Meri Benson's Blog, page 10

Hello December – When Did You Arrive?

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So November is over. We saw it off with a fond farewell, a glass of Strongbow (my drink of choice), and a yippe!

Why?

Because National Novel Writing Month is over! And whether you achieved 50 words or 50,000 words, pat yourself on the back. Because you wrote, or you plotted and planned and honed your craft or business another way. There are many reasons for you to pat yourself on the back for what you did in November I’m sure.

I had good intentions of posting my stats throughout November as I went, weekly check-ins, but that kind of went down the tube.

With the year wrapping up, and finals arriving, a Holiday Party to plan, decorate and orchestrate mostly on my own for my department, things tend to ramp up here at work. Not only that, but applications for Fall are in full incoming mode as well, and I work closely with the DGS for ensuring materials are in, applications are reviewed, and questions are answered during this season – something that won’t officially end until February.

For me, my NaNo was kind of all over the place. I went through slumps, I wrote on several different stories to get my words, but I did achieve my word count.

And now December is here! With ice, snow, and darker mornings that make it difficult to want to get up for work. And I have two weeks before I am off for the Christmas Holiday. I get a little under two weeks of paid vacation off between Christmas and New Years – in which I’m hoping to both get a lot of writing done, reading done, and cleaning done.

Mom and I are hoping to move in a couple years. Somewhere maybe a little smaller, with a smaller yard that won’t take too much to manage. Ideally, I’m hoping for a three bedroom, two bath house. So we can have a guest room/library/office room, which we don’t really have now. We have a studio/office now but I guess part of the problem is it’s where everything from the living room goes when we have company – and the stuff from their last visit is still sitting in there being piled upon. So one of the goals this break is to get the living room and office cleaned out.

I’m trying to hand make some of my Christmas stuff this year. Though, that’s partially dependant on the stores shipping me the items I need make them. I’m just sitting here watching the order tracking information, waiting for them to be out for delivery. After I’m sure people have opened their presents, I’ll see about posting a picture of the final products on here. Not before.

I only have three books on my TBR this month, partially because I’m still working on writing things and with the Holidays, I’m crafting Holiday presents, and the last week of December is pretty much all Family stuff.

What books would those be?

Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco

The Evolution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

The Cruel Prince is a serious need for me to read with The Wicked King coming out in January. I have the Owl Crate covered edition of The Cruel Prince, and last month they released the sales for a special edition box for the release of The Wicked King – with a special cover to make their The Cruel Prince cover. So I’m kind of super excited to see what the cover will look like when I get the box. So that’s a hard must read before the month is over.

What are you planning to read this Month? Did you reach your reading goal for 2018? Let me know down in the comments!

Repeat After Me – A Lesson We All Need

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I’d originally planned on a NaNo Update because it’s the 30th and NaNo ends tonight. I’ve been kind of off social media because I’ve been working hard to keep my word count up, and keep on NaNo.

Checking in today I can’t help but sigh. I thought after everything with the whole #Cockygate getting massive attention that we were over this and done with it. But no. Apparently not.

Among the posts that I scrolled through to catch up what I’d missed, I come across yet another author complaining that someone ‘stole’ her title.

Can we all repeat after me?

Titles can NOT be copywritten.

Titles can occasionally be the same.

It happens in the publishing world.

Titles that are similar or the same do NOT mean that the books are the same, does NOT mean the plot is the same and DOES NOT mean that the title was stolen from someone else or that they’re trying to ride someone else’s coattails.

Books can share a title, and even a general concept and still be completely different because it’s not the title that should be selling the book. It should be the author – his or her self – and the morals, ethics, and reputation that they build with their community and the craft that’s under that title that sells the book, and not just sells the book but defines the book.

No title, unless it’s a 100% made up word, is going to be unique. While there are a LOT of words in the known languages, they are finite and that means that there will occasionally be similar or duplicate titles. This shouldn’t stop someone from publishing or feeling like they now have to change their title because of it.

If you search ‘Cocky Dragon Slayer’ on Amazon you’ll find five books written by five different authors, with five different covers. All five of us decided to use that same title because it was an experiment to prove to the world that while the titles may be the same, the story that existed behind that title would be vastly different from each other because we are different people and we each have our own unique stories to write.

And that’s exactly what happened. Each tale is unique not because of the cover or title, but because we all had different ideas on where to take the story, how the world our stories take place in worked, and how the mythos in that world unfurled.

So can we please all agree to stop trying to stake claim to words and titles?

We may build our lives out of them, but we don’t own them – unless you choose to create your own language in which case you do to a point own them.

Stop throwing mud at others because a title is similar.

Stop causing a fuss because you think you have the corner on a certain word – you don’t.

And stop thinking that if you do decide to publicly complain about that it will do great things for your community and career. It won’t. Most of us, the ones especially that have crawled out of the dust and debris from #cockygate? We’ll only judge you super hard for it, and potentially blacklist your books – current and future – from our TBR piles because we know a social ploy to grab attention a mile away now.

In the wake of what we’ve been through this year, the try for a public flaying for similar titles isn’t going to work much anymore. Especially not on Twitter. You can’t claim ‘well I didn’t know anymore’. At this point, it’s like stepping willfully in front of a bus, getting hit, and then turning around and claiming that the driver hit you on purpose. We can all see you gauging how fast that bus is coming. We can see you thinking about how much damage it might do versus getting your name out there in the public eye. And we can all see you taking that knowing step into the abyss.

It’s not amusing. It’s not cute. And you’re not the victim here. The person you’re trying to call out on social media, to hundreds of thousands of people? That person is the victim. And you should be ashamed of yourself for even trying this. You’re dragging them across coals for something that you don’t own. And your readers, the ones who will blindly believe you? It will be your fault, and your fire to manage and try to put out if they go after the other person. That’s all on you.

If you’re thinking of trying this? Don’t. You’ll only ruin your reputation with thousands of people who didn’t know you before, and will now for all the wrong reasons.

Trust in the work you do. Trust in your craft and your own creativity. Trust that readers know titles occasionally bump against each other in the night and it doesn’t reflect on the authors’ creativity when that happens, it just means that maybe they find two or three books they’ll enjoy instead of just one.

The author in question that caused me to write this blog post? I’ve heard nothing but good things from their debut novel. It’s been praised left and right on my social media.  I have planned to read it to see what all those great things were about, and now? Now I won’t. I have no interest in supporting someone that decides to be this petty and try to ruin another person. There was no need to do this, except that they apparently doubted themselves and their work enough to try to grab attention.

And no, I’m not listing the authors’ names and titles. I’m leaving them out of this blog post on purpose. Why? Because at the end of the day the social media post in question is just adding a log onto a fire that was starting to simmer down instead of a bucket of water that it needed. The who of it isn’t important. The actions are the problem, and so I’m choosing to focus on the actions instead of the person.

Also because this blog post is a call out to all authors out there, not just the one that recently screwed up. Think before you get huffy about someone else sharing your title. The amount of work that you put into that lovingly handpicked title? So did they. They didn’t pick it too to hurt you, steal from you, or use your sale numbers to get ahead. Odds are, even if it’s a best seller, they may not have heard about you – especially if you’re not in the same genre they are. Odds are? It was just a coincidence.

Just let it be that ship passing in the night. Stand on the bow of your ship, hold up your lantern, and wave at each other peacefully. There’s more than enough room in this ocean for everyone.

November Is Here! – Only a week late

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I can almost not fathom that it’s already the 8th of November. I wish I could say ‘where did the beginning of the month go?!’ but honestly, I know where it went. It went into my writing.

October’s TBR list didn’t get read. The hazard of NaNo Prep during that month. I ended up being more than a little ambitious considering just how much I really had on my plate. I’m ALMOST done with the werewolf short from October, however not completely. And of course, with the start of November, I’ve started my planned November WIP – also werewolf based but a completely different cast of characters. I haven’t fully decided if I wanted the two to exist in the same world or not.

NaNo specifically has been going fairly well for me, and I hope *knocks on wood* that it continues to go well for me. How well, I know you’re thinking. Well here’s a breakdown of the first seven days of my month:

November 1 – 526 words (I started out a little rough, not going to lie)

November 2 – 4,547 words (NaNo Total: 5,073)

November 3 – 1,949 words (NaNo Total: 7,022)

November 4 – 2,399 words (NaNo Total: 9,421)

November 5 – 2,655 words (NaNo Total: 12,076)

November 6 – 2,355 words (NaNo Total: 14,431)

November 7 – 1,771 words (NaNo Total: 16,202)

I know it’s the 8th as I write and post this, but I’m not including today because It’s only 10am. I still have most of the day to get more words in before I have to tally what I’ve written today, though I know that it’s around 800 already.

I always get into work a little early, so I’ve been trying to get words in before I officially start, and if I haven’t reached my word count for the day by the time I get home I make sure to sit down and get the words in after dinner before I get to read, watch tv or video game. It’s been a real motivator recently because I’ve started playing a new game that has daily stuff to do and I enjoy winding down and just getting those dailies done. Which gives me a great motivator for getting my word count in so I can do that.

I’m also being a NaNo Rebel this year. I’m not working on one full-length novel, but instead my goal is to get three 20,000 word shorts done – which does mean that keeping ahead of the word count isn’t a bad thing but it’s almost mandatory because I have to be able to squeeze an extra 10,000 words into my NaNo Goal personally this month.

And on top of working on NaNo, if I’ve reached my word count for the day and I’m feeling it, I’ve been adding to my October WIP to continue to try and get it finished. I’ve currently got about 1,300 words that I’ve written on it during the month of November that I haven’t counted toward my NaNo word count. I haven’t decided if I’m going to add them in at the end or not. Technically they are words written, toward a body of fiction, during the month of November so they should count. But part of me wants to be stubborn and only count my dedicated November WIP because it will push me to ensure I get those words on that work.

How is your NaNo going so far? Not participating, how is your November going so far? Let me know down in the comments.

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Just in time for Halloween, a new spooky short!

The Reaping

While their parents are away Katie and Josh watch as a dark storm rolls into town. With it, strange shadows lurking outside their window can be seen outside the house.

What are the strange shadows outside the in the rain?

Are Katie and Josh just jumping at shadows?

Find out in this creepy, short read just in time for Halloween.

You can find the book HERE for purchase or free to read on Kindle Unlimited!

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Just in time for Halloween, a new spooky short!

The Reaping

While their parents are away Katie and Josh watch as a dark storm rolls into town. With it, strange shadows lurking outside their window can be seen outside the house.

What are the strange shadows outside the in the rain?

Are Katie and Josh just jumping at shadows?

Find out in this creepy, short read just in time for Halloween.

You can find the book HERE for purchase or free to read on Kindle Unlimited!

[image error]

Just in time for Halloween, a new spooky short!

The Reaping

While their parents are away Katie and Josh watch as a dark storm rolls into town. With it, strange shadows lurking outside their window can be seen outside the house.

What are the strange shadows outside the in the rain?

Are Katie and Josh just jumping at shadows?

Find out in this creepy, short read just in time for Halloween.

You can find the book HERE for purchase or free to read on Kindle Unlimited!

[image error]

Just in time for Halloween, a new spooky short!

The Reaping

While their parents are away Katie and Josh watch as a dark storm rolls into town. With it, strange shadows lurking outside their window can be seen outside the house.

What are the strange shadows outside the in the rain?

Are Katie and Josh just jumping at shadows?

Find out in this creepy, short read just in time for Halloween.

You can find the book HERE for purchase or free to read on Kindle Unlimited!

[image error]

Just in time for Halloween, a new spooky short!

The Reaping

While their parents are away Katie and Josh watch as a dark storm rolls into town. With it, strange shadows lurking outside their window can be seen outside the house.

What are the strange shadows outside the in the rain?

Are Katie and Josh just jumping at shadows?

Find out in this creepy, short read just in time for Halloween.

You can find the book HERE for purchase or free to read on Kindle Unlimited!

[image error]

Just in time for Halloween, a new spooky short!

The Reaping

While their parents are away Katie and Josh watch as a dark storm rolls into town. With it, strange shadows lurking outside their window can be seen outside the house.

What are the strange shadows outside the in the rain?

Are Katie and Josh just jumping at shadows?

Find out in this creepy, short read just in time for Halloween.

You can find the book HERE for purchase or free to read on Kindle Unlimited!

[image error]

Just in time for Halloween, a new spooky short!

The Reaping

While their parents are away Katie and Josh watch as a dark storm rolls into town. With it, strange shadows lurking outside their window can be seen outside the house.

What are the strange shadows outside the in the rain?

Are Katie and Josh just jumping at shadows?

Find out in this creepy, short read just in time for Halloween.

You can find the book HERE for purchase or free to read on Kindle Unlimited!