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WIP: Teaser From "Red in Tooth and Cog"

This is what I’ve been working on today. It’s a lot closer to being done that it was.

This is how Renee lost her phone and gained an obsession.

She was in the park near work. It was a sunny day, on the edge of cold, the wind carrying autumn with it like an accessory it was trying on before settling for it for good.

She set her phone down on the bench beside her as she unfolded her bento box, levering back metal flaps to reveal still-steaming rice, a quivering piece of tofu.

Movement caught her eye. She pulled her feet away as a creature leaped up onto the bench slats beside her, an elastic band snap’s worth of fear as it grabbed the phone, half as large as the creature itself, and moved to the other end of the bench.

The bento box clattered as it hit the concrete, rice grains spilling across the grey.

She’d thought it an animal at first, but it was actually a small robot, a can-opener that had been greatly and somewhat inexpertly augmented, modified. It had two corkscrew claws, and grasshopper legs made from nutcrackers to augment the tiny wheels on its base that had once let it move to hand as needed in a kitchen. Frayed raffia wrapped its handles, scratchy strands feathering out to weathered fuzz. Its original plastic had been some sort of blue, faded now to match the concrete beneath her sensible shoes.

The bench jerked as the robot leaped again, moving behind the trash barrel, still carrying her phone. She stood, stepping over the spilled rice to try to get to the phone, but the leaves still on the rhododendrons thrashed and stilled, and her phone was gone.

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"(On the writing F&SF workshop) Wanted to crow and say thanks: the first story I wrote after taking your class was my very first sale. Coincidence? nah….thanks so much."

~K. Richardson

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Networking with Purpose and Sincerity

Pebbles on the BeachIt’s natural for writers to want to spread word of our work. We all realize that, short of hiring a publicist, we’re our own best champions. But if we go too far, or are too single-minded in that pursuit, we can come off as boorish and arrogant.

To do it successfully, keep some things in mind.

  • Push the good stuff. In an ideal world, everything you have appearing is amazing and wonderful, but if your experience is closer to mine, some stories are stronger than others. Pick the best, and when you’re mentioning that you’re eligible for something, point to those and not to an exhaustive list of everything published that year. Presumably you’ve got a bibliography available somewhere on your website (here’s mine, for example), and if anyone wants to see everything you produced, they can check that out.
  • Pay it back, in spades. Want other people to feel inclined to spread word of your stuff? Then make sure you’re doing it for them. If you read a story you like online, point other people to it in a blog post or on whatever social network you use. Drop the author a note and say why you liked it. Don’t sit back and expect glory to come your way, whether or not it’s well-deserved. Make nominations and recommendations, and vote. Go to other people’s readings. If you’ve got to pass up an opportunity, try to steer it towards someone that needs it. You don’t need to be insincere about any of this. Praise the stuff you like, and if you’re having trouble finding it, you should be looking harder.
  • Monitor and maintain connections. Pay attention to other people’s events and celebrate their victories. Just be a decent human being, and life will be better overall (at least, in my experience. If you’re a personality type damaged by human interaction, take all of this with a suitably-sized grain of salt.) This is part of paying it back, really, but it’s more than that. It’s being aware of the people around you. I stress it because I’m bad about it and it’s something I’ve been trying to be extra mindful of lately.
  • Listen more than you talk. This helps with maintaining connections. Remember that sometimes communication isn’t about what’s being said, but about the act of performing it. Time is one of our most valuable commodities – to say to someone that you want to share yours is a valuable thing. (But at the same time, remember that other people’s time is just as valuable to them. What you view as quality time spent with them, they may think of as time they could be spending on something else.)
  • Eyes on the prize. As with so many other things in life, time spent doing this is time spent not writing. If you’re thinking of networking as a career-building activity, make sure you’ve got an actual career to build on. The greatest network in the world won’t do you much good unless you’re actually producing something.

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Links From Blogging 101 Class - Facebook and Twitter Resources

More links from the Blogging 101 class, this time dealing with Facebook and Twitter.

Mentioned in class:
Facebook news ““ allfacebook.com
How to Stop Facebook from Posting Recent Activity to the News Feed – http://www.allfacebook.com/facebook-recent-activity-2010-01

Useful:
7 Things Facebook Should Do To Increase Security: http://mashable.com/2011/07/19/facebook-security/
How to Avoid a Facebook Photo Tagging Disaster – http://www.allfacebook.com/facebook-photo-tagging-2009-12
How to Fix Facebook’s Sidebar Chat: http://www.allfacebook.com/how-to-fix-facebooks-sidebar-chat-2011-07
How to Manage Your Facebook Relationships with Friends Lists – http://www.allfacebook.com/facebook-friend-lists-2009-05
How to Optimize Your Brand’s Facebook Page for Search Engines: http://www.readwriteweb.com/biz/2011/04/optimize-your-brands-facebook-page-for-search-engines.php
More Americans Are on Facebook Than Have a Passport: http://techcrunch.com/2011/07/22/more-americans-are-on-facebook-than-have-a-passport/
Why You Need Facebook’s Like Button on Your Site: http://www.allfacebook.com/why-you-need-facebooks-like-buttons-on-your-site-2011-03

TWITTER RESOURCES

Mentioned in class:
Hashtags: http://www.hashtag.org
Backing up Tweets: http://tweetake.com/
Metrics: http://twitter-friends.com
Schedule updates: http://twuffer.com/
Share pictures: http://www.twitpic.com

Useful:
Are Twitter Chats Part of Your Social Media Strategy?: http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/twitter-chats/
Are You Extending Your Tweets? Then You’re Missing The Point: http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/are-you-extending-your-tweets-then-youre-missing-the-point_b7659
Documentary about Twitter: http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/a-documentary-about-twitter-staffed-by-twitter-users-and-crowdsourced-on-twitter_b8950
Happy Fifth Birthday, Twitter: http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/happy-fifth-birthday-twitter-congrats-on-your-600k-new-users-who-signed-up-yesterday_b11567
How to Boost Your Google Rank with Twitter: http://oneforty.com/blog/how-to-boost-your-google-rank-with-twitter/
How to Join a Twitter Hashtag Chat: http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/how-to-join-a-twitter-hashtag-chat_b1650
Secrets to Getting 50,000 Followers on Twitter: http://www.webinknow.com/2011/02/the-secret-to-getting-50000-followers-on-twitter.html
Three Tips for Writing a Killer Twitter Bio to Get Targeted Followers : http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/3-tips-for-writing-a-killer-twitter-bio-to-get-targeted-followers_b133
Top 10 Twitter Tools for WordPress Blogs (2010): http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/top-10-twitter-tools-for-wordpress-blogs_b40
Tweeting Often and On Weekends is More Effective: http://www.readwriteweb.com/biz/2011/03/tweeting-often-and-on-weekends.php
Twitter 101: Why Use Hashtags?: http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/twitter-101-why-use-hashtags_b2571
What to Do (And What Not To Do) If You Regret a Tweet: http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/what-to-do-and-what-not-to-do-if-you-regret-a-tweet_b4327
What Twitter’s Good At, In Light of Google+: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/07/what-twitters-good-at-in-light-of-google-plus/241791/
What’s In a Name: Twitter Was Almost Called Jitter or Twitch: http://techland.time.com/2011/07/18/whats-in-a-name-twitter-was-almost-called-jitter-or-twitch/
Why Favstar.fm Should Be Part of Your Twitter Strategy: http://www.mediabistro.com/10000words/favstar-fm-twitter-strategy_b3848
Why Google+ Won’t “Kill” Twitter: http://techland.time.com/2011/07/13/why-google-wont-kill-twitter/
Why Some Twitter Hashtags Take Off and Others Fail:
http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/why-some-hashtags-take-off-and-others-fail_b3003
Why You Can’t Ignore Your Twitter Background: http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/why-you-cant-ignore-your-twitter-background_b3414
Why You Need to Create a Tweet Schedule: http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/why-you-need-to-create-a-tweet-schedule-now_b1514
5 Reasons Why You Should Be on Twitter Even If You’re Already on Facebook: http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/5-reasons-why-you-should-be-on-twitter-even-if-youre-already-on-facebook_b3012
5 Twitter Metrics Beyond Follower Count: http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/5-twitter-metrics-beyond-follower-count_b4312
5 Ways to Stand Out on Twitter: http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/5-ways-to-stand-out-on-twitter_b2504
14 Tools of Highly Effective Twitter Users (2010): http://hyder.me/social-media/14-tools-of-highly-effective-twitter-users/

Effective Use of Twitter for Promotion
5 Steps to Going Viral on Twitter: http://www.copyblogger.com/go-viral-on-twitter/
Radio Shack’s Twitter Campaign: http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/an-anatomy-of-a-great-twitter-campaign-radio-shacks-ifihadsuperpowers-promoted-trend_b93

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