R.J. Blain's Blog, page 35

On Writing: The Art of Creating a Compelling Hook.

Dear humans,

In this installment of A Cat’s Guide to Writing, we’re going to attempt to pick the female’s brains for all of her secrets. Since that icky gray mass has more than a few secrets, we’ll start with something rather important to writing a book: the beginning.

It doesn’t matter if you plot or write off the cuff. No matter what writing style you embrace, you need to start a story somewhere.

Knowing where to begin and how to create a compelling story hook is really important. Aft...

A Few Important Things

Dear humans,

We had to peel the female off the ceiling this morning. She is still breathing fire. Frankly, it’s a little disconcerting.

1: We have a typo form on the website. Please use it. We have removed the option to email in kindle files because people were just submitting singular errors. Those errors get forgotten about. It means the typo doesn’t get fixed, and nobody is happy.

2: Please do not use Big Brother Amazon to report typos. Amazon doesn’t permit the author to retain crea...

Are you an author? Want to submit to the anthology I’m in?

Hey folks,

R.J. here. The anthology kickstarter has funded. Hooray! Are you an author? Think you’re ready to submit to a publication?

Submissions are open for Shattering the Glass Slipper and the other anthologies. Here are the deets:

The NOIR, SHATTERING THE GLASS SLIPPER, and BRAVE NEW WORLDS anthology Kickstarter has hit its goal!  If you have a story idea that fits one of the anthology themes, write it up, revise it, polish it, and send it in for consideration.  I’ve posted the guid...

Dear humans, we’re sorry

We did not mean to make that post a post. It was supposed to be a page. Please forgive us for the messy clutter. We are trying to update the website… poorly. So very poorly.

We have fired the female. She is now crying in a corner eating nuggets. She’ll be fine in ten minutes, so don’t worry about it.

We solemnly swear we weren’t trying to give you false hopes for a book. We were just trying to make the website do its job for a change.

With love and purrs,

~The Furred & Frond Manageme...

Cross-Stitching with R.J.

Dear humans,

We must go nap, so you get the female tonight, and she is going to teach you how to be a stitch-bitch! Someone on facebook requested to be taught how to cross-stitch so they can join a cross-stitch project.

If you are already a stitch-bitch, you can get this kit to play. It contains needles, some hoops, and 100 different colors of floss. This challenge involves using that kit to cross-stitch a SPACE WOLF. You can purchase the pattern for the Space Wolf here.

Beginner stitch...

News, General Updates, and Shenanigans!

Dear humans,

The female got new shoes! and new socks! We found this to be very exciting. The female was complaining because she was taxed extra for wanting pink. (Hint: the male’s shoes cost $40 less than the female’s shoes. She is a bit bitter over this. In other news, male didn’t complain her shoes cost more. Mainly because she tried on every pair of shoes with pink on them until she found a pair that actually fit without pain. It was an adventure.)

The male and female have determine...

Want the entire Royal States series for $7? 24 hour special only.

Dear humans,

The female is at it with kickstarter again… except this time, she’s an author in an anthology, and she’s offering all backers a copy of the first 8 books in the Royal States series. (The whole shebang.) Backers who contribute $7 or more dollars in one of the tiers will be able to grab this deal.

Yeah. That’s worth it. Eight books for the price of two. Doooo eeeeeet.

The female also posted on facebook… something about two backers being awesome enough to get a handwritten sho...

Various Updates (Runaway: Royal States), Book News, Yada Yada.

Dear humans,

The female has a call in 10 minutes, so we’re going to make this brief.

As the Kickstarter includes Runaway for print editions, the current goal is to have it ready for release at the same time the orders for the kickstarter are fulfilled. So, as such, it’s available as a trade paperback preorder there. If you are in the Fantasy Worlds of R.J. Blain group on facebook, you can read about a secret handshake for mass markets. (They’re the first-come, first-loved group along w...

Kickstarter: Trade Paperbacks of Royal States and Magical Romantic Comedies.

Dear humans,

The female had, before posting the poll, set up a minimum goal of 20 people saying ‘yes’ before she would start the kickstarter.

It took you approximately ten minutes to have 20 yeses.

She is sulking in a corner.

You have until the evening of September 30, 2021 to help gather the require funding needed to publish trade paperbacks.

Cost: $25 per book plus shipping.

Shipping Locations: Only select tiers get international shipping, because international shipping f...

Kickstarter: Trade Edition Paperbacks for Mag Rom Com & Royal States

Click here. Answer yes or no.

We’re keeping it simple today. Each cover is $100 for the designer work, about $50 extra for other garbage I have to do to make them happen. I’m tacking on a 25% “I have to put up with this” fee, and the entire amount will be increased by whatever percentage backerkit and kickstarter will take. It’ll be in the kickstarter, assuming there is sufficient interest.

I am not footing this bill myself, because paperbacks don’t sell all that well for me because I’m an...