Well, at least the front matter looks good.

I have uploaded four of my short stories to Amazon through KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) so far, only one to format now. It wasn't nearly as hard as I'd feared it would be. I even have that lovely Look Inside feature!

The only problem is, the preview -- and the sample -- only go to the end of the front matter. Yikes. So, I've been working on my template to rearrange some of the information so it goes at the end of the story.

It probably would be okay for novels, since you get more of a sample, percentage-wise, but I want people to see some of the actual story, instead of only having my blurb to go by. I don't know if I should republish the stories using the new template, but I probably will at some point.    

On that note, as of this morning I have two sales, bringing my total royalty to 70 cents. I'm so grateful to whoever bought the story (both sales for the same one), and I hope you enjoy reading it.

Well, must be off to cause more havoc in the world of words, Gentle Readers. Take care and have a good week.

I'm published on Amazon at last.

I've been working on getting my short stories up at Amazon this week. This is my author central page -- if all four books aren't listed, click on the "see all books" link and all four stories are there. That fifth book, though, I have no idea why that's there, but if you like it, I'm sure the authors will love for you to buy it!

I have four short stories up now, with one more to work on. I took the novellete/short story combo and split it up, rewriting the short piece to flesh it out and published them separately.

The formatting wasn't too bad, despite my fears -- and hey, anybody that can upload to Smashwords can do KDP. Seriously. I went over the Word doc, checking for typos and other stupid stuff, again, saved it as Web page, filtered and put it through MobiPocket Creator.

They look pretty good, and it's wonderful having them up. In fact, I've  sold one. Yup. For real money. I know! It's freaking awesome. I'm already planning on how to spend that .35. Of course, I'll have to sell another $9.65 before I see that royalty, but hey, can't a girl dream?

Well, off to work, Gentle Readers. Have a glorious day.

Stephen King, I think I love you.

I've been re-reading King's book, On Writing, which I like to do every so often, first because it's an awesome book, and second because I love the way he writes. Did I mention it's an awesome book? dorky fan sigh 

He has a nifty writing exercise in the book (about half-way down on pg 167 in my July 2002 Pocket Books edition) where he gives you a scenario about a common domestic situation, with all sorts of details, and tells you to write your own story around it  -- dig for the bones. But the twist is to reverse the sexes of the protagonist and antagonist.

Holy light bulb moment, Batman!

I've had a story about a similar situation that was, frankly, going nowhere. NOWHERE. But when I read that part of the book again, it just slapped me silly and I knew how the story was supposed to go -- 3,000 words later, and by Jove, I think I've got it.

The story is resting for a few days, then I'll do an edit and polish, see if it still feels right. There's a nifty little thing on the Absolute Write boards that I think this will fit nicely.

Now, would I have found the bones of this story on my own? Maybe. Maybe not. The thing is, I now have finished a story instead of one destined for the Trunk of Lost Tales.


Well, Gentle Readers, that's all for now. I've got another pile of bones calling my name, so I must go fossil hunting.

school shopping spree

 Well, it's happened. I took Sk8monkey to shop for school clothes for the last time. He will start his final year of high school in less than three weeks, and he'll also turn 17 on the 25th.

It seems like only yesterday that I was buying those endless school supplies that they never used, and now he's driving and thinking about college. Pardon me while I have an almost-empty-nest moment...

Okay, I'm back. Le sigh.

We went shopping at his usual place, Rue 21, and other than only having two pairs of pants that met his standards, and the horrendously loud music, it went really well. This was the tax free weekend, and the store was having a sale, so we got him quite a few shirts to go with the two pairs of jeans.

He was so excited when he got home and tried on his things again; it was fun to watch him be enthusiastic about how things fit and looked together! Here are a couple of pics I managed to get before he took off to visit some friends. He was particularly fond of the tee with the quote.

Well, that concludes our exciting visit to the land of retail.

Until next time, Gentle Readers. Take care.

Goodness, where did July go?

It seems like it was just yesterday that it was the beginning of July, and now my baby's birthday is three weeks from tomorrow! Sk8monkey will be 17 years old, and starting his senior year. Wow.

I've been working on cleaning and organizing my craft building -- yes, an entire building, 16 x 16 feet, and not nearly big enough -- and some writing. I've been sorting and rearranging my scrapbooking stuff, which has been quite a pain. I've changed my storage for my paper, and all the other little bits that go with it. I'll get some pictures and post someday.

Still got stuff to do, finish sorting the sewing, beading and painting stuff. For the time being, my dollhouses/miniatures are up in the rafters, out of the way, because it takes a lot of room. I need to get all this done, because one of my sisters wants us to open an Etsy shop, and I can't get any work done in all this clutter.

The writing has been a little hit-or-miss, but I have gotten some work done. I've still got the three short stories to finish, the edit on the horror novella from the contest, and my epic SF novel. LOL

I've also been fiddling around with my next project, which is a series of four novels about a family of witches. I'm debating on whether to do this in first-person, as the main character is shaping up to be interesting. Oh well, something to work out later.

Another project I'm starting is a collection of short stories/novellas to be released around the winter holidays (Yule to me, Christmas for some). I got the idea for this from a posting on the Writer's Cafe on kindleboards.

I think maybe six shorts, about 15,000 - 20,000 words total would be a nice length. I've got about half of one story done, and ideas for two more. The stories would be in my usual Twilight Zone-esque style, i.e. tales with a twist, and probably no romance, but who knows? It would depend on how the story works out.

So, there it is, Gentle Readers. Be safe and summer on!