Tuesday, May 29, 2012

More Soon

I'll have a post hopefully later this week with some of the things I learned at the MS Word 2010 class I recently attended. Also, a new short story releases on 06/01/12. But right now I'm going to try and get some work done on Night's Acolyte. I finally figured out why the story wasn't working so well--I just needed to swap the order of events a little. So now on with the rewriting.

Friday, May 25, 2012

Do You...?

I don't yet, but I think I may have to start. Neat place.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

When Everything is Crap

I'm in one of those phases where I feel like everything I write is crap. I've been grinding away at "Night's Acolyte," a novella of Gabriel's origin story. Trouble is, I originally wrote about half of it back in 2008. I've changed things since then, plus my writing has gotten better, so I re-wrote the whole thing pretty much from scratch. I hate rewrites. So I finally slogged my way into new territory. Yeay! Except it's very touchy new territory. There are several things that I have to balance and it's a pretty fine line between not enough and too much. So that's been slowing me down. Plus I've pretty much decided that once I finish this draft, I'm going to have to scrap a huge portion of it and--you guessed it--rewrite it. This does not inspire me to finish. I don't mean to complain. I'm actually happy to be making as much progress as I am. When I wrote it in 2008 it was pretty much all over one weekend in an orgy of "get this out of my head now, now, now!" I was very excited to be exploring Gabriel's back story. So anything short of that feels like a bit of a let-down, even if it's more challenging now because I'm writing it for other people to read, and not just for my own edification. It's just frustrating to know you're probably going to toss out a large part of what you're currently slaving over. I'm starting to doubt that this story is even going to work. Which probably means I'm pretty close to getting it right. If that doesn't make sense, I'll let Neil Gaiman explain.

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

The Joys of Self-Publishing

Don't get me wrong. Most of the time I love self-publishing. I get to do whatever I want with my stuff whenever I want. The downside, of course, is that I have to do it all. Well, duh, you might think. But even for me, publishing takes up a lot of time and energy, and I don't do any marketing. I've committed myself to having a release every month this year. That's twelve covers I need to make, twelve blurbs to write, twelve stories to format three times each (once for Smashwords, once for Kindle, and once for Nook). Not to mention twelve stories to write and edit, on top of the other projects I'm working on. I've been trying to write during the week and do publishing stuff on weekends. But I've been sick lately and getting up early has not been happening as much, because I just need the sleep too badly. So instead I've been trying to write over lunch a couple times a week. Writing at work is rather distracting and I usually only get about 300 words done. It would probably be more if this novella wasn't kicking my ass so badly. Meanwhile, my sales at Amazon have stagnated, and I'm trying very hard not to futz with my pricing and stuff again for a couple months. (Interestingly, Barnes & Noble is doing about the same as always. Go Nook!) I want--no, need--to start working out, but I have no idea when I can fit it into my schedule. The Husband likes to go late at night, but if I'm going to be getting up at 5am to write then I need to be in bed by 10pm. I'm thinking we can try going at 9:30pm and see how that works, 'cause I always needed less sleep when I was working out regularly, but by the time 9:30pm rolls around we're both settled in and tired. It's hard to get the motivation. I also want to learn how to do audio, so I can make a podiobook of Scent and Shadow. Ok, I don't want to learn how to do it, but I want to have a podiobook, so I have to learn it. I can't afford to pay someone to do it for me and I don't want to give someone royalties forever for something I can learn to do myself. (This is the story of my self-publishing career.) I'm going on vacation next month with my dad and my sister. I'm looking forward to it a lot, even though I'll miss my husband while I'm gone. It should be a good way to recharge. Or at least, I hope so. 'Cause I really need a recharge. Or an assistant. Minion. Yeah, a minion sounds good.

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Happy May Day!

Celebrate the pagan festival of shagging with a new erotic short story!

Samantha and Ron’s 1950s-ish life style strikes some as misogynistic, but for them it’s about more than just sexual thrills. Contains explicit sex.

Husband's Little Helper is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords!

Just for Kinks stories are light-hearted, contemporary tales of titillation for kinky people and the kink-curious. Often romantic, Just for Kinks focuses on the everyday kinky person with a stories involving a variety of genders, orientations, and combinations thereof. These stories are about healthy relationships, clear consent, safe sex, and having fun in whatever way floats your particular boat. Commonly seen kinks include bondage, dominance, submission, sadism, masochism, exhibitionism, and voyeurism.

No historicals, no paranormals, no science fiction, no dark and unhealthy encounters. Just modern kinky people doing what they do best—having a darn good time.