Month: October 2018

Trollin’ with my homies

#books, #dystopian, #nerd, #publishing, Abnormal, Celebrity, Fandom, Friendship, Geek, Learning, Marketing, Musings, Novel, Promotion, SCA, Sci-fi, Social Media, Thoughts, Time, Writing

I’ve finished the latest round of revisions on Book 2, and as I go to do the Write Event games on Twitter (follow @writevent to see what I mean) I’ve decided that I let too much of Abnormal go out into the Web as tweets. Sure, it garnered interest, but how much is too much? And how much of Book 2 should I give my Twitter followers a peek of?

My solution: I’m going to start writing fresh lines just for the Write Event games. Some will be from my WIPs, but some will be pulled out of thin air.

That’s right. I’m going to keep people guessing. It’ll be my own personal writing game: Sneak peek or made-up crap?

With that now safely ensconced in my brain, I think I’ll be able to entertain myself for months. The bonus is, even if there are Write Event themes that don’t fit with my WIP, I can still tweet something related to the theme and make it look like it’s from the WIP.

In other news, this morning I plan on starting to outline my *cough* semi-completed draft, as well as writing up a query letter and synopsis. My November deadline for submission is fast approaching, and I’m going to try not to cram for it this time.

First, though, food. It may be oh-dark-thirty in the morning, but I’m starving. I didn’t grab enough food at last night’s SCA household meeting. Well, potential household–we’ve camped with them twice now, which meets their requirements for joining, but they’re waffling on voting us in or out. It makes me slightly suspicious, and I have to admit I kind of feel like my husband and I are the redheaded stepchildren of the household. Like, we’re kind of part of the family, but we’re expected to do more work and it’s kind of assumed that we’ll be around…not, like, appreciated, y’know? Sure, there are a few people in the household who I know like having us around, but I’m not sure why they didn’t vote last night, which was the first household meeting since our second time camping with a large contingent of the household. Hmm…

Maybe I’m not the only troll in the room…

Book-blocked

#books, #dystopian, #nerd, #publishing, Abnormal, Celebrity, Critique, Fandom, Geek, Novel, Sci-fi, Stress, Time, Writing

Damnit, just when I get into a groove–and get into writing some groovy action–the empty room I had parked myself in gets some more occupants.

I’m at a meeting for our prospective SCA household. Normally having other people in the room doesn’t distract me from my writing, but when I’m writing, er, “sensitive material,” I can’t concentrate.

Oh well. I’ll get back to it when we’re headed home. I should make myself useful to the household by helping string event tokens or something…But damnit, the book is calling me. I’m in The Zone, and I don’t know if The Zone will still be around later tonight. If it’s not it’s not, but I guess I’ll have to tell the Muse to slow her roll and give me some “me time.”

I’m hopeful that Book 2 will be ready for submission in the next couple of weeks. I have until the beginning of November, so I only have a few weeks anyway, but I’d rather be done early than late. That, and I want to get the wheels moving on Book 2. So far, from the feedback I’ve received, people are wanting to know what happens next. I’m wanting to tell them what happens next–so to submissions I will go.

Aww, crap. That reminds me: I have to write the outline. And synopsis. And the dreaded query letter. Better dust off the ones for Abnormal to refresh my memory on how to do all that. Lol

Book 3 is on standby for now. I got a little bit of a start, but it was a rocky one. Better to let Book 2 take control until it’s done; that way, when I dive back into Book 3 I have fewer changes to make.

It’s 26 days until Tucson Comic Con. Twenty-six days until I’m in the spotlight–or at least as in-the-spotlight as I’ll get tucked away in Artist’s Alley. Booth AA147, in case you were wondering. November 2-4. Be there!

Crafty

#books, #design, #dystopian, #nerd, #publishing, Abnormal, Art, Celebrity, Convention, Cosplay, Crafting, Fandom, Geek, Learning, Marketing, Novel, Promotion, Sci-fi, Sewing, Stress, Time, Writing

Tucson Comic Con is rapidly approaching (27 days), and I have gained too much weight to wear any of my cosplays. Bummer, right? Well, I found a compromise the other day, and yesterday I made something new.

I only spent about nine dollars on the zipper, thread, and button–much less than if I’d decided to make even one new cosplay! There are a couple of mistakes in the apron, but they’re small mistakes and nothing I can’t live with. Plus, with making it myself, I was able to alter the pattern and make a ton of pockets for markers for signing my book. 🙂

I used a pattern I found on Pinterest, and I’m happy with the results. Crafty Staci I think was the name of the woman who came up with the design. Great tutorial, great design.

So far that’s the only real prep I’ve done for TCC. I need to bust butt getting books ordered and setting up my PayPal reader with my phone and figuring out how much change to bring for cash. Every time I think I have all the plans solidified in my head, new things pop up. I’ll get there, though. And this experience will prepare me for future cons and appearances.

The long and short of it

#nerd, Convention, Crafting, Hair, Novel, Sewing, Writing

Well, I did a thing this morning…

Yeah. That happened.

So here’s what’s what: I was at an SCA baronial meeting last night (bored out of my skull), and my hair was down, and I noticed a lot of split, broken, and dead ends. Too many. So I did something about it.

This isn’t the first time I’ve gone and chopped off half my hair (or more), but it’s been a couple of years. I gotta say, it feels nice. Lighter. Not bugging the shit out of me. And the maintenance will be easier, too.

Of course, heading into what will eventually be cold weather (I’m in Arizona so as of late the weather has been still scorching in the daytime), that means I’ll need to make use of the Star Wars scarf I made myself a while back. Darn. (<–Insert sarcasm.) The hair was like a built-in scarf when it was long, but no more.

Next up in the do-it-yourself department: a vendor apron for Tucson Comic Con. I just happen to have some nifty exploding TARDIS fabric that’s been dying for a chance to be used, and this will be a great way to use it. That, and it’s an excuse to make something. Always a good thing. 😉

Thirty days before my first con as an author!

Excelling…or am I?

#books, #dystopian, #nerd, #publishing, Abnormal, Celebrity, Critique, Fandom, Geek, Interview, Marketing, Novel, Promotion, Sci-fi, Social Media, Stress, Time, Work, Writing

So I thought I was doing pretty well with contacting authors, podcasts, and book bloggers about Abnormal. I mean, I’ve been following along with the Marketing 101 assignments that my publisher has been putting out in the Facebook group, I’ve been researching places to contact, I’ve been documenting my contacts…so why is it that, when I input the contacts I’ve done into an Excel sheet, I’ve only contacted about twenty people/businesses??

I guess reality is not the same as perception sometimes. I’ve got a list of five more book bloggers to contact today, but I’m a little discouraged at how dismal my personal efforts have been. I want Abnormal to succeed, so why am I slacking?

Well, part of it is just life. I get busy (or I get too sleepy in the mornings), and I forget. Or I say I’ll do it after work. Or something. Regardless of the reason for the slackiness, I need to step it up. Get cracking.

My efforts look so much more impressive when they’re scrawled in a composition book or date planner. I guess I write much bigger than I realized. Lol

I just have to tell myself that I can do this. I’ve got a form email saved for sending to places, I’ve got a list started of places to contact, and I am looking every so often for more places. I’m less overwhelmed than I was previously when it comes to finding places to send requests for reviews/interviews to, but I still don’t feel like I’m doing enough.

On the plus side, I got my author copies in this past weekend, and they look great. I mean, I’ve seen the paperbacks when I did my signing at the local bookstore, but it’s cool to have a copy to carry around, and the hardcover looks great, too. 

Ain’t they a beaut? 

I guess I should get off the blog and get to the blogs. Er, book review blogs.