The Speculative Fiction Writing Process Blog Hop is here.

Over at the Writer’s Cafe, on Kboards.com, there’s a thread about Speculative Fiction writers, where we talk about stuff germane to our different genres under that umbrella. We’ve been posting on our blogs the answers to some questions about our writing processes and why we write what we do.

You can see the blog hop links in the sidebar to the left, beginning with the first one. We have a post on Monday, and last week was Vincent Trigili’s turn. You can read his writing process post here: http://www.losttalesofpower.com/2014/08/18/speculative-fiction-blog-hop/comment-page-1/#comment-7955. This week it’s all about me! But then, isn’t it always?

Never mind then, let’s get to the juicy bits, eh?

What am I working on?

I’m currently working on several things, in various genres. As Anne McKinley, I’m working on the second book in my urban fantasy series, 13 Gathered, and picks up where we left off in the first book, Bound in Amber, which has already gone live. I’m looking at five books total in the series, though I won’t rule out anything after that. I've decided to try out the Amazon Select program, which includes Kindle Unlimited, so the book won't be available anywhere else, at least for 90 days.

I’ve got a science fiction novel up next under my new pen name, Griffin Carmichael, about the mankind’s colonization of other planets outside our own system. There’s sabotage, adventure, heartache and more.

I have more books lined up for release next year, some horror and some science fiction. You can find my current zombie short story collection at the link in the sidebar.

How does my work differ from others of its genre?

I think I focus more on the characters and how they react to the situations they find themselves in, rather than the situations themselves. It’s not about how gory I can be, or how scientifically accurate (though I do try), or about how many fantasy species I include.

I’d thought at one time about studying social anthropology, because humans intrigue me, so it makes sense that I’m more character driven. That’s not to say that I don’t work on having an exciting plot (or at least an interesting one), though. I think both elements are important in telling a good story.

Why do I write what I do?

Gosh, if I knew that, I’d probably have paid a psychiatrist a lot of money! I’ve been interested in horror and science fiction—and to a lesser extent fantasy--since I could read. That’s a long, long time, for those keeping records. While I have read, and continue to read, a broad range of genres and nonfiction, those two have always been my main reading focus.

How does my writing process work?

I try to write at least a thousand words a day, and really try to do double that. I’ve had some issues the last couple of years getting that amount of words because of my parents’ health problems and the usual stresses of motherhood. But this year has been much better and continues to improve. I released a short story collection, and have two stories in charity anthologies, with another in an anthology that’s due out later this year.

I don’t always write in order, from first page to last, unless it’s a short story. Sometimes I get a scene playing out in my head, and I just have to write it down so I don’t forget it. This is why I love programs like yWriter, which I used for a couple of years, and my new bestie, Scrivener. It’s so easy to move stuff around, make notes, add information about characters and locations, and things I probably haven’t learned how to do yet. And it compiles! swoon

I’m a plotter, also known as an outliner. I like to get the details of how the story goes—at least, the stuff I know at the moment—down so I can jump in and start writing. My memory is bad, and I forget so much if I don’t write it down.

Of course, just because I have an outline doesn’t mean I don’t change things around, remove or add stuff. Sometimes I take stuff out and put new stuff in at the same time. My characters are often working behind the scenes, doing all sorts of interesting things and only telling me about it at the last minute. It can make things a bit crazy, but I like being able to work with the story as it grows, without being handcuffed to a rigid timeline.

Ideas come from the local Idea Place, just on the other side of town. Okay, I’m kidding. Put down the car keys. I don’t really know where ideas come from. I could be reading about something on line, or hear something on television, and I’ll think, hey, what if… And I’m off. Sometimes I get right to work on an idea, but often I’ll write down what I have (that memory thing again) and let it percolate deep in the recesses of the ol’ gray matter. Sooner or later, things fall into place and I get to work on the story.

Anyway, enough about me. Next up is Harry Manners, at http://www.harrymanners.wordpress.com/. Harry Manners is an author of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. A Physics student and obsessive reader, his debut release is the epic post-apocalyptic fantasy trilogy, the Ruin Saga. He lives in Bedfordshire, England with his family. When he's not writing, he studies Physics at the University of Warwick, reads a ton-load of books, and generally nerds out—for which he is staunchly unapologetic.

Don’t forget to drop by and read his post next Monday, September 1st.

As usual, I’m working on a few things to thrill and amaze you all, so check back for the next exciting episode where you’ll learn more than you ever dreamed about. It’s good stuff, I promise.

An open letter of appreciation to readers from writers.

You may have heard or read about a letter from some authors, about the contract negotiations between Amazon and Hachette, a publishing house. There’s a lot of wrong information, some nasty allegations and flat-out untruths in that letter, and in response many other authors have written their own letter to you, the readers.

You may not have heard anything about this, and maybe you don't care, but I’ll let those who can explain why it's important better than I do so, such as Joe Konrath, who responded to the letter written by the other authors here. Are you confused yet? I know I am.

I signed the letter linked above, but I wanted to also say here on my blog how much I appreciate each and every person who reads anything I write, whether here on this blog, wherever I post around the Internet, and those who read my fiction. Without you, nothing I say would be heard, except in my own head (and that can be very scary, let me tell you).

There’s battle going on between the traditional world of publishing and self-publishing (or indie publishing, if you prefer) and there’s no reason for it. The way we get our work out to the reader shouldn’t matter, just so long as it gets to you. Readers are the only gatekeepers that matter.

Part of this battle is showing up in the way Hachette -- and the other publishers known as the “Big 6”, though there are smaller publishing houses involved as well -- is fighting with Amazon over the price the Zon wants to sell books for (there's probably other stuff as well, but it's being kept secret). It seems Amazon wants no part of the collusion that these publishers have already gotten into trouble with the Department of Justice over. Imagine that.

To get back on track on the subject of this blog post, however, let me say again that I really do thank you for taking time to read anything I write, and if you buy my work that’s good too.

Coming up in future posts are the long-dreaded — I mean, long-awaited! Long-awaited!— post about why I’m going to pen names for my fiction, and I think I need to write about my beans and chickens again, since I got chided for that by somebody who doesn’t even know me. humpf The nerve!

Thursday Thoughts: Gosh, I'm so disorganized.

And distractable! It seems I can't keep my mind on one thing for any length of time lately. I plan to do something, and then I'm off doing something else, usually something of the wasting time variety. Argh!

It's affecting my desire to get my writing back on track, which is really annoying. I'd planned to unofficially do the NaNoWriMo thing, and I'm already more than seven thousand words behind. Yikes. I've got so much I want to write, stuff that needs revision, covers, editing or proofreading, that I get depressed just thinking about it.

So, I don't think about it, and run off to do something else. That's not helping me go for my dream of being a selling, professional writer. I just finished reading Kris Rusch's blog post for today, and I'm somewhat inspired to get back to work. She makes some good points about new writers and their expectations.

I don't consider myself a new writer in most respects, as I've been writing one thing or another since I was nine years old. I even wrote for a local newspaper for a while. But getting the routine down, getting the writing done, has been a problem. I do great for a while, and then it's off again.

For too many years things got in the way, and the writing went by the wayside -- life issues, marriage problems, child-rearing responsibilities.But, I always start writing again.

I love writing, it's what I've always wanted to do, and I believe I'm good at it, when I'm not second-guessing myself. I think my problem lies with a lack of self-confidence, which I've suffered from my entire life.

Maybe I should just write, and not worry about the selling part of it. Maybe I should let that stuff take care of itself, and accept whatever happens. Get a decent cover and publish, and get onto the next thing.

Anyway, Gentle Readers, that's what's on my mind this lovely Thursday, which is also Sis1's birthday. Take care, and have some cake.

Have you ever thought about dying?

Now, I don't mean to be morbid, but death and taxes wait for no one. I was reading Kris Rusch's blog on estate planning for writers, which has some sobering anecdotes, and a link to Neil Gaiman's site, where he has this handy PDF you can download, is in the comments.

http://www.neilgaiman.com/journal/2006/10/important-and-pass-it-on.html

It's a very simple will that could act as a preliminary will for all of us writers worried about protecting our intellectual property. I don't have much published right now, but I have things plotted out, works in progress, loads of story ideas, notes and covers that I'd like my children (and grandchildren, etc.) to benefit from after I'm gone.

I figure I've got another good 40 - 45 years left, but copyright extends 70 years after death. It may be longer in the future. That's more than one hundred years! How many generations is that? A lot!

I don't want to leave what could be valuable intellectual property in the hands of someone other than my heirs. And, yes, I fully intend for my work to be valuable, now and in the future.

Go check out the links, and start thinking about what you want to happen to your work after you're gone. It's not tempting fate, really. Being prepared for things like this is the loving thing to do for your family.

I'll also put the link to Neil's site on my resources page, so you won't have to go hunting for it if you decide to wait awhile, or can't act on it right now.

Work on the next book goes on, getting the words down nicely and fiddling with a cover idea. More short stories to come also, as soon as I can get to them. I've got Mama's radiation treatment this afternoon, and the dreaded grocery shopping. Eeewww!

Ta for now, Gentle Readers. Keep calm and think of turkey.

Voting and other stuff.

I took time off from formatting the print version of Bound in Amber to get my voting done this morning. I went with my mama, Sis1 and Number One, around 7:30. It was unseasonably cold, and windy, not at all like our usual early November weather.

We got there just as the first rush was over, so didn't have to wait very long. We are in a rural area, so our polling place is in the local elementary school's small gym. There were about ten machines, so everything moved along pretty quickly.

The formatting is going pretty well, though I had a rough two days fighting with page and section breaks. Turns out I had page breaks hiding out, and after I deleted the little boogers I was able to get all the chapters to start where they should.

After all of that mess, once I figured out how to set up the document headers correctly, so I could get the pages to be numbered correctly, the rest of it fell into place.

The book is looking good, I'm just tweaking the font and spacing so it looks just how I want it to. I do like a pretty paperback. Now I can see why people charge so much to format books.

I hope to have the book ready by the end of the week, so I can submit the files and order a proof copy. If that looks good, then the book should be available for sale shortly after I can approve the printing, maybe by the end of the month.

I can't wait to have a physical copy of my first novel! I'm thinking of enshrining it in a shadowbox so I can hang it on the wall and show it off to everybody that comes to the house. Whether they want to see it or not. ha ha

Work on the next book is coming along, I've gotten three chapters done so far. I'm going to upload a corrected file for the eBook (some formatting glitches), and raise the price to $2.99. I've still got some short stories to get done, as well as getting all the shorts into collections. But everything in due time.

That's all for now, Gentle Readers. Keep calm and preserve democracy (or a constitutional republic, as the case may be).

Resource page for writers, and a new car!

I've been working on something for a while that would gather all the links I've found helpful or inspiring in my journey on the indie writing trail. Then my computer died, and I lost my links. It was totally my fault, because I didn't check that my bookmarks were being properly backed up. So sad.

But I've slowly started adding links back, and I decided to make a page on my blog to share them with others who are searching for information. I'll have links for covers, formatting and general writing sites -- some are already up, so check them out.

I'd like to mention that I get no financial kickback from any of these links, except for my royalties if you buy my writing -- that is, I don't have affiliate links.

Now for the new car!  We've been struggling with car repair problems for a couple of years now, trying to keep older vehicles on the road because we can't afford to buy anything. I posted the other day about my fun grocery shopping trip in our only running car, a Mazda Protoge. My van is having crankshaft bearings replaced, and the Explorer was wrecked, so it's been rough getting everybody where they need to go.

Sis1 had called about somebody who was selling a 1998 Mercury Mountaineer at a cheap price, and we finally got to go look at at yesterday. After much discussion, we decided to buy a new starter to see if the SUV ran decently.

And it did! Oh, happy day!

It's sitting out in the driveway right now, and I can't wait to take it out for a good, long trip. It's a very nice model, almost exactly like the Explorer in body style, but a more luxurious model -- power windows and door locks, and leather seats, oh my! Did I mention is has a moon roof? Yeah, that's cool.

The best thing? Less than $600, not counting the tags and tax.

That's all the excitement for one day, Gentle Readers. Keep calm and buckle up.

A little blog maintenance and Pinterest.

The main thing I've done is make a page with links to buy my writing, and one which I'll use to list everything individually, with links and the blurb (describing what the story is about). I think this will be a better arrangement than the way I had the pages set up before.

I also added a button so you can pin something from my blog, if you are so inclined. It's on the upper right side bar. I still have the social network things that come up on the bottom of each post as well, if that's more your thing.

If you haven't found Pinterest yet, you should really check it out. It's like a bulletin board for the world, and you'll find all sorts of interesting things there -- food, fashion, crafts, stuff for the home, books, funny pictures, profound quotes -- anything and everything.

If you want to start your own boards, you can request an invite, which can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. I got my invite in less than three days, but I think I must have hit a lull in requests.

My boards are about my writing, household things I've found interesting, some clothes I like, and one about crafts that catch my eye. I'll probably add more as I get more used to actually pinning things I find on the internet. I got a neat app from Firefox for that, to make it easier. Now all I've got to do is remember to use it.

So there you have it, Gentle Readers, the latest from my world. I'm off to tidy up a short story, and do some final tweaks on the cover.

snow day!

We got one of those February snows that North Carolina used to have when I was a kid. Seriously, the weather would be great until about this time or maybe March, and then we might get one or two snows.

And yesterday was the day! We got two inches at the old homestead. I went out this morning to get some photos. BRRR  Baby, it's cold outside.

up to my second knuckle

 

looking towards the parents' place

 

same tree, different angle

Today is Sis2's birthday. She was born when I was almost nine, so I call her my birthday present (I was born on the 22nd). I'd wanted a pony, but Daddy said we couldn't send her back, despite the fact I already had a sister, thank you, so...

It's funny, too, that Sis1 got the same thing for one of her birthdays--she was born on November 7th, and our baby sister was born on the 4th--or was it the 3rd, I forget which, for some reason. For their birthdays, they often get an election!

Then there is Bro1, who was also born in November. His birthday often falls on Thanksgiving. Yeah, my mother must have loved November. Bro2 was born in January, so he's the odd man out in the family.

On a side note, I'm still working away at the writing challenge, I just haven't updated here. I have 22,241 words, which puts me at almost 42,000 for the novel--that's a light at the end of the tunnel that you see there.

I didn't write Saturday, since I was out with Sis1 and Mama, hitting the thrift stores. Fun times, for sure, but no progress on the book. Then nothing for yesterday, either, because my hands were hurting. Dang arthritis.

Bummer. Two zero days in a row. I was going to take my birthday off and enjoy the day, but I think I'd better write.

There's nine more days in the challenge, and if I get 4,200 words each day, I can still reach the goal. Totally doable.

So, Gentle Readers, I've got to get busy. Keep warm and winter on.

Still striving in the writing challenge.

One of my goals this year was to complete projects, and not start them and move on to something else. That's very frustrating to me, and rather counterproductive to my goal of publishing four novels this year.

In order to motivate myself, I did a little scrapbooking thing called "One Little Word", and I also joined a writing challenge for the month of February on the Kindle boards.

Things have been going pretty well on both fronts, despite my having the month from Hades health-wise. I seldom get really sick, usually only feeling bad for a day or so, but I started the new year off in January with an upper respiratory infection that knocked me on my butt. I got over it, then relapsed (or was reinfected), and when I was finally seeing the end of the mucus tunnel I promptly got a head cold.

Gosh darn golly gee!

I'm finally feeling better, but I have almost no energy. And I'm getting cabin fever from being cooped up indoors, having spent about 45 days moaning, sneezing, coughing and blowing copious amounts of--stuff--out of my nose. Gah.

Anyway, I'm only 1,958 words behind on the challenge! Go me. If I can keep the interruptions down (excluding grocery shopping, which is critical to a happy home, because the people here like to eat) I should be able to catch up. The novel I'm working on was already behind, having missed its scheduled publication in December. I'm ready to finish it and move on to the next project.

Until next time, Gentle Readers. Keep healthy and soldier on.

I'm doing a writing challenge this month!

A few of us at the Kindle boards Writer's Cafe have signed up to do a writing challenge, 60,000 words in 29 days. That comes out to 2,068 words per day. Starting today. argh

"Whoa!" you say. "That's a lot of words!"

And you're right, it is. But I think it's perfectly do-able for most writers, at least those who have been writing for a while. It comes out to about eight pages, if you use the old 250 words per page count.

I've got about 700 words of new writing so far this morning, not counting this blog, so I've got less than 1400 to go. whee!

I've made a page to list my daily totals, and I will update on the forum's challenge post, in order to stay focused and honest. Not that I'm not honest, but if it isn't written down, it didn't happen, right?

Well, time to get back to the novel, which waits for no man this month. Keep calm and create on.

random thoughts from the insomniac zone

So, I'm having one of those nights, which has now turned into morning. I wrote a to do list, and now I'm too tired to do any of it. Well, one item was to post on Ye Olde Blogg, so at least that will get done.

See, I get these little odd snippets of things that run through my mind (hey, no grief from the peanut gallery), which by themselves hardly seem like enough for a complete post on their own.

Thus the brilliant idea to put them in one sort of catch-all post.

Except, I've forgotten what they were.

Sigh.

Oh, wait! I just remembered one. Damn.

I was reading a post on the kindle boards about how a writer had gone over his book like, a brazillion times, and it had been edited and went through beta readers, and he still found some typos. He was truly all torn up about it, and I see his point. It's especially important that us indie authors (we indie authors?) put out the best product we can, and finding yet another boo-boo after you've hit that publish button just sucks lint lollies.

But what are we to do? gnashes teeth  pulls out hair

Nothing in this world is perfect, not even books from the "traditional" publishers. I try myself to send out typo-free product, but I know there's something lurking in there somewhere, I just haven't found it yet.

My theory is that there are gremlins in all manuscripts, sneaky little bastards that hide until you take your eyes off the type, and then BAM! Those little buggers sneak out and tweak the words. I think they're especially fond of hiding behind ellipses, you know these things:  ...   So, don't use them. EVER. Don't say you haven't been warned.

There, now my good deed for the day has been paid forward. Whew. I feel so much better. (You don't even want to know how many times I had to retype this after those you-know-whats. Seriously, you don't.)

On the personal writing front, I've got a short story just about ready to put up. It's a ghost story that I had submitted to an anthology, but it wasn't quite what they were looking for, so I put it away to give it time to mellow a bit before any editing decisions.

I redid the original cover for it, which I like much better, although I'm having trouble with GIMP not wanting to do drop shadows. I'll have to give that another try before I upload the manuscript, but if it doesn't behave, I have other ways to accomplish my goal. You hear me, Mr. GIMP? Just saying.

This has gotten long enough, Gentle Readers, so I will close and go crash for a couple of hours. Keep calm and type on.

Do you want the good news, or...

Oh, the good news first, if you insist. I woke up Thursday and discovered that I was apparently going to survive this damned upper respiratory infection. Yay! Man, this thing had me on my butt for a week. I spent a lot of time moaning, coughing, sleeping, and blowing my nose.

Did I mention the moaning? Oh, well. Anyway, I'm feeling much better, and can face the thought that my novel is now way, way behind. I've had one of those life things Dean Wesley Smith blogged about a while back, what with having a month-long migraine festival in December, with added teen-boy drama, the holidays, and then this mucus horror.

:::: note to Self:  mucus horror... hmmm... ::::

Well, on the other good news front, I got my sweet little iPod back yesterday, which had been sent in for a battery replacement. Except it wasn't exactly the same one I sent in, it was a new generation one. Holy cow. This girl is one happy Apple slave customer! That thing has FM radio on it! Seriously.

Now, we all know that in every life a little rain must fall. Though sometimes it seems like a lot of rain.Yep. The bad news.

My crazy little cat, Shadow, was found dead yesterday--he'd been hit by a car--on the road in front of our house. That totally scrapes the bottom of the suckage barrel.

Shadow was a feral rescue that I got from someone I used to work with, about five years ago. He was left at her house, along with two brothers, by his kitty momma, and I just fell for his furry little self.

My sons want to pack up his things, but I just can't do it yet. I woke up this morning, went by his usual spot on the kitchen island and reached to rub his head before I remembered. Damn.

I guess we'll look for another at the animal shelter, but not too soon. I'm kind of thinking about getting a little rat terrier to tackle the field mice that Shadow used to frighten away, and another dog might be good for my Aussie, Smokey Joe.

Right now I hear some suspicious rustling under the sink, and I've got to go buy some mouse traps.

So, Gentle Readers, I will leave you on that sad note, and hide my tears away. I need to take some of my medicine, and try to get a little work done on my book. Keep on and hug your fur babies.

My collection is up on a short story blog.

Alain Gomez has been putting up short stories/collections on her blog, and Monday was my turn.

So, go check it out:

http://shortstorysymposium.blogspot.com/2011/12/visit-from-st-nick-by-sheila-guthrie.html

Of course, I missed posting about it earlier, due to a bitchin' migraine that's made looking at a computer screen for very long a less-than-pleasant experience. Not to mention how far behind I am in, well, everything.  

Don't forget to read the previous posts while you're there, you might just find a great read or two, or several.

I'm also going to be on the Red Adept Review blog on the 23rd. I'm a bit nervous about being reviewed--that old self-confidence thing, you know. I hope I don't get panned. Gee, now I've made myself more nervous! aaaarrrggghhh

Both of these events are part of me getting myself out into the promotion part of writing. I need to get my work noticed, which will help sales, and getting reviews will help my writing. It's tough to put yourself out there, but it must be done, or I might as well keep my stories on the hard drive.

So, shameless self-plug completed, I'll leave you for now, Gentle Readers. Take care and jingle on.

Do you like Christmas books?

I'm not just talking about my recent release, but books/stories in various genres, centered around the holidays? If you do, you might like to check out this site, where Markee Anderson is making a bookshelf of Christmas books.

She was kind enough to include A Visit From St. Nick, my holiday horror collection, among the other books she has linked. So, go, look -- you might just find something of interest there.

Until next we meet, Gentle Readers, take care.

The collection is live!

Well, after some setbacks, the collection went live late last night. And by late, I mean I was publishing on Amazon after 11 pm. It's available at the usual places, see the links on the left, your preference for vendors.

I'm still not thrilled with the conversion, as it seems I wasn't smart enough to have learned the HTML codes for making a linked table of contents in MobiPocketCreator, so I just uploaded the html and called it a day.

Dang it, no linked TOC at Amazon. I'm bummed. But, when Second of Three gets done helping my brother, I'm going to sic him on to the problem.

The good news is, it was perfect on Smashwords (thank you, Mark Coker for making that site), and I had three sample downloads as soon as it went live, and two people linked it to their libraries.

One thing I'm still trying to figure out is how to get nice black and white graphics to work in my files. I want to separate different parts of the file with nifty graphics, since you don't use page breaks at SW. I put one in my file last night, but it came out too small when I checked the various formats. (It was Santa on his sleigh, if you're interested, and it's very tiny.)

Ah, the perils of the self-publisher! I'll find a plain language tutorial one day that will teach me how to do it, and then I'll be cooking, baby. I wonder, is there a book called HTML for Dummies? If there isn't, there should be.

Think I will go look, before the day is out, if I can stop checking my sales, that is. I only let myself check once in the morning and once at night, but I've probably done it eight or nine times already today.

Well, Gentle Readers, that's it for now. I am in sleep deficit mode, plus I'm in arrears on my craft business and really must beat myself to catch up.

I need to finish a novel, and edit a novella (which will probably end up as a long short story), as they're the next projects on my publication schedule. I'm not even going to get into the housework, or lack thereof.

Ta!

tentative cover and story list

I've been working away at the holiday collection, getting the cover half-way decent and deciding which order the stories are going to be in so I could do a linked table of contents.

I was sort of scared about that TOC, but it turned out to be much easier than I'd feared. The Smashwords Style Guide was pretty straight forward, especially since my eyes glaze over when the tech talk starts. Wonder if that's why I never managed to become a programmer? lol

Anyway, here is the cover, which I think is in it's final form. It looks good in grey scale also.  And my boys liked it. They seemed rather impressed, actually.

I worked on this for a while, trying to get the image strong enough to see in thumbnails, especially the blood splatter, but not overpower the font. It wasn't until I changed the color from a sepia tone to the green, as well as changing the title color from black, that it worked.

I also learned how to do a drop shadow! Gosh, I'm rather impressed.

My goat was to have at least five stories, coming in around 15,000 total words, for this collection, and I made it. I'm doing the final editing now, but it should stay over the 15K mark.

Here's the list, subject to rearranging and blurb changes:

A Visit From St. Nick 
  What could Santa Claus want with an elderly Jewish grandma on Christmas Eve?

In the Meadow

Winters in North Dakota can be harsh, but this year the piles of snow are a blessing.

Miracle in 34B

The unwavering belief of a little girl in the magic of Santa Claus restores the faith of an enigmatic man.

It's a Wonderful Life

A man wonders what good he's ever done for anybody, until he meets someone who shows what his life was worth.

Figgy Pudding

  The last customer in the restaurant on Christmas Eve brings a special gift to the overworked staff waiting to close up and go home.

There's one more little tease for a story running around in the back of my mind, and if it decides to show itself in time there may be a sixth story. We'll just have to see how that goes, as I plan to publish this collection on November 7th.

So, that's the plan, Gentle Readers. Until next time we meet.

putting the "ick" in i-cyc-le

Well, I'm just so excited, I'm making bad puns. But I've finished the fifth story in my upcoming holiday collection, and I'm just about to burst with joy.

JOY!      JOY!      JOY!     

Sorry, some got out anyway. Pardon me while I clean up a bit...Okay, I'm back.

I had been worrying that I hadn't gotten an idea yet for the last story, but my little brain was churning away in the background, working on it. I was finishing up the fourth story, which I should mention has given me some scary dreams the last few days, and asking myself, "Self, what are you going to do about that last story?"

I realized I'd been humming while I typed, and one song in particular struck me. I stopped typing and just let the words flow through my head. Oh, yeah. That's the ticket! I just love it when that happens.

I finished #4 and went immediately to #5. I already have a cover in mind, so I need to do an introduction, a table of contents that links to everything, and look at the blurbs for each story.

The publication date is set for November 7, which is Sis#1's birthday. I was looking at some of the projects on my list, and had the thought to publish a major work on the significant days in my family.

So over the next year, everybody is going to get something on their birthday. Whether they want it or not. snort

I'll post some more details about the collection in a day or so, once I get the last minute things done. I'll pop the cover up, and the story list and blurbs.

Oh, and before I go, I had a really nice comment left on ye olde blog the other day, and I just wanted to say that I appreciate it.

So, until next time, Gentle Readers, keep the lights on.

Whew! Had to come up for air...

I've been working on some stories for my holiday collection, wrote one on Tuesday, one on Wednesday and now one (almost done) for today to add to the title story I did a while back. So far, it's a little over 8,000 words.

Once I'm ready to publish the collection, I'll post more details about it, show the cover and give a list of the stories that are included. I'd like to have at least five stories, with the collection to be sold for $2.99. That's the plan, anyway.

I'm feeling really good about how the collection is coming along, and hope to have it ready to publish next month. I might shoot for the 7th, as that is Sis#1's birthday.

It's nice to be writing again, after spending so much time crafting and getting ready for the show I did with Sis#2. We've now set up a booth in a local antiques and collectible mall, so we have a place to put our things that aren't really suitable for most craft shows. I'll have more about that on my crafting blog, with some pictures once I can get back there and take them.

Well, off to get dinner on the table. For some reason my boys seem to expect to eat. Until next time, Gentle Readers.

words words words!

Well, it's been a good day writing so far. I've been energized by both my own schedule, and by the sales of my short stories. I just had a sale reported on Smashwords through the Apple store, to a buyer in Great Britain. And I had my first Amazon sale in the UK as well. It's pretty exciting to sell some where other than in America, I'll tell you!

My Author Central pages for the UK, France and Germany are now up, also. Amazon uses the same format for all stores, so it was pretty easy to do. So now all the non-US people who stumble upon anything of mine can check the page out to see all the work published so far. I just love the Internet!

I've been working on a collection of shorts with a holiday theme, after reading a post a while back on the Kindle Boards by Franklin Eddy about doing such a collection. I now have two completed, with an idea for another. I'd like to get two more stories after that, for a total of five. The holiday is Christmas, with the stories centering around Santa Claus and that mythos.

I've got just over 5100 words so far, it could be as many as 15,000 words, depending on how the writing and edits go. I need to figure out what to do for a cover, make sure everything is edited as well as possible, and get it uploaded

I'd like to get this collection out, and finish up a novel (first in a possible series) and get it done by the holiday shopping season. With all the excitement about the new Kindles, with their new prices, this should be a great time for us self-publishers/indie writers.

Well, I'm off to burn up the keyboard on story #3, so until next time, Gentle Readers.

some good writing done last night!

I finished the first story in a planned holiday collection, and I'm liking how it turned out. Going to let it sit for a while before editing. I hope to have five stories total, and I've got ideas for three so far. I'd like to have this collection published by the end of the month.

The tentative title for the collection, which is also the title for this story, is "A Visit From St. Nick". I've got the idea that each story will use an actual holiday song/movie/book title, or a play on words of a title. I have "Miracle in 34B" and "It's a Wonderful Life" as well. Not sure if this will work out, but we'll see.

I finally made it to the grocery store today, in the rain yet, and man, has the damp played hell with my arthritis. Bummer. I think I'm overdosed on pain relievers now, and it's late so I'm off to visit with Dresden* for a bit and then to bed.

So, good night, Gentle Readers. Until next we meet.


*Dresden is my Kindle 3. I'm about half-way through George R. R. Martin's A Feast For Crows.