E.J. Gette's Blog, page 5

I’ll be me…you be you

We have all seen the thousands of posts with tips and tricks on how to get people to come to, read, and follow your blog. Now I’m not talking about the other bloggers who really just want to help out someone who might be new at this. I mean the ones that read like an infomercial, or for that matter actually ask you to pay to be a better blogger.

I am going to tell you today exactly how much of this advice I’ve taken. ZERO. I did not start this blog to make money, or to see if I could reach 50,000 followers. I started this blog to put down ideas, share some stories, and whatever other random thoughts I have. I also wanted an open, friendly forum where anyone that is interested in my thoughts and hopefully someday, my writing, can follow, and even interact with me.

So, I will just be me with my thoughts, and all I ask in return is that you be you and share yours.

Happy writing!

Ups and Downs

I am rather excited this week as more than 100 copies of my stories are now in the hands of readers. This really is more than I expected at this stage in my writing journey. To know that my story is out there and hoping that someone reads it and enjoys it is all I need. Sure, we would all like to be able to do this for a living, and some who would like to be as popular as King, or Martin, but that’s not really my goal. I just want to know someone enjoys reading my stories as much as I enjoy writing them.

The downside is, due to a personal injury that I wont go into, it has been difficult to sit anywhere and write. I have ideas swimming in my head and I can only manage to sit for a few minutes at a time and put them down. It also means I will most likely only have short blogs if any at all. I will be fine eventually, just some muscle pain.

So, just a huge thank you to my friends and followers who have picked up my stories.

 

The Gears Turn

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The creative gears turn again. Yesterday afternoon while at the park new ideas started to spring up. Being outside can sometimes help quite a bit with the creative process. I guess I should call them new ideas, more like improvements upon my current ideas.

I think this is one of my favorite parts about writing. Your story playing in your head, the scene repeating itself over and over in a loop with slight changes to each one until you can go over the scene smoothly in your head. Then continually playing the scene, adjusting dialogue, adding a description here and there. At least this is how it happens for me.

Then the more difficult part comes. Creating a scene in my head can be easy, putting it down in words is something else all together. Making the scene just as interesting on paper as it is in my imagination. Describing what I see in my head, not too much, but not leaving anything out either.

Forward movement again on the edit. Happy writing to all!

Promotion

The promotion for my short story prequel to my upcoming novel starts tomorrow. It will be free until publication of Beyond the Great Wood coming in July.

There will be plenty of time grab it and get some background on the main characters. It will be available on kindle, nook and kobo.

Writers block and self-doubt

So the ugly head of writers block is staring me straight in the face. I am at a place in my novel that I am not happy with and I know it needs to be fixed. I stare and stare at the paragraphs and…nothing. My brain says change it, but then doesn’t give me the means to do so.

Now, the second part of this. Ever since I tried to go the traditional publishing route with many many failures I have stopped my writing more than once. I coddle my story like a young child that refuse to let grow up and go out into the world. Now part of me is afraid that I am experiencing my block because I am so close to publication and my instinct to keep my creation close to me is kicking in.

I will have to break from creating for the rest of the day, hope for a good nights sleep and hope I find where my muse is hiding.

Editing

I was excited today as I have 75 pages left to edit in my novel. I thought, ‘wow, I might actually even be ahead of schedule.” I’m never AHEAD of schedule. Then I realized that today is also June first. I have just a hair over a month to finish my editing.

Now where 75 pages doesn’t seem like that much there is still a lot of work to do. I am editing for content and the obvious mistakes. Once I get to the end I will go over it once again just to be sure timelines are good. Nothing to me is worse than wondering to yourself why someone in a book has knowledge about something that has not happened yet. 75 pages can also be a lot to get through when the rest of your life decides that sitting down and editing a book just isn’t going to work right now. I have a 9-5 job that pays the bills, as books are not doing this for me, plus a lot of family to save time for as well.

Once I am happy with the book. And when I say happy I mean when I make myself leave it alone and remind myself that perfection is impossible. The next step will be finding someone to edit it for me in my remaining time frame.

I set a publication date for two reasons. One is for myself, to keep me on track and to finish this project and take another step toward my dream. The other is a promise to readers out there. I put the countdown clock on my page for those who are interested and waiting for my novel.

Thank you for reading, and thank you to those who are waiting for me to be done with this already.

Happy writing!

I have been remiss…

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I just wanted to apologize to my friends and followers today. I have been remiss in visiting your blogs and websites.

I have spent most of the week making ready for my promotion through June and now I have an email full of posts that I keep telling myself ‘I will get to these today’

At the very least I will spend the weekend taking a break from my writing and be social.

So when your notifications blow up this weekend, that will be me catching up.

Book Promotion

Good morning! From today until publication of my novel, my short story prequel My Familiar will be free.

This story centers around my main character and was originally cut from the novel but is something I consider good backstory, it just was not necessary for the progression of the larger story.

It has been well received so far in the two weeks it has been available and I am excited to share it with everyone.

Good writing to you all!

Book review readers

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Alright, since I am 40 days out from publication. Yep, just over a month left. I am going to put the call out again for anyone interested in being on the advanced reading team.

I have a handful of participants now and would really like to see a few more. What this entails is this. One week before publication you will receive a free copy of the book, read it, and review. There is NO time limit. I am not looking for the reviews to be posted on publication day, or even on publication week. Take your time, enjoy the book and let me know what you thought.

Honest reviews. I do not want anyone inflating my ego, or leaving a good review just because you got a free copy.

If this is something you think you would be interested in just let me know.

 

Back to work

It was a nice holiday weekend here in the US. Very busy for me, my 9-5 job was hectic and had family visits. I did manage to squeeze in some time to edit my novel. I am also preparing a few things for a book promotion for June, which of course I will link here as well.

I have a handful of chapters left to edit, one more quick read over and then it’s fingers crossed after that.

I get more and more excited the closer I get to this. Many years of writing and dreaming, and here it comes, full steam ahead.

A good week to all, and happy writing.