David R. Michael's Blog, page 30

Typing "THE END" is Such Sweet Sorrow

 
This afternoon I typed "THE END of TGoSH Book One", signalling the completion of the first draft of the GoSH1 project.
 
Yesterday, my daughter was excited to hear that I would finish the book today. Then dismayed to learn that she still wouldn't be able to read it for at least a month. Because no one gets to read anything I write until I get a chance to read it–and edit it–first. She'll survive. I just hope she likes the final result…
 
The novel weighs in at just over 66,000 words. My original estimate/target was 60,000 words, so I came pretty close. That makes GoSH1 longer than either The Summoning Fire, The Girl Who Ran With Horses and (of course) The Door to the Sky, but shorter than the Gunwitch project I finished back in January. When I get to GoSH2 later this year, I'll be targeting the same length (60K-ish words). That's my plan for all of the GoSH books, should I do as many as I idly think I might (at least 3).
Today is also the 24th consecutive day I've written something (even on weekends). Tomorrow, day 25, will be the challenge, because I'm not sure if I want to start on the next novel immediately or write a couple short stories as a sort of "warm down".
 
I might get to GoSH1 for editing and publishing before Gunwitch. I'm excited to see what Serene (and, yes, other people) think about the novel. I'm excited to give The Girl Who Ran With Horses another book to keep it company on the Teen/Young Adult page. I'm excited thinking about new stories for the girls in GoSH1.
 
I'm excited.
 
Typing "THE END" is like that. It's the end of a long task, but it's also the beginning of the next step and something new and different.
 
And, for those keeping count, this is my second completed novel of 2011. Only four more to reach my goal for the year…
 
-David
 
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One Down, Five to GoSurprisingly Freeing; or So That's What They Mean by "Natural Length"Planning (Almost) Finished

Writer in Training

 
I just taught my nine-year-old daughter how to count words in her writing project. She doesn't write every day (yet), but she's already written more than I had at nine. Proud father? Why, yes, yes I am.
 
-David
 
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I HaZ LogO

 
My brother, Don Michael, Jr., designed my new Four Crows Landing logo:
 



 
And, because I asked nicely, a cool not-a-logo:
 

 
The funniest part of the whole logo design process was when Don asked me about colors. I looked at him funny (via email) and said, "Colors? But … they're crows …"
 
-David
 
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THE GIRL WHO RAN WITH HORSES Featured at YA Indie Spotlight

 
The Girl Who Ran With Horses is featured in the YA Indie Spotlight today over at Katie Klein Writes.
 
Or I am, sorta. =)
 
YA Indie Spotlight: David Michael
 
-David
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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I Want to Create Heroines

 
Back in 2002 when I decided I was going to start writing again–really writing, this time–I looked at the world around me and decided that I wanted to write about heroines.
 
Why? A couple reasons.
 
First, at the time, Harry Potter and a lot of very similar male leads of very similar YA novels seemed to have the hero thing covered. This is still true today.
 
Second, and more importantly, at the time, my little girl was about 6 months old. I wanted to write something she could read (eventually). I wanted to write about girls and women who were, in the parlance of Joss Whedon's Firefly/Serenity, Big Damn Heroes. Because that's what I want her to grow up to be.
 
My daughter is over nine years old now. She's been waiting impatiently for GoSH1 for about a month. When I finally hand her my Kindle with an ebook draft, I expect she'll finish it, all 60K-ish words, in one marathon, stay-up-late reading session.
 
It's possible she reads faster than I do. Since early December when I gave her a copy of The Girl Who Ran With Horses, she's read that book twice. Plus reading all seven of the Harry Potter novels (for the third time). Plus reading the entire 18-book series of The Warriors. Plus a lot more.
 
She definitely reads books faster than I could ever hope to write them. Even if I had gotten more stories and novels done between 2002 and now, she would have already read through them.
 
I'm looking forward to hearing what she thinks of my three new heroines in GoSH1 (I'm almost finished, I promise!), and I'm looking forward to thinking up new adventures for them. And I'm looking forward to creating even more heroines: good, bad, and angry.
 
-David
 
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Writing Progress Report

 
Writing progress report for the week starting Monday, April 4, 2011.
 








Writing Project


Words




Monday


GoSH1


2021




Tuesday


GoSH1


517




Wednesday


GoSH1


526




Thursday


GoSH1


1000




Friday


GoSH1
Started editing "Effie Two-Five".


2381




Saturday


GoSH1
Finished editing "Effie Two-Five".


1048




Sunday


GoSH1


562














Total



8055




YTD Total: 100348 (ahead 348 words)
 








Publishing/Marketing




Monday





Tuesday





Wednesday





Thursday


Approved 4CL logo.




Friday





Saturday





Sunday





 
Reading List

Pike and Shot Tactics 1590-1660 by Keith Roberts.
Podkayne of Mars by Robert Heinlein.

 
Related Posts:
Now Available – "Insanity"Now Available – "The Perfect Hiding Place"Now Available – "Evanescent"

Becoming Insane

 
How can you not like a band called "Infected Mushroom"???
 

 
I first heard this song while working on GoSH1. I expect to listen to it a lot while working on my next, much darker project.
 
I'm kinda looking forward to "going dark" again. GoSH1 has its dark moments (the back quarter of the book), but it's a story about (and for) 11-year-old girls. I'm writing GoSH1 for my daughter. So, yeah, that puts a limit on things. I kept a leash on the darkness.
 
For my next project, though, the leash comes off and the claws will be bared. There will be magic and blood and more.
 
Probably no chainsaws. Probably. Chainsaws or no, though, my daughter won't get to read this one for years.
 
Sing along!
 
I'm becoming insane, insane…
I'm becoming insane, insane…
 
-David
 
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March Was Fun – Mostly

 
I started March with 7 ebooks (2 novels, 3 collections, and 2 short stories), and finished it with 13 (+1 novel, +5 short stories). I don't plan quite as many new releases for April (+1 collection, +2 short stories), but the month is young yet. Also, I launched Four Crows Landing in March. So I stayed busy in March. I even wrote quite a bit in GoSH1.
 
March sales, so far, are on par with February. Which is good in that they didn't get worse. I say "so far" because the resellers Smashwords distributes through often take a month or more to fully report all the sales in a given month. For example, at the end of March, there were new sales reported that happened in January and February. So it could be May or June before the March numbers are final.
 
My ebook assembly line is getting smoother and faster. Nothing like lots of practice to get better at something, and I had lots of practice in March.
 
All that said, March was an emotional roller coaster. Up, down, swoop, swipe, dip, toss, turn, throw, catch, bump, slump, dump … No crashing, though. Which is good. Crashing is never good.
 
I'm getting a much better understanding of why authors, and artists in general, develop drinking problems.
 
So now it's April. I'm hoping it's fun too. I can see the roller coaster waiting for me…
 
-David
 
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My Short Story Challenge 2011 Judges Feedback

 
Today I got the judges feedback from my Short Story Challenge 2011 submission, "Secondhand Coffin".
 
"Secondhand Coffin" by David Michael
 
WHAT THE JUDGE(S) LIKED ABOUT YOUR SCRIPT – …………This is very close to a classic revenge-based ghost story. The writing is smooth and well done, and the voice is also well developed. I also like the back story about the rug—and the fact that, for a change, we don't know WHY this woman was murdered, but we get the sense she absolutely didn't deserve it…….Grisly details in this story are very effective. The protagonist evokes feelings of empathy from the reader. …………………………………………………  
 
WHAT THE JUDGES FEEL NEEDS WORK – …………I found myself very confused about what was going on in this story, and I think it's because there are a few too many details. One of the things that can be done to make this work better is to streamline it—for example, she died wrapped in a rug that had been doused in cement, and I think she's beneath a building (that section in there is brilliant, by the way, how she tries not to think about what kind of building it is and the people coming and going from it), but then there is this whole business about the coffin and the undertaker and all of that. I was completely confused about where we were. In addition, there's confusion in the end about the ghost being out of the corpse, and is the corpse attacking these men or is the ghost? I'd like to see the writer work on these confusing issues and streamline things. Perhaps it's not a funeral home, but the bottom of a pit over which a building is to be placed, and she's wrapped in this rug and the two henchmen are working to bury her in the building's foundation…….The story is initially confusing regarding Lacey and the corpse. ………………………………………………
 
 
OK. I can draw a couple of conclusions from this feedback.
 
First, there were two judges. And one of them is more wordy than the other.
 
Second, I think I can assume that I didn't place in the contest because I confused both judges. I may have a "well developed" voice and might have provided "very effective" "grisly details", but note the "very confused … completely confused" and "initially confusing" comments.
 
I will keep their comments in mind–as well as the feedback I accumulated from other readers and contest participants–when I get the story ready for ebook publication. I expect to release it as a short story ebook later this month.
 
-David
 
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Writing Progress Report

 
Writing progress report for the week starting Monday, March 28, 2011.
 




 


Writing Project


Words




Monday


GoSH1
Line edited "The Perfect Hiding Place".
Created base ebook doc for "The Perfect Hiding Place".
Created "The Perfect Hiding Place" ebook doc for KDP, Smashwords, & PubIt.


3163




Tuesday


GoSH1


567




Wednesday


GoSH1
Edited "Evanescent".


200




Thursday


GoSH1
Lined edited "Evanescent".
Created base ebook doc for "Evanescent".
Created "Evanescent" ebook doc for KDP, Smashwords, & PubIt.


1313




Friday


GoSH1


3053




Saturday


GoSH1


1003




Sunday


GoSH1


703




 








Total



10002




 




 


Publishing/Marketing




Monday


Uploaded "The Perfect Hiding Place" to KDP, Smashwords, & PubIt.




Tuesday


Announced "The Perfect Hiding Place" to G&M, FB, 4CL.




Wednesday


Updated TSF blurb on KDP, PubIt & Smashwords.




Thursday


Uploaded "Evanescent" to KDP, Smashwords, & PubIt.




Friday





Saturday


Submitted "Time: A Love Story" to Book Brouhaha blog.




Sunday


Announced "Evanescent" on G&M, FB, 4CL.




 
Reading List

True Evil by Greg Isles.
Burden Kansas by Alan Ryker.
The Bellhound: Four Tales of Modern Magic by Camille LaGuire.

 
Related Posts:
Now Available – "The Perfect Hiding Place"Now Available – "Evanescent"Now Available – "Insanity"