NEW BEGINNINGS - THE TATTOOED ROSE and THE ABC'S of How NOT TO WRITE SPECULATIVE FICTION

The Fool Card from Artist's Vision Tarot

SOME PEOPLE GET THEIR DAILY HOROSCOPES mailed to them. I get daily tarot cards. This morning, I received The Fool which is appropriate, considering I'm about to begin work on The Tattooed Rose. I always find starting a new book daunting. I have so much I want to say, I've scribbled down plot, but there are still many details I need to work out. Here's a short version of what my daily tarot reading said:

"The Fool card affirms that my alter ego today is a Quantum Leaper with a hero's heart. I am liberated by free will and trust, which lead me to explore simple speculations for their own sake. I can move beyond the fear factor. I don't know where I'm going, and I don't care where I've been. I only know that, as the hero of my own story, it's for me to find out. Like Alice, I'm on the verge of stepping into the rabbit hole, unless I stop short and play it safe. I'll know soon enough where following my own feet has landed me on this curious venture. So despite familiar warnings, irresistible promise draws my eyes wide open and away from domestic comfort zones. I'll never know until I try."

The Fool is always about beginnings.

Here's another 'beginning' that may interest some of you. I was thinking of re-vamping my non-fiction book on how not to write - The ABC's of How NOT to Write Speculative Fiction. The book will cover an A to Z span of all the writing errors I've encountered as an On Spec editor over the last twenty years. When I looked at the book yesterday, I realized there was so much more I wanted to say compared to what I wrote seven years ago. If I were to revise it in one go, it would take me several months to finish it. Sooooo...I've decided to post the ABC's as I rewrite them here, on Suzenyms. If you want some writing tips, or you want to make sure you're not committing the errors I'll be posting about, or if you're already error-savvy and have things you want to contribute for everyone's benefit, please feel free. Once I'm done, I may put all the new posts in a book and sell it on Amazon. So far, the book has had two small printings through On Spec, so why not publish it as an e-book?

And while we're on the subject of tarot cards, my story Evergreen (soon to be published in the Urban Green Man Anthology, Edge Publishing) opens with a tarot reading. Check out the link if you want to know more about the anthology or you'd like to pre-order. The collection is set to launch this August in Calgary at When Words Collide. I'll be featuring co-editors Adria Laycraft and Janice Blaine in a guest interview in the next week or so.

Next Post: Publicists, Part Three: What 'Exactly' Can a Publicist Do For Me, and How Much Will It Cost? by Rachel Sentes.

Stay tuned.