Year: 2015

Market- How To Trick The Devil

Do you know the story of how Jack O Lanterns were invented?  There’s a lot of them, actually, but here’s the new one.  A drunk named Stingy Jack made a deal with the devil for one more drink.  The devil turns onto a coin, but Stingy Jack put him in his pocket with a cross, trapping him.

I love trickster stories.  That’s why I’m so excited to find the How To Trick the Devil Anthology, thanks to the awesome Stephanie Buosi, who’s blog you can find here.   She also happens to be the one editing it.

Genre-  Fantasy, but with a specific theme, of course.  Your story should have a hero tricking someone to get out of a tricky situation, or to gain the upper hand.  Whether they get a happy ending or not is up to you.

Word Count- 3,000 limit

Sub date-  They’ll keep taking submissions until they’ve got enough for the anthology.  So, the earlier the better, I’d say.

Wait time- Roughly two to three weeks.

Payout- Publication, and royalties.

I’m excited about this one.  let me know if you have any luck, and I’ll post you in the monthly brag board.  I’ll probably also read you, because not only do I intend to submit a story, I intend to buy this book as soon as it’s done.

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Check This Out- Marketing Creativity

I mean honestly, who’s not going to love a blog with a name like that, right?  Marketing Creativity is yet another amazing blog about creative business and how to rock it.  It’s for people like you and me, but it’s also for anyone who wants to start their own business in the creative field.  And let’s be honest, no matter what kind of business you’re talking about, there’s going to be a whole lot of creativity.  You’re building something brand new, after all.

Now, if you read Check This Out every week, I’m sure you’ve noticed a trend.  I follow a lot of creative business people.  There’s a reason, I’m a business woman.  Not one that makes any money, but hey, baby steps.  But you might be asking yourself, what’s the difference?  Why do I read so many different blogs about the exact same topic?  Well, each one is a little different.  Marketing Creativity, well, it’s right there in the title.  This site helps me learn about marketing in a not sleazy way.

You know what I mean.  There are helpful marketing strategies, and then there are evil, annoying marketing strategies.  Now, my basic business model is give a lot of advice and tips for nothing at all + eventually make some tools for a little bit of money if I think it’s something that will help you and I would buy myself + write fiction e-books that I sell myself and pray like hell people like.  Ethical business practices are kind of a must with that sort of model, when the focus is on helping you.  So when I do marketing, it needs to be not sleazy.

It also needs to not be annoying.  Like I mentioned, I’m on a lot of blogs.  They all, all, have ads.  I have ads, look at the links on the right hand side.  But there are some sites that I’m just not going to anymore, because they’ve got pop ups that I have to click away before I can read, or ads in between the paragraphs of the post.  Marketing Creativity has helped me lean there is a world of difference between the two.

Three blog posts to see-

  • Handle The Haters In Three Easy Steps
  • 5 Surprising Reasons Customers Aren’t Buying
  • 5 Steps to Staying on Track in Creative Business

And if you don’t think you’ve got to think about marketing, consider this; even if you get your book traditionally published, chances are your publisher won’t do a lot of marketing on your behalf.  It might still fall to you, the writer, to market your book on social media and your author website.  So check out Marketing Creativity, and be ready to sell your work when the time comes.

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The Writing Life, May 12

So, some of you might have noticed that around January, my name changed.  You might have guessed that it was because I got married.  Let me tell you, changing my name across all social media was a huge pain in the ass.  I am still seeing my maiden name popping up in a few places.  Hopefully I’ll have it eradicated soon.

I didn’t think about this decision a lot until I was listening to a podcast from All Indie Writers.  The host, Jennifer Mattern, was talking about branding yourself as a writer, when she mentioned that this name that we knew her by was her maiden name.  She didn’t go by her married name in her public life.

Now, before I go any farther, I am not, in any way saying that that’s a bad thing.  I just realized that it was a choice that she’d made, and it was a choice that I made.

My maiden name was something that I associate with my past.  And my past is not so great.  I’ve got three published pieces under Nicole Ford, and a whole lot of emotional baggage.

Luttrell is a name I chose when I agreed to marry my husband.  It’s his, but now it’s mine, too.  Anything I publish from now on, even down to the posts here on Paper Beats World, will have that name on it.  Nicole Luttrell.  It represents the creation of a family I chose, of a future I chose, and a life I chose.  (Que Let it Go here.)  It represents my present, and my future.  It wasn’t a choice made from some patriarchal guilt.  It is me, declaring myself to be a different person than the one I was years before.  I love that.

So, about the writing, which is what you come here to hear about, after all.

Things That Rocked This Week-

  • My blog feed has been blowing up with some great inspirational pieces from some amazing entrepreneurial ladies.  ByRegina, Elle & Co, Tipsy Writer, I’ve been loving them all.  And I’ve got so many new ideas, I’m having a hard time deciding what to work on next.
  • I got the opportunity to join in with Tipsy Writer’s weekly twitter chat, and meet some awesome new creative people.  It’s every Tuesday at 8:30, and if you’re not already following her on twitter, go do it now.
  • I am pumping out some awesome short fiction, and I am ready to get back in the game.  Glimmer Train’s deadline for the quarter is coming up on May 31, and I think my piece should be ready in time.

Things I’m looking forward to this week-

  • This is the week of editing.  I’ve got some pieces I’ve got to take a red pen to, and that’s always satisfying.
  • Still plugging away at the fourth draft of Broken Patterns.  But my lovely hubby installed Drop Box on everything we own, so I can share it with him as I’m writing, being my own live in editor as he is.
  • I am very close to finishing the prep work for the super fantastic surprise I have for you all in August!  Are you curious yet?  I can not wait to tell you all about it.  It’s like waiting to give my kids their Christmas presents, I swear.
  • I’ve got some time put aside this week to work on your special gift this month.  It’s something new, something I’ve never done before, and I’m a little anxious, not gonna lie.

What’s going on in your world this week?  Let me know in the comment section below!

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Making Your Very Own Months, Dates and Years For Your Fantasy World

Confession time again. This is becoming a regular thing. I forgot all about making anything calendar related until the third draft of Broken Pattern. I didn’t even, (sob) have a time line. But I am better now, and I am ready to help you avoid my terrible mistake.

Now, you could take the easy route. You can just use normal dates and days of the week, the same ones we use in the real world. But it’s not the same. Its all about the suspension of disbelief. You can be talking about dragons and magic, and your readers will accept these things. But if you ask them to accept that these things are happening on something so common as a Thursday, that might throw them.

Are you ready to make your very own calendar? Then let’s get started.
* Consider what sort of weather your country has. People generally make calendars based on things like farming and the weather.
* What kind of people live in your country? Do they farm? Do they have special feasts days? Is there one day of the week that means something special to them?
* When I was making my months, I based them on the moon phases. Think about how your people know that another month has gone past.
* Or not. You don’t have to have months, after all. Remember, you can make up whatever you like, you don’t have to go by any of the normal rules. For instance, I made the first month of the year in the spring. It’s always made more sense to me than having the year start in the dead of winter.

Now, here are a couple things you want to remember when making your own calendar.
* Holidays. They’re important, and every society has them.
* What sort of chores are traditional for each season?
* How many seasons does your world have?
* What’s your main character’s birthday? In their society, what does that say about them?
* What sort of food is traditional in each season? Yes, everything comes back to food with me, why do you ask?

Making up your own calendar for your fantasy series may seem like a small detail. But it’s not. It makes your world feel more like a real world. It helps your reader feel like they’re living in your world. And when you’re writing fantasy, that’s pretty much the jackpot.

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Writing Prompt Saturday, Write a Ekphrasis Poem

Here again, we come to what has to be my favorite post, and I think it’s yours, too.  This week, we’re talking about ekphrasis poetry.

Don’t be intimidated.  It’s a really big, hard to pronounce word that really just means a poem in which you describe something.  It was started in Greece, by no other great poet than Homer.  He wrote about the Shield of Achilles, which such depth of detail and an ear for lyrical writing.  Anything that Homer does is pure gold, and this is just one more thing we’ve got to thank him for.  I mean, who else from that age are people still reading and enjoying?

Here’s an example from the master.  I couldn’t hope to come up with something as cool as this.

“And first Hephasestus makes a great and massive shield, blazoning well-wrought emblems all across its surface, raising a rim around it, glittering, triple-ply with a silver shield-strap run from edge to edge and five layers of metal to build the shield itself.”

Gorgeous isn’t it?  I’m not the only one who fan girls about Homer, am I?  So this week, your writing prompt is to write an Ekphrasis poem.

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Market- Horror Tree

You know I’m a sucker for horror short fiction. Here’s one that really caught my attention, called The Horror Tree. Here’s what they’re looking for, from the site itself; Tacitus Publishing’s 2015 anthology project is – HAUNTED BY THE PAST. We are looking for short fiction that pays tribute to some of the past greats – M. R. James, Algernon Blackwood, Sheridan Le Fanu. The story should be a ghost story that carries the tone, stylistic language, and/or classic story structure.

Genre- Horror Fiction
Word Count- 1,500 to 5,000
Sub Date- August 31
Wait Time- Sometime after August 31.
Payout- 1 cent a word

Check out the site, because there’s some tricky bits about formatting that you’ll need to observe. And, fair warning, you’ll be up against yours truly, because I just can not pass this one up.

Have any luck with this market, or any other? Let me know for the monthly brag board, posted on the last day of every month.

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Get your free world building printable!

In the spirit of talking about world building, I made you all a little present.  It’s pretty cool, I don’t mind telling you.

See, world building can get frustrating.  I always feel like I’m forgetting something until I go to write about it in my book.

That’s why I made you a super awesome free printable called Building A Brand New World From Scratch!

Here’s the link to download!

Building A Brand New World From Scratch

Now, I have never, ever made a printable before, so I could really use some feedback on this, guys.  Do you like it?  Did it work?  Is this something that you found valuable?  Let me know so that I can make more super awesome stuff for you!

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Writing Prompt Saturday- Fantasy food world.

Remember how I like food? It’s kind of my thing, well one of my things.

It’s not just me, though. Food tells you so much about a person, a culture, a life style.

So for this week’s writing prompt, I want you to spend ten minutes free writing about the most popular food in your book. Is it a modern dish like pizza, or something you make up? How about a world like Firefly where fresh fruit is a delicacy that only the well off can afford?

Take ten minutes to write on that.

Next, consider how your main character feels about that food.

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Check This Out- Time Recording

This is not an affiliate post, I’m getting nothing at all for talking about something from the Google Play Store.

Business hat time again.

As I mentioned on Tuesday, I’m trying to see my time as something to invest in a project, instead of just rushing to check off as many things from my to do list as I can on any given day.  I’m also trying to, more and more, see writing as my real job.

Well, I clock in at my day job.  I want to be able to clock in for writing time, too.  So, I found Time Recording on the Google Play Store.  It’s my new favorite app this week.

Now, I love this app for a lot of reasons.

  • It helps me stay focused.  When the clock is ticking , I consider those ‘billable hours,’ like a lawyer or a therapist.  I am at work once I’ve clocked in, and I should act like it.  It’s amazing how much that, “I am supposed to be working now,” has helped me.
  • I’ve made a steadfast rule about my time management games.  I don’t look at them when I’m punched in to write.  Even if I’m taking a five minute break, I do something else.  So long as that app is running, no other apps are running.
  • Even so, I can do other things on my tablet while this app is running.  I tried an app that blocked all other apps while I was on it.  It was cool, you grew a little tree for every half hour you didn’t close the app.  Which would have been super terrific, if I didn’t have an e-book version of Broken Patterns on my tablet that I’ve been using to read it and make notes.  Or if I didn’t have my planner on my tablet.  Or if I didn’t need to check my e-mail, or fact check something online, or look at that article I saved on Feedly.  The point is, I have touched my tablet four times in the writing of this article, to check on something I needed to know before I finished writing it.
  • This app tracks the time I’ve spent writing for the day, the week, and the month.  That’s really convenient for me.
  • I am a gamer at heart, and I love having a number to beat.  So if I spent fourteen hours this week writing, I’d damn well better write for sixteen next week.

So check out Time Recording on the Play Store.  See what it helps you create this week.

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The Writing Life, May 5

Much better week this week.  Home life is calming down, and my writing can go back to center stage.  I even get, gasp, a whole day to focus just on writing, at my favorite coffee shop.  Of course, this was after a very sick day on Monday.  I’ve always been a really dedicated employee, so when I take a sick day, I am super sick.  Needless to say, I didn’t get much writing done that day.

That’s something that I learn and re-learn all the time.  Hopefully someday I’ll learn it for good, but for now I keep re-learning it.  No matter how many times I make a to do list with the best of intentions, something will happen to throw it all up in the air like a snow globe in the hands of a four year old.

But I’m not going to try to play catch up.  You know why?  Because I’m working more on quality, not quantity.  What a concept, right?  I mean, what’s the point of writing a bakers dozen books if they all sound like Twilight?  Better that I should write one story in that time, if it’s a really good one.  So, this week I’m focusing more on committing an amount of concentrated time to each of my major projects every week.   Remember the Pomodoro method?  That’s what I’m using.

Things that Rocked This Week-

  • Even though I’m still reading Broken Patterns, Draft 3, I’m really excited.  I mean, there are still some glaring issues, but it is so much better than what it was.
  • I got my awesome Epic Blog planner by ByRegina.  I’ve been using it to plan out the next twelve months of ideas for Paper Beats World.  Including an awesome surprise gift for all of you this month.  More to come on that soon.

Things I’m looking forward to this week-

  • I’m going to be writing the rough draft of a short piece for an anthology called Second Hand Smoke.  It’s going to be a real life story that’s very important to me.
  • As mentioned earlier, I’m devoting a whole day to writing tomorrow.  I don’t get those very often, so I’m going to take full advantage.
  • With any luck, I’ll be done with my read through.  Which means I get to start writing my next drive.  That’s super exciting, because when I’m done with that draft, I’ve only got a final polish, and I can finally start sending it out to agents.  I’ve been working on this book since July of 2013.  So yeah, that’s kind of a big deal.

What are you doing this week?  What are you super excited about?  Share it with us.

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