IWSG: The Dark Side

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I'm getting ready to release my second collection of short fiction, Garden of Lost Souls, and the nerves are jangling.

One reason is that it hasn't been all that long since I've truly and publicly (yeh, new blog header!) acknowledged my penchant for writing dark fiction and horror. Even though I've been writing it for awhile, I've always treated it as an acquaintance - one you shake hands with, not one you happily embrace. 

Sure, the previous collection is not all sunshine and unicorns but this one is decidedly darker. I wonder if I will lose readers who prefer some of my "lighter" stories? Will I gain others? Will readers familiar with horror stories mock my attempt to join the big boys and girls of the genre? 

I admit, I'm kind of scared. 

Ironic, isn't it?

Motivational Monday: An Ebook Release!

We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming - Motivational Mondays - for...well, for me actually practicing what I preach....

Here it is: the release of my first ever ebook. This collection has been a long time coming, mostly because I've been too anxious to take the plunge. But I did it. Finally. So please, use me and my ebook as an example, a motivator, to go ahead and take that chance, that next step, that plunge. Take something you're passionate about and do something creative and wonderful and fulfilling with it.

I just want to say thank you to my wonderful, supportive husband who is truly my best friend, and to all of you who read my stories and are moved by them - whether to tears or to terror. Thank you!

*****

ABOUT THE BOOK:

The stories in this flash fiction collection are like day trips - brief, illuminating journeys - across the landscape of the human condition. 

An old woman, with the help of a neighbor and a terrified dog, challenges a young punk disturbing the peace. 

A middle-aged woman confronts a former lover as he holds her at gunpoint. 

A boy learns the meaning of true friendship as a baseball game takes a terrifying turn. 

A runaway searches for her own face among a wall of Missing posters. 

Some of the characters find the strength to move forward while others struggle to just move on. Old. Young. Grieving. Lost. Alone. Smart. Funny. Tough. They are us. 

This collection of 17 stories contains both new and previously published work. It includes "Hungry," winner of the Writer Advice 6th Flash Prose Contest and "A Quarter for Your Thoughts," winner in the Published Flash Fiction category of the Florida Writers Association's Royal Palm Literary Awards, 2008.

HOW TO BUY:

Available exclusively through Amazon

[If you don't have a Kindle or a Kindle App, click here for PC, here for Mac.]

Survival of the Fearful

I am no stranger to rejection. (I'm talking writing here, not personal. That's a conversation for another day.) Some of my work received negative reviews, although - thankfully! - not often. But I'm about to do something I've never done before. I'm standing on the bank of a murky swamp that may or may not be full of lurking alligators. I don't know. I can't see. It scares me. Kind of like...publishing my very first ever collection of stories. An ebook collection. On my own. (Okay, my husband and the tortoises are helping, but you know what I mean.) Gulp. 

The ebook cover is cooking. I've chosen most of the stories. I'm working on some new ones, too, so there'll be a few surprises as well. The rest of the pieces are slowly falling into place. Hopefully, in the next month or two, my flash fiction collection will set sail across that swamp. Little. Alone. Nervous. 

How do I keep it afloat in churning waters? How do I keep it from being snapped at, devoured by, swallowed up and disappeared by bigger creatures? How do I keep it safe?

Or can I? Do I just have to let it go, knowing I did the best I could? That I armed it, empowered it, with whatever I had to give? If I shade my eyes and peer across the water, will I see it land safely? Survive? Thrive? 

Some of you have already done this or something similar with your work, and I applaud your bravery! If you have any to spare, could you send some my way? I'm open to advice, too. And alligator repellent.

What do you look for in an ebook? If you weren't looking for a collection of flash fiction at that moment, what would make you stop and notice one? The cover? The book description? The price? Pure whimsy? 

Collecting Advice

How many times have I mentioned putting my stories together into a collection? Five? Twenty? More than that? Sheesh. (Apparently the Year of Yes has turned into the Year of Hemming and Hawing.)

I'm not usually this much of a procrastinator. The project just feels so...daunting to me. Between the technology learning curve and the marketing aspect and the potential for more rejection makes me want to duck my head back under the pages of my slow-moving tortoise of a novel-in-progress. (And honestly, Larry and the Mrs. move faster than me and my work.) 

But enough is enough. My flash fiction collection will be out by the end of this year (come on, I need some sort of cushion!), hopefully by the end of the summer. 

Many of you have already done this or something similar, and I would so appreciate any thoughts, advice, or tips on the subject, whether about e-publishing or choosing a cover or arranging the stories or promoting it. Feel free to comment or, if you'd rather, go ahead and email me at: 

MadelineMora-Summonte (at) hotmail (dot) com.  

Thank you all!

Ripe for the Reading

I recently purchased Pomegranate, a collection of stories by Gay Degani. I've been a fan/friend of Gay's for awhile now and I was so pleased to see her put this collection together. Two of the stories, "Chair Girl" and "Pomegranate," are new.

"Chair Girl" reminds us that we shouldn't be so quick to judge, that story and voice can come from an unusual place and when it does, it's often pure magic. "Pomegranate" is achingly bittersweet, and I loved it.

The previously published, "Rim Shot," is one of my favorite Gay Degani stories even though (as far as I know) it's not one of her most acclaimed. On the first read, a gasping suspense slides beneath the words and carries us through to the stunning end. But even reading it again, even knowing the ending, it still has a breathtaking quality. It takes skill to make that happen, to make that work.

Go, Gay!