NaNo

Well, I did it. I wrote over 100,000 words in one month.
And not one word of it is going to be submitted to a
publisher. Anyway, that's the plan. :)

I'm glad to have my hobby back. Trying to make writing
pay seemed to add too much stress. For now, I am
just glad to have my hobby back.

Will I never submit a story again? Of course I will! I
just need to find new ways to think about it, so I don't
stress over editors and editing and submitting and
trying to make money at this thing I happen to love doing.

Now if I can just get the site to validate what I wrote...
Then again, it probably shouldn't matter. I know I did it.
That's all that should matter.

NaNo '09

Well, I signed up for NaNoWriMo this year--my first year ever. :) I'm a
Rebel--which means I'm not writing on one long project this month.
Basically I'm going to write 50,000 words of whatever. I'm hoping to get
some work done on a stalled novel (or two?), though.

I'm excited about this, and I think it will be good for my writing. :)

I suppose I should be doing that now, instead of blogging!

*Peace*
~Alice~

trying to get back to work

Today I started editing on my YA Christian fantasy novel. I just did a
little bit. It was pretty hard, but at least I got started!!

I've also done some writing recently. Nothing on my 'important' stories.
They will have to wait until I am feeling a little more confident. But
it's been nice to do some writing, nonetheless.

I recently edited a short story of mine. It needs a little more work,
and then I have to find a market for it--somewhere that publishes sci-fi,
and preferably not Ray Gun Revival. I've sent too many stories there
recently, probably because I'm so comfortable there.

Writing Updates

I've received two acceptances since I last wrote. My story "Sky Voices" will appear (eventually) in Ray Gun Revival. My story "Phoenix" will appear (eventually) in Mindflights.

I've also had a novel turned down. That threw me for a loop and I haven't been doing a lot of writing things right now. To be honest, I don't think I'd care very much if I never had to look at that novel again. Yeah. I got pretty burnt out working on it, and then it wasn't even worth it. There's more to the story than that, my usual angsty stuff. I'm not going into it.

I'm just starting to get involved in a little writing, and a little editing again. It's hard to muster much enthusiasm right now. But a good thing can come from this, I hope. Maybe I will stop writing and editing with a view of pleasing others, and just try to get my stories to please myself--at least for now.

Story Published

My short story, "The Literary Hollow," has been accepted at Ethereal
Tales, http://www.etherealtales.co.uk/.

If you go there, and click on "Sneaky Peeks," you can read the first few
words of it. It will be in the third magazine issue, the one coming out
this month.

It is pleasant to have a story published in a British magazine. I will
receive a free copy of the magazine as payment, and I'm looking forward
to checking it out. :)

~Alice~
http://aliceroelke.googlepages.com/home

a Snoopy rejection

It finally happened to me.

You know that Snoopy cartoon where the editors send him a rejection slip,
and he didn't even send them anything? (I think he writes back,
rejecting their rejection slip. Anyway, it's funny. Haha.)

I got one today.

I searched my records, and I have no record of sending that story to that
magazine. I suppose I could've I sent it to them before 2005. They
apologized to a delayed reply, and said the magazine recently changed
management. Maybe I sent it in 2004, got a rejection, and now I'm
getting another one because the records got messed up somehow?

Huh. Still scratching my head over this one.

~Alice~
http://aliceroelke.googlepages.com/home

Cyndere's Midnight, by Jeffrey Overstreet

Cyndere's Midnight, by Jeffrey Overstreet 

Sequel to Auralia's Colors

This lush fantasy novel may be disorienting to those, like me, who haven't yet read the first book.

However, the characters feel real, the world fully-developed.  Things aren't always explained, so you have to learn as you go.

Thick, lush prose and interesting and vivid characters make this book feel like an experience, a step into another world, instead of just a novel.

It's a long book with small print, and it's confusing in spots.  Nevertheless, this story has the feel of greatness about it.  The author writes well.  If it sometimes seems too convoluted, it may be because I don't understand the world yet.  I can always come back to it after I've digested the first in the series.

In all, it’s a beautiful book.  I have the feeling it easily become a classic to many, along with the rest of "The Auralia Thread" series.

I can only applaud the hard work, talent, and skill that went into creating this story’s universe.

Amazon.com link

Other links

> Jeffrey Overstreet¹s Web site - http://lookingcloser.org/

> Jeffrey Overstreet¹s blog -  

> http://lookingcloser.org/category/journal/

> Jeffrey Overstreet at Facebook -

> http://www.facebook.com/people/Jeffrey-Overstreet/42902959

Other people blogging about this:

http://www.christiansciencefiction.blogspot.com

http://betterfiction.com/blog/

http://www.leastread.blogspot.com

http://otter.covblogs.com

http://ansric.blogspot.com

http://prochristroetlibertate.blogspot.com

http://www.chawnaschroeder.blogspot.com

http://www.jamessomers.blogspot.com

http://www.rachelstarrthomson.com/inklings

http://www.epictales.org/blog/robertblog.php

http://christiansf.blogspot.com

http://specfaith.ritersbloc.com

http://frederation.wordpress.com

http://www.novelteen.com

Alice in Alice Land

There's a show, UGLY BETTY, which I mostly can't stand anymore.

On one episode, someone told the main character, Betty, that she lived in
"Betty Land," where everything was about her all the time. (Or something
like that; it's been awhile.)

Sometimes I feel like I live in "Alice Land," where everything is about
me. I don't want to do that, don't want to be selfish and self-preoccupied.
The fact remains, sometimes I am. What else matters so much in a
person's life, except the things that affect that person?

Writing can be a way to get out of one's self, I think.

Or perhaps it is the most self-indulgent time of all, I don't know.
Worrying about writing, thinking about writing -- that can be pretty
self-indulgent, for me, anyway.

But it seems to me that writing itself takes you out of yourself almost
completely. When you're writing, the things that matter most are the
characters and their problems, and not you at all.

The Pink Umbrella

"Mom, how do authors pick titles for their books?" I asked my mother.

I don't know how old I was, but certainly pre-teen.

She tried to explain to me this ephemeral process. (Which frankly I
don't even quite understand today, now that I am an author. Well, if I
did, I'd always be able to pick good titles, wouldn't I?)

My blank stares must have told her I wasn't getting it. So she tried to
give me an example.

"Sometimes authors picks titles from something that shows up in their
stories. Like 'The Pink Umbrella.' An author might name a story that if
a pink umbrella shows up in their story, and means something important."

This explanation left me more confused than ever.

"The Pink Umbrella?" How could that be a title... or mean anything at
all?

I understand titles a little better now, and the weird way they get
picked, or not picked. But in some part of my brain, 'The Pink Umbrella'
still means 'that weird process by which titles get picked.'

Then... the other week... I ran across an old Detective Book Club
compilation.

One of the titles in it? "The Pink Umbrella," by one Frances Cramer, c)
1943.

O...kay.

The weird illustration from my childhood is now alive and well.

Maybe I'll read it and find out just how "The Pink Umbrella" could be a
good title for a book.

Maybe not. I might just let the mystery live on.

~Alice~

The Book of Names, by D. Barkley Briggs

The Book of Names, by D. Barkley Briggs.

When I first heard the title of this book, it reminded me of "The Book of
Lost Things," a secular fantasy by a man named Connelly, which has a lot
of layering and beautiful, fascinating prose. That made me want to check
this book out.

This book is a Christian fantasy. I'm glad to see there's more of that
about lately. After all, some of the best fantasy writers were
Christians. (J.R.R. Tolkien, who started the whole modern fantasy thing,
was a Catholic.)

I'm about halfway through this book, so I can't review it fully, but by
the first few pages, I knew it couldn't be too bad, with rich prose like
the following:

"Riding on the bus, face pressed against the cold window, he didn't know
what to think. Only that it looked... otherworldly. Like God had put
Van Gogh in charge for the day."
...
"...mild winds had stirred to the south, scampering through row after row
of brittle stalks in the neighbor's cornfield across the road. He heard
them in the leafless oak and elm of his own yard, hissing with a high,
dry laughter."
...
"If it was just nasty weather, name it! What did it feel like? Wet fish
guts? Not quite. A full wet diaper? He remembered those well enough
from when the twins were little, but no. A three-day-old slice of
cheese?

Yes, that was it. Cold, damp, moldy.

Velveeta, actually, he decided, feeling a small measure of satisfaction.
He fumbled for the zipper of his coat as another icy breeze prickled his
skin. Yep, another lousy Velveeta day in the life of Haydn Barlow."

The story involves two brothers who find a portal in the back of their
new, lush farm. (When their father talks to them about runestones and
North American Viking landing sites, it's engrossing and realistic.)

The boys end up going through this portal into another land where fairies
and gnomes are real (or fairy- and gnome-like creatures), and there are
different humans and religious orders of Guardians, and a kingdom in
peril.

The story does have some point-of-view violations. It skips from one
boy's thought -- or from simply telling us how he feels -- then switches
to the other's without changing scenes or anything.

Another complaint, which I have with almost all fantasy novels, is that
it is quite long. At 379 pages, it's a big book. (But that's just a pet
peeve of mine about most fantasy. Many would disagree.)

Overall, this seems like a good effort. It's the first in a series,
"Legends of Karac Tor."

Which made me wonder... does "Karac Tor" equal "Character?" I haven't
seen anything to indicate that it does. Maybe I'm reading things into
the syllables here. :)

Here is the link to the book on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/160006227X

Here are some other bloggers who are also talking about this book:
www.christiansciencefiction.blogspot.com
www.AdventuresInFiction.blogspot.com
http://csffblogtour.com
http://askandrea.adamsweb.us
http://fantasythyme.blogspot.com
http://www.Christian-Fantasy-Book-Reviews.com