Letter to the Editor: You Know Who You Are
April 12, 2009, 11:21 am
Filed under: On Writing

About halfway through a book I was recently asked to review, I updated the status on my Facebook profile to read: Dora Badger doesn’t quite know what to say.

I finished reading the book a few minutes ago.  I actually know exactly what to say but most of it’s pretty damn bitchy.  Facebook has enough snarky gossip already, so I’m posting it here instead. (more…)



Suffering for my art
January 22, 2009, 9:58 am
Filed under: My Stuff

The hours and HOURS of typing and writing for the 24H Challenge & etc. kicked the CT into high gear, so I couldn’t type for a couple of days.  I’m back at it now and will complete the uploads of the 24H Challenge scenes and the Scene A Day scenes.  There are a few more on the other site and I’ll keep on throwing them up there over the next few days.

Stupid nerve endings.  Stupid pain.

It’s almost worth believing in God so I can give thanks for ibuprofen.

WHOOPS gotta go – Twigs & Seeds just came up in my playlist, and I hate rewinding.  That song ROCKS. -bye



Yay, me, part two
January 19, 2009, 10:24 am
Filed under: My Stuff

My personal 24 Hour Challenge is over and I’ll be posting the results at A Scene A Day on Monday and Tuesday.  A few are up there already.

It’s been a productive day.  After the 24H nap, I sent off a few critiques and did some editing for various projects I’ve been working on, I’m almost finished with the Laimo book, and I sent in an application to be included in the 2009 Ladies of Horror anthology.  Even if I don’t make it into the collection, my application was slamming and I’m a total G.

Recognize.

Today would have been more productive if I hadn’t gotten caught up in Chuck Palahniuk’s latest book, Snuff.  This is a novel about several people whose lives are just complete train wrecks, and yet I can’t stop laughing.  I haven’t finished it yet, so I won’t go into details – but I will say that, once again, he’s managed to take some truly horrific material and work with it in a brutal yet somehow sensitive fashion.  Palahniuk does workshop some of his work, and I just wish that I had been there for Porn Film Titles Day.  I mean, our writers’ group is fun but, you know, we’re taking our writing prompts from pictures of apples and things like that.  …btw, there are a lot of hilarious titles; I suspect CP had a personal challenge to not go more than 300 words without throwing in a porn film title.

Again, I have no idea what type of ending this book will have – although I can’t see how it could possibly be happy – and I’m still willing to wholeheartedly recommend it.  The Detroit Public Library has a copy at the Main Branch in the General Fiction stacks, so you can even check it out for free.  Once you’ve come down off the Inauguration High, scoot over to DPL and prepare to get lost in the funniest, saddest porn industry novel you’ve ever read.

Added on Jan. 22, 2009: Yeah, not exactly a happy ending, and definitely a bit of a turn from what I’d expected when I wrote the above.  It was, however, a redemptive one.  I am now able to recommend this book even more strongly.

I still wish I had been at the workshop.



24 Hour Challenge update
January 18, 2009, 6:30 am
Filed under: My Stuff, Uncategorized

This is much harder than I thought it would be.  12.5 hours to go, and I’m not even halfway done.

I have already posted a few completed scenes over on A Scene A Day, though.  So it’s getting done.  Stay tuned!



Shameless Self-Promotion
September 14, 2008, 7:48 am
Filed under: On Writing

I will be presenting a workshop at the upcoming Rochester Writers Conference.  The Conference will be held on October 11 on the Rochester College campus in Rochester Hills, Michigan.  From their website: (more…)



Reminder!
September 14, 2008, 7:37 am
Filed under: On Writing

The deadline to submit fiction and poems for the next edition of Third Reader is October 1st.   Send us your best work by that date for a chance to be published on our site. (more…)



A weekly reading list
June 25, 2008, 9:21 pm
Filed under: On Writing

I am going to qualify the following by saying I’m not the sort of writer who goes around quoting Stephen King.  I know, I know: he has a lot to say about writing and he does get a good one-liner in every now and then – but let’s be honest.  King quotes are all over the place and after a while it can get a little tedious.  However, (more…)