Aubrie Dionne

A fellow blogger has a bunch of these funny turkey comics posted today.

Since I'm a vegetarian, raised by a vegetarian family, we eat baked ziti and tofu pie (kind of like shepard's pie with tofu) for Thanksgiving! I like stuffing though and cranberry sauce. My favorite thing to eat at Thanksgiving are the desserts: my sister is making cheesecake this year. Yummy!

My question to you is:

What is your favorite food to eat at Thanksgiving?

And it's okay if you say turkey!

I just saw a post on Live Journal in the specific markets section for writers about this new anthology. They are accepting submissions for a fantasy/sci fi story with a music theme!

It's called "Music for Another World." And here's the link.
http://www.music-strange-fiction-submissions.info

This anthology seems so perfect for me! I'm brainstorming ideas like crazy right now trying to come up with a way to use music as an integral part of a fantasy story. I'm thinking something along the lines of how music could magically be stronger than steel. My story title: Song of the Bard. I've played an actual piece of music called Song of the Bard, and it would be neat to set a story to it.



In other news, I'm not doing so well at NaNoWriMo. I have edits to work through for Nebula's Music and Chameleon's colors for my two ebook publishers this month, which has set me back. I like the way my story is developing, though it's slow going. I'm, also interested in Stephen's King's new book "Under the Dome." But I know if I buy it now, I'll get nothing done!

What do you think of this new anthology? How's your writing going?

Lately I've been seeing a lot of anthologies for spooky stories: at least three zombie anthologies, Pandora's Nightmare, Day Terrors...the list goes on and on.

I wish I could write for these places, but I'm not good at writing scary stories! I love watching horror movies, I love love love reading Stephen King, but I can't write my own horror filled tales. The only scary story that I tried to write has yet to find a home. And I wonder why??

So it brings me to this question: What makes a story scary? What's the scariest story/novel that you've read and why? Or what's the scariest story you wrote?

Good news and bad news today.

My short story, Darken, was accepted into the Winter Solstice sci-fi/fantasy edition of Emerald Tales! Here is the site if you are thinking of submitting to their next themed issue, Carnivale. They are a paying magazine!

Darken is based on the Mesopotomian 12 day Festival of Renewal in which offerings are designed to help the God, Marduk, tame the masters of chaos for one year. It is due to the ancient fear that the failing light will never return.

In other news, I'm having trouble finding a place for my post apolocalyptic thriller/horror story, Reverence. I orginally wrote it for the Dead Bells Anthology, and when they asked for a major rewrite I declined. I sent it to the Absent Willow Review, a really neat horror/fantasy based ezine with a beautiful site, but it was rejected last night. Today I sent it to the Abandoned Towers print magazine hoping to have more luck there.

Any suggestions as to where else I could send it if Abandoned Towers isn't interested? Here is the blurb and wht the story is about:
Reverence is a post apocalyptic thriller based on the ancient Mayan calendar that ends in the year 2012.

Mira, a newly appointed college professor, reluctantly accepts a gift from one of her colleagues at a New Year’s Eve party. When she wakes up the next morning to find everyone gone, she realizes the full potential of her gift. Did removing it from the ruins cause the apocalypse? Is she really the last one left?

I finally figured out how to get this on You Tube! The video must be under 10 minutes, and the first movement was 11, so I had to cut the orchestra intoduction, and now it fits! Please watch and rate if you have a few minutes.

I want to thank all of my friends for voting for the black and white dress a few days back. I went with a tiel and black dress along the same lines and I got a lot of compliments on it. Thanks for your votes. You helped push me in the right direction!

As you can see, we both picked matching dresses because it was a double concerto and the audience loved it! (btw I'm the blonde one on the right) The harpist is on the left.

I'll be posting video of the dress rehearsal, we couldn't take pictures or video of the concert though. Here's the pictures of the dress rehearsal:



The concert went so well! I'm 95% happy with my performance. There was a slip up in the first cadenza, but all went smoothly after that. Thanks to all of my family and students that attended!

Sometimes it's really nice to have two things going. When flute is slow, I write, and when writing is slow, I work on flute. But sometimes they clash! Like right now. I have this major concert tomorrow night: I'm playing the Mozart flute and harp concerto in front of the Lakes Region Symphony, which leaves no time for NaNoWriMo. Yes, I'm way behind at 5,700 words. I'll need to do some serious catching up to make it to 50K by Nov. 30th.

How many of you out there are juggling two or more careers? And what do you do when they bump up against one another?

So I combined the entries from Live Journal and Blogger, and the winner is Angie Lofthouse!

She has an awesome blog where she offers award winning free short stories every month. And let me tell you that I am in awe of her writing. This month's short story, Fidelity, kept me on the edge of my seat.

And now for the NaNoWriMo update: I'm almost at 4,000 words, so I'm a little bit behind but hoping to catch up today. Yesterday I wrote the blurb for Desert Nomad and it came out better than I expected. Tell me, would you read a book about this?:



Aries is a Lifer: a fifth generation colonist living aboard the Ark, a deep space transport vessel destined for a paradise planet three hundred years away. Her purpose is to maintain the life support systems and marry Lieutenant Barliss, producing two genetically optimal children to take their place at the helm.

But Aries is tired of a predestined life. While cruising by a desert planet with minimal survival conditions, she manipulates an escape. Her flight pod crash lands and she is caught between the search and rescue teams of the Ark and the primitive hunters on the alien planet. While struggling to survive, she meets Striker, a space pirate exiled by his mutinous crew. Together they realize that a life alone is nothing compared to a life with love. With the search teams flying above and the hunters stalking them below, Aries is forced to make the ultimate sacrifice, her freedom for Striker’s life.

What do you think?

My Seasons of Fantasy Series is now complete and available at Gypsy Shadow Publishing! I've added new scenes and more dialog to each short story, completing the series. My goal is to publish a print book of all four with illustrations, but that's far off from now.

In honor of the new releases, I'm giving away one of the short stories in the series. To enter the drawing, all you need to do is comment below stating your favorite season of the year. Mine is summer, and sadly, it's over for now. And my least favorite is Winter, but the conflict in Winter makes for good writing! I think Winter Queen came out the best because of it.

You can comment even if you've never commented before. In fact, that would be wonderful to see some new faces as well.

These ebooks are all available at www.gypsyshadow.com

Good luck!

Today my story, Facade, is available in the special Scifi/Fantasy edition of Emerald Tales!


Here is the link to buy the ebook version.

And here is the link to buy the print version.

I've ordered print magazines for all of my relatives for Christmas!

And as for NaNoWriMo, I'm at 871 words. I need to get to 1,600 words to get my goal for the day, but the afternoon is not over, yet...

How is your first day of NaNoWriMo? Did you reach your word count goal?

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays! I love spooky movies and dressing up in costumes. Just for fun, I'd like to hear everyone's most embarrassing/cutest/silliest costumes that you wore growing up. My favorite costume, by far, was a princess, least favorite: witch. As for most embarrassing, I'd have to say the lion jumper suit that my mom made for me and my sister one year. Maybe it was cute, but I'd never post that picture on here!
 

This weekend I'm going dress shopping! I have two concerts coming up: A solo recital and a solo in front of the orchestra and I want to wear something special.

Here's two dresses I'm considering. The black and white one looks more professional, but the pink one really grabs the attention! I need help deciding. Please comment and vote for your favorite dress below. I need as much input as possible seeing as though this is such an important decision!

I just finished my Winter Solstice story today (woohoo!) and sent it to my two critique partners for edits.

My question is: How long do you let a story/poem sit before you send it in? Days? Weeks? Do you re read it over and over again?

Usually I get my edits back from my critiquers and then read it one more time a day or two later before sending it in, but I'm curious as to what other writers do. What works the best for you?

October is the peak foliage month here in New Hampshire. This year is especially pretty! There hasn't been much rain, and so we've had some nice sunny and clear days to take pictures.

Speaking of Autumn, I'm currently working on a Winter Solstice story for Emerald Tales.

The theme is "Winter Solstice" and with some googling and research I found that the first people to supposedly celebrate the winter solstice were the Mesopotamians. They had a 12 day Festival of Renewal with offerings designed to help the God Marduk tame the masters of chaos for one year. How cool is that? It's due to the ancient fear that the failing light will never return again.

My story is based on this premise: It's titled, "Darken," and it's about a young girl in Mesopotamia who catches a scribe stealing the offerings for Marduk on the 12th day of the festival of Renewal. It's due Nov. 1st, so I'm feverishly writing to get it done.

My question today is: When you think of Winter Solstice, what comes to mind? Shortening days? Christmas? What would your Winter Solstice story be about?

This year I'm going to be a part of National Novel Writing Month! It's when you try to write a novel/50,000 in one month! I know it sounds crazy, but with an official website and the support of your peers, people really do pull it off. Once you've sweated out 50,000 words, you can polish the novel until it shines. At least you have the words plunked out and actual paragraphs and chapters to work with.

It's a great idea.

My novel for NaNoWriMo is titled, "Desert Nomad". I'm currently working on the outline and blurb, but I know its going to be a science fiction/fantasy story about a woman who crash lands her escape pod on a remote desert planet. There's going to be sand pirates, desert worms, and of course a romantic interest along the lines of a Madmax type of male character.

Who else is going to brave the trenches of NaNoWriMo? If you are, please friend me: My username is authoraubrie. What kind of novel are you planning to write?

Two of my short stories were accepted into anthologies this week:

"Tempests' Savior" was accepted into "Mertales" by Wyvern Publications for their anthology next fall. The moral of the story is "There's more fish in the sea!"

Here's the blurb:

Reeling from a breakup, Maddy runs out into a hurricane and is pulled by a tidal wave into the sea. Her savior, a blond and tan surfer, has strange qualities that lead her to believe that he is more fish than man.



"Pirate Wannabe" was accepted by Bedazzled Ink Publishing Company for their "Skulls and Crossbones" anthology about woman pirates. It will come out in January 2010.

Here is the blurb:

Dragged to every pirate event and maritime museum by her buccaneer crazed friend, Clare is tired of drudging up the past and wants to work on her own assertiveness in the present. On a special trip to learn about Ravishing Robert, The Pirate King of the Seven Seas, Clare has a newfound burst of curiosity and finds herself drawn into his tragic tale. When no one is looking, she pulls out his sword, yanking it from the century old mast where it was found at the bottom of the sea. Releasing the object sends her back in time as a stowaway aboard his ship, the Red Lichen, where she has a chance to prevent his mutiny and save the dashing pirate from sudden death.

I'm really getting into anthologies! I think it's neat to have a theme and see how each author spins it out in a different way. I used to read scary story anthologies as a kid, and I never knew how diverse they could be.

Writing for anthologies has made me a better writer as well. I've had to be more creative to find a story that I can write that will fit with the theme. It's made me think about what the publishers are looking for, and how to best use the theme in a new and inventive way. I totally recommend it to any writers out there.

Lastly, I want to thank my critique buddies: Christine and Cherie for helping me out. Thanks guys, you are the best!

My short story, Wyvern Hunt, is part of this new anthology called Dragontales by Wyvern Publications. It's available for preorder now at Barnes and Noble.

I've just submitted a "MerMan" story for their next anthology titled, "Mertales." They are accepting submissions right now until next summer if anyone wants to try to get in the anthology with me! www.wyvernpublications.com

This weekend was all about flute! We had a wedding to play on Saturday morning at Castleton, (where my sister got married), a beautiful place in Windham NH for events and functions. It was 54 degrees! My flute felt like ice in my hands, so all of you out there wanting to get married in the morning in September in New Hampshire, you need to remember how cold it is and think of your poor musicians playing outside! (Nevermind the bridemaids dressed in short gowns...brrrrr)

Then, we rehearsed for three hours for our concert on Sunday at the Pleasant View Retirement Home. Pictures below:





The concert went very well, and we even managed to put someone to sleep! I think it's a compliment because our music was so calming. I'll have video up later so you can listen and even see the audience member falling asleep in the back! The rest of them recognized Eine Kleine, Sheep May Safely Graze, and Pachelbel's Canon. They had trouble recognizing the Air by Bach though. Maybe we'll pick something else for next time.

I also finished the third round of re writes for Nebula's Music. I've never reworked anything in this capacity and depth before. Lyrical Press really pushes their authors to turn out their best and that's awesome. I can't wait to see the finished product.

What did everyone else do this weekend???

Right now I have three Ebook Publishers:




Lyrical Press
www.lyricalpress.com
(Nebula's Music, and Hopefully Messenger in the Mist)




SynergEbooks
www.synergebooks.com
(Dreams of Beauty)






Gypsy Shadow Publishing
www.gypsyshadow.com
(Night Dance, Seasons of Fantasy Series)


At first all I wanted was for my book to be in Barnes and Noble, smack in the middle of the fantasy section next to Neil Gaiman and Tad Williams. And then I realized that you needed an agent for that, and that to attract an agent you need publishing credits. So I started working with ebook companies.

I don't know how much of a publishing credit it is, but it has given me a lot of experience with editing, marketing, and reviews. I've worked with editors on rewrites, marketed my books, designed covers, and submitted them to reviewers for their critiques. The whole process has made me a better writer!

I liked it so much that now I have three ebooks companies. Each one is a little bit different in what they accept, which provides me with three different sources to send my writing to.

Lyrical Press is an adult publisher. They are relatively new and have a beautiful website. I was drawn to them because they had a lot of fantasy/sci fi books and I thought that they'd like mine. So I've sent them my most mature book up to date, and will be submitting Messenger in the Mist soon.

SynergEbooks is great for my young adult books because they don't sell erotica and I can send my young readers to their site without being embarrassed about alluring covers. They have a great young adult section and work with a distributor for home school students: Writers online books. Also, they've been in business since 1999 so they are well established.

Gypsy Shadow Publishing accepts short stories over 3,000 words, which is very hard to find in an ebook publisher. Usually the minimum is 10,000 and up. I love writing short stories, so I send all of my short stories to them. They are a brand new company, so the possibilities are endless.

I highly recommend trying out the ebook publishing world if you are having trouble getting an agent and need more experience to make your writing better. All three of my ebook companies are accepting submissions, and Gypsy Shadow is new, so I'm sure they would love to see some new submissions.

What have been your experiences with ebook companies? Do you think it's a good step for a writer?

I am so excited to annouce that my short story, Facade, was accepted into the November Sci fi/Fantasy issue of Emerald Tales. They had 125 submissions, so I feel very lucky that they picked mine!

Here is the link to their site.

In other news, I'm preparing for a concert next weekend at the Pleasant View Retirement Home Sunday September 20th at 2pm.


I know it looks like more of a mansion than a retirement home. Can I live there?? Anyways, it's violin, flute, and harpsichord and we are playing selections by Scarlatti, Mozart, Bach, and Faure. It's all beautiful music and easy listening. It's also free and open to the public!

In other news, I was not cast as a "flutist" for the visa commercial. It took me three days to get over it and be able to post about it, but here I am looking forward and not backward. I'm off to finish my first set of line edits for "Nebula's Music." I've added scenes to make her look more human and likeable and explain why Radian loves her. Rewrites are so difficult! But it makes the story that much better.