Jerry Autieri's Blog, page 6

Writing in Hell

No, not “writing is hell.” I mean the physical event of writing while roasting in an eternal fire bath. I’ve had some recent experience with this and would like to share. I’ll be up front. No infernal thaumaturgy was utilized in the process. All requirements for the experience are present in the State of Arizona, where I live.

Yeah, my air conditioner died. In the middle of summer monsoon season, so 107 degree temps with 50%+ humidity. Of course the damn thing died on a Saturday, just like Sol...

Fifty Shades of Something

So I’ve relaunched this blog. By relaunch, I mean I wrote one post after a two year hiatus and three people read it. (Thanks to those three.) Since that fabulous renewing of vows I’ve done a lot of thinking about blog topics. I even skimmed a book about blogging, that’s just how gosh darn serious I got about it. After all this soul-searching I had a sudden realization: I’m not going to be serious. It’s just not in my DNA. Every bit of advice I get about blogging as an independent author makes...

Oh My

Not “oh my” in the George Takei sense of a slightly naughty and fun double entendre. This is “oh my” in the sense of “crap, what have I done? I’ve broken all the rules of social media and Net Stardom by failing to maintain my blog! Did you notice? Trick question! Of course you didn’t notice, since no one is here.

Well, shame on me. This must be the reason I’ve not been invited to appear on The Today Show. Among other reasons. All I can do now is ask for forgiveness and soldier on.

I’ll be clean...

Plotting Behind Your Back

I’ve been quite busy recently, using all my free time to work on my writing rather than dredging up interesting blog topics.  The ever-so-witty post title really explains what I’ve been doing, at least in part.

For starters I completed the first draft of my follow-up to Fate’s Needle.  The working title is Islands in the Fog. I’ve let it “cool off” for about a month, and am now just going back in to tighten up the story and prose. I’ll be sending it to a beta reader for feedback after that’s done. The plan right now is to have the book out in Jan/Feb 2013.

So what did I do during that cooling off period? So glad you asked! I plotted two more novels, both high fantasy stories. When I say plot, I don’t just mean something like: “The Dork-Lords of Grond have stolen the Magic Dixie Cup of Clarity and only the Fair Prince can retrieve it. So he does some questing and stuff to get it back and make a girlfriend. The End.”  Nope, I go all out. I’ve got two books planned plot-point by plot-point, scene by scene. I just need to sit down and write the darn things!  But my Ulfrik stories take a front seat.  I’ve already got third book for Ulfrik on training wheels right now.

In addition to the above, I wrote a short story as well. It’s a horror story, which I will probably publish under a pen name. No sense confusing my audience. I’ll need a good name. How about Dirk LeRouge. Too “Twilight?” How about Stan McSmashfist? That’s probably for action stories. I’ll think of something.

All frivolity aside, I also ensured that Fate’s Needle is now available in paperback!  Through the magic of CreateSpace, I am able  to have this as a print-on-demand book. The process was a little tricky, but I did it. I was quite pleased with the results. The proof copy looks awesome. If you don’t like reading books on e-readers, phones, or computers you can enjoy my story as a traditional book. Now that I know how easy it is provide paperback options I’ll be offering all my future works in both electronic and paper formats.

Relax! It’s only one book

I spend a lot of time reading other writing blogs. This makes perfect sense, as I am a newly-minted indie writer. I want to know what is happening in the world, what I should be working on, etc. The more I read these various blogs, the more I keep seeing the same “lessons” popping up over and over. One lesson I keep reading about is marketing. Once you put out a book, the story goes, the easy part is done. Now you’ve got to market it. OK, I agree. But the lesson keeps harping on marketing. You’ve got to promote it relentlessly. Everyone has to hear about your book. Blast announcements from the mountain tops. Get on Twitter and find a “friendly way” to shill your book. Basically never stop selling this one book you’ve written.

I have grown tired of this stale message. Of course marketing is important and we all want the world to know our books are for sale. But the trouble is these days there are a lot of new writers, and they want to sell you a book. A book. One. Uno. Why would you invest a huge chunk of time to market this?  Is one hour per day of “social media marketing time” really that important? How about one hour per week, and use those other six hours to write your next book?

I follow a self-publishing guru with a big name, at least among indie authors. This writer is selling two books and a short story, and has only had that to offer for the last 18 months. Where is the next book? This writer seems to pop up everywhere, doing all the right marketing things, etc. I guess it is successful, but a career cannot be built on one or two books. I doubt it can be built on eight or ten books. Most of us will need a backlog of books to represent our work. I think that’s where the heavy-handed marketing plan makes sense. For the author I mentioned, I read the two books and I’m done checking back with the writer. I just keep hearing about those two books I’ve already read.

For the new writer, it is important to master the basics of craft. We do that by writing, not marketing. If I followed all the advice to log on to Twitter and Facebook all day, whoring for “likes” and “re-tweets”, I’d never get anything done. I’ve got about two hours per night to write. I’m better off chipping away at a challenging scene rather than finding a way to mask blatant sales pitches.

Of course, I don’t like marketing, so it’s easy for me to fall into this line of thinking. But honestly, one book will not excite many people. When you are writing a series this takes on a whole new significance. I don’t like to read series until all the books are out. I don’t want to get burned with an incomplete series. I bet I’m not alone. So, producing the next book is the best thing you can do to sell the books you already have for sale.  Once you’ve got a good list of books out for readers to enjoy, then it’s worth shouting from mountain tops. Readers will have something to discover, rather than merely finding a potential “one-and-done” writer.

How to Get Back On Track After Extravagant Laziness

The one or two visitors I get here each day might have noticed that I haven’t posted in a while. That’s because I decided I would take a break to watch the Olympics. Yes, the Olympics were held this year. I know by now it feels like a lifetime ago. I really had an awesome post idea entitled “The Olympic Pause.” It was going to be so timely and inspirational. But then I got off track and stayed in my comfortable state of off-the-track-ness. So the Olympics are no longer relevant. I’ll have to post about something else now. I promise to not turn this into one of those posts where the blogger posts about not posting. Those posts are like puns gone wrong.

I want to talk about how I got back on track. For now I am on track and feeling … okay. Being lazy was easier, after all.

First to get myself on track, I had to realize I was actually off of it. That’s easy with writing: pages stop accumulating and the story just sits at that last scene that you didn’t know how to write. Shortly before I went on hibernation, I was celebrating progress. That was the first step on the road to the Third Ring of Hell. What’s a celebration without a little reward? What’s a good reward? How about a break! That’s how I found myself enjoying the gluttonous joy of sloth.

Knowing I had a problem, I had to take action. Shame worked to galvanize me. Don’t I really want to make it as a writer? How is that possible without writing? The obvious answers got me back in front of the computer. But good habits are use it or lose it propositions. Having taken so much time off, I had lost the discipline and the habits that have kept me running for over a year.  To get back in shape, I had to do more than just “get back on track.”

I re-read what I had already written, and it looked good. Didn’t I want to finish it? At least I was reading my writing, rather than wasting time on Reddit.
I fooled myself. Good thing about being such a dull witted guy is that I’m easy to fool. So I used that. I planned to write just 20 minutes and then play World of Warcraft. I ended up doing more writing instead.
I set expanding word count goals until I was back to the level I was at before I plummeted from the track.
I renewed my interesting in writing by reading something new. I get pumped for writing by reading others and seeing how the author kicked ass and made a great story. This time I read Neil Gaiman’s American Gods. I’m not done with it yet, but it is pure awesome.  It’s the tonic I needed right now.

Those four steps helped me recover from a serious bout of “I don’t want to do this”. Basically, I eased back into it. Nothing about it was rocket science. But if you should find yourself needing to get back on track, try something similar for whatever it is you are doing. The key for me was to realize I wasn’t doing what I truly wanted, and just got excited about doing it again.

I’m doing the same with blogging. To get back on track here, I’ve promised myself that I only have to post up about every ten days with something interesting. That’s a whole lot easier to wrap my head around than telling myself I’ve got to create something twice a week!  Besides, you should only get back on one track at a time. No need to hurt yourself doing too much at once!

Back from “Stay-cation”

So I’m back from a week of vacation, not that anyone would notice. I took a week off from my day job. Believe it or not, writing is not all the glamorous book signings and parties you may imagine. I must support myself with another job or I might one day find my fridge empty of champagne and caviar. When I returned to work today I was asked the usual clever questions that seem to automatically follow a return from vacation. For example:

“Cool! Where did you go?”

“No where. I just stayed at home on the couch. Beautiful.”

This reply generally kills things, though could still elicit something like “welcome back” or “well that sounds nice”. However today I got something interesting.  I was told that I took a “stay-cation“. Cool!  I did something trendy for once!

The fine art of stay-cation has apparently caught on with people feeling the squeeze of the crap economy. Well, I’ve been doing stay-cations long before they became the in-thing.  I think it’s a great way to relax and forget about work. After all, I pay so much damn money for this house. Why not spend some time in it when I can?

One of the risks of stay-cations is that your boss will assume you’re not really on vacation. Somehow by not going someplace you are no longer deserving of having your own time. They will feel it’s fine to call or text you with something like “I know you’re on vacation, but…..” However, your co-worker who took a trip to Canada to see the world’s largest hockey stick would never be disturbed. It’s not fair. It’s also discriminatory. But what can you do?

I like lying about it. Lying allows you to create a very dramatic and exciting vacation for little or no cost. You can literally go anywhere in the world, and your stay-cation won’t be disturbed. I’d take in some extra Travel Channel time that week, if I were you. Also, you will need a good cover story for why you don’t have pictures. Otherwise, bon voyage!

I am a committed stay-cation man. I can hardly wait for the next one!

Celebrating Progress

I’ve been busily pounding away on my keyboard these days, writing the sequel to Fate’s Needle. To be completely honest, there was actually a sequel already written for it. But I threw it out. I wrote it during the editing process  for the first book. But once I had completely revised Fate’s Needle, I saw a few problems in the sequel. The first thing was that the sequel sucked. You will thank me for trashing it. Second, the characters had changed so much that they didn’t really act like themselves any longer in the sequel. Rather than do a heavy revision, I started again.

Last night I hit a major milestone in my writing. I’ve got about one-third of the first draft done. Hooray for small victories! This represents 33,000 words, which represents about 97 paperback pages. So this is a great milestone for hitting my ideal book length. Even thought the real celebration comes when I hit that “publish” button, it’s important to pat myself on the back during the writing process. I may even go downstairs and eat a Hagen-Daz ice cream bar to reward myself. I may even eat one when I’m not rewarding myself. I’m funny that way.

So, what’s the new book about? I’m so glad you asked! Here’s my “working blurb” for the story.

Ulfrik has resettled his people on the remote Faeroe Islands. Years of struggle have forged a wealthy and strong community. But powerful neighbors soon become jealous of Ulfrik’s success, and turn predatory eyes on his lands. Forbidden love becomes a spark that ignites a war. Ulfrik defends his home from greedy and opportunistic antagonists, all while an old enemy closes a trap on him that could destroy everything and everyone he loves.

Yup, I went for the high drama. I’ve planned a lot of fighting scenes and plentiful violence. I love Viking violence! But the story is solid, miles above what I had written before.  Cheer me on as I hammer this one out. Only 66,000 words to go!

Book Review: I am Ozzy

I am Ozzy by Ozzy Osbourne

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

As a long time fan of Ozzy, I was excited to find he had written an autobiography. Even if I’ve stopped following his recent activity, his music has been a constant in my life for at least thirty years. So I decided to read this book. I’d already heard so many of the stories, and remembered a lot of them from the news. So I didn’t expect too much.

I was wrong. This book is phenomenal. It is everything an autobiography should be. Ozzy starts from childhood and goes straight up to the writing of his memoirs. He leaves no detail out. It is one amazing ride. That Ozzy has lived to 64 years old is nothing short of miraculous, and he knows it. He’s done just about everything possible to get himself killed.

The writing in this book is top notch. It’s what you would expect if Ozzy came to your house, sat down, and started telling you about his life. His voice is captured so perfectly and vividly that I could hear him speaking in my head. Hat’s off to Ozzy’s ghost writer, Chris Ayres, for not only capturing the voice but also organizing the stories in logical yet dramatic order. I honestly couldn’t put this book down once I had picked it up.

The book did have its downsides. It dragged a bit around the two-thirds mark. By that time the pattern of drug-fueled freakout followed by waking up confused gets old. But then things pick up and the book flies to the finish. It’s a bluntly honest look at Ozzy’s life. I have more respect for him now than I ever did before. He’s still the Prince of Darkness, God of Metal. But he’s also a regular man who’s amazed at his luck… which he has in spades.

Go read this book, even if you don’t know who Ozzy is. You will love it.

View all my reviews

Using Google Earth for Writing Research

As I climb out of my 1980′s hole and discover things like “the Internet” I’ve stumbled upon a neat little research tool called Google Earth. I’ve actually heard a lot of things about Google Earth, mostly about how it invades privacy and shows pictures of you watering the spice garden while only wearing a thong. I used to consider it a fancy Mapquest or something to use when you’re lost. But there’s a lot of potential in this tool.

I’m writing the sequel to my sizzling hot historical novel, Fate’s Needle. This new book will be primarily set in the Faeroe Islands. Seeing how the furthest I travel these days is to the Wal-Mart on 83rd Avenue, I haven’t had a chance to scope out these islands.  However, Google Earth has changed all that for me.

It might be a little anti-climactic to say that I just downloaded the Google Earth tool and started poking around the Faeroe islands. But that’s what I did.  It’s a tremendous tool for visualizing places you’ve never visited, or couldn’t visit (or wouldn’t want to be caught visiting).  I located on the map where I wanted to place my Viking settlement. Then I zoomed down and started to rotate and move through the map. Suddenly it was not a flat picture but  a 3d landscape. I started to pick up details that I wouldn’t have thought of from looking at a map alone. For example, the mountains I had thought so prominent were not as intimidating from the lower elevations.

I was able to find other uses for Google Earth.  I have a scene in my book where one of the characters must travel to another part of the island. I wanted to know the distance involved in the journey. I could’ve just guessed at it. But this is historical fiction, and while I can’t know everything about my chosen period I can know simple things like distances. Besides knowing the distance and time involved is a key part of the story. Rather than just mapping a straight line, I was able to use a tool that let me draw a freehand line that meandered along the coast. So I was able to get a good idea of actual travel distance rather than a line between two points. It made a huge difference to a realistic portrayal of the trip.

There must be half a dozen other good ideas for Google Earth that I’m not thinking of yet. Seeing how the Faeroe Islands are rather empty, there’s not  a lot of detail. But check out a major city and there’s tons of info. You’ll have more detail than you know what to put into your scenes. (Do yourself a favor and only use 1/4 of what your research yields. Unique and characterful detail is all you need.)

Other creative fields are finding unique uses for Google Earth. The artist Bill Guffey uses street view to find interesting scenes to paint. I thought that was pretty cool. This is just more than a map, it’s really a window on the world.