Magic Forgotten VBT

Blurb:

Magic Forgotten is an Adult Urban Fantasy set in Eastern PA. It is the story of a paraplegic, freelance writer who has withdrawn from the world only to be dragged back out by the appearance of two strangers in his back yard.  They are a Sidhe, the old elves of England, and a human wizardess, a captive of the elf, and they are here to take over the world. The writer and the wizardess have to stop the elf from achieving his plans.

Excerpt:

Dan awoke with a splitting headache.

This was not surprising considering he was seated at his desk with his head resting on the computer keyboard. The corner of the escape key pressed into his forehead hard enough to leave an impression.

“At least they left the computer.” He mused as he tried to look around at the room. Everything seemed to spin as he moved. He lifted a hand to his forehead as he groaned in pain. His groan stopped as he felt something imbedded in the skin just above his nose, between his eyebrows. He probed with his fingers, trying to judge what it was. Smooth and oval, was all he could tell by touch. As he lowered his hand to look at his fingers for any residue, he noted something on the back of his wrist. Both wrists, he soon saw, had oval green gems the size of a nickel imbedded in the skin, just above the joint where it did not impair movement. As far as he could tell by touch, they matched the stone in his forehead. The sickly green color did little to help Dan’s queasy stomach.

         

His computer screen caught his attention as he examined his wrist. On the screen was a logo Dan did not immediately recognize, a sign-on for a database he had never entered before, to his knowledge. Looking from his hands to the screen, Dan wondered: had he had been typing under someone else’s control and accessed something he wasn’t supposed to see?

“Oh, shit. Steven King strikes again.”

Persistence is a virtue- sometimes!

One truth in writing, most of the time, is the more you write, the better a writer you become. Anyone who has written for a newspaper knows that after a time, meeting deadlines and getting your articles completed becomes almost a reflex and you can complete your tasks in a competent and qualified manner on a regular basis.

But the persistence of writing can also be a handicap if you find yourself getting fixated on a single project.

A short story that has been rejected time after time by a wide variety of magazines, may just need to be placed on a back burner for a while and then taken out and redone in some way.  If that many folks think it’s not quite up to snuff, there might be a good reason for it. To keep sending it out might be persistence, but it may also show a lack of willingness to take a good look at the story and see what else might need some adjustment other than the name of the magazine on this latest submission.

The same goes for a novel that has been submitted ad nauseum and is continually rejected.  While it is true that some pieces just need to find the right market, sometimes that right market may not yet exist and it’s time to make some changes.

One danger of blindly resubmitting a manuscript and waiting for the response is the dead time in between those events.  If you have something submitted, good for you.  The next step is to work on something else.

An article written in a popular writing magazine many years ago (I don’t recall either which magazine or who the author was- sorry) stated that all writers should follow what was called, in that article, The Rule of Twelve. Basically this only works for short fiction or non-fiction unless you are an amazing writer who can write twelve books in a year. The key is that a good writer should have twelve submissions out in the field at any time.  By doing this you accomplish several different goals. First: the more you write, the better you get. Second: if you have written twelve different stories you are exhibiting your ability to write in a variety of subjects, since twelve of the same story does not work for most magazine submission processes. Third: The shotgun approach does work, most times. Send enough stuff out against the wall and something will stick eventually (Add your own nouns as appropriate).

Persistence in continuing to write is a good thing.  Persistence in focusing on a single project to the exclusion of anything else is not a good thing for any writer. That tight a focus on one project will cause a collapse when the next rejection is received and many writers stop at that point in total frustration.

Don’t stop writing.  Be versatile.  Be multi-themed.  Try new things.

And above all: Keep Writing!

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Author Bio and Links:

A lifelong Pennsylvania resident, Jack began a love of books sitting amid the mystery of hospitals and medical paraphernalia. Mythology of all cultures and a fascination with martial philosophies led to King Arthur, the knights of the round table and an array of science fiction and fantasy authors that had a strong impact on his life.

Real life got in the way of a writing career to start, but thirty years in the life and medical insurance field led Jack to a job as a stringer for local newspapers and writing for medical and insurance journals. In addition to years in the insurance field Jack also has fifteen years experience as a journalist and freelance writer, and has even won a Keystone Press Award (1998) for his journalistic efforts. Jack has written on a wide variety of subjects and keeps his hand in medical and insurance matters on a daily basis.

In addition to newspaper reporting and magazine articles, Jack has written articles for a variety websites--some under his own name and some as a behind-the-scenes contributor. Jack's first short fiction piece, a novella, was serialized in an old BBS site in 1992, with the first hard copy magazine story arriving in 1993. Four dinner theater plays written by Jack have been produced and performed for local theater in Eastern Pennsylvania. His novels are now coming to light with the release of There Are Giants In This Valley published by Archebooks Publishing.

With experience as a journalist, short story writer, playwright and novelist, Jack often speaks at writer's conferences, to writer's groups and to school gatherings. If you are looking for a speaker on esoteric subjects, Jack probably has something tucked away in a folder for the occasion.

He lives in eastern Pennsylvania with his supportive wife, a squad of feline editors, and an array of edged weapons to inspire his works.

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