Happy New Year!

Just wanted to pop in and let readers know that I'm giving away a FREE eBook on my website. It's a compilation of my best of writing tips from my website. It's my New Year's Gift to site visitors.

I have two tips features on my website:

Writers Nibs: Dip into the Well
From Wisdom's Font

I've been posting tips on a semi-schedule since 2006. You can access all my previous tips here. And while you're on the website, be sure to check out my contest page. :-)

Happy, happy New Year! Hope it rocks for you!
Perilously yours,
Pauline

Fangsgiving

Fangsgiving on the Net
By Cornelia Amiri

Since I review youtube videos for my Savvy Click, Surf the Net With A View column, I wanted to share two Vampire Family/Thanksgiving videos which put me in the Fangsgiving mood. Yes, youtube has everything.

Vampire Thanksgiving

This is hilarious. It’s just a normal Thanksgiving Day in a cemetery. Hey, who doesn't spend Thanksgiving in a cemetery? Did that Gargoyle just wink at my sister?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6u-J4sSy430

Vampire Family photos

Mommy vampire and her brood have a fangtastic time getting their family portrait. The middle son seems to be laughing and the baby boy is having a blast.
Mommy vamp is proud of her little blood suckers. I wonder what she’s cooking up for her vampire clan this thanksgiving.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEK_Tnvihs0

And here’s a great Fangsgiving Greeting to share with all your myspace, blog, website and e-mail fiends and friends.
http://tinyurl.com/6llvd7

Hey, speaking of vampires at Thanksgiving, what would you do in a look who’s coming for dinner scenario, say if your grown daughter brought a vampire home for thanksgiving?

Though I’m not much of a cook, I might switch the pumpkin pie to some Vampire cupcakes courtesy of the recipe on http://tinyurl.com/5mxdjo, and for more traditional fare, click on the link to the right beneath the turkey cake, Celebrate Thanksgiving.

Also, though my story in Sleeping With the Undead with L & L Dreamspell is set in Scotland, so no thanksgiving feast, I do have a scene where the hero’s mother and father discuss the vampire girl or baobhan sith (baa'-van shee ) their son brought home, which fits in with the vampire/family theme.

Excerpt: Sleeping With the Undead/Vampire Dancer by Cornelia Amiri

Before Ian could get a word in, his father asked Tavish, "Did you set
the carin aright?"

"Aye, I put the stone back, good and tight."

"Aye, but now we have a baobhan sith sleeping in our house," his mother said.

"Well, she has to sleep somewhere dear. I dinnae want her draining my
cows of their blood though."

"What about your sons' blood?"

"Ooch, well I dinnae want her drinking theirs either."

"Well I'm glad to hear that."

His mother turned and saw Ian and Sorcha. She plastered a big smile
across her face. "I did not know you were awake."

"Mom, Sorcha and I are going out. I'm going to show her around the town."

"That's nice," his mom said.

As Ian walked away, he overheard his father say, "You have to be
careful of what you say around the baobhan sith. They'll sneak up on
you."

"Hush, she can still hear you," his mother said.

Ian turned and waved good night to his mother and father.

"He can show her around all he likes but I dinnae want her near my cows."

That was the last comment Ian heard before he walked out the door.
With his arm wrapped around Sorcha's shoulder, he led her down to the
winding road.


Happy Fangsgiving to all,

Cornelia Amiri
http://myspace.com/CelticRomanceQueen

Managing Your Book Writing Business

Jamie Engle and I are excited to announce the release of Managing Your Book Writing Business. From the back cover:

This helpful handbook outlines basic and important information every author needs to know about the publishing industry and the “business” of writing. From developing a business plan to cultivating a professional reputation, award winning author Pauline Baird Jones and public relations expert and author Jamie Engle share their years of knowledge and experience. Don’t wait until it’s too late, then say “I wish I would have known…” Managing Your Book Writing Business includes helpful web links and guidelines to help you get started, and keep you from making simple but potentially costly mistakes. Save time and start out right—success comes sooner for authors who take the time to organize and plan a strategy!

The handbook is available from online bookstores in print and also available at fictionwise.com in ebook format.

When Gone with the Wind was written, it was the story of the sweeping changes brought on by the civil war within the south. The words penned by that author left us with a vivid depiction of how the south was before the war … and how it was forever changed after the war.

When the winds from the recent hurricane descended upon us, it brought a very different type of change into our lives. Those of us who had been through a hurricane or two before knew the feelings we'd begin to experience, whether we tried to repress them or not. We'd experience them, because they'd be forced upon us … like the unwanted attention of something sinister that has passed through our lives in an earlier time…a dark memory that we cajole ourselves away from as quickly as we can after the event … but no matter how deeply hidden, the memory begins to creep back inside us, escalating in tandem with the wind hovering in the gulf, filling our thoughts, rattling our nerves as it whispers to those nasty little fears that we've tucked away in our subconscious.

The changes begin then, with the first niggling bit of apprehension, and then escalate … sometimes without our full awareness… sometimes with our unabashed terror… and by the time the storm has spent itself on us and gone reeling off in another direction like a drunken giant, everything has changed.

We wake to find devastation … this time on a scale that rivals anything most have experienced before … and with the devastation we find a reality check … within a few hours we see that all we deemed normal … is gone. Once again, we find normal will be hard to define for quite awhile….until we can tempt our minds to put the experience to the side and not look at it dead on … it's the way you get through it … the way you hide it from yourself … until the next time.

It's a little like the thriller's we all write … we love them … they do make us feel alive … and wonderfully safe as we read them in bed … with the lights on :) But, it would behoove us to remember … that sometimes the winds of change arrive … and have a wicked little way of snuffing out all illumination without our permission.

With that thought, come join us as we present The Final Twist's new anthology of short stories, in A Death inTexas. We will be launching the anthology at Katy Budget Books on Friday, October 10th, after 5:30 p.m. You will be able to meet the Final Twist authors, and have them sign their stories for you when you pick up a copy. I'm delighted to say my story, Dark Pleasures will be inside. It's about another type of evil presence in the south that brings about a lot of change … but this time … you can leave the lights on … it's up to you to decide when to turn them out:)

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Learn more about Loretta Wheeler (and her alter ego L Reveaux) at these sites: http://www.lorettawheeler.com/
http://www.lreveaux.com/
http://www.myspace.com/southernnuances

Excerpt from Dark Pleasures: A Death in Texas (Anthology)Available through Amazon ,
Barnes and Noble & L &L Dreamspell Oct. 10, 2008

The dog was free and loping down the corridor now. It ran with no hesitation, as if it could see its prey. Suddenly, it leapt forward and snatched at a word tucked in a dim corner of her mind, then swiftly circled back and laid it in front of her. How about carnage? Her mouth twisted. Yep. There it was, in all its grim glory, might as well go for broke and tell it like it was. She accepted the word and closed her eyes.

Surviving the Storm of Life by Autumn Storm

By now many of you know that Texas has been dealt a pretty severe blow. There’s no getting away from it….it’s been on the news and headlines across the nation read….Galveston-Houston area crippled by Texas size storm. Mandatory evacuation orders were issued; towns and communities forced into lock downs because of damage to their communities. Everywhere you look, there is debris….power poles are down….electricity is out….and tree limbs litter our yards. Some will be forced to move….everything they’ve worked for….their dreams along with their homes, their cars and their boats….have been swept away by the sea. Bits of our history and the things we are made of…are gone…huge massive Oaks, sweeping Magnolias, along with some really big Pecan trees…..are gone…..they have proudly stood for a hundred plus years and now ripped from the ground….they are dying a very slow death. In one way or another we have all been affected….each of us mourning different things.

I have to admit….I am very affected by the damage to our beautiful trees. They are in shock and screaming at us to bring order to their branches. They are tattered and torn and it will be a long time before any of them start to recover.

Now….I know most of you are probably thinking that something must have fallen and hit my head….truth is….I too have lost a home to weather. If I may….let’s travel back in time….May 19, 2000….it has already rained off and on for three days. Just a few short months before….eight to be exact…my husband (of twelve years) and I had finally purchased our first home…a nice little place in the country. The skies are black and the weatherman talks of another night’s worth of rain….the power goes out. With little else to do….I curl up on the bed to sleep. A few hours later I am awaken by the dogs jumping on the bed with wet feet. It takes me a few minutes to fully realize what’s happening and by then I could hear the water rushing into my home….the phone is out….the husband is gone on business trip….I think most of you can fill in the rest of the gaps. Nineteen inches of rain in four hours resulted in my home being filled with 3 to 3.5 feet of water. It took days for the water to recede and then we embarked on the long road to recovery. Long story short….with lots of hard work, money (didn’t have flood insurance) and determination we rebuilt our home and lived in it until just recently…. Now three floods later… it belongs to FEMA.

Please don’t misunderstand me….I ‘m not making light of anyone losing their home….it’s an indescribably tragedy, a void that may or may not ever get filled… and one that some will have a hard time recovering from. A home is a place where we are meant to feel safe….a place to share laughter with family and friends….and a place to live and grow old in. Some will mourn the loss of their house and some will mourn the contents they lose……so now at this point you are probably wondering what did I mourn back then…..?

My books….In the process of putting up shelving many of the books were down on the floor in boxes. I cried as boxes of books were dumped into a 40 yard dumpster. It was a twenty year collection….authors and titles no longer in print….Even to this day I look back and think about all the friends that I was forced to let go of….the travels they took me on….and the friendships I was given. Just the other day someone gave me a copy of Sweet Savage Love….I caressed the book and held it close….giving it its rightful place on the book case….I patted the spine and told Ginny and Steve….welcome home.

Many of us in Texas come from a lineage of pioneers….we will set about and forge new paths for ourselves….just doing what needs to be done. The builders will build and restore….the farmers will plant, encouraging Mother Nature to replenish its land….and the writers….well….we’ll write…. telling the stories that need to be told.

A Death in Texas from L&L Dreamspell: ISBN: 9781603180511 is scheduled to be launched at Katy Budget Books on Friday, October 10 from 5 PM to 8 PM and features 16 talented authors delivering mystery, mayhem, and murder. If you’re in neighborhood….please stop by and say hello….would love to meet you all.


Autumn Storm
Secrets of Canyon Lake

How Screenwriting Helps by Cash Anthony

On the occasions when I've given talks to writers' groups as a screenwriterwith some good contest results on my C.V., one of the points that comes upfrom many audiences is "How can you stand to write under the dictates of somany rules?"

Many people think screenwriting is simply too hard -- too confining --because of what they perceive to be its stricter-than-other-fiction demands.Its most stringent demand turns out to be an excellent standard, however:the artistic selection of powerful images, against sparseness and brevity.When a writer is creating a blueprint for a cooperative effort as well as astory, intended for a highly sophisticated viewing audience that haswell-known expectations, it forces the writer to be specific only when itcounts. When everyone can be assumed to 'get it', or it allows for artisticlicense in the reader's imagination and later, hopefully, in the artdepartment's designers, no one wants to read what's obvious. You have 110pages, a page a minute -- you can't waste words.

It's also true that when you have to learn a craft mostly by yourself, you may tend to try to find a set of rules and follow them like a slave, figuring that not knowing the rules is the mark of an amateur.And this is one thing, at least, you can do.

Here I think the answer is to turn off the critic and forget the rules when writing first drafts, and then turn it back on for rewrites. At that point, all the theory, allthe techniques you've mastered, and all the better second thoughts you taketime for, the more likely your work will in fact improve.

Since there are professional standards and story structure expectations, then unless you're the one in the million who breaks through to an Oscar from acareer as a stripper (a la Juno), it can't hurt to look like you know whatyou're doing: make your format perfect, proof and proof and beg your writerfriends to proof your manuscript, try to hit your designated pages for majorplot points, and so forth. And have a great story to tell.

Despite the strictures of writing screenplays, I've found that working under the peculiar dictates of this genre has three advantages.

1) It forces you to learn at least a modicum of story theory, which appliesno matter what genre of story-telling you do. It may not be strictlynecessary for a novelist to know theoretically how to write for the screen-- the rules may seem a block to a more organic approach, feeling that onemust be so conscious of where and when a plot point is supposed to bereached -- but many of the excellent story consultants working in Hollywoodtruly know their stuff when it comes to theory. Their books are worthreading.

2) It makes you write in visual terms, since the script can only serve as ablueprint for a picture taken by a camera. "Talky" movies insist on usingdialog to move the action along, but better films combine silent actionscenes, or scenes with dialog not about the action (see Pulp Fiction), andthis helps any fiction writer produce a more vivid, and potentially morecomplex, realistic and interesting scene.

3) It makes you choosy. Producers prefer screenplays to be only 110-115pages long. Why? Shorter films mean more cash for the theatre owners, whocan sell popcorn each time a new audience comes in. The studio has to sellthe film to the distribution chain, meaning to the theatre owners who aretrying to get more people in the door to buy popcorn, Coke and hotdogs.
That means that you must not only write with a spare hand, but you also must make vitally important choices about what scenes to use and what to discardby examining your original notions with a cold eye. You can't afford to havedull scenes, even if you've had to write a few to get the first or seconddraft into shape. You can't afford to fall in love with scenes that don'thave to be there.

But when you're doing your rewrites, an objective appraisal gives you theopportunity to look for another perspective to spice up those dull scenes:have a character overhear it secretly (Hamlet behind the arras); have badguys doing exactly what will make a plan impossible to carry out, intercutwith the formation of that exact plan being made by the [ignorant] goodguys; have a character turn out to be working for the other side, repeatingexactly what has just happened at a secret security council meeting to theenemy, word for word. And so forth...

Even if you don't ever plan to write a "real" screenplay hoping to produceor market it onto the big screen, the format can serve as a kind ofspecialized outline that you'll probably do anyway, if you're writing anovel or intricate short story.

And if you want to go even farther and take up screenwriting as yourprincipal genre, seriously wanting your movies made, you might considerwriting a short screenplay and producing or directing it yourself.The tools to make independent films on a scaled-down basis are easy to findthese days, and the expense can be minimal. (Many actors will show up forthe off-chance of fame and for cold pizza.)

But the lessons you learn about what to write, or not to write into yourscreenplay -- when it's something you've personally got to deal with on areal set, with all the location variables and with live actors -- areincalculably valuable. It makes the distinction between reality and fantasy(call it animation) very clear.

I expect soon to take out notes from a novel started long ago. It'll beinteresting to see how I view those scenes now, after writing screenplaysinstead of fiction prose for the last seven years.

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Cash Anthony is a Writer, Director, Actor, and Producer

Ninth Lord of the Night - screenplay, novel adaptation, Blue CatSemi-Finalist

Taking Up Serpents - screenplay, multi-competition Finalist

Do Me No Favors - short film, written, produced & directed

Complaining Witness - short film, written, produced & directed

False Negative - short film, written & directed

The Best Man - short story, in A Death in Texas anthology

The Stand-In - short story, in Dead and Breakfast anthology

The Secret of the Acequia Stone - B&B play and puzzles

The Case of the Baker's Dozen - B&B play and puzzles

A Week of Wednesdays - Novel (WIP)Other B&B plays, puzzles, clues and poems

Deadline by Betty Gordon

Deadline is a feared word by many writers, but I’m one of those mavericks who welcomes the battle of reaching the finish line. The pressures involved in tying up loose ends before a certain date stimulate my imagination and trigger excitement. I can’t deny there’s tension involved in reaching the end of a tale, but my eagerness to write ‘The End’ on the last page far outweighs the self-imposed stress involved in arriving at the final destination.

Life plays out in segments of deadlines in various ways: a sales promotion must be adhered to by a certain date, one has to get their child’s college entrance papers in by a certain date, etc., etc. So, why should writing be any different? I work in blocks of short-term and long-term goals and I’m constantly making myself reach a deadline of one sort or another. That’s not to say, however, that life doesn’t get in the way oftentimes and I have to work around the obstacles and set new deadlines. Nevertheless, self-imposed or not, a deadline is a good thing—at least for me.

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Learn more about Betty Gordon and her books at http://www.bettygordon.com/