Two weeks to go. 10x10 contest sponsored by me and Book Bloggers' Collaborative. The writing prompt is simply "animal". For details, visit:
http://bookbloggerscollaborative.com/10x10-writing-contest-sponsored-by-thepoet86/
If you speak a language and can count to ten, please participate.
Digital home of Eighty Six, author of the Cathartes Aura Series and the David Priest Project. Just finished "Inside the Skull of David Priest": bar fiction about the Door-Gunner of Drinks. The third 1000 line Cathartes Aura poem due soon.
Pages
Trouble Leaving Comments?
"Inside the Skull of David Priest"
Cocktail Fiction about the Door-Gunner of Drinks
"Cathartes Aura and the Apocalypse Zoo"
A zoo on the day no one showed up, narrated by a captive turkey vulture.
"Cathartes Aura on the Road from Nowhere"
The vulture narrator stalks the ragged remnants of humanity as they come together and fall apart.
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
The Ten-By-Ten Page
Went digging through some old files.
NEVER throw away those scraps of paper you scribble on.
I found a folder full of hand-written notes on the back of restaurant menus, notepads, spiral notebook pages, a chunk of corrugated cardboard. Some things printed off a very old computer. Some things done on my typewriter.
Lots of it was early Cathartes Aura stuff. Much before I even decided upon a turkey vulture narrator. Some featured a vulture with a much more malevolent attitude than the one that made it into my books. The narrator was anxiously waiting for victims to fall and sometimes helping them fail.
Also I dug up two early characters: Harald and Sal. They are a comic yet vicious duo, joking along foolishly until they find someone who has something they want. Then they are swift and violent.
I stumbled upon a crazy project I'd begun and never finished called "Ship of Fools" involving a bus, not a ship, full of lunatic characters on a lunatic ride and a captain (driver) who never spoke, but could twist the lug-nuts from the wheels with his bare hands.
Encountered a frustrated series of poems titled "Fuck Money" with a ten syllable scheme that was an early ancestor of my favorite 10x10 form.
Some of this stuff I've mentioned was sitting in my drawer in perfect 10x10 and I've put some on the page. A stack of it is currently sitting at my right and I'll type it in soon.
May need another page for the really random stuff.
Ten-By-Ten Page
NEVER throw away those scraps of paper you scribble on.
I found a folder full of hand-written notes on the back of restaurant menus, notepads, spiral notebook pages, a chunk of corrugated cardboard. Some things printed off a very old computer. Some things done on my typewriter.
Lots of it was early Cathartes Aura stuff. Much before I even decided upon a turkey vulture narrator. Some featured a vulture with a much more malevolent attitude than the one that made it into my books. The narrator was anxiously waiting for victims to fall and sometimes helping them fail.
Also I dug up two early characters: Harald and Sal. They are a comic yet vicious duo, joking along foolishly until they find someone who has something they want. Then they are swift and violent.
I stumbled upon a crazy project I'd begun and never finished called "Ship of Fools" involving a bus, not a ship, full of lunatic characters on a lunatic ride and a captain (driver) who never spoke, but could twist the lug-nuts from the wheels with his bare hands.
Encountered a frustrated series of poems titled "Fuck Money" with a ten syllable scheme that was an early ancestor of my favorite 10x10 form.
Some of this stuff I've mentioned was sitting in my drawer in perfect 10x10 and I've put some on the page. A stack of it is currently sitting at my right and I'll type it in soon.
May need another page for the really random stuff.
Ten-By-Ten Page
My goodness, has it been three weeks since I made a post? Not that I've been lazy. I've been busy.
My Gorgeous Illustrator and I have an infant in the house to go along with our toddler. Enough said. That's been taking up a lot of time and energy. I find it even more difficult to utilize that 2am to 4am writing slot I have relied upon.
I've been being social, at least in the social media sense of the word.
My How to Write a Ten-by-Ten post has been featured at:
Alchemy of Scrawl
and
Caron Rider's Blog
As part of the launch of Pavarti K. Tyler's Shadow on the Wall I wrote a post on Superman.
I exchanged interviews with Laura Roberts from Black Heart Magazine.
I've had a few good reviews at Amazon, Smashwords, and Goodreads.
And Book Bloggers' Collaborative is hosting a Ten-By-Ten Contest sponsored by this guy.
Winner gets all three of my books plus future Cathartes Aura works plus their poem published in the back of my next ebook.
Which means, I need to get to work on my next ebook.
Just the kick in the ass I needed.
My Gorgeous Illustrator and I have an infant in the house to go along with our toddler. Enough said. That's been taking up a lot of time and energy. I find it even more difficult to utilize that 2am to 4am writing slot I have relied upon.
I've been being social, at least in the social media sense of the word.
My How to Write a Ten-by-Ten post has been featured at:
Alchemy of Scrawl
and
Caron Rider's Blog
As part of the launch of Pavarti K. Tyler's Shadow on the Wall I wrote a post on Superman.
I exchanged interviews with Laura Roberts from Black Heart Magazine.
I've had a few good reviews at Amazon, Smashwords, and Goodreads.
And Book Bloggers' Collaborative is hosting a Ten-By-Ten Contest sponsored by this guy.
Winner gets all three of my books plus future Cathartes Aura works plus their poem published in the back of my next ebook.
Which means, I need to get to work on my next ebook.
Just the kick in the ass I needed.
Monday, April 23, 2012
Meet Laura Roberts
Laura Roberts is the author of “Rebels of the 512” and multiple bits of erotica, humor and erotic humor including: “Where to Get Laid in Montreal” and “Top 5 Reasons You Can't Get Laid in Montreal”. Her style is off-balance and bizarre.
"Rebels of the 512" is a political satire about a teacher's revolt after the Governor shut down their high school, featuring ninjas versus pirates. She wrote it for Canada's “Three Day Novel” Contests. It's more work than I could ever throw down in three days, but I'd like to try.
She's one of a kind and I can find nothing she's afraid of. She's an active blogger, featuring writers of multiple genres and still fitting in the occasional dirty story. Currently she is working on "Naked Montreal", a novel based on her experiences as a sex columnist.
Learn more about her at:
and
Soon we may see her interview of me.
I'm curious about her apocalyptic bunker in Austin, Texas.
I asked her several questions. Here are her responses:
I asked her several questions. Here are her responses:
What's the dirtiest thing you've ever written?
-I used to write erotica for a variety of sites, so that's probably the dirtiest. I also penned a sex column for an alternative paper in Montreal, which I'm using as inspiration for my novel, Naked Montreal, which will be much more dirty!
What lessons have you learned from your kids? Your pets? Your plants?
-I have a literary kitty named Nedward Carlos Nedwards (aka "Ned"), and I've learned that if your cat becomes more famous than you are, it's all over.
What do you miss most about college?
-I miss the camaraderie of college the most. I used to work for my university newspaper, and it was a great group of people, so I miss being able to bounce those ideas around and take chances with that group, whether my ideas were shot down or put on pedestals.
What devices do you like for writing? Pens, pencils, computer, typewriter?
-I'm a computer nerd for most of my writing, but for poetry I'm extremely old school and go for pen and paper. When I need to shake things up, I bust out the pen and paper or my Royal Quiet Deluxe typewriter and get cracking.
Where do you like to write?
-I almost always write at my desk, but if I'm feeling lazy I'll bring my laptop to bed or to the couch with me. Typically I fall asleep when that happens, so if I want to get any work done, I usually force myself to stay at my desk through means of bribery (sometimes a coffee helps).
How close are you characters to yourself or people you know?
-My characters are always based in some way on myself or people I know. I think that's just the nature of the business. When you truly admire someone, you want to write them into your work. When you truly abhor someone, the urge is similar, with a psychological twist where you're trying to understand their horrible machinations. Though I try to avoid writing about people I dislike, because they don't deserve even the merest attentions.
Is it easier to write the first book or the second?
-Definitely the first, since you can say anything. The second feels like you have an audience to please, no matter how unrecognized the first one may have been!
Besides novels in prose, what other forms of writing do you like? Other forms of art?
-I also write personal essays, blogs, nonfictional stuff, poetry, and have been trying to convince myself to start doing a podcast or video blog. I haven't succeeded with the latter, but we'll see. My husband is a visual artist, so I'm also always poring over his art supply catalogues and pondering what might happen if I took up pastels or started doing oil paintings. They'd be abstract, but I'd pile on the paint like Van Gogh. Seems therapeutic.
Who helps you edit? To whom do you speak when you have trouble with characters, plots, etc.?
-My husband reads my rough drafts and points out any obvious errors. I have a variety of writing peers that I'll talk to about specific issues, and when I'm just totally stuck I'll go for a walk or occupy myself with something non-writing related to break up the block.
What's the best thing you've read lately?
-I'm re-reading Harriet the Spy, which was one of my childhood favorites. I'm liking it perhaps even more now, because I can understand why the grown-ups behave as they do, but I still love Harriet's desire to spy on people as a means to become a good writer. Isn't that, really, what we're all about?
What's you favorite type of word?
-I love words that start with V, like vixen, vendetta, vestigial, vertigo, venomous, vellum, etc. Anything with an X in it is also instantly desirable. I'm pretty sure this is the only reason I picked up a book by Hélène Cixous.
What do you never want to hear, see, or read again?
-Hear: Rush Limbaugh. See: anything by Andy Warhol. Read: memoirs masquerading as fiction.
What is your weakest skill as a writer?
-Settling for less than perfection.
-I used to write erotica for a variety of sites, so that's probably the dirtiest. I also penned a sex column for an alternative paper in Montreal, which I'm using as inspiration for my novel, Naked Montreal, which will be much more dirty!
What lessons have you learned from your kids? Your pets? Your plants?
-I have a literary kitty named Nedward Carlos Nedwards (aka "Ned"), and I've learned that if your cat becomes more famous than you are, it's all over.
What do you miss most about college?
-I miss the camaraderie of college the most. I used to work for my university newspaper, and it was a great group of people, so I miss being able to bounce those ideas around and take chances with that group, whether my ideas were shot down or put on pedestals.
What devices do you like for writing? Pens, pencils, computer, typewriter?
-I'm a computer nerd for most of my writing, but for poetry I'm extremely old school and go for pen and paper. When I need to shake things up, I bust out the pen and paper or my Royal Quiet Deluxe typewriter and get cracking.
Where do you like to write?
-I almost always write at my desk, but if I'm feeling lazy I'll bring my laptop to bed or to the couch with me. Typically I fall asleep when that happens, so if I want to get any work done, I usually force myself to stay at my desk through means of bribery (sometimes a coffee helps).
How close are you characters to yourself or people you know?
-My characters are always based in some way on myself or people I know. I think that's just the nature of the business. When you truly admire someone, you want to write them into your work. When you truly abhor someone, the urge is similar, with a psychological twist where you're trying to understand their horrible machinations. Though I try to avoid writing about people I dislike, because they don't deserve even the merest attentions.
Is it easier to write the first book or the second?
-Definitely the first, since you can say anything. The second feels like you have an audience to please, no matter how unrecognized the first one may have been!
Besides novels in prose, what other forms of writing do you like? Other forms of art?
-I also write personal essays, blogs, nonfictional stuff, poetry, and have been trying to convince myself to start doing a podcast or video blog. I haven't succeeded with the latter, but we'll see. My husband is a visual artist, so I'm also always poring over his art supply catalogues and pondering what might happen if I took up pastels or started doing oil paintings. They'd be abstract, but I'd pile on the paint like Van Gogh. Seems therapeutic.
Who helps you edit? To whom do you speak when you have trouble with characters, plots, etc.?
-My husband reads my rough drafts and points out any obvious errors. I have a variety of writing peers that I'll talk to about specific issues, and when I'm just totally stuck I'll go for a walk or occupy myself with something non-writing related to break up the block.
What's the best thing you've read lately?
-I'm re-reading Harriet the Spy, which was one of my childhood favorites. I'm liking it perhaps even more now, because I can understand why the grown-ups behave as they do, but I still love Harriet's desire to spy on people as a means to become a good writer. Isn't that, really, what we're all about?
What's you favorite type of word?
-I love words that start with V, like vixen, vendetta, vestigial, vertigo, venomous, vellum, etc. Anything with an X in it is also instantly desirable. I'm pretty sure this is the only reason I picked up a book by Hélène Cixous.
What do you never want to hear, see, or read again?
-Hear: Rush Limbaugh. See: anything by Andy Warhol. Read: memoirs masquerading as fiction.
What is your weakest skill as a writer?
-Settling for less than perfection.
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Get Lit
Get Lit is not actually about what it sounds like, though I'm sure in the 12th most drunk city in the nation, some people will be getting lit.
Get Lit is a literary festival in Spokane, Washington, sponsored by Eastern Washington University. Published authors and new writers alike are given opportunities all week to share and learn.
I'd love to be at every venue and meet everyone, but due to new-born baby issues, I can't be a social vulture this weekend. But I will be attending the open Community Read this Sunday. Anyone can get 10 minutes to read.
I was there last year and charged through 200 lines of Apocalypse Zoo with no intro and may have confused everyone. This year I'm introducing myself, reading Chapter Two of Road from Nowhere, encouraging everyone to stay and chat, and perhaps finishing with Fake Flowers.
Last year, and at every reading I've ever attended, people seem to be there to read or listen to their one buddy. After that, they jet out and I'm left feeling hollow about an experience I was previously excited to attend. I never get to talk writing to anyone who cares.
Not too late to catch a plane from anywhere in the world.
http://community-building.org/
http://outreach.ewu.edu/getlit/3116.xml
Get Lit is a literary festival in Spokane, Washington, sponsored by Eastern Washington University. Published authors and new writers alike are given opportunities all week to share and learn.
I'd love to be at every venue and meet everyone, but due to new-born baby issues, I can't be a social vulture this weekend. But I will be attending the open Community Read this Sunday. Anyone can get 10 minutes to read.
I was there last year and charged through 200 lines of Apocalypse Zoo with no intro and may have confused everyone. This year I'm introducing myself, reading Chapter Two of Road from Nowhere, encouraging everyone to stay and chat, and perhaps finishing with Fake Flowers.
Last year, and at every reading I've ever attended, people seem to be there to read or listen to their one buddy. After that, they jet out and I'm left feeling hollow about an experience I was previously excited to attend. I never get to talk writing to anyone who cares.
Not too late to catch a plane from anywhere in the world.
http://community-building.org/
http://outreach.ewu.edu/getlit/3116.xml
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When the world as you know it ends, what will you do?
Sociable