The Reedy River Rats - 2010 a year of abrubt change

This month has marked an end of an era for a number of  reasons.  Some I will elaborate on later.  But this week, it;s in regards to a rough jolt to the Reedy River Rats Guerilla Writing Group A key and founding member,

  Brian K. Ladd  will be moving to Durham North Carolina. 
Brian has been in the group since its inception and there were long periods when he and I were the only ones in the group. Yet we kept meeting on a mostly regular schedule at various coffee shops, homes, pubs and parks, but most often at Coffee Underground in downtown Greenville.  We both state that our novels, Trimalchio's Couch for Brian and Shaman Circus for me, would not have been written without the constant meetings. And I can say that about a lot of my short stories and poems. Brian is now embarking on another chapter to his life. At least he's still close enough for a meeting a few times a year and we hope to set up some kind of Skype type of online face to face conference writers meetings.

I'm sad for me and happy for him because he's going back to school to earn his degree in ancient languages.  He'll have to tell you the exact degree - I can never how to say the real names.
It's been sad over the years as our members move away. Shaggy Randall and Wendy Swearingin are in Florida, Chris Patrick is in Kings Mtn, NC, Donna Nyzio is in Beaufort, NC, and tragically, Jason Scott of NC passed away last week (I'm working on a future post about Jason).
 So that will leave B. Miller and I here in Greenville. I hope we all will vow to continue as we struggle along in this wayward addictive  lifestyle of weaving stories and creating artwork.  For B. Miller and I, at this point, we couldn't stop writing if we wanted to, and we won't stop meeting and improving.
So it will be another transition to have Brian in  another state, and a new interplay for the Rats. A Good writers group or magazine staff becomes a family, as B. Miller so beautifully wrote in her post about Jason. We all  worked hand in hand in this crazy publishing world.
And Brian has always been so generous with his knowledge of language and history, philosophy and character. He will be missed a great deal, but we'll be looking for him on the world stage where his craft will continue to be appreciated on an international level.  Sure, we'd like to keep him all to ourselves, keep him here running the streets of  Greenville with the Rats, but that would be unfair.

Steampunk issue of Fissure seeks submissions

Dig out your goggles, cogs, gears and Victorian fashions! Fissure is going steampunk!
Shadow Archer Press seeks submissions for a special Steampunk issue from Fissure magazine


Fissure Magazine is now open to submissions for our special Steampunk issue.
Open to submissions from May 1, 2010 to July 30, 2010. This special issue print edition will be released in November at the Upstate Steampunk Con in Greenville, SC and will be available as a print edition online.

I haven't talked about my small press on this blog much because of so many other things going on and taking a brief hiatus from the press.  But we're gearing back up and with a clockwork's worth of gears for our special Steampunk Issue of Fissure magazine.
Here are the guidelines and be sure to check out the website for more info.  I especially need to start looking at cover art so if you have a steampunk illustration sitting on your drafting table, please send me a jpeg at gail_gray@bellsouth.net.

Magazine Submission guidelines for the Fissure magazine special Steampunk issue


Non-fiction: How to articles (we appreciate hands-on illustrations or photos) fashion, mechanics, alchemy, history, book, music, film and gear reviews.
 
Fiction: Short stories, flash fiction and even novel excerpts will be considered in the steampunk genre. Adventure, quirky, funny, romantic, surreal, literary, edgy - we'll look at them all. We're more interested in character-driven stories than stories over-powered by steampunk technology. Try to avoid the predictable and tease our imaginations with your own take on the genre. Please avoid overly gratuitous violence.
We prefer your manuscript in 12 point, double spaced Times New Roman, with your name, address, phone number and e-mail in upper left hand corner, word count in upper right hand corner of first page. Pages must be numbered and submitted in order. Only accepted in either an attached Word document. Be sure to put the title of your piece and your last name in the subject line.
Short stories, word limit 2,400 words. (Contact the editor ahead of time if you have a longer story that deserves a read). Flash fiction, 350-500 words.

Poetry: limited to three poems per submission, no more than 2 pages per poem, 12 point, single space. Please do not submit another batch until hearing back on your first batch.

Original, unpublished work only. Simultaneous submissions accepted but please notify us as soon as your work is accepted elsewhere. Except for poetry, we do not accept multiple submissions.
Be sure to put the title of your piece and your last name in the subject line.

We only accept email submissions at this time: gail_gray@bellsouth.net

Cover Art and Internal art: jpegs no larger than 400 pixels, may be sent to the above email or submitted via snail mail on disc. Submit or contact Gail, the editor at gail_gray@bellsouth.net for any questions.

How We Work: At this point we ask for one time rights on your material for the Steampunk Fissure, then it reverts back to you. But please acknowledge Fissure is we publish your work and it appears in another publication afterwards. Response will be by e-mail. May take up to 60 days for a response with this special issue.

http://www.upstatesteampunk.com/

Thanks to the Graphics Fairy for the vintage illustration!

Arlee's A to Z Challenge - The Writer is Hero

First of all -
I want to shout out a massive HURRAY to all of you bloggers who participated in Arlee's A to Z challenge.  Wow!  I'm impressed. 
You have made me laugh, commiserate, think, explore and learn.  You've taught me so much about writing it's mind-boggling.  You've allowed me to explore other cities, learn new crafts, fine-tune my writing skills and best of all - get to know you! 
You've proved how different we all are, even as writers and hopefully you've proved to yourselves how much you can produce on deadline.  An amazing feat and you all deserve some very special rest right now!

I could never have done it, even though as a former photojournalist, when I wrote upwards of 3,000 words every weekday, I don't think I could have pulled this one off.  Especially right now as I shift between two jobs, one job in mental health to another in a  head injury program.  I've also been living between two houses as I'm house sitting at a stone house which has become a wonderful writing retreat for me as well as my own house. And I'm in between two stories: my current novel in progress, Fireworks: Interference Equation and a steampunk short story which won't let go. 

Ouch!  Don't you hate/love those times when you have more than one choice?  When the horizons open up and the opportunities await?  Those times are magic and terrifying all at the same time. When you think about it, this is the life of a writer every time they sit at their keyboard.  Which way do I take my story?  Which way do I showcase my character? Which characters die and who falls in love?  It's a heady sense of power and creation, and also the crossroads which can lead us to sell our soul (or sell out our story) or make it to the other side:  the creation of something which never existed before on this plant.

Wow.  Writers as creators.  Writers as inspiration, writers as the voices for those who don't leave records behind.  Whether we write fiction or non-fiction, we do our species a service no other species can, we leave a record:  or our times, of our cultures, of our philosophies.  And as time seems to speed up and as the globe shrinks, it's even more imperative that we keep writing:  our viewpoint may be personal, our stories may seem to inhabit a small world, our tales may be subtle of blatant:  but either way, people now and in the future will always be curious as to how another human lives, copes, despairs or overcomes the experiences they encounter.  That's why we read, to discover things about people unlike us having adventures we coulnd't imagine and at the same time connect with those kernals of human nature, when we realize - wow, that sounds like me.  Or I'd probably react that way when going through such and such a scenario. 

So as much as we torment ourselves with our doubts as we work on various projects - we must also acknowledge how brave and courageous we are in putting our words, thoughts, dreams and nightmares out there.  Human beings have been hungry for stories ever since they first sat around campfire curious as to how the other fellow's day went.  It feeds our imagination and fuels our own development.  So pat yourself on the back every time you sit down at that white page and summon the inner essence which drives you to write.  It's both a torment and a gift - and the fact that you choose to utilize it is equal to any hero brandishing a sword, flag or even magic.  For you are the spellbinders, the story tellers -  the voice in the dark.