Monday, January 30, 2017

2017 Brings New Challenges


As writers, everything in life is "fodder" for our craft. People have to be careful around us (or at least respectful) or they'll wind up as villains in a novel.



But the political climate of 2017 since January 20th ushers in a whole new level of fodder. If you had made it up, nobody would believe it, they'd say "Naw, Over the Top!" and it would never sell. When truth becomes less believable than bad fiction, what do you do?

(Well, for one thing, you march. The Women's March in little Naples produced 2500 determined citizens, working together for change. We shall see.)

For another thing, you write. Write, write, write. Writing well is the best revenge. That and signing petitions.

Sunday, December 25, 2016

Christmas Cheer = Editing and Cooking

Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah,  and may 2017 give us some relief from 2016!  (I never want to discuss politics again).













I am spending this holiday editing my new book "Canyon Flower" with a piece of new software I found online called "ProWritingAid.com."  It's a little marvel of an editor's aid, checking overused words, "sticky" sentences, grammar, adverbs, etc. etc.  I am SO pleased with it.  And it's given me plenty of rewriting to do over the vacation.



Besides editing and curling up on the couch for binges of TV series (like OA), I have done some cooking too.

For gifts this year, it was chocolate truffles.



For Christmas Dinner, it is Chicken Paprikash with nockrl (or as they said in my stepfather's family: haloopsi.)





Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Free Memoir & Historical Fiction Contests (Writers' Digest)

"Loose Fish" is on its way to a free contest -- nothing ventured, nothing gained.

28th Free "Dear Lucky Agent" Contest

Judged by Jennifer Wills, agent of The Seymour Agency, it promises to be a step for some lucky winners to get published. Hey, give it a go!

Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Flash Fiction in FriGG Literary Journal

"FLAT ON MY FACE" by Beverly A. Jackson <--Clicky"

Saturday, November 19, 2016

A Tip for Writers re Editing Your Manuscript

When you are doing that all important editing, after you have a rough draft in place, it seems reasonable to be going through the manuscript many times, sometimes with the help of others' critiques, sometimes with fresh ideas for development. At any rate, almost all writers know the drill. We fix, we move, we check, we re-write, ad nauseum.

Here's a new twist! Because my eyes are poor, I find reading on a Kindle (where the font can be made larger, and is backlit in a way that my eyes are soothed) much easier than reading a computer screen. So I started transferring my documents to Kindle via Amazon's free service. (each Amazon customer has their own special email address). It takes two seconds to download a document.



Here's the kicker! Something must happen in the brain, because I find that the manuscript has a whole different "way of being" in the Kindle format. My EYES READ IT DIFFERENTLY than on a computer screen, and therefore I find many, many, many more edits that need fixing. This may sound peculiar, but I announced it to my writing group, and one by one they too are trying it, and are simply astounded that it is a fact. Editing via Kindle gives you different and better results than editing the usual way.

I can't expect you to take my word for it. Just try it!

(instructions for downloading "Documents" to your Kindle are available on Amazon. It's a pretty simple process.)

Thursday, November 17, 2016

Glenn E. Miller Nominated for Pushcart Prize

I'm so proud to report that Glenn Erick Miller, a member of the North Naples/Bonita Springs Advanced Writing Group, was just nominated for the Pushcart Prize by R.K.VR.Y. Quarterly Literary Journal for his flash, "WEIGHTLESS".

Saturday, November 12, 2016

Notes on How I Spend My Time

I figure I'm going to just write for the next four years until it's over.



I worked on my memoir LOOSE FISH from 1999 to 2015. That is a good 16 years. That took me through DoubleEw Bush and Obama.

It took me from June 2015 to October 2015 to write BLUE LAKE . That is just 5 months, maximum. Easy Obama.

CANYON FLOWER started in November 2015 until November 2016, so almost one year to the day. and more Obama.

Why does it matter? I'm not totally sure, but I want to keep tabs on this kind of data for future reference.

Maybe it's a question of nature or nurture - a glimpse at posterity. Ha ha ha.

I've published poetry, short stories, flash fiction, and some creative non-fiction. I published a chapbook of poetry. And now it's time to find a sympatico agent and get these books off the hard drive.

I'D BETTER COME UP WITH A REALLY GOOD STORY FOR THE NEXT FOUR YEARS.