News for December!!!

It's been a fun year for my writing.

Most recently:

I have a poem up on the Asimov's magazine website here.

Also, a very nice review of my vampire-fairy novel "Lace" appears here. On that same blog, I also have a guest post and interview. Both appeared this month, December 2015. Thank you to Molly Lolly for having me!

Eldritch Press which published my most recent book of poems this year, "Turn Left at November," went belly up. The book immediately went out of print. So I took it back and re-released it through Eye Scry Publications with a new cover and a much better, more professional interior layout. I am so happy with it. It was only ever available as a paperback. Now it is available as a Kindle and in paper from Amazon. The cover is exactly the feeling I wanted and conveys the themes of the poems within. I couldn't be more pleased.

I also participated in the November NaNoWriMo. For those who don't know what that is, it is a writing challenge where you commit to writing a minimum 1667 words a day to complete a 50k word novel in one month. I managed to finish my new novel "The Moonling Prince" while participating in that challenge. I then discovered that I was not done with those characters, so I am currently in the middle of writing the sequel. That novel has come back (favorably!) from two beta-readers and is now awaiting my final edits. I hope to have it out some time in January 2016, with the sequel to follow shortly after that. Fingers crossed.

I am also putting together a brand new poetry collection of all my newer, more science fiction themed poetry. Working title: Dead Starships. I will have that out in the new year as well.

Winter is here. I am very inspired by the seasons of autumn/winter, so more writing is sure to come!

Happy holidays to all!

a tree heavy with candles

the lavender snowflakes

sizzle

Wendy Rathbone

New Books!

I've had one of the busiest summers ever. I never mean to neglect my blog, but it happens.

I was doing a ton of traveling for my business, but also doing guest blogs for a blog tour as part of the upcoming GayRomanceLit Conference I'm attending in San Diego this October. I did a guest blog for Prism Book Alliance which went live in August, and a guest post for Love Bytes (that post is due to go up Sept. 26.) I also did a new flashfic (a 1000 word original story) as part of the deal for Prism Book Alliance, and I will link to that in a future post when that goes up.

I also did a guest blog for Molly Lolly's blog, which will go up in November, and I'll let everyone know when it goes live.

The biggest news is the release, back to back, of my two newest romance books, Scoundrel, and Lace. I'm so excited that these books are out now. They are up on Amazon in paper and ebook.

Scoundrel is a book I wrote in May in a fever of inspiration. It tells the tale of a sex slave, Antares, facing an abrupt life change and a run-in with the pirate Slate. This story takes place in the far distant future in a galaxy where starships swarm like bees and thousands of worlds are colonized. It contains a lot of eroticism which I love to write. It is a m/m romance.

Lace is a different kind of vampire novel. The vampire is actually more of a fairy-being, so I call him a vampire fairy. In this story it is the less powerful character who is the rescuer, and I get to explore the bond between a mortal and an immortal in detail. Lots of twists are thrown into this one. I expect I'll be writing a sequel to it very soon.

In other writing news:

I have a poem "The Fallen Months" upcoming in the brand new issue of Mythic Delirium.

I have a poem "Build a Rocketship Contest" coming out in an upcoming issue of Asimov's SF.

Lately, I have been trying my hand at writing flashfic. I have 10 new flashfics of fantasy and science fiction that I am submitting one at a time to Daily Science Fiction, with one rejection so far. If any of them sell to that market, I'll definitely post the news here.

So despite being very busy this summer, I'm doing my best to stay in the writing game.

I plan on participating full on for November's NaNoWriMo. I will be writing on my new novel, The Moonling Prince. My goal is to finish that novel during NaNo and get it out to customers before the end of the year. We'll see. I have wonderful beta readers and editors, and it's only a question of how quickly they get back to me. Once they get back to me, I am NOT a procrastinator. I will work on a book until it's fixed for long hours and long into the winter nights. (It's so wonderful to have a seasonal business that gives me the winters off.)

Author Interview: John Philip Johnson

I'm pleased to publish another author interview. A warm welcome to author/poet John Philip Johnson!

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Why do you write what you do?

Why I write anything at all comes from a pretty deep place within. I’ve written a lot since I was 17, and in periods when I don’t write much, I start feeling shallow and confused. Besides that, writing helps me feel connected with other people at a significant level.

As to why I write genre work, I finally admitted to myself a few years ago that I deeply love science fiction, and that the literary scene is kind of dreary. For one thing, you don’t have as much freedom with literary work; the voice is pretty constricted into post-modern orthodoxy. And literary poetry has lost its readership except for other poets. SF poetry, on the other hand, is still read by people who read it because they love it. They read for the joy of it, and I really enjoy writing it.

How does your writing process work?

Something strikes me, or I have some intriguing image or feeling, and it just feels complex or rich. Usually I mull it over until a first sentence hits me. Then I’m off to the races. I had dinner with SF writer Sheila Finch, and she said it’s exactly that way for her, too. The idea precipitates a first sentence. Sometimes I cut it later, but that’s how it starts.

And then sometimes, after that first sentence, the feeling peters out and nothing comes of it. Other times the force of thought carries through all the way to the end. When it does, I feel like a Russian gymnast dismounting the parallel bars. Arms up, chin out! I love that feeling of nailing it! I think that’s a huge motivator for all of us writers. Going back to your first question, that’s a big reason we do it, don’t you think? The joy of nailing it.

What are you working on now?

Working on promoting my comic book, which turned out really cool, with Marvel Comics legend Bob Hall and others. I hope your readers all go look at the free sample, and love it, and buy the whole comic. Forgive the shameless self-promotion! Otherwise, I’m doing more science fiction short stories. One is about memory augmentation and Alzheimer’s. I hope I can nail it. I want to write some more novels, but when you write a bad novel, you lose about a year. I’ve written a few bad novels. That’s one of the reasons I write short stuff. If you write a bad poem, what do you lose, like, an afternoon or two, right?

How does your work differ from others in the genre?

Most writers in the genre use more filigree and deflection, and I tend to write plain, direct sentences. Maybe that comes from being a Nebraskan. I was trained by Bill Kloefkorn, Hilda Raz, Ted Kooser, and Greg Kuzma, great Nebraska poets, and they all have a fairly plain style. I think it’s part of living on the Great Plains.  

Also, I’m a Catholic, so my worldview is a little different than a lot of SF writers. It gives me a certain optimism. The standard old-guard SF voice, which is still quite powerful, is the nihilistic hipster voice, like Harlan Ellison through the ages. The Fantasy writers are more optimistic—Tolkein was Catholic, after all, and kind of defined the genre—but I prefer writing SF, so I’m a bit against the grain. But I have great Christian role models in the field, like Gene Wolf, Darlene Hartman, and Connie Willis.

Thanks again for asking me these questions! If anyone is interested in checking out the coolio comic book, with graphic versions of poems originally published Rattle, Strange Horizons, the Poetry Foundation, and elsewhere, head over to my website, www.johnphilipjohnson.com. Free review copies to bloggers, paper or digital. And I’m always glad to hear from people for whatever reason.

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I'd like to add that John Philip Johnson has a brand new poem, "Selenites," in The Pedestal Magazine #76.

Thanks to John Philip Johnson, and thank you for reading!

Wendy Rathbone

Marathon Writing

Earlier this month I did a marathon writing session. It was a lot of fun. I put in the hours and effort and in a week (yes, 7 days,) I did a 40,000 word novel. Some people say that is writing fast. It is not. I wrote every hour at my usual pace. I simply put in 3 to 4 times the usual hours and writing deep into the night until exhaustion forced me to stop. The writing pace was the same. My dedication to the words and story was the same. (Which is why I don’t understand why critics say NaNo is bad for writing. All NaNo asks is you put in more hours to get the minimum word count every day.)

My fellow writing buddy Christina E. Pilz

was there to give me encouragement and inspire me to keep it up. She’s a wonderful writer herself (check out her blog.) She and I have different ways of approaching writing (pantser vs. plotter; everyone who knows me knows I’m allergic to outlines,) but when we do the work we have similar mindsets and work ethics and we find we can share and understand frustrations and achievements. So while writing is a lonely game, having an email friend on the same page is priceless when you need a breath of air or an outside voice that says, “I get it.”

Another helpful voice in my sidelines is my ever-present partner, Della Van Hise, also a great writer. (Check out her blog.) Della is also the driving force in my cover designs and getting my books up on Amazon. Without her I would be so much less.

Things I noted while doing this self-made challenge:

1. I really do enjoy being in the writing mode and in the middle of a project. It’s just damn fun. A lot of writers like the feeling of “having written” but not the actual writing part of it. I am the opposite. After I finish I feel a high followed sometimes by some amount of grief. This grief comes when I have had so much fun playing in my universe that when I’m done I am almost reminded of when I was a child and my mom called me in for the night after a day of fun playtime. End of playtime means back to a routine. Ho hum.

2. I was writing so much every day that I had the time and was able to write everything that came flooding into my mind from the deepest thoughts (which often occur at just the right moment with no amount of planning on my part) to quick dialog. I didn’t have to wait until I “found some spare time” to write a scene or a line or a note. Everything just went into it. Some scenes and lines came out of order but that was fine because they quickly found their order. Because I was able to get everything in my mind into the novel quickly, without losing energy and momentum and the original muse for the thought, I felt my writing became brighter and more emotional and authentic.

3. Even though I do this for fun and for myself nowadays, I still have darker thoughts, just like anyone. I will think I am wasting my time. I will ponder that the genres I choose to write in (science fiction, vampire, gay romance) are still considered “gutter” genres by and large. Forget the fact that Anne Rice can write, back to back, “Prince Lestat” (dandified vampires) and “Beauty’s Kingdom” (b/d, bisexual explicit erotica) and make the NYT Bestseller’s list. Even though I would categorize my stuff as closer to her ilk than any other bestseller writer I can think of, and I am no amateur, my mind keeps reminding me I am unread, unloved even though those who have read my stuff come away loving it. But when I sell only 1 to 10 books a month (across all my titles) it does feel as if I am running in place. So I wrestle with the dark thoughts, set them aside and keep going because once, years ago, I did stop writing for 9 years, and stopping guarantees a no-win. All this did occur to me during the marathon but I successfully squelched the thoughts and focused only on the fun of writing.

Writing ups and downs always occur. Disappointments seem legion. But in the end I have such a good time, and this is my heart talking. How can I deny my heart?

I do have real life work to pay the bills, but when I have the time again, I will do another marathon writing week or month. Mark my words!

  

Writing Updates and My Views on Writing for NaNo

Spring and summer are my busiest seasons for my business. I travel a lot and it's so hard to write while I am away from home.

And yet, I have still gotten a lot of writing done in-between running around.

I just finished my fairy-vampire novel, the first in a trilogy. The novel is called "Lace" and came in at just over 65,000 words. Camp NaNo (like November's NaNoWriMo wherein you write every day for a month) in April helped me finally get the damned thing done! I'm thinking of the subtitle, "Book One: The Fairy-Vampire Trilogy." But why limit myself? It could be a "series" and then I can write 2 or 10 books in that universe. Still thinking.

I wrote lots of new poetry in April as well.

A wonderful review came out for my latest novel: The Lostling.

Another wonderful review just came out for my brand new poetry book: Turn Left at November.

I also sold a poem to Asimov's SF Magazine called "Build a Rocketship Contest: Alternative Class A Instructions and Suggestions."

More about Camp NaNo: I love these challenges because I think it's so important for a writer to write every day if they can. I don't do that myself (because of the traveling and such) but I believe in it, and even without writing every day, I do an awful lot of it when I am home and in my off-seasons (I finished one novel in Dec. and one in April NOT writing every day.) Writing every day for a month during the NaNo challenges teaches that it can be done and the writing does not have to suffer for it. In fact, the writing becomes better and better as you push through blocks and hurdles to get it done. It's simple: you just write the next sentence. And then one more. And then one more. A daily pushing through various humps along the novel road is the answer to so many writerly troubles, and I have found that "writer's block" is just a myth, an excuse, a whine-time, something I did not know when I was a much younger writer who believed in all the writer myths and used them as excuses.

I never do messy writing or messy first drafts, though a lot of critics say NaNo is the worst thing for writers because it concentrates on word count and therefore quality MUST suffer. Others who approve of NaNo still say, "Allow yourself to write badly. Make a bad first draft file." Uh, no. I feel that's a total waste of time and there is no reason for that attitude! I am the kind of person who does my best as I go while daring myself to go out on limbs and take chances, but I never start out to "write badly." Not ever. Good writing or bad writing, either way, it's just a matter of sitting in the chair and typing and having a fun time. Why not sit there and do it the best you possibly can?

I have had days of over 2000 words of some of my best writing ever, so there is another myth squashed: that writing slow produces better writing. In fact, slow writing allows way too much of the critic's voice to come into play, and that is the great destroyer of the muse, as any artist in any field from singing to acting to painting can tell you. The critical voice inside every writer wants that writer to fail even if it's saying "rewrite so you can be better." Don't listen! This is a critical lie and it destroys internal "voice" and stunts all natural storytelling. The critical voice wants to browbeat you until you give up, and then it can say, "I told you so; you're not good enough." This critical voice must be bound and gagged and sent off to a deep, dark dungeon.

I research on the fly so everything is new and fresh and stimulating. That's just me. Others do it differently. There is no right way. But for me, I have a ton of experience, so it's fairly easy to trust that my subconscious mind knows what it wants to do and how to do it. I let it loose to play and that works for me amazingly well in ways I could not see when I was so young. Trusting the subconscious mind to know what it's doing might sound crazy, but seriously, it produces the best results. It does not ever let me down. Maybe I can do it without qualms because I write so much poetry, and poetry is for me like dreaming, but I honestly think it's a method that can work for anyone. Staunch the critical voice and let go. It's like fairy magic!

So my first drafts come out pretty polished. Thus, writing every day only hones my skills. I do not turn out fluff just for word count. I concentrate and work hard and do my best writing this way. Goofing off, playing around, writing just one paragraph for the day-- that's when my writing suffers. So I do recommend this course of action. Of course, these are just suggestions! Everyone is different.

I leave off with a new poem for today.

in the middle of the night road

a swaying lantern

but no ghost

-- Wendy  Rathbone

Spring Rush

I'm gearing up for April! I'm participating in Camp NaNo for the entire month, (it's like NaNoWriMo but instead of November it's in April.) I will be writing a minimum 1637 words a day (I hope.) I might miss some days because I vend at two fairs the last two weekends of April, but we'll see what happens. The goal for me is to use April to finish my vampire-fairy novel, "Lace."

I hope to post updates on my daily progress right here on my blog.

April is also National Poetry Month. In honor of that, I hope to write a poem a day. I did that last year and enjoyed it so much I ended up doing the poetry thing all the way through spring and into the summer. I love to just "go for it!" The result is about 80 percent of my new poetry collection "Turn Left at November." The rest in that collection are reprints.

My newest poem is below. I posted it on Facebook yesterday so I apologize if you've already read it. It is my "anti" ode to spring.

spring rush

by the new-leaf trees that web the sky

wind ruffles wind

lost grimoires and wild orange flowers

litter their wise and sugar fragrances

with flaking eyes a china doll

stares disapproving through the window

it is wrong in spring when even the stars melt

when cold shadows shrink under rocks

left behind to the white days

somewhere mist is still luminous

my books by the fireplace collect paper markers

smell of the ink of December

New Poetry Book!!!

My new poetry book is out! Turn Left at November contains 53 poems, most of which are brand new, written in 2014. I'm so happy with the look and feel of the book. Much thanks to Eldritch Press for a job well-done in the execution of this project. It can be purchased from different distributors at what I think is a very reasonable price. $5.99 paper, $2.99 ebook. Here's the link for Amazon:

Turn Left at November

You may notice I use the term "left" somewhat often. The title of this blog is "From the Left Dimension." Well, left has always seemed "right" to me so given a choice I turn all my ships hard to port. Maybe it's because I'm left-handed.

Also in poetry news, my poem "Layover" is in the brand new April/May double issue of Asimov's Science Fiction magazine. If it's not on news stands right now (March 14, 2015) it should be available within a couple days. Asimov's is also available as an e-subscription.

Upcoming for April will be a new issue of Mythic Delirium which includes my poem "Time Travel Autumn." I'll post here when it goes live. This will be an e-issue only, not available in print.

I'm also in the newest issue, #100, of Dreams and Nightmares Magazine.

That's my news for now. Thanks for reading!

Wendy