YES! The galley edit for A Division of Souls is finally DONE. Which means all I need to do is do one final reformat and cleanup, upload the new file, and the print version will be available at CreateSpace for all to ogle at and buy.
In the meantime, Things I’ve Learned Via Self-Publishing So Far:
–Preparing the e-book is a hell of a lot easier than the print version. E-book formatting entails fewer fiddly bits. Create and upload cover, create a hyperlinked table of contents, fix any typos and errors, basically do what the Smashwords site suggests. Boom, done.
–Formatting the print version, on the other hand, entails the following: create a wraparound cover, write the back cover summary, delete the table of contents, right justification of the main novel, order a proof copy for galley editing, fix the kerning errors that come from right justification, fix orphan paragraph screwiness, make informed decision about the font and line spacing (Garamond 12 with 1.15 line spacing works just dandy), etc etc etc.
–On the plus side, do the e-book first: that way you’ve already got most of the heavy work done, leaving you with just the reformatting, cover creation and galley editing.
–Selling yourself on various platforms really does boil down to trying to get on that impulse-buy table, and keeping yourself visible. Sales are currently dead for ADoS all around at the moment, but that’s mainly because I’ve been avoiding the sales part of things while working on the galley edit (and the TPoM e-book edit). But when I was briefly featured on NoiseTrade Books, I got a good couple hundred downloads, and that ain’t bad at all.
–I still really don’t like sales, but it’s a necessary evil. It’s gotta be done, so I’ll do it. Even if I hate it.
–The galley edit goes a lot quicker if, y’know, you actually work on it.
–Related, if you’ve got an extremely full plate already and it’s the December holiday season, it’s kind of understandable if it falls by the wayside. As long as you pick it up again.
–I really like the quick turnaround time between creation and release. I mean really like it. It makes the nonconformist rebel in me all giddy. Granted, I need to keep in mind that that’s no excuse for releasing a steaming bowl of crap. We will sell no wine before it’s time, in other words.
–I just seriously aged myself there with that last sentence. I’m turning 45 in a few weeks, so I suppose it can’t be helped.
The perils of balancing a writing career and a day job, courtesy of Naruto.
Why did I think preparing my first book for release in the middle of Third Quarter would be a good idea, again? *DED*
Don’t fret…I’m not about to give up, not just yet. I may be a walking zombie by the end of this, but I have my cups of coffee and tea, my sugar boosters (read: Pocky), and a stubborn will to see this through, completed and to my satisfaction, and ON TIME.
I tell you, though…this past month and a half, I’m convinced my day job has caught wind of my extracurricular activities and has piled on the extra work accordingly. The volume has quadrupled for some reason, and I’m also getting hit by ‘where’s my two dollars’ queries left and right. It’s not pretty.
But I’m still on target. I have less than a hundred pages to go on this final edit, and I just have the formatting and the uploading to do, and I’m done. I have a week and a half to do it (really, two weeks but I gave myself a buffer in case there are any hitches). I CAN DO THIS.
Really, I can. I’m just really going to feel it afterwards.
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I’ve been saying it for years: the day job is my paycheck, but my writing is my career. I do okay at my day job, and I’m even an SME (subject matter expert) on a few things we do. But come four o’clock in the afternoon, I log off and completely forget about it. My bosses know I only dedicate myself to the job within the hours I’m assigned and no more, because I have this writing gig going on. I told them that up front when they hired me, so they understand if I don’t really plan on expanding my resume there any time soon.
Still, it can get pretty crazy, balancing between the job and the writing. One often drains you of the other, so it’s up to you to decide which deserves your stubborn refusal to give up and which one falls by the wayside. Sometimes it’s the day job (if you can swing it), and sometimes it’s the book. It’s frustrating when you have to decide on one or the other. I’ve always tried my best to stay with both for as long as I can, or at least until I need a physical and mental break, mainly to avoid having to make that choice. Sometimes that comes back to bite me in the butt in the form of illness or exhaustion. Is it worth it, though? That’s up to personal choice. It’s worth it for me, at any rate.
Going the indie route has put an interesting spin on it, however. Not only am I balancing an unexpectedly heavy workload at the day job, I’m doing pretty much everything that goes into making a self-published book, both before and after the drop date. The release date is only one of many goals; once it’s out there, I have to start nudging it in various directions to promote it. That’s going to be a bit of a long-term job…alongside starting the process all over again for The Persistence of Memories.
It’s not for everyone, I’ll tell you that. There are a lot of moving parts, a lot of things to pay attention to, a lot of things that could go wrong…and the temptation to kludge one or the other and call it done. And you don’t want to do that for either one. I’m only doing this because I want to, and I know exactly what I’m doing this time out.
Still…tell me again why I thought this was going to be a good idea during the one of the busiest times of the year at my day job…?
I’m not entirely happy with this one, though I do kind of like how it came out. I’m a bit frustrated because I wanted to draw Amna Ehramanis (Denni’s best friend), but realized the person was looking more like an adult than a teenager, and Amna is supposed to be very petite. So halfway through I made some changes and kinda sorta drew Akaina Shalei instead. Although I think I got the face close, she’s actually much more muscular, and is supposed to have the Meraladian wide face that Caren and Denni inherited.
[Short version: Akaina Shalei is one of two Mendaihu adepts who offer assistance to Caren and Poe, right after the Awakening ritual. She and her brother Ashyntoya have worked together as adepts for years and are highly respected. I will most likely redraw her and add Ashyntoya as a double sketch next time out. Also, the patch you see on her right arm is the Shalei clan sigil of two intersecting circles, which is also used by the Mendaihu to signify Lightwalking, or dual realities.]
Oh, hi there! Yes, I am still here among the living. We’re currently staying in a nice quiet hotel in the Earl’s Court neighborhood of London, and we’ve been doing all sorts of sightseeing, museum visiting, and pub crawling the last few days.
I admit I don’t currently have any new posts at the moment other than this fly-by, but I have some things going in the background that I shall share soon enough. I’ve also been getting a decent amount of page count for the new MU story as of late. It’s been a busy but fun vacation so far!
Well, here I am in Midtown Manhattan on a mini vacation. You didn’t think I was going to pass up doing site research, did you?
We’re only here for a few days (visiting coworkers and A’s aunt), but I thought this would also be a perfect time to really get the feel of a bustling city so I can ensure that I’m describing Bridgetown correctly. Pictures are being taken, but more so, I’m paying attention to those surrounding me, how each person interacts with those around them. And it’s been a very interesting and eye-opening experience.
Oh–and I may have also gotten a good number of handwritten pages of the new MU story done whilst in flight. Yay, go me!
Sorry I haven’t been able to update at all this week…I’ve had an extremely busy few weeks with Day Jobbery stuff — training, office visits, and whatnot — which has put a bit of a strain on my writing schedule. You probably know already that I hate it when that happens, but it is what it is. I was really looking forward to drawing and posting my next character sketches, too!
On the plus side, I’ve been using what writing time I do have on a new Mendaihu Universe story, which I am writing completely via longhand in a trusty 3-subject notebook. I’ve also been working on a ‘secret project’ on my daily words as well.
[What’s that, you say? What happened to Walk in Silence and Blogging the Beatles? Well, long story short, let’s just say I was a bit, er, generous about my assumptions as to where I was in terms of having them finished. WiS needs a major retooling and BtB is off the table for now, for various reasons I won’t get into at the moment. The Curse of Announcing Best Laid Plans and all that. Still–the shopping around of the Bridgetown Trilogy and related projects is moving quite nicely, so it’s not a complete loss.]
ANYWAY.
Due to said Day Jobbery stuff and multiple personal events going on, I will most likely not be able to make any updates here until at least after 7 April. So hang tight, there’s more coming! Thanks for waiting!
I’ll admit I haven’t been up on movie watching over the last few years for one reason or another. It could be my tastes have morphed somewhat, being that we’ve mainly been hitting documentaries, Studio Ghibli movies, and imports. I haven’t gone to see a good throwaway popcorn movie in ages.
That said, I’ve been hearing reviews on the Wachowskis’ Jupiter Ascending, and the takeaway so far has been “oh god it’s a hot mess but go see it!” Here’s the trailer:
I finally got around to watching said trailer about a half hour ago, and found myself both concerned and amused that I saw a parallel between it and my Bridgetown Trilogy. Both contain an alien Origin Story (i.e., where did humans come from?), a female Chosen One character (some kind of savior to keep Earth from going kaboom), and a War for World Control.
When you’re a writer who’s trying to sell a novel you’ve carefully crafted for years that you’re currently trying to sell, and you see a Hollywood movie with parallels like that, you tend to have a moment of oh crap, someone beat me to it!
And then I realize–those three points are everywhere. I’m not the first, nor the last, to use the alien Origin Story, a Chosen One and/or a World Control plot. Time to calm down a bit.
I mean, much of the Mendaihu Universe in its early days was influenced by 80s and 90s SF movies and anime anyway: the Gall Force series, Until the End of the World,Strange Days, The Fifth Element, Johnny Mnemonic, The Matrix and its sequels, Akira, and so on. They might not be for everyone–some people see these kinds of stories as over the top and ridiculous. Sure, there’s an element of the fantastical in the Mendaihu Universe, but that’s often what these kinds of stories are about. And besides–Jupiter Ascending might be over the top, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not entertaining. Pacific Rim is ridiculous, but it’s also a hell of a lot of fun.
So that’s why I’m not exactly worried that Jupiter Ascending is getting sort-of-panned by the critics and the public. I’m not going to pretend my Mendaihu Universe stories are superior or better executed…I’m pretty sure parts of my universe are a hot mess as well. But my aim wasn’t to write a perfect story–it was to write an entertaining and thoughtful one. That aim is more important to me.
Of course, now that I’ve seen the trailer for this movie, I definitely want to go see it. 🙂
I’ll keep this short, but here’s the tally I got from my writing stats notebook:
— Daily words at 750 Words: 22,149 words over the course of 27 days; most being 1022, least being 750
— Daily journal: 19 total entries (word count not taken)
–Writing & Music Blogs: 11 total entries (word count not taken)
–Main Project Work: missed counting a few days, but on average about 4 out of 5 weekdays. It’s been a mix of rereading, some revision, and new words.
Summary Comments:
The daily words are okay, but I’m a bit frustrated with the main project work output. That’s to be expected, though, as I was doing a lot of refreshing: rereading what I had so far, making mental notes of things to be changed, and planning on where to go next. At the same time the daily words haven’t been exactly throwaway; I’ve been working on a slightly different and much lighter project there. The first half of the month started out strong, but petered out near the end. This was partly due to social engagements, however.
Suggested Adjustment:
Stronger focus on the main project work output from here on in. I’m well aware of a few problem sections that can either be rewritten or deleted altogether, as well as a second run-through for the ‘second side’ of the book. Focus more on getting those daily words earlier in the day. Continue with the habit of ‘getting it done early’ in regards to scheduled projects and whatnot; continue backing away from distractions.
Hi there! First time attempting to post via my phone, so please excuse any typos or errands! 🙂
If I have time tomorrow I shall post January’s word count and output…a quick glance in my wc notebook shows that I was actually quite busy, so that makes me happy.
The new whiteboard and my 2015 moleskine calendar notebook, hanging out with my Squier P-Bass.
I’ve been hinting at a new and improved writing process for a while now. Taking a hard left and going in a completely different direction. Looking at my creativity from a vastly different perspective. Working with a new whiteboard schedule. Being more consistent with updating my WordPress blogs. Starting totally new projects, and seeing old ones off.
Well, it’s a little bit of everything, really. Let’s just say I have a very busy 2015 ahead of me, in a positive way.
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Let’s start with the new whiteboard. [For those not too interested, scroll down to the next break for some fun news!] Each day has something to do, as you can see from the picture…but noticeably missing is any mention of a main project. This is a continuation from what I’d been doing with the previous whiteboard the last few months. I know what main project I’m supposed to be working on, so I don’t feel I need to put add it to the board. Also, I’ve decided that this is not going to be a “this is what I’m doing today” to-do schedule but a “this is due by today” deadline schedule. This gives me more freedom to create something when I feel like it, and also gives me the impetus to create a surplus if need be (more on that in a few moments). Here’s what I have set up:
Sunday: Welcome to Bridgetown blog. Even though this blog is dedicated to the stories within the Mendaihu Universe that I’m writing, I will also be featuring more entries about the writing craft. My weekend blog entries (such as on the good old LJ) tend to be longer and more contemplative, and channeling that into writing thoughts and MU extras seems like a good idea.
Monday: Storyboarding. What is this, you say? Am I thinking of going into film or animation? Well, no, not as such, but this is something new I’d like to try out. It’s an exercise in brainstorming. It can be anything from brief outlining of a current work in progress to playing around with new ideas. But yes, it could even include art!
Tuesday: Art. Doing the Inktober meme last year definitely inspired me to start drawing again, so this is a reminder to keep that alive. This will also serve as reminder to post any ongoing or finished artwork up on the Tumblr site.
Wednesday: Poetry. I’m starting to be more consistent about this one lately, as I’ve often been using my daily word run on 750 Words as a playground for poetry ideas. It might be just a few stanzas, or it might be epic in length, depending on the subject and what I want to write about. These will most likely remain offline for now, although if I’m particularly proud of the end result, I may post it somewhere.
Thursday: Walk in Silence blog. This one remains my all-purpose blog to write about music, and I felt that moving this to Thursday would be perfect, for two reasons: One, new releases come out on Tuesdays and it sometimes takes me a day or so to connect with the ones I buy or download. Two, because in my aim to become more consistent in my blogging, I’m going to be posting micro-reviews of new releases, alongside other music-related subjects I may want to talk about. As with this blog, I’m planning on writing more entries than releasing them so I can create a backlog, and therefore have a more consistent release schedule.
Friday: Photos. I’m continuing to get better at my photography, learning more how to tweak pictures using Photoshop, and so on, and I’d like to feature more pictures on my Tumblr. Taking inspiration from a photographer I follow here on WP, I’d like to challenge myself by taking things other than panoramas or architecture; I’d like to try still life and nature, turn it more artistic, even if it’s just for practice.
Saturday: Music. One major project for 2015: start recording! I’ve got feasible software on my computer (Audacity), a small microphone, and a handful of song and melody ideas, so I think it’s high time I reignited the Drunken Owl project by making demos here in Spare Oom Studio. I’m not planning on anything big, so it could be anything from short snippets to revisiting old Flying Bohemians tracks, and playing around with them. I’d also like to do more research into more extensive software that could possibly let me record and mix multiple tracks.
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I should also add that a good portion of this year will also be spent submitting A Division of Souls to agents and publishers. I’m hoping to get the Mendaihu Universe out into the wild within the next year or so.
All this, in conjunction to whatever main writing project I have going on. And my day job. And a personal journal. And my daily words. Did I manage to leave some time for eating and sleeping, and hanging out with Amanda? Let’s hope so.
But wait, there’s more!
I’m proud to announce that I have not one but two self-published projects I’m planning on releasing into the world sometime this year as well! I’m thinking epub at this point, although print could be involved, depending on which self-publishing company I end up working with to produce and release it. These are two projects I’ve been working on over the last few years; one is complete and the other is about three-quarters of the way done.
The first will be a book version of Blogging the Beatles, the series I started over at the WiS blog a few years back, in which I listened and talked about the Beatles’ discography in chronological release order. I had so much fun writing it, and learned so much musically as I studied the songs, that I felt it would be perfect for an ebook. I’ll be revising it and adding new items as I do so, and hope to have this one out at least by midyear.
The second will be Walk in Silence itself. This one’s the biggie. I’m about three quarters of the way done on the more personal side of the story, with revision number two to add in more about the music. This one may roll into 2016 if other issues pop up, but the aim is to get it out into the wild by autumn 2015.
Of course, releasing books about popular music could be tricky considering the rights involved, but since I’m not directly quoting the music but only commenting on it, I think I should be okay. These are both books focusing on my love of music, in particular about a band and a genre that inspired me and shaped who I am.
So yeah…you should be seeing more of me here at Welcome to Bridgetown and elsewhere, so stick around–it’s gonna be a fun ride!
Welcome to Bridgetown 