Friday, August 23, 2013

The World's End

Saw the World's End today. Marvelous movie. I'm a big fan of Simon Pegg & Nick Frost. This movie was great. It had some throwbacks to the previous two films (Shaun of the Dead & Hot Fuzz), but nothing that I thought was too over the top. The cast was top. I had a lot of fun watching it. Can't wait to have it on DVD!

I bought season 1 of Haven today. It was only $13.50 and I couldn't resist. Gotta love getting 50% off at Barnes & Noble.

Tomorrow I'm going to see The Mortal Instruments with a friend. I'm not expecting much. I've got 0 respect for Cassandra Clare, but I like enough of the cast that I want to see the movie. The reviews have me jumping with glee, but we'll see if it is as bad as they say.

Meanwhile, I continue with watching CSI.

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Something should go here

I'm busy busy busy with The Immortals. I'm getting quite a lot done and am generally happy with how it's going. Obviously it'll need a fair bit of editing, but I think I should be done with the first draft either within the next week or sometime in early September.

I've found three people who will do reviews for me. They've got the book, so now it's just a waiting game. I know FSoA is not the best written book you'll see this year, but I think it's decent. I'm really hoping these reviews will help get my book out there and hopefully will convince even just a few people to buy it.

I'm pushing off the short stories for FSoA because I'm just drawing a blank. I have 10 stories that I want to write (to start with), but I'm just too stuck on the Immortals. So I'm going to do the short stories for NaNo this year. Then I'll edit them and hopefully have them out for ebooks in early 2014. Then I'll go back to the Immortals and finish up and begin the second book.

I'd like to have the Immortals published through a company, but if I can't get anyone to do it, I'll just self-publish later in 2014.

And of course I do still want to write my royalty book.

One thing at a time though.

Meanwhile I finished season 2 of CSI: Miami and I'm waiting on disc one of Season 1 to come to me. Until then, I'm back on my Spartacus rewatch. I did Gods of the Arena and I just started Blood and Sand.

I think I'm going to do a Spartacus header for the blog next. I just gotta decide what I want to do. I'm lying, I'm going to do a Floor Jansen/Revamp header. Just gotta figure out the lyrics for this song.

I've been selling stuff on ebay and although at first I was worried, things are coming together nicely. I need to take more pictures and list more things. I'm lazy about that. I'll get around to it this week.

I've finally knocked out my headache so tomorrow I'm going to dye my hair black. Bye bye blue/green tips and hello normalcy.

On Friday I'll be seeing The World's End and then saturday I'm going to see The Mortal Instruments with a friend. TWE has gotten loads of great reviews (which I expected) and TMI has gotten loads of bad reviews (which I expected). I'll judge for myself this weekend.

edited to add: this is apparently my 100th post.

woo

Monday, August 19, 2013

Buying my novel

I've added a new option. On the sidebar, you can purchase, through paypal, my book. You can simply order a copy at $10, plus shipping, or you can order a signed copy with no personalization (meaning just my signature) at $12 plus shipping, or you can order a signed copy with personalization (meaning I will sign it to you) at $15 plus shipping.

I'm slowly, lamely, working on the short stories to go with Farther Side of Away. My plan at this point is when it's finished, it'll be available, for free, for Kindle, Nook, etc. There won't, at the outset, be any paperback copies available. If it's popular enough, I may make it available in paperback eventually.

I'm also still writing my next book, The Immortals. I'm liking how it's shaping up so far. It needs a lot of work though.

School starts Wednesday and I'll be back to trying to be a substitute teacher. In the meantime, I write.

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Heinlein

My dad loved my book and then suggested I read Heinlein's Job: A Comedy of Justice as the topics of my book and Job are similar. I've only gotten a few pages in and so far it's...weird. I should preface this by saying I've never read Heinlein before. I actually read fiction a lot less these days because of my degree. I've been wrapped up in politics and history for the last seven years that fiction has fallen by the wayside. I read the Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin in the past year and that's about it for fiction (as well as Project Death: Resurrection by Danielle Thamasa). Oh and how could I forget I've read Beautiful Creatures, Beautiful Darkness, and Beautiful Chaos. I still need to read the last book.

I tend to spend most of my time online and writing, so I don't do a lot of reading. I read books 2-5 of ASoIaF at work during my breaks. When I'm not working, I don't read as much. I know it's bad, but I just don't have the drive to read. I'd rather write.

I co-run a royalty blog on tumblr called Royal Watcher and that takes up a lot of my time. I tend to focus on the posts that involve lots of picture finding and research. I plan on writing a guide to royalty book sometime, but it's a lot of work. Writing fiction is so much easier. Plus all of the sourcing reminds me of writing papers in college and I get these awful flashbacks and have panic attacks. Last thing I want is to be sued or anything for copyright infringement, etc. So it's a slow process.

So reading is pretty far down on my list. As I said, I've never read Heinlein before. I don't know if the rest of his books read like Job, but if they do, it is such an interesting way of writing. Basically, everyone should read at least one Heinlein book.

And mine. You should definitely read my book.

Sunday, August 4, 2013

40,000 Words

So I reached my word count goal for Camp Nano! I am 40,000 words into my first draft of The Immortals. Now I am putting it aside and I will begin writing my short stories for Farther Side of Away. I've got 4 stories I know I want to write. I'd like to get at least 8, but I'd prefer 10. So we'll see.

I've been applying to some jobs in the area and hopefully I'll get one of them. I could use the money. There's two Kamelot concerts I want to go to in August, plus Paramore in November. And plenty of movies and albums coming out I want to buy.

My book is finally available in Nook, Ibook, Sony Reader, and other formats on Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/339792

I need to figure out new ways of marketing my book. If I sell a couple of more copies of the paperback, I'll get my first check from createspace. And boy that would be nice.