Jeremy McLean's Blog, page 4

I FAILED??? (Yes and No)

So, if you were paying attention to my blog for the past little while, you've probably noticed that the word counter hasn't changed much in a long while. Now, we've even reached the fated day where I wanted to have 100 000 to 300 000 words written.

Well ladies and gents and everyone in between, I failed to reach any of my small goals. I just plain didn't write enough. For anyone who was rooting for me, sorry for letting you down.

BUT, but, it's not all bad news bears. I managed to write over 40 000 words, and that's actually two short stories, more like novellas I guess at the size they are, set in the same "universe" as the Voyages of Queen Anne's Revenge series.

With the time that I had, I edited the first one fully so that I am able to release it on August 1st. Right now my editor is putting the finishing touches on it, and hopefully I can get some more feedback from other people just to polish it off in time. All in all though, it will definitely be released then.

Aside from the writing and editing, I've also been working on another project which I hope to debut soon, but I'm not ready to announce it just yet. Look forward to it.

I haven't been lazy despite the word count, is basically what I'm trying to say.

Here's the cover for your enjoyment until it's released. I present to you Bartholomew Roberts' Faith:

Getting Back in the Groove

So, a quick update on what's been going on. Since my last update I released Book 2 of The Voyages of Queen Anne's Revenge, Blackbeard's Revenge, and because of unforeseen circumstances I wasn't able to write a blog post about it, or get back into the habit of writing post release like I wanted to.

I won't go into great detail, but I got really sick late April, and it took me two weeks to fully recover. I even had to go to the hospital, but don't worry it was only for antibiotics.

Since those two weeks I've been trying to get back into writing, but after being sick my motivation was rather low and it was hard to get back in that habit. Now, though, I am glad to say that things are getting back on track. I've started to work like I used to when I was doing Nanowrimo in that I make a mini goal and I have to get that goal (say 500 words) then I take a short break like watch a youtube video or a few, then I do it all over again. This gets me into a good habit, and if I can keep it going I'll be done the second side story in no time.

The only issue at this point is that I'm still not getting the 3000+ words for my daily goals, and because of the delay I'm not sure if I'll even be able to make the Bronze goal for these three months.

The good part of all this is that I will have at least two side stories, and I will be working on hopefully releasing the first one on August 1st. I will be taking some time to do edits, but it won't be as bad as with the longer novels by far, so I should be able to get back into writing quickly.

The whole goal of this was not just to write a certain amount, but it was also to get in the habit of writing every day, and I think I'm working my way towards that. I think on a comfortable level I can achieve 2000+ words a day, 3000+ if I push it. So, at 2000 words a day, I'll still be able to finish the three novels in the main story in another 4 months or so depending on the length.

Here's hoping I don't get sick again.

Update on Word Count

You might have noticed that the word could has not changed. This is because I'm doing some final edits on Book 2 before it's released, so I want to focus on that for the next little bit, then I'll get back into the writing for the second side story.

Don't forget to click on the link on the right to go Pre-Order book 2 before it's released on May 1.

One Down, Four to Go

I finished the first side story revolving around Bartholomew Roberts. It's a little over 50 pages, which is a good size for a short story I feel. It will need some work certainly, but it's a nice story right now.

Next, I plan on doing one more side story revolving around Bartholomew Roberts, which will lead up to Bartholomew's encounter with Edward Thatch in the first book in the main series, Blackbeard's Freedom. The two side stories aren't required reading of course, as Edward Thatch is the main character in the main series, and this all happens before the two even met. I just wanted to flesh out his character a bit, and see just where he goes to become the man he was when Edward met him.

After I've finished the second side story, I'll start work again on the main series. The goal is to finish three in the main series as well, or reach 300, 000 words, whichever comes first.

I'm not sure if I'll be able to reach the goal within my self-proposed time limit of three months. I'm finding it quite tough to reach the daily word count that I want each day, especially since it would also mean no days off.

With the main series books being variable in length it may help in reaching the five book goal rather than the word count goal.

With the first two books, there was what you might call "filler" in them. Stories that were not involving the main plot which the characters were involved in, but they were more for setup. With the next three books in the main series, there's going to be little to no filler, and that might mean that the stories are shorter.

On the other end of things, I'd really like to have the side stories released in August then November, three months apart from each other and Book 2's May release. If I want to have this done, I'll need to take time away to edit them as well.

Overall though, I feel I'm off to a good start.

Book 2 Pre-Order Live!

I just found out that you can put a kindle book up for pre-order, so I did just that. Here's the link: www.amazon.com/dp/B00VIUOO76

I set the release date for May 1st, which will give lots of time to get the final edits done before I need to submit the final copy. Now, depending on what changes need to be done exactly, I may need to take time away from the writing, but I don't see that as an issue.

The main takeaway with this 300 000 word goal is to keep me motivated while I get a nice routine going. If I don't meet the goal in the allotted three months it's not a failure in my eyes. As long as I get close that's all that matters.

To put it in perspective, the word count I'm going for is a little bit more than the length of an average fantasy novel like Game of Thrones. Also, if I want to reach the goal in three months, that means I have to write between 3000-3500 words everyday, with no days off.

That's a lot of writing, and I like to take breaks from time to time.

The point is to turn this into something akin to work hours and make it a habit to write all the time. I can't keep going like I did in the past, writing a huge chunk in a short period of time then taking months off before writing another chunk.

If I want to make it as a writer I have to be more like Stephen King than George RR Martin, but still take cues from both their styles. Finding that balance is the key.

Why I'm Happy to be Jobless

No, this is not an April Fools Joke. (though I have intentionally waited until now to post this for the luls)

Recently, I've been given what I feel is a once in a lifetime opportunity to take some time to focus on writing full time without worrying about bills. I can't give all the details due to the usual confidentiality of everything, but essentially I no longer have a job with the company I was with.

Over the next few months, I won't have to worry about things, so I'm going to try and turn a 4 year plan into a 1 year plan by writing 5 books in an incredibly short period of time. The overall goal is either to write those 5 books in three months, or 300 000 words. Whichever I reach first means I've accomplished my goal for the next while.

I plan on writing exclusively for the pirate series, The Voyages of Queen Anne's Revenge, and I'll be doing two very short side stories, about 20 000 words each, and the next three in the main series which are variable in length.

I've decided to give myself some extra motivation in the form of monthly goals. As you can see at the top of the blog, there is a progress bar. Currently, it's set to the first milestone, 100 000 words. The Bronze goal if you will. 200 000 is Silver, and the final goal is Gold of course. As I reach each goal, I'll treat myself in various ways, such as going out to dinner, or having a party to celebrate.

I know I can do this, as when I was finished my first novel, I set out to write the second in a few months while I was still working, and I was able to write about 90 000 words in a month and a half. With full time to devote to it, I know I can write even more.

I started this blog almost five years ago, and at the time I felt that the business and author aspects of what I wanted were entirely separate from each other. I thought that one, namely the author side, was only a side project as I worked towards gaining experience as a manager and then hopefully moved on to an entrepreneur.

Over the years, I've come to realize my folly.

The two are not mutually exclusive, and if I stayed in this mindset I believe it would have been detrimental to my budding writing career.

If you're a full time author, you are an entrepreneur. You need to build a brand, think about what to release and when, and focus on ways to increase sales. I've learned a lot over the years, and have been trying to apply the things I've learned to help me out. I've updated the cover for the first book several times, I've changed the description of the book on Amazon to attract more customers, and I've worked on getting more reviews to let others know how the book is.

I've also decided to apply what I learned in other ways as well, such as working on the series to build an audience first, rather than working on other books then coming back to it. I changed around my plans for the future novels significantly so as to not alienate my current fans (sticking to light fantasy elements rather than turning it into another Pirates of the Caribbean)

The biggest lesson that I've learned, and the biggest one I've been struggling with, is quantity. People will always say quality over quantity, but if you can keep the quality up, then quantity will invariably help. The more I have on my "shelf" as it were, the more exposure I have, and the more likely people are to see and thus buy my products.

I need more books out in a shorter period of time if I want this to become my main means of income. I'll soon be releasing the next in the series, but it's been over two years since the first novel was released. I know that the quality has improved, but I'm lacking quantity. With this time I have, I know I can get the quantity up, and still maintain the quality.

Of course, I know that this is all just conjecture. I won't know what sales will be like until I can get a regular release schedule going, and I may have to get another full time job again in the near future, but if I don't take this chance, I know I'll regret it in the long run.

Here's hoping for the future.

Black Sails Season 2 Episode 10 Review

Finally, a satisfying battle. I've only been waiting almost two seasons for one.

This was a great episode. Mainly battles, but some great character moments too.

Vane tries to hold his crew together this episode, as his more recent actions have begun to wear on his men. With wanting to save Flint, it seemed to come to a head. His quartermaster(I think) tries to reason with him and ask how he's supposed to keep the crew from turning tail while he takes some of the men ashore to save Flint. Vane wasn't very convincing, but makes the argument that they can't sail with how many men they would have leftover, and Flint's crew sure as hell won't help.

It's nice to see that Vane also has crew issues, as him and Flint are alike in that regard. They both try very hard to hold things together, oftentimes very desperately.

Vane's gambit holds things together for a time, until the man who conspired with Silver tries to make a deal. He ends up getting himself shot, and Silver tortured to give names of men who would be willing to man the ship. Before it goes too far, Flint's crew manages to take back the ship. More on Silver later.

On shore, Vane brings Lord Ashe's daughter's journal with him to serve as a character witness for Flint's trial. Vane and Flint are able to have some words during it's reading, and Flint agrees that the people of Charleston need to be made an example of instead of him going free (which wouldn't have happened anyway). Vane had that idea from the beginning anyway, and his crew took over the walls in anticipation.

It was pretty satisfying to see Vane tell off the people of Charleston and give the signal for his men to fire the walls cannons.

Cannonfire takes over the city and the ships in the harbour as Vane and Flint try to make their way back to the pier. There were a couple close calls, but of course our heroes escape unscathed.

The production value on the city battle was great, and brought to mind the better of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, the first one, and the battle at Port Royal right near the opening. Buildings were exploding as the camera followed Flint and Vane through a few fights with local militia. It was great seeing a continuous shots which followed the two through a battle, panned around them while they hid, and then moving with them afterwards. It seemed a bit odd that the militia was going in the opposite direction as Flint and Vane, as one would think they would want to head to where the cannonfire was coming from.

Minor gripes aside, it was a great battle scene, and bodes well for the next season which I'm sure has a budget increase.

When they're back on the ship, Flint orders his men to continue fire on the city to level what's left of it. There's a great shot which shows Lord Ashe dying in the street as buildings collapse around him, and Miranda (Flint's lover) is there in a standing, open coffin.

The scene is also sided with something very spoilery, so skip this paragraph if you haven't watched the episode. Actually, skip the rest, as I'm going to talk about the ending as well. Come back when you've watched the episode.

Back? Good. Silver's torture was with a hammer to the leg, so when the crew gets to him and their surgeon sees it, there's no way to heal it. It needed to be amputated. The cannons firing on Charleston is mirrored with screams as Silver's leg is cut off. This was also a great scene. It'll be nice to see Silver doing his trademark double stomp (he stomps the floor twice before telling the news of the day) to get the crews attention with a peg leg.

Back in Nassau, Max intends to buy up a lot of property in Elanor's absence, securing her growing hold on Nassau. She's beginning to be as big a schemer as Silver and Flint. At the end of the episode, we finally see Jack and Anne return, with two ships, filled to the brim with gold. The second ship was Flint's old one, which they fixed so they could haul all the gold back in one go. Max looks on the shimmering gold with a great big proud smile on her face. It'll be interesting to see what exactly they plan to do with said gold in the next season.

Before that scene, which ended the episode, Silver tells Flint that the men who went to survey for the gold lied about how it was taken back by the Spanish and that he sold the info to another crew for a larger share. Silver of course omits that he was party to it, and instead says that the man told him this when Vane's crew took over and were about to kill the man.

I don't really quite understand why Silver did this, because it seems to come out of nowhere even though the writers seemed to try and build the decision up a little.

Leading up to the amputation, Silver was told by Billy Bones that he was getting a few votes to be the new quartermaster because of his relationship with the crew and his swift action to cripple the ship before Vane could abscond. Before Vane's crew takes Silver into the captain's quarters to get the names of amicable crewmates to help them, Billy and the rest try to stop Vane's crew and Billy calls Silver a brother. Then, when his leg was being amputated, none of the crew would leave his side, save those who were needed for the battle of course. After the battle, Silver was voted to be quartermaster.

I suppose what the writers were trying to insinuate was that Silver had a change of heart because he feels for the crew, but it still seemed really sudden. Up until that point, Silver didn't seem to have any regrets in making the plan with Max, and he still seemed to have a chance to get the gold later. It felt off to have him do this in my opinion. It was still superb acting on the part of Luke Arnold (Silver's actor), as you could see the anguish in his face as he told Flint about the gold. He pulled back the uncharacteristic nature of the action, if only slightly.

Overall, this was a great way to leave off the season. There's lots of questions left to be answered in the next season, but there was still a lot of closure throughout. We got to see who Flint really was, and how he couldn't shed the mask he wears, and probably won't be able to until he dies.

I'm interested to see where Flint, Vane and Silver go in the next season, as well as what happens with the gold.

Also, I read online that Blackbeard is going to show up next season, which will be fun. There's been a few pictures of him, and he looks pretty cool. Definitely the best onscreen Blackbeard I've seen. He looks like someone that should be feared, unlike the old man Blackbeard that's been in Pirates of the Caribbean and Crossbones. I'm excited for the next season.

Black Sails Season 2 Episode 9 Review

Hoo boy. Shit just got real.

I can't even touch the end of this episode because of spoilers. There are three things that happen which blew me away and made me literally think what I opened this post with. This could have easily been the finale on it's own, though it would have left me wanting a bit too much. I will say that I didn't see any bit of it coming, and it was very jarring and makes me very excited to see what happens next.

Aside from the ending, the rest of the episode was great as well. We hear more backstory about Flint and how far he's willing to go to see his, and his former lover's, dream a reality. He seems to hate the man he's become, and the wickedness that he must take part in, but sees it as a necessary evil. He shares with Miranda that he wants to get rid of the name at some point. With what happens in this episode, I feel that he'll be keeping the name for some time.

Silver was bested this episode by Vane when they attack. Silver manages to hide when Vane and crew start attacking Flint's crew, and tries to sabotage the ship by cutting a main rigging line which would take hours to fix. Silver tries to outsmart Vane by allowing himself to be seen, then having another crewmate come from behind and place a knife against his neck. The upper hand is lost, however, as Vane is a great fighter. Silver's weakness seems to be people who are physically stronger than him. If all battles were won with words, Silver would be king.

Elanor tries to sabotage Jack and Max's plans, by sending assassin's to kill everyone who knows of the gold, but Anne showing up at an opportune moment stops the assassin's plans dead, literally. It was nice to see Anne and Jack back together again, and when they're about to set out to leave for the gold again, Anne has a moment with Max, but joins Jack.

Once again, a great episode. I'll be sad to see it go, as the next episode is the last for the season, but I'm excited to see what happens next. (Plus Game of Thrones starts almost right after, so I won't be hurting too much.)

Black Sails Season 2 Episode 8 Review

This time on Black Sails: Plots, plots, and counterplots.

I like it when people scheme in fiction. The cat and mouse game that goes back and forth where people backstab each other and try to one-up their competition. This episode showed that in spades.

There were some great reveals of characters who had the forethought to think ahead and try to keep on top of everything. Elanor was found to have someone spying on the brothel, so Max and Jack's plan to recover the gold with Silver's help was found out.

Jack and co try to figure out how they can keep it a secret to their crew as to what they are doing, and also find a way they can stash the 5 million in gold so that it doesn't get stolen from them.

Meanwhile, on the ship with Abigail, Lord Ashe's daughter, and Flint on the way to Charleston, Silver is trying to keep the secret that the gold wasn't taken from the island. One of the two crewmates who he got to tell the lie was having issues keeping it together, so the other staged an "accident" to take him out of the equation. Less hands in the pot anyway. Silver didn't seem all that shaken by the act, but certainly wished he had of been more clear when talking with the crewman who did the deed.

Abigail got some characterization this episode, and even comes to perhaps respect Flint. Flint had met her when she was a child, but all she heard was the stories of his savagery as a pirate, because her father didn't know who Flint was. There was a flashback to Flint killing an old man and woman, which was from the first season, and now we know who that person was. I guess if I had of remembered I would have known who it was earlier, but I didn't recall the scene at all. It makes a lot more sense why Flint killed the man now that we know Flint's past.

Abigail saved Flint from being beaten to death when they arrived in Charleston, as the Lord's men took it upon themselves to dispose of the pirate without learning of his identity. With her help, Flint finally meets with Lord Ashe once again to try and bargain for Nassau's freedom.

At the end of the episode, Jack tries to work with Vane to store the gold in the Nassau fort, but upon arrival they find that Vane and crew are gone. They left a message for Elanor on a dead body (whose name I will leave out for spoilers) that says how they planned for her betrayal and headed to Charleston to ambush Flint and his crew while their attention was focused on Charleston.

Looks like the next episode will finally see us with some action. It has been sorely lacking this season as well. Everytime I feel like there's going to be this really cool action scene, they change it so that it's anticlimactic or over way too quickly. I hope the next episode changes that.

Black Sails Season 2 Episode 7 Review

Things are starting to get very interesting. Not that they weren't before, but especially so now.

Eleanor finishes in her task of bringing the kidnapped girl of Lord Peter Ashe from Vane's possession to Flint. During the escape Vane catches up to them, but isn't able to take back his hostage due to a well placed locked gate within the bowels of the fort.

Its nice to see Vane calling out Eleanor and "exposing" her true nature. Everyone already seemed to know what her priorities were except for him really. She's just like Flint, even moreso this season since we've been able to see what Flint's motivations are as well. Maybe he was just blinded because of his affection for her, who knows. Vane also threatens Elanor and gives her a chance to turn around, but she doesn't take it. He says he'll be back, and I'm sure that he will.

In the middle of Flint's attempting to salvage his and Hornigold's crew with a vote, he receives troubling news that the gold is gone from the island. With no reason to take over the fort, as they no longer need to worry about Vane when returning with the gold, Flint gets the majority vote and Hornigold is forced to leave. Hornigold isn't done though, and is approached by one of Flint's dissenters with an offer to go against Flint, and not just for votes.

It was nice to see Flint scramble to reacquire Silver's help to sway the crew at this point. The crew was close to using the kidnapped girl as ransom just as Vane tried to do, until Silver convinced them otherwise. It shows just how eloquent the two of them are under pressure. He has some cutting words for Silver saying that he has nowhere to go if he doesn't stick with the crew of people whom have grown fond of him and listen to him.

However, the best part comes later, when Silver shows that he doesn't give a shit what people think of him. I won't say what happens, as it is the best part of the episode. It's one of those twists that comes out of left field, but is totally natural and not a stretch.

It also seems to lead into the Anne/Max storyline, and we'll finally be seeing what this was leading up to in the next episode I believe. Maybe the writers actually had a plan this whole time and that was why they wanted to focus on their story so much. Maybe.

This was a great episode again. The constant building this series does never feels forced(at least in the main story involving Flint) and I hope the payoff is worth it.