C.M. Simpson's Blog, page 99

Covers and Pre-Releases for December 2018

Given the bumpy ride so far this year, I thought it was about time I got over it and got on with it and prepared for what’s left of the year, and then get ready for year that’s coming, so this week I dedicated the time to making sure I had the books and stories out for the coming month, and I’ll be working to get January’s releases out to you, as well.
These are the releases that are up and ready for pre-order for THIS MONTH. You can find them at most of the major ebook retailers via the link:December 7—THIS FRIDAY— WhereElse But Waverran?

Snow, trolls, dustrunners, blackmailing werewolves, and mercenary elves…From the sun-drenched outback to the snows of a distant world, Mathilda Mathieson is in trouble. Dodging a drunken promise to a werewolf while trying not to coerce the love of her life, and rescuing pixies from dustrunners on a distant world are just the start. . The stakes are high. If she gets it wrong on Waverran, the unicorns and pixies won’t be the only ones to lose it all.December 21— Mack ‘n’ Me: The Transporter’sFavour



Abby hauled me off the ship before Tens had a chance to stop her—and that’s okay, because I already owed Abs a favour. In fact, it was better than okay, because it showed us how much trouble we hadn’t known we were in. But going against the Star Shadow hunt pack? Nullifying their contract to keep ourselves unchained and at large? That was gonna be something else entirely.
Mack ‘n’ Me: TheTransporter’s Favour is the fourth science-fiction novel set in the Odyssey universe.
NOTE: The main character swears like a sailor, and the support cast aren’t much better. If swears bother you, this this story may not be to your taste.

Covers and Releases from November 2018

Despite being the month it was, November saw a return to the two-books-a-month model I’m trying to establish, so, without further ado, these are the covers that were created and the stories that were released in November 2018. You can find them at most major vendors on the links provided below:November 13– What Happens on Axis 58…  

“They’re just kids,” he said.“You won’t need your blaster,” he said…“It’ll be easy…”Yeah, and when I saw Mack next he and were going to have a little chat about what was easy and what was not. With our fists, even… Because half a dozen kids on a starship to nowhere good, with some unauthorised passengers on board? Not my definition of easy—and I missed my blaster. I really, really did.November 30— Mack ‘n’ Me ‘n’ OdysseyOmnibus #1
From troublemaker to valued crew member, and maybe something more, Cutter’s existence aboard the Shady Marie has been one adventure after another. Taking on and taking down everything from the rogue scientist known as the Ghoul, to the plague masters of Magnus 19, the royalty and rulership of a dozen worlds, and the feared spider-shifters known as arach, Cutter might just have found her place in space… perhaps…
See what you think as you follow her journey from runaway to operative in this three-novel collection about her journey.
NOTE: The main character swears like a sailor, and the support cast aren’t much better. If swears bother you, this this story may not be to your taste.

October 2018 Progress Overview

So the world went a little bit slideways towards the end of October… and I lost all my working records from the main drive – which means I lost about a week’s data, since I’d been slack and not backed up my files as regularly as I should have. Fortunately, the writing projects I’d worked on during that time had all been for external markets and had been sent off or stored off-site, so no work was lost… just a few records from the end of October and the beginning of November.

Anyway, with things going haywire, what with the school-based bullying of my child leading me to commence homeschooling, unexpectedly early visitors staying longer than originally planned, and complications with my mother’s on-going illness, I had to triage everything else, so this blog went sideways, too—along with completing Book 5 in the Mack ‘n’ Me series and finishing this month and next month’s short stories.

However, everything I had committed to for other people was met, and those endeavours have been successful… so far. Without further ado, this is what was accomlished in October (we'll take a look at cover November in a couple of days' time) :

Progress: October 2018
Administrative Hours: 59 hoursAcceptances: 2Bloggery: 8,270New words produced: 90,536Outlines and Notes: 16,219Words compiled: 273,574Works completed:5 (2 short-story submissions, one novel under contract, 2 pieces of flash)Works edited: 3 (2 short-story submissions, Harper & the Unicorn )Covers created: 1 ( C.M. Simpson Starter Library 2018 )Works formatted: 1 (2 short-story submissions, Harper & the Unicorn )Works published: 1 ( Harper & the Unicorn )Works released: 1 ( Harper & the Unicorn )Works submitted: 3 (2 short-story submissions)Competitions Entered: 1 (1 entry)October Hours at Desk (not all recorded): 205 hours, 41 minutesSeptember Hours at Desk (not all recorded): 180 hours, 36 minutesAugust Hours at Desk: 263 hours, 29 minutesJuly Hours at Desk: 264 hours, 18 minutesJune Hours at Desk: 230 hours, 5 minutesMay Hours at Desk: 302 hours, 6 minutesApril Hours at Desk: 167 hours, 41 minutesMarch Hours at Desk: 201 hours, 43 minutesFebruary Hours at Desk: 183 hours, 50 minutesJanuary Hours at Desk: 180 hours, 3 minutes  

Writing Short Stories - From a Creative Perspective

Over the last two weeks, we've looked at the business side of why write short stories - something I hate doing. I'm a writer, dammit! I love story. I love seeing worlds unfold beneath my fingers, to watch characters come to life, to see the story unfurl - but, let's be real, business is important if you want to make a living from that kind of magic, so it needs to be looked at.

This week, we get to look at something much more fun: the creative reasons to write short stories. This is one of those intangible things that writers need to grow and develop. It's hard to measure from a business sense, but it's there, and it's vital.

To put it briefly, short stories are a way of discovering new stories, new characters and new worlds - in the same way I've found flash fiction can be - but that depends on your approach. Up until recently, my main approach was to simply sit down and start typing.

If I was writing for a magazine, I'd make sure I was writing in the right genre, was aware of any rules about blood, gore, sweariness, word length, and/or theme, and just write. I'd also try and read a couple of issues to get a feel for the style they were looking for, too - but I would never actually try and plot an outline before I started. And most times I didn't even have a character in my head.

I would just start writing.

At the time of writing this post, I have 85 short stories completed and either published or under submission. Of those, only three were written to an outline - and that only because that was the editorial requirement. It was one of the strangest experiences of my life... but that is for another post.

So, how have those 85 short stories helped from a creative perspective?

And in answering this, I have to be honest. Those 85 short stories often had a lot of help from the  768 pieces of flash fiction I interspersed between them - which, again, is a topic for another post.

They can help you discover new worlds

Writing a short story with nothing in my head, meant I didn't have a prescribed world or setting in my head. It meant I had to think of one as I went along, and it made me consider new possibilities that I might not have thought of without being constrained by the story length, or the aim of submitting it to a certain market, or uploading it for publishing, within a specific time-frame.

Without the short stories and flash fiction, the pixie dust world setting would never have come into being, or be working its way towards three separate anthologies or a novel series. Likewise the  worlds of Odyssey.

They can help you discover new characters

Writing a short story with nothing - and no-one - in my head, forced me to explore different kinds of characters. Who were they? And what could have possibly brought them to the mess they were in, now? What did they have, as a person, that made them unique and worth reading about?

Without the short stories and flash fiction, Cutter, Mack, and Delight wouldn't exist - and neither would the six-book Mack 'n' Me series. Without the short stories Harper, the series of tales about the troll-fighter betrothed to the Lord of Winter, and the pixie-dust setting with its Paranormal Operations Squad just would not be. And neither would the Lunar Wolves.

They stretch your writing in a new direction

Each short story must stand alone, draw the reader in, satisfy their hunger for a tale, and leave them both replete and wanting more. Writing of something new, outside your novels, or your usual setting, only opens up more opportunities for you to do that.

They can provide a discovery ground for reader preferences

Short stories can be a way of testing the waters of a new setting. You might discover a new steam-punk fantasy universe you want to explore, but have trouble justifying why you would change from your usual repertoire of action-packed science fiction or contemporary romance. A short story can not only help you discover your new universe and characters, but publishing it can give your readers an opportunity to have their say, so to speak, on the new direction, and you can base the decision on whether or not to pursue more tales in that universe on the reception the story receives or how it sells. You never know, it could open up a new audience, and add to your existing one, with minimal risk to your creative adventure.

Short Stories are a playground for your imagination

With minimal risk in terms of time or loss of audience.

In short, they're worth the time, if you need to discover your next world or novel series, and will let you test your reader's reactions to what you find.

Next week, we'll take a look at why writing short stories might be worth the effort from a hard-headed writing perspective.

Ingress Mission Report: CBR Tour

Mission Day showed me just how unfit I've become, so, this week, I'm trying to get my walking habit back on-line - and what better way to do that, than to take on an easy mission through the centre of Canberra?

Created by Resistance agent, Frostbeast, this colourful 12-mission banner walks you around the city centre, and features were as follows:

Time to Complete: The average time for each mission is around 10 minutes, although some are much shorter. If you’re taking the time to glyph-hack, capture, fully deploy, link and field, then these times will be much, much longer due the portal density of the area.Complexity: This is a very straight-forward mission series, with easily accessible portals, but, as noted below, you should be wary of hacking portals not included in the mission you’re on.Terrain and Location Notes: Location Accessibility: You can travel to the mission area by bus, although there is plenty of parking, if you prefer to travel by car, although much of it requires payment.Traversing the Mission Series: The first mission starts in a small memorial park next to the bus mall, with the mission then meandering through and around the city centre. Each mission must be completed in order, and it’s a good idea not to hack anything but the mission portal until you’re sure the mission is complete – and have started the next. Most of the missions are close enough together that nearby portals are usually included in the next mission in the series, so it’s best to stick to the portals in each mission to avoid delays as the portal needed re-sets because you hacked it too early.The gradient is mostly flat, all portals can be accessed from the footpath, or inside a shopping mall, and all areas can be traversed via footpath, so no cross-country is required.There are a couple of road crossings required, but most of these can be safely done at pedestrian crossings. The greatest hazard is the number of people in the CBD; agents need to be aware of others who are using the area, and make sure they don’t obstruct doorways and other access points if they stop. It’s also a good idea to look up from the scanner when in motion. If you have headphones, the scanner will tell you when you’re in range, although you’ll still have to keep an eye on which direction you’re going.Agents should also be aware of any roadworks or building construction, as these can require a few extra steps, or minor detours.Toilets and Meals: Toilets are available in the shopping centres and the individual missions don't take you further than two or three blocks away from a shopping centre entrance. For access, though, you do need to make sure you are missioning during shopping hours. The same goes for finding places to buy food and drink. You can buy food, or bring it to one of a number of open spaces where you can eat.Mission Medals:In order, the mission medals are as follows - and you can see the completed mural just above them:



Some of the Sights Include:The fan art on the walls of buildings surrounding a local comic shop:


The historic - and still -operational - merry-go-around in the middle of the city:
 
The statues and art installations placed throughout the Canberra CBD: 
Hidden, officially approved art spaces like the one below:


And city icons like this:

Progress Report: October 14-20 & 21-27, 2018

There was a major event for Ingress last weekend, and I took some time to join in—these things don’t come around very often, and it gave me a chance to meet other players, instead of playing on my own. I think I walked over 30km over the two days—Saturday was the Anomaly, a competitive battle between the Enlightened and Resistance teams; and Sunday was Mission Day, which was much more relaxed as players followed the 24-mission series around inner Canberra, trying to complete a minimum of 12 in order to earn their Mission Day medal.

I got to meet a bunch of really great people, and got my butt out of the chair for several hours, which did me a lot of good, and reminded me I really need to work on my fitness. I’m extra-thankful to my husband for taking on podling duty for the weekend so I could get out and about and visit with the growed ups for a change.

The Mission Day medal hasn’t arrived, yet, but the Anomaly medal has, as you can see and the missions you can see on the screen are the Mission Day series completed on Sunday—all six-and-a-half hours of them on one of the most beautiful spring days Canberra has ever put on.
 
Writing-wise, I didn’t get a lot done, but I took two days off, and had several days of less than 8 hours at the desk, particularly in the week leading up to Anomaly—and I don’t regret it. A lot of time was spent on administrative tasks like an anthology compilation and correspondence, as well as tax records, research for a new project, and formatting and compiling my newsletter giveaway.The coming week will consist of dividing work between two novels and a short story, as well as editing the novel I’ve just completed. While I’d like to say I’ll be updating the back matter of a number of short stories, this week, I don’t think that’s going to happen—the writing and editing will keep me busy enough… which doesn’t mean I won’t be working towards it… oh no, not at all.As well as that, I need to work on my fitness, or I’m going to get sick, so I’ll be working through an Ingress mission series, while chasing pokemon as I pick up my walking habit. The only rule I’ll have is ‘no stopping’—otherwise there’ll be no fitness benefit.Is all that doable? I don’t know, but I have to work it out, somehow… or work out how much I can realistically achieve, because our bodies are less forgiving as we get older, and mine is telling me that 10-15 hours each day at the desk is a really bad idea.Progress: October 14-20, 2018New words produced: 5,684Outlines and Notes: 7,422Works edited: 1 (re-edit on editorial request)Works formatted: 1 (for submission after re-edit)Works submitted: 1 (submission after requested edit)Bloggery: 746Progress: October 21-27, 2018New words produced: 31,942Outlines and Notes: 6,778Words compiled: 434,732 (The C.M. Simpson Starter Library)Works completed: 3 (1 novel, 2 x FF – Balancing the Light, Iana Lives)Works edited: 1 (re-edit on editorial request)Covers created: 1 (The C.M. Simpson Starter Library)Works formatted: 1 (for submission after re-edit)Works submitted: 1 (submission after requested edit)Hours at Desk—October 21-27: 61 hours 50 minutesHours at Desk—October 14-20: 36 hours 53 minutesHours at Desk—October 7-13: 47 hours 40 minutesHours at Desk—October 1-6: 47 hours 51 minutesSeptember Hours at Desk (not all recorded): 180 hours, 36 minutesAugust Hours at Desk: 263 hours, 29 minutesJuly Hours at Desk: 264 hours, 18 minutesJune Hours at Desk: 230 hours, 5 minutesMay Hours at Desk: 302 hours, 6 minutesApril Hours at Desk: 167 hours, 41 minutesMarch Hours at Desk: 201 hours, 43 minutesFebruary Hours at Desk: 183 hours, 50 minutesJanuary Hours at Desk: 180 hours, 3 minutesThe starter library is available as a welcome gift to my newsletter list, and the link to sign up for that can be found HERE.
 

Short Stories and Other Forms of Return

Last week, we looked at the business return of writing short stories and publishing or selling them - but we only looked at it in terms of pure monetary earnings for time spent, and there are other business benefits that can be calculated, depending on why you chose to write the short story in the first place, since we can create with additional purposes to telling a good tale.

We can, for instance, write for a specific market. An anthology opportunity might come up, where we get to work with other authors to produce a collection, either writing to a specific theme, or in a specific world or setting. Many of these anthologies won't pay a professional rate, and definitely won't be guaranteed an equivalent monetary return for time. You need to first decide if that's an acceptable trade, but you need to make that decision based on a number of other, both positive and negative, factors:
the opportunity to be part of the anthology - since these don't come up all that often, especially when you're starting out;the opportunity to play in a universe you love or admire;the opportunity to play in an unfamiliar universe, which will stretch your skills in writing to market and let you find another setting you can love;the opportunity to have your work appear beside the work of other authors, instead of on its own;the increased marketing power a collective of authors can bring to a project rather than an individual; orthe increased audience a collective of authors has over a single author, and the slight chance that some of the readership will cross over;the potential that, in writing for another universe, you will be subject to its rules and not free to do anything you please;the potential that, in writing for another universe, you will not retain full control of where you market your story when the rights return to you; andthe potential that, in writing for another universe, you do not return all your rights to that story due to the need to incorporate the universe's IP into your story.We can also write for a specific magazine market, which has many of the benefits of writing for an anthology, and fewer of the drawbacks, although it has other constraints such as a period of exclusivity that you need to observe.

Both the anthology and magazine market options have the potential of increasing your reach, and helping to put your work into the hands of a wider audience than you would achieve on your own - not to mention that most have some form of monetary compensation as well. Weighing the value of the benefits against the potential costs and restrictions is important when trying to calculate a return on your investment of time on your short story.

You might also choose to publish a short story purely as a marketing tool, restricting its availability by offering it exclusively to your newsletter readers as a reward for their loyalty, or as a way of attracting more readers to sign up for your newsletter so they can learn of your other work. This places a different kind of value on your story, making it a form of advertising in and of itself.

Finally, you can publish your short story on its own.

If you do this, after publishing with an anthology or magazine market, you have the possibility of maximising your return BUT you need to take into consideration the time taken to place the story, the wait time between acceptance and publication, and any other restrictions you face because of its exposure in that market. Read your contracts with care.

Publishing your short story independently does not guarantee you any kind of return for the time and money you've invested in it, even with advertising, but it does still mean your story is available to readers who might not have picked up your work to start with - and, if they like that story, they might go looking for all.

My experience has been that only a handful of short stories in the science fiction, fantasy and urban fantasy genres will sell each year - but I have heard of other authors who see much more than that.

Whichever path you choose for a short story, then, you need to have a clear reason as to why you are writing it, and what you expect to gain from the activity. From a cold-blooded business perspective - even with the marketing benefits thrown in, it still seems difficult to justify the time and effort these stories take to produce, release and market. There are, however, other reasons to indulge in the genre: the creative aspect, and the hard-headed skill-building angle.

Next week, we'll look at how writing short stories can be used from a creative perspective.

First 500 Words—River’s Edge

River’s Edge released on August 10, 2018. It is a stand-alone science-fiction short story about first contact and colonisation.
What’s it About?
When my mother told me to run, I ran. I ran all the way to the river and then stopped—because the river was a frightening place, and forbidden by the raiders who came to take their annual toll of settlers. Faced with the choice of being taken, or taking my chances in the river, I took a step back, and hoped that somewhere, across the river I’d find help.Here are the first 500 words of that story:River’s EdgeFirst 500 WordsI stood at the edge of the river, both feet firmly planted amidst the sweet meadow grass, the toes of my boots scant inches from the water. What would it be like, I wondered, to take that one step more?Behind me bugles rang, and I glanced back, trying to see through the cover of the trees, trying to gauge if I really had a choice about the river, or if I was honestly thinking of facing the fate roaring through the foliage towards me. I turned. Perhaps that fate wouldn’t be as bad as I’d heard. Perhaps…One look at the bestial features of the rider mounted on the giant boar, and I knew otherwise. The elders had been sugar-coating the truth for years; the only reason our colony had survived was because we paid a tribute in human lives—and I wasn’t going to be a part of it. Whatever the stories were that surrounded the river, none of them promised the horror I read on that face.It was worth the risk.And maybe I would find salvation downstream. Maybe there would be someone I could ask for help. Our ancestors might not have chosen to land here, but we had no choice about staying, Confederation and Alliance rules, or no. My mother had given me the chance to reach the river. I would not disrespect her by wasting it.The rider drew her beast to a skidding halt, the tip of her spear bare inches from my chest.“Going somewhere, child?” she asked, and I licked my lips. “Come back with me. I have a better use for that tongue.”I was sure she did, even though I couldn’t think what. The boar was not the only one with fangs that curled over its lip. The creature mounted on its back looked carnivorous. I took a step back, not intending it to be my last on dry land—but I’d forgotten how deliberately I’d stood on the river’s edge, my heels in line with its bank, and my foot struck nothing.I had time for one startled shriek, throwing my arms out for balance as my sole found the water’s surface and plunged through, and then I was falling. Coarse laughter followed me down, and I watched as they turned their mounts parallel to the bank. They looked odd as rippling shadows blending into the trees, and I hoped the stories weren’t entirely true.Giant fish that could swallow a man whole, eels able to strip the flesh from a cow in seconds, amphibious lizards that paralysed with a bite so their young could eat living flesh until they were large enough to hunt it on their own, these were the nightmares that ran through my head as I flailed my way to the surface. The surface—where the riders were waiting.The first spear thrust came as a surprise, and I turned, feeling the blade graze my back, as I noticed the rope trailing behind. I didn’t wait for a second shaft to come flying in my direction, but dove away from the bank, pushing myself under the surface and hoping they wouldn’t try for me until I came up for air.My mother had always told me I was a dreamer.--------------------Would you like to read more? River’s Edge is a stand-alone science-fiction short story, available direct from Amazon, Smashwords, Kobo, DriveThruFiction, and multiple stores via Books2Read, as well as via Smashwords and Draft2Digital distribution.

Short Stories from a Cold-Blooded Business Perspective

Last week, we took a brief look at how the accepted place of short stories in a writer's career path has changed, and highlighted a few of the ways writing short stories could be viewed, now that independent publishing has come of age.

This week, we take a very brief at writing a short story from a time investment versus returns perspective.
The Cold-Blooded Business Perspective: From a business point of view, short stories don't seem like much of an investment. For one thing, you're almost certainly not likely to make your money back. If an 8,000-word short story takes a minimum of 8 hours to write (and that's if you do not outline), editing takes around another 2 (and that's only if you write cleanly), and formatting and uploading takes at least another 1 (if you have multiple platforms to publish to), you're looking at a basic minimum of 11 hours of work. At $50 an hour, that's $550 the story has to make back for you - plus the cost of a cover.

If you're looking at selling to a magazine market and can slice off the hour for upload and cost of a cover, you probably still won't make your money back, straight away. Even at 6c/word you're looking at $480 in return. If you're successful on the first submission, you don't fall far short of your cost of production. If you're not, you get to add in the cost of the time to format and submit to each market and try to calculate how much the wait time between responses has cost you in earnings - even if you are filling that time writing, since it is still time that the story has taken to begin its earning journey.

Of course, if you're calculating that against a minimum wage, you have made back your time costs a couple of times over. If you indie publish the story, you're not even guaranteed to do that. In fact, if you don't have strong reader base willing to buy every single thing you produce, and if you don't add to your costs by paying for advertising, you might be lucky to sell even one copy of that short story in the first year you publish it.

From the cold-blooded business stand point, this would mean that writing and individually selling short stories is not the best move towards building an income. But pure cash for time investment, is not the only business return a short story can bring, there are marketing aspects, as well - which is something we'll explore in next week's blog.

Pictures from Yesterday's Walking

So, I hurt my back. This time I was lucky, and was still mobile after it tweaked. Last time, that took a few days. The thing is sitting or standing still makes it stiffen up and hurt, so I've had to spend time away from the desk and get out and walk. Anyone playing Ingress, locally, will have noticed the increase in activity, as will my PokemonGo buddies. Anyway, after two days of this, I'm able to sit for longer at the desk, and write more. The side bonus to all this is that my wrist and elbow are getting more rest than I would have allowed them otherwise, and are hurting a lot less, too. I can type for longer periods, now, too. So - exercise, writer-folk - apparently it really is good for you.

I forgot to take pictures today, but remembered yesterday... that and I saw a blue tongue in the garden when I got home from my last walk, and that lifted my heart. Apologies for the picture quality. If I can find it, again, I'll use the other camera.Yesterday, it wasn't stopping to wait.