Stains On The Page - Everything else

The Sky Painter

2010-06-03T11:28:00.000-07:00

The Sky Painter has been released in this months joyful!

It can be found here: http://www.joyfulonline.net/fiction.htm

Monthly Roundup - February

2010-02-28T17:11:00.000-08:00

And so here we are at the end of February - presently I'm writing this in March, but with the time-zones its still February in other places.

This month I submitted one piece of work, which I haven't heard back about yet and have edited multiple other pieces which when the markets open will be sent out once more.

It was a quiet month in some ways partly because I spent a lot of the time researching markets rather then creating the pieces for them. Next month I plan on writing them though this coming month is going to be extremely hectic for a number of reasons not least because I'm back stage at a play for a good part of it.

I have half a non-fiction piece done now I've just got to get that finished and edited before looking for a home for it. So I'm going to spend March doing what I can when I can but I'm not going to be too hard on myself if as many things as I like don't get done.

Monthly Roundup

2010-01-25T09:17:00.000-08:00

So it's very almost the end of the first month of 2010. The days seem to fly by so fast these days!

In an attempt to post more regularly and also to make myself more accountable to the amount of things I write I am going to attempt to put up a roundup of each month as it happens on here, even if I don't actually get anything done. I haven idea how successful this will be but we shall see.

January:

Well writing wise this has been a thin month. I have a few pieces bubbling around which I plan on actually getting down on paper soon (maybe even actually in this month since we do have a week left).

Though not writing doesn't mean I'm not doing anything, I am and have been sending out submissions all over the place, though I don't have the numbers to hand to put up here. I've also had a few rejections which I plan to work over and send out again soon.

I've got a few pieces of writing on the computer that I'm going to run through and polish off before sending out but I don't think I'll get them done till February what with everything else I have on the go right now (impending deadlines for Nicole). I also have a few ideas of stories that I want to work on or at least plot out anyway and see where they go, might even be longer then my normal pieces but we shall see.

So January was really a semi-unproductive month...next month will be better!

2009 Round Up

2010-01-11T07:46:00.000-08:00

Since 2010 has now turned up I thought I'd put a quick round up of last years submissions and acceptances.

Fiction pieces submitted (longer then 1,000 words): 0
Sudden Fiction pieces submitted (pieces less then 1,000 words): 4
Acceptances: 2
Rejections: 4
Total: submissions: 4

Honey and all things Autumn

2009-11-07T08:17:00.000-08:00

So the leaves are more or less now off the trees, if they haven't managed to fall on their own the winds have certainly helped.

And since it is autumn my short story Honey is out with joyful!

Honey

The link will take you to the main story page, Honey is the third story down.

I hope you are all having a good autumn and are keeping wrapped up warm when out enjoying the crisp air.

Research

2009-09-12T21:52:00.000-07:00

Writing is a funny thing. I tend to write in a lot of different genre's (as you will see if you look at the various journals I have. As of a result I tend to have many pieces on the go at once and am often found switching between them all.

With each new piece there is research to be done and a single week can find me looking up information on all sorts of things.

For example this week found me researching the following:

Spiders and the affects of bites
The various cuts from a pig
A varied number of adult bedroom activities
Fennec Foxes, as well as various other breeds
The average earnings for a bank teller
Weight and Height of an average male
Graphic Novels

I have no idea what next week will bring but one of the things I love about being a writer is where the next piece of research will take you. You never know quite where you'll end up.

Works in Progress

2009-09-09T08:14:00.000-07:00

This is for me to keep a record on what I've been working on recently and to show I've not just totally vanished. All word count maximum are just that so the piece might not end up that long, the title mentioned is also the working title so don't expect the end piece to have the same one.

This post will be kept updated so don't forget to keep checking it.

A Day Like No Other

Read Between the Lines

Blue and White Stripped Curtains

2009-06-20T12:50:00.000-07:00

The story 'Blue and White Stripped Curtains' can now be found here:

http://www.joyfulonline.net/2009fictionarchives.htm

The story was written during a time when I was pondering death and moving on. There comes a time when people have to let go and focus on the positive side and the remember the life the person lived and not their passing.

I hope I captured the positiveness of the story.

I very rarely get inspired to write such stories but this one was written at the time of my mother visiting for the first time in years and I was in a very contemplative state of mind.

Pen-names

2009-04-15T06:50:00.000-07:00

A lot of people recently have asked me why it is I use multiple pen-names so I thought I'd explain a little.

Many authors use pen-names to keep their identity hidden or to aid positioning in stores...or to keep genres separate. When I first began to write I knew I didn't just want to remain in one genre and so I made the decision to use different pen-names for the different genres since they are so vastly different. I was also having a mild name crisis where the name I was born with no longer seemed to fit me and so it seemed a perfect way of trying out different names.

As of a result I have multiple names depending on the genres.

Nicole Gestalt is the pen-name I use for my more adult fiction
Heidi Morbannaon I use for my fantasy and science fiction pieces
Heidi Cook I tend to use for anything that doesn't fit in the above two

It's not something I use to deceive people nor do I use it to hurt or confuse people it just makes sense for me to keep everything separated whilst at the same time trying out different names.

I do have other pen-names in use but those are the main three so far.

Ideas

2009-03-20T06:55:00.000-07:00

Ideas for stories can come from anything and everything. Many of my oddest pieces have come from just a glimpse of someone sat in their car in an animated conversation or a dog running across the road. I often just sit down with the pad of paper and pen in hand and let the story write itself starting with just a few words.

Yes planning and plotting has its advantages but there is nothing more liberating for me then to just free form write and see where the story ends up.

Give it a go sometime, even if the story can't be used an idea might come from it.

The obligatory first post

2009-02-22T15:16:00.000-08:00

Well here we are, a fresh page and a new start. Well in a way anyway.

Stains On The Page is my new writing journal set up for the work I have published under the name Heidi Cook. I am a full time writer and artist although but until recently all my writing work has been published under the name Nicole Gestalt (which is my erotic pen name).

Coming in May is my first piece being published under my actual name and so I thought it...or at least the name deserved its own journal since it will not be the last piece.

So...well that's the reason for this post (why are first posts so awkward?), and the journal.