Yesterday I came to a realization about this whole "published author" thing. In order to really commit to it (especially digital publishing), you have to be at least a little bit insane.
Right now, I have contracts with two publishers. If everything goes right, it'll be three before the end of the year. I'm working on series for the first two. Let's start by quietly understanding that—I am a brand new author and I'm working on two series for two publishers. They aren't going to care about each other's timelines, and if my stories sell, they are going to care about getting more from me.
This is a mixed blessing. Yay—they want more! Boo—somehow I have to be the one who figures out how to balance everything. If I had years in the business, I might have all the tools at my disposal to accomplish that, as is…I'm winging it.
So far, I'm not doing too badly, but a few weeks ago I looked at the calendar and realized National Novel Writing Month was right around the corner. I sat for a full ten minutes staring at the calendar with one thought in mind: which project do I work on (ie—which publisher is going to get something first)? In the time since then, I've struggled to stay focused on anything because I kept changing my mind.
Last weekend, while working on two very sex-heavy holiday stories, I decided to go with the much less erotic option for NaNo. I sat back and breathed a sigh of relief, convinced my internal stabilizer would get back online finally.
Then the other publisher held out a carrot to its authors. A fairly impressive carrot.
My internal stabilizer went haywire again and options started flying through my head. Buh-bye Focus.
After a few conversations with the publisher in question, the real insanity set in. You see, while I'm pretty sure I'll get my 50k in November (I haven't lost NaNo yet), I'm not certain I'll finish that novel in time for the carrot. I'm definitely going to try, but since I'm not positive and I really want that carrot, I'm also initiating Plan B.
Plan B involves taking a novel that I'd trunked a while ago and shining it up. Before November. You know, those eighteen days when I'm also supposed to be editing and submitting those two holiday stories?
Yeah. I'm pretty sure I've completely lost it. Oddly enough, I feel good about the decision. It's not because I work best under pressure (sometimes I do, but not often enough to claim it). I think in this particular case it's just because I'm not fighting the pull of the madness. (And because I know come December, I'm free and clear to work on the other project, which might not have been long enough for NaNo anyway.)
Stabilizer is momentarily working fine. Now if I could just figure out this navigation thing, I'd be all set.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Thirsty Thursday: Red Dragon's Breath
I'm getting in the mood for Halloween, so I'm going to do a couple weeks of creature inspired drinks. First up are the dragons. Now anyone who knows me is well aware of my love for the scaly beasts, here's hoping the drink doesn't destroy the feeling.
Red Dragon's Breath
1 oz. Hot Damn cinnamon schnapps
1 oz. Whiskey
Mix in shot glass and serve.
Review: Okay, so the consensus on this one (between hubs and I both) is it tastes like Hot Damn that's gone funky. Not bad, per se, but funky. *shrug*
Red Dragon's Breath
1 oz. Hot Damn cinnamon schnapps
1 oz. Whiskey
Mix in shot glass and serve.
Review: Okay, so the consensus on this one (between hubs and I both) is it tastes like Hot Damn that's gone funky. Not bad, per se, but funky. *shrug*
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Tuesday Teases: Julie Campbell
Today I want to welcome another author friend of mine. Julie Campbell writes urban fantasy different from most of what we see hitting bookshelves. Her love of animals comes through in her novels...as it does here. Please welcome, Julie Campbell!
First off I wanted to thank Seleste for having me stop by. Thanks!!! I’ve only guest blogged once before, so I’m very excited. I wanted to share a little about what had shaped my writing life, so here it goes:
In my humble (ok it’s not humble) opinion, those are the major things that have shaped my life. If I didn’t like to read, I wouldn’t write, if I didn’t ride I wouldn’t have the ideas I have today, and if I didn’t write I wouldn’t be who I am today.
I hated to read when I was very young. I can’t really remember why, but I suspect it was hard for me. Then one fateful summer my best friend stayed with us instead of going to daycare while her mother worked. Naturally that was the summer that we decided we hated each other. In retrospect that was very important, because that’s the summer she learned to love to read. She didn’t really have anything else to do because I was being an ass. Of course once school started we were best friends again. She shared her newly discovered love of reading with me. This was the third grade and I started reading voraciously. I have never stopped.
I’ve been in love with horses since I can remember. Most of my childhood favorites involved horses: The Black Stallion, The Saddle Club, any fantasy where the characters rode horses, even things like Steinbeck’s The Red Pony. I don’t remember a lot of that book, but I do remember it really didn’t seem like a kids’ book, but it had a horse so I read it anyway.
I also loved to ride. Ever since I was tall/old enough to go on pony rides my parents would do their best to get me on horses. Once I was big enough to take lessons, they scraped together the cash to get me instruction. The place I rode did lessons by quarters, and I could only afford to ride once a year, but I took lessons as much as I could until I got to high school. There, I was too busy with track and science Olympiad and my interest in horses waned a little. I had this vague feeling that if I could ride every week all year I could really get somewhere with my riding, but I knew it wasn’t possible and a slight sense of frustration, combined with school kept me from begging for lessons when my parents wanted me to stop.
Through this whole time I wrote. Nothing serious, and very intermittently, but I always liked to tell stories. My friends and I had a play we were writing, something silly and with star wars characters, but that was a lot of fun. I also loved it at sleepovers when we would tell serial stories, each person picking up where the others ended. Of course mine usually involved killer Portuguese Men of War. I have no frigging idea why.
Things started to come together in the sixth grade when one of my reading teachers, Ms. Fox, said those fateful words: “Julie, someday you are going to be a writer.” I thought she was full of it at the time, and it took six more years, but suddenly the bug bit me, and it hasn’t let go since then.
I moved to Colorado and suddenly there were horses everywhere. I was dying. All these horses and I couldn’t ride. I was a college student, lessons were out of the question. I know I could have worked more than one job to make it happen but with the amount of homework I had, that wasn’t a good option. I went silently nuts until one day I said something to the right person and the next set of fateful words were spoken: “Hey, I have a friend…” And so I met Fran. I rode with Fran, learning a ton from her, refreshing my rusty skills and gaining new ones. The horse I have now, who very well could be called my muse if anything could be, lived, unused and untrained at Fran’s barn and one day I started working with her. I fell in love. She was perfect. Still is. Perfect for me anyway. With help, I trained her and she has carried me miles and miles down mountain trails, over jumps, around arenas, across open plains and just about everywhere else. She has also carried my imagination to other worlds on horseback and sparked the idea for the first novel I ever actually finished. I have written three novels based on that idea now, the two original ones and then the rewrite I recently completed which is the beginning of the series that will eventually be published.
Without Sabaska, my horse, I don’t think I would be where I am now. She is my sanity when the day job is kicking my ass, or my personal life goes to hell. She’s the anchor in my life and she refreshes my mind when I’m burnt. A half hour of riding is more therapeutic than anything else I’ve ever done. A day spent in the mountains with my horse will keep me going for months after, and my imagination goes wild with ideas when I’m spending time with Sabaska, or any horse really. Like writing, horses are in my blood.
I write what I like to read, which is fantasy, but though most fantasy has people riding around on horseback, very few actually have horses as main characters. Mercedes Lackey is one notable exception and I love reading her books. I believe I have read almost every fantasy involving horses that is out there, certainly everyone I could find. And there aren’t enough. I read once that if there is a novel you want to read that hasn’t been written, then write it. So now I write urban fantasy with horses, and of course I write urban fantasy with vampires too. Even though the subject is different, those ideas also come to me while I’m riding. I also have a short story series about Doc the vampire hunting Border Collie and his development is a whole different blog post. You can read some excerpts and Doc’s stories on my website: www.writerjacampbell.com . Feel free to stop by and leave a comment if you like what you see.
Also, if you feel like seeing what I had to say today, I'm over at Julie's blog talking about Supernatural.
First off I wanted to thank Seleste for having me stop by. Thanks!!! I’ve only guest blogged once before, so I’m very excited. I wanted to share a little about what had shaped my writing life, so here it goes:
In my humble (ok it’s not humble) opinion, those are the major things that have shaped my life. If I didn’t like to read, I wouldn’t write, if I didn’t ride I wouldn’t have the ideas I have today, and if I didn’t write I wouldn’t be who I am today.
I hated to read when I was very young. I can’t really remember why, but I suspect it was hard for me. Then one fateful summer my best friend stayed with us instead of going to daycare while her mother worked. Naturally that was the summer that we decided we hated each other. In retrospect that was very important, because that’s the summer she learned to love to read. She didn’t really have anything else to do because I was being an ass. Of course once school started we were best friends again. She shared her newly discovered love of reading with me. This was the third grade and I started reading voraciously. I have never stopped.
I’ve been in love with horses since I can remember. Most of my childhood favorites involved horses: The Black Stallion, The Saddle Club, any fantasy where the characters rode horses, even things like Steinbeck’s The Red Pony. I don’t remember a lot of that book, but I do remember it really didn’t seem like a kids’ book, but it had a horse so I read it anyway.
I also loved to ride. Ever since I was tall/old enough to go on pony rides my parents would do their best to get me on horses. Once I was big enough to take lessons, they scraped together the cash to get me instruction. The place I rode did lessons by quarters, and I could only afford to ride once a year, but I took lessons as much as I could until I got to high school. There, I was too busy with track and science Olympiad and my interest in horses waned a little. I had this vague feeling that if I could ride every week all year I could really get somewhere with my riding, but I knew it wasn’t possible and a slight sense of frustration, combined with school kept me from begging for lessons when my parents wanted me to stop.
Through this whole time I wrote. Nothing serious, and very intermittently, but I always liked to tell stories. My friends and I had a play we were writing, something silly and with star wars characters, but that was a lot of fun. I also loved it at sleepovers when we would tell serial stories, each person picking up where the others ended. Of course mine usually involved killer Portuguese Men of War. I have no frigging idea why.
Things started to come together in the sixth grade when one of my reading teachers, Ms. Fox, said those fateful words: “Julie, someday you are going to be a writer.” I thought she was full of it at the time, and it took six more years, but suddenly the bug bit me, and it hasn’t let go since then.
I moved to Colorado and suddenly there were horses everywhere. I was dying. All these horses and I couldn’t ride. I was a college student, lessons were out of the question. I know I could have worked more than one job to make it happen but with the amount of homework I had, that wasn’t a good option. I went silently nuts until one day I said something to the right person and the next set of fateful words were spoken: “Hey, I have a friend…” And so I met Fran. I rode with Fran, learning a ton from her, refreshing my rusty skills and gaining new ones. The horse I have now, who very well could be called my muse if anything could be, lived, unused and untrained at Fran’s barn and one day I started working with her. I fell in love. She was perfect. Still is. Perfect for me anyway. With help, I trained her and she has carried me miles and miles down mountain trails, over jumps, around arenas, across open plains and just about everywhere else. She has also carried my imagination to other worlds on horseback and sparked the idea for the first novel I ever actually finished. I have written three novels based on that idea now, the two original ones and then the rewrite I recently completed which is the beginning of the series that will eventually be published.
Without Sabaska, my horse, I don’t think I would be where I am now. She is my sanity when the day job is kicking my ass, or my personal life goes to hell. She’s the anchor in my life and she refreshes my mind when I’m burnt. A half hour of riding is more therapeutic than anything else I’ve ever done. A day spent in the mountains with my horse will keep me going for months after, and my imagination goes wild with ideas when I’m spending time with Sabaska, or any horse really. Like writing, horses are in my blood.
I write what I like to read, which is fantasy, but though most fantasy has people riding around on horseback, very few actually have horses as main characters. Mercedes Lackey is one notable exception and I love reading her books. I believe I have read almost every fantasy involving horses that is out there, certainly everyone I could find. And there aren’t enough. I read once that if there is a novel you want to read that hasn’t been written, then write it. So now I write urban fantasy with horses, and of course I write urban fantasy with vampires too. Even though the subject is different, those ideas also come to me while I’m riding. I also have a short story series about Doc the vampire hunting Border Collie and his development is a whole different blog post. You can read some excerpts and Doc’s stories on my website: www.writerjacampbell.com . Feel free to stop by and leave a comment if you like what you see.
Also, if you feel like seeing what I had to say today, I'm over at Julie's blog talking about Supernatural.
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Picking Teams
Team Peeta or Team Gale? Team Edward or Team Jacob?
Love triangles are more common than ever in YA literature, and devotees of the genre are die-hard about their love for one choice over the other. I can't think of a single YA title with even the hint of a triangle that doesn't have people rooting online for their side to get the girl.
It's the type of thing a lot of authors dream about. After all, it means people are invested in our stories.
Just this week, I had the pleasure of sending out my newest story to my little group of beta readers. I've heard back from three of them already, and I couldn't be happier.
One of them is Team Max all the way. She adores him. So much so, she's even devoted an entire list on Twitter just to Max. I think if she could bottle him and take him home with her, she would.
Another issued me a challenge. She said sex with a Chad could never be hot. I received this tweet from her today: "@SelestedeLaney Oh! I forgot to tell you....you met and exceeded the #smexyChadchallenge! *high five*"
The third informed me that she really liked Max, but thought she preferred Chad. But "mostly I'm team Jocelyn."
My heart skipped a beat when I read that. I know it isn't YA, but the idea that even among my beta readers they are choosing teams is crazy exciting for me. It means that maybe, just maybe, I'm doing something right.
Because I still doubt myself.
Love triangles are more common than ever in YA literature, and devotees of the genre are die-hard about their love for one choice over the other. I can't think of a single YA title with even the hint of a triangle that doesn't have people rooting online for their side to get the girl.
It's the type of thing a lot of authors dream about. After all, it means people are invested in our stories.
Just this week, I had the pleasure of sending out my newest story to my little group of beta readers. I've heard back from three of them already, and I couldn't be happier.
One of them is Team Max all the way. She adores him. So much so, she's even devoted an entire list on Twitter just to Max. I think if she could bottle him and take him home with her, she would.
Another issued me a challenge. She said sex with a Chad could never be hot. I received this tweet from her today: "@SelestedeLaney Oh! I forgot to tell you....you met and exceeded the #smexyChadchallenge! *high five*"
The third informed me that she really liked Max, but thought she preferred Chad. But "mostly I'm team Jocelyn."
My heart skipped a beat when I read that. I know it isn't YA, but the idea that even among my beta readers they are choosing teams is crazy exciting for me. It means that maybe, just maybe, I'm doing something right.
Because I still doubt myself.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Thirsty Thursday: Bend Me Over
So, other than my green apple martini from the first Thirsty Thursday, this is the first one I've actually made and tested :P
Bend Me Over
1 oz. whiskey (we used Southern Comfort)
1/2 oz. amaretto (we used DiSaronno)
1 oz. sour mix
splash of Sierra Mist/Sprite/7-Up
Mix all ingredients in a shaker half-filled with ice. Shake well and strain into shot glasses.
My opinion: You can really smell the whiskey. If that's not to your taste, the scent might be a problem. It tastes pretty good, though if I were to make it again, I'd probably up the amaretto content to try to balance things out a little more.
Hubs opinion: Not bad, a little syrupy
I'm not overly fond of mixed shots, they just seem like a waste of effort to tell the truth, so odds are I wouldn't make this again (I'd rather have a drink that's going to last a while). But it was fairly tasty, like a whiskey sour with a twist. Grade: B-
Bend Me Over
1 oz. whiskey (we used Southern Comfort)
1/2 oz. amaretto (we used DiSaronno)
1 oz. sour mix
splash of Sierra Mist/Sprite/7-Up
Mix all ingredients in a shaker half-filled with ice. Shake well and strain into shot glasses.
My opinion: You can really smell the whiskey. If that's not to your taste, the scent might be a problem. It tastes pretty good, though if I were to make it again, I'd probably up the amaretto content to try to balance things out a little more.
Hubs opinion: Not bad, a little syrupy
I'm not overly fond of mixed shots, they just seem like a waste of effort to tell the truth, so odds are I wouldn't make this again (I'd rather have a drink that's going to last a while). But it was fairly tasty, like a whiskey sour with a twist. Grade: B-
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Tuesday Teases: Babbling About Books
Hi! Seleste isn't here right now. She's over at Babbling About Books talking about what makes a hero and then men of Lost. Apologies for the re-direction, but I hope you're willing to hop over there and say hello :)
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Inspiration Point: Italy
I spent a week in Italy recently, and let me just say it was amazing. We took about 500 pictures, many of which are on my facebook page, but some of them might be a little odd to some people.
While I wandered and saw sights, I also spent time on the lookout for images and places that inspired.
[caption id="attachment_289" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="I took this shot at night, but the way the lighting hit, it lit up the building and gave it a bit of a haunted look. Personally I like the creepiness of how that worked more than anything specific about the building."]
[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_291" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="This is actually an image of the Virgin Mary set into a frame on the outside wall of a building, but when I saw it, all I could think of was the soul of someone trapped in this frame in the wall for eternity and everyone keeps just walking by, oblivious to the curse."]
[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_292" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="When I looked at this, all I could think was how the "wires" looked like restraints that had been broken, as if someone had been bound there and tore their way free. "]
[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_293" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="This gate had a real Beauty and the Beast feel to it. Not sure what I'll do with it, but I had to have the picture. "]
[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_294" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="There was this amazing piece of art on the street in Turin. I took several pictures of it. Behind it is a big open courtyard, but there doesn't seem to be a gate into it. It kind of made me think of a magical gateway to a steampunky alternate universe. "]
[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_295" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Then I found these amazing cyberpunk Carnival masks in Venice and had the image of a bunch of half-humans essentially crashing Carnival from the future for some reason I haven't figured out yet. "]
[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_296" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="I found these dragon sconces on a hotel in Rome and thought they had a very YA Fantasy feel to them, like at night they would just detach from the building and fly off. "]
[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_297" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="I took a few shots like this of the streets of Rome at night all blurry. I love the gritty feel of it, it got me thinking urban fantasy again, and I'm really tempted to try one set in Italy now. "]
[/caption]
Needless to say, inspiration was everywhere. None of these were tourist spots, they were just images I saw on the street. You don't have to go overseas to find things like this, they are all around you. You just have to open your eyes and look at your surroundings differently. Stop rushing about trying to get from point A to point B and let yourself be inspired.
It's a lesson I'd forgotten, and I'm really glad for the reminder.
While I wandered and saw sights, I also spent time on the lookout for images and places that inspired.
[caption id="attachment_289" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="I took this shot at night, but the way the lighting hit, it lit up the building and gave it a bit of a haunted look. Personally I like the creepiness of how that worked more than anything specific about the building."]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_291" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="This is actually an image of the Virgin Mary set into a frame on the outside wall of a building, but when I saw it, all I could think of was the soul of someone trapped in this frame in the wall for eternity and everyone keeps just walking by, oblivious to the curse."]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_292" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="When I looked at this, all I could think was how the "wires" looked like restraints that had been broken, as if someone had been bound there and tore their way free. "]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_293" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="This gate had a real Beauty and the Beast feel to it. Not sure what I'll do with it, but I had to have the picture. "]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_294" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="There was this amazing piece of art on the street in Turin. I took several pictures of it. Behind it is a big open courtyard, but there doesn't seem to be a gate into it. It kind of made me think of a magical gateway to a steampunky alternate universe. "]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_295" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Then I found these amazing cyberpunk Carnival masks in Venice and had the image of a bunch of half-humans essentially crashing Carnival from the future for some reason I haven't figured out yet. "]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_296" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="I found these dragon sconces on a hotel in Rome and thought they had a very YA Fantasy feel to them, like at night they would just detach from the building and fly off. "]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_297" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="I took a few shots like this of the streets of Rome at night all blurry. I love the gritty feel of it, it got me thinking urban fantasy again, and I'm really tempted to try one set in Italy now. "]
[/caption]Needless to say, inspiration was everywhere. None of these were tourist spots, they were just images I saw on the street. You don't have to go overseas to find things like this, they are all around you. You just have to open your eyes and look at your surroundings differently. Stop rushing about trying to get from point A to point B and let yourself be inspired.
It's a lesson I'd forgotten, and I'm really glad for the reminder.
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