I have been sharing information on various resources for book covers lately, for example with my posts on Free Transparent Logos and Images and A Free Mockup Book Cover Maker. I recently came across a website which has some great material for authors of fantasy, historical romance, and anything to do with period settings. The aptly called Period Images website specializes in book covers featuring anything from cowboys to pirates and ancient soldiers.
Since it’s geared up toward Indie authors, the artwork is licensed for use in both ebook and print book, including promotional materials, and is only sold once. It comes in the perfect dimensions for your book cover and can answer that dreadful question, “where am I going to find a photo of a Scottish brute wielding a claymore?”
Unfortunately, it’s not free. It is, however, very decently priced, with most of the art going for around…
If sleeping is how you recharge when stationary then eating is how you get energy while on the move. That may have made more sense in my head. People have probably figured out that I do enjoy eating. I talk about pizza a lot and use it as a reward for meeting milestones such as finishing or publishing a book. I’m always up for a specialty slice as long as there aren’t veggies on it. There are other foods on the menu, but I’m not going to start listing all of them . . . I have a post to get to.
Unlike sleeping, eating doesn’t take you away from writing. We can have a drink or a meal while working on our book. The only danger is spilling something on the notes or laptop, so we do have to be careful. Soda is an infamous culprit of destruction. Part of this is because we may write with one hand while blindly reaching over for a glass, taking a drink, and then putting it back. All of this is done without looking and it can get even trickier if you use a coaster like me. Nothing can bring out the swearing like putting a cup of seltzer halfway on a coaster and it tipping over as you let go. You can try to grab it in a panic, but that just smacks the thing away and sends the drink everywhere. The horror!
I wonder if I’m the only author who uses meals as finish lines for writing sections. After breakfast, as long as it isn’t a work day, I dive into my WIP to write one chapter section by lunch. I may have a drink and one snack, but that meal is my reward for focusing for a few hours. Eating is a time to relax and prepare myself for the next section, which is supposed to take me close to dinner. Not sure why this run is harder and I end up grabbing snacks or feeling lethargic. Maybe it’s the food? Still, I mark my first two sections of the day with meals and the last one with sleep. This is probably why I pay so much attention to these two activities.
As I said before, you can also do other things while eating. Nothing that active because you would look silly riding a stationary bike while trying to cut up a steak. Just asking for trouble there. Writing, outlining, editing, blogging, social media, tweeting, catching up on TV shows, and reading are a few things you can do while eating. This means it doesn’t really get in the way and, at worst, slows you down. Of course, you have to be careful due to the previously mentioned risks, but you can still do it.
Finally, I’ve noticed a strange thing with authors that many of us have signature foods/meals. I talk about pizza. Many talk about coffee. Some bring up beer and others ice cream. We always seem to gravitate towards a favorite meal that slips into our public identity. There have also been times when I’ve seen an author post about getting a giftcard that allows them to enjoy their signature food. This is usually Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks since coffee is the big one. It’s kind of funny that this aspect of our lives comes out more often than anything else. We hide our fears, doubts, family life, and names of loved ones, but we will scream our love of a food from the rooftops. Guess there really isn’t any way to use that against us. I hope.
So, what do other authors think about food and writing? Do you talk about your favorite meal to the point where it’s part of your author persona?
The Compass Key managed to get a vote and I was surprised how little I’d done teasers for it. Part of the reason for this is because it’s a big transition book during the Legends of Windemere series. I wanted to keep a lot secret here. Now, it’s been a while, so I can share a bit more. Enjoy this fight between Delvin and the leader of a giltris (lizardmen) army.
I remember having a dialogue with a writer friend a few years ago. She was chastising me for stressing the importance of luck in publishing. Her argument was that, if you work hard enough, you’re bound to succeed.
At the time, I was wondering if she was right and hard work was all it took.
After a decade in this game, I changed my mind. have now added prayers to luck as the most important factors helping with your career.
Now, it looks like I’m not the only one to think so. J.A. Konrath, one of the best-known Indies in the world, recently shared a sobering post called, Your Book Marketing Plan Won’t Work.
Even though you may think he methodically destroys all of your dreams, what he really does is debunk the myth of writing being some sort of get-rich-quick scam. Konrath…
Joan is a good friend, and has the final book of her trilogy available right now. She’s also one of my compatriots over at Story Empire. Make her feel welcome and share her excerpt across your social media. Joan, the floor is yours.
Craig, thank you for hosting me today and helping to spread the word about my new release with your readers. Unclear Purposes is the third and final book of the Driscoll Lake Series.
The male lead in this book is a former FBI agent turned PI. He has a few secrets. Let’s learn a little more about Vince Green.
Excerpt:
“Good morning, Agent Green.”
Vince’s eyes narrowed. “Tami Sutton. What brings you here today?”
“Came to see you, of course.”
“It’s been a while since anyone referred to me as Agent Green.”
She cast a glance around the office. “Nice place you have here. Small but efficient…
Ciao, amici. Today I’m happy to introduce a new-to-this-blog author. Please help me give a warm welcome to Anne Miller, who’s going to talk to us about her debut novel and her WIP. Take it away, Anne.
The idea for The Last Photograph came to me back when I was in college, after I saw the videos for Garth Brooks’ songs, ‘The Dance’ and ‘If Tomorrow Never Comes’. I thought: why not write a love story that deals with loss from the man’s point of view? I mean, after all, what woman wouldn’t want to read a book that actually got inside a man’s mind, especially a man who was taught to believe real men build walls to close off their emotions?
The ideas kept flowing from there, but to get them down on paper – in a form I found acceptable to be published – was a far more…
So, I had an idea for a theme this week and it was ‘Eat, Drink, and Be Merry’. I thought the first two worked together and decided that sleeping should be mentioned. Anyway, these three things are fairly essential to authors once you step out of the writing arena. We really can’t function without these three things. In fact, nobody can, so this isn’t special to authors. I’m simply using my own life as a focal point. Now, why is sleeping important?
It’s hard to write when you pass out on the keyboard. Imagine being at 50 pages and you conk out. Head goes down and you spend the next few hours having the ‘H’ key be pushed down. Then the document auto-saves. Even worse, you’re pushing down the ‘backspace’ key. Probably best to take a nap and not take the risk.
Some great ideas can turn up when you’re about to fall asleep. Your brain is just waiting for you to hit the mattress and curl up under a blanket. Pure genius will appear and you’re going to scramble to write it down. That or believe you can remember it by the morning, but we all know this fails. Still, you wouldn’t have this opportunity if you didn’t go to bed.
It’s hard to see what you’re doing when the bags under your eyes are so deep that your eyeballs have fallen inside.
The human brain doesn’t function very well when you’re tired. Basic actions and thoughts are difficult, so writing a story is going to be nearly impossible. Oh, you will get words written down, but they might not be coherent. At the very least, they will be terrible and filled with enough typos to make your editor and beta readers think you’ve been taken by a body-snatcher.
Yawning is annoying, but you can probably muscle through that. Drooling all over your notes when you zone out could pose a problem. I mean, you could wear a bib to be safe, but you know that’s when you’ll get unexpected company.
Many people, if not all, get irritable and lose their filters when they’re exhausted. This can make you’re writing unfocused or aggressive even when the scene doesn’t call for such things. You can easily fix this, but then you have the social media/promotions side of the job. One bad review, critical comment, or negative tweet can turn you into an Internet berserker. It can be undone with apologies, but there will still be some damage.
Well, that’s all I could think of because I’m tired. My sleeping habits are pretty bad, so I can’t give much advice here. Feel free to talk about your own thoughts on sleeping and authors in the comments.
This has been brewing in my mind for a bit, but I wasn’t sure if I should talk about it. This could ruffle some feathers. Basically, there is a pet peeve of mine that I haven’t really made public. I’ve reacted to it in comments without naming it. Honestly, it’s something I don’t even think I can control since it involves the perceptions of others. Time to name it and create some clarity:
It irks me when someone mentions my characters in a way that makes them seem like one-dimensional figures.
Guess I wasn’t able to explain it clearly there. Basically, I’ve noticed that some people have a habit of talking about some of my characters as if they are very basic. Best example is when people talk about Lloyd Tenay of Bedlam as if he’s an uncontrollable monster with no rhyme nor reason. It’s jarring because I’ve written scenes where he is insightful, caring, serious, and oddly noble. This ignores that he lives in a world where you have to kill to survive. So, there is always a reason behind his violent actions. Yes, he enjoys the predatory thrill, but he’s not this wild and random maniac in terms of violence. It’s his words that are kind of off since he thinks he’s a character in a story. So, I get irked when it feels like people have labeled him and ignore the other aspects of his personality.
I might bring this on myself at times. I bill Lloyd as a deadly serial killer when I have to make a one-line description. Clyde from War of Nytefall is shown to be a powerful monster when enraged. People act like he’s as random and blood lust-filled as Lloyd, but he’s another who has more human scenes. I’ve tried to show these on the blog, but people either skip or don’t remember. The action scenes are what get attention. This means that I have a lot of trouble getting their human sides across unless people read the main book or stick with the weekly serial. It’s funny because on the opposite end of the spectrum is Ichabod Brooks who readers seem to perfectly understand. His book barely sold and he doesn’t show up on the blog as often as Lloyd, Clyde, and Lost. Yet, there’s something about him that gets readers to understand his dimensions.
Here’s the thing with my characters. I always try to make them human. Lloyd Tenay is a serial killer out to have fun, but also find a place in a chaotic world. Clyde is a powerful vampire who has birthed a new breed and is worried that he will lose control of the monster inside him. Lost may be random and crazy, but she is and may always be an abandoned child that wants as big a family as she can find. Yola Biggs is an exiled Chaos Goddess who causes trouble at the slightest whim, but really wants to find a place to call home. Even Stephen Kernaghan, who is a monstrous rapist, has a pathetic human side where he’s nothing more than a cowardly worm that is hiding behind a sadistic nature and incredible power. Yet, all of these characters get defined so basically when people bring them up with me. It’s a pet peeve because it makes me wonder what the point of all the crafting was for if one aspect takes all the attention.
So, here are the questions:
Do you have any author pet peeves?
Do you have any characters that people seem to misunderstand?
Have you ever defined a character by one aspect and realize there was more to them?
One of my favorite writing resources, Mythic Scribes, recently shared some great tips on using your locations to bring your story to life. Here is my summary. As always, you are encouraged to check out the original post for more.
The whole point they are making is that by giving your readers a chance to insert themselves into a location or scene, they’ll make it their own, bringing it to life in their heads. It’s no longer just a description, but a place that exists in their mind, and which they helped create themselves.
As to how you can accomplish that, here are the tips:
1. Level of Detail
Don’t get bogged down in details. Quite often in writing, less is more. This is definitely the case with locations. Readers aren’t stupid. Unless something is completely outlandish, most people will be able to fill in any blanks in the…
Last weekend didn’t go as smoothly as I had hoped. I woke up on Saturday to find that I was chosen for an extra position at my summer job. This required another day of training, which was going to be Sunday. I originally put this day aside for writing and resting since I was (and still am) reaching a mental and emotional limit. My friend was over to see ‘John Wick 3’ and we went to a convention that an artist friend was at. Ran into my ex-wife who took my son there in his Green Lantern costume, but I don’t have any pics of those. Thought she would send me some, but she keeps forgetting and I didn’t think of using my phone. Hopefully, I can get a few this week. Got to play some retro games like ‘Final Fight’ and ‘Double Dragon’. Gave the newest ‘Super Smash Bros’ a try and found that I’m really only good with Link. Sounds like a good day, right?
My visiting friend and I were on our way to ‘John Wick 3’ after getting dinner at the nearby mall. We got to the theater and I realized I was in two spaces since I’m still not used to the larger car. Only had this one for 2 weeks. I get back in and find that the engine won’t turn on. I mean, I got no sounds whatsoever. There goes the movie because I couldn’t risk my friend getting stuck on Long Island when he had work the next day. We were waiting for a tow when my ex-wife called with the nightly phone call with my son. I was playing with the key while talking and the car suddenly roars to life. Cancelled the tow and we headed back home to be safe. This forced me to reschedule that training too because I didn’t want to get stuck far from home with only my ex-wife to call for a ride. Not thrilled about that, but it gave me my Sunday back and I did drive the car a bit while staying within free towing distance of the mechanic. I did a little writing, but my artist friend had a free pass to the convention. Decided to go and hang out a bit then wander around to buy a few things for myself and play some games. Should have done writing, but my mind was already brutalized from the rough events.
All of that was the weekend! The week was a bit smoother with me having to take Tuesday off to watch my son and then I had Wednesday off. Our districts didn’t match up for the Eid holiday. Plus side is that my car died again on Monday night in front of the house, so I had it towed. My son was excited to see how the tow truck worked and he was willing to take a long walk the next day when the work was done. The starter had died, so I had to pay for that and the ice cream as a thank you to the little guy for coming with me. I got to do some writing on Wednesday before getting together with a friend for lunch and then heading off to my son’s orchestra concert. He did really good considering he would still look at me and the ex-wife in the middle of playing. I don’t think he fell behind though because I think he has the songs memorized. We have to return his violin today, so I’m trying to figure out a way for him to get a little practicing in over the summer. I’d need to get an instrument and music, which will be tough. Even if he does it a bit over the weekend since summer camp runs 9-5.
What am I up to? The last two days of the week were busy since we’re preparing for finals and Regent tests. One more week of classes and then two weeks of testing. Then I get to rest . . . for a minute because my summer job starts the second to last day of school. I still need to find out if I can take the days off or I’ll have to rush to the camp after the final bell. My next ‘break’ is the July 4th weekend, which might be when I finally get back to War of Nytefall: Eradication. After that is the last week of August and then back to school, so we’re going to see how things go.
It might take all of my free time to maintain this blog, but I’ve got it scheduled through July right now. Gives me a cushion and I have topic lists for August and September, so Sunday will be the unknown. Might try to get most of that done by the end of June just to take the edge off. No idea when or if I’ll get to editing my book. The ‘fantasy tip’ book is going slow since I have trouble getting to my notebook. I’ve taken to reading during my lunch break instead of writing, but I might switch that up during the testing weeks. Not really sure what I do once the tests are done since I’m sure I have to stay until the end of the day.
I’m still trying to rebuild my life. Feel like I’m getting better at putting up a front, but it’s too easy for me to fall into rants and despair. I was talking to my friend last weekend about how divorces are very hard to explain. They’re so much worse than a breakup because your entire life gets divided. If children are involved then you have to focus on their mental and emotional health. You try not to talk about it too often, but it’s such an upheaval that you can’t avoid it. There’s a sense of isolation at times when I kind of want to slip away because I can’t explain myself. I was told that it takes one month to recover from every year of a relationship. That means I have a full year to go, but I’m having some doubts about the timing. It’s going to be a long road that backtracks at times. Hmmm, I ranted more than I wanted here.
So, goals of the week:
Weekend with the son
Return violin
Set up his birthday party
Schedule blog posts
Write some of War of Nytefall: Eradication if the chance appears
Contain working on puzzle
Finish watching ‘Luke Cage’ Season 2 and then . . . Iron Fist 2? I might switch to ‘Good Omens’ for a break from Marvel Netflix.
Full day of camp training next weekend.
Oh yeah, I should mention this again. I don’t think I’ll be able to use my phone while I’m at my summer job. There might be a few break periods, but I’ll only be active in the morning and evening. So, comments will be slow during the week and I don’t know if I’ll be able to visit blogs that often by the time I get home. We’re talking 9-5 and summer heat, so I’ll be dropping fairly early. I’ll do my best. Doesn’t help that the WP Reader isn’t behaving on my phone. A few blogs come up as ‘not followed’ and I’m not able to reblog or comment. It’s frustrating.
Wait . . . I sold 6 books today? Wonder how that happened.
I have been sharing information on various resources for book covers lately, for example with my posts on Free Transparent Logos and Images and A Free Mockup Book Cover Maker. I recently came across a website which has some great material for authors of fantasy, historical romance, and anything to do with period settings. The aptly called Period Images website specializes in book covers featuring anything from cowboys to pirates and ancient soldiers.
