booksofchange

Contests, A Study In Magic and The Martian

Winning Writing Contests

My short story, Persistence of Frost and Memory, is a #wintercontest2016 winner! I’m so chuffed. Persistence is the first piece of original writing I’ve ever published for the Internet to see and ridicule.

It’s on the blog and Wattpad. Since Wattpad requires you to have an account, and the blog is not exactly the friendliest for reading chaptered stories, I’m looking into creating a kindle and/or epub file. At least, a PDF, as much I don’t like them. I’ve downloaded scrivener and will play around with it soon. (I like their 30 days of free use policy. It’s not based on the calendar days, in other words. The days I don’t use don’t count! Yay!)

Now speaking of writing… (more…)

By booksofchange, ago

What I’m Reading Now: The Underground Railroad

Have you ever read one of those books that haunted you with its beautiful yet brutal story? That kept you spellbound with terse sentences that depicted the scenes better with words not said? Hemingway did it. Now I count The Underground Railroad as another. I mean, look at this:

The slave catcher had little choice but to call upon the man after midnight. He daintily sewed their hoods from white sacks of flour but could barely move his fingers after their visit–his fists swelled for two days from beating the man’s face in.

The Underground Railroad

By Colson Whitehead

Short description: a magnificent tour de force chronicling a young slave’s adventures as she makes a desperate bid for freedom in the antebellum South

In this story, the underground railroad is a real thing: with steam trains, conductors and engineers and secret codes. Cora, the protagonist, goes through stations in her bid for freedom and encounters a version of America as it might have been. The South and North Carolina she encounters aren’t “real” in the sense of historical accuracy. Yet it terrifies you with its ring of truth and plausibility.

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By booksofchange, ago

If You Want To Be An Author

I’ve finishing filing my taxes today. This year was particularly painful. Last year I moved jobs, had a second job, and overcontributed to my Health Savings Account (HSA). All this translates to not-simple tax situations, which means additional paperwork (UGH). I would much rather be doing this:

this is not BOC reading

Or this:

This isn’t BOC, either

While I was being a Responsible Adult, with much grumbling, I daydreamed about alternatives. You know, having a different life. Anyone who loves writing at least once dreams about being an author. As in, a writer who gets paid writing and sellings books. I certainly day-dreamt about the possibility. Only, I couldn’t just leave it at daydreams. So I girded my loins and went looking.

Here are some things I found out from my bout of Researching Things To Death:

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By booksofchange, ago