E.D. Martin's Blog, page 29

Fall 2015 goal review

Procrastinating by watching funny cat videos with my cat Brett.

Every year, I set goals for myself, and every quarter, I review my progress. Here’s my fall check-in:

1. Write and submit at least one new short story every month, with the goal being at least 10 publications this year.

I have stories written, but I haven’t submitted anything for a couple years now. Looks like I need to be renewing my Duotrope subscription.

2. Write the rough drafts for a seven-part novella series, and maybe even publish one or two of them.

I’m almost done with the first one. Two and three will probably be my NaNoWriMo project.

3. Have at least one novel published, with another one polished enough to publish in 2016.

A Handful of Wishes has a cover and an assigned editor, but that’s as close as I’ve gotten.

4. Publish at least two long short stories (10k+) or short story collections.

Maybe this will be my NaNoWriMo project.

5. Improve my marketing strategy in order to increase my fanbase (as measured by newsletter subscription, Facebook page likes, and social media interactions like comments, likes, and favorites), sales, and reviews.

I’ve been hitting this hard. I just did a book fair last weekend. I’ve taken out various ads. I signed up for a book review service. I’ve gotten a lot of reviews (relatively speaking, compared to my previous rate) and a lot of free downloads. I haven’t gotten more sales, but at least I’m getting my name out there. My publisher is doing a huge marketing blitz in December and I have another book fair then, so we’ll see.

I’m going to focus for the next couple months on growing my newsletter by offering a free story to subscribers. I’m also planning a big giveaway in November centered around The Futility of Loving a Soldier.

6. Read 100 books.

I’m at 46 – 33 behind schedule. If only there were a way to count all the reading I do for my classes…

7. Get healthier: cut out my daily breakfast Pepsi (not sure how the lack of caffeine will work when I generally only get 4-5 hours of sleep) and eventually almost all soda; go out to eat once a week or less; eat more fruits and veggies and less processed, sodium-drenched foods; use the gym membership I’m paying for; ride my bike to work when it warms up; etc.

My eating habits are a lot healthier, mainly because I’m not sitting at a desk eating all day. I’m riding my bike more; parking at my university is horrible, so I take my bike, park on the street a mile away, and bike in. I may be stalled on weight loss and toning, but I feel healthier.

Overall

Overall, I don’t know what happened this last quarter. I had more free time than I’ve had in the last couple years, but I’m less productive when it comes to writing. I think I need to schedule writing time every day and just focus on that – not marketing, not networking, not cat-Vining. Writing.

If you’ve set goals for yourself, how’re they going so far this year?

 

Weekend Writing Warrior 10/4/15 #8Sunday

This month I’ll be pulling from the short story “A Place to Die,” which you can get for free if you sign up for my mailing list.

When Libby spends a summer helping out at her mom’s bed and breakfast-turned-hospice, she doesn’t expect to spend her time babysitting someone like Mr. Calloway – a young, vibrant financial planner with a mischievous streak. But Mr. Calloway is sicker than he seems, something neither he nor his family want to acknowledge. Can Libby help him accept his fate without losing her heart?

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After Dad died of cancer, Mom couldn’t bear to sell the farm; it had been her home for thirty years, filled with memories of family and Dad’s last days, so she rebranded it as “The Lake Estate.”

The farm – excuse me, the estate – butted up against Lake Michigan. Old cowpaths wound around small copses and through an apple orchard, leading to a trail down to a pebble beach at the lake itself. I guess if you were from a big city and not used to it, you could consider it pretty nice.

Mom was certainly betting on it. She put in a bunch of benches, flowery bushes, and gazebos strategically placed for the best views of the lake, then used Dad’s insurance money to renovate our 150-year-old farmhouse into a bed-and-breakfast, she hired old retired farmers to run hayrack rides at dusk, and she considered putting in a playground for kids, but then a funny thing happened – our clientele shifted.

When we first opened, most of our guests were middle-aged couples coming up from Milwaukee – maybe they couldn’t afford a weekend in Door County, or couldn’t stand to be that far from their kids. Either way, they slowly flooded the farm for the first couple years, only to be replaced with men and women with oxygen tanks, slow steps, and shallow breaths. Mom adapted to this too, just like she’d adapted to Dad’s death, and hired on several nurses and a social worker; we become The Lake Estate Hospice.

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Post a link to your eight sentences blog entry, or join the fun at the Weekend Writing Warriors website.

Friday Five: Kate Whitaker

Today’s Friday Focus is Kate Whitaker, author of urban fantasy short stories, novellas, novels, and web comics.

Kate Whitaker writes for fun and profit from the woods of Pennsylvania. You can most likely find her sitting at her kitchen table yelling at kids and cats as she tries to figure out a new way to kill made-up monsters.

Her latest book is Hedge Doctor. Think Doogie Howser, MD meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer. A senior in high school, Jeff Hanson really wants to see what being normal is like, but the magic ability to improve herbs for healing makes that impossible. Add in a poltergeist in the school basement and a mysterious orphan girl, and Jeff’s normality doesn’t stand a chance.

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1. Where do your inspiration and ideas for your stories come from?

Every where and everything. Literally. I hadn’t planned on writing Monsters of Pittsburgh. I was happy with how Uncommon Animals ended, but some people wanted to know why Rick and Mina didn’t hook up. My response of, “It would take a succubus for those two get together” lit up my brain, and I was off…

2. What do you want your tombstone to say?

hmmm, I don’t know. I’d rather by ashes be used to grow a tree.

3. What’s the worst job you’ve ever had and why? What was the best thing about that job and why?

Worst job? Bussing tables. It’s hot, thankless work. Best part was that I was working with my mom and her friends, so I was still having fun.

4. What’s your current writing project and what are your writing plans for the near future?

Last Call, the final set of Mina and Matty stories.

As for the future, I have the sequel to Hedge Doctor bubbling in my brain, but I think I may take a break for a few months. I’ll have been publishing once a month for two years straight by the time I’m done with those two projects.

5. How much of your published writing is based on personal experiences?

Very, very little, lol. A lot of the bickering, good-natured ribbing that my characters do is based on me and my husband, but the monster hunting… not so much.

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Hedge Doctor is available now through Amazon.

Become a Friday Five author.

Iowa City Book Fair on Saturday, Oct 3rd

One of my goals for this year is to improve my marketing. In addition to running various ads, I’m also trying to fit in more appearances – book signings, author fairs, etc.

This Saturday, I’ll be at the Iowa City Book Fair, part of their annual book festival, running the table for my publisher, Evolved Publishing.

Stop by the downtown pedestrian mall from 10-5 to say hi, pick up a copy of The Lone Wolf and works by other EP authors, and get lots of free swag.

Weekend Writing Warrior 9/27/15 #8Sunday

This month I’m pulling from the first book in my new historical-fantasy-that’s-not-actually-fantasy series, each story of which is based on a classic fairy tale.

When Brandulfr and his army show up outside her village on their quest to find a cure for his curse, Nyah must decide where her loyalties lie: with her sister who’s been taken hostage, with her village, or with the disfigured warrior who’s more than he appears to be.

All month, I’ve been pulling from the prologue. Nyah’s dad stole a book from the king of Karjaland and was tasked with bringing it back – or else. We’re moving to chapter one now, which takes place five years later. Nyah is discussing her betrothed, Wynne, with her younger sister.

* * * * * * * * * *

She scowled and said, “I dinnae know why you even put up with Wynne; you aren’t a good match for him.”

I busied myself with arranging our few plates on the small table and replied, “Wynne isn’t so bad. He means well, even though he did steal our chicken, and he will make a good husband. We should be fortunate that Earc agreed to the match, to take in what amounts to two orphans. We’ll make sure to focus on a match of love for you.”

She avoided looking at me. “If Father were here, he would find us better matches.”

“Father isn’t here.”

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Post a link to your eight sentences blog entry, or join the fun at the Weekend Writing Warriors website.

Weekend Writing Warrior 9/20/15 #8Sunday

This month I’m pulling from the first book in my new historical-fantasy-that’s-not-actually-fantasy series, each story of which is based on a classic fairy tale.

When Brandulfr and his army show up outside her village on their quest to find a cure for his curse, Nyah must decide where her loyalties lie: with her sister who’s been taken hostage, with her village, or with the disfigured warrior who’s more than he appears to be.

In this scene from the prologue, Nyah’s father, Storm, has spent the evening celebrating in taverns after stealing the contents of the Karjalander royal treasury. Unfortunately, he’s not as smart as he thinks; the king had him arrested and brought before him. Last week, the king’s advisor suggested he be killed, but the king’s son intervened.

* * * * * * * * * *

The young man turned towards Storm and said, “I seek only a book that you’ve taken, for it contains the antidote for our curse, but return this book and I will allow you to live.”

“But if we free him, how do we know he will return the book?” Illfuss asked. “Our countrymen will view this leniency as weakness; best to kill him now.”

“No,” the king coughed and fell back into his chair, “my son is wiser than I. We will take his hand, as punishment for his thievery, but we will allow him to live in the hope that he will return the book. However, in keeping with his religion, he will also share in our curse.”

“As you wish, my liege,” Illfuss said and gestured at a priest along the wall, who approached Storm while chanting a curse.

Storm thrashed harder as the king’s warrior tightened his grip on his arm. The second huskarl swung his axe onto Storm’s wrist, and the room went black.

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Post a link to your eight sentences blog entry, or join the fun at the Weekend Writing Warriors website.

Then pick up a copy of my short story collection, Us, Together, FREE on Amazon through Monday.

Weekend Writing Warrior 9/13/15 #8Sunday

This month I’m pulling from the first book in my new historical-fantasy-that’s-not-actually-fantasy series, each story of which is based on a classic fairy tale.

When Brandulfr and his army show up outside her village on their quest to find a cure for his curse, Nyah must decide where her loyalties lie: with her sister who’s been taken hostage, with her village, or with the disfigured warrior who’s more than he appears to be.

In this scene from the prologue, Nyah’s father, Storm, has spent the evening celebrating in taverns after stealing the contents of the Karjalander royal treasury. Unfortunately, he’s not as smart as he thinks; the king had him arrested and brought before him.

* * * * * * * * * *

King Gudrodr stood, moving into the light, and Storm gasped. Angry weeping rashes bulged across the king’s face and hands, interspersed with deep scars, his left eye was swollen shut, and his lips so disfigured they could barely move. He gripped the chair’s arm tightly, swaying slightly, and a young man rushed to his side, but the king waved him away and asked, “Illfuss, what say you about this man’s fate?”

The man who’d helped capture Storm stepped forward and said, “The god of the Llogerians demands an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, and I think he would also find it fair to demand a life for a life. He has taken from you any hope of a cure for your curse; let him share your fate as well.”

“So be it,” the king said.

The second huskarl raised his axe, and Storm braced for the blow.

“Father,” the voice of the young man to the right of the king echoed through the hall, and the huskarl paused, axe in midair, as he continued, “might I suggest otherwise?”

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Post a link to your eight sentences blog entry, or join the fun at the Weekend Writing Warriors website.

Friday Five: Tim Ward

Today’s Friday focus is Tim Ward, author of travel, spirituality, and transformation nonfiction.

Tim Ward is an author, publisher, teacher, traveler, and blogger for the Huffington Post. He has written eight books, including four about his travels through Thailand, India, China, Tibet, Greece and Southern Europe, and Africa. He is also the publisher of Changemakers Books, an imprint of John Hunt Publishing.

His most recent book is Indestructible You: Building a Self that Can’t be Broken. The awesome experience of inner power comes from knowing that life, just as it is, and no matter how bad it might get, cannot break the strong and solid self that you have built.

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1. What author has influenced your writing style/subject the most and why?

Fredrich Nietzsche. I first read his books in college, while I was studying philosophy. What inspired me about him was how he used writing as a tool to unearth hidden realities. I believe most of the time we take reality at face value, accept that things are as they appear to us to be. Nietzsche convinced me that this surface world was a comforting delusion, but – a big but – our mind could be forged into an instrument to dig deeper, to a reality that is not known, but only groped for in the dark. His unclouded vision allowed him to see clearly into the future, to see that science would erode the Western World’s belief in God – and that the danger was that nothing would take its place. Without powerful spiritual values, what would become of humanity? The very best of my writing moves in this direction. I sometimes refer to it as “writing off the edge of the cliff.” In this state, I’m not even sure what the heck I mean while I’m writing. Afterwards, when I read it over, mostly of the time it is garbage. But occasionally, in the garbage, I find something gleaming.

2. Thinking about the stuff you’ve written, who’s your favorite character and why?

I wrote one book about my love affair with a woman Indologist while traveling across India (Arousing the Goddess) and what happened when we slipped into a tantric sexual relationship. What I love about her portrayal as a character is that readers are pretty divided about her. Many men who read the book see her as an amazing goddess. What a lucky guy I was to have been with her. Many women readers, however, she this character as a manipulative bitch. What a sap I was to have been used by her! To me it’s fascinating that this one story – which I tried to tell as objectively as possible – has such totally different interpretations by different readers.

3. What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever researched for your works or biggest/most out-of-the-ordinary thing you’ve done while researching?

Okay, writing a book about early Goddess religions of Europe (Savage Breast: One Man’s Search for the Goddess), in a museum in Romania, I came across a series of hollow clay tubes with a small hole on one end labeled “penis tubes.” They were always found by the fire pits. Archaeologists theorized they might have been prehistoric fertility cult objects – or dildos! While I was in the midst of writing about this, one of the archaeologists I met on my visit wrote and said “STOP! We figured out what they are…these aren’t penis tubes, they are clay nozzles for bellows.” The wood and leather had long since rotted away, leaving only the inorganic hardened clay behind. It was a fantastic example of something completely open to interpretation but that made no real sense at all, that suddenly fell into place, and there was no doubt about what they meant any more. Wow.

4. What are some of your favorite words and why?

“Compromise.” It’s got a negative, even weak meaning to most people. But the roots of the word are com = together and promissum = promise. So a compromise is a “promising together.” When two or more people compromise, it’s a promising-together to work towards a common goal or purpose. This can unleash incredible creative energy. When I understood that, it totally transformed all my relationships. I write a whole chapter about this in Indestructible You: Building a Self that can’t be Broken.

5. Why should people read YOUR stuff? Who’s your target audience and why?

People who want to change the world. People who want to look deep beneath the surface and deal with what they find. I believe we are at a time of incredible personal and social transformation. Climate Change will, in our lifetime, overturn everything we know- especially those of us living in the privileged Western world. And when it crashes, those who are resilient, tough, able to find inner resources and stay connected and caring – they are the ones who will be the best hope for humanity’s future. Otherwise – well, I think there’s a reason we are transfixed with Zombie Apocalypse shows. A part of us knows, deep down, that this is coming. So my hope is that those who read my books – indeed, anyone who thinks about the future – will build in themselves a strong, resilient and humane nature that is ready for the worst that may come. As a closing note, I would like to add: we should all be caring very much, and paying close attention to, the global Climate change conference taking place in Paris this December. It may be our last chance to change course and avoid screwing ourselves and the planet.

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Indestructible You: Building a Self that Can’t be Broken is available now through Amazon.

Become a Friday Five author.

Weekend Writing Warrior 9/6/15 #8Sunday

This month I’m pulling from the first book in my new historical-fantasy-that’s-not-actually-fantasy series, each story of which is based on a classic fairy tale.

When Brandulfr and his army show up outside her village on their quest to find a cure for his curse, Nyah must decide where her loyalties lie: with her sister who’s been taken hostage, with her village, or with the disfigured warrior who’s more than he appears to be.

In this scene from the prologue, Nyah’s father, Storm, has spent the evening celebrating in taverns after stealing the contents of the Karjalander royal treasury.

* * * * * * * * * *

Full of ale and dreams for the future, Storm rose from his table and made his way to Brita at the bar. He glanced around to make sure no one was watching, then slipped a small leather-bound book from his waistband and placed it on the counter with another handful of coins, then said “This should settle me up for tonight.”

“Aye.” The book and coins disappeared into a purse tied under her apron. “Hale go forth, hale return, and hale on your ways, Storm.”

“Aesirs’ blessings upon you, Brita.”

He stumbled out into the wintry night.

A fist caught him in the gut.

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Post a link to your eight sentences blog entry, or join the fun at the Weekend Writing Warriors website.

Friday Five: J. Judkins

Today’s Friday focus is J. Judkins, author of romantic comedy and lesbian romance novels.

He works as a wage-slave in Omaha, Nebraska, living alone with his cat who thinks he can help by sleeping in front of the keyboard. He’s into movies and video games (role-playing games, specifically) and lately, writing. Generally, he doesn’t like to talk about himself.

In his novel, A Date with Angel: and other things that weren’t supposed to happen, Kim invites home a suspected alien woman named Angel. With Kim hiding her reason for why, Angel concludes Kim did so because she must be romantically interested in her. Things are further complicated because Kim suspects Angel is plotting to seduce her. Angel wants to blend in, and so does her best to fulfill expectations.

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1. What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever researched for your works or biggest/most out-of-the-ordinary thing you’ve done while researching?

I had to call up a furniture store and ask what material beds are shipped in. They’re wrapped in plastic. Claimed I was an author, too.

2. If you could have any superpower, what would it be and why?

Immortality would be nice. I dislike knowing that my time is limited.

3. How much of your published writing is based on personal experiences?

Kim is a self-centered, antisocial geek who’d rather play video games and read books than interact with others. That’s me. Nature bores me, and I’d rather spend my time inside.

4. What is the most important thing that people DON’T know about your subject/genre, that you think they need to know?

Lesbian romance doesn’t mean two women having sex throughout the book. It means romance, only featuring two women. Most stories have a romantic aspect in them, but its secondary to the plot of the book. Lesbian romance doesn’t mean erotica. I get the feeling most won’t consider my book because they make assumptions.

5. What author has influenced your writing style/subject the most and why?

Jim Butcher – His Dresden books are ones I read again and again. I love how his main character is willing to do the right thing, no matter how much trouble it gets him into.

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A Date with Angel: and other things that weren’t supposed to happen is available now through Amazon.

Become a Friday Five author.