Retribution by Thomas Bowman. $0.99 from Smashwords.com
Ella MacDonald’s days are numbered. She’s played dirty in New York, and running to a small town only delayed the inevitable. Jack Myers is on his way, and he never misses his mark.

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Strange Circle has finally listed its winners on their web-page.  The stories themselves are not up yet, and the magazine is set to publish in September.  However, if your so inclined, you can view the names of the winner and runners up and the titles of their works (including mine) over at StrangeCircle.com

Secondly, I would like to announce that I will be working as a writer for/with Examiner.com under the Atlanta Creative Writing Examiner title.  Examiner.com is still working out some of the bugs, and I will hang with them for a little while to see what happens if/when they get their act together.  I will be posting several articles a week there and will post the links as they become available.  The first article, though not my best writing by far, can be found here for free.

Thirdly, as some of you are aware, my day job responsibilities have increased due to my forthcoming promotion.  I will try diligently to not let it affect the frequency of posts as well as the word count per week.

Reminders to note:  Retribution is for sale over @ Amazon.com for 2.99.  I sincerely hope you check it out.  If you do, be so kind as to leave a review after you have read it.  Good, bad, or indifferent…it would be nice to see what you all like/dislike.

Deowolf.com is available for purchase on the kindleblog area for 1.99.  You do, however, receive a free 14 day trial with that offer.  So, if you have a kindle and would like to keep up on my posts wirelessly…thats the best way.  So, check that out.

Purely for the love of her writing I feel like spreading the word.  Cherie Priest’s newest, Dreadnought, is set to release on 9.28.10.  I highly recommend pre-ordering this fine work from Amazon (just click the photo).  Pre-order price 10.11.  There is also a chance that AFTER the release you can snag a signed copy from her website.

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Inspiration is a magical thing.  In today’s society it is one of those mystical beasts that seems just out of reach from some people and walking hand in hand with others.  What is inspiration?  Where does it come from?  How do you get some if you have none?

Inspiration is a force that guides you on a path that you may or may not have chosen.  It makes a dentist become a lawyer, a lawyer become a gardener, and a physician become a restaurant manager.  These are all jumps of unbelievable magnitude but I assure you, they have all happened.  What causes these drastic changes in profession is inspiration.  The dentist is sued over a frivolous charge and loses, he decides this will not happen to any other dentist and attends law school.  He was inspired, by a negative action, but inspired none-the-less.  The lawyer, always running but always running behind, stops to have a meeting in a clients garden.  He observed the gardener taking his time with a bush, trimming it just so, and thinks that would be a wonderful way to spend the day.  Boom, inspiration.  And the physician to restaurant manager…well you get the point.  It can be negative or positive, but it can also be internal, as the gardener, or external, as the lawsuit. 

One of the most profound and moving forms of inspiration is inspiration from someone else’s work.  Take a restaurant manager again.  He takes a much needed weeks vacation and reads a few books.  He comes across one series and from the first book he is inspired.  After finishing the series of three books he thinks to himself that the life of a writer seems to be a much better way to spend ones life.   The rest of his vacation he sits at his desk and writes the first four chapters of his novel.  After finishing chapter four he contacts the author of the series and thanks her for what she did. For she, unknowingly, has changed his life.  She reaches back out to him and thanks him, for she was on the verge of quitting writing.  Inspiration is a funny thing.

The fact is that inspiration isn’t a mythical beast hiding from the majority of the population.  It is not a magical fairy tale that you only read about.  If you simply slow down your day, your thoughts, your emotions, and look at things at a different angle you will find the inspiration you seek.  It is out there, and it is waiting to change your life.

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Some authors will tell you that plotting out your story now will save you time in the end.  Some other authors tell you to just write the story, then go behind yourself and clean up the mess later.  So, which does a novice writer choose? 

From a organized stand point a writer that plots his/her story line first will have a better idea of where its going to go…scene by scene.  However, this can be a tedious process for a novice.  Most of the fun in writing a book be it fiction or non-fiction is the actual process of writing.  Getting the ideas out the head and onto the paper before the ideas become nothing more than mist is a challenge.  Plotting can take some of that challenge out of it if you can withstand the dreary nature of outlines and plot arcs.  There are different methods for this as well.  There is the snowflake method, the story wheel method, and a few others as well.  Any or all of these are fine for the type A person who must have the Muse GPS on standby at all time.  That is, the plot guide, outline, snowflake, or whatever you choose.  Just play with the method and see if it works for you.  Some writers simply use a moleskin to keep their notes during their time away from the keyboard, then gather them up and place them in a logical order before sitting down to start the novel.  If you need to be an organized writer…this is your approach.

On the other hand, if you are more of a free spirit, willing to let the muse take you where she will, then just sit back, relax and enjoy the ride.  Simply placing BICHOK (butt in chair, hands on keyboard) will start driving the words from your mind to the paper, or screen, in front of you.  Before you know it you will have thousands of words on a story that started as one and is going in a totally new direction.  This is a very free and wonderful way to write.  However, there is a warning that goes with this.  Sometimes the story, or the characters themselves, stop telling you what their going to do next.  If you have no idea, or no Story Arc, then your doomed to have your protagonist sit in a cafe for months on end while you figure out how to put a “bomb in the closet”, that is how to move the story along.  If you have the time to wait, or simply have an extremely creative mind with no worries of writers block then this is your method.

Try them both if your a novice writer.  You will eventually come to develop your very own method.  It may be a hybrid of the two, or something completely different.  The most important thing to remember is to just tell the story, as best you can, then end it.  You can go back to polish it later.  No matter how you write, you will always have re-writes and edits. 

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Yes, you read that right.   www.deowolf.com is now available on Kindle.  For those of you who are interested in having it always at your beck and call.  For you others, it will remain here as it always has.  But, I thought since all the coolest kids are publishing their blogs…why shouldn’t I.  Right?  Right?  So, I did.

Question:  Why would I pay for a blog I can read online for free? 
Answer:  I have no idea.

Q: Then why did you publish it on Kindle?
A: Because I could.

Q: Do you really think people are going to pay for this?
A: Have you heard the news lately…some people ARE crazy.

Q: So, you think your readers are crazy?
A: No comment.

Q: Any other news we should be getting for free but we could pay for if we wanted?
A: Do you subscribe to cable and have the Internet and a radio…your paying for the same news in more ways than one.

Just thought I would share. 

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Deowolf.com is accepting guest posts for the Month of September.  If you would like to be a Guest Poster, or know someone who might, please feel free to let me know.  Check out the Contact/press tab and shoot me an email.  Please include the topic you wish to post about and your credentials (i.e. your own blog, any magazines you’ve written for etc.) 

Those selected will be given access to my WordPress wp.admin.  From there you can submit your post for review.  Once I approve it ( I will NOT edit or change content for any reason…it will either post as is or not at all) it will appear on my Guest Posts tab.  Those of you who wish to be regular posters here will have continued access, those who wish to be one post wonders will be removed after their post contribution.

There are a few guidelines I’ve posted over on my Guest Post Page.  Just follow those, and we should be fine.  Thanks.

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