Monthly Archives: March 2015

Writing, Method

A Time for (Non-Epic) Change

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This entry is part [part not set] of 73 in the series The Writing Life Blog

As most will be unaware, I do two Live Writing events every Tuesday and Thursday at 1:30 PM CST. This is where I write for about an hour or so while streaming to my Twitch channel. Afterwards I upload the resulting video to my YouTube channel for archival viewing. It’s not the most exciting thing ever conceived to watch but it really helps keep me writing at least twice a week on something other that school work. Yet for the past couple of weeks it has been impossible to keep to this schedule due to intrusions on the part of real life. Now it is apparent that my selection of 1:30 PM for the starting time was in error. It also got me to thinking about my schedule, for this semester I’m in, over the summer, and next fall. I knew my Live Writing would change over the summer but I hadn’t anticipated the multiple conflicts that would arise. It turns out that I regularly need my down time in the afternoon on Tuesdays and Thursdays for medical appoints and other things that have to get done. Thus I am led to posting my first ever poll!

What time do you think my Live Writing should take place on the T-days of the week? I’ve put in some time possibilities but left an open answer you can fill in as well:

[polldaddy poll=8747366]

 

 

If you like these and other posts, feel free to check out my other work:

My Fiction on Tumblr: http://fuzzynerdcorner.tumblr.com/

My Fiction on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/fuzzynerd?ty=a (Some activity requires Patron Status.)

My Live Writing, Editing, and other videos: http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFZHBRlGb3-RFEr2BXQPi-Q

If you’d like to help a budding author you can also support me on Patreon:

kaGh5_patreon_name_and_message

 

Insomnia, Life, School

A Wednesmonday

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This entry is part [part not set] of 73 in the series The Writing Life Blog

Three to five days a week I take the bus to school. All of my classes start just before 10 AM but due to the bus schedule I usually take the 8:10 or 8:39 bus that stops across the street from my apartment. This bus only runs during the morning and evening rush hours so if I miss it, I’m pretty SOL as far as getting to school by public transit. Needless to say I’m pretty good about getting up and being at the bus stop a couple of minutes before the bus is scheduled to arrive. Usually they’re right on time +/- one minute. Today I was almost to the street at 8:07 when the bus was already pulling away from the stop. Lovely. Thankfully the 8:39 did not pull this same BS and was on time. So I got to my classroom early, but not as early as I usually do. I know, I know. First world problems. It’s just some days, coming on top of physical exhaustion I haven’t been able to shake for a couple of days, that kind of thing feels like a bigger deal than it really is. It’s not like I haven’t missed that first bus before because I certainly have. Those other times were very much my fault yet I didn’t get upset about it really. Just went back inside and waited 20 minutes to head back down.

I guess in the end all I’m really talking about is how strange our perception is at times and how heavily it influences how we perceive the events around us. The same event, missing the bus, could be taken any number of ways. Usually my mood is decent enough that it’s not really a problem, just something that happens from time to time. Yet today it was really annoying. It’s funny how some stress, anxiety, and a little poor sleep can really color your world in negative colors.

Writing, Inspiration, Life, School

Writing and Shyness

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This entry is part [part not set] of 73 in the series The Writing Life Blog

Although I’m not quite certain, I don’t believe I have ever submitted my writing to a contest. I know they existed when I was in high school but I was far too shy to even consider it then. Now though I’ll be submitting the poem from my last post along with two more, and a short story, to a couple of contests for undergraduates at UW. No idea what my chances of winning one of them might be of course. Just from the quality of work in my creative writing class there are undoubtedly much better writers at the school. Plus these things are all so subjective that anyone’s work is fair game. I’m just excited to be participating for once.

I’m nervous too but not as much as I thought I would be. I know when I started writing my first book it was really hard to let anyone read what I’d written. I wanted to protect my writing like it was some kind of secret treasure. Silly but true. I was also envious of the other writers whose blogs I followed. They wrote so easily and were very open about discussing it, sharing it. They were unconcerned with reviews, positive or negative. Then my first book was published, just electronically, and it wasn’t an overnight success. No magic book lottery picked my story out and made it super popular. I was disappointed of course, but it was a good thing really. It made me face the reality that switching to a writing career was going to take a lot of time and effort. So I had to ask myself what I really wanted.

In the end I took the plunge. I gave up a very lucrative career that made me miserable and now I’m back at school full-time as a poor student. And loving it. I have before me possibilities that I couldn’t have dreamed of back when I was working my butt off for a job I hated. I’m still enjoying writing, enjoying school despite the sometimes annoying work that comes with it, and most of all enjoying the exploration of my life in a way I never anticipated. I never expected to get a chance to start my life over in this manner. Especially not so far into my life. But that just means I’m going to push myself to make the most of this chance. Not everyone gets a first one, let alone a second.

Love, School, Writing, Dreams, Exams, Imagination, Inspiration, General, Life

And Out the Other Side

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This entry is part [part not set] of 73 in the series The Writing Life Blog

It was a rough week for me and a rough week for the city. Tests, renovations, hard topics, a reading, and a shooting we still don’t know enough about. Now it’s Friday and life moves us on inexorably. The weather is the warmest it’s been in months so there’s the feeling of renewal along with a rekindling for the appreciation of the beauty around us. It’s hard to see this beauty and think about the horrible things happening around us, and around the world, every second of every day. Really it’s a wonder the human race has achieved anything positive. That was the state of mind I was in Monday when I wrote a poem for my creative writing class today:

ENG307EpiphanyPoem-page-001

I came out of class Monday afternoon after watching a documentary about the murder of Vincent Chin feeling angry and voiceless. I guess this was my way of expressing those feelings, and a way of distancing myself from the evils others have wrought. In the end, regardless of race, creed, religion, or beliefs, we are our choices and actions. I share nothing with those who choose evil beyond the barest whisps of DNA and physical traits. These traits do not define me. I define me.

 

 

If you like these and other posts, feel free to check out my other work:

My Fiction on Tumblr: http://fuzzynerdcorner.tumblr.com/

My Fiction on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/fuzzynerd?ty=a (Some activity requires Patron Status.)

My Live Writing, Editing, and other videos: http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFZHBRlGb3-RFEr2BXQPi-Q

If you’d like to help a budding author you can also support me on Patreon:

kaGh5_patreon_name_and_message

Exams, School

Once More into the Midterm Breach

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This entry is part [part not set] of 73 in the series The Writing Life Blog

Less than an hour away from my first big test in my return to college. Over the years I’ve learned I’m not the kind of person who can sit and study for tests. Rote memorization just doesn’t work well for me. Instead I’ve discovered that I have to be super focused in class, every class, take notes, and participate. That gets me the best rate of retention. It’s just one more thing I have to thank the Navy, and specifically my time at DLI, for teaching me. So for these midterms I’ve only gone over the study sheets provided by the professors, re-read my own notes, and skimmed a couple of things we read at the very beginning of the semester. Here’s hoping it’s enough.

Insomnia, Publishing, School, Writing, Live Writing, Method

Midterm Madness (or Damn You Daylight Saving Time!!!)

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This entry is part [part not set] of 73 in the series The Writing Life Blog

This is a big week in school for me with two midterms, both in literature, on the same day. Coming on the end of an exhausting weekend has made this a tough Monday. Thanks to Daylight Savings my roommate’s bus to the airport came an hour early. Despite the fact that Daylight Saving didn’t officially start until 2AM on Sunday. No notice on their website of any kind that they decided to use midnight as the change over point. Thus did a frantic drive ensue where we powered down to O’Hare and back in the wee, and not so wee, hours of the morning on Sunday. To this I can say that naps do not adequately replace a full-night’s sleep and so today has been a very tired one.

On the writing front I’ll be submitting a few of my select pieces, poetry and fiction, to a couple of undergraduate contests. I’m pretty nervous about this and I have no idea what my chances are, but I’m going to go for it. The prizes are very small so it would definitely be more about the recognition and getting my work out there than anything else. It would also be nice to know that people like what I do. The hard part now is sitting down and deciding which items to submit. How do you know what your best work is?

As far as the whole audio book process goes, I’ve selected the reader/producer I want to work with but I am still waiting for ACX to finalize my account info. Until that happens I’m not allowed to make offers on their site. I know I submitted my books, and account info, late Wednesday night so effectively they’ve had 2.5 work days to get my stuff done. It still feels like it’s taking forever. I’m super eager to get this audio book show on the road already.

 

BTW, why for the love of my holey socks do we still observe Daylight Saving Time?! Enough is enough I say!

 

If you like these and other posts, feel free to check out my other work:

My Fiction on Tumblr: http://fuzzynerdcorner.tumblr.com/

My Fiction on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/fuzzynerd?ty=a (Some activity requires Patron Status.)

My Live Writing, Editing, and other videos: http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFZHBRlGb3-RFEr2BXQPi-Q

If you’d like to help a budding author you can also support me on Patreon:

kaGh5_patreon_name_and_message

Life, Publishing, Writing, Dreams, Inspiration, Method, General

With Apologies to School Girls

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This entry is part [part not set] of 73 in the series The Writing Life Blog

There are now three total auditions for my two books that I posted on ACX last night. Late. Three auditions. I’m still listening to the first one at the moment and I have to keep pausing to squee. I find myself giddy as a school girl. (See apology in title.) I don’t know why this is hitting me so hard. Perhaps part is I never expected to get a response so quickly. I think also it is strange and awesome, in the fullest sense, to hear someone else reading my work out loud. It’s like seeing my own work from someone else’s perspective and is both exciting and nerve wracking at the same time. Like probably every other author out there I want people, some people, any people, to like what I do. And just this little bit is enough for me to dance around the room. So yeah, um, I’m going to go back now and hopefully finish listening. Without pausing to squee again… ::deep breath::

 

My previous post on trying out this whole audio book process: http://fuzzynerdcorner.wordpress.com/2015/03/04/the-audio-book-process/

 

If you like these and other posts, feel free to check out my other work:

Fiction on Tumblr: http://fuzzynerdcorner.tumblr.com/

Fiction on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/fuzzynerd?ty=a (Some activity requires Patron Status.)

Live Writing, Editing, and other videos: http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFZHBRlGb3-RFEr2BXQPi-Q

If you’d like to help a budding author you can also support me on Patreon:

kaGh5_patreon_name_and_message

Method, Publishing, Writing

The Audio Book Process

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This entry is part [part not set] of 73 in the series The Writing Life Blog

Last night I posted both of my published books, Induction and Transformation, on ACX (Audiobook Creation Exchange) to get the ball rolling for an audio book format. Late last night in fact. It was suggested by the forms I filled out that I include marketing information as well as info about the books. In the end I just included a brief summary of where the books are available for sale. I’m such a new writer, and not J.K. Rowling, that there’s little point in trying to brag about sales, followers, or popularity. Apparently that was good enough because there are already auditions for both books. This is a very promising start to a process that is completely new to me. Here’s hoping things continue going this smoothly.

The breakdown of the process is this (just for ACX of course):

  • Decide to put a book/story/etc up to be produced in audio format
  • Fill out the title info including info about the work, reader voice preferences, etc
  • Decide on royalty format
  • Submit the info and open your work to auditions
  • Review auditions
  • Accept preferred audition.
  • Producer will create a 15 minute initial sample of your work
  • Approve or Disapprove the sample (Disapproval requires submitting change requests)
  • Producer finishes audio version of your work by agreed upon date
  • Final approval of work (with any necessary changes)
  • Audio version goes on sale (with ACX it sells on Audible, iTunes, and Amazon)

 

It’s a pretty straightforward process, and unlike most software licenses I sat down and ready every bit of fine print before agreeing to the terms. My favorite parts of the terms were that the Author or owner of rights to the work retain those rights and that the standard contract term is just 7 years. Both of those are very important to me after reading about all of the horror stories of authors who signed away their rights to traditional publishing companies for life. All in all I am incredibly excited to be doing this and exploring yet another avenue for getting my work out into the world. It just goes to show that with these new tools and sites anyone can make their dream of publishing come true.

 

If you like these and other posts, feel free to check out my other work:

Fiction on Tumblr: http://fuzzynerdcorner.tumblr.com/

Fiction on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/fuzzynerd?ty=a (Some activity requires Patron Status.)

Live Writing, Editing, and other videos: http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFZHBRlGb3-RFEr2BXQPi-Q

If you’d like to help a budding author you can also support me on Patreon:

kaGh5_patreon_name_and_message

Career, General, Life, Patreon, Publishing, Writing, Imagination, Inspiration, Method

New Book Published!

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This entry is part [part not set] of 73 in the series The Writing Life Blog

Super excited to finally have my second book, Transformation, published and on sale!  It was a long time coming but it finally came together. This time was definitely easier as far as the actual publishing process goes. Just a few minor issues with things I’d managed to forget between my first book and this one. As usual the Smashwords edition is giving me the most problems but I’ll have time today to sit down and fix them.

Once that is done I can focus exclusively on Avatars & Identity and getting it done. I have a couple of people reading it as I go along and so far it’s my most exciting story yet. I find that funny since it’s the book I’ve struggled with the most. Not to mention the majority of it was written very quickly in the first half of November 2014. It’s been nice taking a break from Stephen’s story to try something different. Lately though I’ve been missing the old gang so I’m also looking forward to getting back to them and finishing off my first trilogy.

On the school front I’m looking into the various writing opportunities available here. I’ve discovered we have an excellent fellowship program for graduates, though I don’t hold out much hope of getting a slot. There are apparently well over 600 applicants for the 6 spots each year. Still won’t hurt to try. I’m also talking with the English department about putting together some kind of information packet or workshop on self-publishing since that is a very new and valid option for budding authors (or even long time authors for that matter).

All in all it’s been very busy but very productive and I’m feeling much better about my situation in general. No idea yet if this whole writing full-time thing will pan out but I’m making progress building up my body of work. I’m also discovering that I enjoy writing poetry a whole lot more these days than I did waaaaay back in high school so that is yet another avenue I will be exploring.

Onward and upward!

 

 

If you like these and other posts, feel free to check out my other work:

Fiction on Tumblr: http://fuzzynerdcorner.tumblr.com/

Fiction on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/fuzzynerd?ty=a (Some activity requires Patron Status.)

If you’d like to help a budding author you can also support me on Patreon:

kaGh5_patreon_name_and_message