Hello! And Update Day.

Phew! That was a close one. I almost missed my own bloghop, but then the help I mentioned in my previous post kicked in to some extent. So here I am.

Before I get started, I just wanted to say a special and huge thanks to everyone who’ve left messages of support, and who’ve boosted me and my family with thoughts and prayers. It means a lot to me, and for those who asked for a return favor of prayers and thoughts: You’ve got it, awesome person.

And now, back to the matter at hand. For those of you who are wondering, we’re a group of people who’ve set ourselves huge/crazy/very important goals. Then we get together on every last Friday of every month to update on progress. Anyone with a huge/crazy/very important goal is welcome to join. Just click here for more information.

Right, so this is what I did to date (and I think I should be able to get some more done before the actual month end):

My goals for September:

Writing:

1) Edit BvB1.

Did one round, but the lack of Internet messed things up a bit, so I didn’t get a fast enough turnaround to get to a second pass. (I have an editor for this one.)

2) Rewrite Wo6C3

I had a huge burst of productivity on the 9th. It started with a new project that grabbed on and wouldn’t let go. After I spent a week writing that draft (It’s a new record. I finished an entire rough draft in six days.), I used that momentum to get stuck in with the rewrite, and have added almost 15k words. At the rate I’m going, I should be able to add about 18k more before the end of the month.

3) Rough Draft BvB2.

Didn’t start this yet, but I’m hoping to get stuck in once I’ve finished the second round of edits to BvB1. Hopefully, the timing will fall so that I’ll be done with the Wo6C3 rewrite by then too. Yes, I do work on multiple projects at a time, but for some reason, the Wo6C series and the BvB series can’t live in the same head space at the same time. So I’ll finish the one, then the other.

4) Rough edits to ES1 and get critique partners for it.

My near constant lack of internet screwed this one up. I need to go looking for CPs for this, since I think maybe one of my CPs will want to read it. It’s a historical romance set in the old west, so it’s not necessarily everyone’s cup of tea.

5) Prep VD rewrite.

That other draft I mentioned, DM1 messed this one up big time. DM1 is still trying to take over my priorities, but I’m holding off until the end of next month. It does, however, mean that I’ve moved VD closer to the end of this year or maybe even early next year.

6) Rough Draft StW

Poor StW. It’s been hanging around, patiently waiting since January. Still haven’t gotten to it. The truth is, I’ve always intended it to be a bit of fluff for me to write to relax, but my main projects aren’t giving me the time to do it. (And then when I have time, another exciting project like DM1 comes along and steals its thunder.)

7) CdW concept.

I did a little of this, but not as much as I’d wanted. Again, the lack of internet caught me here, because the concept requires research.

8) Critique works sent to me by critique partners.

I’d need to find those CPs first.

Writing-wise, my month looked like this:

Reading:

1) TRY reading six books.

I’m on my third at the moment.

2) Give up on the idea that I’ll catch up on my yearly reading goal.

Yep. Done.

3) See how far I can get with Les Trois Mousquetaires.

Didn’t get anywhere with this. The older french in this one doesn’t feature in the dictionaries I have, so before, I’ve used the internet to help me translate the tricky bits. Sigh.

4) Read for an average of 15 minutes per day.

Current average is 34 minutes per day, but I’ll be reading this weekend, which will push the number up some more.

Social Media:

1) Maintain about the same level of activity as August.

Nope, the only real activity was me letting people know I wouldn’t be online, along with a few odd moments on twitter and Facebook when afforded the opportunity.

Life:

1) Don’t freak out while waiting to hear back from the film company I submitted the concept to.

Done. Was way too busy to freak out. I should be hearing back next week.

2) Crochet.

I did a few squares, but I’ve spent more time writing than anything else.

3) Get the first layer of paint on my canvas.

I’ve had to postpone my painting for a few. We might be moving house before the end of the year. My idea of hell is trying to move a canvas half the size of a decently sized dining table when it’s covered in wet oil paint.

Aw nuts. This is the moment I realize what moving house will do to my publishing schedule for the rest of the year.

Okay. I’ll find a way not to get too scrambled with the move. Hey. Last year, I moved in the middle of NaNoWriMo and still won. I can do this.

My goals for October:

Writing:

1) Edit BvB1

2) See if I can finish the Wo6C3 rewrite.

3) Get back to the BvB2 rough draft.

4) Find critique partners for ES1.

5) Prep the DM1 rewrite for NaNoWriMo.

6) Start StW. (Or…end up postponing it yet again.)

7) Work on the CdW concept.

Writing-wise, I’m hoping October looks like this:

Reading:

1) Read four books.

2) If possible read some more of Les Trois Mousquetaires.

3) Since I’m giving myself a break on the number of books I’m reading, I’m upping my average time a day spent reading to 20 minutes.

Social Media:

As disheartening as this is, start again to build up some sort of a presence.

Life:

1) Be prepared to chop and change my plans in the (unlikely) event of the film concept I’ve sent in being chosen.

2) Take deep breaths and try not to murder anyone. (Long story.)

3) Crochet.

How did you do in September? Anything important that I missed?

If I'm not back...

If I'm not back by Friday at the latest, I am okay, but my internet service has been cut.

No, when I said my business has been going well this year, it has. I didn't lie. However, I never quite explained what happened last year, which means that almost no one one the bloggosphere even has a concept of the magnitude disaster that 2014 turned out to be for me and my family.

But I'm tired. So tired, I no longer feel like putting on a smile and saying "we're bouncing back."

So here's the truth.

You know how if a tennis ball falls, it keeps bouncing, but every successive bounce is a bit lower than the previous one?

Starting almost exactly two years ago today, we've been screwed out of money. At end 2013, it didn't bother me, because I believed we'd bounce back in 2014. Heck, in 2014, we were even smart to put all we have into two more businesses in order to decrease the risk. Business 101, no?

It didn't protect us.

Because we were screwed out of our farm (and all the money we invested on it), we were screwed out of both our other businesses by various people. And today, while sitting here wondering how the hell we could have an excellent year and STILL not bounce back, I did a full estimation of what we've lost since September 2013, and it's not a pretty number.

And every time we tried to make up the loss, someone else would screw us over again and help us a bit deeper into the hole. Maybe this sounds like I'm blaming everyone else but myself. But you're wrong. I do blame myself for a lot of things, but the business we did was never failed because of what we did, but because of things people we trusted did.

Every time we learned a lesson. Oh yes, we've learned plenty. But every new person had a new trick, and every time, we had less of a capability to bounce back.

This year, we turned things around. We started again and started catching up. Heck, we even tied down some contracts (both in supply and demand) that meant that starting this coming season (we export fruit and veg), we'll be well on the way back to even footing. So much so, that we even have someone who's willing to join our business in order to get there faster.

But this person will only see us next Wednesday, and at sometime after that (when papers are signed and whatnot), we'll be able to move forward with the joint business.

In the meantime, all our expenses are due this week. Starting today, with a surprise cut-off notice from our ISP who have decided that we must pay twice this month or else. And our bounce-back capability is officially out.

Our one last shot is borrowing money, but with the economy they way it is, few people have money lying around to lend out. And we can't ask a bank or other institution, because that will simply take too long.

So yeah. Hopefully, I'll have good news before the cut-off in five hours. Otherwise, I guess I'll see you all in a few weeks.

I'm at Untethered Realms Today

Hi all!

Today, I'm at Untethered Realms, writing about my favorite thing as a published author.

Before you go, I want to give a quick shout-out to my fried Murees Dupe, whose new book is out today.

Claire is sassy, human, and an outcast of society―who only wants to know where she belongs.

Alex is arrogant, selfish, and an immortal warrior―who thinks he’s prepared for everything.

Claire knows the world of immortals is where she belongs. As her guide and guardian, Alex finds it hard to resist Claire’s subtle charm. Can the two overcome their differences and embrace their passion for each other, or will the possibility of true love be lost to both forever?

Find your copy here:

E-book: Kindle * Nook * Ibooks * Kobo

Paperback: Amazon

About the Author

Murees Dupé was born and still lives in South Africa. When she is not thinking up new stories, she is spending time with her family, playing with her three dogs and cat, watching TV, or overindulging on desserts. To learn more about Murees, visit her website www.mureesdupe.com.

Meradeth Houston on Creating an Interesting Antagonist

Hi all! Today I'm welcoming one of my blogging buddies Meradeth Houston to the blog as part of her blog tour. She's awesome, so do go over and say hi. 

Creating an Interesting Antagonist

Thanks so much for hosting me today, Misha! It’s always a treat to be on a fellow author’s blog. I thought I’d talk a little about antagonists and creating a really fun one. Well, maybe ‘fun’ is the right word, but one that gets under a reader’s skin in all the best ways.

So, I’ll admit that I love a good bad guy/gal. Maybe that’s a little twisted, but it makes me a whole lot more invested in a book. Some of my favorites come from Harry Potter. Of course we have Lord Voldemort, who is obviously evil. I mean, we get that. And his back story allows us to understand how he got that way. But while we don’t like the wizard and want him gone, there are some other antagonists that really irk a lot of readers. Let’s be honest, I think anyone was upset with what happened to Dolores Umbridge. Why? I think it has a lot to do with the fact that we’ve all had people like her in our lives. I’ve read some great articles about how people project that mean teacher/boss/whoever that was out to get them on Umbridge. So, what this boils down to is a way to connect personally with the antagonist—that really helps make them leap off the page.

For another Harry Potter character, let’s take Snape. The guy’s got some issues. He’s done some dumb stuff. And to be honest it wasn’t until the last book that I came to terms with the guy. The rest of the time I kind of thought he needed some psychological help (though I had some serious discussions with people who saw the good in Snape from the beginning). Anyhow, what changed my opinion? What made Snape that layered character that would be so incredible? His story. Learning about what got him to the troubled spot he was in, in such heart-rending detail, made me feel sorry for him and understand what drove him. And it wasn’t just hate and bitterness like Voldemort—nope, it was love and having to live through loss. Such a good story. But this boils down to seeing the inner conflict of the antagonist and understanding why they’re that way, to the point that on some level you might want them to succeed. I mean, sure, rooting for the hero might be obvious, but the antagonist has a point, too.

So, the reason I bring this up is because Joan, the antagonist of Travelers, was kind of tricky to write, because all the way through the story I found myself almost wanting her to get her way. She didn’t like the rules she had to live by because it meant her twin died, so she did something about it. And she did an amazing job. But there were consequences that made what she did pretty horrible for Sienna, the story’s hero, which is what plays out in the book. Still, Joan’s attitude had a completely logical foundation, one based on ideas I could understand and sympathize with, so there were a few times when I thought about letting her “win” while writing. The role that Joan plays in the book is one I really enjoyed exploring…probably because I love a good bad guy.

Who’s your favorite antagonist from a book or movie?

About TRAVELERS:

Sienna Crenshaw knows the rules: 1) no time traveling beyond your natural lifetime, 2) no screwing with death, and 3) no changing the past. Ever. Sienna doesn’t love being stuck in the present, but she’s not the type to to break the rules. That is, she wasn’t the type until her best friend broke every one of those rules to keep Henry, her twin brother and Sienna’s ex-boyfriend, alive.

Suddenly, Sienna is caught in an unfamiliar reality. The upside? Henry is still alive. The downside? Sienna’s old life, including the people in it, has been erased. Now, Sienna and Henry must untangle the giant knot in time, or her parents and all the rest of the Travelers, will be lost forever. One problem: the only way to be successful is for Henry to die.

Pick up a copy here!

Bio:

Meradeth's never been a big fan of talking about herself, but if you really want to know, here are some random tidbits about her:

>She's a Northern California girl who now braves the cold winters in Montana.
>When she's not writing, she's sequencing dead people's DNA.

>She’s also an anthropology professor and loves getting people interested in studying humans.
>If she could have a super-power, it would totally be flying. Which is a little strange, because she's terrified of heights.

Find Meradeth Houston online at: www.MeradethHouston.com

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Amazon, Goodreads, and of course her blog!

Guess what finally arrived today...

That's right. My paperback proofs are finally here.

I already checked them and everything's as it should be. Which means that the paperbacks should be available on Amazon by next week, and on extended sales channels within the next two months or so.

Will keep you posted.

How are you doing?

Ian S. Bott on Researching the Unknown

Hi all! Today I have the pleasure of hosting one of my very talented Crit Partners, Ian S. Bott, as part of his blog tour.

Having read Tiamat's Nest as a critique partner, I can tell you now that those who buy the book are in for a wild ride. One of the best things about the story is the feeling that, although we're dealing with events and technology that is still beyond our reality, they were written in a what that makes them feel real.

And today, Ian's going to tell us about researching for Speculative Fiction.

Before we start, though, I just want to mention that Shell Flower interviewed me on her blog today.

Okay, Ian, take it from here.

Researching the Unknown

When you write fiction set in the real world, the need for research is obvious. You’re writing about places and things that a lot of your readers already know about, and you need to be credible enough to keep those readers along for the ride.

One of the great joys of speculative fiction is that you get to make things up. Nobody can argue that you can’t possibly see the mountains of Mordor from Minas Tirith, because nobody’s been there!

So, when your whole world is invented, where is the need for research?

Well, no matter how far out your speculative ideas, readers need your world to have some foundations they can relate to. Even the most fantastical of worlds inevitably has considerable overlap with our familiar world.

If you’re writing medieval fantasy, for example, you can bet many of your readers will know their pikes from their halberds, so you’d better know too! That means research.

OK, maybe you’re into far-future sci-fi instead, with biology and technology that has no earthly counterparts. Surely that’s safe? Well, what about the (eminently fashionable indicators of a non-Earth setting) twin moons you’ve placed in the sky which always seem to rise and set together in defiance of orbital periods? You may not be aware of the gaffe, but your target audience may not be forgiving.

One of the challenges of speculative fiction is knowing what you don’t know. When you write a real-world setting you are usually aware of your boundaries. Never been to New York, or worked in a hospital, or erected a circus big top? Well, you know what you have to read up about. But assembling a world from scratch with credible seasons and ecology? Most likely you’re going to write what you’ve decided you need for the story without much thought to what laws of nature you’ve trampled along the way.

The strangest thing about sci-fi is that people happily accept blatant present-day impossibilities, like FTL travel or artificial gravity fields, without so much as a blink of an eye, but they get picky about smaller things. It's relatively easy to get away with big bold lies, but the closer you get to some version of recognizable reality the more demanding people get.

Like trying to plan the perfect murder, it's the little details that'll trip you up.

For my latest novel, Tiamat’s Nest, I’ve researched things like the topography of Greenland under all that ice, the temperature of magma and melting point of aluminum, driving snowmobiles across open water, and how far you have to run to survive a small nuclear explosion.

What cool things have you researched for your work?

Tiamat’s Nest

The virtual world comes alive and reaches out into the real world with deadly results. University professor and devout technophobe, Charles Hawthorne, confronts technology full on to end the hidden threat to humanity.

Available on Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo.

Find out more about the author on his website: www.iansbott.com

Update Day: End of Winter Edition

Phew! I can’t believe that August is all but over. This is the last Friday of the month, which of course means that it’s time for me to update on my progress.

For those of you who are unaware, Beth Fred and I host a monthly bloghop where we set lofty (or crazy) or just important goals. Then on every last Friday of the month, we all post updates for a mixture of accountability and encouragement.

You’re welcome to join at any time. Just click here for more information.

And now, this is how I did.

My goals for August:

Writing:

1) Write 15k words.

I wrote almost 21k so far and will be adding a few words more by Monday.

2) Finish the rewrite to O1.

Very almost done with this. Just suffering from a bit of separation anxiety, or I would probably have finished it already. I should get to it this weekend, though.

3) Edit BvB1

Did some light checking before sending to an editor. Will start this on Monday. (Didn’t want to mix edits with O1’s rewrite to avoid introducing errors to BvB1.)

4) Edit ES1

Didn’t do this.

5) Edit Untethered Realms Short Story

Done and Submitted. And Oh look! The Cover…

6) Tie up any remaining loose ends to The Vanished Knight and The Heir’s Choice.

This I couldn’t do because someone screwed up with the mailing of my paperback proofs. Amazon are now shipping them for free and the ETA is Tuesday.

7) Prep for rewrite to VD

Didn’t get to it yet.

8) Work on concept to P.

This I did, but the concept simply isn’t getting together in a way that pleases me. So I decided to put it waaaaaaaaaaaaay back on the back-burner. Behind all the other projects I still need to get to.

Writing-wise, my month looked like this:

Reading:

1) Read six books.

I read three and am reading my fourth, but it won’t be done before the end of the month.

2) One of which must be Shakespeare.

This I did. I read The Tempest.

3) And another must be in French.

I’m reading Les Trois Mousquetaires (The Three Musketeers, but in French). It’s the original version (IE not simplified and not abridged. Which means it’s huge.)

4) Read for an average of fifteen minutes per day. (Which mean I can read for an hour on one day and then skip three, if needs be.)

My average is currently 28 minutes. (Yes, I keep track.)

Social media:

1) Continue with my regular blogging schedule.

Done.

2) Regular Tumblr and Wattpad posts.

Done(ish) for Tumblr, Done for Wattpad.

3) Start catching up on Wattpad Critiques

I am slowly catching up, but it’s tough going with all the other stuff I need to do. Including things that cropped up after last month’s post.

4) More regular presence on Twitter and Google Plus.

I feel that I have made a move toward this, but there’s still a lot of work to do.

Life:

1) Continue to grow business.

Boy this one got a sudden leap forward recently. Not going into details, but I will say that it makes the whole growth thing a lot easier.

2) Get some crafty stuff done.

I crocheted.

3) Start a painting/drawing.

I started a huge painting and would have done more, but the weather has thrown my plans a bit. (Can’t really mix the right colors when it’s cloudy, and it’s too expensive to flub something.)

Special Mentions:

I critiqued about a quarter of someone’s book.

I wrote and submitted a film concept with my mother and grandmother.

The Vanished Knight and The Heir’s Choice (but mostly The Vanished Knight) sold the same number of books in five days of being published as The Vanished Knight sold in the five months it was with my former publisher.

My goals for September:

When I decided to move P down my priority list, I decided to shift quite a few of my projects to next year etc. because I’ve seen this year how much I can do and I’m not going to put any unnecessary pressure on myself. That said, a lot of the goals from last month are moving to this one, because I should have a bit more time.

Writing:

1) Edit BvB1.

2) Rewrite Wo6C3

3) Rough Draft BvB2.

4) Rough edits to ES1 and get critique partners for it.

5) Prep VD rewrite.

6) Rough Draft StW

7) CdW concept.

8) Critique works sent to me by critique partners.

Writing-wise, my month should look something like this:

Reading:

1) TRY reading six books.

2) Give up on the idea that I’ll catch up on my yearly reading goal.

3) See how far I can get with Les Trois Mousquetaires.

4) Read for an average of 15 minutes per day.

Social Media:

1) Maintain about the same level of activity as August.

Life:

1) Don’t freak out while waiting to hear back from the film company I submitted the concept to.

2) Crochet.

3) Get the first layer of paint on my canvas.

That’s it for me for today. How did you do? Thinking about joining in?

A to Z of Things Writers Should Know About Writing: Underwhelmed

I'm still on my mission to complete my A to Z Challenge theme, and I'm actually feeling like I'm finally in my home stretch.

And today, I'm writing about a biggie.

Writers all have to come to terms with this simple fact or we simply couldn't function as writers.

First drafts almost never live up to the pictures we have in our minds.

(Unless we're temporarily delusional.)

I wish I can say that it becomes better, but really, all that happens is we learn to expect that compared to our idea, the draft will suck. So we're not as crushed when we find this when we re-read what we've written. 

Why is this, though? Why don't we just write the idea the way we have in our mind? 

Well... For one thing, writing is hard. Don't ever let someone tell you it isn't. Furthermore, our minds have a way of making ideas look incredibly shiny, because along with just the basic idea, we also see how we expect it to look and feel in the end. But the truth is that this sense of perfection is an illusion. 

It's a nice illusion. It helps us be excited enough about our ideas to commit to the writing. 

But as soon as words start appearing on paper, you'll find you don't have exactly the right words to get the feels across that you have. You'll discover plot-holes you never considered (even if you did plot). You'll discover that the characters simply refuse to act in the way that you need them to in order to bring your vision about. 

Or you'll get to the end and reread the whole thing, find that you got almost everything that you envisaged down and... it... just... sucks. 

There's not really all that much that you can do about it. The translation from idea to draft is never perfect, and there's not much you can do to change this. 

You can, however, change the way you see and react to the imperfection. 

I think all writers come to terms with imperfection in various ways, but this is what I do: 

1) When reading what I've written, I make note of flaws and weaknesses, but focus on the positives. No, no one's rough draft sucks in its entirety. There's always something worth keeping. Your job is to find that thing. And make note of all the things you need to change in order to improve your story. 

2) Remember that it's always better to have one sucky draft than a million good ideas. This might seem counter-intuitive, but an idea is worth very little until you have it written on paper. Especially because of our mind's way of making things look shinier in our thoughts than in reality. Once the story is written, we can fix it no matter how bad it looks. (Even if it takes a rewrite.) But if you don't ever write it, there's nothing you can do to it.

So yes, be underwhelmed, but remember that a sucky first draft is just part of the process. And be glad that you're underwhelmed, because it will help you in edits later.

How do you deal with first draft suckage? Are you struggling with first draft suckage at the moment?

Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

I have today the great pleasure of announcing the coming of:

Realms Faire 2015

It is a Faire not only restricted to medieval themes, but to all times and themes. The organizers are still looking for participants in two events.

Do you want to battle an immortal? 

Or would you rather duel with other bards? 

Both still have spots open.

Then, we the organizers are looking for a wide variety of prizes and will be most grateful for your most gracious offerings.

Perhaps you only want to watch the fun. (Or you missed entering one of the challenges.) 

That's wonderful too. There is nothing as fun as having an audience, and all are welcome to spectate the spectacle. We also have a variety of open games:

Velociraffle

Drench-a-Wench/Soak-a-Bloke

Hall of Doors

Riddle Me This

A Unicorn Hunt

The Hero's Dilemma

Phasers

Who Roams Here

Stockade Brigade

All have prizes to be won and will be great fun. 

Remember This Date

For more information, to enter or to submit prizes, click here.

Who's in?

One last thing. Michael D'Agostino interviewed James from The War of Six Crowns today. I'd love it if you all came to say hi.