Hiatus

My blog is going on a bit of a hiatus. My Wednesday posts will continue to appear every week over at the +HL+ Blog-O-Rama and as publication news rolls in, I'll be sure to spread the good word. But for now, a number of other projects along with a little thing called life are crammering for attention and I can't afford to ignore them. Thanks to everyone that has stopped by to take a look around and to all those who have been kind enough to leave comments (or e-mail them to me). And I sincerely hope you keep stopping by, but I just wanted to make you aware that it is going to be slim pickings around here for a spell. Why? Well, let's just put it simply, I've got some writing to do.

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Friday Photo Prompt: May 9, 2008

If you are new to this, you can go HERE to read the rules of how this works (and yes, poetry is perfectly acceptable as well if that is your thing).

Title: Untitled
Photographer: E. Smetana
Location: All Saints Parish, St. Peters, MO

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Writing A Story in 26 Easy Steps

Writing is easy, nothing to it. Success as an author, a piece of cake. Really, anyone can do it in just four simple steps.

1) Think of a stellar story idea.
2) Write a story (based on the idea from number 1).
3) Sell the story.
4) Cash the checks as they roll in while readers worldwide yearn for more.

The thing is this is not how it works in the real world and if it were, the whole process would not be so much fun (and maybe not so painful). Here is how it works for me...

My Wednesday +HL+ blog is as always located HERE (and conveniently for MySpacers HERE).

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Friday Photo Prompt: May 2, 2008

The rules (for any newcomers):

Look at the photo, go on take as long as you want. Think about it, give it some real thought. Done? Great! Now in the next 30 minutes (give or take) write a story based on what the photo conjures in your head. It can be a scene or setting, a self contained story, a piece of narrative non-fiction -- write whatever strikes your fancy.

Once you've written something based on the prompt, feel free to post it in the comments section below, tuck it away in a drawer, submit it somewhere or for you Zoetropers go ahead and feel free to post it in the office where you saw the prompt.

Okay. Now that the upload/download, information transmission stuff is done, here is this week's photo:

Title: Untitled
Photographer: Erik Smetana
Location: Niebaum Mansion, Napa Valley, CA

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My Personal Soundtrack

This week's Blog-O-Rama installment...

Earlier this week over at my own site, in the most recent installment of The MFA Diaries, I threw out the question, one posed to me in front of a room of graduate student slash writers, "Who are you?"

Three words, lots of meaning. It asks so many questions in one: Why do you write? What do you get out of writing? What is your motivation? What drives you? What are you about? Why? Who? What? How?

I said it in the original post and I'll say it again here, I don't know.

So why am I rambling, in essence regurgitating an old post?

Well, this morning, driving into work, I put a CD in dash and out of the speakers came the lazy voice and frenetic piano playing of Ben Folds. Rockin' The Suburbs to be exact...

Read the rest HERE (and conveniently located for MySpacers HERE).

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Vault X Update

Let me be clear. I am a writer not a graphic designer despite the occasional bit of dabbling I might do with Photoshop for friends and fellow writers. With that in mind it is with great pleasure that I present the new cover proof for Vault X in which my story "Anniversary" appears.

Why all the rambling about graphic design?

Because I (the non designer) created the cover you see posted to the left. This is a different sort of excitement than I have when I place a story somewhere, I almost feel a sense of ownership with the entire project now. So really I just wanted to announce my cover design debut (and probably the only time I will manage such a feat).

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Fun With Photos

After last week's installment of The MFA Diaries which focused on an in-class photo prompt, I received a bunch of really positive feedback. Most of the kind words that rolled in had to do with the idea of using a photograph as a writing prompt and several people asked if I would continue providing said prompts going forward.

So beginning this week and going forward every Friday, I will be posting a new photo here (most from my own collection along with the occasional stock photo). Your job is simple, take a look at the picture and write something. Take as long as you need to formulate your ideas but try to get everything down on paper in under 30 minutes.

When you are done, feel free to post your stories (etc) in the comments section (or for you Zoetropers, post it in whatever office you discovered the prompt in). And without further ado, here is this week's photo prompt...

Title: In All Its Neon Glory
Photographer: Erik Smetana
Location: Shanksville, PA (site of flight 93 crash)

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The Wednesday Blog
Current mood: cryptic

My weekly incoherent rambling is up live over at the +HL+ Blog-O-Rama. But this week, no sneak peek, you are just going to have to click on through to the other side. But I will say this, titles can be deceiving.

Read it Blogger style HERE and conveniently located for My Spacers HERE.

Note: the picture to the right has nothing to do with today's B-O-R, but after reading the post you'll be able to figure out what said picture means (it's freaking interactive!).

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Could Teenagers Get Any Moodier?

Dan Waters, a great writer and recent guest blogger over at the B-O-R, has just launched My So-Called Undeath. The site is a tie in for his upcoming YA Horror novel, Generation Dead.

MSCU is the personal online journal of Tommy Williams, a teenager who has recently found himself joining the ranks of the undead -- okay, he's a zombie. The premise of this book looks unbelievably interesting and Dan is one heck of an author, so go check out My So-Called Undeath and while you are at it go order Generation Dead (you won't regret it, seriously, Kirkus gave it a starred review).

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More Than Just A Good Read...

There are books that entertain, books that make you think, books that let you zone out and feel like you are a part of the story. There are books that require a reader's focus and attention and books that take you on a roller coaster ride of suspense, intrigue and mystery. And there are books that leave you with questions and the underlying want for the story to not end.

Then there are books that are all these things, books like Pincher Martin, House of Leaves, Demon Theory and a book I just finished reading (literally like an hour ago) The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall.

I won't even begin to try and explain the premise, but what I will do is whole-heartedly recommend this title to anyone looking for a read that's out of the ordinary with a hefty dash of the extraordinary.

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