My Writing Creed

I listened to a webinar hosted by Jeff Goins a little while ago that was incredibly inspiring to me. There was nothing new that he said that I didn't already know but just the way he said it, how he pieced all of those thoughts that I've had, things that I learned and writing beliefs that I held into this wonderful picture that made me believe that:

I AM A WRITER!!

One of the biggest things I got from his talk was that you write for yourself first, never worry about who will read it or what they'll think of it. If you love writing YA then write YA but if you are only doing it because it's popular right now and it will be your best chance at getting published then for God's sake

STOP FUCKING WRITING RIGHT NOW!!

He had a lot of other great tips as well, one of them was about creating a writing space. In theory this should be easy, find a spot in your house, fill it with inspiring pictures, quotes items as so forth. I would love to do this but unfortunately there is no where in the house that I could call my own. Also in the spirit of Mr. Goins I decided not to make excuses but instead find solutions so I am making a portable office!

I have a mailbag, leather file folder, pens, pencils, notebooks and my archaic netbook (which when at home I will attach to a monitor and keyboard). I am printing out my creed and putting it in a frame along with pictures of my family. I am also going to get a Lego figurine (long story) as my coach. Also in my portable office will be my worn copy of The World According to Garp and a Webster's Dictionary. No matter where I am writing I will set up my office and that will be my space (okay, it may be a little awkward on the bus if I start bussing to work).

Now, about my writing creed. That picture has the authors that have inspired me, 

• Ernest Hemingway - his beautiful way with words that were sparse yet never lacking.
• Hunter S. Thompson - Truly gonzo and never giving a fuck about what people wanted him to write but instead wrote exactly what he felt needed to be written
• Stephen King - The first really adult author I got into and still love to this day
• A. Lee Martinez - He takes characters and settings to places that completely turn the rules of fantasy on its head without breaking them
• Steve Umstead - His style and skills with SciFi are as great as any contemporarily published author yet he is independent. He opened up the world of self-publishing to me.
• Everette Powers - Another independent author who made me believe that I didn't need to be traditionally published to be read and also someone who proves that self published authors are truly as great as their traditionally published peers, if not better.

My other inspiration is The World According to Garp by John Irving. I bought the copy you see in that poster while I was in the Solomon Islands at a used book store. I have probably read it at least ten times and each time I read it I love it more. The character of T.S. Garp resonates with me as a writer and although his backstory is nothing like mine (I grew up with two loving parents and have never been to Vienna) his writing style and voice is very similar to mine or perhaps I have unconsciously emulated him, either way as a writer I relate more to him than any real writer.

My creed:

There Are Over 7 Billion People In This World

One Of Them Is Bound To Like My Shitty Prose

I Will Write For Them

What it means is that somewhere someone is going to like what I write and I only need to write for them as opposed to writing for the masses. It also means that even if I am the only one who likes "My Shitty Prose" then that's fine I will write for myself.

I hope that my favourite readers will take a moment and go to Jeff Goins' blog. If you sign up you get a really great download called The Writer's Manifesto.

I think it would be great if all writer's made their own creed, if you do one please share it, I would love to see it!

Thanks for Reading

When Words Collide, Day 1

When Words Collide 2014

Calgary, Ab

     I could easily start at the beginning, or at the end or somewhere in the middle but D. J. McIntosh, SG Wong (sgwong.com), Wayne Arthurson and Clare C.Marshall all said that a manuscript needs the action to hit right away (unfortunately it didn’t and their hands went up despite the excellent reading skills of Susan Forest). That was Live Action Slush – Mystery Edition at When Words Collide.

     I was speaking with SG Wong at the end of the day to thank her for her words about my story, she asked me which story was mine but I was too embarrassed to say so:

SG Wong, if you read this it was “Killing Gavin Petters.” I had over described Gavin Petters being philosophical and called a chair an occasional (Something which I must rectify).

(I hope that was “actiony” enough to grab you, dear reader.)

     I don’t want to give much background other than saying it’s a writing conference in Calgary that happened August 8-10, 2014. I first heard about it over a year ago; my wife mentioned it to me and said, “You need to go to get Dianna Gabaldon’s autograph.”

     I imagined the conference to be like a trade show, only for writers. There would be rooms filled with 400 Diana Gabaldon fans, 80 self-help/motivational writers, 16 hotel guests who stumbled in looking for the bar and 4 people like me whom I would never find in the crowd. Jumping to conclusions without research is dangerous (trust me, it’s the way I write, finish the story, then research and pray to God that you can either twist reality or the story enough to fit without breaking it completely). I had no desire to attend, I had my writing event, NaNoWriMo.

     Now fast forward several months. A writer’s group I had joined (but didn't find was the right fit for me) shifted gears, took a hard left and “threw all the dogs out the back”. I returned to what is now the World Famous (my own little world) Montparnasse Group. 

     Long story short… Barbie “MsBurb” Thompson the organizer and most motivating person I know (that has nothing to withhold from me if I don’t do what I'm told) said, “You are finishing your first draft, perfecting the first three chapters and pitching at When Words Collide.”

     I will admit that it wasn't that out of thin air, we had been discussing goals and I mentioned that I may be able to do something like that, perhaps, if I found time, and/or if I . She doesn't do excuses. I did it, although the “perfecting the first three chapters” part is extremely open to interpretation.

(I’m sure if you had read this far you are likely guessing how my pitch went considering the “quality of this post.” Someday I will write one about why you should never judge an author by his blog especially when coming to grammar, spelling, and, punctuation.)

     Nothing on the pitch stuff yet, I wish to be chronological and the pitch was Friday at 5:30 I started the conference Thursday night.

     Every other Thursday is when we convert the Crown Plaza Hotel into La Rotonde. That Thursday was our Thursday. Rick Northy (no link, tsk, tsk), the co-founding member of our group and Barbie both had rooms at The Carriage House Inn. I did not, a mistake which I hope not to make next year. We had a beer at the lounge and went for a second upstairs on the tenth floor. 

     It just so happened that Jack Whyte was staying on the same floor. Barbie made some small talk regarding drinking to which he laughed and said something further, which I do not recall, then she said, “Oh my God, you’re Jack Whyte.” Or something like that.

     Now, I am a complete ass because I did not research who the big guests were (I mean I saw their names but didn't check out their backgrounds). Perhaps that was a good thing because other than knowing that Jack Whyte was an important enough author to be the head-liner of the show I knew nothing, which came in handy the next day.

     I won’t get into the discussions that we had following or Barbie and Rick’s stories of the pre-conference goings on although they are quite funny.

    The following morning I arrived back at the Carriage House at 8:00 solely to be sure that I was there in time to sign up for a pitch session (which I was very frustrated to find out the night before had a pre-sign up that I had somehow missed). Instead of sitting around however I decided (talked into by Barbie) to go to a manuscript session with none other than Jack Whyte. Of course you were supposed to hand in your manuscript well before the session was to start but seeing as I didn't know I was going…

     Key things I learned from this session:

• Jack likes long flowing sentences
•  hates when you use a person’s name too much (especially if there’s less than three people in the room
• he makes every story come alive with his rich baritone voice and Scottish accent.

     As with all of the other sessions I went to I will have to do a brain dump which will likely consist of a kabrillion blog posts of information mostly just to solidify what I learnt.

     Oh, and Jack did read part of the second chapter of my Novel which I hope didn't give him nightmares (my story revolves around an author who kills his agent, editor and publisher, he read the part where the author is unceremoniously dumped by all three).

     During one of the breaks I managed to get slotted in for a pitch session (at 5:30 with the fantastic Brian Hades of EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing . One small issue was that Jack had held onto my manuscript which I had (stupidly) only printed one copy of and I wasn't about to ask for it back, I don’t care if he was planning to just use it for fire starter (I debated sliding chapter one under his hotel room door but Barbie decided that would be a little creepy (however coming from someone who replaced Tom Jones with Jack Whyte as her… well you can guess what list a middle aged woman has Tom Jones on, maybe I should have taken her advice with a grain of salt (you aren't supposed to use a bracket within a bracket but I don’t care))).

     Luckily Rick had bought a printer just for such emergencies and after harrowing issues of technology (computer problems, Internet access) I managed to reprint my three chapters.

     I went to two great sessions, wrote down what I needed to say for my pitch.

     “Hi my name is… …My novel is called Death By Putts. It’s about an author who murders his agent, publisher and editor.”

     *Dramatic pause

     Believe it or not security didn't come and the pitch went really well! Let’s just say that it’s a good thing I got those chapters printed out.

     I don’t think I can do a brief overview of the conference all in this one post so I will save the rest for another time.

*****

I miss you Dori,  06/04/13-14/08/09

I hate ending this post on a sad note but just before I gave my pitch I received a phone call from my wife informing me that she had to take our Bull Mastiff, Dori, to the vet. She hadn't been feeling quite right for a couple of days but nothing too far out of the ordinary; even just that morning, although she wasn't full of P&V, she seemed to be okay. We received a call early the following day that she was indeed in very poor shape. Although there were some options for us none were very good and we had to make the heart-breaking decision to let her go. She passed peacefully late Saturday morning with her head in my lap.

When I completely come to grips with this loss I will probably write a post about it on my parenting blog but for now it’s all I can do just to mention this. I feel that I have to though; focusing just on the joy of the weekend makes me feel selfish and guilty.

WTF Amazon? Self Published Author has to supply refund cause she is now trad pubbed?

FURTHER PROOF THAT AMAZON IS THE DEVIL

Author Jamie McGuire is being forced to provide refunds + cost differential from her self published book because a traditional publisher is now publishing it. For no reason Amazon has been encouraging customers to get a refund on Beautiful Disasters even though you can still get the version they paid for and it is past the time they are supposed to be able to get a refund.

Please read the two blogs below for more details!

Jamie McGuire beautiful disaster emails
*****Update
Self Pub Authors

I still don't like you Amazon!

Thanks for Reading

Draft #1 COMPLETE and a little fun with query letters

I don't even remember when I started working on this novel. I'm sure I have it marked down somewhere but it doesn't really matter, it was a long time ago. As some of you may know I had it pretty much done once before and then through the power of technology (read quirks) I lost over half of it. I'm happy about that actually. The story is better for it.

So, tonight at 11:42pm I wrote "The End" (actually, I didn't, perhaps I should, anyway…). I'm very proud of myself and the story I managed to puke out. At times, like tonight, it flowed out effortlessly, page after page of text and story, other times it felt like I had to drag my MC behind a bus with a chain. I'm sure I'll see those pages clearly when I edit. That is the next part.

So, if any of you want to know what my story is about, here is a synopsis:

DEATH BY PUTTS

Ed Putts is a middle of the road author, or so he believes and although his books have hit the best sellers list those around him keep telling him that is nothing overly special so he keeps plugging away. He gets paid just enough to make a living for himself in his small condo on the outskirts of the city.

One day Ed gets pulled into a meeting with his agent. He finds himself meeting with his editor and publisher as well and they drop the hammer on him. He's done. No more books, no more money, nothing. His series that he is in the middle of will just end. To top it all of a rotten contract has meant that not only do his books and characters no longer belong to him but neither does his name.

He can't write.

Although he is an established writer he finds himself having to try to start over again with no success.

Ed has made a name for himself writing a series about a suave and intelligent serial killer named Gavin Petters. Gavin Petters is Ed's portal to his own dark psychotic impulses. All of those who had supported his writing have sealed it off. It is just a matter of time before the pressure gets too strong.

A pretty, yet unbalanced woman enters his life and pushes him further down into his dark mind. When he kills her in self defense during a masochistic sexual encounter it sets off a series of events that shows him how dark he really is.

My apologies if the above is somewhat poorly written, it is late and I may have been drinking a little but hopefully it gives you an idea of what I have been doing.

WARNING: The following may contain some sarcasm :-D
So, now that I have finished my novel what am I going to do? What any first time novelist would do who hasn't done any homework, I'm going to query. I already have a list of 75 agents that I am going to send letters to, here is my standard form letter I am going to send:

Dear To Whom It May Concern:
My name is D. Ryan Leask and I have just finished writing my very first novel. As I'm sure you can understand it takes a lot of work to accomplish this feat so therefor anyone who has achieved it must truly be special as I'm sure you will see that I am.

My book is about a writer that kills a bunch of literary people who try to keep him from writing, so you'll likely be able to relate and I know this will be a winner with you for sure!

I haven't bothered doing any editing as I know that you provide such services for me when you chose to represent me, after all I am an author not an editor, lol.

I know it said on your website to send only a query letter/sample chapter but I have included the entire novel to save you the trouble of all the back and forth banter which we likely both agree is pointless.  I have one request. It said that I shouldn't expect an answer for quite some time but we both know this is just to keep those that have a really terrible novel from bothering you constantly. I have sent this letter out to a number of other agents so the sooner I hear back the sooner I can look through all the offer letters and give you an answer.  I'm certain that asking for at least a high five figure advance would be prudent.

I appreciate your time and look forward to hearing from you very soon.
Sincerely,

Author of Death By Putts

I am going to get a children's story published… PVI

Response 1 of 3

I like that they acknowledged that it was a form letter.
One down, two to go.

I have decided that after I hear back/run out of time with these queries I'm going to get myself an agent.

Chuck Wendig, you have inspired me!

• If you are under 18, disregard the following advice (for legal reasons)
• If you are a writer and offended by strong language get over yourself
• If you are a writer and you do not follow @ChuckWendig you must
• If you are a writer and you do not read Chuck Wendig's Blog (Terrible Minds) Do it
• If you do not have the poster below:
• posted as your desktop
• tacked up on a wall above your computer
• Embroidered into a quilt on your bed
• or tattooed across your chest

©2013 Chuck Wendig

• You have to
• If his blog hasn't inspired you to write more, sorry but the only thing left is this:

I don't write #SciFi… or do I?

For some reason lately I have been thinking a lot about the NaNoWriMo story I wrote in 2011.  When I was done I hated it.  It was supposed to be a sexy, funny space adventure full of quirky characters with a little bit of political and societal commentary.  It was none of the above.  I just seemed to dredge on and on without hitting the marks.  My characters were indeed quirky but never lived up to their potential and even though I created a whole universe and laws and so forth ─The Complete Idiots Guide To The Universe (And Beyond)─ I just couldn't do it.  Maybe it's because I wasn't a fan of SciFi as a kid.  I am now but not with the same love as someone who was a fan all their lives.

Another issue is that writing comedy is hard.  I think I'm a pretty funny guy (feel free to disagree with me) but keeping that up through a whole novel is really hard.  I have read very few books that were truly funny, James Herriot comes to mind as does this gem by Christopher David Petersen called What The Hell's Up With Heaven?

It was so taxing writing this and I was so disappointed with the end result that I took a break from writing for a month (which turned into a whole year).  During this time I lost most of my writing in an unfortunate series of events including a crashed laptop which I used to back everything up (this was ironic as I don't store anything on my writing laptop because I'm always afraid it is going to implode and never does) as well as a flash drive that decided it was going to take all my files and translate them into gibberish.  I wasn't to sad about losing my NaNo story.  Now I am.  Maybe it's that absence makes the heart grow fonder (or is it absinthe makes the smart go wronger anyway…).

What I really should be doing now if focusing on my current WIP and just letting this one ferment but I can't help it so I am going to take a moment here to introduce you to that SciFi story I was working on and maybe later I will come back here and look at this and it will kick-start a new story.

James Styne Goes To Space (working title)

Synopsis:

James Styne is a career soldier in the Earth Navy Mars division and in his vary last year of being eligible to be the commander of his own ship.  His career had been halted by an unfortunate incident with a Generals daughter during his training and has plagued him ever since.  Running out of excuses his superiors finally assign him a ship and crew but do so with the full intention of failing.  The ship is a relic from the Americas and his crew are a bunch of misfits that the Navy has been hiding because they don't know what else to do with them.

The Good Guys

Characters:

Name: James Styne

Rank: Captain - Probationairy

Race: Human

Home Planet: Earth

A womanizing smart ass who questions authority.  He is the greatⁿ grandson of Allan Bartholomew Ian Styne, the greatest mind in history and the man that actually uncovered the truth of the universe.  He wrote The Complete Idiots Guide To The Universe (And Beyond).

Name: Reggie Cross

Rank: 1st Mate

Race: Human

Home Planet: Mars

Best friend of James since military school who rose through the ranks and joined the training program.  He joins James' crew to save James from himself taking a rank reduction in the process.

Name: Crissy Blane

Rank: Civilian - Empath

Race: Unknown Humanoid

Home Planet: Unknown Found on Mars

Crissy Blane is an empath but with severe limitations.  She can read minds but only if she is connected to the person sexually and them to her.  She can see the future however when she has a vision she goes into a convulsive orgasm and is unable to communicate until after the event has happened.

Name: Howard LaMonde

Rank: Private - Mechanic

Race: Formerly Human

Home Planet: Earth

Jake Howard is a ghost that has been attached to the ship, ENM Washington D.C. since he died in an unfortunate accident over a hundred years before.  No one including him knows why he didn't cross over to the beyond.  The army had no protocols for what to do with a trapped spirit and were unable to release him from service involuntarily so they were forced to keep him.  He is more useful than you would think as he can travel throughout circuitry.  He is able to use and move objects even though he is completely transparent.

Name: Gork

Rank: Private - Gunner

Race: Gork

Home Planet: Unknown

Gork is a seven foot tall three hundred and fifty pound hairy beast with short horns and an extremely limited vocabulary (I had actually created a gork/english dictionairy).  No one is quite sure where he came from or even how he ended up in the Navy.  His job as a gunner is to man the turret guns which are housed in a pod designed for a small human but for some reason Gork loves it in there even though he can barely move.  He even sleeps in his turret.

Name: Brian

Rank: 1st Officer - Helmsman

Race: Zygod

Home Planet: Unpronounceable (The actual official name the Milky Way Alliance gives it, only Zygods are able to say the actual name)

The Zygod's planet is just on the outside of the territory of the Milky Way Alliance (MWA) and are enemys.  Brian's father was a prisoner but what they didn't know was that, A) Male Zygods carry the children and B)Brian's father was pregnant.  He is very humanized with an affinity for 20th century Earth culture including 1970s rock and roll and pot.

Name: Sippertawn "Zippy" Ironthorpe

Rank: 1st Officer - Navigator

Race: Ironeze

Home Planet: Carbondale

Zippy's planet was destroyed by an asteroid but some of it's inhabitants were saved by the MWA.  At first the carbon-based refugees, Carbonics were believed to be the true inhabitants and the Ironeze thought to be robots as they were metal and filled with wires and ran on electricity.  The Carbonics were actually built by the Ironeze with artificial intelligence who had seen a chance at their survival by easily convincing their rescuers that they were in fact the true natives of the planet.  Many Ironeze were either not rescued or destroyed before the ruse was uncovered.  Zippy is one of only fifty Ironeze that exist.  His home planet had electricity in the air like Earth has air and must recharge himself regularly to survive.

Name: Theresa Godall

Rank: Private - Communications Officer

Race: Human

Home Planet: Mars

Former lover and current caretaker of Crissy Blane.  She is the only one who can detect with even mild certainty what Crissy's prognostications mean.  She is also a former one-night stand of Reggie's.

The Bad Guys

Name: General Maxwell Gregg

Rank: General, three stars

Race: Human

Home Planet: Earth

James had had a sexual encounter with his daughter resulting in a pregnancy which James never knew about. General Gregg has done everything in his power to try to court marshall or dishonorbly discharge James including plans which had resulted in his own inability to obtain his fourth star and be able to relocate back to his beloved Earth.

Name: Super-General Octavid

Rank: Super-General (Octopus Revolutionairy Army)

Race: Octopus

Home Planet: Earth

Within fifty years of social experiments on the highly intelligent octopuses they have formed a society which unbeknown to humans is attempting to take over the world.  Super-General Octavid is the leader of this movement.  His ability to not give in to his sexual compulsions has granted him a very long life (male octopuses die after ejaculation).  He has been pretending to be an ally to the MWA but only so that he can place spies throughout the organization.  He has had little success until he befriends General Gregg and convinces him to allow an ambassador to join the crew of the Washington D.C.  Octopuses can communicate with each other over infinite distances using telepathy.

The Ship

The ENM Washington D.C. was formerly the USS Washington.  It was in service before the Earth became one central government.  It is outfitted with similarly speced propulsion systems of modern ships however no one with the exception of Howard LaMonde knows how to repair them and as it was made in a secret factory on Mars which was destroyed during the American uprising no parts are available.  All of the systems are in an antiquated measuring system called the US customary units which cause great confusion.

Writing all of this has got me thinking again, dammit!  "FOCUS ON YOUR CURRENT WIP"

Anyway…

I'm sure we all have lost projects that keep popping into our heads, what is yours?

Thanks for Reading

Why I ♥ Pantsing

I like to read.  I am a compulsive reader and usually can't put a book down until it's finished because I just NEED to know what happens next.  I have never read the end of a book before starting it ever.  This is why I love pantsing.

Everyone has their own opinion this is a great post by my good friend Everett Powers on plotting (or outlining as I call it).  Obviously not every one falls into the two categories neatly, some do both to varying degrees, even I do but not until I've completed my first draft.

I only ever start a book with an idea a premise and a loose plot, sometimes even just a good line like one of my neglected WIPs started with this:

I was just finishing up a case I was working on, the case was scotch and I'd nearly gotten to the bottom of it.

When I started writing that I had no clue where it was going, still don't really and I'm about 75% of my way through.

To me pantsing is kind of like the "Choose Your Own Adventure" books I loved when I was younger.  You control what everyone is doing and where they will go but only when you get to a certain point and then everything works itself out from there (hopefully).  The fastest way for me to lose interest in a project is to figure out how it is going to end long before I get there.  If I do I quickly change direction and steer it away to some other unknown conclusion.  Things pop up as I write, interesting thoughts or situations that hadn't occurred to me until that moment and if I had outlined I may have skipped over them or tried to include them in some awkward way.  I'm excited to write this way, I can't wait until I find out what happens next.

In my current WIP my MC was planning to commit a murder to steer the cops away from him as a suspect for another one.  Until I wrote the words 

"He was surprised to return to his apartment and see four uniformed policemen and Tim standing at the door."

I had no idea they were going to be there.  It wasn't outside of the realm of possibilities but it certainly threw a monkey wrench into his (my) plans for what was going to happen next.  I can't wait to find out what it is and I hope that someday when you're reading it neither can you.

Just a side note.  I had already finished a first draft of this WIP and outlined it then lost most of the end of the draft.  I am re-writing it and guess what, I may as well throw that outline out the window because suddenly my characters aren't doing what they did last time, which is good because I already knew the old ending, now I get a new one!

How do you write and why?  I'd love to know!

Thanks for Reading

I am going to get a children's story published… PV

I'm losing my mind.
It has been almost three weeks sent I sent my manuscript in.  I know, I know, that isn't anywhere near enough time to have heard anything, actually, here were the given times (I will call the companies A,B & C because I'm hiding from them a bit and I sent them in using my real name, not that's it's a big stretch from my "adult" pen name):

• Publisher A: Our time frame for a response is up to twelve weeks
• Publisher B: We review each submission in the order that it was received and try to respond within three months.
• Publisher C: Submissions are usually processed within four (4) months.

It all began when I read on someone's blog that they heard back within a couple of weeks WHY? WHY? Don't tell me this!  Now every time my phone rings or I get a new e-mail I get excited and I now take a deep breath before opening the mail box.

Anyway, nothing to tell you of interest today.

I did also did the #PitMad thing but nothing.

Thanks for Reading

PitMad -Why my novel was likely a tough sell.

I may as well hit myself over the head with a hammer…

#PitMad Writer of Serial Killer Series Kills his Agent, Editor and Publisher when they cancel his contract and ruin his career.

That was my pitch to #PitMad, looking at it now they likely think it is a joke post, or a threat but seriously, this is what my story is about.  Here is a little run down of it, not that anyone on the receiving end of #PitMad would go this far to find out more (They have likely all blocked my account by now :D)

Ed Putts is a writer, mildly successful, well, successful enough to pay the bills and write full time.  When his publisher is bought out by a Christian Focused publishing house his gory, sex filled novels no longer fit.  Neither his agent nor publisher have any interest in continuing their relationship with him.

Upon the termination of his contract he discovers that nothing he has written belongs to him and neither is his pen name.  He is an established writer but finds himself thrown back out into the publishing world without a recognizable name, a usable manuscript or an income.  He's fantasizing about murder, nothing new, but instead of writing it down he starts thinking about acting it out.  With a plethora of knowledge about committing and cover-up crimes he begins to believe that he is capable.  A scary encounter with a crazed fan that leads to her death solidifies his belief and he's certain that the only way to be able to get on with his life is to dispose of the three people who ruined it.

Obviously this wouldn't fit in 140 or less.  But here is a question, would this be too much for an agent or publisher to stomach?  Likely, but hell, this is my story, this came out of my brain, what could I do?

Thanks for Reading

Other attempted pitches:
He used to kill fictional characters with his pen,but since his writing career was destroyed his pen will no longer do the trick. #PitMad CF

#PitMad CF What happens when an Author of a series of gory novels about a prolific and careful serial killer has his career destroyed?

If he can’t release his lust for death through writing, there are always other ways, starting with those who killed his career. #PitMad CF

CF→ Imagine a killer whose blood lust is satiated by writing gore, now, imagine what that writer will do if he can no longer write?#PitMad

No bites but my spidey senses tell me… I don't have spidey senses. Let's just say that I was a needle in a needle stack =)

The Writer's Dojo Returns!

The Writer's Dojo is returning to its roots and invites you to join in on the fun! 

When I first started the writer's dojo in 2008, I did it as a way to keep the glory of National Novel Writing Month alive all year long. I loved the camaraderie and support I received during the month of November and desired that same feeling of community every month of the year, in every aspect of writing--not just the drafting.

Beginning February 1st, 2013, the writer's dojo returns to its roots and ushers in a new age of ninjawesomeness. Each month we will open three training rooms at the writer's dojo website. A room for drafters (Writing Month, aka WriMo), a room for revisers (Revising Month, aka ReMo) and a room for those querying (Querying Month, aka QuMo).

We invite you to set your own goals, whether it's to write a thousand words a day, revise ten pages a week, or submit twenty queries in a month, and register your goal in the appropriate training room.

Every Monday we'll post the leaderboard for the previous week, and at the end of each month those who met their goal will be able to post the coveted Writing Ninja Warrior badge on their blog or website.

To help you reach your goals, we have a number of ways to support you:

CHATS: At the dojo every Thursday at 4:00 p.m. Eastern time.

TWITTER: Anytime, day or night, at #writingninja.

GOOGLE+: Join our community for random write-ins and sprints.

NEWSLETTER: Subscribe to our Ninja News and once a month you'll receive an email with an encouraging note and a list of the top performers for the previous month. There will also be opportunities for giveaways, starting with February's newsletter!

We hope to see you at the dojo as you reach for--and achieve--your goals! If you’re interested in seeing what it looks like, just post it in the text box of your blog and then click on “Preview” and you’ll see the simple message=) Please feel free to add your own thoughts on the matter. I’ll see you all around The Writer’s Dojo!!

So what exactly are you doing for me Publishing Company?

The publishing industry has changed drastically over the past decade and because of these changes, authors must now carry the responsibilities of marketing, promotions and publicity for their books. This is a daunting task, and many authors fail, losing their publishing contract or possibly any future contracts. It’s a hard, cold fact … an author’s books must sell and sell well for the publishing machine to keep moving.

SORRY WHAT?
 I saw a post on Twitter from a publishing company that shall remain unnamed and saw the above written there.  I am thoroughly confused.  I'm sorry, if I wanted to carry the responsibilities of marketing, promotions and publicity for my books I would skip you guys altogether and self publish.

Now, to be fair this may be only one companies policy and as very few publishers are taking unsolicited manuscripts getting to the meat of what they offer in terms of author support is difficult.  The other "unknown" is if literary agents take care of this.

Why am I concerned about this?  Because I don't want to market and promote my book myself.  I'm not lazy, but I also don't have a degree in business, marketing and/or advertising.  I'm a writer.  What do I want to do?  Write.

Self publishing is great and kudos to all of the success stories out there.  I am not one of them.  I have made a grand total of $7.79 from e-book sales on top of the $700 or so I made from sales of the hard copies (which was about break even for my cost of printing).  With promotion and all of that I likely could do better but I want to finish my full length novel.

In my eyes a writer who has to do all the work to sell his book is akin to a race car driver having to do his own pit stops.

So, do I want a "Traditional" Publisher?  Well, sort of, I completely embrace e-books and new techniques of  publishing but at the same time I want to be sort of taken care of, given deadlines, told when and where to do signings and have someone else run ads for me.  This is what I am paying you <>80% of my book costs for.

So unnamed book company, if all you are giving me for my book is a small percentage of sales, a few bytes of data space and a bit of paper, no thanks.

Thanks For Reading

P.S.
Check out The Global 50: The World's Largest Book Publishers, 2012
Of note: #8 Random House posted revenue of almost $2.3 Billion last year.

Also of Note:
After writing this I happened to get a tweet from another publisher who will be named (Evolved Publishing) who sound like exactly what I will be looking for when the time comes.

Why I'm Retiring at 37

I wish I could say we won the lottery or came into a lot of money or my wife got a killer new job that pays so well I don't have to work, but no.  It's all about time.  I work eight to five Monday to Friday, my wife works about the same maybe longer sometimes.  In the evenings and on the weekend she runs her home business, arbonne.  It helps and her earnings there are slowly growing but it takes a lot of her time.  This leaves me as a full-time worker and a full-time dad.

I hate weekends.  It's incredibly stressful to watch weekend after weekend wasted catching up on chores and running around that just can't get done during the week.  We have no family time, no us time and no me time.  Enough is enough!

We have two kids in daycare which eats more than half my salary (my wife makes more than me) and at the end of March my contract is to be renewed.  If it doesn't get renewed I qualify for E.I. with that and no daycare we are further ahead.  Why would I keep working?  Why am I letting someone else care for my kids just to get a few more dollars that aren't enough anyway?

So, unless something really good comes my way with my job on April 1st I am retiring!  I'm calling it that because if all goes well with arbonne and if I get to spend more time writing I do not plan to join the work force again ever.

The thought of being able to get current weekend stuff out of the way during the week, being able to squeeze in more writing time and being able to support my wife more in her business is really exciting.  I have to admit I'm a little scared too.  Short term we are better off financially but the future has a few ifs.  I just have to believe in what we can do.

Thanks for reading

I am going to get a children's story published… PIV

I would like to throw out a huge

THANK YOU!!!!

to Eliana (Elle-Ya-Na), @ebelleful twitter blog for taking the time to read/edit and praise beyond belief my little children's story.

I have now written a hopefully kicka$$ cover letter, packed three envelopes and will stop at the post office on my way home from work.

I will keep you up to date on my progress but there may not be any for 3-4 months.

I am going to get a children's story published… PIII

Well, I just have to get an unbiased read through from someone who doesn't know me well (or sleep with me :-) ).

Next I have to write a really kick-a$$ cover letter and send it off.

Is it too early to be excited?  I have decided that I will not be rejected!  That should waylay the doubt for at least three months.

I am going to get a children's story published… PII

Dear readers, it has been two hours since I last confessed…

Perhaps writing what I am going to do first is a good way of actually doing it.  After I wrote my last blog I began researching publishing children's books.  This is what I found:

“So You Want to Publish a Children’s Book: Advice from an Insider” by Victoria Fanning
Some words of wisdom on submitting your work.  Most importantly it answered my question of whether or not it needed to be illustrated.  The answer was an overwhelming NO!

"How to format your manuscript for a children's book" by Cynthea Lui

A step by step guide to how exactly to format your children's book for submission.  Typical double-spaced times new roman nothing fancy.

I also found two three publishing houses that are taking unsolicited manuscripts for children's book:

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Boyd Mills Press
Orca Book Pulbishers (Canada Only)

As well as a good list of others that aren't quite what I was looking for but still good to know

So, I have formatted my story as per Cynthea's advice, stopped worrying about the artwork.  I now have two other things to do.

Get someone to look over my manuscript for mistakes/grammer etc. and find out if I can submit to both of these places.  I have heard that some PHs only want you to submit only to them.  

For the record, if you are going to take 3+ months to get back to the submitter (which I completely understand) I don't think it's fair that they have to wait for an answer/non-answer before submitting to someone else.  I know that you believe someone is wasting your time if they submit to multiple places and may decide not to go with you but it is only the time it takes to read/think/write a letter as opposed to three months of waiting.

Here is my goal.  To have my manuscript in the mail to someone by Friday!  Luckily I have two great editors by way of my wife who is an elementary school teacher and my friend Allison who has an English degree.

It's December 1st, now what? KEEP WRITING!

I spent the month of November frantically shooting words at a computer screen and hoped they'd fit.  They did.  I hit my mark of 50,000 words!  I'm very proud of my accomplishments (as I should be) and also very proud of all of my friends that acheived theres, or at least gave it an honest effort.

Over NaNoWriMo I started off at the kick-off party and wrote my face off until two in the morning.  Tired and butt dragging the next day I managed to sneak in a couple of thousand words the next day and carried on.  I never looked back, never deleted anything and just plowed through my story like a blind dozer driver.  I managed to take a little breather with the mid-way party on the 15th then, did the most insane thing ever, on the  26th, a twelve hour write in.  We spend all day (from 2pm - 2am) couped up in the Wok n Grill at the Roadking truck stop and wrote our asses off!  I threw down over 8,000 words that night and at around 10:30 got up and rang the bell, marking my completion of 50,000 words.  I really want to thank the Calgary Municiple Leads, Naiya Azurewater and Xanateria for their stand-up jobs running the shows, keeping us in line and exceptional support, especially for a newbie like me!  The next thing is the TGIO aka Thank God it's Over celebration but here's the thing:

IT'S NOT OVER

My story hasn't yet concluded.  I think that I am actually only three quarters of the way to the real finish line of the story, my characters are still hanging out waiting for the climax, it's coming, it's building but it hasn't yet arrived.  I need to keep writing.  The 50,000 mark is just an arbitrary goal, a book mark in an unfinished tale.  I must set a new goal, I can't just leave James, Chastity, Brock, Brian, Mary-Jane, Nestor and Glorik hanging out at The Restaurant and the Edge of the Universe (btw, this is not a metaphor, they are actually sitting there) chatting with James' Great-great-great…grandfather while waiting for the formerly kind but now evil General Navy McClintock to find them.  The story must go on.

I know many of you are probably sitting in the same position as me, you've hit the mark, rung the bell and sat back and said, "Phew, that was fun but I need a break."  I hope that you are able to pull your writing brain back together and finish your story, your characters deserve it!

After that, editing, but I don't even want to think about that yet.

Thanks for Reading!

A one night writer's retreat = 5000 words!

York Creek Bed & Breakfast

Box 1029

1213 - 85 Street

Coleman, AB Canada T0K 0M0

403-563-3333

If you ever find yourself in the Crowsnest Pass (located in Southwestern Alberta) you must stay at the York Creek Bed and Breakfast!  I had the opportunity to go down there for work over night.  Ken and Anne are super friendly folks who built the beautiful log home with a wonderful view of the spectacular Crowsnest Pass area.  The rooms were spacious and quiet and extremely inviting!  What an inspirational place, especially for a writer!  (Oh, the beds are crazy comfy too!  They are those adjustable beds which I always figured at the end of the day wouldn't be that comfortable… wrong!)

Last night I arrived at around 5:00, visited for about an hour then with the exception of a half-hour tea break wrote steadily until 11:30!  I accomplished 5,000 words!  I am nearly to the half way mark of my NaNoWriMo goal and it's only the 9th!

Other than the setting and getting several hours of uninterupted writing time, it also helped that the drive down took three hours of which I spent going over the direction my story was going to go so by the time I got "the dinosaur" fired up I had everything planned out!  A writer's best friends is solitude, both for writing and thinking.  They should never be in the same place.

Now, this is not the end of my praise for the YC B&B!  This morning I was greeted with delicious coffee and a feast!  I mentioned that I wasn't a finicky eater and I was so glad I did, here was my breakfast (wish I had taken a picture).  Everything was homemade:

• Toast with French Canadian Pork Pate
• Cinnamon Buns, hot and fresh from the oven
• Cantaloupe
• Bacon
• Ham
• A Poached egg
• Baked Home Fries
• A flowered tomato

Needless to say, I didn't couldn't, eat it all and I did not leave hungry!

Now, I just need to find an excuse to go back again before November is over…

Thanks For Reading

D. Ryan Leask

Dear, Sad Neglected Blog:

I'm so sorry, I have been sadly neglecting you but I have been really busy, writing flash fiction (all of which can be found at Alphabet Wine) running my own flash fiction contest, 3 For Thursday, which is now starting to take off, and preparing for NaNoWriMo.

It has been a very long time since I paid any attention to you but honestly you are in my heart.  You see I was sick for almost a week, then I went to a far off place that had hardly any internet.

I know, I know, that's hardly an excuse.  Would you forgive me if I wasn't paying you any attention because I was writing?

Yes?  Oh… only if I was working on something publishable, darn.  Well no, I haven't, but I will soon, I promise.  Starting on November 1st.  This time, I will succeed with NaNoWriMo, I am going to attend some events and get support from others, both in person and from my Social Networking buddies on Twitter and Google+.  I already made a circle of NaNoWriMoers to keep in touch with.

What am I going to write?  Well, Blog, I am going to solidify my comedy sci-fi adventure I was working on before I got distracted.  I know, I have already written some of it and that's cheating, well, I am going to start over, I don't like what I have.

What is that Blog?  Will I still be doing flash fiction?  Of course I will, but I am really going to focus on my other writing, I may even start up the #6amWriters again and see if I can coax all my #WordMongering buddies out of hiding.

Well Blog, I sure do hope you accept my apology, I promise to keep you up to date on my NaNoWriMo progress and goings on.

I missed you,

Sincerely,

D. Ryan Leask

P.S. Thanks for Reading

PART I: Interview With Steve Umstead Author of Gabriel's Redemption and Gabriel's Return

WIN A COPY OF BOTH BOOKS IN THE SERIES details here






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STEVE UMSTEAD

I've been waiting a few months for this to come out and I'm so stoked that it's finally here!  GABRIEL'S RETURN

On the far-off icebound planet of Poliahu, North American Federation Navy Commander Evan Gabriel suffered the loss of several team members in order to free a native species and save his brother. Now he is being called away on a new mission by a friend in trouble, and by a name from his distant past. He and his surviving team must again travel across the galaxy to the planet where he lost his naval command, and his original team, so many years ago: Eden.
Evan Gabriel must face three distinct threats on Eden: the well-armed terrorist group that has been raiding Eden City, the dangerous planet itself, and his own haunting memories of his past.
Gabriel’s Return continues the epic science fiction/adventure trilogy with characters new and old, devious political intrigue on the moon and Mars, and deadly jungle combat on Eden.

I had the joy and privilege of meeting Steve on Twitter after he judged a round of Leah Petersen's #FiveMinuteFiction flash fiction contest.

After getting to know him better as well as all of the folks in #PubWrite on twitter I was drawn into the world of Independent Authors and self publishing as well as writing as a whole. I credit Steve with helping me get a novella I self published in hard copy a few years ago back onto the "shelves." Much of the help I got was by simply knowing Steve and being in his circles (speaking of circles he also dragged me into Google+).
When Steve asked me to interview him and write a review for Gabriel's Return I didn't hesitate for a second!


Links:
Website: steveumstead.com | Twitter: SteveUmstead | Google+: Steve Umstead | Facebook: Steve Umstead Writes
Author Pages:
Amazon | Independent Author Network | Facebook Author Fan Page | GoodReads


THE INTERVIEW (PART I) Part II
I may have gotten a little carried away with my interview questions, but after all how often does one get to interview someone so interesting, who writes really well, has a cool day job and so totally into techno-gadgetry?  Without Further Ado…

WHO IS STEVE UMSTEAD?
Where(ish), When(ish) were you born?
Where(ish) would be scenic (tongue in cheek) New Jersey, and...no wait, I take that back. I'm tired of apologizing for living in New Jersey! It's not the "Jersey Shore", and I'm not from Joisey where the Sopranos were. I'm 20 minutes from Philadelphia, an hour from Atlantic City and the beaches, and I've got a house with a yard. So take that, Jersey haters! Sorry...and when(ish) would be in and around the time the moon landings were taking place (that should be enough of a window to let you know I'm no spring chicken).  [I think many people forget that it was called The Garden State for a reason]

How does the time and where you grew up effect your writing?
The time is an easy one. Think Star Wars. At the impressionable age I was when that hit the theatres, it deeply affected my imagination and my interests. As I went through school, high school most notably, I always had a strong desire to read & write science fiction, and most certainly it goes back to that Star Wars era. Oh, and at the same time was Buck Rogers (and Erin Grey, rraawwrr! [wow, I hadn't heard of her but found a pick, rraawwrr indeed!]) and Battlestar Galactica. And in grade school, I'd rush home to see Starblazers on television. As for where, that's tougher - I don't know if where I grew up had any effect; maybe just the fact that it's a laid back, suburban area as opposed to the hustle and bustle of a big city gave me time, and space to act out my imagination.


Although we don't learn much about Gabriel's Childhood how much of the story that brought him to where he is in his life is your own story?
I seem to get that question a lot, as in how much of you is in Evan Gabriel. And quite honestly, it's not much. He is an entirely made-up character. I mean seriously - hardcore military guy with a haunted past...yeah, not me at all. I've never even held a gun, let alone killed anyone (that was public, at least). However, the opening scene of the series is one I've had in my head for many years, and one that created the entire character. It was based on an experience I had on a trip to the Caribbean, and I incorporated that into the scene, and combined it with some of my knowledge of Jamaica, to write that scene - which became Gabriel's Redemption.


Do you believe in:
Aliens?
Yes, of course - to not believe somewhere in the billions of stars there isn't some form of intelligent life would be very closed-minded.
UFOs?
Not at all, every one of those stories of UFO sightings is either made up or was seen incorrectly. If/when aliens come here; everyone will know about it, not just some pickup-driving toothless hillbilly. And why exactly do aliens kidnap them, and not learned scientists?  
It's a matter of time frame. Humans have been...self-aware, let's call it, for a few dozen thousands of years, but the planet has been here five billion, and will be for five billion more. The most important part of the Drake Equation is the time frame - aliens would have to coincidentally visit our planet at the exact same we're here, which is a pinpoint in the lifespan of the planet.
Ghosts?
Nope, sorry fantasy/horror writers. Dead is dead.

www.nataliedee.com

Sea Creatures (Lochness Monsters and the like)?
Hmmm...yes, I suppose so. We've explored the space around our planet and moon more than we have our own oceans, so I'm sure there's something down there we haven't seen yet. Nessie? Meh, not so much - again, only hillbillies have seen her, right?


In our lifetime which of these are the most likely to go from Science Fiction to Science Fact?
Aliens, or at least an alien life form, so to speak. I think it's only a matter of time before life is detected on another planet. Animal life, not just spores or bacteria. Whether I'll be around when we visit that planet… I guess I can dream.


How much does your "day job" in the travel industry lend itself to your writing in terms of setting and characters?
A few times per year, And I will certainly use those settings in future works, as they're a lot of fun.


If space travel became as common place as a vacation to the Caribbean could you get me a good deal on a trip to a beautiful planet of warm seas and white sandy beaches?
You know what the toughest part of being in the travel industry is? Everyone wants a deal...man, can't anyone pay regular price??  [Can't blame a guy for trying!]

David Paetkau From Flashpoint

WHO IS EVAN GABRIEL?
Is there any one person who embodies Evan Gabriel?
Good question, I never really sat down and thought about it. I suppose physically he was modeled after the somewhat-obscure actor David Paetkau from the CBS/CTV series Flashpoint, but that's as far as that went (I had a photo of Paetkau in my Scrivener files to glance at when it came to describing the character). I guess he's got a little of my impatience/cut to the chase attitude, and maybe a little Bruce Willis-Die Hard anger and exasperation when faced with certain situations. So no - not one person!  [that's really cool!  For some reason I always pictured him more like Ron Pearlman]


You have attempted, (and succeeded in my opinion) to make a science fiction story that not only caters to seasoned sci-fi fans but also makes it easily digestible for those of us that don't understand the inner workings of a Frion-Destabilizing Chriptohydrenic Twift Drive.  How did you manage to do both?
Thank you kindly, that's something I'm very proud of: being able to write science fiction that doesn't exclude non-hardcore SF fans, and can even appeal to other genre readers. I'm a big fan of near-future sci-fi, as I find it more believable (no Twift Drives in my writing). The tech and settings are based on what's happening today, just extended a little further. Brain implants that can communicate with others and plot maps are just another couple of leaps from an iPhone; retina and palm scans exist today, as do rail guns and body armour. Other planets and wormholes? Those are staples of sci-fi that I think everyone accepts at this point.

The planet of Eden with it's beautiful but deadly fauna sets a wonderful picture of what may be waiting for us on distant planets.  In your worldly travels have you come across a place that inspired it or was it all you’re your fertile mind?
It was wholly-created from imagination - I mean can you picture a state park where monkeys throw acidic sap on people walking by, or that have that have swamp lilies that digest meat & tissue? However, a few years ago I went to Costa Rica, and we did a full day of a rainforest hike up to an active volcano with hot springs that surrounded it. When I put together Eden, that's the thick foliage and streams/mountains that I used as a base for the dangerous world.  [Wow!  What a beautiful place, I can picture that for sure.]


Gabriel's Return is the second of a three book series.  Is it for sure going to end after three books or is their beginning to be a whole large series evolving?  I myself would like to see a prequel or two.
Funny, my wife just asked me the same question the other day. As it stands now, the series is a trilogy only. However that may change, as I've grown a bit attached to Gabriel and some of his team members. I do plan to go back after the trilogy is complete and do a novella prequel, as you say, which will explore his original mission on Eden five years ago, the mission that made him who he is today.  [I can't wait!]


How has Evan grown since Gabriel's Redemption?
Well, it's been six months since the end of that story, and with his new position in Security on Mars, he's probably put on a few pounds…Oh, grown as a person? Right… Well, he's learned to compartmentalize his past, as part of what had affected him so deeply did get worked out to some extent at the end of Book 1. He's also found that he can trust family and friends again. However, his new mission, which takes him back to the site of the massacre on Eden that affected him so deeply long ago, may draw him back to his uncertain self.

I can see your stories having mass appeal however I note a serious lack of romance.  Can we look forward to some "steam" in the third book?  I know that Evan is pretty tied down to Renay but is there anyone on the crew to take a Captain Kirk role (*wink)?
Hey, there's a bit of romance in Gabriel's Return! Well, a small bit - small enough that many female readers mentioned it. So yes, I probably could have had more of that. Book 3 will have some strong male-female connections as part of the main plot, but they won't really be romantic. There is a secondary character, Galen Sowers, who is somewhat of a ladies man - at least in his own mind. I guess I'm not cut out for writing romance.  [That's okay, I'm not really cut out for reading it!]


Coming up next...
Technology, and Steve On Writing


WIN A COPY OF BOTH BOOKS IN THE SERIES details here

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