The Fabulist Flash

Issue 105

Hint of Autumn Journal

In This Issue:

1. This Week
2. Awesome Punctuation
3. Opportunities
4. Dina Keratsis takes the 18Q
5. About The Fabulist Flash

1. This Week

Whenever I finish a project there's a great sense of relief followed by pride in accomplishment, and then bouts of sadness and even a little depression at times. A woman writer friend explained this is a bit like the post-partum depression women feel after giving birth. I guess I can see the connection; I'm just glad my projects don't involve the pain and suffering of physical childbirth.

A pro writer friend, with more than 80 books to her credit (yes, eighty!), gave me the advice of always having a new project to begin as soon as one is completed. She explained that this will lessen the sadness and depression. Plus, make you a more productive writer. We should celebrate our accomplishments, but not rest on our laurels. This obviously works for her based on that long list of books she's birthed into the world.

In my attempt to stave off feelings of sadness that come with completing a project, I dive right into the next and then another. I've always been a workaholic, but the difference is that at this stage of life I'm working for myself instead of others. Sounds like rationalization.

Here's a look at my past rollercoaster week of accomplishments. I submitted an article to a local publication: a profile of a local establishment. The editor was thrilled with the article and will hopefully be assigning me more work for upcoming issues. I completed an eBook I've been working on, The Everyday Gay Activist. That's now out in the world and I did some advertising and a mailing for that. I signed up two more authors for the LAMOO site and started learning Adobe's InDesign, a high-end software program. I also attended a writer's panel where I met an editor for one of our local papers, we hit it off. Plus, there were the usual events, too: working on advertising materials for The Las Vegas Writer's Conference, attending a weekly writer's group critique meeting and a group board meeting meeting, plus contributing to an online writer's forum I belong to. Oh, and then there's also this newsletter and updating the 18Q website.

Just pulling this list together exhausts me. I need to get some new advice on how to handle the post-partum of finishing projects, or at least take a nap.

While I work on that, we've got a great issue this week. Laurel Osterkamp dives into The 5 Most Awesome Forms of Punctuation, there's a list of opportunities for writers, and author Dina Keratsis takes the 18Q.

Until next week,

Gregory
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Gregory A. Kompes (www.kompes.com) is a writer, photographer, professional speaker and author of the bestseller 50 Fabulous Gay-Friendly Places to Live, The Endorsement Quest, and Your Intensive Care Unit Stay.

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Preview 9 essential books for writers on The Writer's Bookshelf

2. Awesome Punctuation

The 5 Most Awesome Forms Of Punctuation
by Laurel Osterkamp

Punctuation rocks! It can impact writing in a way that mere words can never achieve. Whether you're using a comma, period, ellipses or a dash, nothing can influence your writing more than correct and effective use of punctuation. The entire meaning of a sentence can be completely altered just by changing, leaving out, or adding in a little dash, dot or squiggly.

For example, if you were driving down a residential neighborhood and saw a sign that read, "Slow! Children Playing" you would know to keep an eye out for kids playing in the streets. However, without that exclamation point, the sign would read, "Slow Children Playing", and you would be left wondering if the kids in this particular neighborhood are rather dumb. This point leads to the fifth most awesome form of punctuation - the exclamation point.

5. Exclamation Point

Exclamation points are awesome because of their versatility and power. What other form of punctuation can turn one word into a complete sentence? "Run." is not a complete sentence, it means nothing. However, "Run!" commands the reader to move fast. With its addition we now know that either there is danger, and we need to run away from it, or there is something really cool that we need to run towards. Either way, it's exciting.

Speaking of excitement, what's more exciting than an exclamation point? Adding one to the end of any sentence implies intense emotion. For instance, "This milk smells funny." After reading that you're probably thinking, "hmmm, maybe I ought to smell that milk too?" But read "This milk smells funny!" and you know there's no way you're smelling that milk. With an exclamation point, sentences are yelled out rather than simply spoken.

4. Quotation Marks

The fourth most awesome form of punctuation is the quotation mark. One reason they're awesome is because they separate dialogue. What would we do without them? Try making sense of this passage without the quotation marks added in.

Kiss me. No, wait. She ran her fingers through his hair then touched them to his lips. He gently kissed them. I love it when you do that. I love you. He picked her up and carried her away. This sounds like a pretty steamy scene, but who was saying what? See if it makes more sense with the quotation marks added in:

"Kiss me. No, wait." She ran her fingers through his hair then touched them to his lips. He gently kissed them. "I love it when you do that."

"I love you." He picked her up and carried her away.

Not only do quotation marks let us know all the important info about dialogue, they also do something that no other punctuation can – imply sarcasm. Put any adjective or adverb in a regular sentence into quotation marks and suddenly it takes on the opposite of its meaning. For example:

She's so "competent". I really respect how "good" she is at her job. She work is always so "thorough". "Definitely" hire her.

If you were a boss and you received the above passage about a prospective employee, would you hire her? I wouldn't, even though in reality, only compliments have been written. Aww, the power of quotation marks!

3. The Semicolon

Semicolons are awesome because they are so subtle and abstract. Few people actually use them correctly, but if you do, you will add complexity to your writing.

So what do semicolons do? They attach two complete yet compatible sentences into one. Think of the semicolon like a really healthy marriage. Two separate entities are joining forces because they fit and are stronger together. Another way to think of the semicolon is as a replacement for the word "because." Using a semicolon implies the word "because" without having to state it. For example:

• I love bananas; they taste so good and are high in potassium.
• It's hard to find a good boyfriend; all the decent men have been taken.
• I'd rather be playing hockey; baseball is boring and I stink at track.

Do you see how the semicolon replaces the word "because" in the above sentences? Did you also notice how the semicolon joins together two separate yet connected thoughts? No other punctuation can do what the semicolon can; semicolons are so cool!

2. The Ellipses

How often do you start speaking to someone, and then trail off before you finish your thought? I do that all the time, and if I was writing out what I was saying I would be using ellipses. Ellipses are awesome because they finish your sentences for you, making incomplete sentences into complete ones. What's better than that? They also can be used as the antithesis of exclamation points, indicating a lack of passion or conviction. Here are some examples:

• I thought I wanted to marry him but I don't know...
• Sure, I guess I can help you move...
• Goodbye...

So anytime you're feeling kind of fuzzy, just use ellipses. That's what they're for.

And now, for the number one most awesome form of punctuation –

1. The Dash

I love dashes. They are awesome - because you simply can't go wrong with a dash. It is pretty much impossible to use one incorrectly - they are so handy. You can separate ideas and add effect - all at the same time. I like to think of dashes as a dramatic pause - and use them as such. I mean – there is just no form of punctuation more – awesome! Dashes – they rock!

So there you have it – the five "most awesome" forms of punctuation. My list was obviously short, and some of you may think it should have included commas, colons, question marks, or the ever popular period; you may have a point. Just remember, my ideas about punctuation are subjective - but how you use that punctuation is not! Happy writing...

About the Author
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Laurel Osterkamp is the author of Following My Toes, a novel set in Minneapolis, where she is from. She also teaches high school English and Creative Writing. You can visit her on the web at http://www.laurelosterkamp.com or http://www.bookinitmyway.blogspot.com.

3. Opportunities

Fresh Yarn: The Online Salon for Personal Essays
www.freshyarn.com

The Sobol Award
www.sobolaward.com
A new and lucrative literary prize has just been started, with some unusual credentials for the winner: The book must be unpublished and the author must not have an agent. The Sobol Award offers $100,000 for the best unreleased, agentless novel, with prizes of $25,000 and $10,000 for the runners-up and $1,000 each to seven others. The award was created by Sobol Literary Enterprises, a for-profit venture started by technology entrepreneur Gur Shomron, as "a venue to discover talented, unknown fiction writers and help them get the recognition they deserve." The Sobol Award Web site (http://www.sobolaward.com) will accept up to 50,000 manuscripts, online only, with applicants required to pay an $85 entry fee. Winners will be announced next summer.

The Queer Collection
www.queercollection.com
If you're a gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or queer author Fabulist Flash Publishing wants to include your original works of poetry, creative nonfiction, and fiction in its new book: The Queer Collection: Poetry and Prose 2007. Looking for creative original prose and poetry by and for a gay, lesbian, bi, transgender, and queer audience. Fiction, nonfiction, and poetry will be considered. Previously published material will be considered including stories, articles, and book excerpts. Author must hold reprint rights to previously published material.

LAMOO Books
www.lamoobooks.com
Help for authors and online sales at LAMOO (LAMOOBooks.com), where the author comes first. LAMOO authors receive their own web page, professional sales using a state-of-the-art online shopping cart system, customer service, shipping and handling of your books to your readers, plus cross marketing benefits including weekly Featured Author profiles and advertising of your titles with every sale made on LAMOO. Best of all, LAMOO authors receive 70% of their cover price on every sale. You get it all for only $40 a year per autographed title.

4. Dina Keratsis takes the 18Q

Website
www.dinakeratsis.com

Bibliography:
Charlesgate, Wings e-Press, January 2005
Kicking Sideways, Wings e-Press, September 2006

Biography:
Dina Keratsis graduated from Wheaton College with a bachelor's degree in English Literature and earned her EdM at Boston University. She is a member of RWA and lives in Boston with her husband, son, and comic muses, her two English Pointers. Dina is currently at work on her third novel.

1. Did you choose the writing profession or did it choose you?
Oh, it chose me. Most of the time, I wish I could be content to go to my day job, come home and read a book instead of writing one, but when I don't write my anxiety levels rise.

2. What is your background? (education, work, etc.)
I graduated from Wheaton College with a BA in English Literature and a teaching certificate that I never used. Teaching is the hardest job on the planet, and it probably leaves you more drained than writing ever could. There would be no time to write and since I really wanted to write, I took a job as an administrative assistant. I completed my formal education at Boston University where I earned a Master's in Higher Education Administration (also never used) and now I earn a living as an office manager in the biotech industry.

3. When did you 'know' you were a writer?
When I was a child. Writing and drawing were my only outlets of self-expression I'd spend hours writing and illustrating books. And I knew I was meant to write romance novels after I stole a Jude Deveraux from my grandmother's bookshelf and realized that I wanted to be that heroine.

4. How would you describe your style of writing?
That's tricky. I think I'm still finding my style, which is becoming more and more like me every day -- a little dreamy, blunt, and sometimes it only makes sense to me. Not a good sign, I know, but I'm working on honing the craft every day. It's hard to erase years of writing thesis papers, a style that I enjoy, and all the beautiful but stifling prose styles that creative writing classes instilled in me. Education is a great tool but you have to be careful not to turn into everyone else. Losing your individual voice is the first thing that you sacrifice for that A.

5. What is your writing process?
Sloooowwww. I'm a one idea, one book at a time sort of girl. With working full time and living life, it usually takes me about a year to get from conception to final draft, writing two to four hours a day, six days a week. I've just had a baby, though, and all bets are off. I've been doing final revisions on my latest book for the past four months now, something that would normally take less than a month.

6. What was your path to publication?
I queried many Romance Writers of America recognized agents and publishers and received just as many rejects. A few publishers and agents asked for the entire manuscript but ultimately rejected it. So I revised the whole thing and tried small publishers and e-presses. I signed a contract with Wings (www.wings-press.com) and am very happy with them.

7. What is your favorite self-marketing idea?
Being shy, I'm a fan of websites, blogs, and bookmarks but I think word of mouth works wonders.

8. What are the biggest surprises you've encountered as a writer?
I used to believe that writing was something mystical or maybe just in the genes and I still so believe that. But it's also like any other job -- you learn as you go and you gain reputation and skil as you go. Some days are fabulous, but most days, it's labor.

9. How do you inspire yourself? What are your sources of creativity?
Like I said above, some days are fabulous. I guess you could say the muse is infused in the day. You just have to write and when you do, it's all good. Some days, all it takes is a cup of coffee, a song, a certain book or movie, the weather, a vivid dream from last night, anything...and you're off and running. Most days, there is no creativity floating in the air around you and you have to make it yourself. I do that by pulling my chair up to my desk, listening to iTunes, and making myself write for good or ill.

10. What is your proudest writer moment?
There are a few...finishing a book is one. Or writing a scene and knowing that I captured "it". Then there's the external validation--fan letters from absolute strangers, good reviews...I'd have to say my proudest moment was the phone call from my ex-boyfriend from high school. He said, "You always wanted to write a book and you did it." It hit me then. I did do it. I accomplished my dream.

11. What's the best advice you were given about writing?
Everything Stephen King says in his book On Writing. If I take anyone's writing advice, it's his.

12. What is your most embarrassing writer moment?
Meeting Teresa Medeiros at a conference. I was absolutely tongue tied.

13. What business challenges have you faced as a writer?
Learning to write a business plan, marketing myself, and finding the time to learn about business while trying to learn about writing and actually writing and having a life. Networking is also very difficult for me. I have a real hard time going to conferences and RWA group meetings because I just feel so insecure. I think it has something to do with forgetting my lines in the fourth grade play. It's stupid, really. It's my ego overworking, and I need to get over it.

14. What is your writer life philosophy?
I like Bukowski's theory so I'll steal from him: "I'm a sometimes writer. Most often I don't do anything."

15. When you're not writing what do you do for fun?
Read, listen to music, practice my banjo, read some more, play with the baby, walk the dogs, eat my husband's fabulous cooking, then read again.

16. Who do you like to read?
Too many authors. I have a MySpace blog where I actually listed them all out in an obsessive compulsive moment but even that doesn't cover it. I love English literature -- Eliot, Bronte, Hardy, Stoker, Byron, Austen, Forster. American -- Twain, Emerson, Wharton, Poe, Hawthorne. Popular -- Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, Nora Roberts, Jenny Cruisie, Bill Bryson, Diana Gabaldon, Kim Harrison, Teresa Medeiros, Bukowski, Henry Rollins...

17. What's your advice for new writers?
Just keep following your dream and don't get discouraged by all the roadblocks. Focus on writing.

18. What are you currently working on?
A romantic fantasy about a girl who would be queen...but she doesn't know it.

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Are you a published writer? Take the 18Q today!

To read all the 18Q responses or take the 18Q visit EighteenQuestions.com

5. About The Fabulist Flash

ISSN: 1554-0804

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