"Mars Ain't No Place for Ladies" is Live!

Go check out Space Westerns if you wanted to catch my latest short story! I've been told it's tight and well crafted. Even if you don't like sci fi, check it out anyway, I think that you'll enjoy it.

Took me long enough

For Immediate Release

Filamena Young

writer@filamena.com

www.filamena.com

Modern Hardboiled Novel with a Paranormal Twist

Philadelphia, PA - January, 1st 2008 - In the proud tradition of the gritty, pulp, rough and raw detective novels of yesterday, Filamena Young makes available to the public \"Twice Dead Men: A Jack Doe Mystery.\" Only this hardboiled novel has a modern and paranormal twist.

J.R. Blackwell (http://blackwell.livejournal.com), blogger, writer, and photographer says this about the book. \"It’s chocolate in bright, attractive pulp packaging with a sweet and silky center. It’s the kind of chocolate people refer to as “naughty” or use the word “devil” in describing. It’s a noir detective story, with a detective who could have stepped out of Chinatown, sexy dames both naughty and nice, a mystery and action that keeps the pages turning. It’s fun. It’s delicious.\"

For the full review, visit http://blackwell.livejournal.com/165201.html

\"Twice Dead Men: A Jack Doe Mystery\" can be bought through the authors website, a print on demand publication through www.lulu.com .

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Invest in an Idea Bank, the Interest is Priceless!

I keep an Idea Bank. Actually, I keep two, one for fiction and one for nonfiction.

I've heard a lot of writers worry about an over abundance of ideas, or worse, the fear that they'll run out of ideas before they run out of need. Fancy enough, an Idea Bank solves both of those problems.

All it is, for me, is a document on my computer with a running list of short story ideas. At least once a day, I drop in an idea that I can't work on right now. (I have them all over, written on my hands, on napkins, on a physical notebook in my purse.) This way, I don't have to worry about losing them. They're sitting there ready for me when I'm running low on gas. What do I do when I don't have extra ideas floating around? I look over my list again and force something out. The thing about an idea bank is, the story sparks don't have to be any good. They just have to be there, en mass. The more you have, the more chance of you stumbling upon something really good when you're in need.

Format is an issue, of course. With each entry, I throw up a date to keep myself honest, and I structure the format like this... Character + Event = Change of life.

I heard somewhere that a story starts where the main characters life changes. Something like "Jessica Fletcher picked up the phone and answered her nephews phone call. With her first mystery book to be published, her life would never be the same.)

(I'm watching Murder She Wrote. I feel no shame about that.)

So, I have Jessica, the acceptance of her book, and how it was about to spring her into a series of mysteries all over the globe. One or two sentences will do. More than that and you're taking too much time away from what ever projects you're supposed to be working on. --And you do have those, right now, don't you?--

Thank having been said, go make a deposit!

On Contracts

So, you know, you think you know everything because you've read an Idiot's Guide to a few things, and you've looked at some websites by writers and editors and agents. Seems like you've got all your ducks in a row and you start submitting your writing.

Then you get something accepted and suddenly you realize you weren't prepared for actually getting published.

Sounds crazy? I know. I was there. I have a short story being accepted by an ezine, and I was all a tizzy with joy and had already spent my gigantic twenty dollar pay out when I realized I had no idea how to handle getting published.

First, there's the anxioty of waiting for date of publication. (I'm a cynic, until I see the thing up, I'm going to assume the 'zine is going to close the day before I'm published, it's happened to me before.)

Then there's contracts. That turned out to be way more terrifying than it needed to be. Worst still, there was no need for it to be terrifying.

Basically, it went something like this. I got my contract in the mail and realized it didn't have a clause in it defining how much I was getting paid. I panicked. I thought it was the end of the world and I was going to lose my first good shot at getting a pub cred on my resume. Obviously that would result in me never getting away with one, my husband leaving me, and my daughter growing a tail and joining the cheer leading squad. (Yes, I overreacted.)

I called my parents in the music publishing world. I talked to friends, acquaintances, even friends siblings trying to determine if I was supposed to have that in the contract or not.

Finally, after a full day of flailing around like a chicken with her head cut off, I actually just, you know, wrote the editor and asked him about it.

He wrote back saying he thought that was standard.

I panicked again. I asked everyone I knew. Should I demand it in writing, or should I skip it and hope for the best? No matter what I did, I imagined my writing career going up in a cloud of smoke. Yep, I'm that naive.

After debating it with my husband for a while, I finally wrote the editor again. I firmly, but politely told him I needed the payment included in the contract.

I chewed my finger nails waiting for a response.

You know what? He said "sure, it's your writing, you get to be picky about the contract."

I about crapped my pants. He went on later to say: "I believe in Writer's Rights."

So what's the moral? Other than 'it's going to be scary, no matter how much you prepare?' Maybe. I also like 'ask for what you want. if you don't get it and can't live with that, take YOUR writing and go somewhere else. It is yours after all.'

Or something like that.

TTYL

Progress Report 11-18-07

The quick list.

• This Silly Contest - Check
• These Cowboys- Still waiting for a contract. I imagine it can't take too much longer since the story is supposed to be up at the end of December. Who knows.
  
• Jack - Thanks to a marvilious review from a beautiful contorsonist, I've sold four additional copies! I've very nearly made twenty bucks off this book. Yay!
• Unhero - Now that I've got Nano out of the way for the year, I'll let it rest like a pot roast and go back to fixing Unhero up. I've handed off half of it to a young writer I know because I think he can hit me with a very different angle, and I likes it.

I mean, that's not really all the progress I've made. I'll take credit for the fact that ten month old is beauitful and almost walking. She's over here, if you're curious.

Good News!

So Big Beautiful News!

The Cowboys finally got back to me and have accepted my short story "Mars' Ain't No Place for Ladies." Due to be up on or around December 23rd.

That's my first official publication, I'm even getting a contract in the mail. I am so amped!

TTYL

Progress Report 11/12/07

So, it's November, and no my Podcast isn't up yet, as you might be able to tell. I'm actually finding out the technical side is trickier than I realized.

(I.E. Technically, I don't know how to decide on music, so I'm waiting on my father and his musical composition degree to help me through it.)

More intrestingly, however, maybe, is that I'm into week two of my NaNoWriMo novel this year. I've heard a lot of crap about it being a terrible thing that besmirches the honor and dedication of 'Real Writerz.' TM.

I personally think it's a matter of what ever gets the words on the page. If that's drugs and alcohol for you, that kind of sucks, but that's your business. For me, it's high pressure deadlines, and I don't know about you, but a deadline like '2k a day for a month or you lose' as kind of high pressure.

I've done it a few times by now, but never as the mother of a screaming infant beautiful baby girl. It's sort of mile stone, in a lot of ways, and completion of this novella while still being Professional Mom is an exciting challenge.

I'm working out the kinks of a crit circle I've had in the back of my mind for a while. Let's see how that all works out. I'd love to know how other people run them.

Also, I'm going to try to update this more often even though I don't really have any readers yet.

TTFN

Progress Report 9-2-2007

Lots of news to convey, all of which I consider sort of exciting.

First off, and possibly most interesting to you, when I was talking to my father about thoughts on podcasting and the ilk, he grew really into the idea. He's a professional musician with a professional recording studio in his basement. We talked a little bit about microphones and recording software and all that business.

So last weekend, he invited me over. He's picked me up a microphone and all the rest of the hook up to have my own little mini recording studio. Mics, a mixer, the imputes for my laptop, da works, as they say.

What that means is that HOPEFULLY by weeks out, I'll be podcasting like everyone else and their mother.

That in mind, the plan is to do a writing podcast with a touch of focus on how motherhood (parenthood) effects a freelance career. They'll be stuff in there for my friends, for writers, for mothers, and for any mix there in. I should have a promo up soon, I'll admit, I'm having fun and my inner gear-head is being satisfied for now.

In writing news, I'm still waiting to hear back from the gentlemanly editor of SpaceWesterns about my short story "Mars' Ain't No Place for Ladies." He's wants it, and other stories, I'm just waiting to hear back on the money stuff. You should consider popping over there, it's a token market, but money is money and the material is fun to write (for me at least.)

I sent out a story about a dancer and the devil to Susurrus Press for their E-thology "I am This Meat" and look forward to hearing back, good or bad. The deadline is up, or I'd send you over there, however, the site looks like they're going to have plenty of more anthologies and looking for plenty of more material. Again, it's a small pay market, but a pub cred is a pub cred.

I heard back on "Peace in the Valley" from Clarkesworld ezine, and the editor over there, Nick Mamatas pretty much slamned it into the wall and then hit it with a sledge hammer. Honestly, he was right about most of the things he said, and I can't really blame him for being brisk. I appriciate his honesty, frankly, and I consider a lashing about the content to be a big step up from a form letter 'this isn't for us' rejection. In fact, I consider it a mark as growth in my writing.

Maybe more on that later. For now, I've got a podcast to get up and going.

I Hate Endings

I hate ending stories. Short stories, novels, it doesn't matter. I hate ending stories and I think that's mostly because I -know- my endings are never as strong as my beginnings, and I hate that about my writing.

So I heard something neat about problems with your writing. Find writers who do it better, and then read them until you figure out what you're doing wrong and what they're doing right.

What's your favorite author in terms of endings? Books? Who writes killer awesome super cool endings that are so perfect you read the book again and again for the ending?! At this point, genre and style don't matter. The more varied the better, really.

Progress Report 8/06/2007

My piece, "Mar's Ain't No Place for Ladies" is in talks with the editor of this site. The editor seems like a great guy, and he seemed to like it, so I'm excited.

I would actually recommend you take a look at the site for some quick fun reads. I've only read a few stories, and they were just that- fun.

David, my husband, told me he'd buy me a laptop when I got my first story published in a paying market. Of course, just because the editor told me he'd publish the story is not the same thing as actually being published, so I guess I shouldn't put my cart before my wagon.

Still... I can already picture me sitting on my lawn with my lap top while Tina plays in the yard and eats bugs.... It's a lovely picture really.

So if you know a good place to get a cheap laptop, let me know!

Progress Report 7/17/07

Today's Recommendation: Slushpile Musing

I've finished a short Sifi Western I'm probably calling "Mars Ain't No Place for Ladies" and am now trying to decide which market to throw it at first. It isn't my best, but boy if it ain't moody, and for the site I originally wrote it for, mood seemed more important than substance.

The question is should I just send it where it was written for, or elsewhere.

Ultimately, I want to send it off to Escape Pod, I think it'll read well. However, they like already published pieces. Why not get paid twice?

Unhero, my novel, is currently about half through some hard and harsh edits. I tell myself a month, but I lie to myself like an ex boyfriend. We have that kind of relationship, me and I.

A Brief Introduction

My name is Filamena, or at least, that's the name I write under. I'm 26, married with a six month old, and I write because I have to.

This journal is primarily so that I can maintain a written record of my experiences as a writer and author.

It should get more interesting from here.