"Helen..." is on her way

Received word tonight that the publication of "Helen Finds Her Voice" has moved up from mid-August to the beginning of August. Whooopeee! Stay tuned...

Hands

"Hands" is published!

Check it out at 6tales, story #4.

Happy reading!

Confessions of a Proofreader

Salk Institute: Modern Architecture

One of my duties at work is to proofread. This comes in handy for my self-employed architect significant other, who realized early on in our relationship that I actually enjoy reading and editing--even gigantic, jargon-filled pieces about Modern architecture. (Don’t get me started on the unnecessary capitalization of Modern. Apparently it’s important. Don’t mess with it.)

Recently, I was editing a long piece and began making organizational changes to it. Then I realized there was a rhyme to my SO's reason, so I wrote “stet” above my marks. (For those of you who aren’t proofreaders, stet means “nevermind; I'm an idiot," or, officially, "let it stand.")

Apparently, I have poor penmanship, as the response was: "What’s this about a slut?!"

Terribly Entertaining

If you like writing, humor, liquor and trucker-like cussing (or, really, any one of those), go check out Check Wendig’s site, TERRIBLEMINDS.

Not only does he offer sound writing advice, but he does so in a way that’s bound to make you snort your bourbon out your nostrils.

He’s an entertaining, whiskey-soaked cheerleader who manages to convey the tedious, difficult like of a freelance writer in a way that makes you actually want to sit down at the computer and type like mad. He exhorts his readers to try their hands at various genres and modes of writing, and he, most importantly, tells it like it is: crazy, fun, exhausting, difficult, wonderful. 

With weekly flash fiction challenges, interviews with interesting authors and great giveaways, he hooks his readers and brings them back again and again.

He offers several e-books at a great price, but honestly? Even though I’ve bought them (gotta support our writers!), I haven’t actually read them (yet; I'm still figuring out the whole e-book thing). I’m more interested in what he brings to my desktop on a day-to-day basis. What new, mad insight will I be privy to today?

F3, Cycle 40: Photo Challenge

Yes, after not posting for 6 weeks, I'm posting twice in one day.

According to this week's challenge, we had to write a story less than 1000 words based on this photo.

I'm glad I was able to participate this week. I enjoyed this.

Wires

You don’t like to leave the safety of home. Too many animals crowding around, these humans who think they have too much on their plates, who think the world would come crashing to a halt if they weren’t connected to everyone and everything through inescapable wires that permeate the masses, permeate the earth’s crust, permeate your skin. Wires are all that’s here, all that’s left, the only border between life and death. Hospitals try to erase the smell of death, but all they do is cover it up, like a candle lit in a recently used bathroom, making a noxious mix. Death is still there, creeping around the corners, slouching behind vending machines, hiding underneath nurses’ desks, visible only through the corner of your eye, waiting for you to lose attention, for your mind to wander, waiting for you to focus on something else, then it sneaks in through wires. Wires that snake through your great-grandson’s mouth, skin, veins. He’s no bigger than your hand, no bigger than your heart. Born too early, wires are the only thing keeping him on the earth. She should have stayed in bed, she should have eaten better, she should have listened to your wheezy and broken breath as you risked the wires to telephone her. But when does your family listen to you? You lost relevance years ago, you lost relevance when your wife died and a part of you died with her. Wires are just ropes, binding us all here till our last breath. When will his last breath be? When will your last breath be?

News of the (My) World

Spotify has hit America. When will a subscription launch that allows discovery of new artists combined with one's library? I do like it, don't get me wrong, but I want Pandora-like qualities, too. Sigh. Someday. At least now, I'm able to listen to some beautiful music while writing. Go check out The xx.

I have a couple ideas for stories running around my head. I need to work on them, now that three out of the four submittable stories in my files have been accepted for publication. Yes! My first-ever short story, a chick-lit humor piece, has been accepted for publication. I'll have two pieces online next month. Very exciting stuff.

And summer school is ending, which means I can begin focusing on the blog again. At least, until fall semester begins.....