Spread the Word Saturday

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I had a few things in mind for sharing today, but then I read the following article about Michael Jordan's acceptance speech at last nights Hall of Fame induction ceremony. I'm not a big sports fan. Heck, I don't even have a TV. While my soon to be brother-in-law is busy setting up his three television sets in their living-room so that he can watch three football games concurrently, I'm busy scratching my head and wondering why. But I always did marvel at Michael Jordan when I was growing up. 

I think it's because he looked like such a little guy on the court. I always cheered for the small guy that could make the big beefy guys look like fools. Hence my love of Bruce Lee. And last night while I was out with a couple of my buddies being reminded why it's so great NOT to be single, I watched clips of Jordan tearing up during his speech and thought, "Man, that guy always had such class." 

Then I read this article, an article that's more of a character sketch of the man. It shed a different light on him and his career and totally changed how I look at him. It also made me think of character flaws and how traits can be perceived differently by different people. But don't take my word for it, go read the article.

Honest Scrap Award

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Spread the Word Saturday

I won my first award! Twice! Alright, so there isn't like a panel of judges or anything like that; and as Paige Bruce put it, it's almost like a chain letter because of the number of people you're supposed to “award” it to (read: pass it on). Here, I'll let you read the rules for yourself.

“This award is meant to be passed on to bloggers who post from the heart. The rules for receiving this award are simple, pass the award on to seven worthy blogs and list ten honest things about yourself. It’s all about driving traffic to your favourite sites so here goes.”

Both Paige Bruce of the aptly titled Paige Bruce and klstevens of Cutting My Own Path noted me on their blogs for the Honest Scrap Award, and both had very nice things to say. It's the nice things that people say that keep me going, so I really appreciate it.

These ladies talk about writing adding in their own personal anecdotes to this sometimes troublesome journey that we all find ourselves on. Recently Paige has moved more towards instructional aids and klstevens has been sharing more of her own progress, even going so far as to post a bit of her story the other day. (See, I do read them!)

After the rouge finally left my cheeks I realized, “Oh crap, now I have to give it to seven 'other' bloggers. Do I even know seven other bloggers? Wait, I know eight. Ah crap, now I've got to leave someone out. Someone is going to end up hating me.”

For those who have been reading this blog for a while, you've come to accept that I like to make things difficult. I rarely say, “Oh, that's good enough the way it is.” I'm always trying to figure out how I can make things just a little bit better. So I decided, “Screw this, I'm making my own rules.”

Apparently with the old Honest Scrap, folks used a really bad picture of a sign. I didn't like it. So part of the DtW version of Honest Scrap is that fancy new image you saw up at the top. I found an old propaganda poster from wartime U.S. history and turned it into something cool with my mad photoshop skilzzzzzz. You'll notice that it doesn't have any drop shadow like my images usually do (yeah, I know you tooootally noticed that about my graphics didn't you? pft) and the reason being is because I want people to be able to snag it and use it freely. Along with being a writer, I'm an artist, and it annoys the hell out of me when bad graphics like that sign get plastered all over the blogosphere.

The New Rules

The recipient of the Honest Scrap Award chooses one blogger (not the person that awarded it to them) who they feel honestly posts from their heart. Create a separate post on your blog recognizing the person who awarded you with the Honest Scrap and about the new recipient, noting why you chose them for the award. In your post note ten honest things about yourself (consider it your acceptance speech). Feel free to use the new Honest Scrap Award image on your blog as you see fit. Notify the new recipient in the comment section of their blog so that they know that their hard work is appreciated.

And the Winner Is

Razorblade Brain written by golddust3681 (I'm omitting her real name because I'm not sure if she wants it shared I'll edit it in later is she wants). Frankly, with posts about things like “Dick Afros” I don't think they get much more honest than what you'll find on Razorblade Brain. This blog is written with a great deal of wit and snark. She's not afraid of poking a jab at herself or anyone else, even her adorable daughter. So if you're interested in a good laugh and are mature enough to make it past the content warning, definitely check it out.

Ten Honest Things:

1) I didn't lose my virginity until I was 20. Come on, does it get much more honest than that?

2) I'm an eighth black and didn't find out until I was 31. Imagine my surprise.

3) I'm a hermit. For the most part I can lock myself away from the world with only limited contact and be completely content.

4) I'm a terrible friend. I don't call. I seldom write. I don't ask for help. But I still get butthurt when I'm not invited to things.

5) Like klstevens, I hate having dry hands after washing. All the oils get sucked from your skin and it drives me nuts; hence why you'll often catch me grooming like a cat just after washing.

6) I was dropped from my track team in my senior year because of bad grades (read: I'm a lazy idiot) but somehow managed to finagle my way back on to it by pleading with teachers for changed grades (read: I must have looked really pathetic).

7) I am terrified of failure to the point of not trying. You don't try, you don't fail. (I'm working on this one).

8) I should have been hit by a car when I was 15. It was lunch time and I was in town heading over to the pizza parlor yammering with my friends. A bread delivery truck was parked on the curb in front of the cross walk, I went to step out to cross the street, the bread guy yelled “Hey, look out!” I hesitated. A car flew by right where I should have been. Because of that Wonder Bread guy, you now have to put up with me.

9) I accidentally tricked my wife into dating me. She had a Christian only rule for dating, I thought I was Christian at the time. She fell in love with me, I with her. I found not Jesus, but it was too late, I'd already woven my spell. (sucker)

10) I wet the bed on and off until I was something like ten years old. Friend: “What's that smell?” Me: “Huh, what smell?” Friend: “It smells like it's coming from your bed.” Me: “Oh, that. Uh, we have a new puppy and it was up on my bed playing and it had an accident.” Riiiiight. Sigh.

Spread the Word Saturday: Agents Hate These

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Happy weekend to you! Of course if yours is anything like mine is shaping up to be, it's not going to be much of a weekend. It's sad when even events that you were looking forward to, say my buddies birthday bash, are approached with a groan because all you really want to do is lay about the house all day and relax, or in my case write. Ah well, such is life. 

I've got two blog links for you today. Since there was a brief mention of literary agents this week, I thought I might share a couple of posts that might be helpful. These two agents have posted a "Where I stop reading" list. 

Janet Reid started this concept back in 2005. Janet Reid's list of 5 cues for her to stop reading your query sparked BookEnds, LLC's Jessica Faust to put up her own list of 9 reasons to stop reading a query.

I've finally had forward momentum with my short, so I want to try and finish that up this weekend, attend to some crits, and work on the blog a bit. I'm also hoping to have time to but together a series on critiques for next week, but that requires forethought and preparation. We'll see. Maybe a post on critiquing, receiving criticism, crit partners, and crit groups? Wait, did we just plan it out? Sigh. I feel the heavy weight of commitment baring down on me. 

And as an extra special addition to the crit series, I'm going to take the first chapter of a story that I wrote ten years ago when I first started my writing journey and critique it as if it were someone else's. That should be entertaining. For those of you knew to the game, it will give you an idea of how I crit, and for those of you already used to critiquing, it will give you you a good laugh at my extremely poor prose. 

Spread the Word Saturday: Emo Critics

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So I'm going to start a new feature for the blog. I've been finding so much great content out there in the blogosphere that I want to share with everyone and I don't want it to get lost in the sidebar. Since I don't do anything on the blog during the weekend anyway, I'm going to rename Saturdays to "Spread the Word Saturday." (Oh so witty, I know. Pft.) 

I'm going to highlight one blog post that I thought was ultra witty, snarky, or just plain ol' good advice. Most often they'll be people I know, so be looking for a link to your blog. Today's is not going to be someone I know. Today's relates to my own personal emo experience from this week. 

Dahmijva shared this with me today to cheer me up. Seems there are people out there that truly dislike me and I can only figure it is because I give it to you straight. That said, here's a link to critique guides for those fluffy bunnies who can't stomach my straight forward style. It's from Wired Magazine. 

Alt Text: Genius Strategies for Defanging Web’s Harshest Critics Please pass it along to all the fluffy bunnies in your life and let them know that we lubve them, we weelly weelly do. 

And thanks for all of the comments on yesterday's post, it made me feel warm and fuzzy in spite of finding out that I'm a know-it-all jerk that no one likes, oh, and that I'm apparently wrong (thanks Dahmijva). Friday's will likely be filled with snark from now on so read with caution. :) 

What Does Anybody Know About Writing

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So I’ve recently taken up trolling the blogosphere: how to, agents, editors, everything and anything that I can find relating to the craft of writing. This is because I just recently learned what that silly little RSS icon is all about and how to use a reader, in my case Google Reader. And I must say what an amazingly convenient way to aggregate information it is. 

In the toolbar to the right you’ll be seeing links to some of these blogs. Google Reader has a sharing widget that allows me to share which individual posts I’ve found particularly useful as a sort of announcement. Also, as I begin to make more and more connections, I’ll link to friends, authors, agents, and editors in my links section. 

Most often, if a blog strikes me as being especially interesting or useful it will appear in the “Blog posts of note by others” category, so please do follow those links and see what all the hubbub is about. Other times, like today, I’ll come across a blog that didn’t really strike me as being particularly noteworthy, but something in it still rang true, and so I’ll make note of it in a blog post. 

Today’s interesting note comes from an interview of romance writer Jo Beverley done over at the Writer Unboxed blog. While most of it seemed to be a plug for Jo, there was a couple of nice bits towards the end. When asked what the stupidest bit of advice that she ever got with regards to writing was, she replied:

JB: That it’s stupid not to pre-plot. That there’s any “best way” to write a novel.

Q: The smartest?

JB: That the end completes the book in the reader’s mind. Beautifully, or disastrously. Also that the beginning sells the book and the end sells the next, which is partially the same thing.

The first point struck me because of what I’ve been talking about on the blog lately and personally agonizing over with my own writing, plotting. It’s tempting to throw everything that I’ve been working on by the wayside and say, “forget it, I don’t need to plot, Jo just said I didn’t.” But then again, this will be my first attempt at making a real go at it, so how can I say it will or will not work? Then again, if you refer to her answer to the first question she answers my doubts. 

I guess my point with this post is that until you’ve tried many different styles, you have no way of knowing which one is the best for you.

It is raining off and on today, and my wife is taking the little one with her to town, I see a brief window of writing opportunity presenting itself. Time to get to it.