Site Review for Writers
Or...The Dragon suggests you check this out

The description at the top of the Writers and Authors blog states that it is "a place for people in the writing industry to gather and share experiences, tips and advice. Not to mention promote their latest work and discuss various topics related to the writing industry. Included in this blog you will also find; links to sites for writers, competitions and contests, interviews, writer and book event listings and more..." Jo Linsdell, the administrator of the site, appears to have taken a break during the spring and summer from the constant strain of posting that such a mission statement would require but has come back full force this fall with information and interviews that show diligence in her research. And it's not just the blog posts that visitors will find useful.

Linsdell has smartly organized a host of stationary items down the side of her blog that give visitors snippits of information with links to learn more. For instance, if you're looking for a definition for a word, type it into the "Online Reference" field, select what you want to know about it from the bubbles available, and click "search". Up pops an additional site where your answer lies. Or if you're looking for an idea to unstop your writers block, Linsdell offers the Instant Writing Prompt, which gives you a new idea each time you hit the "refresh" button. Other widgets include a Writing Contests box with scrolling contests—although I think visitors should be encouraged to seek out this feature early in the month to take advantage of the highest number of deadlines—that features links to get individual contest guidelines, a list of links to sites that are helpful to writers, and a list of sites hosting Linsdell on her current virtual tour.

Given the undertaking, Linsdell is bringing an organized, clean, pleasing blogsite to writers and authors that offers what it says it will. I'm impressed by the amount of work she's put into this labor and encourage fellow writers and authors to check it out.

"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."
Tags: writers and authors, Jo Linsdell

Writers Write
Or…The Dragon has a bone to pick with folks who spend their writing time on promotion

Let me start by saying this will be a controversial post. I apologize and welcome your discussion with one another now.

First, writers write. They must, as a function of today's publishing industry, also promote their work.

But the writer who sacrifices his or her writing time to sit on a panel at a convention or to package up pens and bookmarks to send to a convention where he or she can't participate in the flesh or to stand by a photocopy machine making advance reader copies (ARCs) of the latest manuscript for reviewers ceases to be a writer and steps into the role of a publicist. I have performed each of the above-mentioned tasks and more in the promotion of Choices Meant for Gods, Choices Meant for Kings, and What Choices We Made because I can't afford to hire a publicist, but I have not performed these tasks to the detriment of my writing schedule. I would lose my mind if I didn't have my writing time.

Recently, someone in an online promotional group that I belong to wrote a message chastising the members of the group for not participating more in the free opportunities the group affords. We were being called on the carpet for not taking time to post oodles of links and information about our work. I didn't have time to respond to the message, and was irritated that the message with the scintillating subject line had turned out to be a waste of my reading time. So I decided to use it during my blogging time to educate others.

If you've set aside time for writing because you're a writer, guard it with your life. Don't let promotional activities take away your opportunity to create. If an interview is scheduled during the hour or two hours that you've scheduled for writing, then re-schedule those writing hours for a different time; don't let them slip away. If you have to travel to speak on a panel, write on the plane. Write in the hotel room. You can ask for that wake-up call to be as early as you need it to be…

What I'm trying to get at is this: time is precious. Your writing time is precious. Once you let it get away, you don't get it back. It's more important than responding to a group message or to a blog post. It's more important than opening your e-mail to check "one thing" that sucks you in for an hour. It's more important than the laundry that could be drying while you finally catch up on sleep later.

I'm not going to tell you that scheduling and re-scheduling your writing time is easy. Some writers out there are balancing writing with raising a family with promotion with getting a dog to the vet, etc. There's always something. I have a fulltime job that requires more than 40 hours a week, an illness that requires frequent doctor visits and tests, some of which last more than three hours at a pop, and a couple legal matters that require visits to attorneys (with homework). That means I have to stay organized to keep the writing and promotion up. It is possible.

And it's what makes me a writer.

Which are you?

"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."
Tags: writer, writing time, Choices Meant for Gods, promotional activities

Free Formatting Help for Writers
Or...The Dragon suggests free PDF-creation site

My friend Jamieson Wolf turned me on to a different site for creating PDFs, and I like it better than anything else I've tried so far. If you're a starving writer like me, you can't bounce out to the store to buy new software on a whim, so finding freebies is "cool."

Check out http://www.pdfonline.com/ to create pdfs of documents you'd like to send via e-mail, etc. Once you get there, you can either download free 30-day trials of the pdf-making software (which will create macros-vs.-Windows XP issues for you, thus I elected not to go that route - you see, The Idiot I was once married to had a free 30-day trial from someone for, oh, a couple years, on his computer that kept that stupid macros pop-up window popping up every time you opened Microsoft Windows - joy) or you can purchase the software outright or you can use the link on the site to create one pdf at a time for free. Because I create pdfs so infrequently, I've opted to merely use the site.

Here's what you do:
Step 1. Go to http://www.pdfonline.com/.
Step 2. Click on the orange Convert to PDF for Free>> link on the left-hand side of the page.
Step 3. Browse for your document. (It's as easy as attaching something to an e-mail.)
Step 4. Type in the name you'd like for the finished file.
Step 5. Type in your e-mail address.
Step 6. Hit the submit button.
Pdfonline.com creates the pdf in a few minutes and sends it to your inbox.

A couple tips:
Make sure you add pdfonline@bcltechnologies.com to your accepted mail list.
Make sure you can receive attachments.
Make sure you don't have any "strange" fonts in your original document. (I made that mistake my first time around and had to repeat the pdf-creation process. Please note that the process is so easy that repeating it was a breeze - once I'd replaced the offending font in my original document.)

"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."
Tags: formatting help, creating PDF, Jamieson Wolf, www.pdfonline.com, software

Grammar Guide
Punctuate for Clarity, Part II, The Use of the Serial Comma

(Ed. note: I do not use serial commas in this article, pursuant to AP style.)

The serial comma is the last comma before the conjunction in a series of items in a sentence.

Example: Chariss, Nigel, Rohne, and Henry leave the Arcanan estate in my epic fantasy novel Choices Meant for Gods.

The final comma after “Rohne” is referred to as the serial comma. What’s unique about it is how much trouble it can cause for writers.

If you’re writing a novel, business letter, personal letter to a friend, book report, etc., you use the serial comma.

If you’re writing an article for the newspaper, a magazine, a letter to the editor or some other journalistic medium, you do not use the serial comma. That’s the preferred style of the Associated Press. Now, if the items in the list include a complex construction, the serial comma is retained for clarity.

Example: Loetha and Lahs, Hrazon and Mia, and one of the guards joined Nigel and Chariss on their trip to Arcana City that evening. Nigel felt foolish with so many chaperones along for the journey.

Do you see the serial comma? It's the one after Mia's name. Because the group traveling to the city is split into pairs, its members' names are combined in the list, creating compound subjects in the list. Loetha and Lahs is one compound subject. Hrazon and Mia is the next. The elements of the series contain their own conjunctions, making the sentence more cumbersome if you leave out the serial comma.

When writing a term paper or thesis for a grade, you may be asked to follow other stylebooks that dictate the serial comma’s use, and you should refer to and follow those guides. (Chicago Manual of Style, MLA, your professor’s latest mood swing, etc.)

For additional information on commas, the Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law is your Bible. As I pointed out in yesterday's Grammar Guide, its bent is toward journalism, thus there will be minor differences in punctuation rules when using AP versus "normal" English. For "normal" English, I recommend Creative Writer's Handbook (fourth edition) by Philip K. Jason (a friend of mine) and Allan B. Lefcowitz (available from www.prenhall.com/english) and Eats, Shoots & Leaves The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss (available from http://www.penguin.com/).

(Sandy Lender has been an editor in the magazine publishing industry for sixteen years, is an editor in the book publishing industry and is the author of the epic fantasy novel Choices Meant for Gods, available from www.archebooks.com.)

"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."
Tags: grammar guide, punctuation, serial comma, stylebook, Choices Meant for Gods, Associated Press, Creative Writer's Handbook, Eats, Shoots & Leaves, Sandy Lender, fantasy novel

Writer's Guide Idea for Easter Bunnies
Let's Journal About Pet Rabbits

First…I'll write a jaunty limerick at the end of this post for your entertainment (and, yes, I'll admit to writing the silly thing) if you'll make an attempt to write one in the comment field today.—Promise?

Now! Easter is a religious holiday in my life, but it's also an opportunity to immerse oneself in total cuteness of fluffy chicks and hoppy bunnies. Strolling through pet stores this time of year is sure to get me to go "oooooo" in a manner more befitting someone less than half my age and I.Q. But who cares? Bunnies are too cute to look at without the accompanying sound effects.

What kills me, though, is the number of parents who surprise Little Miss Muffet with a pet rabbit on Easter Sunday morning. What's a 10-year-old going to do with a house rabbit? Does a 16-year-old even know what to do with a pet rabbit when it neglects to use its litterbox? Does a college student have time to clean a rabbit cage every day? And let me tell you, from personal experience, yes, you want to clean the cage every day. Rabbit pee is stinky. It's stinky every day.

My bunnies were named Abby and Sniffles. And they were adorable! I got them when I was an adult, living in an apartment. Oh, no, the apartment manager had no idea. I was very careful about using wood putty to cover all the teeth marks in the baseboards before I moved out so I could get my security deposit back…

While living with Abby and Sniffles, I also learned to be careful about keeping electrical cords up off the floor. You also need extra litter boxes in obvious places when bunnies are out playing, but it's a good idea to keep a dust buster charged up for bunny "pellet" trails (because you never know what's going to surprise the crap out of a bunny just on the spur of the moment). I used to keep a stash of Frosted Mini-wheats on hand at all times, too. (Abby would sit up and beg for a Frosted Mini-wheat, and then take it in her front paws and munch it down like it was manna from Heaven.) For all the precautions I took watching those little munchkins when they were out playing, I have a dictionary with a chewed spine and a Monopoly game lid that looks like it went through a mulcher because both were under the edge of the bed one day…one day when I lost track of one of the little hoppers for too long…

I guess the point I wish to make is that pet rabbits may be adorable, but they require much patience, much attention and much rearranging of your furniture. Because they're members of the rodent family, rabbits have front teeth that don't stop growing. This means they chew on everything in sight. By providing them wood toys, you can abate some of the destruction to your home and furniture, but not all. Bunnies don't understand why they're not allowed to munch on the soft, pleasurable wood of the chair your dad made 20-plus years ago—and the matching end table. So they'll drop the silly carrot-shaped chunk of wood you bought at the pet store and go back to the chair (or table) the moment your back's turned. Sometimes, they don't have the decency to wait until your back's turned…Sniffles would look at me, drop the toy and hop over to the chair to start munching while I stooped over to pick her up.

Keep in mind that bunnies have teeth as sharp as their will.

So if you've made the mistake of purchasing a pet rabbit for a young child this Easter, well, you know, it might work out just fine. It may be a great relationship that turns out to be what the child needed to learn responsibility and affection for God's creatures. Or you may be looking for someone to adopt said rabbit in a couple of weeks.

There are organizations all over the states that help with such things. Most major metropolitan areas have house rabbit clubs or societies that, at the least, give advice, or, in some cases, take in the pets to find them new homes. A national organization called the House Rabbit Society can help put you in touch with one in your area and can provide you some good information for raising your new pet rabbit. Visit the House Rabbit Society Web site to get started in your research. http://www.rabbit.org/chapters/index.html

Now! Because this blog is designed for writers, and today's blog instructs you to journal about pet bunnies, let's get you some inspiration. For intense cuteness, see bunny blog videos and whatnot here: http://rabbitbites.com/blog/?cat=9

There are also adorable pictures at the House Rabbit Society. http://www.rabbit.org/fun/net-bunnies.html I encourage you to visit there often (and to donate to their efforts if you can).

Have a peaceful, happy Easter. And don't forget about your silly bunny limerick! As promised, here's mine:

There once was a cute little bunny
Who wanted to learn to make honey
She went to the bees
Who fell to their knees
Laughing because it seemed funny

I know, it's dorky, but just picture the cute little bunny with the cute little laughing bees. :) I'm sure you can probably do better...

"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."
Tags: writer's guide, writing tip, journaling, Easter, pet rabbit, house rabbit society, bunnies, limerick

Writers' Guide: Inspiring Question for Good Friday
Or…The Dragon says journal about this one…

We want you to share your answer in the comment field, but feel free to use this thought-provoking question in your journaling or short story exercises today!

Describe your outlook on life or your point of view in meteorological terms (such as windy, partly cloudy, tornadic, etc.).

For a while there, Fantasy Author Sandy Lender's point of view had become cloudy with 100 percent chance of a Cat 5 hurricane—seek shelter. You know…get under the mattress in the bathtub now! Now! Don't wait! The sirens are going off now!

Luckily, I don't like having that kind of outlook (despite the heavy post below with all its negativity—hopefully folks see the sarcasm laced throughout and can laugh at it with me). So! Even though the practical, down-to-earth side of me sees some partly cloudy skies ahead, I see a lot of sunshine, too. (Hey, I live in Florida and I write books for fun. How can I NOT see sunshine ahead?)

Your turn! What's your outlook?
AND!
When you sit down to journal with this, think about this question for your main character in your current WIP. It's a great exercise.
Those of you who have read Choices Meant for Gods know that Chariss starts out with a pretty rainy outlook, doesn't she? But there's an arc that character's going through…like a pretty rainbow in the sky… ;)

"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."
Tags: journaling, outlook, point of view, Choices Meant for Gods, writer's guide, inspiring question, thought-provoking, writing exercise

Writers' Guide: Question for Friday
Something Thought-Provoking for Your Journaling Time Today

Of course we want you to share your answer in the comment field, but feel free to use this thought-provoking question in your journaling or short story exercises today!

What three words would you use to describe this past week in your life?

Fantasy Author Sandy Lender answers with:
1) indecisive
2) unreliable
3) coconut
(I included "coconut" because I included Sunday as part of this past week. Bwuahahaha.)

I would continue and give reasons for each, but then I'd have to hunt down all the blog visitors and shoot each one, and that would be a shame. (and time-consuming)

So in the interest of time and safety, I'll just open this up for comments now. Have fun!

"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."
Tags: fantasy author, Sandy Lender, questions, writers guide, journal, dragon

Writers' Guide
Childhood Inspiration from Rare Photograph of Young Helen Keller

When I was in grade school, middle school, etc., I read the book of Helen Keller's life during the summer. Every summer. So I know the story very well. She and her teacher Anne Sullivan are incredible sources of inspiration for me. You'll see quotations from Helen (and from Annie) on this blog in the Inspirational Quote of the Day for Writers from time to time because they just had such positive, meaningful and hopeful words of wisdom, comfort and inspiration.

Today, I've learned that Thaxter Spencer from the northeast has had in his possession a picture of a young Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan from 1888 in Cape Cod. The news is astounding. How on earth could someone have such an artifact, such a piece of history, such an inspirational piece of memorabilia, and not be sharing it with the universe? There's a line in the news article saying he didn't think anyone would find it very interesting.

Well, I sure do.

In fact, I find it incredible. I followed the link to the news story and just stared at the image for minutes on end, taking in the expression on Annie's face, watching Helen holding Annie's hand just waiting for Annie's fingers to start moving, to start spelling out some word to open the world up a little wider for her pupil and companion. In the picture, Helen is holding one of her baby dolls on her lap. I wonder if it's the one Annie brought her as a gift when they first met... It's a thought that brings a smile to my face.

I can't begin to understand or express how the story of Helen Keller's life has influenced mine or my writing. I also spent those summers re-reading the Little House on the Prairie series (yes, the whole thing), so Laura Ingalls Wilder, her family and her values have influenced me as well. But I see the love and companionship between Helen and Annie in the relationship Chariss and Hrazon have in my fantasy novel Choices Meant for Gods. It's heartwrenching to watch those two as student and mentor in my trilogy. I let the character Master Rothahn describe it with words from our Bible in Book I, and anyone paying attention will have caught it.

And anyone looking at the image at http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080306/ap_on_re_us/helen_keller_photograph today will catch those words from 1 Corinthians 13:4 as well.

"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."
Tags: Helen Keller, Anne Sullivan, rare photograph, Thaxter Spencer, fantasy novel, Choices Meant for Gods

Grammar Guide
The epigraph versus the block quote


Whether you're writing a research paper for midterms or a novel with inscriptions at the outset of each chapter, this Grammar Guide will set a couple of standard quotation methods to right for you. Epigraphs and block quotes have different placements and citation requirements. To avoid plagiarism, follow these simple rules.

An epigraph is an inscription or quotation used at the beginning of a literary work or chapter to introduce or set the theme/tone of the piece.

A block quote (spelled both as one word or two) is set within the text, and, depending on its length, will have quotation marks to set it off. If it's very long, and parameters can be found in Grammar Guide "Punctuation with quotation in formal text," posted on this blog Feb. 7, 2007, you'll set it off by placing a line of space before and after the quote, indenting it on both the right and left margins, and, depending on the style guide you're following, hitting it with an endnote. (Those rules are spelled out in the Grammar Guide referenced above.)

Epigraphs do not get quotation marks around them. If the epigraph includes dialogue, the dialogue will have its correct punctuation, including quotation marks, but the overall device doesn't get set off by the punctuation. If you're following the American Literature Style Guide, your epigraph will be cited with an em dash and the name of the author and the title of the work from which the quote came. (You can read detailed instructions on the key stroke for the em dash at "Punctuation – the em dash" posted on this blog May 21, 2007.) No other attribution is necessary. No endnote is used, etc. In other words, the rules are a little more lax than with the block quote.

For the placement of the epigraph, again, it depends on the style guide you use. If you're following the AL style guide, you want the epigraph to be flush right at the top of the document, and the font to use is Roman. MLA doesn't list specific rules for epigraphs so students typically apply the MLA rules for block quotes/indented quotes, right down to listing the source on the source page. Etcetera. Just check your style book and write accordingly.

One thing to keep in mind with epigraphs is their perception with readers. If you're writing first-person chick lit with amusing characters in trite sexual encounters, putting deep and meaningful quotes from Dante and Cervantes at the beginning of each chapter equals an attempt at eloquence that the novel is not supposed to have. Stick with something light and fun to match the tone of the overall piece, as the epigraph is, by definition, supposed to do.

Another point to keep in mind is consistency. If using an epigraph on 15 out of 26 chapters in a novel, either strike the 15 or come up with appropriate lead-in quotes for the other 11. Don't do it halfway. Agents, editors and publishers will notice.

"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."

Sandy Lender is a magazine and book editor with 16 years experience in her field. Her first published novel, Choices Meant for Gods, is available from ArcheBooks Publishing.

Tags: Choices Meant for Gods, grammar, grammar guide, epigraph, block quote, dragon

Writers' Guide
Or...something thought-provoking for your journaling today

I've been in the slow, arduous, horrific process of breaking up with an alcoholic who seems unable to understand why I want him out of my life. He's being "victimized," you see, despite the fact that he's a jerk when he drinks. (Hence the "get out of my life" necessity.) But I noticed something about myself this weekend when dealing with his obstinancy. I was acting quite obstinant as well. And this makes a great writer's blog because of this quote from Nietzsche:

"He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster...When you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you."

How about that? Now, I'm not becoming an alcoholic. Far from it. In fact, watching this person's inability to stay away from liquor despite his desire to do so has soured me on the whole "I need a stiff drink" concept. You know how some days the stress just makes you want to chill out with a glass of wine? I don't really feel like chilling out with a glass of wine anymore.

I look at this person and see a shell of the person I originally met. It's like looking at a slumped-over creature that once was very full of life and vigor and an incredible sense of humor. The muscle tone and spring he once had in his step are gone. Depression from a job loss swung into a drinking binge that just won't stop and I'm watching this person, now back among the employed, making excuse after excuse after excuse for the booze in his life. He's fighting with a monster, and I'm going to stop fighting with him before his excuses and arguments and angry attitudes become mine.

And there's your journaling assignment for today. How do your characters fight with their monsters? Do they take on characteristics of the creatures they abhor? How do you keep the "good guys" pure when the "bad guys" are too close? How do we heed Nietzsche's advice and keep our heroes and heroines from becoming the monsters they fight?

"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."
Tags: Nietzsche, writers guide, monsters, dragon, alcoholic

Writer's Guide
Or...let adversity inspire the character forming within you

I know I've said this here before, but we creative types are at our absolute best when we're in absolute hell. Guess where I am right now. It's horrible. But I'm using it for my best. And I want to share it with you other writers out there because this is the absolute best time to write...and I have more ideas flowing through me than you can shake a stick at.

Here's a snapshot: A fellow in one of the online groups I belong to is sharing a major financial blow that's been leveled at him. Another fellow has been dealing with losing his grandchildren through an insane and mind-boggling judicial system fiasco. Freelance workers are causing me angst up against multiple deadlines at work. Someone I thought was going to be a pillar of friendship in my life has bowed out - exit stage left. Someone else who vowed to stay with me for better or worse is causing major headaches instead of the kind and gentle "exit stage left" that I would prefer from him. An exciting and uplifting trip I had planned for a few weeks from now has fallen through due to unforeseen circumstances. A variety of financial surprises have hit me in the past 72 hours. The landlord of my new abode isn't taking care of things to make the new abode properly livable, yet I'm trying to live there. A girlfriend who needs more than I can possibly give right now is hurting emotionally and I cannot physically get to her... I'm quite literally stunned by it all. What visitors to the site might find interesting (or horrific) is that I'm not listing everything that's gone wrong this week. (but wait, there's more)

Here's the point: I'm listing all this crapola because I know there are people out there going through worse than this. Good God, I pity you. Seriously. I can't imagine getting out of bed under the weight you're under. It was hard enough for me this morning, wondering what new and horrific surprise I'd find awaiting me when I opened my eyes or walked out into the living area of the apartment... So far, so good. Again, we can use all this pain. At some point, it all has to get better. It all has to improve. So let's take notes now and learn what we can from our reactions to these stressors. Character is forming within us at the moment, and the type of character we form out of this adversity says much about the heart within each of us.

While this character-forming is going on, here's something fabulous to inspire you writers visiting the site today:

"Any change, any loss, does not make us victims. Others can shake you, surprise you, disappoint you, but they can't prevent you from acting, from taking the situation you're presented with and moving on. No matter where you are in life, no matter what your situation, you can always do something. You always have a choice and the choice can be power." -- Blaine Lee

Here's wishing you much power in your writing...

"Some days, I just want the dragon to eat everyone in my path."

Tags: writers guide, writing tip

Science Reality
Or...consider your audience when gleaning your inspiration from space

It occurred to me while watching the happenings of the current space shuttle mission that history will teach us nothing. And I'm not just channeling a fantastic Sting song. Consider for a moment how our nation grieved when Columbia exploded across the morning sky and we lost her crew in what should have been a routine homecoming. . . Routine.

Today I sit here thinking how ridiculous it seems to hear that NASA might deem it necessary to send its astronauts out to repair the 3.5-inch-long and 2-inch-wide gash on Endeavor's belly this week. They might consider that important enough to repair. This isn't science fiction where Jean luc Picard can tell Data to raise a shield and wrap the ship in protective energy to get through reentry. Last I heard, NASA hadn't integrated Asgaard shielding technology in our space program. This is reality where, just a few short years ago, one of our few ships actually flew apart because of this problem and our people died.

And now we have the problem again.

And there's a civilian on board.

When you're experiencing temperatures of up to 2,300 degrees Fahrenheit during reentry and have the added joy of not-so-friendly gases pounding your shell, you don't want a hull breach. And therein lies my point of this post for writers. How many of you reading along at home knew that the atmosphere exposes our astronauts to temperatures of 2,300 degrees? Come on. Give me honesty. You knew it was pretty darn hot, but did you know the actual numbers?

How about the gases up there? Can you name them? (I'm a fantasy author. I make up this stuff for the worlds I create, but I can tell you right now that we've got about 0.9% argon, about 0.03% carbon dioxide, about 0.002% methane, 78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen. Now, I had to look up the percentages in a couple places to be sure, but we speculative fiction writers just have to carry around bizarre knowledge.) But I'm getting off track. Here's the point: Every one of you knew what a hull breach was. Why? It's on every sci-fi space show you've ever watched. Farscape, Firefly, Star Trek (all of them), Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, Battlestar Galactica, etc. "Hull breach" is in our vernacular. Your audience will recognize it in a heartbeat. You can use it without worry. You can have a character shout, "Ohmigod, Captain, we've got a hull breach on deck 8!" and your audience will feel the tension. (Of course, there better be some great context or that's going to be pretty cheesy dialogue...)

What else are you giving your audience, though? Let's say you're writing sci-fi and you're listing the gases the crew is plummeting through. I can guarantee you someone out there besides me knows them all. And if you mess one up, that reader will be verrrrry disappointed in you. You'll knock him or her right out of your tense and full-of-action scene if you mess up that detail and pull him or her out of the story. He'll sit back in his comfy reading chair and think, "wait a minute, why is so-n-so choking on radon?" If they're plummeting through earth's atmosphere, give them an overdose of methane, give them a pocket of carbon dioxide, but don't go crazy and toss in something that oozes up out of the ground and doesn't occur up there. Unless this is post-globally-warmed Earth and something apocalyptic has happened. Then all bets are off...

Lessons? You want to do your homework; research your topic so your writing is accurate and worthy of your audience's intelligence level. They're paying attention, you know. Also, you want to keep in mind that not all of them are on that higher sci-fi level. Everybody knows what a hull breach is, but not everybody knows that argon makes up approximately 0.9% of our breathable atmosphere. Not everybody knows you get smacked with 2,300 degrees of searing carbon dioxide (and other stuff) upon reentry to that atmosphere. So you've got the interesting job of writing for a wide group, haven't you? But that's half the fun of this job! Admit it! (Try making up a new language and introducing it in the midst of a war-and-romantic-plot-development fantasy sometime...My publisher's going to shoot me.)

In the meantime, I ask you to pray and/or send positive thoughts for our astronauts on the current mission at the space station. They're placing new beams on the station and doing what astronauts do. Barbara Morgan is the teacher who was Christa McAuliffe's backup for the mission in 1986, so she's up there now living her dream. I wish her well and offer my congratulations. As a fantasy writer who is living my own dream of being published at the moment, I feel the rush! Of course, I'm not hanging off a space station risking my life...

To Barbara, Charles Hobaugh, Rick Mastracchio and Dave Williams of the Endeavor crew, we wish you well this week and hope you get home safely.

"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."

Tags: space shuttle mission, Columbia, NASA, Endeavor, Jean luc Picard, Asgaard, sci-fi, Farscape, Firefly, Star Trek, Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, Battlestar Galactica, hull breach, Barbara Morgan, Charles Hobaugh, Rick Mastracchio, Dave Williams, dragon

Writers Guide
Inspiration from...well...the toilet

It's not what you think. We haven't had a Writer's Guide here at The Dragon for a while, and what better way to serve up some inspiration than sharing a bathroom story? Imagine.

For those of you who have been following Nigel's blog over at http://sandylender.blogspot.com/, you're aware that "someone" has recently left my home (sing your praises to the Lord, come on everybody, stand up and sing one more hallelujah). Upon his departure, I scoured his bathroom. I haven't been in it since. So this evening, I be-bop in there to find, voila, a frog in the toilet.

I wondered how long the poor thing had been in there because he looked kinda skinny.

So I catch the frog, which, of course, wasn't thrilled to be ousted, and tossed him out into the swamp. I return to said interior room and, well, I check out the bizarre mold-lookin' stuff he (or perhaps she?) had left behind. I think I'm going to have tadpoles.

Tadpoles in the toilet.

Now there's a great selling point. Maybe prospective house buyers will just NOT lift the lid in there...

But don't frog eggs need sunlight? And shouldn't there have been TWO frogs for these eggs to be fertilized? You know...a boy frog?

So there's your inspiration for the evening. Write up somethin' about frogs or tadpoles or bizarre things hanging out in your bathroom. It at least inspired a Writer's Guide for me. ;)

"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."

Tags: writer's guide, frogs, dragon, sandylender.blogspot.com

Sandy Lender Doesn't Recommend Quitting Your Day Job
Or...the joy and insanity of being a writer

By Sandy Lender, fantasy author

Northeast Missouri State University, now Truman University, prides itself on offering a liberal arts education to graduates. I got out in four years with a degree in English and a liberal arts education that has garnered me a 15-year career in magazine publishing and public relations/marketing, but my true passion, the "career" I've nurtured since I was about six years old, is writing. And I don't mean journalism. Yes, journalism and editing are what have paid the bills the past 15 years (and will continue to do so), but fiction writing...oh...fiction writing is what has kept me alive.

It's probably going to be the death of me.

Let me explain. If you're visiting this site, you've probably been drawn here by an interest in books or authors or a writer's lifestyle or something along those lines. Let me give it to you straight. All writers have a touch of insanity about us (this is normal). We usually carry a muse around with us, but this is not always by choice. We complain about characters fighting for their rights, refusing to conform to our wishes in a scene. We go on writing binges that keep us up until 3 a.m. before collapsing next to our computers just to get up and start typing again when the sun blazes in to wake us around 7, skipping meals, showers, potty breaks and phone calls until some aspect of reality forces us out of the writing cocoon. We will tear a room to shreds looking for a pen if an idea has just struck us. And woe to the fool who gets between us and a piece of paper when we get hold of that pen...

Because I've experienced the insanity described above, I've been lifted up by hearing stories of people who have enjoyed my first published novel, Choices Meant for Gods. Now I get to read comments on my Amazon.com page of people claiming Nigel Taiman is "by far" their favorite character, or "I want to be just like Chariss when I grow up," and I feel this lump of pride in my darlings rise in my throat.

That's the joy and insanity of being a writer. You pour your heart and soul into the work; and pray that someone out there likes it, too. Now here's the hard part. People have to read it to like it. They have to know it exists to read it. So you have to get it to them.

Enter the marketing and promoting aspect of the new author's job. I attended the ArcheBooks Publishing's Professional Novelist Workshop about two weeks before receiving my contract for Choices Meant for Gods, and had attended the Naples Press Club Writers Workshop the week before that, so I thought I had a pretty good idea of the marketing nightmare new authors faced. I was ready. Lay it on me, I thought.

Now I'm on the last day of a two-month online book tour I organized myself, contemplating repeating a moderately successful instore book signing at the local Barnes & Noble that I organized myself, and managing six blogs (including http://www.todaythedragonwins.blogspot.com/) for the promotion of my fantasy novel that I've organized myself, preparing a spate of press releases I've written myself that I'll spew forth like water from an erupting sprinkler next week, etc. Do you see a trend there? New authors are on their own. Unless you have the few thousand dollars it takes to hire a publicity firm/PR agency to send out press releases for you, you're on your own. I don't have a few thousand stray dollars and I don't trust people who charge less than professional rates to do a professional job.

I take hope in the fact that even J.K. Rowling was once in the same boat I'm in now. She was down to her last food stamp as the story goes when that fateful call came: Her little story about a boy named Harry Potter had been picked up. I've already had my call. Choices Meant for Gods is published and out there. Now I need my lottery winning event to propel me into J.K. Rowling and Harry Potter status, but, for right now, I'm going to just keep writing deep into the night and reading those fabulous e-mails that praise Nigel and Chariss. Because making a living at this would be nice, but, truly, the writing binges that result in someone singing Chariss's praises are the real joy and insanity of being a writer.


I'd like to thank all the hosts today for posting this guest blog article. And I'd like to thank everyone who made the CMFG Online Book Tour the raging success it's been. You know that paragraph above where I said new authors are on their own? I'd like to correct that. We actually have each other. Without each of you, the name Sandy Lender wouldn't be all over the internet right now, and readers wouldn't be one click away from http://www.amazon.com/Choices-Meant-Gods-Sandy-Lender/dp/1595071652/ref=dp_return_1/104-9089752-5140754?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books&qid=1175821346&sr=8-1 to pick up my epic fantasy novel. And new author Sandy Lender is grateful to every one of you.

"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."

Tags: sandy lender, fantasy author, northeast missouri state university, truman university, liberal arts, journalism, fiction writing, writer's life, muse, choices meant for gods, nigel taiman, marketing and promotion, archebooks publishing, professional novelist workshop, naples press club, online book tour, today the dragon wins, fantasy novel, j.k. rowling, harry potter

Writers Guide
J.K. Rowling had Writer’s Block?
Or…what’s your muse up to?

Look, if 2.9 million copies of either of the sequels to Sandy Lender's Choices Meant for Gods were guaranteed to fly off the shelves the way 2.9 million copies of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows are supposed to fly off the shelves this weekend, you can best bet there would be no problem with writer’s block in my writing den. I have no problem with writer’s block on a bad day. I can’t imagine it descending upon me if I’ve been listed as one of the wealthiest women in the world—that would be right up there with the Waltons and the Queen of England. I read an article back in the winter that Rowling had writer's block because killing off one of the characters had messed her up. Now, dude, don't get me wrong, killing off characters sucks. I know. It hurts. I truly feel for what Rowling went through there. You have to put the manuscript down for a couple days (or a month in the case of one of mine) and mourn…while you work on all of the 19 other works in progress.

So. The topic of this article is “what’s your muse up to” because I’m curious about this. How many writers out there actually struggle to get started writing each day? How many of you find it difficult to come up with a new idea or a new plotline or a new character? How many of you, seriously, ever suffer from writer’s block?

See…I never do. For Pete's sake, People, I practically drive off the road writing down ideas in heavy traffic because this stuff just hits me any time, day or night. Maybe it’s the pictures of John Taylor in all his hotness plastered around my writing den that keeps the creativity stoked. Maybe it’s the pictures of dragons. Maybe it's the streaming iTunes with Duran Duran and Arcadia in heavy rotation amid the Barry Manilow, Robert Palmer, Norah Jones, etc. Maybe it’s the candles I light when I want to work on the medieval-themed stories.

Oh, wait.

I may have just stumbled upon it. The medieval-themed stories versus the regular-ol’-fantasy stories versus the vampire stories versus the paranormal romance stories (oh, yeah, for some reason, my face-to-face visit with my muse back on December 15 struck the paranormal romance vibe in my brain and I wrote one of those novels…now I can’t stop) versus flash fiction stories versus stories for eBooks that my online writers group puts together from time to time versus this story about a winged girl who was abandoned at birth (which is really upsetting Nigel Taiman, let me tell you) versus marketing materials like press releases that get me all riled up versus…

Do you see where I’m going with this? I don’t have time for writer’s block.

So tell me if there really are “real people” like you and me who suffer from this. And what do you do to overcome it? Because, hey, I could post an article about tickling the muse tomorrow if we need to. I mean, the idea of throwing John Taylor to the floor here in the den and tickling him is fabulous. And, with that thought in mind, I feel the need to go write…

“Some days, you just want the dragon to win.”

Tags: Choices Meant for Gods, Sandy Lender, Harry Potter, Deathly Hallows, writers block, writers guide, fantasy, Duran Duran, paranormal romance, vampire, flash fiction, marketing materials, press releases, muse, tickling the muse, John Taylor, dragon

Writers Guide
Some More Duran Duran Inspiration Today
Or…another of The Dragon's favorite Duran lyrics

Because you can just never get enough Duran Duran, I'm posting the following coo-el Duran Duran lyric, just to inspire all ya'll writers visiting The Dragon today. This is a great lyric from Mr. LeBon et al. At the show in New York in June, this was the "rare" song the fans voted for the band to play. I burst into tears when they struck the first note. You see, Lonely in Your Nightmare is the song John Taylor played right after announcing to the fans gathered at the convention out in L.A. that fateful night so long ago that he was going to pursue his solo career apart from Duran for a while. God, that hurt. So it's one of those songs that takes a little emotional support to get through if you're really listening to the words…

I think this song is the theme song for Book III of the Choices Meant for Gods trilogy and I just didn't realize it until I started typing out the words for this post. How interesting.

Lonely in Your Nightmare
By Duran Duran

Even on the darkest night when empty promise means empty hand
And soldiers coming home like shadows turning red
When the lights of hope are fading quickly then look to me
I'll be your homing angel I'll be in your head.

Because you're lonely in your nightmare let me in
and there's heat beneath your winter let me in

I see the delta traces living lonely out on the limb.
And a passing glimmer warm beneath your skin
Please tread gently on the ground when all around you earth turns to fire.
Only get a second chance when danger's on the wind.

Because you're lonely in your nightmare let me in
Because there's heat beneath your winter let me in
and it's silent on your stone field let me in

Must be lucky weather when you find the kind of wind that you need
C'mon show me all the light and shade that made your name
I know you've got it in your head I've seen that look before
You've built your refuge turns you captive all the same.

Because you're lonely in your nightmare let me in
and it's barren in your garden let me in
Because there's heat beneath your winter let me in

Because it's silent in your stone field let me in
and you're lonely in your nightmare let me in
Because you've waited through your ice age let me in

Because you're so lonely in your nightmare let me in
and it's cold out on your stone range let me in
Because there's heat beneath your winter let me in


"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."

Tags: Duran Duran, Lonely in Your Nightmare, Choices Meant for Gods, dragon

Writer's Guide
Where are you finding inspiration?

(And this is post #400 at The Dragon, so I'd say we're inspired around here!)

I bought some more purple pens and an Orlando Bloom notebook and, pow, I've penned four blog articles in under two hours. Well…this one isn't complete yet…so we're at three and the beginning of #4. So purple pens and Orlando Bloom are inspiring to me. (By the way, just in case I need to point this out, Orlando inspires more than blog entries…the lad is hot. He can rescue me from orcs or pirates any day of the week.)

Now! The subject of this Writer's Guide. Inspiration. It's a favored topic of mine because I hear writers say, "oh, I'll get back to that when I get inspired," all the time. And it confuses me. "What?" I think. "When you get inspired? Aren't you inspired being awake? Weren't you inspired by your dreams last night?" (Keep a notebook and at least two pens by your bed—always.) Aren't we all inspired by the music in elevators? By the funky birds that waddle or strut in front of our cars? By pictures of John Taylor?

Oh! True story! I drove to Atlanta to see Mr. Taylor back in December and wrote a 70,000-word paranormal romance novel in two weeks when I returned. People…that is what I call being inspired by your muse.

Don't let time constraints restrain your inspiration. When I'm driving and I get inspired, I just jot down bits and pieces of sentences at stop lights (or, if traffic is moving slowly enough, while we're moving) by propping a notebook up on the steering wheel. When I'm at the grocery store, standing in line, pow, out comes the little purse-sized notepad and the other people standing there like zombies wasting those precious moments of life that they'll wish they had back when they're dying in a hospital bed 10, 20, 30 years from now get to watch me scribbling like a fiend, listening to the muse whispering in my ear…

And that right there explains why I let everything inspire me. I am the genetic dumping ground for my family tree. If it's a disease in my family, I'm going to get it. I've already had Bell's Palsy, a history of migraine that no one should have to live through, some bizarre time when I kept getting eye infections because my tear ducts weren't working properly (no longer have problems with my freaking tear ducts), and other issues that I'm not going to list publicly, and I'm only 37 years old. Thirty-seven. Whiskey tango foxtrot, right? So, I figure, chances are good I'm not making it much past 40 or 50 years…if I keep the razor blades out of my hands that long, thank you Emily Dickenson, for the inspiration (although I think she drank poison, didn't she?).

The way I see it…I have a lot of stories to get out of my soul and not a lot of time to do it. And none of us are promised tomorrow. Woah. Now if THAT doesn't inspire you, I don't know what will.

So get crackin', Writers! And give some inspiration back. There's a comment field here. Let's see what inspires you. Rainbows (saw a beautiful one spanning the Gulf of Mexico when I went out for sea turtle patrol Saturday morning), sea shells (picked up some more of the kind I'm using for "Malachi's dragon scales" in marketing and promotion efforts on Choices Meant for Gods Saturday morning, after sea turtle patrol), movies (don't have time to watch those myself, but some of all ya'll might), a fabulous bottle of wine (and I don't mean to imply anything there), a great song (anything by Duran Duran, except Lonely in Your Nightmare, makes me happy; that one makes me cry), etc. Lay it on us! Tell us what inspires you to scribble like a fiend!

"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."

Tags: Choices Meant for Gods, writer's guide, inspiration, Orlando Bloom, John Taylor, Duran Duran, Bell's Palsy, migraine, Gulf of Mexico, sea turtle, dragon

Writer's Guide
Research - Primary Sources

With the advent of the internet, writers, scholars, journalists and researchers found a wealth of information at their fingertips. A person can prepare a term paper without ever leaving home. Need to check out some specific region in Austria for a scene in a play? Hop online and find what you're looking for with just a few strategically-considered search words.

Hold on there, though, once that search engine brings back your results. A good journalist or scholar filters those results for primary and secondary source material.

A primary source is a first-hand account. This is akin to getting information straight from the horse's mouth, as it were. If you go directly to Mrs. Smith, you can get a quote about the ingredients in her pies, and you can probably trust it. If I want information about the estate at Arcana in my fantasy novel Choices Meant for Gods, I'll go straight to Nigel Taiman over at http://sandylender.blogspot.com/ because he's been managing and maintaining the place for years. He's a primary source.

A secondary source is someone who knows a first-hand person or someone who is relaying information for the first-hand person. The website for a major corporation, run by its public relations department, with only management-approved statements, can be viewed as a primary source, but the daily newspaper quoting the website is a secondary source. The newspaper is summarizing and filtering (and, if it's like most media in this country, manipulating) the information for the mass market. If I ask Henry Bakerson at http://friendsofdragons.wordpress.com/ from Choices Meant for Gods about the estate at Arcana, I'm checking in with a secondary source because he doesn't live there and hasn't been there for six years.

If you're reporting something in your writing, use a primary source to make yourself relevant.

Now, if you're writing fiction, the rules relax a bit because you're treading on more forgiving ground. You can make something up or twist a fact and call it art, but even in this craft you want to be careful. If you've set characters in the real world and have them riding their bikes from Highland to LaBrea for half an hour in L.A., some reader is going to notice that it shouldn't take as much time as you've given it. It pays to get on a real honest-to-God L.A. city map service website and check the distance. Make sure there's a bike lane. Make sure mud slides haven't wiped it out. Hit the California Department of Transportation website and see if any construction projects have the road closed during the month(s) that your story takes place. Research. Better yet: if you live anywhere near L.A., become the primary source yourself and go check it out. If you live in Connecticut, call up a friend or send an e-mail request through one of your online writer's groups to have one of them check it out for you, thus turning a pal into your primary source.

That's a pretty mundane example, but I think you get my point. If you get a detail wrong, even in fiction writing where you get to "make up" the story, someone out there will notice. Make sure the sources where you gather information are accurate, reliable, and first-hand accounts to protect your credibility and enhance not just your fiction writing, but other forms of writing as well.

(Fantasy Author Sandy Lender has been an editor in the magazine publishing industry for more than 15 years and is the author of the new epic fantasy novel Choices Meant for Gods, now available from ArcheBooks Publishing.)

"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."

Tags: Choices Meant for Gods, Sandy Lender, writing tips, writers guide, journalism, term paper, fiction, fiction writing, primary source, secondary source, Nigel Taiman, Henry Bakerson

Writers Guide
Some Duran Duran Inspiration Today
Or…one of The Dragon's favorite Duran lyrics

Because I'm going to the fan-club-members-only concert ON MY BIRTHDAY in New York City this weekend, I wanted to post the following amazing, fabulous and coo-el Duran Duran lyric, just to inspire all ya'll writers visiting The Dragon today.

Palomino
By Duran Duran

She lays on the wall
Watching the strangers drift away
Mid-day's ore—thick
With the sun of Arabia
She surrenders her voices
They gather, on the wind
Talking, chanting, breathing
Into her body…yesterday
Awakened beside
The scent of burnt sugar—on the skin
Painting eyes—thick
With the colour she brings in
Oh, and sure and strong
When the lightning tumbles down
Don't you frown
Everything will be
In time for this evening
If there's secrets
She has to be pardoned to
Everyone one of them
If there's heaven
She gets to the heart
And you'll know…
Why she says
When I run out of blue
Help me rise instead
Then I will run to you
Why she says
When I run out of blue
Give me rain instead
Now let me run…(let me run)
If there's secrets
She has to be pardoned to
Every one of them
If there's heaven
She gets to the heart
And you'll know…
Why she says
When I run out of blue
Help me rise instead
Then I will run to you

"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."


Tags: Duran Duran, dragon

Writers Guide
The Style Book
Styles Change, Style Doesn't

Everyone's probably dealt with MLA or Chicago Manual of Style at one point or another in his or her writing career. Journalists typically follow Associated Press. But here's a writing tip novelists need, and you might as well adopt it early on in a project's production or editing cycle.

Make yourself a style book that is specific to your project.

For instance, if you're creating an alternate reality and you need Paris to be obliterated during WWII, make sure your style book has the new name of that area of France with its correct Germanic spelling and the year it came into existence so all your references to it are consistent and correct. Or let's say the people in your novel about Medieval Ireland never use contractions—make a note of that in your style sheet/style book so people helping you edit will know it's wrong if Scottie MacKeegan ends a jaunty jig with "She's the finest lass in any of the clans I've ever been to battle with."

As I started writing the fantasy novel Choices Meant for Gods a few years back, I put together this little recipe-file box full of index cards for the Old English words I used for the various words and themes I used in the story. And I had some notebooks full of ideas and scenes and stray thoughts. These don't count as a style book. They're less than organized. Learn from my folly, Grasshoppers.

Now, I did get wise and got myself one of those desk calendars and a wall calendar that I started tracking the moons (there are two in my fantasy world) and various other events with. But, wow, wouldn't that have been a great set of tools to use with a style book that also kept me spelling Mahriket (the land the gods live in) the same way throughout the writing process? My phone has a yellow sticky note taped to it that reads "Lenors—on the continent to the north" because, no matter how many mnemonic devices I've tried, I cannot remember that the Lorens live on the South Island and the Lenors live on the continent of Onweald. Just now, I had to look at the note on the phone. And it's on the phone next to me here…I see it every day of my life. I'll have to take a cheat-sheet with me to Context 20 when I speak this fall. (And did I just give away the fact that the Lenors and Lorens are important in my trilogy? Nevermore.)

But there's my point. A style book lists those kinds of references for the author and the editor and makes life so much easier. And, hey, once you're famous, you can publish the style book as a chapbook or something and sell it for big bucks on eBay or at a charity auction for a good cause. (Put that marketing cap on!)

(Sandy Lender has been an editor in the magazine publishing industry for fifteen years and is the author of the new fantasy novel Choices Meant for Gods, available from www.archebooks.com.)

"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."

Tags: Choices Meant for Gods, Sandy Lender, fantasy novel, writers guide, style book, style sheet