Aaron Polson's Blog, page 39
December 21, 2010
Reading for the Bradbury Year #write1sub1
I'm calling my Write 1/Sub 1 year the Bradbury Year. It helps as a motivator to feel the great one's presence.
In addition to writing and submitting 52 stories next year (crazy much?), I want to read a collection of short fiction each month. Santa's helpers have suggested I might receive Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King for Christmas. That will be first in the queue. But then what?
I'm looking for single author collections but anthologies will do, too. I find I'm most motivated to write when I'm reading great work. Any horror, fantasy, or science fiction book is welcome.
What should I feed my brain?
In addition to writing and submitting 52 stories next year (crazy much?), I want to read a collection of short fiction each month. Santa's helpers have suggested I might receive Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King for Christmas. That will be first in the queue. But then what?
I'm looking for single author collections but anthologies will do, too. I find I'm most motivated to write when I'm reading great work. Any horror, fantasy, or science fiction book is welcome.
What should I feed my brain?
December 20, 2010
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love My Writing
The word "sell" leaves ashes in some writers' mouths.
Here's the truth: any writer who wants to be read must learn how to sell her/his writing. If you really love something, you'll want to share it.
Selling can come in many forms: sales to a market (as most short stories are sold), sales of books (which I'm trying to learn about and/or do now), sales to a library (yes, most libraries won't just take anything for their collection), sales to readers...
It's that last bit that gives me motivation. Even when I worked at the bookstore (my job was to sell, sell, sell), I tried to see "selling" beyond the bottom line. I wasn't making a profit, but sharing a story/book I felt was worth the sharing.
As a teacher, I feel like 80% of my job is sales. Motivation and engagement are key--if the students are tuned out, forget it. I don't have a problem doing my job. I love writing and reading and literature--I want everybody else to feel the same way. Of course I can "sell" that.
Well, I love telling stories, too. And telling stories involves a "sale," even a simple "please read my story."
That's how I learned to stop worrying and love my writing (and "selling" it).
So here's a piece of me for sale (and it won't cost you a penny): an interview at Write 1 / Sub 1.
What about you, dear readers, how do you feel about the "selling" aspect of writing? How much do you love telling stories?
Here's the truth: any writer who wants to be read must learn how to sell her/his writing. If you really love something, you'll want to share it.
Selling can come in many forms: sales to a market (as most short stories are sold), sales of books (which I'm trying to learn about and/or do now), sales to a library (yes, most libraries won't just take anything for their collection), sales to readers...
It's that last bit that gives me motivation. Even when I worked at the bookstore (my job was to sell, sell, sell), I tried to see "selling" beyond the bottom line. I wasn't making a profit, but sharing a story/book I felt was worth the sharing.
As a teacher, I feel like 80% of my job is sales. Motivation and engagement are key--if the students are tuned out, forget it. I don't have a problem doing my job. I love writing and reading and literature--I want everybody else to feel the same way. Of course I can "sell" that.
Well, I love telling stories, too. And telling stories involves a "sale," even a simple "please read my story."
That's how I learned to stop worrying and love my writing (and "selling" it).
So here's a piece of me for sale (and it won't cost you a penny): an interview at Write 1 / Sub 1.
What about you, dear readers, how do you feel about the "selling" aspect of writing? How much do you love telling stories?
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love My Writing
The word "sell" leaves ashes in some writers' mouths.
Here's the truth: any writer who wants to be read must learn how to sell her/his writing. If you really love something, you'll want to share it.
Selling can come in many forms: sales to a market (as most short stories are sold), sales of books (which I'm trying to learn about and/or do now), sales to a library (yes, most libraries won't just take anything for their collection), sales to readers...
It's that last bit that gives me motivation. Even when I worked at the bookstore (my job was to sell, sell, sell), I tried to see "selling" beyond the bottom line. I wasn't making a profit, but sharing a story/book I felt was worth the sharing.
As a teacher, I feel like 80% of my job is sales. Motivation and engagement are key--if the students are tuned out, forget it. I don't have a problem doing my job. I love writing and reading and literature--I want everybody else to feel the same way. Of course I can "sell" that.
Well, I love telling stories, too. And telling stories involves a "sale," even a simple "please read my story."
That's how I learned to stop worrying and love my writing (and "selling" it).
So here's a piece of me for sale (and it won't cost you a penny): an interview at Write 1 / Sub 1.
What about you, dear readers, how do you feel about the "selling" aspect of writing? How much do you love telling stories?
Here's the truth: any writer who wants to be read must learn how to sell her/his writing. If you really love something, you'll want to share it.
Selling can come in many forms: sales to a market (as most short stories are sold), sales of books (which I'm trying to learn about and/or do now), sales to a library (yes, most libraries won't just take anything for their collection), sales to readers...
It's that last bit that gives me motivation. Even when I worked at the bookstore (my job was to sell, sell, sell), I tried to see "selling" beyond the bottom line. I wasn't making a profit, but sharing a story/book I felt was worth the sharing.
As a teacher, I feel like 80% of my job is sales. Motivation and engagement are key--if the students are tuned out, forget it. I don't have a problem doing my job. I love writing and reading and literature--I want everybody else to feel the same way. Of course I can "sell" that.
Well, I love telling stories, too. And telling stories involves a "sale," even a simple "please read my story."
That's how I learned to stop worrying and love my writing (and "selling" it).
So here's a piece of me for sale (and it won't cost you a penny): an interview at Write 1 / Sub 1.
What about you, dear readers, how do you feel about the "selling" aspect of writing? How much do you love telling stories?
December 17, 2010
Friday at the Pub, Goodreads, Kindleboards
Rock Gods and Scary Monsters is now available through Smashwords. You can read the first 85% for free. Like I said, everything I do is an experiment.
Go on and read my pub interview with Barry Napier. Good times, Barry. Thanks.
I'm also playing with other ways to interact with readers. Yes, this means you.
For example, I'd love to talk about the good, the bad, and the ugly of Loathsome, Dark and Deep at the Kindleboards...
or Rock Gods and Scary Monsters...
or even The Bottom Feeders.
All three books are on Goodreads, too.
Loathsome, Dark and Deep
Rock Gods and Scary Monsters
The Bottom Feeders
Hell...even The House Eaters is up at Goodreads, and that book isn't even released yet.
Come join me. I'll bring the virtual beer.
Go on and read my pub interview with Barry Napier. Good times, Barry. Thanks.
I'm also playing with other ways to interact with readers. Yes, this means you.
For example, I'd love to talk about the good, the bad, and the ugly of Loathsome, Dark and Deep at the Kindleboards...
or Rock Gods and Scary Monsters...
or even The Bottom Feeders.
All three books are on Goodreads, too.
Loathsome, Dark and Deep
Rock Gods and Scary Monsters
The Bottom Feeders
Hell...even The House Eaters is up at Goodreads, and that book isn't even released yet.
Come join me. I'll bring the virtual beer.
Friday at the Pub, Goodreads, Kindleboards
Rock Gods and Scary Monsters is now available through Smashwords. You can read the first 85% for free. Like I said, everything I do is an experiment.
My pub interview with Barry Napier might/should be live later today. I'll update when it is.
I'm also playing with other ways to interact with readers. Yes, this means you.
For example, I'd love to talk about the good, the bad, and the ugly of Loathsome, Dark and Deep at the Kindleboards...
or Rock Gods and Scary Monsters...
or even The Bottom Feeders.
All three books are on Goodreads, too.
Loathsome, Dark and Deep
Rock Gods and Scary Monsters
The Bottom Feeders
Hell...even The House Eaters is up at Goodreads, and that book isn't even released yet.
Come join me. I'll bring the virtual beer.
My pub interview with Barry Napier might/should be live later today. I'll update when it is.
I'm also playing with other ways to interact with readers. Yes, this means you.
For example, I'd love to talk about the good, the bad, and the ugly of Loathsome, Dark and Deep at the Kindleboards...
or Rock Gods and Scary Monsters...
or even The Bottom Feeders.
All three books are on Goodreads, too.
Loathsome, Dark and Deep
Rock Gods and Scary Monsters
The Bottom Feeders
Hell...even The House Eaters is up at Goodreads, and that book isn't even released yet.
Come join me. I'll bring the virtual beer.
December 15, 2010
WIP Wednesday Has a Crush
I'm doing a good bit of editing this week, both the dark, weird novella How We Die in a Hungry Town and a humorous (I hope) short monster tale, "The Monster, the Lake, and Megan Manning".
Some of you may have seen my first line of the later as I tweeted on Friday:
There was a time, many summers ago, when a beautiful seventeen-year-old interrupted my quest to pull the Sleeper from the murky depths of Lake Lotawana.
Pretty clear the narrator had a crush, no?
And then...later in the story:
The Sleeper yanked hard, and the stern rose above the water. Megan clasped the gunwales on either side, her ruby-red fingernails garish against the moon-glow of the whitewashed boat.
"What the hell was that for?"
"I didn't do it. Bass," I said.
She turned on me, glaring. Her eyes flicked to the rod and taut line, then back to my face. "Are you…fishing?"
I might as well have been masturbating, the way she spat the word "fishing." The line jerked back and forth.
"Um…"
"Are you?"
Funny...both the novella and story feature a young woman named Megan. I think Fred (my subconscious) and I need to have a talk. (Did I mention I have two stories due for publication in January with Megans at center stage? Yikes. Somebody get me a baby-name book...)
Some of you may have seen my first line of the later as I tweeted on Friday:
There was a time, many summers ago, when a beautiful seventeen-year-old interrupted my quest to pull the Sleeper from the murky depths of Lake Lotawana.
Pretty clear the narrator had a crush, no?
And then...later in the story:
The Sleeper yanked hard, and the stern rose above the water. Megan clasped the gunwales on either side, her ruby-red fingernails garish against the moon-glow of the whitewashed boat.
"What the hell was that for?"
"I didn't do it. Bass," I said.
She turned on me, glaring. Her eyes flicked to the rod and taut line, then back to my face. "Are you…fishing?"
I might as well have been masturbating, the way she spat the word "fishing." The line jerked back and forth.
"Um…"
"Are you?"
Funny...both the novella and story feature a young woman named Megan. I think Fred (my subconscious) and I need to have a talk. (Did I mention I have two stories due for publication in January with Megans at center stage? Yikes. Somebody get me a baby-name book...)
December 14, 2010
Detention Hall
So one of my detainees came into detention hall with nothing to do yesterday. I told him to grab a book from the bookshelf. His pick: Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya. Um...don't think he was going to read that one. So I handed him:
And showed him my story in Blood Lite II. The first line of "The Unfortunate Persistence of Harold Francis Beamish" begins with the words: "On their way to drunkenness..."
Detention hall kid: "This story is making me thirsty."
True story.
And showed him my story in Blood Lite II. The first line of "The Unfortunate Persistence of Harold Francis Beamish" begins with the words: "On their way to drunkenness..." Detention hall kid: "This story is making me thirsty."
True story.
December 13, 2010
Adventures in Book Promotion
My writing life is one grand experiment, and like an good science project, complete and utter failure is always an option. You all know Belfire Press recently released my first novel: Loathsome, Dark and Deep.
I have to tell the truth: it's pretty exciting to receive a box of books with my name on them. Exciting and frightening. I've come to realize with any creative endeavor there comes a time to promote (unless said endeavor is strictly for personal enjoyment). Promotion doesn't come naturally to many writers, especially those of us who hide in dark places and punch out stories about even darker places. But if I don't talk about my book and do my damnedest to promote it, it might as well stay in the box and go under the bed in the Man Cave.
Well shit. I guess I have to come out of the dark then. Again, I see writing as an experiment. Some of the things I do, whether in a story or in "promotion," will fail. Hopefully, I can learn from failure, just as I can learn when a story "fails" (and doesn't sell).
So along with the grand experiment of writing a book and seeing it published, I'm stuffing envelopes with letters and bookmarks bound for independent bookstores which specialize in dark fiction and libraries. I'm gearing up to shake some hands with area booksellers. In addition, I'm running a second contest to promote Loathsome. Will the cash I've sunk into these endeavors pay off? I don't know, but not doing anything is the quickest path to failure.
So enough about failure. What would success look like, realistically? I'm not sure I have a clear picture, but I want people to read my book (and maybe even enjoy it). I want as many people to read and enjoy it as possible.
Some of you know I've taken a leap into another experiment. I'm offering Rock Gods and Scary Monsters on Kindle. (I have been for over a month, but you know how things are if you don't promote them at all.) It's a YA book (some of you "veterans" might remember my rambles about it a few years ago). It's not perfect. It's an experiment. But I'll tell you something--if I don't talk about it no one else will. Self-promotion is a necessary evil. Hell, I don't even know that I'd call it evil. It just is. Jeremy D. Brooks (author of Amity--read it) calls this thing we do "literary buskering". Yeah. That feels about right.
Writing a good story is important. It's the most important thing. But promotion--buskering--needs to happen, too. My comfort and skill telling stories has outpaced my comfort and skill in promotion. I feel it's such a fine line to walk between hubris/self-aggrandizing and genuine love for storytelling.
It's an experiment.
I'll fail. I'll learn from my failures (I hope).
And I'll tell you all about it when it happens. There are no secrets among inmates.
I have to tell the truth: it's pretty exciting to receive a box of books with my name on them. Exciting and frightening. I've come to realize with any creative endeavor there comes a time to promote (unless said endeavor is strictly for personal enjoyment). Promotion doesn't come naturally to many writers, especially those of us who hide in dark places and punch out stories about even darker places. But if I don't talk about my book and do my damnedest to promote it, it might as well stay in the box and go under the bed in the Man Cave. Well shit. I guess I have to come out of the dark then. Again, I see writing as an experiment. Some of the things I do, whether in a story or in "promotion," will fail. Hopefully, I can learn from failure, just as I can learn when a story "fails" (and doesn't sell).
So along with the grand experiment of writing a book and seeing it published, I'm stuffing envelopes with letters and bookmarks bound for independent bookstores which specialize in dark fiction and libraries. I'm gearing up to shake some hands with area booksellers. In addition, I'm running a second contest to promote Loathsome. Will the cash I've sunk into these endeavors pay off? I don't know, but not doing anything is the quickest path to failure.
So enough about failure. What would success look like, realistically? I'm not sure I have a clear picture, but I want people to read my book (and maybe even enjoy it). I want as many people to read and enjoy it as possible.Some of you know I've taken a leap into another experiment. I'm offering Rock Gods and Scary Monsters on Kindle. (I have been for over a month, but you know how things are if you don't promote them at all.) It's a YA book (some of you "veterans" might remember my rambles about it a few years ago). It's not perfect. It's an experiment. But I'll tell you something--if I don't talk about it no one else will. Self-promotion is a necessary evil. Hell, I don't even know that I'd call it evil. It just is. Jeremy D. Brooks (author of Amity--read it) calls this thing we do "literary buskering". Yeah. That feels about right.
Writing a good story is important. It's the most important thing. But promotion--buskering--needs to happen, too. My comfort and skill telling stories has outpaced my comfort and skill in promotion. I feel it's such a fine line to walk between hubris/self-aggrandizing and genuine love for storytelling.
It's an experiment.
I'll fail. I'll learn from my failures (I hope).
And I'll tell you all about it when it happens. There are no secrets among inmates.
December 9, 2010
Loathsome Reviews Contest & Holiday Book Giveaway
I'm feeling like I need to give away some more money and a couple of books. Here's the details (scroll to the bottom for the holiday book giveaway):
Hey...and you're entered even if you give Loathsome a loathsome one star. Be honest!
...and the Holiday Book Giveaway:
I'm shamelessly "borrowing" the idea from the legendary Kim Paffenroth. Check out the Zombie Christmas Contest at his blog.
In the spirit of giving, you enter this giveaway for someone else. Email me (aaron.polson(at)gmail.com) with the name of someone you'd like to give a copy of Loathsome, Dark and Deep along with a sentence (or two) explaining why. Entries for this one are due Sunday, December 12th by midnight (CST). I'll choose two winners at random to receive a free, signed copy of Loathsome.
Fun? Spread the horror joy!
Loathsome Reviews Contest (12/9/10 - 1/31/11)
Like to win a $25 gift certificate to an online bookseller of your choice?
1. Write a review of Loathsome, Dark and Deep and/or The Bottom Feeders and post to a blog, Goodreads, or Amazon.com. Better yet, post to all three for triple entries. Each post earns one point (or your name in the "hat" one time).
2. Email me: aaron.polson(at)gmail.com (replacing the (at) with @ of course), letting me know where you posted a review.You can use the subject line "contest" if you wish.
3. Additional points can be earned for buying either book (just email a copy of the receipt), tweeting about the contest (make sure to reference my twitter handle @aaronpolson), or tagging the book on Amazon (just email me at the above addy and let me know).
Hey...and you're entered even if you give Loathsome a loathsome one star. Be honest!
...and the Holiday Book Giveaway:
I'm shamelessly "borrowing" the idea from the legendary Kim Paffenroth. Check out the Zombie Christmas Contest at his blog.
In the spirit of giving, you enter this giveaway for someone else. Email me (aaron.polson(at)gmail.com) with the name of someone you'd like to give a copy of Loathsome, Dark and Deep along with a sentence (or two) explaining why. Entries for this one are due Sunday, December 12th by midnight (CST). I'll choose two winners at random to receive a free, signed copy of Loathsome.
Fun? Spread the horror joy!
December 8, 2010
WIP Wednesday is Late for the Dance
My second official Loathsome, Dark and Deep contest starts tomorrow (at least I'll post the "rules"). I'm also going to give away a book, or better, having you help me give away a book. Make sense? Er...okay.
I'll explain...promise.
Today, I want to introduce you to Ron's Bait and Tackle:
Ron's Bait and Tackle was a bent-backed grey mule of a shack at the corner of State Highway 15 and Old Miller's Road, the later of which ran over a few hills and swooped around a curve until it ran into Lake Lotawana. It was the special hub of fishing action for Boone County, far enough outside of Boone's Hollow to be free of the town's more stringent laws regarding the sale and consumption of alcohol. The poor taste of the citizens of Boone County insured all the beer sold at Ron's was domestic, in a can, and sold from an iced-down stock tank in Ron's back room.
I'll explain...promise.
Today, I want to introduce you to Ron's Bait and Tackle:
Ron's Bait and Tackle was a bent-backed grey mule of a shack at the corner of State Highway 15 and Old Miller's Road, the later of which ran over a few hills and swooped around a curve until it ran into Lake Lotawana. It was the special hub of fishing action for Boone County, far enough outside of Boone's Hollow to be free of the town's more stringent laws regarding the sale and consumption of alcohol. The poor taste of the citizens of Boone County insured all the beer sold at Ron's was domestic, in a can, and sold from an iced-down stock tank in Ron's back room.
