Wartooth Writer

The July 4th Holiday saw Joey Chestnut and Miki Sudo competing in plastic boxes with no audience but a camera. It was odd, to say the least, but the announcer did his best with play-by-play. More importantly, here is what we did at our place, inspired by the event (and lousy ESPN coverage of it). I posted this to YouTube and I don't know if I did it correctly, I'm a writer without an IT department. Oh, and apologies for going back to the roots of the blog with family-oriented content, I'll bring the cosmic horrors murder and mayhem back later.

The Set-Up one of the myriad companies catering to self-published indie authors sponsored a contest. They solicited short stories where ten top entrants would be put in an anthology together. It was this particular company's first annual event of this kind. I never thought about writing short stories for an anthology, or a short story anthology of my own. I had this idea Why Time Flies (shortened to Time Flies) on a back burner as a novel/novella idea for some time. I had a basic concept but had written nothing. When this contest was announced I had been given the inspiration I needed; a brutal deadline. Two weeks to write and edit a short story. I quickly hammered out 2 versions and edited the second as it seemed to score higher in the sponsoring company's software. To be honest I preferred the first version. The editing software (I have used several noting they all disagree) was designed to rate all manner of fiction and non-fiction except horror. So, of course, I wrote a ...

A fellow author, a member of the twitter #writingcommunity group, has compiled a blog post of his own that amused me a great deal. He had asked other twitter and Goodreads readers/writers what they didn't like about men writing female characters. Most of the answers were about how much time men spend writing about the female character's body, particularly boobs. There were complaints about tropes (e.g. learning to love again) that are overused and two-dimensional characterizations. I looked at the complete list and examined some of my own work. Recently Salem's Son featured a bevy of female antagonists. I think I had an advantage in writing that book from a first-person perspective. I didn't have to worry about the women examine themselves in the mirror or preparing for battle by stripping off their cumbersome dress. Nameless does seem to have a lot of female attention but I don't think I took it too far. Sure, Rachael seduces the hero early on, she is Emily...

Wuhan Corona Virus, Chinese Virus, Corona Virus, COVID 19 - whatever you call the global pandemic it would appear we are not handling it by sending the best to fight it. For the record, I call it 'The Bug' in past tense reference it will be ever after the 'Wuhan Virus'. I'm Chinese, I don't like having a virus named for my ethnicity but it's not the hill I want to die on. I don't want to die come to think of it. I'd like the idiots with national media power to inform to do that (inform not die) instead of bickering with the president about the nuances of the moniker for The Bug. He's already answered the question about why he calls it that move on to ask questions the people really want answers to. Like, where do I sign up for the checks I hear are coming? Back to writing and blogging and blogging about writing. Right now I'm more interested in focusing on the craft, working on my art and writing my next book. Today I saw someone - a wr...

So it's been years now, nine years of working on the three books and learning the process. With the Ox and Scorpio, it was how to assemble, select a self-publisher, use some of the web tools and establish some social media foothold - beginnings of a nascent 'author platform'. I joined the local writers' guild, the Gettysburg Writers Brigade (ht Gunner). Then Sigrunn's Saga was about refining a fiction narrative and working with a professional editor. It was my first fiction work. I waded a little further into the business end of being an Indie Author. I hosted a couple of special events, promotional events with giveaways, autograph sessions, and a little more social media and networking. I did more research and built on shelved collaborative efforts and projects. Finally, Salem's Son is published. Now we've put a new emphasis on branding with increased social media presence (I'm on twitter now) and a humble advertising budget. I've stepped up i...