R.J. Blain's Blog, page 54

Every Book is Different: the Tale of a Feral Novel.

Dear humans,

Steel Heart has bitten. It will bite again. It is a feral novel, and it is doing its best to kill the female. So far, the female is holding her ground.

This is the tale of a feral novel, and the challenges the female faces forcing it to life through abuse, battery, CPR, and other story-writing methods.

It began with an easy 5,000 words. The first chapter flowed out, and everything was just dandy. The female had planned the beginning long ago, right along with the end and most of...

Dear humans, I’ve Been Bad.

Dear humans,

I’ve been very naughty. Some ten to twelve days ago, I helped the female work on Double Trouble during the final stages of production. I walked on the keyboard.

This resulted in the female going through and removing my inclusions. Unfortunately-or fortunately, depending on how you feel about this-she didn’t notice I’d hit ‘page down’ several times as part of my creative alterations in Double Trouble.

As a result, I0 appeared in chapter two instead of simply I.

As I was naughty...

20Booksto50K in Las Vegas: the Sneaky Kitty Critic’s Con Report.

Dear humans,

The female dared to leave us again for a few days. We have planned our revenge, and we have begun launching our offensive. This morning, we slept directly on her feet in an attempt to cut off circulation to her toes so they would fall off. Our plan failed, but we will try again this evening.

She didn’t take any actual pictures of the convention. She was too busy learning things and working on various books. But, she took this picture of an illicit present she purchased for herself when her fli...

State of the Blain Address: What’s going on, coming up, and going down. Plus updated list of preorders.

Dear humans,

Tomorrow, the female leaves for 20 Books to 50k in Las Vegas. She’ll be on two panels, and she’s really looking forward to it. It should be a great deal of fun for her. If you’re attending, please keep an eye out for her. (But be aware she is not available immediately following her Researching History for Writing panel on Tuesday; she has a business date. She’s also not available at 7:30 on Tuesday for the same reason, and won’t be found near Sam’s Town on Wednesday, as she has dinner arrangements.)

...

Shadowed Flame is on sale for $0.99.

Dear humans,

Bookbub thought the idea of a color blind heroine with a magic problem (and eventual wolf problem) to be a pretty cool idea, so they picked it up for a featured deal! Hooray!

For the Witch & Wolf fans, this is a good way to convince your friends to try the world out!

If you haven’t had a chance to grab a copy of this title yet, you can swing on over to Bookbub to pick your favorite vendor and get yours while it’s still discounted.

This is what they had to say about the book:

From a USA Today bestselling author: Though Matia can’t see c...a USA

fans,

A Love Letter to World Fantasy Convention (2019)

Hey, everyone. This is RJ at the helm for today’s post. The cats are convinced I am dead, and they are comforting my husband, who is obviously bereft without me being there every single minute of the day. (So much feline drama…)

This is a love letter (perhaps of the unrequited type) to World Fantasy Con, and if you’re a reader hoping to attend, or perhaps a self-publishing author hoping to attend, you may want to keep reading. Or not.

unicorn in the moonlight

Dear World Fantasy Con,

It is 4:45 PM. The Awards Banquet...

For Authors: Building a Business Plan

Dear humans,

This post is for authors, but everyone is invited to read. Before we begin, while we’ll be including general writing tips whenever we do an update on the female’s writing progress, to be done at random intervals as we felines see fit, we won’t be doing a lot more of these.

We’re sorry.

We’re currently working on writing a humorous little piece that goes into the details of us felines caring for a female author–and the business sides associated with it, but the female is tired.

She doesn’t have the energ...

A Day in the Life of the Female.

The headline of this article is misleading. I’m a cat, and if I didn’t mislead you every now and then, you might become suspicious. I’m convinced you like when I do things like this, so I will continue to do so.

But, keep reading. There are actually some important announcements in this post. Somewhere. Aw, hell. I’ll start with them.

We goofed.

One or two books have multiple versions at a vendor. This is because the female is having difficulties right now, and she went on autopilot while uploading finals to...

The Daily Grind: October 10, 2019 & A Writing Tip

Please enjoy this picture of me in my Halloween costume. I’m a spider. Be afraid, humans. Be very afraid!

PG&E took out the male’s workplace. The female had to attempt to coexist with the male under working conditions. Shenanigans ensued.

The female was very relieved when the male of the species learned power had been restored to his workplace.

Her attempt to flee to Barnes & Noble to work for a while died a terrible death due to everyone else trying to flee to Barnes & Noble for internet ac...

The Daily Grind: October 9, 2019.

Dear humans,

The female wrote 5,090 words today. She is happy with this! She is also not happy I refused to cooperate with her ‘artistic photography’ efforts. Frankly, she’s wrong. Aren’t I beautiful? I am so beautiful.

We still have power. PG&E taunts us all. The male is stressed, as he doesn’t know if he’ll have power at work tomorrow.

No one knows what is happening any more.

Writing Tip of the Day: If you’re going to murder someone you don’t like in a book, change their name and remove an...