I don’t normally make appeals on behalf of myself on this site, but this appeal is rather urgent. I was hoping to make this post later in the month, and tie it into some giveaway freebies, but sadly time and circumstance has forced my hand.

On October 10th, the very day that the Yin & Yang Books will be launched, I will be running the Royal Parks Foundation Half Marathon on behalf of mental health charity Mind.

This is a subject very close to my heart. I’ve suffered from mental health problems for most of my adult life, including serious bouts of depression that have, at times, impacted on my ability to edit stories for both The Red Book and The Yin Book. The fact that I’m still here, and still able to edit, is testimony to the support of my family and friends, but also the work of mental health professionals.

When I needed them most, organisations like Mind did not let me down. Now I don’t want to let them down. I have set a fundraising target of £500. However, I only just noticed this morning that if I don’t raise £200 by tomorrow(!) then I may lose my place in the race. Nothing like the pressure of a deadline to get you focused.

So, if you feel you can afford it, please do pop along to my fundraising page at http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/panderson1979. If you are a UK resident taxpayer, then please fill in the Gift Aid declaration, which allows Mind to reclaim the tax on donation, which amounts to an extra 28p in every pound.

With the global recession, times are tough, I realise that. Tougher still for charities, and their ability to continue with their work. No matter how big or small, your donation will be appreciated. And if you can’t give money, then please give some publicity. Let others know, perhaps they’ll feel like donating.

As an added incentive, there will be two giveaways. Every person who sponsors me will be eligible to receive free ebooks copies of not only The Yin & Yang Books, but also The Red Book. Not only that, but the person who gives the largest sum of money will receive a paperback copy of The Yin & Yang Books when they are available.

Just mention Chinese Whisperings in the comments section when you make your donation, and you’ll be entered into the draw. The winner will be selected at random after the race on 10 October.

So what are you waiting for? Spread the word, and please donate!

Swiftly moving on from any controversy and onto the readable delights on offer this week:

“The Resurrection Men” by Icy Sedjwick

Midnight mist swirled around my ankles. I stumbled, my foot caught under a tree root. At least, I hoped it was a tree root. I didn’t want to think what else might grab at my foot in a cemetery.

“So what you’re saying is, you won’t steal, you won’t run any doxies, and you won’t get a job. How else do you expect us to make money?” asked Will.

Read on …

“Mist” by Benjamin Solah

“Guess you’re stuck with me for a bit then, ay?” whoever was under that enormous hat chuckled, “Might as well start acting a bit kinder. You’re only gonna make it harder mate.”

Read on …

“Poker Night” by Laura Eno

Lucien greeted Death and Chronos with a jovial salute as they arrived for the monthly poker game.

“Glad you could make it, gentlemen. I want to thank the two of you for sending Jeeves to me.”

“Why?” Death said. “Did you find a particularly amusing way to torture him?”

“Hell no. He’s the best bouncer I’ve ever had and he broke Lilith’s habit of sticking gum under the tables, too.”

Chronos stared at him. “Jeeves? I thought he buttled.”

“Buttled?” Lucien gave him a blank look.

Read on …

“Long Story” by Tony Noland

Scooter threw the bundle out the window, watched it disappear into the night. He tried to listen for the thud, but the whipping wind was too loud. How far? Dammit, how far? He pulled on his end, trying to feel if it was slapping against the ground below. Between the weight of the tape and the wind, he couldn’t tell.
Read on …

“Pen Pals’ by JM Strother

Anna waited for the mailman, as she had every day for the last three weeks.

“Staring down the street won’t make him come any sooner,” Jerry, her older brother, taunted. “And it’s just a stupid letter.”

She stuck her tongue out at him, then returned her attention to the street. Mia’s letter would come today. She just knew it.

Read on …

‘Jailed’ by Carrie Clevenger

I felt something. Something there. A chill that snaked down my spine, blossoming in spider-pricked gooseflesh on my entirety. My fingers cowered in their leather gloves, nearly releasing the steering wheel. A stunning realization that I was not alone in the car. I was afraid to look.

Read on …

“The Courage of Others” by Jason Coggins

Aisley picked her way through the earthen ramparts that encircled the village.  In her left hand swung the wicker basket. The fingers of her right played with its contents before bringing a scoop up to her mouth. The mixture of cheese and herbs was slightly flowery. The toadstools earthy.

Read on …

The Yin Book is compromised of ten female writers, under the editorial direction of Paul Anderson (whose crazy idea it was to have editors of the opposite gender for each book) and The Yang Book, ten male writers under the direction of Jodi Cleghorn. Each story in each anthology stands alone, but it also connected not just to the stories within the anthology it appears, but is also mated to the narrative arc of the other anthology. While each anthology is intended to be a satisfying read, it is only be reading both anthologies that then entire story will be revealed. Both anthologies are book-ended by the same Prologue written by Jodi Cleghorn and the Epilogue by Paul Anderson.

Over the next three months we will slowly reveal both universes to you, firstly through the eyes of our writers as they share what it was like to be part of a colloborative writing project, secondly through the authors sharing the development of their stories and lastly, in the lead up to our 10th October launch, we will be sharing parts of each story.

For now, sit back and become reacquainted with this year’s writers, Paul Servini, Emma Newman, Chris Chartrand, Carrie Clevenger and Tony Noland as they share their experiences of being part of Chinese Whisperings, 2010 over the next five days.

From the marketing/publishing side of the tracks, what has been the biggest surprise, both from the ‘most challenging’ aspect and the ‘most rewarding’ standpoint?

The most challenging thing has been trying to get hardcopy paperbacks sorted out. We’re a small start-up, without sufficient capital to order in advance, so we needed to find a print on demand partner who would bear the costs of printing upfront. In order to do that, we had to decide to hand over control of selling the book to the POD company, to allow them to recover their costs first, then pass on our share (from which we would then share with our writers). So far, so simple. But finding someone willing to do that, then having to negotiate the tricky ground of passing business checks (it would be so much easier if we were a public limited company, but that would then undo our entire business ethos).

So yeah, that’s been challenging. Or as I like to call it “a complete pain in the arse”.

Most rewarding comes from the publicity point of view – the phenomenal help that Twitter has provided us with. From spreading the word about the project, to landing us a radio interview in the United States, to helping us find many of our new roster of writers, Twitter has been invaluable, to an extant that I could not have foreseen.

What was the closest you came to giving up on CW?

What day is it today? Really? Well in that case, it was yesterday…

I’ll admit there have been a number of times since the start of The Red Book when I’ve considered calling it a day. When writers dropped out, when depression got too much for me, when the whole thing seemed cursed and doomed to failure.

But you know what? We’re a family here on this project. When one of us is down, the others rally. When Jodi has been close to giving up, I’ve been there. When I feel I can’t carry on, Jodi picks up the pace and we carry each other through.

So while we might both have, once or twice, come close to giving up on CW, we’ve never given up on each other. And that keeps the whole thing going.

Let’s see if we can provide a late surge and push him across the finish line in first place – Vote for Richard!

What was the closest you came to giving up on CW?

For me, despite all the ups and downs in 2009, and moments of sheer hard work and seemingly impassable blocks… the closest I came to giving up on Chinese Whisperings was in 2008 when we used the idea for a conceptual, collaborative anthology as a stepping stone into a much larger and grander publishing idea. For six months it was totally forgotten as the bigger idea  got all the discussion and active thought time.

When that larger idea stalled – I knew we had to return to our roots. The ‘small’ anthology we’d first got excited about. As they say – from little things big things grow!

For the next three weeks your editors will be answering a series of probing questions from their victims writers. Jodi and Paul spoke earlier in the week about recruiting writers. And now to something completely different…

What do you like most about the editing process? Clearly, we all know that it’s working with moody writers, but perhaps that can be clarified.

[Takes off editor's hat, settles down into comfy chair...]

Let’s be honest here, shall we, writer to writer? You hate being edited. I hate being edited. We all hate being edited. There’s the realisation that your perfect prose, your witty dialogue, your elegant characterisation and your thrilling plot are, well, naff. They aren’t any of those things. You get your perfect, publishable first draft back, and it has been torn to shreds. Typos. Formatting. Plot holes. Characters that don’t work. “More this, less that”.

Before you know it, you begin to doubt your abilities, you doubt your ideas, and you dread sending in that second draft. I hate it, and you hate it. It wounds. It hurts the ego. No matter how well intentioned, you can’t help but feeling that the message is “not good enough”.

So that’s how I feel about my own work being edited. That’s how you feel about your work being edited, right? I’m a nice guy, I don’t get a kick out of hurting peoples’ feelings. So now, I get these great stories (and they’re all great stories), and I have to tear them down, and tell someone that something they’ve poured their heart and soul into isn’t good enough. It doesn’t fit with our “vision” or “editorial direction”. Sure, I know I’m polishing rough diamonds and making them shine-that’s the thought that gets me through-but it doesn’t help me feel any better about it.

So, given that I hate it being done to me, you can imagine how I feel about doint it to others. There’s a reason I get to wear the “nice editor” hat. Because honestly? I dread doing it. Maybe it’s a lack of confidence, but I don’t enjoy the editing process at all…

[Gets out of chair, puts editing hat back on, fixes you with a steely gaze...]

Editing? I love it.

The best bit is when both writer and editor “click”, when they both have a unified purpose, direction and vision. Then it’s just a case of bouncing ideas off each other, shaping them, crafting them, and being a sounding board, a guiding voice, rather than a overbearing presence barking diktats. When all the words fall into place and both parties know, without having to say it, that the story is just right.

That’s the best bit.

For the next three weeks your editors will be answering a series of probing questions from their victims writers. Jodi and Paul  spoke earlier in the week about recruiting writers. And now to something completely different…

What do you like most about the editing process? Clearly, we all know that it’s working with moody writers, but perhaps that can be clarified.

I can’t pick one aspect of editing over the others, so I will be brief in going through what keeps the editing cap firmly on my head.

I like being given an all areas access pass to someone’s story. It is a huge honour and maybe I’m strange, but I find it a great thrill to be invited to immerse myself so intimately in another writer’s story. I get to set foot into stories and ‘play’ with characters I could never have dreamed of creating.

I’m known for my ‘beautiful razorblade’ and I have an editorial style which might be best described as leaving ‘no stone unturned’. Michelangelo reportedly said he ‘freed David from the marble’ and that’s another aspect of editing I like – helping the writer to chip away to see what is below. Moreso than writing, I find slashing into a writer’s work a truly terrifying experience and I am yet to stop apologising for what I do. Maybe next year?

I like to peer around underneath stories, in dark corners and spaces to see what else is lurking there. Seeing a story go from strength to strength through numerous rewrites is fantastic and knowing you are part of that process is something I get a kick out of.

Similar to writing, I often hear the characters talk to me when I edit and it isn’t always what is written on the page. Being able to convey a character’s message to a writer is something which doesn’t happen too often, but when it does – wow, what an amazing experience. One of the stories in the Yang Books was influenced by a conversation I overhead off the page. Thank you Chris for giving me the opportunity to understand and trust the process of writing and editing at an even deeper level.

As for those moody writers – the very best bit of my job is working with wriers, especially being able to buoy the egos of writers to reinforce how great their writing is. When I started editing fiction I was dismayed at the sheer number of writers who were incredibly talented but filled with doubts. This wasn’t something I counted on when I put on an editorial hat, but by and large, encouraging and getting the best version of a writer’s work out there is what keeps me going when the head butt mark on forehead goes from black to blue to green and back to black again…

For the next three weeks your editors will be answering a series of probing questions from their victims writers. Jodi answered question 1 yesterday, and now it is Paul’s turn…

Q: How did you choose which authors to invite to participate? Not so much someone like Annie, with whom Jodi and Paul had both collaborated with already, but with some of us you had very little exposure to our fiction writing when you approached us.

The first anthology was intended to be composed of writers who either Jodi or myself had worked with before. Annie and Dale were fellow writers on Write Anything, and both Paul S and Rob were long-standing commenters on the site and participants in [Fiction] Friday. Jasmine was a personal friend of mine whose work I had looked over before. There were a further two writers who we had worked with before, but who had to withdraw.

The other writers, and I’ve just realised this, were all recruited by me! Jason had been following our Captain Juan story, and I had been following his Moult World stories. Tina and Emma were both late replacements for the writers who had to pull out of the project. Tina and I had been following each other’s blogs for some time, and I became aware of Emma through the Editor’s Unleashed forum. She was asking questions about podcasting, as she had an idea to start recording chapters of her (now soon to be published!) novel. She had just launched her Short Story Club when the need for a new writer arose. As the Club had a short turn around, I knew she could handle the pressure.

For the new anthology we were fortunate to have all of our writers return for the sophomore run. Our freshman intake this time around saw us cast our net wider and recruit from writers who had been following the Red Book and who had asked to take part (or were hoping to be asked) and also personal recommendations from other writers—something I pay a lot of attention to.