Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Updates and Upcoming

The final battle of Journeyman Warsmith is drawing near. It's still in rough draft, but the word count is 80k and climbing.
Every weekday that I'm not at my hobby in Boise, I'll be writing across the river for a few hours, supporting my favorite mom and pop sandwich shop. It's the best way to get back on track with my writing goals for the near future. It's also quite tasty, and I've been running into a few familiar faces I hadn't seen in a while.

I'm also working on another interview in the intermittent Tuesday Talk series, with my editor, Ken Rodgers. I had the privilege of screening his documentary, Bravo! Common Men, Uncommon Valor this weekend with my family. I'm going to have to watch it again next weekend, and get the interview questions rounded up.

Talked with a lawyer this weekend, and my concerns about copyright issues were utterly baseless. Fixes and formatting for a print version will begin shortly, and I'll have to talk with the audiobook producer again to get on her schedule. Still not much progress on the second cover, but we'll get it done. Contacted a logo designer for ideas on designs for a publishing logo to work under.

Small steps. Very quickly. Trying not to bite off more than I can chew at one time, but definitely not chewing each bite 32 times. We're going to get there.

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Tuesday Tip April 2nd: Perspective and Advice

More than one aspiring author has asked me for advice. A good deal of writing, Fantasy in particular, is perspective. The ability to believably move from one point of view to another.

Lately, I've been wondering what advice someone like me might give... someone like me.
Apprentice Swordceror was recently a Kindle Deal of the Day. That means huge exposure, and more opportunity for feedback.
There are currently 78 reviews on Amazon, and #77 was a two star. Reading it, even after all of the positive reviews, was still like a kick in the gut. I don't know if that will ever change, or if it should.
So, knowing what I know, what should I tell me about how to proceed?

Keep writing what you love, what you want to read. Two two-star reviews out of nearly eighty is not that bad, and when a thousand people buy a book in one day, there are bound to be a few that won't like it. That's fine. Don't change what is working, but keep improving what you can. Take a moment to enjoy the positivity from the fans that want more. There are a lot more of them than the other sort.

Above all else, keep moving forward.