#design – Page 6 – AJ Mullican, Author

Cramped situation

#design, #nerd, #publishing, Art, autoimmune, Cosplay, costuming, Crafting, embroidery, Geek, Health, Novel, SCA, Sewing, Stress, Time, Writing

I’m back to embroidering (did I ever really stop? Lol), and it’s starting to get to these arthritic hands of mine.

Whether I use a hoop or just hold the fabric myself, it seems my fingers get incredibly cramped and painful. I can only stitch for a little bit at a time, which is making projects take longer. Thankfully, I am limiting the number of projects I take on.

I have a Viking hood for my husband to embroider, of which I have gotten probably a quarter done. That’s my Current Project. My Next Project will be a mundane cross stitch for a paying customer. Then, Project Number Three in line will be a large embroidery that isn’t due until Estrella War in February. I hope to get some personal embroidery done in between Next Project and Project Number Three, but we’ll see how my hands tolerate it. I get so excited that people want things embroidered by me that I don’t take the time to say “Sorry, but I wanted to embroider X for myself first.” I need to do that. Take time for personal projects as well as commissions.

The Next Personal Project? I think some embroidery for a Viking Hedeby bag I plan on making. I have the handles, I have the fabric I need, and the rope for the strap will be easy enough to get, but I need to embroider the fabric before I put the bag together so I’m not stitching through the lining. Then after that? Maybe some subversive cross stitching or other such embroidery for hanging up around the house. Maybe something geeky. We’ll see…in March, most likely, because of time constraints.

I’ll eventually get to making garb and cosplay stuff for myself again. After I finish my Current Project and the subsequent pending projects. And after I finish Book 2 and submit it. And after….who knows what will come up next.

What to do, what to do

#books, #design, #dystopian, #nerd, Abnormal, Art, Crafting, embroidery, Geek, Marketing, Novel, Promotion, SCA, Sci-fi, Sewing, Social Media, Time, Work, Writing

For the first time in weeks, I don’t have a pressing project to do…and now, I don’t know what to do with my morning “me time.”

I could work on the third book in the Abnormal series…but I’m kinda stuck. Still haven’t heard back from alpha readers, so the second book is kind of on hold. I have embroidery that I could be doing, but I don’t have the design printed on stabilizer yet. I suppose I could get to work on that…

Whatever I decide to do, I need to get it started today, because I’m going on a camping trip this weekend–mundane camping for once, so no actual SCA event to go to. It should be fun, but I still like to have something to occupy myself when I’m up at nothing in the morning and can’t get back to sleep. (Which is pretty much every day.)

Hopefully I don’t get devoured by mosquitoes again. That was no bueno.

I’ve been making up graphics of quotes from Abnormal to promote the book on Instagram, and I’m debating on trying to make something out of them. Maybe post cards? I don’t know. This is an example of what I’ve been doing:

Now, most of these are square-shaped (because Instagram likes that the best), so I’d have to do some finagling in Photoshop to get them a decent postcard size, but it might be something to consider. I’ve also made a couple of bookmark-size images of quotes that I think book lovers might like, but I’ve found that it’s kind of expensive to get those printed, so I have to debate on that.

These, I think, would make cute bookmarks. I’ll have to find the site I found earlier for printing (some printing sites don’t have bookmark sizes available) to remind myself of how much these would cost. I think I can get a decent amount printed, but I want to be sure it’s worth my time and money before I invest.

I suppose I could research that kind of thing this weekend…

What I should really be doing now is getting in Photoshop and laying out the designs for my next embroideries. I have my husband’s Viking hood to finish, but first I need to make a small patch for the SCA household we’re trying to join for the Arts and Sciences household champion banner (the household we’re trying to join won the banner this year, and each year someone from the winning household makes a patch to go on the banner). I guess that will be my weekend project. That way, I kill two birds with one stone: getting the project done, and stopping the “patriarch” of the household from nagging me to get it done. The embroidery I did for Their Royal Majesties allowed me to bide my time on that one, but that stuff’s done so it’s on to the next thing on the list.

After my husband’s hood and the patch, I have one more embroidery commission in line that, thankfully, is not due until next February. That one isn’t too complicated (I don’t think), but it’s going to be large, so I’ll have to make sure I have plenty of time. I’m not necessarily worried about the time, but new commissions have a way of creeping in when I’m not expecting them.

Well, I guess I’ve decided what to do… No writing planned for this weekend, but I’ll bring some embroidery stuff to keep me occupied.

Off the cuff

#design, #nerd, Art, Crafting, Critique, embroidery, Geek, Novel, SCA, Sewing, Time, Writing

A little break from writing lately as I dive into an embroidery commission for Their Royal Majesties of Atenveldt.

Yeah, I know. It’s annoying when people do that. But what can I say? It’s the highest-profile embroidery I’ve done yet, and even more so because they’ll be wearing the garments at an out-of-kingdom event. So no pressure, right?

Actually, I’m not feeling too bad on the pressure front this time around. It’s all straightforward designs that I picked out (that Their Majesties approved, of course), and I’m not actually assembling the garb–just embroidering the pre-cut pieces I was given.

His Majesty saw one of the cuffs I was working on the other day and really liked what I had done. Her Majesty saw me working on it as well, but she was preoccupied with other things and I didn’t want to be “that guy” who’s sticking their latest project in her face for praise. (His Majesty sought me out specifically for seeing what I was doing, so that’s different. Lol)

I should be done by the end of the weekend, then it’s back to the writing board. 🙂

And then there were three…

#books, #design, #dystopian, #nerd, #publishing, Abnormal, Art, Celebrity, Drawing, Fandom, Geek, Marketing, Novel, Promotion, Reading, SCA, Sci-fi, Social Media, Time, Work, Writing

Yep, Book 2 is in sleeper mode while I wait for alpha readers to be ready (the one I’ve found so far wants to read Abnormal first, and I don’t blame him), so it’s on to preliminary notes for Book 3. I have at least four to five books total from Clare’s point of view brewing (counting Abnormal and Book 2), with more to come from….well, spoilers. 😉

With Book 2 drafted, edited, revised, and resting, I can now focus on what I want to happen in Book 3. Of course, with the nature of writing, sometimes the characters end up making things happen that you didn’t originally want. That’s why I’m a quasi-pantser; I kindamaybesorta outline a bit, but basically I’m winging it. Let the characters do what they do, and just try to keep up with them.

Once the sun comes up (which will be quite some time away yet), I’ll have SCA illumination assignments to work on. I’ve procrastinated enough with all this book work, and I can’t just wait until the last minute. A couple of scrolls to trace and paint, then I can get back to whatever I was doing. Living in the past, writing in the future. It’s how I roll.

The book release parties went pretty well. Despite few interactions on the “virtual” party, the numbers for my Facebook author page skyrocketed. I need to work on a plan of action to keep those numbers up and to keep my followers engaged–and to have more people following.

Twitter has taken off as well, with more followers, more likes, and more comments. Several people have expressed interest in reading Abnormal, which has me beyond excited because the majority of my Twitter followers are people I don’t personally know. Don’t get me wrong; I appreciate it when friends and family are willing to buy or support the book, but when strangers do it it’s kind of invigorating. Gets the ol’ writer’s blood pumping.

My first review is up, and so far I’m at five out of five stars. The reviewer friended me on Facebook earlier to tell me how much he enjoyed Abnormal, so I knew I’d be getting a good review, but still it’s nice to see those five yellow stars all lined up in a pretty row.

Off to work on Book 3 now, because an author’s work is rarely truly done. 😉

Cover reveal

#books, #design, #dystopian, #nerd, #publishing, Abnormal, Art, Celebrity, cover art, Diversity, Fandom, Geek, LGBTQ, Marketing, Novel, Promotion, Reading, Sci-fi, Social Media, Writing

Here it is, ladies and gents! The cover of Abnormal! The preorder link is going live very, very soon, at Rhetoric Askew … As soon as Amazon puts it up for preorder, that is. I’m waiting and draining my phone battery in an effort to notify people as soon as it’s active.
I’m extremely excited, and I can’t wait to get a few copies in my grubby little mitts.

I can almost taste it….

#books, #design, #dystopian, #publishing, Abnormal, Celebrity, cover art, Fandom, Marketing, Novel, Parties, Promotion, Reading, Sci-fi, Social Media, Stress, Time, Writing

It’s cover reveal and pre-order day, and I’m going crazy waiting for the things to share. I have to be patient, though. Just be patient.
Being patient is not easy. Normally I’m quite patient, but this? This is maddening. I mean, all I’ve got to show you is this:

The worst part? Even I haven’t seen the final cover design! I’ve seen versions of it, but all I’ve seen from the final is what you see above.
I. Am. So. Anxious. Not worrying about how it’s going to turn out, but anxious to be able to share it and the pre-order link. I’ve been talking it up for days now, but I’ve just got the one image so far.
Oh well. Back to the wine tasting.

And then there was one….

#books, #design, #dystopian, #nerd, #publishing, Abnormal, book trailer, cover art, Fandom, Geek, Learning, Marketing, Musings, Novel, Promotion, Reading, Sci-fi, Social Media, Stress, Thoughts, Time, Writing

Tomorrow, folks! Tomorrow Abnormal gets its big cover reveal, and the preorder link goes live! I am so freakin’ excited!

Now, if you follow this blog on more than one platform (Facebook, Twitter, whatever in addition to here), you may notice that you’re not seeing this cross-posted. There are a couple of reasons for that. First off, I’m attending an virtual workshop on how to market a book, and surprise! Readers/followers don’t like repeat content. You’ve seen my blog post once; you don’t need to see it over and over again ad nauseum.
Secondly, I actually do check my stats on this blog pretty frequently. Obsessively, even. And I’ve noticed that lately, it’s not Twitter or Facebook that gets the most views for me. It’s WordPress reader. So, my hope is that these still get read even if they’re not in-your-face on every platform.
I’m also going to venture into creating a website for myself. There are going to be links to the preorder (starting tomorrow, or when I get the site up–I have no idea how long this will take me), there will be the book trailer, and there will even be a link to Whispers of Death, my first novel.
This site will probably take a while to get up and running, because I know zero about website creation. I’ll keep posting here for a while, but soon ajmullican.com will be the place to go. (No point in putting an actual hyperlink there until I know the site works lol)
Off I go down the rabbit hole of website creation and stuff!

Two for the money

#books, #design, #dystopian, #publishing, Abnormal, Celebrity, cover art, Fandom, Friendship, Marketing, Novel, Promotion, Reading, Sci-fi, Stress, Thoughts, Time, Writing

Yeah, yeah, I know that’s not how the saying goes… Still, it’s two days until Abnormal goes on preoder sale, so two for the money works for me. 😉
The cover reveal is in two days as well, and in sixteen days Abnormal hits bookstores and Amazon Kindle. Just a little over two weeks. I’m still going a little crazy with the waiting, but I have to remind myself that this is, like, over two and a half years in the making. Another two weeks and some change won’t kill me.
I’m not the only one who’s excited. There are friends and family members who are chomping at the bit to see the cover or read the book. I’ve already made numerous promises about autographs. It’s kinda funny how people who know you want your autograph more than people who haven’t met you. It’s like, you know me, I’ve been to your house, eaten your food, hung out with you, whatever, and now you want me to sign it? I mean, it’s cool and all. Makes me glad I have like almost 100 colored gel pens that I can bring to signings. Lol
Signings. Still none set up, but once the preorder link is live I can send the ISBN to a retail bookstore chain and see if they’re interested in having me. So far, the local bookstore isn’t panning out much. They seemed super interested, but then they kinda fell off the Facebook Messenger radar. I haven’t heard back from them in about a week, but I suppose I shouldn’t let that get me down. Sometimes Messenger doesn’t deliver notifications right away, and they could be busy with back to school stuff. I gotta be patient.
After all, there are sixteen whole days until the book’s release.
Two weeks and two days.
Less than a month of Sundays.

Three, two, one, BOOM!

#books, #design, #dystopian, #publishing, Abnormal, Celebrity, cover art, Fandom, Learning, Marketing, Novel, Promotion, Reading, Sci-fi, Stress, Time, Work, Writing

A couple of days ago, I was discussing Book 2 with the Creative Director at my publisher, and she suggested outlining or breaking down the scenes to figure out where I need to add/change things. It was a good suggestion, except I suck at outlines–especially with the templates she was showing me to help. Then a little light bulb came on inside my head, and I thought “Hey, I can draw little bubbles with plot points inside them and connect them with lines, and that’ll let me visualize the scenes.” Y’know, kind of like one of those conspiracy theory-style infoboards.
Turns out this is already a thing called mind mapping, and there’s even software out there for it. Guess that light bulb was already manufactured elsewhere. Since prebuilt scene templates were already giving me a headache, I decided to go old-school and literally draw it out. I ended up with about half of the “Scribbles” section of my new planner, well, scribbled on. It’s a good thing I know my own writing.
I found places in almost every chapter where I can add onto and/or revise to make the scene(s) longer. Not necessarily fluffing the scenes, but enriching them. Adding flavor, adding depth…and yeah, I admit, adding word count. I even found a couple places where this expansion can create a couple new chapters, with better, more exciting action going on. Book 2 is going to be a little dark, but I think you’ll like it. Especially if you get to the end of Abnormal and think, “WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?!?!” 😉
Speaking of Abnormal, three days to the cover reveal and preorder going live! I’m getting really excited–and more than a little anxious–the further down the numbers on the countdown widgets on my phone get. Three days to the cover reveal/preorder. Seventeen days until Abnormal’s release date. Seventy-nine days until Tucson Comic Con. My heart’s racing a bit right now just looking at my phone.
Three days. Two and a half working days (I was off this morning, but soon I’ll be headed in to work for the afternoon). A meeting Friday morning. Then, finally, I can show the world what Abnormal will look like, and give them a link to order it.
Soon. So soon.

Revealing

#books, #design, #dystopian, #publishing, #TV, Abnormal, blog tour, Celebrity, Convention, cover art, Fandom, Geek, Interview, Marketing, Novel, Reading, Sci-fi, Social Media, Stress, Television, Time, Writing

Five days. Just five little days to the cover reveal for Abnormal. Five days til the preorder link goes live. Nineteen days to the book release.
Not that I’m counting down or anything.
The excitement is getting to me just a little bit. A lot. I can’t have a cover reveal party because I didn’t find out the date for the reveal until after I’d made plans for that day, but I’m hoping my husband will let me have a few friends over on the day the book releases. A few friends and some alcohol. And books. They’d better have books. Lol
Ooh, I need pens! Lots of different colors! Or Sharpies. I’ve seen authors use big, bold Sharpies to sign books. Back to school sales are still going on, right? Maybe I’ll find a sweet deal Friday. Because autographs are a thing.
I’ve nudged the local bookstore to see if they have a date when they’d want me there for an event/signing. I need to step up my game though. There’s radio stations, newspapers, TV stations, libraries–I have to get all the things done, and I’m running out of time. Man, it really snuck up on me. Five days, dude. Less than a week until the world sees what Abnormal will look like. Less than a week until they can place orders for Abnormal. Wow.
My mind is continually being blown here. It’s a whirlwind of dates and things. I’ve got X due for the SCA on this day, Y to do for Abnormal on the next, then work and work and work and Z for Abnormal and…. Well, you get the drift.
So. Bloody. Exciting. And Book 2 is still well underway, so we’ll see what I can come up with for that. I’m looking over it again after some “time off” from it to get a fresh look. Seems like solid writing, but I know I need to add more to it. The word count isn’t quite up to par yet, so I have some work to do there as well. I need to tweak and fidget and adjust until it’s ready for submission.
Shit. I have to do an outline. And a query letter. And a synopsis. And…and…and…Oh, hell. I forgot about that part of the process. Well, better get to it.