Marcus Richardson's Blog, page 6
September 2, 2015
The Shift now available for purchase!
I am pleased to announce the release of my latest book, The Shift (sequel to Apache Dawn)!!!
That’s right, it’s done! Slogging through the editing over the course of the summer with all 3 kids in the house/yard/park has finally yielded an actual book! Nothing caps off a summer like getting the kids back in school and releasing a new book…
It’s available now on Amazon to buy or borrow (it you’re a member of Kindle Unlimited) and weighs in around 450 pages (at least the paperback will, the eBooks always have strange page counts).
I hope y’all enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it!
Look for the paperback version to be ready in the next few days–the proof copies are already on their way to me now. More on that later…
Friday’s Freehold Update is going to be fun–I’ve got some more news for y’all that I’m just bursting at the seams to tell!


August 2, 2015
Well…so far so good…
So I figured I’d share with you my Wondows10 laptop** upgrade experience. You saw in the last post where I took the plunge—I did not receive the notification I was promised and instead went Microsoft’s website* and downloaded the 64-bit version myself (I’m not patient when it comes to things like this)—to see if you need 32 or 64bit, open File Explorer, right click on My Computer or whatever you named it, and select ‘properties’. A screen will pop up and in the middle of all the specs, it will tell you if you’re running 64 or 32bit. Just click the appropriate install “Tool” and download it it! Easy. Right?
Well…easy, yes. Fast?
No.
It took about 3 hours to download (however, this thing is something like 10 or 11gb(!!!), so YMMV depending on your internet speed). I thought everything was all set and hit the “launch nuclear missiles now” button (it doesn’t really say that, but that’s what it felt like!). Did I see a screen saying “here we go, Windows10 is yours!”…?
No. I saw this:
Really? Really? Those stupid updates have been the bane of my existence since Windows7. Sigh.
Anyway…20 minutes later, it was finished updating itself for the update (?)…or maybe it was updating the update(??)…whatever the hell it was doing, it was done.
It eventually asked me to install with “Express Settings”…something I learned many moons ago never to do when Mocro$oft is involved. I found the tiny little option to choose my own settings (careful, it’s very easy to miss–they clearly want you to do it their way). I turned off all the auto-reporting and sharing of my private data, passwords, bank accounts, and blood type and told it to proceed. Carefully–I warned it I had my eye on it.
Win10 must have been okay with that, because here’s the next screen:
Now that’s more like it! ***drums fingers on counter after a few minutes sitting at 1%*** Oh boy. Then, out of the blue (literally) it kicks into 5th gear and a few minutes later I see this:
And 2 sippy-cup refills and a diaper change later, I see we’re moving right along! The installation part took a total of about 12 minutes.
Now I’m getting excited. Gotta be close to finishing right?
Oooo, a restart! That’s a good sign! New desktop and faster speed, here we come! Good bye 8.1, dont let the door hit you in the ass on the way—
Ugh. As I lifted my face off the counter, I realised it was time to do other things. Read the text under “Upgrading Windows”. Yeah–when your computer tells you to ‘chill out’, you’re in for a loooong wait. Normally it’s like, “This will only take a moment. Please wait.” Two days later, it finishes copying that one file you needed. Not it says to sit,back and relax??? Shoot, where’s the beer? I’ll come back next week.
By this point, the kids were getting a little rowdy. So, I abandoned my hovering over the laptop in surgery and played with the kiddos while Mrs. Richardson looked up prices on new laptops.
An hour and a half of running updates from my oldest son: “Daddy! It’s at 15%! Daddy! It’s at 16%! Daddy…” and I finally walk into the kitchen only to see this:
All right! I sat down, gleefully rubbing my hands together like Scrooge on pay day, and watched as a few more minutes ticked by. Almost there…
Cue Handel’s chorus! It’s done! I had to tweak a few settings that got reset (like the mouse…I’m left-handed so I switched the buttons around to make the trackpad usable) and basked in the logical goodness of the layout. Bye-bye, smart-token things that show up on the right side of the screen at the worst possible moment! So long, stupid “metro” screen with your useless layout and wonky icons (this is a computer, not a damn phone, Micro$oft)!
Hey, wait a minute. This looks a lot like my Mac, what with the apps front and center on the bottom…hmmm, methinks they learned a few things from Apple this time around.
Anyway, it’s done and running and not too bad. I had read online that the first couple resets/power-downs will be a little slower than normal, but the speed will quickly increase to that approaching a Mac of similar hardware specs.
I tested Scrivener and Dragon and they both seem to work fine–thank God!–Scrivener even seems to load a bit faster, even! Others have mentioned Windows Media Player disappeared after the update—I didn’t find that to be the case. The icon was still there on my desktop, right where I left it.
Time to test the slower after reboot warnings I read…
Yes.
Yes it is.
Slower.
That first reboot is a doozy. Took 5 minutes of staring at a blank screen to load. The second one took much less time (whew!). The third one—will have to wait. Can’t sit in front of the screen anymore, the kids want to play some more and the dog needs to go out. I’ll boot up again later and see what happens.
Hopefully in a few days I’ll be able to report all is (still) well. My fingers are still crossed…
*in case you missed it, here’s the link to download Windows10 manual:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10ISO
**for the record, I’m running an HP 15″Touchsmart laptop (got it at WaI-mart for $330 in Spring of 2014). Its got a 500gb HDD and 2gb RAM. Not a powerhouse by any stretch of the definition, but it’s great for writing. It came with Win8.1 and no CD/DVD drive.


I hate Windows 8.1 so much…
…I’m doing this:
My heart goes out to those folks who have no other safety net to call back on. Luckily 99% of my writing is now done on my Mac. So this is more an experiment really, but still nerve-racking.
No matter what happens, it’s GOT to be better than 8.1…
Right?


July 25, 2015
Inspiration
I frequently get asked how I write things in my books that continue to come true–as if I’m predicting the future. Well, I am, sort of–I predict what I think will happen based on the things I see happening in the world today.
A lot of the time, an idea just hits me while I’m doing something else, like cooking or cutting the grass. If I’m lucky, I remember it long enough to make a note (thank you Evernote!).
Sometimes, I read something or hear something on the news that sparks an idea for a story… Every now and then, a real gem lands in my lap, like this:
This is one of the more well-thought out pieces on the subject of EMP vulnerability and I can tell you, before I finished the second paragraph, the ideas popping off in my head would have made ol’ Orville Redenbacher proud.
This is a topic I’ve been collecting research on for a few years now. Real fascinating, real scary stuff. The great backdrop for a story.
In 1859 a solar flare hit the earth and caused telegraph lines to spontaneously combust. The wires caught…on…fire. Can you image what kind of havoc that power would have on our delicate electronics today?
I can. >:)


July 10, 2015
Freehold Friday: The Shift cover reveal!
It’s that time again! Yes, the new book is almost ready for publishing, so the cover is ready to be revealed! The Shift is the sequel to Apache Dawn and is Book II in the Wildfire Saga, set in the near future. Without further ado, here’s the final design for the ebook cover:
This one was fun to design, as it was the first on my Mac. I have to say, now that I’m using Pixelmator, I’m finding I really like it. I mean I really like it. Is it better than Photoshop Elements 5.0 (they’re currently on 13 now, I think)? I won’t be qualified to make that judgement for some time, as I’ve only used it for a month or so. But, that said, I can work much quicker in this program and I think the results are just as good. Not that I’m a professional artist or anything, but as far as DIY covers go, I think mine are okay.
At any rate, the ebook cover is done. Look for something a little cooler for the back jacket on the paperback design. I’m going to stretch my wings a bit and try and include an image of Cooper in his HAHO (High Altitude High Opening) suit. But I won’t worry about that until the ebook is up and running and I’m under a lot less pressure.
Speaking of the ebook, I’m halfway through updating the final edits into Scrivener. Once I incorporate my beta readers’ suggestions (or not, depending on what those suggestions are, LOL) I’ll be ready to hit the ol’ “Click Here to Publish” button on Amazon!
If you want to be the first to know when The Shift (and future books) are published, then I invite you to subscribe to the Freehold Update, my once-a-month (at most) mailing list. It’s where the cool kids hang out!


June 18, 2015
Freehold Friday: The awesome scary post.
No, not scary awesome. Awesome. And. Scary.
First the awesome.
I just had to share this article–it’s about the Authors Supporting Our Troops campaign I joined this year and thought y’all might be interested to read it:
http://floridawrites.com/writers-in-action—authors-supporting-our-troops.html
Now the scary part. To set the stage, I’m knee-deep in the revision process on The Shift (sequel to Apache Dawn) and rapidly approaching the finish line. I’m preparing to send the book to the printer so I can do the final read through.
I’ve been enjoying the hell out of my new Mac Mini and the benefits of Scrivener for Mac. I can get up early and edit in the basement office on the Mac and save the file to Dropbox, then make changes on the Windows laptop wherever I might be later. The functionality is dfferent but the words in the file stay the same. Sweet.
Until I forget that my laptop takes about 10 minutes to upload anything to Dropbox versus about 30 seconds for the Mac (yeah, I’m scratching my head, too). Anyway, I’ve been spoiled by the Mac these past few weeks and totally forgot about the sync lag on the laptop.
It was syncing and I opened the file to make a change. Realizing my mistake, I tried to quit the program. I let the sync finish and tried to open it again.
Blank file.
Cue the cold sweat. 3 months of work gone, just like that. Somehow, I’d completely screwed up the file structure and erased my entire book.
Relief was in sight, though: I have multiple backups (on the computers, external drves, and in the cloud) and long story short, nothing was lost.
I think I gained a few gray hairs and a healthy dose of respect for Apple. Their automatic backup Time Machine thing saved my bacon. And my book.
Which, if you reading this, you’re probably grateful for as well…


June 5, 2015
Sic Semper Tyrannis in print and how I made The Change
No. I did not pull a Bruce Jenner.
My change: I ditched Windows for a Mac. Why, you ask? I’ll give you a one word answer: Scrivener.
All writers who use Scrivener know that the Windows version is a poor relation to the Mac version. It’s no fault of Literature and Latte–they created the Mac version because, well, the developer used a Mac at the time. Makes sense. A few years later, they branched out and created the Windows version. So the Windows version is years behind it’s cousin in terms of functionality and ease of use. Don’t get me wrong, the Windows version is still the best writing software for PCs that I ever used.
Plus, I have hated Windows 8.1 since I was forced to use it when we bought our last computer, around Thanksgiving of 2014. The previous one died in a freak thunderstorm. Fried motherboard. Since then Windows 8.1 has growing increasingly buggy, slow, and more irritating on a monthly basis. When the chance presented itself to make the switch, I jumped at it and haven’t looked back. While I haven’t fully explored/embraced the Mac OS yet, what I have seen this far (since Tuesday of this week) is VERY promising.
Now that I have myself a Mac and the Mac version of Scrivener…oh my. Let’s just say I’ve been playing around with it this week and I’ve barely scratched the surface of what this beauty (the computer and the software) can do. I was compiling review drafts for my editor–exactly how I wanted it to look–in minutes, using only Scrivener. When I used the PC version, I had to spend a considerable amount of time just tweaking the backwards settings, then export everything to Word to get it looking the way I wanted it (don’t get me started on how I had to tweak things for Amazon).
Long story short, I think biting the bullet and switching to Mac is going to speed up my production, reduce the stress of publication, and result in better products for you, my readers. It’s a win-win situation for everyone! Except Bill Gates. But he’s the richest man in history, so I don’t really feel sorry for him at all.
Anyway, the other big (bigger, really) news is that the proof copies of SST arrived in my grubby hands (with the weather finally taking a turn for the better lately, I’ve been in the garden every day) and she is a BEAUTY! I think–and I don’t mean to toot my own horn here–that this is the best paperback book I’ve ever produced. It’s seriously tempting to take the skills I have now and go back to redo the covers, formats, etc., of the other books just so they’ll all be in line. When I think back on that first cover for AJE in print…
and compare it to this:
Wow. Big difference.
The new paperback should be available on Amazon this weekend. It comes it at a whopping 646 pages and looks like proper Clancy-esque doorstop. Lovely!


May 30, 2015
Sic Semper Tyrannis goes to print!
Howdy muchachos–
It’s been a while, so I figured it was high time give you all an update on what I’ve been doing these past few weeks.
Honestly, I’ve been editing the sequel to Apache Dawn and prepping Sic Semper Tyrannis for printing (this means working on the cover and the interior layout, etc., all tedious but necessary work). I’m about a third of the way through the book, and almost to send the first chunk off to my editor. Things are coming along nicely and the story is really tightening up. I can’t wait to get this finished so you all can read it! I have some exciting things planned for the world of Wildfire…
On another front, here’s the finalized cover design for the paperback version of SST:
That yellow box will be replaced with the bar code once I’m doing approving the proof copy that should be in my hands in less than a week. Next up, I need to update the cover for the paperback version of AJE in order to match the new ebook version…
As always, if you want to hear about my releases ahead of everyone else and maybe get your hands on some exclusive content from time to time, sign up for the Freeholder Update!


May 1, 2015
Freehold Friday: Mission Accomplished
Veni, vidi, vici.
That’s right, I took on Camp NaNoWriMo and won! ��Before you go all Charlie Sheen on me, winning simply means I hit my publicly stated goal (in my case, 100,000 words…the standard goal is 50,000 though). ��I ended up writing 108,000 words in 30 days.
But wait! ��There’s more! ��I put the final touch on the last chapter of The Shift today and officially finished the first draft! ��After revision we’ll see what the true count is, but it weighs in at 143,915��words right now. I’m aiming for an early summer release.�� Details to follow.
In the meantime, I’m taking the weekend off before I start drafting AJE 3.�� Writing a book in a Month (mostly) is exhausting!�� What are y’all doin’ this weekend?�� Something relaxing I hope!
I’m thinking about taking a different route for AJE 3. ��Instead of making a huge brick out of the book with many different POVs and a short(-ened) story for each, I’m thinking of going the G.R.R. Martin route and making a book that focuses on a few POVs and continues the main story line. ��Then the next book would focus on the other POVs (yet “Go back in time” and continue their stories) so the next two books would be parallel to each other, not sequential.
It’s a neat (I think–I know Martin took a lot of heat for it) approach that would solve some of the problems I’m thinking I may encounter very soon. ��The stories I’m envisioning would necessitate a MASSIVE book or several books to do it justice, but I have a sinking feeling that would feel schizophrenic. ��My other option would be to end some story lines in order to focus on the big ones (don’t worry, Team Larsson will definitely make the cut, pun intended).
What say you, dear reader?
If you want to know before everyone else (even the readers of this blog!) when the next book will be released, any promotions or other cool news, sign up to get the monthly Freeholder Update today!


April 26, 2015
100,000 words in 26 days!
Hot diggity! ��100,136 words as of about 5 minutes ago! ��Man that feels good. ��Never wrote this much in one month before, and the month’s not even over yet! ��The first draft of The Shift is 90% done, I think there’s still about 6 chapters left to write, but I still have a few more days. ��Knocked another one out this morning. ��I love my Dragon.
Back to your regularly scheduled weekend…

