Saturday, January 27, 2007

Free workshop on writing

Wow - it's free and it's from a team of authors who have published 45 books between them - check it out and hopefully you will pick up some pointers on writing a novel - have fun - E :)

http://www.crusiemayer.com/workshop/

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Adding cover art


Now that I think I have this figured out - I will share my picture with you - it is available for the low price of $1 and I think this is pretty awesome

The Tulip Kiss is now available

Check out the web store page on Echelon Press (www.echelonpress.com) for my short story from the Fast and Frigid contest that I won - the cover art is absolutely gorgeous and as soon as I figue out how to post a picture within the blog posting, I'll put the cover picture on here as well - It is so awesome to see my story actually published -

not much time to post stuff today - but will update soon - see you all in the postings - E :)

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Good news

Okay so the second week was kind of slow and I didn't post anything but nothing happened really. It was a nonexciting week. But here we are in the middle of the third week and now I have some good news to share with you all.

I submitted a short story to the fast and frigid contest as posted on Karen Syed's blog (see side) and was chosen as the winner. So the fast part of the contest was that we had about two weeks to write the story and submit it and then if we win, we have 5 days to edit and revise and then the story will be published the following week. Well, I won. My story, The Tulip Kiss, will be available in ebook format for (based on other winners from previous fast and ... contests) probably a dollar. Now that's not much but it is worth it to just read a story on your computer - may take less than half an hour to read the story. So if you like a sort of ghostly romance story, check it out on the website - www.echelonpress.com

Editing will start soon on my YA/middle grade novel and I'm pretty sure I have a place for it so it may get published before the year is out. So this will be an exciting year for me - to really be published, making money off it - what a great thing that is -

hope to see you all in the postings - E :)

Friday, January 05, 2007

Interesting first week of January

Only five days into the new year and already the week has been interesting to say the least.

Monday was a holiday, no big deal - we all expect that from the 1st of January to celebrate the new year. Did you know that the first immigrants were admitted to Ellis Island on January 1, 1892. Wonder if that was planned or what since the Pilgrims supposedly landed her in 1642 (250 years prior to the first "immigrants"). Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for history and all but weren't the Pilgrims basically immigrants too? I mean they immigrated from merry ol' England to escape the king's rules, (According to dictionary.com one defition of immigrant is a person who leaves one country to settle permanently in another. - yep sounds just like the Pilgrims - leaving England to settle in the Americas.) - So why the special attention to the immigrants of Ellis Island? Obviously the lawmakers had established some departments within the justice system and had made the Department of Immigration available, creating paperwork and headaches for people who now sought the new lands to make their homes. Before the revolutionary war and the civil war, people came to this land without hesitation - the Mexicans, the Pilgrims - and then they want to make things "legal". Who gave the first travelers permission to enter this country and to stay here? No one.

So looks to me that the Immigration Department is a conundrum (a department created within our justice to admit people to a country that they freely entered and making all these rules for newcomers (rules that the original founding fathers wanted to escape)) - oh well so much for life being good in the United States.


Tuesday, January 2, should have been a normal every day work day for most all of the nation, but no, Bush decides that it this year it is a national day of mourning for Ford. I am sure somewhere down the line that another holiday will be added to the calendar by way of the government. Which I think it is rather funny when I think about this. The governing officials have the highest paychecks in the country and the benefit of making holidays whenever it pleases them. They are only in session from January to October and still need more days off. What's wrong with this picture? Her the middle working class folks have to work 40 hours a week to struggle to make ends meet and when we need a break, we have to literally fight tooth and nail to get a day off or week's vacation or even a holiday. Go figure. The backbone of America has to work the hardest and longest to reap any benefits at all. With the "Day of Mourning" came closed post offices (yes, government) and banks (not all were closed since there is a law on the books somewhere saying that a banking institution cannot be closed for more than three days in a row - wonder who put that there? It isn't like we don't have access to our monies even if the banks are closed for more than three days in a row - we have the use of ATMs and checks and bank cards - so our funds are available in different forms. But then again, the governering officials we feel we need another holiday just because they want it. - So goes our life.

Last night I attended our band booster club meeting and talk about interesting things going on there. Longest meeting we have had since I started attending the meetings back in August (the first year that Hailie was involved in colorguard, I didn't come to the meetings because of the conflict with the writing group and I was pretty steady going to those meetings). The writing group still meets the same night as the band booster club but since this upcoming year I will have two in the marching band, I figured I should be more involved with the school activities than my writing. So I have resolved this year to attend at least the third Tuesday meeting of the writer's group every month as much as is possible (because once school starts in the fall, may not work out that way, just have to see with my husband's crazy schedule and the band practice schedule, et cetera).

Upon returning home, I got fussed at by supervisor for picking a job that was a good dictator and lots of lines (I did take him right before attending the meeting), so now I can't take his jobs any more unless they are right at the top of the list (we are supposed to do first in first out (fifo) but lots of people pick and chose the dictators they want to do - but with low work, we have to be careful. So regardless - I'm being watched as are the other transcriptionists on this account, so I will be trying extra hard to keep my nose clean - lol -

Also, I started my fast and frigid story (for Echelon press as outlined on http://karensyed.blogspot.com/) yesterday, finally think I have a story to submit and I worked on my civil war story (for the South Carolina Fiction Project). I may be able to pull off two submissions at the same time - will keep you posted on that. - anyway - see you all in the postings - E :)

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Finally, a new year is here

Okay, out with the old and in with the new. That is what my grandmother used to say. We can toss the bad away and let the new beginnings come in. Last year was a very bad year for me but it also was a good year in other ways. I lost two different jobs in a three month period (bad), was out of a job for three months after losing the second job (very bad, no funds to speak of and not able to do much as far as socializing), but then I got a great job offer (very good for me and my family), took on an editor's position with The Magazine of Unbelievable Stories (good because I was wanting to get into book editing) and now Andrei is expanding to publish 6 novels in the 2008 calendar year (so yay!!!! I will be editing books this year), and I finished a story that was longer than a short story. This was done during November and part of December for NaNoWriMo - I'm hoping once it gets edited and revised and read/reviewed by target audience to enter it in the Random House/Delacorte first young adult or middle grade novel contest (would be sweet to get published, but if that doesn't work out may go through Publish America to publish - just have to see)

For submission guidelines for the magazine and/or novels - please check out our website - http://quill-pen.net/Submission.html (yes there are some erotic looking pictures so if offended easily, please do not visit the site - otherwise, we are looking for everything that is "outside the box")

I think this year is off to a great start and I am looking forward to working with new authors in the upcoming year. I also look forward to a productive and challenging year. (working on some personal writings for some contests - maybe one of them will pay off - - let's see how that goes) - see you all in the postings - E :)