indie publishing – Page 15 – One Thousand And One Parsecs

Desert Stars is now published!

Desert Stars, my third novel (and second in the Gaia Nova series), is now available as an independently published ebook from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords. Within the next couple of weeks, it’ll be available through Kobo, iTunes, Diesel, Sony, and Xinxii as well.

It’s been a long journey, and I’m thrilled to finally see it come through. I started the first draft back in the fall of 2008, but had been working on ideas for the world since 2005, when I returned from my LDS church mission in California. Spending the summer of 2008 in Jordan was a major catalyst for my imagination, and I soon was bursting with ideas for a far-future story on a desert world.

I got stuck in the winter of 2009, however–right before taking Brandon Sanderson’s English 318 class. Since he encourages all of his students to work on something new, I decided to write a book in the same universe in order to work through some of the world-building things that were holding me up. That book became Bringing Stella Home, which was a thrill to write all of its own.

The strategy worked; by the time I’d finished that one, I had a much clearer idea where to go with Desert Stars, and an awesome ending that was nothing like anything I’d planned in the first draft. And so, after graduating in April 2010, I soldiered through and finished the rough draft that summer.

It still had a lot of problems, though. Fortunately, my first readers were extremely helpful both in pointing those out and in giving me fantastic ideas for other things I could do. In the second draft that winter, I completely scrapped a major subplot in the second half of the book and focused on perfecting the character arcs for the two main characters: Jalil and Mira.

Around this time, I made the paradigm shift from traditional to indie publishing. Other projects like Genesis Earth and Bringing Stella Home took my attention for a while, as I learned the basics of the new world and prepared those books for publication. However, I always kept coming back to Desert Stars: I knew I had a good story there, and I was just itching to bring it to its full potential.

In the fall of 2011, I finally had that opportunity. The last draft flew by in three weeks, and was one of the funnest writing experiences I’ve had since I started writing seriously in 2007. By the end, I knew it was ready. I sent it out to my editor, Josh Leavitt, and started to prepare it for publication.

In writing any book, there are always moments that stand out; experiences where things come together in an unexpected yet memorable way. One of those came to me in Jordan, while I was walking down Queen Rania street from the University of Jordan to Al-Dustour, and the phrase “Temple of a Thousand Suns” flashed into my mind and sparked the whole novel. Another of those moments happened while I was driving from Salt Lake to Provo, and Mira’s final words in the last chapter came to me; I literally could not stop screaming for two or three minutes.

I could share more, but if I did, I’d find it difficult to maintain the illusion that I’m not a loony psychopath. 🙂

In any case, it’s just awesome to see the story come to maturity and embark out into the world. I’m sure this isn’t the end of the journey, but it’s definitely entering a new and exciting phase. I sincerely believe that this is my best book yet, and I hope you find it as worthwhile to read as I have found it worthwhile to write. If you do, I would appreciate it greatly if you took the time to post a review, or share it with a friend. Every little bit helps, and I’m grateful for whatever support you can give!

In the next couple of days, I’m going to send out a newsletter with some freebies including desktop backgrounds of the cover art. If you’d like to get in on that, be sure to sign up for the email newsletter via the form on the sidebar; you’ll also receive notices for other giveaways, as well as new releases. It costs nothing and you can always unsubscribe, so there’s no pressure or obligation.

And that just about wraps it up. Now: on to the next book!

Climbing the 10k mountain

writingmetric — Many Bothans died to bring you this.

I recently read an amazing blog post by Rachel Aaron, in which she explains how she went from writing about 2k words per day (about what I’m doing) to routinely breaking 10k.

This is something I really want to do with my own writing. As I noted a couple of weeks ago, I need to pick up the pace if I’m going to keep up with my professional goals. If I could go from 2k to 10k, and make 10k the standard…holy cow, that’s a 500% jump in productivity. Who wouldn’t want that?

From Rachel’s blog:

Drastically increasing your words per day is actually pretty easy, all it takes is a shift in perspective and the ability to be honest with yourself (which is the hardest part). Because I’m a giant nerd, I ended up creating a metric, a triangle with three core requirements: Knowledge, Time, and Enthusiasm. Any one of these can noticeably boost your daily output, but all three together can turn you into a word machine. I never start writing these days unless I can hit all three.

The point that I probably need to work on the most is time: I tend to start off the day slow, checking Facebook and blogs and other stuff before getting into the writing, then write for a little while before running off and doing some chore or allowing myself to get distracted again. Sometimes, I don’t really buckle down until a couple of hours before I should go to bed, and that’s bad.

But really, I think the main obstacle is just thinking that writing is difficult. If everything comes together in the right way, there really isn’t any reason why 5k or 6k or even 10k should be too difficult–and yet we naturally think that if 2k is hard, anything more should be that much harder.

I’m in a weird state of limbo right now between moving and preparing to go overseas, but I’m going to start a daily writing log so that I can figure out what time of day is most productive. You can’t wait for life to settle down before you get to work; you have to roll with what you’re given. Also, I’m going to put a lot more effort into outlining and planning, so that I don’t get hung up by research when I should be writing. Even discovery writers need a little bit of time to ponder things before putting words to the page.

Also, after considerable thought and effort, I’ve decided to put Star Wanderers on the back burner again. I finished the novelette last week and submitted it to Writers of the Future; I think it’s quite good, and stands a good chance of finding a home in one of the short markets. But the full length novel, for various reasons, just isn’t coming to me. I don’t know if it’s because I lack the life experience to write it, or because I’m too close to it to see what’s broken, but regardless of the reason, I need the break.

I’m not sure whether to do Edenfall or Stars of Blood and Glory next, but I’m leaning towards Stars of Blood and Glory. This is a novel set in the Gaia Nova universe, with characters from Desert Stars, Bringing Stella Home, and Heart of the Nebula. I’ve been itching to write it since this summer, but never got around to it because other projects got in the way. Well, hopefully now that will change.

I know from emails and other correspondence that some of you are really looking forward to Edenfall, but don’t worry, I’ll get around to it soon. In order to do it justice, I feel I need to reread Genesis Earth and immerse myself in some Carl Sagan, but right now I’m still running on a sci fi adventure trip. If I can implement some of these metrics and push my daily word count upwards of 10k, it shouldn’t be long before Edenfall gets my attention again. My goal is to finish it before the end of the year, so there’s a very good chance it’ll be published sometime in late 2012.

As for Star Wanderers, I’ll shop the novelette around after I hear back from Writers of the Future. I think it has a good chance at winning the quarter, but of course I can’t count on it. At this point in my career, I should probably be playing both the traditional markets as well as the indie field.

That’s just about it. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to write…

On the eve of publication

First, some housekeeping: I recently did an interview over on Slava Heretz’s blog, which you can find here. I talk a little bit about Desert Stars, as well as how traveling has influenced my writing and how I overcome writer’s block.

In other news, I got smacked upside the head with the flu yesterday and slept in today until 1pm. I feel marginally better, but I’ll probably do the same tonight. Productivity: shot in the face.

However, I did manage to run through the copy edits for Desert Stars and format it for publication. Finished the author’s note today, so as soon as I get the cover art, it’s good to go.

For the cover art, I’ve commissioned Hideyoshi again, the same artist who did the cover for Genesis Earth. He sent me the initial sketch the other day, and it looks good! It comes from a scene toward the beginning, when Jalil and Mira share an intimate moment while overlooking the planetary domes on the edge of the desert:

That night, Mira couldn’t sleep. The wind roared past the window in her room, making an eerie whistling noise as it shook the windowpanes. That wasn’t all, though. Perhaps it was the woody, foreign smell of the room, or the perfect straightness of the walls, or the uncomfortable softness of the bed. Whatever it was, she tossed and turned for what felt like hours, trying to find some firmness that would let her sleep. Eventually, she gave up and lay on her back, staring at the ceiling.

The stars, she thought to herself. If only I could see them, maybe I could forget how far I am from home.

She quietly rose from the bed and threw her cloak over her shift. The sound of the wind made her shiver, and she stepped carefully in the darkness, groping her way through the room until she came to the door. Once out, the stairwell was only a short distance down the hall. The night air was cold, the breeze stiff. The familiar stars and satellites stared down at her from the sky, though with all the light from the streetlamps, they were noticeably muted.

Wrapping her arms around herself for warmth, she made her way to the edge and stared out across the valley at the glass mountain—the world in a bottle. White and yellow lights shone through the glass, too fuzzy to make out with any clarity. It was a strange sight, and Mira stared at it for some time.

“You couldn’t sleep either?”

The sound of Jalil’s voice gave her a start. She turned quickly and saw him sitting on an old, weathered couch facing the valley. The upholstery was torn, and stuffing was falling out in places.

“Oh,” she said softly. “I—I didn’t see you.”

“That’s all right; I could use some company. Here, have a seat.”

He scooted over and made some room for her. When she sat down, the couch gave way underneath her until she was practically sitting on the ground. The wind picked up, and Mira shivered.

“Are you all right?” Jalil asked. “You look cold—here, take this blanket.”

He leaned forward and pulled off the blanket that he’d brought up from his bed.

“That’s okay,” she said. “You don’t have to—”

“No, here,” he said. “You need it more than I do.”

Mira tried to protest, but Jalil draped the blanket over her shoulders without another word. She had to admit, the added warmth felt surprisingly good against the chill night air.

Man, I’m so looking forward to getting this book out! It’s been a long time in coming. I started the first draft back in 2008, but some elements of it have been bouncing around my head since 2005. More on that in the author’s note.

In any case, we’re definitely on schedule to get Desert Stars out before the end of the year, probably before Christmas. So keep an eye out for it!

Why I won’t be signing up for KDP Select

In the last couple of weeks, there’s been a lot of discussion about Amazon’s new Lending Library program. Just a few days ago, Amazon opened it up to indie writers with the KDP Select program. By signing up, writers gain access to Amazon Prime members (US only), where readers can borrow the book for free and Amazon still reimburses the writer.

The catch? Two, actually: writers agree to make their books exclusive to Amazon for 90 days, and payment for all KDP Select authors comes out of a monthly “fixed pot” of $500,000, where every writer gets a cut according to what percentage of the Lending Library downloads were for their books.

Reactions from the indie community have been mixed. Within only a few hours, several thousand enthusiastic writers had signed up (the current number of participants is ~50k), but many others remain cautious and aloof.

The full range of reactions can be seen in the Kindle Boards thread. Guido Henkel does a good job pointing out how the numbers don’t add up, while David Gaughran offers a compelling analysis that likewise dampers enthusiasm for the program. On the Smashwords blog, Mark Coker pleads with writers to keep their options open, while at Writer Beware, A.C. Crispin points out some disturbing language in the terms & conditions that essentially amounts to a non-compete clause.

I’m sure that many others will weigh in on KDP Select in the coming days, and I look forward to reading their analysis, but I’ve already decided that I won’t be signing up with the program. Even if no one else signs up, with 50k writer splitting a $50,000 pot, the average monthly paymentis only going to be $10. Unless you’re one of the lucky bestsellers, you’ll probably make even less than that.

But the real reason I’m not signing up is because I don’t feel that it serves my readers. If I put any of my titles through KDP Select, I’d be giving Amazon a 90 day exclusive, which means that my readers would be forced to either buy through Amazon or wait three months to buy my books. I don’t feel that that’s fair to my readers, especially in territories where Amazon levies a $2 surcharge.

At this point in my career, my goal is to build up a dedicated fan base that looks forward to each new release. To do that, I want to make my books available in as many places as possible. Even if I’m not selling all that well right now at Barnes & Noble or the smaller retailers, it’s not worth it to cut those readers off and tell them to go to Amazon or wait.

However, the KDP Select program does foreshadow the next big phase of the ebook revolution, and that is the move to subscription services. I expect that in the mid- to near-future, we’re going to see a lot of ebook lending models arise, kind of like Netflix for books. The big question in my mind is how the writers are going to be compensated.

Like David, I have a lot of concerns with KDP Select’s “fixed pot” model. Besides the lack of any guaranteed or minimum rate of compensation and the general opaqueness of the system, it fundamentally pits writers against each other in a zero-sum game, where one writer’s gain is another one’s loss. To me, this represents a giant step backward.

When a reader finds something they like, they’re more likely to try out another book just like it. This is how readers have historically found new writers, and it fosters a sense of community, where writers work together to reach out to new readers and expand the scope of the genre. The “fixed pot” model disincentives all this and replaces it with a Machiavellian system that, at its worst, works against the natural advantages of the medium and undermines the genre community.

For all these reasons, I won’t be signing up for Amazon’s KDP Select. The exclusivity hurts writers and readers, the numbers just don’t add up, and the “fixed pot” model represents a fundamental shift in bookselling that I cannot support.

How to make an ebook

Since I plan on publishing a number of books this next year, I decided to write down the step-by-step instructions for how I make my ebooks.

There’s 50 steps altogether and the process can get a little complicated, but if you follow the instructions it should all be very straightforward. It takes me about two hours now to run through all the steps, and when I’m finished I have a .mobi file for Amazon, an .epub file for Barnes & Noble, a .doc file for Smashwords, and a couple .jpg files for cover art and thumbnails.

The best part is that all the programs are free, so once you know what you’re doing, it costs nothing but a couple hours of your time to actually make the ebook files. Other than maybe another hour (if that) to upload the files to Amazon, B&N, and Smashwords, that’s all it takes to publish.

Since publishing isn’t a zero-sum business and all of us benefit when writers have options, I’m making this short manual available as a free PDF. It may or may not work for you the way it works for me, but if it helps you to climb the steep learning curve that all of us face when we first start out, then I’ve done my job.

Vasicek epublication manual

Also, if any of you are more knowledgeable about formatting than I am, please let me know if you have any suggestions. I’m always looking out for ways to make my books better, so none of this is set in stone (or print, for that matter 🙂 ).

Heinlein’s rules for the digital age

I’ve been thinking a lot about Heinlein’s rules and how they apply to my own writing career. While a lot of newer writers like to debate Heinlein, all of the long-time professionals tend to agree with him. For that reason, I think it’s worth taking a serious look at his rules and doing my best to follow them.

The trouble is that Heinlein formulated his rules before the digital age, when self-publishing was non-viable and writers sold to editors, not to readers. While I wouldn’t go so far as to say his rules are outdated, I do think that they need to be tweaked a little in order to apply to today’s aspiring professionals.

As a disclaimer, I should say that I’m only a beginning writer without much authority or experience. However, my goal is not to debate Heinlein, but to explore ways in which his advice can be adapted to myself and writers in my position. If any of you have any thoughts or input, I would very much like to hear it.

So anyhow, here we go:

Rule One: You Must Write.

Pretty straightforward: if you want to write for a living, then the bulk of your time should be spent writing. Too many indie writers spend all their time and energy promoting their one book when they should be writing others. If promotion gets in the way of writing, then you should stop promoting and just go write.

Personally, I could probably spend a lot more time writing new material as opposed to revising stuff I’ve previously written (yes, that’s the infamous third rule; I’ll get to it in a minute). I tend to spend a month writing something new, then take a couple of months to revise old works without producing new material. If I want to be strict about following Heinlein’s rules, I should probably change that.

Rule Two: You Must Finish What You Write.

Another straightforward rule, but you’d be surprised how hard it is when you know you can publish whatever you write. Kris Rusch calls these ideas “popcorn kittens,” after a popular youtube video that embodies what goes on in our minds when we have the freedom to create anything. The problem with too much freedom is that it’s a struggle not to flit from one idea to another, dabbling in all of them but carrying none to completion.

I myself had this problem over the summer, and to some extent I’m struggling with it now. The key is just to buckle down and have the discipline to finish what you start. Pretty straightforward.

Rule Three: You Must Refrain From Rewriting, Except to Editorial Order.

This is Heinlein’s most controversial rule, especially for new writers. However, I think he has a good point. If a story is fundamentally broken, revising it is no more effective than stirring around a pile of crap; and if the story works, revising it without first getting a trusted second opinion could actually make it worse. After all, writers are often the worst judges of their own work.

The key question, then, is where to go for that second opinion. In the old days, money flowed from the editors to the writers (or at least from the publishers, who employed the editors), but in the new world of publishing, it’s exactly the opposite. Most of us can’t afford to hire editors for extensive developmental edits, especially when we’re just starting out, and while it’s possible to publish a rough draft, for most of us it’s probably not a good idea.

My approach is to share my unpolished work with a network of trusted first readers, and use their feedback to guide me in the revision process. I don’t always adopt all of their suggestions, but I carefully consider each one. Most of the time, I use them to see where the problems are, then use my creative mind to come up with a solution, sometimes taking the book in an entirely new direction. And if something works well for some but doesn’t for others, I figure it’s not a problem but a judgment call that requires my attention.

Using this method, it currently takes me about four or five drafts before I feel confident enough to publish something. If I really wanted to follow Heinlein’s rules, I would probably try harder to nail it on the first draft, but I’ve found that my creative process works better in revision mode than while writing new material. So long as I can revise efficiently enough to produce at least two novels each year, I think I’ll be in good shape.

Rule Four: You Must Put Your Story on the Market.

In the old days, this meant submitting your manuscript to contests, magazines, and publishing houses, not self-publishing. For short stories, contests and magazines are probably still the best place to start. However, with novels, indie publishing is generally much better.

The trouble is that publishing your own work is as scary as hell, especially when it’s close to your heart. This is probably the main thing keeping most new writers from going indie: the need for external validation which grows out of a lack of much needed self-confidence.

The key, I believe, is to get some emotional distance between yourself and your work. As a rule, I don’t respond to reviews, good or bad. As for external validation, I don’t seek it at all. I only publish the stories that I believe in, and even if I’m nervous about sending them out into the world, I figure it’s better to suck it up and do it anyway. It was the same with writing queries; the only difference is that the market is now the readers, not the editors.

Rule Five: You Must Keep It On The Market Until It Has Sold.

This is especially challenging for indie writers. When weeks go by without a single sale, it’s easy to believe that your work is crap and that you should just take it down. It’s even worse when your book isn’t selling and you get a bad review.

Just like with queries, however, the key is to keep your work out there until it finds its natural audience. With indie publishing, you have all the time in the world, provided you don’t lose confidence.

The key question in my mind is whether to take down your old, crappy stuff as your writing improves, or to leave it up alongside your newer, better work. Personally, I think it should come down to the readers; if the old stuff is consistently getting bad reviews, it’s probably better to take it down, but if not, might as well keep it up.

So there you have it. From Heinlein’s rules, I’ve more or less crystalized the following approach:

Always make time to write, even at the expense of promotion.
Only chase new ideas if you know you can finish what you start.
Don’t revise without first getting feedback from trusted readers.
Don’t wait for external validation before you publish.
Keep your work up, even if it doesn’t sell.

Not quite as pithy as Heinlein’s rules, but they seem pretty reasonable. I don’t have the experience to say whether they follow his, however, so if you have any comments or suggestions, please chime in.

Interview with Slava Heretz

I met Slava Heretz online shortly after I started publishing my books. He’s another indie writer who specializes in science fiction and space opera. I’m reading his short story / novelette series Outer Pendulum right now, and it’s pretty good. If you like a good space adventure, I think you’ll like his stuff.

Anyhow, we decided it would be fun to interview each other on our blogs, so here he is.

Tell us a little bit about your books.

The Outer Pendulum is a space opera which I am releasing in monthly 10,000 word installments. The story is set in a galaxy where humans are the unwanted newcomers, escaping an oppressive life back in the Milky Way, only to find themselves facing another kind of tyranny: the seemingly endless stream of piracy and corruption in their new land. Our hero is Captain Eli Saffinger, a former New Alliance Navy captain turned mercenary fleet commander. His mission, which he accepts reluctantly, is to escort a freighter carrying extremely valuable mining equipment to the only allies of the weakening colonial state. So his journey begins in Corsair (Outer Pendulum, Book 1), where he must immediately confront the most ruthless and dangerous privateer in the galactic region.

How long have you been a writer, and what got you started?

I started serious work on a near-future technothriller back in late 2007. I think that’s really when I began to consider myself a writer. As opposed to earlier dabbles with fiction back in my youth, I actually spent a very large portion of my days dedicated to this project — and to be perfectly honest, I’m still not exactly sure why. I just suddenly had a story to tell. It came to me one day in the shower and I said to myself, “Hey, Slava, let’s write a novel.” So when the idea for The Outer Pendulum popped into my head this past spring, I had the wisdom and experience from my many many mistakes to give this story more life, energy and passion.

What draws you to space opera and science fiction?

As an only child I had a lot of time to just sit there by myself and dream up wildly imaginative tales of space travel and cool technology. Some of these ideas were good, some not so much. But I always marveled (and still do) at the things which I have no hope of ever accomplishing. Theoretically I could be a rock star. I have no talent for it, but at least the occupation exists. But no matter how hard I work at, there is no way in my lifetime, save a true miracle, that I will ever travel to another solar system. And because of that, the possibilities of the imagination are endless. I love that.

Who are some of your favorite authors?

Dan Simmons for his wonderful characters and settings. Iain M. Banks for that touch of witty humor we all love and need. And M. John Harrison for anytime I want a truly warped, weird, yet poetic reading experience — he’s kind of the Stanley Kubrick of sci-fi noir.

Why did you decide to self publish?

I had submitted several pieces of fiction to traditional publishers in the past. Many of them flat out ignored me. Others, however, sent very positive rejection letters. That’s when a light bulb appeared over my head. I asked myself: why am I waiting for months to have one person tell me I write well, when I could let the world of hungry readers decide for themselves? It wasn’t long before I discovered Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing and Smashwords. I soon realized what a revolutionary idea it was to allow authors to simply create and let the market speak for itself.

What have you learned from your indie publishing experience thus far?

I’ve actually learned quite a bit about readers of indie literature as a whole. I’ve heard the complete spectrum of praise and criticism about my series. Some have absolutely loved the story. Some have vehemently hated it. But if I were to pick out some things that they all had in common they would be a) a seemingly insatiable appetite for reading within the genre b) that MOST of them actually do read samples and/or product descriptions before buying and c) that this growing community of open-minded folks is truly willing to ignore the stigma of indie publishing and seek out works by self-published authors. I can’t say that for them it’s an easy job. But they try, and I thank each and every one that contacts me — because it seems in the end, the reward of finding a few self-published diamonds far outweighs the possible tedium of sifting through the ever-growing rough.

What are your goals and plans for the future?

First and foremost, I have to finish The Outer Pendulum. I envision eight or ten installments culminating into a complete saga by summer of 2012. There is also an audiobook/podcast in the works. There will even be a multiplayer online card game based on the universe within the story. I mean, I have a ton of other ideas kicking around in the ol’ noggin — such as books in other genres. But this will certainly keep me busy for the next several months. It’s really been a lot of fun writing the series.

If all of us have at least one impossible dream, what is yours?

I would love to meet a sentient alien. I can’t say with 100% certainty that they exist, but I really hope so. If I may quote one of my favorite TV shows — “I want to believe”

Slava lives in Brookline, MA with his beautiful wife Alyssa, his neurotic dog Duke and his passive aggressive cat Chester.

Random late night thoughts

I’ve been going on a lot of late night walks lately, just wandering restlessly around Provo. Tonight I had some interesting thoughts about how much I’ve changed in the last year. Surprisingly, I’ve grown a lot.

Last year at this time, I was all geared up for World Fantasy Convention. I had just finished Bringing Stella Home, and I my thoughts went something like this: “if I’m lucky, maybe I’ll find an agent, and they’ll like my pitch enough to see it, and after they read it they’ll want to represent me, and then they’ll sell my book somewhere, so that maybe, just maybe, I can make a living as a writer in ten years.”

Now, I don’t want to get into the whole indie vs. traditional debate, because I think it’s ultimately a false dichotomy. However, now that I’ve gone ahead and published my own work independently, I feel like I’ve taken charge of my career in a way that I hadn’t before. I’m no longer waiting on someone else to make my hopes and dreams come true, I’m going out and pursuing them myself.

That’s the big thing that I think has changed in the past year: I’ve gained a lot more confidence. A year ago today, I was working a temp job in a costume company warehouse, fretting and worrying over how to make ends meet and where to find a stable job. I had considered freelancing as a translator and teaching English in another country, but hadn’t actively pursued those options because frankly they terrified me. And as for writing, that was the impossible dream that might come true someday, but not today.

Now, writing is still the impossible dream, but at least I’m on a path that doesn’t involve lottery thinking like the old one. None of my books have really taken off yet, but at least I have them published and available for readers to discover, so when I do start to get some traction I’ll be in a much better position to succeed. And either way, I’ve taken charge of my own career.

So yeah, I can say I’ve grown a lot in the past year–which is surprising, considering all I did was stay in my old college town and work odd jobs. At least I didn’t move back in with my parents–which makes me part of an elite 15%. But now, I think I’ve just about reached the limit of how much I can grow here in Provo. If something doesn’t change, I worry that I’m going to start stagnating.

So in a year, where will I be? Who knows, but if I’ve grown as much as I have since October 2010, I’ll count that as a success.

Coming along nicely

First things first: the latest post for the Bringing Stella Home blog tour is up over at Michael Offut’s blog; you can find it here. Michael asked me to blog about Brandon Sanderson’s English 318R class, so I recapped some of my experiences, including the best advice Brandon ever gave me. Go check it out!

The revisions for Desert Stars are coming along nicely. It’s funny; for the past three months, all I’ve wanted to do is work on this novel, but it turns out that taking a long break from it was probably the best thing I could have done. The distance has helped me to take a fresh look at my prose and cut out all the extra trimmings that were just bogging things down. For example:

Draft 3.0

Jalil paused before walking down the narrow aisle of the train, rows of lights tracing a pair of parallel lines down the dark blue carpeted floor. The place felt oddly familiar, and not just because of the similarities with the trains in Aliet Dome. In fact, this one was much smaller and narrower, so that he and Mira practically had to walk sideways just to get down the aisle. The seats all faced forward, too, instead of alternating like they had in Aliet Dome. And the way the interior of the cabin was curved like a pipe, so that the ceiling blended into the walls and floor–it brought back a memory of him staring out a window at a glowing blue horizon, with the sky dark and starless overhead.

Draft 4.0

Jalil paused briefly in the door of the train, staring at the parallel rows of lights running down the dark blue carpet. The place felt oddly familiar, like something out of a dream. Perhaps it was the way he and Mira had to step sideways through the narrow aisle, or perhaps it was the way the walls of the cabin curved naturally into the ceiling and floor. It brought back a memory of him staring out a window at a glowing blue horizon, with the sky dark and starless overhead.

Just from simple stuff like this, I’ve cut almost 5k words so far; I wouldn’t be surprised if I get this baby down to 90k-95k by the end. Even though the story is pretty solid, the distance has helped me to take a fresh look at my prose. And hopefully, my writing has gotten better in the meantime.

So Desert Stars is coming along nicely. I plan to have this draft finished by October 21st, and publish it *hopefully* before Christmas. The main thing holding me back is funds; I’ll probably have to drop around $750 for editing and cover art, with maybe a month to get it put together in ebook form.

So how to come up with $750 before the end of November? One possibility I’ve been toying with is doing a fundraiser like my friend Anthon did for his Danakil expedition. $5 would get a copy of the ebook with special mention in the acknowledgments, $10 would get that plus one or two other ebooks, $25 would get that plus all of my releases over the next 18 months, etc. Or something like that. If you’ve got any good ideas for the upper donation levels, please let me know.

Once Desert Stars 4.0 is finished, I plan on jumping straight into Star Wanderers 0.3. Heck, I’ll probably start that project tomorrow! After that, I’d like to do a companion novella for Desert Stars. That shouldn’t take longer than a month. And don’t wory, I haven’t forgotten about Edenfall; it’s kind of gotten pushed onto the back burner, but I fully intend to finish it at some point. If all goes well, it’ll be up and published before the end of next year. As if that wasn’t enough, the BSH blog tour is making me want to revisit the sequel, Into the Nebulous Deep. I finished that project back in May, so it’s definitely had enough time to stew. And then there’s the New Rigel novel–gah!

Okay, first things first: Desert Stars, then Star Wanderers, and while my first readers are working on that, I’ll write the DS companion novella. Once I’ve gotten back the feedback, I’ll revisit Star Wanderers, submit the first part to Writers of the Future, and then finish the novel. That should keep me busy until Thanksgiving; anything after that, I’ll figure it out as it comes along. Oh, and some point in there, I need to find a new job.

So much to write, so little time in which to write it. Fortunately, things are going very nicely right now; if that holds up, this is going to be a very productive month.

🙂

Q3 Report, 2011

Before I move on to other, more interesting subjects, I want to take a little bit of time to review how my writing went in the past three months. For those of you who may be new, this is something I like to do at the start of each new quarter. Keeps me honest, I guess.

Anyhow, here goes:

This is a graph of my word count totals for the past quarter. The red line shows how many words I wrote each day, while the blue line shows a running seven day total. I include substantive revisions in the totals, but if all I’m doing is proofreading or running through copy edits, I don’t count it.

For the first half of July, I was finishing up the third draft of Desert Stars while working 40 hours per week. I wasn’t writing as much as I’d have liked, but still managed to keep some good momentum.

The HUGE peak at the end of the month represents my first draft of Sholpan, which I finished in only a week. I spent the next week in a weird writerly limbo, not sure what else to work on, then picked it up again and made some substantial changes before sending it to my editor in in mid-August. Then Worldcon happened, and I didn’t get any writing done while I was out at that. Should have, but oh well.

After Worldcon, I had maybe three or four different projects I wanted to do, but since I wanted to do the final draft of Desert Stars in October, I wasn’t sure which project to pick up. After several false starts, I ended up writing the first part of Star Wanderers, which is that hump you see at the beginning of September. The second hump is the second draft; my writing took a dip in between because I didn’t know what else to do with only a couple weeks before October.

Overall, though, my personal word counts were a lot lower than I’d like. Part of that was due to the effort I put into publishing Sholpan (it takes a lot of time and energy to publish something, which can eat into your writing if you aren’t careful); part of it was because the project I was most excited about was Desert Stars, and I had to wait until October to hear back from my first readers; but another major part was that I was trying to balance a 40 hour job on top of everything.

This is the dilemma: I want to build up my writing career to the point where I can support myself on it, but to do that I have to work a day job to make ends meet, which makes it very difficult to work on the writing career. When I was in school, I used to think a 9-5 job would make things easy, since I wouldn’t have any homework or papers to bring home. Now, though, I think school was easier, because I was only in the classroom 15 to 20 hours per week, and could allocate the rest of my time as I saw fit. Working full time is a lot harder, because half of your waking time doesn’t belong to you.

What I’d really like to find is a part time job, maybe 30 hours per week, where I earn just enough to get by but don’t feel drained when the workday is over. A lot of TEFL jobs are only about 20 hours or so per week, so I’m thinking very seriously about doing that. Then again, all the attendant difficulties of adjusting to a new culture might be even more draining than grunt labor.

I guess there’s only one way to find out…

In any case, now that October is here, I’m back to work on Desert Stars, hopefully the final draft before publication. I know I said I’d finish Star Wanderers, but since I’m going to come back to it anyway after I get the feedback from my first readers, I figure it will be better to finish Desert Stars and move on. Also, I can revise a lot faster than I can write new material, so it makes a lot more sense to get the revisions out of the way instead of pushing a rough draft harder than it wants to come.

And after that? Who knows! I’ve so many half-finished novels and projects I want to start, all I can really say is I’d better throw this up on the blog and get back to writing. So on that note