Alex Laybourne's Blog, page 97

The Days That Try Us

Full-time office worker, full-time parent, full-time writer and now to top it off add full-time salesperson and full-time networker to the list. Add that up and you get 40 hours worth of work every day that needs to be done before you can even think about kicking off those shoes, and sitting back with a nice warming scotch and a good book.

It is easy to see how things can quickly lose their perspective and a writer can find themselves lost in Indie Oblivion. So is the nature of life that it is not always possible to sort things out into neat and tidy slots. Social media is for all intents and purposes a living organism. While it never truly sleeps, there are periods of lull and periods of extreme activity, and in order to achieve the best results, these peaks and troughs must be followed. Depending on where you are in the world this can be early morning, late at night, or smack in the middle of the working day.

Learning to juggle these pressures is key, as I have discovered this week. Being able to prioritize and be practical. Some days will not go according to the plan, or even the back up plan that you have in place. Accept it. While you're at it tell yourself that it will happen more than once, and often not in single days but periods of time. This will make it easier on you. Believe me.

Do not be disheartened as for every bad day, you will find there are good ones, and even great ones. Days where you will push yourself and not only make up for lost time, but actually surpass where your projections had you.

One could even argue that the days we do not write, when we are kept away from doing what we love – writing, editing, promoting and touring – are the days that make us better writers, better people. They refocus our mind and show us how much we not only enjoy what we do, but how much we need to do it.

Friday has arrived my comrades in arms ink. We have worked, experienced, learned, adapted and overcome. I doff my cap and salute you all. Welcome to the weekend. The time is ours and nothing shall keep us from doing what we were born to do a moment longer.

This is for all of us who have had a bad week, but are still standing, smiling and flipping the bird to working week as we watching it disappear behind us.

ROW80: Mid-Week Check-In 09-November

Well it is getting late and I have had a crazy busy day. So I am afraid my check-in must be brief.

Sunday: 720

Monday: 759

Tuesday: 0 - I had a very bad day and almost gave up on everything all together. A night off and good sleep got me back on track

Wednesday: (until now) 1846

Barring my miserable performance yesterday I am very happy with the way things are going. I am ahead of schedule, but have come to believe my novel will be longer than first anticipated, but I am still on track to be finished this round.

I am also going back to the drawing board on the sales tactics I employ. I am reading articles, blogs, books and everything I can get my hand on to help me learn about sales and master my own platform. I am sure I will be talking about this in more depth as I learn.

I hope you are all having a great week, and I send my best wishes and supportive thoughts to my ROW80 comrades and my NaNoWriMo friends.

Thanks for dropping by.

ROW80 : End Of Week Check-In

As I mentioned in my Mid-Week post, it was my first week back at work this week, and so I anticipated my figures would drop slightly. Especially as my kids have been up by 5 am every day (with today being an exception).

Still, I am content with the numbers I have posted. Would I have liked more? Yes. Do I want to write words for the sake of a good daily total? No. I want to write words that fit with the novel, that advance the plot and character arc.

Sunday: 463

Monday: 280

Tuesday: 1030

Wednesday: 825

Thursday: 813

Friday: 2020

Saturday: 558

It gives me a week total of : 6089. You can see why I am content with the achievements.

To be honest, in the middle of the week I was struggling with the plot, I had reached a place where I just couldn't think of how to bring my characters further forward, without just saying. They walked up to the castle and knocked on the door. Now I am not writing the script to Season of the Witch two, so such lines of text have no place. (Those who have seen the film will I am sure know which line in the movie I am talking about.)

On the sales from, I am very much in - as the one and only Andrew Mocete puts in – The Rut when it comes to sales. It is annoying me a bit. I mean I don't write my books with the sole purpose of selling millions, but because I love to write. (See this great rant post from LM Stull about 'Real Writers')

I am sure I will figure it out. A case of the old Try-Try-Try-Again is appropriate and that is exactly what I plan to do.

On the reading front I Finished Tarranau by James Tallett – a review of the book and an interview with the author himself can be found further back on my blog.)

I am now reading Bits of You Pieces of Me by Kimberly Kinrade. It is not my normal reading comfort zone, but I am always interested in pushing the boundaries and learning to appreciate new things.

Best of luck to all of you NaNo-ers out there and to all my ROW80 accomplices also.

Book Review: Tarranau by James Tallett

I was gifted this book by a very good friend of my. The super talent author L.M Stull

Epic Fantasy is not normally a genre I read, but ever since I have started becoming serious about my writing, I have promised myself to expand my knowledge base in as many areas as I can, and the first thing I wanted to do was to expand my reading interests.

Tarranau was the perfect book to get me started, because to summarize for all of those who do not have the time to read this but would still like to hear a few words… It was AWESOME

I loved this book from the very first word, and the last came with a feeling of longing, because I cannot wait for the second installment to come out so that I can continue this wonderfully crafted journey.

Tarranau is more than just a fantasy tale.  It is about a young man coming of age, a study of friendship.

Tarranau is just an ordinary Watermage (he has the power to harness water and bend it to his will). He gets caught up in some bad school politics and suffers expulsion at the hands of a vindictive teacher. Leaving his home behind him, Tarranau sets sail on an adventure that holds the reader's attention captive from the first sentence to the very last. The action comes thick and fast, yet it is not overloaded. There is drama and fully developed relationships and a level of description that makes it impossible not to have a clear image of every step of the journey.

From fishing villages to desert crossing merchant caravans and great cities, Tarranau takes the reader across a continent.

In large parts, Tarranau is simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, and that is what makes the story so entertaining. The young mage asks for none of what happens to him, and nor does he truly deserve it.

As his journey continues, Tarranau travels further from his homeland and along the way meets various people under varying circumstances. Each person has some influence on Tarranau and the path his life eventually takes. This includes are rather fortuitous meeting with the man who will by the end of the novel be not only Tarranau's closest friend but his brother in all but blood.

This is merely the first in a series of novels following Tarranau and the other inhabitants of the four part land, and to say the book leaves you wanting more is an understatement. The set-up for book two in the series is perfectly done. We know exactly what must be done, and are left hanging in suspense to find out if and how they accomplish the task(s) they have been set.

With love and loss, death and (near) marriage, comedy and tragedy, horror and adventure, Tarranau offers something for every reader and in this humble readers opinion (and I am not a critic nor do I pretend to be one) bridges the gap between age, sex and genre with a detailed skill that can only be delivered by a master craftsman.

Reading Tarranau you would never know that this was the debut novel from a first time Indie author.

Remember the name James Tallett, for I am sure if will not be long before it is one perched at the top of the best sellers lists the world over.

Tarranau: Book One of The Four Part Land (Volume 1)

The brain is a muscle so should we train it like one?

A long time ago, in a period of time before children came along, I used to be a member of a gym. Not just a member, but a regular attendee. I would be there for the opening of the doors at 06.00 every morning and also after work every day during the week. In short I was spending between 3 and 4 hours a day in the gym.

Now, I lacked apparently the genetics to be one of those abnormally large guys out there, but I was in good shape. I enjoyed it, and I enjoyed the science behind it. I had countless books on nutrition and weight training techniques, workout plans and inspirational stories. I kept diaries of my workouts, my meals and even took my pulse every morning and evening. (Can you say addicted…maybe)

As I said at the start, children came along and the gym time was first cut down and then costs became a luxury item and was eventually cancelled. Hopefully next month or in the New Year I will be able to start again.

The other day I was sitting there, reading an article online about weight training and I suddenly remembered, just because I don't work out, I have a lot of knowledge about muscle-building and training. Then I thought to myself the brain is like a muscle. It needs to be trained and taxed in order to not only grow and improve but also to remain at a constant level.

This then led me to thinking, could I combine my knowledge of training, with my love of writing. I mean, following the same training schedule for too long means the body adapts to it, grows comfortable, and the rate of gain and the effectiveness of the calorie burning is lost. Could the same be said for writing.

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I have heard a lot of people saying – and I am one of them – that having a good schedule is key, and that is true, but does it mean you have to always do the same thing.

Could there be a benefit to chopping and changing your writing habits in order to stop ourselves from growing stale.

 

Could writers block be solved by changing the writing workout we follow?

Maybe instead of sitting down with a goal of writing 750 words on a given day, could we benefit from saying, I'm gonna change it up today. Im going to go for the high repetition, toning sort of workout writing schedule and edit as I go. Really evaluate every word as I set it down. Ensuring that I get the maximum wordage 'burn'. You know that kind of workout where you wake up in the morning sore, yet content in the knowledge that you had a good workout.

Or maybe some days could be boosted by a heavy weight, muscle-building wordage schedule. The sort of schedule when your sole aim is adding as much bulk as you can, with the plan to work on cutting up in true contest fashion so that you look your very best come competition day.

 

 

 

Maybe it is a good idea to throw in the odd cardio only day, you know go back and edit the previous days work, allow your mind to rest and recover, ready for the next workout.

Of course who can forget the added bonus of the mandatory rest day. A day to sit back and eat read whatever you want, without having to feel guilty about not working out writing.

I don't know. I mean maybe I am just tired, and my mind is confusing my two favourite past times. Writing and training.

Tell me, am I crazy, or is it just crazy enough to work?

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ROW80: Mid Week Mayhem

Well I was back at work this week, and after a nice long two-week break I was certainly not in the mood to get back down to office life. Sadly however needs must.

I do not have a lot of time tonight, so I will keep it short and sweet.

Sunday: 462

Monday: 280

Tuesday: 1030

Wednesday: 680 and counting

as you can see my word count has been a bit hit and miss this week. Sunday I never get too much done, it is my take it easy day. Monday my son had his first observation session at the specialist pre-school he goes to. It's on Monday and Tuesday mornings. So I had to take him there, and we could stay and sit in to see how he got on. It was only an hour and a half the first day. Tuesday was his first full day.

Then it was the drive back home, in total we were gone about 2.5 hours. We then had a trip to the shops, 8 hours of work, another son to take and collect from school and then take and collect again after lunch, the speech therapist and then it was time for writing. I think my 280 words was actually a good achievement. I have of course now adapted my writing schedule to better fit a Monday.

On the whole I have passed the 70,000 word mark and am hitting a steady pace and am confident that things will keep going up until the end of the novel.

 

I am still pondering the best approach for me to take with regards the promotion and sales of Highway to Hell. At the moment I am kind of floundering in the water. My Halloween tour was fun, but ultimately unsuccessful. I generated no sales, not increased blog hits of followers. But I did get a good number of comments so it was a good experience.

However, with this new learning curve behind me I am again having to adapt my approach to find something that works for me, and I WILL find it.

Well, that about sums up the start of my week. I am hoping for a nice easy ride into the weekend with plenty of writing and plotting being done.

I would like to wish all my NaNoWriMo friends and fellow authors all the best of luck. I will be coming around and commenting on as many blogs as I can. It is one of my new goals that I have set myself. To read and comment on at least 2 blogs a day.

Happy writing!

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Charitable Transactions: A Step Too Far?

I am all for charity. I spent my 18th birthday completing a 50 mile walk for charity, and am always happy to donate any loose change in my pockets to the collectors I see in the street or those that come to the door.

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However, that other day just as we were leaving the local supermarket, one of these collectors approached us. I cannot remember what the charity was, and to be honest is isn't really important, Charity is Charity after all.

Bearing in mind, this lady was clever and had come into the supermarket to do her collecting. This bordered on my limits, as I am more than happy to give, but don't like to be pestered and harassed into doing so.

As it happened, I had no change on me, and I checked every pocket to make sure. Otherwise I feel guilty. My wife did the same but also had no change. We had just bought the groceries with our debit card. The non-cash checkouts in this supermarket an overlooked flaw in this ladies collecting tactic.

I apologized to the woman and continued walking, however, rather than move on to the people behind us, she jumped ahead of our stroller and shook the tin again saying. "It's ok, I can take card transactions from as little as 50 cents." As it happened we didn't have 50 cents left in the bank to donate, but I would not have done so out of a matter of principle.

To stand in a supermarket or outside of popular high street shops and ask people for their spare change is one thing, afterall collecting is a tactical operation. Yet the public always had that one get out of jail free card to play. It showed that you cared, but covered you in case you didn't want to give at that point in time. Often there are several collectors in one place and maybe you had already given further up the street.

To take away that line from the public, is in my view to take away the very act of charity. It stops the ordinary man from make a donation out of the kindness of their heart, to being forced to cough up their hard-earned cash to at the very least protect them from public humiliation. To walk away with a polite, sorry I've got no change is one thing, but who could pull off a 'Sorry, I've got not change or cards on me' especially when trying to push a cart full of groceries to the car you just filled up at the gas station outside.

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ROW80 : Check-In

Well it's been a quiet week for me on the writing and blogging front. It was the last week of my vacation and I was 7500 words ahead of my target pace.  Still I made a point to write every day and am still a few words ahead of myself for the week.

To get the numbers out-of-the-way:

Sunday: 786

Monday: 782

Tuesday: 1123

Wednesday: 1062

Thursday: 900

Friday: 468

Saturday: 637

Week Total: 5738

All told and added together I am happy with my results for the week. I am still ahead of my expectations. I am notoriously difficult to please, especially when it comes to writing. If I end the day on 2000 words, I will still lie in bed and scold myself for not writing 2100. It is just who I am, and as long as I can keep it under control, then that determination will only serve to work in my favor.

All things are looking rosy for my current WIP, but then again the writing stage has never been a problem. My issue, I am finding out is marketing. Promoting myself, as I have spoken about before.

I have been watching things and following others as they talk about their sales etc. Compared to other writers I talk to and follow, my sales are non-existent. I have sold 1 this month and two the month before (September). Now I know the problem lies with my sales. I mean the handful of review I have received have been filled with praise. These are reviews from people I do not know on a personal level, and so there are no 'family' obligations to paint things in cheerful colors.

So I have decided that I need to adjust my approach with writing. I am going to go back and re-read the book my M R Matthias – The First Ten Steps, (also available on Amazon) and then I will re-adjust my promotion tactics and see what I can do differently and better. I have lowered my price on Smashwords from $2.99 to $1.99 to see if a lower price maybe will generate a few more sales. That is the great thing I have found of being an Indie writer. You have the freedom to play with your prices and promotion techniques until you find the best one for you.

 

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New In Town

The air thumped with the heavy bassline the DJ was playing. The dance floor was packed, it was dark; the lights had gone out at the start of the song. Lisa Harlow had frozen in place while her friends had carried on moving. The music continued uninterrupted and Lisa quickly realized that it was part of the show.

The atmosphere became electric, bodies crammed closer together as the entire club piled onto the dance floor. Once the floor was filled, bodies climbed onto the counter top that circled the hexagonal central stage. Women in short skirts and tight fitting tops danced around the pillars that sprung from each of the six corners. The writhed and gyrated to the music as the atmosphere continued to crescendo.

Strobe lighting began to flutter and the crowd went wild. Lisa looked up as the crowd began to wail in rhythm with the siren that blared out of the speakers. The strobe lit the place up for what it really was. The rotting corpses of the undead writhed and wound their way around the club, their skin glistening with decomposition. Dancing girls left silvery trails of grease as they continued to spin around the bone poles; countless femurs bound together by leathered straps of human skin. The raver's raw meat faces were twisted in waves of orgasmic ecstasy as above them the heavens began to open.

The dance floor was pulsing now, all the ghouls and girls that had come out to play moved and swaying in a sudden rhythm.

"Are you ready?" The DJ called from his elevated position behind the decks.

Lisa looked up at him. His bones so white, bleached by years in the sun before he finally rose from his shallow grave.. The few strands of hair that clung to his scalp whipped around as he danced, his arms raised, bony fingers extended towards the heavens. "Then let it rain" He roared above the pumping bassline.

The first few drips went unnoticed, but soon the downpour began. A deluge of fresh blood, harvested only minutes before from the club next door, descended upon them. The dance floor became tacky with it. All of their bodies joined and became one pulsating organ.

At the center of it all, Lisa raised her hands. She broke the formation of the pulsating mass and threw her arms into the air. She twirled around in the middle of it all screaming, her head thrown back allowing the ruby rain to fill her mouth. It spilt over her chin, and covered her breasts. Hands explored her saturated body, pawing at her. Waves of pleasure coursed through her in ways she never knew possible. Lisa Harlow had only been dead a day but was already sure that this was the life for her.

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The Halloween Blog Tour Has Berthed Once More

Today it is my honor to be guest posting on the blog of a wonderful writer and fantastically nice person Jennifer Wylie (Author of Sweet Light)

In my post today I am talking about the thin line that seems to separate comedy and horror and how the two can be used to make the perfect fictional couple.

Without giving too much away, all I can say is that I would love to hear your views so come on over. It's were all the cool people are at.

There is a thin line between Comedy and Horror…. Discuss

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