C.M. Simpson's Blog, page 193

PDF – C.M. Simpson: First Chapters, First Pages and Free Reads from 2013

Last year was a pretty hectic one for me, between releasing older work and ceating new short stories and free reads. Here is a collation of the first chapters, first pages and free reads from 2013:



And HERE is where you can download the PDF.

Australian Birds - More Magpies

Magpies are handsome birds, looking very dapper in their shiny black and white plumage, but their babies tend to look like they've been through the wash one too many times, even in nice weather.

The parent is in the background, and its much greyer looking child is in the foreground.


The youngster follows mum or dad around, learning to hunt.


It's not as easy as it looks, but magpies use their keen sight...


... and good hearing to help them.




And sometimes they meet with success.


All under their parents' very watchful eyes.


And when it's time to go, it's time to go.

Fildenstar - Because they are worth a mention of their own

Way back in 2012, I went to Conflux, a science fiction convention in Canberra... and this was where I first saw Fildenstar performing. I have not forgotten them, and wanted to share something of them here.

Here is a YouTube clip of one of my favourite songs of theirs:



You can find more of Fildenstar'sYouTube clips HERE.

And HERE IS WHERE YOU CAN FIND THEIR WEBSITE online.

They will be performing at the Aurealis Awards in Canberra on April 5, 2014. If you're in the A.C.T. at that time, go and check them out.

Curious about embedding a video from YouTube?

Blogger has some excellent advice HERE.

I'd love to know what you think of the Fildenstar's music, and if you've heard anything else of theirs that you particularly like.

PDF - C.M. Simpson: First Chapters, First Pages and Free Reads from 2012

Here is my first experiment with uploading files to Blogger. I have collated all the first chapters, first pages, and free reads of work published in 2012 into a PDF file, and connected it below. The links to locations outside the document work fine, but the internal links do not.



In order to be able to read the content more comfortably, just click on the little arrow thingy in the top-left corner of the box. This will close the navigation bar, and allow you to read the excerpts and stories more easily. If you centre the slide bar, you should be able to see most of the page width.

Please let me know how you find viewing this embedded PDF in the comments boxes below.

I was going to write a step-by-step post on this process, but I have found that some excellent posts already exist. On January 6, 2014, I posted a collection of first chapters, first pages and free reads of work published in 2012 as an embedded PDF file.

To achieve this, I followed the clear instructions provided by Jason on his blog Jasonisms. You can find his post on embedding PDFs HERE. If you're not one for reading, Jason has also provided a video at the same link.

Using slightly different instructions from The Tech Zone blog, I changed the 'share' settings to public.


Also, in the comments on The Tech Zone blog, Dark UFO describes how to get the link so that people can download the file. The process is a little different, with the link being in the sharing settings - and I was unable to find the 'Publish to the Web' option Dark UFO described, so I think the process might have changed slightly... or I am not so very good at this, and have completely missed the option Dark UFO describes. One or the other.

Here is the LINK TO DOWNLOAD THIS FILE.

Please let me know if it works.

Other resources include:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KBEhdDzHyQ: a handy video that uses scribd instead of Google Docs.
http://www.mybloggerlab.com/2013/03/how-to-embed-pdf-and-other-documents-in-blogger-posts.html: is a very clearly written set of directions on embedding documents. I almost wish I'd read this post first, but the post from Jason is almost the same.

Progress Report - Week 1 January 2014

Last-week-first-week. Last week of the old year, last week of the break—First week back at work, first week of the new year. Auspicious? I’m not sure, but writing was done and routines are being rejinked. Preparations are being made to ensure the release schedule runs to time. Blog is updated, old projects cleared and new projects prepped. This year is ticking along, okay. Let’s see how it continues.OverviewNew words produced: 3,668Old words revised: 3,586Works completed: 0Works revised: 0Covers created: 0 (1-3 variations)Works published: 0 (2-3 release platforms)Works submitted: 0Competitions Entered: 0
Tier 1 Tasks
Annual 13: Added 1,635 words

Annual 14: Added 2,245 words 

Extra Tasks
Annual12A—C.M. Simpson: Short Stories and Poems from 2013; Vol.1:CompiledAnnual12A—C.M. Simpson: Short Stories and Poems from 2013; Vol.2:CompiledAnnual12A—C.M. Simpson: Short Stories and Poems from 2013; Vol.3:CompiledAnthology7—An Anthology of Blades: Compiled and formatted
Publishing Tasks
Created 12 blog posts for this blog;Created 11 blog posts for the C.M. Simpson Publishing blog;Updated my about.me page
New ArrivalsThe following ideas arrived this week:

Poem258—A New Year Dawning: a poem about the new yearPoem259—Fires in the Medilo: a poem about swamp fire in a science fiction setting.Poem260—After the Fire: a poem about the aftermath of fire.Poem261—Don’t Wake the Dawn Birds: a science fiction poem about a species that might yet bePoem262—Salvation and Firelight: a science fiction poem about retaking a town.Poem263—Year’s End, Year’s Beginning: a poem about the turning of the year.Poem264—The Researcher’s Lament: a poem about the demise of a researcher.Poem265—The Summoner Pays: a poem about the price of sorcery.Poem266—Metamorphosis of a Space Explorer: a poem about a space explorerShortStory172—The Urban Investigation: an urban fantasy flash fiction with a touch of noir.ShortStory173—Street-Side Reunion: an urban fantasy about a reunion between two sisters.ShortStory174—Icecream and Pixie Dust:an urban flash fiction set in the pixie-dust world – with an icecream van!ShortStory175—Smokestack Aftermath: an urban flash fiction fantasy about what happens when normal plants are affected by not-so-normal toxinsShortStory176—Pixie Repatriation: an urban flash fiction fantasy about repatriating pixiesShortStory177—When Medilo Swamp Walks: a piece of flash science fiction about Medilo swampShortStory178—Surface Neutrality: a piece of speculative flash fiction about bladerunners.ShortStory179—Oceanic Allies: a piece of speculative flash fiction about ocean-based enemies and alliesShortStory180—The Sorceress of Medilo: a piece of flash science fiction about a sorceress in Medilo SwampYANovel16A: About a girl’s attempts to save her scientist mother and discover the fate of her scientist father.

The following idea was recovered from hand-written files and assigned a number. It is undergoing an extensive rewrite.
YANovel17A—Orb Wielder: A girl buys an orb at a market and adventure begins.

Risks Associated with the use of Social Media - An Assignment

I had to do a short assignment on three issues associated with social media. And I found some of the different reports I found kinda interesting, so I thought I'd share them in case they were interesting to any of you. Of all the issues that are associated with social networking, these are the three that sprang to mind: Issue 1 - PrivacyRecently, the advice given on one of the writing lists I subscribe was that writers using Facebook should lock down their friends lists in order to protect the networks of friends and their families. This was as a result of romance writers being targeted by someone with strict moral beliefs who disagreed with what they wrote about. This person used the writers' friends lists to target other writers. This is not an isolated incident. There are numerous cases of writers (and not just romance writers) being stalked.
One article about readers stalking writers states that incidents of writers being stalked or harassed are becoming more common “partly because the internet gives disturbed readers another, potentially unmediated way of connecting with them” (http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2013/jul/12/when-readers-become-stalkers). Another article by Graham Cluley talks about how social media enables stalkers and points out that “stalkers will not only stalk the primary victim, but also those around the victim” (http://grahamcluley.com/2013/09/internet-mobile-social-networks-stalking/). In the world of social media, it is important to protect your privacy by being aware of what you post, what you comment on, and what you leave open for perusal by others. On the internet, nothing is private. Issue 2 - Accuracy of Reporting ... or Don’t Believe Everything you Read on the InternetThere are a number of reasons you shouldn’t believe everything you read on social media or networking sites:1.     Email Scams:http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0779132.html- not necessarily social media, but if you’re a member of a list it could be relevant;2.     Pressure on Bloggers to Produce: http://www.cracked.com/blog/6-reasons-you-really-cant-believe-anything-you-read-online/- and that’s only one of six reasons this guy gives for not believing internet information;3.     Hoax Stories: http://theweek.com/article/index/253388/friendly-reminder-dont-believe-everything-you-read-on-the-internet;4.     Dubious Shares and Social Manipulation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bd3Dmeocmrw– a vlog by Barnacules Nerdgasm.Issue 3 - RiskClosely linked to the privacy concerns above, is the issue of risk. Being part of the social media world makes you more visible to the world at large. Some of the risks include:
1.     Being Stalked: a.     Whether it’s a writer being stalked by a reader (http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2013/jul/12/when-readers-become-stalkers), b.    an editor being stalked by a rejected writer (http://articles.latimes.com/2012/sep/14/news/la-jc-literary-agent-assault-twitter-20120914), c.     a jilted lover, ex-, or a complete stranger doing the stalking (http://grahamcluley.com/2013/09/internet-mobile-social-networks-stalking/).People are made vulnerable to attack by the information they post on the internet, through no real fault of their own. And stalking isn’t the only risk.2.     Thieves use Facebook to burglarise homes:a.     http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/world-our-backyard/2013/feb/4/burglars-using-facebook-pick-and-case-homes/;b.    http://www.businessinsider.com.au/burglars-already-using-facebook-places-to-learn-when-its-safe-to-rob-your-home-2010-9;c.     http://techcrunch.com/2010/09/10/facebook-places-please-rob-me/;d.    http://blog.gcflearnfree.org/2011/06/28/inviting-thieves-to-rob-your-house/;e.     http://allfacebook.com/facebook-status-burglary_b12848;3.     Thieves use social media as a resource for stealing identities:a.     http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2011/11/01/identity-theft-times-are-changin/;b.    http://rt.com/usa/facebook-users-risk-identity-theft-575/;c.     http://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/if-youre-not-careful-you-could-be-the-next-victim-of-identity-fraud-on-facebook/;d.    http://money.msn.com/identity-theft/how-thieves-will-steal-your-identity-weston.aspx;e.     http://studentmoneyskills.bankofamerica.com/article/view.asp?articleID=41.
NOTE: Up to 10% of victims of identity theft had their personal details obtained via the internet and/or email in 2010-2011 (Australian Bureau of Statistics)
As part of the assignment, I had to say what I thought about all this. And I had trouble defining what I felt, because everything above is really just part of the hazards of life. We use social media as a tool, or a form of recreation and it has its downside. By being aware of that downside, we can better minimise the trouble we can get into, and that's all we can really hope to do in any aspect of life that has inherent risk - driving a car, going for long walks, shopping, visiting a new country or place, or going for a bushwalk. There are horror stories from all these activities, and there are ways to minimise the dangers faced while undertaking them. Being aware such risks exist is only the first step.

How to Add the Facebook 'Like' Button to Blogger

I had a bit of trouble working out how to add the Facebook 'Like' button to the side of my Blogger page, so I figure I'm not the only one. Here's how I managed to add the Facebook 'Like' and 'Share' buttons to my Blogger blog. (These are the buttons on the right-hand side of the blog, not the one under each post.)


Before you begin, you will need to log into your Facebook and Blogger accounts. If you do not have Facebook and Blogger accounts, you will need to sign up for them, and then log in.
      Prepare to add the Facebook widget to Bloggera.       Go to your blogb.      Click on the ‘Template’ option in the left-hand side column. It is about two from the bottom.
     Find the ‘Badges’ page on Facebook.a.       Go to your personal page, not your wall, by clicking on your name at the top right of your Facebook page.b.      Click on the ‘About’ tab.c.       Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on ‘Help’. (Do not try scrolling to the bottom of your wall for this as Facebook tends to keep adding more news items before you can click the button. It’s very frustrating.)d.      Type 'badges' in the search bar at the top of the page.e.      Click on the drop down item “Badge”, and then click ‘Learn more’ in the text that appears.f.        Select the ‘Get our social plugins (Like button, Activity Feed) here’ option in the blue bar under the pictures of the other options NOT the 'Like badges' option with the picture.      Prepare the Facebook widget for adding to Blogger.a.       Click on either the ‘Like button’ heading or the Like symbol beside it.b.      Select the text in the ‘URL to Like’ box and delete it.c.       Insert the URL for your blog in the ‘URL to Like’ box.d.      Check that the ‘Include Share Button’ option is ticked.e.      Check that the ‘Show Friends’ Faces’ is ticked if you would like faces shown, or unticked if you would not.f.        Click on the ‘Get Code’ button.g.       A pop-up titled ‘Your Plugin Code’ will appear. It has two sets of code in it. The code in the top box needs to be added to the html of your Blogger page. The code in the bottom box needs to be added to the widget box.
   
    Add the Facebook widget to Bloggera.       Go to your Blogger Template page.b.      Under the ‘Live on Blog’ picture, you will see two buttons: ‘Customize’ and ‘Edit HTML’. Click on ‘Edit HTML’.c.       Copy the code in the top box of ‘Your Plugin Code’ provided by Facebook.d.      Scroll down the html on the Blogger Template page until you find the word ‘body’. You will notice the little arrow to the left of the word ‘body’. This is the start of the body command. Look along the line that starts with ‘body’ until you come to an arrow that points the other way. The arrows are like brackets. You must not add anything between them. When you get to the arrow pointing the other way, the bracket is closed. Place your cursor after that arrow and then paste in the code from Facebook.e.      Click on ‘Save Template’ at the top of the page.f.        Go to the Facebook code and copy the code from the bottom box.g.       Return to Blogger and click on the Layout button on the left-hand side of the page.h.      Click on an empty box that says ‘Add a Gadget’.i.         In the pop-up box scroll down until you reach the ‘HTML/JavaScript’ option. Click on the HTML/JavaScript option. A pop-up will appear.j.        In the title box type ‘Like’ or something similar to identify the widget you are adding.k.       In the content box paste the Facebook code you have copied from the bottom box.l.         Click on ‘Save’.m.    Look at your gadgets to make sure you now have a box labelled ‘Like’ (or whatever you titled your new gadget).n.      Click on ‘Save arrangement’ in the top right-hand corner.o.      Choose ‘View blog’ to see what your changes look like.p.      If you want to move the ‘Like’ button return to the Layout page and click on and drag the box to a new place until you are happy with how your blog looks. 

NOTE: I did have some screenshots prepared to go with this post, and then I worried about what copyrights I might be violating, so I left them out. I hope you find this post helpful.

Useful Writer Links, Stuff Coming Up, and Project Sneak Peek - When Medilo Swamp Walks

So, I didn't know what I wanted to write for this year. There are writers with more writing world experience doing predictions and giving New Year's Resolutions, and I'm not into the resolution thing - goals, yes; resolutions, not so much.

Useful Writer Links
Artist Svenja Liv, puts out a set of word trackers each year (also a set of NaNoWriMo word trackers). I like these because they help keep me on track. You can find them HERE, and should check out the rest of Svenja's site, too - especially if you like art.

And, if I had to choose three blogs to follow, these would be the ones:

Chuck Wendig's Terribleminds Blog: bookmark it. It's irreverent, direct and straight to the point. A bit of no-nonsense in this nonsensically wonderful world of words is to be appreciated.The Passive Voice: for industry news and other stuff. Another one to bookmark.Kristine Kathryn Rusch: for commonsense, inspiration and encouragement. Bookmark this, also.Stuff Coming Up
Free Read PDFs

Since I discovered how to embed PDFs, as part of an IT course, I've been working on the PDFs for all the free reads, first chapters and so forth for each year. Of course, C.M. Simpson Publishing caught wind of this (not surprisingly) and asked if I'd do a PDF for each writer.

Freeman's Choice

This science fiction-fantasy novel should be released in the first half of the year.

Anthologies

There are three anthology-type works slated for release this year, including An Anthology of Blades (first quarter), a flash fiction collection (3rd quarter) and a poetry collection (4th quarter).

Annual Collections

I'm debating on whether or not I want to release the usual collection of works released or completed in 2013. Firstly, because it's expensive, and secondly, because this year it will be two volumes of expensive. Stay tuned.

As Madeleine

One more contemporary romance in the first quarter, with the possibility of a second in the third quarter.

As Carlie

I will be trying to put out at least two more titles in the Wheelchair and Rocky series. I'm still researching for the Teacher's Notes for each series.

Covers

More covers coming.

Free Reads

These will consist of similar fodder to last year, but I might add in some poetry this year, as well.

Adventure Edition

Will continue, but progress will be slower. There will also be PDFs made available for download as each Act is completed. First, however, I have to check out the rules updates and make sure the adventures match.
Project Sneak Peak
This, I wrote this morning. It's a short science fiction piece. Enjoy, and may you have fair winds and fortune, all this new year.





When Medilo Swamp Walks

Written on January 1, 2014, for 365 Days of Flash Fiction, this piece is a celebration of beginnings… and endings, fitting for the first day of the year.

Living on the edge of Medilo Swamp is perilous, they say, but I find it hard to believe. Hard to believe they’re going to abandon an entire planet because of one, albeit very large, piece of undesirable real estate. It’s not the swamp itself, they tell me, but the creatures within—the will’o’wisps, stingers, blood birds and lily dragons. Lily dragons sound more beautiful than dangerous—or so I thought until the night the swamp walked.Once every five decades, the three moons reach conjunction in their fullest lunar phase. Just once, but it is enough. The colonists’ research team had been at the height of excitement for the last month, tuning instruments, preparing diaries, recording everything that moved, breathed, grew, recording the fullness of swamp water and the changes in its composition as the lunar drag pulled new compounds from below. And that night, that glorious, terrifying night, the swamp walked.Its waters sparkled like mercury touched with amber, reflecting the lights of a dozen will’o’wisps, highlighting the petals of several restlessly moving swarms of water blooms, making the gathered reed stems shiver. At first, we did not notice the swamp, because on the lowland plains between the village and the swamp edge, the floating cactili were coming into bloom, their scent and savour drawing creatures from the hills around us, and bringing birds flocking to perch until every rooftop, washing line, observation post, defensive wall was decorated in balls of multi-coloured plumage—like Christmas with feathers.Predators came, too. High above the flocks and herds, soared birds of prey. Settling onto rocks in a kind of truce came the smaller flying lizards. Prowling to the very edge of the cactili fields came the great cats, and the silent mountain wolves. All eyes were on the cactili pods, but not one creature ventured among them.The scientists, for once, took their cue from nature, and their orders from the security team. There were too many predators about, and advanced medical support was too far away to save anyone’s life. Death was a suitable deterrent.At dusk, the pods began to rise—and still nothing moved. The creatures tensed, yes, but they did not move from their places. The water-based male pods surfaced first, shooting swiftly into the sky, reaching heights of four to six metres, and then they opened their outer leaves, releasing the strong, sharp scent of cactili spice into the air.The beasts shifted restlessly in place. And then the land-based female pods lifted from the ground, their petals slowly unfurling, a softer scent curling out to mingle with the spice. Not a single creature moved, until most of the female pods had reached two metres and started to release gold and pink mist into the air. Spores, millions of them, slowly rising.The male pods exploded, throwing more spore high into the air. The rising female seed, would meet the slowly descending male seed, and germination would commence. The mass explosion was the signal the creatures were waiting for, and the herbivores surged forward in a rumble of hooves and skitter of paws and claws.They jostled further and further onto the stream-riddled plain, snatching at the slowly falling female pods, and bending their necks to seek out the cactili ground forage. The waiting flocks sprang from their perches in a thunderous roar of feathers, some to settle in the furthest reaches of the plains, and others to dive and swoop amidst the germinating spore.The predators gave the herds time to settle, and the flocks time to establish a feeding pattern. When they moved, so did the swamp, and that was when the settlers discovered just how dangerous and varied the creatures of Medilo truly were.The will’o’wisps hovered in clouds around downed herd beasts or struggling flyers. Blood birds took their meals from the diving, darting spore swallows, or settled in clouds over larger beasts to feed. Stingers flew or skittered across the water to engulf creatures of all sizes and leave skeletons behind. The reed beds showed themselves to be trolls and as carnivorous as any lion, and the dragons… the dragons had legs and could stalk the land as well as the swamp pools. Lilies are indeed beautiful, but none of us will ever view them as safe again.The feeding frenzy continued long after dusk had melted into night, and the infra-red equipment earned back its cost in harvested information. The surviving cactili spore descended at dawn, settling on soil enriched by blood and nutrient saturated water from the swamp. By that time, the survivors had retreated back to their ranges in the surrounding hills, and the creatures of Medilo had returned to their lairs within its borders. Although shaken, the Colonists’ Governance let us stay. Medilo, after all, had borders. 

Cover Created in December 2013

I didn't think I'd get any cover work done, but I found some time to get stuck into a project that I'd been wanting to do for the last six months, which was to rebadge one of my older fantasy novels, because it deserved better than my first effort.

New cover with new title and pictures for The Priestess, the Princess and the Dragon.
After that, I started lining up the projects I wanted to do next.

Progress Report: Week 4 December 2013

Busy week – even with no work. It was Christmas, and then there was writing, and assignments to do. It was a nice week.OverviewNew words produced: 7,718Old words revised: 19,191Works completed: 9 (9 shorter works to go into several longer works)Works revised: 2 (2 shorter works to go into 2 longer works)Covers created: 0 (1-3 variations)Works published: 0 (2-3 release platforms)Works submitted: 0Competitions Entered: 0Tier 1 Tasks
Annual13: added 494 words;Annual14: added 3,072 words;
Tier 3 Tasks
Novella2B: Added 5,526 words;Novella2B: Edited Chapters 1-7;
Publishing Tasks
Created 3 blog posts for this blog;
New ArrivalsThe following ideas arrived this week:

Poem254 (Equines of Auril): about different kinds of horses found on a colony worldPoem255 (Trolls in Summer Twilight): a poem about trolls in summerPoem256 (Who is that Masked Man): a poem about a superhero fatherPoem257 (Christmas Eve Puzzle): a poem about a mouse watching humans on Christmas EveShortStory167 (Back Stop for the Game Goons): a piece of flash science fiction playing with another aspect of virtual reality.ShortStory168 (An Encounter with the Fires of Medilo Swamp): a piece of flash science fiction featuring will-o-wisps.ShortStory169 (Ogres at the Battle of Falls Hill Field): a piece of flash fantasy fiction featuring a battle against ogres.ShortStory170 (First Date with the Fairy Lord): a piece of flash urban fantasy further exploring a setting with fairy folk and trolls.ShortStory171 (Tinsel-Time Trickery): a piece of flash urban science fiction told from the point of view of a Christmas-time thief.

And the following older pieces were found and assigned a name and number:
ShortStory165 (Mind Games): a piece of flash science fiction about the rough-and-tumble rivalry of reporting;ShortStory166 (Virtual War): a piece of flash science fiction playing with virtual reality;