Dreaming in the daylight
We have liftoff!
Soup’s on!
Time to rock-n-roll!
Whatever euphemism you care to use, they all mean the same thing. The HTTS Student Anthology, The Adventure of Creation, is now available for sale!
You can find it on Amazon.com either as a paperback or as a Kindle ebook. Buy early and buy often!
And, of course, I’d love to hear your feedback on my debut publication. My story is entitled, Finding Light. You’ll find me on page 186. It is published under the name Amy Padgett.
The cover for The Adventure of Creation was actually officially announced on the HTTS blog on Monday. I’m absolutely thrilled to share the news here as well.
And for those who may not be aware, I wasn’t just one of the judges – I’m fortunate enough to have a story included as well. (We didn’t vote on our own stories, and I’m humbled and pleased that my fellow mods rated my story as highly as they did.)
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At the beginning of the year the moderators for the How To Think Sideways forum (of which I am one) approached her with the idea of an anthology to celebrate the 5th anniversary of “How to Think Sideways.” Holly agreed to the idea and even added a monetary prize for the top stories. After a very, very difficult selection process, we settled on thirty-five stories. It’s a pity that we couldn’t take them all.
With the stories selected and in Holly’s hands to pick a winner, we are proudly presenting to you:
Follow a girl to the Below-World to slay the Sharkshadow, or help a timid girl to overcome the destructive criticism of her art teacher. Witness a solitary drone on Mars or a naive homunculus struggle to become human. Sew with a mother who lost her daughter in a quilt, defeat super-villains in a bank robbery with an unlikely superhero, or join a great mage in the fire.
In thirty-five imaginative stories, emerging authors present the diversity of their creativity. Each author found a different angle for the unifying theme: The Adventure of Creation. Witness the talent nurtured by writing teacher, Holly Lisle. For the 5th anniversary of her first big writing course, How to Think Sideways, this anthology features the best of her talented students in a great variety of genres.
The eBook and print book will be released on the 24th of July. Help us spread the word. If the anthology is successful, there is a good chance that we’ll do another one next year.
Photo By: Moyan Brenn – CC BY 2.0
About 4 months ago, one of the other moderators at How To Think Sideways had a fantastic idea. She suggested a student anthology to celebrate 5 years of Sideways thinking. What a fantastic idea! Since Holly’s classes are all about improving fiction writing, collecting well-written stories from her students is a great way of proving that her system works. It also has the added bonus of showcasing some talented up-and-coming writers.
As one of the moderators on the forum, I have the privilege of also being one of the judges for the anthology. With 60 stories having been submitted, this is no small undertaking. We have to pare down the selections by about half. Yikes!
We will be reading each story and compiling our scores based on 10 different criteria. I’ll admit it… I feel a tiny bit overwhelmed. I’ve always been a reader. I know what I like and I think I can tell good writing when I see it. But I’ve never done something quite like this before and I really don’t want to screw it up! I’m sure it will be fine though… it’s just the adrenaline talking.
Not only am I a judge in the contest, I’m a contestant. (Don’t roll your eyes at me that way – I have recused myself from judging that particular entry.)
But I just wanted to mention that I had a fun time writing my story for this anthology, and I was pleasantly surprised with the results. I have no doubt that I could have improved it further, but word-count limitations (2500 max), time limitations (I was up against the deadline), and a need to let go of the need to be PERFECT meant that I had to be satisfied with what I had.
But this is just one story, and I fully intend to do more. So I’ve decided that I want to write at least 5 or 6 more short stories (possibly up to 10 or 12… we’ll see how it goes) and put out my own collection. I have no idea how long that will take me, but I’m setting a tentative goal for the end of October. That would make it a Birthday present to myself. I’ll keep you posted on my progress.
