Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan
Every once and a while I pick up a book that makes me want to quit writing. It’s so good, so well thought out, so incredibly written, that I can’t help but think to myself that I will never, ever be this good and I can just quit. I love these books. The Name of the Wind is probably the best example of this. Promise of Blood is another. The basic premise is about a coup that ends with the execution of a nation’s king. There is a lot about why they overthrew him and how bad he was as a ruler, but that has little bearing. It seems like the people who overthrew him were really just sick of his shit, and had their own personal vendettas to boot. Everything is well written and the characters are great, but what I love, absolutely adore, is the magic. The world…
Editing, Covered in Editing, With a Side of Editing
Sunday night I finished editing the 44th page of my weekend goal. I didn’t do double or a hundred like I hoped, but I got my planned goal taken care of and I was satisfied. I have 113 of my 308 pages completed, with a month and a half left to get the rest done. At 44 pages a weekend and 10 on a day during the week, that will take about three and a half weeks, ending in July, with two weeks for a final run through. Honestly, I want more time to do a final line by line spelling/grammar check, as well as formatting for publication. I know I’m underestimating that by tenfold and will need every ounce of time I can muster up to complete it. (I just used tenfold and muster in the same sentence. Remind me to discuss Naomi Novik’s His Majesty’s Dragon and how…
Goal for the Weekend
I realized that my Goal for the Weekend posts probably don’t make as much sense without the back story for that. Between a wife in nursing school and a two year old devil-boy, my free time is usually Friday and Saturday night, starting around ten and going as long as I can keep my eyes open. I try to get a good game plan together every Friday afternoon for what I want to accomplish before Monday morning. So, the goals: Edit. Edit a lot. I wanted to edit last night, then we had a thunderstorm which knocked out our AC. I spent all night trying to figure out what to do about that and failing. Luckily, after a restless night in an eighty degree bedroom, the AC is back up. The goal is a bare minimum of 44 pages, but I would love to do double that (actually about 100…
Ebooks VS. Hardcover Books
Writer Unboxed has a pretty important article up that I haven’t really seen elsewhere. Basically, it details the price and royalty comparison between hardcover books and ebooks, and how it effects the profit margin of publishers and authors. Basically, it comes down to a publisher explaining in an earnings meeting that they make more off ebooks because of lower royalties and lower costs. That would be fine if they brought absolutely anything to the table, had to take more risk, anything, but they are facilitating what most people can accomplish for free on their own. It’s definitely worth a read.
Writing Status 6/27
Wow, it is almost July. Seems like just the other day we were celebrating the new year. Time flies, I guess. So far, I am behind. My writing goal is pretty much shot to hell. Anniversaries, work stuff, etc. have limited that, as well as a big ol whallop of procrastination. As far as editing goes (and as bad a habit as this is, it’s my focus right now) I am on page 69 of 308. I actually should be on page 108, but didn’t do anything the weekend of my anniversary. Plan on catching up this weekend, and spending a lot of time writing. Dean Wesley Smith says make a goal, try your best to stick to it, and if you get behind just keep with the plan. That’s what I am going to try and do. But hell or high water, I am hitting this August 12th date….