Tag: anthology

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travel in the time of COVID

One week from today, I will be in Denver, CO for a convention unlike most others I have ever attended. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t anxious about the travel and the collection of people in small rooms. Sure, I’ll double mask on the plane and the con has good COVID practices in place (everyone must be vaxxed and have a negative COVID test for starters), but my only experience with “crowds” was in August this year, and there were only twelve of us.

I considered not going. Several times. However, Sirens is a place that feeds my soul, and if I’m honest, my soul has been sorely in need of feeding.

Sirens is a place where we get to explore the world of speculative fiction (sci-fi, horror, fantasy, etc) through the lens of voices that are not considered “traditional” in that space. By which, I mean: women, BIPOC, LGBTQ+, etc. (Reminder that this year’s anthology, “Villains and Vengeance” is available now!)

It’s part reader’s conference, part writer’s retreat and part networking weekend. This will be my third time at Sirens.

Of course my COVID anxiety is only just part of my anxiety, because there is also the uncertainty of travel, particularly since I am flying Southwest, and my agoraphobia, which has only gotten worse since the start of COVID. I have the advantage of a) flying an airline I know well, out of airports I know well; b) the con hotel is also familiar; c) FRIENDS.

I think having friends who know/understand my *stuff* is my biggest coping mechanism. It provides a safe space when there is no safe space. I anticipate a need for a lot of hermiting time when I get back.

For now, though, Readers, I have a few hours before I have to start the day job and my coffee is fresh and hot. I think that means it’s time to write. Happy Friday!

Photo by Eva Darron on Unsplash

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villains & vengeance & velocity

I’ve been battling migraines and all of their attendant baggage off and on for about two weeks. Only two days were really bad, but the up and down is exhausting.

Today the headache is only mild, but the nausea is yucky and my sinuses are cranky.

This is the start of my fourth week in the new day job, which I am enjoying. It’s a bigger company than my last few, but I get to learn new things, which makes me so very happy.

It is also October! I do love spooky season, which you know if you’ve been around here long (or not so long). I was supposed to be on vacation this week, but we postponed it out until we’re in a better place pandemic wise. My next opportunity for shenanigans is in just over two weeks, when I will be attending the Sirens Conference. I’m anxious, but excited.

I can not wait to see my Sirens family.

In case you didn’t know, I edit the anthology we publish to benefit the con, and this year’s anthology is available in both ebook and paperback. I also have a short story in the book. The profit from each book is donated to the Conference to help fund scholarships and/or defray the costs of putting the conference together. You can get your copy of Villains and Vengeance on Amazon.

We’re into that time of year when I can cuddle into fluffy hoodies and sweats, fuzzy socks and fingerless gloves in the morning, and strip down to shorts and a tank top by the evening…it’s also the time of year where time seems to excelerate.

Sure, this whole year has been something of a blur, but from now through January it always seems to enter warp speed.

And that’s pretty much my brain dump for you today, Readers. I hope the Monday treats you with kindness!

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sunshine and kindness

August is something of a transition month for me. When I lived in Upstate New York as a kid, it had this impending feeling of autumn, but with the heat and free spirit of summer. Corn of the cob and macaroni salads filled picnic tables, kids splashed about in Lake Ontario, and trees were just starting to show the kiss of color that autumn would bring.

Thoughts would turn to shopping for school clothes, the smell of leaves and fires, the anticipation for hay rides and haunted houses.

Of course, now that my life no longer rotates around the school calendar, August is the start of a string of birthdays/holidays that begins with my brother’s oldest child’s (who is no longer a child) birthday, mine, my mother’s, Halloween, Thanksgiving, my brother’s birthday, Christmas, New Year’s and then my brother’s youngest child’s birthday (she is no longer a child either).

Add in there a trip to Austin early in August most years for a birthday celebration of another kind, plus various conferences and vacations, and most years August is the start of time accelerating to race through it all.

I leave for Austin on Thursday (vaccinated and masked), but until then, I’m trying to hold back on the gallop and keep this thing slowed down a bit while I can. I’m writing a lot, and editing the Sirens Benefit Anthology, and even working at designing a cover for it.

Right now, I’m savoring my Death Wish Coffee and contemplating thinky things. I plan on filming some poetry videos while I’m in Austin, so stay tuned for that to happen.

And now, Readers, I’m off into my Sunday. May yours be filled with sunshine and kindness.

Photo by Brian Garcia on Unsplash

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the beauty in brevity

There is something I love about the freedom in a short story. There is no obligation to begin at the beginning, in fact it is sometimes more fun to jump in somewhere in the middle.

Short stories ask more skill of us authors, in some ways, than a full length novel. There is the challenge of brevity, which is a thing I often struggle with. If you have five thousand words to tell the tale, each of those words becomes important. Your characters need to be able to convey not just story, but personality and point of view quickly, but without making your reader feel rushed.

Often when I’m working on a short story, I throw words on the page to start, far more words than necessary and often imprecisely used. Then I use my first edit pass to tighten up the language, replace the imprecise with something more fitting. I boil down descriptions to the best words. I render ten words down to three or four.

All the while, I’m whittling away at not just the word count, but at the story itself, distilling it down to a more perfect form. Think of it as a block of stone. We know that there is a work of art inside of it, but we have to work to chip away the parts that obscure it.

There are a bunch of short stories on my hard drive in some state of doneness, some begun for a specific project, others just to get the words out of my head. Maybe I’ll consider an anthology of these works at some point, but for now, I am off to finish polishing and buffing one for this year’s Sirens anthology.

Happy Saturday, Readers! I hope the coffee is good, the sun is shining and your day is filled with kindness.

Photo by Matt Seymour on Unsplash

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…tonight…

You may recall me talking about a collection of poetry recently. This morning, I woke to the news that my publisher, Next Chapter publications, already has it available to purchase! How awesome is that?

This collection of poems comes from across more than 30 years of writing poetry and covers the gambit from sweet, rhyming poems to sultry (and very adult) poems, with stops all over the spectrum.

To me, poetry has always been about capturing emotion in such a way that the Reader can feel what I was feeling when I wrote it. There are times I have agonized for hours over a single line in my attempt to do that. Sometimes over a single word.

My love of words began with poetry and grew from there. My heart lives here, and I invite you in to sit a spell and let my heart touch yours.

Get your copy now!

Happy Monday, Readers!

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Today is the submissions deadline for the short story anthology that I am editing for the Sirens Conference, a benefit anthology that will help defray the costs of running a conference like this one.

This year we opened up submissions to include poetry and flash fiction, as well as the short stories we’ve always accepted.  The writers of this community are amazing and I genuinely LOVE getting to read the collection, let alone having a hand in helping bring it to fruition.

Of course, that means that today’s writing time is devoted to editing instead, but I have a couple hours blocked out of tomorrow to write, though whether I end up tweaking my short story for the anthology or working on one of the novels in progress is anyone’s guess.

For today, I plan to edit for a few hours, then I head out to the salon to re-greenify my hair, which is looking a little bit sad right now, before coming home to tackle laundry and housework.

The glamorous life of a writer, I tell ya!  Living the dream over here.

Hope your Saturday is glorious, Readers! I’m off to pour another cup of coffee before I open the first story.

Want more from me? Visit me!

Weight Loss: https://aweightyjourneysite.wordpress.com/
Current Events: https://myweightinwords.wordpress.com/
Poetry: https://weightywordspoetry.wordpress.com/
Patreon:  https://www.patreon.com/nataliejcase

You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram (be warned I post a lot pictures of my cats).

 

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the editing hat

We are getting close to time to begin editing the short stories for the Sirens benefit anthology.  This is a book that comes from people who have attended a Sirens Conference, and who want to help support the work that the conference does, help provide scholarships to the event and otherwise support women in speculative fiction.

This will be my second year acting as editor for this collection and I’m excited to read and edit the wonderful stories that will come from this pool of talented writers.  The conference theme this year is Heroes and as always, we choose the title of the anthology, and thus the theme for the stories, based on that theme and a general consensus from the community.

reader_hero_logo
Sirens 2019 Logo

This year’s title is Heroes and Hellions…and I can already taste the reading goodness this will bring.

My own story takes me slightly out of my comfort zone, writing in present tense, but includes devils (for some value of devil), an old west style showdown and a little bit of magic in a post apocalyptic town on the edge of nowhere.

The anthology is open to any kind of speculative fiction, be it horror, sci-fi, fantasy…you name it.  This year we also kicked it open for poetry and flash fiction.

If you’re interested in seeing what last year’s anthology was like, check it out over on Amazon. The Title is Rebels & Revenants and it is filled with awesome stories from kickass female authors.  It is available in Paperback and Kindle.

rebels and revenants
Rebels and Revenants

Deadline for submission is in three days, and I already have one submission in.  This is going to be fun.  I really should make myself an actual editing hat.  I have lots of hats to chose from.  Maybe I’ll even take a picture of me in my editing hat.

But now it’s time for the day job and coffee. Happy Wednesday, Readers!  I hope your day is filled with happiness and sunshine.

 

Want more from me? Visit me!

Weight Loss: https://aweightyjourneysite.wordpress.com/
Current Events: https://myweightinwords.wordpress.com/
Poetry: https://weightywordspoetry.wordpress.com/
Patreon:  https://www.patreon.com/nataliejcase

You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram (be warned I post a lot pictures of my cats).

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#amediting

I am knee deep into editing an anthology of awesome stories told by amazing female writers.  It’s a wonderful assortment that spans sci-fi, fantasy and horror and in some cases mixes them together.

It’s always interesting to me how individual writers interpret a prompt or theme.  The theme here is all about rebellion and ghosts, about fighting for what you believe in, winning, losing, the things we sacrifice, willingly or not, along the way.

These ten or so stories tell tales of women in crisis, women in triumph, women in defeat and so much more.

I really can’t wait until I can share these with you!  Keep your eyes on this space!

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ready to share some broken dreams?

Today is the day, everyone!  The very first, multi-author anthology for Creativia publishing is LIVE.

Dragons, magic, fairies, angels, vampires, knights, a gollum, a vengeful child’s toy, a depressed cashier, a bridge made of stars, and a donkey… What do they all have in common? An appearance in this anthology.

This collection of short stories is as diverse as the Creativia authors who wrote them. Travel to Victorian London, an otherworldly slave market, a faraway planet, a quaint English town and other wondrous places in the pages of Once Upon a Broken Dream.

I am so very happy that this is finally ready for all of you.  We have a diverse group of stories, and I hope they serve to introduce you to a few new authors along the way.

I plan on asking each of the authors to do a short interview and I will be featuring each one here in the next week or two.

So for $.99 you can get your copy of Once Upon a Broken Dream for your Kindle!

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*so excited*

It won’t be long now before this anthology is on it’s way to Amazon for all of you to snap up and enjoy!

We’re just finishing up the final little things and then we’ll be off and running.  There are twelve stories for you to enjoy.  But for right now, I have the cover to share with you, isn’t it gorgeous!?

Once-Upon-A-Broken-Dream-Main-File

I think it’s gorgeous!

Stay tuned for purchase links!