Author Archives: CrissyMoss

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About CrissyMoss

I've been writing as long as I can remember.

Rainy NaNoWriMo

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I have a hot cup of tea, the steam wafting up in ribbons of creamy goodness, and the rain is falling just outside my windows. The slick black pavement, and vibrant fall leaves… all of it just makes me want to settle down with a good book, and read.

I love the rain. It’s a calming force that washes the world clean. Everything smells fresh, and the world looks a little clearer after a good rain.

If only it wasn’t so cold.

For the last week I’ve been writing the plot for my NaNoWriMo book. I want it to be my first full length book. (Well, first finished, edited, and published.) That means I’m shooting for 80k, 50 of which I’ll write during November. Finish the rest, and a lot of editing, come December.

This is a major undertaking for me, and a big step in terms of publishing. Everything so far has been novellas and short stories. It’s time I did something full length.

I’m also going to keep working on some of my short stories, and hopefully publish a few more, but my main focus is going to be the NaNo project.

And what is my NaNo project this year? So glad you asked!

“The Mermaid’s Curse” is a paranormal romance. A young mermaid has been cursed by a powerful entity seeking a physical manifestation on land.

I’m still working out a few of the details, and a lot is going to change over time. I will probably share a few of those details, and maybe a first chapter here as NaNo continues.

And yes, this one also has a battle scene but the focus is more on the relationship between the mermaid and a young man who has vowed to protect her at any cost.

Should be fun.

Hooray!

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This morning I did an interview on Buddy’s Writing Show. We discussed “Forgotten Ones”, how I got into the whole self publishing biz in the first place, and a bit about my own podcast. It was a great interview, and I was really honored to be his first guest.

Keep an eye out for more episodes. Buddy already has a calendar booked with more guests.

“Forgotten Ones” is 2.99 for just a few hours more. It will be $4.99 after tomorrow. 

Also, I’m prepping for NaNoWriMo. I’m looking forward to it, but at the same time I am not very confident that I am going to finish this time.

I worked for three months on “Forgotten Ones”, a 30k word book. I actually wrote the 3000 word synopsis back in May, and it sat on my shelf till August. I actually wrote it in Aug, and Sept, and edited in October. Published it on the 18th.

So… two months to write, half a month to edit…. on just 30k words.

I think it will work a lot better with two projects going because when I get stuck on one I can work on another. That is what has usually kept me writing steadily, and when I get to the end of the month I have to finished projects.

I’m still pretty sure I’m going to work on one of my paranormal romance stories. But I’ve got a few to choose from… so we’ll see.

Forgotten Ones- FINISHED!

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FO-sm“Forgotten Ones” is finally here!

It is on Amazon for $2.99 for the weekend. I will also have it on Kobo soon. A print book should be available by Nov.

The story of the goddesses of Fate in the modern day, fighting to save humanity from one of their kin.

This felt like it took a long time to me, but I realized this is actually the fastest I have ever completed something this long. Three months, 30,000 words. Not only written, but edited, formated, and covers done. Start to finish, less then three months.

I’ve done NaNoWriMo before. A hot sweltering mass of words tumbling out across the page. 50,000 word rough draft to show for it at the end. I’ve done it, several times.

But those are drafts. Incomplete. Unviewable by the general public. It took me another three months, after writing them, just to do the rewrites.

Once I completed “Forgotten Ones” my boyfriend showed up at my door with a dozen red roses, and a platter of sushi. If that’s what I get for finishing a short book, I can’t wait to see what I get when I publish a full length, 100,000 word epic novel!

As for the next book, I am hoping to get the two short stories I’ve been working on finished, and published, soon. One is a halloween story, and should have been up at the beginning of the month, so we’ll see.

For NaNoWriMo, starting Nov 1st, I will be working on two, or three, of my paranormal romances. They will probably be 30,000 words each, that’s why I’m doing two.

The best part about all of this is just finishing something, and being that much closer to a full time writing career… oh, and affording an editor to re-edit everything. That will be nice too.

Some Updates

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pssm

 

So a few things have happened this week.

I published “Potion Shop”. It’s available for 99 cents at the moment, but will be raised to $2.99 on Monday. You can find it on Amazon or Kobo.

I also published a few more books on Kobo. Two of them are stuck in publishing. Kobo’s tech team is working to figure out why that is, and hopefully all of my currently available titles will be available on Kobo and Amazon very soon.

FO-sm

 

Also, I have three chapters left to edit and finish writing for “Forgotten Ones”.

I am hoping it will be out this weekend as well. I’ve been sick for the last few days so it’s slowed down my writing quite a bit, but now I’m starting to feel better so I have high hopes.

Also…. Tonight is the Self Publish Round Table Podcast. If you haven’t seen it yet, then you need to! We all have a roaring good time, and the comments get pretty awesome. If you hang around after the podcast we usually have an after party and chat with all our wonderful fans.

See you tonight!

Distractions and Productivity

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There comes a point in every project, be it a corporate portfolio, a painting, song or book, that your mind starts wandering. Everything seems to be distracting you. The rhythm from the song playing, the TV in the next room, the anticipation of a show on TV. The cat rubbing up against your leg.

How do you get through that? For me, I take a break.

When you are getting that many distractions it’s sometimes just your brain saying “Hey, I’m working hard here, I need a break.”

I understand deadlines, and work ethics. You have to work with those, as well as your brains natural tendencies to overload with too much work. I find taking a ten to fifteen minute break is usually enough to get me back on track. (Unless the distraction is something living that is demanding attention, those are harder to ignore, especially children.)

There has actually been research that taking a break is good for productivity. It gives your mind a chance to wander, and then when you get back on task it is more at ease.

My favorite mini breaks are a quick level of one of my puzzle games. I have a lot to choose from. A quick walk around the house, or taking a break to wash some dishes, grab a cup of coffee, and other similar tasks are also on my list.

I have found that after prolonged time in my chair I NEED to get up and walk around. I’m not as young as I use to be, and the fact that sitting a lot causes premature death, I want to get up and walk around more anyway. Or, like today, write at my standing desk.

All of this has gotten me to here… with “Forgotten Ones” just three chapters of editing away from being finished. It feels so good to accomplish something!

Okay, done with the break, time to get back to the grind.

Writing Backwards

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I had an unusual solution to an old problem today. I’m probably not the first person to come up with this, but I thought I’d share it anyway.

I was working on a chapter for “Forgotten Ones” in which the two fates, Maylin and Jadina, are walking down a tunnel in search of a particular creature that will hopefully lead them to the big bad guy. I knew how it began, and how I wanted it to end, but the middle… not so much.

So, I started writing it backwards. I read the last paragraph and thought “how do they get to this spot”, and add a paragraph describing that. Then write the paragraph, or mini scene right before that.

For example….

June is walking down a path, and knows that the monster under the bed is at the end of the path. She’s going to walk down the path, see some interesting things on the sidelines, and eventually end up at the monsters den. She goes in the den, there is a little fight, and June ends up sitting on top of the monster with the monsters feet tied up.

So, that is my beat. I write the first section with June walking through the woods, and entering the den, no problem. I am really good at that part. I write the ending with June sitting on the monster, and a little quip about the monster having too many hands and not enough brains. But in the center I just have “battle”.

Battle scenes are the hardest scenes for me to write, which is annoying since a lot of my books have them. But what are you going to do… unless I try and find myself a co-author I’m stuck for it.

So, with this particular story that I am just making up on the spur of the moment, if I try writing it backwards as I just did with “Forgotten Ones” I would think… How did she get on top of the monster? Well clearly she had to have all his hand already captured so the paragraph before would be her locking up the last hand, then swinging her leg over the beast and having a seat.

Then what happened just before that? Well, it has a lot of hands, so she is going to have to dodge them as she is tangling them up in a long ribbon. (This is where I just realize she has a ribbon to tie up the hands.)

Before that, there needs to be some tension. Maybe the monster grabs her ankle and drags her down, and she manages to get herself loose by tickling him.

And just keep going backwards until I have a full story. (On a side note, this sounds like a fun story to write as a children’s book with pictures. Maybe some day.)

In other news…..

I now have nine books available on Kobo. I have two more in queue to be on Kobo, but they are coming.

“Forgotten One” is now 25,000 words long, and I am a little half way through the final edits. Plus the two chapters with battle scenes that I have to finish… sigh.

“Potion Shop” is almost done, also. I really need to just get that out there. Perhaps this weekend.

Validation!

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I got my first payment from Amazon the other day. It wasn’t much, but it was nice to actually get something for all the work I’ve put into writing.

It made me feel validated that the thing I started is actually panning out. People actually like my writing, and want to read what I have to say. Not just read it, but pay for it.

Maybe it’s because I grew up without much money. Maybe it’s because I have gone without, and worked hard to get what I have. Who knows. Maybe it’s just my own ideals about money that make me feel this way. The idea that other people not only think my writing is good, but worth paying with their own hard earned money to read it… that gives me a big boost in confidence.

I know I don’t want to pay money for things I don’t like. Or even if something is just “eh” to me. But if I really like it, or the people behind it and want to support them because I know it’s a worthwhile cause, then I’ll part with some cash.

So, I’ve been extra productive this week. I will have all of my books out on Kobo by the end of the month, and hopefully three more stories (two shorts for Halloween, and then “Forgotten Ones”). One short is complete, just doing a final revision. “Forgotten Ones” is close. And the third, a YA Halloween short story, is half done.

The best news… I figured out how they beat the bad guy in “Forgotten Ones”. I was having a bit of trouble with that, but once I figured it out everything started flowing together.

So, to recap:
Paying for books is good.
It makes authors feel appreciated, and liked.
It encourages them to be more productive.
And reviews also help LOTS!

So go review or buy a book from your favorite author. They will really appreciate it. (Especially if it’s an indie where every sale/review counts.)

Around the Web

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I stopped doing “Around the Web” segments on my blog because I started doing the “Self-Publishing Round Table”. Once we started focusing on writer related news it no longer made sense to also do a blog post.

But, I then stopped linking the show to my blog. I shouldn’t have stopped.

On that note… if you’d like to see the video you can get it here, on youtube. The video is also available to watch, along with the community commentary, on our podcast website.

If you’re only interested in the news, here are the links we talked about this week. 

 Tom Clancy died on Tuesday…

New global online bookseller that has ships worldwide, and has free shipping.

 Random Penguin says it’s still about the books…

Jeff Bezos shows shows off a new video tech support. (Kindle Fire)

The Alliance of Independent Authors warns about publishers using unscrupulous practices. (again!)

 Author pleads for readers to buy his books direct from publisher, not Amazon.

How KDP select might still work in some circumstances.

Why char-langs are so interesting, and fans LOVE them. (video)

Kobo on track to be a billion dollar company. I believe that is news.

 Scribd, Harper Collins team up to be an ACTUAL Netflix of books.

A blog that tracks indie book sales/placements.

 

And one we missed from the actual show:

What if writing was a competition?

Sleep!

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It’s 2am, do you know where your pillow is?

Mine has been under my head, on the floor, under my knees, beside me, and… well… everywhere. Still, I can’t sleep.

Allergies, how I hate them. I can’t get comfortable, and breath. My throat feels constricted, and my eyes blurry. Thus the pillow dance, trying to find a way to get comfortable and fall asleep.

I have five pillows on my bed. You’d think I’d be able to figure something out… no dice.

Maybe I should tell myself a story… one about jelly fish creatures on another world trying to figure out how those bipedal humanoids actually made it to another planet….

TL;DR this post is me rambling to myself, trying to fall asleep.