Well, what do you know...

I'm still alive. If anyone every happened upon this poor, neglected blog, they'd never have guessed it.

Something strange happened to me today. The urge to write and submit stories has returned! Hallelujah!

So, I celebrated by submitting one of my stories, The Girl In The Window, to Strange, Weird, And Wonderful magazine.

Hope springs eternal!

Arthur C. Clarke

I was very sad to read in the paper this morning that Arthur C. Clarke has died at the age of 90.

I'm currently in the middle of reading his "Rama" books for about the 10th time.

Even though I know he was no longer an active writer, it was always nice to think that there was a chance, even if it was a tiny one, that a new Arthur C. Clarke book might come out.

If you haven't read any of his work, I would strongly urge you to try at least one and see what you think. I believe I've read nearly everything he's ever written, but my favorites are definitely the 4 Rama books. As I said earlier in the post, I've read them many, many times but I still enjoy them.

It's been said many times, but they literally don't write em like that anymore. Maybe I've been looking in the wrong places, but I'm not sure that his work would even be published if he were a young, upcoming writer today. Nearly everything I see on the new deal list from publisher's marketplace is an urban fantasy, or magic. Very little hard science fiction.

And the beauty about Mr. Clarke's books was the fact that he made hard science fiction entertaining. It wasn't so steeped in science that it was boring, yet he was often prophetic in his writings about future technologies. A rare combination, and one that we might not see again for a long time.

Writers Conference

It's that time of year again. Time to start making plans for upcoming writers conferences.

I know I'm going to the Heartland Writer's Guild conference in June. It's only held every other year and this will be my fourth time attending. The question is, will I still be hawking my manuscript, Time Slice, or will I have a publisher by then? I hope I attend as an author with a recently inked deal! :-)

The other conference is held by the Missouri Writer's Guild. It is in April and while I'd like to go, I'm not sure time and money will allow me to go to both.

So, if I have to choose only one, it's definitely the Heartland conference.

Everyone has their favorite reading spot...

I think most people who like to read have their favorite spot. Mine is the plaid chair in the corner of the bedroom. I flip on the little light next to the chair and sit blissfully reading before I go to bed. That usually only lasts about 10 minutes because I get too tired, but that's the way I like to read...a little at a time.

Apparently, the guy driving next to me on the way to work this morning has his favorite spot also...it's just a little unusual (at least I hope it is!).

Now, when I drive to work, it's still a good half hour or so before the rooster crows. This morning, it was also very windy and a little bit of rain/snow was filtering down from the gray overcast. A good morning to pay attention to the road, wouldn't you say?

As I made my way down the highway, holding steady at 65 mph, I could see that quite a few cars in front of me were abandoning the right lane and heading over to the left to pass something/someone. I thought there might be an accident or someone pulled over on the shoulder so I did the same.

Well, it wasn't an accident...at least not yet. Instead, it was a little white car with it's interior dome light on. At the wheel, a man with a book spread out across the steering wheel: he was completely engaged in the story. Occasionally, like a deer looking up from grazing to see if a predator was close by, he'd steal a look out the windshield, and then return to his story.

I glared at him as I passed but, of course, he wasn't looking. I hope he made it work without taking himself or someone out.

There's only one possible acceptable excuse for his actions, but I don't think he was reading a book that I wrote, so I can't forgive him.

Keep writing...and reading, but not while you're driving!

Kerry

If I Had a Dollar

If I had a dollar for everytime someone told me how rich I must be since I've had a book published well, I really would be rich! It's funny how everyone assumes that once you've gotten your book published, the rest is all gravy. You know, book signings, money rolling in hand over fist, that sort of thing.

Truth be told, I'm in the whole a number of thousands of dollars because of The Collective being published. It was money spent on advertising, postcards, commercials, all of the stuff necessary to try and get your name out there. And while the book sold for $25.95 (hardcover), I saw $1.50 of that for every book sold. You can do the math...it takes a whole lot of $1.50's to get rich!

So, if you think getting your book published is the way to wealth, you might want to think again. Oh sure, it does happen. I mean there are people out there whose first book goes straight to the top of the charts valuting them to instant celebrity status, but I wouldn't bet the farm on it. There are roughly 250,000 new books published each year and of those, how many famous first time authors have you heard of? I can't think of any either.

Believe me, I'm not trying to dampen your enthusiasm. Quite the opposite. Despite being out quite a bit of money, I can't wait to do it all over again! It's a ton of fun and excitement...just not necessarily wealth and fame. I look forward to the day when I get Time Slice published and can go start cold-calling on book stores again. Emailing and phoning regional book chain reps to try and get them to carry my book. Dreaming up ads and commercials to try and get the general public interested. It's a blast!

For one more dose of reality, you might want to check out this blog post from someone who knows.

But don't let this keep you from writing, just make sure you're writing for the right reason...because you love it!

Kerry

Crazy Weather

And now, a brief departure from the subject of writing, to my speak of my first love...meteorology.

One week ago today, the low was 8 degrees and the high was 13. Today, it was in the low 70's and we've just been put under a tornado watch until morning.

As some of you may know from reading previous posts, I am a weather geek. I love all kinds of weather and the electric feeling in the atmosphere on a night like this is hard to beat. The wind is whipping out of the south, bringing up a nice, thick layer of moisture from the Gulf. Combine that with a cold front bearing down on us from the west, and you've got the classic ingredients for a sever weather outbreak.

We'll see what develops tonight, but it looks like I may not get much sleep!

A different kind of writing

I just got my first exposure to writing a testimonial for a product. It isn't a paying gig, and won't bring me fame or fortune, but a company whose service I value highly asked me if I would write one for them, so I did.

I've had a little exposure to copywriting (took some courses at one time thinking I might want to do that for a living) so that made it a little easier.

Never hurts to branch out into other areas. You never know when a skill you thought you might never need will come in handy!

Keep writing!
Kerry

Here we go...again

Just sent off Time Slice to a small publisher, Swimming Kangaroo Books.

I spent quite a bit of time looking at their web site and when I found an mp3 of the publisher and her family singing "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer", I knew they were for me! Sounds like they have a lot of fun and, frankly, I'm tired of this whole publishing thing being such an ordeal. While I want my books to do well and find an audience, I'd also like to have a little fun along the way. I'm certainly not in it for the money, so if I could find a publisher with a sense of humor AND who likes my book, that would be almost too good for words.

New submission

While searching for a possible publisher for Time Slice, I happened upon an on-line literary magazine that looks like a possible fit for my short story, An Unexpected Ally.

The name of the magazine is Amarillo Bay. I read a couple of the stories they had published there and really liked them. They also seemed to be written in a tenor similar to my story so I went ahead and sent them a submission.

Happy New Year and all that crap

Hey everyone...

As you can tell from the title of this post, new year isn't my favorite holiday by any stretch of the imagination.

In fact, I hate it. Now I know I've got a lot to be thankful for...a decent job, a great family, my health (for the most part), and I am thankful for all of those things. It's just that at the new year, I can't seem to focus on those things. What I focus on is that it feels like any accomplishments from the last year are completely wiped out...gone...and I have to start proving myself all over again. I don't like that "blank slate" feeling.

The weather doesn't help either. January and February are such wasted months for someone like me who doesn't like the cold. It's 8 degrees this morning! Now, what is a person supposed to do in 8 degree weather?!?!?!?! Sit inside and try to stay warm, that's what, but how much fun is that? Not much.

Yes, I know it's all in my head. I also know that these feelings will go away soon enough. And, soon enough, I'll remember to write 2008 on my checks (although I write precious few checks anymore) instead of 2007. And, before you know it, spring will be here and then summer, and I'll be writing a post about how freaking hot it is and how I hate the hot weather.

Geessshhh...what I winer I am!

So, Happy New Year to those cold-weather-loving, like-to-start-all-over kind of folks out there. If you're one of them, I'm jealous of you!