Beware of Dog

Dottie, my pet dachshund, likes to type on my keyboard when we're on the couch, and my laptop is the only thing managing my attention. While, she's sound asleep now, usually she's a ball of energy, or the obedient warmth at my feet.

Many writers have pets, Gaiman has a dog, even Charles Dickenson had a cat that would snuff out his candles to get his attention. Often times they're even inspiration for story concepts or a constant form of stress relief. People live longer if they have pets, and they even provide a form of therapy in various hospitals for the young and the old.

Whimsical displays provide laughter, smiles, and even a story to share with others. I once worked with a woman, and she talked so constantly about her dog, Jake, that I was under the impression that he was her husband until she mentioned getting him neutered.

Pets can make a huge difference in your life even if you don't write, even if you're allergic to the fuzzier or feathery type, there's always gold fish.

This blog was brought by the joy of letting sleeping dogs lie.

Don't Have Anything.

I've not been able to write much in the last two days or so, but chalk that up to having a job and a family that loves to wake me up during the day. (I work at night, oh joy)

I read too much and know too little.

No word on my submission, maybe that's a horrible sign, maybe it's a good sign. I'm unsure. I'm fairly hungry, tired, and silly.

Planting a Flag

I've realized that many of the books I've read I wouldn't have even picked up if they hadn't had a neat cover. The reason I even picked up Jhonen Vasquez's "Johnny the Homicidal Maniac", was that it had an awesome cover, even so much as graphic novels go, I thought it was pretty awesome. (View Vasquez's site here)

On the topic of the previous blog, I don't think anyone would have picked up "Twilight", if it had the original cover art. (as seen here, they really do suck) It just goes to show you that even though you try to avoid it, you'll still end up judging a book by it's cover.

Notice these pretty cool pieces of literature with un-crappy covers:

• The Watchmen, By Alan Moore (I couldn't find his website, but enjoy his wiki page here)
• Fragile Things, By Neil Gaiman (the paper back admittedly wasn't up to par, if you want Gaiman's site enjoy this clicky)
• A Clockwork Orange, By Anthony Burgess (Anthony died in '93, so enjoy his wiki also here)
• 1984, By George Orwell (wiki him here)
• The Giving Tree, By Shel Silverstein (his books here, a bit juvenile I know, but admittedly a tree that talks is pretty out there)

If you ever write a novel, make sure you have a decent cover artist. If not, you might flop. Also, one of my favorite all time Sci-Fi writers, Octavia Butler's website can be found here, even though I've never seen a the original covers, she's a writer you need to check out.

Still no word from the submission front, but probably if I got to writing instead of working, I'd do tons better.

Roasted

While I don't agree with the god of writing King on his review of the writer that took the place of JK Rowling, I don't exactly disagree either. "Twilight" made a good movie, no doubt, and I consumed the entire series in a matter of a week, but who wants a book that long that they can fly through? Not I, but probably a good portion of the audience she targets. Tweens and tween mom's alike embrace the books, and I tip my hat for the very PG version of what could have been a horribly X-Rated vampire horror. I think the book that really deserves the most kudos that Meyer has penned is actually "The Host". Why? Although it's gotten mixed reviews in general from the public and media alike, I enjoy it. It was far more thought out, and intricate to boot. I like the idea of two beings cohabitating in a single body, and obviously her print agency did too. It shows that she's a varying author, and seeing another more mature literary work by her hand would be welcoming. I wonder if King even read her novels, or just let his ideology consume him.

I think one of the best books I've ever read was "The Hunger Games". Which was actually recommended on Stephenie Meyer's website. It's a pretty intricate book, and I look forward to the sequel, which is something odd, because I normally don't look forward to much in literature in general.

You can look at Suzanne Collins website here. Stephenie Meyer's website is available here.

I'm going to start cultivating a reading list, perferably sticking to the sci-fi or bizarre. I'll post anything beneficial here, for your viewing pleasure. Any recommendations? Or submissions for that matter, I'll review your work, if you want.

Useful Sites

As the title denotes, a few useful sites, and some I just like.

• The British Fantasy Society-- Namely, because I like them. Also, you can submit short stories and prose. They don't pay you anything, but I still like em'.
• Thesaurus.com-- Because every good writer needs one, at least every now and again.
• Weebl's Stuff-- Every struggling writer needs a bit of humor when they're having trouble coming up with ideas.
• Homestarrunner-- They do a good jorb of making me laugh, it's creative in a twisted kind of way.
• Duotrope-- For all you more industrious people, it's a directory to online submissions. Good luck with all those by the way.

Thus far, I haven't heard back from my own submission, I'm playing the wait and see approach. Sometimes it can take months. It's a real bummer, but I'm resiliant, I can submit to other publications while I wait (of course different stories). We'll see.

In the Beginning

My goal isn't difficult, it's really rather simple. I just want to get published. I'm a writer by heart, but a dreamer by nature. Although talented would be a far stretch of imagination, I'm a prolific blogger. I write very much about nothing.

Short stories, poetry and the like aren't going to be published here, not at all. I have on previous blogs in my utter idiocy, because I simply didn't know that most companies (magazines and other subscriptions) consider them to be "already published" if they're online. That's okay though. I've learned. Today is the first day of my blogspot, but hopefully not my last. My goal is to one day have a book published, however naive that may be, it's a dream. They start small and grow larger it seems.

Today I submitted, might I add for the very first time, a short story to a magazine. I look forward to the response, or feed back, or rejection, if not for any reason than a learning experience. If it gets rejected, I can take it as a learning experience. My goal is not to get recognition in any other way than by my own merit, and I'm not going to shove an idea down anyone's throat. I'll take the wins and losses in stride, because that's what life is about, learning and growing, and living and breathing, all the failures in life I truly believe you learn from.

Many people write a book, very good writers might I add, and simply think that it will carry itself on it's own merit. Very not correct, my favorite author, Neil Gaiman was actually a journalist before he broke out in graphic novels and prose. Great writers have started out in magazines such as Playboy, writing articles, doing reviews, and the like. It's amazing, JK Rowling started her career on a napkin, what a world. The possibilities of life are endless, and it's amazing what you can do when you're motivated, when "no" is just another word, and when you're positive that you have a purpose in life.

For the few that may read this, I hope I give you inspiration to live up to your dreams, and if not just enjoy what I write about mine.