Babylon Tales | Nathan Weaver, author

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Me0aYMZtzQ[/embed]

Writers receive a great deal of rejection in life. All writers are convinced their stories are the cotton candy of carnival desires. That their stories are so savory and sweet that they melt on your tongue when devoured. And why not? Writers bleed words into sentences, into paragraphs, into chapters, into sections, into parts, into books, into series of books. After hours, days, weeks, months, years of slaving away at the story, they don't want to submit stories and have them unceremoniously rejected. In the least someone could make a big deal out of it, but nope. Just. Rejection.

Today's musical writing prompt is a real treat. It comes from Kaleida, who I've only recently discovered, and who have some amazing music. I discovered them through Keanu Reeves' recent flick John Wick. They had a song, titled "Think", used during the film's soundtrack. It stood out for me, like many things in that movie. It's a great movie. But any rate... I have since listened to other ditties by Kaleida, and can confirm it is great stuff, especially for writing development.

Here is their cover of the song "Take me to the River". This is one of those songs that I like to put on, close my eyes and let the story come to me. And when I find a song that works like that for me, I have to share it. I have to let the world know, this is an amazing song. So, prepare yourself to write.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaW4pv-1YDA[/embed]

Get to work. Write, my puppies, write!

I can recall back in high school and college that style was discussed as if it was some strange magic. Only those with the certain mixture of blood could actually achieve true style. And to do that, you had to write so many words, every day, for years and years, before you could unlock the magic inside your veins.

I would like to speak briefly about style, and also dispel the notion that style is magic.
What is Style?
I could cheat and steal someone else's definition, but I've always found it's better to learn about something through experience and then write your own definition. The definitions others give you should serve as starter points, but should not be the end of your learning.

Style is a collection of habits. Habits can be changed. Some habits are bad, some good. Some good can be abused.

A writer's style is really just the sum of their experience, collected into various habits they developed through their writing experiences. The good habits are the things you hold…

Been re-watching the Death Wish movies. These are like R-rated made-for-TV movies. The cheese factor is off the grid. Don't get me wrong, I love them.

Emily Stuart is victim #6. She didn't hesitate to be put on ice when I showed her my card for the project at Stone Spiral on a Wednesday night. You can review the previous entries here.

You can learn more about the gig and sign up yourself at this link.
Download the Files
You can read the short story included in this blog post, or by following this link and downloading the format of your choosing (epub. mobi, or PDF), and then simply read in your favorite reader or device. 
Emily Stuart
Emily is half of the band Catching the Westbound, the other half being her boyfriend Andy. They play a mixture of folk, blues and mountain gospel. They're really good, you should totally follow the link to their website and give them a listen. But that's besides the point.

[caption id="attachment_622" align="alignnone" width="660"] The real Emily Stuart.[/caption]

I've known Emily since about January or so of this year, when I started attending an open mic at Ston…

What'd I say? What'd I say?



Get those arms ready, it's time to do some swimming and shake what your mama gave ya. Why your mama gave it to you, I don't know, but that's what they say, which is ridiculous because I can shake my hips waaaay better than my wife can. So, if my son inherits the gift, it'll be, "Shake what your daddy gave ya!"







Dancing awesomeness alert: Those dancers in blue at the end...... holy shin splints, Batman!





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLi5PNasbvA

Writing is like mowing the grass with a riding mower. Editing is like mowing the grass with tweezers.



#truth   #amediting   #writing  

I Will Kill You for $5



The project continues. As some of you may know, and others may not, I have been doing a writing project through Fiverr where folks can pay me $5 to write a short story or flash fiction with them in it as the lead character who gets (you guessed it) killed. I publish the story on my blog when it's finished, with download links for free and DRM free eBooks (in both mobi and epub).







My goal is to build up enough for an eBook anthology of these. So far I have 5 stories in the can, and am working on a 6th at the moment (this new one is a science fiction and horror blend).







AND, knowing some of you love to use Wattpad, I am now compiling the stories on Wattpad as a singular book. The link is attached. This will make it easy to follow along, if you want.







Wattpad link:



https://www.wattpad.com/story/46686099-i-will-kill-you-for-5







You can sign up here:https://www.fiverr.com/s2/e8aadbb4d0