tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3808488564209519732023-11-15T10:29:27.296-05:00A Million to OneA Writer's Quest to Beat the Odds and Get PublishedAngiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17054359639422600388noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-380848856420951973.post-7781087709652457092009-03-24T23:35:00.006-04:002009-03-25T00:02:51.992-04:00Video Games will Make You Kill People! Really!<a href="http://www.gamepolitics.com/2009/03/15/report-german-school-shooter-played-far-cry-2-eve-rampage">Another teenage</a> <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090319/film_nm/us_germany">gun rampage</a> <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1952869.stm"></a>, <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/filmNews/idUSTRE52I7WC20090319">another</a> <a href="http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4116035,00.html">blaming</a> of <a href="http://www.sundayherald.com/international/shinternational/display.var.2495522.0.germany_seeks_answers_after_rampage.php">video games</a>.<br /><br />(<a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/4991340/Dont-blame-Germanys-school-shooting-on-a-video-game.html">Here's the one voice of reason I found from mainstream media.</a>)<br /><br />Now, I'm no <a href="http://fivethirtyeight.com">Nate Silver</a>, but a quick Google search led me to these unscientific results:<br /><br />Retail copies of the last Counter-Strike edition sold: 4.2 million<br />Number of killings in which the perpetrator played Counter-Strike: 5<br /><br />which does not seem to me like a statistically significant percentage.<br /><br />I'm tired of hearing that this hobby (yes, it is a <b>hobby</b>, even if you do it a lot) causes people to go insane. Before they had video games to blame, it was rap music. Before that was heavy metal. Rock'n'roll was blamed for the hallucinogen craze of the 60s. People demonize things they don't do. People look for something to blame when it seems like the world's going to hell in a handbasket.<br /><br />The sad fact of the matter is that some people are simply prone to going nuts. It's horrible, it's tragic, and it is unavoidable in a free society. Banning sane people from their hobby is not going to make one iota of difference.<br /><br />Now excuse me, while I go rid the virtual world of some zombies.Angiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17054359639422600388noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-380848856420951973.post-7692183764635896932009-02-06T17:02:00.003-05:002009-02-06T17:09:56.655-05:00he⋅ro:According to <a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/hero">dictionary.com</a>, a hero is "a person who, in the opinion of others, has heroic qualities or has performed a heroic act and is regarded as a model or ideal".<br /><br />For a pictorial and audio definition, all you need is this.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/gU11d5BrKqU&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/gU11d5BrKqU&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />'Nuff said.Angiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17054359639422600388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-380848856420951973.post-68849198568240902492009-02-03T18:31:00.003-05:002009-02-03T18:54:35.787-05:00Java Hurts My BrainWIP Update: After my epiphany yesterday and a lot of thinking about why I'm stuck at this particular moment, I've decided that what has me stuck is a lot of "I know WHAT happens, but not HOW it happens." On three different fronts. In other words, I've written myself into a corner yet again. So while my subconscious works on detangling that, I'm submersed in Java.<br /><br />It's in my profile, but I haven't really gone into detail here on what I'm coding in Java. So here's the scoop.<br /><br />Every time I find myself written into a corner on the WIP, I crave a tool. The tool I'm looking for will let me dump the random, unorganized stuff in my head onto the screen and then allow me to drag and drop it into a picture of perfect organization. Theoretically, at least.<br /><br />The current tools out there, unfortunately, don't work for this purpose. I've tried <a href="http://www.spacejock.com/yWriter.html">yWriter</a>, which is pretty good actually, but Mr. Haynes' mind appears to be more organized than mine. yWriter takes a lot more organization up front rather than allow you to dump-then-organize. <a href="http://www.blackobelisksoftware.com/">Liquid Story Binder</a> is cool-looking, but just doesn't feel right. I wish the windows were dockable, the color schemes you start with are weird, and the method for changing the color schemes is way too arcane. I wouldn't mind paying if it had hit me with a "YES! This is exactly what I was looking for!" but it didn't. Thank you, Black Obelisk, for letting me try it so that I could find that out. The only other viable option I can find is <a href="http://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.html">Scrivener</a>, which unfortunately isn't viable for me, since I don't own a Mac. From the screenshots it actually looks fantastic, which makes me sad.<br /><br />Therefore, says my geek mind, I must write a tool.<br /><br />So what to write the tool in? I've always loved my Java text editor (<a href="http://www.jedit.org/">JEdit</a>, it's fabulous) and I use a Linux machine most often to write, so an Open-Source Java application seems like a perfect fit. That way, all those writers who use Linux and are bemoaning the lack of a tool will have one, and if it totally rocks everyone else can use it too.<br /><br />The problem: I've been a procedural programmer for 22 years. O, how to reprogram your brain for the Object Oriented complexity that is Java. It hurts. It REALLY hurts.<br /><br />Every time I think I have my brain wrapped around the intricacies of classes and objects and abstract classes and interfaces, something throws me a curveball. Every class having its own file leads to a veritable plethora of files ("Would you say I have a <span style="font-style: italic;">plethora</span> of pinatas?"), making it very difficult for me to even tell what I'm working on. My quest for organization is running into a Java wall of not being organized enough.<br /><br />Such is life.Angiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17054359639422600388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-380848856420951973.post-62644312871506847672009-02-02T17:24:00.003-05:002009-02-02T18:04:00.656-05:00It's Fiction!I had an epiphany today.<br /><br />After my most recent frenzy of writing, I've now been blocked -- again -- for a few weeks. I've tried every trick I know, and still nothing. So I went looking for tricks I didn't know. Yay for Google.<br /><br />A quick Google search led me to a preview of a book called <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=tUbc8yHJIkMC">Unstuck</a> by Jane Anne Staw, which appears to be a book based on the premise that writer's block stems from past trauma about writing. While I don't necessarily buy the premise, I'm always up for a bit of self-therapy, so I started thinking, and lo and behold there was in fact a traumatic writing event in my past. While I believe that my current bout of block stems from lack of planning rather than this incident, I think it may be the cause of some other problems I've been having, and ... well, I feel the need to share.<br /><br />I was a rather precocious child; I skipped 1st-3rd grades. I was also apparently a pretty good young writer, and very empathetic even when I was little. This combination led to The Story. What I remember about this story is rather limited: I wrote it in one sitting, and it profoundly moved me; I remember being very sad for the protagonist. I also remember that it was 100% fiction. It was about an abused child (no memory of gender) with a brother named Joey. I also remember that it caused a family Crisis.<br /><br />My teacher was impressed with my story; so impressed that she didn't believe it was fiction. My parents were called to an impromptu parent-teacher conference because the teacher was concerned that I or someone I knew was being abused. One conference and the crisis was over. I don't remember this part. For all I knew, Child Protective Services was questioning my parents.<br /><br />This was twenty-odd years ago, and I never wrote fiction again. I didn't even think of The Story until today. I breezed through research papers and essays, read everything I could get my hands on, and plastered memorized song lyrics all over my high school notebooks. I loved blank books, even though they stayed blank. When blogs appeared I wanted one. I wanted to write. I just thought I had nothing to say.<br /><br />Finally last year, I bought a book on writing with the Borders gift card I'd gotten for Christmas (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Your-First-Novel-Author-Achieving/dp/1582973881">Your First Novel</a>, by Ann Rittenberg and Laura Whitcomb). I bought this particular book because the entire first chapter spoke to me. It said, "See, you <span style="font-weight: bold;">do</span> have something to say!"<br /><br />I started my novel that same month.<br /><br />Thank you, ladies. You helped me get writing again after <span style="font-weight: bold;">way</span> too long.Angiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17054359639422600388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-380848856420951973.post-10430559831700808372009-01-28T20:30:00.003-05:002009-01-28T21:17:45.221-05:00Breaking SilenceEek! It's been over a month since I posted anything.<br /><br />Today I joined <a href="http://twitter.com/AngelynLittmann">Twitter</a>, <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/pub/dir/angelyn/littmann">LinkedIn</a>, and Second Life. I'm not sure if I'll get hooked on any of these, but they're all being used as tools in a conference I'm attending virtually for the day job, so I'm dipping my toes. We'll see how it goes.<br /><br />In work-in-progress news, I got a couple of very nice warm fuzzies from folks who read my partial draft over the holidays. It's always nice to get that positive feedback. I've written two chapters in the last month, which isn't all that much, but it's much better than nothing. I also found an awful lot of things to put in the "for revision once I finish the first draft" pile. If I don't deviate from the current plan, I have five chapters left to write. Yippee for the home stretch!<br /><br />I've also been reading up a storm ...<br />A few weeks ago, one of the blogs I follow (not enough time to look up the post, sorry) posted a question: what book have you tried (and failed) to read? I responded with <a href="http://www.georgerrmartin.com/">George R.R. Martin's</a> Song of Ice and Fire series. I had wanted to read them for some time, I tried twice over the holidays, and I just couldn't get past the second chapter. Well, I tried again. And didn't look up until I finished the 4th book, only to find out that the 5th is long overdue (sob!). Unfortunately, book four was predictably disappointing. I had been warned, and the author very kindly put an explanation into the end as to why this was, but we never saw my favorite characters. I'm waiting on the edge of my seat for the next installment.<br /><br />My quest to learn Java in order to code a platform-independent novelwriting application has hit a huge milestone as well: I feel comfortable with the language at this point, so now it's just a matter of putting the thing together. It's an incredibly large undertaking, so it'll be a while before I have a beta or any screenshots available, but it's progressing.<br /><br />I think that catches the blog up to everything I've been doing since the last post. Phew!Angiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17054359639422600388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-380848856420951973.post-54174693807025710272008-12-10T11:40:00.005-05:002008-12-10T11:50:26.928-05:00Semantic RantEvery once in a while, someone really drives me crazy with their use -- or misuse, as the case may be -- of the English language.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGXEEafY6f4">This commercial</a> is one of my pet peeves lately. It plays on the Science Channel pretty frequently and hits me like fingernails on a chalkboard every time: "Do you wish you had <span style="font-style: italic;">sonic</span> hearing?"<br /><br />Argh. I already have sonic hearing. And visual sight, and a tactile sense of touch ...Angiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17054359639422600388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-380848856420951973.post-5432073246244263112008-12-07T21:27:00.002-05:002008-12-07T21:36:03.562-05:00Past a HurdleWell, after three weeks of writing 50-100 words in a sitting which felt like pulling teeth, I've written 2,000 words in two days. I'm not sure if this is the downward slide everyone talks about once you pass the middle of your book, but it is certainly very pleasant. I just wanted to document it here so that if/when I hit another wall, I'll be able to look at it and remember that it wasn't just the first 10,000 words that flowed easily.<br /><br />So what broke the logjam? Two things.<br /><br />First, admitting that if I thought a scene was boring to write, a reader would probably find it boring to read, and then getting the point across another way.<br /><br />Second, resurrecting a character I perfunctorily killed for no reason earlier in the book. Turns out she had a use after all. She saved the chapter, as a matter of fact. And solved a problem I had with my outline at the same time.<br /><br />I love when one minor change fixes so many problems at once.<br /><br />Now excuse me, I need to go milk this opportunity for all the words I can get.Angiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17054359639422600388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-380848856420951973.post-72088647500875020852008-12-05T20:18:00.002-05:002008-12-05T21:24:54.757-05:00Walking the PatternOne of the series of books that I pull out and read on a somewhat regular basis is the Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny. Today as I was chiseling for all I was worth at my current WIP, I realized that on purpose or by accident, Mr. Zelazny had written a very good analogy for writing a novel into <span style="font-style: italic;">Nine Princes in Amber</span>. If you haven't read it, buy it (trust me, it's worth it) and pay close attention as you're devouring the beautifully written story for when someone "walks the Pattern." This is what writing a novel is like; each step is more difficult, more painful, and more doubt-inducing than the last. To give up is to guarantee failure, and at the end is ... well, read the story. :)<br /><br />Anyway, thank goodness for the internet. At least when every word takes agonizingly long to put on the page, I can read gems of wisdom from authors I admire who have very kindly shared their experiences, and take heart in the fact that it's like this for everyone.<br /><br />Now if only that downward slide would arrive ...Angiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17054359639422600388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-380848856420951973.post-68083370968430228152008-11-21T08:07:00.005-05:002008-11-21T08:32:11.823-05:00Readers BewareToday I'm compelled to make a public service announcement.<br /><br />Folks, if you just received an email forwarded by a million people, chances are that it: A) is false and B) contains a virus/spybot/trojan/worm. Even the clean ones are usually used to collect email addresses; when you forward an email, all the previous email addresses stay in it and yours gets added to the list. 500 people later, a spammer has a ready-made address list so that they can send you and all your family and friends their advertisement for male enhancement.<br /><br />In the last month or so, I've received from family members the following:<br /><br /><ul><li>There are deadly spiders in the bathrooms at restaurants! (<a href="http://www.snopes.com/horrors/insects/telamonia.asp">False</a>)</li><li>If you use the button on your keychain to lock your car, people can steal the code and steal stuff from inside it! (<a href="http://www.snopes.com/autos/techno/lockcode.asp">False</a> - it makes me laugh that they don't suggest they can steal the car)</li></ul><br />I also get regular forwarded false emails about politics that I won't discuss here due to my no-politics policy on my blog. If you get one of these either <a href="http://snopes.com/">Snopes</a> or <a href="http://factcheck.org/">Factcheck</a> is a good place to start for the debunk.<br /><br />In general, if you assume that every chain email is false, <a href="http://www.factcheck.org/specialreports/that_chain_e-mail_your_friend_sent_to.html">you will be right the vast majority of the time</a>. If you feel you MUST forward an email, copy and paste the text into a new email to break the chain. No bad luck will befall you (although it may befall the spammer who just lost their address list).Angiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17054359639422600388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-380848856420951973.post-77653026552598675492008-11-18T10:12:00.003-05:002008-11-18T10:14:11.086-05:00Happy Birthday Mom!I'd like to wish my mom a very happy birthday today.<br /><br />Mom, you are a never-ending source of inspiration in my life and I wouldn't be where I am today without you. I love you behind my back and the moon and the stars.<br /><br />Happy Birthday!Angiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17054359639422600388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-380848856420951973.post-57654894691719788062008-11-16T17:47:00.002-05:002008-11-16T18:02:01.975-05:00VoiceTwo days ago, I had a conversation with my brother in which he inadvertently gave me a compliment. We were having a philosophical debate and in pointing out that I'm inherently biased on the topic, he said this: "If I picked up the first two pages of your book and didn't know ahead of time, I still could have told anyone that you had written it."<br /><br />I'd have hugged him if we were debating in person instead of over the phone.<br /><br />What I hope this means is that I'm writing in <span style="font-weight: bold;">my</span> voice, something I've been nervous about as I write my first novel. Whether or not my voice is any good remains to be seen by the agents, editors, and hopefully readers that will encounter my book when it's finished, but it's mine. Another hurdle jumped (I hope).<br /><br />On a sad note, I'm saying goodbye to NaNoWriMo 2008. I could write any number of excuses here about tough times at the day job or getting sick for the second time in a month, but instead I'll just keep it simple: I'm just not as okay as I thought I'd be with setting aside my main project to work on anything else.Angiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17054359639422600388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-380848856420951973.post-14053249340958694862008-10-29T21:30:00.002-04:002008-10-30T12:11:41.773-04:00Must-Have Tool for Sci-Fi WritersThis November, I'm doing <a href="http://www.nanowrimo.org/">NaNoWriMo</a> for the first time. My project is a young adult science fiction book that's been kicking around my head for months, and I'm pretty excited to try to write it all in one intense flurry. I'm also excited to see if the book turns out as well as the muse keeps saying it will. In order to find out, I'm putting the fantasy aside for 30 days. I'll probably only lose out on a few thousand words of it, since lately it's been flowing like 2-day-old concrete anyway.<br /><br />The tool I mention in the topic is <a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.shatters.net/celestia/">Celestia</a>. This free (as in speech and as in beer) software is a real-time model of the universe, complete with ability to create new solar systems out of vacuum and model those too. How many light-years is it to Sirius? Punch in Sirius and you get a distance counter. From there to Alpha Centauri? No problem -- zip through the stars and sit at Sirius while you punch up Alpha Centauri instead.<br /><br />For my project, I needed to know (at least, this is what I was looking up when I found Celestia) what the communication lag is between Earth and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceres_%28dwarf_planet%29">Ceres</a> on a specific day when two people would be trying to communicate. It's a 20-second lookup in Celestia.<br /><br />The only downside is that since I've been playing around with this software, space documentaries are starting to look <span style="font-style: italic;">really</span> familiar. It kills the suspension of disbelief when you can look at the amazing shot they somehow filmed from space and say, "Hey, they made that simulation in Celestia!"Angiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17054359639422600388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-380848856420951973.post-25908371488617759372008-10-27T22:09:00.004-04:002008-10-27T22:16:45.764-04:00Until November 5th ...I'm back on track again, having gotten over both my issues with the current chapter and the most recent local plague. The site redesign is finally complete. Now I'm going to spend the next week succumbing to my inner political junkie and therefore not blogging, so that I can keep my oath to myself (and my friends) not to use my blog as a personal political pulpit.<br /><br />Happy voting, and I'll see you on the other side of November 4th.Angiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17054359639422600388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-380848856420951973.post-77398864594145599482008-10-12T22:54:00.000-04:002008-10-12T23:20:11.836-04:00CowardiceI'm stuck.<br /><br />I won't say blocked, because that's not the case, but I'm stuck. After thinking about it all day, I think I even know why it is that I'm stuck: I'm afraid to write this part of the book. What seemed like a perfectly reasonable premise when I started this project now feels radical, like it's going to make everyone who reads it angry. I don't honestly feel that this is the case, although there are people in the world who I'm quite sure want to be angry and will jump on any excuse to scream about something, but my internal political-correctness censor is screaming at me for what I have to write in order to get from the introduction piece of the book to the climax and finish.<br /><br />I think I've been encouraging this behavior from that stupid censor in my head. I've been changing words from what I mean to some other nebulous thing in order for people not to think I'm talking about something real. In my fantasy novel.<br /><br />Duh.<br /><br />So, no progress on the book this weekend. Tomorrow I plan to go through the manuscript and tell my subconscious censor to go to hell. I'm changing those words back to what I mean. Hopefully that will shut her up long enough for me to get through this chapter, which I suspect will not be nearly as controversial as she insists it will.<br /><br />In the meantime, I'm going to go over to Holly Lisle's site and reread <a href="http://www.hollylisle.com/fm/Articles/feature4.html">her article about exactly this situation</a>. Over and over and over again. Until it sticks.<br /><br />On a side note, the site design is finished; I'm now working on the code to get it to work on Blogger. Dear Google: It would have been incredibly helpful if you had included ANY documentation on the coding involved. Unfortunately, that happy circumstance is not the case, so it's trial and error which is incredibly time-consuming. Within another week or so, my beautiful (in my oh-so-humble opinion anyway) design will show up on the blog. Stay tuned!Angiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17054359639422600388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-380848856420951973.post-92112570057132019032008-10-09T22:19:00.000-04:002008-10-09T22:32:17.509-04:00Happy Sad Day in HockeytownSad: Today was the Red Wings' season opener and we lost 2-3 to the Maple Leafs despite a couple of nice chances right at the end.<br /><br />Happy: We were treated to the sight of several legends of Hockeytown past carrying the new 2007-2008 Stanley Cup Champions banner onto the ice for the banner-raising ceremony.<br /><br />Here's to another great season for Detroit: Go Wings!<br /><br />Writing Status: I'm working pretty hard on my website design at the moment. I did manage to get about 500 words written, a chapter reorganized and the rest of its scenes expanded from the few words in the outline to a real synopsis.<br /><br />Is it Friday yet?Angiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17054359639422600388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-380848856420951973.post-65399906585813581752008-10-09T20:14:00.001-04:002008-10-09T20:27:10.104-04:00Stranger than FictionMy brother brought me <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0420223/">Stranger than Fiction</a> to watch last weekend, which I highly recommend to writers and non-writers alike. He and my sister had to force me to watch it, since I haven't been watching much of anything lately -- not to mention that I generally don't like the movies Will Farrell makes. I'm delighted to say that I was dead wrong on this one. Mr. Farrell played a beautiful part, and by the end of the movie I was sure of two things. First, I'm not crazy -- I'm just a writer. Thank you, Emma Thompson. Second, I'd do just about anything for that assistant.<br /><br />As an aside, this movie featured what I'm pretty sure is the best pickup line I've ever seen. You can find it in the quotes section of the imdb.com article I linked above, but it's buried in the middle of a scene. Go watch the movie instead; you'll know it when you see it.Angiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17054359639422600388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-380848856420951973.post-25979232874111621882008-10-08T02:24:00.000-04:002008-10-09T20:02:53.293-04:00EllipsesA little while ago, I was reading <a href="http://ktliterary.com/2008/09/live-blogging-my-queries-part.html">this incredibly informative post</a> over at kt literary's blog about why she rejected or requested partials for the queries in her pile, and I came across this one:<br /><blockquote>Query from a YA with a YA. An important bit of writing advice you pick up with experience: use ellipses sparingly, if at all.</blockquote><br />I experienced a brief moment of panic as I realized that I had committed this newbie writer <span style="font-style: italic;">faux pas</span> all over my manuscript. Onto my revision checklist went "get rid of ellipses!" and then I started thinking. I've been writing, albeit not novels, my entire life and I never used ellipses the way I do now. I wondered, in an absent, back-of-mind sort of way, where on Earth I had picked up that particular habit.<br /><br />Then I hopped onto Gmail to chat with a friend for a few minutes, and our conversation went something like this:<br /><br />Me: Found this great site ... think you'll like it ... http://link.linksite.com<br />Friend: Yeah ... saw that yesterday ... it was pretty cool<br /><br />The ellipsis mystery was solved. I asked all of my text-conversant buddies, and every one of them said they constantly used ellipses to denote a pause in their conversation.<br /><br />I read another publishing industry post about ellipses fairly recently (sorry, I couldn't find this one when I went to look for a link -- I do a lot of surfing) asking, "Authors, what's with all the ellipses?" or some such. I think this is your answer: Gmail ... AIM ... Yahoo ... Jabber ...Angiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17054359639422600388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-380848856420951973.post-10724616278281681542008-10-07T23:44:00.000-04:002008-10-08T00:30:40.336-04:00First Post!"Never tell me the odds!" --Han Solo<br /><br />I've always loved this quote.<br /><br />Today I was talking to a friend about my grand plans for becoming a fabulously wealthy bestselling author (the introduction to the conversation was his grand plan of winning the lottery, so I felt justified). After we each dreamed out loud for a while, he turned sober and gave me the reality check any good friend would: "You do realize just how much competition there is for that, right?"<br /><br />In other words, "You might be better off just playing the lottery instead."<br /><br />Thankfully, I was not driven to depression by this grim reminder of reality. Yes, I realize that the odds of achieving bestseller status are astronomical. I don't mind. I assured my friend that I would be incredibly happy to simply get published at all, and the odds of <span style="font-weight: bold;">that </span>happening are much more manageable: only several thousand to one.<br /><br />I wouldn't have it any other way. If I wanted a sure bet, I'd be publishing my story on this blog. Somehow, that just doesn't cut it. I <span style="font-weight: bold;">want</span> it to be hard. Those standards brought us the Lord of the Rings, the Belgariad, the Dragonriders of Pern. They let us get to know Honor Harrington, Pug, and Alvin Maker. The idea of my book sitting next to those I've known and loved all my life is ... well, it's indescribable.<br /><br />So don't tell me the odds. I know they're a million to one. I have to try anyway.Angiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17054359639422600388noreply@blogger.com0