Sarah Ettritch's Blog, page 16
April 19, 2013
Deiform Two and Rymellan Excerpts #1
I belong to several writers groups on Facebook. In one group, someone suggested that everyone post a sentence or two from their WIPs. I’m going to post a few short excerpts here, instead. I figure you’ll be more interested in reading them.
I have two WIPs on the go. The first is The Cult (Deiform Two). The second is Identity Crisis, a Rymellan story. Both are progressing well. I’ve worked out all the story problems for both projects, so now it’s just a matter of grunt writing until “The End.”
Reminder: I’m excerpting from the first drafts. The excerpts might be phrased differently in the published versions of the stories, or they might not be there at all.
Was it insecurity? Jealousy? Did she wish she could still fool herself into believing that there would eventually be order in all this madness, that justice would prevail and everything would make sense? Why? – Jillian
Fighting tears, she disconnected and blinked at her comm unit. Risk ruining her life, her Chosens’ lives, their daughters’ lives, and the family’s reputation, or look the other way and let a child be murdered. – Lesley Thompson
Christ. That trust exercise of closing one’s eyes and falling back into someone’s arms had nothing on this. What if her heart didn’t start? – Jillian
But every time I gaze at her, I’ll know that it’ll only be a matter of time before she turns on me. So I’m not only afraid for her. I’m afraid for myself. – Jayne Thompson
Since it’ll be a while before either story is released, I’ll post more excerpts over the coming months.
Deiform Two and Rymellan Excerpts #1 is a post from: Sarah Ettritch
April 12, 2013
Potential New Project: Lesbian Fiction Books Site
My post about lumping gay and lesbian fiction together seemed to resonate with many of you. I’ve also heard some readers express frustration around finding lesbian fiction books. Not all books with lesbian characters or themes are in the lesbian fiction categories at bookstores (some of mine aren’t).
I wondered whether a site that lists lesbian fiction books would help readers find books they want to read. Before investing a lot of time on the idea, I want to find out whether the lesbian fiction reader community would be interested in using such a site.
Head over to Lesbian Fiction Books, read about what I have in mind, and fill out the (really, really) short reader survey. If enough people express interest, I’ll move ahead with the idea.
If you think it’s a good idea, spread the word about the proposed site. The more people I hear from, the more likely it is to happen.
Enjoy your weekend!
Potential New Project: Lesbian Fiction Books Site is a post from: Sarah Ettritch
April 5, 2013
Time Warp: Going Back in Time
In January I said I’d do my best to post here every Friday. I don’t really have anything to say today, so I figured I’d link to a few older posts that you might have missed. Before I do that, a reminder that I’m giving away a signed book over at Cocktail Hour. The deadline to leave a comment is tomorrow (April 6th).
I’ve also been doing a monthly “Books I’ve Read” post. While I did read a few books in March, I don’t have any recommendations.
Okay, on to the posts of yesteryear:
: I wrote about how I choose character names. I’m glad I read the post again, because I’d forgotten about the mongabay site. Can you guess which characters I was speaking about when I said, “…I realized that despite having visualized the two main characters for over a year, I didn’t have names for them?” Answer below.
Yes Our Milk Comes in Bags: A fun little fact about Ontarians and our milk.
1911 Journal: A Year in Kate’s Life: During the Cocktail Hour interview, I mentioned a 1911 journal I’d used when writing Threaded Through Time. I wrote a series of posts about the journal and excerpted several sections from it. This post is the first one in the series. If you go to the Behind the Stories page, there’s link to all the posts.
That’s it! Have a great weekend.
Answer: Maddy and Lillian in The Salbine Sisters.
Time Warp: Going Back in Time is a post from: Sarah Ettritch
March 30, 2013
Conversations at the Bar: Cocktail Hour Chat
Cocktail Hour’s Cheri and Andy chatted with me for half an hour on Thursday night. You can listen to our chat here:
We covered a wide range of topics, including several questions about the Rymellan Series. I agreed to give away a signed book to one of their listeners, and it’s really easy to enter. The deadline is April 6th, so pop on over before then.
Conversations at the Bar: Cocktail Hour Chat is a post from: Sarah Ettritch
March 28, 2013
Audio Interview with Debbie
Tomorrow is Good Friday and a holiday here, so I’m posting a day early.
A couple of weeks ago I put out the call for a reader to interview me. Debbie stepped forward, and we met Tuesday night on Skype to chat for a bit.
For this post, I’ve included the cover of The Atheist because of how I answered one of Debbie’s interesting questions.
Without further ado:
If you’d like to interview me, just follow the instructions in this post.
Tonight I’ll chat with Andy from Cocktail Hour, so look for that soon at the Cocktail Hour site.
Enjoy your weekend, and Happy Easter and Passover.
Audio Interview with Debbie is a post from: Sarah Ettritch
March 22, 2013
Don’t Make Me Work to be Your Customer
A quick update before I bitch: I put out the call last week for a reader to interview me. I found someone and updated the post, but then I thought, “Maybe I should have left it open for a week, in case anyone else was interested.” The more, the merrier, so if you are interested, do get in touch. In fact, I’m going to leave the call open. I’ll meet with the first volunteer on Skype next week.
So, the economy has been struggling for a while, and businesses are struggling too, right? I sometimes pick up a print magazine which I won’t identify. I say sometimes because I have to actually go to a store to get it, and I don’t always remember to do that every month. Last week, I found out that I can now order a subscription to the digital version of the magazine. Previously, digital subscriptions were only available to Americans.
I thought, “Great, I’ll do that.” The digital version is identical to the print version, has additional material (videos, extra photos, etc.), and it’s cheaper. Good deal, right?
I went to the order page, clicked the Add to Cart button, went through the checkout process, clicked Submit Order, and…crap, server error. Tried again twice, same thing. On the order page for the subscription, it says, “Or, call us to order.” I take down the phone number.
The next day, during the hours of operation, I call. I get voicemail saying that nobody is there—during the hours the website said people were available to take orders. Okay, I’ll email customer service. I do that, and I get an automated response informing me that someone will get back to me within 24 hours.
Four days later, I decide to try ordering online again. Maybe the server problems had cleared up. Nope. Okay, I’ll try phoning again. This time I get a live body. Great, I’ve got my credit card right here and I’d like to order a digital subscription. Nope. They only take print subscriptions over the phone. If you want digital and you can’t order online (the service representative couldn’t have cared less that I couldn’t order online), you have to go into a brick and mortar store and order the digital version.
Huh? Maybe I want the digital version because I live in a rural area, or in a country that doesn’t have any brick and mortar stores (this magazine is a niche magazine published by a store). All they need is my name, email address, and credit card information. They can’t do that over the phone?
Within half an hour of shaking my head and hanging up, I finally received a response to that email I’d sent four days ago. It kindly told me how I could subscribe to the print magazine, even though I’d specifically said in my email that I was having problems ordering a digital subscription.
I still haven’t subscribed. I’m going to visit a store to order the subscription, but how much do you want to bet that they won’t be able to do it for me?
It boggles my mind that a business would turn away a customer who has her credit card at the ready. Also, nobody seemed concerned that I couldn’t complete an online order. How many orders are they losing because of that server problem?
There have been other instances when I felt that I had to chase someone to do business with them. Is it any wonder that some businesses aren’t doing well? Make it easy for customers to do business with you! Jeez.
For authors, I often read the advice to only put Amazon links on your website, because that’ll funnel people to Amazon and bump up your sales rank. But not everyone shops at Amazon. On my book pages, I put links to everywhere, because I care more about making things convenient for my readers than I do about my Amazon sales rank (which is also why I don’t add DRM to my books, though I don’t always have a choice).
Anyway, that’s my gripe for this week. Have you ever had to jump through hoops to give someone your business?
Don’t Make Me Work to be Your Customer is a post from: Sarah Ettritch
March 15, 2013
Want a Signed Book?
I’ve done quite a few interviews, but most of them have involved answering generic questions. The interviewers hadn’t read any of my books, and so they asked me questions like, “When did you start writing?” and “What genres do you write?”
A couple of years ago, a reader did a brief interview with me on this blog. That interview was different. The questions were specific to me and my work.
I’d like to do an interview like that again, so I’m looking for a reader to interview me. This time, I’m interested in doing a longer interview (at least 10 questions). We can do it through email, or we can be more adventurous and do it over Skype. Either way would be fine. Not all the questions have to be specific to my books; they can also be about writing and publishing. But I’d like at least 50% of the questions to be about my work.
As a thank you, I’ll send the interviewer a signed copy of one of my books (your choice). If you’re thinking, “Ugh, I don’t want a print book,” no problem. I’ll send you a signed MOBI or EPUB file.
If you’d like to be the interviewer, email me via the contact form (or directly, if you already have my email address). In the email, include three questions you’d ask me about my book(s). I’m not going to evaluate the quality of the questions. I’m only asking so I can be sure that you’ve read at least one of my books. Note that asking when the next book in a series will be released doesn’t demonstrate that. 
When I’ve found someone, I’ll update this post. If you don’t see, “I found someone!” anywhere and you’re interested, I want to hear from you.
Enjoy your weekend.
Want a Signed Book? is a post from: Sarah Ettritch
March 8, 2013
Books I Read in February (2013)
I said I’d do this every month and only talk about books I enjoyed. To be honest, last month I didn’t read as much as I usually do, because I had to read my own book several times. Grrr. But now that it’s published, I can read books by others again.
So what will I recommend from February? A magazine. Yep, you heard right. Lesbian Connection is a neat magazine that comes out (no pun intended!) every two months.
Here’s a pic of the latest issue, along with a gratuitous shot of The Missing Comatose Woman, my way of saying that the print book is now available.
On the magazine’s cover, it says:
“Free to Lesbians Worldwide, but the suggested donation is $7/issue (more if you can, less if you can’t)”
Yes, it’s a pay what you can publication. Unless you’re really strapped for cash, pay full price. The magazine has to pay its bills.
I like Lesbian Connection because it has a worldwide focus and much of the content is created by its readers. It’s authentically lesbian. It’s lesbians talking to lesbians. No tempering anything so as not to offend the straight folks. For example, facial hair was discussed in a recent issue, and the focus wasn’t on how to get rid of it.
Subscribe to Lesbian Connection here
Books I Read in February (2013) is a post from: Sarah Ettritch
March 3, 2013
Read an eBook Week SALE
It’s that time of year again: Read an EBook Week. As usual, Smashwords is running a special promotion. Three of my books are in at 50% off. To get the discount, enter coupon code REW50 at checkout. Since my books are already very reasonably priced, getting them at 50% off is a great deal.
If you’ve already read the books, this is a great opportunity to introduce a friend to Rymellans, or Deiforms, or time travellers.
Rymellan 1: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/8355
The Atheist: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/271625
Threaded Through Time (Book One): https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/71173
You don’t need an eReader to read the books. When you buy at Smashwords, you get all formats, including PDF. You can also download the free Kindle app (for the MOBI version) or Adobe Digital Editions (for the EPUB version). Even though I have a Kindle, I do most of my Kindle reading using Kindle for PC. I prefer my computer’s larger screen (yeah, I have the basic Kindle).
Please spread the word!
Read an eBook Week SALE is a post from: Sarah Ettritch
February 28, 2013
The Missing Comatose Woman – Now Available
I’m posting a day early to let you know that THE MISSING COMATOSE WOMAN is now available at Amazon, kobo, and Smashwords. You can download the sample from any of those stores, or read the first chapter right here (I believe the samples are longer).
The book should be available at iTunes, Sony, and Barnes & Noble within 2-4 weeks. The print version will be out by the end of March.
I’ll now be turning my full attention to Deiform Two, the second book in the Deiform Fellowship Series. I’m about halfway through the first draft, and the writing is flowing well.
Talk to you next week! 
The Missing Comatose Woman – Now Available is a post from: Sarah Ettritch
