P.C. Haring's Blog, page 10

#WritingWednesday – Update!

For the week of June 1 – June 8, 2014

So, it’s the first full week back since Balticon and as I work on projects, I think it’s high time to resurrect the weekly writing updates.  With that in mind lets get started.

It’s been a busy week over here as I get into my summer routine.  Life continues to throw obstacles in my direction, some great – two orchestra concerts this summer with weekly rehearsals.  Others… not so good – turmoil at the day job that, although I’m not in any jeopardy, so far as I know, has me keeping extremely busy with intense, and sometimes late hours with a lot of fatigue at the end of the day.  Needless to say, finding time for words has been a challenge.

But I’ve managed to find time.

Since I’ve re-started the daily writing regimin (you’ll remember I stopped back in November to focus on finishing the CPA) I’ve been focusing on world building.  First it was building the bible out for Codename Ciris and making sure the notes from Cybrosis were in place so I could use them to inform the edits on the second book in the series.  Once that finished, I turned my attention to the Slipspace Universe and making sure that my notes from Harbinger were in place so as to inform the upcoming edits on the second book in that series.  (noticing a minor trend here?)

Working out the story bibles has been a mixture of raw word count as well as Pomodoro intervals as I work research and brainstorm to generate things that don’t often generate a lot of real world word counts.  But… I am writing and I am building and last friday marked the completion of my notes to the Slipspace Bible.  For now, it is done and as I roll into the week of June 9, I”ll begin developing characters and settings for my third attempt at a project tentatively titled “Hunter”

Wish me luck, and I’ll catch you in a week if not sooner.

“How did you come up with that name?”

So my friends, what’s in a name?

It’s an interesting question to which I haven’t paid much attention until recently.  Ever since I launched the print of Cybrosis, I’ve been asked “how did you come up with her (Ciris’) name?”  This comes mostly from co-workers at my new day job who are still getting to know me and how I operate (Be afraid… be very afraid), and the first few times I fielded that question, it took me a while to recall just how exactly I did come up with Ciris’ name.

Naming characters is a weird thing for me and as I’ve gotten more and more involved in the writing community I run in, I’ve discovered a lot of different perspectives on naming characters.  A couple of authors I know name their secondary characters, or their spaceships after their friends and colleagues.  Some dig into historical and cultural significance and attempt to find names that align as closely with the character as possible, to the point that when, at re-writes, a character’s role in the story  (or their position within an organization in the book) changes, so too must their name to draw enough distinction between the first character sketch, and the new character sketch that instead of just changing a character, a new one has been created and swapped out for the old.  Then on the flip side there are the more carnal approaches to naming a character.  I can go on for a while with all of the crazy, names that have been used to name the women in the older James Bond movies.  But I wont.  If you’re interested Look up “Bond Girl” on wikipedia.

Consumers too often find meaning in the choices of names used by writers and creators.  Back in the months running up to the release of Serenity in movie theaters, a Firefly fan podcast I was listening to at the time ran a very well researched and well thought out essay on the nature of the names of every single main (and some secondary) characters featured in the show.  From Malcom, to Book, to River, to Inara, they found a well reasoned logical argument for the use of every name in the series.

I wish I could say I was that smart or that clever.  But… I’m not.

For me names are either very easy to come up with… or they are very difficult and in most cases they are the latter. Some characters, like Ciris, give me their name right off the bat, either because of who they are, or what they have. In Ciris’ case, it was her Cybernetic Eyes. That turned into Cybernetic Iris which turned into Cyris which turned into Ciris.

But with others, like Cody Amado, someone you’ll meet in an upcoming Novel, it was a bit harder. It’s a bit harder for the majority of the characters I write and for those situations, I have a few resources. I’m not going to name drop or link spam this post, not because I’m a jerk. But rather because the resources I use are very easily found with a simple google of “Name Generator” or “Random Name Generator.” You’ll find a lot of them. I had one, which is unfortunately defunct that I loved. It used data from the Census and provided lists. From there I’d pick and chose. One first name, one last name and then I’d pair them and tweak a little and viola!

So if names don’t speak to me, that’s how I come up with them. Sometimes, I’ll dig deeper into a name that has a specific meaning, but mostly, I’m looking for names that are unique or have a rhythm to them. I’m not sure how many of you out there want to read a story featuring John and Jane as the main characters.  This is not to say I won’t use those names.  But if I do, you can be damn sure their last names won’t be Smith.

Until next time!

Balticon 48 Wrapup

As I write these initial words, I’m flying home from Balticon as the plan complete’s it’s initial climb to altitude.  We’ve just hit that 10,000 feet level and as I look out the window at the miles and miles of land and the homes, businesses, and shopping centers… all of which are almost 2 miles below me, I’m marveling at the perspective from way up here.

Perspective

Every year brings the family reunion to which we always look forward.  2014 marks my fourth Balticon in five years and like every year that has come before this, I am jetting back to Chicago ever more grateful and appreciative of this wonderful family into which I have been accepted.  As with all things, time has changed us both as individuals and as a whole.  Some familiar faces could not attend.  Others have returned after having been away for a while.  Still other new and fresh faces (and voices) have stepped up and been welcomed into the fold and I find it refreshing to see that the more the individuals who comprise this family grow, change, and evolve, the more that we, as a whole, remain what we have always been- a community of warm friendly, welcoming creatives, fans, friends, and colleagues.

For me, I try to define each Balticon by bringing home new meaning and harnessing that into something I can use moving forward.  This year has been a little more difficult than in years past.  This has been the first year I have had a print book available to sell and promote.  This year was the first year I didn’t have the specter of the CPA exam looming over me either as an item on my 3-5 year agenda or as an in process item.  This was the first year I attended a Balticon with a podcast novel in production.  This was the first year where it seemed like that fabled plan I so often spoke of in my older posts, was actively starting to show progress.

And with that in mind, I had expected to come out of Balticon with an explosive burst of creative energy that screams “OHMYGODINEEDTODOEVERYTHINGNOWANDSTARTNEWPROJECTS!!”

But that didn’t happen.  At least not as I expected.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not stymied nor am I burned out and I did pick up a new collaboration.  But that urge to sit down and burn through it all in one great massive binge… did not happen.

So how do I sum up Balticon?  Good friends?  Check.  Good sales?  Oh yes… sold out.  Check!   Panels?  Check.  Fun late nights?  Check!  But even with these awesome checks on my list, I wasn’t really sure how to sum it all up until I sat in on the live recording of The Shared Desk (and got demoted to the Winnebago… twice) where Tee Morris summed it up perfectly.

Perspective.

I come home and I re-enter the real world with a new perspective.  From an interesting conversation I had with CWSeidman on gender based social issues, to a very heartfelt, sobering, and yes tearful heart to heart I had with Philippa Ballantine, to my passive and active observations of others and the way they inter act with not only me, but with others, and even to a friend of mine who, less than 12 hours after coming back from an overseas trip, traveled up to BWI from DC to sit and have lunch with me before my return flight, there has been quite a lot to take in and assimilate.

This is a good thing.

I don’t yet know if Balticon 2014 was a ‘breakthrough’ event for me.  I am only a few hours removed from it as I write this on the plane, (and a day removed as I later key this into wordpress) and not all of the adrenaline has simmered quite yet.  (Actually it has after having to go to work and I’m exhausted.  ) But I do know that Balticon 48, like all the Balticons I have attended before it has given me much about which to think, reflect, and grow even if it wasn’t in the way I had anticipated.  This is not a bad thing.  Often times we are not given what we want.  We are given what we need.

So, for the fourth time in the four Balticons I have attended, the convention has been a personal success.  I have a few hours of audio that were recorded and I’ll be dropping into the feeds in the coming days and weeks.  I’ve made some new business related inroads and laid down plans for the summer and beyond.  I sold out of the Cybrosis inventory I brought with me.  (Thank you to all who purchased)   I have reconnected with old friends, caught up with others, met new and wonderful people I haven’t yet had the chance to know and I’ve learned a few things to boot.  What more can one ask for?  Oh right… Balticon 49.

352 Days away…

…and eagerly counting.

 

 

Greetings from #Balticon!

Hello everyone from Balticon 48 in the as always beautiful Hunt Valley Maryland.  Today is Con Day 0, which is to say the festivities start tomorrow, but I’m already here and settling in.  I’ll have several panels spread over the course of the weekend.  Here’s my finalized schedule -

Paper Vs. Digital Publishing (Panel) (Participant), Fri 17:00 – 17:50, Belmont (Hunt Valley Inn)
Using An Accent In Your Podcast (Panel) (Moderator), Fri 21:00 – 21:50, Chesapeake (Hunt Valley Inn)
Helping Authors Find and Work Effectively With Narrators (Panel) (Participant), Sat 14:00 – 14:50, Derby (Hunt Valley Inn)
The Road to Parsec (Panel) (Participant), Sun 10:00 – 10:50, Chesapeake (Hunt Valley Inn)
READING – P.C. Haring, Grig Larson, Lawrence M. Schoen, Sun 13:00-13:50, Pimlico (Hunt Valley Inn)
Magic Spreadsheet (Panel) (Participant), Mon 09:00 – 09:50, Salon C (Hunt Valley Inn)
Multi-creatives (Panel) (Participant), Mon 12:00 – 12:50, Salon C (Hunt Valley Inn)

It’s a fairly spread out schedule this year, for which I am grateful.  It also allows me the opportunity to sit down and re-connect with friends, fans, and colleagues.  So please don’t hesitate to come and find me, either on one of these panels, or somewhere around the convention.  The Bar and the Dealers room are good places to start to find me, but I’ll have twitter, Facebook, and E-mail access as well.    For those of you interested in the reading, I will be reading from Cybrosis.  If you were looking for a reading from Slipspace: Harbinger, well… I did that last year and I still have the audio.  So… yeah… that’ll be in the blog sometime over the summer and I expect there will also be a good bit of audio coming out of these panels.

For now, I’m dropping into the feed the audio I recorded at Demicon 25.  This is the “Meet the Ministry Panel” featuring Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences authors, Tee Morris (who moderates this panel), Philippa Ballantine, Alyson Grauer, and myself.  Here we talk about our experiences in writing in the Ministry universe

This audio was recorded live, and although Tee did take and put the Tales from the Archives tag on the front end of it, the file is otherwise un edited.  My apologies if any places are hard to hear or understand!

#WritingWednesday – Balticon Schedule!

Hello everyone!

It’s taken a little longer than I’d anticipated but I have my Balticon just about finalized.  If you’re coming to the convention here’s where you’re guaranteed to find me!

 

Paper Vs. Digital Publishing (Participant), Fri 17:00 – 17:50, Belmont
Using An Accent In Your Podcast (Moderator), Fri 21:00 – 21:50, Chesapeake
Helping Authors Find and Work Effectively With Narrators  (Participant), Sat 14:00 – 14:50, Derby
The Road to Parsec (Participant), Sun 10:00 – 10:50, Chesapeake
Magic Spreadsheet  (Participant), Mon 09:00 – 09:50, Salon C
Multi-creatives (Participant), Mon 12:00 – 12:50, Salon C

I will be out and about throughout the weekend and, for those of you who are interested, I should have copies of Cybrosis on hand or up in the room.  Feel free to tweet at me, message me on Facebook, or E-mail me if you want to try and connect.  I’ll be tied into the grid all weekend… as long as my phone battery survives.

 

Looking forward to seeing you this Memorial Day weekend!

The new pcharing.net is LIVE

Continuing the wave of news and announcements, I am proud to announce and unveil the brand new www.pcharing.net! This is much more than a facelift and as you look around the site you’ll see a fully fledged and functional website complete with not just this blog, but also a catalogue of all my current and future titles, contact information, my various appearances, productions, and projects, and much, MUCH more. This amazing overhaul comes through the time, amazing talent,  and hard work of Allison Gamblin of Get Found Consulting.

It has been a long and amazing process and despite having driven poor Allison a bit crazy on a few things, it’s been an absolute blast working with her. I am extremely happy with the result, both on the front end with what you see, and on the back end with what powers this amazing work.  Although we are calling the site ‘complete’ it’s sill being tested and is intended to live, grow, and evolve as needed.  So if you see a problem, or are looking for something that you’re not finding that you think should be here… let us know.  There’s a contact link in the top menu and I encourage you to send us constructive feedback.  That way, we know how your experience is! This isn’t the only site she and I are working on… there’s another URL coming, one I’m keeping very hush hush for now.

But as always, keep it tuned here. If you like what you’re seeing here and if you are in need of a renovated, updated and just damn cool web presence, I strongly encourage you to reach out to her and see if she can work your site up. So, feel free to poke around and enjoy the new experience here at pcharing.net.  There’s a mailing list and, of course an RSS feed which will serve as the best ways to stay up to date on all the latest awesomeness. And there is more awesomeness to come.  As I write this, DemiCon 25 is about to begin and I’m anticipating a lot of content coming out of there, in both blog posts and hopefully (if the recordings come out) audio as well! So, keep it it tuned here.  More is on the way soon!

Much more still to come in the coming weeks as I wrap up DemiCon and look ahead to Balticon!

Until next time!

Unveiling The New Site

Continuing the wave of news and announcements, I am proud to announce and unveil the brand new www.pcharing.net! This is much more than a facelift and as you look around the site you’ll see a fully fledged and functional website complete with not just this blog, but also a catalogue of all my current and future titles, contact information, my various appearances, productions, and projects, and much, MUCH more.

This amazing overhaul comes through the time, amazing talent,  and hard work of Allison Gamblin of Get Found Consulting.  It has been a long and amazing process and despite having driven poor Allison a bit crazy on a few things, it’s been an absolute blast working with her.

I am extremely happy with the result, both on the front end with what you see, and on the back end with what powers this amazing work.  Although we are calling the site ‘complete’ it’s sill being tested and is intended to live, grow, and evolve as needed.  So if you see a problem, or are looking for something that you’re not finding that you think should be here… let us know.  There’s a contact link in the top menu and I encourage you to send us constructive feedback.  That way, we know how your experience is!

This isn’t the only site she and I are working on… there’s another URL coming, one I’m keeping very hush hush for now.  But as always, keep it tuned here. If you like what you’re seeing here and if you are in need of a renovated, updated and just damn cool web presence, I strongly encourage you to reach out to her and see if she can work your site up.

So, feel free to poke around and enjoy the new experience here at pcharing.net.  There’s a mailing list and, of course an RSS feed which will serve as the best ways to stay up to date on all the latest awesomeness. And there is more awesomeness to come.  As I write this, DemiCon 25 is about to begin and I’m anticipating a lot of content coming out of there, in both blog posts and hopefully (if the recordings come out) audio as well!

So, keep it it tuned here.  More is on the way soon!

 

Until next time!

Continuing the wave of news and announcements, I am proud...

Continuing the wave of news and announcements, I am proud to announce and unveil the brand new www.pcharing.net! This is much more than a facelift and as you look around the site you’ll see a fully fledged and functional website complete with not just this blog, but also a catalogue of all my current and future titles, contact information, my various appearances, productions, and projects, and much, MUCH more.

This amazing overhaul comes through the time, amazing talent,  and hard work of Allison Gamblin of Get Found Consulting.  It has been a long and amazing process and despite having driven poor Allison a bit crazy on a few things, it’s been an absolute blast working with her.

I am extremely happy with the result, both on the front end with what you see, and on the back end with what powers this amazing work.  Although we are calling the site ‘complete’ it’s sill being tested and is intended to live, grow, and evolve as needed.  So if you see a problem, or are looking for something that you’re not finding that you think should be here… let us know.  There’s a contact link in the top menu and I encourage you to send us constructive feedback.  That way, we know how your experience is!

This isn’t the only site she and I are working on… there’s another URL coming, one I’m keeping very hush hush for now.  But as always, keep it tuned here. If you like what you’re seeing here and if you are in need of a renovated, updated and just damn cool web presence, I strongly encourage you to reach out to her and see if she can work your site up.

So, feel free to poke around and enjoy the new experience here at pcharing.net.  There’s a mailing list and, of course an RSS feed which will serve as the best ways to stay up to date on all the latest awesomeness. And there is more awesomeness to come.  As I write this, DemiCon 25 is about to begin and I’m anticipating a lot of content coming out of there, both in blog posts AND in audio.  (Don’t hold me to that last one… I’ll make every attempt, but  there’s no guarantee until the audio is actually recorded).

So, keep it it tuned here.  More is on the way soon!

 

Until next time!

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#CyborgFriday – Announcement regarding Cybrosis

So, once again, I find myself coming here and apologizing for the length of time between my latest posts.  My friend, Doc Coleman, rightly pointed out, I need to work on my posting frequency.  And yet despite that… It’s been quiet here on the blog.  However, things have been very very busy in the past month or so.

It is fitting that this post is live today, a day when I am in Des Moines, Iowa attending DemiCon 25, where Tee Morris is the guest of honor.

Many of you are aware that Cybrosis started as a college project.  An extremely early (and extremely rough) version of it’s first chapter was turned in as a story for a short story composition class I was taking as an elective.  An early version of Chapter 2 was the second short story turned in for that class and over the course of a year, I wrote the earliest draft of Cybrosis.  What many of you do not know is that I attended College in Des Moines, Iowa.

It is fitting that today, I am celebrating with Tee Morris and doing so at DemiCon.  For all of the amazing people I have met in my writing and podcasting career, Tee was my first.  He was the first podcast novelist I listened to.  He was my first real colleague, and later my first real friend in this amazing community.  My first face to face meeting with Tee was picking him up at the Des Moines Airport ahead of Demicon 18. He was a guest of the convention, and staying at my place for the weekend.  I have fond memories sitting on my apartment balcony that weekend.  He had read the first three chapters of Cybrosis, and we were talking about how to make it better and how to turn it into something more than just a spare time hobby.

And Make it better I did… and Cybrosis became something more indeed.

On 01/01/10 Cybrosis began it’s journey when  I released the free weekly full cast  podcast.  Ten months later on 10/08/10, the podcast went live at Podiobooks.  Thanks to the toolkit available via the Amazon KDP and the Barnes and Noble PubIt! (now Nook Press) programs, Cybrosis saw an E-book publication on December 12, 2011.

But something was missing… until now.

I am extremely excited and happy to announce that Cybrosis: A Codename CIRIS Conspiracy is now available in print!

It has been a long time coming and I’m very happy to see it in paperback version.  It feels as though the novel has finally completed it’s journey and it seems only fitting that this book complete it’s journey in the same place, and among the same company where it truly got started.  I can not be happier with the final product.

As with all the previous versions, the front cover art comes from the amazing talents of JR Blackwell and Jared Axelrod.  However the print required some additional elements – The back cover, spine, interior layout, and E-book re-design were all performed by the very talented Tee Morris and Philippa Ballantine of the One Stop Writers Shop.

For those of you who have been around since the original Podcast, you may have noticed a change in both the cover art work and in my referencing this title  Specifically, I’ve added in the subtitle of “A Codename CIRIS Conspiracy.”  Welcome to the new branding for the series.

After working the first draft to the sequel of Cybrosis (more on that in a later post) and the related world building needs, I came to the new branding of “Codename Ciris”  As such, the E-books which have been been out for a few years now have been since updated with the new layout and design to coincide and unify with the print book copy.

Cybrosis: A Codename CIRIS Conspiracy is now available as a $11.99 paperback from .  The E-book remains available on , as well as from Barnes And Noble and is now available from Smashwords.  All of these E-formats are available for $2.99. The podcast also remains available at Podiobooks and all formats are published by Off The Deep End Multimedia LLC

I am very excited to hold a copy of this title in my hands and I hope you all are too.  Thank you all for your continued support both in enjoying this title for yourself and helping to spread the word.  Reviews are always welcome as they help provide visibility on the larger markets.  I’ll have more to discuss about the marketing and will be asking your help with that.  Don’t worry it won’t be too painful, I promise.

So that’s it for me for now.  I will have more coming in the coming days and weeks as more news comes down.

Until next time!