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I Need A Holiday…

Filed under: My Writing, News, Real Life Chatter — 9 Comments
06:53

…A very long holiday. I don’t expect I shall return. In fact I don’t mean to.

Yes, that IS a quote from The Lord Of The Rings, and yes, I’m applying it to myself.

Before you panic, I won’t be dong anything quite so final as giving a grand speech on my eleventy-first birthday, popping on a magical ring of invisibility and vanishing from sight forever. *sigh* I wish I could some days, but no.

I’m taking a break, that’s all.

I’m very, very tired. And I have some thinking to do.

Looking back over past posts containing my plans and hopes, it seems I have lots of ideas and absolutely no direction. In trying to do everything, I have achieved only a fraction of what I was hoping, and that at the detriment of other projects that should be as important, if not more so.

I’m taking a step back from everything in the hopes that I can carve out a plan for myself that 1) makes sense and 2) is more realistic than my present expectations of myself given my current obligations, health and fitness.

So, lovely peoples, this is a message to say there will be no posts in the month of June. Well… if something comes along that I can’t bare leaving alone, then I’ll probably write it (!), but my usual three post schedule will be on a 30 day hiatus. Expect me back on July 1 with a fresh, clean mind (and a new posting schedule!), ready to tackle the world and everything in it.

Until then, peace out lovelies!
Try not to miss me too much. :p
xXx

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#15kinMay Final Update

Filed under: My Writing, Other Writings — 2 Comments
21:40

15kinmay LogoBefore I bugger off on my holiday I suppose I should provide you guys a little bit of closure about this challenge. ;-) It would be mean to leave you hanging until my return in July, right?

Well it’s safe to do so since I’m so knackered that I won’t be writing anything else tonight. I’ve got some other odd jobs to take care of in the house and this is as good a time as any to do it. Plus Daredevil is on. ^_^

As of this post my words for the month are as follows:
15k In May Wordcount

Funky thermometer kindly supplied by Fundraiser Insight
Okay, that should read 15,128, but this counter doesn’t seem to work that way. o.O

Far better than I ever anticipated and something that I’m incredibly proud of.

It’s been a bit of a crazy month; illness, family visits, birthdays, scabby weather. Despite that, I’ve achieved a great deal compared to last year (and no, I don’t count giving birth to my boys… how the hell am I going to top that?! :p).

I’m hoping that my holiday will put me on the right path to achieving even more. I still hope to have my ebook completed to release by the end of the year and midnight epiphanies with regards to SORB should help me decide, once and for all what I want to do with it.

Thanks for sticking with me this month and cheering me on with this challenge, here and on Twitter. Your support has been incredibly motivating and a lot to do with how I’ve even made it this far. The others should be finishing up too, so why not pop over to their blogs and see how they’re getting on. They’ll appreciate it, I promise!
Alison Wells
Dee Kirkby
Lisa Redmond
Lynne Collins
Maria Smith
Rinelle Grey
Ruth Livingstone
Wayne Kelly

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#15kinMay Fourth Update

Filed under: My Writing, Other Writings — 10 Comments
06:27

15kinmay LogoI suppose every week can’t be as good as the one I experienced a short while ago. Life is about ups and downs and swings and roundabouts so it’s natural that some days/weeks/months/years are better than others.

But I feel low. This challenge has given me a sharp wake up call as to what I can and can’t do and how realistic (or not, in some cases) my expectations of myself are. That’s a good thing. It’s important to know one’s limitations and in so doing, be able to plan one’s projects in a sensible way. I just wish I could have figured it out in a slightly different way. Meh.

It’s not all doom and gloom though. I should mention that I received a very pleasant surprise on Thursday that forms an excellent counterpoint to my current, blinding misery (yes, that’s a slight exaggeration, but I’m a writer. I’m allowed to do that).

I wrote a letter to Writer’s Forum last month. I can’t remember if I mentioned it or not, but it was the group task for the Phoenix Subs Club. I wrote several other things too, but this letter, that I pinged out on a whim in five minutes on a dark and manky Tuesday, has been published in their letters section! I’m so thrilled! In fact, when I read the pages on Thursday I was so stunned that I actually screamed aloud. Frightened Sprog2 half to death and then had to spend the next ten minutes calming him down. Sprog1 barely looked up from the TV, by the way.

The letter is published under my true name (which I never write here, though you can find it on Twitter and over at The Write Feeling) and is titled ‘Fair Weather Writer.’ If you’re interested in writing magazines, or if Writer’s Forum is a mag you read already, look me up. I’m in there and I’m sooooo happy!

Right. Digressions over, I suppose I should tell you how I’m doing with the challenge:
15k In May Wordcount

Funky thermometer kindly supplied by Fundraiser Insight

Oh. -_-
I should stop bloody whining; this looks a hell of a lot better than I thought it would. In fact, I’m nearly there. Heh, okay, I take it all back. :p

Okay guys, how are you all getting on? All well I hope! We’re nearly at the end; the finish line is in sight!
Alison Wells
Dee Kirkby
Lisa Redmond
Lynne Collins
Maria Smith
Rinelle Grey
Ruth Livingstone
Wayne Kelly

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Catch Up Blog: Amazon Acquires Goodreads

Filed under: News, Procrastination — 4 Comments
11:30

WAH! I missed a post. Even in the most knackering of days after no sleep whatsoever when my boys were born I didn’t miss a post. Now…? Oh well. It had to happen eventually I suppose.

Anyway, I was going to talk about this tomorrow, but I guess I can pop it up now and talk about something different tomorrow. Easy. :)

Amazon logoJust when I was congratulating myself on keeping up with the news I found this little gem lurking in the back of the press releases section. Well… it wasn’t really lurking but I wouldn’t have found it without already being there.

Amazon has acquired Goodreads.

For those of you who don’t know, Goodreads is a fabulous forum of readers and writers all talking about what they love. Books. They review, share, discuss and hotly debate the merits, pitfalls and cheery memories of their favourite books.

I log in there once a week to sniff out the ripples of conversation with regards to books I’m reading or plan to read. I like to get an idea of the lay of the land, though reviews seldom influence my choices any more. It’s also a great place to hook up with fellow book lovers across the world and promote your own works. When I finally have a release of my own to rave about, you’ll be sure I’ll head there.

So what’s so the problem? Any of you familiar with this blog and my style are, by now, probably already aware of the fact that I’m unhappy. You’re certainly right. I am unhappy. Why?

http://openclipart.org/detail/9160/fast-food-desserts-pies-by-gerald_gBecause Amazon has enough. Enough already, damnit! Do they really need to jam whatever fingers they have left into any more pies? Can’t they leave something alone for other people to enjoy? Can’t they leave one scrap of the book writing, promoting, publishing process to someone else? Apparently not.

At the end of the day, Amazon is rather like methane gas. You hate the smell of it, you’d rather it wasn’t around, but in truth, it’s bloody useful at times, so you grudgingly use it. There are few better substitutes, right? I’ll readily admit; if there is something I want to buy online, there are three places I look first; Amazon, Play.com and Ebay. Usually in that order. But every time I do it a little piece of me dies when I realise I’m feeding more and more money into the guzzling maw of a company on the verge monopolising everything.

What can I do about it on my own? Very little (other than shop elsewhere and it’s not like they’ll miss me. And I’ll just end up paying through the nose at other places that can’t afford to keep their prices low because they just don’t have the customer base).

What I can do, is piss and moan about it and write a jerky, irritated blog post.

Ah… done.

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The Launch of Kindle Worlds

Filed under: News, Procrastination — 38 Comments
06:18

Amazon has found another way to rape the casual reader/writer for more money to stuff into their bulging pockets! Don’t believe me, take a look at this press release.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love the fact that there is now another way for writers to get paid for their work. Fan fiction is no less of an art form (though the whole of my thoughts in that regard will need a separate post) and the desire to be paid for it is not unusual. Nor should it be considered such. But fan fiction, to my memory, has always been posted to blogs, dedicated sites and forums where it could be enjoyed without lining some massive giant’s pockets.

Following this announcement, all those fan fiction writers wanting to get paid for their work will be able to do so. A measly 35%. And, if you’re really unlucky and writing in that dead bracket between 5,000 and 10,000 words you’ll get 20%.

I used to write fan fiction. I posted it to places like FanFiction.net and FictionPress.net so I could share it with others. That’s all I ever wanted to do because those characters and those worlds, amazing as they were, weren’t mine. I didn’t want to profit from someone else’s hard work and I didn’t think anybody else should. Besides, if I was going to get recognition and pay for something, I wanted it to be my own. I don’t think that’s unusual.

I’m so torn over this new development.

In recent months I’ve become more and more of a cynic and these days all I can see is companies like Amazon, Google and PayPal clutching at the few lose pound notes floating around with superglue on their grubby little fingers. They catch them all and leave nothing behind for the rest of us who actually need to be able to put food in our mouths and roofs over our heads. When we do make a little money, they chase us down, pin us to the floor and steal it like playground bullies.

On the other hand, isn’t it lovely that there are more opportunities springing up to be paid for the hard work that goes into writing?

On the other hand, hasn’t someone (ahem E. L. James) already been paid significant amounts for fan fiction, proving that this is an idea late in coming?

On the other hand why should somebody with no time, desire (skill?) to come up with their own characters and worlds, get paid for ripping off someone else’s?

How many hands do I have, anyway? O.o

Not enough for this post, that much is plain. What do you guys think? Will you be hopping on board the Amazon Express, next stop Kindle Worlds? What do you think about fan fiction anyway? Should somebody be paid for using someone else’s ideas, even if they have been given permission?

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