Thursday, January 06, 2011

Introduction time!

Sign up for the challenge below - or just go ahead and do it in this thread!

The Koala is feeling quite smug about all her new victims, sorry, friends. And so many of my old favourites are back on blood, sorry, board.

So I thought it was time for some introductions. And points! Yes, the Koala is feeling all fluffy and loving for the start of the year (this will not last). One point to everybody who posts an introduction - no more than 100 words about your sweet self and your writing.

I'll even do it myself...

29 comments:

Angie said...

Hello, my name is Angie. [wave] I write m/m romance and erotica in various subgenres (SF, urban fantasy, paranormal, contemporary) and some mainstream SF and fantasy.

I'm a dedicated pantser, although I'll take some notes as I go if the story runs long -- characterization stuff, worldbuilding notes, anything I come up with at one point and don't want to contradict myself on later. I've tried outlining but it doesn't work for me; it kills the story, as though doing a full outline uses up all the story stuff. :/

Angie

Lauren K said...

Hi, I’m Lauren and I’m bad at introductions. I mostly write YA and NA but I enjoy reading and occasionally writing stuff in many genres. When I was 12 I had a poem published in a Poetry.com anthology. And it only cost me the price of the book! Lol.
I have a degree in Anthropology and a rotisserie oven. I’ve never used either one. I’m currently a stay-at-home mom living in upstate New York. I love Indian food, Canadian radio stations, and British TV. I just heard my lucky song on the radio so I know this is going to be a good year. I’m looking forward to meeting all of you.
-Lauren

Merry Monteleone said...

Oh, free points! *rubs hands with glee*

Hello. My name is Merry and I'm a writer. (why do I have visions of a room full of other writers sighing in sad understanding and saying, "Hi, Merry."?)

I have a middle grade under the bed book and have not finished the YA I've been working on FOREVER, so that's the goal for this year. I also have worked freelance writing articles and web content, and would like to do a bit more of that as well. I'm a reformed pantser, but I'm still not crazy bout the whole outline thing.

jjdebenedictis said...

I am Goblin, she of the cast iron pincers and piercing laughter. I boast supple green skin, glossy waves of armpit hair, and a tongue barbed enough to rasp the skin off a rhino.

My writing falls exclusively into the weighty and somber category known as "Stuff wot is made up by a nutbar," and often features characters who have succulent, firmly-rooted toenails in need of plucking.

I use carrots to keep my nostrils limber, electricity to tighten my buttocks, and butter-like simpering to appease koalas.

Robin B. said...

Hi. I'm Robin. I've finished my first novel, and I like most of it, but have niggling feelings it could use another sweep, so I'm leaving it alone for a while. This first one is in the category of what I think of as accessible literary fiction. I've had two short stories published that are excerpts from this novel. I almost stroked out (not really, but still...) when Smokelong Quarterly accepted one of these stories less than a week after another, lesser-known lit mag had accepted it. (I'd sent a note to the Smokelong editors, but they missed it...) Anyway, this bugged the stuff out of me, but there you go.

So now I'm in the middle of writing a thriller, because I absolutely love this genre. My critique group has seen the first chapter, I have character sketches, brief scenes, and a plotline, and in six weeks I'm bowing out of my day job to drill down and get this novel finished.

I'm looking forward to having the time to write that I've been craving.

Also have a few short stories prepped that I am going to send out.

McKoala said...

*sheaths claws momentarily*

I'm a vicious marsupial, sharing a eucalypt in deepest Sydney with Mr Koala, two Koalings and two dogs. I usually work as a copywriter in the advertising/design industry, but at the moment I'm impersonating a marketer (turns out it's fun to boss the copywriters around...).

I write YA and adult, usually with elements of horror/supernatural. Just can't seem to stop scaring myself. I've had horror shorts published and also several stories in women's magazines. One day, I'm hoping to see a novel in bookshops with 'By McKoala' on the cover in big embossed gold letters - but what will the title be...

Sylvia said...

Hi! I'm Sylvia and I'm generally not where I'm supposed to be. At the moment, I'm sitting in the fog in Hertfordshire.

I am a part-time freelance writer: I write about gaming and aviation to justify my existence and I indulge in fiction in between. I keep meaning to write mainstream and ending up at dark fantasy. I have one novel completed and I wrote the first draft of my second novel as a part of the 2010 Koala challenge. This year I really want to get it edited and out the door.

I have worked as a plastics company representative, assault centre PR person, bookkeeper, stereo sales, secretary, tour guide, marketing manager and for a few years I ran my own design agency. I studied Computational Linguistics at University. I don't know what I want to be when I grow up.

Phoenix Sullivan said...

Oh, hi. I'm Phoenix. I (re)-write queries on my blog. Unfortunately, that isn't a recognized genre, so I also write *thisclose* novels that tend to blend fantasy, SF, historical, and/or thrillerish elements. I live on a small farm in North Texas with a few horses, goats, chickens and other beasties.

Just this week I officially retired from the corporate world where I made a living as a writer/editor/marketer/pain-in-the-butt. I feel compelled to say I’m only 51 because 1) I’m vain and 2) as proof you CAN make a decent living writing -- just maybe not by writing novels.

iasa said...

Hiya. I'm Iasa. I split my time between Belize and the States, Texas currently. I also split my time working as an archaeologist and a house cleaner.

I've never seen any of The Godfather trilogy.

iasa said...

Oh yeah, and if the terseness of my last comment wasn't clue enough, I write short fiction, sci-fi, horror, noir.

Jenna Jones said...

Hello, I'm Jenna. I write m/m romance-slash-erotica type stuff, mostly contemporary with occasionally branching out to fantasy/paranormal, hopefully more of that in the future. I have a very big list of things I want to write this year and I keep getting distracted by shiny things.

I also don't know what to have to breakfast or what I'm wearing to work today.

Robin B. said...

Wow -reading all of these fun comments, I now see that I absolutely have to get my butt outta Beige Cubicle Land, and soon. Mine was boring as hell.

I think all of this beige has leeched me dry. But not much longer...

writtenwyrdd said...

Okay, I'll present my backside for shredding again.

Writtenwyrdd aka D Lynn Frazier, woman of many interests and a lot of laziness, apparently. But when I manage to write, it's speculative fiction of some flavor or other. I think I specialize in starting novels and not finishing them, as I have about 35 of those! So I am presently (and until I retire most likely) focusing on short stories.

I'm getting an English Setter puppy next week, so that means I'll be even more distracted than Farmville on Facebook and just a huge pile of books to read can make me. I'd blame the Job That Ate My Life but I can't in good conscience do that; it just gives me few days off...but I still have *evenings*!

writtenwyrdd said...

I should add that, a few years back, the Job That Ate My Life really did: we were working 70-100 hours per week for a year or so there. Long story I can't go into in order to keep the work and writer things separate.

Mar Durango said...

Hi, I'm Mar. I found out about the Koala Challenge through Angie's blog last year but never got around to signing up. I write as M. Durango and have 4 m/m short stories published, another one in submission, and a couple of novel-length works in various stages of editing & beta reading. Three years ago, I left cubical hell to work from home as a technical writer.

PJD said...

@Sylvia... assault center PR person? Did you find yourself saying things like, Oh, no, this is abuse. You want room 12 A next door? But I think I'm perhaps misinterpreting what an assault center is. I'm guessing it's not somewhere one goes to get assaulted.

Hello everyone, I'm Peter. I'm 75,000 words into the first draft of my WIP, which I expect to weigh in at a healthy 100,000. Then it will go on a crash diet and workout routine. I have completed four manuscripts prior, one of which may actually be sellable if I ever get my ass in gear. I've sold a few short stories and one poem, and my crowning achievement never to be repeated is the eminently unpublishable Unlucky 26.

In my Day Job I don my superhero outfit and raise money for charity, bringing in over $38 million in this past campaign. I live in the northern California burbs with lovely wife, two teenage boys, two cats, two cars, a white picket fence, two Macs, an iPad, five iPods, and an entire arsenal of airsoft guns and pocket knives. Last year I learned to tie a bowline, a clove hitch, and a tautline hitch. My mother drove a taxi in Las Vegas for 20 years, and I am an ordained Dudeist minister.

Sylvia said...

One of my challenges was to try to come up with a short-and-pithy name (Full name: the Sexual Assault Crisis Center of Long Beach) that didn't imply we'd help assault anyone who wanted it.

I failed. :D

Robin B. said...

Ha!!

Stevie Carroll said...

I'm Stevie, and I write m/m, f/f and m/f, often combining a mystery/investigation plot with a romance/relationship one. I had a short story published in an anthology last year: slightly quirky m/f erotic romance (in space!). I like futuristic settings, and the recent past, although I may try writing contemporary one day.

Currently I have: one finished novel in need of revising, one standing at 55,000 words as of January 1st that I hope to have finished by Easter, and another completed novel that I want to start editing after Easter.

Whirlochre said...

I like to throw all my ideas into one basket and watch them squirm to survive. Some kill each other, some kiss, some get to hang out on the fringes of the Fiction Tub looking lost, but when I get a sense of themes and plots coalescing, I outline, fill in dialogue, attempt to "plot".

The results are typically absurd slipstream fantasy variants, funny in the main, but in other parts, not. One novel is out there in Lit Agent Land, battling against the austerity swipe, another is at the planning stages, and a short story that's taken me completely by surprise awaits lift-off any day now.

Sempra said...

Hi, I'm Sempra.
While I always liked to think of myself as a writer, I never wrote quite enough.

The few times I "accidentally" wrote something I ended up winning a short story award and publishing a few newspaper articles.

Since I am turning 30 this year, I want to stop do things by accident and finish my novel, (mystery-romance) and get it ready for submitting.

Sarah Laurenson said...

I'm Sarah. I mostly write light fantasy middle grade or wrist slitting reality-based young adult. I'm having trouble deciding which to focus on and, as a result, have done neither lately.

My latest YA has editors awaiting it's completion. I need a kick in the ass to get there.

I'm about to become the Regional Advisor for SCBWI-Los Angeles. It's been an interesting journey, but very time consuming. Hope to get that part whipped into better organized shape.

In my day job, I write software. My educational background is in Law Enforcement and Physics. I have no idea what I want to be when I grow up.

Sarah Laurenson said...

Oh yeah - pantser through and through.

Unknown said...

eye right and is this less than a hundredd?

Cheers Alejandro

Aniket Thakkar said...

Hello World!

There are two kinds of people who fantasise about killing others - psychopaths and mystery writers. I'm the kind that pays LESS. Who am I?

Hey, don't look at me like that! I'm a writer. Seriously, we get paid nothing.

Aherm, on a serious note - I'm Aniket, a survivor of the Koala 2010 challenge. I'm being controlled to enrol once again. If you're reading this, slap some sense into me.

I run a multi-author site www.flashfiction.in Other than that, writing had taken a back-seat recently because of all the chaos involved in starting ones own web-development firm (Yes, I love to brag about it.:D) But I look to strike some sort of balance for the fear of Koala claws. Working on a fantasy novel. Not sure if it'll ever get done though.

Ed Lawrence said...

Hi I am Ed, I have been in the business now for over 16 years. I am an experienced internet marketer and after building 20 domains I am now writing self help books for Bloggers.You can view some of my work at my Link Share Forum: http://gsccos.com/members/upload/entry.php?38-How-to-Make-a-Blog-Visible-on-Search-Engines , for a taste of my writing. You can also register there for free and post links back to your site and more! Thanks for this opportunity to enter this contest!

McKoala said...

Alejandro - aye, right. No.

Aniket - I'm watching...

Ed - *sigh*

Sarah Laurenson said...

Luckily Ed rhymes with Shred.

Hahahahahahahahahahahaha

This is going to be a fun year.

PD Singer said...

I'm Pam, also an m/m writer of mostly contemporaries and I toddled over here last year because Angie dragged shiny things.

I outline and then proceed to ignore it, which is why the current novel is twice the original projected size and (I hope) a lot more interesting. It needs a synopsis and I need a box of tissues.

I haven't made up my mind on the growing up thing.