Fiction Scribe

Hello everyone! I feel like it’s been a while for some reason. Perhaps I am finally actually going crazy? Perhaps. This week has been busy enough for it.

A friend in one of the writing groups I’m in sent me a link for a fun writing exercise called 100 Words. I decided to check out the lovely Velvet Verbosity site. I like it a lot and am in the mood for some fun writing exercises, so here is my contribution to the current challenge:

Eden

Eden. The mythical, biblical land of absolute perfection and paradise. Thinking of Eden made John think of great expanses of very green grass with beautiful trees in sight in every direction. Some bore the purest beautiful fruit you could ever imagine.

Maybe after the betrayal of Adam and Eve, God burned Eden.

Ah, I enjoyed that. Sometimes I miss doing the exercises and other writing related activities that I did much more of while I…wasn’t working. Ha.

If you take part in this exercise, don’t forget to leave me a link so I can take a peek and a link at VV as well.

***This post is part of the 100 Comments Contest. Check out this post to find out how you can win.***

Help support the cause by spreading the word and commenting on other’s posts. Here’s a link list, courtesy of Writer’s Weekly, of people who are talking about Amazon.com’s move to make a monopoly.

Amazon Explains POD Move; Ingram Raises Questions by Jim Milliot, Publishers Weekly

Amazon squeezes on-demand publishers, ITWire

Backlash Over Amazon Monopoly Tactics by Deborah Woehr

An Important Lesson from Amazon on How NOT to Treat Your Customers, Virtual Impax

The Eight Hundred Pound Gorilla by Sgt. Mom

Amazon squeezes POD by Nick Farrell

POD Publishers Outraged by Amazon’s New Restrictions, Law Librarian Blog

Et tu, Amazon? by Todd Keisling

Amazon smacks little people with BookSurge By Cade Metz, The Register

A New Amazon Mandate? Say it ain’t so, Jeff by Morris Rosenthal

Amazon Forcing POD Publishers to Make a Hard Decision, Virtualbookworm

Amazon Tightens Grip on Printing by Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg, Wall Street Journal

Amazon Tightens Noose on Print-On-Demand Publishers; Insists They Use Company’s Own Service by Rafat Ali, The Washington Post

Amazon to Force POD Publishers to Use BookSurge by Jim Milliot, Publishers Weekly

Amazon changes rules for print-on-demand publishers by Linda Rosencrance, Computerworld

Amazon pulls a Microsoft by Robert L. Mitchell, Computerworld Blogs

Amazon Puts the Squeeze on Publishers by Betsy Schiffman, Wired Blog Network

Amazon Gets Demanding with Print-on-Demand Publishers, O’Reilly Radar

Amazon.com puts the screws to small publishers, Valleywag

Amazon Insists Publishers Use Their On-Demand Printer, Slashdot

Amazon Declares War on Lightning Source by Aaron Shepard

Amazon’s POD monopoly, booktwo.org

Is Amazon Getting Greedy? , open…

Oh, REAL nice, Amazon.com, Beatlegirl’s Blog

Market Report — In Play,MSN Money

Amazon Muscles Print-On-Demand Services by Duncan Riley, TechCrunch

Amazon & BookSurge, words count

Urgent News for Authors, The Holistic Writer

Monopoly - It’s Not A Game by Jean-Marie Hershey, Print CEO Blog

Of oil lamps, Print on Demand, and e-book machines: Amazon’s Bezos as a would-be Rockefeller by David Rothman

Deal Breaker? Amazon - BookSurge - POD - No Choice?, Workboxers

Amazon.com’s POD land grab, BookFinder.com Journal

Amazon Changes POD Tactics, Removes Velvet Gloves by Kassia Krozser, Booksquare

Amazon The Monopoly, PersonaNonData

Amazon Muscles Print-On-Demand Services, web2bite.com

Use BookSurge or Die? by Victoria Strauss, Writer Beware

Amazon/Golliath takes on the little guys by Helen Gallagher, Release Your Writing

Amazon Bullies POD to Use Booksurge — or Else., Shadowhelm’s Journal

Amazon Says It Will Only Sell Print-On-Demand Books That It Gets To Print, Techdirt

Amazon deletes competition, LibraryThing

What’s Amazon Up To Now? by Tawny Taylor

Amazon Shaking the POD World Big Time, Juno Books

A hearty “F$%k you!” to Amazon by Elf M. Sternberg

A Call to Bloggers: Stop Supporting Amazon, Inhabitatio Dei

Amazon to Force POD Publishers to Use BookSurge, Media Mensch

Self Publishers and Amazon, Writerly Stuff

Amazon Tightens Grip On Printing, booktrade.info

Amazon to Block Other POD Services from Using Amazon Marketplace, Dear Author

Amazon trying to screw small presses?, lupabitch

Dear Amazon, What are You Thinking? by Monica Valentinelli, Words on the Water

Will Amazon Hurt Small Pagan Publishers?, The Wild Hund

Amazon and us by Gill Polack

Will Amazon Become the Google of the POD Industry? by Deborah Woehr

Down with The Zon! by Celia Kyle

Beyond the POD grab: The IDPF should fight Amazon’s new eBabel, look for anti-trust violations, and reach out to Google by David Rothman, TeleRead

Amazon blocking books of competitive publishers?, electronista

We are not amused–veinglory, PODPeople

Bully on the block?, The Pearlsong Letter

The monopolists: You need to worry about Amazon too by Eion Purcell

Amazon owns the marketplace: return of the distributor, Thudfactor

Is Amazon trying to monopolize the empowering Publish-On-Demand market?, Chris Boese’s Weblog

500 pound gorilla, Idle musings of a bookseller

Bye-Bye “Buy Buttons” for POD Authors?, The Backroom at Dehanna.com

Amazon Making a Big Mistake by Cheryl Pickett

Amazon to force POD publishers to use Booksurge, Murder by 4

Amazon.com’s dirty little deed, pds_lit

Amazon’s Stupid Anti-Competitive Move, Principled Profit

Amazon Bullying POD Writers and Publishers Unfairly, A-ha

A Call to Bloggers: Stop Supporting Amazon, Resurrection Life

Amazon.com Is On Drugs, Thought Patterns

Amazon launches their weapon of mass destruction, steps on the long tail of independent authors by Mark Riffey

POD Publishers Told to Sell Directly Through Amazon, They Have to Use Booksurge, PublishersLunch

Maybe Amazon’s problem is obvious?, The Snoozeletter

No longer an Amazon customer, The Books of My Numberless Dreams

Are They Nuts? by Heather S. Ingemar

Amazon not playing fair, Synthstuff

Amazon attempting to squeeze POD industry, Terry Heaton’s PoMo Blog

Amazon.com Takes On Digital Book Printers, Graphic Arts Online

Boycott Amazon!, PlainTalk

Amazon.com Hates Small Press? by JM, Fiction Scribe

Telling the 900-pound Gorilla Where not to Sit, Quaker Pagan Reflections

Amazon puts the Squeeze on POD Publishers by Easy Author Web Sites

Amazonian bullying, Satima’s Blogspot

Amazon May be on Receiving End of Internet Justice, Small Business Trends

Amazon Situation Continues and Lesson #1, The Publishing Answers Blog

Amazon Chaos by Marshall S. Thomas

That Amazon decision, PETRONA

While Mr. Reasons of 101 Reasons to Stop Writing would love it if I talked about this as a permanent thing, that’s not the case. However, I am going to tell you what you think I’m going to tell you.

It’s okay to stop and put the pen down.

Yesterday I went to the air conditioned library to escape the brain melting 100+ degree heat of the Australian sunshine. While there, I had one of the best writing days I have had in a long time, finishing up the work day at over 3,000 words typed for the day.

Do I attribute this to a fabulous muse? The delicious smoothie I had while there? The wonders of air conditioning?

Perhaps, in part, but by and large I attribute it to the fact I took a few days off writing. I tried not to think about it. I relaxed. I went people watching.

Basically, I did what every writer needs to do now and then not only to write better but to manage to keep whatever amount of sanity you have:

Get out of the writing room!

Yes, writing is about putting your ass down in the chair and getting some writing done, but it’s also about living. If you never get out of the writing room and experience life, then who do you think you are going about as if you have something to write about?

If possible, sometime this week get out and go somewhere new. Or, at least, go somewhere you rarely go. On your lunch break, after work, whenever works best for you. Go somewhere new and live it up. Experience things.

Do it because this is one of the few times I’m going to tell you to get your bum out of the chair.

From The Writer’s Well

Craigslist Poster Says It All

washington, DC craigslist > district of columbia > writing gigs

Regarding Writing Gigs
Reply to: gigs-576026168@craigslist.org
Date: 2008-02-16, 12:13PM EST

A notice to all you folks who post ads looking for writers to work for free: Please stop. This is an insult to our profession, and is a waste of our time. If you want someone to write for you for free, ask your mom.

* Location: DC/VA/MD
* it’s NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
* Compensation: no pay

PostingID: 576026168

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.

The Writer Beware Blog has entered into 2008 with what I feel is a great piece of advice – especially for new writers:

“Don’t look for agents on the Internet.”

Writers, agents, and publishers have been working together for a long time before the internet came into being, and you can survive doing a little extra legwork to make sure your time, work, and money are as safe as they can be.

Like anything on the internet, it’s more than easy to simply take everything for truth. And like in the offline world, that’s exactly the right way to get someone to take advantage of you.

Yes, the internet is a fantastic resource, but what harm does it do you to check out your local library for The Writer’s Market or talk to someone you trust about things?

Before you do anything, you should at least have an idea of who you want to talk to, what you’re after, and at the very least learn some publishing industry terms. Don’t learn for the sake of dropping words; learn for your own sake. You are trying to get into an industry, here.

Many of the agents, publishing houses, etc listed in The Writer’s Market and other books like it list their websites. If nothing else, you’re narrowing down your scope easily instead of treading through Google pages and wondering what’s reputable.

Not only does this post give great advice, it also list many links you might find useful.

In the spirit of the post, though, keep in mind that I haven’t had the time to check out all the links, so use your own discretion.

Come one, come all!

You are all invited to my new site The Plot where books are showcased, you get synopses and excerpts, and you also get to read interviews authors conduct with their characters.

What’s more is that every Wednesday there is a pub night where you can come and talk with published authors, writers, and readers alike.

Stop by and have a drink. Your hostess, Rose, will get you whatever you need.

Did you complete the thirty posts (or more) in thirty days for NaBloPoMo and find yourself still aching for more?

I have your solution.

A few people from NaBloPoMo want to take the NaBlo challenge and multiply it by twelve. That’s right. There is a group for people who want to keep the blogging going and are going to post every day for an entire year.

If you’re interested in taking up the challenge, go here to sign up and for more information.

Do you have someone in your life who professes to be a writer but spends more time looking at expensive pens than s/he does writing? Do you know someone who says s/he is a writer but has to wait around for ‘the muse’ and hasn’t actually written anything?

Do you know someone who should just stop writing?

If you could never find a polite way to tell him/her why, just point him/her/them to this site because he has…

101 Reasons to Stop Writing

If you have any sort of inkling or feeling that maybe you shouldn’t be a writer, stop at this site. Site creator Sean Lindsey will help you see the light.

On site you will find not only many posts about writing, the industry, and writers, you’ll also find a store which includes the writing demotivators to help you on your path to stopping yourself and/or others from writing.

For those of you who think I’m ‘conspiring with the enemy’ by reading and enjoying his site even while writing this one, you’re probably right. But as long as people give me pet peeves to post, I will take that as a sign that some people who shouldn’t be writing still are…

I’m not feeling particularly snarky or pissed off today (no matter what Mr. Scribe says) so I’m going to skip the pet peeve today. It it’s place, I am going to put up some things I think need pointing out.

First…

Who doesn’t love free stuff? Especially books… Drool. Susan from West of Mars is spreading the love – the Hanukah love, that is – today by offering up her copy of Auralia’s Colors by Jeffrey Overstreet.

Go here for a synopsis and reviews.

If you would like to get in on this free book goodness/madness, all you have to do is go to this post on Susan’s blog and leave a comment. On December 11th, she’ll draw a comment at random to determine the winner.

I’ve already commented, so get in there for your chance to win as well.

That’s right, food and fun all in the same site.

Free Rice is a site that will donate ten grains of rice to stopping world hunger for each word definition you get right.

What’s fun about this site is it adapts to your correct answers. If you get a word correct, you will get a harder one. And vice versa. Also, it gives you your vocabulary level along the way. (If you want a challenge, beat 40 within the first ten words.)

Honestly, yeah, it could all be a big fraud, but it’s a stupid way to run a con. Unless their evil goal is to make the world a more educated place.

Okay, so Fiction Scribe isn’t technically a book site, but books are by writer’s who write…

You get the picture.

Kimbooktu is looking to set up the biggest book blog list, and I’ve decided I’d like to help. If you are a book blogger, go here for all the information you need to get on the list.

There’s also a nifty little button you can get for your blog, too, so others can check out the site.

Fiction Scribe likes.

[Full rights remain with the original author. I am fully willing to take down this post at the request of the author.]

Found at they must need bears

Find something you would like to create with. This can be with plasticine, papier mache, words, pipe cleaners and sequins, colored pencils, construction paper, popsicle sticks, or other media.

Sit down and fidget with your materials. Build a little hut out of words and popsicle sticks. Call it “Abraham Lincoln’s Log Cabin, No Trademark Infringement Intended.”

Put it on your desk and be proud. Feel refreshed. Show it to your friends.

Six months later, notice it collecting dust. Think, huh, that could be better.

Take it apart. Put it together. Fix the roofline. Use some plasticine for stickum this time. Give it a styrofoam chimney.

Put it back on your desk.

Six months later, add some pipe clearer smoke to the chimney, with the cool wooly pipe cleaners. Call it “Abraham Lincoln’s Log Cabin V. 2.0, No Trademark Infringement Intended.”

Take the pipe cleaner smoke off again. Call it “Abraham Lincoln’s Boyfriend’s Log Cabin, No Trademark Infringement Intended.”

Make bricks for the chimney out of sequins. Pin them on with straight pins.

Color the popsicle sticks in with magic marker. Decide you don’t like it. Start over with fresh popsicle sticks. Call it “Not Your Daddy’s Lincoln Log Cabin, No Trademark Infringement Intended.”

Decide you don’t like that either.

(more…)

Hello everyone, and welcome to another wonderful Monday. The day is a little chilly and cloudy here in Australia, but that just means I get to curl up with my favorite hot drink and get my writing done for this week’s writing challenge. I have a few announcements to make about things coming up, so here we go…

The Scribes carnival deadline has been extended due to me being away on the first of October. The new deadline is October 4th, and the carnival will be posted up on the 8th. I already have some lovely entries, so go here for details and how to submit to the carnival.

The Fiction Scribe newsletter will be going out a little early, not on the first of October. If you have any work you would like to be featured in the newsletter (with links to your site(s)), be sure to get it to me as soon as you can so it can be included.

Remember, for the month of September, you can have the chance to win books! Go here for details on how you can win.

I’m holding discussions of the book Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. If you’re interested in joining the discussions, feel free to jump in any time.

200 Words is still going. Send me the first 200 words of whatever you’re working on and I’ll post it up with a short critique. I don’t bite too hard.

I’m still accepting creative spaces submissions. Even if you can’t send a picture along with it, send in a detailed description of your writing space (shorter if accompanied by a picture/pictures) and I’ll post it up on the site.

Write Anyway is a site with all sorts of prompts to help inspire your writing. Each week features a different theme. This week’s theme is something we can all talk about - food! Join in the fun. Responses put on blogs/sites are linked to.

101 Reasons now has a new site and a new URL. (No more .blogspot.com for Mr. Reasons.)

I think the site looks great and it’s easy to navigate. Go take a peek, whether or not you have before, and find out all the reasons there are to not write.