My New Frog Designs

Just added to Copper Cockeral: “My Frog” by Wendy C. Allen. Check them out:

Untitled Hat by eelkat Get this custom hat  at Zazzle

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Xavier’s Nest Returns

After a year long absence from the web, Xavier’s Nest returns with a new blog host (hopefully Blogger will prove to be a more reliable blog host than WordPress was.)
The original archieved posts have been added to this blog, hopefully all of them transfered over correctly.
New posts are to be added soon.
What’s your take [...]

Anyone could become President

Anybody can become President Current mood: creative Category: News and Politicshttp://www.squidoo.com/coppercockeral/Get ready for the next election with these items from Copper Cockeral Cards and Gifts: http://www.cafepress.com/anybodycanbepre
“When I was a kid I was told that anyone could become President: I’m beginning to believe it.”
..> ..>Throw Pillow$21.09Large Mug $15.79Mug $14.49Stein$18.49Tile Coaster$5.89Anybody Can Be President Tile Box$25.09Framed Tile$11.19Mousepad [...]

Valentine Gifts

Pink Cherub Heart from Copper Cockeral. It features a cherub and dove outlined by a pink heart. Shown here are a few of the more than 80 products available in this design.

Merfolks…

MerfolkMerpeopleMermenMermaidsMerrowsSirensSelkiesKelpiesGreenwitchesSwamp JenniesWater FaeriesSea NymphsWater Sprites
…no matter what you call them, I love the peoples of the sea. Several of my stories have sea people of some sort in them.
I was wondering, when you think, about the water people races, what do you see? How do they look? Where do they live? What do they act [...]

Which fish are you?

Which do you prefer being?
Little fish in a little pond.Big fish in a little pond.Little fish in a big pond.Big fish in a big pond.
I say little fish in a little pond. Why? Well I don’t need fame or fortune, so no need to make a big name for myself, so no need to be [...]

What is Self Publishing

On Absolute Write the question was asked:
[quote=Jewel101;166387]Exactly how smart is it to self-publish? [/quote]

That depends on the author. Self Publishing is not for everyone. It’s work. Hard work, and a lot of it. Very few people have what it takes to undertake a business start up, and starting your own publishing house is harder than [...]

Who is my target customer?

1- Who will want to read your book and why?
Based on what I know about the type of books certain types of people read, I would say that the average reader for my current WIP, The Pearl Necklace, would be:
Target customer #1:
A woman age 25-45. She has a busy lifestyle, either a stay at home [...]

Questions to ask a writer

Questions:
1. How many words do you usually write a day?
2. How long does it usually take you to complete one of your WIPs?
3. What’s the longest time you’ve worked on a completed MS? Shortest?
4. How many times to revise it?
5. How many manuscripts have you written?

1. How many words do [...]

What your MC can not see…

On Abosulte Write a member posted a very interesting question:
[quote=megan_d;2001327]So my MC is hiding behind a chair. He can hear what’s going on between the four not hiding characters, but he can’t see a thing. And damn, but is this scene hard to write! I never realised how reliant I was upon visual clues to [...]

Best Writing Time?

When do you get your most writing done?
I try to write throughout the day.
What I do is, I write small segments or scenes from my book. Say a conversation between two characters. Or maybe the description of a room. Something like that. I find this easier, because I can see a very clear beginning, middle, [...]

More than one POV, one novel…yay or nay?

On Absolute Write the question was asked: More than one POV, one novel…yay or nay? Here is my answer:
I usually write in third person, but last year I did one in a multi-first person POV, it had 3 POV characters in it. I think it came out pretty good. It needs loads of editing, but [...]

How Long is it?

I just found a chart that said this:
Flash: up to 1000 wordsShort Short: Under 2,000 words Short story: USA 2,000–7,500 words Short Story: UK and Commonwealth 1000 – 12,000 wordsNovelette (General Fiction): 7,500–15,000 wordsNovelette (SF & Fantasy): 7,500–17,500 wordsNovella (General Fiction): 15,000–30,000 wordsNovella (SF & Fantasy): 17,500–40,000 wordsNovel (General Fiction): Over 30,000 wordsNovel (SF & [...]

When to send out a holiday-themed piece?

When to send out a holiday-themed piece?
most publishers ask for a 6 month timing… submit the story 6 month before the issue it should be in, is on newsstands.
here’s a basic example:
New Year’s Day = JulyValentines = AugustEaster = OctoberSummer Vacation = JanuaryBack to School = MarchHalloween = AprilChristmas = June
Not all publishers follow [...]

How do you deal with first drafts?

How do you deal with first drafts?
I just write…. and write and write and write. I figure, it’s the first draft, who cares? I don’t want to stop the creative flow. I don’t stop for anything. I don’t correct typos, grammar mistakes or spelling errors, I just write. Who cares if the first draft [...]

How do you deal with the deep issues?

How do you deal with the deep issues?
I tend to just write my stories. My stories are character driven, heavy on dialouge, and tend to deal a lot with the MCs emotions. I don’t really think about “deep issues”, and though they do seem to show up in my writing quite often, I don’t [...]

Buildings/Landmarks that don’t actually exist…

My responce to Buildings/Landmarks that don’t actually exist…
[quote=Strongbear;1959304]Suppose you’re writing a story which is set in the real world as opposed to some imaginary sci-fi realm. Now suppose you wanted to put a completely invented, currently non-existent building or landmark right smack in the middle of a particular location (eg if you stuck a 14th [...]

What’s More Important the Story or the Quality of Writing?

On Absolute Write the question was asked: What’s More Important the Story or the Quality of Writing?
beautiful elegant and grammaticly perfect writing ain’t worth my money if it doesn’t have a story to stand on…. I’d much rather read a poorly written but engaging story, than a well written but plottless drival.
However… story without characters [...]

Who is your youngest MC?

Who is your youngest MC? This question caught me off guard and made me have to stop and think…
I’ve had so many MC’s over the years, and I’ve had lots of young characters in my stories… children, babies, teens, but I could not recall if I’d ever actually used any of the young ones as [...]

Is 60K enough?

On Absolute Write the question was asked: Is 60K enough?my thought is, that when you reach the end of your story, you’ve reached the end of your book, regardless of wither it ended at 50,000 words or a 150,000 words. However your publisher may disagree.
From what I have seen, most publishers (regardless of genre) recomend [...]

Redefining a fantasy race.

On Absolute Right the question was asked: Redefining a fantasy race? Basicly what she wants to do is take gnomes of folklore create a new race of humans based on the folk lore of gnomes, totaly creating a differant race with the same name. Anyways, here is what I had to say on it:
I say [...]

Data Entry??? Anyone know?

I was on this work-at-home forum today, and several folks were talking about how they freelance write and are getting paid $300 – $4,000 per day to write what they are calling “data entry”.
Well, at first they were talking like they were the ones making the money, but after I got to asking them [...]

Writing Tip of The Day

Believe in the quality of your work and the value of your message and at the same time, recognize surprises always happen in publishing.
What’s your take on this? I’d love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!
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Copper Cockeral Publishing Your NaNo Novel? Do You [...]

Should You Blog?

More than once I have seen folks ask the question: Do I NEED to have a blog? Well, here is my answer.
You don’t NEED a blog, no, but it is a good thing to have.
I have 32 blogs, each on a differant topic. (My writing topic blog is linked in my sig here). I blog [...]

Avoiding First Person

Once again I’m inspired to answer an Absolute Write Question:
Avoiding first person POV at all costs? Why?

It’s a personal issue. If you like to read first person POV, than there is no reason why you should not write it.
I usually do not like reading first person, because I want to read about the main [...]