Writerly Ways

[cornerofmadness]

My imbolc was...frustrating. Before I launch into my writerly ways, let me tell you my tale of woe because what would a day be if something annoying didn't happen. I opened my email to find

1. my hotel was canceled
2. that gown I paid for, the email can't be delivered.


So 1. the hotel. It's for the loveland frogman festival. It's the hotel they use for their guests and festival goers (the conference center is a golf club without a hotel) I call them to find out WHY they canceled. me. She goes , 'oh, the state shut us down.' and hung up on me. I'm wow. how BAD do you have to be for the state said no more. A friend suggested that maybe it was because of ICE because didn't Hilton do that it in Minneapolis. Yes but that doesn't seem to be the case here. Now I'm looking for a new hotel AND wondering will the festival get canceled?!?

2. When recollection clothing was on Etsy I bought a beautiful walking dress for my steampunk and in June I bought one for my steampunk/cosplaying Rosie. She's no longer on etsy. It was meant to be delivered in August. it took a couple emails to get a response that she was struggling to get the cloth but she was on it. I've emailed every month since. No response. Now I can't even get an email through. Either she pulled up stakes entirely OR she blocked me. I need to go check the web page to see what's going on but I'm betting that's 200$ I'm never seeing back.


So writerly ways. I have nothing much to actually say, ha. BUT I stumbled onto an offer that was too short of a turn around to share it and it was all about taking a chance (literally it was a random lottery) to get pages of your novel read by a pro editor (like 3 pages) and they asked what turned out to be a shockingly hard question that I thought I'd pose to all of you.

What do YOU struggle with in your novel?

Part of me wanted to say description, ever since a particularly bad writers' group but then I thought eh, that sounds not really like I know what I'm doing. My real problem is my characters pull the story down rabbit holes I'm not sure it should be going through and evil little dog helped me put it in a more coherent way, enough so that one of the editors popped in with an answer (something other than buy my book, which there was a regrettable amount of that) He called it shiny object syndrome which fair. I've called it that myself not knowing it's the right term.

I get distracted by the newest shiny idea outside of the novel and within. It's something I need to work on. How about you?



Open Calls


Views From The Overlook I've shared this before. My story is ready (another beta read wouldn't be bad) I'm sharing this again because they have made a lot of changes to the open call (making it more fair honestly) and the pay is up to 2K for the story. I'm still taking my slim to none chance.

After the Hurt This one is weird. It wants stories that are 'after the whump' the weird part is they have categories from micro fic to novelettes but the PAY doesn't change, just ten dollars or a paperback of the anthology. Given that I wouldn't give them more than flash fic

When the Base Goes Dark: Holding the Line at Home Original horror fiction written exclusively by current or former military dependents

Eye to the Telescope Theme: Paying Tribute

Vampires Anthology Spine-tingling Short Stories of Vampirism in All Its Forms. this is one I'm writing frantically for but it just occurred to me I DO have steampunk vampire story (but it might be too short).

Untitled Suburban Gothic Anthology Suburban Gothic by Canadian authors

THE PING ANTHOLOGY

35 Magazines Accepting Literary Fiction



From around the web

Battling “Shiny Object Syndrome” as a Writer: How I’m Staying Focused on My Novella this was the advice I was given

Short, Sharp, and Hungry: What a Lifetime of Novels Taught Me About Writing Short Horror

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Change Requires an Engaged Community

The Author's Guide to Instagram.

Five Top Tips To Smash Your Writing Goals

The Timely Sentence



One I think a lot of us should listen to

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Dipping the Quill Deeper: Honoring Elders by Preserving Their Stories and Legacy

6 Reasons Writing for Change Requires an Engaged Community

I Meet the Villain Last

Writing Without Trying to Manage the Reader

Comments

[lucy_roman]

My main problem is the length of time it's taking me to get anything written. Back when I was in my 20s and I still believed in myself I wrote a very bad novel in just a few months. The one I'm writing at the moment I've been struggling with for 12 years!

[cornerofmadness]

Self doubt can be a real killer. If I can be nosy was there one moment that caused it (with me and description it was one person saying I would never grow as a writer and that I was only allowed that much description if I were Anne Rice, the funny thing is I sold to an international magazine the next month but I had quit the group by then)

[lucy_roman]

I'd say self doubt pretty much covers it. I had big dreams about getting my novel published, but of course it wasn't any good and no one wanted it. Now older and wiser I realise I should have edited it more, maybe started on something new. At the time I was sure that no one was interested in my writing.

[cornerofmadness]

Yeah that's a terrible feeling. What is this 12 year novel about? And if it helps it took me over 25 years to finish/publish one of mine

[lucy_roman]

It's fantasy but not fantasy with dragons and dwarfs and such like. Urban fantasy is close I think. It's set in a different world though. Working title - The Truth Seer.

It has 3 interconnecting storylines.
1- a search for the truth seer
2- a reluctant king
3- main storyline involves the Anwich City Watch who are investigating several explosions in the city during which they uncover corruption in the Watch itself.

[spikedluv]

Both of those things suck so hard! I hope you can get a hotel and they don't cancel the festival. AND I hope that person has ghosted you and kept your money. Bad enough you can't get the dress, but at least return the money.

[cornerofmadness]

thanks. I'm thinking between the collapse of Joann's and the fucking tariffs getting what she needed was impossible/much more expensive and she'd already spent the money....

[suzume]

I enjoyed both videos!