Got some really great reviews from the guys over at The Story Telling Podcast.
“She’s great at flash fiction” V.C. Coll (author of The Miscellaneous Adventures of Princess Leona)
Prophecy by Barlight is “Cute and humorous.” Garrett Robinson (author Hit Girls, Non-zombie, etc)
And Z.C. Bolger (author of Danny Calloway and the Puzzle House) just got inspired to write something when he read “Necropolis“, but he’s waiting until I finish “Forgotten Ones”.
*Happy dance!*
I experienced a rather weird thing this week.
You know when you go to the eye doctor, and they shine a bright light in your eye so they can see the back of your eye and check for issues? Ya, she did that… and I could HEAR the light.
This is the first time, that I can remember, where light triggered an audible episode. I’ve read about the phenomenon before, just never experienced it myself.
I have photophobia. That is a sensitivity to light. Even as a child I would hide out in the library, or sit in the shade with my eyes closed, because I could not see in the bright sunlight.
As a kid in sunny California with parents who constantly said “go out and play!”… Lets just say I was a well read kid.
I could buy stock in sun glasses. I break or lose them a lot, and have to get more so that I can function. Thankfully there aren’t a lot of bright sunny days in the north west.
But hearing light… that was an interesting experience. It sounded like the roar of the ocean in my ear. It would have been almost soothing if it hadn’t also been causing sharp pains and a head ache.
Maybe some day I will learn to keep my sun glasses in the car.
Or maybe I’ll just buy another book and stay in.
It’s been a while since I did an “Around the Web” post, so I thought I should catch up.
In the news this week, the biggest thing is the protests in Turkey. Huge protests, with thousands of people marching against the police. There are amazing pictures coming out of Turkey, and a lot of chatter on Reddit from people who are actually there, and what is going on.
I hope they make some headway…
Now, for the rest of the news.
Hugh Howie talks about indie authors who make a living writing.
Hugh Howie also plugged an Anne Rice video on “how to be a writer.” Hint: Go WRITE!
Neil Gaiman talks about the book that made him.
Neil Gaiman’s speach, “Make Good Art”, is now in a book form.
George R.R. Martin wrote 250k words for The World of Ice and Fire.
An Anne McCaffery tribute book will be out soon.
John Green claims Penguin to be the most effective publishing house for YA.
And non writing related…
An old video of a 7-11 at 2am from back in the 80’s. I forgot people use to smoke inside stores.
For a moment of levity, Tim Burton inspired Pokemon.
Someone did a minecraft world simulation, 1:1500 scale.
When I first started publishing I was a little worried. Worried no one would like it, worried I would make a bad name for myself, worried I’d never sale one… etc. etc.
But it’s actually going better then I thought it would. Sure, I’ve only had 22 sales, and 48 freebies… but that’s 60+ people that read my book.
What’s even better, I have only 4 and 5 star reviews. That makes me think I’m on the right track, even if it is a slow track.
On that note… I’ll be putting out Small Bites 2 next week. Now that I have some momentum I want to keep that going. I am working on several projects at once so that I will (hopefully) be able to publish something new every Friday for a while.
Books will come out as 99 cents for the first weekend, and then go up, except the Small Bites series. They will stay 99 cents as they are really short.
Then, once all the Small Bites are out, I will stick them up as one set for 2.99 (which gets you one book for free). And I will also be working to put out a big book of all my short stories eventually. No idea what I will price it at yet.
But for right now… Small Bites 2, and we’ll worry about everything else later.
The circumstance dictates that my life should be a failure.
No, wait, I’m not done.
I am 36. Divorced. I have three teenagers. I work a low paying, dead end job with no opportunities for advancement. Two years of college but no degree. Very little job experience. And I’m broken from years of abuse.
Circumstances dictate that I should be a failure. Never get anywhere, never accomplish anything, and die alone. The little old lady with a house full of cats. (Sorry, apartment, I make too little to get a house.) Too many kids, and too much baggage for any sane person to take a chance on.
Well, screw the circumstances!
Your life, and your situation do not dictate who you are, or where you are going, unless you let them. We are not the sum of the experiences we are dealt, rather we are the sum of how we deal with those circumstances.
There have been men who hiked to the top of everest despite not having feet. Women who made families, and raised children despite lack of legs. People who won contest, performed great feats of strength, painted, sculpted, created, and THRIVED despite the circumstances of their life.
What’s your excuse?
I have a lot of circumstances, but they don’t define me. I am using my time, energy, and passion to pursue the one thing that I have always loved, and always wanted to do.
I write.
I am turning my circumstances into useful things. Using the past, the baggage, and the brokenness, as springboards for stories. Using my job as time to think through plots while I sweep floors. Enjoying my family, and building a new life.
Life isn’t always easy. But the truth is… the trees that are sheltered, that never stand up to the winds… those are the weakest trees in the forest.
Don’t let circumstances get you down. Use them. Grow. Stand firm against the wind. Lean on friends and family if you need to, and prune away the rough bits. But above all else, don’t let the circumstances dictate your life.
A friend called me up the other day and told me about this amazing sale. A book warehouse was selling everything, just $10 for one bag of books. And you brought the bag, any size.
Well, I had a rolling cart. I could fit a lot of books in that thing. Maybe even a couple hundred. Didn’t matter, she said. Ten bucks.
The warehouse was actually three buildings FILLED with shelves of books. The shelves were pretty close together, too.
Enough that I sometimes had to squeeze through to fit.
Books upon books, stretching out as far as you could see. All of them mixed together in no logical order.
We were hunting for hours to find any that we might like.
Many of them were romances. A lot of mystery. It took me hours to find some sci-fi and fantasy, or paranormal. But I eventually came away with a nice stack of books. I grabbed some Nora Roberts, who seemed to be one of the most prolific authors there, and a few Dean Koontz, and then a bunch of random books with interesting covers.
And you know what I discovered while crawling through those three buildings with thousands and thousands of books laid out before me? Mind you, I could throw as many as I wanted in my cart, and price wasn’t really an option….
Book covers are boring.
Nora Roberts, Dean Koontz, John Grisham, and more… all of them.. boring covers.
You have the authors name in HUGE letters, a boring picture, and not much else. Most of them just labeled them as “fiction” so I couldn’t even get a read on what kind of fiction it was. It was frustrating… three warehouses worth of books and not much time to pic out a book, and this is what I had to choose from.
I did manage to find a lot of books with good covers… but it was hard to find them. And a lot of them were meant for younger children.
I notice that Sci-fi and Fantasy are more likely to have expressive covers. Romance is likely to have two people kissing, or something like that. Paranormal will often have an expressive cover.
This is why I work so hard on my own covers. I want someone to be able to look at a glance, and get an idea of what’s inside the book. So far I think I’ve done alright… You be the judge.
A prophecy taunts the proprietor of a little bar, until he can’t take it anymore. Mayhem ensues.
Prophecy by Barlight is out, and available for this weekend only at 99 cents.
After this weekend it will go up to $2.99.
So get it while it’s HOT!
Prophecy by Barlight is a comedic tale about a barkeep, and his desire to get rid of a prophecy. He’s willing to go to some extremes to do it, too.
I finished re-writing “Prophecy by Barlight” last night.
I’m going through it again to smooth it out, and I am hoping for release on Friday at 99 cents. It will be 99 cents for a week, then it will go to $2.99.
“Prophecy by Barlight” is the tale of Galdris, the poor hapless sot that buys the Drunken Unicorn, complete with a prophecy in vibrant blue letters on the wall. He soon discovers that the prophecy might draw customers in, but it also causes problems… problems that slowly eat away at him, until he’ll go to great lengths to free himself.
A comedic, fantasy story. 3500 words. (14 pages).
I am one of those lucky people that works a 9-5 job. Lucky because at least I have a job, even if it isn’t exactly what I’d like to be doing. At least it isn’t a very difficult job, gives me time to make notes for later writing, and I feel like I am accomplishing a useful service for people… most days.
Then there are days like today when someone comes in and yells at me, then tells me everything is my fault, and I’m a liar because his sister or girlfriend (whatever she was to him) was a pretty smart girl and couldn’t possibly have misunderstood me.
Now… Deep breath. Calm down…
Some days I wish I could just be a writer, and nothing else. Other days I remind myself that this is a good opportunity to study a human beings real reactions and use it to write about later.
But at the moment… at the moment I just wish I could tell him he’s a jerk to his face, and I would really like to kick him out of my store for yelling at me.
Pick your battles. Breath deep. Find the good things in life and let the bad ones flow off you. Otherwise how will you ever survive?
A few days ago Amazon announced their intentions to start a new line. Fan fiction… for pay.
This is unusual because fan fiction is usually skirting copyright by avoiding pay.
Basically, if you write fan fiction for “Vampire Diaries” or “Pretty Little Liars”, and it isn’t porn, then you have a chance of earning some money from the sale of that fan fiction. However, in exchange Amazon, and the original IP owners (in this case the studio producing that franchise) get to use your stories in whatever way shape or form they want to, and they don’t have to cut you in on the deal.
This is good, in the way that it allows some people who like writing fan fiction to write it, and sell it. To earn money they would not have been able to earn otherwise.
This is bad because if you do write the fan fiction, then the producers decide your fic is good and they want to make that into an episode… well they already have it. You aren’t getting paid anymore for it, no matter what you say or do. You don’t even get the regular writers fees for people who work on these shows.
If you write it anyway, maybe it is okay for you. But in all honesty I like Hugh Howey’s idea of fan-fic better. He encourages it, and lets you sell. He doesn’t care. He doesn’t even care what kind of fan-fic it is because it’s your work. He even advertises it on his website!
Fan fiction is an interesting beast all it’s own. I wrote it when I was younger. E.L. James wrote it then changed it up and made millions off “50 Shades of Grey”. Fan fiction isn’t going anywhere.
But I don’t agree with giving Amazon, or “Pretty Little Liars” the ability to use your work unchecked. If they want to hire you as a writer… great. If they want to use your work, license it. But don’t just claim it for a few bucks while they make millions.
John Skulzi had something to say about Amazon’s new world, and Neil Gaiman agreed with him. Here is Neil Gaiman’s opinion on fan fiction itself.
If you want to write it, and publish it, just know what you’re getting into.
NOTE: “Twilight Tales” will only be available for a few more hours, but if you did pick it up, and read it, please consider giving it a review. Reviews mean so much to new authors. Also, there are three more books available ranging .99 to 2.99.
Author Crissy Moss 