Still Alive

I am finally back at work. I started on April 1st and it's been a grind. We've got a lot of papers to score. It's one of the only long projects (it's expected to go until May 14th). The good part of that is that I know I'll be working at least 4 weeks in a row. The bad part is that it's at least 4 weeks of continuous work. This job is simple, in many ways, but it can quickly get you down.

I am glad to be earning a nice paycheck though.

I will be attending my first book fair, The Teen Book Fair, in New York next month with a friend from school and a couple other people who also went to the same college as me. I've never been to New York, which is one of the reasons I wanted to go. Plus it's nice to spend time with people you don't spend time with, if that makes any sense. Mia and I had math together for a semester and became friends. Since I graduated, we've bonded over our love of reading. She was a big support last year when I released Farther Side of Away. Going to NY should be fun!

As long as my car keeps it together, I have a few things I want to do this summer. I'm hoping to go to Michigan in July for my aunt's 50th (but that will be with my parents, so it'll be cheaper for me). My bff's got her birthday in August and we're planning on going to the Dublin Festival. There's a few concerts I'd like to go to, but it depends on work and money.

Really though, I'm just hoping to buy some new furniture for my room. I want to buy a new bed, dresser, and bookshelf. My poor bookshelf has no space and yet I just keep getting new dvds, cds, and books.

I am currently working for Camp NaNo on my short stories for Farther Side of Away. I've only got one and a half stories left to write, so I'm really happy with how this week has gone. I only set my goal at 10,000 words since I'm working on short stories. I had already written three or four, so I only had like 6 left to write. I'd like to finish that for a summer release, but we'll see how things go because of work.

Because of work, I read a lot. I've read World War Z, Spirit Bound, and I'm almost done with Job: A Comedy of Justice. I just got Last Sacrifice from the library, so I hope to read that next week.

I released If You're a Princess, Where's Your Crown in February and although I've only sold maybe 20 copies, I have gotten a lot of positive feedback on it. I'm so glad people like it.

And so that's what I've been up to.

Still Here

I'm still here. I've finally finished the first draft of my royalty book. I had already started editing, but now the whole thing is done. Now I can focus on editing it & making sure everything is properly sourced (which is the real drag). The book will be released on February 22nd.

I will be heading back to work in March (hopefully) or April and will be doing so with a raise. I really look forward to be being back at work. Although it's frustrating to see how sad education is in the US, I really enjoy the work I do. Plus I get to work with some really nice people. And the paycheck is lovely.

I am going to try to take my mom to D.C. in September. Hopefully I will be able to save enough money to do that. Between my new book, work, & selling things on ebay, I am not worried. Next year, I am planning to go to Austin with a friend for a convention. It'll be nice to go back to Texas & it'll be interesting to go to my first convention.

Besides that, there are several concerts I want to go to this year (hopefully more get announced) and I am hoping to get up to Michigan a couple of times. There's plenty to do, so hopefully it all will work out.

Time to get back to editing & sourcing.

Ignoring Responsibilities

I get distracted easily. It's what I'm good at. That and procrastinating.

I should be working on my non-fiction book, instead I've begun writing Book #3 in my trilogy. idk. just a bit here and there, nothing too great yet, but I'm having fun with it. There's a lot of anxiety and stress in the book. Characters are depressed, confused, and just generally not having fun. The books are by no means happy, but the last book takes on a new form of sad. Until the end. I hope. I don't know. To be honest, I'm still not quite sure how this trilogy will end.

Oh well.

I actually only have like a page left to write in the first chapter of my non-fiction book. I've almost covered all of the royal families. I'm so close, but now I'm in the territory of families that don't have a lot of info out there, so it's gotten difficult. Chapter 2 will suck though. How to explain disposed families? ugh, I'm not looking forward to it. Also, the Palace chapter makes me wonder why I included it. Seriously, it's so boring. I hate it.

I had hoped to have the first draft done by November. Obviously not. So now I've got to have it done by the end of December. The release date is February 22nd, so I need all of my editing and everything done by then.

It's a lot of work.

I'm still hoping to get some more money so I can afford to purchase a few photos for my book. Please take a look at my indiegogo campaign and spread the word! There's only 8 days left. Any amount you can spare will be greatly appreciated! There are perks (like if you donate $15, you'll get an ebook copy of the book, as well as other little things. $25 gets you a paperback copy & an ebook copy). So please, check it out!

Help me raise money please!

I reached 50,000 words for NaNoWriMo on the 16th. I'm not quite finished with the first draft, but I'm no longer focused on it, which is nice.

Now I am trying to work on my non-fiction book about royalty, If You're a Princess, Where's Your Crown? I've still got a lot to do, but it's coming together. I'm behind, but that's ok. I pushed the publish date to February 22nd, so I've got the time.

I did start an Indiegogo Campaign to help raise money so that I can purchase photos for my book. You can see it HERE. I can put all the information in my book, but the thing that really help this book come together and look awesome and be awesome is PHOTOS. I do not have anywhere near enough money to even purchase one photo, let alone a dozen. Any money I get will help make this book be the best it can be! So please, if you have some money to spare, help a girl out!

Back to writing.

Have I Mentioned I Write?

So today I got a stack of books from the library. They're all royalty books. Although now that I have them, I realizing I need so much more. Yikes.

I was going to go through the books and get the info I need. However, I'm supposed to be reading/editing one of Danielle's books. I was supposed to do that last weekend but somehow it was Friday and then it was Tuesday and I don't know what happened to my weekend. All I know is I'm a terrible friend.

NaNoWrimo starts tonight and I'm ready for that. But I've got this book to edit and my book to write and OH MY GOD WHEN DID OCTOBER END? I swear just yesterday I had two more weeks in October.

Basically, this is a post where I complain about my procrastination and then cry bitterly about everything I've put on my plate.

Ah, life.

Always writing

I have finished Short stories #1, 2, 3, & 8. I'm halfway through 4. Still got a few to do, but I'll get around to it next month.

Right now, my main focus is my non-fiction book, If You're a Princess, Where's Your Crown? It's about royalty. I've been worried about getting enough pictures for the book and it continues to be a problem, but I'm trying not to freak out too much right now. It won't be published until January at the earliest, so I just need to calm down.

I found out today I will not be working in November, so that really sucks. I need new brake pads for my back brakes, plus I need to be able to afford my cell phone bill & gas. At this rate, if I don't buy anything and just pay my cell phone bill, I'll be able to pay Oct & November, & then I'll be poor. So, at the very least, as long as I can keep selling things on ebay, I should make it through December before I go broke.

I need to find someway to sell books. A $10 paycheck can go a long way.

Hitting a Goal

I set a goal of writing 2,000 words for short story #1 yesterday and I made it...and then some! I ended the day with writing about 2,473 words. I still have about 3,500 to hit the word count goal for the story, but I do have a lot of story to tell, so I think I will definitely hit it!

I still have eight other stories to write, so there's still quite a bit to do. I hope to have at least 5 of the stories done by the end of October.

Here we go.

My Mother Said

I've been listening to Anneke van Giersbergen's new album Drive almost non-stop for the past few days. It is amazing. Her albums just keep getting better and better. Now if only The Storm would release new music. But I changed the header to lyrics from the song My Mother Said. It's not my favorite on the album, but I do love it.

I'm still writing, slowly. I'm just under 4,000 words on the first short story. There's still a lot to write, but I'm getting there.

Hopefully I'll be on a project next month and will be able to earn a decent paycheck. The Birthday Massacre and Emilie Autumn are going to be touring in November. I'd love to be able to go, but I don't think I'll be able to afford it.

The end of the year is always the hardest because I can never seem to find a job for the fall/winter. If I could find a better way to sell books, I'd be a lot better off. I do what I can. Hopefully things will get better soon.

Writing Spree

Well, I finished the first draft of The Immortals! It's sitting pretty at 68,554 words. I'm like 70% happy with it. I do look forward to working on a new draft, but I'm trying not to think about it right now.

I am doing my best to focus on the short stories for FSoA. I wrote the first draft of story #2 today. It turned out pretty well, I think. It needs a bit of meat, but overall I don't think it will need too much work. We'll see how I feel in a couple of weeks.

Tomorrow, September 24th, the 5 days of FSoA being free on Kindle begins. Since I sold 151 copies the first time, I'm really hoping to sell more than that this time. Hopefully with my presence on Goodreads & Facebook, I'll be able to get people to buy it.

We'll see.

Licensed again

My Substitute Teaching License came in this week, so now I just have to wait for the school to need me. Hopefully the first time I go in will be for a bunch of lovely kids, since it'll be my first day subbing. With my luck, I'll end up with a bunch of kids who can smell fear.

I am slowly raising awareness of my book. I'm more active on goodreads and when I can, I talk about my book on other sites. Next week, I will be having a free ebook week through Kindle to celebrate the 3-month anniversary of the release.

Heidelberg finally sent out their Summer Bulletin and there on page 29, under 2010 was my blurb about releasing my book! So cool to see it in print.

I've finally got past the long chapter 9 and am writing chapter 10 for the Immortals. This chapter should go fairly quickly and then the Epilogue won't be long. Once the first draft is done, I'm going to start really focusing on my short stories for FSoA. If I can get a good chunk done by late October, I'll submit a thing to the Winter Bulletin about releasing my second novel.

Any press is good press.

Meanwhile, the weather is so back and forth here that I tend to wake up with headaches. It sucks the big one. I'm so tired of the weather.

Version 21 of Within Demise

I've finally gotten around to finishing the new look for the blog. Eventually I'll do a new layout, but for now I like how things are set up.

I'm still working on The Immortals, slowly. I've been reading a lot lately. I read Divergent by Veronica Roth. It wasn't a bad book, but not exceptional. A decent story with ok characters. Some of the plot is a bit eh at times. I'm not a fan of the special snowflake syndrome, but Roth handles it decently for most of the book. Sometimes it really sticks out and makes you roll your eyes, but luckily that is few and far between. I am looking forward to reading the second book.

I started reading The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones the other day. Having seen the movie, all I can say is that the changes made were sometimes good and sometimes bad. There are parts of the book I prefer to the movie, but only barely. The writing is so sugary. Cassandra Clare makes the mistake of using food to describe skin tones. Who the hell has maple colored skin? No one, CC, no one. She also uses metaphors way too much and the ones she uses are so overdone. The main character, Clary, is an ok character. A lot of the supporting characters are cliches, and even Clary is a lot of the time. The clumsy, yet super special girl trope is far overdone. I think if CC reeled it back a bit, Clary would be a much better character, but constantly having it harped on that Clary is so special, but she's so average and clumsy just makes me roll my eyes. It's cliche and overdone. It's not a terrible book, like I was expecting, but it definitely could have used a heavy hand in editing to make it less cliche and it could have been a good book worthy of praise. Of course, none of that even touches how terrible of a person CC has turned out to be, but that's another story.

I went to Columbus earlier this week to see Kamelot, Delain, & Eklipse. The concert was amazing. I had such a good time. And I got to meet the singer for Delain after the show! This is Delain's first tour in the US, so it was really nice to be able to see them finally.

Still trying to figure out ways to get my book out there. One of my brother's friends has bought a copy and has been getting his friends to buy copies as well. I'm just waiting on the money and then we'll see how many I've sold so far. It's tough to get my name out there. I don't have a built in readership and I just can't convince people to buy it.

I'm doing what I can though. Maybe it'll turn around soon.

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

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.

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.

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.

Camp Nano July

I'm halfway through my newest book, The Immortals. TI is the first book in The Lonely Mountain trilogy. It's also my most hated book of the three. I hate it and I don't want to write it anymore. But I need to finish this. I've got seven days to write like 17,000 words. Don't think I'll make it, but I can certainly get a big chunk of this book done.

Next month I plan on putting TI aside so I can begin writing my short stories for Farther Side of Away. There's still a lot of stories I want to write from that world and I plan on doing it. With any luck, I could have that out in early 2014. But we'll see.

I've got to find a job for the next few months. I need a paycheck since DRC is done for a while.

My book is finally out on Smashwords, so you can buy it for PDF, Nook, Ibook, Sony Reader, etc etc. So it's as out there as it's ever going to be.

I'm still here

So I've been off work for the last week and I'm bored as fuck.

Last weekend my bff came down and we went to King's Island and we went to a couple of cemeteries to look for good headstones for cover photos. I had a great time and it was good to see her.

Oh so I saw Pacific Rim the other day and it was sooooo good! The Jaegers were awesome and so were the Kaiju.

I just loved it.

Tomorrow will mark 1 months since I published my book! That's pretty cool that its been out for a month now. Hopefully sometime next month it'll get picked up in some bookstores and maybe that will help with selling copies.

I should find out next week if I'm on this last project. I really hope so, I could use another paycheck. Time to start looking for something for the rest of the year. Blah.

I've started writing the first book in my trilogy. It's coming along ok. It's going to need a lot of work, which is fine since I'm not planning on publishing it anytime soon.

My bff Danielle has released her first novel! http://www.amazon.com/Project-Death-Resurrection-Volume-1/dp/1483917916/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1374173237&sr=8-1&keywords=Danielle+Thamasa Go check it out!

All that we can do is just survive

My dad and I went to see Rush last night at Riverbend. Our seats kind of sucked (we couldn't see Neil or the string ensemble at all), but otherwise we were pretty close. I had a great time and enjoyed the concert a lot. They played their B setlist, which was nice because it has the Pass on it (one of my favorite songs) and I saw their A setlist in Columbus last year. It worked out nicely.

The downside was that I didn't get to bed until around midnight. Oddly, I wasn't too tired during work, but I am feeling it right now. As I write this, my eyelids are trying to forcefully shut themselves.

Work continues to be decent. A crappy question, but lovely people. I saw my TL from my last project and told her I finally published my book. She was quite happy to hear it. A couple of other people at work now know about my book.

This week, until the 5th, you can get it for free on Kindle. So far, 85 copies have been downloaded, just from the US store. The Japan, Italy, and India stores have sold one copy each. That's pretty crazy to know my book is being read as far away as Japan and India! Hopefully most of these people will enjoy it and spread the word.

Meanwhile, I've started writing book one of my trilogy. I haven't gotten a lot of writing done because of work, but hopefully tomorrow I can get some done. Since it's the 4th, I don't have to work, which is nice. But I'll be back at work on Friday. With any luck, we'll finish this project tuesday or wednesday and then I'll have a week or so before my final project of the summer.

Back to Work

So I had been enjoying my break when I got a letter from work saying I'm due back on Monday for a new project. I can't complain because I'll be getting a paycheck and y'all know a paycheck is nice.

Unfortunately this will bite into Camp NaNo. I am planning on starting my trilogy for Camp NaNo and I am really excited to be able to finally write it. I've got it planned out for the most part, so hopefully I will be able to at least do some of it.

I am also hoping to start writing my royalty book soon. I've got the chapters planned out, I just need to start writing it.

So much to do, so little time.

I've sold three copies of my book! So exciting!!!

One Copy Sold

I sold my first paperback copy of my book today!! If I sell 10 copies, I will consider that a huge success! I like to think that by the end of the year, if I really get the word out, I could sell maybe 50 copies? That's my goal!

Only 49 to go!