What It's All About

Why do I write?

The odds are weighted heavily against me making a fortune at this. As a matter of fact, the vast majority of writers would make more on a minimum wage job than the money they make off of their stories. I know these odds, and yet here I sit hammering away on the keyboard. So why do it?

Because...

Because there is always that chance. Because there is that desire to put the best stuff I can out there and do the best I can with it. Because I like the fact that what I do puts me in the company of the likes of Ray Bradbury, Fritz Leiber, Edger Allen Poe, and Ernest Hemingway, even if I never see their kind of success. Because when somebody asks what I am, I can say I'm a writer. Because I used to enjoy telling stories, and now have found a better way to get them out there. Because I can actually hold up a book in my hand and say, "I wrote that."

And because I want to get read.

Even if I don't sell a lot of books and stories, I can watch every sale appear on my tracker at Amazon and know that somebody out there is reading one of my books or stories. It's an amazing feeling that I don't know how to describe. But every little bump in the numbers means I'm being read again, and that's what it's really all about. Getting read. Bringing something into this world that somebody else can hold and find value in. It's like making a tiny piece of this world mine, because I made it...and it will always be there for somebody to pick up and read.

That's what it's all about.

PS: Dear Harper Collins. If you DO suddenly decide to send supermodels waving fistfuls of cash to my front door, nothing in the above post should be construed as meaning that I would send them away. Just sayin...

Another Writer's Night Out

So Cherri Galbiati and I had another writer's night out. I know you guys out there must think that's all us writer's do...sit around at Denny's and talk about writing. But we do actually write and stuff. Really! She also showed me a copy of a short story she'll be putting up on Amazon.com soon. It's a charming little Christmas tale, but I shall not say anything more than that as that's not my place.

Anyways, we discussed the changing field of writing, the emerging indie market, and the different routes that writers have to choose from nowadays. It's a pretty strange field at the moment, and I don't think anybody really knows how all this is going to turn out. There are New York writers who desperately want their backlist of novels back so they can publish them independently, and there are indie writers who hope to catch the eye of a New York publisher. The grass seems to be greener all over the place, depending on who's doing the looking.

I've pretty much settled for a hybrid role at the moment. I publish with small presses and also releasing indie works. It allows for a lot of flexibility, and also lets me see the market from different sides. I can't really predict which way things are going to go (well, I could...and sure as shootin be dooming the course I predicted to utter oblivion), but I'm noticing some of the things I discussed in an earlier blog post starting to happen.

Cover artists are starting to advertise and cater to indie authors...offering good quality and low cost artwork using image editing software. I bet you will see more and more people offering editing services over time too. What's going to be interesting to see is if the market for these services end up being dominated by individuals offering their services on author forums, or if some larger service vendors form. I can see reasons for both.

Anyways, I intend to polish A Memory of Me and get a few proofs out to proofreaders, then I hope to upload it to Amazon.com at the end of the week. That will be my last novelette of the summer, and it will be time to attempt novel writing again. I'll break out my novel, and even take another look at what I've got with Argiope as well, then try to get to writing.

Onwards and Upwards...and lets get through this Monday together!

Yeah, That Went Well :P

So the Cowboys got massacred...23-7

In my previous post I wondered what food would be good for watching the football game. After watching the Cowboys humiliate themselves, I've come to realize I need food specifically designed for throwing at the television set. Something not harmful to the screen itself, but will supply me with some measure of comfort when I hurl it at the offending player or referee that has drawn my righteous ire.

 Twinkies, perhaps?

Anyways, my parents visited today and my father cut down all the limbs that hung out over the street from my badly ungroomed trees. It's a big improvement, but now reveals more of the house and yard so I will probably need to trim some bushes and such...just so the neighbors will feel like I tried,

On another front, progress with "A Memory of Me" moves forward. I'm debating trying to round up a few new proofreaders for this one, since I need people who can look at it with fresh eyes and not in contrast to what it was before. I'll give it some thought. I also need to check and see if my normal circle of proofreaders has anybody who didn't read "The Tragedy, Man." It's doubtful since back then I tended to run around waving my new manuscripts in the face of anybody unfortunate enough not to see me coming

We'll see. I'll get it proofread, one way or another.

New Ideas

So, I was talking to people on the kindle boards, other authors mostly, and discussing ways to get people to know about our books. A couple of them piped up and said they had had good luck with getting reviews on book blogs. Whoah! Blogs that review books! What a concept! So I broke out my handy dandy Google machine and went in search. And they're real!

So now what?

So now I girded my loins, put on my best e-sundaysuit, and sent a few polite query letters. Believe me, it wasn't easy. The idea of sending my novel to be reviewed is scary as hell. What if they hate it? What if they give it half a star, six thumbs down, and declare it the best over the counter sleeping aid since Nyquil? And of course those reviews will stand for the rest of eternity, or the death of the internet...whichever comes first. This is scary stuff for a writer, folks.

On another front, I also got a brilliant idea while watching my kids buses smash through the low limbs that hang over the street from my front yard. I thought, "Hey, I bet I ought to cut those limbs!" So my father shall be arriving Saturday morning with his trusty limbsaw, and the buses will not need to hire a native guide with a machete to get down my street in the near future. That's two ideas on one day. Pretty good for me :)

On another front, work proceeds on "A Memory of Me." It will be ready for proofreading soon. The only problem was that it started out as a story called "The Tragedy, Man," that many of my proofreaders have already seen. It has an inserted scene, and a diffferent ending now, but will the fact that they have seen it before throw them off? I don't know. I'll have to ask them.

On yet another front, both of the kids have gotten through their first week of school and neither of their teachers have sent me emails threatening revenge. I guess they're being pretty good so far. Sheridan is actually happy and excited about his new school, and Rowan has matter of factly returned to her routines as if there never was a summer.

Last, but not least, the Dallas Cowboys play Houston tonight. There will be major awesomness at my house as I try to figure out the perfect food combination for watching it on my TV. Maybe something grilled :)

Waking Up on Friday

It's another glorious Friday morning, the last day of the week. I'm sure lots of happy, shiny people across this great state are heading to work with brilliant smiles plastered across their faces. I know I would be if I had to actually get up and go to a job. Friday's are just wonderful like that.

Today, I'll start working on A Memory of Me. Now that I have the cover finished, I need to give it another good editing. I'm still not entirely happy with the climactic scene, and I think it could be done a little bigger and a little more scarily. So I guess I'm not going to be editing so much, as reading with an eye towards revision. Anyways, it needs to be done so I can get this story published in a week or two and turn my thoughts back to Khrem.

And that's just it. I have been thinking about the world of Khrem again. After I'm done with my current story, I'm going to have to pick that novel up and read it through. Yeah, I know I wrote it in the first place...but I still need to make sure my memories of it are sharp and accurate as I start plotting the sequel. And it will help me crawl back into the FEEL of that novel, so that the next one has the same ambiance and flavor. I have several ideas for the  novel...more than I can actually put in the novel itself, so one or two might actually work for the Tales of Nur series. That would be a bonus.

Ah well, here is a shout out to all you smiling people sitting down at your desks this glorious Friday, already dreaming of the weekend. It's only a few short hours away! Enjoy!

Another Good Morning

 I got the kids off on their respective buses today

There are a lot of nearby neighborhood kids who are all pretty much the same age and they are congregating with their parents every morning here on the corner to meet the buses. Sheridan is delighted, because he gets to run and play with other kids before the bus arrives. I took Rowan over as well, but she didn't feel sociable and wanted to be held instead. She is used to being picked up by her bus in our driveway, and isn't always enthusiastic about change. The neighbors offerred to watch Sheridan while I waited in the driveway with Rowan if that would ease things. We shall see.

Finished a final candidate for the second Shades story yesterday (as posted earlier) Unleass I just have some stroke of genius out of the blue, that's the cover I'll go with for "A Memory of Me."

On another note, Pill Hill Press has agreed to drop the price of The Ways of Khrem to $3.99 on the Kindle! That is fantastic, and I'm really hoping this works out well for everybody. I have some promotions planned over the fall and winter, and the new price will help.

Ah well, I've got things to do and people to see.

Ta!

Fixed and Final Version

Tada! Now to work on the story itself.

Meanwhile, On To The Next Project...

Busy, busy, busy!

 I'm already working up cover candidates for the next and last project of mine for the summer. This is the leading contender for the story, "A Memory of Me." The story itself still needs some polish, so this will probably remain the leader until I get that done and can fully focus on cover art. I'm hoping to have this done by the end of the first week of September. Then I can set aside things like cover art work and promoting for a while, and just focus on writing.

Wednesday is Starbucks day this week. Rowans last day of morning therapy at Learning Lane is this morning, so I will be spending the morning at the nearby Starbucks...working diligently, of course. The extra caffiene helps my productivity, and I do love those Cafe Mocha's. Afterwards I will drop her off at school, which will give me two hours of peace at home.

So far, the kids seem to be enjoying school. I'm pleasantly surprised and hoping this continues. Neither of the teachers have called me, demanding reparations or anything like that yet, so I'm letting myself slide into a mood of cautious optimism here. The only bad part is that all the kids and parents nearby gather in front of my house to board the bus in the morning. My yard, of course, is a travesty of neglect and poor maintenance. This shall have to be rectified since I have to actually meet and talk to different parents every morning.

Sigh. Work, work, work!

The Passage of the Coral Horn

The second of my Tales of Nur series...The Passage of the Coral Horn...is now available for the Kindle, or free downloadable kindle reader for PC. It is 10,000 words long and costs .99 cents.

Like all stories in the Tales of Nur series, it will feature places or creatures from the same world as The Ways of Khrem. In this story, a young crewman name Ros embarks on his first voyage aboard the light freighter, "Coral Horn." He is already tense, as they are being shadowed by the ruthless Tagarr, only to discover there are worse terrors out on the Cambriatic Sea.

This is the third of four projects I was working on this summer. Only one more, the second in the "Shades" series, and then I can turn my attention back to novel writing.