Call for Submissions!

I've been inspired to create a thought-provoking book of short quotations and really short stories. I'm titling it Beer-Battered Shrimp for the (something). (Someone brought up concerns over the trademarked series you-know-what-it-is, so the name will be shifting.)

What? You were expecting it to be a NORMAL book filled with NORMAL stories? Nope. Silliness and weirdness will abound. All I ask is that submissions be happy and silly and hopeful. Not dark or scary or disturbing. Well, maybe a little disturbing.

Details:

Deadline: May 31, 2019

What I want:Strange little stories or silly inspirational quotes of up to 125 words (this is not a firm count, but if it's longer, your piece had better be exactly what I'm looking for). I want something that will fit on a single page in a large and funky font.
Here's an example (used by permission from Michaelbrent Collings) -
I wish all rabbits were named Barry. That way, when you were out walking with your friend and you saw a rabbit and your friend said, "I wonder what that rabbit's name is?" you could say, "It's Barry," and you'd look very smart.

Multiple submissions are fine. Reprints are fine as long as you have the rights back for them.

Forgot to add: Please keep it G or PG. No profanity or explicit sex or violence, please.

What you get:
Right now, token payment of up to $5 per story/quote and one copy of the collection when it's finished. You can also have space for a bio and a website if you want it.
Basically it would be a charity collection. Any proceeds the book earns will go towards this fundraiser - https://www.heifer.org/gift-catalog/animals-nutrition/honeybees-donation.html
or one of their other animal gifts.

Why am I doing this:Because it sounds like fun. And I like silly books of uplifting quotations, inspirational stories, and weird things. The world needs more happiness.

How do I submit?
Write something, edit it, make it shine, then email it to me at jaletac@gmail.com. Make sure you put SUB and your title in the subject line. Please include your name and contact info.

Deadline is the end of May. It really depends on how many submissions I get by then.

Contract stuff:
I only want the right to publish your item in my collection. I don't want exclusive rights or anything else. Feel free to publish it elsewhere or send me reprints if you have them. You agree to let me have your writing in my collection. If you need something more legal than this, I'm sure I can come up with something.

Any questions?
Comment on this post or send me a message.

More News...

Since I'm struggling writing new stuff other than short stories, I'm working on other venues and ideas. Here's an update, in case you're interested.

First off, I'm working on my health issues. They've gotten so bad lately that I'm having a hard time getting anything done other than binge watching Netflix and playing too many online games. If it requires brainpower or energy, it usually isn't going to get very far. But hopefully, I'm finally with the right specialist and on the right medications. I'll know within a couple of months. It's hard being a one-person publishing house, even if the only author is me. It takes more energy and time than you'd think to get things published and out there for you to read, even if I'm not trying to write it, too.

Second, I'm working on getting my backlog out in audio. It's a struggle. I found a narrator I loved, but she's not doing books any more. So I found another one. She's pretty good. I hope she'll do the rest of the Altairan Empire series. Meanwhile, I'm working on getting other books and stories out there, but the narrators are hard to come by. I've had a couple of them flake out on me.

Third, I'm writing short stories to publish. Slowly. Mostly getting rejections so I'm working on another short story collection. I've got enough of a backlist, new stories as well as ones published in various anthologies and magazines, to fill a new volume.

Barf-on-a-Cookie-Sheet Cookies
aka S'Mores Bars

Fourth, I'm toying with the idea of cookbooks. If there's enough interest, I'll collect all my recipes to date and put them together in a cookbook. Downside is that my current publishing options don't handle cookbooks well. I want spiral bound and coated paper. Plus I need to get some nice food photos taken, not my usual barf-on-a-cookie-sheet look. So, shout out in the comments if you want a printed cookbook. I can also do ebook cookbooks easily enough, if that's more your style. Let me know what you are interested in and I'll make it happen. Eventually.

Fifth, I'm crocheting like a mad woman. And selling yarn stuff at cons. It makes more money than my books.

Speaking of money, I spend two afternoons a week teaching piano. It's a great part-time job, but it takes a lot of my limited amount of energy. Between that and my own kids, I'm exhausted most days.

And the last bit of news, I'm putting all of my Altairan Empire books into two ebook bundles. The first bundle is on sale here and includes books 1-5. If you already own all the books, THANK YOU! If not, here's your chance to get them all for a great price. I'm also working on a collection of my short stories set in that universe. I've got several more to write first.

So, how's your life going?

Storytelling in Games and at Work

I'm a fiction writer, a born storyteller. I live with characters, scenes, and stories floating in my head. I see people in the grocery store or in traffic and invent a wild story to explain what I see in that brief glance. When I find a game that captures that same spirit, I'm hooked.

Years ago, I found a game titled "Jack of All Trades." I loved the game, despite a shallow storyline.  (It's still available, pretty much the same game but with some new features added.) You start with a dinky, pitifully weak cargo ship. By delivering cargo, playing the stock market, hunting pirates, etc. you earn money which you can use to upgrade your ship or buy a new one. You determine who you want to work for, where you go, and the rest. There is a bigger storyline built in, so it isn't all just amassing money and getting the biggest ship you can. You are working with an underground spy group, but you can take your time working your way around the galaxy.

I just found a similar game for my iPod Touch. Warpgate from FreeVerse Software The story is a bit more complex, so far, and the controls easier to work, probably because I'm tapping with my finger, not trying to remember which keys work which bit. I'm a total klutz when it comes to games that require coordination, so these two games and their limited need for eye-hand gaming techniques are perfect for me.

What really pulls me in with these games is the story. I confess; I had a major crush on Han Solo, still do. But not just because he's hot, but because he owns his own spaceship and can fly pretty much anywhere. I first saw Star Wars as an impressionable 10yo. Han Solo stole the show. Forget Luke, Leia, and the rest, I wanted to be Han Solo or even Chewie. I wanted my own Millenial Falcon. These two games let me pretend, if only for a while, that I can travel the galaxy.

Is it any wonder that my books follow similar themes? Dace and her ship, flying across the Empire - total freedom. Wait, you haven't gotten to those books in the series yet. She's struggling just to survive. She wants her freedom, represented by her own trading ship. I want that, too. But technology is centuries behind. I'll never have my own starship, except in my imagination.

My day job also lets me pretend, when I'm not doing the mundane tasks I end up with so often. Phone calls, paperwork, copies, all of it is essential to keeping a business running. But I love the days I'm a flight director. I'm a GM for a Star Trek LARP with a very high-tech simulator, video clips, music, sound effects, costumes, actors, and great storylines to back me up. I love orchestrating all of it. My paycheck may be tiny, but the satisfaction of hearing a crew screaming in terror, negotiating with my villain, planning a surprise attack, or cheering in victory is very satisfying to my inner storyteller. It's immediate, too, something that novel writing isn't.

So for those worried that the publishing industry is dying, I say, "Storytelling will never die. It fulfills so many needs deep in the human psyche. The outward form may change, but the need for good stories and storytellers will never change."

Let your imagination run rampant. In my mind's eye, I'm forever young, captain of my own starship, flying free through the galaxy. I'd love to have you share my journey.

And Now For Something Completely Different...

If you spend too much time immersed in one topic, you either become an expert or you develop tunnel vision. I've been wrapped up in the publishing industry the last six months, to the point where I don't want to hear about self-publishing, the state of ebooks, the death of traditional publishing, editing, or anything else publishing related for at least a month.

Writing advice is going to land in the same bin for a while. Reading some of my early manuscripts, I had an epiphany. I used to enjoy writing, blithely making all sorts of "mistakes" in my plots, pacing, characters, and general writing. But the sheer joy of creation came through, loud and clear. The stories were fun to read.

If an author isn't enjoying the story and the characters, if they don't care about more than getting words on paper, it shows. Readers pick up on the vibes. The story is flat and lifeless. Maybe this is why so many books with mediocre writing do so well - the author loved the story and it carries through to the reader.

Telling family stories in the car last night, we laughed until we cried. The silliness and absurdity of the situation exaggerated by the storyteller only added to the excitement. The performance wasn't polished and perfect, it was ad-libbed and constantly interrupted. But it was filled with joy.

Finding that balance between loving the story and perfecting the vehicle is tricky. Focus too much on either and you produce something less than it could be. Hit the sweet spot and everything sparkles.

So maybe I should write some of those stories about our stupid cats or my kids' antics. Getting my first book published, and working on the sequels, has locked me in edit mode for too long. It's time to find the joy again. It's time to fall in love with a whole new set of characters.

It's time to change things up for a while. And find something completely different to immerse myself in. Maybe I'll go check out The Larch or apply for a post with the Ministry of Silly Walks*. Or maybe I'll just change my scenery for a while. Maybe I'll break out my camera and post pictures that I find inspiring or entertaining. Maybe I'll open Bryce and paint landscapes for a few days. Maybe I'll write that weird story kicking around my head just because I can.

*If you get those references, kudos to you. If not, go find some Monty Python to watch.

Reality vs. Wishful Thinking

So I'm doing one of my day jobs, those things necessary for paying bills and buying groceries - customer support for an iphone app company. I'm reading through emails complaining about our product. It happens. It's my job to try to fix problems and satisfy the customer. It's a frustrating racket most of the time for two reasons.

One, troubleshooting someone's internet connections on their iPhone when I have no idea what settings they use, who their provider is, or any of a million other variables, is a total crapshoot. Besides, I'm only supposed to troubleshoot our app, not their whole phone. That's what Apple support is for. But in the interest of keeping my boss and the customers happy, I do my best.

Two, customer assumptions about customer support are miles from reality. I've had customers complain that we are just too big and corporate, that we only care about raking in their hard-earned money. I fell off the couch laughing over that one. They assumed our customer support department was a large cubicle farm just full of eager customer support people, salivating over the chance to read their email the instant they sent it off.

Reality? It's me, on my couch, usually in my pj's, answering emails for about an hour a day. No, I don't answer them as they are sent. I have a life. I have three other jobs. I do my best to be polite, professional and helpful, but sometimes I just can't do what you want me to do. I can't send you a refund. I can't give you services that don't exist. I can't make an iPhone do something physically impossible.

So what does this have to do with my publishing career? Many new writers and most readers have misconceptions about the publishing world. I thought when I signed my first contract and did the final edit, my book would sell itself and I would be free to work on more writing. The truth? I spend two or three hours a day working on marketing, getting my book noticed, getting my name out there. Since I'm with a small press, I also deal with the automatic assumption that I'm self-published (a completely different topic and a very touchy one) or that I'm not really a professional because small presses don't offer large advances so therefore I must not be worth much as an author.

Truth is, I'm an author, as professional as any other. I write stories because I enjoy them. I publish them because I want to share them and make a living doing something I enjoy that doesn't involve customer support emails. I'm new, yes, to publishing and marketing. I'll make mistakes because I'm human. But if I want to be successful, it's up to me to sell my novel. And write the next one. And market that one. And so on.

So next time you make an assumption about an industry, it might not hurt to take a step back and look for the reality. And for pity's sake, give the poor person doing customer support a break. Courtesy is much appreciated in a usually thankless job.

Writing is like...

...a box of chocolates. Each one is a little bit different. You never know what you're getting until you bite into it.

Um, not quite? Try again?

...cooking. No matter how carefully you follow the instructions, measure, and bake, it never turns out the same. And sometimes the serendipitous mistakes lead to the most delicious results.

Hm. Do over.

...eating an elephant. One bite at a time. It takes a lot to chew through something that large.

...bathing naked in a pool full of man-eating, ravenous sharks. With paper cuts.

No, wait. That's what being published feels like some days. How would you complete the sentence?

It's Official!

It's frightening, in a very good way. The journey to this point was long, difficult, and sometimes very painful, but I made it. I'm an official published author!

I'm on Barnes & Noble! http://bit.ly/7hqyDX

And Amazon! http://bit.ly/8WR7w7

Nexus Point is getting closer to release

My novel is getting closer to release. I'm waiting on the final word from the publisher that everything is set. I'm hoping for Labor Day weekend, but it looks like it might be later into September. Meanwhile, just to whet your appetite, here's a teaser for it:

Dace’s wants are simple–a trading ship and the freedom to fly where she chooses. But on her first trip, her crew betrays her, her ship explodes, and she finds herself stranded on Dadilan, a planet locked in a feudal age.
Survival is hard enough when you have no technology or resources. It’s even harder when you have drug smugglers hunting you. Dadilan is the source of shara, a drug that enhances psychic abilities, a commodity so rare and precious people will kill for it.
Trapped between rival smugglers and the Patrol undercover investigation, Dace has one hope of rescue–convincing Tayvis, the undercover agent, she’s an innocent bystander. But those don’t exist on Dadilan. No one lands without authorization, unless they are smuggling.
Her ignorance may cost her life.

Musings on figments

So each blog post should be some snippet of existential wisdom, right?

Here's one for today:

I'm painting my bathroom. And I'm reviewing a publishing contract. And listening to my kids watch TV. And doing customer service emails for a company. And wondering what we're going to do for health insurance. And trying to decide what's for lunch.

Who are we? It depends on which hat we're wearing at the time. I'm a mom, a novelist, a customer support tech, a maid, a cook, a chaffeur, a nurse, a financial consultant, a whatever-I-need-to-be-at-the-time. So, at this second? Confused.

My novel, Nexus Point, is almost ready to hit the shelves. A few minor details to mop up, a date to set, and I'm published. It's frightening at the same time it's exhilirating. Like the line from a song, it's like I'm naked in front of the crowd because these words come from me, my soul on paper. Sort of.

Writing a first person novel is intriguing. I'm so deep in my character's head I don't know where she stops and I start anymore. I dream her life. And I wonder if she's dreams mine, except she lives in my head in a universe that exists only in my imagination.

Now I have a chorus of very unhappy characters letting me know they don't appreciate being figments of my imagination. Maybe I've reached the stage in my writing where they need to come live in your head for a while. In a few weeks, they can start doing just that.

From my head to yours. Enjoy.

How's that for existential?