You will find the complete list of Spinetingler nominees and the voting poll here http://www.spinetinglermag.com/2010/03/31/2010-spinetingler-award-nominees-and-poll/
And a big congrats to all the nominees in every category with a special Snoopy Dance for two friends of the blog, Patti Abbott, whose Friday's Forgotten Books nabbed a nomination in the Special Services to the Industry and Community category, and Corey Wilde in the Best Reviewer category. Hooray!! We're Snoopy Dancing here at the Corner again today!!
What are you waiting for? Get on over there and check out all the nominees, then get to voting!
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Wednesday Linkage
First up, in case you haven't heard, there are new issues of MystericalE http://www.mystericale.com and Plots With Guns http://www.plotswithguns.com out there for your reading pleasure.
And I stumbled across the Innsmouth Free Press yesterday while I was clicking around. http://www.innsmouthfreepress.com/?page_id=3 is the link to their submission page. They open to short story submissions of 300 to 5000 words inspired by the work of HP Lovecraft. They pay $10CAD for 1000 to 5000 words and $5CAD for flash under 1000 words.
Over at The Kill Zone blog http://killzoneauthors.blogspot.com they're doing first page critiques for some of their readers. Even if you don't care to submit one, you'll find lots of interesting information for newbie novel writers if you scroll on down through the posts from this week. Lots of good stuff here that applies to short story writers as well.
Jason Sanford has an eye-opening post about anthologies and one editor in particular. I know I learned a few things by reading "Too Bad You Can't Cash Good Karma" http://www.jasonsanford.com/jason/2010/03/cashing_good_karma.html
And NK Jemisin has an interesting post about writing for yourself and not the market called "I Am the Market" http://nkjemisin.com/2010/03/i-am-the-market/ While the idea is fine and I do tend to write for myself, not every story done this way will find a market. I know, I've spent the last two days searching for a market for a crime/ghost/dark humor/wacko fantasy story. Still looking!
And I stumbled across the Innsmouth Free Press yesterday while I was clicking around. http://www.innsmouthfreepress.com/?page_id=3 is the link to their submission page. They open to short story submissions of 300 to 5000 words inspired by the work of HP Lovecraft. They pay $10CAD for 1000 to 5000 words and $5CAD for flash under 1000 words.
Over at The Kill Zone blog http://killzoneauthors.blogspot.com they're doing first page critiques for some of their readers. Even if you don't care to submit one, you'll find lots of interesting information for newbie novel writers if you scroll on down through the posts from this week. Lots of good stuff here that applies to short story writers as well.
Jason Sanford has an eye-opening post about anthologies and one editor in particular. I know I learned a few things by reading "Too Bad You Can't Cash Good Karma" http://www.jasonsanford.com/jason/2010/03/cashing_good_karma.html
And NK Jemisin has an interesting post about writing for yourself and not the market called "I Am the Market" http://nkjemisin.com/2010/03/i-am-the-market/ While the idea is fine and I do tend to write for myself, not every story done this way will find a market. I know, I've spent the last two days searching for a market for a crime/ghost/dark humor/wacko fantasy story. Still looking!
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
On Editors
I love when new links show up in my inbox because I know that there will be something useful to tuck in my mental backpack as I trek along this writing path. This morning I woke up to find that Michael Bracken had sent me a link to Jeremiah Tolbert's excellent blog and an essay about editors. http://www.jeremiahtolbert.com/2009/5-lies-writers-believe-about-editors
As writers we tend to have a love/hate relationship with editors. I was very fortunate early on to get a few hand-written notes from editors along with those stacks of clone rejection letters. They've helped me stay on the path and keep writing even through the frustrations. But like Mr. Tolbert says, that's not the editor's job. His job is to find the best stories for the readers of his periodicals not pat me on the back to make me feel better.
So, go read the 5 Lies, and be thankful that there are editors out there actually reading your stories, even if they have to pass.
As writers we tend to have a love/hate relationship with editors. I was very fortunate early on to get a few hand-written notes from editors along with those stacks of clone rejection letters. They've helped me stay on the path and keep writing even through the frustrations. But like Mr. Tolbert says, that's not the editor's job. His job is to find the best stories for the readers of his periodicals not pat me on the back to make me feel better.
So, go read the 5 Lies, and be thankful that there are editors out there actually reading your stories, even if they have to pass.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Odd Bits
Over at Criminal Brief yesterday, Leigh Lundin had an interesting take on "Sex and Violence, I Swear" http://criminalbrief.com/?p=11490 His post came about because of a forum discussion started by EQ editor, Janet Hutchings about trying to keep her readers happy and trying to add dark stories to the EQ content. http://www.themysteryplace.com/forum/messages.aspx?TopicID=292 I don't envy her trying to strike that balance. Dell's forum has some very interesting topics under discussion most days and it's well worth your time to stop by from time to time.
If you haven't been dropping by Spinetingler on a regular basis, why not? Since they've changed the format of the zine the content has been coming in at the rate of two or more posts a day that cover the many outlets open for the mystery/crime genre. Today you'll find a new short story, "Cheap Bastard", by Hilary Davidson and the first in this year's series of Conversations with the Bookless featuring Naomi Johnson. And if you scroll down a little further you'll find a link to a new Inspector Rebus short story by Ian Rankin. If you aren't acquainted with this author's series, this story is an excellent introduction. You can find all of this and more at http://www.spinetinglermag.com/
And finally a very interesting call for submissions. Twelfth Planet Press has put out an anthology call for their 2011 anthology "Speakeasy". They're looking for fantasy short stories set in the 1920's. The submission period starts June 1 and ends September 30. Stories should be 2500 to 7500 words in length and the pay is AUS$50. You can find all the details at http://twelfthplanet.livejournal.com/11064.html Hat tip to Charles Tan for the link.
If you haven't been dropping by Spinetingler on a regular basis, why not? Since they've changed the format of the zine the content has been coming in at the rate of two or more posts a day that cover the many outlets open for the mystery/crime genre. Today you'll find a new short story, "Cheap Bastard", by Hilary Davidson and the first in this year's series of Conversations with the Bookless featuring Naomi Johnson. And if you scroll down a little further you'll find a link to a new Inspector Rebus short story by Ian Rankin. If you aren't acquainted with this author's series, this story is an excellent introduction. You can find all of this and more at http://www.spinetinglermag.com/
And finally a very interesting call for submissions. Twelfth Planet Press has put out an anthology call for their 2011 anthology "Speakeasy". They're looking for fantasy short stories set in the 1920's. The submission period starts June 1 and ends September 30. Stories should be 2500 to 7500 words in length and the pay is AUS$50. You can find all the details at http://twelfthplanet.livejournal.com/11064.html Hat tip to Charles Tan for the link.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Finding Goals
The other day Michael mentioned goals we set for ourselves as writers, which set me thinking about goals, about what writers actually want from their writing - more to the point, what I want from my writing.
All of the writing magazines create this fantasy world of fame and fortune that writers swallow whole and actually seem disappointed when the world doesn't live up to their writing "bibles". I know, I've been there. It took a long time for me to realize that I couldn't write myself into a million dollar tax bracket. Sure, there are quite a few writers who have achieved that giddy height, but they're just a small percentage of the writers who are out there pounding on keyboards. What I did learn was that I could get better at my craft by writing. That each story I wrote needed to be better than the last one otherwise I was just writing myself into a rut. So that became my new writing goal, to always make the next story the best one I'd ever written. It didn't matter if I was writing for publication or a flash challenge, the story had to be the best I could do.
As a writer I can set all kinds of goals but unless I actually put my butt in the chair and put in the hours and the effort I'll never come close to any of them. But I've also come to realize that putting in all that time and work doesn't guarantee that I'll score the winning touchdown. Luck plays a major factor in being a successful writer. Getting my story in the right place at the right time is just as important as writing the best that I can. So my second goal - get the stories out the door. Get them in the hands of editors and readers. A story sitting a drawer is of no use to anyone.
So, my conclusions after all this heavy thinking? As a writer, there are basically two goals you have to chase. Write the best story you can and submit it. Push yourself by reaching for the better markets, either by pay scale or prestige, depending on where you've placed your own personal goal posts. If you fail, at least you'll know that you tried, but you can't truly be considered a failure if you've stayed the course and kept your stories in play.
All of the writing magazines create this fantasy world of fame and fortune that writers swallow whole and actually seem disappointed when the world doesn't live up to their writing "bibles". I know, I've been there. It took a long time for me to realize that I couldn't write myself into a million dollar tax bracket. Sure, there are quite a few writers who have achieved that giddy height, but they're just a small percentage of the writers who are out there pounding on keyboards. What I did learn was that I could get better at my craft by writing. That each story I wrote needed to be better than the last one otherwise I was just writing myself into a rut. So that became my new writing goal, to always make the next story the best one I'd ever written. It didn't matter if I was writing for publication or a flash challenge, the story had to be the best I could do.
As a writer I can set all kinds of goals but unless I actually put my butt in the chair and put in the hours and the effort I'll never come close to any of them. But I've also come to realize that putting in all that time and work doesn't guarantee that I'll score the winning touchdown. Luck plays a major factor in being a successful writer. Getting my story in the right place at the right time is just as important as writing the best that I can. So my second goal - get the stories out the door. Get them in the hands of editors and readers. A story sitting a drawer is of no use to anyone.
So, my conclusions after all this heavy thinking? As a writer, there are basically two goals you have to chase. Write the best story you can and submit it. Push yourself by reaching for the better markets, either by pay scale or prestige, depending on where you've placed your own personal goal posts. If you fail, at least you'll know that you tried, but you can't truly be considered a failure if you've stayed the course and kept your stories in play.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Crimefactory
The newest issue of Crimefactory has hit the virtual streets with loads of good stuff to read.
Here's the line up for issue 2:
FICTION:
RAY BANKS
DAVE ZELTSERMAN
KIERAN SHEA (Who provides us with our first serialized story)
PATTI ABBOTT
JOSH CONVERSE
STEPHEN D. ROGERS
GERARD BRENNAN
FEATURES:
JIMMY CALLAWAY
REED FARREL COLEMAN
CRAIG MCDONALD
CHARLIE STELLA
CHAD EAGLETON
THE NERD OF NOIR
Well, what are you waiting for? Go read! http://www.crimefactoryzine.com/
Here's the line up for issue 2:
FICTION:
RAY BANKS
DAVE ZELTSERMAN
KIERAN SHEA (Who provides us with our first serialized story)
PATTI ABBOTT
JOSH CONVERSE
STEPHEN D. ROGERS
GERARD BRENNAN
FEATURES:
JIMMY CALLAWAY
REED FARREL COLEMAN
CRAIG MCDONALD
CHARLIE STELLA
CHAD EAGLETON
THE NERD OF NOIR
Well, what are you waiting for? Go read! http://www.crimefactoryzine.com/
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Mamet Rules
If you're going to take advice about writing you won't get a better source than David Mamet. http://www.movieline.com/2010/03/david-mamets-memo-to-the-writers-of-the-unit.php
Hat tip to Brian for this excellent link!!
Hat tip to Brian for this excellent link!!
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