Win a free, autographed copy of "Embers"

That's right, you can win an free, autographed copy of Laura Bickle's awesome new urban fantasy, "Embers". Details are right here. I've read it, and it's a lot of fun. I highly recommend!

Upcoming publications and new projects

I have two upcoming publications. My short story “Onyx Island” will appear in Bewildering Stories in a few months. Also, my essay “Revenge Cookies” won the Poor Mojo’s Almanac(k) Meritorious Boon contest, and will appear in that fine publication sometime this fall. For those of you curious, that is about an average turnaround time for magazines, be they print or electronic.

Also, I’ve started working on new projects while I work on getting “Slideways” published. One is a horror short I’m having some fun with. I’ve also started research for my second novel. The protagonist of this story is a paranormal researcher with a background in physics. So, guess who’s never taken a physics class? (Raises hand.) An undergrad major in Religious Studies and a Master’s in Library and Information Science require shockingly few classes in the science department.

To de-ignorance myself, I took a trip to Half-Price Books in search of “The Moron’s Guide to Physics” or its used equivalent. Instead, I found this informative volume. It’s a great read which I’m quite enjoying. On the less conventional side, I picked up this book as well. As soon as I saw it on the shelf, I thought, “This is exactly the sort of book my character would love.” I expect that reading it will give me some insight into the direction my book will take.

So how is everyone else’s writing week?

The soul-crushing synopsis

I just finished the first draft of my synopsis for Slideways. So far I've sent two query letters, both to agents who did not request synopses. Unfortunately, almost all the agents on my list require the dread document, so I've been forced to write one.

For those unaware, a synopsis is a mini-encapsulation of your book. But it's not enough to simply recap the major events; it should be dynamic, interesting, and capture the essence of your novel. All in (depending on novel length and agent preference) one to eight pages.

My current synopsis is about 2 1/2 pages, single-spaced. That feels about the right length to me, and fits with the preferences I've been reading on some agents' blog. It still needs work, though. Right now I need to step away, and I'll look at it fresh tomorrow.