Ever wonder... "Is this author really as spasctic in real life as I imagine her to be?"
*shrug/sigh* "I guess I'll never know."
Your wait is over, friend. Last night the very nice, patient, indulgent and understanding team over at Science Fiction and Fantasy Marketing Podcast (say that three times fast) had me on as their guest. They attempted to pick my brain [ha! joke's on them] about the success I've had with the first book in the Allies and Enemies series, Fallen.
Here's the link:
http://www.marketingsff.com/blurbs-kindle-unlimited-and-military-sf/
Wednesday, March 9, 2016
Thursday, March 3, 2016
Off to the editor
Allies and Enemies: Rogues is off to my impossibly nice editor. Fingers crossed for the next step. In the meanwhile I turn my attention back to the ignored FB endeavor of setting up a separate page for Allies and Enemies. If anyone out there can help me with that, there's a free ebook waiting for you.
Monday, February 1, 2016
Allies and Enemies: Rogues Update
So, big news! Today I just sent off my first draft of book 2 in the Allies and Enemies series to my beta readers (and other persons that aren't aware they're beta readers). My lovely, lovely editor stands ready to dive in to the big messy word doc I plan on sending her on February 29th. Artist Alex is sketching away furiously at the cover art. With a little luck and minimal interruption by household pets (I'm looking at you, Khaleesi), dare I say there might be an ebook available by end of March?
But, wait! There's more...
I've been approached by Sci Fi Publishing about producing an audio version of Allies and Enemies: Fallen. So that's a distinct possibility. Fingers crossed!
Thursday, January 14, 2016
And the Winners are...
Three people I've never met before.
The Goodreads giveaway for signed copies for the paperback version of Allies and Enemies: Fallen finished yesterday. Three very nice folks that don't know what they're getting themselves into will be getting their books soon in the mail. My suggestion to them is that this book-like item can also be used as a coaster and is excellent at killing spiders and other appropriately sized forms of insect life. It's also hefty enough to throw at people that talk on cell phones in the movies.
Congrats to the winners and thanks to everyone who joined the giveaway!
This weekeend I'm at a con where Scalzi is an author GOH. I'll be attending his panels, making faces at him behind his back and muttering sarcastic comments under my breath in response to anything he says during panels.
Here's something else that makes me happy:
The Goodreads giveaway for signed copies for the paperback version of Allies and Enemies: Fallen finished yesterday. Three very nice folks that don't know what they're getting themselves into will be getting their books soon in the mail. My suggestion to them is that this book-like item can also be used as a coaster and is excellent at killing spiders and other appropriately sized forms of insect life. It's also hefty enough to throw at people that talk on cell phones in the movies.
Congrats to the winners and thanks to everyone who joined the giveaway!
This weekeend I'm at a con where Scalzi is an author GOH. I'll be attending his panels, making faces at him behind his back and muttering sarcastic comments under my breath in response to anything he says during panels.
Here's something else that makes me happy:
Sunday, December 13, 2015
Monday, November 16, 2015
The road to hell is paved with adverbs
Yesterday, I saw a quote attributed to Stephen King.
It was one of those helpful-not-helpful “writer” memes on Pinterest. It goes like this:
“The road to hell is paved with adverbs.”
What the what?
How can you just deny the usefulness of an entire category of word? These are those colorful little word friends that hobble about with “-ly” at the end and are used to describe verbs or adjectives. They even have their own special little place on sentence diagrams. (Yes, I was/am a HUGE grammar nerd and LOVED diagramming sentences.)
It’s like that trick: Quick: Don’t think of an elephant!
The only thing you can think of is a bloody elephant.
All I could see were the adverbs buried in my manuscript like evil little ninjas. It’s discouraging. I’ve already got a really sinister “inner editor”. It’s not like that bitch needs any help.
There had to be more to it, so researched this a bit. And, like any corrupted quote, it is misrepresented. The full sentence goes like this:
I can get behind that thought. It is a lot more powerful to see something like:
So what I learn from this? There’s a context for all these “writing rules” out there. Have the brains to question them, especially the absolute ones. And I should really spend less time on Pinterest. The road to hell is paved with Pins.
It was one of those helpful-not-helpful “writer” memes on Pinterest. It goes like this:
“The road to hell is paved with adverbs.”
What the what?
How can you just deny the usefulness of an entire category of word? These are those colorful little word friends that hobble about with “-ly” at the end and are used to describe verbs or adjectives. They even have their own special little place on sentence diagrams. (Yes, I was/am a HUGE grammar nerd and LOVED diagramming sentences.)It’s like that trick: Quick: Don’t think of an elephant!
The only thing you can think of is a bloody elephant.
All I could see were the adverbs buried in my manuscript like evil little ninjas. It’s discouraging. I’ve already got a really sinister “inner editor”. It’s not like that bitch needs any help.
There had to be more to it, so researched this a bit. And, like any corrupted quote, it is misrepresented. The full sentence goes like this:
“I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs, and I will shout it from the rooftops.”It’s part of a passage from Stephen King’s book On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. He goes on to explain that adverbs start to spring up like dandelions on a yard. The first one or two may be a pass, but before you know it, you can have a yard full of them. The context was starting to make a bit more sense. And he introduced a more intriguing point: adverbs shouldn’t be attached to dialogue attribution. (You know the little things that are supposed to be seamless after quotes.)
I can get behind that thought. It is a lot more powerful to see something like:
“I won!” she shouted.Instead of:
“I won!” she said loudlyOne’s emotional and the other is well… lame.
So what I learn from this? There’s a context for all these “writing rules” out there. Have the brains to question them, especially the absolute ones. And I should really spend less time on Pinterest. The road to hell is paved with Pins.
Monday, November 9, 2015
Book Review Monday's
So, I'm off from my "day" job on Mondays. I like to read other people's books when I've done having one sided conversations with my laptop about the quality of the prose I'm turning out for the Allies and Enemies series. Also, I feel compelled to help out other members of the indie author community. (I'm getting better at keeping a straight face while referring to myself as an author.)
Anyway, what do these things have in common?
Reviews, I say. Book reviews. So, here's the deal:
Every Monday I'll write a book review and post it here to my (*cough*) well-visited blog as well as Goodreads and Amazon. I'll have 1) done my good deed for the week and 2) continued to support the fantasy that people actually look at my blog. Yay!
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