R.K. MacPherson's Blog, page 3

Dislike Isn’t The Same Thing As Bad

Shanna Germain tweeted something that struck a chord with me (Minor 7th).

G/M/B = Game/Movie/Book – She’s a super sharp writer. Check out her works.

I had a similar (albeit brief) conversation with Laura Gallier this week and it got me thinking about what makes a book good or bad. Laura’s criteria included technical defects in the book (formatting errors, typos, etc.), whereas I tend to dismiss such details and focus more on storytelling and grammar.

Disliking something doesn’t make it bad,per s...

Writing Isn’t All About Words

It’s been a helluva year. January saw the release ofStormcaller‘s ebook, yet another shift in my employment, the end of my life aboardWhite Raven, moving to Japan, starting a new job, research forStormcaller#3, and publishingAssassins.

Damn.

So much took place. Most of it turned out to be good, but some parts sucked rotten eggs. I’ve had the chance to eat a LOT of (real) Kobe beef this year, so I’ll probably put this one in the Win column. Oh, sure–I published another book, but I have terminal...

FREE Book Time – The Assassins Giveaway!

There you are, just a few days until Christmas, or whatever holiday you celebrate, and you just don’t know what presents to get people…

Or, money is tight and you don’t know what to get people…

OR, you have so many people to get presents for that you couldn’t possibly satisfy your gift quota without mortaging your kidney and selling your significant other into indentured servitude.

Life is HARD. I’m here to help.

I’m a helper.

For four days,Assassinswill be FREE on Amazon, starting Friday (12/20)...

The Coming Storm

It’s been a few weeks sinceAssassins hit the market. I’m still tickled every time I see new sales, more so when I see them forStormcaller.I want readers to enjoy the series, and I’d love to hear your thoughts! If you don’t want to comment, shoot me an email at rkmacpherson@gmail.com. Let’s chat!

In the meantime, I’ve started work onStormcaller #3, tentatively titledApotheosis. I keep vacillating between that andSeraph. I’m going back to Kobe this weekend to revisit some locations, update my no...

Losing NaNoWriMo

I totally lost NaNoWriMo and it feels so good.

One of the criticisms leveled at NaNoWriMo is the “winning” and “losing” aspect of it. If you crank out 50,000 words in 30 days, you “win.” If you don’t, you’re a loser, baby (Someone should totally write a song with that in the lyrics). For the record, I wrote ZERO words in 30 days.

This year has been a busy one for me. I did some contract work at the beginning of the year, but not much. I moved to Japan to teach and do research forStormcaller#3....

Behind the Scenes

Bridget McKenna, of Zone 1 Design, wrote an illuminating post about the construction of ebooks, Assassins in particular.

In many ways, indie publishing is about control. Bridget gets that, but it doesn’t have to mean missed steps.Ican make an ebook. Anyone can. What I can’t do is make it as simply and beautifully as a pro like Bridget does. So, run over, take a look.

So head over theZone 1 Designand read about the process.When you’re ready to publish, drop Bridget a note. She’ll make things loo...

Assassins Release Day!

Well, it’s official.Assassinsis live on Amazon.com! I’msofreaking glad. Writing a novel is tough, but revising, revising, revising, and REVISING, then publishing one is even harder. I still have work to do–line up some advertising support, plead with people to post a few reviews, and update links on my blogs–but the book is out in the wild. It looks fantastic! Bridget McKenna from Zone 1 Design did an amazing job with the formatting for the book. Marti McKenna (bless her) slogged through my w...

FINISHED

Since I don’t have Internet access at home yet (and won’t for another MONTH! /rage), I’ll keep this brief.

Assassins is DONE. It is off to a fresh set of eyes for the ebook formatting at Zone 1 Design.

With a tad bit of luck, it’ll be on Amazon by the end of the month. In the meantime, I’m going to retreat from the world for the rest of the weekend and play Fallout: New Vegas.

I’ve never seen Arcade Gannon’s storyline…

Home Stretch

I am still alive. They are feeding me well. There’s still no Internet, but all OTHER Geneva Convention articles are being followed…

If there’s one good bit to not having Internet access at home (I say bit because it’s NOT good enough to be a byte), it’s that I have more time to focus on the important things in life. I’m working on finishing the revisions toAssassinsand should be done this week. Hallelujah. I amnotdoing NaNoWriMo. There’s just not enough me to go around this year and I’d rather...

Slow News is Good News?

A lot has happened since my last update.

My job ended. (sad face)
I got a new job! (happy face)
I left my old town and moved to a new one. (tired face)
My editor finished her work on Assassins! (grateful face)
I still need to finish incorporating her edits into the manuscript. (exhausted face)

I’ve been in my new town for a week now. I’m almost moved in. I had to pack, move, settle in, and start so fast that I’ve had little time to do other stuff. Also, I survived a very yucky cold. Since my apartm...