journal
Coming home from very lonely places, all of us go a little mad; whether from great personal success, or just an all-night drive, we are the sole survivors of a world no one else has ever seen.
- John le Carre
- John le Carre
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One down, more to go.
The never ending push to get that next project done. You're still buzzing from the completion of your last one. The confetti hasn't hit the floor yet and you're already itching to work on something else. It's gotta be some kind of illness, seriously. You know the moment when you type "The End" and you're feeling pretty bad-ass about yourself until you realize- I'm not done yet. There's rewrites, edits or send off to editor, formatting, proofreading, send off to beta readers, contact your reviewers, design the cover or pay someone to do it, another read-through for good measure then upload that baby up. I think I'm just now hitting my stride with my many roles as author, proofreader, format person and cover designer. I'm a control freak so I enjoy the process for the most part. Everyone's got their own way of doing things. I'm not so concerned about being everywhere. It doesn't seem to have any effect on sales and website traffic if I don't sign up for another site.Time spent futzing around sites is time not spent on writing and creating stuff. It's weird how my 3-4 mos. lag in between blog posts had little to no effect on my unique traffic. It actually went up - maybe it's because people are checking up on what I've been up to, which is always a good thing. The amount of time spent browsing my site also went up. Sales have been steady during that brief break as well - not bad for not spending a lot of time with social media sites. In saying that, here are my current online hangouts and why I use them (if I use the term "social media" one more time, I think I'm gonna vomit): Twitter: I love, love, love this one. It's like a chat room on steroids. It serves a dual purpose for me: 1) it allows me to stay current on what my fav writers/artists are up to. 2) it allows me to engage people in my world Tumblr: I just signed up for this one. It serves as a repository for things that inspire me, things I find all over the web that I think is pretty interesting, as well as a place to dump some of my mobile photos. Goodreads: - Meh. I find the user experience still awkward at this site. It's a little frustrating - if someone can tell me how to combine my books that are under R. Van Saint plus the ones under Ro Van Saint, maybe it won't be so bad. Right now I just occasionally add books on it, not really very engaging at the moment. I don't even have a proper profile up yet. Anyway, I don't even remember where I was going with this post but whatevs. It's late and I've got the munchies. (Edit: I wrote the first draft of this post late night - 2 days ago) So I guess my point is to keep producing, keep writing, keep creating. Quit talking about it and just do something already then share it with the world. ********** If you like this post pls. take the time to Tweet RT, link back, send a link to someone who might like it, subscribe to my blog, sign up for the newsletter, leave a comment, etc.
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 I'm actually writing this post using the Evernote app. What I love about new media and technology is how it can simplify your workflow. I've used my phone to email myself a quick note about a story idea. Nothing crazy, just a sentence or two while I'm waiting in line or whatever (I hate waiting, I'm impatient).
I always write what exactly the note is for so I'm not completely lost when I get to it at a later date. i.e.) This sounds like a cool name: Jadzia (Yes, I like Star Trek) or Possible title: Invading the Shell (actual title of a short story of mine) I've been an Evernote user for awhile now an it's been a great way to organize and manage individual projects. Not just for writing but also for design gigs. Another app I use is called the My Writing Nook which is synced with an email account. This is the one I use when I'm in between classes and have nothing but time to kill. I've purhased a portable weather proof keyboard that can be rolled up and stuffed in my back pack for longer entries (tapping the screen can be tiresome). So these are two of my favorite simple writing apps. If you have any that you use, feel free to share your experience with it here. Simple apps I use for writing: www.mywritingnook.com www.evernote.com  This dark collection includes these stories: Etiquette - underworld alien sex comes with its own instructions Static - Reality TV isn't always what it looks like The dead don't sleep - paranormal investigations as seen through the eyes of the investigated Strange Hold - A house that holds its owner captive Sick Day - Calling in sick on Z day Invading the shell - Second skin. Jilted Lovers. Erotic cupcakes. Commute - a glimpse into a working-class person's ordeal with traffic in a bizarre (alternate?) future 3 are previously published, and 4 were written specifically for this collection. A buck of bad juju AKA your gateway book for my work. I've reduced the price for Bad Juju: Volume 1 for the meantime. Not sure if I'm going to keep it that way. I wanted those who are unfamiliar with my writing to snap up a copy since it's a good showcase of my current writing style.
For less than a dollar, I think it's a steal. Go get it here: Amazon US Amazon UK Smashwords  Worked on this the last couple of days. It would've been finished sooner but our basement flooded from all this rain. Not too bad but we actually had to use the sump pump to get it all drained out.
Anyway, I'm very happy with the result (obviously) otherwise I wouldn't be posting it =P So a bit about the cover - Yes, those labels pointing to the brain are the actual titles of the stories. I've included 3 stories previously published and 4 brand new ones. Used the same title font as the first volume to unify the two. As usual, I was going for a bold graphic image, the same things that get my attention when I'm shopping for books. Maybe it's all the science courses I've been taking but I just wanted to incorporate the anatomy into this somehow. I originally wanted to do one of those posts where I break down my process of designing a cover but I got carried away with working on the actual cover that I totally forgot to take screenshots. Whoopsies. The beauty of it is, I've got the Photoshop layers saved so technically I can still do that, or I can just save it for the next project. I'll make a general announcement here when it's available for purchase. I'll give my dear Hooligans (newsletter subscribers) have a chance to purchase it at a discounted rate of course. Never too late to join though. In other news, my pre-clinical classes have kept me busy, which explains my absence with the blogs. I have this break in between semesters which I'm using to play catch up with sites, wrap up some projects and start new ones, spend time with family, and take lots of naps. I really do miss blogging regularly but I don't feel guilty anymore about not making frequent posts just because life and shit happens. I'm thinking maybe small, bite-sized, less monumental blog posts are the way too solve that little issue. We shall see. So for now, enjoy the eye candy. |
