#GoodThingsJar2013 January Update

Posted on February 1, 2013 by Ileandra Young

My jar of good things, filled with January's good thingsSo far so good. šŸ™‚ Some days I do just forget, but there is something soothing and cheering about forcing myself to remember the good things that have happened to me. As I hoped, doing so has made me significantly more cheerful! Looking at how much I complain and whine around that, I can only conclude that I was a moody, mardy sod before hand. :p

But look at it! That’s just January! Look how many good things have happened to me in just one month. Some of it is small things, related to milestones the boys have crossed, or enjoying a particularly film on the TV, but there are some things in there that are truly awesome. Competitions I have entered, initiatives I have been part of, good news from friends and family. What I’ve discovered – and what I like most – is that it doesn’t have to be just good things that have happened to me.

Dave graduated a couple of weeks ago. He worked his little butt off for his MA and I got to sit beside his mum and watch him walk across the stage in his mortarboard and colours to receive his certificate. I thought my chest would burst open, I was so proud of him! And that is certainly a good thing. That went into the jar with bells on!

Now, you’ll notice that all of those slips of paper are yellow. I am pedantic/anal/crazy enough that I have considered a different colour for each month, but I don’t know how that’s going to work yet. I’ve just been using postits, but anything more complicated than that will slow me down. Not looking for excuses, just acknowledging that I don’t always have time to do fancy things. But part of me wants to see the rainbow colours growing as the year goes on. Meh, we’ll see what happens.

Anyway, I said I’d check in. Did you guys make yourself a jar to fill with good things? How is it going? How has January treated you? Is there anything amazing that you feel inclined to share, so we can celebrate it with you? Good news should be shared after all; it makes everyone happy!

Posted in FUN!, Ileandra's Posts, Procrastination, Real Life Chatter | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

When publishing goes wrong…Starring Undead Press

Posted on January 29, 2013 by Ileandra Young

Now here is a story that’s most terrifying in the extreme! Its hard to believe a small press would do this to somebody, but, very clearly, they aren’t worth the time of day.
I guess this just goes to show all of us that we must be super, duper careful.

mandydegeit's avatar

You all know Iā€™ve been ranting about my first ever publication coming out for the last little whileā€¦ ā€œShe makes me smileā€ was picked up by Undead Press (Anthony Giangregorio) to be published in their anthology called Cavalcade of Terror and the book was released May 1st 2012.

I waitedā€¦ and waitedā€¦ I was SO excited to see my story and name in print.

One of my friends even went as far as to pay 40$ to Expresspost me a copy of Cavalcade, I waited around two days for the delivery. (Apparently Iā€™m dealing with a buzzer issue here at the house.)

It finally came in and believe me, I didnā€™t waste any time ripping into the packageā€¦

FLIP, FLIP, FLIPā€¦ Find the Table of Contents.
Scan downā€¦

ā€¦and my heart sank.

Wtf? šŸ˜¦ Thereā€™s a spelling mistake in the title of my story. *(Not from my submission howeverā€¦ Theyā€¦

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The Sunday Snippets Critique Blog Hop Begins!

Posted on January 27, 2013 by Ileandra Young

The Sunday Snippets Critique Blog Hop is on!

Gooooood morning everyone!

Yes its a murky, grey and icky Sunday, but I feel somewhat cheered by the idea that I’ve joined up to something new. Yes, I realise that my time hasn’t become any more free than before, but I think this is a good idea. As I mentioned in my last Six Sunday post, I have joined Jennifer Eaton’s Critique Blog Hop.Button for blog hopWriters gathering together to help each other (because that’s what we do!) by way of constructive critiques. Never one to turn down a chance to receive feedback on my work I leapt at the chance to join in.

It’s also nice to get in on the ground floor, so to speak. I think while the list of participants is quite small, it will be a nice thing to bounce around and see what other people are doing and enjoy the mutual exchange of feedback.

So… here are my 250 words! Well… my 250 words and then the end of the sentence. šŸ˜‰

It was cold in the morgue. Then again, it always was. The temperature now, according to the wall thermometer was no different today than it had been on any other day, and yet Daniel Markfield shuddered roughly, chaffing his hands against his bare arms. He blew onto his hands, watching the condensation of his breath form a thick cloud in the air.
ā€œBloody thermostat.ā€ He glared at the wall thermometer, flicking it with his fingers, waiting for the mercury to drop and show the true temperature. Nothing. He flicked it again, and blinked, startled as the mercury plummeted down the negatives.
Minus ten degrees.
Grumbling, cursing, stamping his feet, Daniel rinsed off the last of the sinks and hung the hose tap to drip dry from its round, metal hook. Gathering up the last of his autopsy instruments, he dumped them in a bowl of hot disinfectant, ready to soak before proper deep, heat cleaning.
He was glad to be done for the day; it had been a tough one.
In his job, there was never a dull day, though he wished for it, but today had been one of the oddest he had ever come across.
It had begun with a body.
There was always a body ā€“ of course there was! ā€“ but this was the body of a middle aged man, probably Caucasian, found burned to a crisp in the front seat of his car. It was the unfortunate soul caught in the front of the Jaguar which ploughed into that petrol tanker beneath City Walk bridge the day before.

The first 250 words of my current WIP Walking The Razor’s Edge. Any and all comments gladly received!

Want to join up? Click here for the rules, and leave a comment to have your name added to the list. The more the merrier!

Click on over to these great writers to check out and critique what theyā€™ve posted!
http://mermaidssinging.wordpress.com/
http://caitlinsternwrites.wordpress.com/
http://ileandrayoung.com
http://wyrmflight.wordpress.com/
http://www.mandyevebarnett.com
http://womanbitesdog.wordpress.com/
http://jennykellerford.wordpress.com

New from Jennifer M. Eaton…

Welcome to Richard Leonard ā€“ Words & Pictures


http://jordannaeast.com
http://letscutthecrap.wordpress.com

Woohoo! Okay, I’ll catch you all next week. ^_^

Posted in Critique Blog Hop, Ileandra's Posts, Walking The Razor's Edge | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 39 Comments

Six Sentence Sunday 27/01 #49 and final!

Posted on January 27, 2013 by Ileandra Young

This is the end.

Well, I say that, but it’s not really. The end of an era, for sure, but not the end. Today Six Sentence Sunday will showcase it’s last selection of authors offering up their six sentence snippets. I’ve had a hell of a time and I’d like to say thanks to all of you who have found this blog because of this initiative. Further thanks to those of you who stuck around! It’s lovely to have you on board and I’m glad you’re still with me. As well as that I have to say a massive thank you to Sara Brookes and the rest of her crew for bringing the idea together and opening it up to so many. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed myself and I hope the future sees you all well.

For this, my last offering for Six Sentence Sunday I give you a last teasing taste of the antics of Raven, Master and Fox:

She saw Fox lick appreciatively at Masterā€™s hand and then crawl forward. He advanced right up to the end of the sofa, shoving his head between her legs and snuffling approvingly at the moisture there.

Raven sighed softly.

Master laughed. ā€œDogs always know when a woman is ready,ā€ he observed, ā€œthey always stick their noses right up a girlā€™s skirt.ā€

And that’s all you get! Until I know what’s happening to the whole tale. ^_^

Once again, thanks for joining me for the ride, also to let you know that with the end of Six Sentence Sunday I’m going to try something new.

I am very keen, at the moment, to get my work out there. To do that I need as many people as possible to see my words and I have to be unafraid (well, a little bit afraid, but not to the point of impotence) to receive critiques. The Phoenix Writers and my Tuesday class are helping with that (lots!) but there can never be to much. So! I’ve signed up to Jennifer Eaton’s Critique Blog Hop!Button for blog hopAll those involved post 250 of their WIP to their blog and then hop around offering critiques and receiving them in return. I think it’s a fabulous idea and I’m thrilled to be part of it.

The hop starts today, so there will be another post going up in a couple of hours. And Sunday’s post, going forward, will be a part of the hop. Hope to see more of you there and I hope you’ll join in too!

Now, for the last time, hit the banner link below to see what the others are up to and I’ll catch you somewhere in the ether. Much love!
Six Sentence Sunday

Posted in Critique Blog Hop, Ileandra's Posts, Other Writings, Sample Sunday | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Neeeeeeeext!

Posted on January 25, 2013 by Ileandra Young

I should have mentioned this earlier on in the week, but I fail. Just a lil bit. Sorry! Anyway, for those of you who don’t know, Amazon runs an annual competition; the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. This year they catagories have been expanded to include the likes of horror/fantasy/sci fi (woohoo!) so I thought I’d enter. Thank you so much Erin for posting about this and several other opportunities. I pinged it straight to my Twitter and Facebook, so I hope those of you who caught sight of it and have a novel ready to go have been able to do something about it.

Anyway on hearing about the opportunity with Amazon I picked up SORB and sent it straight out. There was absolutely no reason not to since the competition was open to my genre (yey!). I’ve received my acknowledgement and now just need to sit back and wait until February to see if I’ve made it to the next round or not.

Now, I named this post ‘Next’ because I’m trying to get into the habit of sending out my work. I’ve already talked about the Phoenix Subs Club and my entry into Flash500 and I thought, since it’s getting close to the point that HarperVoyager would advise whether or not they wished to pursue SORB, it is well passed time to see where else it can go. No sooner had I made that decision than I received an email from HarperVoyager advising that they regretfully would not be pursuing my novel. Perfect, right? Obviously it’s a shame that they chose not to take it up, but that freed me to enter Amazon’s competition with no worries, since both insist on exclusivity.

Normally I’d be querying the novel again, since my real aim is to get an agent, but while these competitions keep popping up, there is no harm in sending them there first. ‘Cutting out the middle man’ by potentially winning one of these things is a really attractive idea to me. And it may even help in the search for an agent, if I can say such and such a publisher is interested in my work and has offered a contract.

So I have another entry to add to my submissions spreadsheet. That’s already double what I was hoping to be able to do this month and I have another short story almost ready for this competition. I think I’m doing an okay job of building up the habit. šŸ™‚

What about you guys? Have you entered competitions or made any queries lately?

Posted in Ileandra's Posts, Silk Over Razor Blades | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments