Erica Lindquist's Blog, page 2
January 22, 2017
New look for the Storytelling Guides
Aron’s been hard at work on a new Storytelling Guide that will be the third in the… series? Collection? I’m not exactly sure what to call them. But they’re certainly related books and we want them to have a similar look at feel. Between growing a little tired of the dice and hand motif, and a lack interesting art along those lines, I felt it was time for some brand new covers! Aron’s even nicknamed that guy with the map “the guide.”
We’ll be rolling out the new covers on the first two as soon as I can. The third needs a finished book first. The title isn’t quite settled yet, either. But… BEHOLD!
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January 21, 2017
My first march
[image error]I’m your standard author – a painfully introverted little flower. I barely engage in political discussion, to say nothing of debate or actual protest rallies. But today was my first political march and rally! I was at the tail end (thanks to a really, really long bathroom line) of the Sacramento Women’s March.
Just Thursday, I had to sit down with some of my friends to discuss a group vacation we have planned because I’m so much an introvert that I barely like leaving the house. I’m usually tied to my computer and I like it that way. I love what I do with a nerdy passion.
And then… Trump. I have friends who voted for him. I don’t understand, though I’ve tried. I’m not angry – I’m sad. I think Trump took advantage of people’s pain and fear to put himself in power. I’m pretty damned sure that this egomaniacal asshat is going to hurt the ones who love him, too.
BUT! But that’s not the point. This post isn’t about the politics. It’s about the march today!
I’ve always been scared to attend a political rally. I’m introverted and bad with crowds. I’m frightened by the footage I see online of protesters and police alike getting out of control. I’m afraid of being screamed at by counter-protesters or having to defend my basic rights to the police. When I left today for downtown Sacramento, I made sure to wear nothing that could be easily grabbed or ripped. I turned off the thumbprint unlock on my phone, since I had been told that police could require my fingerprint but not my passcode. I was as ready as I could make myself to face hostility and fear.
There was none of that. Today was amazing. Everyone I met was kind and supportive. We cheered and chanted and sang together. The train down into the city was full to bursting by the third stop and we had to pass half a dozen other stations without picking anyone up; at every one of them, men and women in pink hats cheered and waved to us. Police were stationed at every intersection of our march – most of them were women and every single one smiled and returned our waves and thanks as we passed. None of them were in body armor or riot gear. We all stood back when a fire truck needed to get through and cheered as it did. There were lots of people marching with the assistance of walkers, wheelchairs and pushing strollers. There were 20,000 of us – Sacramento was one of the smaller marches – but everyone I saw made sure to make room for anyone who needed it. Protesters were respectful when approaching those who had brought animals and asked politely before petting. I’ve never heard so many ‘Excuse me’s’ and ‘thank you’s’ as while navigating the crowd today.
Today wasn’t frightening. Today was positive and empowering. This introvert is exhausted and her throat hurts from cheering so much and is so happy she went.
January 18, 2017
Announcement
I ate an entire pizza last night, in one sitting. I AM THE BEST!
That is all.
January 12, 2017
Dan
[image error]Back when Aron and I first started writing, we were incredibly hard-pressed to find readers. We’re not NYT best-sellers by any stretch of the imagination these days, but we manage to sell books every day without making sad puppy eyes at friends and family. But back in the sad eyes days, one of our first readers and supporters was Dan. He was a friend of a friend, someone we met during our WoW days. We only met him in person once – during which he bought a massive black and red pimp hat that will haunt my dreams for the rest of my life. But when we released our first book, Dan was one of the first people to buy and review it. He bought every single book we released after that. When some yahoo snarled at Whisperworld for having lesbian main character, Dan promptly countered with his own review calling out the bigot. As soon as he heard Aron and I didn’t own a Kindle, he sent us his and it was love at first read. Dan was an often cranky and acerbic man, but he was a good guy who always the time and desire to help a pair of struggling authors.
In December, Dan wasn’t feeling well. He had a cough that just kept getting worse and went to the doctor, grumping that it was probably going to be pneumonia and he really didn’t have time for that shit. It wasn’t pneumonia.
It was leukemia.
Yeah, cancer. Fucking cancer. And it was bad. Dan and his oncologists fought valiantly for a week or so, and then it was over. On January 5, Dan died.
I have regrets. Last year – or maybe it was back in 2015, I don’t quite remember – I posted on my various outlets that there was going to be a substantial delay in the Hangman’s Cross because the beta reader response was pretty negative. The book was just too dark and the characters too difficult to read, so I needed to do a lot of edits and rewrites. When I posted this on Facebook, Dan poked his head into the thread to say that he looooved dark books and would be interested to read the current version. I told him I’d consider it, then moved on to work on the Lily Quinn series. My vague plan was to give Hangman’s Cross another read when I finished Lily Quinn, clean up some errors and then send it to Dan before I went to work on the new version.
I never got that chance. Lily Quinn took too long and I’ve still got several other smaller projects to work on before I dive back into Hangman’s Cross. And because of that, I never got to give that book to a friend who is now gone.
I’m not angry with myself for this or anything. I still think the book needs fixing and I don’t think my plan was a bad one. It just… didn’t happen and I’ll always regret that.
We miss you, Dan. You and your pimp hat. You were one of our first and best supporters. You were always funny, foul-mouthed and sneakily, surprisingly generous. The world needs a million more like you.
January 11, 2017
The plan for 2017
2016 was a long, tough year. We released ten books. TEN! The Lily Quinn publishing schedule was punishing, but extremely rewarding. In 12 months, we doubled our total titles! We’re never doing that again, but I’m glad we managed it. I began the series with five books/months of lead time, and still barely managed to finish the final book on time. YEAH! We did it!
I spent November and December of 2016 recovering from the LQ schedule and taking care of a few smaller projects. Now it’s the second week of 2017 and time to outline what we hope to accomplish this year.
Lily Quinn
The series is done, but that doesn’t mean we’re done with the universe – AKA the Quinniverse. One of the little projects I finished was the outline for an extra one-off story about Stefano. Our favorite werewolf hunter has his own happy ending to chase down, after all. Aron finished the preliminary manuscript in November and one of my first jobs in 2017 will be to do the rewrites on that book. Not sure when it will be published, though.
Another Storytelling guide
We’re writing another RPG guide! After Aron finished the first Storytelling guide, we had requests for more details, especially on the crisis system. So he wrote the companion guide. We’re still getting requests for more and more information, so Aron’s working on a third book. We’ve taken a short game idea from concept, through the various levels of outline and development. Now, Aron’s writing out the full session outline and notes.
Once that’s done, the plan is to run the game he’s outlined, then write up how it did or didn’t follow the notes and what he did to accommodate for the issues that arose in game. If all goes according to plan – HA! – Aron should be able to run the game later this year and finish the book by about Christmas.
This third Storytelling guide is going to be loooong. Probably. We don’t know exactly how long until we run the game and see how the after-action report goes. That part might be short or double the length of the manuscript. We have no idea!
Hangman’s Cross
FINALLY! After over a year of being ignored, I’ll be opening up the dusty-ass digital box that contains the Hangman’s Cross manuscript and begin digging around inside to make some repairs. It’s a long manuscript and I have no idea how much time it will take to update and fix it, then get new beta reader feedback. Hangman’s Cross may not come out this year, but I’m crossing my fingers for an early winter release. As always, we’ll keep you updated.
Spear of Fire
Have we talked about this yet? I don’t remember anymore. Here’s the short version: Aron and I are going to write another Reforged book! This one will take place after the events of Hammer of Time, largely in the kingdom of Arcadia. It will be the story of Baliend, all grown up, and Maeve and Logan’s son, Kael.
I doubt we’ll manage to manuscript the book this year, but I hope to at least develop the Spear of Fire outline during 2017. Wish me luck – this list is starting to look a bit daunting.
Reblog: Writer’s Helpline
Click for the full comic from Christine Major. It’s just one more panel, but it’s worth it 
December 13, 2016
Reblog: How to create art and make cool stuff in a time of trouble
I’ve been struggling with a lot of depression this winter. Not from the season – which I generally love – but the fuckery which is occurring in the world. Write through that mire of emotional muck has been a challenge, to say the least.
Some days, I don’t want to open up the laptop. I just want to lay in bed and keep my eyes closed. But creation awaits and Chuck Wendig has a wonderfully obscenity-filled post for me on the subject today.
Yes. Me personally.
Okay, maybe not that lat bit. Anyway:
Right now, for me — and maybe for you — making art is like oral surgery on a rabid bear.
It’s very difficult to just sit down, not look at the news, open a Word .doc, and start writing some cool shit. It feels, nnngh, somehow precious, too special, like you’re eating cake while the house burns. “Oh, I see we have zombies trying to break down the door,” you say. “This seems like an excellent time to watch Cinemax and masturbate.”
That’s how it feels.
And how it feels is wrong.
What I mean is this: if you’re a person who Makes Art, then that’s who you are, and there’s nothing precious or small about that. It’s not masturbation. Not even in times of crisis and duress. It matters because it’s who you are, it’s what you want, it’s what you do. Art is vital, and as such, the artist is vital for making it. Part of the goal of the chaos going on is to put a rope around your wrists, your throat, and your heart and try to stop you from making cool stuff. It’s designed to hamstring you creatively and critically. You can’t let that happen. You gotta carry on. You gotta do the work. YOU GOTTA MAKE THE THINGS.
Question is, how?
How do you persist? How do you create art in a time of unfolding fuckery?
I, as always, have thoughts.
Read the rest on Chuck Wendig’s blog >>
October 26, 2016
Reblog: Fated
Critical failure… or success?
Jasmine Walls: Comic Writer and Artist
Written by Jasmine Walls, Illustrated by Amy Phillips
Fated
Critical failure… or success?
Jasmine Walls: Comic Writer and Artist
Written by Jasmine Walls, Illustrated by Amy Phillips
October 20, 2016
Reblog: Vellum
Okay, the full title of Joanna’s piece is Why I’ve Moved From Scrivener To Vellum For Formatting Ebooks, but that’s… really long. And a really good summary of why I’ve made the same move.
A couple of weeks ago, I was having some problems with ebook exports from Scrivener, too, and was at my absolute wit’s end trying to figure out what the hell was going on. So when Joanna Penn mentioned Vellum on one of her podcasts, I ran over to the Vellum website before the episode was even done to investigate the software. It looked lovely, so I downloaded a copy and FELL IN LOVE.
Their tagline is Easily Create Beautiful Ebooks, and that’s exactly what the software does. Here are some of the highlights for me:
It’s incredibly easy to use. You just import a Word docx file and you can basically use it as-is.
You can also use the various Book Styles to change the look to something funkier.
You can preview the design as it will look in the various ebook readers, within the program.
It has template pages like Copyright, About the Author and More Books by the Author which have extra functionality, like areas for social media links and default text.
You can import images and it will format them correctly, with extra text and links and resizing.
It makes boxsets REALLY easy. Seriously, if you haven’t done boxsets yet, as a single author or with multi-authors, then check it out. Here’s the specific Vellum boxset help page.
It outputs the various formats for each of the stores and includes store specific book links in the Back Matter.
Read the rest of Joanna’s write-up here.
Just a couple quick notes: Vellum is Mac only. It’s got a pretty cool pricing model, too. You download the software and play with it for free. They only charge when the time comes to export the finished product. You can pay $30 for a single book, which remains unlocked for future updates and corrections. Or you can buy 10 books for $100. Since we have 31 products in all, I bought the unlimited package for $200.
Additional note: I’ve have to contact Vellum for a few technical support issues and they’ve been just wonderful. They get back to me promptly with useful, actionable information.
