First Page Contest, Deadpool, and The Walking Dead

I don’t usually celebrate Valentine’s Day other than with a "have a happy". 

But yesterday was memorable.

My Sweet Baboo of 42 years doesn’t go to the movies much let alone enjoy the same outrageous stuff that I do. He likes Sabrina and American President type movies. Chick flicks I reckon. I like Galaxy Quest, Star Trek/Wars, and the Marvel universe. Yesterday, he manned-up and took me to see Deadpool. What a sweetie, huh. Not sure he liked it all that much but love was in his heart.

Deadpool...okay, wow. Funny, amazing special effects, and way cool script. I was laughing from the first opening credits to the end and enjoyed every minute. I want to see it again to catch what I missed. So many inside jokes that it doesn’t always connect at first. It is so different from the other characters in the Marvel franchise that it seems a whole new genre.

No spoilers here but keep in mind, this is not for kids. Don’t take your thirteen year old to see this. Absolutely not for the young’uns.

One thing, IMHO, staying for the two teasers after the credits was a waste of time. Not like Iron Man III for example. Or Thor.

And another thing: If graphic violence (of bad guys getting their comeuppance), multiple curse words, nudity, and sexual situations offend you, don’t watch. I didn’t feel any of the above was gratuitous but yanno, that is my opinion.

The Walking Dead premiered its second half of its sixth season with an on-the-edge-of-your-seat shocker. This show just gets better and better, keeps me wondering who will die without killing off too many—aka Game of Thrones—to ruin the ride. 

For writers, it highlights how to plot, divert attention from the real story, and blow up expectations.

Regarding the last, if you can guess the storyline, predict it, the surprise factor is a mound of glue. Surprise, shock keeps the reader interested. Not just via deaths but unexpected plot twists.

First Page Contest. Here is your chance to get your writing noticed, create interest, and build a platform to display your skills. Plus, you win BOOKS! 

It’s a contest over at Unicorn Bell, our critique site. Moderated by the multi-talented Charity Bradford, it gives writers a shoutout. Enter soon and win bragging rights.

Are you a Marvel Universe fan? Want to see Deadpool? Worship Walking Dead? Ready to enter a writing contest?

A Blogfest, Book Tour, TV show, and Let's Rumble

Variety. It's not just a word.

On Monday, the blogfest that I subtitled “Who is He Really" begins.

The Cavanaugh Blogfest sponsored by Mark Koopman, Morgan Shamy, Stephen Tremp, and David Powers King, let's us use our God-given talents to speculate, postulate, and otherwise poke fun at our leader in the blogosphere, the Ninja Captain of all time Alex Cavanaugh. Author of CassaFire, CassaStar, and the upcoming CassaStorm, the man is an enigma, too humbled by the accolades to even post a picture. This gives us writers the perfect chance to embarrass the hell out of him.

Also on Monday, it is my turn to host Unicorn Bell, a critique site for writers in all stages of their careers. From newbie to published, we are your source for news and advice. Looking for the junction of Traditional Street and Published? That’s us. How about small publishers and self-pub? We got ‘em.

This week, my theme comes from the movie, Michael:

‘BATTLE!’

December 17^th stars another Michael and the beginning of his book tour for Oculus, his second in the series, A Crisis of Two Worlds. Michael Offutt is one of my most favorite bloggers. I consider him a good friend and, more importantly, a real sweetie. My blog is set for a promo stop on the 20^th.

Lastly. January 8^th, a whole month from now, Justified starts another season. Easily the best, most underrated show on television.

Disciple

No fire. No camp. The overcast sky blanketed us in shadows quickly as the sun set, and the fount’s glow was soon the strongest light under the trees. I wrapped my cloak tight around myself, and sat atop one of the bedrolls we had left. Should the final attack come, being bundled up was no safer than trying to run. Better to not be tangled in a blanket, better to run and be pulled down. A quicker death, perhaps. 

What would they tell my mother?

Review of For Want of a Piglet. 

It begins like a slow burning fuse, sparks and flares that compel the reader onward. A bond forms and twines us to Kate from the start. Tension builds and I expect a good story line but the quiet steam lulls me into approaching the peak of the volcano. I mean heat and the rumbles under my feet doesn't mean it’s about to blow, right?

Then the story exploded catching me in the lava. And I couldn't turn the pages fast enough after that.

My saga with L. Blankenship’s Disciple began thirteen months ago after she submitted her first page to our writer’s critique site, UnicornBell. For Want of a Piglet, caught my eye first. I mean who could resist that title. Her writing sealed the deal. LB - my designation for her - is one of the few writers that I asked, no begged, to read her wip. She graciously submitted to my groveling and, wow, is it ever a one-sided deal in my favor.

I am one of the fortunate few who've read the fourth installment of this series of six and lemme tell ya Writers, this is the Real Deal. It only gets better. And if you live and breathe Fantasy as I do, you won’t be disappointed.

Worldbuilding. LB is the master here, written so well that you’d swear she’d teleported/time traveled into her world for a firsthand look.

Easy reading. As a writer, you’ll appreciate the quick pace and building tension. 

Genre. Call Disciple hard fantasy, epic, or ‘Gritty Fantasy Romance’, the key word here is ‘fantasy’. It is set in the medieval world of horses, castles, battlements, and kings. It might fit the sub-genre of Swords and Sorcery but that is debatable.

A little bit about LB. As an author who self-published rather than follow the traditional route, L. Blankenship is part of a growing trend. Traditional publishing, i.e. agents, are not the force they used to be and finding one who believes in your work is another catfish entirely. 

In LB’s words: “Ebooks are a huge boon to self-publishers. I would not have done this without the ease of distributing ebooks.”

Control over the author’s work is another strong point in support of self-pub.

LB: “I wanted control over how Disciple is presented to the readers…”

 Who can argue with that statement?

Please note that ‘self-publishing’ is NOT the same as vanity press. I’d avoid those bottom feeders at all costs.

Summary. For Want of a Piglet is the first in the series of Disciple, L. Blankenship’s fantasy novel. It is rare day when I experience a full gamut of emotions after reading a tome, but this one has it all; mourning a character’s demise, anger at another’s attitude, worry when I realize no one is safe. This is the book that you can’t put down. This is the book that makes you blurry-eyed the next day at work from reading until 2 am.

Find it at these outlets.

Query School is In Session

The bell just rang over at Unicorn Bell and the students are taking their seats. Turn off your cell phones and quit passing notes cuz it is time to begin our lessons.

Check out the schedule above and come join us. At the end of this three week course, editors from small publishers will judge your term papers, er, queries and who knows, maybe lightning will strike.

At least it is a chance to improve your writing and craft a great query.

So slip over and check it out. Multiple post per day with one of the worst query examples ever (mine*gag*) on tap for later today.

SQUIRREL!!

Several months ago, Hope Roberson wrote a post that absolutely nailed human nature. No matter how determined a person, shiny objects will find a way to divert our attention from the goal.

Re-modeling our house is a journey filled with Squirrel!

My days start with goals in mind but soon I find myself beguiled by the call of my personal sirens.  

And editing my manuscript, writing, posting on my blog, and cruising my friends’ blogs wither like my houseplants without water.

I have the lemon tree I started from seed to prove it. Poor thing. I hate when they lay flat on the soil in a faint like that.

But today - walking the blogs without coffee and mostly dressed - nothing will divert my attention from blogging. Not the hubby with his Hey look! Randy Travis got arrested drunk and totally naked. Or the cat complaining that she has been without food for fifteen minutes.

Two contests!

DL Hammons is holding a cool diversion for writers, a fight club. Just what we need. Submit a 500-word excerpt of your writing and pit it against other writers. Vote for the ones that catch your interest.

The other contest is our own Unicorn Bell. Next week we begin the lead up to School’s In, Query Contest with the publishing world judging the results.

Be aware of the Squirrel ! in our DNA. But don’t let the side trips keep you from your personal goals.

What Squirrel!s are out there for you?

Query Contest on Unicorn Bell

Do you have a completed manuscript? Are you interested in submitting directly to a small publisher?

Well, hold your horses. 

First, you must polish that manuscript to an eye-blinding sparkle. Then compose a query. Not just any query but something to knock that publisher off their feet. Wow them.

Our critique group, Unicorn Bell, is holding a query contest in August.

In the words of my good friend and mentor, Charity Bradford:

We are devoting most of August to queries: how to's, examples, workshops and the query process in general. The last week of August we will have three wonderful guest judges reading all polished queries for FINISHED manuscripts.

Krystal Wade from Curiosity Quills
Nancy Bell from MuseItUp Publishing
Amy Lichtenhan SapphireStar Publishing

If they like what they see, they may request pages and who knows where that may lead you?

There will be more info coming over the next few weeks, but we wanted to give you time to comb through that MS one more time. Maybe even get one more beta reader? Here's what these ladies said they are looking for right now.

Krystal--I love older mc's (18+)! I'd like to see some good dystopian, more male mc's too, and then of course anything scifi/fantasy/paranormal with something new and unusual.

Nancy--MuseItUp is looking for more dark fiction, horror, as we are light in that department. However, romance, historical romance, YA/MG from a male POV that will entice that sector. Of course, we are open to anything that is well written and crafted. We don't publish literary fiction or poetry.

Amy--We're especially interested in contemporary romance and paranormal romance at this time, although we are accepting submissions in all fiction categories.

Head over to UB for more information about small publishers and critiquing. 

The Summer of Inspiration

Mangled Manuscript Monday

It is hot. And worse, it is dry. Bugs, dust, and lots of sweating.

It is also reunions, cookouts, camping. Long evenings, early mornings.

In the sweet days of watermelon and the sound of locust buzzing, writing can’t stop. The season draws my attention as well as our house renovations. Regarding the remodeling, we are in a down period; ie the contractor wandered off to do another house while waiting for shipment of my cabinets.

 *he could be tiling my kitchen floor but nooooo, he’s gotta go side another house, grrrrrrrrr*

Okay, I’m back.

Inspiration strikes at the oddest times. During casual conversation with a friend, watching a documentary about wild horses, reading Publishers Marketplace.

Sometimes my fellow writers at Unicorn Bell give me that moment: 

“Light bulb,” - Gru, Despicable Me

Thanks Marcy. Last February, your blog jiggled something loose in my brain.

Does your writing routine change in the summer? What inspired your wip?

A Picture Paints a Thousand Words Blogfest

At Unicorn Bell, our critique group blog, we are hosting a Blogfest called A Picture Paints a Thousand Words.This is my contribution. 


Please note: I am not eligible to win but I did have a lot of fun with this picture.

I covered the last few steps to the old foundation and looked at the stones with an archeologist’s eye. Worked stone, old, Medieval construction or before, no metal reinforcements. It had the outline of a smallish house, maybe used in its later life as a dwelling for sheep or other livestock. I bit my bottom lip in thought.

Built on an ancient barrow or burial mound.

My property, inherited from an unknown benefactor, proved not to be the wasteland of rusted machinery that I imaged it would be. Instead, I found a fairy tale cottage and a land heavy with ancient history. And this weird bit of stone and moss, waiting for me like a living thing on my land, unperturbed. Confidant in its age.

I walked along the edge of the foundation, absently noticing the twitter of birds and distant lowing of a cow. Concentrating on the stones, I stepped carefully around several blue stones that had fallen away from the base.

The cow went silent but I didn’t think anything of it.

Slabs of blue stone barred my way. One had shifted, slanting to expose a stone well.

The morning sun disappeared behind a cloud and I shivered. The contrasts between light and shadow became one of gray. Birdsong vanished like the sun and the wind died. Everything was still as if I had stepped through a curtain into a silent world.

As if, the world paused in its spin and now waited, breath held.

I hesitated my skin prickling. But something odd caught my eye and I forgot the chill that brushed my neck and arms.

On the other side of the canted stone, a dark hole opened into the rock wall. I peeked inside the well of stone and saw an object at the bottom of the meter deep hole.

I knelt for a closer look, squinting in the low light. It was darker than ever, like the twilight before a cloudburst.  

A storm must be rolling in, I thought.

But the weather was the least of my concerns now and I ignored it.

It was difficult to see it clearly but something brown and slender lay at the bottom. A violent gust of wind caught my dark hair and blew it into wild tangles around my face. Bits of grass and grit whirled in a sudden maelstrom around the stones.

I reached in and shuddered with the thought of bugs and varmints that might await my fingers. But it was dry and cool in the stones. I touched a leather-covered object, long and thin, pulled it out of its hiding place and into the darkened afternoon.

The material was burnt-orange brown and soft as if lightly oiled leather. Impossible of course. Unless someone had deposited it recently. But the green moss seemed undisturbed.

A soft hum came to me, a low vibrating noise like that of a tuning fork.

The wind, I thought, whistling through one of the openings in the foundation. The beginning of the promised summer storm.

I set it on the ground, untied strips of thin sinew and unwound the supple leather. The leather released suddenly and the artifact tumbled from my hands, landing soundlessly in the grass.

My breath left my lungs in a huff. A rapier glimmered dully in the sunless day, the blade of deep black, shot with a tracing of gold. The foil was an intricate design of black and gold wires, an ancient artifact of inestimable value and quality.

The gold emitted a dim glow as if covered with dingy film. But the blade appeared as if my hand could pass straight through if I touched it, as if it had depth, a three-dimensional effect. Vibration filled the air about me humming louder.

I reached for the hilt and lifted it. The sun chose that moment to break into brilliance. A great flash exploded soundlessly and the gold rose up to meet the radiance of the sun. It glowed as if the light was in it and behind it. And faraway, I heard hollow, basso thunder.

The thrumming, deep-earth hum filled my body, chattering my teeth and scattering my wits. Gold covered me, filled and encapsulated me like a halo of pure energy.

And then I fainted.

#

Far away, on another continent, a fierce blow struck the Dragon in his chest. His legs buckled and he fell. A deep roar vibrated his body and mind, coming from under his body from the ground beneath him. The sensation of iron clutched at him and pulled him to the east like the point of a compass, incontrovertible and inescapable.  

Chaos filled his mind as he recognized The Call. One thought only came to him:

The Rapier has found a new Master.

Blog Hops in March

Today's Subjects:

• Two blog hops
• April’s Mosh Pit
• Confetti soon-to-be thrown.

Unicorn Bell, a critique group moderated by four writers, is offering prizes.

The crit site features advice for writers at every stage of their career.

Marcy of Mainewords runs a fantabulous site where she crits first pages with Dianne Salemi and posts jaw-dropping photos of her life. This is where I go first every Sunday morning after I snag a cuppa.

Jeffrey begins a kick off tomorrow for his debut novel, Spell of Entrapment. If fantasy is your meat and potatoes as it is mine, check this out.

Charity of Charity’s Writing Journey is in a class all her own. The lady is a modern day Wonder Woman running her clan of younglings, serving her church, and writing. And OMGoodness, that writing is about to explode into the publishing world, I just know it.

And yes, I am the fourth member of this elite group and humbled more than I can say by the association.

Unicorn Bell’s blog hop begins March 26 – 28. Did I say there are prizes?

MarkKoopmans’ Blog O’Hop starts tomorrow. Quick, quick, sign up NOW!

The Be-All and End-All Mosh Pit of a blog hop begins April 1^st the A to Z Blog Challenge. Get in on the fun and meet some of the best humans on the planet.

Lastly, the confetti. Or fireworks in this case.

I am nearing my two hundredth follower. When that day arrives, an Amazon gift card is in someone’s future.

What blog hops are you looking forward to in March and have you signed up for A to Z?

Unicorn Bell Blogfest

Charity is sponsoring a Blogfest at Unicorn Bell, a critique group we share with Marcy and Jeff.

Here's how it works:

• Sign up at Unicorn Bell
• Tell your friends about the party
• Choose a picture from below to inspire your short story
• On Monday-Wednesday, March 26-28, post your story and visit other participants.
• The four of us at UB will do the same and pick four favorites. We will post these on Wednesday night.
• On Thursday you get to vote for your favorite
• Winner will be announced on Friday. They will have a choice between a first chapter critique from those of us at UB. Or a $20 gift card to Amazon.

Charity writes:

And now the pictures. They lean more toward the fantasy and sci-fi genres but that seems to be what most of our commentators write. Feel free to tweak it to your personal style. Most of all, have fun! I found the first half on Fantasy Art Design. The rest were on my computer in the sample pictures.