I'm trying to be better about letting the creative juices flow - daily. Let me share with you some of these things I've been writing in my journal. This one is called Denial.
Think about it.
Denial is that acquaintance who will not look me in the eye. Her shoes seem to be more interesting than anything I have to say, maybe because she doesn't believe the truth of my words. She lives in a dream world with her roommate Perfection. They've taped foil onto their window panes and seldom answer the phone.
(This short piece came from a prompt in the book, A Writer's Book of Days, by Judy Reeves.)
Monday, September 30, 2013
Saturday, September 21, 2013
Beneath a Wild Sky - behind the scenes
One of the most interesting things about reading short stories is - as both an author and a reader - the ''why" of the story.
I get my ideas from a lot of places, many of them my personal experiences. You've read about one of my idea-getting methods in previous posts. But here's another. Take a personal experience and tweak it - make it must worse, or much more fantastic than the actual experience. Change the names to protect the innocent, and maybe change the place and the time frame -- or maybe not.
In Beneath a Wild Sky - the story 'Honeymoon from Hell' is actually based on my first honeymoon! I went to Acapulco. I saw the cliff divers. I went parasailing, and I went for a scuba dive and had no air in my tank. But nobody was trying to kill me.
And unfortunately there was one more thing that went wrong with that trip: I became horribly sea sick on a deep sea fishing cruise when we were taken out by a crew we met on the beach. The next morning, the sea was very rough, even in Acapulco Bay. We're talking six foot waves! slamming our fishing boat down into the next trough, with water splashing over the sides.
Unfortunately I had eaten a BIG breakfast because we weren't sure when we'd get lunch. WHOA.
Maybe that will be another story, included in my next anthology!
I get my ideas from a lot of places, many of them my personal experiences. You've read about one of my idea-getting methods in previous posts. But here's another. Take a personal experience and tweak it - make it must worse, or much more fantastic than the actual experience. Change the names to protect the innocent, and maybe change the place and the time frame -- or maybe not.
In Beneath a Wild Sky - the story 'Honeymoon from Hell' is actually based on my first honeymoon! I went to Acapulco. I saw the cliff divers. I went parasailing, and I went for a scuba dive and had no air in my tank. But nobody was trying to kill me.
And unfortunately there was one more thing that went wrong with that trip: I became horribly sea sick on a deep sea fishing cruise when we were taken out by a crew we met on the beach. The next morning, the sea was very rough, even in Acapulco Bay. We're talking six foot waves! slamming our fishing boat down into the next trough, with water splashing over the sides.
Unfortunately I had eaten a BIG breakfast because we weren't sure when we'd get lunch. WHOA.
Maybe that will be another story, included in my next anthology!
Friday, September 6, 2013
The Joys of Editing?
Ah, the joys of editing. Not.
Why is it that a writer can read and read his/her own words and not catch mistakes? We know what we 'thought' we said. Those of us who write all the time know the truth of this, but that doesn't make it any less embarrassing.
This week, I've been preparing the manuscript of Naked Ladies - Seasons of the Heart for publication on Amazon through their CreateSpace program, which means it will be available on Kindle, the one ebook format not available through Smashwords. That means I've reformatted and gone over that manuscript again with a fine tooth comb.(It also means you can buy a soft-cover physical book on Amazon!)
Argh! The embarrassment of finding words like 'pubic' when I meant to say 'public,' and extra word repeats because of a correction made earlier. I find myself second guessing myself and wondering, did I send them the wrong file? Did I really NOT see that error?
Lesson learned, that no matter how much you think you know your manuscript, ALWAYS, ALWAYS have someone else read it/proof it for you.
That said, I will resubmit the Smashwords manuscript today with corrections made, and for those of you who read on Kindles, or buy books through Amazon, Naked Ladies should be available as soon as this weekend, and certainly by Monday. I'll be going through that same process with Beneath a Wild Sky next week.
Thanks for visiting. Comments always welcome.
Why is it that a writer can read and read his/her own words and not catch mistakes? We know what we 'thought' we said. Those of us who write all the time know the truth of this, but that doesn't make it any less embarrassing.
This week, I've been preparing the manuscript of Naked Ladies - Seasons of the Heart for publication on Amazon through their CreateSpace program, which means it will be available on Kindle, the one ebook format not available through Smashwords. That means I've reformatted and gone over that manuscript again with a fine tooth comb.(It also means you can buy a soft-cover physical book on Amazon!)
Argh! The embarrassment of finding words like 'pubic' when I meant to say 'public,' and extra word repeats because of a correction made earlier. I find myself second guessing myself and wondering, did I send them the wrong file? Did I really NOT see that error?
Lesson learned, that no matter how much you think you know your manuscript, ALWAYS, ALWAYS have someone else read it/proof it for you.
That said, I will resubmit the Smashwords manuscript today with corrections made, and for those of you who read on Kindles, or buy books through Amazon, Naked Ladies should be available as soon as this weekend, and certainly by Monday. I'll be going through that same process with Beneath a Wild Sky next week.
Thanks for visiting. Comments always welcome.
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Beneath A Wild Sky ... and More
Last night I published my second collection of short stories, Beneath a Wild Sky - Forest Cat and Other Stories. See it on my author page at, www.smashwords.com/profile/view/MacColey .
I featured the first story in the book, "Forest Cat," as a serialized story on my nature blog at http://blog.marymcintyrecoley.com.
Here's the story behind it:
I wanted to begin posting some short stories on the nature blog, and since I love the mystery genre, I chose to start there. The story would be a mystery, had to have a natural setting, and an animal had to figure prominently in the story.
Here's the very short blurb from "Forest Cat": Veterinarian Shea Maroney heads into the forest in search of a cougar wounded by a hunter, and encounters the legendary reclusive Bess Milton, “Witch of the Forest.”
With this story, like many others, I start by asking questions. Sometimes, I use my envelopes to provide the answers (see previous posts). For this story, I drew from the 'settings envelope,' and the 'animal' envelope. I also drew from an envelope I've labeled 'professions,' which gives me the employment of one or more characters.
As for the reclusive Bess Milton, I never knew her. But there was a 'witch' in my neighborhood when I was growing up. Truthfully, she wasn't a witch, just an elderly lady who frequently wandered around her backyard in a housedress, usually in the morning hours. I could see her from my seat high up in the maple tree behind my house.
Once I started thinking about a story set in a forest, the character of Bess appeared as well. You'll have to read the story to find out more. BTW, it's free on my blog, or as the 20 percent sample download you get free from Smashwords without any obligation.
I hope you are enjoying the stories, and the inside scoop provided by my blog. If you are, let me know. I'd love to hear from you, and answer your questions!
I featured the first story in the book, "Forest Cat," as a serialized story on my nature blog at http://blog.marymcintyrecoley.com.
Here's the story behind it:
I wanted to begin posting some short stories on the nature blog, and since I love the mystery genre, I chose to start there. The story would be a mystery, had to have a natural setting, and an animal had to figure prominently in the story.
Here's the very short blurb from "Forest Cat": Veterinarian Shea Maroney heads into the forest in search of a cougar wounded by a hunter, and encounters the legendary reclusive Bess Milton, “Witch of the Forest.”
With this story, like many others, I start by asking questions. Sometimes, I use my envelopes to provide the answers (see previous posts). For this story, I drew from the 'settings envelope,' and the 'animal' envelope. I also drew from an envelope I've labeled 'professions,' which gives me the employment of one or more characters.
As for the reclusive Bess Milton, I never knew her. But there was a 'witch' in my neighborhood when I was growing up. Truthfully, she wasn't a witch, just an elderly lady who frequently wandered around her backyard in a housedress, usually in the morning hours. I could see her from my seat high up in the maple tree behind my house.
Once I started thinking about a story set in a forest, the character of Bess appeared as well. You'll have to read the story to find out more. BTW, it's free on my blog, or as the 20 percent sample download you get free from Smashwords without any obligation.
I hope you are enjoying the stories, and the inside scoop provided by my blog. If you are, let me know. I'd love to hear from you, and answer your questions!
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