Author: barista

  • Your Writing Space

    Ever wonder what a writer’s workspace looks like? That place where all of that creation happens? Where we concoct plots and meddle with character’s lives, the space where we spend hours of our time as our stories unfold? This week we asked the Confabulators to reveal their writing space to our readers. Below you will discover where the magic takes place. If you are brave enough to learn.

    Muriel Green

    I always carry a notebook around with me because I write first drafts longhand. So my writing space is wherever I am.

     Jack Campbell, Jr.

    This is “The Dungeon.” No windows, no television, no radio. Cold concrete floors, a few hundred books, a small desk, and my NEO or laptop. The whiteboard tracks whatever I currently have submitted. Otherwise, I write a lot of places. I am pretty portable.

    Kevin Wohler

    My writing space is wherever I make it. Sometimes it’s at my desk at work, while I eat my lunch. Or it may be in my home office, when my desk is clean enough to actually use. But most of the time, my writing space is a corner of the couch with my laptop on my lap.

    R.L. Naquin

    I have an office upstairs. I never really used it, and now my daughter is living in it. In preparation of having both kids back home, I’ve carved out a small space for myself in the bedroom — just a table and a kitchen chair, but they face a window. Really that’s all I need, as long as my laptop goes with me. We’ll see how it goes. I’ve been working from the couch for months now. A more formal space will probably do me good.

    Jason Arnett

    Pretty much wherever I land is my writing space. I’m retooling my home office so I can use it more effectively, but as long as I have a computer and some flat area like a table or my lap, my writing space is wherever I am. That said, the space that really matters is in my head and that requires being able to tap into writer energy we all need to tell stories.

     

  • Cooking and Dreams (Week Ending June 2)

    Maybe we’ve been watching the Food Network too often. It’s possible it was the feta cheese and pepperoni pizza we ate before going to bed. Or it could be that we just like thinking of weird topics to torture our writers with when it’s confabulation week at the Cafe.

    This month, we’re asking our writers to give us their best flash fiction on the topics of cooking and dreams. How these are included, however, is up to each individual writer. The stories we have to offer are a collection of good dreams, bad dreams, aquatic dreams, dreams of food, dream eaters, and dream makers.

    If nothing else, this collection of flash stories is likely to give our readers the munchies. So sit back, enjoy our tales, and dream. And — as always — we appreciate hearing from you in our comments sections.

    We hope everyone is having a great Memorial Day weekend!

    Until next week,

    The Cafe Management

  • What Are You Currently Working On?

    One of the benefits of being involved in a writing group is that it keeps us accountable to our peers. Alone, we often succumb to the doldrums of a writing slump, assuring ourselves “I’ll get to it later.” As a group, the big question is always “what are you working on?” At all of our monthly meetings, we go around the circle and ask this question of each member. Most of it is honest curiosity – what will our amazing cohorts think up next? – but it has the added bonus of motivation. Nobody likes to say “nothing” when it’s his or her turn.

    So for this week’s Ephemera, you get to hear the Confabulator answers to the question “what are you currently working on?”

    Muriel Green

    I am in the middle of re-writing my National Novel Writing Month project from 2005. It is a young adult post-apocalyptic novel about two teenage girls who are professional salespeople at a permanent flea market. Revisiting a project after it’s “cooled off” for a few years is my favorite!

     Paul Swearingen

    The correct answer to “What am I working on?” would be “Trying to get a downed tree removed when no one involved – Westar, Wright Tree Service, another tree service, and the owner of the rental property I’m managing can give me the same answer or even answer my phone calls.” However, I am three chapters into a YA mystery set somewhere not far from Lawrence which may involve the underground railroad, Civil War raiders, paranormal elements, a reluctant love entanglement, and maybe even time travel

    Sara Lundberg

    Camp NaNoWriMo! Well, I haven’t started yet, but as of June 1st, I’ll be writing like mad to try to write 50,000 words in 30 days. I’ve been brainstorming ideas and making outlines for it, though. My novel may or may not be about my secret desires to do harm to a particular management figure in my life. Resemblance to people living or dead is probably coincidence. Probably.

    Jack Campbell, Jr.

    I am going to try to write a novel in June for Camp NaNoWriMo. It’s a dystopian noir detective story. The working title is Heaven’s Edge and takes place in a domed platform risen above a smog-choked future city.

    Kevin Wohler

    I’m currently working on a short story for an upcoming anthology. The story is a guide to being a better villain, and it’s called “Ultimatums.” It’s due at the end of the month, so it’s crunch time. 🙂

    Ashley M. Poland

    I’m working on two things right now, actually. I’ve been getting my plot and outline in order for Camp NaNo in June; it’s a project I meant to start two months ago, so it’s just a matter of deal with what I already have. I’m also working on finishing the first draft of a fanfiction challenge — it’s been my breathing room project between editing.

    Nancy Cayton Myers

    I am currently revising my NaNo 2011 novel, Dreamland.  I took a retreat in early May and was able to rewrite most of the first act–over 6000 new words to replace the first draft ugliness!  I’m also working on a couple of poems and have some short story ideas brewing.  Unfortunately, the end-of-the-school-year has taken its toll with work and family activities, so writing has been hit and miss the last couple of months.  Hoping summer will be slower at home so I can keep moving on the writing.

    R.L. Naquin

    I should be getting developmental edits for Pooka in My Pantry any minute. That’ll give me about a week to get started on them before June 1st.  Don’t laugh, but I’ve signed up for Camp NaNoWriMo to help me crank out the first 50K words for book three in the series, Fairies in My Fireplace. Okay, go ahead and laugh. That’s right. I’ll be revising book two with my editor while writing book three. June will be epic. Cover me, I’m going in. Send chocolate. And energy drinks. And a psychiatric professional.

    Jason Arnett

    I’m halfway through the edits on my novel from November and hope to have that finished soon. I’m also poring over several short stories with an eye toward submission and self-publishing. There are some other things, too, like waiting for notes on the sequel to Evolver and planning the sequel to another book that hasn’t been announced yet so there are a LOT of irons in the fire right now.

  • The POV Viewpoint (26 May 2012)

    How writers approach the point of view in a story is often as important as the characters or the settings themselves. It can allow readers to look at a tough social issue through the eyes of an innocent, as in To Kill a Mockingbird. Or it can range across a huge cast of characters telling a story that spreads across the country, as Stephen King did with his post-apocalyptic novel The Stand.

    This week, we asked our writers at the Cafe to discuss their personal preferences when choosing the point of view for their own stories. While their answers are sure to vary, they are likely to have one thing in common: personal preference based on experience.

    So grab a cup of your favorite beverage, and join us this week. And be sure to share your own point of view about the subject with our writers.

  • Writer Resource Links

    Over the past week, the Confabulators have shared their favorite web resources they use for writing. Below you will find all of the links collected in one place for one wicked list of writing tools. Also, keep an eye out here at the Cafe. We’ll be creating a web resources page with this information for quick and easy reference, as well.

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  • Online writing resources (19 May 2012)

    Walk into any writer’s home, and you’ll find at least one bookshelf dedicated to a collection of reference materials. For some of the Confabulators, these libraries have been growing since our early days of high school or college. But with the invention of the World Wide Web, these books have grown dusty from disuse as we turned online for updated access to our favorite reference tools for writing.

    In the Information Age it’s not enough to have a dictionary and thesaurus handy. Encyclopedias are old school. Now there are search engines, wikis, grammar websites and a metric crap-ton of blogs about writing. (But seriously, when you have the Confabulator Cafe, why go anywhere else?)

    To help other writers, we thought it would be a good idea to ask the Confabulators to reveal their favorite online reference tools and go-to sites for writing. Each day, you’ll get some great tips on where to go for writing information. At the end of the week, we’ll collect all these suggestions into one big list for you to enjoy.

    And if you don’t see a website mentioned that you think deserves a little love, please let us know in the comments. We love discovering online writing sites we didn’t know about.

  • What are you reading?

    Writers tend to be voracious readers. Some of us even read multiple books at a time; I’m reading three simultaneously at the moment. What we read, as you may have seen in some of our previous posts, often influences what we write, and we all need that constant input. The more we read, the better our writing becomes.

    Because we all read so much, we like to check in now and then to share with each other what we’re currently reading.

    Ted Boone

    I’m currently reading the Mistborn trilogy, by Brandon Sanderson ( http://www.amazon.com/Mistborn-Final-Empire-Book-ebook/dp/B002GYI9C4 ). Interestingly enough, the first book seems to be a caper story set in a fantasy world. Given that I’m in the (slow, agonizingly slow) process of reimagining my most recent manuscript, a sci-fi caper novel, this first book is decidedly apropos.

    Larry Jenkins

    There are currently three books in my “reading” rotation.  I alternate American Gods by Neil Gaiman and A Dance with Dragons by George R. R. Martin on the Kindle.  When I’m taking a walk or doing housework, I listen to Annie Jacobsen’s Area 51: An Uncensored History of America’s Top Secret Military Base.  It’s my second time through the Gaiman and Jacobsen books.  Both warranted a reread.

    Muriel Green

    I am currently reading My Life in France by Julia Child and Alex Prud’Homme. I was trying an experiment where I read only memoirs for a while, and this book is a capstone to that experience. It is well written and full of personality. The introduction describing how Prud’Homme helped his great aunt record the story of her life is very touching. The way Child describes Paris of the 1950’s you can tell she was really in love with that city. My mother told me once that people often fall in love with Paris. She said I should go there because it might turn out to be the love story of my life. I have not taken that on yet, but from reading this book it is becoming a very compelling idea in my imagination!

    Sara Lundberg

    When it comes to books, I have a bit of ADHD. For some reason, I can never read just one at a time. Usually I try to balance the books I’m currently reading by choosing something fiction or fun paired with something that’s either a classic or nonfiction, in addition to whatever we’re reading for book club. Right now I’m reading The Great and Secret Show by Clive Barker (one of my favorite books and favorite authors), and The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson (because I’ve really gotten into true crime lately). For book club, I’m reading The Law of Dreams by Peter Behrens, which I’m enjoying more than I thought I would. Book choices for book club can be a little hit and miss.

    Kevin Wohler

    I’m currently reading half a dozen books, some in hardcover and some on my Kindle. I’ve been reading Ray Bradbury’s Zen in the Art of Writing, taking in a chapter here and there for inspiration. And I’m reading George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones (which is a lot more time-consuming than watching it on HBO). I’m also working my way through a biography, a book of poetry, a cyberpunk novel, and an old mystery. Some day I’ll have “time enough at last.”

     Jack Campbell, Jr.

    I’m reading a few books. For a modern novel, I am reading Requiem for a Dream by Hubert Selby, Jr. For short stories, I am reading The Complete Stories by Flannery O’Conner. I also keep a set of books going on my Kindle. Currently, those are How to Tell a Story and Other Essays by Mark Twain, The Adventurous Boy’s Handbook by Stephen and Finn Brennan, and The Damned by Algernon Blackwood.

    Paul Swearingen

    I finished reading “The Night Circus” by Erin Morgenstern today and was disappointed, even though the story is intriguing. The text is replete with comma splices, misused words, and even sentences with scrambled words. Evidently her editor is incompetent or under order not to change. It is one thing to purposefully employ experimental writing techniques; it is quite another to continually abuse the English language to the detriment of the story. Morgenstern crafted a fine, although ethereal story, and it deserves better treatment than found in the present version.

  • The joy of writing (Week of 12 May 2012)

    As writers, we tend to split our focus between the technical aspects of the craft and the business side of things. We’re so busy thinking about what we’re writing or how we’re going to get published that we forget why we started writing in the first place.

    Some write for solace. Some to entertain. Others write to find something they can’t find anywhere else. We asked our writers this week what they get out of writing. They responded with stories about their strengths, their joys, and what makes them feel good about their writing.

    We hope their answers inspire you, as well as encourage you to think about your own writing and what you get out of it. Be sure to leave them comments and let them know why you write.

  • What’s your Day Job?

    Writers are a bit like superheros. Not all of us make money with our writing, so we have to hold down regular jobs while we fight crime in our off hours. So this week, we’ve asked the Confabulators what they do to pay the bills to support their writer alter-ego.

    Muriel Green

    I have had many jobs over the course of my life. Janitor, waitress, web designer, movie crew, but currently I am staying home with an infant.

    Sara Lundberg

    I’m administrative support at the University – which is basically a glorified secretary, but as everyone knows, secretaries are the ones who really run the office. So, not to brag, but I’m a bit of an office goddess.

    R.L. Naquin

    I’m cleverly disguised as a full-time novelist. I wish the disguise came with a paycheck, but the first royalty statement won’t come until next January. By then we should have an idea of whether I should go back to being an Administrative Assistant. Or maybe a circus clown.

    Jack Campbell, Jr.

    Actually, I do fight crime during my day job. I am a cop. It’s been a hell of a career. I’ve seen and done things I never could have imagined when I was in college studying the arts. Some days are good, some are bad, but nothing else could be like it.

    Kevin Wohler

    When I graduated college with a degree in English, I thought I would be able to get a job writing or editing. With no experience, that proved impossible. I started a long road through several jobs that included customer service, technical support, and management in an IT department. Finally, at the urging of my wife, I decided to change careers. For the past five years, I’ve worked as a copywriter for a digital marketing agency.

  • Flash Fiction Week 2 – The Return (Week of 4 May 2012)

    The Confabulators are back doing what we love to do this week: telling stories. This time the challenge was to use a first line and last line devised by the Editorial Board of the Cafe. The Board consulted the Story Oracles, ran those suggestions through the Plot Device and then threw darts at the revised suggestions until they got the best lines.

    There was liquor involved. And blindfolds. And Godzilla. (You don’t want to know the details.) In the end, it came down to this:

    The first line that all of our writers must use is: “I think I got everyone.”

    And the last line is: “This is better than anything.”

    We’re pulling shots like crazy here at the Cafe, downing highly caffeinated drinks and consuming inordinate amounts of sugar. Don’t be surprised if we excite, thrill or devastate you with our tales. Be sure to go back and check out all our flash fiction here, too.

    The coffee’s hot and the stories are ready to go. Pull up a chair and settle in. We’ll do our best to entertain you.