A fun new way to write

So, last night I managed to crank as much as I would normally do in two nights of writing. I would have to say that it is entirely thanks to the genius of one person: @MonicaMarieH . She has created this cleaver Twitter hashtag #wordmongering. This is a 30 minute on/30 minute off blitz style of writing. Now, my friend @Pensake is who I really noticed using #wordmongering. I thought I would jump in and see what it was all about. I noticed the first hour to be really refreshing, even though I was writing away on my iPod. For anyone who has never done this, let me tell you that it is sloooooow. But I managed a respectable number.

Fast forward. I have done this for about three hours now and am farther along in my novel than I would have been otherwise. I think there may be a few sections in need of editing, but they are saved on a draft now. Great! This may be the tool that my ADHD driven mind needs to blast away at my writing.

So, if you see any weird tweets from me in the near future gloating about word counts, don't fret. I am not crazy. Just encouraging fellow writers with some good natured ribbing.

Oh, also check out my wife's blog. She's new and going to do some book reviews soon. Send her a comment or a follow or something. Also if you aren't following me. You should be. I am fun.

Gravesight: A not so grave review

I recently dipped into the entertainment budget to get a novella by a new and budding author, Jeremy McNabb. The novella Gravesight was a fun excursion. I let/made my wife read the sample from Amazon.com and she immediately begged me to pay the $.99 to buy the rest of the story. Read my review below.

I really liked the story and the setting. Though the story is short, intentionally so, there is a solid amount of action and intrigue to make you want to turn the page. 

Jeremy McNabb's otherkind seem to be a well thought out alternative to your traditional creatures of modern fantasy. 

The steampunk influences of the story are relatively light. Thus a newbie to the genre of steampunk should be able to follow right along.

On the negative side, I do feel that the story could use a healthy dose of copy editing. Nothing that distracts from the story too much, but there are a few errors.

All in all I would say a great read and a good tease for the yet to be published book seriesGravesight

Crashes Outside Cause Train Wrecks Inside

I know. I know. The title is a bit Daily Planetish. But what I want to talk about today is distractions. In the life of a writer it's so easy to let your mind wander. I mean, seriously, this is a profession born of embracing your imagination, feeding it chocolate, giving it crayons, and then peeling its childlike genius form the walls. However, there is a fine line between embracing your imagination and letting it go wherever it wants.

I often notice that outside distraction is one of the most commonly talked about issues that writers face. This was definitely the case for me last night. Here's the picture. I was sitting complacently writing at my computer and rocking out to some really old fun music. I hear a loud boom from outside. Pulling my headset off, I ask my wife about the sound. She peeks out out the window and says that some guy ran off the road and took out our bushes. He finally stopped when the tree that he clipped blew out his front tire. I run out the front door to check on the drunk motorist and am relieved to learn that he is alive and well. Now, we sort through this fiasco for about 45 minutes. When I come back inside, my incomplete sentence is staring at me from the nearly blank page starting Chapter 18. A full hour of mind clearing later, I have continued on ten whole words. Ugh. My wife makes the subtle and ribbing comment that I haven't been writing very much... Really? At that point, I decided to call it a night for writing.

I share this story to intimate, as many of my writer friends are keenly aware, that outside distractions can cause pretty hefty distractions inside. My question to all of you is this: How do you 'get in the zone' after being distracted? Along the same lines, what kind of distractions can you see right now from your writing desk?

While many authors may be quite content to write bit by bit, I write action oriented fantasy. When I write it's like a movie playing in my head. I just put motion into words. As such, having uninterrupted access to that cinema is crucial to the fluidity of my writing. Especially if writing some big climactic scene (like Chapter 18).

So that's my take. I firmly believe in creating a clear space (at least mentally) in order to write. And in considerate drunk motorists irritate the daylights out of me.

Monday morning Planning

Ok. So I normally spend Monday morning every other week at my computer reviewing what I have done for the past two weeks and working out plans for my writing and world creation for the next two weeks. I spend a considerable amount of time conversing with a co-creator of my fantasy world discussing everything from politics to hair color in our world. The process really helps me to step inside the world and look at things from my characters' eyes. This morning has been one of those mornings.

After a couple of hours of back and forth discussion, I settle in to write until that urge/need is sated. My wife/editor is starting to crack the whip and be a bit more relaxed about my writing taking over my waking moments. Somehow, I think she wants to see me finish this book as much or more than I do.

While my current project is traditional epic fantasy, I have swimming in my head another series that is a bit of a break from that. This other series is YA urban paranormal steampunk. I hope that's not too genre-mashy for any of you. If it's not, I have thought about maybe letting it go into the realm of dystopia too. That too much? Thought so. I told my wife though that this YA is probably going to fly out of my head, since I am being delicate and precise with Bound by Blood. I intend to relax a little more with the rest of Bound by Blood and with my YA series.

What is your favorite genre to write or read? I eagerly await your comments below.

On Red Bull and Late Nights

Or: Turning calamity into calm sanity.

As a writer, I have noticed that writing seems to be the last thing that I do every day. On many days it seems almost an afterthought. Looking back at the day though, I can notice many times when I am not sitting at the keyboard, but my characters and plots are steadily flowing through my mind. Driving to the store, walking next door to check on the dogs and family, and various other activities allow me time to have little heart to heart talks with my main characters. Although I am not penning out their exploits, I am busy every waking moment molding and shaping their worlds. It's those times that I cannot write that I use to plan.

HOWEVER, it seems the writing time comes terribly late or stressed for time quite often. Well, on behalf of writers everywhere I would like to thank the wonderful people at Red Bull N.A., Inc, Santa Monica, CA for the glorious invention of Red Bull. Today, my foot started it's quarterly swelling and throbbing for no reason bout. While the pain is intense and often sleep depriving, I usually sit in bed in a drowsy, agony filled confusion. But thanks to Red Bull, I can turn my sleeplessness into additional writing time. And because of the magical powers that this magical drink has over the space-time continuum, I can write in hyper speed. Which brings me to another  glorious invention: editing. But that's a topic for far in the future. I am sure that you all will get to read more about that later.

Another, useful tool for being productive on these sleepless nights, is the proper choice of working music. While I love film scores for writing to (especially any by Danny Elfman, John Williams, Hans Zimmer, or Alexandre Desplat), I really find that I get pumping and churning out tons of material listening to house, trance, or dance music. Daft Punk is great for getting my heart and my fingers racing. Do any of you have a favorite working soundtrack? Sound off in the comments section!

If you are a writer, feel free to comment and fill me in on your beverage of choice while writing. If you aren't a writer, chime in too. Let me know what gets you focused on getting things done.

Fear and Motivation

I love getting right in the middle of a chapter and blasting out tons of brilliant work and then seeing lightning right outside the window. If only I wrote horror stories, I would say that those moments perfectly precipitate the precise emotion that I shoot for.

However, I am working on an epic fantasy. So, terror is not my goal. Not really. But I have decided that my main antagonist should have just the right amount of creepy sprinkled in. As for characterization, here is an excerpt from my book due out this summer.

Aportus was usually grateful for the soft leather pads at the bottoms of his servant shoes. They allowed him to come and go silently while fulfilling his master's demands. At this particular time, he experienced an unfortunate byproduct of that trained silence. Obedient to the end, however, he simply smoothed his black jerkin and inspected sleeves closely as he patiently waited. He dared not make a noise. His master was known to sometimes ignore a waiting servant for over a candle-mark while he worked through some issue or another.

Lesser servants would attempt to politely clear their throats or even speak their presence, but not Aportus. He would never dream of insulting his master so. That is why he had outlived many of his master's servants. Not that he didn't have ambition. Quite the contrary. He was perhaps the most ambitious of all of the servants in the house. Maybe even the world. Aportus knew the secrets of being the best servant possible. All of his lessons boiled down to one simple maxim: know your master better than you know yourself.

And Aportus knew his master. He knew that his master was a creature of extreme habit. He knew that his master was ludicrously powerful. He knew every taste that his master craved and every smell that he loved. He could tell his master's mood before his master moved or said anything. He had known for some time that his master may one day rule the known world. He knew that to interrupt even his master's thoughts was worthy of death. But what he did not know was what his master looked like.

He had never seen his master's face. Or his hands. Or any other part of his master's flesh. During every encounter with him, Aportus only saw him in shadow and only covered head to toe with black silks or black leather.

Aportus had almost always considered himself to be the very best servant that anyone could find in all the empires of the world. His lot had not always been as spectacular as it was now. Shortly after his tutelage finished, he was forced to settle for a house of an almost unacceptably low station. The matriarch was petty and spiteful. The patriarch was a slovenly ingrate. Even their children learned to complain before they learned to walk. They considered him one of the common slaves of the home, even though he was technically free to come and go as he desired. When he was paid, it was usually much less than the pittance they had agreed upon. For years this went on. Aportus hated his life. Then, everything changed. His future master had come to his chambers in the dead of night and offered him wealth beyond measure for his servitude. Aportus quickly agreed. Anything would be better than the insulting conditions that he was forced to endure day in and day out. And so, he laughed to himself as he packed his things, listening to the death cries of his former employers.

And so he found himself standing patiently and silently waiting to learn the orders that his master would have for him. He would wait like this for as long as his master deemed necessary. He did not wait because his master paid him precisely on time as arranged. Nor did he wait because the amount that he was paid made him in fact more wealthy than most lords and ladies of the land. Not even out of fear did he wait. No, he waited because he respected his master, and to respect one's master meant that you simply did what was asked of you no matter how difficult.

“Ah, I see you are here. Good,” his master said, not even turning to face Aportus. “I would like for you to prepare and deliver a message for me. I want every member of our little council to arrive at the circle of stones at Pecua in precisely three weeks. We have much to discuss. Be sure to impress upon them the importance of punctuality for this meeting. I do so hate having to wait.”

Aportus nodded. He turned and took several steps toward the door.

“Oh, and have someone come and clean this mess.”

Aportus turned and noticed the speckles of glass glinting on the floor where the master's mirror had been.

“Yes sir.”

“I would hate for anyone to get... hurt.”

Let me know what you think in the comments below.

Planning and Numbers

I have to rant for just a minute or two. I am in the middle of writing my first complete novel. After quite a bit of deliberation on the subject (and life in general), I decided to epub the book on Amazon, B&N, and the other digital media outlets. I read some blogs of authors who are adamantly against this practice citing that their epub sales make up less than 1% of their total sales margins. Now, let's look at the facts for a second or three. Each and every person that I have seen this argument from is looking at a couple of VERY skewed numbers.

1.) Their books are released in print form first. Then several months later the digital format hits the downloads. What? I can't fathom this. This isn't even a post about the fact that traditional (legacy if you must) publishing puts most new books out several months beyond their completion date. At times they even leave the contract nebulous for months after the "hand shake deal" is struck. But, back on topic, if the book is released in print first and the epub is only an afterthought, you can't really compare the total sales numbers accurately. There is too much separation of product.

2.) The more gaping flaw in this logic, is the fact that I have yet to see a single person post that their digitals sold 1% of their total sales volume that didn't have their book priced obscenely high. Come on, $9.98 for an epub, when the paper version is $9.99?!!?!!?! Really?

Let's look at the numbers on this one. You sell 100 books at $10. That's $1000 in sales which amounts to $150 in royalties for the average contract. Then you sell 1 ebook at $10, making you guessed it $1.50. Now, let's put the numbers in the right perspective. Sell that same 100 books at $10. There you go $150. Put the digital book at a much MUCH more reasonable price, say $2.99 or $3.99. Let's use $2.99 for this example. If you posted it yourself you get 70% of that... SO about $2. Sell the same amount dollar wise and you get 3.33 sales for the $10 sale OR $7 royalty. With the same 1% of total sales dollars, you end up with an extra meal at a fast food restaurant. HOWEVER, if Wal-Mart has taught us anything at all, it's that when you LOWER price, you increase total sales exponentially. You might not make quite as much per item, but your number of sales will vastly overpower that. But why settle for 15% when you can get 70% on your own.

I know my numbers are skewed some, but there is SOLID statistical data compiled by others JA Konrath for one. I know everyone cites him, but there are dozens of others.

It's not guaranteed, but the numbers just make WAY more sense to keep my digital rights and run with it. Especially since my wife has worked as a proofer/editor before.

But on a different and more personal note, my kids are awesome! My little boy hit a double today and ended up scoring. He also fielded a ball hit near him. (He plays Tball, so these things are great victories.) My youngest child is adorable, so much so that in fact an old man randomly stopped and interrupted his own conversation to tell her and my grandmother that she is absolutely beautiful. Creepy and sweet at the same time. My stepdaughter and son are both showing that they are growing into quite the young adults. At times, I know what my mother meant by the phrase, "I hope you have children just like you one day." Part compliment and part prophetic curse. Well, not so much a compliment, but oh well. My wife is amazing. She astounds me every day with her ability to clarify what I am trying to say to myself. In my writing and my life. I am very happy with where my life is and is leading. Times are tough. We struggle. But we push ahead.

If you are still reading, check out my book, Bound by Blood, it should be out on Amazon.com in late summer. In the mean time, leave a comment below.

Momentum is Key

Ok. So I have a few new chapters down in my book. I hope this weekend proves very fruitful I am thinking if I can really get some good momentum I can be as deep as a fourth or maybe even a third of the way into my book by Monday. The next few chapter should fly by. I love writing action scenes. They flow pretty quickly for me.

On a side note. I had an interesting night last night. Here is my recap. I think this is mostly the way that it happened. Yeah. That's it, this IS the way it happened.

I was writing, my mind deep in the euphoria of scene creation, when my name cut through the soft Celtic melodies of Lisa Cannon.

 "Michael." I heard. Ripping off my headphones I came to my wife's call. "Something is getting into the trash. I think it might be a possum."

"Let me go check it out, honey. You stay here in safety."

And so I went retrieving my trusty axe from beside the back door. Pulling open the thick back door, I peered into the night. A small movement caught my eye from the top of the trash can. I rattled the door to get the attention of whatever it was.

It looked up and met my stare, eye to eye. The ferocious beast stood upright. It grew as it stood: two, three, finally four feet tall fully upright. It's razor sharp talons glinted in the little bit of moonlight. It snarled and launched itself across the wooden porch at me.

My reactions were too quick to be surprised by such a tactic. My axe handle served to parry the beast's yellowed teeth away before they could find their mark. Following through with the grace of a championship figure skater, I smote the beast. I felled the hell-spawned creature by one blow from my mighty axe. And so, I stood victorious over the vile beast.

At least that's how I remember it.

Anyway. That's enough stalling, back to my novel.

Time to Revisit my Outline

I have finished Chapter 3 and started Chapter 4 of my upcoming novel, Bound by Blood. I just sat back down and plotted a large part of the rest of the story. This has given me a pretty strong idea of the rest of the book and the point of views that I want to pursue. I am loving the process of writing. I have been taking some time to really get to know the industry of writing as well.

My main protagonist has been a little flat, so he and I had to spend some time together over the past couple of days. I think that he, and perhaps I, have come to a better understanding of who he is and should be. It turns out that the most fleshed out character in the story has completed her part of the story by Chapter 4 except perhaps a brief return later. But she's just so much fun to write.

Lately, I have been battling the standard fears that most new writers go through. Unfortunately, I have this deep seated need for personal validation. I read through my rough draft so far and am finding some so-so wording and occasional repetitiveness. Perhaps, that's to be expected. What it sets up in my mind is the idea that I am a terrible writer. Because of this, I have been considering posting something here so see what people say about it. Not sure I have enough of a following to warrant that. Let's check, um... followers 0. So nope. But if you happen to read this and want me to post up a bit, leave a comment and I will see what I can dig up.

Either way, I will have something to post up here pretty soon. I hope to be finished with my rough draft by the end of the month. Then spend the next bit editing and looking for cover art. Marketing is a different kind of beast though. I am still working on marketing strategies. The typical Blogs, Tweets, and Facebook stuff will only get me so far without people already knowing me. If you have suggestions, chime in.