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| This morning, I dug up the first short story I ever wrote. It pre-dates my joining WDC. I think I wrote this in 2005 or so. It's not a good story by any means. It has multiple flaws, both in structure and craft. But every journey begins with a single step, and this was the first step in my journey as a fiction author. Here's the story. I think I've come a long way. "The Kindness of a Stranger"  |
Elycia Lee ☮ Raya  - Yes, this truly is my first effort at fiction. Back in 2004 or 2005, I was a new reader of DailyKos, a progressive political blog. One of the bloggers, a published sciFi author, planned to start a "writer's group," and offered to critique stories written by newbies. This is the story I wrote--my first ever fiction story. I don't recall what he said about this story, but I do recall he was underwhelmed. The DKos writing group went nowhere, but it sent me off looking for online writing groups. Eventually, I met SPACE COBWEBS   in one of those groups--a rather useless one, that offered little in the way mentoring and a lot in the way of "you're a bad writer." Anyway, she persuaded me to join here, where I found genuine mentors with specific, actionable advice. I'm forever in her debt for persuading me to not give up and to come to this place. |
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| Thanks for sharing! I'll give it a read... Would you like a review, or would that be beside the point? |
Reply| Amethyst Angel 💐 - I have no intention of revising this, so a review is probably pointless. I posted it as an example of how I've changed as an author. |
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How I spent my morning...My first time ever making cupcakes. Be gentle. THese were for my writing group's meeting tonight, but we've cancelled due to weather and roads...so now I'm saddled with a dozen cupcakes I can't eat.  |
| Please DO NOT delete this note! I need it! (If you're curious, people, all you have to do is look at the Drama Newsletter on Mar 12, 2025) |
I spent the morning doing the cover for the Summer, 2025 issue of Tales from the Crosstimbers. We're open for submissions until April 15, and we're interested in your speculative fiction stories that are between 1000 and 5000 words. Click on the cover for a link to the open call and how to submit. Authors on Writing.Com are especially welcome.  |
| Excuse me while I rant about MS word. I wanted to format a novel for submission this morning, so I spent five minutes creating a "submissions" format. I then spent the next THREE HOURS trying to figure out how to get that format to show up in the <file> <new> menu in Word. I finally got it to appear, but have NO IDEA how I did it. The resources I found via a Google search simply did not work or, worse, were jibber-jabber about making folders point to the same place but without telling you how to do that. Several times, I lost the <file> <new> menu altogther, but somehow it just magically reappeared with my new format. Maybe it was the Special Words I Learned in the Navy that I *firmly* recited this last time that did it. Why does Word make SIMPLE things so IMPOSSIBLE? |
S 🤦  - I've got a separate format I've saved for Crosstimbers...well, two separate formats. One for the online PDF, one for Amazon. I can use the same format for the Amazon print and Kindle versions. For the online PDF, I have to adjust the page size and font size to make it readable. As long as I use "header1" for titles and "header2" for author, it all pretty much works, though. The formats just include the specialized fonts that appear in the Crosstimbers issues. Haarlem Deco, if anyone is interested, liscenced for commercial use via CreativeFabrica. |
| WriteItNow has great formatting options and you can easily change all the formats, fonts, sizes, etc depending upon the submission requirements. I use it rather than Word for pretty much all my writing needs. It's especially great for those who are visually impaired and need to easily change menu options and menu sizes. |
The spring issue of Tales from the Crosstimbers is now available!  We are also open for submissions for the Summer, 2025 issue. We publish speculative fiction. Our preferred lengths are 1000-2000 words, but we will consider stories of up to 5000 words. Query first if your story is longer than 2500 words. For details, see https://thecrosstimbers.online/open-call/ We especially encourage authors on Writing.Com to submit. |
| My most recent blog entry answers the burning question that's been on everyone's mind lately: "What we've been watching on TV, birthday edition" |
With motivation, help, and lots of inspiration from Raven  , I wrote what is probably the last story in "Lauderdale Tales" .  |
Rather than do anything was was, like, productive this afternoon, I made covers for the five Lauderdale Tales.  There are six passengers in that van, so I need one more tale. Except, in the source material, the sixth person never gets to tell his tale--the other passengers all say it's boring and make him stop. For inspiration, I need a theme song for a tale like that. Maybe "Return To Sender," or maybe "The Dangling Conversation?" The tales are all about romance, some happy, some not so much. I'd love to use Dusty Springfield singing "You Don't have to say you love me," but I'm not sure that fits with a tale that's too boring to tell. |
| Max Griffin 🏳️🌈 - I keep thinking of either really obvious ones (Space Oddity, Elanor Rigby), or slantwise ones (Love Comes Quickly, Black Horse And The Cherry Tree)... I will be super intrigued to see what you land on. |
| Just to update, I've decided on "Total Eclipse of the Heart" as the song. I even have a cover for the story. |
 My final blog post in this series: "Soundtrack, Feb 28, Total Eclipse of the Heart." Associated story: Liam's Tale, not yet written, in and the awesome video for this song. |
| Today's blog entry for this activity: "Soundtrack, Feb 27, Someone To Watch Over Me" Associated story: "Alby's Tale" If you want to read the story, please email me for the passkey. An interpretation for jazz piano |
| Blog entry for this activity: "Soundtrack, Feb 26, Melancholy Baby" Related story: "Alby's Tale" And the song: |
| My blog post for this activity: "Soundtrack, Feb 25, Falling in Love Again" The associated story:
Caution: very first drafty--I just finished it ten minutes ago. and the song |
| My blog entry assoicated with the above activity: "Soundtracfk, February 24, The Devil Went Down to Georgia" The story that uses the song: "The Package" (write to me if you want the passkey) and the song |
| My blog post related to above activity: "Soundrack, Feb 23, Softly and Tenderly" Related story: "Chapter 11--Softly and Tenderly" of "Dreamin' Life Away" and a link to the song, from the movie Junebug |
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