K.D. Sarge's Blog, page 54

Queen's Man Cover Art, ZOMG!

I'm a marketing mess. You'll hear a lot about how we have to do it, we have to be on it, when you self-publish you're all there is, blah, blah, blah…

Unfortunately for the way you're SUPPOSED to do it, I'm not a consistent sort of person. I can't seem to follow a plan to save my life. All I can do is the best I can do, and not whine about the results.

All that is to say that I probably I should wait, but I'm not gonna.

Check it out.

Queen's Man by KD Sarge

Though he works security for a major...

This is a Heads-Up!

I have received the cover art for Queen's Man! Just as soon as I get a blurb put together (or as soon as I'm fairly happy with the one I have) I shall be revealing both!

WATCH THIS SPACE! I'm gonna do a giveaway on Goodreads too, so you won't want to miss the link.

I am so excited! My crack team of Awesome has been working hard (meaning me, my glorious and beautiful editor, and my lovely and amazing cover artist) on this book for what seems like forever, but it is almost done.

Joss is coming...

Multi-Talented and MINE*

So there's this awesome artist I've admired for some time. We met on a writers' forum, and I've always been awed by her work. From her mobsters

to her steampunk universe

to her random characters of what universe I can't keep track of, because she's so marvelously creative I can't keep up

I am unfailingly thrilled and inspired by her art.

She writes books too. I've followed her NaNo adventures with glee, and I'm still hoping to get my hands on her novels one day. Unsurprisingly she's a little too ...

Cleaning Out

So I'm between edits again. Last time it was December, and I had about a gazillion things to get done before the manuscript came back to me. Most of them didn't get done.

Does that mean I go back to my December to-do list and have at it again? Not really.

Well, okay. Some of those things are reappearing on the rest-of-February list. Others, like dishes and dusting, are perpetual.

But it's spring. (I'm in Tucson. It's spring. Hush.) So instead of "good God, get ready for the holidays!" I'm...

Have I Reached…The End?

Dun dun dun…

Well, actually, probably not. I'm sure I'll think of other things to fix. But in the meantime, I am delighted to have come to the end of my "MUST FIX THIS" notes. And also, this is making me inordinately happy.

 

Know Which Darlings to Kill

I follow @smoulderingsea on Twitter, and every once in a while he tosses out some sharp, smart #editortips. A recent one went something like "if it doesn't have anything to do with your story, it doesn't matter how you love it. Take it out." My response to this has traditionally been a whine of "it all has to do with my story! If it happens to my character, it's my story!"

This is not a constructive response, so generally I go on and try to follow this most excellent advice. That's where it...

Are We There Yet?

So, for better or for worse (for the quality of the book, it's better. For my sanity…yeah) my deadline is now sometime between now and when my editor gets up Sunday morning.

I'm glad of the extra time. I still have lots I want to tweak and wiggle to make the story come alive.

On the other hand…

img

Almost There!

This edit is almost done. The changes are amazing. I'm so thrilled I could do–not just a song and dance, but an entire musical, performed solely by me. Except I'm way too tired for that.

I love Knight Errant and His Faithful Squire, but I honestly think this book is stronger than both of those. I hope to always be saying that about my latest book–may I always seek to improve, and may I always succeed, even if just a little.

God, let me never write in a rut.

Queen's Man, coming April 1st. I...

Taking the Bus to Work, Joss-Style

Bad enough having to go to work. Having to work to get to work? That really sucks. But the subway didn't come, so Joss has to find an alternate means of transportation. This is from Queen's Man, coming soon from awesome online places!

Chivas, as far as Joss knew, were unique to Kari's Star. Anyone who got his hands on a bus could paint it up and turn it into a chiva, and make a living driving people and their things and sometimes their livestock where they needed to go.

"Where you going, hey?"...

Think Time Flies When You're Having Fun?

Try how fast it flies when you carve out writing time and then waste it doing other things. I'm so serious. Google something for research. Bam! Twenty minutes, gone in a heartbeat. Go searching for the right word and get distracted. Bam! You just burned through seventeen minutes and didn't even see it going.

Writing time is precious. Writers all know this. But when we manage to carve some out of our busy schedule, do we actually use it to write?

Not hardly. Not all of us, anyway.

KD, ceasing to...