Monthly Archives: March 2014

Weekend – Had fun.

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It’s Monday here in Australia and I’m not sure I’m “with it” enough to give you much for this morning’s post – I’ll settle for telling you of my weekend – Did I get lots of work done on the writing front?

Actually no. I was kidnapped from my desk – just because – and taken on not one but two impromptu outings, going to Canberra for the entire day on Saturday and then to Goulburn on Sunday.

We started out innocently enough, just popping out to check the mail, then went to the nearest (bigger) town to cash in a small lotto win from the week before ($23 – Yah!) and ended up going all the way into Canberra just because there was a book fair on.

Did I load up on fiction? No, I did not. When in the middle of a major project, particularly when I’m running out of time, I cannot get deeply into someone else’s work – it captures my thinking when I cannot afford to lose it. I go for shorter and faster entertainment, such as movies (I picked up a batch of lighthearted stuff, but haven’t seen any of them yet).

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Another Short One.

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Another shorty (things are like that at the moment, my apologies to any who want something more substantial – later, later) – Yesterday I took pause in hammering all the new stuff into the manuscript and sat back and read what I have so far for book 3.

With a great sigh of relief, I realize that it’s working. The pace is right, the action is right, the characterization works, and everyone has room to breathe and to adjust to their new circumstances. Last time I looked a month or so ago, a lot of that was wrong or missing.

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Back cover text feedback – Thank You.

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Writing the teaser page for a book is (for me) the hardest thing to do and get right, I’m sure it doesn’t help any when the book is 600 pages long with multiple threads and stories and an assortment of main characters to choose from – so this is one area I’ve called on for help, and who better to ask than the writing community I am in – You Guys (I know I haven’t given you a lot of time, but, as usual, I’m in a flaming hurry – my apologies to those who missed out, however the page is still there and your views will still be eagerly read).

A big Thank You, then, to Writingsprint for coming forward and being willing to evaluate my words and give fair and honest assessment. Writingsprint, I have decided to follow your advice on the first cover text and remove the final paragraph (although it doesn’t give away the ending, it does point to events that might be better unexpected).

Greg and I discussed it all in depth last night, looking at why the second two back covers work when the first does not, and taking Writingsprint’s assessment into account.

There are no spoilers over the page and no book quotes.

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I have nothing to post today.

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I’m waiting for a few things to kick in, arrive or otherwise come through which I plan to chat about, but which have not yet materialized – Meanwhile, I’m also after feedback on yesterday’s post, if anyone cares to give their views on the back cover text, known as the “teaser page” of a book.

I am revamping the text on the backs of books 1 and 2, and presenting for the first time the text on the back of book 3. Due to the limitations of WordPress, the font, font size and line spacing is not accurate, but the words are.

(See the post below this one which links through to the back text for all three books, if you care to read them and comment.)

Today, I shall be largely offline to get on with writing book 3.

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Cover Back Teasers – I’m after your opinion, People, books 1, 2 and 3 (NEW, not seen before).

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I spent a fair amount of time yesterday fiddling about trying to get Word text as a picture in Paintshop Pro so I could show you what the layout will look like for the new back covers (including font size, line spacing and formatting) – I managed it, saving the files as PDFs, but the end result was hard to read, the quality wasn’t good up close and resizing it didn’t help – so I didn’t go that way.

Yes, I know there’s a way (there’s bound to be), but I don’t have the time to waste on it so, I’m just going to have to run with showing you the text without the formatting – I do have the individual lines at the right cutoff point and bolding in place, although I realize that the lines will break at different points depending on what gadget you’re viewing on, so please take that into account.

The three are in order, one after the other on the next page. Please don’t click “continue reading” if you don’t want to read back covers. Those of you who do – I would love and appreciate your opinion on these before I send them off to be done.

Sorry about the wide spacing, and the asterisks are in to mark gaps in the layout – WordPress was closing them automatically on me (but not where I wanted them closed. Grrr).

Many thanks in advance.

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Struggling with my Blog Post Today.

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Today my blog post is not coming together. I have one written on upcoming (text-only) changes to my book covers, but I haven’t worked out how to get text into picture format to show you. As I am after your opinion and formatting matters, I really do want to show you.

I have another blog post written on the review pages I will soon add to this blog, but that’s not ready yet, either, so again I have nothing to show you.

I have still another on researching and writing officialdom for a realistic and meaty background, only that’s not polished and possibly waffles (not that I’ve let that stop me before).

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Great Weekend! Writing Update.

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It’s Monday here in Australia and I have just enjoyed a most refreshing weekend – sounds like I took even more time off, doesn’t it, only that’s not it – Having already taken a couple of half days off, I settled in to “poke around” a bit in my manuscript (maybe even read it – haha) on Sunday, and I just kept going. 🙂

I filled major gaps and minor gaps, sorted little issues out and transferred more from my working files over.

With a string of gaps in front of me in various threads, with two gaps to a page every three or four pages, the climb of my first marker point (where the “done” bit ends and the “yet to be completed” bit starts) rose 23 pages just on Sunday alone. That translates as A LOT DONE.

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Price Rise Reminder

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This post is just to remind people that my prices will soon be going up – not a huge amount, I just want to experience life outside the bargain basement and reach a wider audience, but I also want to give people plenty of advance notice.

Specials will still take place, particularly the regular free Kindle version download of the first in the series, The Khekarian Threat.

I am also revamping the description printed on the back of each book, so will likely link the two events together. At this point in time, I’m expecting the change in price to take place sometime in April.

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Letting Go!

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That’s sometimes the answer. I know that – you, too, I’m sure – but, hey, maybe it’s worth exploring, because it’s not so much the time off that does it, it’s mentally letting go, the cessation of thought in the direction of whatever the problem is you are facing that’s the important bit.

Why is it otherwise that writers enjoy a flow of creativity the moment they reach a spot a long way from their desks? A car ride will do it for me. Likewise, a decision to take the day off and turn my thoughts to something else completely. The number of times I’ve found myself in a strange town searching frantically for a shop that sells paper and pens because again I forgot to bring some along, is testimony to how well stepping away works for me.

Yes, yes, it’s true that sometimes you have to just sit there and get writing, ready of not, and that’s a great practice, too, but that is a different thing. This is the bit where you’re getting over hurdles and problems exacerbated because you’re thinking too much and just plain bogged down.

I’ve been diving into detail, particularly logistical detail, the exact means that something is carried out all the way through the channels of officialdom (yes, I know, “mind-numbing” spring to mind. I’ve actually got a post written about officialdom, but I can’t being myself to post it… okay, maybe next week, it’ll be short, I promise).

Of course, you don’t always have to go there into that sort of depth. Sometimes the detail is the story and sometimes it’s just a pain in the ass.

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