Re-Enjoyable

Blog No. 193

I’ve just finished ripping through the Percy Jackson books (by Rick Riordan) again. I think it’s the third time I’ve read them, but I don’t keep track of that stuff much. This year I’ve made a conscious effort to make reading more of a daily habit. As a writer, it’s a necessity, and it’s a good way to spend the last hour or so of your day. I haven’t exactly met my goal of a book a month. Sometimes I can’t seem to find the time, or the book isn’t quite good enough for me to make the time. Sometimes I just have to priorities writing (which is still a touchy topic at the moment). Either way, from January to May I had only had four books read. The last one was slower than I’d like, and I didn’t have another book lined up yet, so I figured it was time to go back to some books I had previously enjoyed and knew I could get through quickly. Partly to beef up my count (Christian is a reading machine this year) and also because I had a hankering to experience that world again.

Big Announcements!

Blog No. 162

I hope you’ve already seen these things, but I’m going for total coverage, so get ready to see it all over again. I suspect that I’ll get back to my regularly scheduled drivel in no time, but this is all so important to me, I’ve got to go against all my instincts and spread the word. I have at least three things to share (I may drift into more because it’s my style, but I’m going to try to stick to it).

To preface it all, I hope whatever time off and celebrations you may have had were/are spectacular. I had a nice family Christmas as usual and other than the few times I had to go in for rentals, I don’t go back to work until the 5^th. So that pretty great. I just wish I were using the time more productively (as usual) but I’ve actually gotten a bunch done (not as usual). Over last weekend, the poster for the No Light Tomorrow book launch were finished and printed. At the same time, we (meaning Christian and myself) finished the December Zine (number six if we’re counting and there are numbers on them so we are). Though, more could always be done. And I’ve already mentioned two of the things, but let’s break them down.

Christmas Miracle

Blog No. 161

So Christmas Eve happens to fall on my post date. How about that? Because of the assumed busyness everyone is experiencing (I hope) I’ll keep it short and sweet.

Over the last few months, I’ve been working very hard (though not as hard as I could be working I suppose). The stories for No Light Tomorrow were written, but the process of taking the first drafts and putting them into a finished book is long and harrowing. Editing took its toll. It’s not always easy to be shown your mistakes over and over again, but it ends up with much cleaner stories. We went through a few layers of editing, culminating with sending the stories away to a professional who took our carefully written and rewritten stories and shredded them. They were fixed and a last loving look from Christian for my stories, and me for his, brought them to their final versions.

When they were finally done, the layout began. While I have limited experience, I wasn’t ready for what awaited me. Reading tutorials, searching for how to’s, and trial and error eventually ended in a final layout. Sending that layout to the printers resulted in having to make changes, but after learning what I had, it wasn’t as big a job.

After that, we were done. The proofs came back, some last minute changes were made (including some oversights that we just missed).

Now the book is in their hands. We expect to get it in the New Year and we’ve already planned a release event for January 9^th.

It was a long year and things are just getting started. There is a lot more to do in the coming months to bring me to a place where I’ll be happy as a writer. Besides the readings and conventions, more stories, more books, and more editing awaits for me.

But for now, I’m proud to show you the cover of No Light Tomorrow. Sales start January 9^th in soft cover and ebook. There will be links to follow, but I hope the cover will entice you to give it a read.

Thanks for all the support this year. I’m looking forward to keep things going next year too. Have a wonderful day wherever you are and whatever you’re celebrating or not!

The Fifth Monday: Hard On’s Curse – Behind the Writing

Blog No 158

Behind the writing was an idea I came up wit back when we started Adventure Worlds. Other people have done similar things (it’s not like I invented it) but for the purposes of this blog, it was something I pushed for. The others weren’t convinced, and now I seem to be the only one sticking with it. Which is appropriate, since I was the only one interested in the first place. So now I’m doing them on my blog and I just finished the conclusion to Hard On’s Curse, and now I’m going to talk about it. So *spoilers* and all that. (http://adventureworldsblog.com/2015/03/29/the-fifth-monday-hard-ons-curse-complete/).

Layout and Design

Blog No. 157

In days of yore, and author was responsible for one (or at the most a few) things. The number one thing on that list is writing. They may find time to do readings or interviews. If they are successful enough, they may hold signings, be judges in contests, or teach classes, but above all of that, there was the writing and little more. Once they were finished with a manuscript, they sent it off to their publisher who would take care of the rest. (That’s a major simplification, but you get my drift). Even now there are a lucky few authors who have enough clout that their publishers handle most things, but the most successful of those tend to be active members of their own publicity.

Little Books

Blog No 156

Each week I sit down and write one of these blog posts. When I’m done (and it’s posted) I spend the time before the next one furiously brainstorming what to write about. Last week, due to the book I was given by my mother, I decided to write about book lengths. Instead I wrote about audio books, my mother, and a little about my brief time in another city. I don’t know how I got so far off track, but it happens, and I am happy with how that post turned out. Now I want to try again (this time more focused) and explore the topic of book lengths. I can only hope I manage to stay on track. You may need to check out the last post Thoughts about Books for this to make sense.

Currently I am working on the final layout issues of the short story collection that Christian and I are publishing. I’m also a third of the way through writing my first novel and picking away at a novella that I’m rewriting, hoping it will be the start of a series that has been on my mind for my years. They are all writing, but the lengths are very different and therefore they are written in different way. The story structure, the detail, and the plot vary greatly based on the length of each publication.

Halloween Hangover

Blog No. 154

It’s a strange thing, what time does to us. I’m not afraid of age. I don’t worry about getting older (outside of the efforts I make to get healthy). I quite enjoy the age I am and, while I’m terrified of being elderly, (I don’t think I’ll be in very good shape by then) I wouldn’t go back to my twenties if I could. I would love to be able to tell 20-year-old Ben to get off his ass, but that’s something different. Time soldiers on even when we aren’t paying attention. In the same way, life changes, but being in the middle of it, it often goes unnoticed (at least for me). The one day, you find yourself handing out Halloween candy, watching old episodes of Venture Bros. and wondering what time you’re going to get up for your day off the next morning. 

I Hate Hospitals

Blog No. 145

In the last few years (probably going on five or six now, though I always overestimate time) I’ve spent far too much time in the hospital. Granted, any time could be considered too much for the hospital, but it’s even worse when you are the one on the receiving end of the treatment. To be very clear, I want to point out that, other than a little unnecessary waiting and that one time no one in my family could convince the nurses that my well documented disease could be the culprit when they couldn’t figure out what was wrong (it totally was said disease too) my experiences have been as wonderful as could be when ill. Still, that could be rainbows and unicorns and I would still hate going to the hospital (and not just because neither of those things really does it for me). The only type of person I know who actually likes hospitals are sad sacks who crave the attention and sick-os who find it all fascinating or get off on healing people (you know, doctors and nurses).

I hope that dig on doctors and nurses was as sarcastic as I intended it to be. Meh, so. Last week, while minding my own business at work, I got poo-brain. The start of a headache was loitering in the back of my head (not totally unusual) and my eyes were acting funny. You know when you look at a computer screen too long? You writers will understand that. I decided to get some fresh air, and on my way out, I told a co-worker what I was up to, but it all came out wrong. Alphabet Soup (so I’ve heard it called). My words were all jumbled. I knew what I wanted to say and I knew that wasn’t what I was saying, but I couldn’t say the right thing. By my third attempt, I sat in a chair and my quick thinking co-worker sprung into action. He blurted out Hospital (not my favourite place as I’ve mentioned) and I dully nodded and was whisked to emergency for aforementioned poo-brainedness.

The decline of newspapers = the decline of comics?

Blog No. 137

For someone who spent time in Journalism, I have never been a newspaper reader. There are the local independents I pick up when I see them, but while my parents were avid Windsor Star readers, I never picked up the habit. I ended up doing some work on the radio, but my journalism career ended in less time than it took me to get the diploma. I enjoyed the experience and it contributed directly with me now writing fiction (plus it’s where I met Justin, then Christian through him) but it wasn’t a passion of mine, and if I don’t have any passion, sloth takes over soon enough. While I didn’t read the paper, I did (irregularly) read the comics. For the most part (because I am a huge snob and super judgmental) I wasn’t much of a fan of what I read, but there were a few that stood out and kept me coming back. Calvin and Hobbes is a major one thought I was a fan long before I bothered with the funny pages.

Editing is Hard

Blog No. 123

One of the major parts of my writing day is looking at other people’s stories and giving them an edit. Often I’ll catch a couple of typos, notice some structural weak spots and grammar mistakes, and make a bunch of suggestions on how I think the story could be improved. The things I notice jump off the page (fresh from the pile of new story elements I learned about) and if the story is well written, I can be done a couple thousand words in half an hour (extrapolate for longer stores, chapters etc). Sometimes there is a lot more to point out and the task becomes an arduous task filled with long winded explanations and edits based on assumptions and what I know about the author, but usually things go smoothly. If I can avoid supplanting the writer’s voice with my own, I find I add something to the story, helping the author and learning something about my own writing in the process.