Six Things For A Sunny Saturday

1. I heard back from Cameron about my revisions. She likes the changes I made and will get her notes to me soon. Yay! This means I can stop fretting over whether she liked them or not and if she was going to kick me to the curb because I suck.

2. I’m at around the 7k words point in my YA Zombies! novel. Going to see if I can nudge it past the 10k point this weekend. I usually try not to push myself too hard on the weekends to get writing done, however, except for one day last week, I’ve been slacking off quite a bit.

3. Next week is the release date for Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus. I’ve seen people raving about this book for several weeks now and it looks like one of those darkly magical tales that’s going to leave me feeling like the world’s most incompetent writer. Erin has two interviews up at Writer Unboxed Part I, Part II

4. Trey Parker and Matt Stone, creators of South Park, surprised a college class for an episode of mtvU’s show Stand In. They gave the students some of the best advice I’ve ever heard about crafting a story. When writing scenes, if you can insert “And then” between the scenes, you’re doing it wrong. Your scenes should be linked by “Therefore” or “But” so as to show causality and conflict. I’ve heard this explained in other ways by other writers, but this simple, no nonsense way of stating it really hit home.

5. Ilona and Gordon Andrews are giving away an ARC (advanced reader copy) of Fate’s Edge on their blog.

6. Laura Ann Gilman has a wonderful Practical Meerkat post up on Book View Cafe about what to do when you, as a writer, meet Those People (Mr. Coulda Beena Contender, Ms. Areoua Bestselleryet, Mr. Whydon’tchu).

7. And I’ll add in a bonus seventh thing and let everyone know ahead of time that I’m working on yet another guest blog. This time it’s for Lost In Fiction. I’m not 100% sure when it will be up, but I’ll keep everybody posted. Can I just say how fun it is doing guest blogs. Keep em coming people! 😉

And the winner is….

It was a fierce battle between three beautiful women. Each brought their own special skills to the fight: JKP, the dark-haired demon summoner; Erin Kendall, the deadly vampire; and BW, the tempestuous Valkyrie.

They met on the field of battle to settle the dispute over who was the rightful owner of the Sacred Books of Thurman. None of the three held any personal grievances towards the others, but the books were too valuable to allow just anybody to own them.

JKP launched the initial attack, summoning her pet demon, Ludmila. Ludmila was eight feet of scaly lime green muscle housed in skin-tight purple leather with curling black horns jutting out of her platinum blonde hair and a mouth full of fangs.

BW and Erin stopped in their tracks at the sight of Ludmila. Whether because they were intimidated by her size and fangs or simply because they were blinded by her outfit isn’t known.

What is known is that their hesitation did not last. With a wild battle-cry, BW leapt forward, her great sword raised high above her head. Erin streaked in low and silent, her speed making her nearly impossible to see.

The two warriors clashed with the giant demon and the battle began in earnest. Blood, sweat, and bits of flesh flew as the combatants hacked, chopped, and clawed at each other. JKP, her demon the sole focus of the other two at the moment, crept up behind Erin and attacked her from behind.

Never let it be said that a demon summoner’s only power lies in summoning demons. JKP’s strength and cunning made her the vampire’s near equal. They traded blows back and forth, neither gaining an inch on the other.

Meanwhile, BW and Ludmila were busy pounding away at each other. The ground trembled with the force of their herculean strikes. Ludmila’s scales protected her from the worst of BW’s strikes and BW was far too agile to allow Ludmila’s claws an opening.

All too soon it was over.

With one giant paw, Ludmila swatted BW’s sword away. The giant demon grabbed the Valkyrie around the neck and flung her into a tree. BW slumped to the ground unconscious.

Distracted by the impact, JKP let her attention slip for just a second. Taking advantage of that distraction, Erin swooped in and sank her fangs into JKP’s neck. JKP struggled against the vampire and Ludmila raced to save her mistress, but it was too late. Erin drained the demon summoner to the point of near death. With her mistress senseless, the spell holding Ludmila was broken and the demon returned to wherever it is that demons live.

With a cry of triumph, Erin took possession of the sacred books.

♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠

Congrats, Erin!! Let me know what format you would like the books in (dead tree or e-book) and I will get them out to you this week.

Never fear, JKP and BW, for being such good sports and fighting so well, I’m going to send you both a copy of Nightlife. Again, just let me know what format you prefer.

 

Why I’m Going the “Traditional” Way

There’s a war going on in the publishing industry. Both sides think their way is the One True Way and they’re willing to stop at nothing to make sure everybody knows this. They’re blinded by their fanaticism and need to prove themselves. Prove themselves to whom, I’m not sure.

The combatants are the fanatical adherents to the “traditional” publishing method and those who steadfastly believe that self/indie publishing is the ONLY way to go.

Those of us stuck in the middle, we just want to tell a good story and have people read and hopefully enjoy that story whatever format we end up going with. We don’t want to be constantly lambasted by one side or the other about why the other side is evil and doomed to failure. Or why their side is the One True Way to Success!™

I chose to go with “traditional” publishing for many reasons. I can rely on my agent to find me the best publisher for my novel. I won’t have to pay out of pocket expenses for editors/copyeditors/cover design. I don’t have to waste precious writing time designing my covers or formatting the book.

I know that I will have to spend at least a bit of time marketing my books, but that amount of time will be a lot less than what it would be if I were going this alone.

Not only that, but there’s the potential to reach a wider market.

It seems like indie/self publishing is all about e-books rather than dead tree books. I refuse to publish my books as just e-books. I want actual dead tree books that I can hold in my hands. Why? Because I don’t read e-books. I personally don’t like the experience. Yes, POD services are available, but I believe that, at this point in time, they are cost-prohibitive. I very rarely spend more than $10 on a book and only then on hardcover editions of books I adore or reference books. And I know a LOT of people who feel the exact same way. Either they can’t afford to buy an expensive e-reader or they just prefer paper books. Why would I want to cut them out of my fanbase?

With “traditional” publishing, I’ll be able to offer both dead tree books AND e-books to my readers.

What the fanatics on both sides of this war don’t realize is that they’re both right. Their way of choosing to publish *is* the One True Way to Success!™ For them. It may not be the way to success for somebody else though.