I just bought a new copy of Wild Horses by Dick Francis, and began it yesterday as my car book. (No, I don't read while driving just while on break and at lunch.) The book sucked me in as Dick Francis predictably does, but one thing was new this time around. I'm pretty good at picking up on his typical characters and how he handles them--he had an almost new character in this book. Very subtle too, and powerfully written. He was so well written in fact that I found myself fuming over him while working, and how agrivating he was, and how much I hated him, and how much I just wanted him to die, and then I realized I was fuming over someone who wasn't real. Dick Francis managed to do what only one other writer (Stephen King) has ever done before, make me unable to drop my suspension of disbelief and return to real life. I forgot it wasn't real.

I've found myself spending less and less time just reading a book for the simple pleasure of it, and more and more time paying attention to how it was crafted. I enjoy the story the same amount, mind, but a particularly well crafted sentence will have me zeroing in on it to see why I liked it. I've devoured books lately just to see how the good writers write. I learn, cannibalize, sharpen my own voice, and hope that somehow I'm getting better. It's what all writer's do I suppose, and its enlightening in some ways, but unnerving when you find your own writing getting better.

Anyway, just wanted to get that out of my system. The real point of this post was to inform you that Diamond Killers finally received a little bit of notice. A nice lady from the Student's Choice at Whidbey Writer's Workshop bought me a one year subscription to shortshortshort.com as a thank you for entering the contest in its first year. It was a really nice touch, and I feel well pleased with the kindness of these people.  Since they were so kind, I'm going to return the favor and put their website out there as far as I am able. They deserve to be noticed, and they deserve as many connections in the writing world as they can muster. Any writing big-wigs out there? Go here:
http://www.whidbeystudents.com/WSContest.htm