Author: Nicole Luttrell

I'm a speculative fiction writer. That means I write about dragons, ghosts and spaceships. Sometimes I write about the ghosts of dragons on spaceships.

The Writing Life, June 9

This last week has been pretty eventful, let me tell you.  So eventful, in fact, that I’d like to spend some quite time with some red wine and Insurgent, which I am still not done with.  But I don’t think that’s actually going to happen.  Here’s why.

First of all, I got a super great promotion at the day job.  I feel very blessed, and am super thrilled, but it does mean I’ve got less time to spend writing, and I’ll be missing those summer concerts.  On the other hand, I can now afford to take the family on vacation, and get that new Erin Condrin planner that comes out today. (Not an affiliate).  That means my writing time has to become focused, like a laser.  I’ve had to really prioritize my projects, to make sure that if something goes by the wayside, it’s something that can afford to go there.

I’ve also had to redo my entire schedule.  I used to work about six hours a day, then come home and write for three.  Then I’d write for about five hours on my days off.  Now I’m actually working eight hours a day, like a grown up.  I am now going to be getting up an hour earlier to write for an hour before work, then try to fit an hour in after dinner.  My days off will probably lose some writing time too, to make up for the family time I’ll be losing during my work week. (Family’s always got to come first, after all.)

I also just signed up to be part of the 2015 I C Summer Blog Tour.  I know that sounds nuts when I just added all the time to the day job, but it’s not a huge time commitment.  Although, I do need three other bloggers to link to for the tour.  If anyone wants to participate with me, let me know in the comment section, and I will contact you about it!  My post is going up next week, so I need to know sort of soon, please!

Of course, the kids are out of school, so my free time will be full of activities like pool trips, day plans to Kennywood and the zoo, grilling and all the other awesome things that make summer so fantastic.  I think I might sleep like five hours a night this summer, but that’s okay.

I do want to say a little more about prioritizing, before I move on, though.  I’ve always got a lot of chainsaws in the air, as you all know.  Right now, it’s a financial necessity for me to take this better position at my day job, so the first thing I did was sit down and list all of my projects from most to least important to me.  Here’s what I came up with.

  1. Woven.
  2. Paper Beats World. (I love you guys)
  3. My short story e-books.
  4. Entering my short stories in anthologies and contests.

So here’s how this works.  If I’ve got an hour a day, it goes to Woven.  If I can get another hour, I can write a few posts (Writing Prompts, Markets and Check This Out take maybe twenty minutes.  I usually write all three for a week in a sitting.  The Writing Life and my Sunday posts take a little longer.)  I’m still really hoping to write a short story a week, but if that doesn’t happen I’m not going to beat myself up about it.  An hour a day to Woven, and see what else I’ve got time for.  That’s my plan.

What Rocked This Week-

  • Well, I got promoted, so that’s sort of like the best thing ever in my life right now.
  • Sunday was my birthday.  I turned 29!
  • I read this really great article over on Pulling Curls about taking care of ourselves first as parents, because it does our family no good if we are burned out and have no more to give.  Here’s a link.
  • It’s the first week of Gay Pride Month, and as you can see, I am a proud Ally.  I am super proud to live in Pennsylvania, where Gay Marriage is legal.
  • I am trying to figure out how to put up a map of all the cool countries people read Paper Beats World from.  We’ve got readers in Russia, the UK, Malaysia, Australia, Italy, Greece, Austria, Canada, Finland and Indonesia.  What the what?  You guys are awesome, really.

What I’m Looking Forward To This Week.

  • Pretty psyched about the blog tour.  You know I am a creepy internet dweller, so I’ll be following closely along.
  • I have found out about so many terrific contests recently.  If you don’t follow me on twitter, you are only hearing about one a week, but I tweet them all.  I don’t know how many I’ll get a chance to enter, but I am pumped to have so many opportunities.
  • Still have four short stories out, still waiting to hear about them.  Hoping to make it five this week, we’ll have to see.

By the way, have you signed up for the Road to Full Time Writing newsletter yet?  You should, there’s a link right there.  It’s got even more writing markets, money saving writing tips, time management ideas, and a peek into my own personal road to being a full time writer.  And, it only comes out once a month, so you’re not going to get snowballed by e-mail (because I hate that).

So what are you proud of from the past week?  What are you excited about for the summer months ahead?

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Writing Activities to do With Your Kids

I am a writer.  I love writing, and it’s my job so that’s a pretty good thing.  I have always loved writing.  I remember being in fifth grade, and being the only kid in class even a little bit happy when the teacher assigned us a writing project.

One of my daughters feels the same way.  The younger of the two.  She likes to write, and honestly she’s not bad at it.  I have high hopes.

The other one, the older one, has other feelings.  Writing is a chore, a bother, it suuuuuucks!  (She just turned eleven, and so far, everything about being eleven has sucked for her.)  Writing fiction? I can’t think of anything!  Writing an essay?  But I can’t find enough information!  Why can’t I use Wikipedia as a source, you do it! (Haha, no I don’t.)  Writing in her journal at night?  But whyyyyyyyyyy!  It’s a constant struggle.

Here’s the thing, though.  I don’t want her to be a good writer because I want both of my daughters to become professional writers and grow up to be just like me.  I don’t care what they do when they go grow up so long as they’re happy, it’s legal and they keep all their cloths on.  Here’s why I care if she’s a good writer.

  • I have yet to find a situation in which being able to clearly express myself on paper in a professional way has not helped me.  I’m talking about at the day job, and every single day job I have had.
  • Writing in a journal has kept me sane, saved my marriage, and made me a better person.  I want her to have those same things.
  • Writing letters is a lost art.  I write letters to my friends, but more often I write e-mails.  She is going to have long distance relations in this day and age.  And I know we’re from the foothills of the Appalachia mountains, but that doesn’t mean her e-mails need to read like it.
  • My daughter is very opinionated (wonder where she got that from).  She will be involved on internet chat rooms, and she will get into arguments there.  People who can not express themselves in a grown up way in that situation have lost before anyone can even hear their opinion.  I want to give her a leg up over the trolls and fools.

The problem becomes, how in the hell do I do it?  Just telling her to do it does neither of us any good.  I’ll get mad, she’ll get mad, and there goes some lovely mother daughter bonding.

So, here’s what I’m doing to make writing a fun activity for my kids.

  1. I am starting in the summer, when they don’t have a metric ton of other homework.  That’s a big one.  When they’ve already done an hour of Math, read a chapter in their Science book, and copied all ten vocabulary words from Social Studies, they are not enthusiastic about writing ‘just because Mom thinks it’s a good idea.’  Mostly they are enthusiastic about Dr. Who, Portal, and dinner.
  2. I am letting them write about fun things, that they would not normally get to write about in school.  We are not writing ‘how I spent my summer vacation’, unless we are writing a review of the Tiny Toons Movie.
  3. I am writing in front of them.  Kids do not hear what you say but they see what you do.  This I have seen more and more now that my daughters no longer see me as the all omnipotent Mommy Goddess. (I really do want that back, though.  I was Hestia for like five years.)  They see me write, edit, write again, write after long days at the day job, write while they’re watching tv.  They see that it’s a passion for me.  I don’t know if this helps them want to write, but I damn well hope my work ethic sinks into them.
  4. I am giving them a goal.  There are a lot of young writers contests.  I’ll be posting one every Friday for the rest of the month with my normal market.  For older kids, this can be a really cool incentive, especially if they’re the competitive sort.
  5. I praise the hell out of their work, even while going through it with a red pen.  I am a firm believer that your parents should be your biggest fans.  But I am a fan of my kids like I’m a fan of Joss Whedon.  I love you like hell, Man, but what were you doing those last few season’s of Buffy?  And Serenity?  Mister, you need to take that one back to the editing desk.  I only say this because I love you, and you’re better than that.
  6. I gauge their energy level before suggesting some writing time.  And the timing can be tricky.  If they’re too energetic, they’ll never sit still.  This is especially true for my older one, because she’s got ADHD.  If they’re too tired, they will get nothing done, because it’s too hard.  This is especially true of my younger one, because when she’s tired she’s a giant pain in the ass. (she came by that naturally, by the way.)
  7. I set a pomodoro timer, which I’ve actually been using for myself and my older daughter all school year for my writing and her homework.  Let me tell you, I’ve got adult ADD, and she’s got ADHD, and this thing is a Godsend.  Focus for twenty five minutes, and then you can get a drink, go to the bathroom, check my twitter feed, wait weren’t we talking about the kids?

And so, here are some of the writing activities I plan to do with my kids this summer.  Some of them are my idea, some I found on Pinterest, and some are just time honored things that I heard somewhere and can’t remember who to give the credit to.

  • Keep a journal, especially on vacation.  So many awesome things happen during the summer!  Friends are made, adventures are had, new ice cream flavors are discovered.  And while my kids will have lots of summers, they’ll never have this summer again.  I want them to remember it.  Especially for my younger one, we scrapbook our journals.  Ticket stubs, pictures, drawings, ado graphs of new friends, that weird leaf we found, it all goes in.  I don’t consider a summer journal complete without some pool water, dirt and at least one out of state visit.
  • Critique something.  Don’t do it like a book report.  You don’t need to prove to me you read the book by telling me the main characters and the plot, and the turning point of the story.  Tell me what you thought of the book, and why someone else should, or should not, read it.
  • Have them write a campfire story.
  • Have them write an urban legend.
  • Have them write a fanfic about their favorite tv show.
  • Write letters to family out of state.  Grandparents love that sort of thing.
  • Write a letter to a local politician.
  • Write a letter to a company who’s product you like,(and you’ll probably get some free swag).
  • Write to an author you really like.  (James Patterson, you wrote my younger daughter’s favorite book, Treasure Hunters.  Expect some fan mail.)
  • Write an illustrate a comic book.
  • Write and act out a little one act play. (Expect to get roped into making scenery and acting.)

Let me know if you have any luck with this.  And if you’ve found some super great way of getting your kids to write, please post it in the comments section below.

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Writing Prompt Saturday, Write a Epistle poem

I’m noticing a theme with poetry.  The different forms all have these lovely complicated names that give you no idea of what they’re actually for.  Why is that?  Personally, I think poets are just trying to punk us.  Epistle poetry is a great example, because it just means a poem in the form of a letter.

Epistle poetry comes from the Roman Empire, and was made popular by Horace.  Many are intimate, sent to one person, and are often love letters.  But I found this really great one by Elizabeth Bishop that just caught me by surprise.

Letter to N.Y.
For Louise Crane

In your next letter I wish you’d say
where you are going and what you are doing;
how are the plays, and after the plays
what other pleasures you’re pursuing:

taking cabs in the middle of the night,
driving as if to save your soul
where the road goes round and round the park
and the meter glares like a moral owl,

and the trees look so queer and green
standing alone in big black caves
and suddenly you’re in a different place
where everything seems to happen in waves,

and most of the jokes you just can’t catch,
like dirty words rubbed off a slate,
and the songs are loud but somehow dim
and it gets so terribly late,

and coming out of the brownstone house
to the gray sidewalk, the watered street,
one side of the buildings rises with the sun
like a glistening field of wheat.

—Wheat, not oats, dear. I’m afraid
if it’s wheat it’s none of your sowing,
nevertheless I’d like to know
what you are doing and where you are going.

I love the beat of this poem.  The subject matter seems to say, without saying, that she wishes Louise would come home, and that she’s not sure she’s safe there in New York, as it seems a very foreign place to her.

So this week, try writing an epistal poem.

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Markets, Imaginate

Hello, hello, and welcome to the very first market of June. I have high hopes for this month, with four of my short stories out right now. I hope yours are just as high. With that in mind, I’ve got a two for one market today, with Imaginate.

Every quarter, Imaginate runs two contests, one for short fiction and one for flash fiction. They give you an image, and you come up with a story based on that image.

Short fiction contest/Flash Fiction
Genre– Open/ Open
Word Count– 2500 words/ 100
Payout– 5 cents a word/ 5 cents a word
Wait Time– After end of contest/ After end of contest
Sub Date– July 1/ July 1
Rights– First serial/ First Serial

Here is a link to their full submission guidelines.  As always, make sure you check them before you submit!

If you have any luck with this or any other market, or just achive a great milestone this month, let me know and I’ll feature you on this months Brag Board, on June 30.

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Oh, yeah

Oh, yeah.  June is Gay Pride month.  As a proud ally in the fight for equal love, I’m hoping I can encourage all of you to support gay marriage and equal treatment for same sex couples in adoptions, employment and life in general.

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Check This Out- Gunnerkrigg Court

I’m sure you’ve noticed by now that I believe good writing comes in all forms.  Good stories come in all forms.  Books are great, they’re my personal favorite.  But I am a huge fan of comic books and graphic novels.  I mean things like Bone by Jeff Smith, Wonderland by Tommy Kovac, and the subject of today’s Check This Out, Gunnerkrigg court.

In case you’re wondering, I’ve actually been saving this one for my month dedicated to parenting for a reason.  It’s a story that I read with my kids, and find that we all seem to be able to appreciate it on different levels.

The story is amazingly creative, with some borrowing from lesser known mythology.   It’s the story of a place called Gunnerkrigg court (duh) that has been created to study the combined forces of science and magic.  Only they call it Etheric energy.  In this world, people use computers they control through pendants and tattoos.  Robots have feelings, and the school dorm is protected by a huge crab like creature.  It’s the story of a little girl named Annie who grew up in the court, but soon starts to make friends with the inhabitants of The Forest, an amazing place full of demons, fairies, and gods.  There’s a girl possessed by some unknown force, a demon trapped in a stuffed doll, trees that get up and run around, and all sorts of other really cool characters.

The whole thing is available online, but it really is worth it to invest in the hardcover books if you can, they’re great quality.  But you’ve got to read the story from the beginning.  The archives can be found from this link right here.  So check out Gunnerkrigg Court with your kids this week.

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The Writing Life, June 2

So, I’m turning 29 this coming Sunday.  It’s okay, not like I’ve only got one year left in my twenties or anything.

I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s birthday makes them think about how far they’ve come in their lives.  Pretty sure that’s what birthdays are for, to remind us that our time on this earth is limited, so we’d better get on whatever it is we intend to do while we’re here.

Personally, I think I’m doing alright for 29.  I’ve got a goal, and it’s a pretty big one, that I’m working towards.  I’ve got a good day job, got married this last January, and have two great kids.

So, my real question is, where do I go from here?  I usually take my birthday as a chance to look at my five year plan, and my plan for the rest of the year.  (It’s helpful that my birthday is in June, halfway through the year.)  My other birthday tradition is reading The Giver, by the way.  It’s an important book, if you haven’t read it.

What Rocked This Week-

  • I found two more great contests from Horror Tree that I’ll be working on.
  • Had some time to spend with my little monsters.
  • Finished the rough draft for the title short story of my first short fiction E-Book, meaning that project is getting more and more solid every week.  I’ve now got roughly half of the stories that I want to include written.

What I’m looking forward to this week-

  • With three short stories out right now to different contests and anthologies, I am checking my e-mail every five minutes!
  • I can not wait for the end of school.  My town is hosting weekly concerts, and they start tomorrow, so I’ll be taking the little monsters to those.
  • I’m reaching out to some awesome ladies about maybe doing some collaborative projects in the near future.  I don’t want to say a ton about it now, in case it doesn’t pan out, but I’m really hoping it will.  (Normally I don’t like making plans that involve other people, because I like to control my own productivity.  I’m working to get out of my comfort zone on that one.

By the way, I’m still on the road to being a full time writer.  In fact, I’m not past the very first step yet.  You know, the one where I plan to fail by creating a financial safety net with Dave Ramsey inspired steps.  You don’t know?  Then you haven’t been getting my monthly newsletter, Road to Full Time Writer.  Well, you can fix that by clicking here, and signing up for the newsletter, silly.

What are you excited about this week?  What did you do this past week that really rocked?

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Plans for June 2015

Welcome to June on Paper Beats World. And this month? It’s going to be awesome. Because we are going to be talking about one of my favorite topics.

Balancing Writing With Being A Parent.

As I might have mentioned about a thousand times, I have two beautiful daughters. And after eleven years of fitting writing between nap times, dinner and dentist appointments, I have learned a ton.

But I bet there are a lot of you out there who know more than me.

And I want to hear from you. If you’ve got some great writing parent advice, please let us hear it.

So, here’s what we’ll be talking about this month

* Writing activities to do with your kids.
* Keeping your kids out of the spotlight.
* A special thanks to fathers.
* And a play by play on how I find writing time with my kids.
I’ll also be talking about some apps that help me be a writing mommy, reviewing some indie books, and talking about parenting on the Paper Beats World Facebook page.

Finally, I am starting my Path To Full Time Writing newsletter. If you’re trying to quit your day job and become a writer full time, well so am I. I’m using the newsletter to share what I am doing to make that dream real. If you want to join us for some real world tips, please sign up here.

I am so looking forward to all of the awesome things we’re going to do together this month, including another class in Writing 101! See you there.

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May 2015 Brag Board!

Welcome to the last day of the month, folks. I am so ready for June to start, it is so full of summer plans, summer fun, and oh yeah, my 29th birthday. Before we say goodbye, though, I want to take some time to celebrate May, and all the awesomeness that it held.

Our first brag is a pretty big one! Reader Deliawrites, who’s blog I also read (and has some super sweet illustrations) got her book in her local book store! I don’t know that I would have had the courage to walk in and bring that up, but wow di it work! Hop on over to her blog to say congratulations!

As for me, no publishing credits this month, sadly. But I did write and send out a whopping three short stories, which I am pretty stoked about.

What did you do this month that you are super proud of and want to share? Do we have any graduates? Let us know in the comments below!

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Religion and World Building

Don’t shoot yet! Torches, down folks. I am going to talk about religion today, and there are few better ways to tempt trolls on the internet. So please, let’s keep any discussions in the comments to religion as it applies to your fiction writing only.

Now, in the interest of full disclosure before we talk about religion, I am a Unitarian Christian. That means I believe in God, and Jesus, and the virgin birth, and all that, but I’m not getting into any fights about it. God is love, no matter what someone else believes, that’s my world view. I was raised Mormon, with two Catholic great grandmothers. So that’s where I’m coming from when I talk about religion.

So, when you’re writing a fantasy novel religion is going to come up. How much it appears in your book is up to you, of course, but if your world is at all realistic, it will come up sometimes.

And that’s a good thing! Religion is, like anything else, another tool in your world building arsenal.

* It is a great source for conflict. Pretty much any book, with two people of different faiths, will have conflict, even if just a heated debate.
* Religion is the ultimate plot bunny. If one of your characters has an opinion about religion, one way or another, it will impact how she interacts with everything.
* Cursing is more fun when there’s religion involved.
* Best of all, a persons faith, or non faith, tells us about that person. How they practice their faith tells us even more.
So, when creating your religion, you should start by asking yourself three questions.

1. How much will religion impact my character?
2. How much will it impact the rest of the world?
3. Is this a world where multiple, conflicting faiths are realistic?
This will help keep your planning in check. You don’t need to know babtismal ceremonies if it’s not likely to come up much, after all. And that’s time that could go to more important things.

Now, the next question is, do you want to make your own religion from scratch, or shape it after an existing faith? There are pros and cons to each approach, of course.

Pros of existing faiths

* It saves you so much time and creative energy.
* There are set rules to most religions. That can be a whole set of plot bunnies.
* Existing faiths come with assumptions. This can be used to mislead readers, and surprise them.
Cons

* If you base your religion on an existing one, you’d better do your research. Because people will shred you if you get something wrong.
* You also need to keep in mind that, no matter what your opinion is on the faith you’re writing about, people do not agree with you. Some will disagree nicely. Some will send hate mail.
Now, I totally based my religion in Woven on a Christian set up based heavily on Catholicism. I use this to make several points throughout the book that are positive and negative. I am sort of anticipating some reactions, good and bad. That’s great, because I’ve gotten people talking. I understand that some of that talking is going to be death threats, and I’m ready for that. If you’re not, take that into consideration.

Making up your own religion pros

* It will set your world apart. It is really hard to come up with a really unique faith, and it will make you stand out.
* It is also a lot of fun. I did make my own faith for two of the countries, and I totally got sucked into writing mythology for it.
Cons

* It is really hard to not accidentally mimic existing faiths, or even mythological faiths like the Greek Pantheon.
* If you want to do it, make damn sure it is relevant to your story and worth the time. I spent almost three weeks crafting my religion, but it’s worth it because I will use it for the whole series, and it will come up a lot.
As a final word, I am a very faith based person. That has always impacted everything I have written whether I mean it to or not. I understand, though, that there are people who are atheist, agnostic, or maybe just not sure. That’s cool with me, but from that point of view, I understand how the whole subject can be tiring. If it is to you, please understand that religion does not have to be a linchpin in your story. Even if you are a faithful person you might not care to talk about it. Just understand that if you are making a world from scratch, it’s like grass. The book doesn’t have to be about it, but if it’s not there, people are going to wonder why.

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