Tag: gunnAndBohemia

Happy New Year!

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Hello all! And a Happy New Year to all my followers.

Yes, I know I’m a few days late with that. The holiday ended up being a break from pretty much everything that didn’t have a direct connection to Christmas-related family things, right through from the day I wrote the previous post here, until New Year’s Day. So I was cooking, and helping with tidying and cleaning the house, on the days leading up to Christmas Day itself, then doing other things such as entertaining visiting family for the following week. That included driving number-one-son down to Denver to buy computer parts, and taking a long walk along the Devil’s Backbone (if you follow me on Twitter you might have seen the pictures I posted).

When the holiday was officially over, Thursday, I was back in the office and of course that meant I was immediately swamped with the backlog of work that had built up while I was out. And on top of that, I’ve been helping a new guy get started, since he’ll be taking over from me on one of the projects I’ve been involved with for the last few months. Thursday and Friday ended up being pretty hectic because of all that. Then yesterday it was time to take down the tree and do some other cleaning up that took my wife and I until around 1am—so we don’t have to worry about any of that today, but it did mean that my plan to get some book work done went out the window.

So I’ve had little time for Twitter, Facebook or Google+, and no time for blogging, and I’ve made no progress at all—not so much as a scratch—on the Gunn & Bohemia sequel, beyond a few scribbled notes about a few changes I want to make to the timeline, for the last two weeks.

Today I begin getting wound back into all that. I have those notes about the timeline changes, and I’ll be getting busy with that shortly. Also, beginning this week, I’ll be doing more to promote Mr. Gunn & Dr. Bohemia—although I’m not quite sure yet how I might do that. One thing that’s for sure is to try to get readers to post reviews on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads, and so on.

Before I sign off to get started on the timeline, though, I do have one piece of excellent news to report: The short story I wrote for Xchyler Publishing’s Around the World in 80 Days anthology competition was accepted! Yay! I received the contract papers just the other day. I expect to be able to begin editing work on that shortly, and it should see the light of day in early Spring, I think.

On that note, then, it’s time to refresh my tea mug and get busy. Until next time, gentle reader . . .

Getting Your Book on Shelves, and An Interview

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Interview

Gentle readers, I did an interview! J. Aurel Guay asked me a bunch of questions about my past, present, and future writing. Enjoy! The page is here.

Consignments – or, Getting Your Book On Shelves

A tip for writers: you’ve seen those shelves in your local bookshops that say Local Author (or something similar). Wouldn’t it be cool to see print copies of your works there? Of course it would. Here’s how:

  1. Find your local indie bookshops. You might already know them, or some of them. Do a web search and make a list.
  2. Next, check each of those shops’ web pages. What you’re looking for is the magic word, Consignment. It might be on a Local Author page, or marked with something like How To Get Your Book In The Store, or perhaps there’s a listing under FAQs.
  3. If the bookshop offers consignment packages, you’re almost there. Read the conditions. Check to see what packages they offer. Then simply follow their instructions.

How do I know all this? Because I just went through the process myself. I have three indie bookshops in my area, and all offer several consignment deals. One was far too expensive—five times the price, for much the same package that the other two offer. Those other two, though, have just what I was looking for: for a small fee, I get print copies on a prominent shelf, and a mention in the shop’s newsletter. As I write this, Old Firehouse Books in Fort Collins has copies of Mr. Gunn & Dr. Bohemia on the shelf, in the public eye. And if all goes well, another indie bookshop in Denver will have copies available in a couple of weeks (more details on that when it happens).

So, if your book is out there, and you have a box of print copies, what better way to get the word out than have them on display in a bookshop?

That’s all I have time for today. Until next time . . .

Some Progress

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Things are still busy on the day-job front—I’m still playing catch-up with the work that didn’t get done during the government shutdown. But the worst seems to be over. Today I got the code I’ve been working on to a point where I can’t really test it any more by my lonesome; that’s now in the hands of another guy who’s writing the code that will send data in for processing.

So, I’ve finally been able to spend more than a few minutes on some writing work. I was able to finish a short story and submit it. And I have to report that Smoke & Mirrors—the novel I was working on before Mr. Gunn & Dr. Bohemia—has been put back on indefinite hold. It’s like this, you see . . . I was working on it, going through the scenes I’d already written, polishing them and in some cases tearing them out completely, and making notes of new scenes to be slotted in. But as I was doing that, I was also thinking about ideas for Gunn & Bohemia II. And the more I thought about that, the more obvious it became that I would have to stop work on Smoke to get those ideas written down before I forgot them. Those few notes became the beginnings of a timeline, and so on.

The upshot of all that is that I’m now working on G & B II pretty much exclusively. I have the backbone of the main story, and the beginnings of some side plots. I’ve met my characters, and although some can be considered old friends there are some new faces I have to get to know. And I even did something I don’t usually do at such an early stage: I’ve written a scene. I couldn’t help myself. This one scene has been rattling around in my head for a week or more. It wanted to be written. No; it demanded to be written, and it wasn’t going to let me rest until it was done. So I wrote it. Now, it can sit quietly until its time comes, and then it can be edited and slotted into place. Or torn down and rewritten, or torn out completely, if it doesn’t fit in by the time the rest is ready to be written.

And so, work continues, not rushed but steady, as I figure out the various threads of the story and get them down in note form. It’s going to be a while before I’m ready to begin the real writing; based on the time it took me with my other full-length stories, it could be anything from six to twelve weeks, depending on how much time I get during lunchtimes, evenings and weekends. It’s times like this that make me wish I could pack in the day-job and write full time. Perhaps one day, eh?

Which brings me to a few words about Mr. Gunn & Dr. Bohemia. It’s had a couple of good reviews, and I expect to see more over the next couple of weeks; press releases have gone out, which—fingers crossed—will spur a lot of interest. Sell sheets are out in a handful of places, and I’m planning on hitting up a few more. And one thing happened that was pretty big from my perspective: I actually signed my first paperback copies! Two of them, in fact, within a few minutes of each other. The feeling that invokes is difficult to describe.

And so . . . it’s 9:30pm on a Monday night, and I have a 5:15am start in the morning, so I’m going to wrap this up and watch some TV. I was working to the sounds of Pandora earlier today, and The Lord of the Rings soundtrack was quite heavily featured. To the point that I now have an irresistible urge to watch all three movies, special edition length. Without further ado then, it’s time for The Fellowship of the Ring.

Until next time . . .

Busy, busy, busy . . .

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Time for a few updates on where I am right now . . .

Day Job Stuff

When I got back to work from the shutdown, I expected my project deadlines to have been pushed back a bit. Wrong! The project I was working on when everything stopped had an end date of last Wednesday—and that didn’t change. Which meant I had about four days to complete a job that was originally scoped for three weeks. It was a tough few days but, thank goodness, I hit no serious roadblocks (apart from one technical problem, which was quickly sorted out thanks to a colleague who’d been down that same road before). Effort estimates usually include some wiggle room in case of problems, and this one was no different, but everything came together on the last day. It made for a pretty stressful start to the week, but I was able to put that behind me on Thursday.

Mr. Gunn & Dr. Bohemia

The book seems to be doing well. I know I’ve made some sales (I won’t know precisely how many for a while), and I’ve seen a couple of reviews on Amazon (one on the US site, and one from the UK). So far, people are saying good things. And I haven’t even got into any real promotion yet. I’m barely started into arranging some things to get the word out—a blog tour is a strong possibility, as well as a signing or two locally. I’m hoping to get some progress in those directions this afternoon.

Around The World In 80 Days

The short story I wrote for Xchyler Publishing’s Around The World In 80 Days anthology contest is complete, as of a few days ago, and in shape to be submitted, as of about an hour ago (I started an editing pass last night, and finished up this morning). It is good. Without wishing to sound all conceited about it, I have to say it’s definitely one of my better short stories. I just hope it’s good enough—each of Xchyler’s contests seems to get more and better submissions.

Smoke & Mirrors

The next full-length story is coming along apace. This is the one I put to one side in February or March, and now Mr. Gunn & Dr. Bohemia is out there I’ve been able to get back to it. I’ve redone the timeline somewhat, and I’ve been editing the scenes I’d already written, working forward to the point where I’d had to stop. I’ve recovered the momentum, and the voices and personalities of my characters, so when I reach that point (which won’t be long now—I’m almost there), I should be able to carry on and pound through to the end. My plan is to have a first draft no later than the end of November, and get it into shape to submit sometime in December. Fingers crossed.

Mr. Gunn & Dr. Bohemia II

Yes, a sequel is in the works. I have the basics of a storyline, but I’m still thrashing out details. That’s about all I can say at the moment.

That about wraps it up for now. I have my weekly online chat with the family coming up in a few minutes, so I’d better grab a coffee and get settled. Until next time . . .

A Status Report

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I’m back at work, now that the shutdown is behind us, and I can get back to where I was before the whole thing started—which is turning out to be pretty hard, actually. Two weeks is more than long enough for me to have pretty much forgotten where, precisely, I was with each of the projects I was working on. That, plus a number of distractions as other people have come to me to ask questions—so that they can remember where they were with their work, too—has made today pretty much a wipe as far as actually getting any work done. It’s going to take a couple of days to get back into the routine.

Also, I’ve become completely unused to getting up early. I allowed myself a couple of extra hours this morning, mostly because I wasn’t certain that the office would actually be open at the usual time. Even with that extra time, I feel exhausted already. So I decided to take a few minutes out to write this, and get my mind off the other stuff for a bit.

Mr. Gunn & Dr. Bohemia was released last Saturday, and I know I’ve had a few sales already, and I’ve had one four-star review on Amazon. If you’d like a copy, check out the Fiction page by clicking the tab at the top of this screen—the links are all there. It’s available as an e-book for Kindle, Nook, and Kobo. Paperback copies can be ordered from Amazon only as I write this; hopefully Barnes & Noble should be making print copies available soon, too.

Yesterday I finished a new, improved draft of a steampunk short story, which I’ll be submitting to Xchyler Publishing’s Around the World in 80 Days anthology contest at the end of the month. That’s going on the back burner for a week or so, then I’ll give another polish pass before the submissions open.

Next up, I’m getting back to work on Smoke & Mirrors, the full-length steampunk story I put to one side a few months ago to make way for Gunn & Bohemia. The plan is to get that finished in time to submit.

Enough blog for now; time to get back to work. Until next time . . .

The Tension is Palpable

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So much going on right now. First and foremost, of course, is that Mr. Gunn & Dr. Bohemia is being released this Saturday! We’re having a Facebook release party on the day, and I’ll be there to answer questions and throw a few trivia questions around. Only three days to go! This is my first professionally published book, and I’m very excited. After Saturday can call myself Published Author.

In other news, the government shutdown is biting harder. Last week I was able to work on documents, so long as the work wasn’t related to any of our government projects; this week, I’m on an enforced vacation. I hope this gets sorted out soon.

Still, it has its good side—that being that I’m on vacation during the best possible weather (not too hot, but the snows haven’t started yet), so Kate and I can do some restful, relaxing things. Yesterday we took a ride up to Fort Collins and spent a little while looking around an independent bookstore (Old Firehouse Books on Walnut), went for a walk over by Devil’s Backbone, and treated ourselves to dinner at Golden Corral.

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Devil’s Backbone, Colorado

Interesting thing about Devil’s Backbone: apparently the neighbours are hazardous:

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Where The Hazardous Things Are

Makes you wonder what the hazards are. Active volcanoes? Minefields? Pools of acid? Or are the people like those whackjob doomsday preppers on TV?

Today, we’d planned to drive up to Laramie, Wyoming, for a day trip—it’s only a couple of hours from here, and it looks like a nice place to look round. But that plan went down the toilet. Long story, I won’t go into it here. We might get out there tomorrow. If so, tweets will ensue.

On the writing front, I’ve been focussed on the Steampunk short story for Xchyler Publishing’s Around The World in 80 Days anthology contest. I’ve marked up the ‘script with comment markers to remind myself of the points that need work. Among other things, the pacing’s a bit off—the last couple of scenes seem terribly rushed, and something’s needed in there to slow things down and increase the suspense and tension a bit. I’m leaving it to sit for a few days before I get back on to it.

Enough on the blog for now. I need tea, and I think we’ll be getting out for a walk around the sculpture park while the weather’s good. Until next time . . .

Seven Days and Counting; Shutdown Shenanigans

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GunnBohemiaTwitterHeader

Yes, gentle reader: a week today, Mr. Gunn & Dr. Bohemia will be released, woo hoo! This is of course a big thing for me, personally; my first professionally published book. It’s been a lot of work, but it’s been worth every moment and I’ve learned a lot along the road.

We’re having a release party on Facebook (sign up by clicking here) – Trivia quiz! Prizes! It’s going to be fun, so come along and join in! I’m working on some trivia quiz questions, and I’ll be there to answer questions about the book and other things I’m working on.

The Shutdown . . .

If you’ve read my bio, you know that my day job involves working for the government (I’m not a fed, though—I work for a commercial company that does work on contract). So, Monday was business as usual, then Tuesday it was all stop. I’ve been able to work on some documents unrelated to the government projects, and that’s all. Starting this Monday, that stops, too—it looks like I have to start burning up my vacation hours until this is all over. Here’s hoping it gets sorted out soon.

Of course, since I’ll be on vacation, that means . . .

Writing!

Two projects are front and centre right now. First is a short story for Xchyler Publishing’s Steampunk anthology contest. I’ve got about 2,500 words down so far, and I’ll be getting back to that after posting this and getting coffee. The plan is to have the first draft finished no later than Monday night, but we’ll see how that goes.

As soon as that’s done, I’ll be getting back to work on Smoke and Mirrors (that’s just the working title), which must, must, must! be finished before December 31 if it’s to be in time for the submission deadline.

So I’d better get on with it. Coffee, come to daddy.

Until next time . . .

Lazy Weekend; Games and Cloud Atlas and stuff

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I haven’t done anything constructive all weekend. It’s been great.

Friday night we went out for a belated birthday celebration (steak at Outback, which was disappointing; the rib-eye was tough and over-seasoned), and bought a bunch of birthday goodies—some games, a Steam gift card, and some TV shows and movies on DVD and blu-ray.

Saturday: I had to re-install my Steam client (it wouldn’t connect), then I bought a couple of games with the card: Alice: Madness Returns—the sequel to the original American McGee’s Alice—is ready to play, but I haven’t started it yet; Syberia and Syberia II were 75% off so I got those, too.

I played Syberia when it came out, but that was a long time ago, so—especially since it only cost about $2.50—I went ahead an bought it. And spent most of Saturday playing it. I hadn’t intended to—I was going to play Alice—but I started it off, just to remind myself how it looked, and got kinda hooked. Interesting game, and very Steampunk.

Sunday: started into some of the DVDs. First up was Cloud Atlas, and it’s been haunting my thoughts since. For the first half hour I didn’t know quite what to make of it, and I wasn’t sure how the bits connected, but things started to come together by about halfway through, and by the end I was enthralled. I can’t get certain scenes out of my head. I’m going to have to watch that again soon.

Next, Star Trek: Into Darkness. Damned good. I will say no more.

Rounded off by watching a few episodes of Castle, season 5. I love that show.

So: it’s Monday morning, 6:45am, and almost time for me to fire up the work laptop and get into day-job stuff. I feel rested and ready to go, so without further ado, I’d better get on with it. Until next time . . .

Mr. Gunn & Dr. Bohemia Release: October 12, 2013

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The title says it all; I’d mentioned here, a couple of posts back, that the date was October 13. That was incorrect (the 13th is a Sunday). It’s actually happening the day before. Next, I’d better fix my Twitter header . . .

Psst… Wanna Read My Book?

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. . . Well, you can! Advance Reader Copies of Mr. Gunn & Dr. Bohemia are available as PDFs for a short time, and you can have one in return for an honest review posted on Amazon, Goodreads, or your own blog. Xchyler Publishing might want to quote you, too. Interested? Click the Contact tab above, fill in the form (make sure to include a contact email address that I can pass on to the marketing director at Xchyler, who will be sending the ARCs out) and submit it. I’ll take it from there.

While I’m blogging, let’s have an update. Last week was a nightmare—flooded roads Monday, family member in hospital Tuesday and Wednesday, then water in the basement Friday; laid over that was a slew of day-job technical problems that had to be fixed. Despite all of which I managed to finish proofreading Gunn & Bohemia. What a week.

Today, working at home while waiting for guys to come and dry out the basement carpet. They didn’t show up until 2:30pm, but when they did they got on with the job.

On the writing front: I’ve been working up a short story for Xchyler’s next Steampunk anthology contest, which opens for submissions at the end of October. I have the whole story in my head; next step, write it out scene-by-scene.

But that can wait a bit. Today’s been busy and I feel the need to wind down. Time for dinner and telly; I have an urge to watch The Dresden Files if it’s still listed on Netflix.

Until next time . . .