M I C - K E Y M O U S E

Okay, gang, you all remember the words, right?
M I C - K E Y M O U S E
Mickey Mouse!
Donald Duck!
Forever let us hold our banner high, high, high!
Come along and join the (band?) hmmm hmmm hmmm

Well, I could certainly still sing along if I were watching the Mickey Mouse Club on television. My favorite was Spin in Spin & Marty and I won't hear anything different.

Okay, if you've a yen to re-visit your childhood, hardly anything you do is neater or safer than going to one of the Disney extravanganza worlds. I'm lately acquainted with a lady who runs a travel website called Mouse for Less, which is so loaded with information on the parks, you'd have to spend a week just browsing.

So, I'm here to give a plug if you get a yen to go up Space Mountain or wander around on Tom Sawyer's Island, visit Mouse for Less for the information alone. Then, book a trip. I'm sure she'd love the business.

Mouse for Less

Latest Publication

Antithesis Common just came out with their Spring issue featuring my little Eddie story, The Thief.

I've corrected the link to the left to point right at it.

Writerly Stuff

I've just signed on to the Freelance Writers Association. Free signup and one can donate if you're so moved. However, it's got a ton of information for all types of writers, not just of fiction, but journalistic, technical, etc. So, I'll give them a plug here.

Thousands Of Free Writing Resources
Freelance Writers' Intl.


and

Inkwell Newswatch (IN) Writing and Literary Ezine for Writers
Inkwell Newswatch

And Yet Another?

The fabulous guy who put up Writers Refuge, has started a newer and better site for workshopping.

Titled Pen and Ink Club (maybe that will change?), here's the raw link:

http://s10.invisionfree.com/Pen_and_Ink_Club/index.php

New Writer's Workshop Site

A few of us from East of the Web have frantically scrambled around and have a new site for workshopping.

It's the Writers Refuge and the URL is:

http://www.sisqbluegrass.com/sisqbgasp/

Drop by and see if you'd like to join us.

East of the Web Shutting Down

Unfortunately, my favorite writers' group is shutting down on March 12th.

The good news is that a few of us have started our own group. Beginning with a google group, we may even find a way to get ourself set up with a better, more functional website. We'll see what happens on that.

I'll be removing the EotW link when it goes away, but I'll put our Google group link in its stead. If anybody does ever look at this blog, maybe they'd think of joining us.

Good News - Bad News

I received a spate of rejections over the last couple of days and was feeling kind of glum when I got an email from Wild Child informing me that I got the Editor's Choice award for non-fiction. The best part is that involves actual money, which most of my acceptances did not. Only Rattlesnakes, the first one accepted, paid a dab of money.

So, I'll crow where I can and go off to Amazon with Bryan Catherman's writing book list and try to spend my $25.00 wisely. Oh, heck, I'll probably buy some fiction, too.

Cadida and the Djinn AND The Thief!

Scribal Tales has accepted this fairytale for publication. Again, no pay. Darn. Anyway, it's lovely site. Take a look.

Scribal Tales: Cadida and the Djinn

Addition on 02/19/2006: I just received another acceptance to Antithesis Common.

Antithesis Common: The Thief

I'll post the proper links when these stories are published.

Non-Fiction Short Published

My non-fiction piece, "A Good, Honest Dog," is now appearing in Wild Child. I've updated the links to the left. Or, click on this:

A Good, Honest Dog

Validation

Writers, like others in the "entertainment" industry, are quite often tremulous souls seeking validation. The ones with big egos are the ones seeking the most validation, in my humble opinion.

What is validation? Of course, it comes from people reading your stuff and liking it. Here's the problem. The first people who read are usually friends and relatives. Boy, are they easy on you! The second level comes from strangers who read and like. Join a workshop group and some very nice people, writers themselves therefore seeking validation, say your stuff is good (or even great). What is their motive? Possibly to get you on their side so that you are nice in return, providing them their second layer of validation.

The third layer of validation comes from editors and publishers. They don't know you from your dog and seem to be very willing to tell you your writing is not worthy. But, sometimes they do find it worthy and there you are in print (virtual or paper).

Is that the end? Can you claim validation victory once published? Not necessarily. Has the accepted piece been wandering about from publisher to publisher like Moses seeking the promised land? Did you get several nopes before you got a yup? Maybe those first few that rejected are right and that last editor just lacked anything else to put up on their website ezine.

This is what I've been pondering lately. Something that probably occurs to every writer at some point. When do you get enough validation? Probably never.

Don't Get Taken

In our eagerness to get our "stuff" in front of the reading public, writers are vulnerable to scams perpetrated by so-called literary agents or publishing companies. I almost got taken by one, so I'm providing the link to Editors and Preditors, which will tell you which of these folks to avoid. It also lists the good ones, so it's worth knowing if you are thinking of publishing that book.

Editors and Preditors

The Waiting Game

When you write short stories and submit them to various and sundry publishers, you start a waiting game that can last months. Of course, some publishers are on top of things and get back to you very quickly. I've even got responses in a couple of hours. Nice to get a response. Not as nice to have the response be a "no thanks."

But, the painful ones are those that drag on into months. I've mentioned Duotrope before (see links). They provide a submission tracker that an author can use to enter and track responses on her story. They also provide statistics on the various publications when they have them. I hesitate to submit to a magazine whose response time is 180 days and that one submission in the stats was a rejection. Seems like I'd be wasting my time to send my precious story off to those cold-hearted types.

There's another statistical tracking site, called Submitting to the Blackhole, that might have more information than Duotrope. The only problem is that it tracks specifically science fiction, fantasy, and horror publications. Still, it has a lot of them and you can get an idea of how long a specific publisher usually takes to accept or reject a submission.

I'll add Blackhole to my links list in case anybody would like to take a look.

Submitting to the Blackhole

Bryan Catherman - Famous Author

Underground Voice Magazine, an on-line magazine has published my friend Bryan's story, "Why Campbell Didn't Drink."

Congrats to Bryan and hoping he puts out many more as time goes by.

Why Campbell Didn’t Drink

IPublishing

If they can sell songs over the internet, why not stories? The site listed below allows writers to put their stories up for sale to whoever might want to buy. The writer can give the readers some percentage of the story for free (get them hooked) and then charge some nominal rate for the rest. The ones I saw posted are less than a buck.

IFiction

Lily Literary Review

I've put the link to my story in Lily Lit Review on the index. The issue with my story will appear on February 1st.

Lily takes photography as well as writing. They pick pictures to go with stories. It makes a nice issue with a picture for each writing piece.

That makes this Lit Zine a cut above some of the others. No pay, but they treat your work with respect.

Write What You Know?

I keep a yellow lined pad of paper sitting in front of my monitor. It gives me a place to jot quick notes of anything that I want to remember, not forever, but for the next few minutes, hours, or days, at most. When I fill a page, then then it gets flipped. Every so often I scan the pages and see if there's anything I really needed to keep. If not, then I toss it.

A week or so ago, I wrote the words "Extraordinary Rendition" on the pad. Why? I think it was just when I was reading a news piece. I don't recall. However, that phrase has been seeping into my subconscious for awhile. Finally, I decided I had to write something that had that as a title. I did some research and found a great quote from a former CIA agent. I pasted that at the top of a fresh screen and started to write. Yes, it was about torture.

I don't know diddley about torture except what I read about Abu Ghraib and from the work of a friend of mine who knows about such things. He knows who he is, so he can comment and let that particular feline out of the bag if he wishes.

I posted the story up on the East of the Web site for a couple of days and was told that my torture lacked veracity. Not surprising, since I'm not even a fan of horror movies. I asked my friend for some help and, man, did I get it! Even more than I wanted for this particular story. I used much of what he gave me and I'm letting it simmer for awhile to see if it turns into garbage or goulash.

Another comment on the original story was that I really couldn't write about such things as it should be conveyed only in first person accounts. I have to disagree. I wanted to ask the commenter, "so when did you own a bar frequented by prostitutes?" But, I knew that would be a provocative statement, so I just let it go.

I think I do have the "right" to write this type of story, just as much as any writer who delves outside their immediate existence for storylines. My message may even be clearer than a first-person account because I do not have the immediacy of the emotion. I can take a step back and decide what message I want to put out by writing about it.

My message is first political, but less than you might suspect. I saw it more as a modern retelling of a old story--a person unjustly accused of a crime. To illustrate an old notion that is still with us can only be a valid topic. We, as a society, fail to note history and will be forever doomed to repeat it. As long as we repeat the hideous failures, writers have the obligation to bring it to view; either through fiction or non-fiction.

I may not be the best writer for this task, but it was in my head and now is on electronic paper. Therefore, it is mine to have written. Otherwise, it would still just be a jotting on a yellow pad sitting between my keyboard and my monitor.

3rd Story Sold This Month

Well, "sold" implies actual money. No money on this one, but it's another to put on the resume.

Again, I'll post the link when the story comes out. Supposed to be on February 1st.

To Lily ezine: "If You Could See Her"

Selling it!

I got another story acceptance today. This one from Bewildering Stories. No pay, but I get a bio page on their site.

It will appear in Issue 188 and I'll post a link when it comes up on March 8th.

I'm also supposed to have a story up on Wild Child in February, but details are not yet completed. I was doing a little requested re-write on the story, but was told I had a firm acceptance. Again, I'll post when I have a link.

Working for a Living

We all do something to earn our daily bread. I gave up the "daily" part in favor of some contract work and plenty of free time to try my hand at fiction.

Now, writing is not going to make me rich, not even well-off. As Brian Catherman points out in his Hopeless Writer blog (see index), we gotta do it even if we don't succeed.

I've been holding off the impulse for too many years. I've been writing, alright, but technical documentation. Go ahead, look me up in Amazon. There's my book, which you can buy for a mere $1.95 plus shipping (Using R:BASE by Marva Dasef).

I published a book. Does that make me a successful writer? Well, yes, is the short answer. Somebody (Que Books) thought I was good enough to spend some money actually printing copies of the book (before print-on-demand).

That ain't enough! I want to publish my stuff the way I want. Too much to ask? Maybe, but here's to trying!

Martin Luther King Jr.

Today is MLK's birthday. While I do believe he was a great man who did much for equality in the United States, I'm afraid that if he had not been assassinated, today would not be a holiday.

It disturbs me, but only a little, when holidays are added to the calendar which are meaningless to a large segment of the population. Yes, there are MLK celebrations going on in my city along with other cities across the US, but for me, it just means I don't get any mail.

That's okay. I am not against the day, but maybe it should be a floating holiday. That is, a holiday for those who truly want to remember and commemerate. For those who don't intend to celebrate, then why not just go to work?

As for Christmas? Well, that's just one of the days in a long holiday season, which includes just about everybody--from Hannukah to Saturnalia. Happy Holidays is, indeed, the correct greeting of the season.