Crawdad Tenacity

OK, you’re probably looking at the title and wondering: what the heck do some stupid little crustaceans have to do with writing? Well, if they are living in your office, lots. Called by many names: crayfish, crawdads, and mud bugs; they are still a multi-legged creature that looks like a lobster that got tossed in a dryer and shrunk. Not much more than 3” long, they are tiny armed soldiers clambering around their rocky battle ground. And you’re still wondering what they have to do with writing? I’ll tell you.

The “mud bug” tank in my office.

Writers are like crawdads, we need to have a tough shell to handle the pressure, criticism, and general stigma of being an Indie author. No, most of us aren’t famous; but day after day we drone away on our keyboards creating masterpieces. It takes a tough shell to do what we do and keep our heads held high. From time to time crawdads molt their shells to grow; as writers this should signify growth in our profession. Taking the time to research and produce the best quality books we can. Growing by learning new skills such as marketing and branding (oh, that still sounds painful!) to help with our sales. Growth can be venturing into new genres or experimenting with non-fiction. Continue reading “Crawdad Tenacity”

Vote Now in Our Weekly Flash Fiction Challenge Poll

The time has arrived once again for IU readers to choose their favorite entry from this week’s flash fiction challenge.

We had a number of great entries. Kudos to all the entrants. Now IU readers must decide: Who will be this week’s Flash Fiction Star?

Check out this week’s entries here. Vote for your fave then use those share buttons at the bottom of the post to spread the word.

 

Who will be this week's Flash Fiction Star?

  • Rich Meyer (64%, 7 Votes)
  • Vanessa Hancock (18%, 2 Votes)
  • Faye Hollidaye (9%, 1 Votes)
  • AL Kaplan (9%, 1 Votes)

Total Voters: 11

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Be Careful of the Lions

Seeing what some people have to say about their experiences in various internet forums, it sometimes seems like they imagine they’ve been transported to ancient Rome. (I’m actually thinking of authors, but have heard that they’re people too.) In their imagination, these authors are (obviously) at The Forum in downtown Rome. But a pack of lions, alleged in myth to be Christian executioners, have wandered down the street from the Colosseum in search of a dietary change. Rumor has it that a surviving Christian told them that authors, regardless of religious beliefs, were much tastier.

To be fair, I’ve seen a few authors torn to bits in a virtual feeding frenzy that would make Roman lions look no worse than Tard, the grumpy cat, in comparison. At the risk of attracting a few hungry lions to my place, some of the time these authors deserved it. More often they were just in over their head. At least once or twice, contrary to the myth that only certain types of lions engage in such acts, in the ultimate act of literary cannibalism, I’ve witnessed author on author attacks. It doesn’t get much bloodier than two rival wordsmith gangs engaged in a war of words.

However, internet forums are also a great place for so many things. As an author you can interact with fans and potential readers in Goodreads discussions (which, regardless of what they call them are the same thing). KBoards.com and the Amazon forums provide the same opportunities. Looking for other writers to talk, get advice, or ask questions about writing and publishing, then there is the Writer’s Café sub-forum at KBoards, the KDP forum, and numerous others. If you’re researching almost any vocation or hobby to get the details right for your latest novel, there is an internet forum somewhere where people who know all about the subject and others who are just learning gather to discuss their common interest. Avoiding them is making a conscious decision to take one of the most powerful tools in your toolbox and throw it away. This seems silly when by taking a few relatively simple precautions you can turn those lions into pussycats. Continue reading “Be Careful of the Lions”