Help Choose the Cover for Evolve Two

Last year I had my first story published in Evolve and the cover is absolutely gorgeous. For Evolve Two, (which I also have a story in!) Nancy Kilpatrick and Edge SF & F publishing are asking for your help in choosing a cover! Two options are available, the website Vamp Chix is hosting the survey, just VISIT THEIR SITE HERE  and have your say. Nancy has commented on the site, giving the name of each cover so you can tell them your choice. Go on, cast your vote!!

I'll give you a sneak peek at the two covers here. To see the larger versions and to share your opinion, visit the Vamp Chix site!! 

Blame Vegas

I can definitely blame Vegas for my lack of blogging last week. I meant to blog while we were there, really I did, but, well, it was Vegas. We had a great time, as always, no big cash wins to report, but we still had a fabulous time. I will be doing a separate blog about our "Grabber Game" wins. I've decided our history with Grabber games deserves an entire blog post of its own.

Now we're back in the swing of things back home, it's just twelve days till we're off on our Caribbean Cruise!! I know, I know, I can hear it now, "you're going away again?" The cruise is a long ago planned trip, we're going for our anniversary and it's our Christmas and anniversary gifts to each other. The Vegas trip, well, we go to Vegas all the time, (it's so cheap too) so that doesn't really count. Plus, I had my laptop and did work stuff while we were there. The cruise is our REAL vacation. Can't wait.

Speaking of, I gotta go to the gym!!!

Finishing Things Weekend

Every so often, someone in our group of writing friends suggests a Finishing Things Weekend. If others agree to participate, someone then makes a formal declaration. Fellow Inkpunk Morgan Dempsey (@geardrops) has officially declared THIS to be a Finishing Things Weekend.

So what does that mean? It means finishing up all those projects we have on the go. That short story WIP, that other short story that needs another set of revisions, that book about writing you've been trying to read, the agents you've been meaning to query...all those sorts of things. There are no hard and fast rules. Weekend could mean just Saturday and Sunday, or Friday to Sunday. For me, it's going to mean from right now until we leave for Vegas on Sunday. (yesss!) It doesn't matter how many projects you take on, or what they are.

Do you have things you'd really like to finish? Why not join in? All you have to do is get in gear and get it done!!

If want to stay accountable or just check in and you're on twitter, you can use the #inkpunks hashtag and/or #FTW. If you're not a tweeter, you can check in with me here, but you don't need to check in at all to succeed at Finishing Things Weekend. Just do it! ;)

Catsomnia

Catsomnia

It’s 4:10am.

I try to ignore them.

Girl cat is walking on me. Sits down hard on my stomach.

Boy cat is on the floor scratching the side of the bed.

Boy cat chases girl cat.

It’s 4:30 am.

“Fine.” I get up and feed the cats.

Now I’m up, I have to pee.

Back in bed.

What day is it? Right.

It’s 5:00 am.

I have a long task list today.

Plus, there’s this, that and the other thing to take care of.

It’s 5:30 am.

Girl cat jumps on bed, goes back eats some more, jumps on bed, goes back and eats some more.

Boy cat is done eating and sits on bedside table whining for attention.

It’s 6:00 am.

Boy cat jumps on top of bookshelf and starts knocking things off. Girl cat sits on me, watching him. Boy cat jumps off top of bookshelf and lands on my legs.

It’s 6:30 am.

Boy cat is curled up between Daddy’s legs, purring.

Girl cat is sleeping on my pillow.

It’s time for me to get up.

This is Catsomnia.



*Dedicated to those suffering from the same infliction.

Sticking to the Plan

I set the goal to blog every time I went to the gym (since going to the gym is an 'easy' and regular habit for me, whereas blogging is not!) and that means I'm supposed to blog today. So. What do you blog when you have nothing to say? Helpful, insightful writing quotes!

When you are describing,
A shape, or sound, or tint;
Don't state the matter plainly,
But put it in a hint;
And learn to look at all things,
With a sort of mental squint.
-Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll)

Widow/Orphan Control

Why does Microsoft Word make so many assumptions about what we want? Auto correct, auto spellcheck and auto format are often annoying, but now I just found out about the "widow/orphan control." Did you know about this? I was looking for manuscript formatting help online, found Lousia Burton's website and discovered a brand new trick in Word.

Have you ever noticed that you can't get the bottom of your pages on word to line up where you want them? If you hit enter, a whole paragraph jumps to the next page, but if you try and backspace, it won't put just a couple of the lines on the page? I've discovered the solution! It's the widow/orphan control! I think I should just let Louisa explain it:

"When the last line of a paragraph from the previous page gets stranded all by its lonesome at the top of the next page, that’s a “widow.” The first line of a paragraph appearing by itself at the bottom of a page while the rest spills over onto the next page is an “orphan.” Don’t listen to Word’s help menu when it says widows and orphans are contrary to “a professional-looking document.” We like widows and orphans in the novel-writing biz. They give us nice, uniform pages with the same number of lines on each page. In Word, the default is to prevent them, so this should be turned off by unchecking that option. You should also uncheck the “keep with next” and “keep lines together” options. The first is meant to avoid page breaks between paragraphs, the second to avoid paragraphs from breaking onto two pages. None of this this odd, anal-retentive formatting belongs in a novel manuscript; it just creates irritating gaps in your document. Most writers turn off the hyphenation, too."

In the 2007 version of Word I found the widow/orphan check box under the page layout tab, and Line and Page breaks. You'll see a box, automatically checked called the Widow/Orphan control. Uncheck it!

I hope this helps and saves a little bit of your sanity while fighting with your manuscript formatting. :)

Evolve 2

I have great news! My story has been accepted by Nancy Kilpatrick for the *NEW* Evolve anthology coming out.

*and the crowd goes wild*

My experience with the first Evolve anthology has been an incredible one. Launch parties, book tours, working with Nancy and sitting next to one of my favourite authors, Kelley Armstrong at a signing to name a few. I'm very excited for this new anthology to come out, as I know several of my friends have also been accepted. The entire table of contents is still a mystery, soon to be revealed. Nancy had said she'd already asked some authors from around the world to contribute (which left fewer spots open for the rest of us!!) so I'm feeling the tingle of anticipation about who else I will be sharing a table of contents with.

If you don't have YOUR copy of Evolve yet, you better get it so you'll be ready for the next generation!! You can visit the webiste here: Vampires-evolve.com or find it in your local bookstore!

Stay tuned for updates.... ;)