Been Gone Awhile

I’ve been lesst-than-sporadic and more like non-existent in my blog posts lately. Sorry ’bout that. Excuse: COLLEGE.

What have I been doing?

-Searching for dreaded parallel fifths in my music theory class.

-Writing plays about murdering snails (people who murder snails, not the other way around) in my playwriting class.

Can you spot the murderous glint in the wherever the eye of this snail is?

-Writing about clown sex, highlighter highs, hawks, broken Gameboys, and strippers in my fiction writing class.

-Sifting through submissions for Churn Thy Butter Magazine. Preparing to launch the first issue this March!

At this very moment (1: 46 AM) I’m staying up and writing a fiction piece whilst drinking copious amounts of tea. Feelin’ good.

How I Edit (Plus My Triumphant Return to the Blogosphere)

Logo for the odd fiction online lit mag Churn Thy Butter

I’ve been trying to work out a formula for what good writing is. Here it goes:

1. Writing anything at all no matter how terrible (also known as BIC or Butt-in-chair time).

2. Restraining oneself from that piece of writing for a week at least.

3. Returning to that piece of writing and improving it.

(And repeat as many times as necessary)

I’d say my biggest struggle is with #1: Lately I’ve been editing six pieces on and off while writing none! I could make up a lot of excuses, some of which would appear valid, but it all comes down to fear. I get a lot of fine ideas, but what if I don’t get it down on paper the exact way I want? Well that’s what editing is for, I have to remind myself. Don’t have an idea: Freewrite freewrite freewrite.

#2 is difficult at times, but I try to edit other pieces. I even have a two week countdown to when I’m allowed to edit a piece. It’s important to get a distance from a piece I’ve been so close to.

#3 is my favorite. What I do to edit is first to get out my sentence variety chart. All it is:

-first word in sentence

-active verb in sentence (or all verbs if you want)

-words in sentence

These three tiny details end up making a huge difference in my writing.

Next I get my voice recorder out and read the piece aloud. I listen to my own voice (is that really what I sound like?) and hear the rhythms of the piece. You don’t need a voice recorder to hear it aloud, but I think it makes the process a whole lot easier.

I ask questions about my characters. I ask them the questions and have them answer. I ask what the purpose and themes of the piece is and how I can evoke that meaning. I ask what I could research into to make it more real and I do that research.

I repeat this editing of one piece multiple times a day until I’m exhausted or else satisfied. I wait two weeks and see if it’s ready to be submitted.

My editing process is imperfect: What do you all do to edit your pieces?

Why I’ve been gone is mostly due to college which is wonderful and busy. I took a great poetry class as well as theatre and a computer science course that I withdrew from. Way too difficult, that one. Next term I’m taking a beginning fiction class AND a beginning poetry class, so I’ll have a lot to write and a lot to write about here. Also happened for me are a music theory class and cello lessons!

I’ve mentioned this before, but I enjoy saying too much that I’m editor-in-chief of Churn Thy Butter, a quarterly online literary magazine with a focus on odd fiction and poetry. We have many submissions but could use many more! It’s tons of hard work, but tons of fun. I’ll be sure to keep you readers posted.

Again I’ll ask my editing question: What do you all do to edit your pieces?

My 50 Word Challenge Entry

Here is my entry for Josh Mosey’s 50 Words, 1 Character Challenge.

Once a shining sun taken men shouldn’t stare at (but they did nonetheless), she became unstable. Hollowed. And still she meant the world to herself; now nothing but a lovely void to anyone else. A bitter black hole, attracting and destroying the mere objects which dared approach her illusory beauty.

50 Words, 1 Character Challenge

Fellow writing blogger Josh Mosey posed a challenge last week. Here it is: Write fifty words, no more and no less, about one character. No secondary characters allowed! Or in Mosey’s words: “You have fifty words to flesh out a character that you think would make a book lover love your book.” 

There is no prize except for the warm fuzzies of accomplishment you’ll get.

The deadline is August 31st. 

Post your entry in the comment box on his post or post a link to your entry there.

This challenge is all about character and character development. Every single word counts. Choose wisely.

Good luck, writers!

Calling All Photographers: The Molotov Cocktail

My very favorite literary magazine is The Molotov Cocktail. It’s a haunting, surreal, and odd place for dark fiction, something very close to the deepest, blackest depths of my heart.

Here is a post from them that I recently saw on Facebook: “Are there photographers out there who would be interested in contributing black and white or sepia photos for our cover art? I’d like to start incorporating some modern photographic art into The Molotov Cocktail that fits with our oddball vintage cover aesthetic. Respond if interested and I may make this a submission option beginning in the fall.”

I’m no photographer but I know some of you readers are. Tell me in the comments if you’re interested and keep me updated on your progress!

A little bit o’ self promotion: See my story that wound up published in The Molotov Cocktail to my great delight. Read “Milk” here.

A Challenge To Writers

I recently came across a writing challenge that I’d love to try!

(This post will be loaded with links in the hope that you’ll click on them to help out a fellow writer and a literary magazine. I implore you to click!)

So, this wonderful author Paul Jaskunas had a writing student with a terrible writer’s block. He challenged her to write a short story every day and to email it to him. In return he’d come up with a fresh story every day and email it to her. It worked!

Read about his challenge and subsequent inspiration for two great flash fiction pieces “In The China Closet” and “Indigents“ in the blog of literary magazine JMWW.

So would anyone like to try this with me? Flash fiction reading and writing for a whole week! Comment below and we can share stories across our blogs or work something similar out!

How To Write On A Bleh Day

Today is a bleh day. The weather is gorgeous here, but I feel like shit emotionally and physically. I’m not sad and I’m not sick or in pain. I’m just “bleh.” Yet I’ve managed to type three whole pages on my typewriter. And typewriter font is small. Here are some ways to write on a less than happy day.

1. Don’t Write. If you feel that bad you have to take a break. This is not a day for a writing marathon. Walks will help, though I cannot at all promise that you’ll feel 100% better. I can guarantee you won’t. I didn’t. But it cleared up a bit of bleh. Among other non writing things to do are: meditation (could even be less than five minutes right before you write), stretching, sleeping, eating something that makes you happy, watching your favorite movie or show. Do this for a good portion of the day. Then onto stage two or you risk feeling worse.

2. Do something productive. Not necessarily writing related. Do taxes, homework, cleaning. You will feel accomplished and slightly better/less bleh about yourself.

3. Write. Now is the time to write You may get out only one sentence or less. But whatever, because you had a shit day! Fuck the day! You WROTE some shit. Doesn’t matter if it’s shit (bad) or THE shit (good). You got through a bleh day and tomorrow will be better.

Maybe.