In the full court press to get The Perils of Prague ready for publication, I’ve had to deal with a number of new experiences. One of which is figuring out the cover. I’ve done covers for a couple of my short stories in the past, but those were only e-books. For Perils, I’m planning on also having dead tree copies available. This brings up an entirely new dimension. You see, physical books have back covers. And since they have them, I have to figure out what to put back there. [click to continue…]
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A number of authors have talked about their fears on their blogs, but this has never been a topic where I’ve had a lot to say on the subject. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that I’m perfect and everyone else is flawed. Quite the contrary. We all have the same doubts. We all look at our writing at one time or another and say “This is crap!” For some, this becomes a paralyzing fear. They can’t move on and many consider quitting writing altogether. They figure that if the writing is crap now, it will always be crap, so why bother? I take a different view. To me, crap is a necessary stage. Everything has to start as crap. The difference is if you leave it as crap, or if you make it into something better. So, I pretty much haven’t been bothered by writing fears.
Until now. [click to continue…]
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The plan for this November was pretty much the same as last November: Write a new novel for NaNoWriMo, and post a daily diary chronicling the journey. This year I had the added tool of the Magic Spreadsheet added into it. The plan was not just to write 50,000 words, but to do so by writing every day. So what happened? [click to continue…]
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A lot can change in a year, and yet, a year can speed by you so fast, leaving so much undone.
This time last year, I was looking back at what I had done since my last birthday, and making plans for how I was going to move forward over the next year. Looking at it now, it sure seems like a lot of the things I had planned out last year didn’t end up happening. At least, the way things developed certainly was not what I originally planned. Whether that will turn out to be for good or for ill, time will tell. Perhaps I’ll know next year. [click to continue…]
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On Wednesday I hinted that there was likely to be another update on my writing this week, and I was right! Last Sunday I was looking at milestones for my progress, and realized that based on the rate of progress I had made on the second draft of The Perils of Prague, I was right on track to complete the draft this week. Then I had several days in a row when I had to spend my daily writing time working on other projects. I got my daily writing in, I just didn’t make any progress on editing Perils. At the time I published Wednesday’s update, I figured I should still be able to finish by the end of the day on Sunday, provided I could edit at least 3000 words a day… [click to continue…]
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This is a late #WriterWednesday post, and it is also going to be a short one. Hopefully I’ll be able to add in a longer post later in the week. As you can tell from the title of this little missive, work has dominated my life of late. I had a good, long Fourth of July weekend, in which I was able to go to a couple of parties at friend’s houses, see some fantastic fireworks, play some Cards Against Humanity, and watch the cook consistently give my burger to someone else. It was a good time, but it came to an end all too soon. And then, the dayjob attacked! [click to continue…]
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When I started Swimming Cat Studios, I named it because I was having to do a lot on my own, teaching myself as I went. I had some resources to steer me in the right direction, and a few friends who could give me suggestions, but I pretty much had to do it on my own. It is the only way to learn new skills. Over the years I’ve tried a lot of new things, had some success, and some failures, and learned a few things.
One of the things I’ve learned is that there are some things you can’t do for yourself.
And that is why I’m asking you if you’d be willing to help me out. [click to continue…]
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In the previous installment, I talked about the wonderful people who filled my Balticon Weekend. I wasn’t able to mention everyone who made the weekend a memorable event, but I tried to address as many as I could. I probably should address some of the folks I left out, but instead, I want to move on to some of the more memorable events of the weekend that made it the incredibly special experience that it was. I won’t mention every panel we attended, but I would like to point out that there will be a Balticon 47 Wrap-up, and this year’s Wrap-up should feature about 20 episodes of content. I still have to get permission to make sure I can release some of the audio, and work out some deals on the release of some content. [click to continue…]
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Things have been slowly returning to normal, or at least what passes for it around here. My wife has done much better with her recovery, and that has given me time to get back into my writing. So, at the end of March, I returned to the Magic Spreadsheet and began a new writing chain. This has led to some interesting developments. [click to continue…]
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I feel as if a weight has been lifted from my shoulders! The audio for Northern Mist is complete and has been turned over to Tee and Pip for Tales From the Archives. At least our part is done. We don’t have good access to music sources, so Tee is going to be doing the scoring for the story. And, of course, they’re going to put their own stamp on the beginning and end of the story. For now, Northern Mist will stay under the code name. Once I get word from Tee and Pip to reveal the name, or that the story has been released, I’ll let you know the real title. We’re hoping that you really enjoy the story.
So, with that done, priorities are shifting… [click to continue…]
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