SEA – 334 words, and plans

Now, that’s better, isn’t it? I’m learning to write on the run again. When I was in school, I was very good at snatching a few words here and there. It was, after all, better than staring blankly at the front of a lecture hall before class started. Or during class, of course. But when presented with the chance to basically make my own schedule, I tried to have organized writing sessions. Which is all well and good, unless I put it off until the end of the day and have to get my daily words out between eleven and midnight.

So today, I took my notebook (I’m forgoing the computer for this project as much as possible; too many distractions) with me everywhere and just got a line or two down whenever I noticed I wasn’t doing anything in particular. And behold the fruits of my minimal labor!

Regarding plans: I’ve got more ideas than I know what to do with at the moment. I’ve got something in the works for NaNoWriMo this year which might be something to send off to Torquere as well. I’ve got a couple ideas floating around that might turn into short stories to post here. And I’ve got plans for the blog and some regular columns.

Aside from wrestling with the computer too much today, I’m feeling pretty good. The next few months should be exciting for me. So stay tuned.

SEA – 134 words

I finally, finally started writing on my new project, S.E.A., the Supernatural Employment Agency. I’ve been dragging my heels for a week (or is it two now?) and I’m still second-guessing every other word. But it was good to get something down and get past that first wall. I’ve got a nice little slow-reveal for the first character going on. I’m still mucking around with when to introduce a couple of major players though.

I think that’s all I can manage today. It’s gotten late and it’s still hotter than hell even at this hour. Time for bed.

Credit where credit is due

Now that I actually have something published (waits for fanfare to die down), I feel like I’m qualified to say something about how I got this far.

I won’t say that I would never have sold this first story if not for this course. Maybe I would have. Eventually. But the fact is, Holly Lisle’s How to Think Sideways course allowed me to skip perhaps years of floundering by giving me the TOOLS TO MAKE MY DREAMS REAL.

Emphasis on tools: there is serious damn work to be done here and no one can do it but me (or you, as the case may be). No one else plotted out the one-line scene notes that let me see my story from start to finish and know where it worked and where it didn’t. No one wrote my query letter for me. No one else received my editor draft and figured out how to fix what needed to be fixed and leave alone everything else. I worked through every stage from initial idea to finished story in a published anthology. But Holly Lisle taught me how.

Sometimes, it was upsetting. Holly is a big believer in the power of your subconscious and mine is full of some pretty scary stuff. There are no free meals in the course either. The information is fantastic, but until you decide to put your pride and your hopes and your fears on the line, you won’t realize what the course can really do for you.

And what, exactly, is that?

Holly has put together a course that will take you from no idea, no character, and no world to a book that is ready to send out to publishers. Okay, sure, lots of writing books out there promise the same thing. Holly also gives you a WORKING PROFESSIONAL’S guide to formatting, writing query letters, and dealing with editors. She teaches you how to hit EVERY DEADLINE, whether it was the ideal one you proposed or the nightmare one you were told to hit instead. And she will teach you how to do all these things in a way that will make it that much more likely that you’ll sell not just this book, but the next one too.

Because the course isn’t just about following the rules of the publishing world or writing regularly or developing a plot. The course is about unlocking your own brain, the parts you know about and the parts that lurk in the corners, and creating a system that works for you, every time, book after book, hopefully for a long time. It’s about using logic and imagination and a little insanity to create twists even you didn’t see coming (yes, really, just wait for Lesson 10) and endings that have your reader saying, “I can’t believe I didn’t see it coming, but of COURSE that’s how it ends.” It’s about approaching your life from funny angles to make dreams happen against all odds.

It’s about THINKING SIDEWAYS.

For your reading pleasure

Hello. I’m Joyce Sully and I tell stories. I write fantasy and romance for the most part. I write short and long fiction and I have plans to write something that is not quite either (and it sings, too).  Below is a list of everything I have available to read (completed fiction only). I hope you enjoy what I have to offer.

Bite Me : In the Bite Me anthology from Torquere Press, I have the story “Roll Up.” When a joyless student nearing graduation falls for a sideshow ringmaster and a cannibal queen, he must choose between a life where he knows all the answers and one where he has everything to learn. Please note, this is a bisexual anthology with graphic content; mature readers only.