Remember that writing contest Sam Cheever hosted over on her website? Well, it turns out I won! Sweetness!

You can read my entry here on her blog. (Just scroll down a bit. You'll find it.) If you've read some of my writing before and this doesn't quite sound like me, keep in mind that I did my best to emulate the style of the novels and to remain true to the characters. Any mistakes are, of course, entirely my own.

I'd like to thank Sam for this wonderful opportunity to play in her world for a day. It's a rare gift, and to give something back, I'd like to offer up for grabs the free e-book she sent me. (After all, I already have a copy!) To enter the contest, read my entry, and then send me an e-mail with the subject line "Wet Ink Contest" and tell me what was really down the ladder.

The contest will remain open through noon on Tuesday (EDT) so get those entries in while you still can! The winner will be drawn from those who provide the correct answer. Good luck!

Got another rejection letter this week, this one from Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine. But the note included the comments of the three readers who looked it over, for which I was extremely grateful. (No rejection-letter-rejection form letter for them!)

Feedback is SO important when we're trying to learn, to improve, to expand our horizons. Without it, how would we know what to change?

So I'll revise the story (again) and send it off (again), and eventually someone will pick it up. In the meantime, I'll also have to write something else for ASIM. It's a great magazine and a great bunch of people. That they take the time to provide feedback on slush stories just makes me like them even more.

No, no, they're not an officially licensed Jig product or in any way affiliated with either Jim Hines or Jig the Goblin. (Although officially licensed Jig glasses would be pretty awesome!)

To be perfectly honest, they're not even steel frames—they're titanium. But I think they look a little like Jig's glasses (here's a close-up) and as far as I'm concerned, that makes them pretty cool.

Plus, it's nice to be able to see what I'm reading these days...

In the continuing battle against spammers, I occasionally run across a spam comment that really tickles me. This one, sent today, is my favorite so far:

Perfect site! Anything superfluous, all is laconic and beautiful.

I'm guessing the spammer who wrote this message is not a native speaker of English. He or she probably meant something more like:

Perfect site! Nothing superfluous, all is concise and beautiful.

It just goes to show you that one or two words can change a lot.

Jake is feeling so much better. Thank you so much to everyone who sent well wishes, whether you left a comment on the site, sent me an e-mail, or just took a moment to send some "positive vibes" our way. He's not 100%, but he's well enough to enjoy life again--going for walks, begging for treats... yeah, that's about it, but that's about all he did before he got sick too so I figure he's doing pretty well.

In other news, I finally ordered a new pair of glasses today. It might not sound very exciting, but I can't wait! I'm reading two to three books a week now--that's on top of my own writing and my computer work--and my poor eyes just can't keep up with the workload. Everything I read looks slightly hazy, like reading through a light fog, and I can't read or type for more than about 20 or 30 minutes at a time now without feeling the strain.

It finally occurred to me that I hadn't had my eyes checked in about nine or ten years...

So today I finally had an eye exam. I should get my new glasses in about two weeks, and maybe I'll finally be able to get a few things done around here without needing three breaks an hour!

Forgive me if I'm absent from the blog for a few days. My beloved Jake is over one hundred years old in dog years, and his health has taken a turn for the worse this week.

Prayers, heartfelt wishes, "positive energy," and all forms of good intentions are both welcomed and deeply appreciated.

Thank you.

Author Simon Haynes has posted a complete book outline on his blog, in case you'd like to see what a finished one looks like. All I can say is...

Wow.

Here's the outline:
http://halspacejock.blogspot.com/2007/06/entire-hal-4-outline-right-here.html

You can find the software he used to create it here:
http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

Simon Haynes, author of the Hal Spacejock series, has a wonderful article up on his site entitled "Getting unstuck." I ran across it while gathering items for the July newsletter, and I thought I'd pass it along. It contains concrete suggestions on the process of writing a novel, the article is blissfully compact, and the advice in it is both sound and direct. I highly recommend it.

I also highly recommend his article entitled "How to plot your novel." This is the first article I've run across with specific details on how to go about the task, including a link to the free, open source software he uses to help him in the process, and some actual screen shots of a work in progress to show you how it looks.

When I saw it, I thought, "My God! This is brilliant!" See what you think...

I received a rejection letter in the mail today from Realms of Fantasy. Sadly, it was a "blue slip of death" -- a professionally impersonal form, blithely advising the writing hopeful that his or her work may or may not have been either grammatically horrific or as dull as shoe leather. It's worded more kindly than that, of course, but that's the gist of it.

Ah, well. I'll find the story a home somewhere... In the meantime, the blue slip got me thinking about a recent post by the Realms of Fantasy slushmaster. Apparently he once received a reply from a particularly cheeky bloke, essentially rejecting his rejection letter. I began to ponder what a rejection-letter-rejection form letter might look like...

So here it is, with no further ado,
The Aspiring Author's Form Letter for Rejecting Rejections:

Dear editor,

Thank you very much for considering EM Sky in your professional correspondence. Unfortunately, your rejection of our work does not suit our needs at this time.

Because of the large number of rejection letters we receive every month, we regret that we can not reply individually to each dismissal. However, the most common reasons for rejection letter rejection are: a lack of familiarity with our preferred rejection style, an unoriginal approach to the rejection genre, and an obvious failure to research our current acceptance needs.

Your rejection letter may or may not have fallen into one of these categories.

Again, thank you for thinking of us, and we hope you continue to enjoy our submissions.

Sincerely,
EM Sky
Author

I'm looking for a handful of people who would be willing to be on my critique list--people to take a look at short stories and/or chapters for me as they're finished for the purpose of giving me feedback. I have a few friends at the moment who do this for me, but most of them aren't either writers or particular fans of the speculative fiction genre, so their ability to give me strong feedback is limited.

I write a wide range of speculative fiction, from fantasy to science fiction. The sci-fi is not "hard sci-fi" but tends toward the "anthropological," more about people and culture than about any particular technology (although as in any science fiction, technology usually plays a certain role). My fantasy interests are somewhat far-flung, but there is a strong tendency toward sword-and-sorcery in my work to date.

I am trying hard to get published this year and could really use some enthusiastic readers, preferably strong speculative fiction fans who are highly familiar with the genre, to give me feedback and suggestions on my work. If you're interested in being on the list, just write to me and let me know!

A special birthday shout-out thank you to:

Dwayne Melancon of Genuine Curiosity

Phil Gerbyshak of Make It Great

Darling Mitchums of aMusing my Genius

You're the best! The cards are wonderful!

Got my first print version of Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine in the mail today. Can't wait!

And when I open it up, what do I find but another Goblin Hero tattoo! Which makes me wonder... Hey, Jim... where else can I find these cool tats?

Over the past couple of days, I've found some great articles about writing.

Jennifer Stevenson has a terrific article on Broad Universe about the "Book in a Week" miracle. While I found the entire post interesting, I especially liked what she had to say about the importance of preparation. I've been learning in my own writing how important that is, and I can't stress it enough.

Also on Broad Universe, Elizabeth Bear has some enchanting things to say about the precarious balance involved in writing science fiction:

Science fiction/fantasy/speculative fiction is a chimera — onto the body of a pulp dragon, as it were, is grafted the lion's head of literary technique and the claws and scorpion sting of social commentary. It is a mixed-up monster, and sometimes — if I may elaborate on what's becoming a somewhat chimerical metaphor in turn — the stitches on the Frankensteinian construct show.

Finally, April Kihlstrom has posted a wonderful blog article entitled "The Most Important Part of Writing." Her answer? "It’s the emotional and/or intellectual pay-off that we offer readers [sic]."

For me personally, the emotional side is a must--I have to care about the characters or I lose interest very quickly--but I also have to agree that we "hit the jackpot" when both are present. I found the article inspiring, and then I laughed out loud at her post on "Exercise." I enjoyed it so much, in fact, that I subscribed to her blog. Let me know what you think.

So... My submission is still in round two at Andromeda Spaceways, and I don't think the (brilliant, marvelous, would never dream of saying an ill word about him) slushmaster at Realms of Fantasy has even picked up the slush pile yet. Yeah, okay, so he had the Nebula awards to deal with last weekend. (Lousy, stinking... I mean, stupendous, enviable... writing... award... things...)

Bummer. Waiting on submissions is the pits.

But this Jim C. Hines contest is absoultely smashing. I'm dying to win the anthology. This derives from a combination of two factors: I love Jim's work, and I happen to be fresh out of short-term goals. So if you're NOT interested in winning the anthology, then do me a HUGE favor and enter the contest for me, will you? If you win the contest and send me the signed anthology, I'll send you a llama.

(No, of course not a live llama. Think more along the lines of a greeting card with a picture of a llama on it. If it means that much to you, I'll sculpt you a ceramic llama and send it your way. But keep in mind that I don't know how to sculpt...)

So, okay. Enter the contest already. And if you happen to know the RoF slushmaster, put in a good word for me. (Don't bother with Andromeda--their slush pile doesn't include any author information, which is probably all for the best...)

Oh, one more thing... if you happen to know any of the writers over at Stargate Atlantis, tell them they're one teetering step away from burying a potentially terrific show in the graveyard of writing disasters. It's just so... disjointed. Find a plot line and stick to it, for heaven's sake. Sheesh. Tell them if they need some pointers to try watching BBC's Robin Hood. Now that's some good writing!

I really have this blog thing down now--reading them I mean! After upgrading my own blog with links to some of the major feed compilers, I spent some time perusing them and discovered the marvels of PageFlakes. I've consolidated all the blogs I follow into three pages--pages I can scan in mere moments--so now I start every morning by checking in with all my blogging buddies.

I have my girlfriend blogs so I can chat over coffee in virtual time, at my own leisure. I have my author blogs so I can keep up with who's writing--and publishing! Now I can check in with a whole host of creative bloggers every single day without taking any significant time away from my work. No more lurking for me! Keeping up with--and commenting on!--all the blogs I like to follow is a piece of cake.

After my morning-coffee-aka-blog-fest, I got back to writing again. Feels good to be in the flow. Now that I know where the character's going, I know where the story's going. I think this one might go to the Writers of the Future Contest while I still qualify, but I'll have to see where it ends up.

The Andromeda Spaceways story has made it to round two in the slush pile. Should be at least a couple more weeks before I hear anything new. Patience... paaaaatience...

Sigh.

Still working on another short. New scene finished today, so that's something. Maybe this evening I'll be able to get at least one more scene done. Can't wait until my tutoring job is out for the summer, although that will be even better news when I start bringing in some writing dough.

Dough, dough, dough, do di dee dough dough...

In a silly mood today. Tried wearing this hat this morning to inspire writing. Didn't help much, but it was fun while it lasted. Been wondering lately whether the writing would flow better if I were capable of consuming even moderate quantities of alcohol without feeling ill. I'm not capable of it, so it's a moot question. But I can't help wondering.

First off, I have to say a huge HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my brother. Hope you're loving every minute of it, Jonathan... and every minute of the year to come!

I'm glad I've managed to come up for air long enough to remember Jonathan's birthday because I've spent the whole week obsessively checking the Andromeda Spaceways website. The magazine posts submissions by tracking number, allowing the writers to watch as each story progresses through the three-tier slush pile. Every day I check the page. Did I make it to round two? Did I make it to round two now? How about now?

I have to give Andromeda two thumbs up for sharing their slush system with authors in such an open forum. But it's terrible for me personally. Here's the thing: I sent a story by mail to Realms of Fantasy about a week and a half ago, and I've hardly thought about it since. With no way to track how it's doing, there's no reason to keep it in mind. But this Andromeda story has me up until 3:30 AM every night so I can check the page as soon as it refreshes at the end of the Australian work day. Thank God it's finally the weekend down under. Hopefully by Monday the novelty will have worn off...

Finished rewriting "Four"--an ultra-campy sci-fi short I'm sending to Andromeda Spaceways. I went ahead and submitted it even though it's 1:30 AM because they encourage e-mail submissions, God bless them. The rewrite was a bear, but worth it. The first "final" verion was 11,000 words, but Andromeda has a preferred limit of 10,000. Spent hours upon hours cutting one word here and two words there. The scenes were all necessary so the only good way to trim was by making every paragraph just a tad "tighter." An excellent exercise, but tedious work. Glad to be finished.

I also heard from the Barnes and Noble affiliate program. They've reinstated my account, so I'll be posting one BN link on each book page on the website, as promised. I'll try to get to that tomorrow. Will spend the rest of this week working on another short, this one probably for Fantasy & Science Fiction magazine. Nice!

I just finished transferring all my book links from Barnes and Noble over to Amazon. It took two days to get them all--on both the blog and the website--but it was worth it. I do all my own web design and development work, by the way, partly because of the instant response time but also because of the cost. At times like this it can be a bear, but at the moment it's a lot better than paying someone else to do it.

Now I'm off to do some tutoring this evening, and then tomorrow it's rewrite time. Hopefully I can get this first rewrite finished and out the door by this weekend. Then next week I can work on a new short I've had my mind on...

Feel free to pop by and mention how great the new book links look, by the way. I love positive affirmation. (If you let me know what you've been up to, I'll give you some of that terrific encouragement right back!)

I've spent the past few days working on character arcs for Sylvarion's Challenge. I'm far enough into the writing now that I need to block out the entire trilogy in order to know where to go next in book one. And step one (at least step one for me this time through) on the way to the story arc is to block out the development of each separate character.

Outlining an entire novel--let alone an entire trilogy--is a long and tedious process and my least favorite part of writing, but it's absolutely necessary to a great story. At least it is for me. (If you happen to be one of those magically gifted people for whom an entire novel just flows from beginning to end without any planning whatsoever, then consider yourself truly blessed.)

So send me luck this week--probably this month. I'm going to need it.

I spent Thursday of last week catching up on the routine business I'd set aside while working on the short for Sword & Sorceress. Most of Friday went toward moving into a more local storage unit. (My sincerest thanks to the stand-up guys of the Fayette County Fire Department for helping with the relocation!)

On Thursday afternoon I received an e-mail from Sword & Sorceress letting me know they were holding my story to consider it for the final line-up. Sweet!

Then on Sunday I received another e-mail, this one letting me know that they were going to have to pass the story up in favor of two or three shorter pieces. (My entry was right at the maximum of their submission guidelines.) Ah well. That's how it goes sometimes. But the feedback I received from the editor was wonderfully positive, and I'll be looking for another home for the story.

Spent the whole weekend running around from one thing to the next (including the tutoring job) and spent this morning in some much needed down time. Then more tutoring this evening, and now home and off to bed.

Went to bed late last night, high on submitting the short for Sword & Sorceress. Having put in several crazy full days, I slept in until about 11:00AM, when my brother called from the west coast, thereby saving me from sleeping the entire day away.

Spent the afternoon working on the website, adding book links from the Barnes & Noble affiliate program. Check out the new section here!

Quit by around 4:30 PM for a late-lunch-slash-early-dinner. Taco Bell. Sweet.

Came home and watched TV for a while, but got bored fast. After tons of productive days, I always have a hard time winding down, especially if I'm by myself. I have so much fun when I'm creating that it's hard for me to quit cold turkey. So I gave up trying and went back to work on the website, getting enough links in there to load the site live, which I've just finished.

Work day ends at midnight. Ready to get back to the book tomorrow.

Spent about 45 minutes on the phone this afternoon with one of my readers going over edits for the Sword & Sorceress submission. (That was my mother, as it happens - thanks Mom!)

Worked on edits.

Went to the bank, went to the grocery store (even writers have to eat once in a while), and put in my time on the tutoring job.

Finished edits and submitted the Sword & Sorceress story.

Checked e-mail. Heard back about the Barnes & Noble affiliates with a "wecome to the program" letter and a whole slew of instructions. Will go over those tomorrow and work on the web site.

Updated the blog.

Work day finally ends at 8:15 PM.

I spent the entire weekend writing a short story for the Sword & Sorceress anthology. 9,000 words in three days, and that's after cutting another 3,000 + words in unnecessary scenes and revised endings. Even for me, that's a lot of writing!

Now I'm waiting for a couple of readers to get back to me with revisions so I can finish it off this week and send it in. In the meantime, I'm back to other business.

Regarding Lisa Haneberg's tour, she'll be at the Fayette County Library in Fayetteville, Georgia on June 5 at 7:00 PM. So for all you local readers, we'd love to have you come out and join us! I'm also working on making some other connections for Lisa while she's here in town, so I've spent maybe half an hour on that in e-mails and such this morning. Other than that, things have been pretty quiet around here.

Speaking of quiet, I'm still waiting to hear from Barnes & Noble about my application to their affiliate program. I was hoping to start on integrating those links into the website today, but with no news on that front, I guess it's on hold.

With the short story off my plate for the moment and most of my other current business waiting on responses, I'm finally going to have a few hours today to clean the house, do some laundry, and pay the bi