I spent four hours (by the stopwatch, so that doesn’t count e-mail checking or tea breaks) writing yesterday, only to end up with about the same word count as I started with. There was a lot of deleting of old stuff, but now I’m rid of everything I probably won’t be using and everything going forward will be new and (I hope) on the right track. I woke up this morning thinking of what will happen next, and it’s a very exciting, fun scene, so that will be this afternoon’s work.
Meanwhile in reading, I gave up on that 80s fantasy novel and returned it to the library today. I made it about 100 pages in, and I guess it wasn’t entirely bad, but there are other things I’d rather be reading, so why waste my time on something I’m having to force myself to read? I think I might have liked it if I’d read it in my teens, but I’ve ready so many books exactly like that, and I’m at a point in my life when reading about the coming of age of a teenage boy is less than thrilling. I still enjoy books about teen girls, but if a guy is the primary viewpoint character, I want an adult. I’m sure there are exceptions, but the book would have to be exceptional, not just the standard-issue “clumsy, small for his age stableboy turns out to have special magical powers” story.
While at the library, I picked up a couple of the books recommended here in comments. I knew when I was more excited about reading them than I was about the book I was reading, and there were about 700 pages to go in the book I was reading, it was time to throw in the towel. Another bad sign was that I was putting that book down so I could listen to the adaptation of Northanger Abbey on the BBC radio web site.
While I was listening to Stardust, I discovered that they have a whole section devoted to “15-minute dramas,” which are generally serialized productions of books, or else single-episode short stories. They’re just the right length for a bedtime story, something to lie there and listen to with the lights out. It seems to be good for shutting down the mental hamster wheel so I go to sleep more quickly. So this week it’s been Northanger Abbey. I’ll have to see what to listen to after that.
Tuesday, January 10, 2017
Monday, January 09, 2017
Up and Down
We’re having a fairly normal Texas winter. I spent Friday afternoon working in my office while watching snow fall. I will possibly end up working at least a little bit this afternoon sitting on my patio. I’ll probably be patio officing most of the week. Then Saturday is another possible winter weather event, which I hope doesn’t go for worst-case scenario, as I have the Choristers Guild winter workshop this weekend, so I have to actually drive on Friday and Saturday, and I’m the scripture reader in church on Sunday. The up-and-down temperatures can get annoying, but in a way I don’t mind. I can deal with a few days of cold when I know I’ll have a few warm days to look forward to. It just would be nice if we could occasionally find a happy medium. This year we’re either below freezing and well below normal or in the 70s and way above normal. I wouldn’t mind a few days with highs in the 50s and lows in the upper 30s. But at least we’ve had more hard freezes this year than we got last year, which should mean fewer bugs next summer.
Now that Epiphany is over, my house has now been de-Christmased (though I do need to make a couple of trips to the garage now that it’s warm enough). I always dread that because I feel like the house will look naked afterward, but it’s funny how quickly it just feels normal again. Though I do miss having Christmas tree lights in my bedroom. That made for a nice way to bridge between the full light of the lamp and having all the lights off. Maybe I should look for a ficus tree or some kind of artistic ornamental branch I could hang lights on.
I’m going to have to really dig in and write this week. I was hoping to get a draft done before the workshop this weekend, but that seems unlikely. I’m about halfway through, but most of what I wrote Friday will have to be undone, as I realized that it was the big midpoint of the book and all that was happening was people were making speeches. I spent Saturday and Sunday brainstorming and making lists of things that could happen and replotting the book while trying to put myself in my characters’ heads and figuring out what they would do in this situation, and now I think I have a solution. I’ve even started seeing the movie of it in my head.
Meanwhile, I checked out the new series Emerald City, the latest Wizard of Oz telling, last weekend, and it’s rather interesting. They’re taking the basic story elements and updating them, putting the action into a fairly gritty Game of Thrones-type world. Dorothy’s an adult nurse who was left as a baby with Aunt Em and Uncle Henry. She’s in a police car when the tornado hits, which gives her some useful supplies and a German shepherd police dog (that’s our Toto). They seem to have done some decent worldbuilding, as there’s some kind of mythology/backstory going on with the Wizard and witches. Our “Scarecrow” is a man found semi-crucified, wounded, and with amnesia (“if I only had a brain …”).
I think that last part may be what sucks me in because I love that “who would you be if you didn’t know who you were?” trope. Clearly, this guy has been through something. He just doesn’t know what it was or why, and since Dorothy knows nothing of him, she has to take him at face value. He doesn’t even know what he looks like until he looks in a mirror, so he will be entirely defined by the actions he takes and the choices he makes.
I need to add this trope to my literary bucket list. I did something similar with Kiss and Spell when everyone had fake identities but still found their true selves, but this is different. I actually have an idea brewing where this might fit. But first I have a few other things that need to be written.
Now that Epiphany is over, my house has now been de-Christmased (though I do need to make a couple of trips to the garage now that it’s warm enough). I always dread that because I feel like the house will look naked afterward, but it’s funny how quickly it just feels normal again. Though I do miss having Christmas tree lights in my bedroom. That made for a nice way to bridge between the full light of the lamp and having all the lights off. Maybe I should look for a ficus tree or some kind of artistic ornamental branch I could hang lights on.
I’m going to have to really dig in and write this week. I was hoping to get a draft done before the workshop this weekend, but that seems unlikely. I’m about halfway through, but most of what I wrote Friday will have to be undone, as I realized that it was the big midpoint of the book and all that was happening was people were making speeches. I spent Saturday and Sunday brainstorming and making lists of things that could happen and replotting the book while trying to put myself in my characters’ heads and figuring out what they would do in this situation, and now I think I have a solution. I’ve even started seeing the movie of it in my head.
Meanwhile, I checked out the new series Emerald City, the latest Wizard of Oz telling, last weekend, and it’s rather interesting. They’re taking the basic story elements and updating them, putting the action into a fairly gritty Game of Thrones-type world. Dorothy’s an adult nurse who was left as a baby with Aunt Em and Uncle Henry. She’s in a police car when the tornado hits, which gives her some useful supplies and a German shepherd police dog (that’s our Toto). They seem to have done some decent worldbuilding, as there’s some kind of mythology/backstory going on with the Wizard and witches. Our “Scarecrow” is a man found semi-crucified, wounded, and with amnesia (“if I only had a brain …”).
I think that last part may be what sucks me in because I love that “who would you be if you didn’t know who you were?” trope. Clearly, this guy has been through something. He just doesn’t know what it was or why, and since Dorothy knows nothing of him, she has to take him at face value. He doesn’t even know what he looks like until he looks in a mirror, so he will be entirely defined by the actions he takes and the choices he makes.
I need to add this trope to my literary bucket list. I did something similar with Kiss and Spell when everyone had fake identities but still found their true selves, but this is different. I actually have an idea brewing where this might fit. But first I have a few other things that need to be written.
Friday, January 06, 2017
Old Books
I hit a particular reading mood right before Christmas in which what I desperately wanted to read was fun fantasy — something escapist, about people I liked having adventures in a world I’d want to visit. I wanted something like Stardust, with adventure, magic, and romance. I posed the question to a fantasy group on Facebook and got a lot of recommendations for things I’ve already read. But there were also some recommendations for old classics that I hadn’t read, books from the early days of fantasy as a commercial publishing genre. Fantasy stories have been around forever, but it was the US paperback edition of The Lord of the Rings in the late 60s/early 70s (I think the late 60s one was unauthorized, but it was still a big hit) that kickstarted the idea of books like that as a genre that was kind of a subset of science fiction, and they started actually labeling books as “fantasy” and had publishing imprints dedicated to that.
As happens with a lot of newly popular genres, publishers became desperate to find more books like that, which meant the quality varied widely. The Sword of Shannara was one of those early books, and it was essentially a retelling of The Lord of the Rings. There were a lot more a lot like that. I missed many of them, even though I was a teen fantasy reader hungry for more books like that in the early 80s, mostly because of my access to books at the time. I was living in a small town without a library or bookstore. The school library was pretty much useless. The nearest bookstore was a B. Dalton in the mall in a city more than ten miles away, and I didn’t have independent transportation to get there or much money to spend on books. We mostly got our book fix from the large used bookstore in that nearby city, and later we were able to get a membership in the library in a nearby small town. But that meant that my selection was limited to what was in the library (and when it came to paperbacks, that usually meant what people had donated) or what was in the used bookstore, and that meant it was the books people were willing to get rid of. As a result, I missed a lot of the classics from that era.
So, I thought I’d give some of those that were being recommended a shot. I figure that someone working as a fantasy novelist ought to have read some of the standards. Unfortunately, it’s really hard to go back and read those now. They come across as awfully cliched. These were the books that created the cliches, so they weren’t cliches at the time, but if you’ve ready pretty widely in the genre and then go back to the earlier books, the tropes really jump out at you.
For instance, how many of these books start with a weather report? It’s like the way to set the mood and establish the world is to have the main character noting the weather — snow is falling, it hasn’t rained in ages, there’s a storm coming. Then we frequently have our hero do something really dumb that ends up launching him into the story — he misses a turn and goes to the wrong place, forgets what he was sent to do, takes a break to take a nap and oversleeps, trusts the wrong person, trips over something and causes a disaster, etc. This is because we have to establish our hero as an unlikely hero, an everyman underdog in the mold of Frodo and Bilbo, and apparently that means he’s a bit bumbling. He’ll probably be helped out of the fix he got himself into by the appearance of a white-bearded, wise old wizard. Once he’s thanked the wizard for his rescue, the two of them will have some kind of conversation in which they discuss the history and current political situation of their world. The wizard will either sense some kind of power or potential in our hero or will know something about the hero’s background that the hero doesn’t realize about himself (all those orphans with mysterious origins). The wizard will either recruit the hero for some kind of quest or take him on as an apprentice. The hero will try to learn magic and fail (more bumbling), and it’s almost inevitable that he’ll later learn that this is because he’s truly special and has a different kind of magic that doesn’t work by the usual rules. Once he figures out how his power works, he’ll be the most powerful wizard ever.
I won’t name the book that inspired this rant because it applies to more than half the fantasy novels published between about 1973 and 1993. I’m really making an effort to get through the one I’m reading now, since the author is now considered a grandmaster of the field and I’ve never read anything by him, but I don’t know how long I can take it. It’s not his fault that other people went on to do the formula better than he did or that other people ripped him off (then again, I’ve read several books in this mold that were published before this one, so it was already a bit tropey).
However, I will blame the author for making a bad point of view break in the opening paragraph. I think I need to do a writing post on handling deep POV.
I need to find more current fantasy that’s not so grim and dark. What else is out there for someone who wants to read something like Stardust?
As happens with a lot of newly popular genres, publishers became desperate to find more books like that, which meant the quality varied widely. The Sword of Shannara was one of those early books, and it was essentially a retelling of The Lord of the Rings. There were a lot more a lot like that. I missed many of them, even though I was a teen fantasy reader hungry for more books like that in the early 80s, mostly because of my access to books at the time. I was living in a small town without a library or bookstore. The school library was pretty much useless. The nearest bookstore was a B. Dalton in the mall in a city more than ten miles away, and I didn’t have independent transportation to get there or much money to spend on books. We mostly got our book fix from the large used bookstore in that nearby city, and later we were able to get a membership in the library in a nearby small town. But that meant that my selection was limited to what was in the library (and when it came to paperbacks, that usually meant what people had donated) or what was in the used bookstore, and that meant it was the books people were willing to get rid of. As a result, I missed a lot of the classics from that era.
So, I thought I’d give some of those that were being recommended a shot. I figure that someone working as a fantasy novelist ought to have read some of the standards. Unfortunately, it’s really hard to go back and read those now. They come across as awfully cliched. These were the books that created the cliches, so they weren’t cliches at the time, but if you’ve ready pretty widely in the genre and then go back to the earlier books, the tropes really jump out at you.
For instance, how many of these books start with a weather report? It’s like the way to set the mood and establish the world is to have the main character noting the weather — snow is falling, it hasn’t rained in ages, there’s a storm coming. Then we frequently have our hero do something really dumb that ends up launching him into the story — he misses a turn and goes to the wrong place, forgets what he was sent to do, takes a break to take a nap and oversleeps, trusts the wrong person, trips over something and causes a disaster, etc. This is because we have to establish our hero as an unlikely hero, an everyman underdog in the mold of Frodo and Bilbo, and apparently that means he’s a bit bumbling. He’ll probably be helped out of the fix he got himself into by the appearance of a white-bearded, wise old wizard. Once he’s thanked the wizard for his rescue, the two of them will have some kind of conversation in which they discuss the history and current political situation of their world. The wizard will either sense some kind of power or potential in our hero or will know something about the hero’s background that the hero doesn’t realize about himself (all those orphans with mysterious origins). The wizard will either recruit the hero for some kind of quest or take him on as an apprentice. The hero will try to learn magic and fail (more bumbling), and it’s almost inevitable that he’ll later learn that this is because he’s truly special and has a different kind of magic that doesn’t work by the usual rules. Once he figures out how his power works, he’ll be the most powerful wizard ever.
I won’t name the book that inspired this rant because it applies to more than half the fantasy novels published between about 1973 and 1993. I’m really making an effort to get through the one I’m reading now, since the author is now considered a grandmaster of the field and I’ve never read anything by him, but I don’t know how long I can take it. It’s not his fault that other people went on to do the formula better than he did or that other people ripped him off (then again, I’ve read several books in this mold that were published before this one, so it was already a bit tropey).
However, I will blame the author for making a bad point of view break in the opening paragraph. I think I need to do a writing post on handling deep POV.
I need to find more current fantasy that’s not so grim and dark. What else is out there for someone who wants to read something like Stardust?
Thursday, January 05, 2017
Moving Along
I had to start children’s choir again last night, and it was an interesting experience. To say that the kids were hyper would be an understatement. One kid was so out of control that his mother had to get involved (fortunately, she was present in the building and recognized the sound of his yelling when he had to get taken into the hallway for throwing things). Others were clinging to the legs of the adults and teens, so they couldn’t move. I guess they must have had indoor recess at school that day, or something, because the energy levels were off the charts. But they did catch on to the one thing I tried to teach, so that’s a plus.
However, I’m very glad to have a quiet day at home. It’s cold and gray, so it’s good writing weather. I’m making decent progress on a third Rebels book, and when I have extra time, I’m working on a proposal for a possible new YA fantasy series. Yes, that means I’m juggling multiple fictional worlds, but I’m always doing that. I’m just not usually working in them at the same time. I’m usually spending the afternoon on the book and the evening on the proposal.
Meanwhile, I’ve never really been a short story writer, but the ideas for that are hitting me left and right, so I want to make time to do some of that. Maybe between books or between phases of books.
I realize my blogging has been kind of “meh” this week, but I’ve really been focused on writing and am getting back into the swing of things. I may be re-assessing how I do this as the year progresses. If I ever get around to redoing the web site on a different platform, I’ll probably incorporate the blog into that, and then I may do something like use social media for short status updates (what I’m working on, what’s going on in my life) and use the blog for deeper discussion, maybe a few times a week instead of every day.
However, I’m very glad to have a quiet day at home. It’s cold and gray, so it’s good writing weather. I’m making decent progress on a third Rebels book, and when I have extra time, I’m working on a proposal for a possible new YA fantasy series. Yes, that means I’m juggling multiple fictional worlds, but I’m always doing that. I’m just not usually working in them at the same time. I’m usually spending the afternoon on the book and the evening on the proposal.
Meanwhile, I’ve never really been a short story writer, but the ideas for that are hitting me left and right, so I want to make time to do some of that. Maybe between books or between phases of books.
I realize my blogging has been kind of “meh” this week, but I’ve really been focused on writing and am getting back into the swing of things. I may be re-assessing how I do this as the year progresses. If I ever get around to redoing the web site on a different platform, I’ll probably incorporate the blog into that, and then I may do something like use social media for short status updates (what I’m working on, what’s going on in my life) and use the blog for deeper discussion, maybe a few times a week instead of every day.
Wednesday, January 04, 2017
Stardust at Night
We’re having a roller coaster winter, with warm days and sudden cold snaps. Monday, I worked on the patio. Yesterday a front came through, so today I’m bundled up indoors. It’s supposed to be even colder tomorrow and Friday, with a chance of snow, so I will likely be working from the bed, under the electric blanket.
I’m trying something new and making myself sit on the exercise ball at my laptop desk when I’m using the “Internet” computer. I finally got that new computer I bought in the fall set up, and it’s so much faster online, so I’m using it for Internet, graphics, and the like. The old computer works, but is slow online, so I’ve turned its Wi-Fi off and am using it to write. That’s also the machine that has Office. I may eventually get Office for the new one, but for now, the Mac applications seem to do just fine. I also got Scrivener for this machine, but I’m still on a learning curve there. I’m looking forward to figuring out all the features for keeping a series straight. I can get Internet on the old computer, in case there’s something I want to look up while I’m writing, but keeping the Wi-Fi off means less temptation. So far, it seems to be working. I’m getting stuff done at my desk upstairs when I’m writing, and sitting on the ball makes me less likely to get sidetracked into mindless surfing. It will also probably end up helping my posture and my core muscles along the way. What sparked this was a newspaper article on all the ways that sitting all day is bad for you. I’m not sure I’d get much done on a standing desk, but one of the alternatives they suggested was sitting on an exercise ball because that counteracts some of the bad aspects of sitting, like the effect on posture. It’s nearly impossible to slouch while sitting on one of these things.
In other news … I’ve never really gotten into audiobooks because I tend to zone out when people read to me, but I enjoy audio dramas like they do on BBC radio. There’s currently an adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s Stardust available to listen to online. I listened to part one last night, and it’s quite good — rather different in some ways from both book and movie, so while the story is familiar, it’s still got some “new” to it. I streamed it on my tablet with my headphones on while lying in bed with the lights out, and I would recommend headphones or a good stereo because there’s some nice separation that gives you the impression of motion as a sound goes from one channel to the other. I enjoyed listening to my bedtime “reading” enough that I may have to give an audiobook a try. It might be a way to shut off my brain to go to sleep. Or I’d end up more awake from listening intently.
Anyway, you can hear Stardust at this link for another couple of weeks.
I’m trying something new and making myself sit on the exercise ball at my laptop desk when I’m using the “Internet” computer. I finally got that new computer I bought in the fall set up, and it’s so much faster online, so I’m using it for Internet, graphics, and the like. The old computer works, but is slow online, so I’ve turned its Wi-Fi off and am using it to write. That’s also the machine that has Office. I may eventually get Office for the new one, but for now, the Mac applications seem to do just fine. I also got Scrivener for this machine, but I’m still on a learning curve there. I’m looking forward to figuring out all the features for keeping a series straight. I can get Internet on the old computer, in case there’s something I want to look up while I’m writing, but keeping the Wi-Fi off means less temptation. So far, it seems to be working. I’m getting stuff done at my desk upstairs when I’m writing, and sitting on the ball makes me less likely to get sidetracked into mindless surfing. It will also probably end up helping my posture and my core muscles along the way. What sparked this was a newspaper article on all the ways that sitting all day is bad for you. I’m not sure I’d get much done on a standing desk, but one of the alternatives they suggested was sitting on an exercise ball because that counteracts some of the bad aspects of sitting, like the effect on posture. It’s nearly impossible to slouch while sitting on one of these things.
In other news … I’ve never really gotten into audiobooks because I tend to zone out when people read to me, but I enjoy audio dramas like they do on BBC radio. There’s currently an adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s Stardust available to listen to online. I listened to part one last night, and it’s quite good — rather different in some ways from both book and movie, so while the story is familiar, it’s still got some “new” to it. I streamed it on my tablet with my headphones on while lying in bed with the lights out, and I would recommend headphones or a good stereo because there’s some nice separation that gives you the impression of motion as a sound goes from one channel to the other. I enjoyed listening to my bedtime “reading” enough that I may have to give an audiobook a try. It might be a way to shut off my brain to go to sleep. Or I’d end up more awake from listening intently.
Anyway, you can hear Stardust at this link for another couple of weeks.
Tuesday, January 03, 2017
Year in Review and Looking Ahead
I feel like I got the year off to a decent start with some writing work. Now to really buckle down and do even more so I can meet that deadline. The weather is cooperating, with a nice cold front coming in, so there’s not much temptation to do anything other than write. And read, I guess. It is a good time to curl up with a good book, but I’m going to focus on writing them.
I did hit my goal of reading 100 books last year. My other reading achievement was reading the entire Bible through. I may have done that when I was a teenager, but it’s possible I fizzled out somewhere along the way. This time, I did it, and kept it up every day. The big change for me in reading this year was getting a tablet so I could start reading e-books. The bulk of my reading is still on paper (mostly from the library), but I’ve tried some things I might not have otherwise when there were special discounts. And then I discovered the ways you can check e-books out from the library. I may now be doomed. Those times when I finish a book in the evening after the library closes and I need something new to read (I mean other than those hundreds of books in the Strategic Book Reserve) are now no longer a crisis. I can just jump on the library’s web site, find something to read, check it out, and start reading right away. Yep, I can go to the library in my pajamas without getting out of bed.
I didn’t see a lot of movies last year. The big ones obviously were Fantastic Beasts and Rogue One. This year, I’m really looking forward to the live-action Beauty and the Beast, and I’m intrigued by the Dunkirk movie coming out this summer. I’m not sure what else is coming out.
I’m trying to make more time for reading this year, mostly by making myself step away from the computer in the evening instead of giving in to the temptation to keep surfing late into the night. Yeah, it’s only been a couple of nights so far, but I seem to be sleeping better in addition to getting more reading done. Really, stepping away from the computer more — other than when I’m actually writing — is high on my list of goals for the year. That will free up time to do other things.
I did hit my goal of reading 100 books last year. My other reading achievement was reading the entire Bible through. I may have done that when I was a teenager, but it’s possible I fizzled out somewhere along the way. This time, I did it, and kept it up every day. The big change for me in reading this year was getting a tablet so I could start reading e-books. The bulk of my reading is still on paper (mostly from the library), but I’ve tried some things I might not have otherwise when there were special discounts. And then I discovered the ways you can check e-books out from the library. I may now be doomed. Those times when I finish a book in the evening after the library closes and I need something new to read (I mean other than those hundreds of books in the Strategic Book Reserve) are now no longer a crisis. I can just jump on the library’s web site, find something to read, check it out, and start reading right away. Yep, I can go to the library in my pajamas without getting out of bed.
I didn’t see a lot of movies last year. The big ones obviously were Fantastic Beasts and Rogue One. This year, I’m really looking forward to the live-action Beauty and the Beast, and I’m intrigued by the Dunkirk movie coming out this summer. I’m not sure what else is coming out.
I’m trying to make more time for reading this year, mostly by making myself step away from the computer in the evening instead of giving in to the temptation to keep surfing late into the night. Yeah, it’s only been a couple of nights so far, but I seem to be sleeping better in addition to getting more reading done. Really, stepping away from the computer more — other than when I’m actually writing — is high on my list of goals for the year. That will free up time to do other things.
Monday, January 02, 2017
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year! I was working off and on during the holidays, but now I’m more or less back to work with my regular expectations and schedule. Today is still semi-holiday, since the Rose Parade is being shown this morning, but I’m doing work stuff while watching.
2016 was notoriously awful in a lot of ways. It wasn’t too horrendous for me. It was a low year, income-wise, and I lost yet another publisher, but I accomplished a lot. I wrote more than I have in years, and I received some nice honors.
Last year I decided to go all-in with conventions, accepting every invitation that came along, and see how that affected my career. My sales went down. I don’t think my sales went down because of the conventions, but they didn’t go up, either. So I’m dialing way back on that and devoting that time to writing and perhaps some of that money to other forms of publicity. I’m committed to two local conventions for the year, and I plan to go to the Nebula Awards weekend and the World Fantasy Convention for networking purposes. I’ll be a guest of honor at Necronomicon in Florida in the fall, and I’m certainly open to being that kind of guest, but after ten years on the convention circuit, I’m probably not going to do a lot of conventions where my travel expenses aren’t covered. I’m definitely not going to do more of the comic/media conventions, the kind where the focus is on celebrity guests. I did two of those last year, and I found that the non-celebrity author guests are treated like an afterthought at best, and at worst like an inconvenience. I had a really bad experience with that at a convention this weekend, and never again until or unless I’m big enough to count as a celebrity. Instead, I plan to focus more on school and library events.
I have a plan for what I want to write this year, and I’m hoping to get more books out more frequently, with some shorter pieces in between novels, and I’d like to get some proposals out to sell some books to publishers. I really upped my writing time last year, and I want to do even more this year.
Otherwise, I really want this to be the year I get my house in order. I had a bit of a wakeup call during the holidays when a house that would have been ideal went on the market. I was in no way ready to sell, buy, or move, but I really liked that house. It got taken off the market to be leased, so I didn’t have to scramble, but I realized that I need to get my act together so I can act on any future opportunities when they come up. I’ve got a plan of daily work to get that done. Let’s see how far my beginning of year enthusiasm propels me.
2016 was notoriously awful in a lot of ways. It wasn’t too horrendous for me. It was a low year, income-wise, and I lost yet another publisher, but I accomplished a lot. I wrote more than I have in years, and I received some nice honors.
Last year I decided to go all-in with conventions, accepting every invitation that came along, and see how that affected my career. My sales went down. I don’t think my sales went down because of the conventions, but they didn’t go up, either. So I’m dialing way back on that and devoting that time to writing and perhaps some of that money to other forms of publicity. I’m committed to two local conventions for the year, and I plan to go to the Nebula Awards weekend and the World Fantasy Convention for networking purposes. I’ll be a guest of honor at Necronomicon in Florida in the fall, and I’m certainly open to being that kind of guest, but after ten years on the convention circuit, I’m probably not going to do a lot of conventions where my travel expenses aren’t covered. I’m definitely not going to do more of the comic/media conventions, the kind where the focus is on celebrity guests. I did two of those last year, and I found that the non-celebrity author guests are treated like an afterthought at best, and at worst like an inconvenience. I had a really bad experience with that at a convention this weekend, and never again until or unless I’m big enough to count as a celebrity. Instead, I plan to focus more on school and library events.
I have a plan for what I want to write this year, and I’m hoping to get more books out more frequently, with some shorter pieces in between novels, and I’d like to get some proposals out to sell some books to publishers. I really upped my writing time last year, and I want to do even more this year.
Otherwise, I really want this to be the year I get my house in order. I had a bit of a wakeup call during the holidays when a house that would have been ideal went on the market. I was in no way ready to sell, buy, or move, but I really liked that house. It got taken off the market to be leased, so I didn’t have to scramble, but I realized that I need to get my act together so I can act on any future opportunities when they come up. I’ve got a plan of daily work to get that done. Let’s see how far my beginning of year enthusiasm propels me.
Monday, December 19, 2016
Quiet Time
I've reached the quiet part of my holiday season. Christmas Eve will be busy, but otherwise, I don't have a lot of obligations. I think I'm going to consider this a week off, other than writing, since I'll be busy in the week between Christmas and the New Year.
I saw Rogue One on Friday, and I really liked it. But it was a very different kind of Star Wars movie, definitely not suitable for kids. The regular Star Wars movies are basically fantasy in a space setting. This was a World War II movie in a Star Wars setting. It reminded me of The Dirty Dozen or Guns of Navarone, with maybe a dash or two of Saving Private Ryan. I thought that grittiness made the universe more real, and we saw more of it away from the main action of the series. This movie essentially hands over to the original movie, and I feel like it added a new layer of meaning to that movie because we now know what was involved in getting to that point.
I want to see it again, but it is rather draining. I was even a bit sore after the movie from being so tense for so long.
Now I want to spend this week reading and writing. It's bitterly cold (for this region), and I think it's a good day to spend under the electric blanket with the laptop.
I saw Rogue One on Friday, and I really liked it. But it was a very different kind of Star Wars movie, definitely not suitable for kids. The regular Star Wars movies are basically fantasy in a space setting. This was a World War II movie in a Star Wars setting. It reminded me of The Dirty Dozen or Guns of Navarone, with maybe a dash or two of Saving Private Ryan. I thought that grittiness made the universe more real, and we saw more of it away from the main action of the series. This movie essentially hands over to the original movie, and I feel like it added a new layer of meaning to that movie because we now know what was involved in getting to that point.
I want to see it again, but it is rather draining. I was even a bit sore after the movie from being so tense for so long.
Now I want to spend this week reading and writing. It's bitterly cold (for this region), and I think it's a good day to spend under the electric blanket with the laptop.
Friday, December 16, 2016
Ready for Rogue One
I now have a deadline for the next Rebels book, since I lined that up with the copyeditor yesterday, and we have a tentative release date of April 4. Which means I really need to buckle down to work now. No more "eh, whenever I get to it because there's no actual deadline."
Not that I expect to get much done today because I'm seeing Rogue One this afternoon, and I'm more excited about that than I am about Christmas gifts (I already got my big Christmas gift in the new bed, so gifts are a minor part of the season). That may make it hard to concentrate in the time I have before I have to get ready to go. I should probably do something else that's useful but that requires less concentration, like housework. That will make the house more pleasant for my planned hibernation next week. I'm really going to try to get some writing done while things are relatively quiet, but I'll also allow some time for reading and watching all those holiday movies I've got stocked up on my DVR.
This year's bunch hasn't been that good. My favorite so far was one on ION, A Cinderella Christmas, but I think that's mostly because I'm a sucker for Cinderella stories, and I liked the cast. This was an updating involving a woman who worked for the family event planning company and whose cousin/stepsister (after her uncle took her in when her parents died) took all the credit for her work. She meets the "prince" when she caters his holiday masquerade ball. It was rather cute. Though set design/prop people should know better than to use obvious Pepperidge Farms cookies when spreading out store-bought cookies on cookie sheets for the caterer heroine to be taking out of the oven. Tip: Milanos don't come out of the oven that way.
And, of course, I've come up with another idea for one I want to write. Maybe I'll squeeze that in among other projects. But then I'll have more than one script, which might make it worthwhile to look into pursuing.
But now I think I'll try to take my kitchen from "disaster area" to "a human being lives here."
Not that I expect to get much done today because I'm seeing Rogue One this afternoon, and I'm more excited about that than I am about Christmas gifts (I already got my big Christmas gift in the new bed, so gifts are a minor part of the season). That may make it hard to concentrate in the time I have before I have to get ready to go. I should probably do something else that's useful but that requires less concentration, like housework. That will make the house more pleasant for my planned hibernation next week. I'm really going to try to get some writing done while things are relatively quiet, but I'll also allow some time for reading and watching all those holiday movies I've got stocked up on my DVR.
This year's bunch hasn't been that good. My favorite so far was one on ION, A Cinderella Christmas, but I think that's mostly because I'm a sucker for Cinderella stories, and I liked the cast. This was an updating involving a woman who worked for the family event planning company and whose cousin/stepsister (after her uncle took her in when her parents died) took all the credit for her work. She meets the "prince" when she caters his holiday masquerade ball. It was rather cute. Though set design/prop people should know better than to use obvious Pepperidge Farms cookies when spreading out store-bought cookies on cookie sheets for the caterer heroine to be taking out of the oven. Tip: Milanos don't come out of the oven that way.
And, of course, I've come up with another idea for one I want to write. Maybe I'll squeeze that in among other projects. But then I'll have more than one script, which might make it worthwhile to look into pursuing.
But now I think I'll try to take my kitchen from "disaster area" to "a human being lives here."
Thursday, December 15, 2016
Other News This Week
In addition to getting a book and short story launched this week, other stuff has happened.
I forgot to mention last week that I was named one of the Spirit of Texas Reading Program authors by the Texas Library Association. Here's what they describe this as being about: "The purpose of the list is to encourage youths in grades 9-12 to explore a variety of current, quality books from Texas authors and illustrators, develop critical reading skills, and to encourage greater interaction between Texas authors and illustrators, Texas librarians, and Texas youth." There are only six authors on the list, so it's a huge honor. I hope this is something that will matter to publishers in trying to shop around another YA book. I will also admit to a little internal "Ha!" when thinking that the publisher didn't consider that book successful enough to warrant a sequel -- you know, maybe it wasn't the book. Maybe it was that they didn't bother promoting it at all, since it keeps getting honored by librarians. Makes you wonder what would have happened if they'd done more than send out one tweet.
I have my Christmas shopping more or less done now, unless I find something fun that I just have to get. I just have one more big party before things quiet down a bit. That one's going to require some creativity in dressing because a front is coming through that afternoon, and at the time I leave for the party it will be in the 60s, but around the time the party ends, it could be close to freezing. So I guess I'll carry all the winter stuff in with me so I won't freeze on my way back to the car. Meanwhile, today is cold enough that I'm probably going to work from the bed office with the electric blanket. Tomorrow will be warm enough that I may just need a sweater or light jacket for Star Wars and walking around looking at Christmas lights. Sunday will be freezing, and I think that's going to be an afternoon snuggled in bed and watching Hogfather.
We had our "travelers" Christmas service last night, a Christmas Eve service for people who will be out of town, and then we had a quick rehearsal afterward in that auditorium. One of my friends recorded us singing the benediction we do at the end of every rehearsal, and since we could all use a bit of peace and blessing, I thought I'd share (also, it'll be handy to have a link to this for when I need it).
I forgot to mention last week that I was named one of the Spirit of Texas Reading Program authors by the Texas Library Association. Here's what they describe this as being about: "The purpose of the list is to encourage youths in grades 9-12 to explore a variety of current, quality books from Texas authors and illustrators, develop critical reading skills, and to encourage greater interaction between Texas authors and illustrators, Texas librarians, and Texas youth." There are only six authors on the list, so it's a huge honor. I hope this is something that will matter to publishers in trying to shop around another YA book. I will also admit to a little internal "Ha!" when thinking that the publisher didn't consider that book successful enough to warrant a sequel -- you know, maybe it wasn't the book. Maybe it was that they didn't bother promoting it at all, since it keeps getting honored by librarians. Makes you wonder what would have happened if they'd done more than send out one tweet.
I have my Christmas shopping more or less done now, unless I find something fun that I just have to get. I just have one more big party before things quiet down a bit. That one's going to require some creativity in dressing because a front is coming through that afternoon, and at the time I leave for the party it will be in the 60s, but around the time the party ends, it could be close to freezing. So I guess I'll carry all the winter stuff in with me so I won't freeze on my way back to the car. Meanwhile, today is cold enough that I'm probably going to work from the bed office with the electric blanket. Tomorrow will be warm enough that I may just need a sweater or light jacket for Star Wars and walking around looking at Christmas lights. Sunday will be freezing, and I think that's going to be an afternoon snuggled in bed and watching Hogfather.
We had our "travelers" Christmas service last night, a Christmas Eve service for people who will be out of town, and then we had a quick rehearsal afterward in that auditorium. One of my friends recorded us singing the benediction we do at the end of every rehearsal, and since we could all use a bit of peace and blessing, I thought I'd share (also, it'll be handy to have a link to this for when I need it).
Wednesday, December 14, 2016
Your Novel Writing Resolution
This will be the last writing post of the year. I'll take a break during the holidays and be back in the new year.
A lot of people may try to write a novel during National Novel Writing Month in November, but I suspect a lot of people also make a new year's resolution to write a novel. If you're planning to make 2017 the year you finally write that book you've always wanted to write, here are a few tips to get it done.
You can start working on it now -- maybe not writing, but this is a good time to start thinking. What story do you want to write? Who are the characters? What are the conflicts? What is the setting? Is there any research you need to do? The more you think about it, the more ready you'll be to start writing, and the less likely you are to fizzle out after the part that came with the initial idea is done. If you aren't sure what you need to figure out, try writing down everything you know about this idea. You'll soon see what parts need to be better developed before you can start writing.
When making your writing plans, set realistic goals based on your writing pace and the time you have available to write. If all you want is to finish a novel by the end of the year, just writing a page a day will get you there. It's better to set an easy goal you're sure to achieve (and even top) than an overly ambitious goal that you're likely to miss on a regular basis. If your goal is to write five pages and you write two, you feel like you've failed and are running behind. If your goal is to write one page and you write two, you feel a sense of accomplishment and triumph that will give you some momentum into the next day. You can always up your goal after you've established a habit and can see what your pace really is.
But you don't have to write every day to succeed. I keep seeing that advice from writers who claim that if you don't write every day, you're not a real writer, and it's nonsense. You're a writer if you write, period. You can get that book done in a year whether you write one page a day, seven pages on a Saturday, or three and a half pages on Saturday and three and a half pages on Sunday. Unless you're a full-time writer, you have to fit your writing around your existing life, which probably includes things like work, family, and taking care of your home, maybe even a social life. However, that doesn't mean you can use life as an excuse. You just need to take it into consideration when you schedule writing time like it's an appointment. When I was working full-time, I designated writing days and life days on weeknights -- I tried to cram all after-work errands, appointments and weekday activities into certain nights, leaving other nights entirely free. I didn't expect much from myself on weeknight writing sessions, just enough to keep the momentum going, and then I tried to get serious amounts of work done in marathon sessions on Friday nights and Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Other people have great success fitting in small bits of writing in every little bit of free time -- a page at lunch, a paragraph or two every time they pass the computer. Some people are most productive if they get up and get their writing done first thing in the morning, before work and life. Others do best at the end of the day, after taking care of everything else. There's no one right answer. You just need to figure out what works for you.
Don't give up if you falter. Just get started again. No one will know when they read the finished product whether you stuck to your schedule or had to catch up. The point is to get it done. If you don't have a contracted deadline, you're not even obligated to finish the book this year.
Try to get a good way into the book before you let yourself give up on that story. Sometimes you do figure out that a story idea isn't viable, but if you've never written a whole book before, it's hard to tell whether you're dealing with a non-viable story or whether you're just stuck and need to work through it. You may need more brainstorming or research. Don't ditch the book you're working on if you get a brilliant new idea. The more you write, the more creative you get, so the ideas will start flowing. Don't let them distract you. Write them down and keep going. You need to finish something if you're ever going to go anywhere. A half dozen partial novels won't do you any good. You can do something with a completed novel.
Have a reward in mind for finishing your project. Visualize that reward when you want to give up (and it's not fair to cheat and reward yourself without reaching your goal).
Good luck, and have fun!
A lot of people may try to write a novel during National Novel Writing Month in November, but I suspect a lot of people also make a new year's resolution to write a novel. If you're planning to make 2017 the year you finally write that book you've always wanted to write, here are a few tips to get it done.
You can start working on it now -- maybe not writing, but this is a good time to start thinking. What story do you want to write? Who are the characters? What are the conflicts? What is the setting? Is there any research you need to do? The more you think about it, the more ready you'll be to start writing, and the less likely you are to fizzle out after the part that came with the initial idea is done. If you aren't sure what you need to figure out, try writing down everything you know about this idea. You'll soon see what parts need to be better developed before you can start writing.
When making your writing plans, set realistic goals based on your writing pace and the time you have available to write. If all you want is to finish a novel by the end of the year, just writing a page a day will get you there. It's better to set an easy goal you're sure to achieve (and even top) than an overly ambitious goal that you're likely to miss on a regular basis. If your goal is to write five pages and you write two, you feel like you've failed and are running behind. If your goal is to write one page and you write two, you feel a sense of accomplishment and triumph that will give you some momentum into the next day. You can always up your goal after you've established a habit and can see what your pace really is.
But you don't have to write every day to succeed. I keep seeing that advice from writers who claim that if you don't write every day, you're not a real writer, and it's nonsense. You're a writer if you write, period. You can get that book done in a year whether you write one page a day, seven pages on a Saturday, or three and a half pages on Saturday and three and a half pages on Sunday. Unless you're a full-time writer, you have to fit your writing around your existing life, which probably includes things like work, family, and taking care of your home, maybe even a social life. However, that doesn't mean you can use life as an excuse. You just need to take it into consideration when you schedule writing time like it's an appointment. When I was working full-time, I designated writing days and life days on weeknights -- I tried to cram all after-work errands, appointments and weekday activities into certain nights, leaving other nights entirely free. I didn't expect much from myself on weeknight writing sessions, just enough to keep the momentum going, and then I tried to get serious amounts of work done in marathon sessions on Friday nights and Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Other people have great success fitting in small bits of writing in every little bit of free time -- a page at lunch, a paragraph or two every time they pass the computer. Some people are most productive if they get up and get their writing done first thing in the morning, before work and life. Others do best at the end of the day, after taking care of everything else. There's no one right answer. You just need to figure out what works for you.
Don't give up if you falter. Just get started again. No one will know when they read the finished product whether you stuck to your schedule or had to catch up. The point is to get it done. If you don't have a contracted deadline, you're not even obligated to finish the book this year.
Try to get a good way into the book before you let yourself give up on that story. Sometimes you do figure out that a story idea isn't viable, but if you've never written a whole book before, it's hard to tell whether you're dealing with a non-viable story or whether you're just stuck and need to work through it. You may need more brainstorming or research. Don't ditch the book you're working on if you get a brilliant new idea. The more you write, the more creative you get, so the ideas will start flowing. Don't let them distract you. Write them down and keep going. You need to finish something if you're ever going to go anywhere. A half dozen partial novels won't do you any good. You can do something with a completed novel.
Have a reward in mind for finishing your project. Visualize that reward when you want to give up (and it's not fair to cheat and reward yourself without reaching your goal).
Good luck, and have fun!
Tuesday, December 13, 2016
New Book Day!
It's book release day! The new book seems to be live at all the major sellers, though Amazon hasn't yet merged the listing for the paperback and e-book, and when I did a search on my name, the paperback is the first result and the e-book is on the second page of results.
The short story is live, too. I'm hearing that people are able to get it for free at Amazon, but when I just searched, it came up for 99 cents still. They're supposed to price match it to free, since it's free elsewhere. I've nagged on that, and I'm not sure how it works to get that to drop.
Anyway, they're out there, and I hope you enjoy them!
The short story is live, too. I'm hearing that people are able to get it for free at Amazon, but when I just searched, it came up for 99 cents still. They're supposed to price match it to free, since it's free elsewhere. I've nagged on that, and I'm not sure how it works to get that to drop.
Anyway, they're out there, and I hope you enjoy them!
Monday, December 12, 2016
The Post-Weekend Weekend
I had one of those "I need a weekend to recover from the weekend" kind of weekends. I had a luncheon with a book club I frequently meet with on Saturday, and then a club meeting (it's a social club, which means that a "meeting" is a potluck at someone's house, where we hang out with friends and plan the stuff we'll do). I also had to bake a couple of batches of cookies for something to bring to the meeting and for the church's cookie sale. Sunday, my children's choir was singing in the early service, so I had to get up early, but wouldn't you know, I had one of those 4 a.m. insomnia bouts where I was awake enough to know I was conscious but not awake enough to do anything, and I finally fell back asleep about half an hour before my alarm went off.
The kids did a great job, and were mostly well-behaved. My biggest problem was replaced with a pod person, which was wonderful. He's usually the one getting hauled out into the hallway for throwing things, hitting other people, and generally being out of control, but he was a proper little gentleman who was telling me I needed to get the others to be quiet and was demonstrating how to stand in a straight line. He stood perfectly still and sang out beautifully. Maybe it was the tie. I should require him to come wearing a tie on Wednesday nights. But then there was the children's sermon right after they sang, with the children's minister talking about the Advent wreath and asking what symbols on it there were. One of our kids shouted out "Fire!" So, yeah, that was more normal. I'd been worried about how fascinated a couple of the kids were with the candles while they sang. They were edging in that direction.
Then I had to sing with the choir for the late service. I had a few hours to eat lunch, read the newspaper, and make soup before going back for rehearsals, then a choir potluck soup supper (thus the soup), then the Christmas concert, and then I rushed home to refrigerate the soup leftovers (on the downside, my veggie soup wasn't really popular, but on the upside, I won't have to cook lunch this week!) before heading out to go to a friend's birthday party. There was some rather epic karaoke, and I will admit to showing off a wee bit. I hit a rather abrupt wall around 10 and came home, but then it took me a long time to wind down and actually get to sleep.
I let myself sleep very late today, and I normally would give myself the day off, but I have a book releasing tomorrow, so I need to do some promo work today. I may not try to get any writing done unless I feel very inspired. I also have a lot of cleaning to do, since my kitchen looks like I was only home long enough over the weekend to bake cookies and make soup.
But it gets easier from here. I'm done with children's choir until after the holidays. We have the travelers' Christmas Eve service Wednesday (an early Christmas Eve service for those who'll be out of town) and a short choir rehearsal, then Friday is Star Wars day, and then I have a party Saturday night. I suspect Sunday after church I will crawl into a cave for a little while and do some serious writing.
The kids did a great job, and were mostly well-behaved. My biggest problem was replaced with a pod person, which was wonderful. He's usually the one getting hauled out into the hallway for throwing things, hitting other people, and generally being out of control, but he was a proper little gentleman who was telling me I needed to get the others to be quiet and was demonstrating how to stand in a straight line. He stood perfectly still and sang out beautifully. Maybe it was the tie. I should require him to come wearing a tie on Wednesday nights. But then there was the children's sermon right after they sang, with the children's minister talking about the Advent wreath and asking what symbols on it there were. One of our kids shouted out "Fire!" So, yeah, that was more normal. I'd been worried about how fascinated a couple of the kids were with the candles while they sang. They were edging in that direction.
Then I had to sing with the choir for the late service. I had a few hours to eat lunch, read the newspaper, and make soup before going back for rehearsals, then a choir potluck soup supper (thus the soup), then the Christmas concert, and then I rushed home to refrigerate the soup leftovers (on the downside, my veggie soup wasn't really popular, but on the upside, I won't have to cook lunch this week!) before heading out to go to a friend's birthday party. There was some rather epic karaoke, and I will admit to showing off a wee bit. I hit a rather abrupt wall around 10 and came home, but then it took me a long time to wind down and actually get to sleep.
I let myself sleep very late today, and I normally would give myself the day off, but I have a book releasing tomorrow, so I need to do some promo work today. I may not try to get any writing done unless I feel very inspired. I also have a lot of cleaning to do, since my kitchen looks like I was only home long enough over the weekend to bake cookies and make soup.
But it gets easier from here. I'm done with children's choir until after the holidays. We have the travelers' Christmas Eve service Wednesday (an early Christmas Eve service for those who'll be out of town) and a short choir rehearsal, then Friday is Star Wars day, and then I have a party Saturday night. I suspect Sunday after church I will crawl into a cave for a little while and do some serious writing.
Friday, December 09, 2016
In Praise of Escapist Fantasy
I finished the Magicians trilogy, and now I see why people liked it. The second half of the first book was awfully grim, but the second two books have a real sense of wonder and fun. We got to see those cynical characters from the first book becoming good, strong (but still snarky) people, living up to their potential after everything they'd been through.
Now I'm in the mood for something else that's fun and escapist, and that's been a bit of a challenge. Of all the books I have on my shelf from convention freebies and the Nebula goody bag, most of the ones I haven't read yet sound so bleak and grim. Just reading the plot descriptions on the covers makes me want to crawl in bed and pull the blanket over my head.
And, you know, right now, the world needs some hope and escapism. It's been a rough year, and there's some scary and nasty stuff happening. We don't need to read about dystopias. What we need is hope and joy. It's hard to build a better world when you can't envision what that looks like, when all you're seeing is something dark and grim. That's why I'm glad that I do what I do. The kinds of things I write might not be taken seriously by the kind of people who use "escapist" or "fluff" as a criticism, but I think it can be just as important as all the grim, serious, message-laden stuff (not saying that there's anything wrong with the more serious stuff, just that it's not the only kind of fiction that has merit).
Why is escapism so important? Part of it might get called "self care." It's hard to take on the world all the time. Sometimes you need to take a step back and refresh, and a moment of fun and happiness may be what you need to recharge enough to go back out into the world and make a difference.
Then there's what I mentioned before about needing an image of a better world so you know how to make it happen. Sometimes we need a glimpse of a world where the good guys are good and the bad guys are bad, and the good guys prevail because they're good. We need a reminder that being good can be rewarding when we live in a world where good doesn't always win. That's why I don't really like the grimdark stuff or dystopias. I get enough about that from watching the news.
I get e-mails from people who've read my books while going through chemo, while on bedrest with a difficult pregnancy, who've read them to people recovering from strokes. They wanted something fun and light to take their minds off their current woes. I like to think that reading about good people doing good things and winning might encourage people that it's okay to be good, brave, and kind. And if enough people get that kind of encouragement, maybe they can change the world.
Now I'm in the mood for something else that's fun and escapist, and that's been a bit of a challenge. Of all the books I have on my shelf from convention freebies and the Nebula goody bag, most of the ones I haven't read yet sound so bleak and grim. Just reading the plot descriptions on the covers makes me want to crawl in bed and pull the blanket over my head.
And, you know, right now, the world needs some hope and escapism. It's been a rough year, and there's some scary and nasty stuff happening. We don't need to read about dystopias. What we need is hope and joy. It's hard to build a better world when you can't envision what that looks like, when all you're seeing is something dark and grim. That's why I'm glad that I do what I do. The kinds of things I write might not be taken seriously by the kind of people who use "escapist" or "fluff" as a criticism, but I think it can be just as important as all the grim, serious, message-laden stuff (not saying that there's anything wrong with the more serious stuff, just that it's not the only kind of fiction that has merit).
Why is escapism so important? Part of it might get called "self care." It's hard to take on the world all the time. Sometimes you need to take a step back and refresh, and a moment of fun and happiness may be what you need to recharge enough to go back out into the world and make a difference.
Then there's what I mentioned before about needing an image of a better world so you know how to make it happen. Sometimes we need a glimpse of a world where the good guys are good and the bad guys are bad, and the good guys prevail because they're good. We need a reminder that being good can be rewarding when we live in a world where good doesn't always win. That's why I don't really like the grimdark stuff or dystopias. I get enough about that from watching the news.
I get e-mails from people who've read my books while going through chemo, while on bedrest with a difficult pregnancy, who've read them to people recovering from strokes. They wanted something fun and light to take their minds off their current woes. I like to think that reading about good people doing good things and winning might encourage people that it's okay to be good, brave, and kind. And if enough people get that kind of encouragement, maybe they can change the world.
Thursday, December 08, 2016
Another New Thing
One problem I'm having with all the different social media platforms is remembering what I've posted where. I get annoyed with people who post the same thing everywhere, but then there are people who only follow on one platform, so it kind of needs to be posted everywhere. The trick is mixing it up so that the post fits that platform rather than just doing a one-size fits all. But then I need to remember to put the info everywhere.
Something I forgot to post here (I think):
In addition to the new book on December 13, I'll be releasing a free short story set in the Enchanted, Inc. universe. This one is about Sam the gargoyle on a case. I originally wrote it for the FenCon program book in 2009, and I've read it at a few conventions, but this is the first time it's been published beyond that. I'm including a short excerpt from Enchanted, Inc. in it, so it should serve two purposes. It's a fun little bonus for existing fans and maybe a free sample for people who haven't tried the series yet. Here's what the cover looks like:
I should have pre-order links for everything soon, so stay tuned.
Something I forgot to post here (I think):
In addition to the new book on December 13, I'll be releasing a free short story set in the Enchanted, Inc. universe. This one is about Sam the gargoyle on a case. I originally wrote it for the FenCon program book in 2009, and I've read it at a few conventions, but this is the first time it's been published beyond that. I'm including a short excerpt from Enchanted, Inc. in it, so it should serve two purposes. It's a fun little bonus for existing fans and maybe a free sample for people who haven't tried the series yet. Here's what the cover looks like:
I should have pre-order links for everything soon, so stay tuned.
Wednesday, December 07, 2016
Enjoying Winter
I got my synopsis more or less written yesterday, and Mom gave me the thumbs up on the opening chapters, so I may be good to go. Except I came up with something else I want to fit in the opening chapters, so I may do some tweaking on that today before my last children's choir session of the semester (wheeeee! Ahem.).
It's also time to get ready for our first real cold snap of the season -- not only our first freeze, but colder temperatures than we had all of last winter. I'm feeling somewhat responsible because I bought a new can of mosquito spray for the patio last week, and then right after that we had a rainy spell, and now a cold spell, so I haven't been able to sit outside, and then the freeze should take care of the mosquitoes.
In a way, I'm actually looking forward to the cold. I found my electric blanket, and I have ingredients for soup and hot cocoa. Thursday night may be my first good Hallmark movie binge. I've been letting them pile up on the DVR.
Some of this fondness for cold weather may be genetic. I found this article on Norwegian winters, and although I've never actually been to Norway, I think this sounds wonderful. I like that they have a special word for a sense of coziness, a way of taking a lot of the things we associate with Christmas, like candles, warm beverages, and blankets, and applying to winter in general, like Christmas without the stress. I think that may be my goal for January. I may buy up some candles and LED lights in the post-Christmas clearance and have a kind of personal winter-fest that's mostly celebrated with books, writing, and binge viewing of romantic comedies and fantasy movies.
I also now want to visit Norway in winter. I even have a real Norwegian sweater. I'm the weird person who doesn't get winter depression. I like the short days (again, might be genetic). A big key seems to be to celebrate the season you're in rather than wishing to be in a different season.
It's also time to get ready for our first real cold snap of the season -- not only our first freeze, but colder temperatures than we had all of last winter. I'm feeling somewhat responsible because I bought a new can of mosquito spray for the patio last week, and then right after that we had a rainy spell, and now a cold spell, so I haven't been able to sit outside, and then the freeze should take care of the mosquitoes.
In a way, I'm actually looking forward to the cold. I found my electric blanket, and I have ingredients for soup and hot cocoa. Thursday night may be my first good Hallmark movie binge. I've been letting them pile up on the DVR.
Some of this fondness for cold weather may be genetic. I found this article on Norwegian winters, and although I've never actually been to Norway, I think this sounds wonderful. I like that they have a special word for a sense of coziness, a way of taking a lot of the things we associate with Christmas, like candles, warm beverages, and blankets, and applying to winter in general, like Christmas without the stress. I think that may be my goal for January. I may buy up some candles and LED lights in the post-Christmas clearance and have a kind of personal winter-fest that's mostly celebrated with books, writing, and binge viewing of romantic comedies and fantasy movies.
I also now want to visit Norway in winter. I even have a real Norwegian sweater. I'm the weird person who doesn't get winter depression. I like the short days (again, might be genetic). A big key seems to be to celebrate the season you're in rather than wishing to be in a different season.
Tuesday, December 06, 2016
Next Year's Plans
My office in the bedroom plan worked out pretty well yesterday. I got a solid afternoon of work done, though there was the minor problem of not doing much of anything else because I was so comfortable where I was. My reading and working in bed has had the added benefit of breaking in the new mattress. They told me when I bought it that it would take a little while before it felt like the one in the store. In fact, although they have a very liberal return policy if you get a mattress and realize it doesn't work for you, they won't take it back until you've had it for 60 days because it takes that long to break it in and get used to it enough to know you really don't like it. When I first got mine, it was stiff enough that when the head was raised, the mattress just tilted instead of bending unless I was sitting on it. Just sleeping on it with it relatively flat wasn't doing a lot to break it in, but spending more time with the base in more extreme positions has really helped, and now it's more comfortable to sleep on, as well.
I may have finished the proposal part of this book, but it's still writing itself in my head as I wake up in the morning. I at least know what happens next. My view of what's really going on has changed since I started. I found where I'd written out a short blurb of the sort that would go in a query letter or cover, and it didn't fit anymore. Today I plan to write a synopsis, and that will likely lead to revisions on the shorter blurb. The real trick will be to force myself to switch gears and get back to writing another Rebels book while I wait for feedback on this idea from my agent.
I've been doing some business planning for next year, looking at everything I want to write. I'm definitely planning at least one more Rebels book for the year, likely another Enchanted, Inc. I want to do more Fairy Tale books, but what I think I may do is try writing shorter books -- in the 50,000-60,000 word range, about the length of a short mystery -- and do more of them more frequently.
I'm also looking at probably doing fewer conventions. They really don't pay off, and it's hard to make a business case for them. I'm planning to travel to two events that are more about professional development and networking than about publicity, but I won't be going out of town to any other events where I have to foot the travel expenses. Instead, I want to invest that time in writing and some of that money in promotion, maybe do some advertising. A BookBub listing could be paid for with the travel costs for a weekend convention, and it will more than pay for itself, while there's no way that a weekend convention that I've been to several times before will pay for itself, even in indirect word-of-mouth sales. Last year, I tried going to every event that invited me, and I saw no benefit at all. If anything, my sales numbers went down. Not that the conventions caused that to happen, but they certainly didn't raise my sales. I don't really find them that fun, not enough to warrant that kind of investment. I'd rather travel to see my friends away from an event like that so that we have time to spend together and a change to explore and tour. The only downside is not being able to write a trip like that off my taxes.
So, while last year was the year of conventions, next year will be the year of putting my head down and writing like crazy, to test the theory that the key to maintaining steady sales in self publishing is to get work out more frequently. I'm not sure I've yet hit critical mass in the number of books that are available or in the frequency of releases to keep everything visible.
I may have finished the proposal part of this book, but it's still writing itself in my head as I wake up in the morning. I at least know what happens next. My view of what's really going on has changed since I started. I found where I'd written out a short blurb of the sort that would go in a query letter or cover, and it didn't fit anymore. Today I plan to write a synopsis, and that will likely lead to revisions on the shorter blurb. The real trick will be to force myself to switch gears and get back to writing another Rebels book while I wait for feedback on this idea from my agent.
I've been doing some business planning for next year, looking at everything I want to write. I'm definitely planning at least one more Rebels book for the year, likely another Enchanted, Inc. I want to do more Fairy Tale books, but what I think I may do is try writing shorter books -- in the 50,000-60,000 word range, about the length of a short mystery -- and do more of them more frequently.
I'm also looking at probably doing fewer conventions. They really don't pay off, and it's hard to make a business case for them. I'm planning to travel to two events that are more about professional development and networking than about publicity, but I won't be going out of town to any other events where I have to foot the travel expenses. Instead, I want to invest that time in writing and some of that money in promotion, maybe do some advertising. A BookBub listing could be paid for with the travel costs for a weekend convention, and it will more than pay for itself, while there's no way that a weekend convention that I've been to several times before will pay for itself, even in indirect word-of-mouth sales. Last year, I tried going to every event that invited me, and I saw no benefit at all. If anything, my sales numbers went down. Not that the conventions caused that to happen, but they certainly didn't raise my sales. I don't really find them that fun, not enough to warrant that kind of investment. I'd rather travel to see my friends away from an event like that so that we have time to spend together and a change to explore and tour. The only downside is not being able to write a trip like that off my taxes.
So, while last year was the year of conventions, next year will be the year of putting my head down and writing like crazy, to test the theory that the key to maintaining steady sales in self publishing is to get work out more frequently. I'm not sure I've yet hit critical mass in the number of books that are available or in the frequency of releases to keep everything visible.
Monday, December 05, 2016
Getting Seasonal
I got my Christmas stuff up over the weekend, and I got wacky and put the Christmas tree in my bedroom. That way, I didn't have to rearrange living room furniture for it, and I could put it in front of a window. It's situated so I can look at it from my bed, and I got one of those remote control outlet thingies, where there's a gizmo you plug into an outlet, and then you can control the things plugged into that outlet with a remote control. That way, I can lie in bed and look at the tree, and then turn off the tree lights without getting out of bed. I think after the holidays, I'm going to move that gizmo to the living room and put a lamp on it. The switch to the living room lights is in the back of the room, so when I come home at night, I have to turn on the entry light, cross the room to the living room switch, turn on that light, then go back to turn off the entryway. I'll be able to leave the remote in the entry and turn on a living room light when I enter the house, and then since I go through the entry to get to the bedroom, I won't have to do the back-and-forth to go to bed -- to the bedroom to turn on a light, back to the living room to turn off the lights. Just turn off everything but the lamp, go to bedroom, turn on light, click the remote to turn off lamp.
We finally have semi-seasonal weather, and it's about to get worse. I had to do the closet switch-out this morning in order to get dressed because I still had all my summer clothes in the closet, and I'd worn the only sweatshirt that was still handy. I had to bring the rest of my sweaters and sweatshirts downstairs. I've pulled out the summer clothes, and now I need to put away the winter stuff to get it off the bed. This should be an opportunity to do a closet purge, since I keep looking at things and realizing I never wore them all year, but instead of thinking, "I never wore that, so I should probably donate it," my thoughts are more like, "I never wore that, so it'll be like having something new next summer!"
But my real priority today is finishing up a book proposal and then doing some marketing stuff. It's kind of gray and chilly, and I like to switch around the places I write and the places I edit, so I may be officing in the bedroom today. That way, I can look at my tree and sit cradled in comfort on the fancy adjustable bed. But first, I need to put away all those sweatshirts and sweaters.
We finally have semi-seasonal weather, and it's about to get worse. I had to do the closet switch-out this morning in order to get dressed because I still had all my summer clothes in the closet, and I'd worn the only sweatshirt that was still handy. I had to bring the rest of my sweaters and sweatshirts downstairs. I've pulled out the summer clothes, and now I need to put away the winter stuff to get it off the bed. This should be an opportunity to do a closet purge, since I keep looking at things and realizing I never wore them all year, but instead of thinking, "I never wore that, so I should probably donate it," my thoughts are more like, "I never wore that, so it'll be like having something new next summer!"
But my real priority today is finishing up a book proposal and then doing some marketing stuff. It's kind of gray and chilly, and I like to switch around the places I write and the places I edit, so I may be officing in the bedroom today. That way, I can look at my tree and sit cradled in comfort on the fancy adjustable bed. But first, I need to put away all those sweatshirts and sweaters.
Friday, December 02, 2016
New Book Cover!
Busy day today. I've already run errands and done grocery shopping. I need to finish a proposal. And the weather is supposed to be so nasty tomorrow that they're already canceling all the outdoor Saturday holiday events, so I need to bring in all the Christmas stuff from the garage today so I can put it up over the weekend. And then I need to take care of some business stuff and do some baking. Whew!
So this will be short, but likely contains the thing you really want to see anyway. Ta da, the cover for the new book, coming December 13:
So this will be short, but likely contains the thing you really want to see anyway. Ta da, the cover for the new book, coming December 13:
Thursday, December 01, 2016
Creative Overdrive
I have declared today to be my last non-holiday season day, in which I'm going to try to get everything pre-holiday taken care of. Tomorrow, I will load the Christmas music onto my phone, put up my decorations, possibly do my first round of baking, and let myself start watching the holiday movies that have been stacking up on the DVR. Then Saturday the Death March of fun begins with a vengeance, with several busy weekends in a row. This weekend isn't so bad (just a get-together, a party, and then chorale singing in two services), but next weekend will be the kind of weekend that requires a weekend to recover from. I have overlapping events Saturday, children singing Sunday morning, a concert Sunday evening, and a party after that. Sometime on either Friday or Saturday I have to bake for the church cookie swap. Everything should calm down the week before Christmas, and that may be my reading and watching Hallmark movies time, as I recover from all the socializing.
The sense of feeling busy isn't helped by the fact that my brain is in creative overdrive. It's not a bad thing necessarily, since it's awfully convenient that my brain is playing out the movie for the next scenes I need to write. There's no writer's block at all. I mostly just sit and transcribe, and sometimes try to put what I've seen into words. The downside is that all this is happening right when I wake up in the morning, when I'm in that twilight phase of being conscious but not really awake enough to want to get out of bed. I wake up with scenes playing out in my head, so I lie there and watch it all, taking mental notes, and then I lose all track of time. What seems to be five minutes turns out to have been half an hour. Sometimes I fall back asleep. As a result, I'm really oversleeping, and I lose most of the morning, which is when I do all the business and non-writing tasks I need to do, and there are a lot of those. I feel stressed when I'm feeling behind on the day.
Since I've got a book coming out, I really need to be focusing on promotion. I'd planned to get a new web site by now, but I got sidetracked by decision paralysis on finding a web designer and graphic designer to do a logo and possibly other work for the site. I'm in this bind where the people who know about me seem to really love my books, but most people don't know about me, and I don't know how to reach more people to break out of that loop. Nothing I do seems to go viral enough to really spread, and it doesn't help that a rather non-social person isn't very effective on social media. I'm writing books now because I hated doing PR. I'd be happiest hiding in a cave and writing, being the mysterious reclusive author, but it's hard to do that these days. But it's also hard to force myself to get out there with a book that's already done when I've got a book in my head that's trying to burst out, Alien-like, and all I really want to do is write it.
So I guess I'd better go either promote or write.
The sense of feeling busy isn't helped by the fact that my brain is in creative overdrive. It's not a bad thing necessarily, since it's awfully convenient that my brain is playing out the movie for the next scenes I need to write. There's no writer's block at all. I mostly just sit and transcribe, and sometimes try to put what I've seen into words. The downside is that all this is happening right when I wake up in the morning, when I'm in that twilight phase of being conscious but not really awake enough to want to get out of bed. I wake up with scenes playing out in my head, so I lie there and watch it all, taking mental notes, and then I lose all track of time. What seems to be five minutes turns out to have been half an hour. Sometimes I fall back asleep. As a result, I'm really oversleeping, and I lose most of the morning, which is when I do all the business and non-writing tasks I need to do, and there are a lot of those. I feel stressed when I'm feeling behind on the day.
Since I've got a book coming out, I really need to be focusing on promotion. I'd planned to get a new web site by now, but I got sidetracked by decision paralysis on finding a web designer and graphic designer to do a logo and possibly other work for the site. I'm in this bind where the people who know about me seem to really love my books, but most people don't know about me, and I don't know how to reach more people to break out of that loop. Nothing I do seems to go viral enough to really spread, and it doesn't help that a rather non-social person isn't very effective on social media. I'm writing books now because I hated doing PR. I'd be happiest hiding in a cave and writing, being the mysterious reclusive author, but it's hard to do that these days. But it's also hard to force myself to get out there with a book that's already done when I've got a book in my head that's trying to burst out, Alien-like, and all I really want to do is write it.
So I guess I'd better go either promote or write.
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