Valentine’s Day is coming up quick! We just launched a Sparkly Good Fairy promotion at Warehouse 23 and it inspired me to check and see what others were doing.

One of the coolest offers I’ve seen is from Sanshee.com, who designed the Game Love Necklace pictured here.

100% of the proceeds from this necklace will be donated to the Child’s Play Charity along with 10% of their entire store. You can read about the Valentine’s Day Child’s Play Fundraiser at Sanshee.com.

I already placed my order and I’ll take pics when it comes in. Still wondering whether or not I could make enough moolah to launch an Adult’s Play Charity someday… Hrmmm…

Mood: Determined
Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: Two and it’s *very* strong.
Work-Out Minutes Logged Yesterday: A walk in the bitter, bitter cold.
Yesterday’s Projects: Game, Short Story
In My Ears: Nothing yet.
Game Last Played: Grepolis
Movie Last Viewed: Wall-E
Book Last Read: More research material.
Latest Artistic Project: Crystal cluster bracelet in silver
Latest Release: Strange, Dead Love for Vampire: the Requiem

Growing up, I was an avid reader who loved to explore and stretch my limits in both fiction and non-fiction. My time at UW-Madison allowed me to dive deeper into a broader variety of fiction and that included a study of Black American authors. This experience was profound for me because I was a suburbanite — my first experience and knowledge of slavery was through Alex Haley’s Roots and my history books. It’s billed on the website as “the book that changed America” and I absolutely agree with this statement. Watching those atrocities on film… It still appalls me that we’d stoop to treating other human beings that way.

Regardless, there is a deep history — a recent series of events and struggles — for those considered “black” in American society. Mind you, it’s easy to paint someone “black” and lump them into a single category, but that’s only the color of someone’s skin. That does not reflect that person’s culture and family history therein. If anything, I hate the word “black” because it feels like just another stereotype. I say “I’m Italian!” and what immediately jumps to your mind. Super Mario Brothers? Snooki? Yeah, you get my drift. I’m definitely not a Jersey girl.

For myself, I have found that the only way I can be tolerant of other people is to listen to what they have to say — through their words, their pictures, their art, and even their food. Everyone has a story to tell. Everyone. White, gay, Black, handicapped, Native American, female, Christian, Chinese, male, Muslim, whatever. I don’t know if I’m smart enough to learn everything there is to know from what these stories have to offer, but I’ll keep on collecting (and writing) them and hope I absorb something about what it means to be human.

For Black History Month, here is a collection of stories that greatly impacted me.

Go Tell It On The Mountain – Written by James Baldwin. The experience I had with this semi-autobiographical story helped build my main character’s tragedy and the gospel song for “Tomorrow’s Precious Lambs” in The Zombie Feed Volume One.

Our Nig: Sketches of the Life of a Free Black – Written by Harriet Wilson. An autobiographical slave narrative that addresses many cultural implications including bi-racial relationships and indentured servitude at the time.

Their Eyes Were Watching God – By Zora Neale Hurston. Spent a lot of time discussing what this particular story meant for female empowerment. It’s on several required reading lists for Black American fiction.

Brown Girl, Brownstones – This story was about Barbadian immigrants who moved to New York and was written by Paule Marshall. It’s often billed as a coming-of-age story, but I remember being drawn to this because of the cultural focus on being an immigrant in a strange city.

Sula – By Toni Morrison. A tale of friendship between girls over many years in spite of how their lives diverge and converge again. Perfect for any woman who has either felt like the “good girl” or the “pariah.”

Hunting for additional options? Visit the Smithsonian’s List of Black History Teaching Resources or check out the Norfolk Public Library’s Reading and DVD List (PDF).

Mood: Contemplative.
Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: One.
Work-Out Minutes Logged Yesterday: Went for a walk!
Yesterday’s Projects: Game, Short Story
In My Ears: Enya. Yep, it’s a zen kind of a day.
Game Last Played: Grepolis
Movie Last Viewed: Another Earth
Book Last Read: More research material.
Latest Artistic Project: Crystal cluster bracelet in silver
Latest Release: Strange, Dead Love for Vampire: the Requiem

Packers didn’t make it to the Superbowl this year, but that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy the ads. Here’s a compilation of the 25 best Superbowl ads of all time. The squirrel ads just kill me.

Mood: Feisty
Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: One.
Work-Out Minutes Logged Yesterday: Went for a walk and did some house cleaning.
Yesterday’s Projects: Game, Short Story
In My Ears: Final Fantasy XII limited edition soundtrack
Game Last Played: Grepolis
Movie Last Viewed: Red Riding Hood. It suuuuuuucccccckkkkkkeeeeeed.
Book Last Read: More research material.
Latest Artistic Project: Crystal cluster bracelet in silver
Latest Release: Strange, Dead Love for Vampire: the Requiem

Okay, so the title is a little misleading, because this really isn’t a series of lamentations. I’ve been thinking about how to best promote Munchkin Conan and I really just like the way the word sounds. Lah-men-tay-shuns. OMMMMMM… Yes, I’ll be using that in a story soon. *evil grin*

At the moment, we’re prepping for a Steve Jackson Games booth appearance at New York Toy Fair. This is a trade show, not a regular convention, but there still are a number of pieces that we have to do as a company to prep for the event. Convention planning is, in short, a logistical nightmare that has to be sorted in any number of ways. First, you have to figure out how big the booth is. Then, what comes with it and what you’re allowed to hang. (Yep, you heard me right.) Some cons allow you to hang banners from the pole on the back; others don’t. For that, you need some way of standing a banner and you have to determine how much room that’ll take up.

After you figure out what rules you have to follow and how you’re displaying everything, you then have to deal with people logistics. What show floor hours can you reasonably work? How are you going to get your gear to the hall? How close is the hotel to your destination? That part can be “fun” all by itself. Then? There’s the extras that you have to hand out when the hall is open. Promo material, sure… But what’s effective at a trade show? That can take the form of catalogs, sell sheets, flyers, business cards, samples, etc. Demo material and prototypes are pieces we also have to include.

We will have two presences at this show; one for meetings and one at our booth. That requires additional planning to make sure both areas have what’s required when it’s needed. Toss in access to food, water, electricity, etc. and now you’re setting up a business that will be torn down in a couple of days — and I haven’t even broached the subject of conventions where you have to sell, demo, and interact with fans!

Luckily — and I mean this with every Cylonic fiber of my being — Kevin is doing a smashing set up for booth planning and configuration. I have pieces I’m working on, too, but it’s a lot more manageable since I have a great team and we all have a sense of humor.

Mood: Happy!
Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: None.
Work-Out Minutes Logged Yesterday: Went for a walk.
Yesterday’s Projects: Game, Short Story
In My Ears: Sting. Hey, don’t be hatin’!
Game Last Played: Grepolis
Movie Last Viewed: Ironclad
Book Last Read: Harper’s Encyclopedia of the Paranormal
Latest Artistic Project: Crystal cluster bracelet in silver
Latest Release: Strange, Dead Love for Vampire: the Requiem

I realize a lot of you following me are authors yourselves. Today I’m going to point to an article I wrote for the How To Write Shop. My influence for Dig Up and Rebuild Platforms is the sheer rampant sensationalism I keep hearing related to the business of writing but not about writing itself. There is a market for writing advice and I hesitate, nigh trepidate, to dive into those waters because what I care most about is my work. I’m online for a different reason than others may be. I’m not here to seek out internet fame. (Definitely not going to complain if that happens, though. Hee.) I’m here to learn, share, and engage for three reasons. First? Online marketing has a very high learning curve in part because it’s constantly changing. This has been my world for many years and I have to keep up with the technology. Second, I like the community aspect of the web provided my priorities are in the right place. I talked a little bit about this as my biggest take-a-way from going offline for 100 days. Third? I use the web for testing different ways to talk about, share, and publish my stories.

This wasn’t always the case. I started out thinking that the way people would get to see my work is if readers could get to know me. After a while? I felt used because it was *very* clear that the two worlds didn’t coincide. Worse, I started losing money because I get paid to consult. By giving away good information (a lot of data you get from consultants is the vanilla stuff for this reason) the majority of the people in the fiction world got what they wanted and walked away. When I needed help? Looked for my fiction readers? They were in sparse supply. Who made that mistake? Me. Because I did not put my work before my platform and I paid the price based on my goals and desires, not anyone else’s. It did, on the other hand, help me out with my professional life because people understood my business philosophy. Again, we’re talking about two, separate audiences rather than appealing to the one that matters to my work as an author.

Some writers write a couple stories and become famous. Others write hundreds of stories and never break the best-seller’s list. This is the reality of being an author regardless of who you are, when you’ve written, what you’ve published, and what the state of the industry is. Right now, everyone is looking for that magic formula on how to position themselves in a flood, fluctuating, volatile market. I know I did. Now I’m not. Why? Because the formula really hasn’t changed. It’s still about reading, writing what you love, researching markets, and submitting to them. A lot of people are using self-publishing as a bypass in the hopes they’ll get rich and famous but here’s the thing: self-publishing is its own market. Instead of submitting to a publisher and working with them, you’re now hoping to find your own readers who’ll follow your work through your self (small) press. Keep in mind, too, that authors who started out with the Big Six and bailed didn’t leave their readers behind. Some of them followed along because they were hooked on their stories. I played around with self-publishing and I’ll continue to experiment. It’s just not a business model I want to bank everything on.

Growing financial concerns seem to be the ever-pressing reason why authors do the thing they do and create the platform they have. Some are happier making less money but having more readers because the publisher is taking care of a lot of the business-facing aspects. Others will gladly take a diminished audience and make more money. By and large, however, many authors are banking on the potential of what they could make based on what they think publishers want out of them. This? Is incredibly stupid. Experiment, yes, but have your core business — which is your work, not your brand. If all you’re doing is banking on a dream, then you’ll die a fool. I didn’t become an author because I wanted to constantly play the lottery; I always was an author because this is who I am and what I love, love, love to do. Making a decent living as an author is very difficult which is why all too many of us have day jobs. I often joke about how I’m writing for my retirement, but I’m planning my career as an author over the course of several years — not just next week or next quarter based on that one story.

The sensationalism aspect of “YOU MUST DO THIS OR ELSE” bothers me because it’s really sending a crappy message for new writers about the business of writing itself. There is a market for writing advice. There are people that are much, much, much better at this than I could ever hope to be. I make people cry because I am very blunt. (Not kidding!) I do this because I care about the work itself and sometimes forget there’s an ego involved. First drafts mean nothing to me. I work and pare and polish because I enjoy it — revisions are FUN! Sigh. Still trying to find my tribe. What I wouldn’t give for a killer critique partner.

I hate the fact that now we’ve come to the point where other authors are bitching about other authors not giving the “correct” advice in the way that “we” prefer. BACK OFF. Yes, this is a competitive industry but that does not mean this has to be a competition. Have we really stooped that low that now we have to criticize how people are trying to help others? Screw that! Different things have always worked for different people. Don’t like it? Don’t read it or promote it. It’s as simple as that.

The mad, mad, mad rush to get new stories out there is cheapening the writing process and I feel that this is not sustainable or good for storytelling as a whole. Really, the best writing advice I’ve ever taken, was to stop reading what you should be doing and focus on how you’re applying it in your work. It’s kind of like getting back in shape. You can read, and read, and read all the diet tips that you want, but unless you’re actually on the machine? You’ll never lose the weight.

Anyway, I meandered a lot today I know but this has been on my mind for weeks. I hope that if you read my blog or any of my articles you know that I am not telling you what to do — you need to figure out what works for yourself, your work, and your platform. If you don’t trust yourself, then who the hell will?

Mood: Ranty. ARGH!
Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: One and a half.
Work-Out Minutes Logged Yesterday: Went for a walk.
Yesterday’s Projects: Game, Short Story
In My Ears: Avatar soundtrack. Um, which was the only thing I liked about that movie…
Game Last Played: Grepolis
Movie Last Viewed: Ironclad
Book Last Read: Harper’s Encyclopedia of the Paranormal
Latest Artistic Project: Crystal cluster bracelet in silver
Latest Release: Strange, Dead Love for Vampire: the Requiem

Well, my secret is out. I submitted a story to the Dark Faith II anthology. Normally, I don’t like to say what stories I submit where. Every editor is different and there’s so much competition out there it’s more likely a tale will be rejected than accepted. In this case, there are hundreds of stories for Dark Faith II Maurice and Jerry have to plow through. I received an invite for this particular story but took more time with it and submitted it during the open call period.

Anthologies are tough because you have a certain number of slots to fill and the editor needs to have a good representation so every tale doesn’t sound the same. Often, really great stories get rejected because they weren’t a good fit for the collection. So, forgive me if I don’t want to say any more on my tale just yet. Now you know… I submitted and if you don’t hear an announcement, I got a big ‘ole stamp of REJECTED on this one. C’est la vie!

If you’ve been following Maurice’s updates on this anthology, a number of writers thought the submission guidelines were “optional.” This astounds me. The biggest reason why writers get rejected? NOT FOLLOWING THE SUBMISSION GUIDELINES. I knew some of the troubles both Maurice and Jerry were having, so I submitted a follow-up cover letter after I sent in my story with the real one. Yes, I have a sense of humor and no, this is not always a good thing.

If you want to read the cover letter and the trials and tribulations of being an anthology editor, visit Slush Pile Warrior Part Deux.

Mood: Grasshopper is focused.
Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: A half. I will soon go for another.
Work-Out Minutes Logged Yesterday: Short walk.
Yesterday’s Projects: Game, Short Story
In My Ears: New Age-Y crap.
Game Last Played: Grepolis
Movie Last Viewed: Ironclad
Book Last Read: Harper’s Encyclopedia of the Paranormal
Latest Artistic Project: Crystal cluster bracelet in silver
Latest Release: Strange, Dead Love for Vampire: the Requiem

A funny thing happened to me this morning. Remember when I mentioned yesterday how happy I was because I got my planner situated? Cleaned my office, too, for my chibithulhus, lots and lots of Munchkin, my Hellboy collection, and several books.

And then? I got an e-mail from Amazon telling me Final Fantasy XIII-2 is shipping. Which, I forgot I ordered. And, I was going to start playing it for my birthday. And…

Bah. Okay, so yesterday I broke the space-time continuum. Today? I am rearranging my schedule to make sure I write in the morning before work so I’m done with everything by dinnertime. Even with a week of travel, I knocked out about 20,000 words this month and revisions. I don’t write like this because I’m insane (or maybe I am); I do this because I love, love, love the work I do!

I suppose I should write a blog post about what my schedule *actually* looks like and how far ahead I plan. Some of my crazy ramblings are definitely caffeine-induced!

Mood: Chocobo fevah!
Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: One, but I’m buzzing!
Work-Out Minutes Logged Yesterday: House-cleaning counts!
Yesterday’s Projects: Game, Short Story
In My Ears: Nothing
Game Last Played: Grepolis
Movie Last Viewed: Ironclad
Book Last Read: Harper’s Encyclopedia of the Paranormal
Latest Artistic Project: Crystal cluster bracelet in silver
Latest Release: Strange, Dead Love for Vampire: the Requiem

I *hate* it when I’m in a bad mood. Usually, it’s caused by First World problems or news poisoning. Last week was caused by Planner NeglectTM. This is the state of being I typically encounter when my mind tells my grasshopper to piss off. The conversation usually goes something like this:

BRAIN: Wow, I’ve got all these projects wrangled. This is awesome. I don’t need no stinkin’ planner. I have my to-do list memorized!

GRASSHOPPER: Hey, moron. Are you sure you want to do that? Sounds dangerous…

BRAIN: Yep! I am the shizzle! My memory is solid and I can keep track. Boo-yah. Pen and paper be gone! I have leveled up my RAM, beyootches.

GRASSHOPPER: But that’s what you have a planner for. The only reason why you can remember anything is because you’re writing it down. Don’t be delusional!

BRAIN: LA LA LA LA LA! I’M IGNORING YOU. LA LA LA LA LA. Tra-la la la la. The human brain is awesome!

(A few days later…)

BRAIN: WTF? I can’t… So hard to keep everything straight… I know I’m forgetting something…

GRASSHOPPER: Told you so.

Mood: The state caused by organization determination.
Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: One. This is *not* enough to get through a Monday.
Work-Out Minutes Logged Yesterday: Half an hour walk.
Yesterday’s Projects: Game, Short Story
In My Ears: Nothing
Game Last Played: Entanglement
Movie Last Viewed: Ironclad
Book Last Read: Harper’s Encyclopedia of the Paranormal
Latest Artistic Project: Crystal cluster bracelet in silver
Latest Release: Strange, Dead Love for Vampire: the Requiem

A few people commented about a crack I made in the pragmatic dos and don’ts for writers I posted yesterday. Specifically, I mentioned how authors “show” a face online as part of their persona or marketing tactics.

Yes, there are authors (who shall remain nameless) who criticize or comment about other people’s work, etc. in a negative fashion to garner attention. This is different than pointing out an inaccuracy or thinking critically. Even then, sometimes that’s open to interpretation. No, I am *not* naming names or citing examples. Some of these folks are simply people with quirky personalities who target others. A few do this to stand out from the rest of the crowd, thinking that that’s their niche or their angle.

That, dear readers, is not me nor would I ever advocate that you be a jerk online. These authors? Have reputations. Have lost contracts because of their attitudes. Have untold complaints. Their negativity is noticed by the rest of the industry and, as I’ve said numerous times before, you do have to watch what you say online. This is especially true if you are a new author because you do *not* know where you will end up or who you’ll wind up working with. Go to enough cons, meet enough people, and you’ll hear the stories. You don’t want to be “that author.” Several years back, E.E. Knight warned me about reviewing other author’s books and advised that I be diplomatic even when I don’t like a story. It was the best advice I ever got. Now, some of the people I’ve reviewed are folks I consider friends, mentors, and co-workers. You just never know if someone may be in a position to help you out some day.

The other thing about posting your dirty laundry is this: I’ve been in online marketing for many years and the law is *just* catching up to what we’re posting. You can proclaim to be angsty and ironic all you want, but if you’re an *ssh@t, then be prepared to live with the consequences. Yes, people get sued over Tweets, arrested over FB pictures, and judged/rejected for their comments. Publishers, editors, and agents are NOT dumb! So neither should we be!

There’s a lot of advice and editorials out there on blogs, websites, social media, etc. about writing, the craft, and the industry (including mine). You and I know that this advice doesn’t replace the act of sitting down in a chair and focusing on the work. You can talk and talk and talk about what writing is or isn’t, how you prefer one author’s flavor of advice over another’s, etc. but at the end of the day? All that matters is your work. You have to choose how you want to be a part of the community but — like any other industry — you’ll fare better in the long run if you’re professional and not a diva. Acting like a speshul snoflake is not the same thing as being bold or having confidence. There’s a big distinction. If you have to put down someone else to make yourself feel better about your own work? Then I say you have a big problem because the reason why you’re cutting into another author has nothing to do with them and everything to do with you.

Or, to put it bluntly, I have zero tolerance for bullies who try to bait people into nerd rage. Isn’t being a writer hard enough? If someone has a problem with another author, why is it so hard to talk to that person? Seriously. We’re writers, but we can’t communicate?

We all go through bouts of insecurity. This is normal. I cannot name one author I’ve talked to who has not felt insecure about their work at one point or another. Don’t look to any other writer for advice — including me — if you’re freaking out about your work or what someone else is saying about you. Trust yourself. Have faith that you love your stories (or games) so much you’ll do anything to learn, edit, and revise. You got into this field for a reason. Own it. When jealousy rears its ugly head? Write a new story. When you freak out because X is selling more copies than you? Write a new story. When you worry about your online popularity? Write a new story. Your path is your own and sometimes writing advice will distract you from that journey. Ideally, it should complement what you’re working on and not be a distraction from your own words. If you’re making a living selling writing advice that’s one thing, but if you want to sell novels? You have to write one first.

The only way you will ever feel like you’ve accomplished something is if you actually start plotting, planning, and working your way towards whatever it is that you want — regardless of how long it might take. That is persistence and that is crucial to being a writer. Believe me when I say that there are people who will lend a hand if you need it — but not if you have to cut, hack, and burn through relationships to get there.

Wow, almost 800 words later and I haven’t even gotten to the part where I’d rather be focusing on my readers…

Mood: Recovering from angsty, crabapple day.
Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: One-half of one-half of one-half. Fill me up!
Work-Out Minutes Logged Yesterday: Pending my ability to break the space-time continuum.
Yesterday’s Projects: Game, Short Story
In My Ears: Nothing
Game Last Played: Final Fantasy XIII, Kittens in a Blender!
Movie Last Viewed: Ironclad
Book Last Read: Broken Blade by Kelly McCullough
Latest Artistic Project: Crystal cluster bracelet in silver
Latest Release: Strange, Dead Love for Vampire: the Requiem

Our readers do!

Since we launched Haunted: 11 Tales of Ghostly Horror in October we’ve received some excellent reviews and recently we won an award for the anthology. Here is a quick recap of some of the comments we’ve had from readers:

Dave at Hellnotes.com says:

Ghost hunting isn’t something that most people think of as a career, but there are people out there who solicit these types of services legitimately. They’re not just the stuff of horror fiction and films any longer, as attested by ghost hunter Jaeson K. Jrakman in his introduction. Daniel Defoe even wrote a book on the subject called The Secrets of the Invisible World Disclos’d in 1735. Still, whether the stories are true or made up, they make for great entertainment, and Haunted: 11 Tales of Ghostly Horror is no exception.

Joe at Wickedlilpixie.com says:

With the sheer number of ghost hunting shows that are littering the television landscape these days, not to mention in the movies, its nearly impossible for this book not to exist. It was only a matter of time. That being said, there is no doubt a need for a book like this in the market. While not a die hard Ghostbuster myself, the genre is part of my chosen areas of speciality. Also, as it was produced by a local small publisher and had several of my favorite authors – several of which were local – the choice for me to pick it up was an easy one.

Hunter from Ravenousmonster.com writes:

I think ghost stories are the hardest kind of horror to write. I love body horror, but it’s easier; a disease that causes you to sprout hands in random places, a woman with shark heads instead of breasts. . . .Sure it’s creepy, but there’s something a little Mr. Potato Head about it: stick enough body parts where they don’t belong and you’ve got instant scariness. A really good ghost story requires patience, atmosphere, and most of all pacing. The best ghost stories infuse mundane imagery with terrifying implication. The mundane trappings have changed–EVP and Polaroids replaced spirit writing and séances–but the would-be ghost story writer still has to take an old house or graveyard or ship and a dead guy who won’t suck your blood or eat your brains and imbue them with netherworldly horror.

Brian posted his review on DriveThruFiction.com and says:

“Haunted”, the debut anthology of FR Press, delivers an excellently paced collection of mysterious and terrifying tales. The collection focuses on stories about hauntings and the ghost hunters that investigate them. All eleven stories in “Haunted” possess their own merits, and are distinct enough that the anthology avoids the pitfall of having eleven different stories trying to do the same thing.

Typically I am not a fan of anthologies. Usually when I set aside time to read I want to be able to delve into a novel and lose myself for a few hours. The constant shifting of gears and restarting that occurs as you move from story to story in an anthology always makes me feel tossed about. “Haunted” however, has avoided (or the very least minimized) this problem for me. The eleven stories in the collection are laid out in such a way that it feels like you are traveling through an entire pot arc, not just eleven short, disparate plots.

Gerard over at Goodreads.com has a review that says:

Given that I have spent the last two years gorging on post apocalyptic books I thought it was time for a break and so I chose to read Haunted: 11 tales, these tales all infer a connection to Ghost Hunting. Many of us have seen this on TV and normally revolve around a few guys with tattoos jumping at the sign of moth; I was interested to see what writers would do with the genre. I have to say I was very pleasantly surprised; this is a great anthology by a group of writers which were largely unknown to me before and I will certainly be buying books from some of the contributors. The whole anthology flows really well with no real repetition.

We also just found out that Haunted: 11 Tales of Ghostly Horror won the Best Anthology category in the Preditors & Editors Readers’ Poll. The P&E Readers’ Poll is an annual event hosted by the Critters Writers Workshop where readers and fans can vote on their favorite books, authors and publishers. Thanks to our readers we took the top spot in this year’s event and we’re honored that so many would vote for our little collection of horror.

Haunted: 11 Tales of Ghostly Horror is available in eBook (PDF, ePub and Mobi/Kindle) and Print formats at DriveThruFiction.com. It is also available at the B&N Nook Store.

Cross-Posted with permission from FlamesRising.com