Not much time to write today, folks (especially considering I wanted to write this post yesterday, we can all see how my week is progressing!).
Novel is coming along pretty well, all things considered, and I have a good feeling about it. I can also tell already that it’s going to take a hefty dose of revision, but that’s okay! At least it’s getting done.
Started my new English class (British Literary Traditions I), and phew, do I ever have a lot of difficult reading to do in the next 4 days. That stated, I am excited to finally officially read Beowulf, which I have a passing familiarity with but have never actually read.
Okay, that’s it for today! Hope everyone out there is staying safe and healthy!
By the numbers
As a man who holds a physics degree (kinda-sorta two, but that’s a long story full of sighs), I like numbers. A live a lot of my life by things that can be specifically quantified and measured… things like “how many words have I written today?” or “On a scale of 1-to-10 how good is this game?” or “How many hours of guitar practice have I done this week?”
Numbers are important to me. I have a father who imposed a very rigorous set of conditions on my success, and coupling that to an understand (albeit a limited understanding) of mathematics means that I like numbers. We don’t always get along (hello partial differential equations and Matlab), but that doesn’t displace how important they are.
In my transition to a writer, some of that has bled through. Those of you who have read my work know that I frequently include some rough calculations in my books: Tintian and Millesabord, for example, the first time they meet have some quick mental calculations to determine both their rotational speed and the velocity at which they are approaching a crash landing on the moon. But this also comes across in my goals: I have a specific yearly dollar amount that I need to make in order to consider myself a full-time author, I have specific numbers of novels I want to release every year (four a year for this year, and eventually down to 2 or 3 a year when I have a bit more breathing room and time), and I track how many visits my website gets multiple times a week.
I think that there are people who live without this hyper-focus on the numbers in their careers. People who don’t need to know exactly how much money they’re making (for example, my job I work to pay for my writing, I don’t actually know how much I make a year or per hour. I have a kind of vague idea, and every week money appears in my account as a result of my work, but I don’t really care how much since I know it’s “enough”). I suspect that those people are probably happier, in a general sense, but by the same token I don’t really want to be one of those people (although if you are one of them, more power to you!). I like seeing how far I’ve come, and that involves, in some way, counting the steps I’ve taken.
Anyway. I saw that I landed two unsolicited sales in the last couple days, and that was a really nice feeling (one that I hope picks up pace by a lot some day, but I can still appreciate it right now!). Made me think about numbers.
I’m going to get back to writing my first novel of 2021! I’m really excited about this one, even if I think I have to completely re-write Chapter 2 already… but that’s okay! That’s what first drafts are for!
Hope everyone out there is healthy and safe!
The Joy of Discovery
Today I want to write about two very different elements of discovery.
First, I want to mention that I’ve started watching Star Trek Discovery, and it is quite delightful. I’m only on the first season (no spoilers, ^_^), and only 7 episodes in, but it is a very different take on Star Trek and I have to say I am really enjoying it. The aesthetic is heavily influenced by the most recent wave of Star Trek movies, but honestly I am 100% okay with that. I know they’re not to everyone’s taste, but I really enjoyed them. And, perhaps not coincidentally, I’m really enjoying Discovery as well! If what everyone says about the series only getting better as time goes on is true, then I’m very happy!
But the other more important discovery is related to how I write. While it is well-known that I am far more of a ‘pantser’ than a ‘planner’ (referring to the two main ways that most writers identify their book-writing-style, ‘planners’ being those who make elaborate plans and notes before starting a novel, and ‘pantsers’ being fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants writers who tend to forgo pre-writing notes to instead discover the story and characters as they proceed). I am primarily a pantser, myself, although like all writers the truth is somewhere in the middle: I usually take about a day to put down major plot points and character notes, and then fill those in further as I go along.
But this is great for me, because it means I am excited and engaged by the surprise of what is going to happen the whole time! Not to say that the way planners write is incorrect, of course, and anything that gets you in front of the keyboard or with pen in hand is good, but for me the joy of writing is learning about these characters locked in my head.
And Monday when I was writing, I was struggling with a pretty significant plot point (one that is several chapters down the line from where I am currently writing), and then yesterday a solution occurred to me that I am excited to put into the story! It’s going to be great!
So! Onward towards discovery!
Hope everyone out there is safe and healthy!
A Solid Start!
The year has well and truly begun. So far, 2021 is off to a pretty good start, honestly… I watched a delightful romance series (“Bridgerton”) which, despite a few stumbles, was thoroughly enjoyable, and my partner and I have started to tackle “Star Trek Discovery”, which I am enamored with at this point (only 6 episodes in thus far, but I really like the character of Michael and I’m very happy with a lot of the tropes they’ve avoided in your usual Star Trek series… plus it has a very cinematic feel to the series, which I am very much enjoying. It’s not perfect, but it’s been great!).
And, of course, I’ve started the next novel!
I’ve been diligent this time and I’ve written out a pretty comprehensive (by my standards) set of notes for the universe and world-building, plus a rough outline for the story. The protagonist, Mina Hattori, is on a quest, and the other main characters are determined to join her for their own reasons or to stop her from succeeding because it would rock too many boats (metaphorically speaking). I don’t have a complete picture of who Mina is just yet, but that’s okay! I look forward to getting to know her at I dive into the writing of the novel itself.
Goal for this one is going to be 75,000 words for the first draft, to be tightened down to about 65,000 before it goes off to the editor. We’ll see how that works out, but I am hopeful to have that done by midway through February (I know it sounds like a lot, but I am nothing if not prolific when it comes to putting one word after another!).
So I am happy with how this year has started, honestly. Perfect, no, but happy.
I hope everyone out there is staying safe and healthy!
2021 Incoming!
Well, here we are, about 48 hours or so remaining in 2020 (closer to 36, but whatever, who’s counting?). I think a lot of people are excited about finally putting this year in their rear view mirrors.
2021 is going to be an interesting year. The Canadian government has stated that everyone should have the vaccine by September 2021, which sounds lovely on the one hand, but on the other hand we’ve been dealing directly with the pandemic since March 2020, which means that we’re about 9 months into it, and September is about 9 months away… or, to put it differently, we’re probably about halfway through this.
Halfway. Like, the midpoint. Can’t say I’m crazy about that thought.
Still, Ontario is in lockdown again, and that’s actually quite nice. My job has become a lot safer (despite the fact I would argue we shouldn’t be open at all, since that’s not a call I can make at least my bosses are being reasonably safe and cautious with their employees, which is a lot better than most companies are doing), my hours are more reasonable again, and I have a few weeks to go before my next English course starts (British Literature I, I believe). Which is great! I’ve got the foundation for the next novel started, and I’m going to finish that today (or possibly just start writing and then finish up the outline later… not 100% sure at this point). And tomorrow is a half-day followed by another day off on Friday, and then a nice Saturday shift followed by two more days off… I mean, in the grand scheme of things, while I am going to miss my friends we usually see on New Year’s Eve, this isn’t as bad as it could potentially be.
Anyway, moral of the story is that I’m pretty calm at the end of this year. Things aren’t great, but they are definitely trending in a positive direction.
So, with that, I will wish all of you a very safe and happy end of 2020, and all the best for the New Year as it approaches! Let’s be kind to each other, read lots, and stay safe out there!
A Year In Review
Well, that just about does it for 2020. Good riddance to bad trash.
Overall, the year was pretty good for me professionally, with 3 new novels out into the world and a fair number of sales to go along with that. Now, we’re not talking “Can Live On It” levels of sales, of course, but there are people who I don’t personally know who have bought my books and some of them even seemed to enjoy them, and that’s a massive step forward. My reviews on Goodreads continue to be in the 4-to-5 star range (and a couple really nice text reviews!), and while I have received my first-ever 1-star review on Amazon, even that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
I mean, sure, I want everyone who reads my work to love it, but that’s just not reasonable. The best authors in human history have people who hate their work. Art is nothing if not highly subjective. And I’m not upset by a 1-star review! One of the biggest things about being an author is having a relatively thick skin (I say “relatively” because we’re all human).
So, numbers-wise… not a bad year. I mean, the year itself outside of my writing career was multiple dumpster-fires simultaneously, but aside from that, it was a good-ish professional year.
I’ve started the next novel (the first for 2021) today, and that’s always fun. But my post on Wednesday will probably be about my plans for 2021, so no need to go into those just yet.
For all of you out there who read this, whether the day I’m writing it or, for some reason, years later, thank you for your interest in my writing, and I hope you’re all safe and healthy and happy!
Just a Few More Days...
Well, three more days until I get a day off. That will be nice! I work until 3pm on the 24th, and after that… a nice relaxing dinner (no idea of what, but relaxing of some variety!), and then on the 25th I am going to wake up, make pancakes, and then play video games until I fall asleep on the couch.
On the 26th? The 26th I start writing the next novel. One day off is probably more than enough, right? Right.
I can’t say I’m going to miss this holiday season. Usually working at a game store to pay bills is a hard gig for the holidays… long hours, busy crowds, and lots of very irate customers who always ask the wrong questions, but to be honest I usually enjoy it (while simultaneously being ground down like rock under a torrent of water). But this year has been three times the stress. The store finally decided to have a no-exception mask-required policy (long overdue), which is a weight off my mind, but it’s still stressful and we’re all approaching our wits collective end.
But that’s okay! Only three more days. Three more days…
Exam Done!
Well, I have Shakespeare’d my last Shakespeare, I hope. The exam was fine, I think I did probably fine (maybe a little less fine, but probably not spectacular). But, most importantly, it’s done! That’s that. On to British Literature next semester (which I am looking forward to like a root canal).
In other news, today is my last day off for a full week of customer chaos. Fun! But only one week left, and then a bunch of days off. It’s chilly today, but that’s okay, and I’m at home alone and enjoying a little bit of peace and quiet before heading back to the paying job tomorrow. Might actually get a bit of writing done, if I’m lucky!
Not much else to report. The news of the vaccine on the horizon has been very encouraging, as is the continued signs of a change of administration to our south, so all in all today is a pretty positive day.
Here’s hoping it lasts!
Hope everyone out there is staying safe and healthy!
Stupid Technology
In the grand scheme of things, I have very little to complain about. The big one, of course, is not being able to make a living by being a writer (yet!). Everything else in my life that I could complain about sort of pales in comparison.
That stated, technology can be a fickle, fickle thing. Friday I had my exam review class for the Shakespeare course I am taking (“Tragedies and Histories”), and my laptop had decided at some point between Wednesday and Friday morning to lose 3 days worth of lectures.
Now, normally, this would be a minor annoyance, but with the exam looming, this is 4.5 hours of lectures I have to re-watch, re-take notes on, and then start studying. I mean, the upside is that I am going to know Antony and Cleopatra really well! Downside… ain’t nobody got time for that! I have to be at work in about an hour today… thankfully I should have the required time afterwards, but this is pushing back the review part of “exam review” quite precariously.
Oh well! As I said, few things I can really complain about. Never enough time, not making a living from writing… and then everything else. Can’t be too upset about that, I suppose!
Hope everyone out there is safe and healthy!
Had to happen sooner or later!
Well, it’s official. I’ve received my first 1-star review on Amazon. It was going to happen eventually, and considering it’s my 12th review (11 of which are four or five stars)… I think I’m okay with that.
Let’s be honest. There’s no such thing as perfect art. Some people will love it, some people will hate it, and at the end of the day that’s probably a good thing. It means different people like different things, and I’m really okay with that! Sure, I’d like to rack up a better ratio (100-to-1 would be nice!), but again, if we project this forward (unsafe), 90% of readers loving my work and less than 10% hating it… that’s okay!
It is even, in its own way, kind of a good thing. This means that people are seeing my work! And (probably) paying for it… that’s good! I mean, they may have downloaded it for free (legally through Kindle Unlimited, for example), but even then, more eyeballs on my work is almost always going to be a good thing, and I am definitely not so arrogant that I think my work is perfect and that everyone will love it.
Anyway, it was going to happen eventually, and it has. Hopefully the only one for a while, though, but I suppose if you’re here reading my work you kinda agree with me on that (unless you’re hate-reading in which case… maybe get a different hobby? Lots of books out there, mate, I’m sure there are ones you’d like better!).
Hope everyone out there is staying safe and healthy!
The Queen of the A.I.s is now available!
Woo! Happy to see it up and available for purchase! My first YA-novel, and sci-fi (of course) out in the world.
Heck of a ride with that one. But I’m happy it’s available to people, and I am very, very proud of the story that I made. The last few chapters in TQotAI are among the best things I’ve ever written.
So that leaves me with no pressing stories (as we established a few days ago), which is fine. This is always a bit of a frantic time to write anyway… under the best of circumstances, which December 2020 is most certainly not. But that’s okay! I’m going to take a few days off writing, and just do my best in the few remaining classes I have this semester (and the exam, of course), and then just try to make it through to the end of the holiday rush without stabbing anyone.
Then I’ll have a few days to do some world-building (one of my favourite parts of writing new fiction!), layout some plot points, outline a few new characters… exciting!
Anyway! For now I’m going to bask in the joy of having finished 3 novels this year. And for everyone out there who has purchased one (or more!), thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Stay safe and healthy, everyone!
Next novel submitted!
And that’s three novels for the year. A little shy of the four I was aiming for, but honestly, considering the year… I’m going to call it a win.
It’s been submitted, so hopefully in the next week or so “The Queen of the A.I.s” will go live on Amazon, and I’ll announce it here (and over on Patreon, of course!) shortly thereafter. I have no super-impending homework assignments (aside from listening to Antony and Cleopatra, since I’m struggling mightily against the length of the work), which is nice, and this wraps up my writing obligations for the year (aside from a short story I still haven’t finished… whoops…), but since I am going to be up to my ears in retail work for the next 23 days, that’s okay! Home stretch, as it is.
Anyway! Good news for me, at least, and hopefully people like the new novel! And it leads them to more of my other novels! That would be great. Now I just have to decide if I want to increase my advertising budget for it for a few weeks, try to get more eyeballs… ha, why does everything cost so much money…
Oh well! Upwards and onwards!
Hope everyone out there is staying safe and healthy!
New Cover Purchased!
So once again the stage of finding a cover for my book has been completed. This is an interesting process… I really look forward to being able to pay for custom artwork at some point in my work, but for now finding good pre-generated covers is just part of the process.
The artist I use (guy named James) is pretty consistent. Some of his covers are very, very not for me, but by that token I’m sure there are people out there who don’t like the covers I choose. And of course these aren’t a perfect fit, but I think most of them are pretty good!
Anyway, nice to have that step done… and I think that will be it! When I get that artwork in, I am going to put it on the book (which is edited and ready to go!), and then decide if I want to spend far too much on advertising for the holiday season for a very-not holiday related novel.
But this is good, since I want the novel out in 2020, and this looks like it will actually happen!
Hope everyone out there is staying safe and healthy!
Good news for loyal readers!
Well, it’s official. Barring major calamity, I will be releasing a 3rd novel this year! Who said nothing good happened in 2020!?
All joking aside, the groundwork has been prepared, and the novel itself is in good shape. I am really proud of my first leap into YA, and lovingly refer to “The Queen of the A.I.s” as “How to Train Your Dragon meets The Matrix”. It’s funny! It’s touching! It’s got some great space battles, and a handful of awkward not-quite-kids doing some amazing things and maybe, just maybe, saving their entire planet in the process.
I think it will be nice to send this story out into the wild. And after I finish this, I get to start working on my next novel which will be… I don’t know! Ah, the joys of the unknown… I am actually really excited about getting to start an entirely new story from scratch. It’s been almost 7 months since I’ve done that! Far too long.
Anyway, I am already hunting for a cover, and there are some pretty strong contenders. Hopefully I can have one picked out for next week! Oh, and somehow find time to read “Anthony and Cleopatra” by Monday. Piece of cake, right? Right.
Hope everyone out there is staying safe and healthy!
First Snowfall
“First” is a weird concept in many ways. I mean, this isn’t the first snowfall of 2020 (that would’ve happened back in January), and it’s certainly not the first snowfall in the winter of 2020 in any meaningful sense (the Canadian North has had snowfalls months ago, and the Antarctic likewise has had considerable accumulation, one would assume).
But for me, in my very localized geographic sense, yesterday was the first accumulation of snow in the winter of this year. And boy-howdy is it a doozy… about 30cm around my home. And as much as I hate going out into the snow (which I do, a lot), I do love staying inside and watching it snow, and appreciating what it does to the landscape. It’s beautiful.
Now, that stated, I can make that observation because I do, in fact, get to stay home today. And I will be spending most of today working on the next novel to come out in only a few weeks! No worries, folks, this isn’t something I threw together at the last minute, but a novel I’ve been sitting on for some time, waiting for the right moment to release it. I think “Holiday Season 2020” is the right moment.
So, I’m going to get back to that, with my continued wishes for everyone out there to stay safe and healthy… and heck, if you live someplace it is snowing, stay warm too!
Reward Reading
Well, I finished all my immediate book-related tasks this week, and as a reward I finally let myself read John Scalzi’s newest sci-fi novel, “The Last Emperox”.
It was, unsurprisingly, very, very good. Light as a feather, heavy as lead, with a plot twist you could see coming but that still was sublimely satisfying. “Inevitable but surprising”, I believe Mary Robinette-Kowal says about such plot devices. It was a joy to read.
One day I will write fiction that’s as good as his, but until then I shall continue to toil and improve and work at my craft such that I can make that statement true. Talent doesn’t just ‘manifest’, and you have to work at the things you want to be better at. I really want to be a better writer, and so… I write!
Anyway. No writing for me at the moment (a lot of reading, mostly King Lear at the moment, which is heavy to get through and even heavier to try and analyze), but I’ll be back at it this weekend when I have shorter work days (although, as is tradition, we’re starting to open earlier and stay open later… whee…). Who knows, maybe somebody with a shred of common sense in the government will shut Canada down again for a few weeks and I can get some writing done… I won’t count on it, but oh will I dream of it!
Hope everyone out there is staying safe and healthy!
No Rest for the Weary
Well, I released another novel out into the world. For the 10 of you who have purchased it already: thank you so much! I know money is tight for almost everyone these days, and spending a little bit of your recreation budget on me and my work means the world to me.
But, of course, as soon as the novel went live (and I frantically updated the cover art because ARGH), I had no time for relaxation or celebration… immediately on to the next novel! I actually have a short story I’d really like to get done before the end of the year, and I may actually have time for that in the coming day or two, but we’ll see.
And then I’m going to prep the next novel for publication so it’s ready to go by mid-December, and then I’m going to start writing a brand new novel! Yee! Getting a story started is always the most fun part! Getting introduced to the characters I’m excited about, and introducing the world/universe we’ll be playing around with. Makes me smile just to think about it!
Anyway, thank you again everyone who has purchased “Tintian and the Chimera’s Secret”, I hope you enjoy it! Please take a few moments to leave a 5-star review after you’ve read the book, since those reviews really, really help to get my work into new hands!
Hope everyone out there is staying safe and healthy!
Argh... Typo on the cover!
See, this is why self-publishing sucks. In “real” publishing, there would be somebody else I could blame for the fact that I definitely sent a typo to the cover artist who then dutifully put that typo on the cover itself.
Oopsies!
I have contact the artist, and they are correcting my mistake, but that means a slight (additional) delay in getting the book out. But that’s okay! Eagle-eyed visitors to this here website may have even seen the offending cover and wondered at how such a mistake made it into the final artwork, and to them I can only say that I pour all my energy and effort into making the best story possible, and therefore little things like artwork assets and formatting sometimes don’t get the attention they deserve.
Anyway. I’ve pulled it off Amazon temporarily (it was up for a few hours), and I’ll push it back out as soon as I get the updated artwork, so hopefully by the end of this week at the latest!
In unrelated news, I also made a dead-tree format for Tintian Book 2 (The Mysterious Meteor), so for those of you out there who prefer real paper, that should be available for purchase through Amazon.com! Updated links on this here website, of course, that should take you straight there.
Hope everyone out there is staying safe and healthy!
EPUB File "Fun"
Ah, converting books into EPUB file format. So much fun.
It’s really not. But it at least isn’t hard, it’s just time consuming and tedious. But it’s gotta get done if the book is going out, so I’m doing it.
Just to give you a quick idea, the first three steps are all Find/Replace commands in MS Word. Find all quotation marks (“) and replace with… quotation marks (“). Basically to make sure that the entire document’s quotes are left-quote and right-quote aligned properly. Then repeat that with single quotation marks, and then with ellipses (…). Fun!
But then you convert the whole thing into HTML, strip out all the formatting, and put that back in with code. That’s okay.
And then find and replace all the correctly aligned quotation marks (both single and double) with code. THAT’s the slow part. Faster now, but still slow.
That’s the part I’m working on today. Which is good, because it’s basically the last part! I don’t do any fancy-schmancy formatting stuff with my books (chapter flourishes or pictures or whatever). Maybe someday, but not for Tintian Book 3, at least. Oh, and I have to get another ISBN… just a self-reminder.
Anyway! Hope everyone out there is staying safe and healthy!
Edits Done!
Well, that’s the lion’s share of the work for this novel done! Cover art is set, words are all where they’re supposed to be, and all I have to do is convert it into a format that can be uploaded to ye olde Amazon and then it will be available for sale!
Of course, when I say “all” that has to be done, I simplify. The process of converting documents into ebooks isn’t trivial, even in the rude and rough way that I do them. But hopefully I can finish that today (I have an essay to write for class first, but I have 5 hours to do most o that work before I can dive into finishing the novel).
So progress! Glorious, glorious progress. And I have decided that I will, indeed, self-publish one more novel this year, which should be out mid-December.
Anyway, lots to do, never enough time for it! Hope everyone out there is safe and healthy!