First Friday Writing Prompt: Night Train

February's Prompt

Romania. In a train. Henri Cartier-Bresson, 1975

(If you find inspiration and wish to share your creation with me, please do the following:
* DO paste a link to your creation as a comment to the prompt you’ve used.
* DO include a link back to my blog, Wordweaver.
* DO NOT copy anyone else’s work and publicize it as your own.

Prompt History
January's Prompt

Twitter Blues

Feeling: disgruntled.

Word of the day: Solicit

\sə-ˈli-sət\
1. to ask for (something, such as money or help) from people, companies, etc.
2. to ask (a person or group) for money, help, etc.
3. to offer to have sex with (someone) in return for money

The Rant: So I decided to make an effort by actually tweeting more regularly. Not ads and self-promos, but more personal stuff. Stuff that proves I'm a person and not an automated marketing machine.

While embarking on that journey, I decided to visit my "followers" page and return the favor by following many of them back. A couple hours later, I check my email inbox and what do I see? Several new direct messages from other Tweeters. Cool, I think, people want to engage. *glower* Yeah. Right. Every single one of the messages were solicitations to join a website or a sells pitch for someone's brilliant book.

So I'm disgruntled because it seems that "follow" is a synonym for "solicit." Join me, buy me, promote me. You followed me, you must want me and my product. Here, have some. *open mouth, insert spoon* Ugh.

I have a paper hidden away with all my website log-in info on it (really, really hidden away). There are 68 lines of accounts. Just me, one human being with 68+ usernames/passwords/etc (and I'm sure in some people's books, that's relatively few, which only strengthens my argument). I'm not interested in adding to that list. More than likely I will decline any invitations to join more websites sent by tweet. And I have review policies, posted right here on my blog, so I will certainly decline any invitations to review someone's book sent by tweet.

It was all so impersonal and ... gross-feeling. Does any tweeter care about other tweeters as people? Or are all other tweeters means to an end? Why am I tweeting, for that matter? To gain an audience. There, I admitted it. It certainly isn't because I have nothing better to do with my time. No, it's to persuade one or two readers to take a chance on my books. One or two, out of the hundreds of followers (one day I hope to say "thousands"). The last thing I will do to them is shove solicitations down their throats the instant they click "follow." Does this make me 'better'? Certainly not. But I'll draw the line somewhere, thanks.

*parting shudder*

Swagger

My custom swag for TUAT is in! Woot!

I shall be a walking advertisement for Twice Upon A Time. This particular t-shirt was printed at CafePress. Ugh, custom shirts are x-pen-sive. But! The point is to take pride in the book and show it off in blatant fashion to everyone I know -- and don't know, for that matter. It might spark curiosity or start a conversation or two. Who knows?

Anyway, take a gander:

Incidentally, a review of CafePress shirt product:

The material is very thick, probably very durable. The black dye, to my eye, looks like the kind that will fade rather quickly. The print of the book cover is solid. I mean, solid. I don't know how else to describe it. Like, it feels like a sheet of plastic but not shiny, so I expect it to be very durable as well. My only complaint, is that the print on the back cannot go higher near the shoulders than as pictured. The book cover fills all available vertical space. Ideally, prints on the backs of shirts are at least three inches higher than CafePress allows. If I were a nerd and decided to tuck in my shirttails, the image would be right at my pants-line, ready to dive out of sight.

Still, I'm excited to start wearing this puppy. Now, to the wash...

First Friday Writing Prompt: "Happy Place"

Disclaimer: this is not a meme!

I’ve been feeling terribly bogged down and uncreative lately, as in, for the past year and a half. Once upon a time I made an effort to paint with pastels and acrylics, sketch my characters (very badly, I’ll admit), dabble in photography, throw a pot on the wheel, MAKE STUFF!!! But for too long now, I have been so focused on finishing the Falcons Saga that, ironically, my creativity has dwindled.

That’s my preamble for starting a monthly writing prompt (to be posted on the first Friday of every month), both for myself and for any visitors who might like to participate. I missed January's first Friday, so I'll get a (very) late start and get back on schedule in February.

My favorite sources of inspiration are photographs or digital art that hint at stories, but I'll look for other prompts to inspire as well. In the comments below the prompt, I’ll post an excerpt of what the image(s) inspired inside my twisted brain. Hopefully, these excerpts will grow into full-length stories (or poems!), but we’ll see. The point is to have fun creating something new while I rework these old novels.

Okay, then, let’s create something…

"Happy Place" by Schnotte

(If you find inspiration and wish to share your creation with me, please do the following:
* DO paste a link to your creation as a comment to the prompt you’ve used.
* DO include a link back to my blog, Wordweaver.
* DO NOT copy anyone else’s work and publicize it as your own.

Scratch That...

Ignore my last post. The anthology has been temporarily pulled.

Ah, the joys and frustrations of publication! Apparently there was an issue with one of the author contracts, which forced our editor to pull the anthology. Poor Joshua. He's worked tirelessly on this thing, and little snags at the end are always the worst.

But, says I to myself, never fear! As soon as the contract issues are smoothed away, the anthology will be back online, and we'll have our "Release, Take 2" party. It promises to be a storm of a party, too, with blog tours, giveaways, interviews, and, man, would I love some swag. That book cover would look dandy on a black t-shirt. Am I dorky? Heh, yeah, probably.

Twice Upon a Time, Now Available!

It's HERE!!! Your favorite fairytales retold and remastered in the short story collection, Twice Upon a Time. Dozens of up-and-coming authors poured their hearts into these stories, and our editor Joshua Allen Mercier slaved away to turn our ragtag bunch of stories into a gorgeous, professional-quality book. I mean, look at that stellar cover:

Looks like it's just the digital book for now, available for download to your reading devices HERE, but I know a hardcopy version is on the way. I cannot wait to see the dark, magical adventures my fellow authors turned out.

For more information, check out Bearded Scribe Press at Blogger or on Facebook!

Rest ... Recuperate ... Write

I had no idea my novel project would last as long as it has, nor that the material would grow and involve so many books and so much time, sweat, blood, and tears.

"Dreams" by Whisperfall

The holidays provide the perfect excuse to relax a bit, write when I can, and stop forcing it. January has provided another excuse to rest. LegendFire's annual Legends Contest has kicked off, and it's given me the opportunity to write something new. New characters, new crises. It's invigorating to escape the ogre war for a couple of weeks. Since the contest is still running, I can't mention titles or plotlines. Yet. Suffice to say, I'm excited about this story. And once the votes and critiques are in, I look forward to revising it, expanding it, and submitting it. If editors don't want it, they're crazy.

Is that ego or truth speaking? Time will tell.