Thursday, March 27, 2014

Angelic Research

With my 'Fry Nelson' trilogy coming to an end, I've had some great ideas for a new book to be written.  However, this means I have to get in and do some research into my new subject.

My new idea has to do with Angels... which I know absolutely zero about.  Well, okay, I believe they exist and I've had some really strange experiences where what I've seen can only be put down either me being out of my mind or I actually did see an Angel standing at the end of my hospital bed in Melbourne (and this was when I was undergoing tests to have an operation done).  Anyway, after that, I found out that a lot of people believe in Angels, but they don't necessary believe in God and don't go to church and aren't Christians or Catholics - or aren't part of a any kind of organised religion.

So, this has helped me in my research.

Today, I went out on one of the most miserable days here in Brisbane and did some research at the Logan North Library about God, religion and Angels.  I borrowed three books and then drove to Browns Plains to 'The Really Good Bookshop' where I found a wonderful book 'Archangels 101' by Doreen Virtue.  I'm hoping to find another book at another bookstore - one I borrowed from the library - to help me with my research so I can own these books.  However, I think I might have to order this book in; if it's not out of print.

With only a chapter or two to go until I've finished the last few scenes of 'Fry Nelson: Bounty Hunter - book 3', I'm already brainstorming ideas of what's going into the book about Angels... just a few opening scenes for now, but it's going well so far.  

So, are you working on any new projects?  If so, let us know what you're all doing?  Are you researching something new?  Are you looking for books or source material you don't have in your own library?  Or are you editing work you've finished last year for publication?  Let us know about what you're all doing with your written work - after all we can love reading, but writing can be something of a joy too.  Until my next post, happy reading.  

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Last Two Chapters ... then? Um... Angels

Yep!  I'm up to the last two chapters of my 'Fry Nelson: Bounty Hunter trilogy.  These books have been around 6 years in the making - that's a lot of time out of my life to be writing something.  

But I love it.

I currently have somebody reading over my first book, and she's told me that for a book that hasn't been edited yet, it's got a great plot.  Besides the usual pace problems and sentence structure problems, I'm pleased to know she loves the plot... at least I have something here that people haven't seen before.

However, I am planning what to write next; as you do when you're finishing up a book.  I'm hoping to write about Angels.  I know that sounds really, really strange, but I want to write about them.  It will involve a lot of research about them, buying second-hand books on them and watching a heck of a lot of 'Supernatural' and other sci-fi television shows and movies.  I'm not sure what the book will be about just yet, but I don't want to write a book that everyone else has read... so it's going to be a book that's different to everything I've read and written, that's for sure!

Otherwise, I'm still collecting books.  I'm still reading some great Stephen King.  I'm still enjoying attending my Logan Romance Writer's Group and it's all helping me get my writing looked at, fixed up and worked on.  Until my next post, happy reading.

Saturday, March 22, 2014

Matthew Reilly and The Bottom Line of Self-Publishing

I stumbled upon an interview with Matthew Reilly.  He talks about where he started from, how he published his first book and how we can do it too.

Matthew Reilly Interview on The Bottom Line 

Until my next post, happy reading.

Saturday, March 15, 2014

Been Writing... Been Editing....

I'm writing again.

Yay!

Yep, I love writing as much as I love reading.  It's a pure and unadulterated joy to take part in passing on the imagery to you readers.  

However, it's hard work and takes up a huge chunk of my time.  Often, I work through the night and I'm tanked and zombied the next day, living on caffiene to survive the daylight hours - then I go and do it all again!  It's a joy to create what you love to read, honestly it is, and it's torture to give up the ink and pens... I have tried to take a holiday from it and failed.

I did stop writing a few years ago - once - and I had the worse week of my life.

I didn't sleep.

I ate all the wrong foods.

My started having conversations with the characters I had created and that was a 24/7 kinda deal... it drove me nuts.

...and oh yeah, I was a zombie all day and night because I lost so much sleep.

So, one night, at around 1am, I turned on the computer, opened a document and just began writing.  I wrote all the ideas I had running around in my head.  And around two hours later, they were on the screen, I saved them to a thumb drive and didn't bother looking at how much I had written, and I turned off the computer and went back to bed and crashed.

The next day, I woke to my alarm - as always - ate breakfast, did my laundry and usual chores around the place and then it was time to turn on the computer... I had typed up around 10 pages of what was running around my head.  Woah!  

A week of not writing had done that to my brain?  So, I promised myself to keep up my writing - no matter how little or tiny the changes were - as it would bother me until the next day.  And I have.

Editing what I write a few days after I write it is a habit I've gotten into as I see it with fresh eyes and it's easier for me to see the problems, the mistakes, the spelling errors and anything else I've mucked up, no matter how small.  And being the perfectionist that I am - well most of the time - I make sure that it's all good and ready for everyone to read.  

So, what kind of techniques to you do to keep your writing skills up-to-date?  Have you tried to take a holiday from the craft - like I did? Were you successful?  Or did you fall flat on your face?  Until my next post, happy reading.

Sunday, March 9, 2014

What Writer's Block Feels Like

It's been such a long time since I've written anything worthwhile.  Sure I've tried and there's been no flow, no great feeling that it's going to work... there's no there, there... you know what I mean?

I hope so.

I've been a writer for so long, that I've hate it when I hit a block in my creativeness in my writing world.  I causes me to stop sleeping, I find myself watching hours of horror movies to get ideas, no book I pick up to read is good enough so I give up on reading too.  I basically die a little inside and become depressed to a point where each day seems to bleed into the next... it all seems as though I'm doing the same shit, different day.

Sounds really depressing and horrible doesn't it?

And I won't lie to you, it is.

But I often just get in and do some housework, do a huge pile of laundry, re-arrange my garden (I have a container garden, so it's easy for me) and then, I get into my art, listen to music for hours on end and keep my hands busy as much as I can and work on Facebook and write flash fiction on Chuck Wendig's 'Terrible Minds' site until my mojo comes back... and not that it sucks, but I'd rather be working on my stuff that I created from my imagination than prompts that I'm getting from another person.

No offence Chuck.  I appreciate your prompts - they're cool.. they keep me on the wagon of writing.  But really, I want to write my own stuff, my own characters I created again.

And over the last three days, I've gone and done that.  I plugged in the thumb drive the other afternoon while I sipped on a home made ice coffee with my cordless phone by my side and looked at the last chapter - just quickly scanned it really - and then, I rested my hands on the keyboard ... and I began writing the next part of Fry Nelson!

And...

well...

I didn't stop!

I'm only about four chapters or so off finishing my Fry Nelson: Bounty Hunter trilogy.  And I'm damned well stoked!  It's my first lot of books I've actually stuck with and finished... other books are half-finished and I haven't gone back and even attempted to complete any of them.  And once this is completed?  Well, there will be another year of me re-reading it all and editing before I give the three books to other people to read.  Until my next post, happy reading. 

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Ann Rice to take on Bullies on Amazon

Bullying is a fact of life; however it's never been so rife as it is now with the internet around - and the word 'internet' is a very old word if you look it up.  It's been around for ages!

But really, us writers write for readers to read and be entertained.  However, when authors put their work up on popular e-book distributors such as Amazon, they do expect to receive some reviews and feedback.  But they don't wish to be bullied and abused by their readers - especially those of whom don't even have the courage to sign their Real Life names to their statements.  

So, Ann Rice has taken this head on - along with other authors - and signed a petition to get Amazon to make reviewers and anyone putting in feedback to not be able to use their screen name; that they must use their real life name.  This will bring the bullies out of the dark and into the light where they will be noticed and seen - and hopefully, they will either have the courage to actually say what they mean in a better context or not say anything at all.  

Being a writer myself, I have suffered through some bullying in the past where people have told me my work was 'RS' (this means 'really shitty') and didn't tell me why or how I could fix it.  And then they'd proceed to treat me like a child if I had an idea for something - and this was while I was in a writers guild.  Now, the internet has a huge variety of writers groups and guilds all online, as well as publishers and other ways of helping us get published.  This doesn't give the public permission to throw crap at authors just because publishing has become a little more public and a little more accessable to just about anyone out there (whether you're a good author or not). 

What this means is to be a good reviewer.  Don't push anyone around if you're not prepared to sign your Real Life name at the bottom of the letter (where every last soul on the planet is going to see it) and if you think what you say to somebody won't come around and bite you in the butt... you're wrong.  At some point, somewhere in the future; it will.  Everything is relevant when you put it online.  So, be very careful what you say, what you write and how you react to things online.  Until my next post, happy reading.

Sunday, March 2, 2014

March Madness

Yep... this is a month where I'll be doing different things.  Last month, I madly ran around and got myself ready for the Creative Markets, I still had stock to burn by the end of the day.

So, this month, I have time to read more - yay!  

You guys will see more of me around here, and that's great!

I'm sorry to have neglect you and this blog so much, and it will become better and I'll be jumping on here more as time goes by.  

So, tell me... what have you all be up to?  I've missed you all so much!  Until my next post, happy reading!