Thursday, April 30, 2015

Congratulations - CampNaNos

Today is the last day of Camp NaNo, so everyone who participated deserves a round of applause and a tipple of their favorite libation. Drink up!

I chose not to participate this year, seeing a scheduling disaster of epic proportions if I did. In fact, even if I didn’t but…

I had three novellas to critique (by which I mean beta read and comment on), two of my WIPs to finish up, two more to work on and then, spring to enjoy. More than winter, anyway.
I published Connections last week, and Coda? has gone to a second beta reader for comments and suggestions.
The three novellas are critted and today or tomorrow, the latest set of comments and questions will be in the respective author’s hands. As always, I hope I was able to help them on their way to the story they want to tell.
With all that, I still was able to get four thousand words on (working title) Princess, the book to follow Served Cold. Since I’m following Dean Wesley Smith’s suggestions for Writing Into the Dark, I have very little idea where it will end up. (grin)*TM DWS. (Unfortunately, he has apparently removed those posts from his blog.)

The grandson’s baseball (or maybe T-ball) season begins next week, and my brother is helping out with a show at Don’t Tell Mama in New York the middle of the month, so I’ll pack my toothbrush and phone and watch him and the others. That should be fun; I’ll catch the Thursday and Saturday shows before returning, so I’ll have Friday to look around NYC for setting ideas.

Then of course, the yard will need attention, and the house, and the usual mundane things everyone has to embrace. Or if not embrace, at least do.

Comments welcome.

Monday, April 20, 2015

Connections is Live

Connections is live in ebook format at most of your favorite outlets. The CreateSpace proof copy has been ordered; the POD version should be available next week, if I didn’t make any errors in that version.

I used Draft2Digital for distribution to Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Scribd, Page Foundry and Tolino. I uploaded to Amazon and Apple directly. Smashwords wasn’t cooperative Saturday night, so there will be a delay with them. Given the ease of working with D2D, so far, I can recommend them.

If you don’t see your favorite bookseller in the list, please let me know.

Thursday, April 16, 2015

It's April, After All That.

All That being six weeks of high, high heating bills and 106 plus inches of snow... but as they say in Vermont: God put it there; God'll take it away. The snow's gone. Temperature's rising. Don’t even have many April showers to contend with; a few wispy clouds are drifting by this morning.

Connections is done. Put aside. Ready to publish. 93100 words. I’d value any thoughts about the description I plan to use:

Everyone has connections they take for granted, and others of which they are unaware.

Beckie's training as a nineteen year-old apprentice in Ian Jamse’s mercenary team emphasizes marksmanship, hand-to-hand combat and most importantly, teamwork to protect the team, the client and civilians, in that order. But after  a summer saving London, it’s time to start her sophomore year at Miami.

Piero fell under Goldfarb’s blackmail easily; sex and money are powerful motivators. However, winning the Peruvian Presidential election seems within his reach when he recalls the videos that Goldfarb controls. Videos documenting the conspiracy to pervert the course of justice both he and his chief opponent engaged in years ago would cement his victory or his defeat.
Throwing his blackmail back at Goldfarb, he threatens the loss of their smuggling revenue. So threatened, Goldfarb loses control, and attacks Ian’s team, starting with Amy Rose, Beckie’s young friend.

To save Amy, to keep the team safe, Beckie must put her wants on hold. It’s one helluva one-semester course. Pass-fail means live-die.

Connections is the third in the Mercenaries series, a YA/NA thriller recommended for 15 and up.


I’m cleaning up the cast page and the other things (updating About the Author, for example) so I plan to go live across the board this weekend, including POD at CreateSpace, though that will require approval of the proof, so will follow by a week or so… If I don’t screw something up!

On the fourth and fifth books, my first reader has pointed out holes, nay, chasms to either fill or bridge over. Fortunately, fewer in the next one, Coda?, but some of the ones in Served Cold reflect back into Coda? since together they cover a continuous roughly ten month period. While Coda? completes its arc, it also segues into Served Cold with no delay.
I had thought that Served Cold would finish the series, but the characters are unwilling to be set aside so easily. As I sit here in my comfy chair, three characters are pushing two different stories at me. It will be interesting to see how they see their lives progressing. The parts they are willing to share, at least!

Comments are welcome, as usual.