K.C. Kendricks's Blog, page 12
July 16, 2023
I think it takes a lot of intentional time
July 16, 2023
Once upon a time...
Now what better opening than that one for a writer to use?
Once upon a time, I decided to set up a YouTube channel so I could share videos of Deuce on his blog, Deuce's Day. This also worked for my partner, who is now in a wheelchair, to see what I've been up to as I run amok here on the Manor.
We enjoy watching quite a few of the YouTubers. Catherine Gregory comes to mind immediately as she travels to places we'll never visit in person. The partner suggested I make a few vids of life on our little estate, so I did. To my surprise, there have been a few folks who have watched them!
It was enough to make me seriously consider adding content, but there is one big problem with that. I'm also doing what I do. Setting up my phone and recording what I do is time-consuming.
If I'm going to actually make videos to share, I will need to be very intentional about it. This may sound silly because I'm not an "old" woman, but I wonder if I'm too old to delve into this any deeper than I already have. Hmmm. Food for thought.
Is a quiet, ordinary rural life worth recording? Perhaps future generations will be interested in how some of us lived waaaaay back in 2023. Even now, a segment of our youth will never understand how it can be fun to jump on a John Deere 370 and mow the grass. And own a big dog like a Labrador Retriever? And walk it yourself? Train it to pee-pee outside and not on a diaper pad? That may already seem foreign to dedicated city dwellers.
The big question is whether or not I want to take the intentional time to create half-way decent videos. And what about podcasts? They may be more feasible. I could also read one of my shorter books and put that up on YouTube. Many are doing that. How much time do I want to dedicate to new and/or continuing projects?
Maybe being retired has given me too much time on my hands. Actual writing takes up but a small portion of it. What an interesting dilemma to have.
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KC Kendrickswww.kckendricks.com
My home on the web- Between the Keys:
http://kckendricks.blogspot.com
Visit my bookshelf at:
https://kckendricks.blogspot.com/p/the-bookshelf-of-kc-kendricks-and-rayne_3.html
Social media links: twitter.com/kckendricks pinterest.com/kckendricks/boards instagram.com/kc_kendricks facebook.com/kckendricks Snips and clips on my YouTube channel: KC Kendricks Between the KeysLife through the eyes of my black Lab, Greenbrier Smokey Deuce: deucesday.blogspot.com My country life at The Hideaway/Holly Tree Manor: hollytreemanor.blogspot.com
KC Kendricks, Between the Keys, contemporary gay romance, m/m romance, YouTube videos, a writer's life, retirement options, LGBT romance books, social media, intentional actions
July 14, 2023
Apparently, it's called theft, too
July 14, 2023
My inbox is always full of surprises. Some are good, some are bad, and some confirm a suspicion I've had. The latter came in the form of a letter from The Authors Guild.
The Authors Guild is calling on the CEO's of AI platforms to obtain consent and compensate - fairly compensate - authors for the use of copyrighted materials used by their AI products. They have provided the opportunity for authors to add their digital signatures to the letter. There are numerous well-known authors on the list of those who have done so, including Nora Roberts, Jodi Picoult, and Diana Gabaldon to name just a few. The list is so long it crashed my browser when I tried to scroll through it.
If my poor understanding of AI (artificial intelligence) is anywhere near correct, I get it.
AI tech is built on models. Where did the models come from? What was used to create the models? From the writing found on the Internet. What writings are found on the Internet? Yours and mine, fellow authors. Yours and mine.
I do know how to read and put two and two together. AI mines the Internet for data and it doesn't make any distinctions or allowances as to where it finds it. It has no conscience, no awareness, no morality.
Were you paid anything when your words were pirated? Because that's what just happened. And that is, plainly put, theft of intellectual property.
I'm glad The Authors Guild is taking up the fight. I don't expect much to come of it. Follow the money and you'll understand why I feel that way.
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KC Kendrickshttp://www.kckendricks.com My home on the web- Between the Keys: http://kckendricks.blogspot.com Visit my bookshelf at: https://kckendricks.blogspot.com/p/the-bookshelf-of-kc-kendricks-and-rayne_3.html
Social media links:Life through the eyes of my black Lab, Greenbrier Smokey Deuce: deucesday.blogspot.com My country life at The Hideaway/Holly Tree Manor: hollytreemanor.blogspot.com Snips and clips on my YouTube channel: KC Kendricks Between the Keys
twitter.com/kckendricks pinterest.com/kckendricks/boards instagram.com/kc_kendricks facebook.com/kckendricks
KC Kendricks, Between the Keys, AI, artificial intelligence, piracy, intellectual property theft, contemporary gay romance, m/m romance, Authors Guild,
July 9, 2023
Creating the cover: Sumner's Garden
July 9, 2023
If you saw the previous post, you know the name of the current work-in-progress. Chapter 9 is in the can, so to speak, and as it looks like rain, I may get part of Chapter 10 done today. Before that happens, I thought I'd share a bit about creating the cover.
Back when I did a newsletter, I included a section called "Fun With Photoshop" where I talked about my process of making a cover . I'm sure real graphic artists will scoff at how I do it, but I've found that I need to manipulate the images several times to see if my ideas translate to the computer screen.
Finding a guy to buy is probably the most difficult part of the process. Hundreds of thousands of guys are available on the stock photo sites, and I only need ONE. I spent hours searching for the perfect Andy but he was worth it. Background images are easy because I take a lot of snapshots with my phone just for the purpose of having a file of freebies to choose from. Even with a file like that, I sometimes have to go search for open images, although it's common. I've learned that even a small corner of a photo can be cropped out and made to look like something entirely different. Once I have several images I use Photoshop to overlay them. I know that my guy will cover a good portion of the final background but I still want that background image to be finished and reflect some element important to the story.
I do apologize for feeling the need to "watermark" those photos. I didn't always do that and later discovered an image I'd created had been pirated by another author. It's easy to recognize photos you've taken with your camera in your backyard!
It's cumbersome to merge four or five photos, but the end product is worth it. Once I see the cover, I get energized to wrap up a story.
That's the plan for this afternoon. It's supposed to rain with the possibility of a thunderstorm. A rainy day is always a good day to write.
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KC Kendrickshttp://www.kckendricks.com My home on the web- Between the Keys: http://kckendricks.blogspot.com Visit my bookshelf at: https://kckendricks.blogspot.com/p/the-bookshelf-of-kc-kendricks-and-rayne_3.html
Social media links:Life through the eyes of my black Lab, Greenbrier Smokey Deuce: deucesday.blogspot.com My country life at The Hideaway/Holly Tree Manor: hollytreemanor.blogspot.com Snips and clips on my YouTube channel: KC Kendricks Between the Keys
twitter.com/kckendricks pinterest.com/kckendricks/boards instagram.com/kc_kendricks facebook.com/kckendricks
KC Kendricks, Between the Keys, Sumner's Garden, Shine a Light, contemporary gay romance, m/m romance, romance books for Kindle, book covers, writer's on writing, Photoshop, LGBTQ books
July 2, 2023
How this pantser plots
July 2, 2023Are you a "pantser" or a "plotter?"
That's a frequently asked question when writers are congregated in one spot such as Twitter or Facebook or any social media platform. People weigh in on this or that side, but the truth is it doesn't matter much. Your writing process is unique to YOU, but I think everyone is a bit of both.
I start as a definite pantser. That's "fly by the seat of your pants" in writer's speak. I get an idea and I bang out an opening. Once that's on the page, I usually back up and do a bit of character bio so I don't forget pertinent facts that may have come out in the opening paragraphs. Then it's a bit more of being a pantser to incorporate additional ideas.
But there comes a place in every story where the characters have developed to the point that I know exactly where they're going. It's then that I stop and jot down a plot sequence. And for some reason, I can't seem to get going forward again until I've got the cover drafted. Forward just doesn't happen for me until the basic cover concept becomes reality. I reached that point this past week with Sumner's Garden, and this morning, I finally hit on a basic cover I can live with.
I want to add one more element but I have two options. Both are up on my second screen and I keep glancing at them while working on screen one. Sooner or later, I'll gravitate towards one and that will be what I add to the final cover.
Now that the cover is settled, it's time to expand on the plot points and push on to The End. Some of the plot points may change a bit, depending on what the characters tell me. But one thing about this story is unusual.
This story has already given me the ending and it's not at all where I thought my guys were headed - it's better. Sometimes you have to listen to them. They are manifestations of your thoughts, after all.
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KC Kendrickswww.kckendricks.com
My home on the web- Between the Keys:
http://kckendricks.blogspot.com
Visit my bookshelf at:
https://kckendricks.blogspot.com/p/the-bookshelf-of-kc-kendricks-and-rayne_3.html
Social media links: twitter.com/kckendricks pinterest.com/kckendricks/boards instagram.com/kc_kendricks facebook.com/kckendricks Snips and clips on my YouTube channel: KC Kendricks Between the KeysLife through the eyes of my black Lab, Greenbrier Smokey Deuce: deucesday.blogspot.com My country life at The Hideaway/Holly Tree Manor: hollytreemanor.blogspot.com
KC Kendricks, Between the Keys, contemporary gay romance, LGBT, m/m romance, romance novels for Kindle, writers on writing, pantser v. plotter, social media, book covers, writing methods,
June 28, 2023
What's up? June 2023.
June 28, 2023
Several years ago I studiously produced a quarterly newsletter, beginning in March 2017 and ending with the spring 2021 edition. I enjoyed doing it. Each edition contained a word from me, a bit about what works were "in progress," a section about my best boy Deuce, an "interview" question, Fun With Photoshop, and ended with a meme of some sort. It was something I could produce during quiet moments at the day job. The old Sitebuilder software I used for a website made it sooooooo easy to upload a .pdf, and then all I had to do was announce it or link to it. That all changed when support for Sitebuilder was pulled.
I thought I could still do a newsletter and simply load it as a page here at Between the Keys. That didn't really work. If a newsletter isn't delivered to an inbox, folks don't seem to take the time to click and go read it.
I used to have a mailing list, which was a Yahoo Group. That worked until Groups went bye-bye.
By mid-2021, we were still struggling with COVID-19. I had settled my stepfather's estate and begun my countdown to retirement. My husband's health was in decline. My mother is in a facility with Alzheimer's Disease. My best friend, whom I met in the third grade, had abandoned me and moved a thousand miles away. My writing partner, Christiane France, had died. I was alone and exhausted. Keeping up a newsletter was not feasible.
Now, that's not a plea for you to say, "oh, you poor thing!" It was simply my season of trial, and as with all things, it has passed.
On our morning walk, Deuce and I discussed whether or not I should restart the newsletter. Well, I talked and he listened as is his way. He never gives me bad advice. He simply lets me speak and lets me know he loves my voice. No one else has ever listened to me as intently as he does. But I digress...I talked myself out of doing a newsletter. I have Between the Keys and it's time I utilize it the way I once did. Maybe one day I'll change my mind - it's been known to happen! But until then, this is still the place where I share my writing world. Thanks for stopping by!
KC Kendricks/Rayne Forrest
Social media links:Life through the eyes of my black Lab, Greenbrier Smokey Deuce: deucesday.blogspot.com My country life at The Hideaway/Holly Tree Manor: hollytreemanor.blogspot.com Snips and clips on my YouTube channel: KC Kendricks Between the Keystwitter.com/kckendricks pinterest.com/kckendricks/boards instagram.com/kc_kendricks facebook.com/kckendricks
Between the Keys, KC Kendricks, contemporary LGBT gay romance, m/m romance, Deuce's Day, a writer's life, writing newsletters, writers on writing, rural living, walking, mailing lists, listening, bestselling author
June 21, 2023
Maybe it's only tongue-in-cheek
June 20, 2023Yesterday I did something I rarely do. We were checking out at a store and the cashier asked me, based on the T-shirt I wore, if I was a writer. I told her yes, we chatted, and I gave her a business card. It seems that since I retired, I'm a lot bolder about letting that fact be known.
I've never hidden the fact I'm a published author from family and friends, but I do confess their reactions have been mixed. Total strangers seem to be a lot more interested. Family and friends never ask me about it now, after over twenty years. Maybe they follow along online but I'll never know.
I left the house wearing the T-shirt. Never gave it a second thought. The T-shirt is old and a bit ratty, and I generally only wear it around the house. If I clean the house or mow in it, it doesn't need to be seen in public. But the trip yesterday was just a quick in and out, so we just hopped in his van and took off. We didn't even take Deuce, which I'm sure caused a bit of howling.
Perhaps I should upgrade the T-shirt to a new model and wear the new one more. I enjoyed chatting with someone, even a stranger, who seemed genuinely interested in finding a new author to read.
I no longer have to worry about my employer finding out and all the drama that revelation would have involved. Yes, I'm still under contract with them as a consultant, but it's not the same as being a public representative of the organization.
I'm not ashamed of being a writer, but I prefer a more low-key life. I have no desire to walk down the street in my hometown and be followed. Nor do I want my picture plastered everywhere. I simply want to write a story I would enjoy reading.
But times change. Now really is the time to be careful. You really might end up if not in my novel, in my blog!
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KC Kendrickswww.kckendricks.com
My home on the web- Between the Keys:
http://kckendricks.blogspot.com
Visit my bookshelf at:
https://kckendricks.blogspot.com/p/the-bookshelf-of-kc-kendricks-and-rayne_3.html
Social media links: twitter.com/kckendricks pinterest.com/kckendricks/boards instagram.com/kc_kendricks facebook.com/kckendricks Snips and clips on my YouTube channel: KC Kendricks Between the KeysLife through the eyes of my black Lab, Greenbrier Smokey Deuce: deucesday.blogspot.com My country life at The Hideaway/Holly Tree Manor: hollytreemanor.blogspot.com
KC Kendricks, Between the Keys, a writer's life, contemporary gay romance, GLBTQ, m/m romance, meeting the public, writing career, writing options, retirement, T-shirt
June 16, 2023
It's getting stranger
June 16, 2023Self, I said, you need to step back from this manuscript for a couple of days.
There comes a time when a writer needs to take a mental break. Now, I'm sure a lot of people will nay-say that, but this writer has found it to be true. I no longer espouse the "rule" of write something every day. I try to be a bit kinder to myself. I'm more of a believer that sometimes it's necessary to be about the business of writing beyond the manuscript.
Earlier this week I visited the Facebook groups and did a bit of promo and my blog stats exploded. Too bad sales didn't follow. People in Singapore speak and read English, right?
Eight THOUSAND hits from Singapore in one day. I don't know if I should laugh or contact Blogger.
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KC Kendrickshttp://www.kckendricks.com My home on the web- Between the Keys: http://kckendricks.blogspot.com Visit my bookshelf at: https://kckendricks.blogspot.com/p/the-bookshelf-of-kc-kendricks-and-rayne_3.html
Social media links:Life through the eyes of my black Lab, Greenbrier Smokey Deuce: deucesday.blogspot.com My country life at The Hideaway/Holly Tree Manor: hollytreemanor.blogspot.com Snips and clips on my YouTube channel: KC Kendricks Between the Keys
twitter.com/kckendricks pinterest.com/kckendricks/boards instagram.com/kc_kendricks facebook.com/kckendricks
KC Kendricks, Between the Keys, contemporary gay romance, m/m romance, LGBT gay, a writer's life, Blogger, social media, Facebook, finance, social commentary
June 10, 2023
The Centerville Muscle series
June 10, 2023
I love muscle cars.
I always envisioned Bored, Stroked and Blueprinted to be the start of a series. I didn't think it would take this long to get it going, but life, death, pandemic...
Now that I have the series started, I've no clue where it may end, but I can tell you some of my all-time favorite cars, and some true classics, will land on the pages.
All three Centerville Muscle books are now available to read through Amazon KDP.
Bored, Stroked and Blueprinted
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KC Kendricks
My home on the web- Between the Keys: http://kckendricks.blogspot.com Visit my bookshelf at: https://kckendricks.blogspot.com/p/the-bookshelf-of-kc-kendricks-and-rayne.htmlSocial media links: twitter.com/kckendricks pinterest.com/kckendricks/boards instagram.com/kc_kendricks facebook.com/kckendricks Life through the eyes of my black Lab, Greenbrier Smokey Deuce: deucesday.blogspot.com My country life at Holly Tree Manor: hollytreemanor.blogspot.com Snips and clips on my YouTube channel: KC Kendricks Between the Keys
June 9, 2023
Some thoughts on writing in the first person style
June 9, 2023There was a great thread on Twitter recently that caught my interest. The writer generating the thread asked how to hide the "I" when writing in the first person. As about ninety percent of my writing is in the first person, I was naturally curious. It had never occurred to me I needed to hide the "I."
Most of the responses spoke to the need to be aware of the usage and to restructure sentences when the usage of "I" gets too frequent or heavy. I certainly concur in most instances. Instead of saying, "I watched the rain overflow the gutters and splatter on the concrete," say "The rain overflowed the gutters and splattered on the concrete with a staccato beat." You're writing in the first person so it's all happening from that character's point of view. Using the second sentence engages his/her senses and therefore the senses of the reader who may have a memory of such a sound.
One thing to be cautious of is falling into a pattern of passive voice when your character is not being introspective. If he/she is in a reflective mood, saying, "I watched the rain fall..." is an appropriate tool to bring the reader into the emotions of the moment.
Writing in the first person gets tricky, for sure. I prefer it for writing M/M because when writing M/M in the third person, you end up with a lot of "he," "him," and "his," and if you're not careful, the reader can lose track of just which character HE is. The alternative is using a character's name repeatedly, and that can become annoying to a reader. I know. I am a reader, too.
But, to me, writing in the first person is a more personal way to tell that character's story. You have to step inside that character and go deep. There is no head hopping back and forth between points of view. You're in that POV and you stay there.
Writing in the first person isn't a better or worse way of writing a story. It's equal to the third person and the more narrative style of writing. It's a writer's preference and when done well, the reader hardly notices. I think I've done okay in most instances, with the Amethyst Cove and Sundown series being exceptional examples.
I'm of the opinion that the writer who generated the thread on Twitter is on the right track. She didn't imply that one style is better than another, which is a frequent topic of many who I suspect can't write first person. She asked for a few tips to improve her first person writing and that is always appropriate. I was also impressed at how civil, for Twitter, responses were.
For me, the bottom line is that you should write your story your way and that a writer should never stop in the quest to improve. And now I should take my own advice and finish the current WIP.
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KC Kendrickshttp://www.kckendricks.com My home on the web- Between the Keys: http://kckendricks.blogspot.com Visit my bookshelf at: https://kckendricks.blogspot.com/p/the-bookshelf-of-kc-kendricks-and-rayne_3.html
Social media links:Life through the eyes of my black Lab, Greenbrier Smokey Deuce: deucesday.blogspot.com My country life at The Hideaway/Holly Tree Manor: hollytreemanor.blogspot.com Snips and clips on my YouTube channel: KC Kendricks Between the Keys
twitter.com/kckendricks pinterest.com/kckendricks/boards instagram.com/kc_kendricks facebook.com/kckendricks
KC Kendricks, Between the Keys, writing styles, first person, LGBTQ gay romance, writers on writing, M/M romance, narratives, Twitter, Amethyst Cove, sentence structure
June 4, 2023
The dilemma of artificial intelligence (AI)
June 4, 2023The current WIP stands at about thirteen thousand words and our heroes are about to get friendly, at least sort of friendly. I haven't decided just how friendly they're ready to be, but something will happen. Will it bring them closer or shake them up? That's the point I'm pondering.
I'm "pondering" many things these days. "Ponder" is a word I grew up with, and I don't often hear it used now. People today say they're going to "think about it," but ponder, to country folk, has a deeper meaning. To ponder is to focus on a problem, issue, or question until you understand it from several angles. Pondering takes time and often prayer, prayer being a sort of meditation.
AI, or artificial intelligence, is in the news. The pros and cons of AI is being widely discussed on social media. Hell, Congress is even having discussions about it for all the fucking good that will do. Twitter is lit up with authors discussing and questioning the validity of adding it to their body of work.
If you use Artificial Intelligence to create a short story, poem, novella, or novel, can you claim to have written that piece of work?
If you use AI to create a work of fiction and don't disclose the fact, is that dishonest?
If you use AI to create a work of fiction, who actually owns the copyright? Do you own it or do the creators of the application used own it?
If you use AI to create a work of fiction and then you market the book without owning the copyright, are you in violation of plagiarism laws?
If you use AI to create a work of fiction and it's determined both you and the creators of the application share the copyright, do you then have to share the royalties?
My poor little questions are the tip of the iceberg.
Using AI to create a work of fiction, a love story for example, may not have much impact on society, but what if AI is used to generate works that are marketed as TRUTH? I read the works of Clive Cussler and David Wood, action-adventure stories that contain a smattering of facts to make the story more believable. They market those books as fiction, of course, but what if someone else begins to write in that genre and markets it as a true adventure, one that really happened? What if people believe it really happened and the lie becomes the truth?
Call me a Luddite if you want to, but I'm not at all convinced AI is a good thing. Avarice will taint this thing. I fear the desire some hold to be famous and rich will warp all common sense, casting many into a pit of their own making. The need to be part of the "in crowd" and on the cutting edge has been the downfall of many. Folks, don't hop on any bandwagon until you know for sure where it's headed.
It will be years until the AI fallout is fully recognized. It may not be in my lifetime. But I see one thing as certain. I will be on guard and I will be vigilant about it.
And for now, I'll be adding a note to my copyright notice in every new book that it was NOT created using any AI beyond the inescapable spellchecker.
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KC Kendrickswww.kckendricks.com
My home on the web- Between the Keys:
http://kckendricks.blogspot.com
Visit my bookshelf at:
https://kckendricks.blogspot.com/p/the-bookshelf-of-kc-kendricks-and-rayne_3.html
Social media links: twitter.com/kckendricks pinterest.com/kckendricks/boards instagram.com/kc_kendricks facebook.com/kckendricks Snips and clips on my YouTube channel: KC Kendricks Between the KeysLife through the eyes of my black Lab, Greenbrier Smokey Deuce: deucesday.blogspot.com My country life at The Hideaway/Holly Tree Manor: hollytreemanor.blogspot.com
KC Kendricks, m/m romance, AI, artificial intelligence, copyright, gay romance, LGBTQ, spellchecker, Congress debate, social media
