WRITERS CO-OP: A WRITER COMMUNITY FOR YOU.

GD Deckard

, , , , , , , , , , ,
,
12 comments on OPEN FOR BUSINESS

OPEN FOR BUSINESS

The Writers Co-op Show Case allows any writer to receive feedback about their writing. Click “SHOW CASE” for details.

The Rabbit Hole anthology is accepting submissions for our fifth annual publication of speculative fiction. Click “THE RABBIT HOLE” for submission guidelines.

Your blog may be featured here. You, your writing, editing, marketing, or publishing would be of interest . Keep it around 1600 words max and submit it to GD(at)Deckard(dot)one.

Got a question about anything related to the writing life? Feel free to ask it in the comments section.

The Writers Co-op includes fiction authors, poets, editors, illustrators, magazine and book publishers.

You are most welcome to join us.

Posted by:

GD Deckard

Severely beaten as a child by a WWII hero and combat-induced-PTSD stepfather, the author, as a teen, faced the old man down with a shotgun and earned his blessing to join the military at the time Americans were learning about a country called Vietnam. The “lazy, no good son-of-a-bitch” opted out of combat and hard labor by becoming an Air Force medic, stamping out suffering and misery on Freedom’s Frontier at Clark Airbase in S.E. Asia and earning some kind of medal pinned on him personally by then Secretary of the Air Force, Harold Brown, for “Saving lives, etc.” There followed a summer in Europe ending in the first of happy marriages. Then graduation with University Honors, kids worth dying for and a career in business. Life is good. Author, The Phoenix Diary, Penguin, 2015. https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-phoenix-diary-g-d-deckard/1122175645 Founding Member, Writers Co-op. https://WritersCo-op.com Co-Editor, The Rabbit Hole anthologies. https://www.amazon.com/Rabbit-Hole-Weird-Stories/dp/1691225355/ref=sr_1_1 Founder, SciFi Lampoon Magazine. http://scifilampoon.com/ Contributing Editor, A Celebration of Storytelling https://www.amazon.com/Celebration-Storytelling-GD-Deckard/dp/1951716167 Current WIP: Code Blue and Little Deaths, stories from Clark during the Vietnam War. Recipient of the Psi Young award for Creative Biography.

12 responses to “OPEN FOR BUSINESS”

  1. mimispeike Avatar
    mimispeike

    I’m wanting to write a post for here, but I’m busy on so many fronts:

    My own ‘Maisie in Hollywood’ art, the next ‘Rabbit Hole’, the next ‘Showcase’, and I’ve asked a paper doll periodical if they would be interested in looking at a piece discussing my childhood mania for paper dolls. They said yes.

    I have to tread lightly with them. I am a big fan of plaything paper dolls that eventually (often solely because of their age) turn into collectibles. I am no fan of paper dolls created for the adult collectible market, which is what this organization (the periodical is affiliated with a collector group) specializes in.

    I’m going to have to think very carefully about what I submit. And try to make it not too obvious that the article is a promotion for the paper doll book I will shortly publish. That may not go over with them, to be used for publicity.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
    1. GD Deckard Avatar
      GD Deckard

      Excellent idea, Mimi. We wish you luck. Let us know if anything comes of this.

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply
  2. mimispeike Avatar
    mimispeike

    I’ve finished my next Showcase entry. Now I’m afraid to go back in and have another look at it. I’ll do it tomorrow.

    I’m always afraid to look at a piece just after I finish it. Anybody else the same way?

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
    1. Perry Palin Avatar
      Perry Palin

      Mimi, not afraid, but I don’t like to do it because the “look” turns into a lengthy edit which may not really improve things. After a few days and after a good night’s sleep I’ll pick it up again. Then I’ll be looking for things I can cut, and I’ll be looking for the ways the words sound together. Do the sounds of the words and the cadence of the sentences support the message?

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply
  3. mimispeike Avatar
    mimispeike

    I’ve worked up my nerve, gone back in, and fixed up what was less than wonderful.

    I’m back on the image. I expect to have my next Showcase by end of Saturday. Article and image, both difficult, but I’m almost there. Then on to the Paperdoll Review.

    That one will be a minefield. How to say what I mean and mean what I say without offending them? I dropped out of a paper doll group thirty years ago. I went to conventions and everything, even won the first place prize in a competition. I see a name on their email that sounds awfully familiar.

    I used my single name then. I’m praying they don’t realize it’s me and say, we know that one, she’s a total jerk. I couldn’t pretend to love their work. I wanted to. But I just couldn’t do it.

    And, I’d made enemies as a collector. Paper doll collecting is a dog-eat-dog business. There was a big paper show held in Hartford once a year. I drove down from Boston, hit the ground running as soon as the doors opened. One year, I came across a vendor with eight or nine very desirable uncut sheets of an early twentieth century Raphael Tuck paper doll. I bought them all.

    Just behind me was a collector I knew from Boston. She begged me to sell her half of them, and I refused. She probably despised me for the rest of her life. She was twenty years older than me. I don’t worry about running into her again at a convention. A few other collectors I beat out may still be around. I was a take-no-prisoners competitor. With paper dolls, you have to be. There’s so little of the really choice stuff around.

    What happened to my collection? I had some treasures. I sold them piece by piece as I needed money. My life had taken a turn for the worse.

    I’m still in anguish over the loss. Thirty years ago I made up my mind to claw back my collection (was worth big bucks then, would be worth big-big-big bucks now) by creating and selling my own dolls. Which I’m doing, as you all know. I’m still in pain, but the pain is tempered by the joy of having found my way with my own art.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. Carl E. Reed Avatar
      Carl E. Reed

      Fascinating. The dog-eat-dog, cutthroat world of . . . paper doll collecting. LOL! I don’t doubt you for a moment, Mimi. I’d like to see you use your insider knowledge here to write a short story, essay or novel centered around the people, practices and product of this savage subculture. $$$

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply
      1. mimispeike Avatar
        mimispeike

        Uh … maybe it was mainly me that was cutthroat.

        Liked by 2 people

        Reply
  4. GD Deckard Avatar
    GD Deckard

    eMail I just sent to Mimi Speike:

    Sly: The Rogue Decamps

    Hi Mimi,

    Last evening, I finished reading Sly. It is the best book I have read in a long time. On the surface, it is a delightful story of distinctive characters in a believable historical world. On a deeper level, Sly devilishly exposes the weaknesses of people in Medieval times, and, in Modern times.

    Get this out there, Mimi. The story is done. The manuscript is clean.

    This deserves a major publisher. But, when you have a completed manuscript, if you wish, let me know and I’ll happily pitch this to a small independent publisher I know.

    I certainly wish you all the best. Your years of effort have produced a stunning book.

    Your Fan,

    – GD Deckard

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. mimispeike Avatar
      mimispeike

      Thanks, GD. I do consider it finished, except, maybe for the punctuation. Maybe You’ve noticed that I mix and match italics, single quotes, double quotes, for movie titles, book titles, and speech that my characters quote in the course of their own speeches. Other stumbles also, but these are what comes to mind right now.

      So I’ll read it through again, aim for consistency of method, and call it done. Then I have to create the final cover from the mock-up I threw together four-five years ago,

      Thank you for not picking on my religious data I added in great gobs because I found it so much fun. The baptism scene especially, with the point by point “Old Catholic Rite of Infant Baptism” (for a cat, folks) is especially dear to my heart. Also: the tally of times The Virgin Mary has made us a Visitation, as reported by the New York Times.

      I roamed the web, grabbing anything neat I came across. I visited the site ‘Catholic Answers’ so many times they sent me a message. “We notice that you come here ofter. Would you care to donate to us?”

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  5. GD Deckard Avatar
    GD Deckard

    I had no difficulty with your punctuation at all. As long as you are happy with your methods, especially of dialogue, readers will be happy.

    The “Old Catholic Rite of Infant Baptism” (for a cat) is a gem! Mark Twain would have loved that.

    Here’s looking forward to a finished manuscript.
    👍

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  6. mimispeike Avatar
    mimispeike

    Folks: The first eight chapters of ‘Sly: The Rogue Decamps’ are available to be read on MyGuySly.com

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  7. durjoyroydip008 Avatar
    durjoyroydip008

    This information is really helpful, and I also found some information about how to grow business and I will love to share it with you.
    https://oyabts.com/how-to-grow-your-business-during-covid-19-pandemic/

    Like

    Reply

Leave a comment