• Writing Resources

    The Novel is Finished

    About six weeks ago, at the start of nanowrimo, I wrote my first words for the novel I’m still affectionately calling ‘Novel #4’. Today I wrote the final words*. All told, during these six weeks I’ve written 126 000 words, a few more than the 100 000 I had been aiming towards. Why did the novel end up a bit longer than I had planned? Honestly I think it was because I didn’t want the story to end. I know how it needed to end but I became too attached to some of the characters (not Wanderer specifically, he’s the backbone through the story arc driving the world he lives…

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    It is finished… again!

    I’ve finished the second draft of Novel #3! What does this mean? I have a novel that I could start submitting to publishers (though I am *not* going to start submitting it just yet… more on that, below.) This revision has taken longer than I expected partly because I expended more energy on completing and promoting the Lazy Designer game design book than I had expected. Plus I did more revision work than I had intended. What have I Learned? My first drafts need to improve. I am still spending too much time on the revisions. This revision was finished quicker than the last; I hope for the next novel…

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    Read: The End of the Road by Brent Knowles

    Wanderer looked down in satisfaction as he walked the old mountain road and saw the town below him. The stagnation of the human race was at an end and the survivors were now rebuilding. So ended the apocalypse. Wanderer continued towards this hotel from his past, an old, sprawling structure sitting high atop a cliff, until loud noises from ahead made him pause. A cat’s howl. A woman’s cry. The raucous laughter of boys on the verge of manhood, the cruelest and most dangerous of ages. With a sigh he resumed his pace. He was the Wanderer and he would do what needed doing before doing what he needed. The…

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    Stories — who do they belong to?

    I absolutely hate being locked into specific hardware or software in order to read an eBook and its one of the reason’s I’m mostly in pause mode, in regards to purchasing new books. When the next great device comes along, perhaps with some of the features current eBook devices lack, I want to be able to move my books over. Richard Curtis recently summarized an article by Cory Doctorow in which Cory discussed his dislike for “roach motel devices” — eBook readers like the Kindle that didn’t let you actually own the stories and novels you’ve purchased. I encourage you to read the article, available through the link previous. After…

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    AnthologyBuilder – story sales

    Two of my stories (The End of the Road & His Island) are available for inclusion in custom made print anthologies and I was thrilled the other day to discover that some kind folks have actually purchased them for inclusion in a couple anthologies (thank you!). I’m paid royalties for each sale, so that’s kind of cool, but what makes me most happy is that the stories are receiving more exposure! If you haven’t checked out AnthologyBuilder, you should, there’s are many fantastic stories up there. I plan on putting all my stories there eventually once their rights have reverted back to me. Are there any past stories of mine…

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    Story available on the Kindle

    While I don’t have a dedicated ebook reading device like the Sony reader or the Kindle I have been reading eBooks and stories on my Ipod Touch for almost a year now. I have all the various bookstore apps on it including Stanza, eReader and Kindle. But what I hadn’t thought about, ever, and I should have probably, was republishing my previously printed stories this way. I had looked into Fictionwise to see if they’d take my story reprints but I’m not established enough to qualify. After reading a post by Michael Stackpole where he was talking about updating his stories on the Kindle I checked into it. Now I…

  • Writing Resources

    The Prophet

    My story ‘The Prophet’ is now available in the anthology END OF DAYS: AN APOCALYPTIC ANTHOLOGY VOLUME 2 from Living Dead Press. You can order the anthology directly from Amazon. This story is actually the first (chronologically) in a series of stories featuring Wanderer. The ‘end’ of the series was my first story in print. It was called ‘The End of the Road’ and appeared in Not One of Us and is available through AnthologyBuilder. Goodreads reviews for The Prophet Reviews from Goodreads.com