David B. Coe's Blog, page 20

A Lame Post

All right, I feel a little guilty about this one.  But between this blog and the D.B. Jackson blog (http://www.dbjackson-author.com/blog) I have managed to post every day so far this year.  And I don't want to blow that today.  Thing is, it's late and I've been running non-stop since early this morning.  It's time I got to sleep.  So this is a pretty lame excuse for a blog post, but hey, at least I got something up, right?  'Night all.

Titles, Titles, Titles

Titles.  I hate 'em.  Really.  I mean, yeah, finding a great title for a book -- THE perfect title -- that's really fun.  A great feeling.  But other than that coming up with titles just sucks.  And that's part of what I'm doing today.  I'm sitting in front of my computer working on a proposal for my next two novels.  I know what they're about, mostly.  But I have no idea what to call them.  And so I go to Amazon, and as ideas occur to me, I search their books section to see if anyone has used the title before.  Not that this would absolutely rule out any given option.  No one can copyright a title, which is why you sometimes see two or three or five books with the same title.  But all things being equal, I would rather come up with something original.  I have a title for one of the two books.  At least it's a working title.  I know that I'm not ready to commit to using it by the fact that I'm not willing to say what it is.  Not yet.  I don't like it enough.  Maybe it'll grow on me.  Maybe not.  But it's good enough for now, and I still have another book to name.  --Sigh--  I wonder if a beer would help....

Hope you all have a good weekend.

New Interview Is Up

I've just been interviewed on the Michigan Speculative Fiction -- MiFi Writers website.  The interview was conducted by my friend, Tim Rohr and it covers a broad range of topics related to writing, publishing, and my own career, including my work in historical fantasy under the name D.B. Jackson.  I hope you enjoy it.

A Post About Writing Transitions

Today’s post can be found at http://magicalwords.net, the group blog on the business and craft of writing fantasy that I maintain with fellow authors Faith Hunter, Misty Massey, A.J. Hartley, C.E. Murphy, and Kalayna Price, among others. The post is called “On Writing: Transitions and Chapter Breaks,” and it’s about using breaks in the narrative of our books to increase narrative tension and improve narrative flow. I hope you enjoy it.

A Lost Voice

I was never a huge fan of Whitney Houston's music -- I was into a different sound, a different style.  But I was always, always a fan of her voice.  Tonight, we were watching the opening moments of the Grammy's, and they played a clip of Whitney singing at the awards ceremony back in the early nineties.  And watching her, listening to her, my older daughter muttered, "Oh, my God."  It wasn't something she said for us.  I'm not even sure she was aware that she was saying it.  It just happened, like the soft intake of breath upon first seeing the Grand Canyon or the Aurora Borealis.  Whitney was that good.  Her voice was a wonder.

Her life story, sadly, was the stuff of tragedy; her end was sordid and hollow.  I want to say that she deserved better, but it seems that so much of the misery of her final years was self-inflicted.  What a terrible loss for her fans, an awful blow to her family and friends.  And how sad for all of us that her voice was silenced at so soon.

And Another Guest of Honor Gig

I am very pleased to say that I have received a second invitation in as many weeks to be literary guest of honor at a convention.  This time it is for Marscon in Williamsburg, Virginia on the weekend of January 18-20, 2013.  Tamora Pierce will be YA Guest of Honor, and I think that D.B. Jackson guy will be at this one, too.  Looking forward to it.

A First Driving Lesson

I gave my daughter her first driving lesson today.  Well, okay, my wife gave her a lesson in a parking lot a while back.  But today we went on The Road.  Now I should explain that my wife and I both drive cars with manual transmissions, so by default the poor kid is learning how to drive AND how to drive a stick shift.

And she did great.  Really.  I mean, yeah, she stalled a couple of times.  A few times.  Several times.  And she had some difficulty remembering which gear she was in.  Stop signs and turns gave her a little trouble once or twice.  But we live in a sleepy little subdivision and she managed to do several loops around the neighborhood without hitting anything or anyone, and without giving her father a coronary.  I also have to say that she was surprised at how calm I remained throughout the entire ordeal lesson.  I'm not always like that.  Calm, I mean.  Particularly under circumstances that lie just barely beyond my control.  And that really is the hardest part of this.  The things that clearly lie WAY beyond my control are easy.  But the temptation to reach out and grab the steering wheel, or throw the car into the next gear down or up -- that was a little hard to deal with.  I managed it, though.  I was fine today, and so was she.  We actually spent more time laughing than anything else.

So there it is.  Another rite of passage, another milestone.  This past Monday we did our first college visit together.  She's growing up so quickly.  If she wasn't developing into such an outstanding human being, it would be pretty scary...

Release Day for Saladin Ahmed's THRONE OF THE CRESCENT MOON

Hey, all.  today is the release day for my friend and fellow SFNovelists contributor Saladin Ahmed.  His debut novel, Throne of the Crescent Moon is out and available for purchase.  I read an advanced copy of the book and can tell you that it is terrific -- exciting, beautifully crafted, and unlike anything you're read before.  Don't believe me?  Well it received starred reviews from Kirkus AND Publisher's Weekly AND Library Journal.  So check it out!

A Post About E-Book Pricing

Today’s post can be found at http://magicalwords.net, the group blog on the business and craft of writing fantasy that I maintain with fellow authors Faith Hunter, Misty Massey, A.J. Hartley, C.E. Murphy, and Kalayna Price, among others. The post is called “On Publishing: What is the Right Price for an E-Book?,” and it’s about assigning value to the written word regardless of format. I hope you enjoy it.

Guest of Honor Gig

Quiet, rainy day.  Mostly stuck around the house and got little things done that I've been putting off.

But I did want to announce that I will be Literary Guest of Honor at Con*Stellation in Huntsville, Alabama, October 12-14.  Hope to see many of you there.  Oh, and some guy named D.B. Jackson is going to be there, too, as a "Special Guest."