Category Archives: Platform

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!

 

Columbus Day Weekend

Well, the big push for my appearances is over, and I just have to wait until December for my last appearance this year.  I learned a lot of good things from my tent-mates, some of which are in my podcast this weekend. (Which doesn’t have the same quality–I kind of rushed through it.)

I learned that my story is first in the Association of Rhode Island Authors anthology, Under the 13th Star, which should be on sale in November. I was so happy to hear that. It meant my story was good enough to lead off the anthology. I was glowing the whole day when I heard that.

And I found my perfect reader for Grimaulkin on Saturday. She’s bi, likes reading gay stories, and we discussed the fact that there isn’t that much gay literature in the mainstream. “Most of it’s about how awful it is being gay, but it’s not that bad,” she said. She bought a copy of Grimaulkin, and I told her, “I wrote this for you. You’re going to love it.” Another glowing spot of the day.

Sunday was overcast and spotty rain, so I didn’t get any customers, nevermind any buyers. Which was okay; I learned about marketing from my tent-mate.

I got Grimaulkin Tempted back from the editor, and I need to make Mike just a wee bit more sympathetic. The ending that I thought sucked was one he didn’t see coming, so I have to drop more clues in the book to make it more plausible. I remembered the subtle clues–I guess they were too subtle. I also got a cover. After thinking about it, and having it on my background here on the computer, it kind of looks more like a bodice-ripper than a teen story. I have to talk to the publisher about it. Maybe changing the title might help.

Changes

So I didn’t get to sell at the Farmer’s Market yesterday. It was very windy, and my books were flying off the table, literally. And then my canopy tent flew off and snapped in four places. It was wrecked.

I have to wait until Friday to get a new canopy, because for the Loof Festival on August 12, I promised to have a canopy tent. We have a local seconds store and they’re cheap there. But it’s an unexpected expense.

I spoke to the publisher and told him I really wanted to do Grim 2 instead of War Mage. War Mage is just not happening. I don’t feel it. (It might be that one-star review that’s biting at the edges of my imagination.) So we switched it up–Grimaulkin Tempted is going to be December.

Set free from the bonds of War Mage, the muse is having a field day. I already had 19K words going into Grimaulkin Tempted, and I had an idea of where it was headed. So now we’re in sync. What a great feeling. I did 2K words yesterday.

Podcast to come out tomorrow. I promise. That’s what I’ll work on in between writing.

And Water is set for August 15. Maybe I’ll do Earth for NaNo.

 

 

Self Defense and book sales!

Had a successful book sale on July 1. Three sold books, mostly because people wanted card readings. Might have had more if I didn’t take so long reading cards. Had to buy a bigger table.

My next appearance is going to be on July 29 in Richmond, RI (Exit 3A off I-95 in RI).

“Self Defense” is available on instafreebie for the next 30 days. After that, it’ll be on Amazon and other places.

I sent Water back to Zarra Knightly Publishing, so hopefully that should be out next month.

I finally started writing War Mage. It’s like pulling teeth, though, even with the outline. Or maybe it’s because of the outline. I’m not an outliner. It did work for me once, but it’s not working for me right now. It’s still not the story I want to tell. The theme is something like, “Friends can be found in the most unlikely places” or “What might seem to be an enemy may be a friend”. Tyrath and Olron are keys to the theme. Makrah is like an aging hippie that loves democracy and the USA (I’ll have him come from the Rockies). The story is about control and freedom, how friendship and loyalty can overcome anything. Yes, I know that’s not my usual type of story, but I want to present something happy here.

Maybe that’s the other thing that is bothering me–a happy ending.

The War Mage cover is going to be a lie…I got rid of the riders.

Oh, and episode 3 of Dark Mystic Quill is out. This is all about Grimaulkin and why he stayed in my head these last 10 years.

Self-Defense short available soon

Ok, first, my foot. I didn’t have glass in it. I had an attack of gout. I can see you wincing, It really wasn’t that agonizing, at least from what I’ve read, but it did hurt like hell. I’m not going into the litany of medical issues I have; this isn’t the place for that. According to one of those Facebook quizzes, I’m 83 years old.  Yeah, go figure.

With that out of the way, “Self Defense” booklets arrived in the mail yesterday. OMG. They are SO COOL. The outside is a composition book, and the inside has lines and handwriting. And you get it free at my appearances! (And also at Paper Angel Press.com as a .pdf. starting July 1) But the .pdf is not as cool as the booklets.

I now have a calendar on my website (grimaulkin.com and darkmysticquill.com), so you can see where and when I’ll be appearing. Thank you, so much, web Guru Steven for doing this all for me.

I’m working on Water’s edits. My plan is to get them done by July 4 (I have a long weekend). Then comes the albatross, War Mage. Also on or around June 30, I will be dropping episode 3 of Dark Mystic Quill. It’s going to be about writing this time.

Check out my goodreads profile if you get a chance, and if you want, leave a message. I’m presently reading a book by the Dalai Lama–not my usual fare, but it’s actually really good. I’m also researching for my next witchcraft podcast on spell work.

Podcast, and more books!

Episode 2 of DMQ is up. So proud of myself–it only took me a few hours as opposed to a few days to get it ready. Even with breaks due to my refrigerator running.

I have injured myself. Somewhere, in my foot, is a sliver of glass. I went to the urgent care and they couldn’t find it. In the meantime, my foot is swollen like a balloon, and I can’t put any weight on it. They suggested I go to get it x-rayed to see if they can see the sliver and take it out. I have to go see my PCP tomorrow to get the x-ray because I’m sure not going to the ER for something as stupid as this. It hurts like hell.

Okay, so that was probably TMI, but that’s what’s bothering me the most today.

I’m supposed to set up the tent that we bought for my first appearance this season in Scituate on July 1. I’m also supposed to make tent weights out of old water jugs, bungee cords, and kitty litter. Yes, it’s a Yankee jury-rig, but it should work. In theory. But it’s raining. So no tent set-up today.

I don’t know how Grimaulkin is selling. I don’t want to know just yet. I want to be (hopefully) pleasantly surprised. One person I know read it and really liked it. The short, “Self Defense”, is going to be ready (hopefully) for July 1. If you’re interested in that, it’s a freebie on paperangelpress.com.

Water was edited, and I’ve been working on it for the past couple of days. After reading a few gay-themed short stories, I’ve noticed that I’ve put WAY too much sex in mine. The other short stories have usually one sex scene. In almost all of mine, I have at least three. So you get your money’s worth!

War Mage is still…I don’t know. I keep thinking about it, trying to turn it over and over in my head to try and get things going with it. Whenever I sit down to start writing it, I end up staring at a blank page and doing nothing. Or I write crap. Or I rewrite what I wrote before. Something’s just not in me to get this story out, and I don’t know why.

Well, I have one idea why–I don’t want to insult the people who were there in Afghanistan. I know, I just know, I’ll get the details wrong. Some Afghan vet is going to write “FOB Blessing wasn’t set up that way” and I’ll just hang up my pen and not write any more because I would have been seen as a hack, a fraud.

I have to get past that, saying to myself, “Your FOB Blessing didn’t look like that, but mine does.” Hell, if you’re suspending disbelief about there being magic in the military, can you get past the fact that Quonset huts were in rows and not a star-shape? (Though I’ve only seen a few pictures of FOB Blessing, I have no idea how the huts/containers were set up.)

I also have an outline. I hate outlines. I used to trace pictures before coloring them because I would allow myself to color outside the lines. I found outlines to be good for me when I’m stuck on a deadline, especially when I did it that one year for NaNoWriMo when I had two weeks to write the novel. I stuck to it, but I also dictated the novel, which made it, um, novel and interesting. Now, typing it, no fun. And dictating–no fun revising. Trust me. I have until August to get off my duff and get War Mage finished. It’s already the last week of June, and my appearances are ramping up.

I’m going to see if I can get a web page for my appearances only, so you don’t have to look back for the post with it.

Podcast live; Books on order

My podcast is live, on darkmysticquill.com. 

My books for Grimaulkin are now on order, and should be coming in by June 15. Hardcovers are $24.95, trade paperbacks are $14.95.

I’ve added another date, July 1, at the North Scituate Farmer’s Market. Other dates may show up as available (usually on a one-day notice), so watch Twitter or Facebook for updates.

I’m working on War Mage. Damn if I don’t get that book up and running soon. With the Revise Your Novel class I’m taking, I’m getting a lot of ideas. I know now what to pull out, what makes no sense, and why it looks like a Frankenstein monster. I’ve explained nothing about the world, explained nothing about Brent’s knack (either in the book previous or this one). This book has no plot. Well, it will by the time I finish rewriting it. Because, as usual, I start with a murder.

 

Podcast…drop!

Today is the day I’m hoping to get my podcast to drop on iTunes and Stitcher.

Once I figure it out.

It’s on my website, darkmysticquill.com. Or it will be as soon as it goes live.

It’s only five minutes long–it took me a week to come up with the final 2 minutes. I had one song for the end, and thought it was too depressing, so I put in the first song instead.

While procrastinating doing that portion of the podcast, I started writing Grimaulkin’s short “freebie”. We’re putting together freebie shorts from the Press and passing them out at different venues. It will be about Mike’s getting arrested, his backstory.

Grimaulkin is coming back from the editor’s soon, and I’ve realized that I had to make Mike younger. So Mike is now 18, Scott is 17,  Otherwise, I’ve kept things the same.

 

 

Editing. Check.

I just sent off Grimaulkin back to the editor, a day earlier than I promised. What’s next on the list of things to do?

Podcast. Dark Mystic Quill’s website will be up and running on the 30th. I just have to get the podcast finished by then. I’m 2/3 (or two topics) of the way through it, with the music buffers in place. I just have to talk about my bipolar disorder which is the hardest thing to do. It’s also the most authentic, I think, which is why it’s so hard. Not to say that witchcraft and writing aren’t authentic. It’s easier to bounce things off other things I read or hear, but when talking about the bipolar disorder, it’s all me, baby.

I have joined Sarah Werner’s FB group “I Am a Writer” and I’m trying really hard not to self-promote so I don’t get kicked off. I would like to inspire and be inspired by other writers–it’s what I’m missing around here. The RI Authors are so into marketing and selling that they don’t seem to be in the writing. They’re all about exposure to sell books. For example, today, there’s a “Meet and Greet” in Warwick which should actually be termed “Meet and Buy.” Whatever happened to authors wanting to talk about writing and not marketing?

War Mage. I am in the beginning of Lesson 4 which has to do with plot, subplots and beginnings of plots or plots that have nothing to do with the main plot (Anti-Chekov’s Gun, I guess). Eventually I’ll be figuring out what to keep, what to toss, and what I need to fix. I have two sub plots that really need to go, but then the word count will go down considerably. So that’s what I’ll work on for the rest of the weekend. And warming up. It’s cold outside!

Podcasting, editing, and revising, oh my

I so far have laid down five minutes of my podcast. It’s about “Writing, Witchcraft and Woe, but not necessarily in that order.” I have music that I bought to use for the beginning tracks.

I went and bought a nice expensive Blue Yeti mike. Problem is, it’s too good, and picks up everything. It picks up my refrigerator when it runs (it’s loud, anyway), my furnace when it goes off, and the cars outside. And my cat purring. Being that I’m an idiot when it comes to audio, I suppose I have to do something on the mike to get it to stop picking up ambient noise. So I’m using a headset mike, which isn’t as good and definitely isn’t as clear.

What a pain in the ass editing is though. I have to cut so much space (I wheeze when I breathe). that it sounds like I’m not breathing. I can tell editing now on other podcasts. It makes people sound so intelligent. Now I know why.

Segue into…

I got my edits back for Grimaulkin! I could sit here and say, “Oh, my God, it’s such a mess.” Nearly every page has an edit on it. I’m up to page 92 and there were two pages without edits. I use way too many commas and I don’t believe in the Oxford comma (the one that comes before and in a list). Maybe I should crack open that Chicago Manual of Style book I have if I’m going to line-edit.

There’s a few edits that I’ve chosen to take as suggestions. Most of the edits, though, clarify things or point out whether I should/could do something better. I have the curse of the pantser: I often write description after the object is introduced, not before.

Noticing this, it helps me to work a little on War Mage. I’m still deep in that surgery as well. Right now I’m clarifying the scenes I’ve written and noticed 1) I have no plot and 2) I have no action and 3) Brent reacts to nothing. I think I have to throw in a murder