R.R. Campbell's Blog, page 15
April 11, 2019
Next Week: a Reading and Signing at A Room of One’s Own
We’re now one week from the next event featuring author r. r. campbell and the EMPATHY series! Join him and fellow author M.A. Hinkle at A Room of One’s Own in Madison, Wisconsin Thursday, April 18th at 6:00 p.m. for a book reading, sale, and signing.
You can learn more on the A Room of One’s Own site or the event page on Facebook.
If you’re in the Madison, Wisconsin area, please come out and show your support for authors and local bookstores by purchasing copies of the authors’ books while in attendance.
For those of you who are unable to attend, however, you can still order your copies of the EMPATHY series’ first two installments at the links below.
See you soon!
Imminent Dawn
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | NineStar Press | Kobo | Smashwords | Goodreads | Author Website
Mourning Dove
(preorders)
April 10, 2019
Imminent Dawn Listed Among Favorite Books of Winter 2018 – 2019
FloralCars recently looked back on their favorite books from winter 2018-2019, and Imminent Dawn made the cut!
Check out the full list of favorites at this address.
Still haven’t read Imminent Dawn? You can get your copy below—and don’t forget to take advantage of the preorder deal for its sequel, Mourning Dove! If you order it now at ninestarpress.com and use code PREORDER at checkout, you can get 30% off and get the book three days early!
Imminent Dawn
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | NineStar Press | Kobo | Smashwords | Goodreads | Author Website
Mourning Dove
(preorders)
April 9, 2019
The EMPATHY Series at the UW Writers’ Institute
This last weekend I had the good fortune to visit the UW Writers’ Institute in Madison, Wisconsin as an invited speaker and book day participant! Not only did I have a great time and meet some exceptionally talented writers, but a number of attendees swung by the EMPATHY table during the book sale to nab copies of Imminent Dawn!
With that in mind, I thought I’d share some of my favorite photos from the event.
All set up before the book event kicked off!
On the Institute’s success panel alongside a number of other wonderful authors! Photo credit: Kristin Oakley
Leading a session on podcasting. Photo credit: Sue UraskyAll in all, I had a wonderful time at this conference and am already looking forward to next year.
Were you unable to make it to the Institute but still want to attend an EMPATHY book event? Good news! Check out this list of my other Wisconsin events this spring and summer.
And if you still haven’t gotten your hands on Imminent Dawn or preordered its sequel, Mourning Dove, you can find them at the below links!
Imminent Dawn
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | NineStar Press | Kobo | Smashwords | Goodreads | Author Website
Mourning Dove
(preorders)
Update: AFIA and the Write Touch Awards
Note: this content originally appeared on accountingforitall.com
A few of you may remember this post from a few months ago, in which I mentioned Accounting for It All had been admitted to the Wisconsin Romance Writers of America’s Write Touch Awards.
The book recently received its scores from the judges, and wow!
Accounting for It All just missed placing in the top three. Not only that, but one judge mentioned they “couldn’t put it down.”
On the surface, Accounting for It All might not have won, but this still feels very much like a win.
Want to get your hands on a copy of the book other reviewers have said has kept them up turning pages long into the night? You can grab your copy at any of the links below.
Accounting for It All
April 8, 2019
Writing is Like Using a Washing Machine. Kind of.
Imagine me, aged twenty-three, in a cramped room with a tin roof, the only furnishings a collapsible aluminum table, a plastic lawn chair, and a ragged futon pressed against the far wall. Black rot blossoms along the molding, and every dog in the city barks at passersby who blink too loudly.
This is where I sleep.
This, too, is the place I start writing the novel I always told myself I’d write, the place where after my employment prospects on another continent have fallen through, I find myself with months of free time I didn’t anticipate I’d have.
This room is also where a pile of clothes, several feet high, has accumulated on the futon, long past due for a wash.
For weeks I’ve studied my Brazilian roommates as they’ve used the washing machine in the far corner of the kitchen, dutifully loading and unloading it before hanging their clothes to dry on the line. And yet, despite all of my study, I remain wary of the process.
I stop typing. It’s time, isn’t it? I need to overcome this nonsense.
After making sure I’m home alone, I heft my stack of clothes from the futon and deliver them to the washer. Clothes in. Detergent poured. Power on.
Oh. Is that all? How had I convinced myself the washing machines here were different? How had I allowed myself to spend months flummoxed by something so simple?
I return to typing. Fifteen minutes pass, perhaps longer. One of the city’s incessantly barking cachorros stirs me from the page. I glance up from my collapsible table.
I have flooded the entire first floor of the home.
I slosh my way across the tile, eager for a mop, for a bucket, for anything to purge the kitchen before one of my roommates returns. But it’d be a good idea to, I don’t know, maybe stop the wash cycle first, right?
So I do.
As the machine sighs, I peek into the alley where the washer water is normally expelled and—ha!—I knew there was a trick. The hose here is apparently coiled and returned inside between each wash, a critical detail I missed in my studies of the Brazilian Dança da Lavadora.
I uncoil the hose, cast it into the alley, and start the cycle again—I’ll still need clean clothes when this is all done, after all—and turn back to the kitchen to find that mop.
To my horror, one of my roommates stands in the back entryway, struck immobile by the scene.
“Você inundou a cozinha?” he asks.
I reply that sim, I have, in fact, flooded the kitchen. In this moment, I fear all is lost. Surely I will be booted from the house, left to fend for myself for the months remaining to me five thousand miles from home.
But no. My roommate laughs.
“É hora de ser Moisés.” He removes his sandals and nabs the push mop from the pantry. He tosses it to me and we play Moses—just as he suggested—parting the small sea I welcomed into our home and thrusting it into the alley with help from the mop.
For as mortified as I might have been at the time, I can’t help but laugh when I look back on this moment now (especially because I didn’t get kicked out as anticipated).
Here, years later, I think this incident is even more tied to writing than by the simple coincidence that I was writing when it occurred. Writing is, in many ways, like the prospect of using that washing machine.
We’ve used washing machines before. We’ve seen others use them. We know what we’re getting into.
Until we don’t.
It’s amazing how many unforeseen details there are to learn along the way, including minuscule matters of craft we didn’t know existed until long after we’ve flooded our pages with thousands of words we once viewed as the pinnacle of our writing prowess.
This is one of the reasons it’s frustrating when we receive feedback that forces us to confront reality: that there’s still so much we can do, that there’s much mopping to be done, that there are many more rounds of Moses impersonations ahead.
But in our hearts, we know we can write, so what gives?
Time. Time gives.
Learning. Learning gives.
Laughing. Laughing gives.
Often in writing, we grow afraid of the next—of writing the next page, of sending our pages sailing in the direction of early readers, of beginning the query process. Then, too, once we finally overcome those fears, we face rejection, less-than-graceful critiques, and other unexpected setbacks.
But that’s okay. Writing is far more like running a laundromat than it is like washing a single load. We need to give ourselves time to learn, time to practice, time to laugh with others at our silly typos and continuity errors.
So if you’re feeling about your writing how I felt about having flooded an entire floor—confused, ashamed, and unsure how you’ll go on living with yourself—know that progress can and is being made. Sometimes all we need is time, space, and a supportive community to help us realize when we’ve written a flooded kitchen versus a majestic, life-endowing lake.
And if we have written a flooded kitchen? That’s all right. We just need to get comfortable playing Moses along the way.
Thanks for visiting. For more writerly content, you can find me on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or my newsletter.
April 5, 2019
30% Off Preorders for Mourning Dove!
It’s true! Mourning Dove ebook preorders are 30% off if you use code PREORDER at checkout at ninestarpress.com.
Not only can you lock in these awesome savings now, but you can start reading three days before the book is released if you get it through the NineStar site!
So act now. Check out the ebook preorder link below, and don’t forget to nab your copy of the prequel, Imminent Dawn, while you’re at it too!
Mourning Dove
(preorders)
NineStar Press (ebook) | Goodreads | Author Website (print)
Imminent Dawn
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | NineStar Press | Kobo | Smashwords | Goodreads | Author Website
April 3, 2019
Author Interview on “Dave Says Movies Matter”
Cinephile and fellow author Dave Watson recently interviewed me for a post on his blog, “Dave Says Movies Matter.”
In it, I describe how the EMPATHY series started as a short story over half a decade ago, and what the future might hold for it and our expansive cast of characters.
So what are you waiting for? Have a read of the interview at this link.
And if you haven’t gotten your hands on a copy of Imminent Dawn or Mourning Dove yet, you can do so at the links below.
Mourning Dove
(preorders)
NineStar Press (ebook) | Goodreads | Author Website (print)
Imminent Dawn
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | NineStar Press | Kobo | Smashwords | Goodreads | Author Website
April 2, 2019
This Week: Author r.r. campbell at the UW Writers’ Institute
This Thursday through Sunday, author r. r. campbell will be attending the University of Wisconsin Writers’ Institute, which The Writer magazine recently selected as the best conference for writers in the state of Wisconsin.
Not only will r. r. be in attendance talking shop and selling books, he’ll also be leading four sessions on the craft and business of writing, and he’ll be speaking on Friday afternoon’s success panel.
Want to learn more about the Institute? Be sure to check it out on the official Institute page, and read up on r. r.’s sessions prior to the conference’s launch.
Can’t make it? Still want to get your copies of r. r. campbell’s books? You can find them at the links below.
Imminent Dawn
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | NineStar Press | Kobo | Smashwords | Goodreads | Author Website
Mourning Dove
(preorders)
NineStar Press (ebook) | Goodreads | Author Website (print)
Accounting for It All
April 1, 2019
Beloit Event Featured in Janesville GazetteXtra
Looking for an opportunity to meet me in person and talk all things Imminent Dawn, Mourning Dove, and more? As the Janesville GazetteXtra will tell you, an upcoming reading and signing event in Beloit is your chance to do just that!
Some come say “hi,” nab copies of the first two books in the EMPATHY series, and support local booksellers during this event at Turtle Creek Books.
RSVP to the event on Facebook here!
Can’t wait until the event to start reading Imminent Dawn or Mourning Dove? You can find them on the sites below.
Imminent Dawn
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | NineStar Press | Kobo | Smashwords | Goodreads | Author Website
Mourning Dove
(preorders)
March 31, 2019
On Progress, Goals, and Control
It’s been… an interesting weekend.
My in-laws invited my wife and I to visit, but I elected to stay home to make a sizable dent in my revisions for Event Horizon, the third book in my EMPATHY series. With the place to myself (aside from my cats), I figured I’d have no problem doing all the things, as they say, but boy oh boy, was I wrong.
I’d set a goal of getting through 18 chapters, but after three or four, I realized I had a problem—I had way more to do for this round of revisions than I remembered.
No big deal, right?
Except it was.
I’d set expectations so high that anything less than getting through all 18 chapters was going to feel like I came up short. Never mind that 18 chapters represented half of the book’s total volume. Never mind that I did end up actually getting five chapters revised. Never mind that in the course of those revisions, I added a number of quality scenes to fill in gaps that desperately needed filling.
Despite all of that progress, it still felt like failure.
Naturally, I got crabby. A three dollar bottle of wine and some cuddles with the cats later, the funk still lingered. All the same, I went to bed on Saturday night sure I’d wake up tomorrow and be ready to take on every last one of the chapters I had left.
But when I woke up, I wasn’t ready for that. Not at all.
What I was ready for, however, was one chapter. One. I knew if I started with one paragraph, one page, one scene of revisions, I might be able to press on from there.
When I finished my first chapter, I felt good. Great. Grand. Wonderful.
Of course that meant I still had more than a dozen to go if I was going to achieve the goal I’d set for myself going into the weekend. So what did I do?
Nothing. I didn’t do a ding-dang thing. Why?
Because what I’d done was already good enough. I was good enough. Both my work and I had been good enough all along; I’d just blinded myself by clinging to a goal I created, a goal that was destined to set me up for failure.
Earlier I mentioned I thought I’d have no problem doing all the things, and that, in the end, I was wrong.
Upon further reflection, though, I don’t think that’s the case. I did do all the things. I did all the things I could manage, all the things I was capable of while taking my own happiness into account.
Could I be working on revisions right now instead of writing this post? Could I have been working on them all afternoon instead of watching the Bucks, playing Wii baseball, and reading or napping on the couch? Yeah.
But I didn’t, and I’m better for it.
That’s a mentality I know I need to get better about embracing. I can’t tie my value to my productivity, and I’d encourage you to avoid falling into that trap yourself.
So should you set goals? I encourage you to.
Should they be challenging? The best ones are.
Should failure to achieve them leave you so frustrated you lose track of all the good you’ve done or the world beyond your work? Absolutely not.
So when setting goals, remember the following. Make them challenging but achievable. Make them quantifiable if you can. Make them about things within your control.
But don’t let them control you.
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