Stop Twittering and Work on Your Novel!

      I've really gotten into twitter in the past couple of months after having an account for several years and doing nothing with it. Once I started adding people to follow it started to get a lot more interesting and then I found that other writers hang out on there and people blog about writing, how to do it better, how to publish a book, how to find an agent etc. Even some agents blog and twitter and you can learn from them too.

      

      There is also the self-publishing crowd, and there is lots of advice on how to do it and why you should or shouldn't do it. There still seems to be a bit of stigma attached to self-publishing because so much drek is making it on Amazon and other sites for easy download. Some of these are obvious by the crappy book covers or poorly written descriptions, but some of it sneaks under the RADAR and clogs up the path for really good books. I'm still torn about self-publishing. You have a lot more control over timing and price-points and book covers etc. You lose out in marketing and the "Cheese-touch" of self-publishing. All of these things are side issues to actually finishing the novel though.

Help me with my Query Letter!

Query Letter for Bulletproof Soul

I am seeking representation for my completed science fiction space opera novel of 110,000 words, titled BULLETPROOF SOUL. It can be sold as a standalone novel, but begins a trilogy which traces the action through a series of intrepid events and political intrigue.

Making Progress

It's been a slow week at work and fairly stress free.  Lack of stress is a good thing for my muse, and I've been able to make good progess this week.  I did around 4,000 words this week, not bad, and the good part is my primaries are finally meeting each other at the 80k mark.  I have a novel length book now for the Sci Fi genre and have a ways to go yet to the end.  Editing will likely cut it back again, since I want it to be tight.


I'm targeting 1 March to be completely done and I work better with a deadline.  I'm enjoying some down time and filling it with shopping and writing and time with family.  It just doesn't get much better than that.


Merry Christmas everyone!

Rules for Writing for the Novice Novelist

A friend of mine asked me if I could pass along some of what I have learned over the past couple of years about trying to write a book.  I’ve tried to distill that info here.   I am focused on novel writing, so all of these ideas may not apply to poetry writing or something other than Novels or Novellas.  Please feel free to add in some comments that will help refine this.  This is all from the perspective of a novice unpublished writer, but I have done my homework, and learned a few things along the way.

The Publishing Landscape Has Changed

The publishing landscape has changed dramatically in the last two years and continues to change.  Distribution was always tough for a small publishing house and forget it if you were trying to self-publish.  But that's all changed now.  Dean Wesley Smith has a section on his website devoted to debunking the myths of writing and publishing a book.  Here is one gem I found in the comments section below his post about self-publishing:

More on the future of publishing

          Just after I finished my last post Jane Fancher posted that she had run into Patty Briggs this weekend and mentioned that she was releasing a new book and posted a link to it.  In that post Mike Briggs, Patty’s husband who runs her website, linked to another post by Kristine Kathryn Roush about the very subject I had posted on earlier.  Her blog is usually focused on the business end.  She knows the publishing industry from the inside and from the writer’s perspective and she is in the middle of a series of articles trying to define where the industry is heading and what it means to writers.  I am linking all the posts below that she has already published as of today.  They are lengthy and very well researched and very informative.

The Podium

     This is my writer's podium so to speak. I've been at this for several years but it's been in fits and spurts. My first novel is nearing completion of the first draft and I'm starting the second one as part of National Novel Writing Month or NaNoWriMo for short. The idea is to try to write at least 50,000 words in the month of November. I figured it would be a good chance to start on the second novel even if it won't likely be very good prose. Quantity over quality is the idea for NaNoWriMo. The plan is to have at least a working kernal of a novel or novella by December. Then, hopefully take that momentum into finishing my first novel draft and start seriously editing it, I've done some along the way but it still needs a thorough going over.


     Vim Dicaré is the working title for my first book and I will be tracking progress on the Vim Dicaré - Progress page.


     The second book is tentatively titled Revelation Void
It's my NaNoWriMo entry for this year and I'll be posting updates of how that going on the Revelation Void - Progress page.