Bobby and I were on vacation when my first short story came out. As I said last week, I knew it was coming, just not when. To say we’d been checking the website every hour is not exactly an exaggeration. When PayPal announced receipt of payment from the publisher, I was ecstatic, but it was…
Author: DremaDeoraich
Story Beginnings
Last January, a friend sent me a link to a short-story contest through the American Philosophical Association. The story had to have a philosophical element, and winning entries would be published in Sci-Phi Online Magazine. I read their content, really liked what I saw, and wrote my first ever short story, “Last Call.” Of course,…
Shine Shine Shine
By Lydia Netzer St. Martin’s Press, ISBN: 978-1250007070 Paperback, ©2012, 320 pages Sunny is the social anchor of her neighborhood, coordinating craft shows and support groups, serving as the reliable and rock-steady block mom everyone turns to in a crisis. Maxon, her husband, is a genius engineer who is on his way to the moon…
Story Endings
Writers know that the first few lines in a short story or novel are crucial. It is those precious few seconds during which we must grab the reader’s attention and make them want to read more. We spend a great deal of time getting the beginning just right, sometimes going back after the rest of…
Sign (Up) Here
Ever since I began writing, I wished for a local writers group. The only ones I’d found were in Virginia Beach, maybe half an hour from our flat during off-rush-hour traffic. Not all that bad, you might think. But if I was going to take a few hours away from my keyboard, I didn’t want…
What Not to Do
(Caveat: It is not my habit or intention to belittle another author’s writing. That said, I don’t always like everything I read. Do you? The statements herein are my opinion only. Your mileage may vary.) This is not a book review. I just want that clear right up front, because in this post I want…
A God In Ruins
By Kate Atkinson Back Bay Books, ISBN: 978-0316176507 Paperback, ©2016, 480 pages Ex-bomber pilot Teddy, a.k.a. Edward Todd, has settled into an expected post-war role of husband and father, living out his days in small-town mediocrity with enigmatic wife Nancy, unlikeable daughter Viola, volatile grandson Sunny and pragmatic granddaughter Bertie. He is content to write…
GodSeed
Last week I gave a presentation on the Pagan/Wiccan holiday of Imbolg to a small interfaith group whose members are mostly Christian and Jewish. It wasn’t the first time I’ve shared aspects of my faith with this loving group of people. My views are always accepted with open hearts and not a little curiosity. Though…
Up the Tension
I’ve read it over and over, heard it in workshops and plenary sessions. A good story isn’t about any one character or group of characters. Instead, it’s about those characters doing things. Striving, reaching, hurting or being hurt, trying and failing and trying again, coming, going, living, learning. It’s about the events that happen to…
Going It Alone
I have to admit I’m old-fashioned, to some degree. For the past however many years I’ve been writing, I’ve declared I would only seek traditional publishing routes for my work. I believed that self-publishing was only useful for those who couldn’t get published any other way. But I have to admit, that’s beginning to change….