The Plight Of The Self Publisher

As a writer in this day and age, we all have hundreds of options available for us to run out and get the story out there. You can use Amazon, Lulu, iBooks and the list goes on and on. Which one do you choose? Which will get you the best audience? How do you do formatting?

Okay, I’ll be honest. I’m not going to talk about any of that. I’m no expert. I’m not even a novice. But I’ve got some nifty experiences to share.

So as you may see down the side bar to your right (no, your other right) there are three options for my short story, Circle of Vengeance. They’re conveniently the above three examples. For each of these there has been a drama in one way or another, from fonts to random characters in conversion (I’m looking at you, Amazon).

So I chose the iBookstore first because frankly, loads of people I know have iPads. Even more people have iPhones. If I combined the two, that’s a lot of people to get my story completely free of charge! So I browsed the iBooks Author app for Mac and settled in converting my story. It went super well and I submitted it. Long story short, bam! Self Published. However some fun facts! First, iBooks is on iPhone, the only problem is books created with iBooks Author are iPad and Mac only. Fine, no worries. But there’s more! Only certain templates do landscape or portrait meaning if you turn my book on an iPad, it maintains its orientation. I’ll fix that as soon as I can.

Next I wanted more people to have access to my story, so I rushed out and looked into Lulu.com. Sweet a PDF format for general use! Don’t mind if I do! I uploaded and everything seemingly went well. No bad feedback and when I look at the file, it is as I expected. Easy and decent. Not bad. However it wouldn’t let me convert to ePub. Fine, I figured I could just head to Amazon and get an ePub there. Simple, right?

Wrong! So I’ve submitted and resubmitted my story a few times and tried to get rid of the little “i” beside my name at the very beginning. As it is a ghost, I cannot rid myself of it. Fine. Also, I am stuck putting in a price of ninety nine cents for what they estimate to be twenty seven pages. It sells itself really. *Facepalm* So at least people can read my story on an iPhone now, right? Yes! With the free Kindle app and by paying a dollar for it. I cannot change the price and I have tried to get them to price match both Lulu.com and the iBookstore which are free. They won’t. Curse them I say! Curse them!

Also, embarrassingly enough, I bought my own book through the Kindle store. Strangely enough, my purchase has yet to show up in their sales figures, which makes me wonder how accurate they are. Unless I don’t count because I am the author… who knows really? Technology is awesome… until it makes no sense!

Because I’m in a fantastic mood tonight and back on track with blog posts, I’m going to share a few things with you! If you’ve read any of my posts of interest, you may recognise these details! Anyway, gather ’round for story time with TJ!

***

Everyone has to get a first job. Everyone starts somewhere. Some people got a paper route. Others worked for their parents. Maybe they got a job where their friends were working. Maybe they focused on studies as they progressed through high school. Me? Oh, well… I tried really hard to get a job back in my small hometown of Sackville, Nova Scotia. For those of us who grew up there, it felt busy enough and it felt big enough. Now that I’ve seen Rome, London, Paris and Sydney… Sackville? Yeah, more like a rural town. Anyway, I digress.

So jobs were hard to come by and I was stuck in a rut. I handed out resumes and everyone was asking for more experience. How can I get a job to get experience when apparently I need experience to get a job? Seemed like a subtle way of saying no politely. Anyway I went around town and gave out fifty resumes. Finally after weeks of no callbacks, I gave in and phoned in for a favour. One of my friends’ moms worked at the local mall (it has since been replaced by a strip mall) and she said she’d let me know if something came up. February passed by, followed into March and then finally came my call! I had a job! It wasn’t much but it was three days of solid work!

My first job and the most laughable moment of my entire life.
My first job and the most laughable moment of my entire life.

Three days as… The Easter Bunny. I begged and pleaded for anything else. Toilet cleaning. Anything at all. Instead, I decided to give in and not look that gift horse in the mouth. I took the job because hey, ten dollars an hour and free chocolate was as good as it gets at sixteen. I walked that mall like the best damned Easter Bunny you’d ever seen. I did learn some things though. Number one, laugh at yourself… that way if anyone else laughs it simply doesn’t hurt. Number two, all children who like the Easter Bunny are crotch height and manage to hit you like a soccer ball to the groin. Number three, all kids run head first and ninety miles an hour. Finally, I rock blue silk vests.

For the longest time, I left this on my resume. I dropped Burger King (which was the worst work environment I’ve ever had), condensed my stint with Empire Theatres (simply three or so years, ended off at Supervisor) and condensed my stint at EB Games (three years there, ended off as Store Manager). I kept it on there to prove to anyone reading my resume that I had a sense of humour and it always got me at the very least into an interview so people could ask about it. The above photo was taken with an ancient camera phone (Motorola Flip Phone, looked like it had a giant nipple on top… which was the camera).

Today I share it with you, so that you make shake your head and laugh! Maybe you’ll email me to ask if that is really me. Maybe you’ll comment because you’ve never known anyone who has been a holiday mascot (official term) before! Most of all, I share it because it was my rite of passage. It taught me humility and hard work (and toughened up the groin area) and I still carry that boy in the Bunny suit with me today so I never forget how lucky I am to have a job, but also all the great things around me!

Speaking of which, thanks again for sticking around and keeping in touch! This has been an absolute blast and I hope you’ll make the effort to get in touch! I can always use more friends that write!

Productive Day? Don't Mind If I Do!

Have you ever had one of those days, you accomplish nothing yet planned to do everything? Yeah? Not me, sucker! No, today I wrecked what I set out to do and put the beat down on some tasks for the week. On the writing front, I finally was passed back the story I’ve been cowriting with a friend, I bought some satin for the “book cover” attempt and managed to rewrite The Journey’s second piece, Shattered Memories! On the home front I cleaned dishes, laundry and tidied the living room! On the outside the home front, I traded in some games to acquire the much sought after Zelda 3DS XL, swung by work so they could make a delivery, coached the staff in the Telco department and picked up a few new Pop! Vinyl figures! Only things I didn’t get to work on were some edits for my novel and weeding the garden! But I do have tomorrow off, so I will rock it then!

On the flip side, I’ve been watching the NaNoWriMo posts this week as the triumphant begin validating their novels and the ones who miss target are left in a crumpled shamed mess. It’s heartbreaking as some of the concepts and writing skill are definitely there, but those writers may give up because they feel as though they failed. I can only hope those people are reborn from the ashes of their 2013 NaNoWriMo attempt, only to smash 2014, or simply write for another month! Never give up, don’t let it win! Your story needs to be told, there’s an audience out there just waiting for it!

*GASP*

Okay! After all that, I am posting late to hopefully catch up on my blog posts. I hate being behind and I will get ahead. I must. Interestingly enough, The Journey hasn’t been getting anywhere near the amount of comments as other posts! Which as much as I don’t mind the break… I miss the flood of questions and comments! I’m curious to know if the writing is sound or if my style is way off base! I’m also curious if people would want to keep reading! Either way, I’ll keep writing it, as I enjoy the story thus far and the characters. Hopefully that will keep up! If you ladies and gents out there lose interest, perhaps I will too!

Today I’d also like to talk about the posts that seem like professional blog posts on “How To Write”, or “How To Get Published”. I’d like to give you all a disclaimer about this site and what I mean when I toss out suggestions. Nothing works for every single person. What works for me, may not work for others. What I suggest on here are simply more tools you can add to the old writing tool belt to hopefully keep it shiny and challenging. At no point did I ever say these are the definitives. They may work, they may not. Nothing works like your own commitment. I only say this because I watched as one of the many blogs I followed had a minor meltdown because the information that they gave was wrong. People will believe anything if it’s on the internet… and that frightens me!

So, I suppose I’ll just ask… are you ladies and gents out there quiet because it is NaNoWriMo make it or break it week? Or did everyone pick up an Xbox One or Playstation 4 and have thrown productivity to the wind? If you’d like, I am available for some guest blog posts (Because Idle Hands are the Devil’s Tools) or you can just comment on here with word counts! I’d love to know how many of you have hit that fifty thousand word mark, if you happen to have read this post, please post a comment! I promise I’ll reply!

Tomorrow I think I will try and smash out the final fifteen thousand word edit of my novel. The problem with that for me, is that concludes my novel and then it goes on to seek out publication. I won’t officially start that until January, but in the meantime I may get a professional editor to go over the story (after my partner of course) as well as look into some options for publication. As this is my first time trying to do the whole professional publication and seeking out a publisher, I am prepared for that gauntlet of rejection that awaits me. The good news is though, once it’s out there and hitting up the publishers, I can move on and work on a new story. With fourteen more ideas waiting in the shadows, I just need to choose one and I think I already have.

Also, if you’ve made it and want to gloat, toss me an email or comment and I’ll give you a callout so people can check out your blog or novel or whatever you’d like me to point them in the direction of! See you tomorrow and good luck to those squeezing in those last few words!

The Journey – Shattered Memories

Just tuning in? Great! You’re not too far behind in one of my latest short story attempts. Here is my sacrifice to the WordPress Gods that this post doesn’t up and disintegrate like my last one! Some changes have been made from the original writing that no one ever got to see, but each was for the better. The last piece of this story (Renamed The Journey – Broken Dreams) is located -> Here! <- Enjoy!

***

“Wake up.”

“Huh?” I asked, my voice weak and from the depths of slumber.

Once again the voice penetrated my comfort, harsh and stern, it was at least familiar. “We don’t have all day.”

I opened my eyes wide and the stark white room sent my head spinning. I sat up abruptly and closed my eyes in defence, my hands rubbing half of my face each. “More questions?”

“Of course. Perhaps you’d enjoy some breakfast?” The voice asked again. I immediately made the connection between the voice and Doctor Harris. My stomach grumbled for me and I slowly opened my eyes. Through the narrow slits, I swallowed my morning breath and blinked at him. “That’d be good.”

He motioned toward the table and I adjusted my hospital gown, to at least appear somewhat decent. Of course, at the look of the incredible looking sandwich on the table, all of that went out the window. “Oh my god…” I said between mouthfuls, it was uncontrollable, as though I were watching myself with utter embarrassment. “Ham, cheese… this is so good!” If it had been poisoned, I wouldn’t have even noticed. It was gone before I considered examining it.

“Ahem…” Doctor Harris cleared his throat at my incredible display of gluttony and smiled politely. “Where were we yesterday?”

I felt the air evacuate my lungs and my heart skip a beat as the images from the crash came flooding back. Couldn’t I have a moment just to forget? I stared at him, my heart as cold as his icy blue eyes. “I don’t quite remember… something about where we are?”

“Yes, good. Your short term memory doesn’t seem to be affected.” He glanced up at me from his notebook, and I detected a hint of sarcasm. He took a sip from a glass of water before him and leaned back in his chair. “Well, I suppose I’ll ask again. Do you know where you are?”

“I’m in Morning Sun, Iowa…” I could tell even I was unsure of my answer, my tone completely giving me up to the Doctor. “At least, I was… No idea where I am now.”

“I told you. You’re in a hospital. Not in Morning Sun, but in Mount Pleasant.” Doctor Harris  stated. He didn’t realise it, but he hadn’t actually told me all of that. But new information, was good information.

“Why am I still here?” I could feel my panic begin to choke me. “Where is my father?” I stood and leaned across the table, hands firmly on its top, waiting for his answer.

The doctor stared at me for a moment and his eyes squinted for a second. “Tell me about your father.”

“No, not until you tell me if you found him or not!” I yelled, and could feel my pulse pumping through the veins in my neck and hands.

The doctor calmly motioned for me to sit down as he fumbled around with some papers until he found a plain white envelope. I sat, breathing heavily and stared at the parcel as he passed it to me. “Here,” He said in the most emotionless voice I’d ever heard. “Are these your parents?”

“Parents?” I asked, dumping the photos clumsily onto the table. I stared at the two images before me, a young couple most likely not even thirty in age. “No, I’m almost as old as these two… they’re not my parents at all!”

Again the Doctor calmly motioned, but this time it was for me to be quiet. As his hand hovered in the air, I stared at him. With the adrenaline in my veins, I considered ripping that arm off and beating him to death with it, but alas, I needed answers. “If those aren’t your parents…” He said, his hand lowering to retrieve the folder. “Then I’m afraid your father wasn’t involved in the accident.”

“That’s stupid! I was there, I was in the accident!” I yelled with no concern for volume, my head shaking in disbelief. “Look, we were driving a van and we got hit from the driver’s side… the vehicle divided in two and I was separated from him!”

“I’m sorry, we only found you and those two at the scene.” Doctor Harris said softly. “There was no van, and certainly no other victims. You were lucky that a man came bumbling by and spotted you in the snow.”

Was this another dream? They always felt so real. Maybe dear old Dad had put me in a mental institution, guess I pushed him too far. The words crept from my mouth amid my confusion. “But I-”

“But nothing. It’s time for more of my questions.” The Doctor sternly interrupted. Shocked at his sudden bravado, I felt as though a mute button had been pushed and my words were gone. “Okay…” He said with a sigh. “Next, do you know what day it is?”

“Thursday, twenty third of October.” I shrugged as I spoke, in all honesty I assumed the accident was two days ago. Maybe it had been only one.

“Good.” Doctor Harris said with a reassuring smile. “And what year is it?”

“Twenty twelve.” I said confidently.

The Doctor suddenly stopped writing in his notepad and glanced up again. “Sorry, could you repeat that, a bit louder please?”

“Twenty twelve…” I said confidently. “Two thousand, and twelve.”

The Doctor leaned back in his seat and raised his eyebrows as he stared at his small notepad. The year was written on the page and underlined three times. “Is everything okay Doc?” I asked uncomfortably.

“Oh yes. Everything’s fine.” He quickly replied as he glanced to me and back to the pad of paper.

Suddenly, a voice crackled over a speaker in the corner. “Harris, that’s enough for the moment. Can I see you in the office?”

Doctor Harris hurriedly hopped up and gathered his belongings. “I’ll be back in a little bit.”

“Who was that?” I asked, the whole situation suddenly made me feel extremely uneasy.

“That’s my boss.” He said quickly as he made his way to the door. “Feel free to have a rest, you need all the energy you can get to recover.”

“Thanks…” I said as the door slammed shut behind him. “…for nothing.” At least he hadn’t found my Dad’s body. Perhaps he was still alive and wandered off.

***

“What is it Val?” Doctor Harris asked. “I’m on the verge of-”

“I know.” Val said, his tone sharp. “Listen, this girl just confirmed she came from the twenty first century. Before you go back in there, you need to do your research.”

“Of course, how silly of me.” Doctor Harris smiled nervously. “I’m just so excited. If she can naturally travel through time, imagine what this could mean for us!”

“Yes. But it’s only a matter of time before the others catch wind of this.” Val stated, his tone grim.

“We already know.”

As Val and Doctor Harris turned to the clean cut man standing behind them, he smiled politely. “James Hargrove. Nice to meet you gentlemen.”

“Who are you?” Val asked, annoyance in his voice. “And how did you get in here?”

“The same way you two travel through time. The only difference is, I’m a few tiers higher than you.” Hargrove said as he leaned and stared into Tamara’s room. “Do we know what we’re dealing with here?”

“A natural traveler!” Doctor Harris proclaimed. “She somehow can see the fourth dimension.”

“That’s preposterous.” Hargrove said calmly. “The human brain cannot handle such a thing. To see every point in time at a location in the universe is simply too overwhelming for the mind to comprehend.”

Val suddenly pushed his way between the kind doctor and Hargrove. “Well why don’t you tell us how she travelled back from twenty twelve to nineteen thirty four with nothing but some cuts, scrapes and head trauma!”

“I’m not sure.” Hargrove said. “But she’s my prisoner now. You know the laws against unauthorised time travel. She’s killed eight people just by appearing and causing the car accident in your time.”

Doctor Harris cut in. “Yes but-”

“No excuses, you have a code to uphold!” Hargrove yelled as he turned to face the doctor. “You two have both made some terrible mistakes. I’m sorry.” As Val and the Doctor were about to protest, they disappeared into dust and Hargrove stood between the piles as they settled to the floor. “All unauthorised travellers are to be handed over immediately to our group.” With a shake of his head he turned to the nearby door. “Come in and clean this up. The girl is coming with me.”

The door opened and Val and Doctor Harris entered the room. They looked to Hargrove who stood amid the settling dust and gave a quick smile. “Now remember, you’ve been brought here for a purpose. Once the girl and I leave, things are to continue as though we were never here.”

Val and Doctor Harris nodded as they cleaned up the piles of dust, unbeknownst to them, that they were cleaning up their own remains.

***

I’d love any and all feedback on this piece of writing, or any piece of writing I’ve posted! Hell, even just an email to say Hi is fantastic by me! I seriously try really hard to get back to everyone who takes the time to leave a comment or email! Thanks and I’ll most likely post again later, hope this was worth the Digital Devils and the wait!

The Quick Post & Poem

So today work reached a new high in disrupting my writing. Get up early I say. Write before work I say. Today had me falling out of bed after six or so hours of sleep and landing into pants. As I wrestled with the little energy I had, I mentally prepared for the three hour drive ahead of me.

Today was a training day three hours away and then three hours back. We left at six in the morning and arrived at our destination shortly after nine. The day was full of useful information and I learned a ton. Then we drove three hours back home, dodging kangaroos, and finally after arriving home I barely had enough energy to reply to emails and comments.

This being said I do have the next two days off, so I’m going to try and smash out some editing and a few posts for the old blog here! Also I am going to try and silk cover a book I have here and see if I can custom make my own cover. I’ve been considering that if I do get my novel published I am going to hand make around ten copies with hand made silk covers as presents for my loved ones! I’ve got some ideas on how I can achieve what I want and the only thing I may have trouble with is somehow cutting an oval cleanly out of silk.

Other things I’m working on my days off: Editing Jefferson & The Magician’s Curse, Rewrite of The Journey Part Two, Pick Up New Zelda 3DS Console with Game, Look into getting automatic garage door opener, weed front and back garden, laundry, clean the house, and catch up on sleep.

Also, I promised you a poem so here you go ladies and gents.

The Fallout

A lake, seemingly frozen in time,
Serene the scene, with calm, cool glaze,
Not so much as a ripple, simply sublime,
Invoking emotions, in mystic haze.
Extinction for those, who ruled the world last,
Beauty unbound, at the end of days,
With no memory, of times that passed,
A sunrise, sets, against nature’s ways.

Sadly tonight I am fighting to stay awake so I think that is all my poor brain can muster. I promise, I’ll get back to some more meaningful posts very shortly but for now, this will have to tide you over! Also if you haven’t read Circle of Vengeance, I would love any and all feedback whether or not you think I’d like it or not. I want to get published so I’ll take the harsh critics and the kind ones. Either way, I think I just typed “snrahdl;s” for one of the above words so I’m off to bed! The Journey Part Two, live tomorrow!

Also, a number of the people I’ve been hassling or supporting have made it just above the forty thousand mark for NaNoWriMo and I can’t explain how proud I am that they’re still plugging along! I’m the kind of guy who always strives for more and challenges myself! Anyway, until tomorrow!

Curse The Digital Devils!

So, you know when you have everything planned to happen a certain way and then you check while you’re away and it doesn’t? So it seems the next portion of my story, “The Journey” disappeared into the matrix and I’m left with what appears to be a two hundred and thirty seven word draft that was the only part I had actually removed from the story. Thanks a ton devils from the digital land! Technology is incredible and until it decides it doesn’t want to work for you any more. When the computers rise up, they’ll simply drain all of our bank accounts to zero, order more computers for back up and crush us mercilessly, MERCILESSLY I SAY!

Phew… now that my insanity plea is solidified it seems I have to rewrite my story post. But that’s fine. I was sort of happy with its direction. But first, how are you NaNoWriMo Writers doing? Let’s see here…

Ravings of Nonsense has added a few words, getting up to eight thousand, one hundred and seventy eight. Don’t give up!

I think we’ve lost M.L. Swift and J.R. Vowles to the NaNoWriMo heavens… their last counts, are the last ones we have. Let us know how it’s going gents!

Christine Fichtner hasn’t posted a new count, but was at a healthy thirty thousand last I posted and she’s informed me that she’s at thirty eight thousand now! Home stretch Christine! You’ve got this!

Valourbörn hasn’t posted an update either, hopefully Alex is still crushing the word count, especially after getting back on track!

ElitistGeek was sitting at twenty seven thousand last week and I’ve noticed the old tracker is at a delightful thirty six and a half thousand.

Nikki and her Novel are sitting pretty around thirty eight thousand. Here’s to hoping she makes up the smidgent she’s missed and I’m confident she’ll get it done!

Morrighan and her Muse are sitting at thirty three thousand, which is a bit behind but nothing to worry about! I think she’ll definitely pull through in the days ahead. Hopefully she’ll leave the editing for December and just focus on the art of writing! Not that editing is a bad thing, but November is National Novel Writing Month, not National Novel Writing and Editing Month (Man, that’d be a mouthful… NaNoWriEdMo)!

I think there will be a few who will achieve the fifty thousand word goal they’ve set for themselves! This is a great effort whether you wrote five hundred or fifty thousand. To write is what we are celebrating! You’re all winners in my book and I’d like to see you all celebrate the win of making the effort and the time to write this month! It’s not easy, especially in the holiday season!

As for me… I’m embarrassingly still at the eighty five thousand mark of editing my novel. My partner wants to read it so badly and I guess as this is my first foray into seriously looking at publication, I’m nervous for anyone to read it. I could finish it tomorrow. I could finish it right now. But a part of me is purposely holding back and I can tell. Some of my writing is really well done, but I definitely feel I could easily add another ten thousand words in description alone as the story is so dialogue heavy.

Either way, I’ve got to rewrite a continuation of The Journey and I’ll post it ASAP! Blah! Cheer on the above writers and reach out,  follow and like them! Maybe that will get them back into the swing of things! Later and wish me luck!

In a last line to all you NaNoWriMoers out there… think of it like this, until December, Deleting is a form of Censorship! Get those words out there and hit those numbers!

Me Fail NaNoWriMo? That's Unpossible!

Oh Ralph Wiggum of Simpsons fame, you slay me!

So as NaNoWriMo comes to a close, the number of sad posts about failure, quitting, excuses, blame and procrastination are admittedly on the rise. I’ve said it a million times and I’ll say it again, just because NaNoWriMo designates who wins by word target, I believe any writing would be worth celebrating in this day and age of distractions. But there are indeed some failures.

I’m talking about those people who wrote utter crap for fifty thousand words. I’m not talking subject matter either. But basic punctuation, ignoring conciseness for word count and inattention to detail… these stories won’t make it to an editor’s desk at all, because frankly if the postman can’t read where it’s going, then it goes nowhere! Simple things like the uses of there, their and they’re and its and it’s just to name a couple! I would say read more while writing, maybe even do 30 mins of reading, and then of writing. The reason? Autocorrect is terrible at grammar (it can barely spell sometimes).

In any story where you write a huge space, your writing changes, ever so subtly. The people who don’t learn anything from page one to page three hundred aren’t cut out for writing. Let alone winners of some challenge.

Some of my loyal followers here are struggling, but they’ll get there. I have faith in them!

Well, the main purpose of this post is to let you guys know that I’ll be away for the weekend and hopefully my part two of The Journey will pop up as it is scheduled to do tomorrow! I’m quite exhausted as retail had a busy week for me and loads of training. I’ve had a nap every night this week, except tonight… which explains the heavy eyelids!

Although someone asked me about some writing ideas and how I feel about sharing them. Here’s your answer!

  1. Upon drilling into the center of the Earth, scientists find the first man, still alive.
  2. Hell is the final defence for the world against demonkind and is run by a former archangel.
  3. A man attempts to commit suicide, only to find out he is invincible and turns his life around.
  4. A man is released from prison, only to end up on a bank heist with a psychopath. Trying to do the right thing, he tricks the psycho into focusing on him and tries to end the battle quickly.

There’s four ideas I have on the backburner at the moment. If you’re inspired by them or want to use one feel free to just link back to here! Anyway new post should go up tomorrow, and my head is going to hit the pillow like a sack of pennies.

Thanks for putting up with today’s post, hopefully I will make up for it in the next post! Also if you’re doing NaNoWriMo and are close… Monday is coming… and you know what that means! The celebration of the wins and the stugglers on their road to 50k. Ciao and good luck! I leave you with my two images to keep me going and they are widgets on my Dashboard screen along with my post it notes filled with ideas!

You Should Be Writing
The Avengers Assemble, to make sure you’re hitting the target you set for yourself!
Oh Sean Bean, you'll die in my story too... don't worry!
Oh Sean Bean, you’ll die in my story too… don’t worry!

The Liebster Award – It's A Thing!

First and foremost, I’d like to thank the lovely Becka over at Sweet Stuff By Becka for nominating me for this award! No matter what it may actually be, I appreciate the thought and will give you my quick confession!

So upon being nominated, I quickly read over Becka’s post in which she was nominated! Much to my suspicion, I read over it and said to myself… Oh man! This sounds like one of those chain letters you get through email! My inner skeptic scoffed at the idea of conforming to the internet and its blog version of the chain letter. Then I began to consider the way this particular award works.

A kind soul (AKA Becka, thanks again!)  reads your blog and thinks it is worthy of their own promotion. Thusly, they create a blog post (as this one here) and link to the person who nominated them while also promoting more blogs that they think are awesome. In turn, I am to do the same thing. As much as I hate chain mail in my inbox… I like the actual heart behind this one.

The Liebster Award
The heart behind the award! (Pun intended!)

“The Liebster Award is given to up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers. So, what is a Liebster?  The meaning: Liebster is German and means sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcome. Isn’t that sweet? Blogging is about building a community and it’s a great way to connect with other bloggers and help spread the word about newer bloggers/blogs.”

After reading that description, it didn’t matter if it sounded like chain mail or not. What matters is how I perceive it now! The award is all about building a community, which is exactly what I’ve done here through my efforts this month! Also, it is a sweet and honest reward, and therefore I pass it on!

There are indeed rules, which also must be passed on and they are:

  • Link to the person who nominated you (Only a kind courtesy out of thanks!)
  • Answer their questions (Mini interview!)
  • Nominate new blogs for the award (Pay it forward!)
  • Ask them 10 new questions (Your turn!)
  • Let the nominees know they have been nominated (Keep in touch and follow up!)

So, if you’ve read those you know what comes next… Becka! I hope you enjoy!

The Interview! (Dun Dun Dunnnnn!)

1)What was the best thing that happened today?

I got home and found I had been nominated for this award.

That may sound silly, but I got to work early, had training, missed my break, my lunch had for some reason gone bad, left late, got home and my partner wasn’t feeling well, cooked dinner, fell asleep and then found out I’d been nominated. After the day I had, a win is most certainly a win! If it had been yesterday, my short story, Circle of Vengeance hit the Kindle store (.99 cents for now, free as soon as they fix it!)

2)Where do you find your blogging inspiration?

My blogging inspiration comes from my love of writing. I have been writing for what feels like forever now and have loved telling stories as much as I write them. There is something so rewarding about the art of writing that I can only hope to one day be fortunate enough to make money at it. Sad thing is, I love work and will never stop, although I would consider dropping in hours or changing careers!

3)Do you consider yourself a glass half full or half empty kind of person?  Why?

I’ve always hated that analogy! I am the kind of person who doesn’t look at what’s in the glass… I’m the kind of person who looks at the potential within that glass. How much can it hold? What can it hold? The possibilities there are much more interesting… although now I’m thirsty.

4)What’s your favorite childhood memory?

Getting my first game console. It was a sweet Nintendo Entertainment System, and I also was one of the few proud owners of a Power Glove. Motion control nearly two decades before the Wii was a thing. That is why Nintendo gets my money!

5)Where do you want yourself and/or your blog to be a year from now?

I want to still be blogging right here with you guys. As hard as it may be if I achieve all my life goals in the next year, no matter what I always want that connection with people. I love communicating and hearing positive or negative feedback. I am fortunate that the community I’ve built here is entirely constructive and or positive feedback. It means a lot!

As for where I want to be… I have a list of fifty life goals and one of the more important personal ones is for me to be published. In one regard I would absolutely love to make billions of dollars because some of my other goals consist of running a school for the creative arts with many degrees into the gaming industry paired with the industry itself. Also I would love to be able to give scholarships to not those high achievers who never make the most of their awards, but those people who work hard and want to better themselves. I worked two jobs while attending university because I was ineligible for student loans. Now I’m bald. I want to prevent that for other people!

6)What’s your favorite home cooked meal?

Hard question! If it’s my mom’s cooking then it is mashed potatoes, under beef mince cooked in gravy, topped with corn or her seafood chowder! If it’s my partner’s mother’s cooking, her deliciously mouth watering round steak casserole with garlic sourdough bread… *Drool* If it’s my cooking, it is my homemade pizzas and if it’s my partner’s, it is any dessert she makes! They’re deliciously sweet!

7)What is a goal that you have that may be hard to achieve?

Starting the school mentioned above. Where do I even begin? How do I begin? I know nothing about the industry, I am not in the industry and I am not anywhere near wealthy enough to start it. Really I just want to help people on the path to finding their own dreams, and in the creative fields and gaming are where my passions lie.

8)Who do you look up to?

Tall people?

Seriously I look up to those people who treat others the way they wish to be treated and the leaders who lead by example. My mother taught me all of these values, so in essence… I suppose she is at the top of that pyramid!

9)Why do you keep writing/baking/sewing/(insert hobby here)?

I keep writing because for me not to write would be for me to cease to be!

Writing and I are one and the same, we have an intimate relationship in which no one will ever know nor understand me the way my muse does. Other people may understand that relationship, but I have never felt the need nor urge to travel. My muse has taken me to broken warzones amid arid planets, beautiful vistas that have left me breathless and to places where words have yet to be invented for what I have seen. In these travels I have met some of the most interesting people and beings, and despite the dangers of these areas… I have never feared for my life despite watching beings fade into the next life and beyond.

I write because I can’t help it. I write because I love it. I write because that’s what makes me who I am.

10)What is your favorite ice cream flavor?

Impossible Question.

Seriously though, Heavenly Hash… can’t even get that flavour in Australia. Yes, I am heartbroken.

***

Okay! Now that I’ve subjected you to my info session, here are the blogs I nominate!

ElitistGeek – One of the ones who has emailed me and made a more personal connection. I enjoy her writing and her posts are visually appealing (Something I could probably learn from, hahaha!) Also she is doing NaNoWriMo and killing it! Keep her on track and check her out!

Valourbörn – Another one who has reached out and contacted me directly. Also if I’m not mistaken, I think Alex has been nominated for this award before and it shows why in the quality of the posts!

Nikki and the Novel – Nikki is a frequent commenter and one of the many reasons the frequency of my posts has increased to almost one a day. Her blog is a nice plain and straightforward design and her posts are quite amusing!

When I Become A Superhero – I believe Lizzee has been nominated for this award as well, and with good reason. She is also very active in commenting and is a positive force in the world of blogs!

The Xabeldi Chronicles – If I have one thing to say about Serena, it’s that she has written a heap of stuff. When she shared a few links with me, I became overwhelmed for a moment while I considered my own achievements. She has just released on her blog her epic fantasy entitled, The Last Hero. This story alone clocks in at over three hundred thousand words. Three. Hundred. Thousand. Swing by and give her the respect she has earned!

Honorable Mention: Lorraine Reguly’s Life – After being a skeptic, this kind lady’s post on the above award helped me realise that despite it sounding like a chain letter, what I was passing up was the chance to make others feel good and be a gracious nominee and accept the award! She has beyond the two hundred followers, so I’ve given her this mention as without her I may not have done it! Silly internal critic!

So for those of you who I’ve nominated, firstly I’d like to thank all of you for making contact (with the alien known as TJ Edwards… er, me that is) and for your ongoing support in my blogging efforts. Secondly, fantastic work in each of your own regards, it has been a pleasure to stumble upon your blogs and learn so much in so short a span of time. Not only are you a wonderful part of my community, but now, hopefully the greater one!

Last but not least, here are my ten questions for you… Mwa Ha Ha.

  1. Why did you originally start your blog and is it going to plan?
  2.  Describe your “write space” (AKA Where you write!)
  3. What is your biggest challenge with regards to writing?
  4. What are your top three vices?
  5. What is your biggest goal in life?
  6. What was the biggest challenge you’ve had to overcome?
  7. Have you ever submitted a work for publication?
  8. What is the one post or piece of writing you want everyone to read and why?
  9. You rub a magic lamp, a genie pops out and you now have three wishes, what are they?
  10. What is your all time favourite author?

Now that you all have your homework, I look forward to your responses! Although this post has gone past twelve AM I’ll back date it so I maintain my one a day ratio… it will be a week tomorrow since my blog exploded into the active community I have now and I want to thank not only the people above but everyone who reads, skims or even just followed my blog. The frequent views, the comments and the emails all keep me focused on writing and you guys are positive enablers making me want to not only blog more, but just write more in general! Thanks again and tomorrow I will post perhaps a second part to my last post entitled, “The Journey“! Thanks again and now I can hear my bed calling me!

The Journey – Broken Dreams

“Do you remember how you got here?”

The man’s voice echoed in the tiny room as I glanced up from my dazed state. Reality hit me pretty hard as my eyes readjusted to the stark white room with no windows. “No.” I replied quietly. My eyes finally focused back in and I glanced to the man asking the questions. His suit was a charcoal grey and the white shirt beneath it seemed brand new. His tie perfectly matched the colour and fabric of his blazer and he hummed through a three day old growth of a beard that still seemed masterfully groomed. He glanced up from the pad of paper in front of him and tapped his pen as he hummed. With a sigh, he stared into my eyes, long and hard. The icy blue pierced into my very soul, and I felt a quick shiver fall over me. His voice stopped me from staring too long.

“Do you know, or understand where you are?”

As he asked the question, I considered my answer. In reality, no. I had no idea. He leaned in with an examining gaze and wrote tiny words onto his notepad.

“When can I leave?” I asked impatiently.

“You’ve been in an accident. I’m the doctor examining you psychologically. My name is Doctor Harris.”

With his words my mind flashed back to what felt like mere moments before I ended up in this room.

***

“Tamara, I don’t know what you’re talking about.” My father said gruffly. “It was just a nightmare, nothing more.”

My father had always been a stubborn man, his unmarked trucker’s cap barely hiding the salt and pepper mane beneath. He spoke of a dream, a dream I had that felt so vivid I was sure I’d lived it. “Dad, I’m telling you. We were on this very road, it began to rain, something hit us and you didn’t make it.” I could feel the tears welling up inside again as it brought me back to that moment.

My father shifted uncomfortably in his seat and tugged at his seatbelt. I could tell he felt uneasy, but he wanted to be strong for my sake. “I won’t have this discussion again. You’ve said this every time we take this road. We haven’t died yet, have we?”

I crossed my arms in a huff. Of course he was right, or we wouldn’t be having the conversation. “But tonight is different.” I protested.

“You said that the other night.” My father grumbled as he fixed his hat. “Still alive though, right?”

“Yes, but tonight we were forced to take this road! It was a tad convenient that the other road is flooded out!” I could feel my pulse racing. I glanced out the window and looked for the rain.

“It’s just some dam overflowing, it happens Tamara.” He said, his patience growing thin. “Turn on the radio, I’d rather not talk about dying while I’m trying to drive. Don’t need a self fulfilling prophesy.”

I reached for the radio dial and a small tinny thud echoed from the roof of the van. I paused a moment to look at my father and then the heavens began to pour. My heart was trying desperately to escape my chest, beating against my breast bone like a hammer.

My father swallowed hard as he squinted through the rain. “Coincidence.” He muttered while flicking the wipers on. As they whirred back and forth, clearing litres of water away from the windshield, I watched my father turn on his high beams. I’d never seen him use them;  his night vision was impeccable. “It’s just a precaution, Tamara.” He said softly.

We drove another ten minutes before we came to an intersection. The four way stop seemed useless as there were no cars in any direction for miles. We sat a moment until my father turned to me. “Do you want to go back? I don’t want you to feel ill like last time.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. “Yes, dear god, yes.” My eyes darted from windshield to side window and back to my father. “This feels too familiar. In fact, it feels nearly the same.”

“What’s different?” My father asked finally, his curiosity had been piqued.

“Not sure, but I-” My breath abandoned me while I watched the car crumple like paper around the man who had raised me. I tried to scream, but the words came out in a ringing sound much to my dismay. Slowly, the car lifted from the road and began to separate nearly perfectly in two. My father’s side of the car lifted up and out of reach, his hand extending to me for aid. Strangely everything moved in slow motion, my hands couldn’t leave my body and I watched as the other half of the car, and my father, disappeared into the rainy night sky. My half of the car hadn’t completed its journey as the forces of gravity and momentum tugged at me from every which angle. My blond hair whipped me in the face, as fragments of glass showered me like the rain. The world spun a few more times, until finally coming to a rest with the open side of the car facing the sky.

I stared straight into the rain, unblinking as the water washed away the shock amid the tears. It was just as I’d dreamed it. Every detail.

My head pounded, I tried to move and found that I was most likely bleeding internally. Breathing became a labour and staying awake suddenly became a chore. With the click of the seatbelt, my weakened body collapsed to the door frame atop many small square shards of glass. Safety glass my ass, corners are still sharp when you’re lying on hundreds of them. It took the entirety of my strength to pull myself to my feet, and after a moment, I pushed myself over the jagged shards of metal jutting out from the car’s torn midsection. A few cuts, nothing really to worry about.

“Da-ad…” My lungs gasped for air halfway through a one syllable word, probably not the best of things. A deep inhale did nothing to quell the fire in my chest as I coughed into the night. “Dad!” I screamed between coughs, I knew in my heart I didn’t want to see him. But I also knew I had to. “Dad!”

My eyes settled on a hunk of metal wrapped neatly around the trunk of a tree. I’d never made it to this part in my nightmares. With no concept of what to expect or what to do, I tried to rush to the wreck. Despite the entirety of my focus being on the mass of metal, my peripherals weren’t seeing any other vehicles. “What the heck hit us…” I whispered to myself as I wandered up and onto the road. Down the lane I watched as car lights flickered in and out of the fog.

“Hey…” I called as I began waving my arms. “Hey! Help!” My lungs hated that sentence as I coughed up some blood. Definitely not good. As the car approached, I noticed it was a classic car. Not modern in the slightest, but decades older. I stood directly in front of it as I waved my right arm wildly, my left arm felt a bit numb, but I only needed one to attract attention.

The car careened past me and vanished quickly into the fog across the road. More lights suddenly caught my attention and I tried desperately to fall out of the way. As I landed, my body lay in the cold snow, much to my shock.

With an ear shattering crash, the next vintage car crashed into the thick field of trees off the side of the road. My eyes stared at it, as both passengers lay dead in the snow beyond the tree. My mind grew fuzzy and I turned back to where my father’s wreck was. “Dad?” I called out, but to nothing. Unblinking, I stared at the four way intersection or where it used to be. A single straight road travelled for miles in either direction. Panic set in, my heart raced, my lungs heaved for air. “Dad…” The words whispered out and were lost in the breeze.

***

“Miss, are you listening to what I’m asking?”

I glanced back to my interrogator from my memories and clenched my jaw. “Not really.”

“Maybe you just need some rest.” His voice was firm and in an instant two men wheeled in a cot and set it up in the corner of the room.

“Maybe.” I said. “Am I in some kind of trouble?”

The man stared long and hard at me for a moment. “No, not yet.” He cleared his throat and collected up his notepad and pen. “But that will depend on your cooperation.”

As the trio of men left me alone, I could feel exhaustion hitting me like a boxer punching a speed bag. Cot, table, floor; wouldn’t matter, sleep would be incredible.

***

“Do you think she knows?” A voice whispered from the darkness.

Doctor Harris entered the dark room with a clear wall looking in on his patient. He shook his head in response. “No, I don’t believe she does.”

“What if she finds out?” The voice asked urgently.

With a shrug, Doctor Harris turned to the man asking the questions. “She cannot control it, nor can she leave that room.” He stated. “It’s travel proof and we have nothing to worry about Sir.”

The short bald man beside him leaned forward into the dim lighting from Tamara’s room, his dull complexion even duller in the unflattering light. “We may have to extinguish her.”

Doctor Harris gasped. “Wait Val, no! We need to understand how she can do this with just her mind!”

“It’s too dangerous.” Val’s resolve was final. “In the blink of an eye she travelled back seven decades and killed a blood line by getting in the way of a family car. The President for twenty ten? No longer exists.”

***

To Be Continued – Possibly… Thanks for swinging by, this is a growing concept and this is sort of how I imagine the start of that story. The whole concept would be that Tamara could go back in time and try and save her father but in the process destroy her existing self all the while trying to stay one step ahead of the Tempus, a secret order bound to control time travel and police the preservation of the existing time line.

Anyway! This has been an enjoyably creative evening and I look forward to posting again tomorrow. I’d love to know what you think of this piece of writing (Unedited, so I apologise for any mistakes I may not have picked up) and the over all style. Things I personally don’t think I did well? Capture her emotion at all, I tried to go with dazed and confused but it almost sounds to me cold and not that emotional at all. Let me know if you agree!

A few quick call outs as some people thanked me for naming them as they got a few follows and likes. The support is helping, so please reach out and touch another writer so they can feel the same way you felt getting a new like or follow! It may be that one thing that makes them post more to their blog or get back on the ole’ NaNoWriMo horse… Every little bit counts!

NaNoWriMo Filler: Don't Be Wordy!

So today I had a nice post planned; it was going to be creative, it was going to be fun.

After reading a few hundred odd NaNoWriMo Day Nineteen posts, I snapped. I lost it. Why you ask? Because people are using words as filler.

Now, I know what you’re thinking… a book is filled with words, what’s the big deal? The big deal is I was always taught conciseness. People are going out of their way to avoid using contractions and being super descriptive… and for what?! To reach some silly goal?

First thing I’ll say from my milk crate with my megaphone is if you’re doing that, for the love of the writing gods and your muse, please stop. You’re not doing yourself any favours, and you’re not winning. I can write fifty thousand words of rubbish too, anyone can. I understand it is a goal to work towards, but the person who “fails” NaNoWriMo at forty thousand words with a finely written story has in my mind achieved more than writing an additional ten thousand words of rubbish.

Bleh!

Sorry for the rant, but my brain imploded and my inner writer exploded like Bruce Banner turning into the Hulk. It was uncontrollable, and I apologise.

So I’ve ranted and raved and yelled from my milk crate… but what can we do to add to a story and not have it be meaningless? Okay, let’s talk about productive filler, shall we?

The first thing I love to do is add in a character. More characters add depth to the story if done correctly and also add emotional fodder. I mean this wholeheartedly. In a story where you may have finished with thirteen thousand words from the target fifty thousand, adding in a character earlier (around ten thousand words in) can offer you a chance at some side stories as well as protagonist interaction. This can drive depth of your protagonist as well as help the story progress. Also this offers a fun opportunity later if you decide you want to challenge your protagonist. Death is virtually mainstream now in movies and literature (Thanks George R. R. Martin for killing off every character I’ve loved) but the things that make those stories successful is that it progresses past that point. A character dies, how does your protagonist react? Were they responsible? Will there be underlying guilt? Adding in a character puts the muse hard at work at weaving them into the story and makes it much more rewarding than lengthening every don’t and it’s to do not and it is.

Another fun thing to do is play with foreshadowing… this is another of the tools in my belt and I love it because it makes a story feel real. Also it is fun as hell that the hobo in scene two is secretly a man who is a fantastic swordsman who the characters have to return to later, and when they were already so close to him. Having things like these happen gives your readers those “Oh wow!” moments that keep them not only turning pages forward, but backward as well! I love trying to surprise the reader with things that make sense, but also it keeps the story interesting as it’s not just the main conflict that is driving the story. Sometimes it’s the tiny moments that push the characters that are most rewarding! If that isn’t clear enough email me or comment and I’ll try to explain it better with some examples!

So I suppose in short, please find more creative ways to fill those fifty thousand words. I beg of you not only as a fellow writer, but as a reader. NaNoWriMo is a writing challenge, but I think instead of just writing fifty thousand words they should celebrate quality over quantity as we are enforcing terrible habits into potentially good writers. I think if you complete a story arc, and it is over twenty five thousand words, that is something to be extremely proud of. Forcing some arbitrary number upon you and making you feel as though you’ve failed isn’t the writing celebration I’d be hoping for. But hell, I’m just glad they’re celebrating writing at all so I’ll take it!

Okay, so now that all of that is out of the way… here is an update from me (embarrassingly). All excuses aside, I have not moved from my eighty five thousand word mark in the editing of my novel. I have written a ton more in short stories and ideas behind the scenes, because when I have a good idea I experience the creative dam shattering and flooding a poor empty screen with words. I have thirteen one line story ideas on post it notes on my Mac Desktop… and I revisit them everyday. But all of that aside… damn you editing… damn you.

I’ve announced as well that I’ve got a pair of puppies coming soon to a few people and I may have even mentioned in the blog at some point. For those of you who like dogs or cute things, I’ve got a picture you may enjoy and I’ll post it below. My puppy is a miniature dachshund and he will be my first pet ever! This is exciting for me because I’ve always wanted a dog and well… when I was looking at the pups this one snuggled right in and made himself at home. Yes, my face melted. I am considering the name Thor and it hurts me that everyone I tell assumes I’m basing the name off the movies. Norse Mythology… it’s a thing. Look it up. That being said… I did like the new movie.

My puppy, possibly named Thor!
My puppy, possibly named Thor!

Also WordPress has deleted my entire final paragraph upon posting. No idea what’s happened there but let’s try it again! So for those of you falling behind in your NaNoWriMo efforts, would you like me to post your progress so it holds you accountable? Or is there anything I can help with? Also thanks to everyone who has emailed me or commented on the blog! Sorry if I don’t get back to you straight away as my inbox went from two emails a day to forty and I am working on getting back to any and all. The more the merrier I say! Also, if anyone takes the time to write to me, I will reply in one way or another! Anyway good luck and hope to hear from you (yes you!) soon!

Someone's Got A Case Of The Mondays: Or NaNoWriMo Name And Shame!

Firstly, I’d like to thank any and all who are participating in this exercise! I spend my whole day at work feeling my phone vibrate only to get home and rush to my computer to see how everyone is doing and where we’re all at! You’ve all made me obsessed with my blog now! Shame on you! (No! I’m kidding! I love you all! Please don’t leave me!) Alright, so now that we’re past the moment of awkwardness I’d like to lead right into this update! I don’t know if I’ll do this daily (Unless anyone finds that it helps!) but today’s post revolves around you NaNoWriMo writers and how you’re doing! Also, I’m going to post some links so you guys out there can toss them a follow or like to help keep them on the right track! As I mentioned yesterday, if you’ve enjoyed me swinging by your neck of the web, please “Pay It Forward” by doing the same to one of these kindly folks daring enough to be named! Awesome!

Ravings Of Nonsense – Last Update = Nov 14th, Word Count = 7200 – After a quick comment about wanting to be held accountable I have found the following count on your page! Where are you at now? How’s the writing going? Let’s see if we can’t cheer you on to your goal of 50k! Toss over a few likes or follows to let them know you’re cheering them on!

M.L Swift – Last Update = Nov 16th, Word Count = 9842 – A newcomer to my blog who is doing NaNoWriMo when he gets the chance! In my effort to drum up some support for him, I’m hoping you kind folks out there will send him a quick follow or like to let him know that his fellow writer’s are supporting him too! Even if he doesn’t “Win” NaNoWriMo, let’s get him to his target of 50k!

J. R. Vowles – Last Update = Nov 16th, Word Count = Below 25000 – I ran across Jason’s Blog and M.L. Swift ended up following me from there! Vowles here decided part way through NaNoWriMo to restart his novel and I’ve been awaiting a new update! Show him some love and lets see if he can get in his 50k before December!

Christine Fichtner – Last Update = Nov 17th, Word Count = North of 30000 – Christine is on a good pace to make it to the fabled 50k mark! Great job and keep on smashing away at those keys!

Valourbörn – Last Update = Nov 18th, Word Count = 26746 – Alex was behind a bit but is back on track after an exciting writing session on Saturday! Let’s see if we can help her get to her target!

ElitistGeek – Last Update= Nov 15th, Word Count = 26954 – “Write” on track, ElitistGeek is well on her way to hitting that sweet 50k mark! If you’d love to, head over and give her a comment, a follow or a like just so she knows we’re watching and waiting with bated breath!

Those are my callouts for today! If you think this could help you let me know via comment or email and if I missed you, just let me know again! Since this blog has seen more action than ever before, I’ve been trying to keep up so I’ll apologize in advance if I missed your comment or missed putting you into the Monday update! Also I wanted to put more, but my internet has suddenly decided to start pushing up daisies… so I am now piggybacking off my mobile (HURRAY for technology!) Tomorrow’s post will most likely be more creative than the past few posts and I’ll end off with some people to support! Also, if I seem to dance around the fact if you are a lady or a gent, please let me know which it is! Sometimes blogs can be so ambiguous as to who is running the show!

Thanks for the patience and talk to you all soon!