Stuff and Nonsense

Good morning!

I'm trying to gather my thoughts. I'm a little muzzy-headed the past couple of days. I pushed myself a little too hard and my body is making me pay for it. Sigh.

I've been reading a wonderful set of books. They're called the Dresden Chronicles and they're by Jim Butcher. Really enjoying them a lot. They're wildly funny as well as adventurous. Makes me feel a little inadequate by comparison. Then again, I feel that way a fair amount of the time anyway.

We have gotten 10 reviews on Hunter so far. None of them have ranked it lower than four stars (or hearts or angels or whatever). That is a VERY good sign and makes me happy. The review process was funny. One reviewer OBVIOUSLY hadn't read the book at all -- got the plot completely wrong. But most of them are being very serious and careful. You can tell from what they wrote that they really did read it and like it. That's gratifying. One of the most thoughtful though seemed to think that we should be drawing moral conclusions at the end of the book. That is SO not likely to happen. I want our characters to have different moral compasses and ideas. I do not want to impose my morals on either the characters or the readers. Cathy feels the same way. Good thing too, because she and I have very different viewpoints on a great number of things.

I've been getting in touch with some people in my past lately. I'm trying to play "connect the dots" and figure out who I was, am, and where I am going. I've changed a lot over the years. Most of it has been good, but I need a little breathing space to assimilate it all. That may not make sense, but it's true nonetheless. I'm also trying to decide what kind of "style" I want as far as my clothing, hair, etc. I let that go for a long time, but the interest has resurrected. There are people who would say that's a sign my self-esteem is improving. Maybe so, maybe no. As far as I'm concerned, it just is a fact that needs to be dealt with.

Well, this has turned into more of a journal entry than a blog, sorry about that.

Cie.

Guten Tag

I figured I'd go ahead and use that as the greeting because, unless I am mistaken, the Frankfurt festival is underway and Maja is busily trying to sell the foreign rights to Hunter on our behalf. Very exciting stuff. We've also received another killer review (pun intended).

Both of the short stories have been shipped off to their separate anthologies. Cathy is now getting back to Blue Lights and I am working on The Raveners. We've been discussing which way to go on the next Sazi book and are keeping our fingers crossed about the vampire novel that is currently with the agent. The postcards are in and are being sent out to the Sci-Fi/Fantasy mailing list. The RT article is out and the website is at approximately 1,162 hits. All in all, things are moving just exactly the way we've wanted them to. Cathy has the second article up on the website. All in all, it's just amazing how well the writing is going.

On a personal note my health seems to be holding up OK -- better than it had been for a while at least. I have a nice, quiet life. My son is doing well. Life is really pretty good and I'm grateful for it.

Cie

News and Stuff

Good news. We're back up in the early adopters list on Amazon. We'd dropped a bit, and were afraid we'd fall off the list but WOO HOO are bouncing back. Don't know if it's because of the postcard campaign that Cathy just started, or what. But still very good news.

Also, my esteemed partner has been selected to be a judge in a writing contest. Big contest, very serious, major honor. (Polite applause and whistles here).

I've been reading quite a bit over the past couple of weeks. I find that going through the publishing process has made me a much more critical reader. This is a good and a bad thing. But it is reassuring to see that the problems I have are common, fixable, and that I'm doing as well as a lot of the folks out there (but still have scads of room for improvement).

Found a very interesting website where they have archives of all sorts of interviews with authors. It's called "The Writer's Craft." One of my new goals now is to be interviewed on it! (Big grin).

Have to go now.

Cie

Welcome to Another Week

Hi! Welcome to another week.

Good news.

1) Apple (a short story) has been accepted for publication in an anthology. This is a mystery anthology, which means that we're getting at least one little toe into that market. Whoo hoo. Cathy is doing the edits because I'm really not the short story type of person. But this is still VERY good news.

2) Ian edits are being reviewed by Cathy before the story goes into the dark romance anthology.

3) After Happily Ever After has been sent on to the agent who is looking it over. (Whoo hoo again).

4) Again, Kate is with the agent.

5) Cathy and I had a much deserved celebratory lunch at Red Lobster. We've been working VERY hard. During the lunch we went over the sticking points for The Raveners/I Will Remember. So, I've been working on that one while she works on Blue Lights. All in all, we are moving rapidly forward.

6) The hit counter on the website is well over a thousand. (Whoo hoo!)

All in all, very busy with very gratifying things!

Gotta run! Otherwise I won't get any more writing done today, and I really do hope to!


Cie

Stuff

Hi!

Let's see, it's been a few days. Nothing too much has happened. Still working on the marketing, etc. Cathy got the postcards and mailing labels. Unfortunately, the printer screwed up the cards. It's kind of hard for me to understand how since she gave them the format on disc AND gave them a sample. But there you have it. Ugh.

I have a couple of things to work on, but I'm so deep into the book right now that I'm having a hard time shifting gears. I also have been trying to read and spend a little time relaxing so I'm not so incredibly grumpy and difficult to get along with.

Incubus Dreams came out from Laurell K. Hamilton. It seems to be resolving a lot of the issues that have been left hanging. This is a good thing. Still more sex than I'm really comfortable with, but at least it's integral to the plot. I have discovered that I'm very fussy about that and (apparently) a lot more conservative than some folks. I believe that you should have your characters act within their natures. If they're prudish, they ACT prudish. If they're... ahem... sexually adventurous, then they act adventurous. There seem to be an awful lot of books that just throw in the "obligatory sex scene."

Well, gotta run.

Cie

Welcome to Another Week

WOO HOO. Kate is finished. Let's do the happy dance. It is being sent off to Merrilee as I post. I think it's a much better book than it was before, but it was hard! It started out a short story/novella and it was a real battle to convert it to a good novel. But now that it's done, I'm very proud of it. I don't think there's another world out there quite like it and Kate is a very different character from a lot of the heroines I've seen. I just hope that Merrilee finds a good buyer for it and that the people like it!

On the Hunter's Moon front, Cathy has got another group of bookmarks going out for distribution at a conference in Canada, there are also some going all over the US. This is really good for publicity! We're holding our own on Amazon.com and Barnes&Noble.com. We've gotten all good reviews thus far (and all but one of them have enough detail that we know they actually read the book). The information has gone to Maja for the foreign rights sales.

I notice that the "lost" post posted itself finally, which makes the one after look kind of silly. Ah well, certainly not the first time I've looked foolish and probably not the last

"Ran into the wall" on the book I'm working on. There are a couple of possibilities for fixing it that I'm going to try to implement. Wish me luck!

Lost Another Post

Well I wrote a lovely apology for being such a grump the past few posts -- and it didn't post. Ah well. I will try to be less grumpy from here on out. Writing is going well. Many other things are going well. I'm just a little frustrated because I'm a very territorial person and I'm having to share space. I'll get over it. So, forgive me if I'm a bit grumpy.

At any rate the weekend is here, and I intend to take full advantage! Have fun, 'cause I plan to.

Cie

It's FRIDAY!

Greetings all. It's Friday afternoon. WOW this past week went fast!

Cathy came up with yet another really good idea. She's considering having a link on our website for new writers/authors with tips and advice that we've learned from both experience and other authors. I think it is a great idea, since she's a terrific teacher.

I apparently have been sounding kinda grumpy lately. Haven't meant to. Sorry. Part of me is very happy. Part of me is very frustrated. Writing is going well. The new job is going well. James and I are getting along well. But life in general is frustrating me. I'll get over it. Again, my apologies if I sound like a grump bucket.

Everybody have a great weekend. Maybe I'll be cheerier next week.

Well....

Well, I did a whole post and it didn't (post). Frustrating. Ah well. Mostly I just do this so that if we develop a fan base there will be a way of communicating with them. Since we don't have the base yet, it's just been meanderings anyway. Still...

Did get the cover photo up on the right by my profile. Not perfect, but hey, it's a start.

Gotta run.

Got the cover picture up

I got the picture of the Hunter's Moon cover up on my profile. I guess I'll put up the cover of the most recent book every time it changes, with another one in the body the way Cathy posted it.

It's warm and sunny already this morning here in central Texas. I heard that it's cold and snowing in Denver. I loved Denver very much, but the cold weather always played havoc with my body -- pain, difficulty moving, etc. I'm grateful not to have to be going through that -- or scraping the car, shoveling the walk (or listening to one of the neighbors complain because I didn't shovel teh walk soon enough to suit them when I was in pain and could barely move!) This is much better from that point of view. In fact, I am very happy here.

Cathy thinks she may have found a "home" for another one of my short stories in an anthology. I'm generally more of a novel than short story kind of gal. I write them, but if they don't get published I'm not as worried about it. Cathy can't stand to see anything worthwhile sitting idle. Fair enough. It's one of the great qualities that drives the business end of the partnership.

It seems this BLOG is kind of turning into an isolated journal. I'm hoping that at some point we have readers who will be interested, but if not, not. We'll have to see. It does give me a place to vent, climb on my soapbox and be opinionated, etc. -- whicih is not a bad thing all by itself.

Well, I'm off to write some more. I watched The Bourne Identity on DVD the other night and it helped relax me enough to resolve some issues with the story I'm writing and gave me some insight on pacing. Now I have to put that to use!


Cie

Early Adopter and Other Info

Hi all!

Found the "Early Adopter" list on Amazon.com. We're still doing well, which is good to know. They'd kind of moved the site for it, so it wasn't as easy to find.

Finally figured out a couple of things that may help with the new story that has been fighting me. Keeping my fingers crossed that it'll work. I'm also a little bit incommunicado right now so that I *can* get it done. I know I should be able to balance everything like everybody else seems to, but I just can't. When I need to concentrate on something I sometimes have to cut myself off from everybody and be by myself for a bit. A lot of people have a hard time understanding that and feel really rejected, but I can't help it.

Ah well. There are always going to be frictions between people who love each other. The trick is to care enough to work through them. That is the thought for the day. Good relationships are work -- but work that's well worth doing.

Cie

Stuff

Greetings. Lots going on in the life right now. Mostly happy stuff. Some financial frustrations, but that happens occasionally, and should be fixed soon.

Cathy just finished going over the galleys for Hunter's Moon again. We'd done it once before, but there were some new things so she did it again. I would've, but she volunteered and who am I to complain? As she put it, going over the galleys and proofreading "just sucks the joy right out of reading a good book." And it IS a good book. I know it's egotistical to say it, but I don't care.

Today she'll get back to polishing Kate. It's getting to be a much better book than the original novella -- and has really gone in a different direction than I originally intended. That's not a bad thing. It's just a fact. I know that Kate is not her favorite of the books, just as Tony isn't mine. We like different characters, just as we like different people, but it takes all kinds to make a world -- even a fictional one. Kate isn't quite as "dark" as some of the other work we've done, but I think there's a place for that too.

The draft of the new book is coming along. It, too, is going in a completely different direction than I originally intended. We'll have to see if it works. It's fairly dark. I like it, but it's meandering around a bit too much. Which, of course, means that some of it will get edited out, or more action will have to be added in. Cathy tends to write in close to final form. My first draft is just that, a draft. It's also a little tricky because it's first person from the point of view of a person with some serious mental health issues. Like I said, we'll see if it works. It's a challenge for me. If it turns out, I'll be very proud of it. If it doesn't, ah well, at least I'll have tried. I don't want to "play it safe" all of the time.

On a totally different subject, they've apparently gotten rid of the Early Adopter list on Amazon. Bummer, because we were doing really well on it, and it was helping our marketing. Still, it's exciting to know that we HAD been doing that well. And it's just as exciting that a few thorough searches have turned up places in Australia, UK, New Zealand, etc. who are already carrying the book via advance orders. SO COOL.

Good News & Stuff

Good News! Word is definitely getting out about Hunter's Moon. Not only are we ranked really well in the Early Adopter list, and on Barnes & Noble.com, but we're now starting to be listed on secondary sites -- sites that are served by Ingrams. Since Ingrams is one of the major distributors this is a REALLY BIG deal. Besides, it's just COOL to see our book appearing places like WalMart.com and Target.com.

We've joined a couple of Yahoo boards/sites. Very interesting. Very cool people. The battle between E and Print publishing still rages on, but a seemingly growing number of people believe in BOTH -- that each has their own merits. Nice, since that's my take. Print publishers have high enough overheads that they have to look at the "business" side, and can't necessarily take chances on things that are too far out of the mainstream. E-books, with the low overhead, can take those kinds of chances. They can BE more edgy and avant garde. As far as all of the prejudice between the two venues regarding the types of contracts and freedoms... well, all I can say is READ THE CONTRACT. If you can't live with the terms, DON'T SIGN IT. I've heard nightmare stories regarding both print and e contracts.

One of the interesting things I'm learning from the "boards" is that I'm far more middle of the road/mainstream/conservative than I would've thought and that's not a bad thing. I know that a lot of what we write is less romancy, more action and generally "dark" sometimes than a lot of what's out there, but it's not anywhere in the neighborhood of some of the e published stuff I'm hearing of.

I'm really proud of our work. When I look at how much we've improved in the last two or three years I'm just amazed. Working with such good editors has made a huge difference. I'm hoping we'll KEEP making those kinds of strides forward. I think we can if we work at it. Cathy and I have both had serious discussions about our commitment to quality, and to making sure that the characters are true to their natures; that we have a variety of characters witih different personalities, attitudes, education, etc.; and that we don't just throw sex in to pander, but that if it's there it's because it "fits." I'm more conservative about that than Cathy is, but we work it out on each book. I think the books are stronger for it.

Wow, this is turning into a really long post. I'd better shut down before I bore everybody to tears. Have a great day!

Cie

Publishing

Hi.

Cathy has set up a survey on the "lists" which is turning up some very interesting results. Well, at least they're interesting to us. (Grin). The question she's posing to people who are primarily in the e-publishing industry is. If you were given an offer by a major print publisher with an advance up to $20,000 and they were not going to substantially change the work, would you pull it from the e-publishing and go with the print house. Options were basically: 1) E-pubbed is the next, best thing in publication and I wouldn't leave no matter what; 2) E-pubbed is the quickest way to get into publication because there are more houses willing to take achance on a new writer, but if Berkely would take that chance, I'd be GONE; 3) E-pubs are the only way I'm going to get into print, becausewhat I write is too edgy. But if they would publish as is, without changing my wording to fit a "cookie-cutter" I would be GONE.
The answers are enlightening.

Now I'm about to get on my soapbox -- so you're entitled to agree or disagree. One of the biggest things that matters in any format (in my not so humble) opinion is quality. First, the writing should be compelling, but it should also be technically OK. The words used should be correct breath vs. breathe (He took my breath away. I could barely breathe.), spelling correct. Not too many run-on sentences. I know a lot of people think that stuff "doesn't matter" if the story is good -- but if you can't FOLLOW the sentence to figure out the story there's a problem, and if the spelling and vocabulary are so bad that you get pulled out of the story, I have an issue with that. Now I know there are plenty of stylistic things you can do with sentence fragments, special vocabulary, etc. One of the best uses of style I've seen was, I believe, One Flew Over the Cukoo's Nest. In the beginning of the book the sentences were short, with a simple vocabulary. The thought processes were "simpler." By the end of the book the style was much "smoother." It was a very subtle way of showing the development of the narrator. And there are all kinds of wonderful works out there that use vernacular. (Lawsa Miz Scarlett, I don know nuthin' 'bout birthin' no babies. [and no, that's not an exact quote, but you get the idea.]) But it's important that the writer (and the editors working with them) make it clear and easy for the reader to follow. (Which is probably more than I've been able to do with this rant :D Then again, I don't have an editor for this post ;) )

Anyway, I'll climb down from my soapbox now. I know I'm FAR from the best writer around. I can forgive simple errors. (The bullet that evidently went through Watson's shoulder and ricocheted off a rock to come back through his leg.) But I have a problem with seriously sloppy workmanship... probably because I have to fight it so hard myself.

On Balance

It's Monday, I'm at work. We've had good news on the marketing front. Cathy's work is really paying off. I honestly don't know what I'd do without her, because that stuff is SOOO not what I'm good at. I can come up with a world, people, and stories, but the business stuff is not my forte. Odd, because in my "other" life I am extremely businesslike.

I've been writing on The Raveners. It's third person, which is unusual for us. Tried doing our usual first-person thing, but it wasn't working. We'll see how this goes. Cathy is still editing Kate. We're trying to get the word count up a bit. It's in the OK range, but would be better a little longer. I'm hoping she'll like the changes I made. We'll have to see. At a certain point we just have to "call it done" send it out to Merrilee and leave it to the editors to do their thing. I'm a little nervous on this one. I always am, but I am particularly anxious because this one was a book where I was primary and Cathy was second chair.

I appreciate our partnership so much. It's work, maintaining a balance of power. We're both very strong people with very strong opinions. It occasionally makes for some disputes. Fortunately they're not BAD disputes. And usually, when we don't agree, we come up with something that works as well or better that we can both live with. Another good point, because we like such different people in life we have a wide variety of characters with differing strengths and flaws. One of the most common flaws I see in books (particularly series) is that almost all the characters have the same voice and viewpoints: all middle-to-upper-middle class educated people who express themselves well and are articulate and have the same basic moral starting point (except, of course, for the villain, who is violating everybody elses). I LIKE that in Moon's Web one of our secondary characters isn't especially smart and isn't ambitious, but is kind and loyal and has other things going for him.

I also want to make sure that our characters have different attitudes about sex. I know that there is a push for *more sex* *more romance*, and that's fine -- as long as it's within the character's personality. Some people are very sexual by nature -- good enough. But if you have a character who is basically chaste then I don't think you should just throw it in there having them acting against their nature and strongest beliefs. It's got to make "sense."

Well, enough of the ranting. I've got business to attend to. But I just want to say how much I appreciate being co-authors with Cathy and how grateful I am that she contributes the things she does. She constantly amazes me (in the best ways). :)

Here's a picture of our cover. Isn't it GORGEOUS?!? We're trying to get the same artist to do the sequel.  

Lots of cool things!

Hi, all! Cathy here.

Well, today I'm going get back to editing Deadly Rapture. Had planned to start it yesterday, but I had agreed to write a series of small articles for a new kid's fishing magazine called FLW Outdoor for Kids that's premiering in 2005. She decided that she wanted to get all of them (eight issues) at once -- and, frankly, I could get all of the $$$ at once, too! Yay! It'll be an insert in the regular FLW Outdoors for the first year, and if it takes off, will become its own magazine in 2006. Naturally, I'm hoping it does well! If you happen to get this mag, keep a lookout for the articles and feel free to let me know what you think of them.

I'm going to be one of the first round judges for the RWA Futuristic, Fantasy & Paranormal chapter's "On the Far Side" manuscript contest. It's for unpublished authors. Sounds like fun!

I also saw a call-out for instructors for an on-line company called "CourseBridge." It would actually pay money, which would be nice for a change. Usually I teach for free .

Oh, we're also finishing up negotiations to do a couple of charity auctions of HUNTER'S MOON for the Laurell K. Hamilton fan club. One will be an autographed ARC and another is going to be something special that we don't think has ever been done before! Keep a lookout in the LKH Newsletter for details! It'll be done over Ebay and the proceeds will benefit Laurell's favorite charity, the Granite City Animal Shelter.

That's it for me for now. Have to go open the gate to let in the repairmen who are going to fix our irrigation well. Had to pen up the goats so they could get in. Yeah, we raise goats :) They're pretty cool! Here's a pic of our "kids" below.

Later!
Cathy

Our "Kids" 

Frustrating Day

Today is just a frustrating day all around. I know it will get better, but I hate being bad at things. For example, I want to put pictures in the blog so that it won't be so boring when people actually do start to look, but I can't figure out how to drop them into the HTML. I know it's easy. I USED to know how. But I don't remember. Ugh. So far it has been that kind of day all around.

But tomorrow will be better.

Cie

Whoo Hoo

Whoo Hoo! I'm cheering because yesterday I managed to do the rewrite of the last chapter of Deadly Rapture and get it out to Cathy. She's going to do the final polish and send it back to the agent. I think it's a much better book than when we started, but it fought me every step of the way! Sometimes writing comes easy. Sometimes it just doesn't.

I'm also happy because the marketing thrust for Hunter's Moon is going well. Also, Mind Games was (I think) accepted for the anthology, and I got to do a written "interview" which was so very cool! I'm really hoping that Mind Games will help generate even more interest in Hunter's Moon and the other book length fiction.

Started working on a draft of something new, just to see where it goes. Very dark, very broody piece. I know I need to go back and finish the regular fantasy book I was working on, but thanks to the stint working on Kate my mind is just in a much darker place right now. So, for a week or so while Cathy is editing Kate I'm going to "go with the flow" and work on The Raveners. When she's done, I'll pull off and work with her on Blue Lights, which is officially next in line.

Anyway -- again, WOO HOO. It's always such a relief to get it DONE.