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Posts tagged ‘writing’

Re: No Kings – Titan Tea Party

I can’t participate in physical protests (too broken), but it occurred to me that I could post a short story I wrote, that is tangentially related.

Titan Tea Party was originally published in The Protest Diaries by B Cubed Press

TITAN TEA PARTY

Esme double- and triple-checked everyone’s thermal body suit, breathing tank, and wings before opening the hatch. Tourism was Titan’s primary source of income. If a tourist got injured or killed on a flying excursion, the decline in revenue would jeopardize the entire colony.

The tourists whooped and cheered as they jumped into the frigid air. Their large wings kept them aloft with little effort in the low-gravity atmosphere, while their body suits protected them from the deadly chill.

Lots of people dreamed of self-powered flying, but only on Titan could their dreams become reality. And with so much of the planet’s infrastructure damaged by Hurricane Iapetus last year, the colonists needed every dollar they could get.

Esme monitored her group closely and made sure no one flew outside of the boundary buoys, or experienced other problems. The tourists didn’t notice the demolished buildings outside of the buoys’ range. Didn’t realize that every signal pole used to contain a landing pad.

In the past, she would have corralled them towards the nearest pad, and then picked them all up at once. Now, she had to pedal her transport flier next to each tourist and pull them back onto the ship with a guiding rope. She retrieved the ones who signaled they were ready first, but there were often grumbles about how some tourists got to fly longer than others.

Esme hurried to their hotel, grateful that no one had protested today. She didn’t want to be late to the town hall meeting. According to rumors, Earth planned to enact additional taxes and regulations. As financially strapped as the colony already was, the additional costs were an unreasonable burden, but what could they do about it? After dropping off her guests, Esme pedaled faster than normal as she flew to the civic center.

Neighbors and friends nodded to her as she landed and secured her large flier to one of the few platforms still standing. She floated down to the hatch, then descended, as she acclimated to the less buoyant environment. The artificial gravity increased the farther down she traveled. Once she reached the bottom floor, she turned off her suit–no need to wear the battery down–and removed her mask, tank, and gloves. Finger-combing her short hair, she glanced in the small mirror placed by the row of cubbyholes. She looked no worse than anyone who’d spent all day suited up, which most people had.

The tension in the meeting room felt like a tangible force as she entered. Tempers were already high.

“How can they do this to us, when we’re still recovering from Iapetus?” someone muttered behind her.

“Not like they were much help with that either,” their companion answered. “What are all these taxes paying for, if they won’t help us when we need it?”

Governor Ricky, Earth’s self-appointed toady, seemed oblivious to the crowd’s mood as he strode across the stage and walked to the microphone. In a monotonous tone, he read the latest proclamations off a tablet.

More taxes and regulations on imports from other colonies. A wave of mutters and grumbles flowed around the room.

Governor Ricky ignored the noise. Like so many times before, he ended the meeting without offering to answer questions. He simply walked off the stage and through a back door as if he had better things to do with his time.

The colonists stood, but didn’t leave. Their voices grew louder as anger fed upon anger.

“They want to force us to depend on Earth,” someone shouted.

Esme agreed. The new taxes seemed designed to punish them for accepting any imports from other space colonies. Even though the other colonies were closer and easier to ship from, the taxes would raise the prices so high that goods from Earth would appear cheaper in comparison.

Frustration boiled inside Esme. What could they possibly do? They had no recourse with which to argue or negotiate with Earth. Governor Ricky, their only voice into Earth’s government, was nothing but a puppet. He’d praised Earth for helping after Iapetus, even though the mother planet had done almost nothing to help Titan recover. And the ‘help’ Earth provided, they’d charged extra for.

“What can we do?” someone wailed.

“We can’t survive without their imports.” A different voice agreed.

Esme, like most of the settlers, kept track of all incoming shipments, and what was on each one. It was always good to know when particular items might be in stock again. She reviewed the list of imports in her head. Was any of what they received from Earth truly necessary? They grew their own food now, and Titan provided plenty of water and fuel. The goods from Earth were certainly nice to have, and they made life easier and more pleasant, but were they necessary? Clothes that were impractical in Titan’s outside environment. The latest electronic gadgets. Toys. Exotic foods like chocolate and tea.

“There’s a shipment arriving from Earth early next week,” she said.

“So?” The wailer asked, in a petulant tone.

She cleared her throat, then spoke in a louder voice. “I have an idea.”

*****

A week later, after Esme finished her tourist run of the day, she flew to the spaceport, planning to go first, followed by several others who owned fliers with large amounts of cargo space.

The goods from Earth waited on the platform, each container wrapped in a thermal blanket to prevent damage. Not that it would be enough to protect them from what she intended.

She filled her flier, then glided north, over Lake Oceanus. One by one, she pushed each package into the liquid methane below.

From now on, the colony would buy what they needed from elsewhere, and Earth would receive zero taxes from those purchases.

In fact, Earth would never receive taxes of any kind from them again.

The populace of Titan had declared their independence.

END

I wrote this story after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, due to my dismay at the lack of assistance they received from our government. Seven years later, they are still struggling, and still waiting for much of the promised assistance (a lot of money eventually earmarked for them actually went to the cronies of a certain person (who likes to throw paper towels) instead).

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Story Published – Like Riding a Bike

I had a story recently published in this anthology: Uncanny Valley: A Science Fiction Anthology : A Collection of Short Stories on Humanity and the Future. It’s not expensive (in fact, right now it’s free), so if that sounds at all interesting to you, I encourage you to buy it.

My story is called “Like Riding a Bike,” and an Amazon review has this to say about it “If I had to choose a favorite, it would be the story of a human attempting to remember how to drive a real car,” which is flattering 🙂

This story is much more autobiographical than most. At the time that I wrote it, I had a front door and barn door that opened with a keypad, and a car that both unlocked and started based on the vicinity of a key fob. One day, I went to my parents’ house for some reason when they weren’t there, and their door was locked. I had a key, but it was like I’d forgotten what keys were or how to use them. So I started with the idea of wanting to write about forgetting how to use keys and that expanded to someone who, in a world of self-driving conveyances, had also forgotten how to drive.

The main character has a medical problem that caused her to voluntarily stop driving even earlier than most of her peers. This is a problem I have, though I never had an accident as a result of it, and only stopped driving briefly when I was worried that I would. Ironically, I had, up until two months ago, mostly stopped driving, as a result of an entirely different medical problem, and have very recently had the experience of needing to remember how to drive again. Perhaps I could write that aspect better now, but I think it’s close enough.

Spoilers below. Stop and go read my story first (it’s not long) if you don’t want to be spoiled.

The car I used in the story was also recently totaled (someone else made a very reckless decision that resulted in the crash). That wreck is the picture here, though you can imagine it being the wreck at the end of the story, if you want 😉

The way she wrecks at the end is also based somewhat on a real event. I grew up in Florida, moved to Virginia, and got a job that was at the end of a long mountain road. Shortly after, there was a blizzard. I did not know how to drive on snow, or how to handle my car losing control like that. My car was not wrecked, however, and I continued driving to work afterwards (the job involved taking care of horses, so I didn’t feel like I could not show up).

The bit about bikes is also based on real life. I did not learn how to ride a bike until I was much older than usual, and have had several bad experiences involving them. I would much rather ride a horse than use a bike or a car!

Written

on August 20, 2021

10 Question Writer Blog Hop

Beth Salmon tagged me to answer a 10-question blog hop.

1) What genre(s) do you write, and why?
Adult Fantasy. It’s my favorite genre to read. It has magic, unicorns, and mermaids – what more could you want? I read all shades of it, but I prefer the “traditional fantasy” according to Goodreads categorizations. Stories related to fairy tales are my favorites. There’s some argument over whether my current manuscript is NA (New Adult) or not, but it’s not filled with sexy stuff, so as far as I can tell, that means it can’t be NA, at this time.

2) Do you mostly read within your own genre, or do you read others as well?
I read fantasy the most often, but I also like historical fiction, mystery, sci-fi, and paranormal romance. I’ll try almost anything, but I have very definite preferences. In particular, I will stop reading books where very bad and/or graphic things are done to animals. I also get bored with strong military themes and most romance.

3) What have you learned as a writer that you wish you knew when you first started?
There are so many things… If we go all the way back to when I was a kid, I wish that I hadn’t stopped pursuing it as a career. I was talked out of this by my well-meaning father who threatened that I would become a “ditch digger” if I tried to become a writer. And that I wouldn’t be able to afford ponies 😦 . I’m not sure that qualifies as something I’ve “learned” however. I suppose learning to not write in omniscient earlier would have been helpful. Since that’s what most fantasy novels used to be, it was how I started out.

4) What author or book speaks to you the most and why?
Anne Bishop – she writes dark fantasy filled with amazing female characters, talking animals, and a dash of romance. Although horrible things may happen in her books, the bad guys always end up equally punished by the end. As someone who believes in eye-for-an-eye, I especially enjoy that sense of justice being delivered.
Kristen Britain – Her Green Rider series (yes, with a title tailor-made to appeal to me) is an epic fantasy told from the point-of-view of a female messenger, who also happens to have a bit of magical power. This started out as a fairly standard good vs. evil fantasy series, but has since evolved to be much more, and the characters turned out to have a lot more gray in them than originally suspected. Her last book even centered on time travel. The only problem is that it takes her YEARS to write each book, partly because they are each very large.

5) Do you have word/page count goals?
Sometimes. Not at the moment. I’ve completed Nanowrimo a few times, so I know I can crank out a lot of words in a short period of time if needed.

6) Where do you do most of your writing?
At home, in my recliner, with an airdesk to hold my laptop. If I’m writing a first draft though, I use pen and paper, which means I can curl up and write anywhere that is quiet (I do not handle noise well).

7) If you could disappear somewhere for a few weeks to completely immerse yourself in writing, where would you choose?
Somewhere quiet and with few distractions. Maybe a cabin in the woods, as long as it had working plumbing and temperature control.

8) Pick one of your main characters. If his/her house were on fire, what would he/she choose to save and why?
Lisa would save her books. There’s not much else she cares about. Depending on the point in the story, this might mean trying to save her bookbag (holds unlimited numbers of books), which would be a pointless gesture, since it is indestructible. She might also try to simply put out the fire, once she’s learned some control of her powers (early enough in the story and she might have caused it instead)

9) What’s your bad writing habit?
Procrastination.
Oh, you mean something specific to writing?
I probably over-edit. I can always think of more things I want to change or fix. I was at a conference recently, where a story was told about an author who would go into bookstores and correct copies of his books after they were published. I can totally understand that desire.

10)What is your writing goal for 2015?
I still need to think about this some, but at least one goal is to finish the book I just started. To query more agents. To make more friends at writing conventions. I’ll be more specific later. Oh, haha, and to blog more 😉

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I have a confession to make

I’ve been thinking about this post for a while, but kept procrastinating writing it. Partly due to fear, I’m sure, of what the reaction of others might be. Will they treat me differently? Think of me as somehow “less”? Argue with me about the validity of my statement, as has already happened once? Then, this weekend, without really meaning to, I told a room full of mostly strangers. It was in the middle of something else, just a line that’s in my query letter, which I was reading out loud. The reaction was thankfully minimal, at least to that, but my *secret* was still out there.

Meanwhile, I have several other posts that I want to write, that require this post to come before them.

So the confession is this: I have Asperger’s.

This won’t be a surprise to those who both know me very well, and understand what Asperger’s is/means. I don’t want to call it a disease, or a syndrome, because I don’t think that’s accurate. It’s just a “difference.” A different way of seeing and processing the world, with both pros and cons.

I had pondered the possibility for a while, first given to me in 2010 at an ex-AOLers party. When discussing my lack of tact in certain matters, someone said to me “We probably all have a little Aspy in us.”

I researched it, of course, and took some online tests (all of which were positive), but was still reluctant to admit it definitively. We all know how unreliable self-diagnosing over the Internet is, after all. But I kept thinking about it, and considering…

A bit later, I was working on a book (the one I’m currently querying), and some of the main character’s personality traits are modeled after my own. One thing I really wanted was a main character who wasn’t witty in conversation, who didn’t immediately make friends with everyone, and who had problems understanding things like body language. They say you should write the books you want to read, and I wanted a character I could relate to.

Then I saw the episode in Glee with the girl who uses Asperger’s as an excuse for everything and it made me really angry. When I think of character’s on TV who portray Asperger’s, I think of Bones, and Sheldon. But not that girl. She’s just a caricature (as everyone on Glee is, I’ll admit). But because of her, I decided that I wanted to put it out in the open why the character in my book is different. I wanted people who read it to know that that girl on Glee isn’t a good representation. I wanted children who have been diagnosed with it to *know* that my character was like them (not counting her magic powers and personal baggage). I wanted parents to see more in their kids than the problems. And I didn’t want to deal with people telling me I didn’t know what I was talking about, though I’m sure some still will.

So, I got tested. It was a somewhat lengthy and expensive process, more so than I expected. I could only find one place in the Orlando area that would see me as an adult. I’m not sure what they think happens to kids when they grow up, since this isn’t something you grow out of. You just learn to cope, with varying degrees of success. Asperger’s basically means people with a form of autism that are still able to function in normal society. So there are lots of people, particularly in the generations before it was well-known, who have it and were never diagnosed. Lots of people I know, since I work in a field where the Aspy tendencies are both accepted and beneficial, as my former coworker pointed out. Many of my friends. Many of my family.

I stumbled across this post over the weekend, and it was the final push that made me decide it was time to write about it. I think it’s important that Asperger’s in adults is discussed more. I think it’s important to recognize that women have it too.

After I got the diagnosis, the therapist asked what I wanted to do now. Did I want therapy? Did I need anything for anxiety or depression? No. I just wanted to know. I wanted a word to use to describe the differences in myself. A word that others might understand. An easier way to explain why I don’t like big parties and can’t lie when someone asks me if the picture of their baby is cute (sorry, but it never is). I don’t want to change who I am. I want to be understood and accepted.

Now you know.

“And knowing is half the battle.”

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Fairy Tale Fridays – Intro

I’ve struggled with what to write about on my blog. Although there are many things I’ve considered, when it comes down to sitting down and typing up a post, they rarely seem worth it. At one of the panels at the Florida Writer’s Conference I attended, a discussion about blogging occurred (it was not the main intended topic of the panel) and someone made a comment that struck me. I wish I could remember the exact words, or who said it, but it boiled down to this: write about the things you like, rather than the things you don’t, and try to make it something that relates to your book(s) in some way.

Some examples included things like, if you write books for middle-grade boys, you could talk about fun activities to do with your son(s) (since it’s usually going to be the parents reading the blog/buying the books, rather than the child). If you have a main character that likes to rock-climb on occasion, you could talk about rock-climbing.

I had an epiphany. I *love* fairy tales, and their relatives of mythology and legend. Most of my stories are at least tangentially based on a fairy tale, and are meant for that particular vein of fantasy. As soon as I made that connection, the theme presented itself “Fairy Tale Fridays.”

So that’s what I’ll do. I don’t promise to update *every* Friday, but I think I will be more successful than I have been in the past. Sometimes I will just discuss a particular fairy tale, the cliff-notes if you will, and its current adaptions. Other times I might talk about a mythological creature, or a particular adaptation of a fairy tale.

Disney is bound to get mentioned a lot, since not only do most other people know the movies, but also because I really like them (that’s a large part of the reason I work there, after all).

So that’s my plan, we’ll see how it goes.

Starting … now 🙂

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Thoughts On Traditional Publishing

I bit the bullet and started querying agents. This completes my goal to “have at least submitted a book to agents by next DragonCon” (DragonCon is labor day weekend). Hitting the “send” button for the queries is oh-my-god-stressful, followed by more stress as you wait for the inevitable rejections and hope for something positive (and continue to send out queries).

As E-publishing/self-publishing is all the rage these days, I feel like I am constantly explaining why I am still pursuing the traditional publishing routes. Coupled with this are the people who self-publish and then brag about all their published books (unless they are making significant money at it, this is not an accomplishment. Anyone with a credit card can get their book published).
There are a lot of pros and cons to traditional vs. indie publishing vs. self-publishing, but for me the bottom line is this – I have yet to see a non-traditionally published book that was great. I’ve read plenty that are okay, some that I might rank as high as good, and there are huge amounts that are awful, but I have yet to see any (from a previously not-established author) that are great. There is no self-published Hunger Games, or Harry Potter, or Terry Pratchett, or Anne Bishop, etc. And the reason for this is simple: the bar is lower.

At one of the writer panels at DragonCon last year, one of the authors likened it to learning to pick locks: if the only locks you ever try to pick are the easy ones, you aren’t going to become good at picking the harder locks.

I don’t want to write mediocre books. I want to write great ones. I want to write books that people will read over and over again because they enjoyed them so much. Books that someone will decide are their “favorite”. I’m not talking “The Great American Novel” here; I just want to write really good, really entertaining books. It may take me a while to get there. Most of the “big hits” are by authors who have been writing for a long time already (J.K. Rowling being an exception). They have been writing for the traditional publishing market. They have been learning and improving with each book that they write.

I’m not saying you can’t make a living with self-publishing, because you can. John Locke and his 99 cent awful novels and paid-for-reviews prove it. But if all I cared about was making money, I wouldn’t write books at all. I make pretty good money in my current career and even if I become relatively successful I will still probably take a pay hit when/if I switch to writing full-time. Writing is not lucrative. The percentage of authors who become wealthy from writing is miniscule. Anyone who thinks this is an easy way to make money is very disillusioned. Scam/vanity publishers prey on this misconception, convincing authors to pay them to publish their books.

People on both sides like to quote how many rejections particular authors had. Laurell K. Hamilton had over 200, J. K. Rowling had dozens, Stephen King lined his walls with his. Traditional publishing opponents like to use these as examples of how agents and publishers “don’t really know what they’re doing.” On the opposite side of the table, people use the stories to bolster their self-confidence and overcome the pain of rejection. However, I think there is an alternate possibility. I suspect that as these authors were going through their cycles of rejection, they probably continued to edit their stories and improve their craft. Maybe the real reason Hamilton did not succeed in the beginning is because her writing had not gotten good enough yet. Maybe the first submitted version of Harry Potter had plot holes in it. I know that I will continue to work on my current submission. If agents offer suggestions or reasons they don’t like it, I will consider them. I will read about writing and go to writing workshops and be in critique groups. My writing will continue to get better. My next book will probably be better than my current one. I can already see the difference in my writing from before compared to now. And, hopefully, one day, I’ll write awesome novels and I’ll have a shelf of hardcovers with my name on them, from a publisher like Tor, and I’ll be proud of them. If I take the easy route and self-publish, I don’t think I’ll ever get there.

(Note that this is only for ME. There are plenty of legitimate reasons to self-publish, particularly for non-fiction or niche markets, I just don’t feel it is a good idea for me specifically).

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Hard Goals, For Motivation

Another year (or two), another catch-up post. I *am* going to try to post regularly however. I have found that I follow-through more often if I commit to specific goals and if I tell other people what they are. So my goal for this blog is going to be to post *at least* once a week, even if it is sometimes short.

Let’s start with the general stuff: I still work at Disney (after having my contract extended several times, I was eventually converted to a full-time or “Cast” position). The downside of this was a nasty commute, so we ended up moving (yes, again). Luckily, we were able to get a nice house at a really good price. Unluckily, immediately after we closed the people who had been renting our VA house moved out (owing us a bit of money), and oh, by the way, the septic is no good. Due to the type of soil the house was in, we would have had to put in a fairly expensive alternative system to replace the failed septic. This was the last straw for us, so we ended up short selling the house. And we still owe the second lender a lot of money, yay, since they were jerks (stay away from PNC). Gary went back to work for Comcast; they are letting him work remotely, which is awesome! He is on a team with a bunch of our ex-AOL friends, so that is also nice. I finally found a Doctor that actually fixes problems long-term, so I’m very happy about that. I’m healthier, I’m sleeping better, and I have more energy to do the things that I want.

So, going back to goals. Previously I tried things like “lose weight” or “write more,” but these did not work. I think I am too much a procrastinator for that method. I went to DragonCon in 2011 and I attended a bunch of writing panels. It made me want to write even more, and I told myself I would. But, well, first we had to move, right? There were also games to play, shows to watch, and books to read, and somehow I never got around to it. I went to DragonCon in 2012 and I had accomplished practically nothing. OK, time to get serious. I made two goals to complete before the next DragonCon 1) To be at a normal weight (so, you know, if I get a picture taken with Felicia Day I won’t be embarrassed about how I look) and 2) I would have my novel SUBMITTED.

I actually thought this second goal would be easier than it turned out to be. I already had a book that was written most of the way that I thought had a good enough storyline. It was at ~80K words and just needed to be finished and edited. It was a fantasy novel that starts out in a world similar but different to our medieval age. However, the more I thought about it, the more I felt that it would be better if it started in our world (there are two worlds in the story), and in the modern time. I thought it would be simple and that I would just have to change a few references, here and there. However, shortly after I started I realized that I was going to end up re-writing the entire thing. Once I made this discovery, I felt a bit of a panic: how was I going to completely re-do it in that amount of time? I had been working on this book for several YEARS! Was this even the right choice or would it be better to work on the original version? But, I had a deadline, so I buckled down and got to work.

I started going to some local writer’s groups and I learned about an annual contest for writers. The deadline is 5/31 (DragonCon is 8/30). Can I finish in time to enter the contest? At just under 50K words, on 3/3, I created a schedule, just to see if it was possible (and it was). I wasn’t sure how many words I could do, particularly on a weekday, so I kept the daily goals low at first (500 for a weekday and 2000 for a weekend day). I blacked out all the days I was on oncall or had some other obligation. By the end of the first week I knew my goals were too easy, so I changed them to 1000 and 3000. So far so good, and I should have over 100K before before the end of April. That will only give me a month to edit officially, however, some of the writing I’m doing now includes editing, so I think it will be OK. I guess time will tell… meanwhile, I’m still going to try to write here, and since I’m committing to it publicly, you can hold me to it.

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