C.M. Simpson's Blog, page 171

Just Released in Print-on-Demand - 'Anna and the Rock Dragons' and 2013 Short Story and Poetry, Vol. 2

Finally finalised the edits and release of Anna and the Rock Dragons as Carlie Simonsen (in large print), and also found and finished C.M. Simpson: Short Stories and Poems from 2013, Vol. 2 (The Year Just Gone) .

Both are currently available for order from the CreateSpace bookstore, and will appear on Amazon shortly as print-on-demand.

Very excited!

Books Read in March 2015

Seriously, it's amazing what you can read if you take five minutes here or there, read a page, read a chapter. Here's what got read this month... okay, to be fair, I did start the Phelan towards the end of February, but he's in good company.

Goals set in April 2015

Establish a routine.
Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Well, it isn’t. I’ve spent the last three months trying to establish a routine and completely failing… and I’m not used to failing. So, at the beginning of this month, I sat down and tried to set up a writing schedule. Thus far, I have failed spectacularly, but I’m going to try again… and again… and eventually I’ll find a routine that helps me achieve what I need to.
Part of that routine is to read blogs, so just as I came to this decision, I found this blog by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, talking about routine. Routine is important. I’ll let you know how you go. In the meantime, I’ve got to get back to the backlog.

On Award Debates, Publishing Choices and Writing Solitary

I don’t usually write posts like this, but there’s been this debate raging over the Hugos, the manipulation of how entries are voted in (not illegal, and not really out of the spirit or somesuch), the valuations placed on literary over entertainment works, on those written by the young, the gendered or transgendered, the white or the not-white, the female or the male or the whatever—and it’s gotten a lot of people, writers and non-writers, all bent out of shape. To be honest, I don’t know how to feel about it, but it is having an adverse effect on some writers, who find it diminishes the enjoyment they have in their craft, and that actually does bother me. So, it got me thinking—why do I only feel sad? Why am I not outraged? Why don’t I want to get an opinion out there and defend it to the max? Why am I afraid at the thought of being nominated as opposed to never being nominated?
And I realised that it’s because awards are nice, and amazing and all that, but that they’re not worth an entire community going at each other’s throats, not worth readers having their favourite tales being devaluated, not worth writers being made to feel bad about something they love. It’s being able to write that matters most, and being able to find stories I want to read in a field of stories that represent tastes and styles from all over.While thinking on this, I found I had to acknowledge that I have doubts about what awards really mean when they cannot possibly represent a balanced selection of all the stories out there, that all awards, no matter how thorough and fair they try to be, have a very good chance of missing a story that someone, somewhere, will feel is better than those nominated or those that finally win.And that made me realise that writing is subjective. That readers are like art connoisseurs—they like different things. What one reader considers pure art, the best possible way to while away a few hours of their lives, another will abhor and declare the biggest waste of ink, paper and an editor’s time in publishing history, as well as noting the minutes or hours they’re never going to get back. And that goes for stories that are fortunate enough to be nominated for awards, as well as those that aren’t.All of which made me realise just how much the debate over the Hugos’ entries is like the debate currently raging over independent versus traditional versus hybrid publishing, and the way independent authors are discriminated against by authors who have decided to solely tread the traditional path, or the way those choosers of a traditional path are pitied or looked down on by independent authors, or the way some readers won’t touch an indie, but buy anything approved by a publisher… or vice versa.And it’s sad, folks, because the only person qualified to judge whether or not a story is any good is the person who takes a chance and reads it—and maybe the person who has read it, and who knows there’s a chance someone they know will like it. Those are the people whose approval we should be competing for. They don’t have to abide by the strictures of a publishing schedule and perceived market, and they don’t have to worry about restricting entry to their reader by genre or publishing type, or whatever. They just worry about what they like.Those are the folks we write for—and not all of them are going to like what we write, or even all of what we write. Let’s not upset them with politicised opinions; that’s not what they want from us. What they want from us as writers—ALL they want—is another story that they’re going to enjoy.And that’s all I want to do—write a story and get it somewhere where a reader might find and enjoy it. Since I don’t like some of the aspects of traditional publishing, I go indie—and am judged for it, not by the readers, but by a writing community I will never fully be part of; and since there are aspects of awards that make me wonder, I have noticed I enter those less often than before, as well—and that is not a reflection on the quality or value of the award.Is that sad? Not really. You see, I still have readers who like what I write, I still get to hang out with writers who don’t really care that I choose to publish independently—that’s a community I *am* a part of—and I still get to write what I want to write, and that’s really all that matters.No matter how popular a writer is, when they sit down to write they’re on their own, adventuring with characters they discover they don’t know half as well as they thought they did, in worlds that can still surprise them. Whatever flavour a story turns out to be, it isn’t going to appeal to everyone, but someone out there will love it, whether it is nominated for an award or not.

Anna Cover so Far...

So, I wasn't completely happy with the cover for Anna and the Rock Dragons, and I tweaked it some more. It's better, but I'll think about it.

Progress Report: Week 1, April 2015

The Mid-Term Study Break started today. You know why it’s called a Study Break? Because it’s the break you study in to pass the assessments due straight after. So, I get to sneak in a bit of writing and a truckload of editing and publishing and study like crazy. Next semester won’t be so bad… maybe… It all depends what I want to cut, and then what I add in.
OverviewNew words produced: 2,128Old words revised: 0Works completed: 0Works revised: 0Covers created: 0Works published: 0Works submitted: 0Competitions Entered: 0Bloggery: 141Publishing TasksCreated 1 blog posts for this blog—not posted;Continued edit on Anna and the Rock Dragons

New Arrivals
Nil

Progress Report: Weeks 3-4, March 2015

Well, dayum. Not a lot got done during this period, because I was studying. And I did not reach the 31,000 words I wanted to reach in March. On the upside, I’m only about 2,000 words short of where I want to be at the end of August.
 
Overview
New words produced: 3,902Old words revised: 0Works completed: 0Works revised: 0Covers created: 0Works published: 0Works submitted: 0Competitions Entered: 0Bloggery: 167
Publishing Tasks
Created 1 blog posts for this blog;Continued edits for Anna and the Rock Dragons

New Arrivals
I had a few ideas quickly jotted down. These will be put into the computer and recorded as they are finished. In the meantime, here’s one more:

ShortStory424—Volevin and the Assassin: about a man’s meeting with an assassin.

Progress Report: Weeks 1-2, March 2015

Two exams and the first part of a group assignment—done. New words—very few done. Edits on Anna and the Rock Dragons —almost done. Convention—not done. Revised words—not done.
Swording—not done. Still haven’t got the timetabling right. We’ll try again, this week.
New goal—try and write the new ideas in the same year they are spawned… Big ask.

OverviewNew words produced: 1,490Old words revised: 0Works completed: 0Works revised: 0Covers created: 0Works published: 0Works submitted: 0Competitions Entered: 0Bloggery: 0 Publishing TasksTweenNovel2A—Anna and the Rock Dragons: edited and formatted in large print for CreateSpace Print-on-Demand.
New ArrivalsThe following new ideas arrived last week:
Chapbook8C—Running with the Pack Book 3: Puppies.Chapbook29A—Princess Anastacia Book 1: The first of the Princess Anastacia stories.Chapbook30A—Dalgliesh Book 1: Introduces Daniella Dalgliesh.Chapbook30B—Dalgliesh Book 2: Daniel has to rescue his sister.

Progress Report: Week 4 February, 2015

The week started well… and then I got a little sidetracked by study and such. Fancy letting my uni course take my writing time! Still getting the balance – but getting closer. Still, even given the slow wordage this week, I completed almost three times my word goal for the month, and I’ve just about reached August’s word target for the year. So, not bad so far. Now I just have to get things balanced on the publishing side of things so people can read it.
OverviewNew words produced: 2,578Old words revised: 12,403Works completed: 0Works revised: 0Covers created: 0Works published: 0Works submitted: 0Competitions Entered: 0Bloggery: 0Publishing TasksNilNew ArrivalsNil

Blogs Read in February 2015

There weren't a lot of these, this month.

Writing Bits:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nicola-kraus/5-things-published-author_b_6707086.html: about basic writing procedures and processes
Research Bits:http://io9.com/10-worst-misconceptions-about-medieval-life-youd-get-fr-168679998: about misconceptions in fantasy work versus the reality of medieval life.