BRoP Interview with Rebecca Hamilton

If it's Monday, it must be time for another "progressive interview" with the Blog Ring of Power, or BRoP. Today's guest is Rebecca Hamilton, and she's going to share her writing life with us.

What is your writing process? Do you follow a regular routine? Do you use pen and paper or computer? Work at home or at the library/Starbucks, etc.

I work at home. I write at night and edit during the day. I am not always writing, but only because I don’t have the time, otherwise I would write every night.

How do you balance writing with other aspects of your life?

I actually have a schedule, which I suck at keeping because I’m not the schedule type (though I’m the type to wish I was!). But without a schedule, I’d never get almost everything done. (I will never get everything done.)

What has been the most surprising reaction to something you’ve written?

When people compare me to famous authors, tell me my book is their favorite, and most especially when people say that they love the romance in my book. I wonder if they read the same book I wrote or are just trying to be nice, even if they are sometimes complete strangers.

What is the strongest criticism you’ve ever received as an author? The best compliment?

This is hard to say. Everything is just opinion, so I take it all as that. I don’t agree with most compliments and I find that most criticism comes from a difference in tastes. I definitely get more criticism from other writers than readers themselves, and I know I’m guilty of the same. I have a theory about that….

Other than your family, what has been your greatest source of support?

RP KRAUL.

How do you deal with rejection and/or negative reviews?

Depends on what the review says. If it says something useful, I learn from it. If I don’t think it’s useful, I get a second opinion (in private) from someone I trust to be honest with me. I might be missing something that I SHOULD pay attention to. Or I might be worrying about something that I don’t need to. I think in the end we have to accept that our books won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. And that sometimes people will read and review our books when out books really weren’t there cup of tea to begin with. It’d be like me reviewing sci-fi. I have my right to an opinion, but likely my review wouldn’t be fair to the author or to potential readers because I’m nearly BOUND to NOT like the book. Which is why I just don’t pick those books up. :) But I know not everyone is me and sometimes someone is going to pick up my book also bound not to like it. So you accept that, take what you can from the review, and move on. Also, I’ve watched some other books on Amazon and noticed that when you move up the charts, you simply get detractors. You have to realize that while not all negative reviews are from jealous writers, some are, and that’s part of the game.

Sorry for the long reply, but I think this is one of those things us authors think a lot about … probably more than we should.



To learn more about Rebecca Hamilton and her latest work, The Forever Girl, check out these sites:

Blog: www.beccahamiltonbooks.com

Facebook page: www.facebook.com/RebeccaHamiltonFanPage

Goodreads author page: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5295294.Rebecca_Hamilton

Twitter: @InkMuse

Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/Forever-Girl-ebook/dp/B00729GQ0A

Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Forever-Girl-ebook/dp/B00729GQ0A

Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/127100

iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-forever-girl/id498630479?mt=11

CreateSpace: https://www.createspace.com/3781330

Amazon Print: http://www.amazon.com/Forever-Girl-One-Sophias-Journey/dp/0985081821

Is your book in print, ebook or both? Both.

For the other parts of her interview, follow these links:

Currently Up--Em = About You

Tuesday -- Dean = The Creative Process

Wednesday -- Terri = About Your Current Work

Thursday -- Teresa = Words of Wisdom

Smashwords Promotion for Read an E-book Week!

I hope everyone is enjoying the weekend so far. Normally I don't post on Sundays, but since Smashwords is running a special promotion this week, I wanted to share it with you.

March 4-10 is Read an E-book Week. To celebrate, Smashwords is hosting a week-long sale. Authors can discount their books anywhere from 25% to 100% off (free). I've enrolled both Lyon's Legacy and "The Book of Beasts." Lyon's Legacy is 50% off, or $2.50; "The Book of Beasts" is free! When you check out, use coupon code REW50 for Lyon's Legacy and RE100 for "The Book of Beasts." After this week, I'll be raising the Amazon prices on both items to be in line with Dean Wesley Smith's price recommendations for 2012, so this is the best time to buy my stories. Smashwords offers multiple formats, so no matter what e-reader you use--or even if you want to read on your computer or cell phone--you should be able to find one that works for you.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend, and take time to read an e-book this week--either mine or someone else's!

Science of the Week, 3/2/12

So, did March come in like a lion or a lamb for you? Yesterday was more lion than lamb by us.


Here are some interesting stories from Science Blogs this week:


Why spiders don't stick to their own webs

Computer training helps schizophrenics tell internal thoughts from reality

Engineers create wireless, self-propelled medical device

"Universal" vaccines could finally allow for wide-spread flu prevention

There was another article I wanted to link, about rouge planets wandering through galaxies, but the link didn't work. Those planets must be rogues indeed.

Enjoy your weekend!

What Books Are You Looking Forward To?

With the new month, I have a bit of a dilemma: two books I pre-ordered are supposed to be out today, and I have to decide which one to read first. (After I finish my current Kindle book, Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other, first.) Timeless and The Kingdoms of Dust (written by a fellow OWW member!) are both parts of well-written series. I'll probably read Timeless first, as the Parasol Protectorate books are fast-paced and funny.

How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe has been out for a while, but it's the book of the month for one of the groups I belong to on Goodreads, so now I have a reason to bump it up to the top (or near the top) of the list.

Finally, The Master of Heathcrest Hall comes out near the end of the month. Good thing I read quickly, or else I'd fall behind.

Do you pre-order books? If so, which ones? Are you stalking any authors for new releases?

Once Every Four Years....

We get an extra day!

It's funny how we also have other events that only occur every four years, such as presidential elections and the Olympics, but they don't fall on Leap Day.

You'd think a strange day like Leap Day would play a more prominent role in fiction than it does. Since this is traditionally the day women can propose to men, that would be an angle worth pursuing. Probably the most famous use of Leap Day in fiction is in The Pirates of Penzance. Much less famous is another event from one of my early (and unpublished) works, Day of All Seasons. In that book, the weather in the country of Challen got mixed up once every four years, so all four seasons occurred at once. I decided to change that in the new version I'm writing; now, Chaos Season can happen at any time. It makes things more complicated for my heroines.

Do you think Leap Day is special, or just another day? What would you like to see happen once every four years?

Ten-Word Tuesday: Dystopian Theme Song

According to the title, we only have five more years:

Blog Ring of Power--Cole Gibsen Interview

Welcome to Monday--and my first post in the Blog Ring of Power (also known as BRoP) progressive interview. This round, we're interviewing Cole Gibsen:

When Cole Gibsen isn't writing books for young adults, she can be found rocking out with her band, sewing crazy costumes for the fun of it, picking off her nail polish, or drinking milk straight from the jug--provided no one is looking. She debuts in March with two young adult novels--KATANA on March 8 from Flux and BREATHLESS by March 27 from Crescent Moon Press.

KATANA:Kill Bill meets Buffy in this supernatural samurai tale. Rileigh Martin would love to believe that adrenaline gave her the uncanny courage and strength to fend off three muggers. But it doesn't explain her dreams of fifteenth-century Japan, the incredible fighting skills she suddenly possesses, or the strange voice giving her battle tips and danger warnings. While worrying that she's going crazy (always a reputation ruiner), Rileigh gets a visit from Kim, a handsome martial arts instructor, who tells Rileigh she's harboring the spirit of a five-hundred-year-old samurai warrior. Relentlessly attacked by ninjas, Rileigh has no choice but to master the katana--a deadly Japanese sword that's also the key to her past. As the spirit grows stronger and her feelings for Kim intensify, Rileigh is torn between continuing as the girl she's always been and embracing the warrior inside her.





BREATHLESS:In a world where death is an ever-present shadow and motives are as dark as the bottom of the ocean, Edith must decide if her life is worth risking for a love that can't survive past the shore. Obituary-reading emo girl Edith Small is broken - the end result of forcing herself inside a mold that doesn't fit. All she wants is to conform to her strict sergeant stepfather's rules long enough to make it to graduation day. But a boat accident threatens to unravel the life Edith has worked so hard to keep. After waking up in a hospital with a lacerated shoulder, Edith fakes amnesia. Because admitting she received her injuries from a blue-haired girl who breathes underwater is all the reason Sir needs to send Edith on the first bus to military school. Safe at home, Edith struggles to put the nightmare behind her. But the mysterious creatures that live in the ocean aren't about to let her forget. After meeting Bastin - a strange boy with silver hair and black eyes - on a secluded dock, Edith learns about the war raging undersea to end human existence. A war that Edith, unwittingly, has become the key to winning.

Find out more about Cole and her books at: www.colegibsen.com
Blog: http://colegibsen.blogspot.com/
Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cole-Gibsen/189275624454033#!/cole.gibsen
Goodreads author page: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4575326.Cole_Gibsen
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/colegibsen
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Katana-Cole-Gibsen/dp/0738730408/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1329757053&sr=8-1


The Creative Process

Where do you get your story ideas?
I have writer friends who get brand new ideas all the time. I really envy them because I’ve never been like that. I’m a one or two ideas-a-year kinda girl. And they usually hit me when I least expect them to—like when I’m driving.

Do you have a specific writing style?
I love quirky/snarky dialogue. Two of my biggest inspirations are Joss Whedon and Kevin Smith.

How do you deal with writer’s block?
There’s a fabulous writing program called Write or Die that penalizes you if you stop writing. I set that baby on “Kamikaze Mode” and go!

Do you use critique partners or beta readers? Why or why not?
I LOVE my crit partners. There’s no way I’d have made it as far as I have without them. A good crit partner can spot your crutches and shortcomings even after you’ve read your own manuscript enough times to make your eyes bleed.

Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?
When I was a teenager, my home life was pretty rough. I was kicked out of my house at seventeen and even lived out of my VW Jetta for a little bit. Books were what got me through that time of my life. If my book can entertain someone enough that they temporarily forget about their problems, then I’ve accomplished what I set out to do.


To read the first two parts of the interview, please visit Theresa and Emily. Dean posts the next part tomorrow, and Terri will conclude the interview on Wednesday.

Science of the Week, 2/24/12

I haven't had much time to review the Science Blogs this week, but I saw an article on CNN about a car that can drive itself. (Yeah, but when will they invent something to fold clothes and put them away?) Scientific American reported a possible explanation for those faster-than-light particles purportedly found last year, and it's an embarrassing reason.

Speaking of Scientific American, I finished reading the March 2012 issue this week. It includes articles about the neuroscience of identity (each brain is unique, thanks to "jumping genes"); the far, far future of stars; and an alternative network for the Internet that can't be blocked or shut down by the government. There's even an article about dinosaurs showing that large groups of huge dinosaurs were able to coexist on the same piece of land. Scientists didn't think at first that there would be enough food to support all of the dinosaurs, but there are some possible explanations for this surprisingly high density of dinos.

Did you come across any interesting science news this week?

Raising a Reader

Sorry for missing a post yesterday, everyone. I was so busy writing Monday night I didn't have time to blog. I took a personal day from work yesterday to run some errands, so once those were done, I was able to go to the nearest Barnes and Noble and get my writing done.

Besides writing, the other reason I was at the bookstore was to do some shopping. Alex is going to a couple of birthday parties this weekend, and I needed to pick up some presents. I like to give kids books when possible. I wasn't sure what the kids were interested in, so I picked up some classic children's books. I also bought a Curious George book for Alex. As you might imagine, he has a lot of books. We read two books to him every night as part of his bedtime ritual.

What other things do you do to encourage a love of reading in children?

Ten-Word Tuesday: The Eagle Has Landed

I saw a bald eagle yesterday near the Fox River.

Paper Book--Novella or Omnibus?

I talked a little bit last Thursday about preparing a paper omnibus edition of Lyon's Legacy and Twinned Universes once the second book is ready. Since paper books still dominate the market, I think it's important to have paper editions available. My main reason for combining the two in the paper edition is because the first book is actually a novella (about 36,000 words, compared to Twinned Universes, which is about 89,000 words). I didn't think a paper edition of a novella would be worth producing. However, after doing a little research, I found out that CreateSpace can prepare such a short book. I'm not sure yet what the pricing would be for that one or if it would be better for my reader to produce one thick book or two thinner ones. As a reader, what would your preference be? Please share it in the comment section. I'm not sure how long it's going to take me to prepare the paper version, but I'd like to have at least one book ready for WisCon Memorial Day weekend.

Science of the Week, 2/17/12

It's hard to believe we're more than halfway through February, isn't it? Even though this winter has been relatively mild, I'm ready for spring.

Anyway, here are some science articles of interest this week:


System lets robots continuously map their environment

Robotic insects spring to life

Cancer cure may owe thanks to gamers

Military service changes personality

Engineers find inspiration for new materials in piranha-proof armor

"Love Hormone" Could Help Treat Depression

Black holes giving life as well as death


That's it for now. Have a good weekend, and see you Monday!

Five-Star Review of Lyon's Legacy

I submitted my SF novella Lyon's Legacy to Indie Book Blog and was very pleased to see their review go live today. (It's already up on Amazon and Goodreads; I think it might be in a few other places as well.) My story got five stars. Here are a couple of quotes:

"While being a relatively short read Lyon's Legacy was extremely entertaining."

"Well written characters drive the story and Joanna's turmoil over her choices is palpable. I'm not sure I have read anything quite like this, but I am eager to see more from the author."

"A very well done novella debut from Sandra Ulbrich Almazan brings another indie author to keep an eye on into the picture."

I'm glad you enjoyed the story! Thanks for the review!

I haven't talked much about my writing projects here lately. In addition to drafting Scattered Seasons, the first novel in my fantasy Season Lords series, I'm also preparing to self-publish the next book in the SF Catalyst Chronicles series, Twinned Universes. I also want to prepare a paper omnibus edition combining Lyon's Legacy and Twinned Universes. I'm still trying to figure out a title for that edition. I'd like to use the word "Catalyst." Here are some ideas I have in mind:

Cloning of the Catalyst

Creating the Catalyst

Catalyst's Beginnings


Do you like any of those, or do you have any other suggestions for me?

Ten-Word Tuesday: Valentine's Day

For all young lovers grown old under the Valentine Moon:

Blog Ring of Power

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them....

Oops, wrong ring. (Thankfully.)

I've joined forces with several other writers to bring you "shared interviews" (we'll be interviewing the same person over several days, with different questions on each of our blogs), contests, and other fun things. We call ourselves the Blog Ring of Power, or BRoP for short. Here's a quick introduction to the other members of BRoP:

Dawn G. Sparrow - Write Away

She writes Paranormal Romance/horror/suspense.

E.M. LaBonte - The Realms of a Fantastical Mind

Emily writes fantasy and is a fun person to get to know.

TBruce - Terri Bruce Net

Science Fiction author, the person behind BRoP, and a sister member of BroadUniverse.

T.W. Fendley - TW Fendley.com

Historical Fantasy and Science Fiction Author.

Dean C. Rich-- The Write Time

Fantasy author.

Go check out their websites. I'm not sure when we'll start the shared interviews, but I'll be posting my part of the interviews on Mondays. Hopefully that will be something to make the start of the work week a little better.

Science of the Week, 2/10/12

Here we are at the end of another week. Are you ready for Valentine's Day next week? Here are some science links for your weekend:


Diamond light, brighter than the sun

Coffee grounds can make sewage less stinky

"Fracture putty" to repair broken bone in days

Brain cells created from patients' skin cells

Wireless power could revolutionize highway transportation


I hope you enjoy the links. Have a good weekend, everyone!

Supercontinents of the Future

You may have heard of Pangea, the supercontinent that formed hundreds of millions of years ago that split up to form our current continents. But did you know that scientists can model what the Earth will look like 100 million years from now? They predict that most of the continents will rejoin near the North Pole and form a new supercontinent called Amasia (from the Americas and Asia). Yes, East and West will meet, even if none of us are around to see it happen. You can read more about Amasia here and see a video. According to the CNN article, the Ring of Fire will play a role in the formation of Amasia, though other processes deep in the Earth will also be factors. Amasia won't just stay near the North Pole; it's predicted to drift down toward the equator.

How do you think human history would have been different if we'd evolved on a supercontinent instead of spreading onto several? I think there'd be less cultural diversity. There would have also been fewer opportunities for colonization. Would we have a global government, or would we have gotten into even more wars than we did? This sounds like it would make for a great alternate history novel, but you'd have to go back to the very beginning of humanity and work out the divergent path.

Back on the Blog Chain: The Ones You Love to Hate

Amparo has come up with a twisted topic for the Valentine's Day blog chain:

Since Valentine's Day is around the corner, I think it's only appropriate to pay homage to those we love. But instead of our better halves, family members, and friends, this blog chain will be all about loving the haters: write a love letter to your favorite literary villain/villain-ish character. It can be short, long, serious, funny. You can use song lyrics or poems instead. Choice is totally yours :)

It took me a while to figure out which character to write to. He's a very famous character; he's been around for hundreds of years, and many people still fear to say his name in certain locations. In deference to my actor character Paul, who does not speak this character's name, I won't name this villain either. Can you figure out who he is?


Hail, Thane of Glamis! Hail, Thane of Cawdor! Hail, King thereafter!

I should hate you, as you caused the destruction of many innocent lives in pursuit of your own ambitions. But were they really your ambitions? It could be argued that those three women you met set you on your treacherous path. Your wife isn't innocent either; you two make a pair of very bad hosts. Yet I've also read that you and your wife had the best marriage of all those your author immortalized with his words. And how can I hate you when your author made you so eloquent, so full of sound and fury? If anything, I should feel sorry for you, so trusting in your superstitions. They built you up, but they also tore you down. Do I see some trees moving in the distance? Fortune may have raised you up high, but that's only to dash you to the ground. You prove indeed that fair is foul and foul is fair. Begone; something wicked this way comes.

Do you recognize this character? Please leave your guess in the comment section, then head over to Matt's blog for his letter.

Ten-Word Tuesday: Introvert Power!

Are you introverted? Here's how to use your strengths skillfully.

I Picked a Number....

between 1 and 15, and I came up with 1. Guess it's not the loneliest number after all. Congratulations, Marsha A. Moore! Your copy of "The Book of Beasts" has been sent to you; please let me know if you don't receive it.

Indie Tag Party--and a Giveaway!

Thanks to Romancing the Blog for hosting this blogfest! It's a chance for indie authors like myself to get their books tagged to make them rank higher on Amazon searches.

I currently have two works up on Amazon:


Lyon's Legacy
(please ignore all romance tags for this one)

The Book of Beasts
(please agree with all tags)

If you wish to just tag one of my stories, that's fine. However, if you do tag both, please come back here and leave a comment with your name and e-mail address. I'll draw a random name on Monday for a free Kindle copy of "The Book of Beasts." (Don't worry; I'm not planning to spam you. I figure if I have the e-mail address when I pick the winner, I can award the prize right away instead of waiting to hear back from him or her.)

Please let me know if you have any questions, and enjoy your weekend!

Science of the Week, 2/3/12

Here are some interesting science articles I found this week:

Space tech could help push kidney stones right out (this article also explains why astronauts are more likely to develop kidney stones)

First plants caused ice ages

Silver bullet to beat cancer?

Fighting fires in outer space

Computer can tell what you hear by reading your brain

Mouse to elephant in 24 million generations (shrinking is over ten times faster)

Ultrasound could be new form of male birth control

Enjoy the articles--and your weekend! If you're online, stop on by to learn more about the Indie Tag party. Details to follow tomorrow.

What Are You Reading? February 2012

I can't remember if I've done this before on this blog; if I have, it's been quite a while. I'll describe what I'm currently reading. Please feel free to share in the comments what you're reading.

I'm currently juggling three books:

1. Inside the Victorian Home--This is research for my WIP, Scattered Seasons. The book goes through the typical English Victorian home room-by-room and describes its functions and furnishings. For the Victorians, cleanliness was a path to a good character. Too bad they had to contend with bedbugs and severe air pollution. (There's a reason the Victorians draped everything in multiple sheets; there was so much soot in the air they had to wash their hairbrushes every day. Blech!)

2. Don't Be Such a Scientist--Written by a scientist-turned-filmmaker, this book shows how presenting information isn't enough; communication requires a certain amount of entertainment to hook the reader's interest. Storytelling is an excellent way to do this; unfortunately, scientists supposedly make lousy storytellers.

3. Infoquake--This book has been sitting in my TBR pile for years; I finally picked it up to read during my morning workout today because I'd misplaced my Kindle. (Don't worry; it was in my son's backpack. I put there last night when we were at the library.) It's about a group of people who produce programs that help run the human body. They start a rumor about a bioterrorist attack as a way to gain an edge over their competitors. When I left off, it appeared that the rumors were true....

So, what are you reading? Would you recommend it? I'll respond to comments as time permits.

Back on the Blog Chain: Feelings, Beatles Style!

What a great way to start a month--with a blog chain! Today, I'm posting on Kate's topic:

Post pictures, songs, movie clips, poems, or novel excerpts that make you feel. Feel what, you ask? Feel anything. Happy. Sad. Angry. Nostalgic. Hopeful. Hopeless. Jealous. Joyful.

Amparo posted before me, and Matt will conclude the chain tomorrow.

If you've been visiting my blog for a while, you probably know I'm a big Beatles fan. It's not surprising that such a great and still beloved group would be capable of making listeners feel many emotions:

Sadness:




Happiness:







Romantic:



And this song leads listeners through many different emotions:



I could go on, but if I posted every Beatles song in their catalog, we'd be here all day. (Not that that's a bad way to spend a day.)

Do you have a favorite Beatles song?

Ten-Word Tuesday: Let the Indie Author Beware

This article will help you protect yourself and your rights.

Behold The Book of Beasts!

OK, it's not exactly the Eighth Wonder of the World (that would be the lost shrine of Zagawa, for those of you who have Curious George addicts in your home), but it is my latest short story. Here's the description:

Jonur, a biology student at the University of Selath, doesn't believe in demons or magic. He thinks there's a rational explanation why almost nothing lives in the area around Lake Forsaken. As he and his partner collect samples from the area, they become sick themselves. Then Jonur encounters a foreign girl with a stranger book. She claims the area is poisoned and that Jonur and his partner are now affected. However, she plans to use her book to create an animal that can neutralize the poison. Who is this girl? Can she and Jonur work together to fulfill her plan, or will she let him die?

This story is set in the same world as my current WIP, Scattered Seasons. "The Book of Beasts" is about 5,000 words long, and it also includes a bonus sample chapter from Lyon's Legacy. It's currently available as an e-book for $0.99, and you can find it on Amazon, B&N, and Smashwords.

Thanks to everyone who helped me with this book, particularly Meghan Derico of Derico Photography, who made the cover.

Enjoy!

Please Stand By....

I should have an exciting announcement soon.

Science Experiments

Normally I do a Science of the Week post on Fridays, but since I already posted about science a couple of times this week (and to be honest, I'm behind in reviewing my Science Blogs), I thought I'd give you a couple of science experiments from YouTube today. If you're a tea drinker like me, you can make yourself a tea bag rocket:



(Obviously, it helps if you use tea bags instead of loose-leaf tea.)

And liquid nitrogen is always fun:



I remember for one of my physics classes in undergrad, the professor dunked a rubber ball in nitrogen and shattered it against the wall.


Have a good weekend, everyone!

Shattering The Happiness

Yesterday, I was paging through my "To Read" collection on my Kindle and came across a free book I'd downloaded last month. I read a couple pages, then backed out and deleted it. No, it wasn't because the book was horribly written. The beginning featured a man and his pregnant wife, and I knew that she would die. (That's not a spoiler; it's part of the blurb. I may have subconsciously remembered that when I started the book, but I couldn't even remember the title.) I didn't want to experience her death.

We all know that happy characters make for poor fiction; they need to deal with problems to move through the story. I've certainly given my characters their share of troubles. But as a reader, when a story starts with characters in a good situation that I know won't last, I'm reluctant to break that veneer of happiness and plunge into pain. It's easier to start with them already dealing with their problems. I had the same problem with Louise Cooper's Indigo series; it started with the princess happy with her family and her betrothed. I didn't want her to ruin everything, even though there would be no story without her reckless action. I read the first couple of pages, then abandoned the book and the series.

Is this quirk unique to me, or do other people hesitate to "shatter the happiness"? Have you found books where the end justified shattering the happiness at the beginning?

Scientific American, February 2012 Issue

Here are some of the most interesting stories from the February 2012 issue of Scientific American:


Is Space Digital? (are matter, information, and space linked?)

Swept from Africa to the Amazon (how dust may explain our weather and the fertility of the Amazon--the rainforest, not the bookstore!)

All Hands on Deck (citizen volunteers are helping scientists collect data about our climate from WWI ship logbooks)

The Future of Chocolate (a very important topic!)

The Brittle Star's Apprentice (a chemist draws inspiration from nature for new materials)


I hope you enjoy it!

Ten-Word Tuesday: Science Update

Guess there wasn't arsenic in old bacterial DNA after all.

The Success of Failure

For all of us who struggle with creativity, this article on CNN reminds us that failure is a necessary part of the process. It's better to try, fail, and learn something from it than to fear failure and never do anything. I think that's especially important for all writers now in these changing times of publishing.

Has fear ever kept you back from doing something? Did you regret it later?

Science of the Week, 1/20/12

It must be time for more science.

Electron's negativity cut in half by supercomputers

Electrons are fundamental particles that can't be split. However, supercomputers allow scientists to conduct virtual experiments that do split simulated electrons apart to study their behavior. In the experiments, the electrons condensed at supercool temperatures and behaved collectively as a superfluid.

Although I read some other interesting news articles on Science Blogs, this was the only one that I felt merited a link here.

Did any of you come across some interesting science news this week? If not, did you learn something else?

Edit: Whoops, this published too early! Sorry about that. I'll just leave it here for Friday. Have a good weekend, everyone!

Writing Rewards

Writing can be a lot of hard work, but it does have its own rewards. I was lucky enough to get two rewards yesterday. I got to see the cover of my next indie project, and it's much better than anything I could have done with my next-to-nothing skill with GIMP or Photoshop. Also, I'm rereading Twinned Universes before I send it to the editor. There are quite a few things I need to change or reword, but this Sandra person can turn out some readable prose. ;)


What are your writing rewards?

On the SOPAbox

Some of you may have heard of SOPA, the Stop Piracy Online Act, and PIPA, the Project IP Act, controversial anti-piracy bills. If you want to learn more about these bills, you can check out some articles here and here.

I'm all for protecting the rights of content creators--I'm one of them--but the language of these bills is murky when it comes to defining pirate sites. To quote from the CNN article, "A site could be deemed a SOPA scofflaw if it takes 'deliberate actions to avoid confirming a high probability' that its service will be used for copyright infringement." SOPA was originally written to require that sites with pirated content have their domains blocked. My understanding is that this language was removed from SOPA but is still present in PIPA, and PIPA is farther along in the legislative process than SOPA. Wikipedia is supposed to go dark today in protest of these bills, as are several of the blogs I follow. (I learned about this protest here.)

I'm not going dark because I believe it's better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness. If you want to protest this bill, support Wikipedia with a donation or go here. The link will give you other ways to counter this bill, including contacting your elected representatives and senators.

How do you feel about SOPA/PIPA? Too much, or a needed counter to piracy?

Ten-Word Tuesday: Days Off

I always spend more time on household chores than writing.

Time Traveling with Broad Universe

I think I've mentioned on this blog before that I'm a member of Broad Universe, an organization dedicated to promoting women writers of fantasy, science fiction, and horror. One of the activities they do every month is host a podcast with a specific theme. Since this month's theme is time travel, I volunteered to read from Lyon's Legacy. Other readers include S.A. Bolich, Danielle Ackley-McPhail, Pauline Baird Jones, and Justine Graykin. Roxanne Bland is the hostess, and Justine Graykin put it all together. You can listen to it here, and don't forget to check out Broad Universe here.

Science of the Week, 1/13/12

It feels like a long time since I've done one of these posts. So, did you hear about the world's smallest frog or the first chimeric monkeys yet?


Here are some of the most interesting science articles I found on Science Blogs this week:

Almost Perfect: Researcher Nears Creation of Superlens

Global Warming caused by Greenhouse Gases Delays Onset of Next Ice Age

Seeing Quantum Mechanics with the Naked Eye

Three Small Planets Found Outside Our Solar System


Enjoy your weekend, everyone!

Amazon Pricing Issue Fixed

I saw it yesterday, after I got an e-mail from them saying they would check into the issue.

Not much else to add today, other than I need to get to work so I can leave at a reasonable time (we're supposed to get a lot of snow this afternoon) and that I should reach 50,000 words in my first draft of Scattered Seasons today.

Have a good day!

Mapping Dark Matter

Yesterday, there was an article online at Scientific American discussing scientists' efforts to map dark matter in space. If you're not familiar with dark matter, don't worry; no one really is. It's material that can interact with ordinary matter through gravity but is otherwise undetectable. Dark matter may make up as much as 98% of the universe, but it doesn't seem to be present on Earth, only in space.

Although I'm no expert on this branch of science, I find it fascinating that there's so much out there we don't know about yet. If scientists ever discover the nature of dark matter, we could be in for another paradigm shift, like the ones Kuhn talks about in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. (I still remember that from my History of Science class during undergrad.) I attended a panel on dark matter in science fiction last year at WisCon; you can read my notes here if you're interested.

What areas of science do you think we know the least about?

Ten-Word Tuesday: You Know You're a Kindle Addict When....

You buy the e-book of a paperback you already own.

Pricing Problems

I've mentioned on here before that I put Lyon's Legacy on sale for $0.99 for the month of December. I did this for Amazon, B&N, and Smashwords. Between the drop in price and increased promotion, I had my best sales last month, though I'm still light-years away from anything vaguely resembling a bestseller list. On New Year's Day, I raised all my prices again. (I don't want to sell my work too cheaply, as Kristine Kathryn Rusch advises writers not to do that. If you haven't read her essay from last week, you need to, no matter what type of publishing you're pursuing.)

Last Thursday, I was on Amazon and happened to notice that the price of my novella had been discounted back to $0.99, even though I knew the price had been higher. What had happened? It turned out that two of the stores Smashwords distributes to, Kobo and Diesel, update their catalogs less frequently than the Apple or Sony stores. Kobo and Diesel were still showing the $0.99 price for my book, so Amazon dropped the price to match them. As of Sunday night, however, both Kobo and Diesel were showing the new price. I republished my novella on Amazon last night, so we'll see if that raises the price--and keeps it there.

I hope other self-published authors take note of my experiences and plan accordingly. If I do decide to lower the price of one of my stories again, I may only do it on Amazon and B&N in the future. Smashwords is a very valuable site for self-publishers, but the complications with different distributors make it tricky to adjust the price there, especially for temporary promotions.

Back on the Blog Chain--Our House

Welcome to the first blog chain of the year! For this round, Jon has challenged us to a writing exercise:

Imagine the home(s) where you grew up, and start drawing a floor plan. As you draw, memories will surface. Grab onto one of those memories and tell us a story.

In lieu of any drawings, I'm going to post a video instead:





No, my house wasn't quite like that. The first house I lived in was a ranch; after that, we moved to two multi-level houses. All of them had basements, which inspired this story based on true events:

Basements

When she was eight, her parents redid the basement. Gone was the play area under the stairs where she drew on the wood with chalk; gone was the grayness and the spooky shower. Instead, her parents put in wood paneling, black-and-white tiles, and a bar. They christened the new area with a huge party.

A few days later, the basement flooded.

Shortly thereafter, they sold that house and moved to one that already had a finished basement. They put the Christmas tree down there, despite the carpet. When she examined the presents, she was already planning which one to rescue in case another flood occurred.

As she grew older, she collected more treasures: books, letters, report cards, trophies, and other memories of her past. One day, she and her husband bought their own house. Into their unfinished basement went all the boxes of memories, to be unpacked someday when they could afford to bring color and softness to gray concrete. They had time to wait; the house inspection had turned up no problems.

They came home one weekend to find the power out and the basement transformed into a wading pool.

The basement is dry now, and clean. But when she goes down there now, she's not even sure which memories had to be discarded like holey rags.




Amparo posted before me, and Matt will post tomorrow. Go check out what stories their childhood memories inspired.

Writing Classes with Cat Rambo

Normally Fridays on this blog I round up some science news articles for the week. However, I just ran across something that might be useful to other writers out there, so I hope you don't mind if I share it with you instead. Author and BroadUniverse member Cat Rambo is teaching several online writing classes over the next few months. You can find the class descriptions, including schedule and pricing, here. The "Your First Page" class looks especially interesting to me, though I have to see what my schedule is like. You can get a discount if you help spread the word about these classes or register by Wednesday, 1/11.

Have a good weekend! If you're online tomorrow, swing on by to catch up with the Blog Chain. Otherwise, see you Monday.

Setting Goals--Challenging or Realistic?

One of my writing goals for this year was to write 1000 words a day. I managed that for three days, but yesterday I barely got 300 in. Part of the reason is I haven't been sleeping well (again), and I was feeling especially brain-dead yesterday. If I'd pushed myself to write, I probably would have ended up using Curious George words like "blimlimlim."

Another thing I've noticed over the last couple of days is that since I'm pantsing this draft, it can take me a couple of hours to get to 1000 words (since I have to first figure out what to say and then wrestle my ideas into words). That hasn't left me with editing time for some other projects I want to self-publish. I may end up scaling back my daily writing quota so I can squeeze in editing time.

When you set goals for yourself (not just writing, but any type of goal), do you set something challenging, or do you plan something you know you can accomplish? There are advantages to both types of goals, but I was wondering if people tend to one type of goal or another.

This Month's Scientific American

Here are some of the most interesting items I found in the January 2012 issue of Scientific American:

The lead story is about new discoveries about the pathway of aging. (The studies were originally inspired by a compound found in microorganisms from Easter Island; this compound increased the maximum life span in rodents--something no other chemical has done.) What we're learning about aging suggest that it's the flip side to growth; mechanisms that support growth and development (such as cellular growth and replication) prove harmful as we get older.

Other interesting articles discuss animals' magnetic sense, computer models that predict crime (the article even mentioned The Minority Report), quantum tunneling and glories, sustainable food supplies that use less energy, and the dusty future of the American West.

If you need a little extra incentive to stick to your resolution to lose weight, there's a photo essay on the hidden dangers of obesity.

And on that note, it's time for breakfast. Have a good day, everyone!

Reading Report for 2011

Welcome to 2012! How many of your New Year's resolutions have you broken so far? ;)

As you probably know if you'd poked around the blog, I've been tracking everything I've read (with the exception of cereal boxes, work-related stuff, etc) last year. I thought it would be fun to take a look at what I've read.

The grand total was 166 items finished. (Three I didn't finish due to lack of time.) This includes nineteen magazines and eight short stories published independently on Amazon, for a grand total of 139 books read. Of those books, twenty were paper.

Here's the breakdown by genre:

Science Fiction--16
Fantasy--68
Mystery--12
Non-Fiction--23
Other--9
YA--11

And here are my favorites by genre:

Science Fiction--The Clockwork Rocket
Fantasy--The Night Circus
Mystery--I'm not sure I can pick a specific book, but I did like the Crochet Mystery series
Non-Fiction--For writing, I would pick Flogging the Quill; for science, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
YA--The Hunger Games is an obvious choice, but I would also recommend Rampant
Self-Published--I really loved the humor of "Smite Me, Oh Dark Lord."

This year, my goal is to read 120 books. I picked this number before looking at my stats for 2011, so now it seems a little low. My tracking on the blog broke down toward the end of the year, after I joined Goodreads. It's much more convenient to track books on that site, but it doesn't work as well for magazines. I'll probably skip tracking my read item here, so if you want to follow along with my reading, please feel free to friend me on Goodreads. My author profile is here if that helps.

Did you track your reading for 2011? What were some of your favorites?

Looking Back at 2011

Since this is the last weekday of the year, I thought I'd skip the usual Science of the Week post and look back at 2011. So many different events happened that I'll have to stick with the highlights.

For science, I think one of the most significant achievements was Watson, the supercomputer that beat two human Jeopardy! champions.

For the writing and publishing worlds, where do I begin? We lost Borders and beloved author Anne McCaffrey. We're still in the middle of a paradigm shift with the publishing process and the proliferation of possible paths for authors. It's going to be a few more years before things get settled. For me, it was a watershed year with my decision to self-publish Lyon's Legacy--something I never would have considered at the beginning of 2011!

What were the highlights of your year?

Enjoy your New Year's Eve, and I'll talk to you again in 2012. We'll see if I manage to finish one more book before the year ends.

Books--Purging and Pricing

Hi, Everyone! I hope you're enjoying the holiday season. I've been spending the time doing various chores (the kind you keep putting off), playing too many Facebook games, and writing (never as much as I feel I should be doing).

One of the chores I did was to reorganize my bookshelves. I don't place a book on the shelf until I've read it. I also tend to wait until I have several books to shelve. I did this yesterday. As part of the process, I reviewed my paperback collection and decided to get rid of some I knew I wouldn't want to reread. I don't have more space for bookshelves in my office, so sometimes it's necessary to get rid of books, especially since I was almost out of room. Now I have about three-fourths of a small shelf free. I also went through Alex's old books and got rid of the ones he'd outgrown. (It was a little sad getting rid of all the Sandra Boynton (sp?) books, but I did save my favorite one.) When Eugene came home, he was inspired to sort through his collection and choose a few to sell. All told, we wound up with about four small boxes of books.

Anyone care to guess how much we got for them at Half Price Books? Do you hold on to your books or pass them on when you're done with them?

Happy Holidays, Everyone!

I can't resist wishing you a Merry Christmas--Beatle style! Or even Beatles tribute style!



And now a classic Christmas song from a real Beatle:

Promotional Links for Indie Authors

Welcome to my new followers! :waves: I plan to catch up on blogs tomorrow and hopefully visit participants in the Deja Vu Blogfest on Friday.

Anyway, I wasn't planning to post much this week, but I've found a few sites that will help indie authors promote their work and wanted to share the links with you.

Women's Literary Cafe--A place where readers and authors unite. They help spread the word about indie books through Twitter at @IndieKindle and @WoMensLitCafe. They also have newsletters, author spotlights, and much more.

Indie Book Collective--Another place with resources for indie authors, including workshops, blog tours, and other promotional activities.

1500 Authors--A site where indie authors with books available on Amazon and B&N can list their work. Works are organized by genre.


No matter if you're a reader or a writer, I hope you find these links helpful.

Deja Vu Blogfest

"Feels like deja vu."

"What?"

"Feels like deja vu...."

Welcome to the Deja Vu Blogfest! If you're new to this site, welcome! I'm Sandra, an indie SF/Fantasy writer. Please look around the blog to learn more about me and my SF novella, Lyon's Legacy. I can't resist a plug: my novella is on sale this month for $0.99 at Amazon, B&N, and Smashwords.

Anyway, below is one of my favorite blog posts. It's part of the blog chain I belong to, and it was originally posted in March 2010.

Back on the Blog Chain: Holding out for a Hero(ine)

Yep, the Blog Chain post is making its first appearance on my blog this month. Eric posed this question:

Do you create characters that are larger-than-life or are your characters more like the average Joe?

(For discussion purposes, let's use his definition of "larger-than-life" as meaning exceptionally talented. It doesn't have to be a supernatural talent--an Olympic athlete would be larger-than-life.)

In his book Characters and Viewpoint, Orson Scott Card discusses how these two types of characters go in and out of fashion. Most of my esteemed fellow Blog Chainers, from Eric to Kate, have been on the side of the average Joe or Jane. I think some of this is due to genre. A few people admit their characters have a slight supernatural twist, but for the most part, larger-than-life characters are considered too perfect, too hard to relate to, or even too cliched. We're at the end of the chain now, and there's only one person left to champion the champions: a short, overweight, almost-middle-aged speculative fiction writer. In other words, me.

Let's cue some music for our discussion:




Most of my protagonists have had some extraordinary gift. My first two books featured magicians, as does my short story "A Reptile at the Reunion." My NaNoWriMo book from 2007 had a pair of shapeshifting sisters. Paul, the hero of Across Two Universes, lives in a science fiction universe, but he has a "quantum quirk" of his own. The only protagonist who might be considered an "ordinary Jane" is Paul's mother, Joanna, in my novella "Move Over Ms. L." So, how do I avoid the previously mentioned pitfalls of larger-than-life characters?

First of all, I don't think a larger-than-life character is necessarily perfect--or should be. Many legendary characters had flaws as big as their virtues. Hercules was very strong, but he wasn't above using dirty tricks in battle. Lancelot was in love with his liege's wife. Modern-day larger-than-life athletes like Michael Phelps and Tiger Woods have shown what I'll call lapses of judgment. Even my beloved Beatles have done drugs, had affairs, made poor business decisions, and otherwise proved they're not perfect. Having an extraordinary talent doesn't mean you're invincible either; just look at Achilles and Samson. I could go on, but the point I want to make is that the larger-than-life characters may be good at what they do, but if they're too good, then the story loses any suspense factor. Struggle is at the heart of all stories, so your characters have to face challenges that force them to stretch themselves. Heck, much of the time my characters struggle just to get along with their allies!

Another concern writers have about writing larger-than-life characters is how to make sure the average reader can relate to them. It's not as if most of us turn into animals every full moon or perform magic and read others' minds. Here, I think the key is to focus on emotions or experiences that can be universal. Many larger-than-life characters in speculative fiction face problems readers can relate to; for example, Carrie Vaughn's werewolf Kitty has a mother dealing with cancer. A classic Star Trek episode, "The Devil in the Dark," features an alien that's basically a sentient rock. Yet this creature is also a mother trying to protect her young. How can any parent not relate to that? If you can relate to a rock, magicians and other larger-than-life characters ought to be easy.

As for whether or not larger-than-life characters are cliche, I think anything can become one. It's not always easy to find a unique spin on a subject, but it can be done.

Going back to Eric's question, why do I prefer larger-than-life characters? Part of the reason is escapism and wish fulfillment. I live in Midwestern suburbia, and I like taking mental breaks from it with my fiction. Having high-powered characters means you can demand more of them; they buy you a seat at the high-stakes plot table. But there are other reasons for enjoying larger-than-life characters and speculative fiction. By looking at the extremes of the human condition (or even examining non-humans), we can learn something about the ordinary parts too. And while ordinary characters in extraordinary situations can do astonishing things, extraordinary people can inspire us to transcend the commonplace and reach for something we never thought possible. Our future depends on how far we can see and our drive to try new things. If we work at it, what was once considered extreme or even impossible can become part of our mundane reality.


I hope you enjoyed that blast from the past! I expect to be busy at work today, so it may take me a few days to visit all the participants in this blog fest. I'm also going to cut back my blogging schedule during the holidays. At this point, I'm not sure how often I'll post. Enjoy your weekend, everyone, and see you soon!

Feel Like a Character....

Sorry I didn't blog the last couple days, but I came down with a bad case of Real Life.

I held back on scheduling a Ten-Word Tuesday because I wanted to tie it into the Higgs Boson announcement. (Which was nothing more than a big fat Maybe.) Then at work, since someone else goofed, I got handed a Mission: Impossible task to be completed by Friday. I was already busier than normal with training and validation tasks; this just felt over-the-top. However, I have to admit that if my life was a novel, this would have been a good twist to put on a character in an already tough situation.

I did make some progress yesterday in rescheduling other projects, and I also found out that some other people in my department will take over Mission: Impossible if I don't get it done by Friday. The company president knows I'm scheduled for vacation the next two weeks, so it's not like I have to give it up. So that's good.

Anyway, for discussion purposes, have you ever felt like a character in a story? What were the circumstances? What would you have said to your author?

Although tomorrow is Friday, I'm participating in the Deja Vu blogfest, so I won't be running Science of the Week. Tune in tomorrow to see which blog post I choose to rerun!

Dear Santa....

Dear Santa,

This year I've been a very good writer. I've worked hard on my projects, I've critiqued others and kept up with my blog, and I even wrote (and finished) two short pieces I hadn't planned on when I was thinking about my writing goals for the year. Here's what I'd love to receive in my writing stocking:

1. More time to write!
2. More time to pre-plan my scenes so I make better use of my writing time.
3. More sales and good reviews for Lyon's Legacy.
4. A sale to the anthology I wrote that short story for.

We have plenty of cookies, so after you're done fulfilling my son's wish list, don't forget the person who did the baking. Stay warm!

Best,

Me.

P.S. So, what's on your "writer wish list" this year?

Science of the Week, 12/9/11

It's been a hard day's night's week, so just a few links today:

Beating superbugs with a high-tech cleanser

New synthetic e. coli strains are the Swiss army knife for biofuel production


Sorry, that's it. Then again, I think after yesterday's post about entangled diamonds, we need something light as we head into the weekend. Have a good one!

The Science of Science Fiction: Entangled Diamonds

(Warning: technical blog post ahead. Not to be read before your morning dose of caffeine.)

According to this article on CNN, scientists have succeeded in entangling two diamonds...or have they?

If you'll pardon me using Wikipedia as a source, quantum entanglement occurs when two particles interact, sync up in at least one quantum state (like spin or polarization), and then separate. Their quantum states are still linked, so if you interact with one particle, the other one changes its quantum state instantaneously, no matter how far apart they are.

In the CNN article, which is based off a paper in Science, two diamonds were placed about six inches apart, and then photons were shot through a beam splitter. Some of these photons managed to go in two directions at once (which I think has something to do with Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, which limits how well you can know both the position and momentum of a particle at the same time). These photons caused vibrations in both diamonds at once. When the beams are recombined after they leave the diamonds, the head scientist describes it as "We know that one diamond is vibrating, but we don't know which one....In fact, the universe doesn't know which diamond is vibrating – the diamonds are entangled, with one vibration shared between them, even though they are separated in space."

I'm no quantum physicist (I just read popular books about it when I was younger), but to me, this doesn't sound like quantum entanglement. Are the diamonds still linked after the experiment ends? Does changing one diamond affect the other one, even if they're not touching? Perhaps the scientists understand this better than I do. It does seem to be linked to Bell's Theorem, but I'm not going to attempt to discuss that!

What does this experiment mean for science fiction writers? It does show that quantum effects carry over into the macroscopic world. (When I was learning about the uncertainty principle at school, we always used to say that an object like a chair does have uncertainty, but it's extremely small.) This could have implications for quantum computers and possibly speed up communication. The CNN article ends with the scientists pointing out, "This particular research project does not have any immediate technological applications. It's just really fascinating, and really confusing, at the same time." But if experiments like this one change the way we understand the universe, that's also fodder for speculative fiction.

For John

I can never let December 8th go by without thinking about John Lennon. Here are a couple videos of his songs:


"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" to tie into my next post (about entangled diamonds)


I'm dedicating "Power to the People" to all the indie writers out there.

Discussion: Your Favorite Science

If you read science fiction, is there a type of science you enjoy reading about the most? Do you like reading about space travel, or are you more interested in bioengineering? Do computers and nanotech appeal to you? How about anthropological science fiction such as Ursula Le Guin's work?

For me, I've read all types of science fiction, but since I studied molecular biology in undergrad, I find myself most interested in biological science fiction, whether that means altering our own bodies or dealing with "strange new life forms." Please feel free to share your preferences in the comments below. Do you have a background in your favorite science, or do you enjoy learning about something new? Do you feel one type of science lends itself to fiction better than others?

Ten-Word Tuesday: Sleeping Children

A sleeping child is the calm before the morning rush.

Secret Santa eBook Exchange!

Ebook authors, are you interested in finding new readers and receiving an ebook yourself? Then head on over to Michael Rose's blog and sign up for the Secret Santa Ebook Exchange! Full details are available at the link. The deadline for signing up is December 20; the exchange takes place between December 21-24. Books must be at least 99 cents in price and will be randomly assigned (so you have to be open to genre), but the participants will also get a master list of all the authors and books. Hope to see some of you on the list!

Back on the Blog Chain: There's a Place--Or Is There?

Welcome to the last blog chain of the year. Today, Tere asks us:

What conditions do you need to get your best writing done? Closed door, crowded coffee house? Computer or notebook? Can you just sit down to write, or do you need to wait for the time to be right?

Amparo comes before me, and Matt is next.

As a working mom, I can't wait for the perfect conditions; otherwise, I'd never have a chance to write. I have to be flexible. For example, here are some places where I've written recently:

1. At work (on my lunch hour), on my laptop
2. At home, after Alex falls asleep (usually later than he should), with my laptop on my desk and Pandora playing over the headphones
3. At the bookstore, on my laptop
4. In the hall of the park district building where Alex takes dance class, on my laptop
5. At a relative's house, watching Alex play with trains while I write on a printout of my story

As you can see, I find having a laptop vital for most of my writing, but I can write on paper in a pinch. I can generally tune out my environment, but TV is too distracting for me.

What about you? Do you have a favorite place to work, or do you work in multiple locations?

Science of the Week, 12/2/11

If it's Friday, it must be time for more science links:

Fake leaf could usher era of "fast-food energy"

Oil-eating mushrooms

3-D Printer makes bone-like material

Microscopic worms could be key to living on Mars


Enjoy your weekend, everyone!

Discussion: Writing Short Stories

I can't remember if I've discussed short stories before here, so I thought it would be an interesting topic. Most of my fiction reading is novel-length, but I do occasionally read short stories. I try to write them from time to time as well; in fact, I started a new one on Monday for a themed anthology. It's set in the same world as Scattered Seasons, but the country and time period are different.

Short stories seem to require tighter pacing and word count than novels do. I know at one point beginning writers were urged to try short stories before gearing up for a novel, but these days, it seems more common for writer to go straight to novel length. Perhaps this depends on the market for short stories in the writer's genre of choice.

Do you write (or have you written) short stories? If so, were they just for writing practice, or did you send them out? Did you try a different writing technique from what you normally use for a novel?