The Good (Short Fiction), the Bad (YouTube), and the Ugly (Editing Process)

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As you probably guessed from the title, this entry is a mixed bag of news.

(CAUTION: This entry also contains strong language!)
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THE GOOD:

I’ve been derping around with the Submission Grinder, a wonderful tool created by Diabolical Plots to help writers weed through the mountain of online magazines without having to check every single one on the net personally. Just fill in some parameters for the story you are trying to sell and BOOM! There’s a good chance something will come up that will be useful to you. I’m still playing round robin with my pair of short stories, and while I know I should be writing more, nothing has really come to mind. However, I stumbled across a book called The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction. I’d seen the term pop up before, but hadn’t really looked into it. (It’s possible that “flash fiction” sounded too much like “slash fic” for me.) Apparently, flash fiction is a term for “short short stories.” Although the lengths vary from publication to publication, flash fiction is usually less than 2,000 words. So, I decided to try my hand at it, since there is apparently a huge market for it. It’ll be an interesting challenge, but I actually already wrote down a rough draft for an idea and will work on refining it. Wish me luck!
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2015: The Year in Review

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Okay, seriously, who keeps making off with all this time? Feels like the year just got started and we’re already on the cusp of 2016! (And from what I’ve heard, this sense of time distortion only gets worse… ugh.)

I am definitely in a better place at the end of 2015 than I was last year. Many of my 2014 goals have been reached, and it feels like I’ve got a better handle on life in general, which is a massive relief! I want to give a huge thank-you to all of my friends, readers, subscribers, and followers. You make this all worth-while.

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Throwback Thursday is coming!

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Hi everyone!

I wanted to announce that I have started converting older entries from The Cat’s Cradle into Audio Editions. Every other Thursday, one of these older entries will be uploaded to The Cat’s Cradle‘s YouTube channel. I have created a separate page on my website called “Audio Editions” which compiles a list of links to those recordings so you don’t have to scroll through the entire blog looking for a particular entry. You can find it next to my “Editing Services” page on the top right hand side of my blog. At the same time, I will also add the link to the respective text entry, and post a link on Twitter with the hashtag #ThrowbackThursday. You can expect the first of the #ThrowbackThursday Audio Editions to be released on January 15th.

Also, I am taking a break from writing fan fiction in January. However, I have asked my readers and watchers from Fanfiction.net to vote on which story they would like me to work on next. I have several fan fics that have been languishing as “works in progress” for years, and I would like to complete them before I start posting up any new projects. All of those stories will be completed; the only question is in what order? Should I work on my Inuyasha fan fic first, or continue with Naruto or maybe Fullmetal Alchemist… you get the picture. If any of my blog readers would like to take a vote, there are a few ways you can do so. If you have an account on Fanfiction.net, go to my Starsister12 profile and vote in the poll or send me a PM. You can also send me a tweet @kvclements or leave a comment below. Voting is open until January 31st.

That’s all the updates for now, and I hope you’ll tune in next Monday for a more substantial post!

The Cat’s Cradle Audio Edition!

Click HERE for the Audio Edition!

After years of research and development (or, more accurately, about three hours on YouTube), I finally tried recording one of my older entries from The Cat’s Cradle. Wonder of wonders, it worked! Sort of. Since I won’t be able to do a more substantial entry this week, I wanted to take this opportunity and make some introductions.

For those of you just tuning in, I’m Kat Clements, a fantasy author-in-progress. The Cat’s Cradle is my beta website and blog where I discuss topics related to writing, storytelling, fantasy, science fiction, and other geek-related material. For the past three years, my entries have been solely text-based, but now I’ve decided to create audio versions for people who either don’t have the time or inclination to read from the computer and for those with visual impairments.

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