Saved by the Hammer

The end of the month rush has grown into a bad habit. It keeps returning like a dark dream one just can’t quite remember. Every cabinet or bookcase that needs leveling, every conceptual sketch of a new project in wood, every website maintenance that procrastination has kept at bay, it all pulls back to break ones resolve, but the goal must be met. All else must be abandoned. The monthly ritual is made all the more pathetic considering my new word count goal is far from significant.

A trellis project just started is on hold at least until tomorrow; August first. Do I buy new pavers? They don’t reach all the way along the raspberry patch. Or do I cannibalize those long concrete border stones from other parts of the yard, replacing the end to end pavers and repositioning them with the side to side pavers? Would they reach the other end even then? I best stay inside lest my mind be distracted, lost in the its virtual simulations of exactly how I am to get it, and the many other adventures an old run down house presents, done.

A week ago I asked myself; Is this it? Is this where I give up on my meager goals? Am I ever going to get another book out? I could blame my birthday, a bad time of year for me, but whatever the case I hadn’t written for days and had but a week to accomplish the near entirety of my new word goal for July.

I have two full books in draft form completed. I had put aside the sequel to Chuck Hammer while I wrote those two until this month. I pulled out the old notebooks on the sequel and set to work.

Yeee Haaa! The words flowed like water. “Loyalty’s Fertile Soil” the next in the Fortunes of Chuck Hammer Series is bulldozing along. I came to this last day of the month with no worries that the goal will be reached and more.

My problem right now is keeping up with the extensive list of characters as I race ahead; their descriptions, positions and place in the storyline. I will have to do some back tracking come tomorrow, to make sure I have all my ducks in a row.

I had a moment of regret this weekend. A gentleman of my acquaintance, a man who enjoyed the first Chuck Hammer asked me where the next one was. Ouch. It has been a long time since the first book. I must take solace however in the fact that over the last year I have completed two books and the sequel is steaming along. My work practices are coming in line with what it will take to be a writer. I have hit a pace that will allow me to put out two, or one very large book, every year. When I get five books published, and have the next books in the two series I am creating underway, it will be time to do some serious marketing.

I also have some more short stories forming in my immense brain. In the Lunar Colony in which the next Chuck Hammer is set, there is a story telling ritual every new moon. One of those stories is in the sequel. I am planning to create a supplemental, to the second Chuck Hammer, of short stories; the supposed results of these communal gatherings.

“Loyalty’s Fertile Soil” may grow to 200,000 words (or even more). I may put the first half out as an e-book before the second half is finished.

I also found a helpful way to keep the writing flowing. Even when the words come easy I get hung up at times. I go off and read for about fifteen minutes, check the refrigerator and sit back down and the blockage is gone.

Of course you need good reading. You read to improve your own writing. The free e-book market doesn’t always provide the highest quality, actually seldom does, of writing. Fortunately I found a source of good writing. Not without imperfections but the writing is quite good and exemplifies what the written word can do that the screen can’t.

E. R Mason is the author. I am on book two of three of the adventures of an Adrian Tarn. The third book is very reasonably priced. There’s a marketing strategy for you. The first two books are free and the third is so reasonably priced that nothing can stop you from purchasing it.

Author’s Review Page

It’s finally here, what you have all been waiting for. My author’s review page can be found in the links banner above. No longer do you need to wonder, ‘Am I wasting my one free kindle lending library book a month on this author?’ Check out my ratings and save time and grief even if you’re a Kindle Select subscriber.

A bit later than mid-month, as I had promised, but the page is up. Many more author reviews will be coming, and not just on science fiction.

Just prior to that Christmas in July Amazon Prime Day, I received the typical e-mail discount offer on pre-release kindle books that I am afforded as a member of Amazon prime. This offer included the option of choosing one of the titles for free on Amazon Prime Day. I took up the offer. I also looked for free books and found six more. I can only imagine that Kindle authors took advantage of the Amazon Prime Day to offer their work for free. looking to take advantage of a massive crowd of deal seekers.

Look forward to more reviews. I have not been writing every day this month. This is a heavy time of year for me. It was my birthday last week.

One… Two…

The garden box project is coming along.

I found this post on the four people you absolutely need in your writing life. Most people would read this article and then begin to count;  “One…” as the first finger cautiously extends.

But not me.

Sure, I’m married and one would think my wife would be my cheerleader and motivator. My wife is Japanese. She will never read a novel in English; not going to happen. My writing hasn’t brought in any significant green either so… when she watches me doing three or four different things to earn money she hardly realizes I’m still writing. There are also cultural differences where woman vary in what they believe their duty to their husbands are.

I wandered into writing and am just now trying to get up to cruising speed. In regards to the article, a mentor? Don’t see that happening in the near future. An editor, someone everyone absolutely needs. I don’t have an editor but I know where to find them. Now if I only had the money to hire one.

Create Space provides editing services. It is not too personable of a process. But I found this site somehow via Facebook; reedsy.

Another site, another service, another user ID, another password, will I completely forget about this account in a few months? Will I stay up nights wondering how many accounts and profiles I created and completely forgot about? Will they come back to haunt me, hijacked by an evil entity? We are all over subscribed on the Internet.

On reedsy you can select up to five professionals at a time and ask them for offers. You can study their profiles, choose the best editors, or cover designers, you feel may meet your needs, send them a request and ask for a quote. You can grill these professionals on whether they use software or do it the old fashioned way. (There are several editing software programs/services available) All the professionals on reedsy appear to be of significant experience and though the site is based in England, there are plenty of American professionals from across the country listed.

The reedsy site will charge 10% for any contract their site facilitates. I would hope that fee goes down as their membership grows. They are a site under construction. They have a clear layout of their services but the web site hasn’t been fully developed to provide all they dream of. In the future you will be able to do your writing, if you desire, right on the site; ‘in the cloud’ as they say these days.

I am pleasantly surprised by reedsy so far and am glad I created an account. I hope that doesn’t change. I am also making more use of Goodreads.

I am not far along in the editing of my two recently completed works, but work on the first draft of “Loyalty’s Fertile Soil” the next in the Chuck Hammer series is gliding right along. I am developing step by step a clear schedule to increase productivity.

I read a lot, under the suggestion that it improves one’s own writing. I search the self-published free via Amazon Prime science fiction market. I have been disappointed with much of what I have read. This month of June however, I hope I have found a good series to follow along with another series I have previously mentioned. (Ryk Brown has gone back to Amazon as his exclusive handler)

The Odyssey One series by Even C. Currie is the new series I will be trying to follow. My review on Goodreads. As it was the author’s first work and based on my own writing experience I am in great expectation that his writing will improve greatly. Also, something I didn’t mention in my review, he alludes to the religious element of mankind’s background which interests me greatly. I am looking forward to see where he goes with it.

There is a problem with a whole lot of under par self-published writing out there. The reviews tell you little to nothing and are of questionable origin. Therefore I will create a page on this blog in which I will review authors, not any individual work. I will focus on the free e-book market (Amazon Prime/Kindle select). Here will be my rating system:

  Author; enough said.

       Writer; has it all in order, professional editing but may not be the most profound thinker. Must show depth in some areas.

            Story Teller; great stories, not completely there in editing and/or storyline but shows potential. Generally worth the read if your tolerance levels for imperfections are medium to high.

                 Wanna Be; Has good ideas, can put together a general acceptable storyline but hasn’t taken it to the next level. Implies potential lost for lack of professional input.

                      Hack; looking to make a quick buck, lacks originality in storyline, poor character development and devoid of professional input, but somehow I had to read to the end.

                      Hack from the Depths of Hell; I couldn’t keep reading and that is almost impossible for me.

As far as the paid market turn to what’s in your local bookstore as a quality control tool. I saw the salvation of the bookstore last week at Barnes and Noble. They are selling vinyl with their books. That would be records, 33’s, albums, the way people used to buy music. Consolidation of low tech systems under one roof, I hope it works.

I will have my author review page up by mid-July.

Review, Review, Review

Adjacent is a project on hold, as the end of the month word count goal is rushing in upon me.
“Again?” you exclaim, “What’s wrong with you?”

I know, but every month it is something. May was lawn and garden demands, the busiest weekend of the year for our business and an automobile disaster. The Memorial Day weekend coincided with my mother’s birthday, a big one, and a first Communion gathering followed by a brunch designed to knock me off my diet topped off some of what kept me from writing more every day.

Waffles and fried chicken, and more bacon and sausage than anyone could imagine eating. Fried potatoes and scrambled eggs kept it all company. A sample of what heaven must taste like.

Finished, again, two drafts, “Partisans of the Blue: The Dauntless Recruits” and “Life on the Farm”, the latter a story with hints of “Sleepless in Seattle”. Maybe. I can see it but…

What have I come to realize this last month?

That typing out my second draft on an old style typewriter idea; not happening. You can’t wait until your first draft is finished. Typewriters are too slow. Of course my typing improves as I go, only getting faster, but it still goes too slow. With my current experience, with what I was hoping to accomplish by typing my work out, you can’t trail your first draft by more than 10,000 words to make this tactic effective for a first refinement; not an edit. I wont elaborating further.

Another realization, I will never publish a book without hiring an editor. There is too much at risk. Okay, if I was working on one single great lifetime work I was going to spend ten years writing, maybe. But then again, considering the scope of the effort, no. My skills and knowledge of grammar and the other aspects of writing expand daily at a rapid rate. I owe that to a sound education as a child, even if my grades were not always the greatest. Still it would simply be a disservice to my readers, of whom I am humbled to think of going out of their way to read my books, not to put the best product forward as possible. This is not a conclusion from only my own writing experience, but also from what I have been reading by other self-published authors.

Dependent upon Amazon Prime for free books to read, most of which appear to be self-published, I have found too many books too poorly written. Which translates; self-edited. Having a propensity for science fiction I count myself fortunate to have found early on Ryk Brown’s books. Self-published, he is head and shoulders above what I’ve read otherwise in the self-published science fiction genre. The issues with Ryk Brown’s books are there but are soooo minor compared to what I’m reading now. The difference being of course the hiring of editors, who Ryk Brown refers to as independent contractors.

Examples of the shortcomings of this writer’s want-a-be free for all, AKA self-publishing, are many. The book I am reading now: Why are the most complex and difficult to understand sentence structures (don’t get me started on how they organize a paragraph) in the beginning of the story? It’s not just this most recent author I am reading, but several other authors I have read. Is this by design, so we don’t think so badly of the rest of the book as it becomes marginally better written?

And what’s with the formula? Man has expanded across the galaxy. There is a mysterious alien race of unknown origins threatening (thank you Ryk Brown for writing science fiction without alien races). A ghost ship of legend appears and the race begins. Add a borderline mad genius with some uncanny instinct about said ship of whose location is yet to be determined, a damaged crew with troubled but somehow superior personalities working together to find said person of genius and ghost ship, take control of ghost ship and save the universe. Maybe they all took the same creative writing course. I just described to you about 20% of all self published science fiction in part or whole.

Add ingredients to bag and shake well.

And the reviews!!!! They call these stories ‘space operas’ for reasons I fail to comprehend. I have yet to read of anyone singing, though the Characters in “Chuck Hammer, A Vendetta’s Wage” have been known to sing a song or two. (that would be my book) The number of reviews range from twenty to just short of one-thousand. There is always one thrown in complaining about the pricing. Which reviews are sincere and which are paid for. Hard to tell, even the bad reviews, one star, express intrigue with the story. They consistently rank just over four stars.

My shortcoming is that I can’t stop reading these space operas.

Many reviewers complain about the lack of good editing in self-published works. That isn’t good for the cause. I myself am beginning to think that I need to payout the little money we have for e-books if I want to experience any good writing.

You can read my reviews on Amazon here. I write reviews under the moniker Leonid480.

In this quest for service, Create Space, part of Amazon, as well as other publishing sites provide services, including editing, that you can purchase. There are also organizations such as ‘Reedsy’ where authors and service providers can network. One more dimension of self-publishing; networking.

I contemplated attending a writer’s conference in Indiana for some face to face (the antithesis of Facebook) networking, something I consider better for one’s sense of well being. Our vehicle troubles, and the associated costs, have axed those dreams.

It is becoming clear that if I do not create schedule and stick too it, tasks such as networking and marketing, on the Internet or otherwise, will not be gotten to. It is perfectly clear that I will not get any books out in a timely fashion without the help of editors. (I started this post yesterday and since then I have started another story line in “Partisan of the Blue”. Editors help eliminate the unnecessary and point out gaps that need to be filled: types of editors.)

Goals for June: Create a schedule and stick too it. Time set aside to develop a network the priority. Get both current works onto the computer, complete. Then review, review, review before choosing an editor/s.

Thank you for following my progress.

No associated links constitute an endorsement by me.

More Word Counts

As I find myself behind in my word count goals once again, what do I need more than an article on word counts to come up on my Facebook page. I do not want to be writing to meet a word count goal, but without such goals my writing will stall out. It is the reality of my life that I have over half a dozen projects and responsibilities around me that can easily consume my time, as well as provide fulfillment in their own rights. My garden expansion project is one example. I still have to get the fencing up, a must not only to deter the rabbits but to keep our dog from tearing up my work. No fences around my notebooks, just have to make sure they are out of our dog’s reach.

I am also, after completing two rough drafts, transitioning more to the editing/review process. This reduces my new word count significantly. My low word count goal (for now) however should produce greater drive, as it is not all too unpractical to do it all. I may post excerpts from my work midmonth as I get these two books well underway. “Life on the Farm” is inching bit by bit to a full length novel as more scene ideas arise and I do more research.

But this fore mentioned article on word counts deals with story classification by length. Looking over this article, at what and how people are writing, I find inspiration. What is classified as “small stone” or “flash fiction” describes something that meets a need. The need to write. There are many ideas, scenes I would like to write out, that I contemplate could be built into a larger story. What that larger story would be is a complete mystery to me, so I often put nothing down. But I should be writing them down and storing them away for further development, even combining the tiny bits together, to create that larger story in the future. The potential to combine tales, that I would never imagine being in the same novel, together into a single work intrigues me. It is an exciting creative concept. This process is akin to the found object concept in design; centering your design around a miscellaneous object chosen because it was found on site e.g., because it simply captured one’s imagination or challenged one’s creativity.

Being connected to various resources provided by self publishing organizations or networks is a must if you want to develop your writing and creativity. Much of what is posted may not be of interest or necessity but you’ll always glean something useful from the resources over the long run. The writer’s resources I’ve listed in the sidebar are but a few of many good resources available.

A group is growing; a group of people sincerely interested in my writing. A few even have begun to offer me assistance in my endeavors. I read a revealing article about Alpha Readers; those willing to read your work in its roughest form and offer intelligent advice. A rare species in relation to the Beta Reader; someone who critiques your work just prior to publication. You are a blessed and fortunate individual if you have someone, you truly trust and who believes in your talents, that wants to help you as an Alpha Reader…

God Bless.