Diva Short Story Anthologies

I've mentioned the group of fiction writers that I'm associated with here before. In case you missed the post, here it is: Short Story Anthology: Crime Gone Wrong. Anyway, we're called DIVA, and we're four gals from different parts of the world who come together to write short story anthologies. 

As a foursome, we decide on the title of the story collection. Once the title's determined, we go off on our own and write our individual stories based on the title/theme. It's interesting to see how the other Diva gals interpret the title. In any given anthology you might get a dark story and a silly story side-by-side, both with the same theme. 

So far, we've published:

Crime Gone Wrong

 

Killer Heat

Summer Love 

We're always looking for theme/title suggestions so let me know if you think of anything interesting that you'd like a bunch of twisted ladies to write about. :-)

And it just so happens that we have another book coming out very soon. Watch this space for details.

Happy reading and writing,

How I Got Him To Marry Me: 50 True Stories

My friend Cherise wrote a book that I want to tell you about. It's called How I Got Him To Marry Me: 50 True Stories and it’s now available in eBook form at Barnes and Noble for Nook, Amazon for Kindle, and Kobo for the Kobo Reader. The paperback will be available April 1 through Amazon. The eBook should be on iTunes soon. 

Short Book Description:

He likes it. Now get him to put a ring on it! Learn from these 50 stories of women who have been there! You don't have to interview 50 married women to find out how they managed to get that ring on their finger. The author has done that for you. All 50 were married after 1990, so this is modern information for our changing times. Read and find out how you can get him to marry you and not just live together!

LIMITED TIME OFFER:
Please see the end of the eBook to learn how to claim a free paperback copy after you post an honest review! Limited to the first 25 reviewers at Amazon.com, Kobo, Barnes and Noble, and iTunes. (226 pages in paperback.)

Excerpt unique to my blog:

When I worked in the office back in Philly, my plebeian office job took about 8.5 hours a day. When I did my work online, it took four hours a day, at the most. Now, I've never been the type to know what to do with my free time, but I had so much of it now that I joined an anime fan group at a bar in Beijing. (I never go to bars, either.)
I befriended guys there who had similar interests. Now, keep in mind:
1) My American office salary of 42k equaled about 252k in China.
2) I'm not bad looking.
3) I was an intriguing ethnic anomaly there.
4) My employers said my productivity had increased, so they weren't nagging me to come back to the office. 

With those four points there, you have another recipe for my leaving Cordell. But again, I did not.

Many anime types, there as well as here, have unconventional interests. One of the girls made Chinese wedding dresses. They're nothing like the white mainstay frocks you see in the States. Chinese wedding dresses are short, sexy, and inspired by cartoons. All are white or in pastel colors. Plus, they're silk. It's cheaper to get silk there, so Mao-ling had a ton of silk garments.

"How come your stuff is so cute here?" I asked Mao-ling 

She looked at me like I was crazy.

I said, "Cute isn't big where I live. I think it's the strong, independent woman thing."

"It's always been," she said, "and people buy it. People buy it where you are, too."

"Really." I challenged.

Mao-ling is an artist and doesn't have much of a head for business. I'm very organized, but I'm really not all that creative. She and I split her design business 50/50. I set up store accounts on eBay and Etsy, and I got a few brick and mortar stores in Philadelphia to carry her dresses through a friend of mine in PhillyU's fashion program. After about six months, they were selling beautifully. I think the reason these clothes sell so well in the States is the same reason men like Asian girls: they're "cuter" and a bit more delicate, in appearance at least.

If you count the money I get from private clients, Chinese stores, and the accessories I sell online, I make about 20k more per year than I did with my regular job. I also saved about 15k from that my first few weeks. 

I am so much happier as a business owner than I was as a corporate desk jockey that I became a whole lot easier to get along with, and Cordell magically found a whole lot more time for me in his schedule.
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Want to read more?
Amazon.com <<< paperback, too after April 1, 2013

Barnes and Noble <<< paperback, too, but later than Amazon 
Kobo

iTunes Coming Soon!

Descriptive Writing

A good friend and talented writer called me last night to offer feedback on my recently published short story, The Buckner Brothers. In summary, she said she liked the story and its unpredictability. She said the pace was good, as was the rhythm. She particularly appreciated the physical descriptions of the main characters and the way in which their psychoses evolved.
  

Then she lowered the boom; she said she had a hard time visualizing where the action was taking place. The writing lacked a vivid setting. She wanted more ambience, more environment. 

So what did I do? Like any self-respecting writer, I drank wine through a straw went back and reread the story she was referring to. Then I studied my WIP. Yep. She’s dead nuts right.

As I looked at my writing through this new lense, it was clear - I do spill more ink on people than I do on places. Interesting. I went looking for advice from my guru, Stephen King. In his book about writing, aptly titled On Writing, King differentiates between two kinds of descriptive writing: the physical description of characters and the description of “locale and texture” (his words).

I’m feeling halfway okay until I read further. King says descriptions of “locale and texture” are more important to good writing than are descriptions of people and characters. 

Wouldn't you know it.

Digging for details, I landed on this nugget:

Thin description leaves the reader feeling bewildered and nearsighted. Over-description buries him or her in details and images. The trick is to find a happy medium.  

Easy for you to do, Mr. King. But what about fledgling indi authors?

Good description is a learned skill, one of the prime reasons why you cannot succeed unless you read a lot and write a lot. Reading will help you answer how much, and only reams of writing will help you with the how. You can learn only by doing. 

Alrighty then, back to the doing. I just hope I don't over-describe the little girl's bedroom in the story I'm writing now. If I do, I trust that my excellent and talented friends will shove me in the right direction. Thanks, Cyndi.