Slackerly updates!

Well, the first Carmine Rojas novella is almost done!! And thanks to Dragon Nat. Speaking it's almost typed too!

So it will be off to Damnation Books http://www.damnationbooks.com/ sooner rather than later. Of course I did the math and I've writing this thing for months!! It's going to get to about 19k which is well within the average for other Damnation novellas. I also need to work up a marketing plan! I had a moment of panic when I saw that on the submission guidelines but I got some help from Sunny Frazier over at Oak Tree who sent me the form they have their authors fill out and it gave me some good ideas for what I can do!

I'm luck to be in a position, and have the skill, to manufacture my own swag :) I can make Carmine book marks, Carmine prints, and, if I ever buy another cyan toner cartridge for my laser printer, Carmine stickers! I can also attend cons if they are in Cali and promote on LJ and Deviant Art. So maybe I'm not hopeless!

Accidentally, a new book...

On the heels of finishing Tea Times Three I've started a new book.

And it's funny because I just read a blog post by someone I follow http://teaandbiscuits42.blogspot.com/2011/08/wip-madness.html who has also started a new WIP. She asks some good questions at the end of her blog which boils down to "How do you feel when starting a new WIP?"

I, unlike the original poster, don't feel nervous. I spent a year and a half living in Midswich Maine with all the residents of my fictional town, and as much ad I love them I am happy to take a break. There is a Buddhist saying which goes something like this, "Everyone is special, but no one is especially special."

A lot of authors seem to get very attached to a particular caste but I don't. I certainly like everyone in Tea Times Three, enough that I have two more books planned, but I also have a lot of other ideas with lots of other characters, some planned, and some I'm just making up ad I go.

The new WIP I plunged into, head first when a couple ideas I've had in the back of my mind collided and an idea sprang forth. I started writing without even the main character's names in place. Heck, her personality wasn't even formed yet. But I'm learning all about her as I write and I've honed her personality. I have a few things to change at the beginning, but the book, the world, and the characters are taking shape as I go. I mean the main character's name has changed three times!!

To me that's the only way to get to know a story. Write it. The characters will surprise and delight you! If you have a book or a an unfinished work by the end it doesn't matter, you've still learned, and practiced and written something. And by sheer practice the next work will be better still.

I do worry at times I'm waisting m,y time. I worry I won't finish. I worry my ideas are dumb. BUT I don't let it stop me. Every new book gets off to a joyous and exciting start! Whether it stays that way seems to be my biggest hurdle. The inevitable mid-book blues set in. I get stuck, I start to worry. I start to doubt. THAT'S when In start to freak. Not at the beginning. I hit the ground running, then slow, then trip, then pick myself up THEN hopefully, stagger across the finish line, only to have to rewrite and edit.

Done!

Done!!! Huzzah! Draft 1 of Tea Times Three is done! Sort of... I still need to fill in the middle but I'm working on rewrites! And the first Carmine novella is closing in on done! Yay!

Productivity is good!

Important enough to cross-post!

There is a a really good article here dcwomenkickingass.tumblr.com/post/7985599811/panels Go read and come back, I'll wait.

Now while DC head honchos laugh off this poor woman and her daughter I'd like to point out a little deeper an insult from DC. Here is a quote of an article in CBR

" A fan dressed as Batgirl who had been at every DC panel over the weekend asked whether the publisher was committed to hiring more women. Didio said that they were working to put the best talent possible on the books. Morrison asked, “Do more women want to write DC superheroes?” and when many female fans responded “Yes!” he simply added “Then send your stuff in.”
They hire the best. Ah, there’s your answer. And they certainly must know who the best female creators are, right?"

The essential problem with this is: DC COMICS DOES NOT TAKE SUBMISSIONS. I wasted an hour at the DC "submission" panel at SDCC a few years ago. A panel which is mandatory to attend their portfolio review at Con. After patiently listening to editors I finally raised my hand during the Q&A portion and asked "What about writers?" The answer was there are no submissions for writers. Period. If you are big enough and famous enough (forget talented, that doesn't seem to matter) then DC will ASK YOU to write for them. But other than that there IS NO RECOURSE for writers of any race or gender to become DC creators.

And this is why (among so many other reasons) I hate comic books.

I am a darn good comic book writer. I have good ideas. I have a lot to offer the genre. I also write very fun things. I STILL get people who have JUST read Dark Moon Diary popping up on Deviant Art saying "OMG I love the book where's the sequel?"

But DC and even Marvel to an extent are not that interested in new writing talent. A lot of comic book authors at both places are either people who have been in comics for years and years. Or Writers from Hollywood (Joss Whedon I'm looking at you >:( ) or NYT best selling authors like Laurell K. Hamilton. From my time in comics I never felt like there much attempt to find or nurture new talent. And there is a legit reason for this! Comics are SO SMALL. Probably 1% of 1% of an already dying print media. Of course no one wants to waste time with an unrecognized author. But this also leads to an ass load of inbreeding and stagnation within the industry. There are like 5 guys writing everything! Not literally, but you know what I mean! You see the same names, the same editors, and the same heroes over and over and over. But this policy has lead to the dead thing that comic books in America are.

The editors who spoke to this woman should have said this: "Honestly, we do what will sell the few comic books we sell a year. If the female characters aren't cutting it they are relegated to supporting caste. We, like every other company in the past 5 years have had to trim our staff so we decided to keep the boys club going because they are the known names in comics and a known quantity both in terms of sales and name recognition. We are not interested in your opinions until sales of JLA/Batman/X-Men/Whatever reach a point that change is forced. Please DO NOT SUBMIT YOUR WORK TO US we will just have to throw it away. So save a tree! And don't bother."

Dear Laurie J. Marks

Well, hello all! All 30 of you! I am back! I have been lazy! But I have a new computer with a web cam so welcome to video updates!!!

This time I am asking Laurie J. Marks the fantasy author to put her back list on Kindle. The three books she wrote about well, I can't recall if she ever named the planet- must have.... I haven't read the books in a long time- BUT they were about a world made of super hard crystal called glass. There were three main species of sentient beings, the human like Walkers who lived on the land, the Aeyrie who flew the skies and the Mer who lived in the sea. The books are fantastic, the prose is beautiful. And the shame is that they are out of print! And they don't deserve to be!

OK! Her website has also improved over the years! And helps explain, at least a little the big gaps in books that have occurred. Wow, I wish I could take a writing class from her! My prose has never been poetic and hers most definitely is.

It would be nice to think I'll meet Ms. Marks (I just can't call authors by their first name! I hate it how people run around calling everyone by their first name like the KNOW the person!) BUT, I like to think I'll meet Laurie J. Marks someday but even if I did I'd never have the courage to make much of the opportunity. I'd just grin like an idiot and maybe giggle and stammer out something "Like I love your books" then I'd fade into the background like the dumbass I am. And THAT would be my big meeting with Laurie J. Marks. I'd be a fangirling idiot and she would would leave nervous that I'm a stalker.

Website! http://lauriejmarks.com/

Rejection

Well, the Carmine short story is officially rejected. I figured it was because it said on the site that they would only reply if they wanted the story and it had been months. But then an actual rejection by e-mail came making it far more concrete than the "I never hear from them again".

So that's it...

Cover, covers, covers

OK the old adage about how authors should leave the cover art to people who know better is only about 80% accurate. The thing is I AM an artist- trained and everything, and I know good cover art when I find it.

BUT for some reason everyone is treating Kindle like a dumping ground for back catalogues, short stories and the unpublishable novels (admit it, we all have at least one we want to put on Kindle...)

But, like the real estate saying "Location,location, location" in book sales it should be "Cover art, cover art, cover art."

There is no shortage of good artists out there willing to work and a dozen different stock art resources. Which is why THIS is such a travesty:

Catherine Cookson's estate put her back catalogue of books onto Kindle all of them with the same hideous cover. You'll have to cut and paste- the links are NOT working for me! If I make them links through blogspot they a invisible. If I just paste in the link they don't work....

http://www.amazon.com/Katie-Mulholland-ebook/dp/B004TO5THM/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=130532647

http://www.amazon.com/Maggie-Rowan-ebook/dp/B004TCJ9ES/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1305326477&sr=1-11

http://www.amazon.com/The-Tinkers-Girl-ebook/dp/B004TO6ASY/ref=pd_sim_kinc_5?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2

You get the idea...

Now, the Cookson name may be well regarded and known enough that buyers familiar with her work will purchase regardless of cover art. But how many new readers will these bring in?

Now it is good of her estate to make the books available. She isn't an author I've ever read but I have heard the name. It's the execution that is so terrible. Covers sell books! And they sell e-books!

If you'd like to read the whole article on Cookson's books going onto Kindle go here.