Writing Groups

I wonder how many of you writers have a writing group, and if they do your writing any good. It may be that I'm approaching expert status on this, as I've had lots, both online and face to face ones.

All of my online groups have been through my Sisters in Crime Guppies chapter. And some have been for novels and some for short stories. I've had multiples of both kinds. They've all been at least helpful and some have been excellent. It seems that people come and go though, and they last a certain amount of time, then peter out. I can honestly say that my writing is much, much better for those groups.

My face to face groups are, of course, lots more fun, since we're actually physically there and can chat and even eat and drink together--always a plus. The two that I'm in right now are very different, though. In one, we submit a chapter, or about ten pages, by email a few days before our meeting. We print out the pages, critique them on paper, then get together to go over our individual critiques and discuss the finer points. Opinions vary, of course, and not all advice is taken by each writer. That would be a mess!

My other face to face group doesn't critique at all, unless one of us requests it. Our usual meeting is to chat a bit, then do at least one timed writing on our laptops or on paper, from a writing prompt. We then can choose whether or not to read what we've come up with to each other and can ask for suggestions if we wish.

For both of these groups, also, members come and go, but these groups have kept going for years. I get different things from each group I belong to, online and ftf. I'm not one of those writers who doesn't want any critiques! It's like free editing. It's also informative to see what other writers are doing and we learn from each other.

It's the second live group that put out the latest short story anthology, ALL THINGS DARK AND DASTARDLY, so our meetings lately are geared toward the book. But I'm sure we'll get back to writing soon.

Long live critters and writing groups!

5 Reasons to Try an eReader

Okay, now I already know what some people are going to say when they read the title of this post. 

"I like the way it feels holding a real book in my hands."

How nice for you. That's cool. But have you ever actually tried an eReader? I'm not talking about your laptop or computer either. I mean, an eReader like the Nook, iPad, or Kindle? Many of the people who have given me the above response have never actually tried one.

I have to admit it. I was skeptical, too. I'm a writer after all and reading is one of my passions, but when my mother got a Kindle last year for Christmas, I was curious to know how that would go. Mom reads as much as I do and probably keeps Half Price Books in business. My father and I both thought she would never enjoy the Kindle.

We were so wrong....that woman never puts the damn thing down. She and Amazon have a close, personal relationship now, and she feels that every email she gets from them is like a specially tailored love letter.  Her passion for the eReader made me want one in the worst way! My husband broke down and bought one for me this past July, and I have to say it's one of the best investments ever!

Here's a few reasons why:

1. It does feel like you're holding a book. Especially if you put a cover on it! True, most eReaders are a little more light weight, but I still feel like I'm reading a book.

2. Storage. My husband loves the eReader because at long last my books are not piling up everywhere in our bedroom. Now they are all neatly compact and stored on my Kindle.

3. Eye strain. This is another crazy excuse I hear all the time about why an eReader is bad. Most eReaders are designed to make it easy on your eyes, to prevent glare if you are outside, to have bigger font if you need bigger letters. If you're eReader isn't doing that, you've got the wrong one.

4.Expense. Best sellers and new releases are still going to be expensive. However, there are lots of other books out there that are cheap or even free. Also, if you have 3G on your eReader, you can purchase books wherever you are at.

5. Portability. Yep, you can stick them in your purse, briefcase, backpack, whatever. Because they are light weight, they usually don't feel as heavy as toting around a book does.

So if you are considering an eReader for that special loved one in your life, I can also recommend a few books that would make great gifts to try out on it. For example, Nephilim and All Things Dark and Dastardly are both available for the eReader. Click on any of the books links on the right hand side of the page to learn more!

Happy Reading!

Weird Holiday Gifts

I've been seeing some strange suggestions for gifts this year. Maybe Hander Pants, underpants for your hands is the strangest. http://www.handerpants.com/ I wasn't aware that my hands are private parts. Mine never seem to have unseemly discharges. So I can't understand why they'd need underpants.

Here are a couple from Baron Bob: a bacon ornament (http://www.baronbob.com/bacon-ornament.htm) and an inflatable turkey (http://www.baronbob.com/inflatableturkey.htm). The turkey is on sale, maybe because it's after Thanksgiving and going into Christmas people are thinking more of inflatable hams. The bacon ornament is still full price as of this writing.

A voice-activated R2D2 is selling for an astonishingly low price of $199.95 (http://www.hammacher.com/Product/77944) at Hammacher Schlemmer. Where else? These speakers from the same place (http://www.hammacher.com/Product/11987?promo=search) are not only ugly, impractical, easy to break, but are also $60,000.00.  That's not a typo. There are no extra zeroes there. Oh yes, and they weigh 192 pounds.

You could spend over $10 on a piece of wood (http://www.cnbc.com/id/28196936/page/2/) created for the purpose of knocking on wood. Are there people who live in completely plastic houses? Who have no wood anywhere? Or who are constantly hexing themselves and feel a need to always counter it by having a handy piece of wood, a piece of wood that comes in a carrying case? I suppose some people work in plastic places. Maybe. I use my head when I can't find anything else to knock on.

I guess our short story anthology will be looking like a pretty good holiday buy by now! For the low, low price of $9.95--$4.99 for the digital versions--you can immerse yourself in weird tales by a cross section of Austin writers. Well, three of them anyway.

There's a handy link at the side where you can click to get ALL THING DARK AND DASTARDLY. You might need something to clear the sweet taste of sugar plums and fudge from your palate. This'll do it!

An Elliptical Blog

I'm feeling like discussing grammar today. Specifically, punctuation. That odd feeling sweeps over me more often than you'd think. In fact, one of my happiest moments at the Malice Domestic conference this year was discussing punctuation at the bar. Writers--what are you gonna do?

Our anthology group had a discussion as we were doing final edits for publication. Steve and I were of two minds about the ellipsis. I love the ellipsis...it trails off into nothingness, and nothing else will do when that's what you want....

Steve likes to use the three dots both in the middle of the sentence (or group of phrases, if what you've written can't really be called a sentence). I like to use three dots in the middle and four at the end. This was recommended to me some time ago and it seems logical. I've been using it for several years. The three dots are the ellipsis and the other dot ends the sentence with a period. I mean, what about a trailing off question...? (I did see this once as a question?... But I can't accept that.) If the question gets an end punctuation mark, the sentence should too, in my mind.

Both are acceptable in the Chicago Manual, by the way, so that was no help in our debate.

My problem is, I want my punctuation to be logical. Probably a holdover from being a programmer for too many years. I even wish I were British so I could put the period or comma where it belongs at the end of a quote. I hate saying that my werewolf story, "Retransformation," is included in our anthology. I'd much rather say my story, "Retransformation", is included. Why on earth should that comma go inside the quote?

I don't want to be British to the extent that I'd have to drive on the wrong side of the road...just for punctuation, and then only just for some punctuation. I'm too used to using double quotes for dialog to change that.

Do you have grammar/punctuation/spelling idiosyncrasies in your writing that drive other people nuts? If you want to see which ellipsis style we settled on for our short stories, you'll have to get hold of our anthology and page through it.

Hill Country Book Store Signing

Hey friends, the All Things Writing gang will be in Georgetown tomorrow at the Hill Country Bookstore form 2-4pm. We will be selling and signing copies of our book All Things Dark and Dastardly! We'd love to see our friend, family, and fans there, so come on by.

We will have chocolate....

Also, this is a great chance to walk around the historic square at Georgetown and do some early Christmas shopping!

Hope to see you there.