Adventures in Self-Publishing, episode 1?

I am pretty sure I have discussed in the past the issue of self-publishing. It is no longer the realm of the vanity publishers, and there are legitimate sites that have really taken off in the last few years. Of course, the very idea of being solely responsible for absolutely everything relating to your precious book is daunting, but it does have its appeal, namely the ability to cling to it as simply YOURS, not some faceless agent, editor, or publisher who is going to take it and do god only knows what to it, and the fear is that it becomes something completely unrecognizable, right?

Well, I was poking around the NaNo site, and there are some really excellent sponsor offers available to Wrimos, both participants and winners themselves. No, really, take a look: NaNo sponsors

Obviously, once I complete my long-suffering work in progress, I would love to publish it somehow. Ideally, yes, get it on bookshelves around the world, getting a fat contract and check, and becoming fabulously wealthy! Ok, but seriously, getting it out there is the important thing to me, to feel like I have actually DONE something. So I'm looking over these offers... and I find LeanPub. Really interesting concept, it allows authors to publish their WIP's... for whoa, actual money? Hold the presses here... I have to look further.

Yes, indeed, for a 90% royalty, minus a .50 fee (did I really read that right? Yep, you did) an author can gain readership, feedback, and a check, all at the same time. It's like getting an advance on a finished novel, with the readers themselves giving you their opinions as you go along. Similar to blogging, I suppose. The author sets the price, can even donate to a cause, and can update their novel as often as they want. Of course, this comes with a limitation as to how much space can get hosted through the file sharing service utilized by LeanPub, called Dropbox, though you can earn or purchase upgrades beyond what is initially offered.

So what does the reader get out of this? Well, by purchasing a work through LeanPub, they get interaction with the author, and free updates whenever the author changes something. I think that's pretty darn neat, so what the hell, I am giving it a try with my NaNo project this year.

So the unveiling of what that project will be? Haha, surprise, it's going to be to finish my novel about Salome, which I am tentatively titling The Marchmont Falcon. (Potential to be a series, here, btw.) Since I already have a significant amount completed, I will publish what I have thus far, and update throughout November, hopefully ending with a finished book. Conclude with some SERIOUS editing, and I can take that to places like CreateSpace and Smashwords to generate a physical copy and ISBN, and provide it to as wide an audience as possible!!!! OMG, too exciting for words, but baby steps, baby steps...

So, PLEASE, if you read this, go check out my book at LeanPub, pony up the 1.99 list price (10% will go back to NaNo) and help me along on my journey to become a published author at last!!!

The Marchmont Falcon

Getting Ready for November

Did I mention what a miserable blogger I am? Oh, yeah, last post, right.
Anywho, lots happening lately, not all of it wonderful, but meaningful in its own way, and all the while leading back to where we should have been all along. It is interesting how our lives lead us around in so many different directions, only to have us end up in what was the only place it could ever, should ever have been...
Like when you are reading a book; (particularly guilty are romances in this fashion) and you totally know where the characters are supposed to be in their lives, and the whole time they are struggling against fate or destiny, or whatever you want to call it, only to end up right where you knew they needed to be after all, only at last they are happy with it? Yeah, something like that.
Yeah, so totally cryptic, ha! But that's all you'll get about personal things lately from me.
So, yes, getting ready for November. In the past, I have participated in National Novel Writing Month, and have set a new goal for this year, since as noted previously, I gave up writing for a year, and it is past time I get back on with it. NaNo has been exceedingly helpful for me when it comes to writing. My biggest struggle is against procrastination, and NaNo takes away the excuses, as well as letting you know you are not alone.
The goal of NaNo is simple. Write a novel. But to be more specific, just write. The goal is to write 50,000 words of an original fiction novel in 30 days. It is not impossible, though there are times when it feels that way if you actually attempt such a feat. I did not make the goal the first time I tried, but I hammered out the word count for two years in a row, and boy, did I feel like I had accomplished something.
Now, I didn't FINISH anything, let me set you straight on that point, but I sure did have a body of work that I can work on, by golly! But this year, this year, the goal is to FINISH a story. I put my own self on forced hiatus and cooked this story over the last year, and it needs to be done already. Then I can edit, search for an agent/publisher, or hell, might even put it up on Smashwords my darn self. Anything to get it out there. Remember, the ultimate goal is to be a published author. The ultimate DREAM would be a published author that didn't have to have a day job and could focus on writing full time!
So that is what I am up to at the moment, mapping things out this month for full time writing in November. And to make it even more fun, I am dragging my fourteen year old son along for the ride! Tee hee... It's part punishment, part effort to drag some creativity out of him... It was years before something triggered a desire to read, and his writing could use some polish. So this is perfect!
I encourage anyone who is interested to join me for NaNo this year... sign up and make me a writing buddy, my profile is cmcarr12.

Character Development - Salome

Edit: I actually do have a character page for these characters, but it's rather dated, and since I'm using this exercise, I am changing a few things. Feel free to compare the older version against the newer one, hopefully there is a little more connection between my readers and my characters. I think they were a little cold before, I'm hoping this will make them more likable.

So, I realized that I do not have Character charts for Salome and Donovan yet. What are you talking about, you may ask? Well, a way of delving deeper into the main characters, finding out more about what they are like, their motivations, their strengths and weaknesses, all of the things that will make them seem like real people and that readers are going to be more interested in them because I, the writer, have explained all of these things.
Now, I don't really know if I have done a good job so far of describing my heroine and hero as of yet, so I thought I might make a few posts about them.
I found this excellent list via the NaNoWriMo forum (National Novel Writing Month), and I am going to take some time to fill out this little questionnaire for Salome and Donovan, writing from their perspective. Bear with me, it may take awhile, but I hope the exercise comes in handy for re-writes, and oh, yes, I feel certain there will be rewrites.
I am a terrible info-dumper, and I'm even worse at believable dialogue, with the occasional exception for a witty exchange or a brilliant defining moment, that usually comes to me in the shower or a dream. Yeah, I go to bed thinking of my characters, and sometimes they do amazing things, and if I'm lucky I remember to write it down in the morning. Other times, my dreams are vivid, but not anything about what I fell asleep thinking about. Must put notebook by the bed, hubby will think I'm crazy. Wait, he already thinks that, ok, then I'm good!
Tangent aside, here is the list of questions Salome and Donovan are going to have to answer, and I'll be posting their responses over the next little while, hope you like!

01 – Introduce yourself, in great detail
02 – Your first love, in great detail
03 – Your parents, in great detail
04 – What you ate today, in great detail
05 – Your definition of love, in great detail
06 – Your day, in great detail
07 – Your best friend, in great detail
08 – A moment, in great detail
09 – Your beliefs, in great detail
10 – What you wore today, in great detail
11 – Your siblings, in great detail
12 – What’s in your bag, in great detail
13 – This week, in great detail
14 – What you wore today, in great detail
15 – Your dreams, in great detail
16 – Your first kiss, in great detail
17 – Your favorite memory, in great detail
18 – Your favorite birthday, in great detail
19 – Something you regret, in great detail
20 – This month, in great detail
21 – Another moment, in great detail
22 – Something that upsets you, in great detail
23 – Something that makes you feel better, in great detail
24 – Something that makes you cry, in great detail
25 – A first, in great detail
26 – Your fears, in great detail
27 – Your favorite place, in great detail
28 – Something that you miss, in great detail
29 – Your aspirations, in great detail
30 – One last moment, in great detail

Historical Figures

So, it's really nice when writing historical fiction to be able to include a real life character. The trick is knowing your place and time, and whether or not its possible to stretch reality in such a way that will fit your story.

I have just finished doing just that, and it made for over 3000 words! All in about two hours time. Pretty freaking awesome! Neat trick too...

It all started yesterday when I was just doing some basic research on Cheyenne Wyoming, the Union Pacific Railroad, and that time/place in general. I came across someone who would fit very nicely, and thought, gee, how cool would it be if my characters met that person? So I had a vague idea of how it would happen, then proceeded to sit down and write it. See my other blog for the excerpt... but warning to your sensibilities, it did not end up so very nice.

I hope no one is offended by my representation of this historical figure, who based on my research could very likely have participated in just the sort of scene I describe, but is all too often romanticized. I like making people more real, with all their faults.

So here's the thing: Anyone reading this? Not gonna say who the figure is, you have to tell me, I'll give it to the end of the week, and then I'll say who it is. Just go read the excerpt and give it a go. :)

What next?

So this week has had its ups and downs, but between this morning's NaNo meeting and the one I'm going to in a few more moments, I will cross the 10,000 word threshold and hope to get to 12,000 before the end of the day. I need to stop talking and web-browsing and just write already... Bah!

New Inspiration!

Thanks to the Smart Bitches, Trashy Books blog (insert link later, see side panel for now), I have a great new side angle to write from.
Poor Anne and Kate, they are just having to go through hell.
I can't say this is going to be your standard romance, there's love and sex and definitely some Happily Ever After, but in the meantime, there's rape, racism, murder, revenge, miscarriage, you name it. Ouch.
So I read the question about the importance/lack of importance in romance of the main characters having babies. Lots of books deal with the heroine getting pregnant or wrap it up at the end with her getting knocked up and yay, everything's great.
Annoying. Don't get me wrong, I love babies, have three of them myself, and in a great number of ways, they are contributing to my very own real life Happy Ending, but in many other ways, they create whole other issues that don't necessarily need to be dealt with in "category" romances.
So I started thinking about my own stories... where's the babies? Do I have babies?
- Australia - nope, no babies, at least not in my semi-fleshed out idea for it
- Empress - Most definitely a baby, it creates a big problem for the heroine, not so much for the hero, who doesn't know until near the end, but is a big part of making it a Happy Ending
- Gyrfalke - she already has one child, so children are definitely discussed and later end up in the epilogue Happy Ending cliche
- Lottery - she has two children, undecided about adding another, probably not necessary, but not sure yet
- Salome - if children get mentioned, it will be part of the epilogue Happy Ending, not because its necessary for the story to work
- Anne and Kate - Well, Anne is raped towards the beginning, because of that, she can't have children now - she'll be adopting though - Kate has a miscarriage halfway through but is otherwise okay. If she has another, it will be as part of the Happy Ending as well. Definite issues to deal with here, so Thanks SBTB!

Progress...

So, NaNo has been motivational. I'm not on par with where I should be if I expect to actually WIN this year, but I'm at nearly 8,000 in a week's time, so that's respectable.
Again, I am working on Anne and Kate's story, with a twist in how I'm going about it. Plugging along one scene at a time seems to be going okay, just writing whatever comes out, not going back and editing or re-reading, and not inviting any readers until the end of the month when I see how far I get. So something to look forward to eh? Keep on writing, WriMos!

NaNoWriMo 2009

So yet again, I am going to attempt to get back to writing, and what better incentive than to sign up for NaNo again! At this moment, I am sitting in my coffee shop with a few other writers, companions in the agony that is pounding out a novel in a month's time. My word count is pitiful at the moment, and that is only compounded by the fact that I have such little free time to accomplish anything. But I am determined! I sat down to write and just went with the first scene that came into my head, so I am going to try writing that way for a little while, going with the most vivid moments as they happen. I am going with my "Twins" story, since that's what came to mind when I opened up the Word document, and will post excerpts as I go, so pray with me that I am able to reach my goal!

NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo, wtf?

For those who don't know about this great thing, it is National Novel Writing Month, starting November 1st, in which aspiring writers from all over the place get together to write a novel in a month. National Novel Writing Month Ah Ha! I have learned to hyperlink!

The goal of NaNoWriMo is to challenge writers to produce a work (it doesn't have to be complete, let alone GOOD) of 50,000 words. It is just for fun, but it has grown so much in the last few years, it is a regular phenomenon.

So I am signing up, yet another way I am trying to hold myself accountable and PRODUCE, and I challenge you to do the same!

Starting November 1st, I will keep a word count of the writing I produce during the month of November, which will be more of my "Empress" story still, but I am not going to count what I have until that point. I don't even know if that sentence made sense, but anywho...

I am tired for the day, so I am out!