NaNoWriMo, Day 3

There's always that one stupid word.

Writing is going okay! Went over my word count on day one, floundered yesterday, and hit a middling stride today that ended about twenty minutes ago. I'm essentially a "day" behind, average pace considered, but hopefully it's nothing the weekend or writing an extra hour for the next few days can't fix.

Is anyone else having trouble with the word count function on Nano's website? It didn't register any of my daily totals until today. Everything hit at once after I validated it in the settings menu. Weird.

First story is mainly slow going because I am faking futuristic legal jargon left and right. Somebody is going to have to help me lawyerpick this thing once I'm through.

This is what lawyers say, right? According to my dad, I should have been one. It could've been me!

Can't wait until I'm done with story #1 and can move on to something much less focused on corporate and constitutional law! Story #2 is set on the snowy frontier, and is an introspective look into the life of an (infamous) homesteading family.

"After 75 Years, The Cheese Stands Alone"

This beautiful article about an heirloom wheel of cheese - frozen and kept fresh by a New York family since the 1940s! - reminds me of the tiny morsel of fruitcake my mother still keeps in her fridge; has kept safe in her fridge for over twenty years.

Read more here.

That little sliver, which gets smaller and smaller every year, is taken from one of the last fruitcakes my grandmother used to make and serve at Christmas. Spiced with blackberry rum (a special, holiday-only treat) and filled with candied fruits and other spices, she would prepare it around Thanksgiving, and then leave the cake to "season," wrapped safely in cheesecloth, until Christmas.

Describing the little intricacies of meals or food is such a visceral part of my writing. It's one of my favorite ways to get into characters' heads. I hope you have the same kind of luck with your stories. Imagine the kind of food or drink that would spark a new experience for them, and for your work as a whole.

Happy Monday,

CL

Image Credit: The New York Times

Athena's Daughters, Day 29: A Betsy Waddell Illustration, and Apollo's Daughters in Hardcover!

Day 29 of our Kickstarter, and we're just over $38,000! We are poised to hit almost all of the stretch goals we created for the entire campaign -- an amazing feat! Athena's Daughters has been featured on Jezebel, io9, themarysue, the Kickstarter home page, Big Shiny Robot, and so much more. We commissioned a brother anthology, Apollo's Daughters, and added five additional e-books, seventeen e-short stories, four audiobooks and one music album to the backer swag pile along the way. In our wildest dreams, we could not have imagined being so successful in such a short period of time. Believe me when I say again that we could not have done any of this without your support and generosity!

The artwork at the top of the post is for another short story by author Maggie Allen, "Land of the Lost," the e-version of which was given as a reward to the first 500 backers who pledged our anthology. It is set in the same universe as Maggie's work "Lunar Camp," which is featured in Athena's Daughters. Take a look at the young woman on the left. Remember her? Little Bee's all grown up!

Additionally, for those of you not already on the backers list, I wanted to let you know that Silence in the Library has decided to produce hardcover volumes of Apollo's Daughters! Demand was so great, and the goal so close, that we wanted to go ahead and open that up as an add-on option for all backers before reaching $38K/the end of the Kickstarter. And as of a few minutes ago, we've already surpassed that stretch goal anyway! EVERYBODY WINS!

Only 24 hours left to go in this campaign. I've said it before and I'll say it again: if you or anyone you know is interested in becoming a backer or sharing about the project, you can do so right here. Let's send this Kickstarter off in the strongest way possible!

Athena's Daughters, Day 28: RAINN, A Radio Spot, A SITL Post, and More...

Well, at this point we've got about 50 hours to go in this Kickstarter's final days. We are over $34K, which is amazing, and we hope to knock off a couple more stretch goals before this campaign closes on Wednesday. Instead of leading the post with links, I wanted to take this time to remind you that a portion of all proceeds raised through this Kickstarter are going to be donated to the Rape Abuse Incest National Network (RAINN.) When constructing this campaign, Silence in the Library felt - as did the authors - that it was important not just for our project to be funded, but for the anthology to give back to the community in a greater way. So, I can't wait to find out our final total for a number of reasons, and want to thank you all again for being so generous. :)

Meanwhile, one of our authors, Maggie Allen, gave a radio interview with local station WSJS (600AM) yesterday morning. She was able to speak about Athena's Daughters on several of their segments. While they don't have the archived version up yet, I'm confident a link will be posted on ustream within a few days.

Still on the fence about pledging? The SITL official blog broke it down best in this morning's post:

"There are only a few hours left to get Athena’s Daughters -- featuring engaging speculative fiction stories by women about women -- alongside the companion anthology Apollo’s Daughters -- featuring female-centric stories written by some of the best male speculative fiction authors in the business -- for just $10 in eBook format, $45 in trade paperback, and $60 in hardcover form. You’ll also get an additional 5 eBooks, 16 electronic short stories, 2 audio books, and 1 music album at no added cost."

Seven e-books, seventeen e-short stories, two audio books, and one music album, all for the sweet price of $5. How on earth can you go wrong?

I only have two days left to say this -- sing it if you know the words -- if you like what you read, back us or share about the project here!

Athena's Daughters, Day 27: New Story Art, and an Alma Alexander Preview

2013 copyright Autumn Frederickson, for "Athena's Daughters."

Three days left in this Kickstarter campaign! We are almost at $33K and still climbing, which is amazing and still kind of unbelievable to me. Thank you all so much for your support and your generosity!

Linked above is some new interior art for you to preview. The plucky girl in that picture is Bee, 13-year-old protagonist of Maggie Allen's story "Lunar Camp." Look at her! How could you not be curious about this girl's adventures on the moon?

I also have another story teaser for you, this time from stretch goal author Alma Alexander. About her story for the anthology, "Vision," Alma writes:

Vision is a story like an onion, and you keep on peeling layers until you come to the heart and the core of it, or is it like a pearl, a pieceof grit which works its way into an oyster and allows layers of nacreto be wrapped around it until the grain of sand is changed intosomething rare and precious? A girl becomes a historical footnote,then a character in a fairy tale or a folk legend, and ends up as agoddess - or is it that the immortal goddess steps off the pedestaland becomes a protagonist in a story, and then someone hiding inobituaries of a generation ago, and then a Real Live Girl? Which waydoes life run? From the future, or into the past? You decide...

Reminder: you've only got three days left to be part of this journey. A $5 pledge will get you ten e-books of original short stories and novels, digital artwork, music albums, four audiobooks, and much more!

If you've ever wanted to own a collection of engaging action stories about awesome female characters -- featuring some of the best SF/F authors in the business, as well as promising new writers -- this is your chance!

Back us, or share about the project here: http://tinyurl.com/athenasD

Athena's Daughters, Day 22: Our Facebook Group, An Audio Clip, the Rewards Rundown, and More...

Our digital cover.

Hello, all! Hope you are enjoying the last few hours of 2013. I know I am - what a year it's been! The Kickstarter is hovering steady at $29K right now, and we've still got eight days to go until the campaign ends!

Have you checked out our Facebook or our Goodreads groups? There, some of our Athena's Daughters authors have started great discussions with our backers and other bloggers about why we wrote for this anthology, and what strong women mean to us, among other things! Come see what all the fuss is about!

Also, live for all you audiophiles, here's an excerpt from a reading of Danielle Ackley-McPhail's story, "Looking Back."

I've also got an updated list of stretch goals for you all. Let's hope we can knock down a few more of these! Personally, I want an Apollo's Daughters hardback!

At the $31,000 level, we will replace the graphic design cover of the print version of Apollo's Daughters with an original art cover created by artist Joe Corroney, and colored by Brian Miller

Joe has been providing Lucasfilm with official Star Wars artwork for books, games, trading cards, comic books, posters and magazines since 1997. Other comic books he's illustrated include True Blood, GI Joe, Fallen Angel, 24: Nightfall, Doctor WHO, Angel and Spike Vs. Dracula for IDW Publishing, Farscape for BOOM! Studios, Buckaroo Banzai, Kolchak The Night Stalker and The Phantom for Moonstone Books and Crimson Dynamo for Marvel Comics. Currently, he's illustrating for IDW's new Star Trek and X-Files comic books. He's also developing his creator owned comic book series, Death Avenger and continuing to create new Star Wars artwork for Lucasfilm.

Brian Miller, founder of Hi-Fi Color Design, has provided art for Marvel, DC Comics, Disney, and many others, and has worked with Joe on all of his current and recent artwork.

At $32,000, every backer at the $5 level or more will get a free digital download of Janine K. Spendlove's War of the Seasons short stories "World Spins Madly On" and "Fire and Rain."

At $34,000, backers at the $5 level and up will get a free digital download of Vicki Johnson-Steger's short story e-book, "When Dragons Fly."

When we reach $35,000, we'll begin adding stories to the Apollo's Daughters anthology! Starting with authors Joshua Palmatier and Donald J. Bingle.

Joshua Palmatier started writing science fiction and fantasy novels and short stories in the eighth grade, when the teacher assigned a one page Twilight Zone-ish short story. He wrote a story about Atlantis. He got an A. Joshua has never stopped writing since, mainly focusing on novels, including his popular Throne of Amenkor series.

Donald J. Bingle is an oft-published author in the science fiction, fantasy, horror, thriller, romance, steampunk, and comedy genres. His novels include: Net Impact (spy thriller), GREENSWORD (darkly comedic eco-thriller), and Forced Conversion (near-future military scifi). Many of his three dozen short stories are available in hard copy and for Kindle and Nook, including his Writer on Demand short story collections: Tales of Gamers and Gaming; Tales of Humorous Horror; Tales out of Time; and Grim, Fair e- Tales.

At the $38,000 level, we will produce a limited hardcover edition of Apollo’s Daughters. The hardcover edition will be a run limited to this Kickstarter only. Backers will be able to order it as an add-on even after the Kickstarter ends, just in case we make this goal just under the wire.

Last, but not least, I have some very exciting news concerning Apollo's Daughters, our brother anthology. But I can't tell you what it is until tomorrow. Would you like a hint?

A) It concerns the subject of the show from which this GIF is taken. B) It's physics AND Nobel-laureate-related (aka, AWESOME.) I'll write more about this mysterious development - and reveal who the Apollo introductory writer is - in tomorrow's blog post!

At this point, you've got seven more days to share about or back our awesome project. So what the heck are you waiting for?

Athena's Daughters, Day 19: A Preview of My Story!

Day 21 of our Kickstarter! It's going to be a short post tonight (as I am recovering from food poisoning), but I wanted to give you all a preview of the story I wrote for Athena's Daughters, "Oh, Sisters, Let's Go Down to the River."

This story was inspired directly by family. When my grandmother was a little girl in Virginia in the 1920s, one of her routine chores was to scrub out the family well. As a child, she was lowered into the dark space by a hanging bucket in order to clean it. I always thought this was terrifying! Even now, it's fascinating to imagine the courage it took for a girl her age to do that on a routine basis.

When I was brainstorming the type of story I wanted to write about a strong female character, an idea based on parts of my grandmother's childhood was the first thing that came to mind. I also wanted to tie the other side of my family heritage into the folk tale I wrote. My paternal grandfather was Native American, and it was important for me to show that Native culture had significant influence on the Appalachian region.

An excerpt of my story is here on Wattpad. I have also posted a brief excerpt below. I hope you enjoy it!

“You be careful of them mean ol' ghosts!”

Staring into the dark mouth of the stone well, Mary felt her sister's hands grab her shoulders as like to push her in, and whirled around with a shout, gripping her small metal pail in one hand and swinging it round in an attempt to scare Virgie away. But all Virgie did was whoop as she jumped back quick, and the pail missed her by a mile. She grabbed her stomach and laughed like she was fit to die afterward, her loose scraggly blond hair hanging in front of her sunburned face.

Mary pushed her frizzy black hair out of her eyes with a frown.

“You shut your mouth! There ain't nothin' down there!”

But now she couldn't help thinkin' there might be. She glanced down at her feet to remind herself what was real, watched the way her own faded cotton dress, greenish with tiny brownish purple flowers, swayed in the wind above her muddy legs and bare feet. They'd run down from the house on the dirt path behind the outhouse, just after sunrise, pushing through thick bushes and red briars in the low light until they hit the small field clearing where the well was at. She was moving so fast to keep up with tall, leggy Virgie there weren't time to be scared. All Mary'd had sense enough to do was keep hold of her pail and put an arm in front of her face to keep from getting too scratched up.

Now, standing in front of the well, watching the sun shine through the green-leafed maple trees and listening to the wind whistle through the stones, making the hanging rope bucket creak and move, Mary felt a hard lump in the middle of her belly, and clutched the handle of her pail until it bit into her hands. She had to go inside that big old well and clean it. Her eyes flicked over the outside stones. One side of the well was covered in moss. There were dead leaves crunched up and rotting around the edge, where it met the dirt. Least that'd clean up fine. She was more scared of going inside.

The well didn't have no roof, just two big wood posts set into the stone, and a long wooden box with a crank on one end stretched across 'em and nailed down tight. The bucket dangled a few feet from the middle of the box, where the rest of the rope was at. Mary put her hand to the bottom of one of the posts. A couple black ants crawled up quick through her fingers, but she didn't care about them. The grey stuff keeping the thick wood in place against the stones was hard and rough against her palm. Some of it came off in little crumbly bits as she poked her fingers around the edges.

“Hit's the mortar,” Virgie told her quiet-like, coming up to stand beside her. “Daddy reckons it'll need fixing in a couple years.”

“Oh,” Mary said, snatching back her hand like she was burned.

She was afraid to ask the questions on her mind – the ones that'd been on her mind ever since Flossie and Virgie told her the well'd be her main chore. When she was no more'n four or five – before Flossie was married, before Bonnie was underfoot, before Mama went to heaven – she'd watched her sisters walk back to the house after cleaning the well. She knew Virgie was always the one who went in, cause her face and arms and dress were smudged with black dirt and green slime, blond hair sticking to her sweaty forehead, knuckles and hands scrubbed raw from the lye.

Ain't it scary to be down there in the dark alone? Hanging on to that rope with nothing to help you? How's it s'posed to hold a body up?

She was brought out of her thinking when Virgie tapped her arm, maybe feeling how Mary was nervous, and said,

“Come on, Mary E, let's go!”

As always -- if you like what you read, back us or share about the project here!

Athena's Daughters, Day 5: Even More Stretch Goals, An Introduction, and Author Commentary

Day 5, and we are close to breaking the $13K mark! I'll remind everyone what contributors at the $5 level and up are now getting:

-a digital copy of the "Athena's Daughters" anthology, now featuring stories by Nisi Shawl and Tanya Spackman,
-an email from one of our authors, personally thanking you for your contribution
-a digital copy of *two* Danielle Ackley McPhail novels
-a digital copy of Gail Z. Martin's short story bundle including "Vanities," "Buttons," and "Steer a Pale Course"
-a digital download of Maggie Allen's album "Last Call," recorded with her band Naked Singularity -a digital copy of Cynthia Ward's short story "Gabriella"
-and finally, a digital copy of Sherwood Smith's novel "Crown Duel"!

At the $13,000 mark, our beautiful book will be getting a cover upgrade. Artist Tietjen Alvarez has graciously agreed to produce an original art cover exclusive to the "Athena's Daughters" anthology! 

At the $13,500 mark, all backers at $5 or greater will ALSO receive a free digital download of Jean Marie Ward’s short story bundle "Four For More."

When we reach $14,000, a story by new author E.J. Lawrence will be added to the anthology! By day, Lawrence is a forensic scientist and genetics expert who has worked with the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory and the Smithsonian Institute. Trust me, you WANT to read E.J.'s story. I had a sneak peek at it last month and it's fantastic.

I also wanted to introduce you to another of our talented authors, Cleolinda Jones. You may know Cleo from her book "Movies in Fifteen Minutes," or from her Livejournal recaps of current movies and TV shows such as Harry Potter, Twilight, Hannibal, or Dracula.

She recently posted a blog entry on Tumblr about the inspiration for her anthology story, "The World to Come," set in the same universe as the novel she's currently working on:

"It's a ghost story," Rose tells her friends around the fire. "But it's also, I suppose, the story of how my father proposed to my mother."

You can read more about Cleo's story here.

As always, like what you see? Or feel like sharing? http://tinyurl.com/athenasD

Athena's Daughters Day 4: 12K, More Story Previews, And A Blogpost

2013 copyright Autumn Frederickson. Created exclusively for "Athena's Daughters."

Day four, and we're over the $12,000 mark! All I can say is THANK YOU.

If you contributed at the $5 level and up, here’s what you’re getting, in addition to any items you’ve specifically pledged for:

-a digital copy of the Athena's Daughters anthology, now including stories by Nisi Shawl and Tanya Spackman
-an email from one of our authors, personally thanking you for your contribution
-a digital copy of *two* Danielle Ackley-Mcphail novels (The Halfling's Court and Yesterday's Dreams)
-a digital copy of Gail Z. Martin‘s short story bundle (including "Buttons," "Vanities," and "Steer A Pale Course.")
-a digital download of Maggie Allen‘s album Last Call, recorded with her band Naked Singularity,
-and a digital download of Cynthia Ward's short story "Gabriella"!

Cynthia also did a recent post about the inspiration for her fantastic story "Whoever Fights Monsters," which is included in Athena's Daughters:

"...Years ago, in an article for The Internet Review of Science Fiction, I wrote: "I’m just waiting for the kickass urban fantasy steampunk novel with a strong female protagonist who uses her magical talents, button-booted martial-arts skills, and steam-powered machine gun to mow down werewolves and zombies by gaslight. There’s a book that’ll go Number One with a bullet. A silver bullet.” Then I thought: ”I ought to write this myself.”"

The illustration at the beginning of this post, by Autumn Frederickson, is the artwork which will accompany Cynthia's story in the anthology.

When we reach the $12,500 mark, all backers at the $5 level will also receive a digital copy of Sherwood Smith's novel "Crown Duel." Sherwood recently did a guest post for the Silence in the Library blog, where she writes about romance, Jane Austen, and Georgette Heyer. She also discusses the inspiration for her fabulous anthology story "Commando Bats."

As always, if you would like to back our project, or give it a signal boost: http://tinyurl.com/athenasD

Athena's Daughters Kickstarter is Live!

Our beautiful cover!

It is officially Day 1 of our Kickstarter campaign! I've partnered with Silence in the Library Publishing and a host of renowned authors including Mary Robinette Kowal, Gail Z. Martin, Jean Rabe, Sherwood Smith, Janine Spendlove, and many more in a new Kickstarter project titled Athena's Daughters. 

Athena’s Daughters is a collection of short speculative fiction from some of the best female science fiction and fantasy authors in the industry. This anthology features stories written by women about women. It showcases an engaging, diverse group of stories about female characters who exhibit strength in all forms, whether physical, mental, or moral. It also features an introduction by retired astronaut and Space Shuttle Commander Col. Pam Melroy.

I am so pleased to be part of this anthology. My included work, "Oh, Sisters, Let's Go Down to the River," is an Appalachian ghost story about a young girl whose daily chore is to scrub the family well. She thought nothing could scare her more than being lowered into the well's narrow mouth. But she didn't ever count on hearing voices while she worked...

Silence in the Library, our publisher, believes strongly in bringing creative artistry back to the industry. To that end, the anthologies they produce feature illustrations for each individual story. Athena's Daughters showcases the work of two talented artists  in particular -- Autumn Frederickson and Betsy Waddell -- and, as one of our stretch goals, is also poised to feature artist Tietjen Alvarez, who will create an original art cover exclusively for this anthology.

My fellow authors and I, in addition to the staff at Silence in the Library Publishing, believe that any good project should contribute something to improving the human community. In keeping with that goal, a portion of every book sold will go to RAINN. RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) is the nation's largest anti-sexual violence organization. RAINN created and operates the National Sexual Assault Hotline in partnership with more than 1,100 local rape crisis centers across the country, and operates the DoD Safe Helpline for the Department of Defense. RAINN also carries out programs to prevent sexual violence, help victims, and ensure that rapists are brought to justice.

This is only a small portion of what you'll find on our Kickstarter project page. Please join us today and become a part of the Athena's Daughters journey: http://tinyurl.com/athenasD.