Quiet Keystrokes and Midnight Ramblings

At the end of the summer each year, my son picks a great big giant project to work on for an entire school year. Last year, he built a wearable costume shaped like a BNSF Railway diesel train engine. This year, he announced that he wanted to write a book. Although I have done public speaking about writing , gaining confidence to share your story and even how to overcome the many obstacles life throws at you while you're trying to reach your dreams, I've never taught someone the very early basics. My kid is only in the 2nd grade, so I knew this would be a challenge for both of us. He is just learning how to spell and use punctuation, and although I've written eleven books (and counting), I've never had to explain to anyone every single step I undertake as a self-published author. I just... do it. I knew I needed help. I found a copy of 6+1 Traits of Writing; The Complete Guide Grades 3 and Up by Ruth Culham, and what a lifesaver it's been. There are gre...

Well, I've made it through the first month of fundraising for my novel, Age / Sex / Location  and the fundraising process continues to surprise me!  Through the generous backing of 8 individuals, $600 of the $5,000 I need has been raised so far and I've been told that there are more people waiting for the suspense to build a little more before adding their donation to the mix. The project has been humbling and inspiring so far; reconnecting me with old friends who are interested in what "that crazy Denise" is up to and prompting others to make steps toward realizing their dreams as well!  It is wonderful to know that whether this fundraiser is a financial success or not, there are people out there who believe in me and who take comfort in knowing that they are watching me as an encouragement in their own projects. There is still another $4,400 to raise, and my Mom has offered to get purple highlights once the fundraiser hits the goal as an incentive to anyone who...

I find myself re-canalizing (again) just what it is that I want from the world of writing.  It seems like every time I turn around I have discovered that such-and-such venture is not as personally rewarding as I thought it would be, or that I've begun pigeonholing myself in projects that are making it difficult for me to move towards my dreams as a whole.  My desires to write are like a river - except instead of finding the smoothest path towards the ocean and letting gravity do the rest I seem to continue finding myself trying to flow uphill and over mountain ranges. I'm stubborn that way. My current thought on the subject of writing can be summed up by answering a couple of questions that have been floating around my brain the last few days: 1)What do you want to BE when you "grow up" as a writer? Just a year ago, I thought being published by a well-known company like Yahoo! would be enough to call myself a writer.  And in some sense, it has.  I can ho...

Hello fellow writers and readers, I'm coming to the blog today for a special announcement, one that I'm not sure I'm allowed to make since my article has not yet hit the press, but one that I'm going to make anyway.  Beginning in their next issue (January, 2011), I will now be one of the new writers at Paintball Monthly Press. A new hard-print newspaper that has begun distribution throughout the west coast, and I'm sure will migrate nationally as it becomes more popular, Paintball Monthly Press is a FREE paintball publication.  For those of us "old" players, and for some younger ones, there is nothing like flipping through the pages of a magazine or newspaper.  Something about being in print makes things seem more "official". My first piece will be on my good friends over at PaintballChick.net , so check the news-stands at your local fields and paintball stores for your free copy of the paper.  If they don't yet carry it, have your fiel...

I have been encouraged with my progress in the writing world over the last few months, and it has prompted me to try to break out in print once again.  I pulled out the novelette I wrote earlier this year for a writing contest (it unfortunately didn't win) and spent some time over the last few weeks trying to figure out how to get it published in another literary magazine.   Among all of the suggestions from other writers who are in much the same boat as I, one of the most interesting and easy to use resources I found was the Duotrope's Digest .  It is a listing of hundreds of publishing options and there is something for everyone including poetry, short shorts, short fiction, non-fiction, novelettes, novellas and full length novels.  By simply plugging in the type of writing you are trying to publish, the genre it falls in and some other specifics (like pay vs. no pay), Duotrope's Digest will create a list of print publishers that are looking for the type of writin...