Personal Blog:
| Date: 02/05/2009 | Well, red letter day for me, I have a website. For a ludite like me, that's a hell of a thing. Well, fingers crossed. |
| Date: 07/27/2009 | All right, I've managed to go half a year without mentioning anything new. I guess it's time for the update:
So I went to the Pike's Peak Writer's conference this year. My very first writer's conference. It was a good experience. They had a lot of brief lectures by a lot of published writers, and by editors and agents. It was kind of hit or miss on how useful they were, and sometimes it was hard to know just what a particular lecture was going to be about, just based on the title, like the lecture on the supernatural which I expected to be a lecture on some of the quirks involved in writing stories with supernatural elements. It turned out to be a course by a woman who did paranormal research. Personally I wish their course descriptions were a little more specific. Also, the courses weren't ranked or rated for the experience of the attendees. I'm the first to say that you should always have courses for people who are new, but every room I walked into seemed to be a beginners course. Not that I'm an expert in every aspect of writing, but I do know a bit about some parts, and I was hoping for some lectures that involved fine tuning and polishing my work. While the lectures were good, and the meals were quite tasty, I think the real highlight of the experience was rubbing shoulders with fellow writers. I can't say that I wanted to remain in close contact with everyone I met, but everyone seemede happy to be there, and thrilled for the chance to talk to other writers. While the conference was expensive (a couple hundred bucks), I found it to be worthwhile, even if I did completely botch my pitch session. What else have I been up to? Well, I just spent a month and a half down in Texas, house sitting for my parents. It was MARVELOUS. Let me tell you, there is nothing in this world quite so beautiful, quite so wonderful, as going six whole weeks without hearing an alarm clock. Now, of course, I'm going to spend the week sobbing my eyes out, just because I have to go back to work. Oh well. So far that's pretty much it. I do have a few new projects I'm working on, but they're all in the 'Work In Progress' phase, and aren't worth discussing yet. |
| Date: 08/18/2009 | Well, I submitted the first chapter of one of my books to the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers contest and, low and behold, I'm in the finals!
Yeah! Validation! Now all I have to do is edit the rest of the story into something publishable, come up with a marketing plan, figure out a pitch, and find an agent/editor who'll listen! Too bad I have no idea how to do any of that. Oh well. Wish me luck! |
| Date: 12/25/2009 |
Okay, okay, I haven't written anything in four months. Bad Ross, I know. Well, I suppose I should catch you up. First, I didn't win the RMFW contest, but since they only declare winner and runners up, I'm going to assume that I was a very close second. The really cool thing was that the guy who judged the competition said that, a.)this was the strongest showing in our category that he'd ever seen, and b.)we were all publishable. The depressing thing was that the fifteen minutes of his time that I won by being a finalist went to waste. Turns out his publishing company axed the s.f. department. But wait, I got a pitch with an agent too, right? Yep. So how did that go? Well, the good news is that it didn't come to blows. You know that feeling when you're sitting across from someone, and you know you're both speaking English, but they must be using some bizarre variation of it, because you have no freaking clue what they're talking about? Yeah, pretty much what happened. Still, there are worse things. I was a finalist in a major competition, which I can now put on every query letter I send out from now until six weeks after they bury me, and that's the important thing, I think. Well, I hope everyone out there is having better luck than me. Merry Christmas and I hope you all have a happy new years. |
| Date: 01/28/2010 |
So, one of the guys in my writing group, Brian Kaufman, has started up his own small press, Dark Silo Press and it's got me thinking about small presses as a possible way to go myself. The upsides are pretty awesome: I have control over all those little details that publishing companies don't like to let their authors near, like the cover of my book. I don't have to worry about the publishing company refusing to continue to print my book just because it didn't sell a massive number of titles in its first two weeks in print, or however long they give it these days. Oh, yeah, I would also get to control how much my book cost. That's a bit of a perk too. But there are a few downsides as well. The risks would all fall on me. I mean, don't get me wrong, whatever route I go, the responsibility would still fall on me (publishers don't actually put any work into promoting authors anymore, they just throw a bunch of them into the air and see which ones fly on their own), but if I can get published with a house, they'll at least take some of the financial risk themselves. And seeing as how I don't have much in the way of, you know, money, and I know crap all about the business, trying to publish my own stuff strikes me as really risky. Most likely I'll spend the next couple of years working on my writing and trying to save up money so that I can try to start my own company when I have a better chance of success, but frankly, that's really depressing. I don't want to wait to get published. I don't want to wait to put out a book. I have things that are ready to go now. Okay, I'll stop whining for a little while. But only a little while. |
| Date: 02/22/2010 |
So, tomorrow Brian Kaufman's book, Dead Beyond the Fence" comes out. It's not his first book, but it's the first book he's publishing with his small press company. I'm excited, partially because my friend is publishing a book, partially because I'm going to be learning a bit about the ins and outs of how an author goes about promoting his material and partly because . . . well, there are going to be zombies. ZOMBIES, PEOPLE!!! Well, I hope to see some of you there, and I hope that those of you who can't make it will buy a copy of the book. |
| Date: 02/23/10 | Well, last night was our little mini zombie-fest, and it was fantastic! I'll have the pictures up as soon
as I can, for now, suffice to say, it was zomberific.
Aaron and Audrey spent most of their night applying makeup, and did an amazing job. How amazing, you ask? Let's put it this way, I took a walk around the building to get a breath of fresh air, and a minute after I was done a van pulled up and asked someone standing out front whether they needed to call for an ambulance. Seriously, that's good makeup, people. I think it's also appropriate to thank Donna (who makes this website work) for not only showing up, but for bringing her kids, who brought their friends, who turned the event into the kind of madhouse you pray for at these things. Another big 'thank you' goes out to the college students who participate in the on campus 'zombies versus humans' games. About a dozen of the zombie folk showed up and got dudded up. Like I said, it was awesome. I wish more people could have been there, but we had somewhere in the neighborhood of forty to fifty, and that ain't bad. For those of you who missed out, but would have made it if you could, Brian's next big event is coming up in march. The Zombie Fashing show, at Bender's Tavern isn't for the faint of heart (from what I've heard), but if you like blood and models who look like they were dug up fresh for the event, get ready for a twisted evening on March the 13th. |
| Date: 3/8/2010 | So, another red letter day! I'm getting published. No, not a book, a short story. Not one of my best short stories, I don't think, but a pretty okay one. It's called 'Monsters' and it's going to be printed in Crossed Genres. It's the first time I'm going to be paid for my writing. Well, I got a prize when I placed in the RMFW contest, but that was money I won, this is money I earned (To be fair, I won 20 dollars and I earned 10, so it isn't like I'm rolling in it). Of course, being the idiot I am, the first thing I did was run out and buy a four dollar frame to put the first dollar I ever made in, so technically I'm already down to five dollars, but I'll take it. |
| Date: 3/12/2010 | Tomorrow I'm going to join Brian and his wife on a trip to Denver. He's got a booth at a zombie fashion show, and I'm going to help. How? Got me, I'll be wearing a bloody shirt and bringing a small fountain run on double a batteries which we will fill with fake blood, but as for my specific responsibilities, I don't really know. I guess I just bite anyone who tries to take a book without paying? Well, whatever it is, I'm betting it'll be an interesting experience. |
| Date: 3/14/2010 | So, I went to the March of the Zombies last night. Wow. I have pictures from the event posted, and I think they can attest, more than words ever could, just how heavily people got into this event. I don't know if I'll be able to make it next year, but if I do go, I think I'll have to do a little more than throw on a shirt soaked in fake blood. |
| April 24th, 2010 | Day two of the conference is the day of the pitch, and if you're not an experienced pitcher (maybe even if you are, I don't know, I've never been an experienced pitcher) the whole day is centered around that eight minute session. This was, easily, my best pitch session ever. Maybe it was because I wasn't nervous going into it, maybe it was because Betsy Mitchell was just so easy to talk to, I don't know. I do know that she asked for fifty pages, and that makes me VERY happy. True, she also suggested that I get an agent, but seeing as how so few publishing firms accept work from unagented writers, I guess it wasn't so much an insult as a piece of advice from someone well-informed on the subject. |
| April 25th, 2010 | As much fun as I've had, I'm looking forward to going home. Not that the conference hasn't been awesome, but it has been pretty intense. That combined with ten thousand identical chairs that all put the same pressure on the same part of your back for days on end, it kind of makes me long for home. And as much as I enjoy talking to other writers, I'm not a huge people person. Talking to stranger after stranger after stranger takes a toll. I'm thrilled to have met them, but there are only so many people I can talk to in one, seventy two hour weekend before my paranoia springs back up. |
| Date: May 13th, 2010 | Howdy all, hope you're doing well. So, just a quick update: I've been rejected by the Nelson Agency. On the one hand, somebody read my work
and decided that I'm not good enough for them. That stings. On the other hand, I had reservations about the agency. Not a question of competency, what
little I know about the Nelson Agency seems to indicate that they're a top notch group that knows their stuff and works hard for their clients. No, I
just remember that when I pitched to Kristen Nelson, something about her bugged the crap out of me. True, I was submitting to Sara Megibow, who struck
me as very easy to work with, but I got rejected by them, so I'm going to focus on my reservations, as that makes me feel like I got kicked in the nuts, as
opposed to getting kicked in the nuts with a steel toe.
In other news, I'm up to 21 rejections total this year, most of those are for short stories. Admittedly, I've been shooting in the dark with my submissions, sending to pretty much anybody who publishes my genre in the word count I have. Still, I would have liked to get a few more hits. Such is life, I suppose. What else . . . what else . . . Oh, yes, I need to find a new job. My new boss is getting more and more annoying, and, frankly, I'm a little offended that my last raise was 22 cents an hour. Sadly, job hunting is one of my greatest weaknesses. |
| Date: May 18, 2010 | Hello all! Good news, I just got my second publication credit! My story, 'Cold Blooded Predators' just got accepted by Brain Soup.
It's a nonpaying credit, but frankly short stories aren't making money, they're about getting your name out there, and getting credits to list when you're trying to get longer works published, so I'm okay with that. I do wish I knew how to get ahold of a copy of the magazine. I'll have to poke around online for a bit. In the end, though, I'll probably have to get my sister to find it. She's better at that kind of thing. |
| Date: June 4, 2010 | Hello all. Hope everyone is doing well. I've been doing pretty well. Of course, I go back to work tomorrow, so there's a limit to how
well I can be.
So, spent the last two weeks in Texas, which was a largely pleasant experience. I mean, sure, it was hot as hell, and I spent most of the time lying under a fan in my underwear, but lying around in your underwear isn't all bad. Besides, I got some stuff done in the mornings and the evenings. I spent about half my time on the family farm, which was great. In some ways working on the family farm and writing aren't that different. They're both situations where you are personally invested in what you're doing. In most jobs there is a certain disconnect between you and the work that you're doing, because you know that you're just a cog in a machine. The job, the work, the store, it all belongs to somebody else, and you are simply being paid to take care of something that you have no real control over or investment in. Working on your family's farm, or your own writing, or painting, etc, you are working on something that belongs to you. If it does well, that effects you, if it does poorly, that effects you. Also, you have some say. If, at work, I say to myself, 'hmm, we could really used an extra shelf on that wall,' I can run that thought by my manager, but it isn't my choice to make because it isn't my wall . . . anyhow, you get the idea. I spent the other half of my time at my parents' house, visiting with them, and some friends. Got to talk writing with my friend, Jason. We discussed a few things, including starting our own podcast. I don't know much about setting up podcasts, but it seems like it might be fun, and a good way to reach new audiences. I'll keep you updated on that. Oh, yeah, and I got another short story published! Yep, Crossed Genres has accepted a second story from me, this one for their upcoming 'LIES' issue. This is my third publication, and my second paying publication. Two publications with the same magazine has me a little worried that somebody might think that I just know the guys running that magazine, which I don't. Oh well, two paying publications isn't a bad start. I just have to keep my fingers crossed that all of this is leading to something. |
| Date: August 3rd, 2010 | I got an acceptance letter! Well, kind of. The truth is, I got a contract, which I assumed to mean that I was accepted, until I got to the part where they told me that all rights would revert back to me if they hadn't published me in . . . well, however long, I really wasn't paying attention. I take it as a good sign that they want to be able to publish me, but I'll have to admit, I'm a little confused by the wording on the contract. Oh well, I'll call it a seventy five percent win, the last 25 percent pending. For those of you interested, the story is called delusional, and it was picked up by the online magazine, Daily Science Fiction. Personally I thought that the story I sent to them a month or two ago, which they rejected, was better, but it was also a whole lot longer and they prefer shorter work. I'll definitely have to submit to them again. |
| Date: Unknown | Check back next time something interesting that I feel like talking about happens to me. How will you know? well, I'll post it here. When should you check? After something interesting that I feel like talking about happens to me. How will you know? well, I'll post it here . . . . |