What a Weekend It Was

Courtesy of Morguefile.com

Earlier this month, I attended ConGlomeration, a sci-fi/fantasy convention here in Louisville. This was my second time at ConGlom, and my first time being on panels: Mysterious Ways, the Love Connection, Monsters and Folklore, and Religion and the Supernatural. I also read from my short dark suspense story, "Family Tradition."

What I love about cons is meeting new people and seeing old acquaintances again. This year, I met fellow authors, L. Andrew Cooper and Rachael Rawlings, as well as authors I've met before, including Kate Lynd/Amy McCorkle, Marian Allen, and Tony Acree. I also talked with a publisher about a short story collection project, and met another publisher I want to submit to in the future.

Cons are a great place to network. One of the things I do is collect business cards, which I keep in a booklet. That way, if I see these people again, I remember where I first met them. Who knows, they might help me on my writing/publishing journey.

Now to get ready for Fandom Fest this summer.        

End of an Era

Most books aren't published forever.  Print publishers make room for new titles by having limited print runs, and backlisted titles that don't sell are often not reprinted.  Since e-books are technically forever, e-book publishers often deal with this by offering time-limited contracts.

Sadly, this means that my three-year contract with Lyrical Press for SUFFER THE CHILDREN has now come to an end.  The e-book in its current format has disappeared from all online retailers.  This has been a hard thing to deal with.  It's particularly depressing to discover that it's gone from the Amazon Kindle list, along with the handful of generally positive reviews it had notched up.  Somehow seeing it on Amazon made me feel validated as an author.

However, the good news is that with the end of the contract, the rights have reverted back to me, to do with them as I see fit.  And SUFFER THE CHILDREN will return as an e-book, although with a different cover.  In fact, I've commissioned an artist I know to work on the new cover image.  Watch this space for more information.

In the meantime, SUFFER THE CHILDREN is still on Goodreads - at least it is at present.  With the recent news about Amazon taking over Goodreads, who knows what's going to happen.  For now, at least, it's there, along with a few reviews that people have posted there.  So if you enjoyed SUFFER THE CHILDREN, why not go post a review there?  It might help me boost sales when the rebooted version is released.

If you didn't get around to buying it, all is not lost, as it will be back in the near future.  In the meantime, you could try DEATH SCENE or SOUL SCREAMS while you wait.  Both of them are still available from Amazon...

Writing 10K

Courtesy of MorgueFile.com

Yesterday was the start of BIAM_Writathon, the BIAM standing for Book in a Month. Every April, a group of us intrepid writers embark on a month-long journey to get words on paper (or on the screen). Unlike NaNoWriMo, there's no minimum word goal. You don't even have to write a new story. Revising is perfectly fine, too.

I wanted to step up my proverbial game. One of my shortcomings as an author is I'm a slow writer. As a result, I watch my fellow writers dash past me to the finish line, contracts their trophies. Needless to say, this can be very discouraging.

So, armed with Rachel Aaron's 2K to 10K, I set myself a goal. At least once, I would write 10k words, just to see if I could do it.

I did. Yesterday, I started Serpent's Venom, the second book in my Angels of Death series. Armed with a 15-page outline and a lot of determination, I pushed aside my internal editor and wrote. It took about eight hours, but I did it.

Not so sure I'll make that word count today, although I've clocked in 2k, and I can stay up all night if I want. If I don't limit myself to having to get 10k in before midnight, when Tuesday officially ends, then it's feasible.

Maybe I don't have as many book contracts as my fellow writers, but I keep hanging in there, persevering, writing and revising. I don't know who originally said writing was a marathon, not a sprint, but he or she is right.

But if I can write 10k words a day, I'm going to give it my best.