9/15/2015 2 Comments Short updateThe computer is dead and gone, but the hard drive is fine, so for now it's an external. I still need more gHz and RAM than this old travel laptop has, but we're working on that. (Everyone who owes me money...that's your cue!).
MEANWHILE, A Line Drawn in Quicksilver draws ever nearer to publication (November 1st!!) and to celebrate I wrote a short Sil and Grace story, while they're hanging out in Destiny, Luna for some reason. Everybody loves free stories, right? I do! Click on the image below to read! (Hint, the diamond bracelet is the main character...) SHORT update, get it? Eh? Eh!?!
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9/3/2015 2 Comments What's Going OnHey, hey, hey.... Update! My working computer is in the shop because an adorable little four legged demon with black velvet fur and golden yellow eyes spilled coffee on it. The shop says, it needs a new keyboard and they are trying to source a power button, since it shuts off randomly for no reason. Right. So I'm using my travel computer, which was never meant to handle the way I work. It was meant for, well, travelling. Basic photo edits, reading ebooks, and doing a spot of writing. Mostly when we travel, I write with a lovely gel pen in a notebook that has a story of its own. However, until I either get my working computer back or replace it, I'm limping along with this one. I'm still managing to write and edit, including some inspiration for scenes for the sixth Quicksilver adventure, and some ideas for a NaNo project. Research isn't easy with a machine that doesn't like ten or twenty tabs open all the time, but hey. It's better than trying to use the 7" screen tablet!
8/18/2015 3 Comments amazon.com / amazon.caFrom a Reader's Perspective. As a Canadian citizen, I cannot shop on Amazon.com; I must shop at Amazon.ca. Since I usually only buy ebooks, that's not a hardship (all the non-book things that Amazon.com sells, Amazon.ca is slowly, like death crawl slowly, adding, but who has that kinda money??) Buying an ebook from Amazon.ca is a bit tricky. One, most reviews are posted at Amazon.com, so I have to click a link to get to them. Two, there's no "Look Inside" feature at Amazon.ca, so I have to go to Amazon.com to check if the author did any kind of editing and knows jack about hooks and sentence structure in the way I like (or increasingly, can abide). So sorting my preferences and attempting to buy and/or download books I might actually like is a bit of an exercise, but the Amazon experience doesn't stop there! No, I get my book, and then Amazon.ca sends me an email a week later asking if I'd like to review it. Why, yes, I would! I would like to review it! Reviews help my fellow authors, after all, and someday I, too, may get reviews. I click on the link, write a review, sometimes nice, sometimes not (sadly it is a rare thing I find an ebook that truly delights me.) And then Amazon tells me that I am not allowed to post the review. In order to post a review, I need to buy something, once every thirty days. Anything. From Amazon.com. Where I'm not allowed to shop, being Canadian and all. Without a purchase, I cannot post reviews. So to all my fellow authors wondering why I don't post reviews, good, bad, or indifferent on Amazon, that is why. Amazon hates me. Because I'm Canadian. Or something... (that's a smirk in their logo, innit?) 8/7/2015 3 Comments Review...
Love in Between by Sandi Lynn
My rating: 1 of 5 stars I DNF'd at 22% (end of chapter six). All I can say is, how can you write first person and have so little emotion in the characters? This book is a good example of why editors are so important, and an excellent example of how to NOT write first person. For specific reasons why I couldn't get past chapter six... 1. when Lily catches her fiance having sex with her sister minutes before the wedding, this is the most traumatic thing ever and it's written with almost zero emotional impact. How can you do that in first person? This should have had me clutching my chest in heartbreak empathy! 2. The writing was terrible, with robotic, laundry list style descriptions. "I did this, then I did that." I've seen better writing from a 13 year old. 3. The dialogue was terrible and repetitive and about as natural as a drag queen's make-up. 4. Within the first six chapters we are told several times that Luke is rude and an asshole to Lily, when the scenes between them totally fail to support that. He's a bit distant, but he's not rude and he's certainly not an asshole! Why do they keep saying he is...? And then when I scrolled to chapter 7, I thought dear god, how much more of this dreck is there? and checked the menu. What? Another 31 chapters??? No fucking way! DNF! View all my reviews 7/30/2015 0 Comments Silly (and Sad) Love SongsOr, a playlist for a romance writer. Not all writers can write with music (or noise of any sort) in the background, but I sometimes feel the most inspiration listening to silly, or sad, or yearning songs. So here's a little of what's been inspiring me lately...
What's on your playlist?
7/25/2015 1 Comment Diamonds & Quicksilver!Diamonds & Quicksilver has been one my difficult children, causing so much heartache and anxiety I didn't think it would ever see publication. But with the support and encouragement of some good friends, Diamonds & Quicksilver, the first Quicksilver adventure, will be available in ebook form at fine ebook retailers everywhere, August 7, 2015. *click cover to pre-order at Amazon.com!
7/23/2015 2 Comments farewell, SeneschalLast week I found out that a friend, fellow writer and one sixth scale hobbiest has died.
The advent of the internet means we can form long lasting friendships with people we've never met in person. Richard "Dick" Harnett was one of the longest. He was one of the first people to welcome me to the Flickr doll community, and one of the first to support my writing (though he never did care for my taste in subject matter, he did like my style.) We talked each other through photocomics and websites and self-publishing. He shared resources with me from sites on customizing to Kindle blogs and Bookbub. I sent him to Goodreads and tumblers about women in armour. Please check out his author page on Amazon. Don't let the Plastic Ladies on the covers fool you, they were his actresses and muses and the stories within are worth the price of admission. 7/15/2015 1 Comment Blue Jasmine - Vintage Harlequin
Blue Jasmine by Violet Winspear
My rating: 2 of 5 stars I picked this up at a thrift shop, curious to see how it was done in 1970. Some of it was plus ca change ("Time in the desert seemed timeless" -- E.L. James worthy prose, right there) and omg, racist! Evidently being kidnapped by a bedouin is only okay if he's not actually a dirty, polygamous Arab (which is implied to be a genetic trait) but instead a civilized European raised as an Arab... irrational and skin crawling characterizations. Also, evidently a convent education at the time included feminist ideals along the lines of "No man is the boss of me!" I find it hard to believe this was ever "cool" but oh tempora and all that. View all my reviews 7/1/2015 1 Comment The Princess & the SeaI sold this story in 2013 to Dark Oak Press, and the terms of the sale granted them exclusive rights for a year. With the contract over, and first digital and first anthology rights gone.... Available on on Amazon, at the moment....
6/22/2015 1 Comment Some News...Canadian publishing laws are kinda cool. We don't have to buy ISBNs, so if we want to self publish, we can apply to the gov'ment for ISBN numbers and they will, after a few days to review the application, give 'em too ya.
That has a number of implications, but one is that I can put my work in epub format all on my oddy-knocky, with an ISBN, and, assuming I magically attain marketing skills, sell it for 100% of the profit. Or I could be struck by lightning, but anyway. I was approved. I have ISBNs. Ta-dah! |
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