Enjoying the company of good friends on Christmas, and finding a book review of Marina Melee that I hadn't seen before! From Harriet Klausner - she'd also posted this on amazon, so I did see it there, but not on her blog site.
http://genregoroundreviews.blogspot.com/2011/10/marina-melee-lynne-m-hickey.html
Author Lynne Hinkey blogs about life, the universe, and everything ... oh, wait, that's been done. OK, about space, the final frontier ... oh crap. Nevermind. It's my blog and I'll write if I want to!
Monday, December 26, 2011
Friday, December 23, 2011
This week, I'm thankful for...
Welcome to another post in my waning attempt to focus on one thing I'm thankful for in my life every day for 1 year. Why? Because I'm a grumpy-ass curmudgeon who finds great pleasure in grousing. I fixate on what's wrong when I have so very many things that are right in my life. So, I thought I'd try looking on the sunny side for a change! Can I do it for 365 days--from Thanksgiving Eve 2011 to Thanksgiving Eve 2012? Well, we've found the answer to that already - NO. So, maybe not daily, but weekly. Let's see if I can keep it up...
This week I'm thankful for all of my wonderful friends at the Internet Writing Workshop. http://www.internetwritingworkshop.org/
I joined IWW while living in Germany, when I first decided to seriously work at the craft of writing, and knew I needed help. The IWW is an online, virtual community of practice with members from all over the world writing in different forms and genres. Members can join subgroups based on what they write - novels, poetry, romance, fiction (short stories), nonfiction, children/YA, etc. There are also discussion groups to talk about the business of writing, the craft of writing, or to analyze and discuss samples of writing. The practice group gives participants a chance to flex their writing muscles and try things they might not normally write. A weekly prompt gives a topic and word limit (usually 400 words), and everyone subs their work and critiques other submissions. The minimum participation requirement to remain active on the list is 2 posts/month, so it isn't much of a burden, but good online manners dictate that the more feedback you want, the more you'll give. People are likely to reciprocate a read/critique with one back.
I can't begin to tell you what a fabulous experience my 6 years of participating in the IWW has been, and how much it's helped me grow as a writer. My first non-scientific publications were thanks both to the lessons I learned, critiques I received, and market suggestions I received from fellow members. Same thing for Marina Melee - which was critiqued on the novels list, and specific scenes were honed on the practice list. And I found the publisher, Casperian Books, through the recommendation of a fellow IWWer whose writing I admired, who was published through them.
I am so very thankful that I found the IWW and joined. I'm thankful for the many friendships I've made through the list. At times, I forget I've never met these people face-to-face, only interacted with them online. Still, I feel so close to so many of them, turn to them for advice, and have even had long off-topic discussions with many of them. We've become Facebook friends, and email pals. They're a wonderful, helpful, supportive group. For any writers or aspiring writers out there, I'd highly recomment you look into them - us. We're a great group to be part of,.
This week I'm thankful for all of my wonderful friends at the Internet Writing Workshop. http://www.internetwritingworkshop.org/
I joined IWW while living in Germany, when I first decided to seriously work at the craft of writing, and knew I needed help. The IWW is an online, virtual community of practice with members from all over the world writing in different forms and genres. Members can join subgroups based on what they write - novels, poetry, romance, fiction (short stories), nonfiction, children/YA, etc. There are also discussion groups to talk about the business of writing, the craft of writing, or to analyze and discuss samples of writing. The practice group gives participants a chance to flex their writing muscles and try things they might not normally write. A weekly prompt gives a topic and word limit (usually 400 words), and everyone subs their work and critiques other submissions. The minimum participation requirement to remain active on the list is 2 posts/month, so it isn't much of a burden, but good online manners dictate that the more feedback you want, the more you'll give. People are likely to reciprocate a read/critique with one back.
I can't begin to tell you what a fabulous experience my 6 years of participating in the IWW has been, and how much it's helped me grow as a writer. My first non-scientific publications were thanks both to the lessons I learned, critiques I received, and market suggestions I received from fellow members. Same thing for Marina Melee - which was critiqued on the novels list, and specific scenes were honed on the practice list. And I found the publisher, Casperian Books, through the recommendation of a fellow IWWer whose writing I admired, who was published through them.
I am so very thankful that I found the IWW and joined. I'm thankful for the many friendships I've made through the list. At times, I forget I've never met these people face-to-face, only interacted with them online. Still, I feel so close to so many of them, turn to them for advice, and have even had long off-topic discussions with many of them. We've become Facebook friends, and email pals. They're a wonderful, helpful, supportive group. For any writers or aspiring writers out there, I'd highly recomment you look into them - us. We're a great group to be part of,.
Friday, December 16, 2011
Now I'm thankful for...
Well, I'm thankful that I don't get too stressed out about falling short of my goals or I'd be a mess over this blog! I made it for two weeks, more or less, writing my daily(-ish) item I'm thankful for in my quest to be thankful every day. I'm going to modify that to weekly.
One thing my very short-lived effort has made abundantly clear to me is I can be thankful 365-days a year for my husband. I am, but don't always express it. But when I sit down each day (or every 3-4 days) and try to come up with something I'm thankful for, on that day, the first thing that pops into my head is usually something Matt said or did. I do appreciate him always, and know how incredibly lucky I am to have him, but this has really driven home the point since it's always so easy for me to identify something specific about him to be thankful for.
This week, I had a lot of occassions to be thankful for Matt, but the biggest one was, of course, the Annual CMS Ladies' Ornament Exchange. We hosted it here...more correctly, Matt hosted it. I made the chili. Matt decorated, did much of the pre-party clean-up and prep, played doorman, bartender, and food organizer, and made everyone feel welcome and at home. I helped clean up afterwards, and did dishes. So, he really did do most of the work, and once again, made my life easier and made me look good.
Am I lucky or what?!?
One thing my very short-lived effort has made abundantly clear to me is I can be thankful 365-days a year for my husband. I am, but don't always express it. But when I sit down each day (or every 3-4 days) and try to come up with something I'm thankful for, on that day, the first thing that pops into my head is usually something Matt said or did. I do appreciate him always, and know how incredibly lucky I am to have him, but this has really driven home the point since it's always so easy for me to identify something specific about him to be thankful for.
This week, I had a lot of occassions to be thankful for Matt, but the biggest one was, of course, the Annual CMS Ladies' Ornament Exchange. We hosted it here...more correctly, Matt hosted it. I made the chili. Matt decorated, did much of the pre-party clean-up and prep, played doorman, bartender, and food organizer, and made everyone feel welcome and at home. I helped clean up afterwards, and did dishes. So, he really did do most of the work, and once again, made my life easier and made me look good.
Am I lucky or what?!?
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