Kate Copeseeley's Blog, page 7
March 17, 2013
Get Ready!
A close friend of the family emailed me this week to ask my advice about self-publishing (or as I like to call it, INDIE publishing, because let's just all admit that sounds way cooler). First I was like, really? You want advice from me?
I mean, I'm not like... Hugh Howey or something. I don't sell a bazillion books. I'm not quitting my day job or anything. (Well, I don't have a day job that I get PAID for, but if I did, I certainly wouldn't quit it.)
Then I thought, "What would I tell him?" Because I'm going to be honest here, this is like an up and down gig. A rollercoaster thing.
There are times when I'm like farting rainbows (which everyone knows unicorns do. If they tell you different, those unicorns are lying, LYING!) because man, I'm so freaking happy.
The first time I saw the proof copy of my book Six Keys, was such a surreal moment for me. The first time I posted my books online. When I got my first great review. When I got my first great review from a super famous awesome book blogger. When I got my first, "I love your books! They are so awesome and I can't wait to read more!" fan email. Well, let's be honest, EVERY time I get one of those emails I do a happy dance. The first time I got money from Amazon was pretty cool, too, I won't lie. So many fab moments.
But along with the good there is that moment where you're like, "Oh Lord."
The really depressing part is that I can name just as many of these. My first email from a reader was NOT fan mail. Ouch. First one star review. First time I realized my book had been judged by the first 10 pages (yeah, I do it myself ALL the freaking time, but I guess I didn't think about what that might feel like on the other side). First time my sales tanked for no apparent reason. First time I understood that it is really FREAKING hard, no matter how many fans you have, or how many people tell you they like your book... to make a REAL living at this. I can't write fast enough. This isn't a full time job for me.
So then I went down the really honest road and asked myself, "Would I have done anything differently?" Well, no. Probably not. I've never really had an interest with signing with a publisher. I might do a book only deal someday if I'm ever "worthy", but I like being on my own. I like the power and control. Even though I'm not super famous, I love my readers. LOVE them. They get my book, they get what I wanted to do, which is tell a story that I like and I'm proud of.
I think we writers aren't artists or true moneymakers. (We can do both of those, be artistic and make money, but it's not what we ARE.) We are storytellers. We want those stories to be heard by someone, even if it's just our families. My sister, who is an AWESOME storyteller, has opted thus far to keep her work to a limited few. That's okay.
So what did I end up telling him? Write a story that you feel passionate about and share it. Because that is all that matters.
ROW update: Still sick. It is a lingering illness which has bothered me enough this week that I have a doctor's appt. Tues. Hopefully, we'll be able to knock this thing out soon! Until then, I struggle to get even a few words written every day.
Happy Reading!
I mean, I'm not like... Hugh Howey or something. I don't sell a bazillion books. I'm not quitting my day job or anything. (Well, I don't have a day job that I get PAID for, but if I did, I certainly wouldn't quit it.)
Then I thought, "What would I tell him?" Because I'm going to be honest here, this is like an up and down gig. A rollercoaster thing.
There are times when I'm like farting rainbows (which everyone knows unicorns do. If they tell you different, those unicorns are lying, LYING!) because man, I'm so freaking happy.
The first time I saw the proof copy of my book Six Keys, was such a surreal moment for me. The first time I posted my books online. When I got my first great review. When I got my first great review from a super famous awesome book blogger. When I got my first, "I love your books! They are so awesome and I can't wait to read more!" fan email. Well, let's be honest, EVERY time I get one of those emails I do a happy dance. The first time I got money from Amazon was pretty cool, too, I won't lie. So many fab moments.
But along with the good there is that moment where you're like, "Oh Lord."
The really depressing part is that I can name just as many of these. My first email from a reader was NOT fan mail. Ouch. First one star review. First time I realized my book had been judged by the first 10 pages (yeah, I do it myself ALL the freaking time, but I guess I didn't think about what that might feel like on the other side). First time my sales tanked for no apparent reason. First time I understood that it is really FREAKING hard, no matter how many fans you have, or how many people tell you they like your book... to make a REAL living at this. I can't write fast enough. This isn't a full time job for me.
So then I went down the really honest road and asked myself, "Would I have done anything differently?" Well, no. Probably not. I've never really had an interest with signing with a publisher. I might do a book only deal someday if I'm ever "worthy", but I like being on my own. I like the power and control. Even though I'm not super famous, I love my readers. LOVE them. They get my book, they get what I wanted to do, which is tell a story that I like and I'm proud of.
I think we writers aren't artists or true moneymakers. (We can do both of those, be artistic and make money, but it's not what we ARE.) We are storytellers. We want those stories to be heard by someone, even if it's just our families. My sister, who is an AWESOME storyteller, has opted thus far to keep her work to a limited few. That's okay.
So what did I end up telling him? Write a story that you feel passionate about and share it. Because that is all that matters.
ROW update: Still sick. It is a lingering illness which has bothered me enough this week that I have a doctor's appt. Tues. Hopefully, we'll be able to knock this thing out soon! Until then, I struggle to get even a few words written every day.
Happy Reading!
March 10, 2013
Who knew John Mayer was a guru?
I've been going through some schtuffs this week. Not like family emergency stuff, but just, wow that really sucked and it wasn't what I was expecting stuff. It got me down, down, down.
To be honest, I couldn't let it go, either. I thought about it over and over and over until I was like a self-perpetuating machine of depression, unable to pull myself out, but also wholly cognizant of the fact that I was really just doing it to myself.
Sometimes, we kind of forget to let go of things.
Cut to my gym time. My husband bought me a membership at a gym. (No, he's not an asshat, it's what I asked for.) It's the only really baby free time I get during the day. 2 hours to work out and read my kindle. lalala I love it.
I also do yoga twice a week, because I have hamstrings like tightrope wires. Really, I'm probably the least flexible person you know. Even the eighty year old woman in the class who stands next to me is like, "Girl, you are a hot mess!" While she touches her toes to her ears.
So there I am, doing my shavasana (corpse pose) at the end of class, where you lie down on the ground and like meditate and let go of schtuffs. Except I wasn't letting go, I was dwelling. I was holding on TIGHT to my "Woe is me" feelings and being all sad and stuff.
Then the teacher does something she rarely does. She says to us, "I have a reading for today."
This is what she reads:
"Someday, everything will make perfect sense. So for now, laugh at the confusion, smile through the tears, be strong and keep reminding yourself that everything happens for a reason."
Which, when I looked it up online, is attributed to John Mayer? Who knew.
All I know is that it broke me down, hardcore. There I was in yoga class, suddenly crying my eyes out, unable to stop. It was a singular moment in my life.
Thankfully, I'm not one of those loud, sobbing, crying people and I was able to pull myself together before everyone in the class got to see my UGLY FACE.
Still, it brought me back to myself. It was my reminder to STFU and listen to what I'm supposed to listen to, instead of getting all caught up in my own ego.
So, that was my week.
For you ROWers, I got a couple thousand words written. Not as much as I usually do, because Little C. was sick the first half of the week, and I was sick (thanks to the little germ factories living at my house) the last half of the week. Still feeling like crap, but I'm trying to MAKE myself get better because MAN ALIVE, my house is a disaster and let's face it, no one knows where the washer and dryer are except me.
Happy Reading!
To be honest, I couldn't let it go, either. I thought about it over and over and over until I was like a self-perpetuating machine of depression, unable to pull myself out, but also wholly cognizant of the fact that I was really just doing it to myself.
Sometimes, we kind of forget to let go of things.
Cut to my gym time. My husband bought me a membership at a gym. (No, he's not an asshat, it's what I asked for.) It's the only really baby free time I get during the day. 2 hours to work out and read my kindle. lalala I love it.
I also do yoga twice a week, because I have hamstrings like tightrope wires. Really, I'm probably the least flexible person you know. Even the eighty year old woman in the class who stands next to me is like, "Girl, you are a hot mess!" While she touches her toes to her ears.
So there I am, doing my shavasana (corpse pose) at the end of class, where you lie down on the ground and like meditate and let go of schtuffs. Except I wasn't letting go, I was dwelling. I was holding on TIGHT to my "Woe is me" feelings and being all sad and stuff.
Then the teacher does something she rarely does. She says to us, "I have a reading for today."
This is what she reads:
"Someday, everything will make perfect sense. So for now, laugh at the confusion, smile through the tears, be strong and keep reminding yourself that everything happens for a reason."
Which, when I looked it up online, is attributed to John Mayer? Who knew.
All I know is that it broke me down, hardcore. There I was in yoga class, suddenly crying my eyes out, unable to stop. It was a singular moment in my life.
Thankfully, I'm not one of those loud, sobbing, crying people and I was able to pull myself together before everyone in the class got to see my UGLY FACE.
Still, it brought me back to myself. It was my reminder to STFU and listen to what I'm supposed to listen to, instead of getting all caught up in my own ego.
So, that was my week.
For you ROWers, I got a couple thousand words written. Not as much as I usually do, because Little C. was sick the first half of the week, and I was sick (thanks to the little germ factories living at my house) the last half of the week. Still feeling like crap, but I'm trying to MAKE myself get better because MAN ALIVE, my house is a disaster and let's face it, no one knows where the washer and dryer are except me.
Happy Reading!
March 4, 2013
Thinking Linking
Look at that. It hasn't even been 7 days and I'm putting another post out there!
I'm just as surprised as you are, Little C.! I didn't intend to get all wordy. And for those of you sitting at home, reading this blog in hopes of an update on The Five Tribes... I know what you're thinking. "OMG, she's doing blog entries now, instead of writing, isn't she??? She read some malarkey online about being a better marketer and now she's going to be writing blog entries, instead of writing books. DANG NAB IT!"
No, no, dear reader. I assure you, I'm just as bad at marketing as I ever was. I have no interest in being better at it. (You'll know that I've buckled when I join Twitter.) I promise to bury myself mostly in my word docs and forget about the world around me. And soon.
Honestly, I was killing time last night, waiting for my son to fall asleep and I was reading the extraordinary Passive Voice. Guys, there is so much interesting stuff abounding on the internet! I mean, there is just pages and pages today and I had to comment. Because I can't help myself. You must read about this stuff... so interesting.
The first is an article at The Washington Post Style Blog about a mid-list author that got unceremoniously dumped by her publisher. This, as she reflects herself, is one of those things that's happening more and more as publishers trim the fat. Personally, I would have encouraged her to go indie, given the cache of her name, but she did just fine for herself, in the end.
Then there is this post by Smart Bitches, Trashy Books about social media genius. As I stated above, I'm not the best marketer in the world. I'm just like this nerdy reader chick who also loves to write. *sigh* Maybe someday that will change, but I doubt it. lol
One of my favorite book blogs, Cuddlebuggery has this amazing post on not paying attention to stats if you're a blogger. But people, this applies to more than just book bloggers. As writers (I see it on kindleboards every day) we sometimes obsess about sales, too. There are people out there checking their sales or reviews 10 times a day! We get down on ourselves when we don't sell as much as people who have been indies for a shorter amount of time. We get down on ourselves when we've been selling great and our sales stop. We get down on ourselves when we're not meeting some invisible standard of success that someone else has told us is the goal. And we need to STOP! So, take five today and read this post, then just substitute author, sales, and reviews where needed.
And finally, in a bit of news that has turned the indie world upside down, Jamie McGuire has posted an entry about how Amazon customer service has sent out a mass email telling purchasers of Beautiful Disaster to ask for a refund. The problem is (1) amazon no longer sells that version of her book, so the refund dollars come right out of her other indie sales (2) she has no idea why they would do that. According to some sources, Amazon has now sent out another email, saying the whole thing was a mistake, but the controversy isn't dying down. This is big news, people, and scary to a lot of indies. There are seriously those of us who would be freaking bankrupt if Amazon sent out a letter like this. I'm not making the thousands a month that Jamie, is, I'll be frank. I would never hold it against ANYONE who wanted to return my book, but someone who bought it over a year ago??? Like I kept that money lying around. Anyway, if you want to read the Kindleboard post on it, here it is: http://www.kindleboards.com/index.php...
Happy Reading!
I'm just as surprised as you are, Little C.! I didn't intend to get all wordy. And for those of you sitting at home, reading this blog in hopes of an update on The Five Tribes... I know what you're thinking. "OMG, she's doing blog entries now, instead of writing, isn't she??? She read some malarkey online about being a better marketer and now she's going to be writing blog entries, instead of writing books. DANG NAB IT!"
No, no, dear reader. I assure you, I'm just as bad at marketing as I ever was. I have no interest in being better at it. (You'll know that I've buckled when I join Twitter.) I promise to bury myself mostly in my word docs and forget about the world around me. And soon.
Honestly, I was killing time last night, waiting for my son to fall asleep and I was reading the extraordinary Passive Voice. Guys, there is so much interesting stuff abounding on the internet! I mean, there is just pages and pages today and I had to comment. Because I can't help myself. You must read about this stuff... so interesting.
The first is an article at The Washington Post Style Blog about a mid-list author that got unceremoniously dumped by her publisher. This, as she reflects herself, is one of those things that's happening more and more as publishers trim the fat. Personally, I would have encouraged her to go indie, given the cache of her name, but she did just fine for herself, in the end.
Then there is this post by Smart Bitches, Trashy Books about social media genius. As I stated above, I'm not the best marketer in the world. I'm just like this nerdy reader chick who also loves to write. *sigh* Maybe someday that will change, but I doubt it. lol
One of my favorite book blogs, Cuddlebuggery has this amazing post on not paying attention to stats if you're a blogger. But people, this applies to more than just book bloggers. As writers (I see it on kindleboards every day) we sometimes obsess about sales, too. There are people out there checking their sales or reviews 10 times a day! We get down on ourselves when we don't sell as much as people who have been indies for a shorter amount of time. We get down on ourselves when we've been selling great and our sales stop. We get down on ourselves when we're not meeting some invisible standard of success that someone else has told us is the goal. And we need to STOP! So, take five today and read this post, then just substitute author, sales, and reviews where needed.
And finally, in a bit of news that has turned the indie world upside down, Jamie McGuire has posted an entry about how Amazon customer service has sent out a mass email telling purchasers of Beautiful Disaster to ask for a refund. The problem is (1) amazon no longer sells that version of her book, so the refund dollars come right out of her other indie sales (2) she has no idea why they would do that. According to some sources, Amazon has now sent out another email, saying the whole thing was a mistake, but the controversy isn't dying down. This is big news, people, and scary to a lot of indies. There are seriously those of us who would be freaking bankrupt if Amazon sent out a letter like this. I'm not making the thousands a month that Jamie, is, I'll be frank. I would never hold it against ANYONE who wanted to return my book, but someone who bought it over a year ago??? Like I kept that money lying around. Anyway, if you want to read the Kindleboard post on it, here it is: http://www.kindleboards.com/index.php...
Happy Reading!
March 3, 2013
Total Extreme Intense Ultimate Maximum
Some days you need a change. You need to take all that stuff in your life and give it a makeover. But it can't just be... let's make some changes here or there, lalalala. No, this time, you need to go FREAKING SUPERSONIC ON THAT STUFF!
That's what I feel like today. February in Cali is like a DREAM (Yes, I know it's March now, stay with me here). It's like the weather forgets it's supposed to be winter and starts warming up everything. The daffodils come up, so do the early irises, those little blue bells I don't know the name of, and the grass gets all green again. The orchard trees around where I live fill to bursting with pink and white blossoms. This is the time where my spring fever kicks into gear and I just start feeling like I'm going to BURST out of my skin if I don't get stuff picked up and organized!
It's not just cleaning, either. My writing starts to feel old hat, and I'm just DYING to imbue it with some new zing, or a plot twist or KILL OFF A CHARACTER. (Don't worry, I didn't this time. But let's just say that last year there was some sadness.)
It's the time of year that I have to fight the plot bunnies the hardest. I fritter them away and beg them to stay in their little notebook and stop plaguing me with imaginative visions of plotlines.
So this year, I'm trying my best to harness that spring fever energy while I have it. I'm gonna try to bump up my chapter count and push forward on all my projects.
I got more writing on Nikka done last week, but not as much as I wanted. My children sabotaged that a bit with their horrid naptimes. Hopefully, Terris' wordcount will be on the rise this week, as well.
In the meantime, thanks to my WOTY, FEARLESS, I did something else I hadn't contemplated before. I posted The Five Tribes series and one of my side projects on ACX to get them potentially made into audiobooks. I'm not as proactive about it as some of my fellow authors. I just put up some quick profiles and thought, "Eh, let's see what happens." Well, what happened is I got an audition.
So that's cool! If you are a fan of the series and interested in giving feedback on auditions, shoot me an email at: katecauthor(at)gmail(dot)com. I want to make sure I pick someone who seems to match the voices of my characters.
That's all for this week! Happy Reading!
February 24, 2013
Title Troubles...
Hello readers and fellow ROWers,
I hope this week has been a productive one for you. It has for me! I wrote about... 5,000 words? Yay! This whole Little C. sleeping through the night stuff is really working for me, won't lie. I also did a heap of edits this week and will continue to do some storyline tweaking for Terris. I just had an EPIPHANY this week for Nikka's storyline. There was something that has been nagging me about the end of her storyline, something that has bothered me for a while, and I just figured out the answer. So great to feel like I got rid of an issue before it came up and I'd written 15,000 words *cough* Zyander *cough* for it.
But all that good news can't come without a price. Guys, I am having some titling troubles. This has happened before, sadly enough. The Angel & Her Gun is still not a title I'm happy with, but I couldn't think of anything better. Even now, when I hear it I think... spy book. Am I right? Thankfully the angel in question does at least carry a gun (colt .44), but man alive, it was hard enough coming up with that one.
I have two book titles nagging at me. I have the final book of the Five Tribes series to come up with, and the title of the side project. The first one doesn't have to be chosen for quite a while. (Another 3 years, though hopefully sooner) I don't want to tell you why I'm having trouble with that title, because I don't want to be spoilery, but I can tell you that it won't be Sanguis. I mean, you would think it would be, but nope. Just like Compis, it's not going to be named after a tribe.
The second is like a novella type thingy and I picked a title, which has "bored" in it. The Bored <word>. My sister immediately put the kabosh on the word bored, though. Her contention is that putting the word bored in the title will make people think the STORY is boring. Which made me go...huh? I mean, if I said BORING in the title I could see her point, but boring is different than bored, right?
Seeking opinions, readers. Because if this title doesn't work, I'm stumped! I told her I will release it as The Untitled Work.
I wasn't this uncertain before. It was never hard for me to come up with a title. In fact, most of the time I had the title picked before most of the book was written. But lately, I've lost my titling confidence. I've lost my mojo.
I need to get it back, somehow. In the meantime, I'll be here, trying to think of titles.
Happy Reading!
I hope this week has been a productive one for you. It has for me! I wrote about... 5,000 words? Yay! This whole Little C. sleeping through the night stuff is really working for me, won't lie. I also did a heap of edits this week and will continue to do some storyline tweaking for Terris. I just had an EPIPHANY this week for Nikka's storyline. There was something that has been nagging me about the end of her storyline, something that has bothered me for a while, and I just figured out the answer. So great to feel like I got rid of an issue before it came up and I'd written 15,000 words *cough* Zyander *cough* for it.
But all that good news can't come without a price. Guys, I am having some titling troubles. This has happened before, sadly enough. The Angel & Her Gun is still not a title I'm happy with, but I couldn't think of anything better. Even now, when I hear it I think... spy book. Am I right? Thankfully the angel in question does at least carry a gun (colt .44), but man alive, it was hard enough coming up with that one.
I have two book titles nagging at me. I have the final book of the Five Tribes series to come up with, and the title of the side project. The first one doesn't have to be chosen for quite a while. (Another 3 years, though hopefully sooner) I don't want to tell you why I'm having trouble with that title, because I don't want to be spoilery, but I can tell you that it won't be Sanguis. I mean, you would think it would be, but nope. Just like Compis, it's not going to be named after a tribe.
The second is like a novella type thingy and I picked a title, which has "bored" in it. The Bored <word>. My sister immediately put the kabosh on the word bored, though. Her contention is that putting the word bored in the title will make people think the STORY is boring. Which made me go...huh? I mean, if I said BORING in the title I could see her point, but boring is different than bored, right?
Seeking opinions, readers. Because if this title doesn't work, I'm stumped! I told her I will release it as The Untitled Work.
I wasn't this uncertain before. It was never hard for me to come up with a title. In fact, most of the time I had the title picked before most of the book was written. But lately, I've lost my titling confidence. I've lost my mojo.
I need to get it back, somehow. In the meantime, I'll be here, trying to think of titles.
Happy Reading!
February 17, 2013
What in the heck is a RomPod?
In the quest to stay true to my WOTY: FEARLESS, I've been trying new things. New story ideas (just in the planning phase, not actually writing yet. I have enough on my plate for now.), new plot twists for Terris (Oh, guys, there are good things to come and I am so excited about it!), and now another bit of news on the story front.
I have a couple of short stories that I wrote over a year ago in another of my universes. It's a romance, western, fantasy kind of world. I've mentioned it before, I'm sure. The first piece is a story called The Angel & Her Gun and it is pretty much perma-free everywhere. The companion piece The Demon & His Lover is unfortunately NOT free on Amazon (because they don't let you set things free if you want to), but it's free just about everywhere else: goodreads, iTunes, and Smashwords.
Samora is a gunslinger in the Wild West, but she doesn't just carry a gun. She also carries the cross ring that designates her as an angelic agent, sent from God himself to battle over mortal souls on earth with the demons who seek to win their ages long battle.
She has two problems: her propensity for getting screwed over by conniving mortals and her love for Gideon -a fallen angel on the wrong side of the law.
Anyway, that is all to lead up to here: I got contacted by Amanda McCall of RomPod (Romance Podcasts) who was interested in making a podcast featuring my little story. I was a bit back and forth about it at first. I've always pictured Samora with a particular type of voice, you see. So I chatted a bit with her about what she was thinking and ultimately decided to go for it. Really, what decided me was how much she loved the story. That was what convinced me that she would treat it with the respect it deserves.
When she told me the story was going to be available, I went back to the website and downloaded all the previous podcasts. Thus far, I've listened to Impulse Control by Susan Bischoff and Desperate Measures by Candice Hern.
I just want to say, guys, this is GENIUS! Seriously, why hasn't someone thought of this before? I love romances, I love listening to stories on my iphone while I make dinner and work around the house. I've subscribed to the podcasts and seriously, if you like this sort of thing, try it out! I mean, it's free, so why not?
Here is the link for The Angel and her Gun. It won't be available until Tuesday Aussie time, which is like Monday night for those in the US.
Enjoy and Happy Listening!
PS- For my ROW80 friends... I got about 2,500 words written on Nikka's storyline and another 1,500 written on the sexy side project before Little C. came down with a cold and double ear infection. Needless to say, the rest of my week hasn't gone so well. But that's okay. We got some meds for him yesterday and he's already sleeping better at night and will actually leave my lap during the day. This is seriously good news for my dirty house.
I have a couple of short stories that I wrote over a year ago in another of my universes. It's a romance, western, fantasy kind of world. I've mentioned it before, I'm sure. The first piece is a story called The Angel & Her Gun and it is pretty much perma-free everywhere. The companion piece The Demon & His Lover is unfortunately NOT free on Amazon (because they don't let you set things free if you want to), but it's free just about everywhere else: goodreads, iTunes, and Smashwords.
Samora is a gunslinger in the Wild West, but she doesn't just carry a gun. She also carries the cross ring that designates her as an angelic agent, sent from God himself to battle over mortal souls on earth with the demons who seek to win their ages long battle.
She has two problems: her propensity for getting screwed over by conniving mortals and her love for Gideon -a fallen angel on the wrong side of the law.
Anyway, that is all to lead up to here: I got contacted by Amanda McCall of RomPod (Romance Podcasts) who was interested in making a podcast featuring my little story. I was a bit back and forth about it at first. I've always pictured Samora with a particular type of voice, you see. So I chatted a bit with her about what she was thinking and ultimately decided to go for it. Really, what decided me was how much she loved the story. That was what convinced me that she would treat it with the respect it deserves.
When she told me the story was going to be available, I went back to the website and downloaded all the previous podcasts. Thus far, I've listened to Impulse Control by Susan Bischoff and Desperate Measures by Candice Hern.
I just want to say, guys, this is GENIUS! Seriously, why hasn't someone thought of this before? I love romances, I love listening to stories on my iphone while I make dinner and work around the house. I've subscribed to the podcasts and seriously, if you like this sort of thing, try it out! I mean, it's free, so why not?
Here is the link for The Angel and her Gun. It won't be available until Tuesday Aussie time, which is like Monday night for those in the US.
Enjoy and Happy Listening!
PS- For my ROW80 friends... I got about 2,500 words written on Nikka's storyline and another 1,500 written on the sexy side project before Little C. came down with a cold and double ear infection. Needless to say, the rest of my week hasn't gone so well. But that's okay. We got some meds for him yesterday and he's already sleeping better at night and will actually leave my lap during the day. This is seriously good news for my dirty house.
February 10, 2013
Accentuate the Positive...
Okay, so normally my week is like this:
Seriously, between regular kid stuff (children that need feeding, clothing, bathing and putting to bed at various times), and house stuff and running around all over the place... sometimes I'm just totally overwhelmed by LIFE. I know I'm not the only one.
It's hard not to let the exterior CRAP get you down. Everywhere I look, I see blog entries and news reports on how INDIES ARE SO OVER and DON'T BOTHER WRITING ANOTHER WORD BECAUSE NO ONE WILL EVER READ IT OR DISCOVER IT or YOU ARE A TALENTLESS LOSER (Okay, so maybe I told myself that one.) Seriously, the doom and gloom of the new year are truly horrendous. Right and left, everyone is predicting that the sky is falling.
Is it falling? Maybe. Should we worry? Well, I don't see how that's going to help. Is it worth being depressed over... well, that's tempting, I'm sure, but it isn't going to pay the bills. (Or get another book out there, now is it?)
Personally, I've battened down the hatches. I don't read the negativity and I avoid anything that's going to be a distraction from my writing. And thanks to Little C's MUCH BETTER sleeping habits, I have way more energy and time to write.
On that front, I wrote 4 chapters for Terris this week: two chapters for Nikka and two for Zyander. I also went back and did some necessary story edits for the side project, because the flow was off. It's fixed nicely now and hopefully back on track. So in all, I think this week was very successful and that is something I want to focus on. :)
Good luck to the rest of the writers out there and happy reading!
Seriously, between regular kid stuff (children that need feeding, clothing, bathing and putting to bed at various times), and house stuff and running around all over the place... sometimes I'm just totally overwhelmed by LIFE. I know I'm not the only one.
It's hard not to let the exterior CRAP get you down. Everywhere I look, I see blog entries and news reports on how INDIES ARE SO OVER and DON'T BOTHER WRITING ANOTHER WORD BECAUSE NO ONE WILL EVER READ IT OR DISCOVER IT or YOU ARE A TALENTLESS LOSER (Okay, so maybe I told myself that one.) Seriously, the doom and gloom of the new year are truly horrendous. Right and left, everyone is predicting that the sky is falling.
Is it falling? Maybe. Should we worry? Well, I don't see how that's going to help. Is it worth being depressed over... well, that's tempting, I'm sure, but it isn't going to pay the bills. (Or get another book out there, now is it?)
Personally, I've battened down the hatches. I don't read the negativity and I avoid anything that's going to be a distraction from my writing. And thanks to Little C's MUCH BETTER sleeping habits, I have way more energy and time to write.
On that front, I wrote 4 chapters for Terris this week: two chapters for Nikka and two for Zyander. I also went back and did some necessary story edits for the side project, because the flow was off. It's fixed nicely now and hopefully back on track. So in all, I think this week was very successful and that is something I want to focus on. :)
Good luck to the rest of the writers out there and happy reading!
January 27, 2013
Better Days Ahead...
So, idiot that I am, I've decided to combine this week's big push (writing wise) with my determination to get Little C. to have more bedtime independence. See, the problem is he goes down to bed just fine. Nary a problem. Unfortunately, trying to convince him to stay there has been a hardship.
While my husband is gone this week, number one son will move into our bedroom and Little C. will get a crash course on sleeping in his own bed. Even if it means I get to be up all night convincing him that his bed is the best place to spend the night. How this will affect my writing I have no idea. It will be a fly by the seat of my pants week, and the end result won't even be published here right away because I'll be gone camping next weekend. Ah well.
This week wasn't as bad as I feared. I hardcore slashed Zyander. As in, only 3 chapters of his story remained, mostly setup from the ending of the last book. I started in on his new outline and got about halfway done with that. I even wrote two chapters of his storyline and I'm much happier with where it's going now.
I also added about 4500 words to my other project, which made me feel like quite the success. I mean, compared with what I've done in the past month, this week was a freaking miracle.
Once again, I'm so thankful for the readers. You know who you are, out there, sending me encouraging emails. You guys rock!
I found a new booknerd site: http://tattoolit.com/
Seriously, guys, I might have to do this... or not. I'm not a huge needle fan. I wish I could do this. I'm such a coward.
And I found some new writing music: http://officialbirdy.com/
This video in particular is so creepy and cool!
That's all from me this week!
Happy Reading!
While my husband is gone this week, number one son will move into our bedroom and Little C. will get a crash course on sleeping in his own bed. Even if it means I get to be up all night convincing him that his bed is the best place to spend the night. How this will affect my writing I have no idea. It will be a fly by the seat of my pants week, and the end result won't even be published here right away because I'll be gone camping next weekend. Ah well.
This week wasn't as bad as I feared. I hardcore slashed Zyander. As in, only 3 chapters of his story remained, mostly setup from the ending of the last book. I started in on his new outline and got about halfway done with that. I even wrote two chapters of his storyline and I'm much happier with where it's going now.
I also added about 4500 words to my other project, which made me feel like quite the success. I mean, compared with what I've done in the past month, this week was a freaking miracle.
Once again, I'm so thankful for the readers. You know who you are, out there, sending me encouraging emails. You guys rock!
I found a new booknerd site: http://tattoolit.com/
Seriously, guys, I might have to do this... or not. I'm not a huge needle fan. I wish I could do this. I'm such a coward.
And I found some new writing music: http://officialbirdy.com/
This video in particular is so creepy and cool!
That's all from me this week!
Happy Reading!
January 20, 2013
The Condensed Version
Hey all the readers of blogs on the internet...
How was your week? Oh, fab. How was mine you ask? Well, let me give you the Reader's Digest Condensed version:
Or FML, as I like to say. Don't worry, the F stands for Frack.
For those who can stand the TL;DR version:
I was gifted a house full of sick people this week. Imagine every liquid that could leave a person's body out of every orifice imaginable, combined with fevers, no sleep, whining, crying, MUD(all over my freaking house) and every damn thing piling up to be done that can't be done because I have a 16 mth old sitting in my lap crying all day and a husband that actually has to work so we have stuff and you might understand how much my week sucked.
Oh, the horrors. Seriously, how did my mom do this? At one point in my life she had 7 children suffering from the chicken pox, ranging in ages from 1 to 17. How did you survive it, mother??? I only have two kids and my life is one constant helping of FAIL. Ah well.
So to answer the other unasked question... no I did not get any writing done this week. And since Little C. still has an ear infection and the inability to sleep longer than short bursts of time, I seriously doubt that I'm going to get any writing done next week either. But the hubby has a work conference in a week and I usually use that time to make a big push, so barring another plague, hopefully I will get some chunks of writing done in the evenings.
Happy Reading!
How was your week? Oh, fab. How was mine you ask? Well, let me give you the Reader's Digest Condensed version:
Or FML, as I like to say. Don't worry, the F stands for Frack.
For those who can stand the TL;DR version:
I was gifted a house full of sick people this week. Imagine every liquid that could leave a person's body out of every orifice imaginable, combined with fevers, no sleep, whining, crying, MUD(all over my freaking house) and every damn thing piling up to be done that can't be done because I have a 16 mth old sitting in my lap crying all day and a husband that actually has to work so we have stuff and you might understand how much my week sucked.
Oh, the horrors. Seriously, how did my mom do this? At one point in my life she had 7 children suffering from the chicken pox, ranging in ages from 1 to 17. How did you survive it, mother??? I only have two kids and my life is one constant helping of FAIL. Ah well.
So to answer the other unasked question... no I did not get any writing done this week. And since Little C. still has an ear infection and the inability to sleep longer than short bursts of time, I seriously doubt that I'm going to get any writing done next week either. But the hubby has a work conference in a week and I usually use that time to make a big push, so barring another plague, hopefully I will get some chunks of writing done in the evenings.
Happy Reading!
January 13, 2013
Hoity Toity
I've read a lot of literary fiction. Started out in high school with the required classics: Gone With the Wind, Grapes of Wrath, anything by the Bronte sisters. This morphed into college, where I delved into Annie Dillard, Toni Morrison, Hemingway, Zora Neale Hurston and many others. Some of these were English assignments, but many were a springboard into a literary world in which I had never established a foothold before.
My mom was a crazy reader, ever since I can remember, but she never read for anything but pleasure, so following her example, I assumed that literary fiction was something you read only because you were forced to. Thankfully, I discovered that my assumption was dead wrong.
I've read a lot of literary fiction that I absolutely LOVE. I've also read a lot that I can't stand. But this is all to assure you that I'm not a hater when I say this: I'm so DONE with people who consider it to be more worthy than "genre" stuff.
I recently read some person's self important opinion on the subject and felt downright irritated. The point of the article—can't remember who wrote it—is that if we're going to save literary fiction, we need that icky genre stuff to pay the bills and appeal to the masses. I.E....genre fiction, indie fiction and its associated ilk are a necessary evil in the world of literature because they keep that GOOD stuff out there for people who recognize its value. This from a person who admitted outright that she only reads non-fiction. Uh...WHAT???
Guys, let me just assure you... there is no better or worse in the world of writing. No, really. I'm not talking ratings or reviews. I'm not talking personal opinion here, because there are definitely some stories that do it for me and some that don't. I'm talking about space on a shelf, paper in an MS, word file on my computer... at face value, no story is more worthy of saving than another.
Let me again point out that I'm not talking about ratings and reviews here. If we look at a museum full of art, there will be people who say this one or that one is better. People will say, I like this one and it speaks to me. But I should HOPE, that no one would argue that one artist's vision is more worthy of creation than another. Even a five year old child with no experience in the art world can create something that he or she deems as beautiful which we might all shake our heads at because it is SEVERELY LACKING and yet it will still be just as worthy as the next.
I'm not going to make the "books as art" argument here, but I'm going to say that I don't believe one person's story (good or bad or amateur... literary, sci-fi, YA, non-fiction or fiction) is more worthy than another's. So writers of the world, if you write literary fiction and you can't get anyone to publish it because it's not worth risking cash over in this new world of digital bookery, don't spend your years crying because it's too hard. Self publish! Give the world a chance to see your work. But come on, people. Let's not act like just because your characters don't use magic or roam through space that they can't tell as rich and complex or as meaningful a story as you.
Happy Reading!
PS- To all my ROW80... Keep up the good work!
My mom was a crazy reader, ever since I can remember, but she never read for anything but pleasure, so following her example, I assumed that literary fiction was something you read only because you were forced to. Thankfully, I discovered that my assumption was dead wrong.
I've read a lot of literary fiction that I absolutely LOVE. I've also read a lot that I can't stand. But this is all to assure you that I'm not a hater when I say this: I'm so DONE with people who consider it to be more worthy than "genre" stuff.
I recently read some person's self important opinion on the subject and felt downright irritated. The point of the article—can't remember who wrote it—is that if we're going to save literary fiction, we need that icky genre stuff to pay the bills and appeal to the masses. I.E....genre fiction, indie fiction and its associated ilk are a necessary evil in the world of literature because they keep that GOOD stuff out there for people who recognize its value. This from a person who admitted outright that she only reads non-fiction. Uh...WHAT???
Guys, let me just assure you... there is no better or worse in the world of writing. No, really. I'm not talking ratings or reviews. I'm not talking personal opinion here, because there are definitely some stories that do it for me and some that don't. I'm talking about space on a shelf, paper in an MS, word file on my computer... at face value, no story is more worthy of saving than another.
Let me again point out that I'm not talking about ratings and reviews here. If we look at a museum full of art, there will be people who say this one or that one is better. People will say, I like this one and it speaks to me. But I should HOPE, that no one would argue that one artist's vision is more worthy of creation than another. Even a five year old child with no experience in the art world can create something that he or she deems as beautiful which we might all shake our heads at because it is SEVERELY LACKING and yet it will still be just as worthy as the next.
I'm not going to make the "books as art" argument here, but I'm going to say that I don't believe one person's story (good or bad or amateur... literary, sci-fi, YA, non-fiction or fiction) is more worthy than another's. So writers of the world, if you write literary fiction and you can't get anyone to publish it because it's not worth risking cash over in this new world of digital bookery, don't spend your years crying because it's too hard. Self publish! Give the world a chance to see your work. But come on, people. Let's not act like just because your characters don't use magic or roam through space that they can't tell as rich and complex or as meaningful a story as you.
Happy Reading!
PS- To all my ROW80... Keep up the good work!
