Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Shot From The Lip, But The Lip Is Shot

Time now, for a bi-weekly (?) round-up of all things devoted to moi. So let's begin at the beginning instead at the ending, for if we begin at the ending, then we're simply participating in a Daffy Duck/Bugs Bunny celluloid production.

On the writing front, we have a whole bunch to bloviate about. After a pleasant two week wait, my wonderful editor Leslie Fish dropped the hammer and e-mailed my new and improved manuscript late Monday evening. So thus, the rest of my week will be spent, after tramping over to Staples to use their computer (for a fee) to access my e-mail so that I can print out (for a large fee) my new and improved manuscript, in order to carefully peruse all 120+ pages to see what kind of outstanding editing job was done it. And yes, there is no sarcasm in this particular paragraph, as I am truly psyched to be another step closer to publication.

While I was waiting, I made some progress on my crime fiction story "Time To Go". I've been writing it from a first person point of view, so it's been an interesting battle to make everything present tense, including the dialogue tags. And remarkably enough (or depressingly enough), the words have been flowing from my pen with an ease I haven't seen in a couple of years. And yes, I said 'pen'. It seems with this story, I've been able to flesh out the story with a greater degree of comfort and clarity than if I had simply wrote out the entire story on the computer, instead of the first page and a quarter. Not sure what that means, and at this point, I don't really want to know what it means.

I'm also giving some serious thought to entering a couple of contests by the end of the month. Both are to literary journals, but I'm hoping to get at least an honorable mention for one of them. Which I know is a long shot, but both of these stories seem to be a perfect fit. One is the quirky little horror story that I been having a world of issues in trying to get published for the past several months, and the other is a new and improved version of a summer romance called "The Right Thing". That's the story that uses Newington's annual Extravaganza, which strangely enough, is going on this weekend, as the main setting. And, I will make an attempt at getting some video of the festival for the picture blog.

On the blogging front, one thing of note has happened that makes me mentally do cartwheels, is that I cracked 100 followers for my blog. I know for some of you it probably isn't that big of a deal, but someone like me whose had to battle over the years to get noticed for my writing, it really means a lot. So I am really psyched up over this as well.

The other thing of note is that I got a bunch of posts pre-written. I originally wrote them because I thought I would be doing some serious editing work on my novel and thus would've needed to have some stuff at the ready, but as I mentioned earlier, that will not be the case. In any event, the upcoming topics are as follows:

1} Not the edible Spam.

2} Music in fiction

3} Bad movies.

4} Humor. Be very afraid.

5} A day in the life.

6} Music that I hate.

7} Facebook.

8} Hot button topics, which might turn into a two-parter.

So that my friends, is what is new for moi as it applies to the wonderful world of grammar. And speaking of grammar, here is one of my favorite grammar oriented videos.

7 comments:

  1. There doesn't seem to be much of any downside to entering contests. There may be small fees but the potential results are often pretty high.

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  2. This sounds like an exciting time for you. How cool that you have an editor!

    Looking forward to reading posts, especially the music you hate. :)

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  3. Music that I hate would be a great topic. I'll think about that the next time I get stuck!

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  4. Hey, lots of good things going on right now!

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  5. General comment: Apparently the first video version I selected didn't work and the second version isn't that much better. My apologies.

    Charles: I agree, there isn't much of a downside beyond not winning, but the benefits are substantial. I know I did this early on, but the stories I had weren't very good. This time, I gots loads of confidence.

    Lynn: It's very cool. I originally thought that the editor would make suggestions on what changes needed to be done, but this will work out much better. I'm pretty psyched over this.

    Believe or not, the "music I hate post" was pretty easy to write. Which is downright scary.

    M: It's a fun topic to think about, 'cause there's sooooo much out there, in all kinds of genres, that truly do bite.

    Debra: Absolutely! For a change of pace. This year has been going great for my writing-wise and I'm hoping to continue the run of good luck.

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  6. Well at least the need to type it all out for hard copy is over! A shame to pay for printouts tho. My ink costs so much now I stopped using the old printer myself.
    Congrats on the followers- That's alot!

    Of course I want the funny post...
    n TG the weather finally broke!

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  7. Snaggle: I discovered after I had gotten on the computer at Staples and opened up the document, that she had used the editing/tracking feature in Word (which makes sense), so it would've been a waste of money printing it out. Learning these things on the fly, so to speak, so I'll be reading it on my home computer a couple of hours a night. I should have it completely read and notes written by next Monday.

    Some of the posts are funny, but all will make you scratch your head afterwards.

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Go on, give me your best shot. I can take it. If I couldn't, I wouldn't have created this wonderful little blog that you decided to grace with your presence today.

About that comment moderation thingy: While yes, it does say up above I can take it, I only use it to prevent the occasional miscreant from leaving thoughtless and/or clueless comments.

So remember, all of your comments are greatly appreciated and all answers will be given that personal touch that you come to expect and enjoy.

G. B. Miller

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