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New Writing Articles
2007-03-11 23:25:00
I'll be publishing all of my writing articles on Suite101.com from this point on, and will hopefully be continuing it on a weekly if not bi-weekly basis. The more articles I write, the more I can help writers, the more my editing business can grow, the more I can get my name out, etc. Plus, with over a year of editing experience behind me now, I have a LOT of information I can dish out to help other writers who are experiencing some of the most common problems.Here's a link to my newest article:Dialogue
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The few, the proud, the marine mammals
2007-03-09 01:19:00
The Navy is once again mulling the idea of using specially trained dolphins and sea lions for military use. Yes, that’s right: the Navy is recruiting Flipper to patrol our coastal waters. The location would be a military base in the state of Washington, near Seattle, and more than a dozen California sea lions and Bottlenose Dolphins could be recruited for the effort, according to the Associated Press.I know what you’re thinking right now: “But how will they hold a gun? Would it be some sort of weapon specially designed for a flipper, or are we talking head mounted lasers here?” The answer, of course is that these particular Navy recruits wouldn’t be foot soldiers, so to speak, but rather intelligence gatherers. Because of their sonar abilities, the dolphins would be used to locate rogue swimmers and divers, who would then be picked up by a human team for questioning and eventually—given the Bush Administration’s track record—extradited to Syria to be tortured.The sea...
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Who is Scooter Libby?
2007-03-08 03:01:00
Scandal. Lies. Corruption. And it goes all the way to the top. Sounds like a great story, doesn't it? What can you do to make it original? How about digging into the Scooter Libby trial a little bit? There's a lot of meat inside this dead animal, and a lot of ideas for stories. And sometimes, the real world is more frightening than any fictional story we could come up with.What happened with Valerie Plame was outed? Was she covert? That's debatable. However, there WAS a time when she was Black Ops, and she was working with other Black Ops agents overseas under the cover of a fictional business. What happened to the people associated with her who were still overseas when that jackass Novak outed her? How can we possibly know if those people are Black Ops? The government denies their existence one way or another.It would make a great story.

Magazine Update
2007-03-05 23:22:00
Some new fiction is being added to Brew City Magazin e this week ... plus I'm going to add some new info to the Editor's Corner and try to update the Milwaukee section a little more often. I would very much like to dip into the happenings of Milwaukee a little more, political and otherwise.One of the hardest parts of editing a magazine is dispensing the rejection letters. I personally write each one, despite some of them sounding alike, and I prefer to offer any advice I can when time allows. Presently, time is NOT allowing any such idea, and so I have to pick and choose who to respond to until things here slow down.
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More ideas
2007-03-04 23:20:00
I've been doing a lot of work on my own site (KenBrosky.com) in addition to putting together a new issue of Brew City Magazine. On my site, I'm in the process of putting up all of my short stories, arranged according to various genres or themes. For instance, "Horror" will all be a part of one section, and will include future short stories. But then there are the stories that are connected to one another, like "Leaving Dodge County," which will be considered one more section. It also breaks up the text and makes it easier on the eyes.But I won't stop submitting my various stories to magazines. Most magazines don't take any e-rights and so after the magazine is published you can usually get all of the rights back anyway. Otherwise, you can ask for them at a later date. I really am not all that interested in having people pay to read any single short story, especially not with such competition in today's world.One final Sunday note, while we're on the topic: here's a link to t...
More About: Ideas , Idea , More

Writers Market
2007-03-04 02:26:00
For a good weekend, thread, I thought it might be a good idea to mention that Write rs Mark et is a great online source of information for people looking to get published just about anywhere. If you join them, you can also get access to a number of great articles about writing. There's an option to join on a monthly rate of about $3 or so, and you can print off anything from the site. See what I'm saying here? If you plan on submitting to the same magazines and publishers over and over ... well, why not just buy a month of access and print off everything you need to get?Eh? Eh?
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Broken Car, WTF
2007-03-02 17:07:00
While cleaning one of my bookshelves today, I came across an old collection of short stories by Raymond Carver and re-read a few. Raymon Carver is a good teacher for writers who are looking to create stories that may not necessarily be "Fantastic," so to speak. He wrote very down-to-earth stories, much in the same way Chekov did. And I would recommend reading Anton Chekov as much as possible. He was literally the master of short stories--he could take the most routine story and make it a must-read.
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An Open Congress?
2007-02-26 20:53:00
I happened upon this site almost completely by accident, and yet I think it's one of the most important sites I've come across in a long time. It's called Open Congress , and here's a link:Open CongressThis site literally tells you what's happening in Congress, what they're voting on, what issues they're discussing and taking up, and how our representatives are voting. It's an amazing site, and it shows just how far we're coming as a nation, that we can have this type of site that twenty years ago would be unheard of. Twenty years ago, the only people who had this type of information were lobbyists and connected insiders.But most importantly, it's all a matter of how we use it. Open Congress isn't just a site for entertainment value ... it's a means of communicating with our ELECTED officials who represent us, and understanding how these ELECTED officials are voting. Are they representing our best interests, or the best interests of someone else?

Weekend Blogging
2007-02-24 20:20:00
In the spirit of a lazy, do-nothing weekend filled with snowstorms and downright nast weather, here's an article to put a smile on your face:Man Breaks Into Home Over Porn ScreamsI laugh every time I read it.
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Lulu
2007-02-23 18:42:00
I'm in the process of converting a number of published short stories to e-book format for easy download. Since I'm offering them for free, the concept of "Money" takes an even more important issue because ... well, I have so little, to be honest. And I have found that one of the best place to create and e-book is to go to Lulu . They create e-books for you and you get to set the price, which is great because it's more than OK to set them at $0.00.Lulu also takes very little on royalties, as well. There are a couple other options for e-books, so feel free to mention them and I'll try to include them in a later post. But the reason I'm bringing this up is because you can find a lot of great fiction floating around these sites, fiction that will most likely never be picked up by a major publishing house.

Dinosaur Flatulence
2007-02-22 17:43:00
Last week, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) suggested that it was entirely possible that dinosaur flatulence may have brought about their extinction some 50 million years ago. His logic most likely stems from the scientific fact that methane—specifically from cows—can account for anywhere between 20 and 40 percent of greenhouse gasses that contribute to global warming in today’s age. A very warm period 50 million years ago saw a sharp increase in methane, although most scientists believe it was caused by methane released near the ocean floor and not dinosaur flatulence. This argument only has merit, of course, if Rohrabacher truly believes global warming exists and is potentially caused by human beings. In the Republican Party, such a forward-thinking belief is a rarity, but it does provide a very bold, very new approach to potentially serious problem. You see, I have always assumed it was better to combat global warming by reducing co2 emissions through simple actions like redu...
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Publishing Short Stories
2007-02-21 18:05:00
While redesigning my official Web site, I've changed things up a bit and now am offering all of my published short stories available to be read off the Web site. In addition, I'm planning on putting up more unpublished short stories to be available for free. Will I still submit short stories to magazines, etc.? Of course. But not as often, that's for sure.The problem is I can draw more visitors to my Web site to read the short stories for free. A typical fiction magazine may draw anywhere form 100 to 5,000 readers to a particular short story. But if I put up a short story on my Web site, which draws anywhere from 500 to 2,000 visitors PER MONTH, guess which one is going to draw more reads? It's not about money for me. It's about telling my story to others.And if you're writing fiction to make money, you might as well quit now. It's not a high-paying market. Write fiction to tell your stories.(Don't worry, I'll still drop a few links to fiction markets every now and then!)
More About: Stories , Publishing , Short Stories , Tories , Publish

A short story worth celebrating
2007-02-20 17:38:00
I just wrote what is, quite possibly, the best short story I have ever written. And it all started when I read this:Tigers and Leopards
More About: Celeb , Story , Stor , Worth , Short

The Burning Crusade
2007-02-18 00:41:00
Since the Senate is again gridlocked on a non-binding resolution condemning President Bush's escalation, and since I've recently been mentioning Nine Inch Nails, why not combine the two with the quote for the weekend?What if this whole crusade's a charade, and behind it all here's a price to be paid for the blood, which we dine just to fight in the name of the holy and the divine?~Trent Reznor, "The Hand That Feeds"
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Trent Reznor's literature
2007-02-16 19:56:00
I had happened upon this little tidbit of information almost by complete accident, and am glad that my occasional obsession with Wikipedia has finally produced some grain of knowledge that I can actually apply to real life. The funny part is that despite my love for Nine Inch Nails, I wasn't even aware of the marketing effect being produced for the newest album, which is set for release in April.Trent Reznor is one of those people who embraces new technology, which is one of the reasons he continues to be relevant in such a quickly changing culture. Not only are his songs stories, but he has also delved into the benefits the Internet has to offer to create an entirely NEW "text." For his new album, he is creating an entire "Story" to coincide with it, thus forcing every single one of us into his story, taking on the form of characters whether we like it or not. Here's a list of some of his sites that are based around his new album, "Year Zero":I Am Trying to BelieveAnother Version...
More About: Literature , Lite , Liter , Rent , Ratu

Articles
2007-02-13 16:04:00
Another great comments made during the NSA convention this year was on the topic of supplemental writing. What this means is that if you're a fiction writer like me, you shouldn't simply JUST be writing fiction. You should be writing ABOUT fiction as well. This can be in any form, but especially articles. How you write. Why you write. The more you write on these topics, the more people will read them and grow interested in your fiction.I have, over the past few weeks, become very involved in the topic of op-ed writing. There's never a shortage of topics to choose from, especially when the Free World is being led by a Texan who chokes on pretzels.
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Digital Media
2007-02-12 22:51:00
One of the best programs I attended while at the NSA convention was on the subject of digital media, and how it's beginning to change traditional print media production. I think it's important to keep in mind the fact that the digital media really IS changing the scope of literature and other forms of general entertainment in a very big way.The question is how to roll with the changes (to quote REO Speedwagon)? The truth is I'm not sure. The speaker was the first person I've ever heard to literally eschew the traditional New York print publishers and go the self-publishing route. Why? Because the New York publishers are, ideally, going to slowly lose popularity. He suggests it's possible to self-publish and sell just as many books (and take a better profit) as one would with a New York publisher.Therefor, what is the roll of publishers like Random House, etc., now that there are other means of getting your voice out there? If it's good, people will find it.Not necessarily. How...
More About: Media , Digital , Digi

Inspiration in Odd places
2007-02-12 07:49:00
After another great day of commuting and networking at the NSA show, it was finally time to head back to Milwaukee today. Of course, things couldn't possibly go that smoothly, could they? No, of course not. Despite arriving at the airport in plenty of time to get through the rigorous security screening, it turned out to be all for moot.As our plane was in the process of taking off, one of the engines backfired, literally, just like a car only ten times louder and more than enough to ground the flight. And for good reason! My heart, needless to say, was tested and came out all the stronger. I hope.But it gave me a great idea for my story, and I had plenty of time to put it down while we were waiting for the next plane to Milwaukee to arrive five hours later. I'm tired, I'm dirty, and I'm fresh out of things to write about for now.
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Did the terrorists win?
2007-02-11 01:17:00
I'm in my second day at the NSA conference and everything has been great. In addition to making a lot of new contacts, I've learned a lot about the speaking business and about methods for developing new content in an ever-developing digital world. We had a speaker talk today who mentioned something interesting, something worth thinking about, and it boils down to this:Does a record company sell music, or does it sell the record? Are record companies selling the music created by artists, or are they simply using the music in order to sell a piece of circular vinyl? It's a tough call, considering the cost of media like records, audio cassettes and CD's typically determines the price of the product, and the artists themselves receive so little in royalties. Look at Tool's newest album, the very CONTENT of the CD and the way it's packaged. Maynard James Keenan even told his record company, "Look, you're getting your money back on our tour, anyway. Let us package the CD the way we...
More About: Terror , Terrorists , Terrorist , Error , The Terror

Denver NSA conference
2007-02-09 20:34:00
I'm currenlty in Denver , Colorado at the National Speakers Association Conference to promote my copyediting business. The weather is nice, although the plane ride was long and--upon arriving at the Denver airport--it was impossible to find a Starbucks! First time ever. I had to settle for cheap coffee and an energy bar. The coffee did little, but luckily the energy bar was filled with energy goodness. After unleashing the awesome power of Soy, I was back on track.Upon arriving at the hotel (which has a Starbucks located inside), I'm now in the process of registering. Good times! When I'm not working on my book, this is what I do for a living, and it's always exciting to meet to new clients and learn from their own experiences about operating a business.I'm sure I'll think of more, but on a side note, the light rail system running through the city is amazing. There had been talk about putting one in Milwaukee for some time, but a couple of assholes (read: Charlie Sykes, Tom Bel...
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A time for reflection
2007-02-08 23:14:00
Now, with the prosecution in the Valerie Plame affair resting, it might be a good time to take a look at the facts and see what you can take from it. Is there a fiction story here? Is there an essay here? An op-ed? This is an important trial, for a lot of different reasons. Read up on it, and write about it.I know I am.Read the full timeline here. Then form and opinion.
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Diabolic Tales
2007-02-07 04:43:00
I just received my two contibutor's copies of Diabolic Tale s vol. 1, which has my short story "High Stakes" included with a number of other great hardcore horror tales. And I do mean hardcore. Some of the stories included are tough to stomach, but they're a great example of just how independent the horror genre is truly becoming now that Stephen King is finally winding down his career (whether he likes it or not).So what is the future of horror? Truth be told, I'm not sure. There have always been mainstays like Poppy Z. Brite and John Shirley, but there really isn't another mainstream horror author out there other than the absolutely horrible Dean Koontz. Coontz? It doesn't matter. They're both horrible.

The Rat Bastard
2007-01-30 04:35:00
One: "Him. There. Right ... there, sitting at the bar."Two: "I don't see him."One: "Wait for that fatass to get out of the way. OK, you see him? He's got the long black mustache and the thin eyebrows and the brown overcoat. The Chinese guy."Two: "Shit, you could have just said the Chinese guy. It's not like there's a lot sitting around getting drunk in this dive."One: "OK well fuck you and shut up. Now, I forget his name ... Seji Goong-something. But his name's not important. It's his job that's important. He's a mailman."Two: "So what. I've seen enough mailmen."One: "Mail CARRIERS, you sexist piece of shit. Now look: he's not the kind of mailman you see coming to your house every morning."Two: "Except on Sundays."One: "Except on Sundays, right. Seji delivers the undeliverable mail, you see."Two: "The 'return to sender' shit?"One: "No, you idiot. The REALLY undeliverable shit. To dead people."Two: "That doesn't make a lick of sense."One: "Not to you, it doesn't. But to...
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Anthology Publication
2007-01-27 00:57:00
I have, over time, developed a sort of disdain for my SPAM box. I rarely check it when I sign onto my email program, and yet I often wonder exactly what I might be missing from not doing it.The only reason I checked it this week was because I had sent out a number of business-related emails and wanted to double-check for responses that might have slipped under the radar, so to speak. So I checked the SPAM box.Lo and behold, I found a letter from a publisher whom I had contacted some time ago regarding a horror anthology they were putting together. The publisher, unbeknownst to me, had been trying to contact me.So to sum up, I have a short story being published in DIABOLIC TALES.
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9/11 Conspiracies
2007-01-24 23:07:00

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