Category: Share

It's My Turn

8/15/2014

After a busy week of telling you about just a few of my many writer friends, it's my turn to be the guest! My friend Krysten Lindsay Hager, author of the Middle Grade book TRUE COLORS, has graciously (and awesomely) opened her blog to me and DANIEL.

Click HERE to go to Krysten's blog.

And make sure you come back here in a couple of weeks, when Krysten will visit us and share some of her memories of the most wonderful time of the year--the beginning of school.

Now, unless you have some books to buy or some love to share here, why are you still here? Go stop by Krysten's blog. ;-) Tell her I sent ya!

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Collected Works - August '14 Goals

8/4/2014

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When someone says they're a writer, this is what the other person imagines:

This is goldfish water. Replace goldfish water with alcohol, and there you have it.

Quite a bit of this...

I need this sweater. Need. But in grey, please.

And the teensiest amount of this, actually. But not as much as you'd think.

It's a commonly-held belief that all writers are drunk hermits. And, yes, sometimes that stereotype is true. I bet you're wondering about me now, aren't you? Please... Like I have the time or money for any of that.

If I'm being 100%--and, when am I not?--the writers I have the good fortune of knowing are always looking for ways to socialize and promote other writers. I mean, sure, maybe we are reaching out to other introverts, but that's gotta count for something. And sometimes we switch the wine or hard stuff for coffee.

In order to get to know other writers and encourage others to reach our monthly writing goals, I'm joining in a project called "Collected Works".

Each month I will post my goals here and weigh in on how well I did at achieving those goals in the previous month. Although I technically didn't participate in Collected Works in July 2014, I DID set a goal.

July 2014 Goals

Bring DANIEL THE DRAW-ER 2 to 14k words. COMPLETED. DANIEL 2 CURRENTLY STANDS AT 23,764 WORDS. OOPS.
First round of editing for DANIEL THE DRAW-ER 2. NOT COMPLETED, STILL WRITING FIRST DRAFT.

August 2014 Goals

Finish first draft of DANIEL THE DRAW-ER 2.
Edit half of DANIEL THE DRAW-ER 2.
Complete and submit flash fiction for anthology.

There you have it, my goals for this month. I have a few more, but I'm going to start with these for now. Feel free to cheer me on in the comments section of this post, or check in on me via Twitter or Facebook. While you're at it, drop by Kathryn, Justin, and Marisa's blogs to cheer them on, too.

If you'd like to join in, please click the "Link Now!" button below and add yourself in there!

LINK NOW!

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Daniel Comes To Your School

7/22/2014

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A big box of DANIEL getting ready for school visits!

Here in Michigan, the new school year is just over a month away. In other parts of the country and world, school's already begun or never ended. I can't keep it straight, but all I know is that it's prime time for me to get out the word about DANIEL THE DRAW-ER and the upcoming, currently untitled sequel.

HOW IT WORKS:

Before our school year ended last month, I was invited to visit with four classrooms in my local district. Most of the kids had read a good portion, if not all, of DANIEL THE DRAW-ER and were excited to ask questions about how I came up with my ideas, my writing process, and what was next for Daniel and his friends. When time allowed, I read a favorite section of the book out loud (almost always it was the part where Whiskers gets stuck in the tree. Really fun for me to read!).

At least one of the classes drew pictures about their favorite DANIEL THE DRAW-ER character or what they would draw if they had a magic pencil. One of the teachers made copies of the students' work for me, and I'll share some of those with you soon.

Each of the teachers sent home order forms so the kids could buy a paperback copy of the book, which I signed and personalized while visiting the class. I tried to keep the cost of the books down because I know what it's like to be the parent of multiple school-aged kids, always overwhelmed with requests for fundraisers and field trip money. For those children who were unable to purchase a book at my visit, I also brought signed bookmarks for each child. I also am happy to donate a copy of DANIEL THE DRAW-ER to the school or community library.

As an independent author, my most difficult battle is marketing my book. Children who read this level of story don't typically own eReaders and don't usually shop on Amazon or scan through Twitter. They rely on parents, grandparents, teachers, and librarians to introduce them to fun, worthwhile books. That's why your word-of-mouth is so, so, so important. Without it, the kids don't even know I, or Daniel, exist!

If you are a teacher or a librarian, or someone who works with a group of kids who might enjoy an author visit, please let me know. You can reply below, or contact me through the contact form on my site. Obviously, at this time I need to limit in-person visits to locations in the SE Michigan area, but I'm also available for Skype or Google+ virtual visits, if your school or library has that capability. If you have other ideas, let me know, too! I'm eager to share this story with as many kids (and adults) as possible!

And, as always, thank you for your support!

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Daniel the Draw-er 2 Sneak Peek!

7/11/2014

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In May I started working on the second Daniel book, DANIEL THE DRAW-ER 2 [working title]. It's turning out to be quite an adventure, because there are a ton of great scenes and stories that want to be told. My goal was to hit 14,000 words (the approximate length of DANIEL THE DRAW-ER), but I'm just shy of 12,000 words tonight and there's so much left to be written. We'll see what happens when it comes time to edit.

In the meantime, here's a silly little peek to see what Daniel's been up to this summer:

A girl with a short red braid sits down in the grass next to me, and stares at the picture as I work. She's wearing a bright pink Glitter Ponies shirt. Glitter Ponies is a girl cartoon, and it’s nowhere near as cool as Bionic Aardvarks of Underworld Z. I can't believe she can wear that shirt without being embarrassed.

“What's your name?" She twirls the end of her braid between her fingers.

I stop drawing, not sure who she’s talking to. "Wh-what?"

"What's your name?" She repeats.

Wait. Is she talking to me? I look over my shoulder, but no one else is around.

“What. Is. Your. Name?” She asks again. I’m trying to ignore her, but she’s looking at me and blinking a lot. Yeah, like that’ll magically make me pay attention to her.

“I asked you a question." She touches me on the arm, and I pull away from her as fast as I can. It’s a proven fact that girls are the number one carrier of cooties, and no one likes cooties. I’ve never seen a real-live cootie up close before, so I don’t know what they look like, but I’m not about to find out at Camp Bigfoot, when I’m so far away from Mom and her special cootie shampoo. Besides, if anyone’s gonna have them crawling around on their clothes or hiding in their ears, it’s this girl.

Who's ready to read more? Comment below and say hi! I'd love to hear from you!

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It's Not World Peace, But...

7/8/2014

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Being an author is hard. Whether you're going it alone as an indie author, or you've snagged an agent and a publishing house, it doesn't matter. It's hard.

I'll stop you before you accuse me of whining. I'm not. For me (and many of my wordgeek friends), writing stories is probably the single-most-amazing thing one can do with a keyboard. Unless you're one of those people who knows how to recreate the Mona Lisa using only binary code or something. Then, yeah, you win.

Anyhow, I love writing. I love thinking of crazy stuff and actually putting it into words, sharing it, then having someone tell me that my words made them laugh. Or that they listened to their children giggling together while reading one of my stories. Writing isn't world peace, and it sure isn't the answer to world hunger, but all of that has to start somewhere. A smile. A laugh. Sharing.

Sharing.

As a writer, there are a few different ways to share. This book publishing thing is new to me, so I'm experimenting with ALLLLLLLLL of the ways there are to share, just to see what happens while I'm sharing and afterwards.

A couple of weeks ago, I ran a free promotion on Amazon for my Children's/Middle Grade book, Daniel the Draw-er. Earlier in the month, I also offered "Daniel" for free. Over the span of the month of June, 1,000 people downloaded my book. For free.

To the average person, this doesn't make much business sense. I gave away 1,000 copies of a book, or x amount of royalties from actual purchases. The money I didn't earn in those "lost" royalties could have paid my house payment or a car note, or, heck, bought me a new pony if I so desired (I don't. I know, I don't believe it, either). But, between you and me, those 1,000 people aren't buying my book. Those 1,000 people don't know who I am from the other millions of authors currently published on Amazon. I don't have a PR firm paving the way for my success. The only way those people will hear of me is from me. And you, oh fantastical reader. Did I lose sales from someone who likely would have eventually bought my book? Absolutely. It's okay, though. Because something important happened. A small percentage of those 1,000 people who actually opened my eBook and read my words now know that I mean business. They might have smiled and laughed with their kids at bedtime, or from a hospital bed, or on that long plane flight or car trip. They might even look for my name next time they go to buy another book. And maybe, just maybe, they might even trust me.

Authors share with other authors, too.

I'm not known for my speedy reading unless it's one of those rare un-put-downable books. Most of my friends on GoodReads know that I've been trying to read "The Book Thief" for over seven months, and that I keep starting and putting aside Lauren Oliver's Delerium. Committing to read a book is a really big thing for me, but the writing world is a community, just like any other. Authors, especially indie authors, rely on networking with other writers. If we don't support each other, few will. There is absolutely zero benefit in holing yourself up in your house with only a cellar full of booze to keep you company (although, admit it, we've all dreamed about that at least once). Cutting down another writer, even someone you see as your competition, does NOTHING. It just makes you look like a big, prententious jerkface. A jerkface in a bathrobe with lotsa liquor, but a jerkface, nonetheless.

So, guess what? In order to make my community of writers successful, I'm on a mission to not be a gigantic jerkface. My game plan:

I'm reading (True Colors by Krysten Lindsay Hager; Worth the Effort by Kai Strand; Turning Home by Stephanie Nelson; Madness Behind the Throne, by J. R. Simmons; currently I'm working on Into the Realm: The Chronicles of Carter Blake, Book I by R. W. Foster). I've downloaded a few more to work on soon (Past the Fields, Where All Is Golden by Ann T. Bugg; Curdled Dream by Rasheed Rambler).
I'm writing reviews. They're short reviews, but if I've learned anything during my short publishing/marketing stint, it's that reviews are gold. They can make or break a book, a reputation, a day. Friends, if you never remember another thing I say, remember this: Take five seconds to write a review for a book you enjoy, especially for writers who don't have the good fortune of calling themselves J. K. Rowling, Stephen King, or James Patterson. Love it? Review it. Pleaseandthankyou.
I've written a book blurb (recommendation which will be featured on its cover) for a book I've read, which will be featured on their book covers (Madness Behind the Throne, Book Five of the Gates of Atlantis series. Each book features a different author--this one was written by J. R. Simmons). That's kind of cool because my name will be on J. R. Simmons' book, so without even trying, J. R. will be helping me out, too. That's the funny and beautiful thing about helping each other. When you do, you usually find yourself on the receiving end of some kind of blessing, too.

If people, not just those of us in the writing and publishing world, would take the time to ask how we can help instead of focusing on "Me! Me! Me!", things could be better. Still not world peace, but, gosh, wouldn't it be a great first step?

What about you? Is there a need you have that someone in this community can help you with?

This made me smile.

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Forward>>

It's My Turn

Collected Works - August '14 Goals

Daniel Comes To Your School

Daniel the Draw-er 2 Sneak Peek!

It's Not World Peace, But...

S. J.

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