Category Archives: Promotion

Writing when bored

I was bored yesterday.

I had finished Grimaulkin Redeemed, and it’s at the editor. I “finished” “Taurus”–it could go on for a couple more scenes, but I like ending it where it is.

I had the urge to write. I wrote a poem that I’m going to read at the Lively Literati which is sponsored by ARIA, and is kind of a poetry-prose open-mic evening of readings and public speaking.  Because that poem’s depressing, I’m going to write a more fun one today.

Okay, so I did the poem, which took me an hour, and I was still bored. What to do next?

I opened up Scrivener. Maybe something would come to me. I had downloaded an outline template for Scrivener and it was first in my list. I opened it up. I was initially going to take out my trusty Story-matic cards that have helped me develop stories in the past, but then I thought about War Mage.

The outline template is called Fool-Proof Outline, from the book of the same name that I had downloaded through Kindle Unlimited (when I used it briefly at the beginning of the year). It’s a series of questions to get you thinking, preparing, and help you write a crappy first draft. But it’s still a first draft.

I had sent to the editor what I had written with War Mage version 7, along with what I planned to do with it. He hasn’t gotten back to me (I wonder why….after all, I’ve sent him a novel, two novellas, a short story–and there’s not only me in his stable–plus he has a life… 😉 ) But I thought, eh…what the hell.

I filled out a few of the questionnaires, and restarted the first scene. I’m changing Brent from the easy-going guy he was in Homecoming to someone a little colder, calculating, and suspicious. That’s a lot like Mike, so it’ll be interesting to see how I make Brent into someone slightly different. The next thing I knew, four hours had passed and I was thinking of War Mage as fun, not a chore.

Maybe the eighth time’s the charm.

Is it worth it?

Did an event yesterday. I sold one book, and I’m very happy for that. (Thanks, Jennifer!) I called my dad and told him, and he said, “You sit all day and sell one book. Is it even worth it?”

I immediately said, “Yes.” And here’s why.

It’s not the book selling that I’m there for. I’m there to learn how other authors are doing things. I’m there to see what works, and what doesn’t. I happened to sit next to someone who was involved in sales, and she showed me a few tricks of the trade. I noticed, too, that it takes me a couple of hours to get warmed up enough to get people’s attention and engage them.

Plus, the four people I sat next to were a blast. We were the loudest group in the room.

I’m also there to meet people. I passed out business cards, put myself out there. I passed people to other authors that could help them or that would have books of their interest. I told them about my publisher and gave out a couple of brochures.

People asked a lot about audio books. By the way, the narrator of Water is going to narrate the Grimaulkin series and I could not be more happy–he’s absolutely terrific. Even if you don’t like gay erotica, go buy one of the Water booklets and just listen to the guy. Grimaulkin’s audiobooks are coming out (hopefully) by August. I was handing out the Grimaulkin business cards left and right to get people to remember to either buy the ebook or the audiobook when it comes out. Homecoming, I didn’t push as much (mostly because I didn’t have the room), but I told them that the audiobook was good for a Boston trip. A lot of people seemed interested in Homecoming, too…which means I need to get my ass in gear and write War Mage.

Grimaulkin Redeemed is slowed down to 37.5K words right now because I’m doing stuff for personal reasons. I am entering a short story in the Association of Rhode Island Author’s anthology for this year. It’s depressing, but I think it’s pretty good. It’s a rewrite of my first chapter of the second draft of Grimaulkin. By the way, Grimaulkin, as he’s published now, is my fifth draft, Grimaulkin Tempted my first draft, and Redeemed is my first as well. Me and my editor are getting better at this.

What happened in the year 2000?

I’m on medical leave (long story, not going into it) so I have some time to write. I try to write at least 1000 words a day, in between the recovery. I’m coming up with some good ideas, and I’m over half-way through the novel. I’m stuck a little on how the police handle mail, and what they had available in the year 2000 with computers. Did cops or the feds have hackers on the payroll?

MySpace and Twitter didn’t exist, neither did Facebook or other social media sites. AOL and Usenet were the big community sites. I have to cast back in my own memory what AOL was like at the time. It’s challenging, because the old memory isn’t what it used to be, and I have no idea what cops could do then. Did they look up IP addresses? Did they know how to find people from an email?

Of course, I could just gloss over it like I plan on doing with War Mage. Though it bothers me.

“Capricorn” is finished, edited and ready to go. I had planned on working on Earth this weekend but I got distracted with other recovery work. “Family Bonds,” the short story tie-in for Grimaulkin Redeemed, is also done and formatted. When I do the laundry, I’ll work on Earth (because it’s on the computer in the laundry room).

In two weeks I’ll be at the Warwick Public Library selling books, signing them, and giving away the short story tie-ins (that are very cool). April 21 from 10-2. Hope to see you there!

New Short Coming Soon

For my short story tie-in for Grimaulkin Redeemed, I decided to rewrite an old story I did in November 2014 for Thanksgiving. I put it in Scrivener, took out references to City of Heroes, and reread it. However, I was reading the original. The story with the parts taken out were still in my head and I kept putting them in. The story made perfect sense to me, but it felt wrong on the page. I had my editor read it. He gave me great feedback, and explained that Mike was very angry in that story and not at all sympathetic. “Apparently, Mike (and you) were in a different place then.”

So I went back in my journals that far. Yes, I have them from 2012 and sporadically around the house since 1980. I was pissy in 2014. I had been passed over for a promotion (yet again). I was fighting to get my son diagnosed as being on the spectrum. My supports were ripped out from under me in the summer of 2014.

Now…I’m rewriting the story again from scratch. It has a good scene that I’m trying to keep, but I don’t think it’s going to work. Mike is a little less angry in this story, a lot more accepting, and things have changed. When I finish the story (title might be “Our Normal Thanksgiving”), I’ll point you to the original and you decide which one you like better.

I’ve left off in Grimaulkin Redeemed with the line, “Ribs dropped onto plates with an almost unified clatter.” I’m itching to continue it, because I know what’s going to happen next, but I know if I continue, I’ll write until I’m “stuck”. Then who knows when I’ll get back to it. So I’m doing “Thanksgiving” so it’s ready to go.

As of next week, I will officially be committed to go to WorldCon 76 in San Jose. I’m aiming to get Grimaulkin Redeemed done next month (22K words now), ready for publication in August and sale at WorldCon. I may pass War Mage on to someone else to do, because I can’t seem to get it going. Earth is mostly done. I have to wrap up Virgo and write more with Taurus.

Episode 17 is up for the Dark Mystic Quill. It’s about guns. It might be a little political, but it goes into mental health (my “woe” section of the podcast).

California, here I come!

As you can see by my playlist, I listen to a lot of hard rock when I write. It’s not necessarily the song lyrics that I pay attention to, but the cadence and rhythm of the song. “Coming Undone” and “Good Man” have pertinent lyrics to what I’m writing. I do know that if anyone ever makes a movie of Grimaulkin, I don’t necessarily want anything to do with the casting because I don’t watch TV or see movies, but let me curate the soundtrack!

I’m up to about 18K words in Grimaulkin Redeemed, and wrapped up one of the subplots. The muses are working on how to get me out of a box I painted myself in with the main plot. In the meantime, I’m writing another subplot, and I plan on stealing an idea from Twilight (yes, I know, that’s very bad).  When you read Grimaulkin Redeemed, you may not notice. First one who does wins a signed collection of all three (by then) Grimaulkin short stories. But I’ll run this contest after Grimaulkin Redeemed comes out.

I’m going to WorldCon 76 in San Jose! We just got approved for a table, so we’re in! I won’t be at the Loof this year (August 11) because I’ll be sending my table display to San Jose for August 15. Hopefully I will get everything back by Columbus Day in October so I can set up at the Autumnfest and Scituate Art Festival this year.  I won’t be at Narragansett or the Big E. I may be at RI Comicon in November if I can scrounge up the money for the table.  I’m going to try to set up at Richmond and Scituate Farmers’ Markets if they do them again, but not during the month of August. And probably lastly will be the Author Expo in December. I missed last month’s meeting so I don’t know what’s coming up.

I am definitely going to be at the Warwick Public Library April 21. Come visit!

Episode 15 of the Dark Mystic Quill is up and ready. Want to get rich? No, that podcast won’t help you with that, but it may help you pay some bills.

 

A great week for writing

I had my talk at Mount Pleasant High School. I think I went a little over their heads But I had four good questions that I want to answer here.

  1. What inspired you to write gay characters?

I played City of Heroes (the teacher knew what it was!) and I explained that in the gaming world, if you play a girl, the guys all rush in to try and save you, no matter how well you play. I wanted to play a guy, but I also wanted to flirt with men. So I created Grimaulkin as a gay character, but a tough one, not feminine. I played him so well that the gay community online accepted me as male and was surprised to find that I was female.

2) How many gay characters do you have?

I told them 40, but when I went and checked, it’s closer to 60. The follow up question was “How do you keep track of them all?” I explained I use Scrivener or One Note, or index cards and they laughed that off as too old-school.

3) What inspired you to write Homecoming?

My husband was into the military, the guns, the tanks, the whole thing. I kind of got into it through him. After my husband passed, I wrote the book in memory of him. That elicited “Awwww.”

4) How did you get published?

I explained the typical way of getting published: sending out query letters and waiting for rejections. I told them a friend of mine started his own press and asked if I would write some books for him, which I jumped at. Then I joined the Association of Rhode Island Authors and that’s how I got to speak in front of them. I told them that small presses are more receptive to new authors and if they want to get into publishing, to try those first.

After that, a few people came up to me. One showed me her poem, which was about rejection, and excellent. I told her it brings forth an emotion, and that’s what you want poetry to do. Another young man gave me his story (I haven’t read it yet, but I plan to today) and asked for a critique. A few people said they were happy to know they weren’t alone writing gay characters and trying to get them into mainstream fiction.

All in all, a great time, and I would love to do this kind of thing again.

Saturday I had an event, and sold Grimaulkin and Grimaulkin Tempted. (Note: bundles are a really good draw.) The Valley Breeze (a weekly free local newspaper) was there with a photographer and I might get noted in there. I’m going to pick up the Breeze next week to see.

I also found out that I was the last author picked for a Warwick Library Meet and Greet on April 21. Details forthcoming. I think it’s 10-2 but not sure.

I’m up to 7K words on Grimaulkin Redeemed and it’s going along smashingly. In fact, at the event yesterday, I had an idea for a scene that I’m itching to write. But first I have to get my podcast out–I’m two weeks late. After that, I’m writing.

 

When the muse speaks, listen!

I decided this weekend to tackle Earth, to try and get it finished. As I talked with my publisher, he said, “How about you work on War Mage?”

Okay, for a different way of looking at things, sure. It’s been cooking for about a few months, so I should be able to get right back into the swing of it. A new story, a new character, new setting. I have an idea of where the story was going to go (after all, I’ve written eight drafts of the damn thing) so it should be easy. Right? Right?

I sat down, reread what I wrote up to the point I stopped and thought, “My God. This just sucks.”

I’m tempted to say, “To hell with the whole War Mage idea, let’s just not continue it.”

This made me reach for the comfort food to console my depression. After eating a few Belgian waffles, I went upstairs to my Windows computer (the computer that has Scrivener, Internet, and game on it) and did some mindless button-mashing in game.  Then I said to myself, “What happens if I start Grimaulkin Redeemed?”

I left the game, started a new project in Scrivener, and started writing. An hour later, I had done a thousand words (would have been more if I didn’t self-edit) and it flowed! This, this is what I like to feel when I write. The instant flow of words, the story just comes out, and it’s not work. It’s enjoyable. It’s play.

This is what every writer’s “zone” is. When the work takes over your life, and you enjoy it. It’s not a job. It’s not something you keep wanting to procrastinate. It’s a flow, a river.

I had a dream last night, and now that I think about it, I know what it means. There was a metal pipe that fed to a creek in the back of the house, and it was clogged, with water backing up against the foundation of the house. I had just grabbed a stick and planned on poking the end of the pipe to try and dislodge what was blocking it.

That’s Grimaulkin Redeemed. It’s unblocking the pipe of creativity. Maybe Grim will be my go-to for stories when I’m stuck. I still role-play him in the game (Champions Online–I’m @maulkin if you want to hit me up), so he may be around for a long time.

Further updates: Water will be an audiobook very soon. Grimaulkin is in production for an audiobook (yay!). I’ll be at the Cumberland Library Meet and Greet from 10-2 on February 17. Come down for some exclusive swag! And buy a book, even!0

Podcast is on hold for this week. I think I’ll try and get it together for next week.

Grimaulkin Giveaway on Goodreads!

Just in time for Christmas (if you don’t live too far away).

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Grimaulkin by L.A. Jacob

Grimaulkin

by L.A. Jacob

Giveaway ends December 20, 2017.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

Ah, the smell of new books!

I just got Grimaulkin Tempted in the mail yesterday, both hardcover and trade paperback. It looks so cool!

Although it’s officially not going to be released until December 1, I needed them for the Author Expo on December 2, which will be my launch party! I’ll have special bundles there, buy Grimaulkin 1 and 2, get $5 off. Or pay full price of the two Grimaulkin books, and you can get Homecoming for free. And, of course, you’ll get a copy of Mike’s origin story “Self Defense” for free. And card readings if you want.

I’ve decided to put aside War Mage for the display, although I still will have the dragons as eye-catchers. For the past week, I’ve been working on War Mage, doing some exercises to try and generate ideas for the story. I’ve got the trajectory, point A, the beginning, and point Z, the end. It’s how to get to point Z from point A that I’m having trouble with. I know what the theme is, but it’s really hard for me because I, myself, don’t believe in the theme.

Maybe I should change the theme into something I believe in. But that would make for a dark story. I wanted it to be uplifting. I want the main character to succeed. But the way I have it now, he fails in one way, but succeeds with the theme. If he fails in his environment, it’s the end of the series.

Maybe that’s what the muses want. I’ve been working on this story for 2 years now. It’s been on the back burner for all this time, and I really should get it going. I’ve written it three times. It’s a story that I’ve promised, but I can’t seem to deliver.

I’ll keep working on it over the Thanksgiving weekend. Maybe something will come to me by then that will make the 4th rewrite of the story an actual charm. I should have done it for NaNoWriMo, but I thought the memoir would have been easier. It wasn’t. Check out my podcast as to why.

So my homework this week is to keep working on War Mage, and get myself psyched up for selling Grimaulkin on December 2.

NaNo NoNo

If you’re new to this page, welcome!

I started writing the memoir. Then, I noticed something.

It read like a newspaper report. This happened, then that happened. There’s no guts. No feeling. No reason. No lesson. And when I cast back to try to remember, I don’t remember many feelings at the time. It was do this, do that, make sure this happens. If anything, I was angry at my family, at his family, angry at the world. That’s all that I remember.

So I put it aside. I know I need to go deeper, and I don’t know if I’m ready for that.

Instead, I’m working through the book 90-Day Novel, which requires me to write every day and answer five or six questions a day. Also weekly homework of contemplation on the world. I’m doing this for War Mage, since I’m so stuck on that novel. I have to write 1600 words a day for NaNo. I’m lucky if I clear 1000. So I don’t think I’m going to win this year.

“The Joint” which is my new short story, probably won’t be available at the Author Expo on December 2, but “Self Defense” will be. And also Grimaulkin Tempted! I have a special bundled price: Grimaulkin and Grimaulkin Tempted if bought together will go for $25, with a free copy of “Self Defense” AND a free card reading.

Well, there’s a free card reading with any purchase anyway.

Podcast will come out next weekend. Unsure of the topic, probably NaNoWriMo. Or spells. Or both!