I just realized we're nearly halfway through September, and I haven't posted anything this month. Figured I'd have to remedy that.
The first draft of my middle grade monster story is almost finished. So far it's my best work, until the next thing comes along, which of course will be infinitely better. I've also been polishing, submitting or resubmitting some short stories, which brings me to a point I'd like to make about Scribd.com. It's the YouTube of documents, if you didn't already know that.
I've been on the fence about Scribd for some time, using it primarily for stories I don't have much faith in being published in real magazines but still think are decent stories. Recently, however, I've had a change of heart. I've been getting a lot of positive responses from Scribd, more so than I've ever received from any of the small print mags that have accepted me, and I think Scribd may be a more useful output than I originally thought.
When compared to traditional print media, Scribd offers some advantages to the new or novice writer. For one, in print mags (or even some e-zines) a story can take months or years before a story finds an audience. Then there's the social aspect that print media can't seem to find a solution for. Books are in an awkward position of being static in a world that wants dynamic. Scribd gives you both.
Scribd still stinks a bit of vanity press, but it's not without a certain charm that I find irresistible, namely I get stories to my readers that would otherwise sit in some dark and lonely hard drive. Not having those pesky gatekeepers blocking me from an audience is near Utopian. That being said, I'll be the first to admit that
there's a lot of crap to be found on Scribd, my stuff most defiantly included. Thankfully, you can revise after submitting, another plus for Scribd.
Scribd still stinks a bit of vanity press, but it's not without a certain charm that I find irresistible, namely I get stories to my readers that would otherwise sit in some dark and lonely hard drive. Not having those pesky gatekeepers blocking me from an audience is near Utopian. That being said, I'll be the first to admit that
<<<<>>>>
Patrick Swayze, the latest in a seemingly endless list of celebrity deaths this year, died yesterday. I keep reading about all his great movies: Dirty Dancing, Ghost, even that Bouncer Epic Masterpiece Roadhouse--it still impresses me that Dalton could spot a knife in a boot across the bar. Nobody, however, mentioned Swayze's greatest performance of all.
Later Fiends,
0 comments:
Post a Comment