Reasons For Moving

Washing my hands

nobody@vox.com(Stephanie) — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 10:28:13 -0400

I'm done doing feedback at TC for the foreseeable future. I spend too much time doing it (and no one else does). Then I get shit from the writers for not praising their junk. God forbid I'd do exactly what our site was made for: constructive critique.

I have my own stuff to do so screw 'em.

ETA: A quote of the day for July 9:

W. Somerset Maugham

from Quotes of the Day

"People ask for criticism, but they only want praise."

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Acceptance, rejection and an article

nobody@vox.com(Stephanie) — Fri, 16 May 2008 10:49:50 -0400

Congratulations, your story ["Nine"] was indeed one of the most interesting and dark we have read in a long while. It makes one ponder on current issues as well as classic mystery stories. Please allow us to give you second place and our congratulations.

So a fresh credit for me. Yay! Plus my first excerpt. That might be helpful down the road.

I also got this:

You have good voice in your work and we would welcome future submissions from you. Unfortunately, this piece isn't the direction we're going right now.

So I came out even Steven. The second note was about "Curve" and I already have it out at a second place (as I mentioned). This was the e-zine responding. It's for their first issue so I didn't know what they wanted. But you never know unless you try.

So I'm feeling all inspired now. I sent more queries yesterday b/c I'm tried of an empty inbox. A couple of long shots and a couple I didn't find enough info to personalize. I figured if I get rejected, I'm not heartbroken and I can cross them off my list. If they ask for pages, whoo!

Also I'm the AB article this month, which just went up. It's "Writing as a Not-So-Solitary Pursuit: Ye Olde Guide to Wryting Groupes." Beav & I came up with that subheader last night. We're on an "extra Es and superfluous Ys" kick.

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Poetic

nobody@vox.com(Stephanie) — Sat, 10 May 2008 16:03:04 -0400

There's a knitting magazine I like that has a blog (updated daily, usually with a pattern or tip). Last month they had a contest: use their magnetic poetry kit to create a poem. Second place was a subscription to the magazine, which I aimed for. I didn't take it seriously as a submission since, hey, it's magnetic poetry. But I did spend time on it.

They suggested taking a photo of your magnetic poem but since purchase of the kit wasn't required, it was necessary (and when I look at the rules now, it no longer says optional; when I submitted and triple-checked to make sure, it was). I submitted my "poem" and said that if an image was needed, I would create one but since it was optional and I don't own the kit, I only included text.

Yesterday they announced the winners. I am not among them. All three winners had an image. Hrm. And one of the prizes was for the "best presentation." That tells me where the focus of the contest was: visual. And doesn't that put the visually impaired at a disadvantage (not that I am but I think of these things)? So anyway, my heart was not broken but I can't help feeling a little gypped on the "image optional" part. I think it was actually "image not required but if you want to win, we want a pretty picture to post when announcing the winners."

This was my "poem:"

I want pleasure,
soft edges, color
He felt you must stitch, weave, hook, knit
count, swell, spin,
play the fringe friend for me.
Get rhythm.
Trying is easy;
to do, luscious

Theryn said it was probably too risque for the knitting magazine. Hey, it's their kit. I was just pleased to find a selection of verbs and to be able to create some semblance of structure. Silly me for concentrating on the poem instead of finding a way to take an attractive picture of it. That'll learn me to submit to non-writing writing contests.

I think I'll go write some calendar prompts. I thought May's were done and when I checked the calendar yesterday, they weren't. I already sent out a sub today and researched some markets. Mentally composing a 150 words story about sand dunes for a contest. I think my writing -centric quota for the day is finished.

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Cheer cheer cheer tiger

nobody@vox.com(Stephanie) — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 19:09:09 -0400

Can you write a mystery in (now less than) 48 hours?

The Spring 2008 Three Cheers & A Tiger short fiction contest is now open.
Remember: This is a mystery.
Word count: between 1850-1950
Theme: http://www.toasted-cheese.com/images/3c1-2008-crocus.jpg (The First Flower)
Send your entry, titled "Three Cheers and a Tiger Contest Entry" to threecheers08[at] toasted-cheese.com
Deadline is 48 hours from the time of this post. (5 PM ET Sunday)
Further details here: http://www.toasted-cheese.com/ezine/contest.htm#3cheers
Remember: NO ATTACHMENTS!

I'm a judge so if you do it, don't tell me anything about your story. If you have questions, you can post them at TC. Spread the word & have fun.

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Clueless

nobody@vox.com(Stephanie) — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 10:23:37 -0400

We got maybe the queen of all submission the other day. Our submission guidelines are clear. I can't even begin to say how many times we have revised the guidelines for the sole purpose of making them confusion-free. One submission per writer per period. That submission may be a flash piece, a fiction piece, a CNF piece or up to three poems.

One writer has sent us a fiction piece (which I didn't glance at), a "flash" submission (which I'll get to in a moment), and four poems. I didn't look at the poems themselves but I looked at the obnoxious and poorly written cover letter. The credits she points to are at forums, except for the "national news magazine" she doesn't name. The "flash" piece is not flash length, is very badly written (complete w/ a misused "it's") and is loosely porn-ish. Something about nipples popping like a jelly doughnut. I didn't read that closely. So it's not even subject matter we can or would publish.

How hard is it to follow guidelines? I mean, if writers only knew how following the submission guidelines already puts them ahead of 10-25% of the people they're competing against, maybe more people would bit the bullet and submit for publication.

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How to be eliminated in the first round

nobody@vox.com(Stephanie) — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 14:49:54 -0500

- Chapterize your short story
- Use a lot of exclamation points
- Tell us that "The downfall of the magazines and publishing companies who have previously rejected my work is that they didn't realize that no one can describe the high school experience quite like a seventeen-year-old high school junior can."
- Write a love poem all about love, love and love without showing it to us. Throw in moonlight and cats as well
- Whether writing a poem or a short story, use a checklist as your form
- Give three characters full names in the first paragraph (ex: Don Smith, Hazel James)
- Describe them a la a police blotter (flashed her blue eyes and flipped her chestnut hair, he was five foot ten and a half with rugged good looks)
- submit more than three poems (this is especially maddening when you give me four fantabulous poems and I want them all)
- do good work but tell a mediocre story
- have a great story but don't tell it very well
- cut your story off w/o warning when you near the word limit
- send us song lyrics and call it poetry (unless you are Bruce Springsteen or Sting; in that case, include nude photos for the editorial staff's enjoyment)

Other good ways to make the editors e-mail each other about you:

- submit artwork to a lit journal that doesn't accept it
- submit to a contest that hasn't opened yet (w/ "SUMMER" in the contest title no less!)
- point me to your self-written Wikipedia page

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A little catch-up and a renaissance

nobody@vox.com(Stephanie) — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 18:07:32 -0500

I've been writing about writing on my regular blog and I think I'm boring the non-writers. I suppose since this "writing about writing" blog is sitting here gathering dust, I should use it.

Here's a compilation of what I've shared lately:

12/29/06:

I decide to see what’s happening at TC. Someone has written “haiku” which isn’t haiku. Someone replies that you don’t have to follow the 5-7-5 form for it to be haiku. Not in response to anything, just as a reply to the poem. WTF? Yes you do. That’s what makes it a haiku. So I reply that I’ve never heard that rule before, let’s hear about it. Strangely enough the reply comes from the “haiku” writer. She says that translated haiku doesn’t follow that form. Well of course not. But did you write it in Japanese & translate it into English? Of course not. You wrote a short sentence, broke it into three lines, called it a “haiku” and that’s that.

I had also said that, basically, there’s no meaning in the poem that I can get and could she talk a little about what’s behind it. She said that there is no meaning in it. So why am I reading it? I feel like Russell Dalrymple.

Few things in writing piss me off so much as people who put words on paper and call it “poetry.” To go on and call it “haiku” when it’s not is just obnoxious. Poetry has meaning. Poetry gives me an image, a reaction, a feeling. Otherwise it’s verbal masturbation and you can keep it in your diary. These “poets” don’t want any feedback, questioning, challenging, etc. They want praise for their nonsense. Fine. Go put it up on your Live Journal. Don’t put it at TC, where we exist to give you feedback and to treat you like a real poet.

I responded, “Are you translating it?” I don’t know what else to say. She doesn’t want feedback, obviously. She doesn’t want to be told “that’s not a haiku.” You can’t just take the form and do what you want with it. It can be a poem, sure, but haiku, it’s not. It’s like put down a paragraph and saying “This is a novel.” No, it isn’t a novel.

Enough of my verbal masturbation. I’m off to find some chocolate…

1/6/07

“Writing is easy…

…All you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead.”

It’s Saturday. Hawk is working. Z is asleep and H is content. Me? Well I dreamed all night that I was in my book but not in any way that helped me figure out how to close the gaps I’ve made. But at least I was entertained.

Then this morning we have another poet at TC who’s doing rhyming stuff. I’m just not doing feedback on rhyming poetry. Period. I hate it and I think it’s inherently insipid. “What the best word I can put here? Doesn’t matter b/c I have to use one that rhymes.” *grumble*

And I asked the same poet about a misspelling on a different poem (b/c you never know with rhyming poets if their misspellings and other weird choices are intentional) and s/he said “it’s correct.” Um, no. It’s wrong. She wrote “tails” and she means “tales” and if she can’t be bothered to spellcheck her poem and then argues with me when I point out a misspelling, I’m certainly not wasting time on a SC (stark critique) that she’s going to rebut. ETA: she also misspelled “separate” in her response.

TC is a small site. If we had some writers who wanted real feedback, they could get it in spades. No charge, no strings. And we’re eager to do it (hell, we could “mentor” them). If I weren’t working on a piece that’s over 100k, I would probably post something just to get the ball rolling. But what I need feedback on is the whole, not snippets, so that’s not happening.

Our e-zine submissions are excellent. We can really be picky about them. So I know the writers are out there and they’ve heard of us. Maybe it’s just that bigger sites get more attention. I mean, we’ve been a WD 101 Best three out of the five years we’ve been in existence so we’re doing something right.

So anyway…

I know! I’ll share some of my pornrotica that I wrote during NaNoWriMo. That’ll spark things. Whaddya think?

ETA: link to pornrotica already published. Does not include won tons.

1/8/07

Quick breather, quick entry

So I was writing and writing this morning. Hawk has the week off & is spending it at home so he was gathering laundry and I was baby-watching and writing. I missed the “People’s Court” I wanted to see b/c I was working and lost track of time. In the preview the defendant said, “If Douglas touches me, you’ll be sorry” and Judge Millian said, “If Douglas beats you to a bloody pulp, I couldn’t be happier.” I heart Judge Millian.

So anyway… I’m writing today.

I have this scene that I’m changing. I had chucked a portion b/c I deleted a charater (pretty much) but I still wanted the original feel of the scene. Plus I needed to bridge the gap I’d created by removing the old bit.

Here comes the writerly bit.

You know how you can think about something you’re going to write for a couple of days, you kind of plan it out, test some dialogue and maybe a little blocking and then you sit down to write it? Well I do that. Anyway, I had a false start on this bit and needed to change it. So I made that change and then started to write what I had in my head. Ah, the best laid plans.
Then my first-person narrator/MC (his name is Jake, not to be confused with Jakedog, a.k.a. 4LJ — four-legged Jake) just goes off and does something completely bizarre. His attitude is just about the polar opposite from what I’d thought. Naturally I just followed him and he started telling me all these things and I was like “WTF is happening to my story?”

So I just wrote and wrote and wrote and then I’d missed over half of “The People’s Court.” I had no idea what time it was. All’s I knew was Zoe wanted to watch “Misser Wonka” and so I put it on and Mike Teevee had been zoomed across the room and I was watching things happen in the story that I certainly did not expect. In fact I wrote to someone this morning and said that I would be writing a “pseudo sex scene.” Well Jake must’ve heard “pseudo” and said “fuck that.” BTW: This post’s title is profound. *wink*

So I’m dying to get back downstairs and find out what happens next.

ETA: 1700+ words later, it’s finished. And I’m watching the 6 p.m. “People’s Court,” but it’s not the same ep.

Later, that same dark and stormy night…

Jump to Comments

As I “ETA”ed my earlier post, I wrote about 1700 fresh words today and got the book all patched up. Then this evening I spent two hours editing my first 12 pages. Cleaning up bits of overwraught description & such. Like I had written “bank building.” WTF? “Bank” works.

See, I wrote the first draft from 1999-2000. I wasn’t working, we had a word processor and I wrote. Then we got a computer and I printed everything I’d done and scanned it in and wrote on the computer. Then I joined the “writing classes” at eVil, learned a little from them but learned a lot from my writing buddies and formed TC b/c we are teh awesome. Then I finished the book (called “WS” for blogging purposes), went out to dinner with Hawk and saw a ghost, then the next day I went to the pound and found a wonderful dog with the same name as my narrator.

So it’s been some time since I finished the original. I’ve worked on it off & on since (I queried about five agents and four asked to see the whole ms; of course they all passed b/c I still have it here but now I’m like, “ugh, I wouldn’t even POD this”) but not so much since Zoe was born, but now I’m working hard on it. Every day.

In fact, my arms are sore from where they rest on the the chair I sit in to work. I’m physically exhausted but mentally I could keep working another two hours. Then I’ll get the energy up and my brain goes, “No no no no no.” It’s fine so long as I take breaks, like this one.

Where I’m writing. Again.

Project 365

Toasted Cheese Wall of Glory

Originally uploaded by edenza.

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