Julia’s Writing

A long, long time ago on a blog not very far away, I said I was getting my first short story – After the Bombs published.   The company who was going to publish this fabled story tragically folded and I was left with a story that my publisher and I had worked on for many, many hours.

I’ve tried to find the right place for it but:
a) it’s too long
b) it’s too violent and
c) it’s too weird
for any traditional sci fi publishers. So, I’m presenting this story here, on my blog.

Now, just to forewarn you, this story is not for the faint of heart. There is cannibalism, death and allusions to rape in this story.  I might be making it sound worse than it is, but I want to stress that this story is for adult eyes only.

It is also very feminist and was inspired in part by The Shore of Women by Pamela Sargent.

So, for those of you who have read all the warnings, but still wish to dip in and find out what this story is all about, I give you After the Bombs.  Let me know what you think.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Hey, so I’m trying something new. I’m going to start putting up short stories as Google Docs and will stick a link to the story on this blog. Eventually, when GoDaddy decides to help me out with my Wordpress upgrades, I’ll also provide a PDF for download and a Mobi doc.

So, here’s the first short. It’s called The Game, a story of an unexpected RPG Player.

Check it out and comment here to let me know what you think.  I also am having trouble with Akismet (that’s on my side), so I’m requiring that anyone who wants to make comments subscribe.  Sorry about that, but believe me, I don’t pay attention to your email addresses and will never ever use them or sell them.  Ever.  Seriously guys.

Last but not least, I’ve finally gotten my act together enough to check out Creative Commons. I’m providing this and any other short stories under a Creative Commons, Attribution, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives License. This means that while I hold the copyright of my work and you can’t change it or sell it, you can copy it (as long as you attribute the work to me) and send it along to your friends. All the neat Creative Commons info is right here:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Enjoy your Kwanzaa or Boxing Day… All in all enjoy the end of 2009.  I hope each year is better than the last.

I’m posting some uplifting links below for your holiday entertainment:

Selected Shorts Holiday Cast
This is how I strive to be when I grow old
The Drabblecast Holiday Episode part 1 and part 2
Santa’s Encounter with Basement Cat
A Christmassy Drabble

I know some of these are both random and non-literary, but I hope you enjoy them all the same.

Okay, I know, I don’t call, I don’t write and I am basically talking to myself at this point. But, in case anyone wants to know what I’ve been up to lately, I’ve taken to writing 100 word stories and submitting them on The Drabblecast – a funny as hell podcast. Check out one of my recent drabbles.

I’m also working on my novel again and I’m working on a couple of short stories that I’m planning to submit to Writers of the Future. So far, I’m still unpublished and I’ve been rejected from everywhere. But, I haven’t lost hope!

Finally, I did send in a submission to The Drabblecast. It’s a sci fi story called “The Long Way”. We’ll see if that goes anywhere.

So, that’s the most recent update on me!

I just submitted the story I mentioned in my previous post (Getting Gas) to Tales of World War Z.

I’ve also submitted a story I wrote called “Suicide Note” to Horror Garage.

So, we’ll see how all that goes. I recently lost my first reader.   So, we’ll see if I find another good one soon.

I’ve added an extra page to this blog called “The Author”.  It’s kind of a short story, based on a quote from Edgar Allen Poe that goes: “Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.”

I just finished a short zombie story called “Getting Gas”.  The first draft is 1,208 words.  I know writing a zombie story is probably cliche at this point, but you have to understand that zombies terrify me, so writing this story was no small task.  Anyway, next I have to do some edits and give it to my first reader.  We’ll see what he thinks.

A note on Desperation.  It went out to Writers of the Future yesterday.  Cross your fingers!

Okay, I finally got some writing done.  I got feedback on Desperation from my first reader (who shall remain nameless…)  and I finished the edits.   It is now an 1,820  word short story.  I am going to submit it to Writers of the Future.  Cross your fingers and wish me luck.  I get so nervous submitting…

This is off topic from my writing progress, I know, but I wanted to make a quick digression.  I recently was asked to review a book on my book review blog. I snapped up the opportunity to help a fellow writer, but when reading the story I discovered I didn’t really enjoy it. It was then a light bulb went off. I read for enjoyment, for escapism. I write the same way. Yes, there’s some pretty depressing stuff in my stories. Yes, some of my stories are violent and horrific – they are in the horror genre after all – BUT I still write for escapism and enjoyment. I can’t have anything too serious, too close to home. I hate reading stuff that is too real, but I love characters that are real in unreal situations – which makes sense. I love sci fi, fantasy and horror, but not so much real life.

That’s me. What about you? What are your thoughts on reading, writing and escapism?

So the word count for Desperation went up to 1,961.  I’ve finished all copy edits and story edits and I’m giving it to my first reader.   The plan with this story is to send it along to Writers of the Future.  I might change the title though, because the ending changed… but maybe not.  We’ll see.

So, today I wrote a 1,703 word short story.   It’s a Sci Fi story with the working title of Desparation.  I really shouldn’t say I wrote it today.  I actually started it about five days ago, but I’ve been working on it, editing and refining ideas since then.  Today I finally typed it up.