My Writing News!

So I mentioned back in February (!) that I was going to have some writing news for you guys.  And now, here it is.

My second publication has arrived! My short story "The Lion and the Dragonslayer", is in the anthology Mosaics 2: a Collection of Independent Women. You can find it on Amazon, both for Kindle (Smarturl.it/Mosaics2) and in paperback.

Each author had art for their story, which I thought was amazingly cool. Here's mine:

Additionally, Mosaics volume 1 (which I am not in, but has some grand stories) is on Kindle sale for 99 cents all week, to celebrate the Mosaics 2 release: smarturl.it/Mosaics1 

 Proceeds from both volumes go to the Pixel Project to Stop Violence Against Women.

What Elka (and I!) have been up to

We're still here. I know it's been awhile.

Let's see, where did we leave off?

We took the standard New Jersey trip at Christmas. My grandparents' neighborhood does luminaries on Christmas Eve, and so Elka and I helped with that.

So what happened to May?

I'm sorry folks, I didn't mean to pull a disappearing act for nearly the entire month of May.

MY FIRST PUBLICATION! "Adventuring", in Daily Science Fiction

YOU GUYS!  I got my first story really-truly published. Like, "they're sending me a check" published.

It's a very short (read: flash fiction) fantasy story, entitled "Adventuring", inspired by things like Tolkein and playing D&D. You can read it (and rate it!) on Daily Science Fiction.

There are no dogs in this story, however. Maybe the next one?

Some flash fiction

At work, I'm running a writing workshop from now (started 2-7) through the end of May. I've done it in 6 week increments twice now, using NaNoWriMo as the leaping off point, and those were successful enough that we're doing it "for real" now, from under the NaNoWriMo umbrella.

In the the previous workshops, and it looks like this one too, we did a lot of writing prompts. Basically, I give a sentence, or an idea, or "include five words", and then set a timer and we all see what we can come up with.

Dogs frequently sneak into my writing, and did at least once yesterday, so I thought I'd share my little bit of "flash fiction" with you guys.

The prompt was "In the pile of leaves, I found...." to be used either as an intact phrase, or a situation to keep in mind, whatever. As I said to my writers, make the prompt work for you. If you're not into it, do something else.

NaNoWriMo starts tomorrow! (non dog related .gif post)

NaNoWriMo eve is upon us!

Are you going to participate? Do you know somebody who is?

(word warriors, perhaps?)

I'm going to do NaNoWriMo again (I know you're not surprised)

October is almost done, and the website has rebooted, so it's NaNoWriMo time again. I know you're excited. (Well, maybe you are. Maybe you should participate?)

Really, I just love this dog

So, predictably, I missed my "blogoversary". That very very first post, on April 7 of 2011, seems so long ago! I also missed "celebrating" my 800th post here. How time flies, right?

I largely blame Camp National Novel Writing Month. I was behind all week and only just now caught up. I've taken a bit of a different approach this time, and I'm writing a thriller-y type novel loosely based around the plot of Hamlet.

But I digress.

Love dogs in books? 4 Things Writers Keep in Mind When Putting a Dog in the Story (Guest post!)

(post written by Susan Meier)

Barbara Wallace, Shirley Jump and Jackie Braun and I had a blast writing THE BILLIONAIRE’S MATCHMAKER. We all agreed that Charlie, the Jack Russell Terrier, was the cutest thing in the world. And he gave the story a layer of emotion we knew wouldn’t have existed without our wonderful boy!

But we also learned a few things about putting a dog in a story.

My biggest take away was that an author who wants to put a pet in a book needs to give the dog a job!

Readers who love dogs know they aren’t merely cute window dressing.  Lassie and Old Yeller were stars. In real life, dogs are beloved family members. They have personalities. They’re smart. And they are definitely part of the action! The story for THE BILLIONAIRE’S MATCHMAKER didn’t gel until we realized that cute and lovable Charlie couldn’t just walk from story to story. He had to play a part. And what’s more fun than a pup who realizes the people he’s with belong together forever as friends and lovers – life partners. Dogs are intuitive. Dogs are love wrapped in fur. Making Charlie a matchmaker was a perfect fit for both him and the story!

Barbara Wallace’s advice is to make sure the dog fits your “human” character.

“As in real life, when choosing a dog, you need to select a breed and personality that meshes with your characters’ personalities and lifestyles. Would your dark, brooding hero own a Chocolate Lab or German Shepherd? Depends upon his backstory and current situation. I once wrote a proposal in which my workaholic heroine had a dog who kept breaking out of her apartment. My editor rightly pointed out that a workaholic, city-dwelling career woman most likely wouldn’t make the commitment a pet requires. Likewise, a jet-setter or commitment phobic billionaire. The exception to this rule, of course, is if the dog exists to purposely create turmoil in your characters’ lives. Again, though, make sure there’s a realistic reason for the dog to exist. In Billionaire’s Matchmaker, Charlie’s crazy temperament works because 1) Nicholas Bonaparte didn’t select him personally, and 2) his crazy behavior is well explained by the fourth novella. (Hint: It has to do with Nicholas’ backstory.)”

Shirley Jump believes we all need to do our research!

“Not all writers own the types of dogs they put in their stories. That means the writer need to do some research—and real-world research is awesome for writing dogs into stories. Certain types of dogs are more hyper than others, some are more standoffish, some are quiet and shy. If you want a dog to do a trick in your book, then be sure it’s something that kind of dog can do or would do. My dog, for example, is a Havanese, and that breed refuses to play fetch. Having a Havanese do something like that wouldn’t work in a book. Know what makes a dog tick—does the breed you are featuring like to have his head scratched or his belly rubbed? Is he more likely to chase a squirrel or lay by the fireplace? If you don’t own that breed, visit a friend or a local animal shelter and grab some interactive time! Make notes of the type of bark the dog has, how the fur feels, what the dog looks like when he runs, sits, jumps, etc. The more realism you can add, the more of a character the dog will become.”

Jackie Braun’s advice is to not let the dog take over the story!

“When a pet is an integral part of the story, writers have to take care not to let it take over. Dogs and cats, not to mention puppies and kittens, can be adorable. But readers, even those who are pet lovers, want to know what’s going on between your hero and heroine. Adding in a little four-legged diversion is fine, especially if it helps set the tone or aids in moving the story forward. But including cute pets in a scene for no discernible reason can become annoying. Even more problematic, it can throw off the pacing.

So, if you’re not sure whether the pet is adding to a scene or stealing it, ask yourself this question: What does the pet do to enhance this scene? If the answer is nothing, then leave it out or at least marginalize it to a passing reference.”

We had a great time writing THE BILLIONAIRE’S MATCHMAKER. We all fell in love with fictional Charlie. We think you will too, mostly because we were true to the breed, gave the dog a job, chose a dog that fit our characters and story and – much as we loved Charlie – we didn’t let him take over the story!

We’d love to hear your take on dogs in stories!

Jen's note: Entangled Publishing sent me The Billionaire's Matchmaker to read (FTC disclosure: I was not otherwise compensated for this post), and the collaborating authors of that work put this collaborative post together for your pleasure! If this post has piqued your interest in reading The Billionaire's Matchmaker, you can get it here on Amazon:

A collection of mostly unrelated thoughts, some dog included

So, as it turns out, to get a fortuneteller's license in my town, you have to not only take some test they come up with (which I'd do just to see it, really, if it didn't cost too much) and also be bonded for something like $5000. Which I don't know what costs the individual, having never been bonded. So that's a wash. But when I go to renew Elka's license, I'll ask if you still need the fortuneteller's license if you're going to be doing strictly for fun fortunetelling online. Or will that blow my cover? Hrm. I don't want to be breaking the law with illicit fortunetelling, to be sure.

NaNoWriMo update

I know some of you are fellow writers, even if you aren't fellow "WriMos".

As of today, I'm at 15,005 words. My first three days went like gangbusters, with me reaching 10k by Sunday night. I'd had the foresight to take a couple of days off of work in a row...revolutionary, I know. One of my coworkers, when I reported my wordcount, even asked me if I started early.

No dogs in this story, which has happened in the past couple. The Last Song involved no dogs (which is far better for the dogs, I assure you). My current NaNoWriMo project is untitled. Literally, the file on my computer is Asbury Park 1979 (which is three years before I was born, for those of you who only Internet know me, but it was a date that ended up appealing for the "mood" I was going for.

Mentally, Jersey Shore summers of that "era" evoke a kind of golden haze for me, which might be why I lean towards that style when editing my pictures for blogging purposes. I guess it's how a lot of the photographs I've seen end up looking, whether they looked that way at the time or not. In the course of writing this, and trying to fill in the spots on my mental map, I've found wacky things like a Flickr stream in which the author seems to have taken more than 5000 pictures of grocery, drug, and convenience stores in the New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware area. And labelled what the stores were when they were built, when they changed, that kind of thing (when they knew the info).

But I can't cast aspersions on niche interests, obviously. I'm writing this on a dog blog. And people with niche interests like that fill in the tiny blanks that would otherwise drive me nuts. Sometimes, just knowing one detail is wrong can derail me for the time it takes me to go down the Internet rabbit hole and find something close enough.

An Announcement

All right. Due to my typical personal fall slow down (it's cold here now! [well, getting there] And did a rainy/snowy thing I did not like), I'm going to change my update schedule. I maintained Monday through Friday for awhile there, sometimes with Sunday thrown in, sometimes extra Tuesdays, etc. But I fell behind at some point, and have kind of done Monday through Wednesday, which strikes me as less than effective, with all of those empty days yawning before me.

So. I'm going to try switching to a Monday - Wednesday - Friday schedule, the same as I do with my writing blog. In a way, this is cheating, as we know Wednesday is Wordless, so I will make effort to maintain a Tuesday Tails contribution as well, and perhaps a Tasty Tuesday as applies (see, blog hops make things easy and motivating!)

But, especially with NaNoWriMo looming, I don't want y'all to think I'm totally ditching you. Because I'm not. I'm just writing a lot, and reading, and trying to get housework done and pay attention to this dog 'o mine and oh yeah, work. That working thing.

It's that time of year again (....almost)

So, seeing as how it's almost the end of October (finally!), I've been thinking about National Novel Writing Month.

As happens to me very often, I had an idea at the beginning of the month  (an urban fantasy novel about an occult biker gang, to put it in a nutshell). I started planning it out a bit, did some reading, started watching Sons of Anarchy again (I'm only partway through season 2, no spoilers please!), that kind of thing. So I was ready, right? Then I looked up and it was only October 16. So.

Now I'm thinking of writing something that takes place at the Jersey Shore, where I'm from (surprise, right? Writing about a place I know). But of course there are ten days left before November. So. I still don't really know. And I may or may not have already started the other novel (also urban fantasy), which may or may not be cheating if I use it (it is).

So I need to lay in some toys/treats for Elka to occupy herself with so I can shoehorn some writing time in evenings after work. Remembering to freeze Kongs will help. Getting a couple new squeaky toys will help, as they only last so long. It's funny, Elka didn't used to like squeaky toys, but she sure does now! I can just watch her play with one, and they are an enforced "No, you play with that yourself" toy.

Any of you novelling this year? How does your dog occupy him or her self when you write?

July CampNaNoWriMo

I talk about National Novel Writing Month here a bit more often than perhaps a dog blog warrants but, I'm sure you'll forgive me. Other doggie content will happen this week, don't you worry. Also don't worry if I drop my current Monday through Friday posting schedule for awhile; I'm perfectly all right, just embroiled in another project.

NaNoWriMo: And, done

Well, I didn't finish the book, but I certainly reached 50,000 words (50, 937 according to the word count validator, though Open Office says 52, 037. That's a disappointing discrepancy). And ordered the t-shirt.

This was an interesting novel to (mostly) write. I outlined most of it, for one, though there was a point at which the outline didn't matter anymore. I made some changes in the actual writing of the novel, which made some things make more sense, and made the outline eventually obsolete.

My interest in dogs has quite permeated my writing, depending on the topic. Considering this is a werewolf series (well, duology currently. I'd like to make it a trilogy, I think), I made an effort to use canine body language, even when the characters were acting as humans rather than canids. It made sense in the context, and was interesting to think about. What does angry look like? Interest? Nervousness? It's interesting to compare these things to human body language as well; have you watched the show Lie To Me? You should.

Thankful

There are many things I'm thankful for.

Having Elka has changed and enriched my life in a fantastic way. The fact that I can share these experiences with my friends, my family, and you fine people is pretty amazing.

I'm thankful for my job. I'm thankful for the roof over my head. I'm thankful for my fiancé. I'm thankful for my family. I'm thankful for my friends. I'm thankful for my dog. I'm thankful for my love of writing, and my enjoyment of it. I'm thankful for the readers of this blog. I'm thankful for my love of reading.

I'm sure I've mentioned in passing here that I don't much like poetry. I've talked about it on my writing blog (which is not family friendly, so any of my younger cousins reading this, please don't get me in trouble with your parents!)

There are some poets that I like, though. Mary Oliver is somebody I'm reading recently. T.S. Elliot I like. Allen Ginsberg (and it delights me to no end that somebody on Twitter tweets a line from Howl every hour) (Howl is also not family friendly, depending on the age. I read it first my Freshman year of college. At the end of this post, I'm going to be very thankful for my family. And their understanding that I'm a grown up and use grown up words sometimes). But yeah, Mary Oliver. In New and Selected Poems, Volume II, she wrote Percy, about her dog. Part 1 is Monday Mischief worthy, about a chewed book. Part 2 is pure dog love.

Percy

(One)

Our new dog, named for the beloved poet,

ate a book which unfortunately we had

left unguarded.

Fortunately, it was the Bhagavad Gita,

of which many copies are available.

Every day now, as Percy grows

into the beauty of his life, we touch

his wild, curly head and say,

"Oh, wisest of little dogs."

(Two)

I have a little dog who likes to nap with me.

He climbs on my body and puts his face in my neck.

He is sweeter than soap.

He is more wonderful than a diamond necklace,

which can't even bark.

I would like to take him to Kashmir and the Ukraine,

and Jerusalem and Palestine and Iraq and Darfur,

that the sorrowing thousands might see his laughing mouth.

I would like to take him to Washington, right into

the oval office

where Donald Rumsfeld would crawl out of the president's 

armpit

and kneel down on the carpet, and romp like a boy.

For once, for a moment, a rational man.

NaNoWriMo 2012

Well, it's that time again.

That's right, kids, it's National Novel Writing Month again. Every November, like clockwork. 30 days, 50,000 words.

This year, I'm writing the sequel to a book that I started in March and finished in September. I've noticed, since getting Elka, that dogs have found their way into my fiction pretty often. This time around, I've once again decided to embrace it. Why argue with a good deal, right? I already read and write about dogs so much (and read about wolves once in awhile), I might as well do something with that source material.

I'm writing about werewolves (though not really in a Twilight or Underworld sort of way, trying to make them my own without getting too squirrelly with the folklore), and so there are dogs. There are wolves. There are people who are wolves, but use the same body language in varying forms. It's interesting to use canine body language that many of us pet bloggers are in particular familiar with: yawning, lip licking, head turning, hard stares, hard mouth, that kind of thing. It'll be interesting to me, should these books ever get published, if those sorts of things come through to the reader, or at least the dog-savvy reader. We'll see how it goes, right?

So, if I'm not replying to comments on here all that diligently, I'm not ignoring you! I'm just making my wordcount. My goal is not only to reach the 50,000 words for the month, but actually finish the novel itself. Book one ended up being around 80,000. I've never pulled quite that many words in a NaNoWriMo, but there's a first time for everything, right? I hit 13,500 words on Monday night/Tuesday morning (midnight isn't called the Witching Hour for nothing), and that's an unprecedented and blistering speed for me.

I've also noticed that some other dog/pet bloggers are participating in NaNoWriMo, and I'm so glad! Good luck to everybody, I hope you're having a lot of fun.

Dogs and Writing, redux

Back in July, I did Camp NaNoWriMo, and had a lot of fun with it. I haven't re-read that novel yet, and though I wrote "The End" on the last page, I rather think it has another few chapters to go before I can consider it properly done. I blogged, then, about both writing and keeping the Elka happy.

But, it's November, and time for National Novel Writing Month proper.

Dogs and writing

In addition to writing a blog, I also write fiction.  I've wrote short stories and a big long (and very bad) fantasy epic in high school.  I took writing classes in college, and even now dabble in short fiction and start the occasional novel.  Nothing has been published yet.


Since 2007, I've taken part in National Novel Writing Month, which is an online even that traditionally takes place in November, in which your goal is to write a 50,000 word novel in the thirty days that comprise the month.  That's a novel of about the length of The Great Gatsby, or Of Mice and Men, for a point of comparison.


In 2009, when we got Elka, I discovered that it's difficult to accomplish something like sitting at your computer for an uninterrupted block of time to compose stories and characters from the Æther.  Not impossible, just difficult.  Puppies, like babies, are Up To Something if they are too quiet for too long, and such a thing is quiet distracting.  We worked with it, though (Kongs helped. So did a duck.)  This year, for the first time, we have Camp NaNoWriMo, and at the very least, I'm giving July a whirl.