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Monica's Marvelous Musings covers topics in storytelling, art, music, and narrative design through a genre lens.

Monthly Newsletter for MLVwrites.com

Dec 24, 2010

Season's Greetings!

Hi everyone, I wanted to take a moment and wish you the merriest of holiday seasons.

The weather near me is cold, cold, cold. I am living in fuzzy monkey pants (No, I'm not going to send you pictures) and am cooking up a storm. Well, and drinking coffee. Lots and lots of coffee.

I sincerely hope you are enjoying this time of year. While my house could be cleaner and my cats could be less demanding, I am plugging away at a few projects I can't announce yet. However, there are a few things that I can...

New Releases & Announcements

My short story entitled "Fangs and Formaldehyde" will be appearing in an anthology from Stone Skin Press. Edited by Robin Laws, I can tell you two things: one, my vampires do not glitter and two, these are definitely my vampires. There's a twist and it's a big one.

From White Wolf Publishing, you will also be able to download my stand-alone project entitled Scenes of the Embrace next week. If you enjoy the horror game Vampire: The Requiem, I think you'll find this product to be very useful. Tightly focused, there are fourteen scenes you can drop into your chronicle to narrate that crucial moment when a character becomes a vampire. A preview and design notes will be available, too.

I have also accepted Apex Book Company as a client for online marketing. My position will be behind-the-scenes; primarily I'll be helping shape the vision a few hours a month. I'm very excited to put my knowledge to good use. The publisher offers an array of really great books and e-books. One sign of their calibre? Jason Sizemore, their editor-in-chief, requires that all their fans and staff still go through the regular submission process. So, if I want to get published via their magazine, I don't get "special treatment." In fact, I feel like I need to write better...

New Year's Writing Tip

One "big" idea I'm going to be pushing as the New Year begins is this:

a) Pick a number between 1 and 10. (Or roll a die if that's your preference...)
b) That number is now the readers you will write for in 2011. Name each one.
c) Now that they have names, attach a personality to each of them. What are their likes? Dislikes?
d) Draw or find photos of them. Seriously. Put a face to your readers. Maybe it's someone you know. Maybe it's someone you don't.
e) Write for them!

Hot Buttered Rum Recipe

Funny story: I found a mix for hot buttered rum and totally wanted to try it. Only... the "batter" is nothing but butter and brown sugar.

To make your hot buttered rum. Grab a shot glass and pour 2 shots of rum into a tall glass. Next, grab a tablespoon of butter and cream that with 2 tablespoons of brown sugar and a dash of cloves. Dump that in your glass. Next, pour boiling water over the top and fill it up.

Don't forget to ask: "Where's the rum gone?" and swagger like a pirate.

News to Share? Tell Me!

I started posting links about publishing as a test to see how well people responded to it. It's doing great!

If you have news you want to share, please let me know. Shoot me an e-mail and I'll include it in the next round.

monica@mlvwrites.com

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