Write On the Edge! with Piper Vaughn and coming up on the show

Have you discovered author Piper Vaughn? Well, here's your chance to find a new favorite person or re-acquaint yourself with her as she answers questions about her favorite words for intimate matters, who is her ideal fictional lover, and how she uses the social security website to come up with the names for her characters. This interview will have you rolling with laughter as we play "Name that song", talked about writer's block, and how she uses google maps in her writing process. Check it out here! 

Piper's Bio . . .She wrote her first love story at eleven and never looked back. Since then, she’s known that writing was exactly what she wanted to do. She grew up in Chicago, in an ethnically diverse neighborhood, and loves to put characters of every ethnicity in her stories. Above all, she believes that everyone needs a little true love in their life…even if it’s only in a book.

Coming soon. . . Tonight (Friday, June 7th) we will be interviewing author, editor and owner of Ai press, Sedonia Guillione!!

Sedonia's Bio . . . Multi-published, award-nominated author, Sedonia Guillone lives on the water in Florida with a Renaissance man who paints, writes poetry and tells her she’s the sweetest nymph he’s ever met. When she’s not writing erotic romance, she loves watching spaghetti westerns, Jet Li and samurai flicks, cuddling, and eating chocolate. She writes both man/man and man/woman erotic romances and hopes you’ll find something here you like!

AND NEXT THURSDAY, we will feature our very first " Ask the Editor" with Kris Jacen of ManLoveRomance and FeatherWeight Press. The lines will be open for your questions for this incredibly marvelous woman who has been an editor with these presses for years. She recently edited Lost and Found, the anthology, and will be with us answering queries about everything you can think of regarding writing and the process of publishing. We are taking questions beforehand, simply email us at wtprater.jwasg@yahoo.com and we will try to ask your question, as time permits. 

And next Friday . . .C R Guiliano, author of It Takes a Village. 

Words Without Friends . . . The words I won't use.

Think twice before you speak, because your words and influence will plant the seed of either success or failure in the mind of another.  ---Napoleon Hill 


Today's blog is about words. Since I am a writer, you may have guessed that I love words. I love how some words have double entendres, while others are very certain singular in their purpose. I also love the growth of vocabulary, how it changes and evolves, just as we do. This is the main reason I love watching television. I love studying what is said and how it is said and learning creative ways to say things that have been said thousands of times over. I study the works of Joss Whedon and Shonda Rhimes and Ryan Murphy because in these works, I find the truths of life and of communication which is absolutely necessary in order to enjoy life. At least for me.
There are very few words that I absolutely hate. Words that if said in my presence will provoke what I believe to be a rational anger. I see these words as an almost immediate reflection of one's intelligence and civility. The words I am about to talk about are commonly used by some and I'm very careful to choose my battles with most people.
For instance, it's only if you're in my most select group of friends that you know never to use the words SHUT UP. These words for me automatically denote disrespect. When used, someone is trying to shut down someone else, whether it is emotionally, physically, and/or mentally. I have never had a positive reaction to these words and use them only in extreme situations where I have been pressed to the point that I generally am completely fried, and can't deal (not that that makes it okay). So, in other words, I ask that people not say these words. Hush, be quiet, even shushing me is fine but please…
Looking over the other words that have negative effect with me, I can find only a few other words that I absolutely abhor hearing. On that list are these words:

 1.) Idiot
 2.) Retard(ed)
 3.) Faggot
 4.) Nigger
 5.) Dumb
 6.)   Stupid

Now I realize that there other words that can be added to this list, but these are the five top triggers for me. I don't know if it's because they were used at a younger age negatively, but I can't think of any way that any of these words can be used to build someone up, only tear someone down.
I'm sure that some will argue that these words have their uses and that they're not as bad as I may view them but to me these words are more harmful than words like frakking, fricking, or even fucking. I would rather someone say hell or damn or even better, if you feel the need to insult someone research foreign languages. Merde means shit, but doesn't it sound prettier? And it makes you sound more intelligent.
I don't know that the world would be a prettier place or better place if we stopped using these words but I know for me that if you use these words you are showing that you have no consideration for my feelings or the energy that I fight very hard to project.
I am totally an advocate of the First Amendment, free speech all the way. But just because some things can be said doesn't mean they should be.

You can change your world by changing your words... Remember, death and life are in the power of the tongue.  --- Joel Osteen 

A writing challenge...50k in 5 days!

November is National "Write a Novel" Month. Some authors celebrate by doing what we do the best: writing! The goal is 1,667 words a day totally 50,000 words for the movie. I started off strong, and for the first five days, I did the amount required. Then I fell a little behind, doing around a thousand words a day. But then while I was editing a story for submission, I fell behind even farther in my counts. So here's my counter to that challenge. I have decided to start a new contest amongst my friends. I am so behind in my NaNo count that I'm doing "50k in 5 days". Starting Saturday morning until Wednesday night, I'm gonna aim to write 50k. Anyone else want to accept the challenge? http://www.facebook.com/events/401394156597395/

W I P Wednesday, (A Day late, BUT Not a Dollar Short!)

So . . .it's back. For a while, every Wednesday i was updating this list which is my Works in Progress list. And some people wanted me to go back to it, so here it is. Updated and pretty. And starting next weekend, I'm going to be going through the Special Calls and assigning deadlines for some of these projects. So check out the website, www.wtprater.com and get some inspiration of your own. And if you want to give feedback, cheer me on, or ask questions about any of these, please ask/comment away!

1. Exercising His Options FINISHED
2. The Question Game FINISHED and PUBLISHED
3. Two Tiny Secrets EDITING AND PUBLISHED TBD
4. A Gender Confused (2362 words) emailed updates to FabVab
5. Carnal Choices (4488 words)
6. An Alien Encounter (6234 words)
7. Another Day … (23p, 3991words) Working on BLOG
8. Across the World ---Researching
9. Meredith/ Tupla --- (612w)
10.Rainbow Rage --- (668 words)
11. Goldilocks ---Outlining, nothing new
12. A Kindness to Strangers ---Outlining, nothing new
13. The Nicest Kid --- (1669 Words)
14. The Dark Side of Day --- Over 20k, nothing new
15. My Father’s Son--- (1199 Words)
16 Broken, Not Fixed--- Outlined
17. Absolute Power ---Outlined
18. No Breeders Allowed ---(3902 words)
19. Two Week Notice --- (2657 words)
20. The Black --- (2010 words)
21. The Zombie Curse ---(586 words)
22. Still Enprisoned ---
23. A Ghost of a Chance ---(960 words)
24. The Unknown (524 words)
25. Kurt/ Roads Travelled --- A New Novel (1000 words)
26. The 2050 Series --- (3902 Words)
27. The Release of the Dragons (3178 words)
28. Shattered Mirrors --- (8559 Words)
29. Down on my Knees --- Idea formulating
30. The F Word --- Idea formulating
31. I'm Gonna Love You Through It --- Idea formulating
32. The Cool Side of the Pillow --- Idea formulating
33. Gay for Pay --- Idea formulating
34. Sponsored by . . .--- Idea formulating
35. Roads traveled --- Novel formulating

So right now, the colors are: Finished Worked on This Week Backburner New Project

Another Flash FIction Friday (Details Here) !!!

I'm declaring yet another Flash Fiction Friday on my blog. The idea is simple. . . I will give you the title/theme . . . You will write a story 100 words long (no more, no less) . . . and then we'll let the audience decide who best captured the title/theme. And guess what? There is a prize, other then maybe self-discipline and a seed for a new story, or stories. Who wants to challenge themselves and others?

The theme will be announced be announced Thursday around 4pm and ANYONE can enter a story until around 5 pm Central Time Friday. You can enter by writing a story the length stated above and emailing that story to wtprater.jwasg@yahoo.com by 5 pm Central Time Friday. I will then post all the entries on the my blog Friday evening. Ask your friends and family to come read all the entries, and vote for the best one by leaving comments (Only one vote per comment, please) . I will go through the comments and post the winner Saturday afternoon. I reserve the right to bring in other off-line judges if there are not enough comments.

****One entry per author, please****

**** Warning: If your entry is less or more than 100 words (hyphenated words are counted separately), it will not be posted. PERIOD. And I will deal with spacing issues, but otherwise, I will not edit or correct spelling or grammar. ****

  

And this week's prizes: A hand knitted scarf of purple yarn (knitted by yours personally)!


This week's theme is : What a Twisted Memory  I have . . .


Two MUSTS for this one: It must be based on a real memory AND there must be a twist.THESE ELEMENTS MUST BE PRESENT IN ALL ENTRIES!!! Just remember 100 words exactly. Have fun and get to writing!




My Example:

     The old building stood before us, as we took the campus tour. It had been gutted and empty, and waited to be reconstructed as a more current structure of itself.

     That felt a lot like my life, on my own for the first time.

     I was shocked to find someone in my group that went to my high school. He was one of the boys that tormented me for being out. Completely straight, and homophobic.

     Until less than a month later, we found a way into that empty building, and he had me pinned to the ground, sucking my cock.


SO YOU'RE ENTERING . . . Thanks! And some last minute helpful tips!

1. READ THE RULES.

2. Comment below on Thursday, saying, "I'm in" or "I wanna" or something like that so I can keep an eye out for your e---mail.

3. Email your story to wtprater.jwasg@yahoo.com by 5 pm Central Time Friday. (Voting will begin after the stories are posted, around 6 pm Friday. )

4. Have your family your family, friends, and whatever and vote for the best story (perhaps yours) by leaving comments Friday or early Saturday (voting cuts off at 6 pm Central Saturday) . If you or anyone you know can not comment, simply email me at the above email and I will count those votes before I announce anything saturday.

5. Come back Saturday after 6 pm and check out / congratulation the winner.