Sarra Cannon's Blog, page 33

I did it!!

It's just shy of 2:00 AM and I'm calling it. Write-a-palooza is officially over! Originally, I stared with a word count yesterday afternoon of 10,593 words. I was feeling down about how far behind I was on my rough draft, but now, I can say that I'm right back on track.

Yesterday, I ended with a total word count of 15,644, meaning I wrote just over 5,000 words yesterday.

Today, I ended with a grand total of 25,658 words!!! That means I wrote a total of 10,013 words today, with a 2 day total of 15,065 words. Wow! I don't think I've ever written so much so fast, but the words were just flowing out of me. It was the best feeling in the world! I would say that I'm officially just under halfway through the rough draft and well on my way toward getting the story-line hammered out. I'm exhausted, but I feel great.

Overall, that means I just earned 28 Hello Kitty packets (or $84 to spend in the Hello Kitty store). I'm definitely going to be taking him shopping this weekend, haha. It's the little things sometimes that can motivate me toward success, but in the end, the real excitement comes from knowing that I'm doing a good job with the novel and I'm back on track for a Fall release.

Now, I'm going to go pass out.

Pre-Palooza

My pre-write-a-palooza is officially over since I'm heading to bed. I wrote exactly 5021 words tonight! That's actually quite impressive since I also took time to work out. I'm definitely happy with that number!

So, according to my husband's rules for write-a-palooza, that gives me an

added 5 packs to the 5,000 word reward tomorrow, bringing it up to 8 packs of the HK trading cards (or $24). The 10K reward now goes up an additional 10 packs for a whopping total of 20 packs (or $60) plus the 5k reward since I win both if I make it to 10,000 words. I really hope I can do it. Not only would it put me back on track for the rough draft deadline, but it would also be a huge boost to my motivation right now.

There are some personal things going on for us right now that I don't really want to share with the general public, but which are definitely affecting my writing focus. It's great to be able to immerse myself in Harper and Jackson's story for a couple of days and forget about any other worries or things coming up. Writing is a life saver, really. So my one person write-a-palooza is off to a great start with a 5k bonus.

As an extra special reward, my husband told me tonight that if I can break 20,000 words written by the time I go to bed tomorrow night (today + tomorrow's words), he'll give me $200

even. I'm already mentally spending that money, haha. Still, writing 15,000 words in on

e day is something I have never done before, so I'm not sure it's possible for me. All I can do is my best. I'll keep you updated!

Oh, and like I mentioned earlier, there were some balloons purchased in honor of the event. G bought them for me, as if I needed further proof that he's the perfect man for me.

WRITE-A-PALOOZA

I am now officially embarking on a me only write-a-palooza. I'm way behind on my rough draft work for DEMONS FOREVER. Don't get me wrong, I've been thinking about it ALL the time, but the thinking has only translated so far into about 11,000 words. My self-imposed deadline now to finish the rough draft is September 5th, which is only 13 days away. I've got to get crackin!

So over lunch today, my husband suggested a fun challenge for me. Since he is, after all, my muse, he likes to find ways to encourage and motivate me

. And since he knows me as well as he does, he decided to bribe me with Hello Kitty. Thus, write-a-palooza 2011 was formed. I'm the only participant and word count is my only goal. Here are the official rules as stated by my husband:Tomorrow is the official event. Goal #1: 5,000 words. Prize: 3 Hello Kitty World adventures Collictipaks (or the equivalent monetary value for the pack, currently $3.00). I LOVE these packs! They have these super cute little tiny hello kitties dressed up in different country-specific attire. Also, they have stickers and lots of trading cards with pictures of her dressed in the outfits. I have all the kitties except India. So basically either 3 packs or $9.00 for 5,000 words.

Goal Level #2: 10,000 words. Prize: 10 HK Collectipaks (or $30 to spend at the sanrio store in Crabtree Valley Mall)Now, to make things more exciting, we are also doing a pre-palooza event today. The word count I manage to get to today before I go to bed will directly affect the prizes tomorrow. Here are the pre-event rules:For every 1,000 words written today, I get +1 pack added to my 5k reward tomorrow or +2 packs added to my 10k reward. So, if I get 2,000 words written today, my rewards tomorrow go up to 5 packs for the 5k reward and 14 for the 10k reward. Get it? (or monetary value still, of course)If I get 10,000 words, I get BOTH the 10k reward AND the 5k reward. For example, if I get 5,000 words today at pre-palooza, that's +5 packs to the 5k reward for a total of 8 packs (or $24). THat's +10 packs to the 10k reward for a total of 20 packs (or $60). Add both of those rewards together, so I get either 28 packs or $84 or some combination of the two.Yes, it's a bit mathematical, lol. Especially for something so silly as a me only writing event! But I need creative ways to get myself to produce a lot of words and to work hard for the next two days! This is one of the reasons I love my husband so much! Of course, in the end, the real reward is that I would have possibly 15,000 words or more written by the time I go to bed tomorrow night, which would mean my rough draft would be halfway finished! I like the sound of that!!!

Oh, and also - there may be hats. And balloons.

Guest Interview at Cabinet of Curiosities

Hi everyone! I'm coming out of deep writing mode to say hello and let you know that I have was interviewed by the fabulous writers at Cabinet of Curiosities today. My guest interview is up, so please stop by, ask questions, say hello and learn more about me! Their questions were really fun and I got to say a lot about myself and my writing, so I hope you'll join us on their blog today!

Interview with Indie Author Extraordinaire Sarra Cannon!

July Sales Numbers

Hi everyone! Sorry I've been slack on posting. I also still haven't managed to separate my self-publishing blog from my regular writing blog, so I apologize to fans who don't really care about this stuff, haha. Hopefully there are some of you writers out there still finding value in seeing what my numbers have done each step of the way. I feel like as self-published authors we should stick together and help each other however we can. This is just one small way I hope to help.

That being said, July was one of those amazingly, almost-can't-believe-it, omg-I-might-faint kind of months for me. I still look back at the sales numbers and want to cry! The biggest news for July was that my fourth book in the Peachville High Demons series finally came out. It was sort of a strangely staggered release because B&N got the book up really quickly but Amazon dragged for almost a week. My book didn't show up properly in Amazon searches for almost a week after it got listed, which was somewhat frustrating, and in the end, I think hurt my sales rank to some degree because it split my initial burst of sales up too much to give me the boost I was hoping for. Still, Shadow Demons did make it all the way up to #413 in the Kindle store and that's very close to my best rank ever (Beautiful Demons was 365 in February, which is my all-time best ever.) Not too shabby.

Anyone who has been following my sales numbers knows that last month I hit a huge milestone by selling my 25,000th book. In July, I made it all the way up back 35,000 books sold, so this was a HUGE month for me. It's so exciting to see the sales continue to grow. Of course, any month with a brand new release is going to be bigger than previous months, but I'm still amazed at the success so far of the series, so thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who has purchased the PHD books and loved them. I heart you.

July Sales Numbers:

BEAUTIFUL DEMONS (Book 1 of the PHD series. 10/31/10)Amazon Kindle Store: 1698 US + 134 UK = 1832Barnes & Noble: 398Smashwords: 1Total: 2231INNER DEMONS (Book 2 of the PHD series. 12/22/10)Amazon Kindle Store: 1373 US + 92 UK + 1 DE = 1466Barnes & Noble: 333Smashwords: 3Total: 1802BITTER DEMONS (Book 3 of the PHD series. 2/24/11)Amazon Kindle Store: 1243 US + 72 UK = 1315Barnes & Noble: 278Smashwords: 3Total: 1596SHADOW DEMONS (Book 4 of the PHD series. 7/3/11)Amazon Kindle Store: 2824 US + 87 UK = 2911Barnes & Noble: 600Smashwords: 10Total: 3521Total July Sales: 9150

Overall Sales To Date: 35,688

I am still blown away and so humbled by the numbers. I know it's nothing compared to the Amanda Hockings and John Lockes of the Kindle world, but to me, it's really something. I still get scared that one day all my books will just stop selling and this wild will be over, but the fear gets less and less with each book that comes out. I am truly loving writing and loving this career. Self-publishing was definitely the right choice for me.

So now I am fast at work writing Book 5, DEMONS FOREVER. This will, sadly, be the last book in the Peachville High Demons series. I'm so scared to move on to another series, but at the same time, I'm really excited about the next series coming up. It's the series I've been working on for a really long time and I'm anxious to see what it turns into now that I'm not worried about what an agent or editor will think and I can just write it the way I want to write it. The first book in the series is already finished, but I know it will take some rewriting. I sincerely hope this next series strikes as much of a chord as PHD did, if not more.

But for now, DEMONS FOREVER is on my mind 24/7. I'm hoping to have it completed and published faster than Book 4. It will be out sometime this fall, but I'm not ready to give an exact date yet. Anyway, there's the rundown on my July sales numbers. And thanks to all the writers who sent me encouraging messages last month about me posting sales. It means a lot to me to know I'm helping other indie writers, even if it's just in some small way. Thanks for the support!!

Inner Ear Fiasco

Hi everyone! Sorry I haven't updated the blog much this week, but on Monday I had to go in to the doctor because I'd been having dizzy spells and feeling super tired. Turns out there was fluid on my inner ear causing some equilibrium issues. Yuck! I'm still feeling a little bit off today, and this week has been mostly about resting and trying to get healthy. I also found out today that the reason I'm so tired is that I'm severely deficient in Vitamin D. Fun! No, no, not fun. At least I know there's a reason behind it, which means it's fixable. I already take Vitamin D supplements, but now I'll be taking a prescription strength Vitamin D for a while to increase my levels more quickly.
Hopefully, this will mean that I will have renewed and amazing energy to spend on writing DEMONS FOREVER and the book will be extra awesome. Haha. I can dream, right?
I hope everyone has an amazing weekend. I plan to rest a lot and work on the final details of my plot/organizing before Monday, when I start the writing process. It's been slightly delayed after not feeling well this week, but I don't think it will make any difference in the actual release of the book, which is still set for sometime this Fall. (early fall preferably!)

Getting Excited!

My work on DEMONS FOREVER has really just begun. I haven't actually written a word of it yet, to be honest, but that doesn't mean I haven't been working on it. Mostly, I've been going over my notes and working on the story-line. I think of all the books I've written so far, this one makes me the most nervous. Knowing the series is coming to an end is difficult. I want to make sure to wrap up all the loose ends. I want to answer all the questions that need to be answered. And I want to give all of the fans of the series an ending they can love. It's extremely important to me that this be one of the best (if not THE best) books in the whole series. That's a lot of pressure to put on myself!
But at the same time, I'm getting crazy excited about this book. So much of the story is finally coming together in a way that will hopefully surprise and delight you, hehe. I've been spending a lot of time in the Shadow World lately. At least in my mind I have. I think about it all the time, really. This is my first time ever writing a fantasy world. I've written several stories that are based in our world, but with a paranormal twist. Ghosts, zombies, witches, etc. But this is my first time actually writing another world all together. Granted, it's still connected to our world in a lot of ways, but it's still foreign and different and very exciting to create.
I had planned to start the actual writing of the rough draft last week, but art takes time, and I don't want to rush this book. I want to make sure I take the time I need with it to make it a fitting ending to the Peachville High Demons series. I will, however, be starting the rough draft this week. I'm definitely ready to start getting the story down in words. If you want to check my progress, you look at the word meter on the right side of this blog or on the ride side of my website's home page at www.sarracannon.com. I try to update my word meter every day. I'm anticipating this last book to be a little bit longer than the rest. Book 4 was already close to 60,000 words, and I'm guessing Book 5 will close out at around 70,000. I never totally know until it's written, though.
Anyway, I hope you'll keep up with my progress as I go along. Once the rough draft is complete, I'll start revisions (which for me, usually means nearly completely rewriting the book), then critique, then formatting, and then finally publishing! Getting excited about DEMONS FOREVER!

Fictional Friends

You know those characters you can't get enough of? I'm talking about fictional characters. People in movies and books that you get into so much, you feel like you actually know them. I blogged about Harry Potter earlier this week, and I would definitely include Hermione, Ron and Harry in my list of "fictional friends". These are people I wish I could know in real life. They are so well written, you feel that they must actually exist somewhere.My favorite TV show of all time is Sex & The City. Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda became my friends over the course of the six years they were on TV. Carrie and Charlotte especially for me. I signed up for HBO and scrimped and saved just to afford it through the hard times simply because I wanted to see my friends on Sunday night. And every week when I would sit down to a new episode, I would just sigh and relish the joy of spending more time with them and catching up on what they were up to these days. When the series ended, it was like losing a friendship. It was like suddenly being cut off from people I had come to consider a part of my life.
Of course, I still had a life outside of the show. I didn't sit around and obsess over it during the week when it wasn't on, but even to this day, when I'm flipping channels and I see an episode, I have to stop and watch it. These women are fictional, but they resonated with me. Harry Potter was the same. Katniss Everdeen, too. I rooted for her in the Hunger Games. Cried for her. Wanted desperately to help her find a way out. Dagny Taggert in Atlas Shrugged was my friend for months as I read that book during a very dark time in my life. Stu Redman and Frances Goldsmith from The Stand are another two characters I rooted for so hard, I loved them. I felt what they felt and experienced the loss and hope of the end of the world through their eyes.
The sad thing about fictional friends is that once their story is over, it's over. Once the author or creator has said what they wanted to say, that character's story has been told. We don't get to see their life past a certain point. We miss them. We saw the world through them for a while and possibly had a piece of their perspective rub off on us. I know Dagny's perspective rubbed off on me big time. It changed my entire world view. I wish I had more of her story. I wish I could sit and talk to her from time to time. But she's already said all she can ever say.
Of course, the flip side to that is that those fictional characters are, in a way, immortal. Ayn Rand wrote Atlas Shrugged more than fifty years ago, but Dagny herself is timeless. She'll be changing people's views and affecting the world until the end of time. She'll never grow old. And anytime I want to be inspired by her again, she'll be there on the pages of that book, exactly the same as she always was. Our fictional friends are forever. We can always count on them. It's part of the magic of fiction and imagination and creation. It's part of the amazing miracle of stories.
What characters in fiction do you consider your friends? Have there been people in books or movies or TV that have shaped your world view? I would love to hear your stories and know that I am not alone!

Harry Potter - Is it Really Over?

I've been so excited about the final movie in the Harry Potter series, but as I was sitting in the theater last Friday night about to actually watch the movie, it suddenly hit me. It's over. I was honestly upset when the final book came out, but with the movies, it was as if the story lived on. There was still this unique way to see the characters and the story come to life visually. But now, what's left?
The ebooks are going to be released on J.K. Rowling's recently announced Pottermore, but the ebooks are just the books in digital format. Don't get me wrong, I fully intend to buy them and devour them again, but it makes me sad that the newness of it is over now that the final movie is out.
The funny thing about the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows book in 2007 is that even though I preordered the book and picked it up the day it came out, I didn't actually read the book until October. I just didn't want it to be over. The Harry Potter series is seriously the very best series I have ever read in my life. It's genius. The characters became my friends. I wanted to live in that world (minus Voldemorte, of course) and know those people. I wanted to learn magic and go to Hogwarts. Yes, I was an adult even when it was starting, but it made me want to be a kid again. And just as a funny story, the whole reason I started reading the HP series was because one of my old teachers told me I needed to read them because the girl (Hermione) in the story was just like me, haha.
Anyway, I didn't read the final book for several months because I didn't want to let go. I didn't want to accept that there would be no more new adventures for Harry, Ron and Hermione. Yes, I wanted Voldemorte to die, but I still wanted to know what was happening in their world. When I finally sat down to read the book, I didn't come up for air until it was over. It took me about two days to read the whole thing and when it was over, my eyes were so red from crying, my husband thought someone died. And I guess someone did. Some of my good friends died in that final battle, and I felt their loss deep in my heart. I felt the loss of the series, too. The movies gave me a chance to relive some of that experience.
When I sat down in the movie last Friday night, I wanted that same emotional impact. I wanted to grieve for the final movie and for the end of one of the best series of all time. Unfortunately, even though the cinematics were gorgeous and the story was basically the same as the book, I just didn't get to that same place of emotional depth that I got to with the books. It makes sense when you think about it. The book took me days to read and the characters lived in my mind and my imagination. The movie was just over two hours long and there wasn't time for the same development you get in the book. That's one of the reasons I love books so much. You get so much more into the stories and you get to know the characters and their motivations and their souls so much better. It's part of the magic of reading that just can't be translated to the big screen.
Anyway, all this rambling is basically just me saying that I'm sad the series is officially over with the final movie. I can't wait for the ebooks to come out so I can start the series over and read it all again on my ereader.
What did you think about the movie? Have you had a chance to see it yet? Did you read the books? Did you love them the way I did? Have you ever had a series that touched your life that way?

June Sales Numbers

Life has been so busy with the release of Shadow Demons that I haven't had time yet to post my June Sales Numbers. I had a fan ask me why I was posting my sales numbers, and I wanted to just talk about that for a minute. When I was first thinking about self-publishing, I spent a lot of time reading the blogs of other self-published writers. I was so grateful when they would post their sales numbers so that I could see what was possible. I decided to share my own sales numbers for that specific reason and also as a public record of one self-published author's journey to success.
If posting my sales numbers has helped give you hope or helped you make the decision to self-publish, please let me know so I can know that I'm doing the right thing. I'm working on the idea of splitting my blog into two separate wordpress blogs - one more for fans and readers and one for other authors. For now, though, I guess this blog has to serve as both!
So, June sales! I was expecting my numbers to go way down since I hadn't had a new release since February. However, I think the amazing new book covers Robin Ludwig designed for me really made a huge impact. My sales for June were just over 1500 more than May. I couldn't be happier. As most of you know, my fourth book, Shadow Demons, came out July 3rd, so there aren't any of those sales marked on the June sales report. Here are the sales for June:
BEAUTIFUL DEMONS (Book 1 of the PHD series. 10/31/10)Amazon Kindle Store: 1704 US sales + 93 UK sales + 1 DE sales = 1798Barnes & Noble: 518Smashwords: 4Total: 2320INNER DEMONS (Book 2 of the PHD series. 12/22/10)
Amazon Kindle Store: 1323 US Sales + 54 UK Sales + 0 DE sales = 1377Barnes & Noble: 363Smashwords: 2Total: 1742BITTER DEMONS (Book 3 of the PHD series. 2/24/11)Amazon Kindle Store: 1180 US sales + 37 UK sales + 0 DE sales = 1217Barnes & Noble: 291Smashwords: 1Total: 1509Total June Sales: 5571
Overall Sales To Date: 26,538
I am super excited to have had a great month of sales. Thank you so much to everyone who has purchased a Peachville High Demons book and to everyone who supports the series. It really means the world to me. I never thought I would reach 25,000 books sold so quickly. I can also say that with the July release of Shadow Demons, I have already passed 30,000 books sold as well. It feels like a dream. I hope that the growth continues so that I can write books for a living for the rest of my life.