Happy Birthday to Me (with free books for you)

It's my party and I'll give away anything I want.

Use the following codes for free ebooks at Smashwords (click on the cover for the link):

Code: FF45T

Code: AE44L

Code: RK92P

Code:  NV35C

Code: XV89M

Rawr. 

Editing Ninja: Passive Voice is for Losers

I’m tired of people mucking up passive voice, so here it is, once and for all:

A passive sentence is one in which the subject receives the action instead of doing it.

Example: The boy was bitten by the dog.

Snooze fest, right? And easy to correct:

The dog bit the boy.

If you are writing a slightly different kind of story: The boy bit the dog.

Easy, right? Passive voice adds extraneous words and weakens a narrative. Do a quick search of your manuscript for the use of “by” (for PCs: CTRL+F to open the search dialogue box and then search for by with one space before it). Try to change your passive sentences to the active voice.

Passive voice makes sense in limited situations. Writing a mystery?

The man was murdered. -- technically a passive sentence, but notice the lack of "by". In a mystery, we wouldn't know who murdered the man.

Some folks tend to say any sentence with a linking verb (forms of be: is, was, were, etc.) is a passive sentence. Not so. I'll address the weakness of linking verbs in the future.

You Are Not Your Stories

So, just for the record, I'm closing the rant before it gets started.

In html, it would look like this:

rant /rant

In real life it looks like this:

Hey, writer! Yeah, you. You are not your stories. Yes, you've spent time crafting them, cuddling with them, brushing their hair, feeding them, and sending them into the world. But they are not you. They aren't even, really, a part of you, no more than the the u-bend of my toilet is part of my plumber.

I know it's a popular thing to say: each story I write is part of me.

But this is why authors tend to take too much personally. A rejection is not about you. A bad review is not a reflection on you as a person. How you respond (or don't respond) might be, but the review itself isn't.

I've written scores of stories and several short novels. This is the 728th post to my blog. I've even composed some poetry. If every word I wrote was a piece of me, I'd have gone Lord Voldemort years ago and littered the digital landscape with tiny fragments of my soul. Now that would be scary.

Yes, I care about my art--but experience has taught me this: me ≠ my writing. Thank Zeus.

If I was to rant, it might look something like this:

rant Stop pissing on other writers, reviewers, editors, and write. /rant

Have a great day, people.

Write Hard: Writers Who Inspire Me

I've been meaning to start this "meme" for a while now...no time like the present.

The rules are too simple (I hope).

When you win:

1. Post the picture above to your blog. You can link here if you want. It doesn't have to become part of the permanent clutter of your sidebar. Goodness no.

2. List at least three writers who you feel live up to the "write hard" spirit. Think: writers who work at their craft, writers who never give up despite the odds, writers who constantly turn out quality work. Writers you admire. Optional: explain why you think they are awesome.

3. Include these rules or a link to them.

4. Notify said writers of their victory. Ask them to pass on the torch.

5. Continue being awesome.

So who do I list to kick off "write hard"?

1. Cate Gardner - The original definition of awesome. Cate's been knocking out great stories for years and taking it all in stride. Big things loom over the horizon for her (did you hear about her forthcoming book from Hadley Rille (Theatre of Curious Acts)?). Amazing things.

2. KV Taylor - The genius behind Red Penny Papers and fellow Belfire Press author. KV's novel Scripped is coming this summer, and you know what you'll be reading.

3. Barry Napier - Poetry, novels, short stories, comic books...what hasn't Barry tried? Get ready for The Bleeding Room from Graveside Tales next fall.

4. Mercedes M. Yardley - All you need to do is follow Ms. Yardley for a short while and you'll be inspired. Whimsical Horror indeed.

5. Milo James Fowler - I couldn't help but give a big shout out to a fellow teacher. I expect Milo's future to be quite bright. (Maybe not as bright as Captain Quasar's smile...)

That should get the ball rolling...and if it rolls no further than these five, it has known some pretty awesome folks.