I came across a site I quite like, and the fellow over there is having a flash fiction writing challenge--a fairy tale upgrade in less than 1,000 words. The site is terribleminds. The fairy tale upgrade is this. The Mermaid There are other fish in the sea and June Mintz is a fish that keeps …
Category: passion
The Light around the Corner
Sending your work out into the world is an adventure--no matter the path. E-publishing is a widening path these days, but that doesn't make it easy. Friend and colleague, Niamh Clune, launched her book a few weeks back, and due to technical difficulties, has had to launch the book again. Many lessons learned, including--Amazon isn't …
The Feminine in the Sky
A smart and talented woman I know wrote this book: The Coming of the Feminine Christ. (Which due to some technical difficulties, I've had to unlink to.) This is not a review; I haven't read the book yet. And this is not about your religion; I don't need to know (and let's not ruin a …
Belief
Have you ever seen something--a garden gate perhaps, a picture hanging on a cafe wall, an odd, unexpected object in an odd and expected place--that made you stop and look again. That stirred your heart, maybe your gut, a place deep within? I love connecting with a picture, a story, a random object. Imagine if …
Coffee, Action Figures, and Love
The other day one of my students (remember, my students are all adults) said (with affection) that I was a child inside. This was because I said I was going to the midnight release of the last Harry Potter film. Since I don't have any friends who will stay up that late, I'm going on …
To Write or Not Write That Sex Scene
Why not fade to black and leave it all to the imagination? The reader's imagination is a great thing and shouldn't be underestimated. The comments on yesterday's post made me think about several issues when deciding whether or not to write a sex scene. I'm no expert at writing such things, so this is mostly …
Maybe Characters Do It
Many things may befall your characters, but one of those things, eventually, somewhere, in some story, unless you're writing for children, surely----implied or direct (have I drawn this out enough?), good or bad----is going to be sex. And I'm going to avoid the euphemism "love scene." Plenty of characters aren't in the story for love. …
Maybe No Passion Whatsoever
The world may benefit from my stories...but that's a bit hard to believe, isn't it? Somewhere in my subconscious must be the belief that sharing what comes out of my head is a good and interesting thing. What evidence is there for this grandiose thinking? The rejection letter received today reads: "Thank you so much …
Marta Bacon 