In keeping with the last blog post on those bits of prose and poetry coming to you from nowhere, I had that experience again. Only this time, I was just waking up and could hear this song still playing from a dream I had. That has happened before, as well, and usually the song had some deep meaning with what was going on in my life at the time. This time, if that's the case, then it's just darned depressing. :)
Nevertheless, because the experience was still sort of cool (especially the music), I thought I'd share it. This first bit was set to music in my dream and stayed with me most of the morning before another one started on the train ride into work. If you recognize it from a song I may have heard and forgotten, let me know. I always wonder where these things come from.
---------
The dying starts the day we're born
we leave this life tattered and torn
broken down, beaten and shorn
Somewhere along the way you forgot
to strike at the curves life threw you
And as you sing your last refrain
you realize you're the one who remains
of all your friends and all of those who knew you
Round and round you twist and turn
and all the while the fire burns
in your gut and lips with all the truths unspoken
reminders of all the promises you've broken
---------
Then you fell for the demon's kiss
the pride, the pain, the deluded bliss
that shreds the seams and transplants
your skin with his
You threw away the gold in haste
chasing after jewels of paste
Too old now to even try
all you can do is say goodbye
It's all been wasted
--------
Depressing, huh? I hate to think about what that says. The last time I heard a song in my dreams that I didn't recognize, the message was fairly positive. This one, not so much. :)
Nevertheless, it always fascinates me when these things pop up from nowhere and I have a moment to capture them.
Now, in other news, I've got a coupon on Smashwords to read UNMASKED for free if you're interested. Just use coupon code JK69V. I'm also going to be interviewing for another job this week - it's a stretch for me, so I'm not going to get my hopes up too high, but it sure would be nice. All prayers, good wishes, and good lucks welcomed. :)
What's new and exciting in your life right now? Any unexpected muse visitations?
Oh! And in time for Halloween, check out Edie Ramer's ghost stories blogs. Fun stuff - just scroll down a little to start reading them. I have a couple that maybe I could add there...
Showing posts with label edie ramer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label edie ramer. Show all posts
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Discombobulated
Hi there - thanks again to all who helped choose the next WIP.
I haven't posted more on it for two reasons: one, I realized I really didn't like the direction the next scene was going in (seems a bit cliche) so that needs to be redone. If you'd like to see what I plan on cutting/editing/rearranging, it's above under "cutting room floor". There, you can at least see what happened after Caroline left the shop (which is where Midnight Ink ends in the candidate tab above).
The second, is that my health has taken a turn for the worse for the past two months, resulting in two hospital stays, and now a leave of absence until September. Now, that last bit sounds like it would be a blessing writing-wise, but unfortunately, that's not the case. My concentration is completely shot. At some point in time, I may blog about it all, but for now, suffice it to say I'm a bit under the weather. And some weather we've been having, huh?! Even Maine had 95+ heat, which is something unheard of for them.
Anyhoodles, that's where I've been/where I am. Hope to catch up to you all soon. I do try to read your blogs - just haven't been commenting much. I do know that Edie Ramer's "Galaxy Girls" is out now, and Charles Gramlich's "Ember Starr" is coming soon, so I'm stoked about that. Check them out! :)
I haven't posted more on it for two reasons: one, I realized I really didn't like the direction the next scene was going in (seems a bit cliche) so that needs to be redone. If you'd like to see what I plan on cutting/editing/rearranging, it's above under "cutting room floor". There, you can at least see what happened after Caroline left the shop (which is where Midnight Ink ends in the candidate tab above).
The second, is that my health has taken a turn for the worse for the past two months, resulting in two hospital stays, and now a leave of absence until September. Now, that last bit sounds like it would be a blessing writing-wise, but unfortunately, that's not the case. My concentration is completely shot. At some point in time, I may blog about it all, but for now, suffice it to say I'm a bit under the weather. And some weather we've been having, huh?! Even Maine had 95+ heat, which is something unheard of for them.
Anyhoodles, that's where I've been/where I am. Hope to catch up to you all soon. I do try to read your blogs - just haven't been commenting much. I do know that Edie Ramer's "Galaxy Girls" is out now, and Charles Gramlich's "Ember Starr" is coming soon, so I'm stoked about that. Check them out! :)
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Like night and day
Some of you know that it recently seemed all the technology planets were aligned against me: I lost the use of my car, cell phone, computer and alphasmart all in one blow.
Well, the mechanic to whom I had been taking my car for a while, and to whom I had already given tons of money, told me it was going to cost around $1200 to make the car safe to drive again. Told me lots of scary stories of why it wasn't safe to keep driving. Since $1200 is what I pay for rent each month, there was no way I could afford that, so I just had to let the car sit in the driveway and walk to the train station to go to work.
Now, my daughter just came home from school last week, and bless her lazy little heart, she just couldn't go without a car, and wouldn't/couldn't possibly drive it with someone following her to the shop, so she called another shop and had them come pick it for her while I was at work.
They had it for a day and half and came back with the following verdict: the noise it was making was from carbon on the pistons which they cleaned off; the front brakes were a little rusty, but still ok for now, and other than that, they said, nothing was wrong with the car. Total cost of repair: $45.00. They didn't even charge me for picking it up.
Obviously, my trust had been misplaced in an opportunistic and unscrupulous shop ower who saw a single woman walk in and went, "Ca-ching!" Unlike Frank Pasquesi, who didn't try to take advantage of the situation.
But there was more to come in my tech-challenged days. Not only did Pasquesi Auto prove themselves to be angels in a time of need, so did Evan Marshall and Edie Ramer.
When I lost my computer, I lost downloaded software, one of which was the Marshall Plan Novel Writing Software. I sent Evan Marshall an email, and he quickly responded, freely replacing the software for me, and was very supportive and kind.
When Edie heard that I'd lost my Alphasmart, she immediately mailed me hers since she was no longer using it. It was (is!) a huge help, and I'm very grateful.
So, thank you again Edie Ramer, Evan Marshall, and Frank Pasquesi!
Has anyone recently proved themselves to be trustworthy, kind, and worth their weight in gold in your life?
Well, the mechanic to whom I had been taking my car for a while, and to whom I had already given tons of money, told me it was going to cost around $1200 to make the car safe to drive again. Told me lots of scary stories of why it wasn't safe to keep driving. Since $1200 is what I pay for rent each month, there was no way I could afford that, so I just had to let the car sit in the driveway and walk to the train station to go to work.
Now, my daughter just came home from school last week, and bless her lazy little heart, she just couldn't go without a car, and wouldn't/couldn't possibly drive it with someone following her to the shop, so she called another shop and had them come pick it for her while I was at work.
They had it for a day and half and came back with the following verdict: the noise it was making was from carbon on the pistons which they cleaned off; the front brakes were a little rusty, but still ok for now, and other than that, they said, nothing was wrong with the car. Total cost of repair: $45.00. They didn't even charge me for picking it up.
Obviously, my trust had been misplaced in an opportunistic and unscrupulous shop ower who saw a single woman walk in and went, "Ca-ching!" Unlike Frank Pasquesi, who didn't try to take advantage of the situation.
But there was more to come in my tech-challenged days. Not only did Pasquesi Auto prove themselves to be angels in a time of need, so did Evan Marshall and Edie Ramer.
When I lost my computer, I lost downloaded software, one of which was the Marshall Plan Novel Writing Software. I sent Evan Marshall an email, and he quickly responded, freely replacing the software for me, and was very supportive and kind.
When Edie heard that I'd lost my Alphasmart, she immediately mailed me hers since she was no longer using it. It was (is!) a huge help, and I'm very grateful.
So, thank you again Edie Ramer, Evan Marshall, and Frank Pasquesi!
Has anyone recently proved themselves to be trustworthy, kind, and worth their weight in gold in your life?
Monday, March 28, 2011
Books by the Numbers
There is a persistent belief that if you go indie, you'll never sell much. They say people like Amanda Hocking, Zoe Winters, JA Konrath, Tina Folsom, etc. are just "lucky" and the fact that they are now making a living with their indie books is a fluke. Ok, yes, they've gotten lucky - the luck that comes with writing a great story, being enthusiastic, learning what you need to know, believing in yourself, and taking a chance. The luck that is defined as "preparation meets opportunity."
Someone else whose "luck" is increasing due to the same formula, is my blogosphere pal, Edie Ramer. She just sold 1000 books on Kindle this past month and I couldn't be happier for her. I fully expect that as more people read her books (which are fabulous, by the way - I LOVED "Dragon Blues") those figures will increase and she will soon be making a living wage at it herself.
My former critique partner, Amber Scott, is also doing amazingly well. Like Edie and Zoe, Amber's enthusiasm and passion for what she's doing is carrying her far. In fact, I recently told her she is my hero right now because I remember clearly the first time we met in Barnes & Noble. Neither of us had been published, both were very shy - she, exceedingly so - but were having fun trying to make something of what we had. Now that formerly shy young woman is burning up the internet with her podcasts, vblogs, interviews, presentations, panels, you name it, and her book "PlayFling" was in Smashwords top 20 for weeks. And I fully expect her next book, Fierce Dawn, to do really well. Go, Amber!
Now, as for me, I didn't really have very high expectations venturing into the Indie Arena. I had seen how badly things turned out for my grandfather when he self-published (in the days before Kindle), and I've read all the caveats (even by successful indie authors) that say don't get your hopes up too much in the beginning. And of course, there is still some stigma attached to it. But I was willing to try it, to see how it went.
Since "Unmasked" is a re-release of an older novella--as well as a bit niche in its audience*--I didn't do any promotion except to mention it a couple of times on my blog, Facebook and Twitter. I put it out there to see what would happen, and to test the waters of this Kindle publishing thing.
To my surprise, I've already sold more copies in the past month than I did the whole time it was with its original publisher, and I'm within 15 copies of matching my first month's sales of "Managing Maggie" at Cobblestone Press - and MM was their bestseller for that month. (At first, I thought I had surpassed the sales figure, but when I looked up my royalty statement from last year, saw that I'm almost there.) Fingers crossed that I can match it in the next three days, but even if I don't, I've still been pleasantly surprised.
"Unmasked" started out ranking at around #1 million something, then got to around #300,000 the first few days, peaking so far at around 20,000 in the US, but generally ranking between 25 and 40K. I was a bit discouraged by that number until I bought the most recent book by a well-known, traditionally pub'd author that I like a lot, and hers was ranked at #36,000+ that day. But about an hour ago, I just found out to my surprise that "Unmasked" was #36 on the Amazon UK's list for bisexual erotica - I broke into a top 100! Who knew?!
Now, in reality, the number of sales this month aren't going to pay my rent (especially with Unmasked now priced at 99cents), but even so - color me hooked! Being able to control whether and when my story gets put for sale was so liberating and empowering. Now I'm asking myself, "If my first niche novella that I've hardly promoted at all can do this, what might happen if I promoted a book that has a wider audience range -- one that I'm also very enthusiastic about?"
That will my next experiment. I'll let you know how it turns out. :)
Meanwhile, I know Charles Gramlich, Avery DeBow, Sidney Williams, Marcia Colette, and Steve Malley have all also tried the indie route recently - any of you want to share your experience so far? :)
-----------
*When I first wrote Unmasked back in 2006, it was in response to a call from a publisher looking to fill slots for an erotic anthology about a masquerade ball held by the gods. In researching the editor, I discovered she really liked male/female/female menages, so I wrote a story with that in mind and sent it to her. Two morals to that story: One, if you want to have someone else publish your books, research the editor; and two, even if your book has a limited audience, that doesn't mean it has NO audience, so don't give up!
Someone else whose "luck" is increasing due to the same formula, is my blogosphere pal, Edie Ramer. She just sold 1000 books on Kindle this past month and I couldn't be happier for her. I fully expect that as more people read her books (which are fabulous, by the way - I LOVED "Dragon Blues") those figures will increase and she will soon be making a living wage at it herself.
My former critique partner, Amber Scott, is also doing amazingly well. Like Edie and Zoe, Amber's enthusiasm and passion for what she's doing is carrying her far. In fact, I recently told her she is my hero right now because I remember clearly the first time we met in Barnes & Noble. Neither of us had been published, both were very shy - she, exceedingly so - but were having fun trying to make something of what we had. Now that formerly shy young woman is burning up the internet with her podcasts, vblogs, interviews, presentations, panels, you name it, and her book "PlayFling" was in Smashwords top 20 for weeks. And I fully expect her next book, Fierce Dawn, to do really well. Go, Amber!
Now, as for me, I didn't really have very high expectations venturing into the Indie Arena. I had seen how badly things turned out for my grandfather when he self-published (in the days before Kindle), and I've read all the caveats (even by successful indie authors) that say don't get your hopes up too much in the beginning. And of course, there is still some stigma attached to it. But I was willing to try it, to see how it went.
Since "Unmasked" is a re-release of an older novella--as well as a bit niche in its audience*--I didn't do any promotion except to mention it a couple of times on my blog, Facebook and Twitter. I put it out there to see what would happen, and to test the waters of this Kindle publishing thing.
To my surprise, I've already sold more copies in the past month than I did the whole time it was with its original publisher, and I'm within 15 copies of matching my first month's sales of "Managing Maggie" at Cobblestone Press - and MM was their bestseller for that month. (At first, I thought I had surpassed the sales figure, but when I looked up my royalty statement from last year, saw that I'm almost there.) Fingers crossed that I can match it in the next three days, but even if I don't, I've still been pleasantly surprised.
"Unmasked" started out ranking at around #1 million something, then got to around #300,000 the first few days, peaking so far at around 20,000 in the US, but generally ranking between 25 and 40K. I was a bit discouraged by that number until I bought the most recent book by a well-known, traditionally pub'd author that I like a lot, and hers was ranked at #36,000+ that day. But about an hour ago, I just found out to my surprise that "Unmasked" was #36 on the Amazon UK's list for bisexual erotica - I broke into a top 100! Who knew?!
Now, in reality, the number of sales this month aren't going to pay my rent (especially with Unmasked now priced at 99cents), but even so - color me hooked! Being able to control whether and when my story gets put for sale was so liberating and empowering. Now I'm asking myself, "If my first niche novella that I've hardly promoted at all can do this, what might happen if I promoted a book that has a wider audience range -- one that I'm also very enthusiastic about?"
That will my next experiment. I'll let you know how it turns out. :)
Meanwhile, I know Charles Gramlich, Avery DeBow, Sidney Williams, Marcia Colette, and Steve Malley have all also tried the indie route recently - any of you want to share your experience so far? :)
-----------
*When I first wrote Unmasked back in 2006, it was in response to a call from a publisher looking to fill slots for an erotic anthology about a masquerade ball held by the gods. In researching the editor, I discovered she really liked male/female/female menages, so I wrote a story with that in mind and sent it to her. Two morals to that story: One, if you want to have someone else publish your books, research the editor; and two, even if your book has a limited audience, that doesn't mean it has NO audience, so don't give up!
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Coming Out and Shouting Out
Notice anything different about this blog? I'm working on a new website and updating my blog in preparation. Since I've been writing under one name, and doing book covers and other art under a different name, I decided to "come out" and combine the two. (I figure if Steve Malley can do it, why shouldn't I?) :)
(Quick shout out, Go Steve!)
As for the title, I can't decide if it should be "creatively squared" or "creativity squared" and would be interested in hearing your opinion. Or do you think something else altogether? All opinions are welcome - even if they are half-baked, cracked, and not worth listening to. :)
Meanwhile, I also want to congratulate Amber Scott and Edie Ramer on their Kindle success. (The crowd goes wild....Yaayyyyyyyyyy)
Some others with new books and exciting projects coming down the pike (in alphabetical order) are:
Avery Debow
Charles Gramlich
Michelle Diener
Natasha Fondren
Rick Moore
Stewart Sternberg
Any news you want to share, whether your own or about someone you know?
(Quick shout out, Go Steve!)
As for the title, I can't decide if it should be "creatively squared" or "creativity squared" and would be interested in hearing your opinion. Or do you think something else altogether? All opinions are welcome - even if they are half-baked, cracked, and not worth listening to. :)
Meanwhile, I also want to congratulate Amber Scott and Edie Ramer on their Kindle success. (The crowd goes wild....Yaayyyyyyyyyy)
Some others with new books and exciting projects coming down the pike (in alphabetical order) are:
Avery Debow
Charles Gramlich
Michelle Diener
Natasha Fondren
Rick Moore
Stewart Sternberg
Any news you want to share, whether your own or about someone you know?
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Congratulations, Edie!
Edie Ramer finally took the plunge and uploaded "Cattitude" to Smashwords. You can find it here: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/22350.Ebook Description:
It's all in the Cattitude... After Belle the cat switches bodies with a psychic on the run from a murderer, she wants her perfect cat body back instead of this furless human one. But she doesn’t count on falling in love with her former owner. Or that a CEO and a beauty queen want to use up her nine lives. Now is her chance to prove anything a human can do, a cat can do better.
I just finished reading (and enjoying) Cattitude this morning. There were places where I laughed out loud, like the reaction of Belle while she's reading Harry Potter and realizes that if she turns back into a cat soon, she won't be able to finish the series.
Good job, Edie! :)
Sunday, August 01, 2010
And in other news...
I mentioned the Smashwords people yesterday, but let's not forget the Kindle folks. Charles Gramlich has published a collection of short westerns on Amazon called "Killing Trail." I've just started my copy and am enjoying it so far.
Also waiting for the new releases from Ferrel Rick Moore and Stewart Sternberg. Will post more about that when it happens.
Any publishing news you'd like to share? (Edie Ramer, if you're out there - when is "Cattitude" coming out? Not to be pushy or anything...) :)
Also waiting for the new releases from Ferrel Rick Moore and Stewart Sternberg. Will post more about that when it happens.
Any publishing news you'd like to share? (Edie Ramer, if you're out there - when is "Cattitude" coming out? Not to be pushy or anything...) :)
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