New CSFF blogroll and what it's for

Early in my blog writing life, I found out about this blogging event called the Christian Science Fiction & Fantasy blog tour. Each month the leader of the blog tour would arrange for us to get a free copy of a Christian science fiction or fantasy book and we would read it and review it on three specific days.

In those days you could go to a site called Technorati and see how our all blogging on the same day had made that book into a Trending Topic.  Doesn't work quite that way now, and the CSFF hasn't had a blog tour since last December.

I met a lot of good bloggers over the years doing that and some have become friends. So I decided to go over to the CSFF blog and start adding the blogs of participants and former participants that still have active blogs.

Joining this blogroll: If you have ever participated in the Christian Science Fiction & Fantasy blog tour, I will probably be adding you anyway. Comment on this post and tell me when you participated and what your blog link is and I will add you. If you never participated before, you can join up but the blog tour doesn't happen very often any more. (I will investigate and see if the blog tour can be revived with more help.)

New Asperger/autism blogroll

Since my real blog is focused on writing for people with Asperger's Syndrome & autism, I've decided to start a new blogroll on the topic. Mostly Aspie writer blogs, but I'm flexible.

Don't have time today to accumulate a lot of blogs for this list. But if anyone for any reason reads this blog, please suggest any Aspie writer blogs you know of. Or generally Aspie creative blogs or other Aspie blogs. And do follow my other blog--- link in right sidebar--- if this topic interests you.

New Keto/Low-Carb blogroll

I've added a new blogroll for blogs about ketogenic and low-carb diets. Ketogenic diets are diets that switch your body over into burning fat instead of glucose (sugar). Keto has long been used as a diet for epileptics, and now there is research that shows it benefiting many other health conditions from diabetes/prediabetes/obesity to Alzheimers to autism spectrum disorders.

Ketogenic diets are naturally low in carbohydrates. Any low-carb diet that actually works well cuts back the carbs enough to be ketogenic.

In my own life I've found that keto is the only thing that works to stop me from compulsively eating carbs and gaining weight. It also controls my diabetes and helps with other problems. It even makes me feel energetic.

I sometimes blog about keto diet matters at my 'real' blog, My Antimatter Life . And so I put up the blogroll so I could follow other keto-related blogs. I hope to add to this blogroll from time to time, as I find new, worthwhile blogs.

This is my blog-reading blog

I used to have a blog called 'The Lina Lamont Fan Club'.  Then I replaced it with a Wordpress blog called 'My Antimatter Life.' I liked it a lot. But it didn't allow you to put up blog lists with previews of the posts on each blog.

I set up this particular blog mostly to read blogs with. I put up lists of blogs in order to read them. But I haven't worked for a while.

I'm starting a new list for members of a Facebook group we nickname 'CLFA.' Many of the impressive writers in the list blog, but don't have enough traffic to their blogs. When I get the group members I know on the list, and clean up this blog a little, I will post in that group to try to get more blogs on the list.

I am also going to be adding some other lists, most of writers' blogs. I hope that this blog's lists might also help some other people find more blogs to read.

Cry of Cicadas

Cry of Cicadas
cry of cicadas
cover the sounds of the knife
slayer in night fog

9/6/2014 – haiku
5-7-5, autumn season words (cicada, night fog)
(c) Nissa Annakindt


My book:
http://www.amazon.com/Where-The-Opium-Cactus-Grows/dp/0557939135

My Facebook writing page:
http://www.facebook.com/NissaAnnakindt

CSFF blog tour day 1: Too Many Dragons? | My Antimatter Life

CSFF blog tour day 1: Too Many Dragons? | My Antimatter Life



I'm doing the Christian Science Fiction and Fantasy Blog Tour on my other blog--- follow the link above. 

The Great WordPress Experiment

Blogger annoyed me today. Which is not a rare thing. But finally the Blogger-annoyance made me decide to start a blog on WordPress to see how the other half blogs.

I started a new blog called Nissa Annakindt: My Antimatter Life. It might end up being a replacement for The Lina Lamont Fan Club on Blogger, or it might not. It depends on how it goes, how long it takes me to learn how to blog on WordPress, how long it is before WordPress starts annoying me the way Blogger does….

Anyway, I’d like some feedback: is blogging on Blogger better than blogging on WordPress? What do you think of the new blog, Nissa Annakindt: My Antimatter Life? What do you think of The Lina Lamont Fan Club?

My current intent is to keep both blogs going for a while, just to see how it goes, and then when I know what’s what, discontinuing one blog or the other. If I keep the new blog, I’ll lose all the history of the old one. But if I keep the old, that history may end up being a burden.

If you visit the new blog, I have a poll there where you can express your opinion on which is better, Blogger or Wordpress.


My Facebook writing page:
http://www.facebook.com/NissaAnnakindt

Have You Used Beta Readers?

Have you ever tried using a beta reader to get reactions to your writing? I haven't yet, though it seems like it might be something to try.

You see, I am NOT a believer in critique groups. I'm already hypercritical of my own work, and I KNOW what's wrong with it--- everything. And since I'm a person with Asperger Syndrome (autism spectrum disorder) and seem to radiate a 'vulnerable person' vibe, I'm afraid I might end up being the target of the über-negative critique group members (and every group has a few).

A number of people have written blog posts on beta readers. Here are a couple:
Beta Readers: The Magic Elves of the Publishing World
Ask Jami: Where to Find Beta Readers

I think one has to be very selective about a beta reader. They need to know and enjoy the genre, and they have to be OK with you and your personal style and, well, everything about you that might affect your story. For example, if you write faith-based fiction from an LDS church or Catholic point of view, you don't want an Evangelical beta reader who insists on correcting your 'wrong' theology--- even on points of your story that you didn't think HAD a theology. Or if you write a lot of sports activity into your story, you don't want a sports-hater who can't enjoy that aspect of your work.

There are two extremes people go in to when asked to read someone's unpublished work: the cheerleader and the critiquer. The cheerleader lavishes insincere praise on almost everything, the critiquer comes up with laundry lists of things allegedly wrong with your story. Both extremes are unhelpful.

What I think a writer needs from a beta reader is REACTIONS. Good or bad reactions. They don't have to come from an expert writer or editor, either. An ordinary unsophisticated reader can tell you whether your story was something they couldn't put down or something they couldn't manage to finish. They can tell you it was boring for the first 30 pages and then got exciting. They can tell you they identified with THAT character but found THIS character unbelievable and boring.

The writer using beta readers needs to be clear to them about what he wants from them. Some writers use beta readers to check out a specialty subject they don't know much about: a hunter or gun owner to make sure they didn't make any firearm mistakes, or a cop to catch police procedure mistakes. From these beta readers, you don't need or expect any remarks about plots or characters, and you ought to make it clear that this is what you are looking for.

For the general beta reader, specify what you in particular are interested in knowing. For example, if you have a tendency to write un-compelling characters, you might ask for reactions to the characters--- which ones they liked or disliked, which ones they would liked to have seen more of, which ones they would have liked to have seen less of.... If you write great characters but dull plots, ask plot questions.

When you receive your responses, you must remember that you aren't a schoolchild and your beta readers aren't your English teacher. You need not 'correct' everything they see to be a flaw. You need not 'correct' anything! It's still YOUR book. You should feel free to ignore anything you don't think is valid, and also anything that may well be valid but you can't do anything about. For example, if a beta reader didn't like your 'voice' or your 'style'.

How do you go about finding a beta reader? I haven't a clue. I'd use my writing friends, but as a not-untypical person with Asperger Syndrome, I don't have writing friends that think of me as 'friends'--- more like 'that annoying gal I once interacted with online'. I suppose when the time comes I might put out a call on this blog and on the Facebook groups I founded and take part in.

One suggestion that I haven't yet read elsewhere: why not ask for beta readers for your first chapter only to start with, or for a short story? It's less of a commitment for them. And if they beta read chapter one and didn't find it utterly awful, they might be willing to read more.

In fact, for short first chapters and sections of longer first chapters, you might post it on your blog and ask for beta-reader reactions there, and offer the rest to anyone who liked it enough to read on.

How about you: have you used beta readers? Did it work out well, or not so well? Do you have any ideas to make the beta reader process go better? Or on how to find good beta readers?

My Facebook writing page:
http://www.facebook.com/NissaAnnakindt

Support the #MarchforLife, turn Facebook Blue!

 

Today is the 41st March for Life in Washington DC, USA. If you can't be there, as I can't, you can stay home, watch the March for Life on television (EWTN), and be an internet activist.

Besides retweeting and Facebook-sharing appropriate items, you can also show your support by changing your Facebook profile picture to a prolife image. The image above is the one I'm using, on my personal Facebook page, my author page, and my 'controversial' pro-marriage page.

 

If your native language is not English, don't despair. The web site that provided the English graphic also provides other languages on this web page: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.341227172650616.68524.326003860839614&type=3

I'm old enough to remember when abortion through all nine months of pregnancy was legalized by the Roe v Wade/Doe v Bolton decisions. (Both 'Roe' and 'Doe' are now actively prolife.)

The idea was that once the old people had all died off, everyone would accept that abortion was OK. The older generation did indeed die off. But the majority of young people today are prolife. Looks like the issue isn't going away any time soon.

My Facebook writing page:
http://www.facebook.com/NissaAnnakindt

CSFF Blog Tour Day 1: Outcasts vs The Hunger Games

It was about two years ago that I discovered The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins. I devoured the books and have reread them many times since.

I had a similar feeling when I discovered Captives, the first book in Jill Williamson's The Safe Lands series. The book was temporarily free on Kindle and I snapped it up, just because I wanted something new to read.

I was very pleasantly surprised by the book. I loved it in pretty much the same way that I loved The Hunger Games. And I was very impatient for the release of Outcasts, and the day I downloaded the book to my Kindle I got absolutely nothing done around the house until the book was finished.

Now, I'm not saying that The Safe Lands series is 'just like' The Hunger Games. There are major differences. And for all I know author Jill Williamson hasn't even read The Hunger Games--- The Safe Lands series is by no means a 'copycat' effort.

But there are some similarities that I think will make the books popular with those who enjoyed The Hunger Games. They are:

1. Both books are set in the future, after apocalyptic events. In The Safe Lands, the apocalypse is caused by a plague.

2. Both books contrast an evil and decadent power against less-powerful and more down-to-earth people. In The Hunger Games it's the Capitol vs. the Districts, in The Safe Lands the decadent power is the Safe Lands, while the people living outside the Safe Lands are the more down-to-earth people.

3. In both books, young people must struggle to survive the outrages perpetrated on them by the decadent power. In The Hunger Games, it's Katniss and Peeta trying to survive the Games, in The Safe Lands it's Omar, Mason, Levi, Shaylinn and others trying to survive their kidnapping by the Safe Lands authorities, who mean to use them to produce healthy children as they are uninfected with the plague.

There are some major differences in the books as well. They are:

1. In The Hunger Games, the very concept of religious faith is not mentioned, even in passing. In The Safe Lands series, the major characters come from a Christian community, and the non-Christian beliefs of the Safe Lands are also mentioned.

2. The Hunger Games is very bloodily, explicitly violent, and much of the violence affects young people. In The Safe Lands series, there is some bloodshed but it doesn't dominate the story.

3. In The Hunger Games, the subject of temptation doesn't seem to exist. We never see Katniss or Peeta expressing a desire to live in the Capitol and enjoy the decadent lifestyle there. In The Safe Lands, we see that some of the young people are very tempted by the lifestyle of the Safe Lands, and a few go out to experience the decadence for themselves.

4. The Hunger Games is centered on Katniss, in The Safe Lands series there are a number of different viewpoint characters the reader can identify with, including some strong male characters (guys need that the way girls need strong female characters.)

I feel that both Outcasts and the first book in the series, Captives, are very powerful fictional works that will appeal to a great many readers--- both fans of The Hunger Games and critics of it. And although it's Christian fiction, I don't think non-Christian readers should rule it out. It's a great series.

Outcasts – http://www.amazon.com/Outcasts-Safe-Lands-Jill-Williamson/dp/0310724244/
Author Website – http://www.jillwilliamson.com/

Red Bissell
Thomas Fletcher Booher
Beckie Burnham
Pauline Creeden
April Erwin
Victor Gentile
Ryan Heart
Timothy Hicks
Jason Joyner
Julie Bihn
Carol Keen
Shannon McDermott
Meagan @ Blooming with Books
Melanie @ Christian Bookshelf Reviews
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Joan Nienhuis
Nissa Annakindt
Jalynn Patterson
Writer Rani
Chawna Schroeder
Jacque Stengl
Jojo Sutis
Steve Trower
Phyllis Wheeler
Deborah Wilson

My Facebook writing page:
http://www.facebook.com/NissaAnnakindt

Writers' Village: Why men don’t like women authors, and vice versa

Why men don’t like women authors, and vice versa


The link above leads to an article that discusses the scientific reason behind the different reading preferences of men and women.


In brief, women live in a world of relationships and men don't. This gives men and women different perspectives on life and affect the way men and women choose their fiction.

It also explains the difference between men and women writers working in the same genre. I've noticed that already, that in the work of women writers the character's relationships with one another take on a more prominent role.

Of course, not all men and women are typical of their sex. I've read in a psychology textbook about studies of the brains of homosexual men which showed their brains worked more like the brains of women. I'm sure there are many other individuals who have traits of the opposite gender in their brains.

In addition, women are under pressure from the feminist movement to be more like men. So women writers might censor out their 'girly' writing tendencies out of concern they are not defying 'sexist stereotypes' enough.

I think the important thing for writers is to be true to yourself. If you are a women who writes like a woman or a man who writes like a man, don't try to change it. And if you are atypical, write the way you feel. You only have one brain in your lifetime. Don't try to write like someone whose brain is wired differently from yours.

How about you? Do you like writers of your own sex better than those of the opposite sex? Do you think you write more like a man or like a woman? Does that bother you?


My Facebook writing page:
http://www.facebook.com/NissaAnnakindt

Sumi-E: First You Prepare the Ink

Writers, as creative people, often need multiple outlets for their creativity. In my own case over the years my outlets have ranged from musical instruments (balalaika and tenor and soprano recorder) to embroidery to rosary-making to various sorts of drawing and painting.

My first Asian-style painting kick was when I was attending Concordia College in River Forest, IL. There was an art supply shop within walking distance of the campus (if you liked long-distance walking) and I bought supplies for a number of art projects.

The thing I remember liking about the Asian-style painting was that you practiced the individual strokes--- much as a child learning to write practices individual letters.

Recently I got a kit for sumi-e (Japanese ink painting). It wasn't the world's best kit so I'm not sure I recommend it. But it included 4 brushes, an ink stick, and a small suzuri in which to mix the ink. Which is important because the first step in sumi-e is to mix your ink.

Mixing sumi-e ink takes a long time--- 20-30 minutes of rubbing the ink stick against the suzuri. Experts in sumi-e say artists use the time to get in a meditative mood and think about the painting they are about to do.

So today I am learning to mix sumi-e ink. I didn't do it long enough the first two times and so the ink came out light gray. But since I'm only beginning to learn how to paint the first stroke--- the bamboo leaf--- I'm not sure how much it matters what color the ink is.

The importance behind such creative pursuits like sumi-e for the writer is not to become expert in all these things. It's to try things, to have new experiences, to explore a new little bit of the world around you. And being creative in new ways is nearly always good for your writing.

How about you? What other forms of creativity do you practice? Have you tried any new ones lately? Do you think you can learn even from practicing creative forms you are not very good at?

Here is an instructive video on making sumi-e ink:



Sumi-e picture at the top of blog post was taken from the Kosher Samurai blog.

My Sumi-e Supplies:
Kit:
Chinese calligraphy writing and brush painting / sumi set  
Books:
 The Sumi-E Book
Japanese Ink Painting: The Art of Sumi-e  


My Facebook writing page:
http://www.facebook.com/NissaAnnakindt

Keeping Your Writer's Secrets

While reading a recently purchased book, The Weekend Novelist Writes a Mystery by Robert J. Ray and Jack Remick, I came across a section called 'A Writer's Secrets'. And while I hadn't heard that term before I recognized it as an issue that I, and perhaps other writers, have dealt with.

Namely, how much, if any, of your current Work In Progress should you share with others--- ANY others? The concept of keeping your writer's secrets implies that there is a lot that you SHOULD be keeping secret, including your plot outlines, major plot points, your first draft and perhaps your second....

Why? Because at a delicate point in the alchemy of writing, the reaction of others can kill the spark, crush the dream, turn a Work In Progress into yet another abandoned novel idea.

And it's not just harsh criticism that can do this. Praise that wholly misses the point of what you are trying to write can be just as discouraging as a 'this whole plot is utter dreck' criticism. And even fulsome praise can crush a writing project under the weight of your friends' expectations.

I remember reading one of Lawrence Block's many how-to-write books. He mentioned having an idea for his next Bernie Rhodenbarr mystery--- and then he said he wouldn't say any more about it, he didn't want to leave his fight in the gym.

I think what he meant was that if you talk about your work with enough people, you dampen your drive to actually write the darn thing. You've told the story, after all, you've gotten reactions to it--- part of your mind is likely to conclude that the work is done.

Keeping your writing secret in the early phases can be scary. Anyone who has been subjected to the typical school training knows that anything you do secretly and on your own is NOT good--- it's goofing off at best. REAL schoolwork is done in a group setting with everyone doing the same thing in pretty much the same way.

So when we begin serious writing, there's a nervous part of us that has the need to check with others on each and every plot point to ensure that we are doing things 'right', in just the way everyone else does them.

But sharing your work in the early stages can lead to a sort of 'writing by committee' work habit. Many of the original and interesting things about your novel won't even make it into the first draft because your friend or your mother or your hairdresser didn't like it. What will come out is a group-written novel that is as dull and conventional as can be--- and the bewildered writer can't understand why everyone doesn't like it the way the 'co-writers' did.

But if you determine to keep your writer's secrets, to not discuss or share from your WIP until it's not only first-draft-finished, but in a polished version ready to be seen be a critical world, you are flying in the face of the way critique-group advocates say a writer should operate.

In critique groups, and even more in creative writing classes, you are expected to expose your first draft naked before the whole world. Not only that, the criticisms you will reap from that random group of people are expected to be taken to heart, and you are expected to change your work in accordance with their decrees, at least some of the time.

The answer, if you believe that not keeping your writer's secrets has harmed your writing and caused potentially-good projects to get dropped, is to stay out of critique groups and classes that work that way. If you want to be in a group, find one or found one in which only polished work is shared.

For many of us that may mean that we will end up being 'a writer alone'. But that's good. Writing is a lonely game, and it's meant to be. It's your name (or pen name) that will go on the finished product. You need to be bold enough to make your work your own, without feeling the need for constant reassurance from others during the writing process that you are doing things the way other people think is right.

How much do you share about a current WIP? Do you share too much or too little? 

Featured Kitties: Katniss, the orange-y one, is sitting and letting Myfanwy (Other Myfanwy) use her as a pillow. 

My Facebook writing page:
http://www.facebook.com/NissaAnnakindt