C.M. Simpson's Blog, page 172

Covers Created in February 2015

Only one cover created in February, although another is now on its way. This month's cover was for Carlie Simonsen's, first young adult fantasy novel, Anna and the Rock Dragons .

EBook Edition Cover for Anna and the Rock Dragons

When Anna heads out to her family’s country cottage for the holidays, she has no idea what lies in store. Chosen as the Key Bearer and Door Finder for a race of exiled, Anna soon finds herself in a race against a mining magnate set to make his fortunes by turning the dragons into crystal, and being hunted by a nightmare from local legend. Will she survive long enough to find both key and door in time to help the dragons escape, and then live to tell the tale?

CreateSpace Large Print-on-Demand Edition Cover CreateSpace Normal Print-on-Demand Edition Cover

Titles Released February 2015

I didn't release any new titles in February, but I did release a January title, Basofi's Choosing , onto a new platform: Amazon-Kindle.




There comes a time when a young person has to decide which path they’re going to take. There comes a time when conflicting tides of family influence break against the shores of the future and the first step towards independence must be taken. Basofi has reached that time, but will his family support his decision, or will his choice tear them apart?
Basofi’s Choosing is set in the same world and features some of the characters from Palmyra’s Ridge.

Books Read in February 2015

Before university started, I finished reading two novels. I’m currently reading a collection of short stories by Bruce Stirling, but I’m not sure I’ll get through it before the month is out. I’ll update this post if I do, otherwise look for it next month.
In the meantime, I read my first Chuck Wendig, and my not-so-first Matthew Reilly.  

New Cover: Anna and the Rock Dragons as Carlie Simonsen

I have a cover for Carlie’s first young adult fantasy novel, Anna and the Rock Dragons . Here it is:
  EBook Edition Cover for Anna and the Rock DragonsWhen Anna heads out to her family’s country cottage for the holidays, she has no idea what lies in store. Chosen as the Key Bearer and Door Finder for a race of exiled, Anna soon finds herself in a race against a mining magnate set to make his fortunes by turning the dragons into crystal, and being hunted by a nightmare from local legend. Will she survive long enough to find both key and door in time to help the dragons escape, and then live to tell the tale?Oh, and there will be print-on-demand editions from CreateSpace. Their covers look like this: 
CreateSpace Large Print Edition Cover CreateSpace Normal Print Edition Cover




 

Writing Fitness Revisited

So, way back when, I did this post on gardening and how it was very good for your fitness. I stand by that, but I want to add a caveat and change my mind about a few things. Gardening is great, but it does require a certain base level of fitness.
For example, my gardening has looked like this over the last two months:Days1-3:·         prune 1-2 metres squared of bush·         weed 1 square metre of garden using weeder and handsDays 4-7·         sore back, restingDays 8-10·         walk for a half hour once or twice a day.Days 11+Not sure what happened when. I did a few days walking, interspersed by resting and, in the new year, I braved the garden again. I composted—and I’ll blog on that another time. I then headed out with a garden fork and took to about three-square metres of weed-ridden clay-riddled soil, completely forgetting to take before and after shots. By the end of that, the soil was turned, I’d forked through two 60-litre garbage bins of mulchy compost and had pain high in my back, at the neck-line. So, again, I rested and did some walking.Two weeks later, I dug out two two-foot square x 1.5 feet deep holes and planted a lime tree and a lemon tree.A week after that, I planted out two small bromeliads, three lavenders (two cuttings and a transplant) and a herb basket that was going tatty. It wasn’t exactly where I wanted to put the sage, but it was plant them or lose them, and they’ll provide contrast for the broms and the irises.And this week, I bought a blood orange, two ‘flame’ daisy plants, a woolly bush and some pretty little flowery things for colour. I also went to sword training, and discovered that there are some muscle groups the gardening doesn’t cover as well as the sword (biceps, for example).I planted the blood orange a week after that, but the woolly bush and the flame daisies are still waiting, as the shoulder injury I sustained from pitchforking the first patch of garden is still making digging difficult.And that’s where I am heading into Month 4 of Gardening/Here are a couple of pictures before I do any more.





















Fitness value? Still number one from the point of view of overall muscle work-out, and definitely number one in value for time and money spent. My garden is a far cry from the jungle of rose-thorns, dead grass and overgrown lavenders that I inherited—but it has a long way to go.Note, also, walking is essential. Even on days when you garden, a little bit of purely aerobic exercise is good, and as a way of clearing your head and loosening up sore muscles I think it’s difficult to beat.

Progress Report: Week 3, February 2015

Well, another busy week, but a good one. I still have pain high in my shoulders, but I’m hopeful it will subside with some stretching, cold packs and Radox soaks. If not, I’ll go chase a physio. Beyond that, all is well. I have managed to produce words each day, and to catch up on my bloggery now that I have internet back. And the good news on that front is that we are changing providers so, hopefully, the internet worries will become a thing of the past. Two highlights this week: I finished the novel Freeman’s Choice AND I finalised the cover for Carlie Simonsen’s Anna and the Rock Dragons. Roll on the editing! In summary:
OverviewNew words produced: 6,002Old words revised:3,866Works completed: 1 (fantasy novel)Works revised: 0Covers created: 1 (in five formats)Works published: 0Works submitted: 0Competitions Entered: 0Bloggery: 4,776Tier 1 TasksSciFiNovel1A—Freeman’s Choice: added 6,002 words.TweenNovel2A—Anna and the Rock Dragons: cover completed.


Publishing TasksCreated 8 blog posts for this blog;Created 2 blog post for the C.M. Simpson Publishing blog;Created 10 blog post for the C.M. Simpson Art and Photography blog;New Arrivals
The following poems arrived last week:
Nil

 

Progress Report: Week 2, February 2015

Another week disrupted by admin and injury. I need to work on a set writing time to ensure the writing gets done, although I have to admit the latest cover is a little more complex than I anticipated and I spent over twenty hours on that this week. The base art is done, but the digital clean-up is on-going. Once that is over, it won’t take long to have the cover ready. University classes start this week.
OverviewNew words produced: 2,050Old words revised: 0Works completed: 0Works revised: 0Covers created: 0 (cover art in progress)Works published: 0Works submitted: 0Competitions Entered: 0Bloggery: 0Tier 1 TasksSciFiNovel1A—Freeman’s Choice: added 1,872 words.Publishing TasksNilNew Arrivals
The following ideas arrived last week:
Novella27ASteampunk8A

Progress Report: Week 1, February 2015

Study and administration chewed a lot of time this week, but I still managed to get a fair bit done, as follows:
OverviewNew words produced: 3,720Old words revised: 30,762Competitions Entered: 2Bloggery: 635Tier 1 TasksAnnual1—365 Days of Zombies: Revised 30,762 words, added 2,155 wordsSciFiNovel1A—Freeman’s Choice: added 1,565 words.Publishing TasksAcademicEssay3—Basofi’s Choosing: uploaded to AmazonCreated 2 blog posts for this blog;Created 0 blog post for the C.M. Simpson Publishing blog;Created 0 blog post for the C.M. Simpson Art and Photography blog;New Arrivals
Nil

Progress Report: Week 5, January 2015

Another busy week, getting the back-to-school tasks completed and tidying up the last of last year’s publishing schedule. What happened to January? I feel like I’ve blinked and missed it. Still, February rolls on and we must roll with it. A busy month coming up, with the back to university routine to cover and more writing to complete—I’m very much looking forward to it.
 
Overview
New words produced: 2,800Old words revised: 9,141Works completed: 4 (all for inclusion in a larger work)Works revised: 0Covers created: 0Works published: 1 (on one platform)Works submitted: 0Competitions Entered: 1Bloggery: 3,542
Tier 1 Tasks
SciFiNovel1A—Freeman’s Choice: added 2,282 words, formatted, covered, uploaded.
Publishing Tasks
Created 4 blog posts for this blog;Created 1 blog post for the C.M. Simpson Publishing blog;Created 0 blog post for the C.M. Simpson Art and Photography blog;Uploaded Basofi's Choosing to DriveThruFiction
   New Arrivals
The following poems arrived last week:

Poem482 (Precursor to a Hangover): a poem about the need to sleep;Poem483 (Wizard’s Prey): a fantasy poem about being hunted by a wizard;Poem484 (Dragon’s Capture): a fantasy poem about being captured by a dragon;

Blogs Read: January 2015

Writing and Publishing Advicehttp://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/2014/12/16/what-are-the-real-odds-of-being-a-successful-author/http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/2014/12/08/time-is-precious-are-we-investing-wisely/http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/2014/12/05/can-being-tired-make-us-better-writers/http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/2014/12/01/why-are-we-writers-understanding-the-why-behind-the-buy/http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/2014/11/27/a-writers-guide-to-surviving-the-holiday-party/http://writeyourassoff.blogspot.com.au/2014/12/weak-words.htmlhttp://www.deanwesleysmith.com/writing-in-public-year-2-month-6-day-17/ - on the question of an ARC workshop and ARC in promotionshttp://www.deanwesleysmith.com/writing-in-public-year-2-month-6-day-16/ - on the value of publishing collections http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/writing-in-public-year-2-month-6-day-15/ - on 'depth' of writing, setting and so forthhttp://www.deanwesleysmith.com/writing-in-public-year-2-month-6-day-12/ - on figuring out 'return of investment' in writing time.http://kriswrites.com/2015/01/14/business-musings-the-rise-of-the-backlist/ - some very solid advice on how to look after your backlist, regardless of whether or not you're a traditionally published writer, or if you're an independently published writer.http://kriswrites.com/2015/01/07/business-musings-churning-it-out/ - about the importance of writing and of respecting the writing no matter how fast a particular writer produces work;http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2015/01/16/reminder-in-publishing-there-is-no-debate/ - a call for a balanced view and tolerance on indie and traditional publishing options;http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2015/01/13/delilah-s-dawson-25-writing-hacks-from-a-hack-writer/ - some helpful tips and advice for writers new and oldhttps://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/2015/01/16/marketing-social-media-book-signings-why-none-of-these-directly-impact-book-sales/ - promotion, social media and book saleshttp://www.dianapeterfreund.com/how-i-write-what-i-write/ - about Diana Peterfreund's experiences as a writerhttp://kriswrites.com/2015/01/21/business-musings-traditional-numbers/ - wow, this one on sales figures between traditional and e-book publishing as well as audits of books sold... just wowhttps://writeitforward.wordpress.com/2015/01/21/black-witch-of-mexico-by-colin_falconer/http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2015/01/26/on-the-subject-of-awards/ - thoughts on awards by Chuck Wendig
Writing Eventshttp://www.australianromancereaders.com.au/ARRCrego.htmlhttp://www.deanwesleysmith.com/january-online-workshops-2/ - all very drool worthy. I shall be saving writing pennies for these.
Writing Achievementshttp://kriswrites.com/2015/01/06/a-new-urban-fantasy-story/ - on a new short story and a little of her history in writing in the fantasy genre;http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2015/01/15/douglass-wynne-five-things-i-learned-writing-red-equinox/ - about the journey of writing Red Equinoxhttp://pippajay.blogspot.com.au/2015/...
Writing Challengeshttp://terribleminds.com/ramble/2015/01/09/flash-fiction-challenge-who-the-fuck-is-my-dd-character/ - randomly generate a D&D character and write a 1,000-word story about suchhttp://terribleminds.com/ramble/2015/01/16/flash-fiction-challenge-its-x-meets-y/ - pick two elements and write a storyhttp://terribleminds.com/ramble/2015/01/23/flash-fiction-challenge-must-contain-three-things/
Writer Viewshttp://www.wilbursmithbooks.com/news/podcast-50-years-of-writing - from Wilbur Smith on his years spent as a writer http://lovecraftianhorror.blogspot.com.au/2014/12/up-tight-outtasite.html - about one writer's love of Lovecraftian fiction in spite of Lovecraft's not-so-nice outlook on life.