The word you're lookiing for is "pay"

Samuel Johnson once famously wrote that "No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money." These days, writing for non-paying markets is just part of the landscape of marketing your work, and there's no shame in it.
My attitude toward the issue of paid versus unpaid is embodied in a quote from the movie Honeysuckle Rose. "I did it for the love, but I was not above the money." (And if I'm not ashamed to admit that I paid money to see Honeysuckle Rose, I'm certainly not going to blush at admitting I sometimes give it away.
What annoys me, however, is the way some sites try to sugar-coat their non-paying status. My favorite is when, rather than admit it's a "4-the-Luv" kind of a deal, they point out you'll get "lots of exposure" and virtual "clips" you can then use to get a better (one that pays) gig.  I'm not talking about a site like BellaOnline, which doesn't pay but which does provide its editors with incredibly useful training, a lot of support for their side projects, the opportunity to put advertising on their pages and much, much more. I spent a year as a BellaOnline editor and it was a fantastic experience and I'll do it again if the right topic becomes available. (Right now BellaOnline is looking for editors to cover dozens of topics from adoption to African-American lit to Water Gardens and Women's Sports. If you're interested, go here to learn more.)
I'm talking about the brand-new literary magazines that promise pay as soon as the revenue starts rolling in. In the meantime, though, "we can't afford to monetarily compensate you." 
Whenever people use two big words in place of one small one, I start to worry. (And don't get me wrong. I am a huge word snoot. I delight in the more ornate words out there and relish precision of their use. But often, when overly flowery language is used where plain speaking should be, the writer is a) trying score points by making whoever they're talking to feel dumb; b) trying to hide something. (It's the old "baffle 'em wiht bullshit" ploy.)
If you want to say that you don't pay your contributors, just say it. You don't have to use fancy words. I'll get the message.

Picture of the Day--Owl

My brother is an amateur photographer who frequently gets great pictures of critters in his own yard. One of the best pictures he ever took was of a pair of reclusive little owls with violet eyes. Today he sent me this picture that was taken by a friend of his. He doesn't know how or why the owl ended up in someone's hands, but the picture is wonderful. (And all my brother's friends love animals, so I'm sure the owl is in good hands, so to speak.)

Planting Shakespeare--the Shakespeare Garden

The Shakespeare Garden at the Huntington Library

William Shakespeare's plays are filled with quotes about flowers, with the most famous probably being "That which we call a rose would smell as sweet" from Romeo and Juliet. Over time, gardeners developed a very special, formal version of an English garden termed a "Shakespeare garden." As the name implies, these gardens feature plants and flowers mentioned in the plays, or typical of the Elizabethan period but not mentioned.
Here in LA, there's a gorgeous "Shakespeare Garden" at the Huntington Library. (For information on the garden, go here.) There's a Shakespeare Garden in Central Park and also in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. for a list of other, public gardens, see the Wikipedia article. Shakespeare's favorite flower (at least in terms of how often he used it) was probably the rose. the Garden Web has a section on Elizabethan roses, and there are lots of forums for gardeners who want to grow heirloom roses in their own gardens.  "Elizabethan Roses" became a popular design motif for china.
Here's an excerpt from Folk-lore of Shakespeare that talks about his knowledge of plants.

Judging a Book By Its Cover

Last year I released Twelve Nights of Christmas, a collection of dark stories themed to the Christmas song "Days of Christmas." Some of the stories had originally been written for the Dark Valentine website promotion for the season, some were written especially for the book. I was pleased with the collection, especially my story "Birds of a Feather," which was my version of the "turtledove" stanza.
Sales were whatever the opposite of "brisk" is. 
(And is there a direct opposite of "brisk" the way "inept" and "adept" are linked?)
I've decided to put out a version 2.0 of Twelve Nights of Christmas (now called The 12 Nights of Christmas)  this year and I'm going to change the cover. the current cover is intriguing but isn't getting it done.I've done that before--the original cover of Toxic Reality was elegant and dark, but when Indie Author Services came up with a more "in your face" image, sales picked up. (Briskly.)
One of the beauties of epublishing is that you can change things up with relative ease. I've edited and revised the copy, I think the new cover more accurately reflect the kind of stories I write.
The new version features an image by Linda Bucklin, with design stylings by (again) Indie Author Services.
I've pulled the book from Amazon's "Select Program," and as soon as the time period of that runs out (mid-September) I'll debut the new version. I'll be very interested to see how it does with the new cover. Thoughts?

Seventy is the New Fifty

The Seventies aren't what they used to be. I don't mean the decade, I mean the age. Case in point. I saw Expendables 2 last weekend. The whole audience exploded when Chuck Norris showed up. He was the Chuck Norris he's always been--and he kicked ass. And he is ... 72 years old. (Stallone and SArnold are both 65.)
I just got back from the Neil Diamond concert in Anaheim. Two hours of beautiful noise without a break and three encores. The Honda Center was sold out. (Floor tickets were $400 a pop.) His voice isn't what it used to be, but he gives one hell of a show. He is 71.
Harrison Ford is 70.  So is Aretha Franklin. So is Stephen Hawking.
Journalist Charlayne Hunter-Gault and designer Betsy Johnson have both passed the big Seven Oh,
Judge Judy, Calvin Klein, and Garrison Keillor are all 70.
It doesn't surprise me that Sir Paul McCartney is 70 but ... Andy Summers of the Police? Monkee Michael Nesmith? Beach Boy Brian Wilson???
Where did the time go?
I was born on the trailing edge of the baby boomer generation and am facing down that first really scary birthday. I hope when I'm 70 I'll be a force to be reckoned with.
To Seventy and Beyond!!! 

Shakespeare and Suicide

R.I.P. Tony Scott.  My condolences to your loved ones.
One of my biggest clients has been in business forever with Scott Free, the production company fronted by directors Ridley and Tony Scott, so Tony Scott's suicide over the weekend hit home. I'd met him (and his wife Donna, a sharp lady) and had worked the development side of some of his projects, including the upcoming Potsdamer Platz.
One of my colleagues posted a lovely tribute to Tony on Facebook and ended it with "See you in the Danger Zone," a reference to Scott's movie Top Gun. (Plans for a sequel were in the works.) He was well liked and the tributes are pouring in.
News reports are now saying that Tony had been diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer. And so the ancient debate emerges again--is suicide an act of dignity or an act of despair?
Speaking as someone who has known people who took their own lives or contemplated the act, I'd say it's complicated and personal but if nothing else, for God's sake leave a note.
The question "why?" will haunt those left behind and an answer to that question will help, if only a little.
Suicide is a dramatic act and Shakespeare used it a lot as a plot device, particularly in Hamlet. I found this article that takes Shakespeare's plays and his fictional suicides as a point of departure to discuss a whole range of topics relating to the act. You can find that article here.

Self-Promotion Sunday--The Poisoned Teat

The Poisoned Teat, my latest collection of short fiction is now up at smashwords and available at all their distribution channels. Whenever KDP gets around to it, the book will also be up at Amazon.com. This new 100-page collection features more than 30 stories, a mix of micro, flash and longer pieces. Most of the stories fall into the noir category, a few are straight up horror, but there are some that really don't have a category.  Check out the samples here.