Megan Bostic's Blog, page 22

What is the proper venue for a rant?

It's this. And you are my audience. haha, lucky you!! I was about to post this lengthy ranting diatribe on Facebook as my update last night, when I sat and stared at it and said to myself, people don't really come here for this. They come here for our lies.

Oops, I mean lives.

Basically, we post the niceties in life, yes, sometimes our frustrations, but we don't take out our worldly problems on Facebook.

But here I can, because as my profile says, this is where I "rant, rave, and write."
 three reasons I think

1) The royal baby.  I don't give a shit about the royal baby. I'm happy that another happy couple is giving birth. Yes, it is heir to the throne in a country I don't live, but right now it's just a baby. I don't care, because there are bigger things in my life right now like...

2) Hearing five consecutive gunshots as I went from car to office that were close enough I thought the assailant might come around the corner and take me hostage. I ran, I also pulled the classic horror movie crap and almost dropped stuff and fumbled with my keys. If this were a horror movie, I'd be dead.

3) Facebook asking me what's on my mind.



So, as bitchy, whiny, or caustic as this may sound, I don't care about the royal baby. I don't care what kind of fucked up shit Justin Bieber will pull next. I don't care about the latest drug violation in the sports world. I don't care about the next celebrity death right now. Yeah, it's sad. Real people are born and die every day.

You know what I think about?

Why my eyesight has deteriorated so quickly in the past few months.When my daughter will get past things.If my mom will be okay.
Sorry for being vague, I'm not going to bore you with details, but these are my real every day worries. Those are the bigger ones, I have tons of little shit too as we all do.


You know what scares the shit out of me?

People falling out of rollercoasters.Dead bodies being found in trash bags.Women being held in basements for years with no one knowing. Someone being murdered simply for looking suspicious and finding no justice.
This shit scares me because it happens in our back yards.  This shit is real.

This could happen to my kids.

I read this quote from Elizabeth Stone when my first daughter was just a tiny speck of a human, but I will never forget it because it is so true.  “Making the decision to have a child - it is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body. ”


The real stuff, the stuff that happens to real people all the time, and sometimes you never hear about it because it's real people stuff, that's what I think about.


Between work and writing and kids and other life stuff, I just don't have time to think about people-who-get-paid-way-too-much-for-what-they-do and their problems, antics, and escapades.


Sorry. I just don't.


Ahhhhh, I feel so much better.


Sorry to unload on you. Feel free to do the same in the comments if you wish.

Page 5,348...

At least that's how it feels when you're trying to find typos. And when you're finding typos, you also find other stupid little mistakes that I hope Lori doesn't mind changing (nothing big Lori, I promise, just little crap).

As I read this book, I know I love it, I think the writing is good (if any of my betas want to pipe in here, feel free to back me up), but I'm soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo sick of it. I'm getting close to being done though. I have a Saturday soccer tournament with a long break between games that I'm hoping will put the nail through the coffin and end this thing.

And then I get to move on. Finally. To UPC codes and another proof copy. And then I think we're set. I think. Or not. We'll see.

Author Spotlight: Travis Erwin

I met Travis many moons ago when we were both contestants in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Contest I've talked about a million times on this blog.

He's a native Texan, a meat eater, who loves his beer. He's 6' 5", nearly 300 pounds, oh, yeah, and he writes women's fiction.

Yes, I said women's fiction.

Did you spit out your coffee at the thought? I know, right?

In his own words on the profile on his blog, this is why he must write "girly stuff" *giggles*:

"I have to write the stories that fill my head. I’m obligated to be the voice for the characters that speak to me, because they’re not going to shut up either way, and at least on paper I can act like they exist for a reason. Otherwise, I’m just a guy with multiple personalities."

He's an interesting cat for sure and I'm writing about him because his book, Twisted Roads, is now available for purchase on Amazon. 

Today he's having a Twisted Party on Facebook and giving away some prizes. Go check it out.

He also has a guest post on author, Amy Sue Nathan's blog today that reveals more about the twisted road of his publication journey. You can read it here and you should. It's pretty interesting.

And he's a really good Scrabble player too. He's kicked my ass a bunch of times on Facebook, but I've got him back a few too.

If you want to know more about Travis, you can read his blog, Bacon, Beer, & Books.

You can also find him on Twitter @ TravisErwin.

Monkey Madness Monday: Book Piracy and other annoyances

I got a Google Alert about Never Eighteen on Saturday. And it brought me to this. Yes, it is yet
another pirated copy of NE out for anyone to download for free. For those of you just coming across my blog for the first time, this may not seem like a big deal to you, but it is. Why you ask? Well, here's the letter I was going to send to the young woman, screen name: Screamqueen42

I guess since you uploaded this book, it means you liked it, which is flattering, but you should realize, that writers like me, and some of the others you've uploaded here, hardly make any money from their books. In fact, after our small advances, many of us don't see another dime. If you like our books, it would be better for us if you'd tell your friends about them so they'd buy them instead of sharing them illegally on sites like this.  We're not million dollar rock stars, most of us are people who have to keep day jobs to keep our families running, many of us single parents like me.

Just something to keep in mind.

However, I can't send her a message, and where I was trying to add this comment, the CAPTCHA is not working, so unless Screamqueen42 reads my blog, she'll never see this.

I went to the site's, Kickass Torrents, piracy page, and basically it looks like they're a bunch of douches protecting their illegal content rather than the artists being pilfered. The process for getting your work taken off their site is akin to needing an ancient hieroglyphic, a virgin sacrifice, the head of Sasquatch, and the blood of a vampire.  So, I left that up to my publicist with HMH.

Aside from that, some day job crap, forgetting to take my meds, a day out in a way too crowded venue in the hot sun, with a kid who didn't plan well, then ended up breaking up with her boyfriend, and realizing beer and I are not friends, helped to balance out a perfectly lovely weekend of fun.

But seriously folks. Most of writers, we don't make money. I know I don't. I'll just put it out there, I've not seen a dime of royalties from Never Eighteen and probably never will, especially if people keep downloading it for free. Every time someone downloads and illegal free copy of my book, I die a little inside.

And I'm not saying it's okay to pirate from million dollar rock stars either. They've earned their money as well. We all have and pirating is illegal. Period. But for me...I have two teenagers to support, a mortgage to pay.  Think about it. Piracy sucks.

Indie publishing: Websites, typos and release dates

Yes, so I'm setting up a website for  my indie publishing company. Well, I have two companies really because I have a mother company. Creative Chaos Media (site is currently under construction). Then under that company I'm going to have imprints because this brain of mine holds not only YA literature, but chick lit and other genres of fiction.  For now, I'll have one, Sock Puppet Press.

I was trying to create my own logo for  CCM, but my Illustrator skills are very rudimentary. I found this company, Logoytypers, who will create a logo for you for as little as $10 from just a drawing. They do have different packages. (I paid $30 and added a little to my editable logo) If you're looking for a simple logo design, you may want to give them a look.

Also, I'm still working on finding all the typos in my proof copy, and believe me, there are more than I thought there would be. Therefore, I'm fine tooth combing it. I'm hoping to really dig into it this weekend and get it done and get another proof back soon. Ugh. I'm a horrible editor I've found.

That said, I'm afraid I'm going to have to push my release date back again. I think realistically I'm looking at October. sigh. I hope my Indiegogo backers will understand.

This whole process has been educational. When I do get my website up, I'm going to lay out the indie publishing process so it's easy to understand to make it easier for others to go about getting themselves published and to get the most polished, professional book they can produced.

That is all. Happy Friday, have a great weekend.

Friday Scribbles:

Pandora Queue: Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol

 Book of the Week: 45 Pounds (more or less) by K.A. Barson. This just released this week. New YA, touted by Amazon as being one of the best of the year and I really want to read it.

Netflix of the Week: Sons of Anarchy Season One. Just started watching it. Pretty hooked.

Quote of the week: "Typos are very important to all written form. It gives the reader something to look for so they aren't distracted by the total lack of content in your writing." ~ Randy K. Milholland

Monkey Madness Monday: Typos, typos, typos!

I'm going crazy. Seriously. I've read this book over and over again. I've had an editor read it. I know that there are people out there who self publish who don't have an editor read their work and this is one of the reason self publishing gets a bad rap. So much self published work it put out unedited.  It's put out with typos and grammar and punctuation problems and turns people off from indie publishing as a whole.

For the life of me, I cannot fathom having missed so much on the first five or six passes. I'm going to get another proof copy after this one. I'm going to make sure the cover is okay then I'm going to have someone else read it for typos in case I missed any. Again. I know that there are traditionally published books out there with typos in them. It's one of the reasons I refuse to read Never Eighteen since its debut. I don't want to find any mistakes. But for my first indie project, I want it to be as flawless as possible. I don't want anyone to say things like, "well, that's what you can expect after all it IS self published" or things of a similar nature.

I admit, when it comes to editing, I'm lazy, but this? The mistakes that are in there? UGH!!! Some of
them are just plain stupid mistakes.

I'm sure every writer in the world will understand when I say, I'm so tired of this book. :)
The next couple days I'm busting these typos out and getting them back to Lori so she can get it formatted again and I can get a proof from Createspace and Lightning source and make sure we're ok again.

Man, this process can be a real bitch. At least I'm learning and hopefully things will go smoother for the next book, which I'm starting to think I should be starting this process for now.

Happy Monday all.

Hermit weekend

This year for the 4th, I've decided to be a recluse. Why you ask? (you were thinking it) It's not that I
have anything against our country, or our independence. I like independence. Here's the thing: 1) I'm not really into crowds. Never have been, never will be. 2) I like fireworks and all, but to watch a public display here in Tacoma is like getting through a labyrinth. 3) I've never really had that 4th of July "tradition". Meaning, most of my friends and family have had their things they do set it place for eons. I was married for 18 years and we really just kind of winged it every year, so now that I'm single, I don't have a "thing" I do every 4th.

Put all those things together and when the 4th came around, I was kind of like, "meh." My bosses gave us today, Friday, off, so I decided to have myself a little staycation to catch up on all the stuff I'd put aside while I was working on my major marketing presentation for said day job. So, this is what I have planned:

Deep clean the house. Seriously, my house is totally disgustingShop for a new washing machine. I've been going to my parents house to do laundry for like a month now and I'm over it.Put together furniture that has been sitting in my garage for a year. Seriously.Frame prints a friend gave me over a year ago and find a more prominent spot to display them. I had them sitting on a window ledge, but they need to be in a better place.Print out pictures to fill frames that have been sitting on my mantel for 6 months. Load music on iPod. I've had a gift card in my purse for about two months. This also include getting my besties country music OFF my iPod that inadvertently got synched on. I had it playing yesterday and wanted to tear my ears off.Walk the bridge. I slept through kickboxing this morning.Weed. Yeah, I have lots of weeding to do.Find all the typos in Dissected. Yep.Work on publishing house website. I'd like to get this done before the book come out. Find a box and finally put away those Cinco de Mayo decorations that have been sitting in my living room for two months.Handily avoid my children. Now, don't act like that. I love my children, but it's their dad's week. However, whenever they're with their dad, they always come over and end up staying for hours eating my food and messing up my house that I'd more than likely just cleaned. I told them about my hermit weekend and that the house was off-limits. Of course Thing Two already tried to come over last night with nine of her closest friends for a sleep over. I was like, "uh uh, no way." She was not pleased. Find workout shorts that don't threaten to fall down revealing me in all my glory during kickboxing. Seriously, I don't know what it is. I guess I just have a weird body shape. I fear if I go down another size they will be so form fitting I won't be leaving much to the imagination. My body is shaped weird. Or maybe it's just that I have curves and usually what fits my hips falls off my waist. Who knows? I'm an anomaly.Organize my cupboards. Kind of. Not spending a lot of time on this one.Clean my office. You would think this would go along with cleaning the house, but my office is a whole 'nother dimension. I would take a picture and post, but honestly, it's too embarrassing. Imagine stacks of paperwork, computer programs, manuscripts, newspaper articles, book swag, office supplies...and I mean stacks and stacks and stacks and stacks.Write. I want to work on my contemporary. Because I love it. I think that's it for the list. Enjoy your Friday, here are my Scribbles.

Next Pandora song (Imagine Dragons station):



Book of the Week: Designing Brand Identity by Alina Wheeler

Netflix of the Week: Jeff, Who Lives at Home. Indie Flick with Jason Segel and Ed Helms. I really liked it.

Quote of the Week: The writer is either a practicing recluse or a delinquent, guilt-ridden one; or both. Usually both.~ Susan Sontag

Major work projects and Dissected proof

Man, I have been working on a major major marketing presentation for work for about three weeks now and I'm finally done. It's why I've not been blogging. I've been having to work on it at home as well as work to get it ready for my office retreat which took place last week. Now life is getting back to as normal as my life can, so here I am, blogging again.

I received a proof copy of Dissected in the mail this week from Createspace. Let's just say, I'm glad I ordered just one. The cover came out much darker then I'd anticipated, and you know what else? I found...wait for it...TYPOS!!!

Yes, I found typos. This is nobody's fault but my own. I truly am surprised that I found typos, but there they were, a couple in the first few chapters. So I emailed the truly gracious woman who did my formatting and asked her to please not kill me, but did she mind if I send her more corrections for reformatting. She said she didn't mind, but I can't help but imagine that she was silently cursing me (or perhaps loudly) as she emailed me back telling me it was no problem.

She also told me that many of the covers she's done have come out two or three shades darker than expected, so I redid mine. Lightened it up and even added a little more color so it wasn't so black and dismal. Now I'm rereading the proof to find any other typos that may be lurking behind the pretty formatted fonts and styles.

I truly can see why many books, indie published or traditional, make it to the shelves with mistakes. It's difficult. It truly is, to find every last mistake, no matter how many eyes are on it or how many times you read through it. Humans and computers are simply not perfect. That is not a cop out, nor an excuse for my failings, it is simply a fact. I hope to catch every last error in my novel. End of story.

I'm in the process of setting up distribution so the bookstores may carry the novel. They are having a problem with one of my scanned forms for the second time though. I don't know why. So, I have to try again.

So that's where I'm at. Here is what the book cover looks like now. I'm thinking about adding a gummy bear to the back cover...

Formatting snafus and moving forward

Had a little snag in the formatting of Dissected, Lori has never worked with Createspace, so a couple pages were not being agreeable. As I'm writing this, I'm once again uploading again, so hopefully it's a done deal.

I'm in the process of designing the back cover. What do you think?


Next steps, setting up distribution with lightning source, getting barcodes. I haven't really looked into that yet, but I think it's fairly self explanatory, and setting my sale price. The book is a little longer than Never Eighteen and I'm considering donating a dollar of every sale to Mary Bridge Children's hospital here in Tacoma, so I'm thinking about a $9.99 sale price.

OH YEAH!!!! The book is done uploading and NO ISSUES THIS TIME!!! Woot! Means it's time to move forward.

I also still have to design postcards to send out to connections I made with Never Eighteen, libraries, schools, and indie bookstores, though I can't find my mailing list. knowing me, I wrote it all down by hand and threw it away, because I can be a complete idiot like that. (hopefully not, but yeah, it's been known to happen). I need to design buttons. The book cover makes that a little tricky, but I'll come up with something. And stickers. People like stickers. I also want new business cards.

I've pushed my release date back to August 27th so I can set up a local launch party, for which I need about 6 weeks lead time.

I met up with a bunch of indie writers in Tacoma last week. It was a very cool experience. I know I can learn a lot from that diverse group.

Almost done!!

Monkey Madness Monday: Indie Publishing, Getting Closer

Received my second round of the formatted version of Dissected. Oh, it's so pretty. Found just a
couple more things that needed changing, so the next version should be it, then guess what. I make it a printed book! MEEP!!!!

What comes next? I need to come up with a sale price, set up distribution and get my bar codes in place.

As far as the sale price...the book is about 246 pages. A bit longer the Never Eighteen, which was $7.99. And I'm thinking about upping the book up a buck so I can donate some to my favorite charity, Mary Bridge Children's Hospital for every sale. So, I'm thinking $9.99 or $10.99. What do you think? Is the latter too much?

Then Lori, who is formatting my book will format the e-book version for me. She's been a God send, as have many others in this crazy process. I could not have done this on my own. Well, I could have but I'm sure it would have been a fiasco. :)

I also still have to design and order buttons and I need to get postcards designs and sent to bookstores, libraries, and schools. I'm wondering, do I mention the fact that the book is indie published? Hmmm, what have you other indie authors done if you've actually published in print?