Nano November Challenge

Everyone loves a good challenge! Especially at that time of year when the holidays are approaching and life is getting busier. I mean what's a little more stress in a stressful season?

So what do I do???

Accept the challenge, of course!  I'm taking a fiction writing course in hopes of improving my skills and the professor issued the challenge. Instead of turning in whatever the assignment of the week is, we can turn in a few pages of our Nano. Sounded like a good deal to me.

To make it even more fun I'm going to take the Hero's Journey the prof gave us and outline the story right there on the papers.

I've heard that Faulkner sometimes outlined his work on the walls of his home. I so want to do that! To see all your notes all over the walls would be inspiring. Of course, my dh doesn't understand these needs. He's patient enough with the mural of Diamond Head and parrots I painted on the wall in the spare room and that tiger I painted on the wall in one of the bedrooms. I'm thinking maybe I shouldn't push my luck.

So? Are you Nano-ing? Have you ever? If so, how did it go? Great American novel or another 500 page paperweight for the edge of your desk?







Unfinished...do not judge. Perhaps I needs a Nano for painting...

Writing Time...where did you go????

My writing has slacked way off and I'm sad to say I let other priorities get in the way. I'm unemployed at the moment and the books and short story I have up on Amazon aren't generating enough to buy me a new pair of Cowboy boots. So when I heard about an artist consortium starting one town over I took my paint brushes and went over to say hey.
This place, Artfully Repurposed, is all about artists taking old worn out stuff and recreating it into useful household items or works of art. One of the best things; I get to paint of on stuff. Something I always loved to do. Chairs, rocks, feathers, boxes, old benches, if its not moving, I'll paint pictures on it. The way this place works is they sell, artists get a cut.
Yeah, i can do this and maybe make some bucks. It would take time to get this new store up and running and draw customers in, I figure there's some potential here.
So I was dividing my time between writing and painting. Then the Art shop decided it was going to do a show and therein lied my dilemma. Write or paint like crazy to get more of my stuff entered in the show?

These are just a few thing I painted. The show was fun and after all the work I sold an owl rock. Disappointed?
Eh. Not really. I've sold enough of my artwork to know its a hot & cold business. In the art world you're either rolling in it or scraping by. Its the reason I ended up with a boring, mind draining, office job.

Now I need to get back to writing. Schedule writing time in like I did before. My only problem....the paint brushes are in there on my bench...calling to me...

Paperback Worth $30...??? What is this?

In checking my numbers on Amazon, I look at my book, Soul Mates and find a used paperback for sale for $30. Really? I list the paperback for $5.39 and there haven't been a lot of sales. So where did anyone get 3 used paperbacks to sell for the ridicules amount of $30. I smell a scam and wonder if I should report this to Amazon?

Anyone ever seen this before?  What's going on here?

Short Stories on Amazon

     I have lots of short stories or stories that just never went any further than they did (if that makes sense). These are stories I feel are good and always wanted to do something with them. Now I see short stories up on Amazon so I'm thinking of going for it.
     The first one I want to put up is a vampire story. I've been working on it a while and I'm hoping it goes up this week. So now I second guess myself? Are vampires over? Am I wasting my time on this while I should be working on something more timely? Then I think, are vampires ever over?
     My daughter tells me to go back to the zombie story because they're popular right now, but my zombie story is really long and will take a long time to get ready. Because it's so long I needed a break and that's why I started poking around at the shorts.
     The one thing I did do with this story is I left an opening at the end. Meaning I can write a part two to the story if: 1. It sells well and I see readers might be interested in reading more about the character. 2. I get bored with another book and want to take a break.
     I like this vampire I created so the chance to write her again will be strong. I kind of want to know where she goes from here. How does she handle her new life as a vampire? What does she do about her maker's strange sense of humor?
     Do you do shorts on Amazon? How do we price these things? I really wish we could price by size or something because every piece of advice I read on pricing contradicts the other. I'm thinking 99 cents. It's about 60 pages.
     If you have shorts, how do they sell? Will you do more?

I Hate Editing...is that so bad?

      Working on Threshold to Midnight. I wrote this 500+ page book a few years ago and since going Indie I decided to break this into two books, part one and part two.
      When I look for a book one of the things I look for is length. I read a lot so I love a long book that takes me away. I think longer books take you further into the world the author was building and you get to know the characters better. I loved King's Under the Dome and read it before I got my Kindle. It was a b*tch to lug around but worth the read. Now with Kindles big books get easier.
     Unfortunately, I hear a lot of people don't like to commit to a long book. I really don't understand this at all, but it is what it is. So that's what led me to chop this book in half. As an Indie I also have to wonder if this would be more profitable? Getting the reader to come back for more?
      After cutting the thing up, I suddenly got an idea for book three and a 10 page outline popped out of my head. One problem...I already wrote books 1 & 2 and want to dive into writing 3, but I'm trying to restrain myself to get 1 & 2 edited and up on Amazon.
     I hate editing! I so want to just move forward. I'm all excited about the ideas for number 3 and getting the rest of this story out of my head.

     Then there's the break for playing with book covers.... MaWahhahahahaha! I don't know if I'm any good at it, but I'm having fun.

Any input on covers if greatly appreciated.

 Book One;

     Diana sat down to breakfast with a madman. 

     Eggshells, she thought. This is what they mean when they say walking on eggshells. This edge of your seat fear that the wrong move, the wrong word, will set him off.

     She chanced a glance toward her husband and saw it. Right there in those Robert Redford blue eyes was the mania. That touch of insanity that crawled into their lives a few months ago was shimmering in her husband’s eyes. Like a gleam of another dimension. A place where madness grew like wild flowers. Or maybe weeds. Weeds that set their roots down deep in Luke’s brain and mangled his thoughts. Tightening on his brain cells and twisting them with fear, anger and confusion. She knew if she could get him to some kind of mental hospital they would tell her the fruit loops in his box were doing the jig right now, trying to escape. 

Alternate Universes in a Writing Career

Since the damn Sequester has but a sizable dent in my unemployment income (22.5% cut!)and the job hunt in New Jersey is like banging your head against the wall (one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation), I'm searching for other writing venues while I wait for my books to hit the best seller list.

8-)~

In my web wanderings I found this site; http://writingcareer.com/

One of the places I found here is; http://pseudopod.org/guidelines/ Which accepts the darker side of writing; horror, Poe-esq stuff and the weirder side of our brain train. (Charles? Would some of your stuff fit here?)

I mostly write spiritual, light stuff but every once in a while something dark and evil falls out of my head and I just have to get it down on paper. I think the way the human brain functions will always fascinate me. I wonder what drives people to do things or why a seemingly nice person would suddenly bat a complete stranger over the head with a shovel?
How can you not wonder about this stuff? The newspapers and evening news are full of these weird happenings. And sometimes stories form and just beg to jump onto the page.

I often wonder about a pen name. If I write about God, dogs and angels, should I put my vampire, bat-crazy-shit, and evil dark stuff under a different name so my readers are warned about the dark side of the brain?

Write on, my friends...I'll see you in the pages....

Book Review; Key Death by Jude Hardin

Just finished reading Key Death by Jude Hardin. I love detective/crime type books and usually I can figure it all out before the end, but Jude stumped me with this one. I had no idea what was going to happen next and this definitely kept me turning pages.

Nicholas Colt is the kind of smart, witty character you just gotta love. He doesn't always make the wisest decisions but the drive and determination of this disenfranchised private detective has you rooting for him right from the start.

Called into service by a woman desperate for answers from her past, Nicholas Colt goes the extra mile to get the answers and in the process unearths a serial killer's secrets. We read enough graphic details to send chills down our spine as the author moves us through the story at a fast pace.

I liked Key Death so much I'm giving it *****5 STARS*****
and I already bought Jude's Hardin's first book in this series; COLT

Fonts! Spacing! So many details in an ebook

On Kindle my book, Soul Mates, was an easy read. Now attempting to send it to Create Space for a paperback copy.

I have a ...what do they call it? Sample copy? Anyway I hate the font! Its very light and that alone makes it hard to read. So I know I have to change this. Do I make it Arial rounded? Times New Roman? Courier? Do I bold it?

What about spacing? I think it might be better double spaced or am I only thinking that because of the font issue?

Decisions, decisions....

A friend spotted an error in the ebook, so I'm reading it backwards (brain-drain!) to try and catch the typo. I wish she had noted the page number, but she said "next time" so that will help for the next book. I do see I sometimes miss little words like "an" or "the" when I'm editing my own work. I think my brain knows it so it tells me it sees things that aren't there. Weird.   Do they teach copywriter classes?

Still watching Zimmerman trial....It's addictive!

Favorite fonts? Do you bold?

The devil is truly in the details...

Indie Book Cover Trama

 Now that I've finished the manuscript and I'm waiting for the edits to come back, I'm playing with book covers. At this point as an unemployed, starving writer I have to do this myself. If any of my books actually take off, i'd definitely hire a cover artist, because I'm at a loss here.

Two covers ideas so far;
First the fire represents a fire the main character accidentally causes  that burns down the police station. The dog is a dog she finds that offers some comedy relief in the story.
The woman...well I really didn't want a yoga type woman but needed something to represent the main character.

Cover two; Depicts a scene from the beginning of the book. You'd have to read it to know but I thought it might entice readers to find out what it means. The "Not for Sale" tag relates to the human trafficking problem the main character encounters in the story.

Still not sure if I'm done figuring this out. But that's all I have so far.

Any preferences? I'm taking votes.

Back to the drawing board....

Book Finished....

Since losing my job last December, I've decided to take on the writing full time. I get up at 6 a.m. and I'm dressed and at my desk at 9 a.m. ready to write. Its a job, I go there everyday. Except for two or three days after I finish a book. 

Yesterday I finished No Apologies so today I'm off. Weirdly, on my off day(s) I tend to wander and get nothing done. I almost feel lost. It's like that world I lived in for months has evaporated. 

I don't want to jump to another world just yet, I think I have to clear my head first. 

I work on book covers. 

Think up new names for the book. (No Apologies gets a few hits on Amazon with other books by the same name so I probably need to change it)

Wander aimlessly around the house.

Thursday afternoon I start back to work. I can't wait. 

Betrayed by an Angel on Amazon

My book, Betrayed by an Angel is now Available on Amazon!

When an angel appears to tell Shay Deville she can’t marry her fiancé because she will forever alter his destiny, she thinks she is going crazy. Shay learns she was supposed to die seven months ago, but Merrick, her own guardian angel, broke angelic law and saved her. Now she is a woman without a future – or a guardian.

In spite of the angel’s warning Shay refuses to give up her dreams. She hunts down Merrick, her renegade angel, and demands he help her.

Guardian Angel Merrick knows the Heavenly Handbook better than anyone, but when the time came to help Shay Deville cross over, he just couldn't do it. Now Merrick is stripped of his wings and banished to the earthly realm until he corrects his mistakes and completes the destiny of his charge. But how can Merrick arrange to take Shay’s life when he has fallen in love with her? How can he not?

Will Merrick give up his wings and forever be cast to Earth for the woman he loves?

Can a woman without a destiny ever find happiness, or true love?

COVER ISSUES: 
The cover is from a photo I took in Key West last year. I really wanted a winged (Angel) man on the cover but all the cover shots available that I saw on various websites either had goofy wings or, when searched for angels on Amazon, were already being used on other books.  Short of dressing up one one of the guys I know in a pair of wings...I wasn't going to get a cover I'd absolutely love. So I liked this one next. When I tried to photo shop wings onto something ...well, they never felt good enough. 

Soon this book, and Soul Mates, will also be available in paperback. 
I'm also working on torturing my characters in my next book; No Apologies. 

Writing is Easy

I'm beginning to think writing is the easiest part, because doing a book cover is frying my brain. I'm fairly artistic but really more of a painter than graphic computer artist. I have all the tools; Photoshop, Publisher, Microsoft Picture editor and stuff like that. I'm not great at making them work but I can usually get these programs to do what I want.

Now I'm considering paying for a book cover because I'm really not happy with what I got now. However my first book has made peanuts, mostly I think because I've ignored the little dear, but I'd kind of like to get to the place where my earnings could pay for things like book covers.

And how important is the cover when we're looking at Amazon on the computer? I mean the covers are like an inch big. Of course book blasts do give the cover more exposure but still...how good is good enough?
I think I've been a writer for so long, I've forgotten how to be an average reader. I mean, title and back blurb are what I look for. Am I seeing the cover and just not registering it?

Each day I change my mind. I make covers, remake covers, scrap covers and the frustration grows.
One of my pet-peeves is when a book cover does not match the story. Like there's a dark haired guy on the cover and the main character has blond hair. It messes with the image in my head and I want to scream at the publisher. Am I going to be the customer from hell if I try to buy a cover?

Do you buy covers? From where? Were you happy with your cover? Do you make your own?

Amazon Ranking for Writers

I'm not understanding Amazon's ranking system. I check my rank (probably too much) but it fluctuates constantly. What's up with that?

Its never great..ever. But I watch it anyway. You know, average day...check Amazon rank, think about blogs, page views, check Amazon rank, check for new reviews, maybe open latest WIP, check Amazon rank before starting. Coffee break, check rank again.

The rank is constantly going up and down by thousands. What does this mean? Does it rise and fall by page views? It certainly can't be for sales. At least not with this book so far.

Can we improve it? Am I doing something to wreck it that I don't know about?

Okay, now someone tell me how to stop watching it. Its almost as addictive as facebook.

Writing 556 Pages

Writing sometimes comes easy. I have one story I wrote a few years ago that's 556 pages. I don't know why this story went on for so long, I guess it just had a lot to say.

After I send No Apologies out the door, Threshold of Midnight is up next. This 556 page moose does need some reworking but the story line is pretty solid. But who the heck will commit to read 556 pages? I think the size of this book might be a turn off so I'm thinking of breaking it in half and do a "Book One" and "Book Two" thing with it.

Which brings a whole lot of other issues in because I believe both books should be stand alone. I wouldn't want someone grabbing book two and spending 225 pages lost in space.

This is going to require some thinking. I have to let it settle in my brain a bit before I get started. But I still have to finish No Apologies and I have about 50 pages to go in the final draft. In this book I changed the story line about half way though so I had to rewrite it all the way through. I almost didn't. I just wanted to put No Apologies on the shelf and move on. The only thing that stopped me was that I liked my main character and wanted to breathe life into her. And I liked her quirky little dog.

Have you ever had a manuscript so long that you feared its marketability? What did you do?

Writing Business Trials

Writing is the easy part. Editing not so hard. Then comes putting it out there. Setting your baby free into the world. That's hard at first but then it gets easier. The first one flies, the next, soon you're flinging your written works of art out there without a care. You know you did your best and you let it sail.

Now comes the hard part. The business end of writing. Marketing....eeeek! Does anyone really like this aspect of book sales?

I remember when Konrath got his first contract for a 3 book deal. He went crazy with marketing. I think the work he did then, still follows him today. People he met along the journey, people who respected the work he did to get his book into as many hands as possible. I know I watched his journey, paid attention to his techniques and ideas. Could I do the same? I'm not sure. Should we all do the same? Maybe.

My daughter who has some freelance and marketing experience is helping me with marketing. She's got great ideas and the energy to make it happen. And she's a bit of a slave driver (which I need!). When I'm monkeying around with book cover art she tells me to stop playing and get back to writing.

Once Betrayed is up and running I'm thinking of paying for a book blast. I have Soul Mates registered for a kboards email and post ($15 fee) for May 24th. I'm thinking of Orangeberry but not sure if it's too soon.

Any other ideas? Okay, back to writing.....

Writing the Book Back Blurb

Writing that little catch that lets people know what your book is about? Either on the back of the book or Amazon. Writing the blurb to lure people into buying your book takes real talent. It's one of the hardest things to do. Take the story you've spend months, hours, weeks, years working on, a story with many bends, twists and turns, and shove it into a few lines. Lines that have to be good enough to make the reader want to see more. Are you exciting enough? Daring enough? Do you need to tug heart strings? Use keywords so they can find you in that big old web?

I rewrite my blurbs over and over. I put the book, Soul Mates up on Amazon and sold a few, nothing amazing. So now my next book, Betrayed by an Angel will be going up soon and I started rethinking my other blurb. So I changed it from;

After dying on mean city streets a woman goes to heaven and begs God to reincarnate to bring the message of unconditional love back to earth. Follow the adventure when a deal with God goes terribly wrong she's tossed back to earth as one of the smallest dogs on the planet.

to;

     She was dying. Her life draining away on a hot city sidewalk and she gave it up willingly. Life had been hard and she was ready. With a jolt and a prayer she awakens in Heaven.

     Through her flows all the joy and wonder of existence and she comes face to face with God. Overwhelmed, she begs to reincarnate to share this wonderful message of God’s unconditional love with those on earth. Will God give her this chance?

     One thing before she goes, “Please,” she begs. “I want to be blond and petite and find my soul mate in this new life.”

     Poof! She wakes up on earth as one of the smallest dogs on the planet!

                                                  Does God have a sense of humor or what?

Is it any better? Some of my sources says it still needs work. I just don't know what. 

Now I'm writing the blurb to book 2 and still struggling. Like that 2 minute agent elevator pitch, that little eye catching book blurb mystifies me. I think its a special talent to think in words so brief. My mind tends to ramble. 

So? How's your blurb talent? 

Writers & Book Covers & Choices

I've gotten some feedback on my choice of book cover so I'm trying to redo it. I have a few people helping and I'm very grateful for their ideas. It gives me so much more to think about now. I'm still not sure which way to go. On one I liked the wings better than the wings I  made.

This book is a romance involving angels. There was a great angel picture on the net that would be perfect but it would cost at least $120. That's without checking licensing. Some pictures I found, after checking the fee for book cover usage, were outrageously priced.  Most romance covers have hot guys or girls on the cover but actually, I don't want to pay that much money at this point. My first book isn't making that  much money so I'm on more of a shoestring budget right now.  I think I can generate an adequate cover on my own. (okay, make that HOPE I can generate an adequate cover)

What do we need when looking at a cover? Bold title? Eye catching background? What's your way of designing a cover? What's the first step?

I look at the cover designer that Konrath uses. He does great work and is reasonably priced. Maybe someday when any of these books generate some money I'll invest in his covers.

So I come here for a vote. Pick your favorite? Or tell me I'm totally off base here and none will help sell the book. It's okay, I need advice!

Writers Designing Book Covers

Since I'm an unemployed writer and not seeing any great sales (yet), I'm doing my own book covers. I do them in photoshop and publisher, change to a pdf and done!

Eventually I'll hire a book cover designer and maybe my covers will get awesome but for now I make due with what I can do.

In searching photo sites i found a great picture for the cover of my next book, Betrayed by an Angel. The book is about a guardian angel who refuses to help a woman cross over when she dies. Instead he saves her life. Because he didn't follow the rules he's banished to earth as human. There's more to this book but when i found a pic of a man with angel wings, head bent down, looking sad I thought it would be a perfect for the cover. I went to purchase it and if i wanted it for a book cover it would have cost $1000.

Really? Holy crap! My first car didn't cost that much. (okay it was a crappy little Maverick-but I loved it)

So I winged it and made a different kind of cover. It's kinda close to the cover for my first book which I don't think is too good an idea but until I come up with a better concept, it is what it is.     First book: Soul Mates
Second book: Betrayed by an Angel      

Free or Cheap Book Sales

Hoping my next ebook will be out shortly, I've made Soul Mates 99 cents. Also, I should have it in print soon. Not that I'm expecting any great increase in sales but I've had a few less tech savvy people ask for a paperback copy.

I'm researching marketing now. Book blasters (I'm not sure that's the technical term-places that send out emails of your book to their lists) and book bloggers. Holy Bejeebers! This is time consuming. I've been at it all morning and still don't know what the freak I'm going to do. Pay, don't pay, beg, steal, borrow, plead?

I'm cranking up my marketing strategy because from what I've read on Konrath and Amanda Hocking's blogs ...that's the thing to do to increase your sales. Amanda said her sales really took off after contacting book bloggers. That surprised me. I only wish she had told me who she sent her book to, which bloggers. But I guess I can google that. Right now I'm tired of all this market research. Its exhausting and I haven't written a word all day. Which makes me feel guilty. Since I'm unemployed I don't really want to pay a lot of money, but wonder if this is something that should be invested in for long term gains. I don't need to be a millionaire. (although I will be going out today to buy some Powerball tickets -->260 million<-- a=""> ) I just don't want to have to return to the cubical. 

Ok, Enough of a vent. I'm going to take my cranky-pants back into my office and write something worth reading. If anyone has any ideas for promoting ebooks PLEASE tell me!

Writer's Desk

 They may look like random pieces of wood, but soon they will be my new writing desk.
With pictures
and colors.

I'm going to burn it with images and words that will inspire me. Some just because they're pretty, some because they mean something.

Below is the rough sketch of ideas. It might or might not end up like that but only time and paint will tell.

I think writing is part creativity, part tools, part time. And mostly ass in chair.
Thinking about the old writers advice, "Ass in Chair" I'm thinking of burning those words into my desk in an inconspicuous place where I'll know they're there, but others might not notice. then I wonder if it would be too crude?

But first I have 50 more pages to finish editing for my new ebook, Disregarding Heaven. Hopefully it will be up on Amazon in a week or two.

And I need a cover. Unemployed, I'm probably going to do it myself. Something simple. When my books actually start making money, I'll hire a cover artist. For now, I'm all I've got. Maybe tomorrow we can talk about covers and how to figure that stuff out.