Goodbye, Book…Don’t Forget to Write!

A little tidbit — if you’re writing a story, don’t forget to actually do it.

With as busy as we all are, it can be very easy to relegate your writing to the back burner, and then come up with any excuse not to get back to it. In that respect, being unpublished or self-published is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, there’s no editor or house label breathing down your neck to crank out that next volume by a given deadline. On the other hand, having the freedom to “get to it whenever” can equal getting to it never. There’s always something — going to work, playing with the kids, taking out the garbage, et cetera. All are important things of course, so the challenge becomes working around them and still finding time to crank out a few words a day.

My crutch lately has been the Internet. I think I’m going to write, so I log into my computer, decide I’ll post a quick status update to my Facebook fan page…which becomes commenting on other posts, which leads to clicking on links, which leads to reading stories and/or remembering things I’d been meaning to look up for a long time…and before you know it, I’ve either cut my work session in half, or done away with it entirely. Promoting can cause this to happen, too. Yes, it’s good to promote your book if that’s the route you’ve chosen for your writing, but spend too much time talking about one book, and the next one just won’t happen.

This post is just a little reminder to set a few minutes aside a day to write. And yes, even a little bit makes a difference. It’s also very easy to talk yourself out of working on your manuscript today because you’re only really going to have fifteen minutes, which just isn’t enough time to make it worthwhile. Sure it is! Fifteen minutes, five hundred words…it all adds up, and before you know it your rough draft is waiting for the red pen.

And that’s just one step further towards the day you see that book with your name on it, there on the shelves.

How do you make time for writing? Please share!

Facebook Migration and "The World of Ord"

Hello all!

You may have noticed (I'm a failure at life if you didn't) the big old facebook link up above this post. Recently Its come to my attention that people are having an easier time staying in touch with me (and I with them) via facebook than any other forum I'm active on. So, I've spiffed up my author page a bit, with some fun new features:

• The World of Ord - A detailed reference for a myriad of aspects of the world The Traveler of Ord saga takes place in. Everything from politics to cuisine!
• Links to Ord's Pinterest Board, and Twitter feed.
• Links to my profiles on Goodreads and Linkedin.

Not to mention I'm making an effort to add lots of content and posts about the literary world in general. I've been subscribing to a lot of worthy blogs by a lot of talented and informative people, and hope to pass along some of what they have to offer. So come over and visit (and if you're so inclined, "like" before you go!)

Don't worry, by no means am I getting rid of ordonline.net. But if you haven't seen an update on this blog for a few days and are wondering what strange, dark nook in the back of the closet I've fallen into this time, try looking for me over on ye old FB.

Don't be a stranger! (At least, don't be stranger than me!)

"Triple Word Scare" - YA/horror short story

My 3,940 short story, "Triple Word Scare", was submitted to Dark Moon Digest last night for their YA special issue. I got a confirmation email, which I'm happy about. Nobody can blame publishers for not responding personally to every submission they receive because of how inundated most of them are, but it's really great when you at least get a confirmation that your submission was received, so you're not worrying about garbled email screwing things up. Even better, the message was not a form letter, and it mentioned that all submitting authors would be informed of the outcome, accepted or not. That's a class act, in my opinon. Good work guys :)

Updates and Birthday!

Time to catch up with the world!

Spent a few days out of life sick. Now that it's behind me and the warmer weather has charged up my batteries, it's time to get back to work. The short story submission to Dark Moon I mentioned last post is finished. It needs a teeny-tiny bit of edit work before it gets shipped off, but it will be ready to go before the deadline at this point. I hope for the best! If I can publish enough short stories, I intend to release an anthology once all the first-world rights to the various publishers expire.

TGL's sequel continues. The plot has taken a turn for the mysterious, and at this point in the book the reader will have some new questions to contend with -- not to mention the new settings and multitude of new characters to enjoy! I will consider the ending a success if the reader turns the last few pages and thinks -- "Oh! So THAT'S it! I see!"

More to come!

Did I mention the 9th was my birthday? I spent half of it not feeling well, but my stomach and I made friends just in time to enjoy a sushi smorgasboard, courtesy of my wonderful wife. That and a new chainsaw (which I swear is being used to fuel my lumberjack needs -- no horror here!!)

In Other News...

Taking a brief break from TGL's sequel to write up a short story for Dark Moon's YA horror special issue. I think getting chosen for an anthology is as much about putting an original spin on an idea as it is producing top-notch writing, and that can be tough with all the cliches that exist in the horror world these days. I hope they like it!

REVIEW: Behind Lace Curtains

(A copy of this review has been posted to the Gossamer Court's Book Reviews section.)

From Amazon:

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"Healthy college students, safe at home, asleep in their own beds, do not die of natural causes. Or do they?

When conflicted New York City photographer Jake Preston is called upstate for the funeral of his former lover’s young brother, he is unwittingly lured into a maelstrom of dangerous secrets and waking nightmares. While searching for the true cause of Keith’s death, Jake falls under the spell of Claude and Madeleine Devereux, a pair of malevolent, psychic parasites who convince him that he is more than flesh and bone, blurring the line of demarcation that separates Main Street reality from the truth that lies hidden just on the other side of a lace curtain."

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Behind Lace Curtains is a 578-page murder mystery novel. I was provided with a free copy of the book in return for an unbiased, non-reciprocal review. (I do not include synopses in my reviews - check the book's Amazon or Goodreads pages for that info.)

I admit that I normally shy away from murder mystery novels. It's not because I don't like them, it's because they're a dime a dozen -- next to grocery store romance, I'm of the impression that mysteries are perhaps one of the most popular genre out there. Thus, it's much harder to stand out. Everybody has a clever idea or you probably would never have even seen their book, much less read it. You've got to have more than that, and I think Synborski managed to take it to a level that is very much worth the read.

The book is on the long side, but rather than being bogged down with excessive description or too much irrelevant information, the space is used to advance the plot and endear me to the protagonist. You'll hear me say this in a lot of my reviews -- I MUST have a reason to care about the protagonist's plight, or nothing the author does to them will matter to me. In Behind Lace Curtains, I am afforded enough quality time with Jake Preston to get what I feel is a true understanding of who he is. Synborski makes me want to turn the next page because I am presented with a three-dimensional hero who's fate is important to me. Likewise, several of the supporting cast members have appropriate levels of development for their roles.

Another point of appreciation for this book is its versatility. I get to experience the same plot throughout such differing venues as New York city, and bayou New Orleans. Synborski clearly has a clear range of understanding for both such environments to make them feel truly believable, and I noticed I was completing larger sections of the book than I had planned with each sitting.

My complaints are minor and basically superficial. I noticed a few grammatical issues here and there, but I personally am willing to accept such things when they are not overbearing (people tend to forget that even the most professionally edited manuscripts will still have a few errors -- it is simply inevitable even when the book is on a shelf at a store). There are also two spaces after every period. This I also can't really complain about either, as it took me a long time to leave this particular meme behind myself, but it is a bit jarring when reading text printed in a variable-width font.

I won't say much about the actual mystery because I don't want to give anything away, but the plot itself, combined with all other aspects of the story, make for a compelling read that I would certainly recommend, for overwhelmed mystery enthusiasts that are looking for their next gem in the sea.

Hanging at the Edge of the Cliff

Hello all!

The topic at hand came to mind when I had an ironic experience recently. Several days ago I was in a conversation on Goodreads where the question of cliffhangers came up. One participant explained that they really hate cliffhangers because they hate being, per the term, left hanging and waiting for more. Closure was needed, even if it was only closure for a given scene. I remarked that cliffhangers don't really bother me that much. Sure, if I'm really into it I can be heard to say things like "Aww man! No more until next time?" But, to me it's all in good fun and I enjoy the excitement of waiting for the next installment. I've heard though, that some readers are prone to becoming honestly angry with an author who makes use of cliffhangers in certain ways.

Then, I suddenly found myself on the opposite side of the fence. Those of you who know me probably also know that I consider a well-written manga targeted at adult audiences to be just as interesting as a good novel. Typically to find juicy bits like that you need to go to fansub groups for books that will never be licensed to anybody outside of Japan, as opposed to traveling down to your local Barnes and Noble. On the plus side, there are so many great titles out there (if you know how to find them) that it's literally impossible to run out of constant brain-stimulus while waiting for the next chapter of one that's hooked you to be released. On the minus side, the groups that translate these things don't get paid for their work, and translating a manga to a readable quality takes a lot more work than one might think (editing, typesetting, cleaning, translating, et cetera...). You're also at the mercy of whatever groups choose to drop a project, unless another group chooses to pick it up again. It's nothing to complain about since if it weren't for these groups we wouldn't have any manga to enjoy at all, but still.

My point after that large digression is that when reading manga, you have to get used to cliffhangers that might never be continued in some cases, unless you plan to learn more Japanese than I did during my time over there. That, and you must be patient. One title that I have been following as closely as possible for nearly two years now is Shinigami-sama ni Saigo no Onegai wo (Last Wish to the Shinigami), by Mikoto Yamaguchi. It's an intriguing murder-mystery with high paranormal elements, shocking moments, suspense, humor...basically the gamut of emotional responses (something I appreciate in any good story). Most of all, it's extremely well thought out. In all that time the series ended at only eighteen chapters, but I was pleased when another group picked it up and saw it out to the end. Until I read the last chapter and found myself...on the other side of the fence. I won't give anything away, but suffice to say the ending raises just as many questions as the beginning did, and I received no real sense of closure. "What the heck is this?" I thought. I actually found myself becoming a little upset, and I trolled around a few forums just to be certain the 18th actually was the last chapter. To my dismay, the series did indeed end there.

It seemed to me that either the publisher had decided to axe the title and pull the rug out from under the mangaka (author), or the mangaka got lazy/gave up/etc and just left us readers to "figure it out on our own". I'm fine with a mystery story, but in my opinon, any story must have some sense of closure to be considered finished. You can conjecture all day long about whether or not Colonel Mustard was killed in the library with the candlestick, and it's a lot of fun to do that while the story is going on, but how would you feel if you never really found out whodunnit? Right, I felt the same way.

All the same, I've calmed down now and I can't say that I'm still upset about it. The mangaka insists that he dropped enough clues during the story to allow readers to determine the culprit. So, since 18 chapters isn't that long, I will most likely go back and re-read the entire thing to see what I come up with. Was the end-of-series cliffhanger a bad idea? I'm really not sure. I could cry foul, but then, I appear to not be the only one who's going to read it all again (which is rare for me), and if I'm willing to do that, I must have liked it. Also, now people have something to talk about. It's no longer "Oh, so-and-so did it, that was cool, let's move on." It's now, "Who do you think did it? Let's discuss ." I'm sure the story will garner even more readers now that people who have read it can make such comments.

Just like I'm making now. Go figure.

Well, that's my two cents. Would love to hear some opinions on cliffhangers for anybody who took the time to read this entire post! In the meantime, I think I have the list of suspects in this story narrowed down to two possible culprits. It's GOT to be one of them....