Happy Mid-July

 Ah, the Quill is back! Now in 2D with a fresh new url. ;-)


 Here we are, in July. In the past couple of weeks I've started two college courses and joined a writing critique group that is run by one of my best friends. I guess you could say that I'm busy, as I never seem to have the time to fit in anything new.

 The cool thing about my critique group is that our motto is "No Fear" and there are only three other members besides myself. It's not that hard to share my precious work with people I know well. The uncool thing is that it forces me to stop being lazy about writing and complete 2 short stories a week. If you know anything about me, I'm just happy to finish one chapter in a WIP per week. So.




Also, here is an example of my atrocious editing skills for your enjoyment. Its a collage of the funniest moments from season 7 of Doctor Who. I'm going to make a better one soon.

Jobs

 I'm thinking about becoming an Author Publicist/Book Doctor.

 That's a random one, isn't it?

 You see, I've really been getting into researching self published authors lately, and wishing I could help the really talented ones get more promotion. I shamelessly update pages on Goodreads (I'm a librarian there) just so that indie books will show up more in search engines.
 And I really want to help those less-than-great new authors. Because I see a lot of ideas that COULD be utterly fantastic, but they lack direction or good scene mapping or even key details. Most of them (even ones by small imprints) need two things: a real, gutsy, knowledgeable editor; and about five more drafts. Any editor that would leave his diamond in the rough author out in the lions den with a half-edited book shouldn't be an editor. To heck with your MFA! College degrees are no guarantee for knowledge OR ability OR creativity.

I have nothing more to say right now. Already swamped just by reading books, answering emails, and doing social media for Verve Lit Awards! But it really does bug me, y'know? Maybe if I could have someone doing twitter for me, I could have the time to be an indie publicist/agent.


 Or maybe I'm just looking for a way out of admitting that most of the books I've read in the last week stink on ice.