing.

You can answer any or all of the questions in the comments section or you can use the answers as your own Thursday Thirteen. If you decide to do the latter, be sure to let me know and link to it in the comments section.

1. What do you write? (Short stories, novels, poetry, etc.)
2. Do you write in first, second, or third person?
3. Do you write in limited or omnipotent?
4. What about the above appeals to you?
5. Do you use an outline? Why or why not?
6. Who do you like writing for more: the antagonist or protagonist?
7. What do you like writing the most: description or dialogue?
8. What would you say your weakest point is in writing (dialogue, setting, character development…)
9. Where do you write?
10. Is there anything you ‘need’ to write?
11. Do you prefer writing long hand or typing?
12. Are you ‘addicted’ to any words or punctuation marks?
13. What usually comes first for you - characters, title, plot…?

Check out my other Thursday Thirteens at Write Anyway, Long Relationships, and The Book Stacks

I first heard the term ‘pre-publishing’ a few weeks ago, and it caught my curiosity. I’d heard of self-publishing, e-publishing, vanity publishing, traditional publishing… But ‘pre-publishing’? That was something I needed to check out.

With just a little snooping around, I found ZootyandFlappers.com, a professional looking site with easy navigation. But then I started reading…

As I understand it, you give him your book to put up as a free download on his site. People who download and read your book give it a rating. If it gets good enough ratings…

Wait, wait, right there. So instead of trying traditional publishing or submitting to an agent, he wants you to give your book to him to put up for free? Okay…

Continuing on, if it gets good enough ratings, he takes it off the site as a free download and puts it up as an ebook or CD people can buy.

Wait again. Who is going to pay for something they could download from the same site for free a couple weeks ago?

When you get 10,000 downloads, this guy sends the book, sales report, reader ratings, etc to ten agents.

10,000 downloads? Who is going to pay for what they know is a non-published, not represented by an agent ebook? And again, who is going to buy a book they were getting for free a few weeks ago?

Also, what agent or publishing house is going to want something that has been downloaded 10,000 times? Can we say “first publishing rights” anyone?

Not only does what he’s doing get me (all things I could technically do by myself for no cost and all profit going directly to me), but I’ve caught typos on his site. For a site like mine, it damages my reputation a little, but it’s forgivable. I post nearly every day. But when you’re a business, you can’t really afford typos on your site.

At least, you can’t afford to call your site “Zooty & Flappers”, have that in your URL, but have the title bar (the top of your browser) show up “Zoodyandflappers.com”

Even beyond all that, I decided to do a little more research. Maybe somewhere in the abyss of this all, there was some good to be found.

Apparently, there’s no good to be found, just a lot worse.

Domenic Pappalardo doesn’t like his sites being talked about in a negative way. In my searches, I found two interesting blog posts…

The first post talks about the Zooty and Flappers company and how it doesn’t work. So be it. There was no name calling, no slander; she told it like she saw it to be.

That post was followed by this post in which the post author talks about the threats Domenic has made.

Domenic proceeded to talk about the person who posted the posts above here on his site, obviously set on destroying her credibility.

Not good. Not professional. I am never the final word, however, so check everything out and make your own judgments. I’m confident you’ll see what I see (and what others like Writer’s Beware have seen).

Last Friday on The Book Stacks I reviewed Jim Melvin’s The Pit, first book of The Death Wizard Chronicles. One of the things that most impressed me about his adult fantasy book is the magic system he has set up.

See, what Melvin has done is created a magic system that has a reason. It exists and works above and beyond the people who access it. Only certain people can get access to this power, the power runs out and the wielder needs to recharge occasionally, and the magic exists as part of a system.

Nothing is more annoying than having magic in a book that is merely there for the sake of making characters powerful. Yay, I can shoot lightning from my fingertips! Why? Where does the lightning come from? Why can you do it and Joe over there can’t? Why do you shoot lightning and Amy shoots fire? What makes you two different?

Those are the questions you need to ask and know the answers to before you run around giving every other character the ability to fly. Even the Fantastic Four were hit by some cosmic rays of some type or another. Spiderman was bitten by a spider and the X-Men are just the next step of human evolution.

See? Reasons behind the magic. They don’t have magic/powers for the sake of looking cool. Reasons, systems, weaknesses, etc.

So yes, feel free to give your characters access to magic and/or powers. That’s perfectly fine unless you don’t give a reason for the magic/powers. You need a system. You need reasons.

Even if your readers don’t find out about each intricate detail behind your creations, you can speak (write) with the confidence that you know the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of your magic/powers.

Yes, I know. It’s very exciting and unexpected.

Happy Tuesday or something like that.

Seeing as we had the bonus interview yesterday, the reminders are going up today. As always, titles are bolded for your easy perusal and sarcasm may or may not be included just to see if you are paying attention.

Comment-Eating Monster

Yes, our resident comment-eating monster is still rampaging through the 451 network leaving only half-eaten comments and destruction behind.

This issue is being worked on (so I’m told), and I will continue to fish comments out of the monster’s nasty net as often as possible. If a few days have gone by and your comment hasn’t appeared, let me know with a swift kick to the bum or a nicely worded email.

Author PDF

Okay, so I’m late with this and getting later. Are we surprised? Honestly, I have some offline time (road trip) coming up and I’ll be bringing my laptop. I still hope to get this ready to go out to everyone before the end of January.

The Book Stacks Game

If you would like a nifty Australian postcard from yours truly, head over to The Book Stacks to play the Monday book game. If you win, I will be sending a postcard to everyone who contributed. (And was willing to give me a postal address.)

Reviewer? Interviewer?

If you’re looking to getting into interviewing authors and/or reviewing books (free books!) check out this post for more information.

Soup to Nuts Carnival

Submissions for this carnival are still open, so get in on the action. You could have links to your blog(s) on five blogs, including here on Fiction Scribe. (I’m serving the dessert course. Yum yum.)

Hello everyone!

This week I have a bonus interview to put up. I’ve talked to novelist Mary Simonsen who wrote the novel Pemberley Remembered. I hope you’ll join me in welcoming her here to the site.

Hello and thank you for stopping at Fiction Scribe, Ms. Simonsen. Tell the readers a bit about yourself.

I grew up in Northern New Jersey very near to New York City. It was a great place to live as we were close to Broadway, the concert venues and the museums. While working in an engineering office, I met my husband, Paul. We’ve been married for 31 years and have two grown daughters and a granddaughter.

Before having children, most of my career was as a legal secretary, but after my girls were old enough to go to school, I reinvented myself and became a special education assistant. I retired two years ago to pursue my own interests which are travel and writing a novel.

What brought you into the world of writing? When did you start?

I always enjoyed writing, but it wasn’t until I had to write papers for college that I realized that I had some talent in that area. I have written for neighbourhood newsletters and a genealogical society, and I always got positive feedback. Like Jane Austen, much of my writing was for the “amusement of my family” and for the joy of writing.

You’ve recently published your novel Pemberley Remembered. Could you tell us a bit about the book?

The story’s setting is postwar England. Maggie Joyce, a young American, is working in London when she learns that a country house in Derbyshire might possibly be the real home of the characters who inspired Jane Austen’s Fitzwilliam Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice.

Maggie, a fan of the novel, goes to Derbyshire and meets Jack and Beth Crowell who have ties to the estate and who share stories with her of the family who occupied Montclair, the novel’s Pemberley. She is befriended by the Crowells and learns about the effects that the First World War had on them and their families. She also meets Rob McAllister, a man who served as a navigator on a B-17 bomber during the Second World War. They fall in love, but there are difficulties because of his wartime experiences.

What inspired you to write Pemberley Remembered? Where did the idea begin?

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I say … and you think … ?

1. President ::
2. Stare ::
3. Embrace ::
4. Movie ::
5. Everything ::
6. Profile ::
7. Satire ::
8. Erratic ::
9. Costume ::
10. Secretary ::

Courtesy of Luna Nina