art – Page 9 – Noreen Lace

Submission Fees for Writers

Published on July 1, 2019June 27, 2019 by Noreen LaceLeave a comment

I sincerely understand when print journals ask for a reading fee of a few dollars. Print journals do not sell well, they have a staff, and some of the ones on the “best literary journals” get many more submissions than they can use. As well, if they are using submittable, the larger print journals have to pay a fee to use the service.

Submission fees can range from $1 to $10. I’ve seen some as high as $20 or $25 for a submission of a short story. I call bullshit.

I understand a reading fee of $5.00 or under. $10.00 is questionable. But then – more than that – No. No. And no.

Especially for an online literary journal run by one or two people. I’m not saying they don’t deserve to earn money. I am saying I don’t think they should be charging writers that much to read their fiction, poetry, or memoir.

There’s one website run by a single person – I won’t publically shame them – who has “contests” nearly every month. This person charges between $7.00 and $10.00 for each contest and offers minimal feedback; however, I have yet to see one print journal even though her copy says, winners will be published in the journal.

I have no idea how many people fall for that.

Research the journal carefully and ask yourself what you’re supporting. If you believe in what they are doing – then by all means pay the fee. Don’t pay a fee in desperation of being published. If you’re good, publication will come.

A Writer’s Best Friend

Published on June 30, 2019June 29, 2019 by Noreen Lace7 Comments

Gotta Love a Book Sale

Published on June 29, 2019June 27, 2019 by Noreen LaceLeave a comment

I wish we were notified when our books were on sale! It seems Amazon in their infinite wisdom and monogolopy heart put my book on sale. I don’t mind. But I’d like to let people know.

one dollar stories cover

$1.00 Stories on sale for $2.45. Great price!

Cris was a best selling author, but he’s worried it was merely a flash in the pan lucky streak. He’s having trouble coming up with anything new. When he meets a homeless man selling stories on the streets – he’s sure the guy is not the author. He will do anything to prove something to himself, to the world, to the strange man who lives on the edge of society.

ENJOY!

and Review!

How Your Book Becomes a Finalist…

Published on June 28, 2019June 27, 2019 by Noreen LaceLeave a comment

As a writing community, I believe we need to help one another. There doesn’t need to be a competition or an unfriendly or unhealthy antagonism between us. We are people who share a love of the written word, a desire to share our stories.

When one of my writer friends introduced me to one of her writer friends, I was happy to join and jump in to help.

I had the honor of helping Dan Rhys bring The Lone Escapist to publication life.

When I heard he’d become a finalist in the Chanticleer Awards, I knew his book would be a great success.

It’s a detective, sort of mystery, sort of noir of old. I think Hitchcock would have loved it. The baser of our human needs and selves sometimes win out and cause us larger problems. Where exactly was Kelton when a school shooting took place in his very own classroom?

Wracked with guilt, he wants to find the shooter himself.

Released just this week – the writing is tight and the topic is contemporary – The Lone Escapist is available on kindle and in print. Audiobook to follow.

How do you get your book to become a finalist? to win an award? – Read Dan’s and find out!

And another one down…

Published on June 22, 2019June 21, 2019 by Noreen LaceLeave a comment

delphinium 2019 front cover for kdp.jpg I’m open to a great number of inspirations. There’s a little understood affectation on people’s faces when they’re happy, when they’re sad, lying, telling the truth. Their faces betray what their words do not. However, not many people on the planet are very good at reading or understanding these micro-expressions.

For example, when a person is really happy, their eyes show it first. Their eyes brighten and lines around their eyes lift and tighten (I think), regardless of what their mouth actually does. At least this is what I understand.

I was inspired by these facts or theories and wrote a little story called “Deception.”

Deception is about a woman who believes she can read others’ micro-expressions and no one can read hers – because they’re not bothering to look.

I submitted this to one editor and he rejected it with a passion. I think I struck a nerve. He was obviously offended.

The story is fiction. It’s completely fiction. But, obviously, something about it was too real for him.

I believe it might be a bit too real for many, many people.

It’s in the summer issue of Delphinium. Available now.

Successful Writing

Published on June 21, 2019June 21, 2019 by Noreen LaceLeave a comment

Okay, so not bragging, but….. I’ve been hard at work….

The Healer’s Daughter in The Ear

The Healer’s Daughter is a departure for me. It marks a turns in my writing that came about just this year. It’s more mystical. Risky, maybe. A woman’s daughter describes her mother’s gift and discovers she has her very own gift, but will she actually use it?

The Healer’s Daughter will be featured in my summer release of How to Throw a Psychic a Surprise Party. It’s a book of short stories, all of which have a special or surprising twist.

Friends, Lovers, and Liars in Home Renovation

Originally titled Deception, it didn’t find a home. In fact, the topic of lies and cheating offended one editor. I think it may have hit too close to home. It, too, will be released in the summer release of How to Throw a Psychic a Surprise Party.

How to Throw a Psychic Surprise Party in The Electric Press Magazine

The title story for the book of short stories. Inspired by a show in which I saw a television host throw a “surprise” party for a psychic. It struck me – How do you throw a psychic a surprise party?

This story may answer that question. Maybe not. How much empathy can you muster?

Hunger and other poems as well as some photography in Voices of Eve

Not in the book of short stories. But well worth the read. Hunger is one of my favorite poems.

Also in the book of short stories –

The Crier: In a time when emotions are unheard of, people need a release.

The Mirror People: Ever wondered what’s inside the mirror? You know there’s something, right? Here’s a woman who collects them – she knows.

Bowie and the Basket Case: Anna’s things keep disappearing and reappearing. At first she thinks she’s misplaced them, but then she’s sure she hasn’t!

How to Throw a Psychic a Surprise Party is available for Pre-order!

Dad Shines

Published on June 16, 2019June 14, 2019 by Noreen Lace2 Comments

“‘Dad Shining’ is a terrible name for a story.,” said a certain someone.

I replied, “The Chicago Tribune must have liked it. They’re going to publish it.”

I worked on “Dad Shining” for some time, not quite knowing what the ending needed. Then it struck me:

We grow up not really understanding our parents or why they do the things they do. When we become adults, if our maturity doesn’t lend itself to that understanding then it should lead us to empathy.

We can’t possibly know our parents challenges in the same way we comprehend our own. Therefore, we must let things go, forgive, and move on. (Whatever that forgiveness means to you. Don’t be tortured by the past)

My father passed four years ago this month. The story “Dad Shining” was published two months before he passed. (For which, I’m happy.)

It’s not a story of my father, nor of me. But it is a story of a child coming to some sort of peace with himself and extending compassion to the father he never quite understood.

(A little trivia for you – the cover was taken in Virginia where Poe’s mother is buried)

Summer Writing Goals

Published on June 15, 2019June 14, 2019 by Noreen LaceLeave a comment

Throughout the year, I set and reset goals. I feel it’s a waste of time and energy to wait until the first of the year of the 6 month point. I set them when I feel the need.

Last June, I set a goal to write six short stories for the month. I completed four, finished the rough draft on the fifth, and started the sixth. Not bad. Two of those stories were accepted within the next thirty days and all of them have been published by this June.

This June, however, I feel I must set other goals. I have multiple projects going and have been too distracted and busy – finals, family, travel – to get anything significant work done on them; therefore, by the end of this week, I’ve decided to set new goals for my summer writing.

I’m not sure yet what those will be. I have a novel that needs rewriting, a novella that needs editing, and some other projects begun. I need to set a schedule – again – and to focus on one project or another.

I don’t find a problem with enough time, to focus on multiple projects, but when other areas of my life have infringed on my writing schedule I do find it difficult to focus on so many.

What are your summer writing goals?

Seeing Stories

Published on June 14, 2019June 13, 2019 by Noreen Lace2 Comments

An Intimate Portrayal of Poe

Published on June 12, 2019June 9, 2019 by Noreen LaceLeave a comment

It’s been two years since I did the live interview on Dark Times. It was about the Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe.

Since then, I’ve written a book on Poe – Eddy – a fictional account of an actual even in Poe’s life. I read selections from that novella at the Poe Museum in Virginia.

I plan to write more about Poe, but I’m shoulder deep in a ton of others. By which I mean – I have a novel to rewrite, a novella to finish editing, a new novel started, and a ton of other notes and fresh projects on my desk.

Some writers find working on multiple projects impossible. I don’t, but I do find it harder to focus on one writing project when my life is so busy in every other area. When I’m on a regular writing schedule and my life is calm, I don’t have a problem.