I'm at Alex's!

I woke up to a delightful surprise today! Alex J. Cavanaugh featured me in his "F" post for the A-to-Z Challenge. I miss my A-to-Z co-host team and am a bit sad to not be taking part this year, but it was lovely to be a teeny part via Alex's post. I knew I couldn't keep up with commenting and visiting others this year, so even though I could have pre-scheduled a bunch of posts, that's not the true spirit of the A-to-Z, and I opted to stay out of it. I WILL still be visiting participants as I can, though, (as well as my usual blogs) so hope to see you soon! But I'm on deadlines this week, so no rest for the weary.

I hope you'll stop by and visit all the A-to-Z co-hosts (you can find a list of them HERE in the right sidebar.) Also, Andrew Leon at StrangePegs is doing a fun theme for the A-to-Z on abandoned places. My kinda' topic.

And since I'm posting anyway, I'd like to say that I'm meeting my goals of submitting short stories. I've gotten several rejections, including a nice personal one that said my piece was "beautifully written," which I'll take. It didn't match the theme they were going for (I knew it was stretching the theme when I sent it in, but you never know exactly what they're looking for, so felt it was worth trying.) Once I'm through these work deadlines I'll be submitting elsewhere. I've still got four pieces out on submission, though, and need to find a place to submit two more.

I hope you're out there submitting, or at least writing away in preparation to submit and/or query in the future.

Are you taking part in the A-to-Z? If not, have you found any themes in your usual blog travels that you're particularly enjoying? Feel free to share their links in the comments.

May you find your Muse.

P.S. Gary, I broke my "no posting about blog hops" streak. Sowwy!

One Down, One to Go!

Thanks for the well wishes last week! I passed the final and finished the class with a high enough score to get a personal letter of reference (my goal when I set out). You had to get a 97% or better in the class, overall, and I did. Shew. Still got it!

People have asked what class it was. I'm studying to be a CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant). Now that I've passed the program and the final (which consisted of two parts: written and skills demonstration), I just need to pass the state boards to be certified. At this time I'm considered a GNA, or General Nursing Assistant.

The reason I'm working for this is to care for a loved one with ALS, better known as Lou Gherig's.

Now that classes are behind me, I'll be going on a one-week road trip with a few family members, leaving late Tuesday night and returning the following Tuesday or Wednesday. I've decided to take a break, rather than scheduling advance posts when I can't respond to comments and visit back. As I have no idea how much online time I'll get, it's best just to be on break. I'll return to posting either next Wednesday or the Monday after.

Before I go, I want to make a quick announcement concerning a friend's serial. Andrew Leon, of Strange Pegs, has been putting out pieces of a series in serial form. He is now releasing these as sets, with parts 1-5 coming out in one set today. The price is $1.99 for five parts of the story. If you have previously read parts within 1-5, he's asking that you purchase this collection and leave a review: Shadow Spinner, Collection 1.

Back to my vacation, I'll hopefully be visiting Crater Lake and the Vortex, both in southern Oregon. Look for pictures coming after I get back home!

Did you take a vacation this summer? Where'd you go? Ever been to Crater Lake or the Vortex? 

May you find your Muse.

[Mostly] Wordless Wednesday - Flood Savers & Links

Before I jump into [Mostly] Wordless Wednesday, know that today is my day to catch up on blogs, visits and comments.  Sorry I've gotten behind again, but...it happens!

One morning I woke up to the sound of helicopters.  Scratch that.  I woke up to the CONSTANT drone of helicopters, flying back and forth, back and forth.  Now, during Waldo Canyon I got used to the sound of planes flying over my house constantly.  That was just life for a couple weeks.  However, I had gotten used, again, to not hearing things flying over my house all the time.  Silly me!

This time, it was not due to fear of flames, but fear of water.  Those of us within a certain distance of the burn scar are now living in a flood plain.  In order to mitigate the risk of flooding, they are dumping a mixture of sand, wood chips and seeds (I believe) on the stripped hillsides.

The sound I heard was the choppers picking up loads of this drought mitigation mixture from a nearby quarry and dropping it on the hills.  You can actually see, quite clearly, where they have dumped it.  I haven't gotten a picture of that yet, but I did get photos of the choppers flying back and forth.  There were two criss-crossing each other.  It was fun to watch them.

Now for some links:

Taking Submissions:

eSteampunk, an imprint of eFiction Magazine, is taking steampunk submissions for short stories, poetry, articles, serials, book reviews, interviews and artwork.

Criminalelement.com is putting together their first e-collection of short stories, and are taking submissions under the theme of Girl Trouble for Malfeasance Occasional.  Pays $350.  Deadline October 10.

Andrew Karre is taking submissions of novel-length fiction for Carolrhoda Books from October 1 through October 31.

Poisoned Pen Press has announced a new YA Mystery imprint called Poisoned Pencil Press.  They are taking novel-length submissions.

Other:

Andrew at Strange Pegs will be releasing Part 6 of his "Shadow Spinner" series for free Thursday, October 4.  Be sure to review it if you download and read it.

Susan Kaye Quinn is hosting a giveaway to celebrate 10,000 sales of her novel "Open Minds."  You can enter to win a Kindle Paper and/or several sets of books, some e-, some physical.

Rachel Sang-hee Han posted 7 of the Coolest Libraries in the World on CNN.com.  And they ARE cool!

Anything to share?  Are you completely over photos of flying machines?  Ever been the recipient of flood mitigation?  Live in or near a flood plain?  Have you gotten any writing done lately?

May you find your Muse.

[Mostly] Wordless Wednesday - Signs of Fall & Linkies

Sorry for this being late, but I had internet/network issues last night and had to give up on fixing them after a couple hours of intense frustration.  Murg.

Today I have for you some signs of fall!  I love fall; it's my favorite season of the year.  My mood always improves as soon as that little touch of briskness hits the air.  The smells change, the sensations.  Love it!

Here are some photos taken of Garden of the Gods a couple days apart (in 2012, despite what my photos say, as I did this late and utterly frustrated and aggravated with the hope that I could get it thrown up in the A.M. and, therefore, failed to check the watermark year).  At the bottom of the photos, you can see some scrub that has started changing.  In fact, there was a difference just within those couple of days.  Day 1 was misty and drizzling.  Day 2 was sunny, but with a haze.  But hark, what is that?  Snow on the Peak!  Our first official snow on Pikes Peak definitely means fall is here.

Hubby and I have a date on Friday to drive into the mountains and see the aspens changing.  We had said date last week, but then he got sick.  Poor hubby.  I'm hoping to have some gorgeous photos for you next week.

Now, for the links.

Blog Challenge:

Jane Ann McLachlan is hosting the October Memoir and Backstory Blog Challenge, wherein she asks you to blog 25 days in October, starting on Day 1 at Year 1 of your life or your child's.  The point is to cover a year in the life for each of the 25 week days.  Do it as you please: write poetry, post photos, write about a character's life instead of yours.  Make it what you'd like.

Free Story Release:

Our own Andrew Leon of Strange Pegs is releasing Part 5 of his Shadow Spinner series for free on Friday.  Read up on Tiberius for free!  However, if you download the free portion, please be sure to leave a review once you've read it.

Fun Stuff:

The Steve Laube Agency did a post entitled "Even the Best Get Rejected," detailing rejections famous people received.  I was amused by the last two, as they were rejections Steve Laube had made for someone who hit it big with someone else.

Taking Submissions:

Harper Voyager is open for submissions from October 1 to 14th.  This is a small, but exciting window with their international imprint.  You do not have to be agented.

Other:

Promocave is a new platform building website for writers.  They are in Beta now, and are looking to sign up the first 100 who register.  It sounds like it could be interesting, but I don't know any more about it than is posted on their site.

Anything to share?  Are you seeing signs of fall around you?  Excited or sad to see summer go?

May you find your Muse.

[Mostly] Wordless Wednesday - Yucca, yucca, yucca & Links

Hello!  It's Wednesday, and I have a mini-field trip for you for [Mostly] Wordless Wednesday.  I took the kids to Garden of the Gods on a drizzly spring day after a bit of a fail that was intended to be our actual "field trip."  Unfortunately, our visit was cut short when it became a thunderstorm, but I did snatch a few pictures before we had to get back to the car.

The last is a yucca plant in bloom, and the second to last is a hummingbird I was stalking.  It never got close enough for me to get a workable picture, but it kept buzzing the kids and I because we were near the feeder.  Waiting it out didn't work, so we finally gave in and agreed we'd come back on a warmer day and try again.

As far as the yucca plant (otherwise known as soapweed, as Native Americans of the area - Utes - used it to make soaps and shampoos, in addition to thread, needles, medications, etc.), for most of the year those blossoms are hardened and brown.  In fact, I love to find one full of seeds and give it to the kids as a rattle, of sorts.  I've never really seen it in blossom, and I loved the juxtaposition with what I'm used to.

I hope to have some great photos for you over the course of the summer!

Now for some links:

I read this post just in time to make sure I fit it into my link post today!  Andrew Leon, at Strange Pegs put together a book of short stories written by middle schoolers from a writing class he teaches at his son's school.  It's a fundraiser for the school, and just sounds like such a neat project that I wanted to pass it on to everyone.  

A friend posted this on Facebook and I was amused: S**t People Say to Writers

For you photogs out there, there's a local contest called Quintessential Colorado.  I'm tempted to enter, just for the heck of it.

Need inspiration?  Ghostwriter Dad wrote 34 Unexpected Places to Find Writing Inspiration

Cultural Weekly is having a Writing Contest.  It closes May 30.

I just thought this was interesting: 7 Authors Who Almost Died

Any helpful links to pass along?  Do you like a good fog or prefer you never have to deal with one?  What color are your hummingbirds?

May you find your Muse.

An Interview With Indie Author Andrew Leon

Today, I’m delighted to share an interview with self-published author Andrew Leon of Strange Pegs. His book, The House on the Corner, has just been released in e-book and POD format. Please join me in welcoming him to The Warrior Muse!

Every child has whimsical dreams of mystery and adventure, but what happens when they get more than they bargained for?

Ruth, Tom and Sam are forced to move far from their friends and the only life they’ve known. Unwilling at first, they arrive in Louisiana only to find themselves in a house full of mystery. There are secret rooms, hidden caches and crazy neighbors—everything a kid can dream of—yet these are only the beginnings of a fantastic journey of magic and discovery. What happened to the previous tenants, who vanished without a trace twenty years ago? And why do some of their neighbors appear to be more than meets the eye?

The House on the Corner is a story that will delight people of all ages, from the young adults it was written for, to the parents who explore it with them.

Andrew, we have the summary of the story, but tell us a little about what this story means to you.

The House on the Corner is about 3 siblings moving to a new house and a new state and what happens to them. In some respects, it's very Narnia in that it really grew out of that spot I had when I was a kid of always hoping against hope that something cool or strange would happen in big, creepy houses. Even houses I spent lots of time in. Like my grandparents' house. I just kept waiting.

Of course, what the book is really about is the kids, how they interact, how kids interact, and about growing up.

It sounds like you maybe moved around as a kid. Were you frequently moving? Was there a house that you had particularly interesting experiences in?

Actually, no, I really didn't do any moving around. Well, we moved from Texas to Louisiana when I was still too young to remember it, but, after that, I just grew up in Shreveport. I did live in a few different houses in Shreveport, but they were all, basically, in the same neighborhood. However, my grandparents' house was full of little nooks and crannies, all the houses in that neighborhood were, and it just always felt to me like there should be secret doors that I just wasn't finding. I should say that we did, eventually, move into my grandparents' house when they moved full time out to their farm in east Texas. Even as a teenager, I felt like that house had secrets that I wasn't able to figure out.

Speaking of the wonders of exploring a new house as a child, the children in your book are so well characterized that I, as a reader, became very fond of them (and frustrated with them...and worried about them). Are they based on your children or someone you know?

Actually, yes, they're based on my children. On the whole. It was sort of the point, when I started the novel. I needed something to keep me writing, because I have, well, several projects I've started and never finished. I'd go until I got stuck and switch to some other idea. I needed some external source of accountability. My clever scheme was to write a book for my kids and read it to them as a bedtime story as I progressed. I knew they'd badger me if I didn't keep going. Since I was going to be writing it for them, I decided to make it about them. They, of course, love it, and, sometimes, refer to themselves as their characters or, even, get mad at each other because of things I wrote in the story. We've had to have several discussions, at this point, about how they are not their characters. That's not to say that they're completely accurate. Ruth is the closest to her real life counterpart, but Tom was really only a jumping off point from his double. The basic personality is the same, but there's going to be quite a bit of divergence in the next book.

Did being held accountable in that fashion help you, ultimately? How long did it take you to complete the novel, including writing and the majority of your editing?

Yeah, it really helped me get started and keep going. At some point, I reached a sort of critical mass and was able to continue on my own, but if I hadn't been reading it to them when I started, I never would have reached that point. It took me 6 months to finish the initial draft. During that time, because I was reading it to my kids and in their classes at school, I was also editing it at the same time. Mostly grammar and spelling and catching awkward sentences. Not long after I finished, we had a death in the family, and that really derailed me for a while. Well, between that and the holidays, I didn't look at the book again until January of this year. At that point, really, only the first half was edited heavily. I discovered the ABNA contest and wanted to enter it, but the deadline was only a few weeks away, so I knew I didn't have time to go back through the whole thing again with the proverbial fine-toothed comb. That's when things get sort of jumbled, because, through ABNA, I also discovered CreateSpace, and I figured I'd just kill two birds with one stone, so I went ahead and set the book up for publication and entered ABNA. It was one of those "why not?" moments for me. At any rate, I was very surprised at how much easier it is to spot errors in the actual book in my hand than it is to spot them sitting at my computer looking at it on the screen, so a new round of editing commenced. That, also, got more involved than I'd intended, but, as to length only, that was about another 4 months.

Now that we know a little about how the story came to be, I'd like to talk about your decision to go a different route than traditional publishing. Self publishing versus traditional publishing is something I'm paying a lot of attention to now. What made you decide to go that route and did you query at all first or go straight to self publishing?

Well, that's kind of a complicated answer. After I finished my manuscript, I did start querying. Actually, I started talking to someone at a small press before I finished the manuscript, their acquisitions manager, and he was the first one to read it. He said it was the best manuscript of its genre, magical realism according to him, that he'd seen the entire time he'd been with them, which was something like 7 or 8 years. And they made an offer right off the bat. But I didn't like the offer they were making, so I started querying. This was in August of 2010. My mother-in-law had been struggling with pancreatic cancer for nearly a year and a half, at this point, and she ran out of treatment options just about this time, so, by the end of August, I had quit querying, because her health began a fairly rapid decline, at that point. Through that time, I started really looking at the publishing industry, in general, and more specifics about what was going on with agents. Not that I hadn't done that before, but I'd only done it in the aspect of what agents I wanted to query and how to go about doing that.

The problem was that I was still stuck in the idea that that was just how it was done. That was THE option. I mean, the option if you wanted people to believe you were really, really a writer, not just someone writing fanfic or the like. I already knew about all the waste in the publishing industry and have been pretty disgusted by it since college (when I worked in a used book store and discovered all that stuff). The thing that really got to me, though, that made me stop and think about what I was doing was the way the role of the agent has changed in the digital age. Or, possibly, I should say what the role of agent has disintegrated into. Over the past several years there has been scandal after scandal of agents skimming off of their authors, which is bad enough, but the real issue is that agents are no longer working for the authors but for the publishers. They have become these gatekeepers that help the "big 6" homogenize everything. They don't advocate for the author, anymore. And they're doing everything they can to defend traditional publishing and denigrate anyone who goes any other route. That's the thing that really tells you whose side they're on. I'm sure there are still some good agents out there, and, by that, I mean agents that work for their authors' interests and not the publishers' interests, but I think the odds of finding someone like that are pretty small.

At any rate, in reading all of this stuff, I came across the ABNA contest a couple of weeks before it was going to start for this year. This was in December, so, not only were we in the midst of the holidays, but my mother-in-law had just died, so it was a volatile time. I knew I didn't have time to go back and do anything major with my manuscript, but I also knew that I'd already given the first third or so a fairly heavy dose of editing, so I decided I was going to enter the contest. Through the contest, I discovered CreateSpace, and, since I was having to format the novel for the contest, I decided to go ahead and set it up through CreateSpace at the same time. I had people asking to read it and stuff, so I thought, "why not?"

I'm sure I made some mistakes in all of that, but I'm glad I did it, and I learned a lot about what I'm doing. If I hadn't, I'd probably still be sitting on this thing wondering what to do with it.

Your path so far has been very interesting, as is your insight into the publishing world. There's been a lot about agents becoming publishers lately, and one has to wonder how that will impact the writer/agent/publisher relationship. It certainly doesn't seem like that will work out well for writers. I could be mistaken, though. For the final question, what advice do you have for aspiring authors?

Before I answer the question, I think what we're finding out about the whole writer/agent/publisher relationship is that there are too many fingers in the pie. So to speak. When all of this stuff first started, and I'm talking hundreds of years ago when books first started being published, the author was the one in control. The one with the power. Publishers, in effect, worked for the author. After all, there was no use for the publisher without the author. Somewhere in there, though, we allowed the publisher to become the one with the power. In a similar manner, agents started out working for the author. The author was the boss and the one that paid the agent. Somewhere in there, though, the agents have become the ones with the power. For all practical purposes, now, the power flows from the publisher, to the agent, and the author has none. The author has become merely an employee. I think we are at a point, right now, where authors are in a position to again become the ones with the power. If they choose to take it. For so long, though, we've accepted the established way of doing things that most people want to stay in their cages. After all, you can't be a "real" writer unless you have an agent and are published by one of the big 6. I think we have the opportunity to challenge this for the first time in a really long time, and, if we don't, it may be another couple of centuries before the time comes again.

Part one of the answer is this: a writer is only an "aspiring author" before they've completed a manuscript. There are a lot of those out there, though. I see the blogs every day from writers struggling to complete a manuscript. For whatever reason. Although, I think, the biggest one is a lack of discipline on the part of the writer. And I've been there, so I know what that's like. The only advice I can give there is to figure out your trick. The thing that will enable you to sit down and plow through and get to the end. Mine was reading my work to my kids as I went. It gave me the incentive to finish. I think that's the most important thing an "aspiring" author can do. Figure out what you need to do to finish.

Part two: Once you have a manuscript, before you start querying or anything else, know what you want as a writer. Is your goal to have written? Is your goal to be published? Are you trying to make a living at it? Is what you really want is to walk into a book store and see your book on a shelf? Do you just want people to enjoy what you've written? I think this is where a lot of writers get lost. I mean, we all have this dream of getting published and selling a million copies and being adulated by the press. It's a great dream, but you have to figure out what you really want. At the core. When I actually thought about it, I realized what I want is for people to enjoy what I've written, like the boy in my daughter's class at school who asks me how far I am on the next book every time he sees me, because he loved The House on the Corner so much. That's what I want. So I'm taking the steps to accomplish what I want to see happen with my writing, and that doesn't require traditional publishing. At any rate, figure out what you want, and choose the path that will best accomplish that.

Andrew, thank you so much. You’ve given us a lot to think about. It’s obvious this isn’t something you’re just jumping into. Do you have any closing thoughts or anything you’d like to share?

I think the most important thing we can do as writers is to believe in ourselves and our stories. I see so many people posting about how they need to make story changes because some one person (usually an agent) has said they didn’t like something and, then, spending months and months ripping and tearing and gluing and taping to make those changes only to do it again when the next person (again, usually an agent) comes along and points something else out. We can't respond that way to these people, because, honestly, they don't know anymore than we do. In fact, they know less than we do, because they don't know the story. This is not to say that you shouldn't respond to technical help when someone shows you incorrect grammar or the like in your work, but you can't let people push you around where your story is concerned. Get many opinions and listen to all of them. If they're all pointing at the same area or set of areas, yes, look at them and make them stronger, but don't take any one person's voice as law. Well, you know, except mine.

You can find Andrew’s The House on the Corner by following the links on his blog sidebar at www.strangepegs.blogspot.com . Andrew offers a sample of the first chapter there, as well (or you can click HERE). You can get the hard copy from CreateSpace, get the Nook version HERE or the Kindle version HERE. Check it out!