Krista D. Ball's Blog, page 7

Project update

Where did April go? Didn't I just do an update post? Anyone else find that this month just flew on by? So, project update. Well, I'm still struggling away at rewriting Tranquility's Grief. Never again will I leave a book for a year in between edits. It really becomes stale and passionless at that stage. I'm nailing off a page or two a day on it, though. So, in 365 days, it should have this revision done. Sigh.

(Whoever says writing is easy should stay away from me right now)

I finished the first major draft of "Sisip Learns to Shapeshift". I'm hoping to pick it back up in May and do another revision on it. (See? I've learned my lesson).

I'm nearly done "No More Blank Screen: Blogging Ideas for Fiction Authors." (working title) Yup, I've written a non-fiction reference book! Some of you may recall that I mentioned having a pet project a few months ago. Well, I decided to go ahead and self-publish it as a small reference guide. The goal is to have it ready to go out Jun 1, depending on edits, cover art, and formatting of course. More details to follow.

Spirits Rising is now the official title for my previously untitled UF paranormal mystery what is this thing called novella. The series will be novella-length, set in Newfoundland. I'm aiming for a Dec 1 release. I'm also planning to self-publish that.

Now, some of you might be wondering why on earth I'm self-publishing, since I often speak out against it so much. I'm against self-publishing when it's a slapped together, word vomit, waste of the alphabet. I will continue to be against that kind of work. I've hired editors that I trust to work with me to ensure that there will be no difference in quality between my publisher works and my self-published ones.

Does that mean I've given up on publishing? Hell, no. Tranquility's Blaze is still out in the submission world with publishers. I am currently researching for a new fantasy series that I plan to start writing next year sometime, which I also will be aiming to submit eventually through a publisher. I plan to submit Sisip through publishers. And let's not forget Road to Hell is being publishing through MuseItUp this November.

Nothing has changed.

So, why these projects? For the blogging guide, I felt there was a need for it from the number of blogging questions I've fielded in the last year. It's short (30 pages or so), so it isn't like I can sell it to a publishing house. It's way too long to turn into a blog post (or even several). So, self-publishing it as an ebook is the best choice for the project.

Likewise with Spirits Rising. I really just want to write a fun urban fantasy set in Newfoundland. I'm from Newfoundland. I love the place. I love the culture, the music, the scenery. So, I want to reflect my home and roots in fantasy. So, because of that, I want to control more of those things in the story. I also love writing novellas, so this gives me an excuse to combine two things that I love and am passionate about.

So, that's where I'm at. It's a busy next two months for me, as Road to Hell edits will be coming back, I'm going on a trip back home to NL in June, and I'm trying to get some projects finished up and moving along.

I might be blogging a little less over the next month, but I'll try really hard to keep up.

How is everyone else doing? Is it busy for everyone else, too?

The fryer is dead; long live the oven

I interrupt your day to share with you the sad, sad news from my house. Our trusty deep fryer has died. We tried so hard to save it but, in the end, decided that intervention was only prolonging its agony. We opted to let it die peacefully on our kitchen counter.

Now, I have nearly a litre of my mother-in-law's homemade beef gravy, a pound of cheese curds, and no way to make a poutine for supper.

Please think of us in our hour of need.

 

How's it going?

I have nothing to say! It's a rare moment, I know, but I've been struggling to find something to blog out. I got nothin'. So, I'm turning the tables on you folks! Ask me something. Give me some feedback on the blog. Tell me you hate my books. Anything! (well, ok, I prefer if you love my books, but I'll take hate mail [image error] ).

*turns the tables on you

Heading to "When Words Collide?"

Make sure to pop by and say hi! I'll be a part of three panel discussions:

Making your local setting an exotic location
Turning history into fiction
Cross-genre boundaries: how reading can help your current genre writing

I'm very excited to be involved and I hope that anyone in the area will stop by and check out this new con!

I came, I saw, I LARPed

I had a great time; so great that I forgot to take pictures! Um, oops. I am going again next month, so I promise to arrange photographs.

One thing that's interesting is that I tried to play a good human mage. Sweet, nice, happy to help others. Instead, the dark elves adopted me as, clearly, I was not good, sweet, nice, or happy to help others. I'm not sure how I feel about this!

I admit failure

Alrighty then, I can't keep up the daily blogging for A to Z. I really wanted to, I had the best intentions, but wow! It's a lot of work.  So, while it was fun, I'm going to the regular schedule of posting a couple times a week. That works well for my brain, and I'm sure all of you were getting sick of seeing me show up in your blog feeds every day!

I am LARPing this weekend, so I'll have updates and photos on Tuesday for you! What is a LARP? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_ekugPKqFw Yes, I've had sex. Yes, I have social skills. It's a passing hobby. Nothing more.

 

 

 

A to Z: K is for Flying Kite, Crashing Ship

the most enjoyable short story that I have read on my computer in quite a while…

Flying Kite, Crashing Ship is for the time travel lover. At no point does it take itself too seriously; it's hard to when you've just crashed your time ship into an unmarried woman's backyard in 1816 Britain!

It's a short read, at 20 pages, and easily finished in an hour or so: perfect for doctor appointment, lunch hour, or in the quiet moments before bed. At $2.50 from MuseItUp ($2.99 on Amazon), it's an inexpensive but fun way to spend an hour or so.

/end shameless promote

A to Z: I do not know my alphabet

I totally messed up which days were what letters! This is why I shouldn't blog at night.

Back on schedule tomorrow…maybe…I might just start randomly picking letters, since that's what I've been doing this week!

A to Z: "H" is for Hypersensitive

I don't know why authors get their panties in a knot over bad things said about their books. Either someone just didn't like your book (well, you can't control that) or your book actually does suck (you can control that). Either way, deal with it. Going on to amazon and posting 1 star reviews of people's book that you haven't even read is unethical. Going to their blogs and stalking them, freaking out about how they bashed your book is immature. Posting on open forums/facebook/twitter about the reviewer is unprofessional.

Seriously – grow up. Do you act like this at work? Probably not. Then, don't do it on the internet. It's just tacky.

A to Z: "I" is for Idiots

Ah, idiots. They are everywhere. They are like a bad fungus that just won't go. We all have different definitions of idiots, true, but I believe there are some universal idiotic behaviours, such as not watching where you are going.

So, what idiotic behaviour really gets your cackles up?