N. E. White

Weekly Photo Challenge: Hopeful Dog

tmso — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 04:41:03 +0000

Every day, the coyote will amble through the backyard. The dog’s bile will rise when he sights his primal foe in his territory. He’ll claw at the glass door, and rue the loss of another chase. But for now, he waits and hopes for a world with no doors.

Photo a day (9/366): Dog (briandmains.com)
Flickr Comments by FrizzText D Challenge
The Daily Post

Five reasons for a nom de plume

tmso — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:32:46 +0000

Image via Wikipedia

Does your pen need a name?

If it doesn’t already have one, here are a few reasons why you might want to give it one:

You wouldn’t want to embarrass your mother.
You wouldn’t want to own up to everything that came out of your characters’ heads.
Everyone is sexist.
“Arnold Littlemember” just doesn’t fit your genre (i.e. erotica).
Bookstore shelf placement.

Writing Update 2012-1

tmso — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 19:24:42 +0000

Guess what?

Image by Luther College Photos via Flickr

I got me a writing coach! (Happy me: )

No, a writing coach does not write anything for you. It is not ghost writing or co-writing. Think of it as having a one-way-street writing buddy relationship with a professional writer.

I had my first session last week, and I have to say it was productive, informative, and indispensable.

At first, I thought I was copping out by getting a writing coach, that this truly meant I am a complete hack and just can’t make it on my own. But then I realized my entire educational career had pretty much nothing to do with writing. I spent over 20 years in school, producing a career in a science oriented field with very little writing required to succeed. Of course I need help! And the occasional online class wasn’t cutting it.

So with my new writing coach steering my efforts, I am working on two short stories, and a novel idea (that I’ve told no one about – yet). I feel like I’m getting somewhere, truly learning and growing and not just spinning my wheels and getting frustrated.

It is too early in the process to say whether the writing coach thing is good or bad, but I can say it is good now. That’s got to count for something. With that in mind, I’m forging ahead.

Until later, write focused.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Simple Car Park

tmso — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 04:22:37 +0000

This is an old photo. Taken back when I had a Kodak point-and-shoot that used something called film to record the images. Remember that? Folks would have to take a picture (no preview or review), trust that the shutter opened and light miraculously seared the film, carefully remove film, send away to a lab, wait a week or more to get it back, and then tear open the envelope to realize you just took a picture of your forearm? Unbelievable, I know, but there it is. That’s how we did things in the old days. Blind faith, I tell you.

Anyway, reality was better than the resulting photo, but how nifty when I went through my archives to find this picture of a simple car park sign in a grassy field. (Click on picture to enlarge. Yes, it says CAR PARK.)

And now the fiction part:

The girl looked to the sky, waiting for her father to return. Dinner only a half hour away, her stomach growled as she sat on her haunches in the cool grass.

Would he make re-entry this time? Last time, he had complained to mami about his accelerator going awry at the last minute. The ship rattled and groaned as if it was about to give birth, he had said. The girl hated to think what would happen to her father if his spaceship fell apart as it descended to the earth.

Picking at the crud between her teeth, her eyes scanned the clouds above. If he didn’t come back, she wouldn’t have to wait for dinner, would she?

Getting back on that horse

tmso — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 14:30:19 +0000

Poor thing. It was dead just a few days ago…I suppose…zombie horses?

Oh. But of course there are. (shudder) Why did I look that up?

Zombie Horse by WolfesClothing (courtesy of Sam Wolfe Connelly's DevianArt page)

After burying my novel series idea, I feel adrift. There’s a huge hole in my brain that needs filling, and I’m not entirely sure what to fill it with. Not for lack of options, mind you. Plenty of those. But which do I choose?

I did a little snooping on Duotrope and SFFWorld.com and came up with these:

1) The Fantasy Faction Anthology Contest – for unpublished writers only. Enter a short story of less than 8,000 words, and you may see your name next to some major authors. I imagine that my chances of winning something like this is nano-small, but it sounds like fun. Join me! Submissions open from February 1, 2012 to June 30, 2012.

2) Fading Light: An Anthology of the Monstrous – this one offers a little more than just a chance to publish - royalties! Accepting stories with no more than 5,000 words, the anthology promises dark stories. I’m not sure any of mine are dark enough, but I do have a vampire story that I might be able to alter for this one. I’ll have to give it a go. Submissions open from January 15, 2012 to May 15, 2012.

3) The Mothman Chronicles – the editor, Mr. Michael Knost, is offer professional payment for this one. For a maximum 4,000 word short story, that’s up to $40 for a story! I know, that doesn’t seem like much, but that’s pro-pay, folks. If I submit to this anthology, this will be the first ever professional-paid publication I will have submitted to. I’m sure I will be summarily rejected, but gotta start somewhere! Submissions seem to have been open for some time and ends on July 1, 2012. Mr. Knost has a few other anthologies in the works as well. Check ‘em out.

Good luck and happy writing!

Quit beating that dead horse (nilaewhite.wordpress.com)