Inspiration and Motivation

Inspiration:  This morning, Silver James did something special on her blog - she posted a music video and associated it with my new release: Song of Storm and Shroud.  It really hits the right spot for the story, and her doing that meant a lot to me.  Go check it out.  The gal in the video (the artist, really, playing a part) reminds me of one of the characters in the book, Fenwyn.  Totally awesome.

Motivation:  In other news, I got back to writing the sequel for SSS.  I'm about 2200 words in now.  Then last night as I was trying to sleep, I had a flood of ideas.  Three scenes worth.  I got up and wrote them down, so I'm definitely on a roll there.  Now I just need more people to buy the first book and give me the impetus to keep writing the second.  Book sales are incredibly motivating, doncha know.

Short post today.  Go read something.  ;o)

Embracing the Old Stuff

 Every Wednesday, my most awesome and wonderful friend, Silver, posts a thing called Wednesday Words, wherein she takes a prompt and posts a snippet with that particular word in it.  And asks others to post their own snippet.  Today's word was 'telescope'.  And it made me trot out my first book.  (Because I don't think any other book I've ever written has that word and I can't seem to write to spec.)  You can read my snippet over there.  Warning: It's pretty bad.

And that's what I want to talk about today.  

Early writing can be awful.  Actually Fear Itself can't have been that bad.  It helped Hubs fall in love with me, after all.  But it's not where I am right now.  And looking back at it makes me want to cringe.  

That snippet alone... ugh.  I used 'breathed' as a dialogue tag for pitysakes.  

It's nearly 18 years since I started writing that book, though, and I've grown a lot.  Thank goodness for that.  Eighteen years.  I don't know how many books I've written in those years, but 16 of them are now published.  One would hope after all that, I'd learned some things.  I don't use 'breathed' as a dialogue tag anymore, that's for damn sure.  LOL

I think every writer should go back and read the early stuff they've written, though.  It helps to see where you've been.  And then you can celebrate how far you've come.  

Even better, go back and try to fix your early stuff.  It helps stretch the editing muscles.  I still love that book, flaws and all, and I have tried, from time to time, to fix the writing.  I may do it yet.  I'm stubborn that way.

One thing you should never do is shitcan your old stuff.  You need it.  Even if you never look at it again, it's part of your journey.  It's your history.  It's like an old movie of you learning to walk.  You'd never destroy that because you walk perfectly now, would you?  No, you embrace it.  

Embrace your early writings.  They may suck.  They may make you cringe.  You may never want to ever show any of it to the world, because, frankly, it can be a little embarrassing.  But they're part of who you are now as a writer.  Don't cringe.  Smile.  The same way you'd smile at uncovered art from Kindergarten.  You've grown, sure, but that burgeoning writer is a part of you.  Embrace her.

Work Ethic and Attitude

Peter Grant has an interesting post over at The Mad Genius Club this morning - Is talent useless in isolation?  - wherein he talks about talent and work ethic and posts a list of ten things that require no talent at all.  (Since I have no rights to the graphic, you'll have to go there to see it.)

Personally, I think the list can probably be shortened to two things - work ethic and attitude.  Those pretty much covers all the other things.

Being on Time?  Work Ethic.  Effort?  Work Ethic.  Doing Extra?  Work Ethic.

Energy?  Attitude.  Passion?  Attitude.

I think Being Prepared is both Work Ethic and Attitude.  

Anyway...

One needs Work Ethic and Attitude (a positive one... not just an attitude, which too many people have these days), to succeed at anything.  Want to write a book?  Set your ass down and write it without getting distracted or taking for freakin' ever and that's WE.  And if you're positive about the process, you'll get it done.

This year, I'm failing on pretty much all counts.  My Work Ethic and my Attitude are both tanking.  Not sure how to get past that.  I could probably ramp up the WE if the A wasn't so bad.  And I'd probably have a better A if the WE was chugging along.  Vicious circle.

How does one get both?  Well, if you don't already have them, you might be in trouble.  If the building blocks weren't already there, it's a long row to hoe.  If you had them and then lost them?  I suspect, in my case, it's going to be a 'fake it 'til you make it' thing.  I need to fake the attitude, so I can get the work ethic on track, and then maybe the attitude will fall in line.

And I have to fake it, because as long as the sales stink, so does the attitude.  Woohoo, I'm working on another book that won't sell!  Umm, yah.  So, I need to be like Woohoo!  I'm working on a book!  Lucky number 14!  You go, girl!  :waves pompoms: and that sort of thing, even when I'm totally not feeling it.

And once the attitude is in line, maybe the passion will come back.  And the energy.  And then I can put forth the effort and be prepared and all the other things needed to be successful.

Let's see if we can't put that plan in place this weekend and get some editing done again.  I still don't have the funds to begin the publishing process with this puppy, but I can have it ready for when things fall into place financially.  (As long as my editor hasn't completely washed her hands of my lazy ass by then.) 

Here's hoping I have better things to tell you on Monday. 

Excuses and Time to Write

I just read Elizabeth Spann Craig's post 'Writing on the Tough Days' and now I feel guilty.  I haven't written anything in the past week.  Yeah, sure, I know... I have a good excuse.  But good or not, it's still an excuse. 

She's absolutely correct.  There is always time to write, if you make time.  Whittle it out somewhere.  But if you wait for 'the perfect time', you'll find yourself writing less and less.  Those perfect times can be so fleeting.  And there will always be excuses for why this isn't the perfect time. 

Funny thing is back when I had less time to write, I was better at finding time.  Now, I have scads of time to write and I find excuses not to.  It's a sad, strange little conundrum. 

And if I had taken those moments to write when I really had nothing else going on, then I wouldn't feel so bad taking the week off because of this damn cold.  Right when I was on a roll, too.  Blerg.

This week, though, every time I try to think about writing, it's like 'Og make words.  Smush together make sentences. Ugg.'

All the time I've wasted prior to this brain fog sits heavily.  I'll try to do better in the future.  Use the time you have, folks, because you can't get that wasted time back.

Today?  I'm 95% better.  Unfortunately, part of that 5% that's still out there is my brain.  We'll see what tonight brings.

Go, read Elizabeth's post.  She said it better than I could've.

How Not to Market

Since I'm at a loss for what to post here, here's a link to someone else's brilliance...

I saw this post over at The Mad Genius Club yesterday and thought I'd share it here.  It's got some really good tips if you really don't wanna sell books.  (Or things to avoid if your goal is actually selling books.  But who'd wanna do that?  :smirk:)

We won't talk about the things I've done to not sell books.  I'm better than I used to be.  Kinda.  Okay, in some ways, I'm not.  

(Warning: The font is really small (at least on my computer), so you might need to increase it on your computer to read it without going blind.)

Crime and Punishment in the News

I'm trying something new and building this post throughout the week rather than all at once on Friday morning.  Less scrambling around trying to remember what news stories I saw.  Here are the ones I thought you might find interesting.

Federal judge throws out sentencing for DC sniper because the dude was a 'minor' at the time of the crimes.  10 people dead, but hey, he was 17 so he didn't really mean it.  http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/05/27/federal-judge-throws-out-convicted-d-c-snipers-four-life-sentences/

Woman in NYC gets slashed in the face by a crazy person because she didn't want to sit with her baby next to the bitch.   When they finally caught the attacker, they found she'd already been arrested 60 times.  Umm... WTF?  http://nypost.com/2017/05/28/woman-slashed-on-subway-platform-at-grand-central/

Meanwhile in Chicago, a dude going about his business as an Uber driver, trying to make a living, gets hacked to death in a random incident by a 16 year old girl who stole the weapons she used to kill him. This article calls it a spontaneous attack.  Not really sure about that since she stole the knife and the machete, called for an Uber pick-up, and then started stabbing the guy right after she got into his car.  That shit sounds planned to me.  Sorta like she said to herself that morning 'today I'm gonna stab the shit out of some unsuspecting Uber driver' and whichever one picked her up was the one that got it. http://www.fox32chicago.com/news/crime/257826860-story

In Philadelphia, someone stabbed a city councilman.  It seems like they're making the assumption that it was a robbery gone bad, but my bullshit senses are tingling.  Random robbery in a residential area where there's typically little foot traffic?  Umm, ri-ight.  http://www.fox29.com/news/258191304-story

Sorry there isn't as much punishment as crime this week.  That's sometimes the way of things, I guess. 

Going International

Last week, Elizabeth Spann Craig had an awesome post on Considering Our International Audience.  (Naturally.  She has many many awesome posts.  If you're a writer and not following her, you probably should.  She also writes some wonderful mysteries, so if you're a reader, you should check that out, too.) 

Anyway, her international post got me thinking about my international audience.  I know there aren't that many of you.  :waves:  But I do appreciate that you're out there.  Over the weekend, I got to watch as someone in the UK read pages in Kindle Unlimited.  They seemed to be slowly reading Wish in One Hand, and then they gobbled down In Deep Wish and Up Wish Creek.  (I assume it was one person.  Thanks! whoever you are.) 

Occasionally, I'll see sales in Australia and Canada.  Once I got some sales in Italy and in India. 

For the most part, though, I still haven't broken into the international scene.  I expect that's mostly because all of my books are in English.  I can't afford to have them translated.  I keep hoping that English-speaking folks in other countries will be looking for reading material in their native tongue and find me on those Amazon sites.  I know there are also military personnel and their families who are abroad in foreign lands who might want to read something from home.  I also hope that people out there who speak other languages but who also know English or are learning it might take an interest in books, too.

Not sure how to reach those people, though. 

Anyway, all of my books are available worldwide through whatever Amazon site you call your own.  I hope if you're out there in the world somewhere, you'll give my books a chance. 

If you're an international reader, give a shout out to your country.  If you're a writer here in the States, what do you do to try and bring your books to an international audience?

Lucky Sevens Sunday Snippet - Cut n Dried, pg 37

And here's another snippet of my unfinished novel - Jordan Almond: Cut & Dried.

“One more question,” I said looking pointedly at my hairdresser and avoiding the gleam in Chic’s eye.  “Where were you when Ignatio was killed?”  Coming at it from out of nowhere like that, I hoped to shock Gerry into blurting something—anything—that would help me.

“I was…  Well… I was…”

“Yes?”

“I was at the salon.”

“At ten o’clock at night?”  Good thing to know if I ever had a hair emergency, but I didn’t think his usual business hours ran that late.

I know I shouldn’t have been surprised when he blushed, but I never can get past the image of a grown man blushing, especially not one of Gerry size.  Every time he did he reminded me of Oliver Hardy—if Laurel and Hardy had been in color, that is.  I kept expecting him to twiddle with his tie.

“Don’t I get any privacy?” he wailed.

“Not any more, Ger.  Or haven’t you noticed the fact that until we catch the real killer, even your bodily functions are out in the open for everyone to see.”  He looked like he was going to cry again, but I had to keep at him.  He was hiding things from me, and as long as that was happening, I wasn’t going to be able to help him.  “Cough it up, Gerald,” I snapped.

“I was giving myself a…”  I cringed and toned him out.  From the look on Chic’s face, I was lucky to have learned how to drop out of a conversation at any given moment.  I think it had to do with listening to my maternal grandparents complain about my profession, or my education going to waste, or their lack of grandchildren. 

Hope y'all are enjoying these little bits of story. 

If you want to play along, feel free to find any page of your manuscript that ends in 7, post it to your own blog, or put it in the comments, and come back here to tell me so I can read your stuff.  Plus, that way, I'll know to give you a little link-love back.  =o)

Lucky Sevens Sunday Snippet - Monster Hunter International pg 7

Hey everybody!  Welcome to Lucky Sevens Sunday Snippet. 

In case you're new here, the Lucky Sevens Sunday Snippet usually goes like this... Pick a manuscript, go to a page ending in the number 7, find a snippet on there you'd like to post, and post it to your blog.  Leave a comment here so I know to go look at yours.

Today I'll be mixing it up a little and sharing a snippet of a book I love (I mean, one that someone else wrote - I love all my own books).  AND I'll be giving the book away to one super lucky person at the end of the week.  :muppetflail:

This morning the book is Monster Hunter International by Larry Correia.  It's pretty wicked awesome - so much so that after I bought this, I read everything else he had out and am now buying his new releases like they were super-expensive gourmet cheesecake on sale for 99 cents.

And now, without further blathering, I present MHI - page 7.  In this first scene, Owen is working late when he discovers his employer with a severed woman's hand...

...Holy crap! My boss wasn't just run-of-the-mill crazy.  I was working for a serial killer.

The naked, crazy, fat man pointed out the window. "The time has come!  Tonight I am a god!" he squealed.

His sausagelike finger was pointing at the full moon.

As I watched in the pale lunar glow and the yellowish backdrop of the city lights, that finger seemed to stretch.  The hands began to elongate, and the fingernails blackened and spread...

Poor Owen.  He really never expected that monsters were real, but once he discovers they are, the fun ensues.  And now it's ensued through 4 totally awesome books.  (Still waiting for Monster Hunter Legion to come out in paperback, but that's my burden.)

If you want a chance at this copy of this spectacularly incredible book, leave a comment here.  I'll draw a name next Sunday morning and send this puppy winging its way to the lucky winner.  And if you don't win, for godsakes, go buy this man's books.  I have a serious writerly crush on the guy.  And if you really really like him, use the links on his Wordpress page to buy his books - because I think he gets a little extra fundage that way, too.

Other players:

Silver James with a snippet of her upcoming book Bride's Moon.

Lucky Sevens Sunday Snippet - Dying Embers pg 87

I feel bad.  I never seem to stop by this blog and leave things for people to read - which was the purpose of this particular blog.  (Well, that and to work a little branding magic - which based on the dearth of followers hasn't worked too well.)

Anyway, I'm going to try something new here and see how it goes.  It's not totally original, since I got the idea from reading Silver James' Six Sentence Sunday posts.  But I'm twisting it a little to make it mine.  Because, hey, that's what writers do.  Right?

The rules are simple:  Go to any '7' page within the manuscript of your choosing - be it pg 7, or pg 27, or pg 207 - find a snippet you'd like to share and post it.

And if you play along, please let me know.  Also, link back here so everyone can see where this thing got started.  Thanks.

This is from page 87 of my suspense novel Dying Embers:

At first glance, nothing about this fit with the killer’s MO. Aside from being intact, the vehicle, while new, wasn’t high-end. It was sitting in its driveway and not pushed into some ravine, even though they’d passed at least a half dozen such geographical goodies on the drive. And the car didn’t show a single sign of fire. 

From the report she’d been given, the glue was there. Even the accelerant was present. But the one crucial piece she’d never failed to leave was missing. 

There was no dead body. 

Hope you enjoyed the snippet. Stop back next Sunday and see if I can keep this up.  ;o)