(NOTE: My apologies to those of you subscribed by email and are getting this for the second time. I erroneously scheduled this post to appear July 8th, rather than July 18th. Oops! Funny how WordPress allows us to travel through time… )
Hello World,
Welcome to Sunny California! Damn is it hot. Is it hot where you’re at? It is hot here. We topped 100°F (with 107°F felt in the Central Valley) over the weekend. That’s 37.7°C and 41.6°C, respectively, folks. I know, nothing earth shattering, but damn. It’s hot. Makes you wonder how folks manage in places like Libya…
But that’s not what this post is about! It’s about me, of course. 😀
The Denouncer (might drop the ‘the’)
I am beginning my first tentative steps towards the beast: my first draft of The Denouncer. It needs work. Lots of work. But, well, I can’t say with full confidence that I’ll get a good second draft out of whatever it is I’m going to be doing to it in the next couple of months, but I hope that by the end of this summer, let’s say by August 30th, 2012, I’ll have something to share with some beta readers.
Short Stories
I wrote a couple. Two completely odd ones for the short story and flash fiction contests over on SFFWorld.com. So far, no one has said they are completely terrible. If either or both garner some votes from the other writers on the forum, I’ll post them under my Stories page for grins.
The End Anthology
I can’t believe the response I’ve gotten! For the first contest of the anthology, I received eleven entries. I’ve read three so far and they are great. I’m sure that each story deserves a place in our anthology, but only the best three from this batch will make it into the anthology. Along with Hugh Howey, Tristis Ward, and Michael J. Sullivan (also contributing – isn’t that great!), a total of nine new authors will be published in what will be an enjoyable and thought-provoking collection of stories about the end of the world.
If you are not an SFFWorld.com member, but want to read the stories, you can wait with the rest of the world until December 2012 (our expected publish date), or you can register and read them now. Check it out!
Other Random Happenings in that other world some folks call the ‘real’ world (whatever)
More Robots, Please
What? You mean you haven’t enlisted in the Angry Robot Army?
Well, go right on over there, and get your regulation boots and haircut, little wannabe robots. If you don’t, you’ll be missing out on some free books!
I just downloaded Seven Wonders by Adam Christopher. I’ve heard a lot about this book. I hope it lives up to the hype. I’ll let you know over at my other blog, The Atheist’s Quill, when I review it sometime next week.
Cover Images
Do you like my cover image above? Nice proportions, huh? It is, the perfect rectangle. A ratio of about 1.6180339887. But the internet-gods have deemed minimum dimensions and some folks are recommending a 1.5 ratio for your covers. But you don’t have to! Don’t follow the herd, but do follow the minimum guidelines. Smashwords is recommending 1400 minimum pixels in width. While Amazon wants a minimum 2500 pixel height. If you use those dimensions, you’ll end up with a 1.78571429 ratio. Not good. You’ll be tall and skinny. (Wait, I want to be tall and skinny…)
Smashwords isn’t recommending that either, but I just wanted to let you all know the dimensions I think make a good-looking cover. Remember, I’m not a graphic artist. I’m just another internet yahoo, but here’s what you want:
1545 pixels wide by 2500 pixels tall
Well, that’s what I’m sticking with unless someone demands otherwise.
Strange Birds
I started following Live, Nerd, Repeat some time ago. I’m not sure how I found this blog. I think it got Freshly Pressed, but I’m not sure. Anyway, last week, underwhelmer (yes, that’s what he calls himself – I think he’s a he), posted about idioms and the way his mind changes them to something bizarre and surreal. He asked his readers to submit their own warped idioms. The prize would be a warped, idiom-inspired drawing.
I was at work. Bored from massive amounts of data entry and hit WordPress during a ten minute break. When I saw his post, I thought…what exactly are idioms? I looked them up and here’s the result. Enjoy.
Until next time, walk as tall as you are wide (or, at least, try), and avoid those strange birds.
Related articles
- Writing Update 2012-5 (nilaewhite.wordpress.com)
- Writing Update 2012-4 (nilaewhite.wordpress.com)
N. E. White 
If you are going to quote yourself, you might as well call it a “sizzling, roller-coaster ride of a novel” rather than “interesting”. By contrast, I once had a reader say that I was “sort of masterful” at exposition, which I’m totally going to use.
Ha! I’d use it, too.
The copies of the cover I have for myself to look at when I’m feeling as if my book sucks (well, that’s all the time, but whatever) have things like:
“Pulitzer-prize winning stuff!”
“…reminiscent of Don Quixote…”
“An adventure story as brazen as any of Dumas’.”
etc. etc. etc.
I was too embarrassed to put those on my blog – even in jest! 🙂