Those of you who watch a lot of news will hear the military talk about "mission creep." If you play board games, you have to stay focused on the "Victory Conditions." If you are playing chess, for example, you win by capturing the enemy king, not by running down and killing all of his pawns. I have been guilty of killing pawns for the past several months here, in fact, pretty much since I got back from the hospital, and it is time to regain focus and return my blog to its stated purpose, supporting the books that are collectively Beyond the Rails. So I'm going to sum everything up here, and establish a new "Square One" to launch from.
The first order of business is to explain where to find what. You may be surprised to hear that my most active haunt on the internet is not this blog. It is a subgroup within The Steampunk Empire called Scribblers' Den. The Empire is a collection of nearly 19,000 steampunk enthusiasts of every kind of interest, and the Den is, as of this writing, 75 steampunk writers. This is the site we all dream of when we join these internet groups. Generally, when I post a comment or a discussion, I will have six to a dozen replies within an hour, and they are meaningful and intelligent, as opposed to the kind of troll-poop you find on the net at large. Anyone can follow the link and read, but you have to be a member to comment. If you see something there that you're curious about, come over here and ask me; maybe it will spark a discussion.
My number two hangout is Writing.com. I'm not sure how to describe this; a professional site for amateur authors, maybe? At WdC, as it's known, you can post items for review, review the items of others, enter or run writing contests, keep a blog, and all sorts of things. It isn't really a social site, though there is plenty of socializing that goes on. But the point is to help you improve your writing, and there are 500,000 members who are plenty happy to do just that! If you are a member there, you can read Beyond the Rails chapters that haven't been published yet. Otherwise, the main thing you'll find are my interviews with up and coming writers in a variety of fields. I have met some quite interesting people since I've begun to take my writing seriously, and I encourage you to click on that link and meet some of them, too!
The third most likely place you might find me is here. In the future, I will make every effort to keep this blog relevant to my writing. This is, after all, my author site, and it should pertain to that. I will try diligently to update on a somewhat regular basis, by which I mean no more than two weeks between posts. Of course, writing is a glacial activity, and there will be times when I have nothing new to say. At those times, I'll talk about characters, settings, plot building, relate anecdotes about the writing life, and just anything that comes to mind. One of the drawbacks to Weebly (my service provider) is that it offers no click-to-follow option like Blogger does. That's all right, I'm not about to trade all the features I get here for that one, so if you like what you find here, and would like to follow me, look for the RSS Feed in the sidebar ---> and click on it to sign up. It will then notify you by e-mail every time I post anything. I'd love to have you; we writers thrive on being read, you know ...
Number four on my list of hangouts is Goodreads.com. You might think that with 23,000,000 self-proclaimed book lovers to talk with, this would rank higher than that, but let me regale you with one of those anecdotes: Last year when Beyond the Rails was new, I signed up to do a giveaway. About 400 people signed up to win one of ten copies, and on the selected date, Goodreads did a random draw and sent me the list of winners. Unfortunately, about a week before the giveaway date, I came down with the flu, added a second strain to it, it then developed into pneumonia, and I went into a month-long coma, followed by a couple of weeks in intensive care, and a couple more in rehab learning how to walk, take a dump, and dress myself again. Meanwhile, nine of the winners were cool with it, but one of them, a complete socially irredeemable ass-wipe, posted a review, giving me one star, and announcing her belief that I had made up the whole hospital stay to avoid having to give books away. As soon as I returned home, I sent out the books, including the one to this snot rag, and contacted the site administrators, pointing out the "review" in which this troll plainly stated that she had never seen or laid hands on the book, and asking whether anything might be done about it. After a couple of days, they replied that nothing she had said violated site rules, and there was nothing they could do. Way to man-up! As you might imagine, I don't spend much time there, and only maintain my membership because they offer some cheap advertising options. Oh, and to complete the story, hers wasn't the only review I received, and the book is sitting at a solid 4.1 out of 5 stars, even with her stinking 1 in there, so pffffffffft!
The place where you are least likely to find me is at The Steampunk Writers and Artists Guild. There are about a thousand members there, most of us published, and I would love to be more active, but nobody ever says anything over there. Not literally true, of course, but close. It's a good week when one person makes a statement, which usually takes the form of "Buy my book!" Really, the only point in maintaining a membership there is that I get to display their classy badge in the sidebar; there's a certain degree of panache when you can say "I'm in the Guild!" Fun stuff.
As to where I am in the writing, when I returned from the hospital, I had two months off when I could have written every day, but I just couldn't make my mind work. I put it down to all the drugs I was full of, but it was lost time, no matter the reason. I had originally planned to have Beyond the Rails II ready for release in November of last year. During the spring sometime (it's 4:00 AM, and I'm not about to look it up), I hooked up with a cover artist and contracted for a spiffy professional cover for Book II. I had to estimate a time, and looking at what I had lost, I told her February. In point of fact, I finished the book at the beginning of December, but didn't rush her, because I would rather have good than fast. Now we're into March, I have four chapters of Book III finished, and no cover yet, largely because she has come down with the flu and complications, and is trying to pull herself together to meet a convention commitment she has which includes something of a road trip. No one understands flu complications better than I, and so I wait. Hopefully, soon.
And that brings us up to date. From now on, I blog about writing and how it pertains to me and my projects. Those interested in following along are welcome to contact me via comment or the contact form on the Welcome page. If you're a writer yourself, or a steampunk enthusiast, and you'd care to ask questions or discuss The Craft or The Lifestyle, same deal, drop me line and commence. I'd love to converse with you about practically anything. Just step up and engage. You might get a pleasant surprise ...
The first order of business is to explain where to find what. You may be surprised to hear that my most active haunt on the internet is not this blog. It is a subgroup within The Steampunk Empire called Scribblers' Den. The Empire is a collection of nearly 19,000 steampunk enthusiasts of every kind of interest, and the Den is, as of this writing, 75 steampunk writers. This is the site we all dream of when we join these internet groups. Generally, when I post a comment or a discussion, I will have six to a dozen replies within an hour, and they are meaningful and intelligent, as opposed to the kind of troll-poop you find on the net at large. Anyone can follow the link and read, but you have to be a member to comment. If you see something there that you're curious about, come over here and ask me; maybe it will spark a discussion.
My number two hangout is Writing.com. I'm not sure how to describe this; a professional site for amateur authors, maybe? At WdC, as it's known, you can post items for review, review the items of others, enter or run writing contests, keep a blog, and all sorts of things. It isn't really a social site, though there is plenty of socializing that goes on. But the point is to help you improve your writing, and there are 500,000 members who are plenty happy to do just that! If you are a member there, you can read Beyond the Rails chapters that haven't been published yet. Otherwise, the main thing you'll find are my interviews with up and coming writers in a variety of fields. I have met some quite interesting people since I've begun to take my writing seriously, and I encourage you to click on that link and meet some of them, too!
The third most likely place you might find me is here. In the future, I will make every effort to keep this blog relevant to my writing. This is, after all, my author site, and it should pertain to that. I will try diligently to update on a somewhat regular basis, by which I mean no more than two weeks between posts. Of course, writing is a glacial activity, and there will be times when I have nothing new to say. At those times, I'll talk about characters, settings, plot building, relate anecdotes about the writing life, and just anything that comes to mind. One of the drawbacks to Weebly (my service provider) is that it offers no click-to-follow option like Blogger does. That's all right, I'm not about to trade all the features I get here for that one, so if you like what you find here, and would like to follow me, look for the RSS Feed in the sidebar ---> and click on it to sign up. It will then notify you by e-mail every time I post anything. I'd love to have you; we writers thrive on being read, you know ...
Number four on my list of hangouts is Goodreads.com. You might think that with 23,000,000 self-proclaimed book lovers to talk with, this would rank higher than that, but let me regale you with one of those anecdotes: Last year when Beyond the Rails was new, I signed up to do a giveaway. About 400 people signed up to win one of ten copies, and on the selected date, Goodreads did a random draw and sent me the list of winners. Unfortunately, about a week before the giveaway date, I came down with the flu, added a second strain to it, it then developed into pneumonia, and I went into a month-long coma, followed by a couple of weeks in intensive care, and a couple more in rehab learning how to walk, take a dump, and dress myself again. Meanwhile, nine of the winners were cool with it, but one of them, a complete socially irredeemable ass-wipe, posted a review, giving me one star, and announcing her belief that I had made up the whole hospital stay to avoid having to give books away. As soon as I returned home, I sent out the books, including the one to this snot rag, and contacted the site administrators, pointing out the "review" in which this troll plainly stated that she had never seen or laid hands on the book, and asking whether anything might be done about it. After a couple of days, they replied that nothing she had said violated site rules, and there was nothing they could do. Way to man-up! As you might imagine, I don't spend much time there, and only maintain my membership because they offer some cheap advertising options. Oh, and to complete the story, hers wasn't the only review I received, and the book is sitting at a solid 4.1 out of 5 stars, even with her stinking 1 in there, so pffffffffft!
The place where you are least likely to find me is at The Steampunk Writers and Artists Guild. There are about a thousand members there, most of us published, and I would love to be more active, but nobody ever says anything over there. Not literally true, of course, but close. It's a good week when one person makes a statement, which usually takes the form of "Buy my book!" Really, the only point in maintaining a membership there is that I get to display their classy badge in the sidebar; there's a certain degree of panache when you can say "I'm in the Guild!" Fun stuff.
As to where I am in the writing, when I returned from the hospital, I had two months off when I could have written every day, but I just couldn't make my mind work. I put it down to all the drugs I was full of, but it was lost time, no matter the reason. I had originally planned to have Beyond the Rails II ready for release in November of last year. During the spring sometime (it's 4:00 AM, and I'm not about to look it up), I hooked up with a cover artist and contracted for a spiffy professional cover for Book II. I had to estimate a time, and looking at what I had lost, I told her February. In point of fact, I finished the book at the beginning of December, but didn't rush her, because I would rather have good than fast. Now we're into March, I have four chapters of Book III finished, and no cover yet, largely because she has come down with the flu and complications, and is trying to pull herself together to meet a convention commitment she has which includes something of a road trip. No one understands flu complications better than I, and so I wait. Hopefully, soon.
And that brings us up to date. From now on, I blog about writing and how it pertains to me and my projects. Those interested in following along are welcome to contact me via comment or the contact form on the Welcome page. If you're a writer yourself, or a steampunk enthusiast, and you'd care to ask questions or discuss The Craft or The Lifestyle, same deal, drop me line and commence. I'd love to converse with you about practically anything. Just step up and engage. You might get a pleasant surprise ...