Posts Tagged With: writing

Promo Stickerz for the LA Times Book Festival

Happy Friday, my friends! Anyone else psyched that this cold, rainy week is finally over? Maybe the cold raininess is just an Ontario thing. Still … looking forward to being able to leave the apartment without needing both my full winter gear and an umbrella. It just seems wrong. Pick cold or rain, Mother Nature, not both. Get your act together. Geez.

Right! Moving on. So, as you may know, the LA Times Book Festival is coming up soon (April 20-21), and I’ve managed to wrangle the publicity company Blackbird LSD to represent me at their festival booth. Not to sound like too much of a fan girl, but they’re awesome!!! Check out the latest web banner they whipped up for Imminent Danger:

blackbird lsd _ imminent danger

Fun, right? And very dangerous, which is always good. I love that the cover is all “romance, love, mushiness”, and the ad is all “danger, death, omglazorspewpewpew”. Fun juxtaposition there.

Anyway, the real purpose of this post is to share some of my sticker “designs”, so-called. The stickers are being shipped to California as we speak, so fingers crossed they turn out the way they look on-screen – preferably better! Feel free to either praise or viciously insult my design skills at your leisure, although do recall that my heart is made of cotton candy and is prone to dissolving if exposed to too many tears.

STICKER_eris_paint

STICKER_shwoop_paint

The stickers themselves will only be 2×2 inches (tiny!), so I had to keep the designs simple. And yes, the top sticker image was drawn by the lovely and talented Celeste DeWolfe. And if anyone’s wondering, the grey text in the background of the second image says “SHWOOP”. That’s the sound spaceships make when they shwoop through space and time.

 

Other updates … Goodreads Giveaway finally finished!

Total entrants = 945. Not too shabby.

Let’s be honest, I was expecting maybe 300, tops, so I’m beyond thrilled. Of course, whether any of this results in reviews / sales remains to be seen, but I’m cautiously hopeful. And if not, well … still a fun experience! 

 

Unrelated link of the day:

Since I already bombarded you with a bunch of images already, today’s unrelated media will be a link. It is Game of Thrones related, specific to the latest episode that aired this past Sunday, so if you haven’t seen it … well, you won’t get the joke at all.

http://www.happyplace.com/23035/game-of-thrones-facebook-recap-season-3-episode-2

 

Categories: My Works, Self Publishing | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | 31 Comments

Last chance to enter my Goodreads Giveaway!!!

… “last chance” being because the Giveaway is ending today, not because a giant asteroid is going to come crashing down on our heads, obliterate Mongolia, and engulf us all in a dust cloud that will blanket the world for three years, stop all crop growth, and starve us into extinction. Stop panicking! Good grief. You people are kind of paranoid, you know that?

Anyhoo, my Goodreads Giveaway ends tonight (around 2 a.m., for some bizarre reason), so if you haven’t entered for a chance to win my awesome-tastic book, Imminent Danger And How to Fly Straight into It, click the link below and get hopping!

http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/47252-imminent-danger-and-how-to-fly-straight-into-it

Excellent form, my hoppers. You’re regular spring bunnies. And no, you don’t look at all ridiculous bouncing around your living room in your PJs — and don’t let anyone tell you differently!

Unrelated link of the day:

Cracked wrote an amusing article about punching writer’s block in the face — check it out:

http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-tips-punching-writers-block-in-face/

Unrelated media of the day:

Categories: My Works | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 15 Comments

Camp NaNo + assorted updates

In a somewhat suspicious turn of events, my Camp NaNoWriMo attempts are going extremely well this year. As of thirty seconds ago, I am officially at 8,666 words — 43% of my goal for the month. And it’s only the 6th! Huzzah! I suppose it helps that I actually have a plan for what I’m writing — not an outline, of course, but more of a general “This happens, then this, then this.” I’m really excited, guys. Chasing Nonconformity is going to be epic. Well, as soon as I finish writing the darn thing, that is.

And I have new pictures for you! But first, let’s do a brief iUniverse update …

 

iUniverse update

Remember the pricing issue I was talking about? According to iUniverse, it is impossible to solve it. iUniverse sent out their recommended sales price, and now apparently the online retailers (Amazon, Kobo, etc.) have complete freedom over how much they want to sell the books for. Grrrr. So I said, “Dear iUniverse, if you can’t control the eBook price, can you at least make the physical books less expensive?” To which iUniverse responded that they used a base print-on-demand algorithm to determine the price, blah blah blah, and that the softcover price is fixed at $21.95, and there’s nothing they can do about it. Like heck they can’t.

 

Chapters update

On the other hand, my book is now in Chapters! Check it out:

2013-04-05 19.03.02

HOW COOL IS THAT???

The Chapters people have been absolutely awesome, as you can see from the above image! The only thing they were obligated to do as part of my publishing package was put the book on the shelf, so the fact that they stuck it at the front of the store, on the top shelf, is beyond fantastic. Huge shout-out to the staff up at Chapters North, London!

I’ve also contacted their general manager about doing a book signing — no word back yet, but I have high hopes!

 

Other update

The lovely and talented Ms. Tania L Ramos is currently rocking Las Vegas on a writer’s getaway. She brought along Imminent Danger, and took this adorable, alien-themed photo:

WP_000643

 

Okay, enough bragging for one day. Off to work! But before I go, I shall leave you with your favourite part of my posts, the …

 

Unrelated media of the day

Categories: iUniverse, Random, Writing | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 44 Comments

Book Review: Can’t Live Without by Joanne Phillips

In my slow but sure attempts to work my way through the small virtual mountain of books piled up in my ereader, I present to you my official book review for Can’t Live Without.

 

The Bookcan't live without cover

Can’t Live Without

The Genre

Women’s Fiction

The Author

Joanne Phillips

The Plot

Stella Hill is proud of the home she’s created for herself and her daughter. She’s worked hard to buy the very best of everything … but when she wakes one morning to find her kitchen on fire, Stella knows her life will never be the same again. At least she has Paul to lean on; Paul Smart, owner of Smart Homes, confirmed bachelor and unknowing recipient of a schoolgirl crush Stella never quite got over …

When the charismatic John Dean turns up after sixteen years, Stella is determined not to fall for him again. Because now her heart belongs elsewhere. Or does it? With a boss she’s half in love with, a teenage daughter about to go seriously off the rails, a spendaholic mother, and a house to rebuild, Stella’s problems are only just beginning.

Can Stella put her life – and her home – back together again? And will she ever realise just what it is she really can’t live without?

The Review

This was an exceptionally fun read. The main character, Stella, is totally incapable of managing her own life or keeping her daughter in line, and watching her fumble her way from one situation to the next was extremely entertaining. But while I would usually find myself irritated with such a character (who on Earth doesn’t buy home insurance and then accidentally burns their house down?), Stella is so quirky and full of life that I found myself cheering for her from start to finish.

I wasn’t a huge fan of the romance — I guess I had trouble connecting with either of the gentlemen involved in Stella’s love triangle — but I really enjoyed her interactions with her daughter. Stella is a terrible mother who tries really hard to understand her daughter, despite the fact that she doesn’t have a clue what’s going on in her life. It was quite endearing.

One thing I found very odd about this book was the point of view. It’s mainly in first person from Stella’s POV, but at random times it switches to a third person POV from other characters’ perspectives. I did get used to it after a while, but I still found the POV jumps a little jarring.

In conclusion, I found this to be a great self-published novel with excellent editing, a moving storyline, an amusing protagonist, and lots of fun family drama. Highly recommend!

The Rating

5 out of 5 stars

 

Click here to visit Joanne’s blog.

Click here to check out her book.

 

Unrelated link of the day:

Follow this link to view a collection of gifs of people in infomercials failing at accomplishing simple household tasks.

 

Categories: Book Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

And now … to cheat blatantly at Camp NaNoWriMo …

Well, maybe not cheat, per say. More like deviate slightly from the rules, while still sticking with the spirit of the event. Sort of …

As I explained in some post in the past, Camp NaNo is all about sitting down every day for a month and writing. Now, you’re supposed to start a new story from scratch. But to that I say PAH! As if I have time for such shenanigans. What I really need to do is finish the sequel to Imminent Danger, and I’m about 20k words out from doing exactly that. And since they changed the rules this year so you can set your own word count limit … talk about a golden opportunity for a little free motivation!

So, basically, I will be attempting Camp NaNo this year, and I urge you all to join me. You set the word count, so there’s no need to freak out about having to write 1,667 words a day, where failing damns you to the eternal purgatory of crushed literary dreams. And since I’m cheating blatantly, y’all should feel free to do the same!

Got a story squirrelled away somewhere that you never quite finished writing? First of all, stop squirrelling things away. It’s undignified. Second of all, grab that story, dust off the bark and acorn crumbs, and join me for a month of glorious writing awesomeness!

This concludes my confession / call to arms. Here’s a link to my camper profile. Feel free to add me, or friend me, or however the heck the internet works. To Camp Nano-finity, and beyond!!!

 

Related media of the day:

More fan art!!! Today’s offering comes from the lovely Kate Sparks. Check out her rendition of Miguri, the loveable, contraction-phobic alien:

Miguri-brighter

Related update of the day:

No news from iUniverse yet on the ebook pricing debacle. The general consensus seems to be that people in the USA see the correct price, and everyone else … well, doesn’t. If you live outside the USA and for some reason you can’t possibly live another second without reading the brilliant literary masterpiece that is my book, Google Play has the ebook for super cheap. Oh, and the free Goodreads Giveaway is ending in the near future. So check that out. Or not. Whatever pressurizes your escape capsule.

Unrelated media of the day:

An internet classic for you:

Categories: My Works, Writing | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 43 Comments

The problem with not controlling your own book listings (ebook pricing silliness)

Update: The pricing problem seems to be related to which country you’re looking at Amazon.com and Kobo from. Americans see the proper price ($2.99), and then outside the USA it ranges from $7.69 up to $12. Eek!

In the latest silliness news, my ebooks (formerly priced around $2.99) may or may not have jumped up to $9.99. Now, this may not entirely be iUniverse’s fault — shocking, I know! Here’s what happened.

So on Monday I hopped on to Amazon.com to see if I got any new reviews for Imminent Danger. Pretty legit, right? But when I got there, I discovered  the kindle edition of the book is listed at $9.76. Um … what? So I checked Amazon.ca, Amazon.uk, and Kobo … all around the $9 range (well, Kobo is $7-ish). Very sketchy.

I contacted iUniverse, and they explained that while online retailers can bump your book up $2 or down $1 based on assorted promotions, it definitely shouldn’t be $9. First of all, that was news to me — I had assumed that when I listed a book as $2.99, it would stay $2.99. But apparently that’s not the case.

Anyway, further strangeness ensued when iUniverse informed me that they’d also gone to check out my book on Amazon … and found that it was listed as $4.99 — and then $2.99 on Kobo. They even sent screenshots to prove it. I don’t doubt them at all, so this begs the question … what the heck is going on? Has my computer been possessed?

If you have a spare second, please do me a favour and check out the following two links. I’m curious to know what price you see pop up on your screen for the ebooks. Is it just my computer malfunctioning, or is there some devious internet plot going on against me? So check these out and let me know what you find!

Imminent Danger on Amazon.com

Imminent Danger on Kobo

And I suppose this begs the question: would I be  having this problem if I’d gone the total self-publishing route and uploaded my book to these sites myself? It’s my understanding that you completely control the price, and they can’t touch it at all. Is that true? In which case, that’s a further strike against iUniverse — not because they did anything wrong in particular this time, but just because they apparently have no control over the pricing of their books.

Educate me, blogosphere! Also, I wish everyone a phenomenal Easter!!!

Unrelated media of the day:

Don’t forget to enter my Goodreads Giveaway! Click here for the awesomeness.

Categories: My Works, Self Publishing | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 102 Comments

I’ve been tagged! Now I know how sheep feel.

Several days ago, I learned that the esteemed Sahm King has “tagged” me in his post. At first I was alarmed that he planned on shoving a bit of plastic and electronics through my ear and tracking my every movement, but then I remembered that humans aren’t livestock.

Therefore I present to you the tag rules, which are supposedly important:

  1. Post these rules.
  2. Post a photo of yourself and/or eleven random facts about yourself.
  3. Answer the questions given to you in the tagger’s post.
  4. Create eleven new questions and tag new people to answer them.
  5. Go to their blog/twitter and let them know they’ve been tagged.

I started answering these questions normally, but then I got bored. So instead I will answer them in the persona of one of the villains from my book: Commander Hroshk, captain of the Sriss’Ras’Kris battle ship, abductor of random high school students, and devoted fan of face-licking.

Since Commander Hroshk is an alien, no human has ever managed to capture his likeness on camera. However, Celeste DeWolfe has attempted an artistic rendition of one of his species, which will have to suffice:

The Ssrisk in question would be the creature with all those blue arms, not the girl in the purple hoodie. Art credit: Celeste DeWolfe

The Ssrisk is the creature with all those blue arms, not the girl in the purple hoodie.
Artist: Celeste DeWolfe

Moving on to the questions. So, Hroshk …

1. What historical figure, dead, would you most prefer to meet, and why?

A pitiful beginning to your questionnaire, foolish terrestrial. We Ssrisk do not look to the past for answers — we need only see the fear in our enemy’s eyes to know the truth of matters. And the truth is that we are the Ssrisk, and we shall crush all inferior beings beneath our claws!!!

2. Who is more awesome: Superman or Goku?

I know neither of these creatures. However, I enjoy the delightful “sssss” sound of the first candidate. Let it be known here and now that Ssssuperman is the supreme winner of this contest of awesomeness!

3. What relaxes you?

Hearing the cries of the innocent, specifically when I am the cause of them. I also enjoy a nice bowl of space jelly from time to time.

4. Where is the most interesting place you’ve visited in your lifetime?

The only location in this galaxy worth mentioning is my homeplanet Ssriss. The feeling of diving into its warm cerulean waters is akin to seeing your mate polishing your egg, or feeling an enemy’s lifeblood squirt against your scales.

5. What epitaph would you like on your headstone?

Hroshk the Mighty. He came, he hissed, he conquered.

6. If you could speak any language besides the one you speak, what would it be?

Blasphemy. As if any language could compare to the inherent majesty of the Ssrisk tongue. Keep your heresies to yourself, nameless questioner.

7. You have any favorite podcasts?

If you insist on subjecting me to this torment, at least attempt to formulate questions that make logical sense. What in Kari’s name is a “podcast”?

8. Are you willing to take a bribe?  If so, what is your highest preferred denomination?

Of course. Bribes are the primary form of currency in the Ssrisk military. I never go below 20,000 tetras. Favors are for the weak.

9. You have a choice in how the world ends: black hole or comet swarm.  Which do you choose?

Black hole. As if a comet swarm could destroy Ssrisk. Pah! We have an orbital laser defence array in place to prevent exactly such an easily-avoidable catastrophe. What a foolish question.

10. Really, is there any problem with the pimp slap?  Why?

While I do not know what a “pimp” is, I heartily approve of slapping — or any form of violence, for that matter.

11. What would you say is your motivation for waking up every day?

My motivation is simple — I wish to increase my own material wealth, spread the glory of the Ssrisk through the galaxy, and crush all inferior life forms in my claws until they grovel before me and swear eternal servitude.

 

I have way too much work to do, so here’s my tag: if you want to answer the following questions, consider yourself officially tagged. Here are the questions:

  1. Which animal would you choose to rule the world? (humans don’t count)
  2. Do you sing in the shower? Best song?
  3. Folk music — yay or nay?
  4. Why did the chicken cross the road?
  5. A historical figure comes back to life, and you have one afternoon to spend with them. Who is it, and what do you do?
  6. Which is cooler — flip phones or smart phones?
  7. If your life were a colour, what colour would it be and why?
  8. If you could be the author of either Twilight or Fifty Shades, which would you choose?
  9. When you read the number “9”, do you immediately say, “Number nine, number nine” like in that Beatles song?
  10. Unicorns or pegasi?
  11. What is the evillest corporation on this planet?

Happy tagging!

 

Unrelated media of the day:

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One writer in search of a conclusion …

I am almost finished the first draft for the sequel to Imminent Danger — currently titled Chasing Nonconformity. It’s going really well. Eris and Varrin are up to their usual shenanigans, Miguri is fluffy and wise as ever, Grashk is doing a great job hissing at everyone, the settings are bizarre and fun, and the new characters I’ve introduced are all performing very well in their respective roles. There’s just one problem: I don’t know how to end the damn book.

I thought I had it all worked out, until I was informed that the ending I had planned was too depressing for my light-hearted series. Fair enough. So I re-worked the ending. And re-worked it again. And re-worked it again. And now I’m totally baffled.

I know I need an epic battle scene, possibly involving a chase of some sort, and lots of ridiculous one-liners thrown in at totally inappropriate moments. I have the big cliffhanger worked out, but beyond that … nada.

Watching Star Wars — Attack of the Clones last night helped. I think I’ve settled on the chase sequence, followed by a dramatic showdown at the __________ (Ha! Like I’m going to reveal that.) But I still haven’t quite worked out how they’re going to enter into said chase sequence, or how to tie up all the loose ends in the dramatic showdown. Sigh.

Any tips for conclusion-writing? I had everything worked out in Imminent Danger, but the ending for the sequel is maddeningly elusive. Any and all advice is welcome.

Be excellent to each other, and party on, dudes!

 

Unrelated media of the day:

Categories: Writing | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 40 Comments

Writing Apocalypse Book of the Month!!! + Minor iUniverse Silliness

We’ll start with the exciting bit first. The lovely Ms. Tania L Ramos and the folks at Blackbird LSD run a website, which celebrates well-written books and the people who write them. Naturally, my book is nowhere to be found. Ha! Kidding, kidding. They were kind enough to slap Imminent Danger up on their site a few weeks ago, and to my delight, they’ve actually named it the Book of the Month for March 2013! Wooooo!

Another item of note, for anyone who lives in the vicinity of California: Blackbird LSD will be representing my book at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. I will not be there in person, due to my living in the frozen wasteland that is southern Ontario, but they’ll have lots of Imminent Danger swag (bookmarks, stickers, books, etc.).

So if you’re in the LA area April 20-21, stop by booth 214 and claim your swag! Or, if you have a moral objection to the term ‘swag’, you can claim whatever you want — booty, plunder, spoils, etc. *insert pirate joke here*

In other news … some minor iUniverse silliness

I say “minor” because it isn’t a huge deal — more of a “Really, guys? Really?” 

You all know about my struggles to get my book listed under the correct genre, right? I would have thought that, at some point, a proactive iUniverse employee might have put a note on my file mentioning that the book is actually “Young Adult”, and not “Children’s Lit”, despite what the unfortunate book category might say otherwise.

This is apparently not the case. I’ve recently been corresponding with the iUniverse Publishing Programs Department, who are going to get my book into Chapters for 8 weeks as per the publishing package I purchased. So the lady I was talking to whipped up a “sell sheet”, which basically has all the relevant information about Imminent Danger that she’ll send out to the local Chapters store in my area. Here’s a screencap of the top of the sheet she sent me for approval:

sellsheetTime to play Spot the errors!

1. “Children’s” should be Young Adult or Teen.

2. “Juvenile” should be Young Adult or Teen.

3. Romance is fine, but Sci-Fi should really be first. Also, who ever heard of a romance book for children? Is that a thing?

4. Fantasy is just wrong — maybe stick Romance here instead?

On the plus side, they definitely got “Fiction” right. Three cheers for iUniverse! I shall inform them today of their amusingly incorrect first attempt, and advise them on how to actually make it accurate on their second go.

Update: The iUniverse lady was very prompt and professional, and said there was no problem changing the genre to Fiction / Teen / Sci-fi / Romance. So points to iUniverse for fixing this problem ASAP!

 

Unrelated media of the day:

I want to live here …

Categories: iUniverse, My Works | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 25 Comments

How do you name your characters?

I ask this because I’ve always had trouble naming my characters — let alone remembering their names once I’ve come up with them! If you watched one of my recent vlogs, you’ll recall me admitting that one of the characters in Imminent Danger started off named Vallin, and then changed halfway through to Varrin because I forgot his name. Eek. Obviously that has been corrected, but still … eek.

I have several naming methods for my characters, some of which are more or less ridiculous than the others. Are you prepared to bathe in the gentle hurricane that is my wisdom? Awesome. Here are my naming methods, in no particular order:

Drawing inspiration from surrounding signage

My favourite example of this is a character from one of my WIPs. I knew her name was Caroline, because I love that name, but I couldn’t figure out what her last name was. I was sitting in Starbucks one day, looked up, and saw a McDonald’s Drive Through sign. I stood from my chair, shrieked “EUREKA!”, and Caroline Drive was born.

Basing names off of a character’s species

This one mainly applies to all my crazy aliens in Imminent Danger. If you’ve read the book, you’ll know there’s a race of six-armed, blue scaled lizard men called the Ssrisk. How did I name them? Easy. What sound do reptiles and snakes make? Hsssssss. Hssssssss … Sssssssssssrisk … EUREKA!

Naming after friends / family

Not main characters, obviously, but I’ve definitely done this with locations. The Barlow Collegiate Institute, for example, in Imminent Danger, is named after my best friend. Anyone who’s followed the adventures of “Immin Dang” (my ill-fated book cover) will also be happy to know that there is now an Imindang district in a new alien city they visit in the sequel.

Classical allusions / Pop culture references

This one is obviously my main character, Eris — aka the Greek goddess of Discord. I actually first fell in love with that name when my brother introduced me to Final Fantasy VII (you know, that iconic game where Aeris is famously stabbed by Sephiroth and dies despite the fact that resurrection spells are very common in that universe?). So I combined the two and came up with Eris, abductee extraordinaire. Woo!

Making up names that sound cool

I love names with Vs and Rs in them. Oooh, and Zs! I’m a sucker for a good Z. Hence my awesomely-named emperor of Rakor, Ka’zarel. Booya. Note how I included a totally unnecessary apostrophe in his name for style.

 

How do you name your characters? What’s your favourite name that you’ve ever come up with?

 

Unrelated media of the day:

 

Categories: Writing | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 120 Comments

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