While reading The Millionaire Messenger (and yes, eventually I will stop mentioning that book), it occurred to me that if I really want to sell books, I need to do more than just write books, or writing articles or stories when I wanted to sell a book. Having brought up the book so much, and thought about it a lot, I got the idea to publish The Winter Folk over the period of December.
It was a no-end-in-sight plan. Not that it had no end, but that I wasn't doing it for a particular reason other than: (1) I wanted to do something nice in the run up to Christmas and (2) ParagraVerse has been awfully lonely, lately. So, I wrote it as twelve-part poem, to help make it last longer while my work schedule picked up.
As it happens, the poem created its own end.
In the writing of it, I began to think about how interesting I might find the story to write. In particular, I wanted to write the story of the Ice Queen. The world has seen Jack Frost. The world knows all about Santa Claus. But the Ice Queen... well, any time there's a queen or a witch who dresses in white and surrounds herself in ice or snow, she seems to be a villain.
Not for me, not this time.
So, that's what I'm writing now. The Ice Queen. It's a short story. I'm hoping to publish it for Kindle later this month. I'll need to design a cover, soon. And write the two flash stories I want to publish this month on ParagraVerse, too. All of this, out of a little wish to write a poem and make it last.
I hadn't even been set on writing this, until yesterday. And even then, I only thought about it. It wasn't until I actually sat down to plan a schedule that I also decided to plan the book. The schedule was for daily content online this month. I know I missed December 1st, but from then on out I've got things in mind. The Winter Folk helps by taking up half the days between now and Christmas. Thankfully, the poem also sparked a book which sparked a couple of other pieces that need to go online.
Somehow, the poem created a published schedule around itself.
It wasn't the practice I had in mind, but that's fine. At least I know in January, when I get to work on a campaign towards launching another book, I'll have an idea of how best to follow through on my ideas. Scheduling is definitely of benefit to me. It's basically the only way I'm managing this right now.
Anyway, my original plan for daily content, now fully completed, is seeing the following going online:
- 8 blog posts,
- 9 videos,
- 2 flash stories,
- 2 poems - one in 12 parts, and
- 1 ebook.
How much of this is written or prepared? Less than half. How much will be prepared in advance and pre-scheduled? More than half. And how much of it is going to be fun to put together?
I'm going to go with just about all of it.
What this all boils down to is releasing a lot of content that I find interesting, setting new challenges for myself on a regular basis, writing about what I know and, with the exception of the ebook, making it all free for anyone to look at. I think it's a fair deal, getting all of that for nothing and having no obligation to buy the story in the end. And if you enjoy yourself along the way, all the better. That is the point of this sort of stuff, after all, to provide some entertainment.
If all goes well, I'll keep up this sort of thing in 2014, and not just because I'll be releasing new books in the future. This is the essence of The Millionaire Messenger, I think, or part of it at least. The best way to reach an audience is to give people something for nothing, and tell them that there's also something they can buy if they want. The point, though, is that the "messenger" is passionate about what they're talking about.
I think in this case, that goes without saying.
(P.S. If you want to keep up with everything I post this month, Twitter is probably your best bet. You can find me @writeranonymous.)
Showing posts with label flash fiction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label flash fiction. Show all posts
Saturday, December 7, 2013
Friday, August 16, 2013
Working 9-5
I've made a decision. From Monday onwards, I'm going to work 9-5. While I have a make a quick trip into the city centre on Monday, too, I'm going to make sure that I get in early enough to get what I need to do done quickly. No browsing, no staying around for lunch.
The reason I want to do this is so: (1) it sets up boundaries for me for when I work, (2) it'll encourage me to do something all the time and (3) it means I know when I can muck about, and when I can't. Since I can't afford a social life next week, it's the perfect time to test my self-imposed life of working 9-5.
I imagine it'll be a case of me being bored out of my mind by Tuesday, but sure what can you do?
Actually, that's probably not entirely true. I'm in the middle of making a wee project a reality. I've got my Options sheet (all typed up and pretty) to give me work. I know how to get myself to do things. I plan on spending a wee bit of time drawing up a list of things I can write about, and a list of other tasks I can do, and I imagine it'll keep me busy for the week.
I may even set myself deadlines for things. Imagine that, me with deadlines and working creative-filled shifts.
I jest, a bit, but I'm actually serious about this. I think I can manage working 9-5. I'll be sure to tweet, too, to make it look like I'm a one-man business. Businesses tweet all the time, right? (That's a rhetorical question. I know they do. The pile of free books I received through Twitter competitions is proof of that. Paulie loves free books.)
I'm thinking, aside from one little thing that I've been working on that only my brothers know about, I'll work on getting some flash fiction written, and sending off a bunch of poetry, and finishing The Blood of Leap and designing a cover for it, and addressing a novel I've been meaning to work on for a while.
You know, nothing too stressful.
The way I see it, I can sit at home playing games online and watching seven series of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or I can work from home and actually, maybe, make something of myself in a nerdy writer type of way, and still have time in the evenings to do other things that tickle my fancy. What a way to make a living, right?
The reason I want to do this is so: (1) it sets up boundaries for me for when I work, (2) it'll encourage me to do something all the time and (3) it means I know when I can muck about, and when I can't. Since I can't afford a social life next week, it's the perfect time to test my self-imposed life of working 9-5.
I imagine it'll be a case of me being bored out of my mind by Tuesday, but sure what can you do?
Actually, that's probably not entirely true. I'm in the middle of making a wee project a reality. I've got my Options sheet (all typed up and pretty) to give me work. I know how to get myself to do things. I plan on spending a wee bit of time drawing up a list of things I can write about, and a list of other tasks I can do, and I imagine it'll keep me busy for the week.
I may even set myself deadlines for things. Imagine that, me with deadlines and working creative-filled shifts.
I jest, a bit, but I'm actually serious about this. I think I can manage working 9-5. I'll be sure to tweet, too, to make it look like I'm a one-man business. Businesses tweet all the time, right? (That's a rhetorical question. I know they do. The pile of free books I received through Twitter competitions is proof of that. Paulie loves free books.)
I'm thinking, aside from one little thing that I've been working on that only my brothers know about, I'll work on getting some flash fiction written, and sending off a bunch of poetry, and finishing The Blood of Leap and designing a cover for it, and addressing a novel I've been meaning to work on for a while.
You know, nothing too stressful.
The way I see it, I can sit at home playing games online and watching seven series of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or I can work from home and actually, maybe, make something of myself in a nerdy writer type of way, and still have time in the evenings to do other things that tickle my fancy. What a way to make a living, right?
Friday, August 9, 2013
I Launched a Thing!
Today was the official launch of my new prose and poetry blog: ParagraVerse! It's a weird name, I know, but it's oddly difficult to find a name on Wordpress that isn't taken already. It's annoying when the ones you want are used up by dead blogs, but not to worry. At least I have one no one can complain about not getting, that's a little bit odd (like me) but still vaguely describes what the blog is about: paragraphs and verses, the stuff of prose and poetry.
I launched with a new FridayFlash story, entitled Bed. When I told my brother about it, he said I should write Goosebumps. I took it as a compliment. I was especially delighted to see (a) that someone tweeted about it and called it creepy, and (b) that people had subscribed to the site after just one story. I have a few others in mind, which I'll be writing over the next few days and posting every Friday for a while.
I'll also be including poetry into the mix, with video readings of them. I'll have videos for the flash stories, too, in the future, but I found myself oddly pushed for time today when I was launching, and ill-clothed for the recording. I'll add to the site early next week when I'm wearing a t-shirt that wasn't stuffed into a drawer.
Anyway, you can check out ParagraVerse here: http://paragraverse.wordpress.com
I need to plan a few poems to add to the site over the coming weeks. There'll be a mix of things, anyway. I might go through with an idea I've had for a themed set of poems, just to start, and have that little collection go up for a while. It's only four or five poems, but that's enough to get me started.
In the meantime, I can focus on getting lots of other material written to diversify the selection of prose and poetry available for reading. I'm incredibly excited about this new blog. I think it could be a lot of fun, and it lets me write across a range of different genres, rather than focusing entirely on the Modern Irish Myth stories. While I enjoy writing them, I would eventually run out of myths to use. At least this way I can work off a number of different ideas for short stories I've had, which makes releasing something new every week that little bit easier!
It feels good to have finally launched a new long-term site!
I launched with a new FridayFlash story, entitled Bed. When I told my brother about it, he said I should write Goosebumps. I took it as a compliment. I was especially delighted to see (a) that someone tweeted about it and called it creepy, and (b) that people had subscribed to the site after just one story. I have a few others in mind, which I'll be writing over the next few days and posting every Friday for a while.
I'll also be including poetry into the mix, with video readings of them. I'll have videos for the flash stories, too, in the future, but I found myself oddly pushed for time today when I was launching, and ill-clothed for the recording. I'll add to the site early next week when I'm wearing a t-shirt that wasn't stuffed into a drawer.
Anyway, you can check out ParagraVerse here: http://paragraverse.wordpress.com
I need to plan a few poems to add to the site over the coming weeks. There'll be a mix of things, anyway. I might go through with an idea I've had for a themed set of poems, just to start, and have that little collection go up for a while. It's only four or five poems, but that's enough to get me started.
In the meantime, I can focus on getting lots of other material written to diversify the selection of prose and poetry available for reading. I'm incredibly excited about this new blog. I think it could be a lot of fun, and it lets me write across a range of different genres, rather than focusing entirely on the Modern Irish Myth stories. While I enjoy writing them, I would eventually run out of myths to use. At least this way I can work off a number of different ideas for short stories I've had, which makes releasing something new every week that little bit easier!
It feels good to have finally launched a new long-term site!
Saturday, August 3, 2013
Worker, Chef, Writer, Trainer
If today had a theme, it would be Time. My ability to keep track of it was tested, both in work and at home, and while I failed miserably in the shop, I managed to not kill everyone at home.
See, as part of the changes happening in the shop, we have to return a lot of old stock. I was left to the kids' section today, with a twenty page list and a pile of empty boxes. My four-hour shift usually drags by, and while I did check the time on a couple of occasions, I failed to truly keep track of things. Five minutes after my shift had ended, I was still plucking books from the shelves.
Oops?
Thankfully, I had access to a clock later in the day when, by circumstance, I was left to put the dinner in the oven. Lots of different types of chicken (you know, thighs, wings, drumsticks), any of which could have killed us if not cooked properly.
But I'm a good boy. I put the food in the oven at the right time, and everything turned out nicely.
Today also marked the beginning of two things: the work on my poetry and prose blog, and a nostalgic game-playing experience.
I began the blog-work by putting together the banner and getting the blog a name. I've opted to use Wordpress. While Blogger is good, I find it's a lot more difficult for other people using it to find posts. Wordpress at least lets people use tags that actually work within Wordpress.com to find posts with that tag. (Yes, I know, Blogger tags are for Google's benefit...)
I have a list of things I need to do to finalise the work before the launch (I'm hoping Friday, with a flash story), and I'm going to draw up a list of different projects to keep me going on the site. Fun, right?
As for the nostalgia... well, someone mentioned Pokémon on Facebook earlier, and now I'm playing Pokémon Yellow online. It was the second - and last - Pokémon game I owned. I could have picked a more modern one - even just more recent than Yellow - but I couldn't resist the idea of having my own little Pikachu following my character around on screen.
It brings back fun memories of playing the game as a child. I still have the Gameboy I played it on, though I couldn't tell you where the games have all disappeared to. It's a pity, really. We probably gave them to a cousin, or something.
Still, I have my Pokémon game to play, now, I have a new blog to work on, I have a lot of work to do in the shop, and I didn't give the family food poisoning on account of my ability to look at a clock. I call that a good day.
See, as part of the changes happening in the shop, we have to return a lot of old stock. I was left to the kids' section today, with a twenty page list and a pile of empty boxes. My four-hour shift usually drags by, and while I did check the time on a couple of occasions, I failed to truly keep track of things. Five minutes after my shift had ended, I was still plucking books from the shelves.
Oops?
Thankfully, I had access to a clock later in the day when, by circumstance, I was left to put the dinner in the oven. Lots of different types of chicken (you know, thighs, wings, drumsticks), any of which could have killed us if not cooked properly.
But I'm a good boy. I put the food in the oven at the right time, and everything turned out nicely.
Today also marked the beginning of two things: the work on my poetry and prose blog, and a nostalgic game-playing experience.
I began the blog-work by putting together the banner and getting the blog a name. I've opted to use Wordpress. While Blogger is good, I find it's a lot more difficult for other people using it to find posts. Wordpress at least lets people use tags that actually work within Wordpress.com to find posts with that tag. (Yes, I know, Blogger tags are for Google's benefit...)
I have a list of things I need to do to finalise the work before the launch (I'm hoping Friday, with a flash story), and I'm going to draw up a list of different projects to keep me going on the site. Fun, right?
As for the nostalgia... well, someone mentioned Pokémon on Facebook earlier, and now I'm playing Pokémon Yellow online. It was the second - and last - Pokémon game I owned. I could have picked a more modern one - even just more recent than Yellow - but I couldn't resist the idea of having my own little Pikachu following my character around on screen.
It brings back fun memories of playing the game as a child. I still have the Gameboy I played it on, though I couldn't tell you where the games have all disappeared to. It's a pity, really. We probably gave them to a cousin, or something.
Still, I have my Pokémon game to play, now, I have a new blog to work on, I have a lot of work to do in the shop, and I didn't give the family food poisoning on account of my ability to look at a clock. I call that a good day.
Friday, July 19, 2013
Day 19: Too Hot to Handle
I'm going to keep this brief, because even though it's half eleven at night, my room is still uncomfortably warm. That said, once I'm done writing this I'm going to get tea. I'm a writer, I'm Irish, deal with it.
Let it be said, the following complaint about the heat is not because of my fair complexion or the ginger in my hair. No, I would be complaining about the sun if that were the case. I'm just uncomfortably hot pretty much all of the time right now, even when I'm indoors, in the shade, with a cold drink.
Productivity levels have fallen to an almighty low. Needless to say, I'm thankful for the "encouragement" I had to write and post the flash stories this week, or I might not have written a single word. If this heat keeps up, I probably won't finish writing The Blood of Leap until August.
Yes, it's looking like I won't reach my Camp NaNoWriMo target. To be fair, I set it expecting an Irish summer. We usually get temperatures in the late teens, three days max if we're lucky, and separated by at least as many days ridiculously chilled, cloudy or raining (though the rain usually comes when there's clouds.) I expected to be indoors and trying to keep warm. Or at least not looking for the coldest room in the house. (Downstairs toilet, in case you're wondering. Pity it's not exactly office material. Nowhere for a laptop.)
That said, I do intend to keep working on. My aim all along has been to write the books, and write them I shall. Next week, if this heat persists, I'll move the laptoparoonie down to the kitchen again on a daily basis.
Anyway, I did do some writing today. The latest flash story. Entitled Helping Hand, it's the last of the four stories that celebrates the release of The Hounds of Hell by filling in the gaps in "normal" people's lives since the events of Balor Reborn. While one story is set after The Hounds of Hell, the others are all beforehand. Today's story actually takes place during the same time-frame as Balor Reborn, which was fun, and addresses a missing element a friend of mine pointed out.
You can read it here: http://modernirishmyth.com/helping-hand/
Tomorrow, I've got a lot of other business to attend to, but you know I'll still be blogging. In the meantime, we're into the last eight hours or so of the giveaway of Balor Reborn and Old Gods Returned. You can find the obligatory links below. I hope you enjoy the read.
Balor Reborn (US/IRL):https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008S1FGFW
Balor Reborn (UK):https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B008S1FGFW
Old Gods Returned (US/IRL):https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00963VXXA
Old Gods Returned (UK):https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00963VXXA
You can also buy The Hounds of Hell at either of the links below:
US/IRL: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DYQNTZA
UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00DYQNTZA
Let it be said, the following complaint about the heat is not because of my fair complexion or the ginger in my hair. No, I would be complaining about the sun if that were the case. I'm just uncomfortably hot pretty much all of the time right now, even when I'm indoors, in the shade, with a cold drink.
Productivity levels have fallen to an almighty low. Needless to say, I'm thankful for the "encouragement" I had to write and post the flash stories this week, or I might not have written a single word. If this heat keeps up, I probably won't finish writing The Blood of Leap until August.
Yes, it's looking like I won't reach my Camp NaNoWriMo target. To be fair, I set it expecting an Irish summer. We usually get temperatures in the late teens, three days max if we're lucky, and separated by at least as many days ridiculously chilled, cloudy or raining (though the rain usually comes when there's clouds.) I expected to be indoors and trying to keep warm. Or at least not looking for the coldest room in the house. (Downstairs toilet, in case you're wondering. Pity it's not exactly office material. Nowhere for a laptop.)
That said, I do intend to keep working on. My aim all along has been to write the books, and write them I shall. Next week, if this heat persists, I'll move the laptoparoonie down to the kitchen again on a daily basis.
Anyway, I did do some writing today. The latest flash story. Entitled Helping Hand, it's the last of the four stories that celebrates the release of The Hounds of Hell by filling in the gaps in "normal" people's lives since the events of Balor Reborn. While one story is set after The Hounds of Hell, the others are all beforehand. Today's story actually takes place during the same time-frame as Balor Reborn, which was fun, and addresses a missing element a friend of mine pointed out.
You can read it here: http://modernirishmyth.com/helping-hand/
Tomorrow, I've got a lot of other business to attend to, but you know I'll still be blogging. In the meantime, we're into the last eight hours or so of the giveaway of Balor Reborn and Old Gods Returned. You can find the obligatory links below. I hope you enjoy the read.
***
Balor Reborn (US/IRL):https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008S1FGFW
Balor Reborn (UK):https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B008S1FGFW
Old Gods Returned (US/IRL):https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00963VXXA
Old Gods Returned (UK):https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00963VXXA
You can also buy The Hounds of Hell at either of the links below:
US/IRL: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DYQNTZA
UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00DYQNTZA
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Day 17: Free Books?
For a while now, I've been contemplating doing something. Today, it finally happened: I made Balor Reborn and Old Gods Returned free for a short period of time. And that is the little extra surprise I had in mind to begin yesterday, but that didn't work out because The Hounds of Hell wasn't available.
So, yes, two free books. I'm actually kind of a delighted to have done it. It adds to the number of stories I'm making available to read for free this week, with seven flash stories in Old Gods Returned, four released through the Modern Irish Myth website, and the whole novella that is Balor Reborn. I've terribly excited.
Today's flash story was a fun one to write, because it focuses on a character who's first introduced in The Hounds of Hell, right after the events of Balor Reborn. There's about a week between the two books, so I thought it would be fun to play around with things a bit. I'm wondering who the first person will be to notice it who isn't my beta reader.
Anyway, you can find the story here: http://modernirishmyth.com/the-dancing-flames/
I also did some baking this afternoon. I've been wanting to bake for a while, and now that I have plans to see someone who hasn't tasted by cookies yet, I had the perfect excuse. I had one already, and it made me happy to have made it. Batch success!
(On a side note...I like oven gloves. Not because you can protect your hands while taking trays of cookies out of the oven, but because you can give yourself a high-five wearing them if they're the kind that are stuck together. That was fun way to pass a few seconds while I waited for the timer to go off for the cookies!)
I have to do a fair bit of writing tonight, but I'll deal with that later. I have to have dinner first, before going out, and food kind of takes priority when I'm not going to be home for a few hours. I don't want my stomach complaining later. Kind of going to a play, and that would be awkward.
Anyway, you want the links to the books, right? I'll just throw them down below for you. Peace out!
Balor Reborn (US/IRL):https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008S1FGFW
Balor Reborn (UK):https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B008S1FGFW
Old Gods Returned (US/IRL):https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00963VXXA
Old Gods Returned (UK): https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00963VXXA
You can also buy The Hounds of Hell at either of the links below:
US/IRL: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DYQNTZA
UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00DYQNTZA
So, yes, two free books. I'm actually kind of a delighted to have done it. It adds to the number of stories I'm making available to read for free this week, with seven flash stories in Old Gods Returned, four released through the Modern Irish Myth website, and the whole novella that is Balor Reborn. I've terribly excited.
Today's flash story was a fun one to write, because it focuses on a character who's first introduced in The Hounds of Hell, right after the events of Balor Reborn. There's about a week between the two books, so I thought it would be fun to play around with things a bit. I'm wondering who the first person will be to notice it who isn't my beta reader.
Anyway, you can find the story here: http://modernirishmyth.com/the-dancing-flames/
I also did some baking this afternoon. I've been wanting to bake for a while, and now that I have plans to see someone who hasn't tasted by cookies yet, I had the perfect excuse. I had one already, and it made me happy to have made it. Batch success!
(On a side note...I like oven gloves. Not because you can protect your hands while taking trays of cookies out of the oven, but because you can give yourself a high-five wearing them if they're the kind that are stuck together. That was fun way to pass a few seconds while I waited for the timer to go off for the cookies!)
I have to do a fair bit of writing tonight, but I'll deal with that later. I have to have dinner first, before going out, and food kind of takes priority when I'm not going to be home for a few hours. I don't want my stomach complaining later. Kind of going to a play, and that would be awkward.
Anyway, you want the links to the books, right? I'll just throw them down below for you. Peace out!
Balor Reborn (US/IRL):https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008S1FGFW
Balor Reborn (UK):https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B008S1FGFW
Old Gods Returned (US/IRL):https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00963VXXA
Old Gods Returned (UK): https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00963VXXA
You can also buy The Hounds of Hell at either of the links below:
US/IRL: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DYQNTZA
UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00DYQNTZA
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Day 16: The One with the Publication
Publication day was fun. I had to add in a couple of things to the file before uploading to Amazon, but it's finally done: The Hounds of Hell has been published!
I had planned to do a couple of things for publication day, but that didn't quite work out the way I wanted to. I'd forgotten that the actual publication process took a while when using Amazon, so it wasn't until a few hours ago (and much later into the day) that the book was actually available for purchase. Anyway, I've sorted those little extras out for tomorrow. (So keep an eye on the social media sites!)
In the meantime, I kept to one of my plans: I released a new flash story! Entitled The Poet and the Bride, it's available to read on the Modern Irish Myth site here: http://modernirishmyth.com/the-poet-and-the-bride/
I have three more planned that I need to write that will be going live over the next three days. I think it's a fun way to celebrate the release of a book, to publish a few short stories for people to enjoy for free. Naturally, I had to start with Ogma. He's probably my favourite character to write about in the series.
The writing today hasn't even begun, unless you count the flash story. I should count that, right?
Anyway, I'll be getting on to that. In the meantime, you can check out the little details about The Hounds of Hell below.
Dogs are going wild in Galway, unable to be killed. Gathering around a black hound, they put Ireland at risk.
In the aftermath of Balor’s attack on Dublin City, Fionn Murray and Michael Curran travel back to Fionn’s hometown in Galway, to visit his sickly parents. With the help of his childhood friend, Emily Shanahan, Fionn hopes to nurse his parents back to health. At the same time, he hopes to find some answers about his birth parents.
With the local hospital filling up with victims of dog attacks, and a superhuman neighbour to deal with, Ireland’s chosen hero has another evil to stand up to. The hounds of hell are on the roam, and no one living is safe.
I had planned to do a couple of things for publication day, but that didn't quite work out the way I wanted to. I'd forgotten that the actual publication process took a while when using Amazon, so it wasn't until a few hours ago (and much later into the day) that the book was actually available for purchase. Anyway, I've sorted those little extras out for tomorrow. (So keep an eye on the social media sites!)
In the meantime, I kept to one of my plans: I released a new flash story! Entitled The Poet and the Bride, it's available to read on the Modern Irish Myth site here: http://modernirishmyth.com/the-poet-and-the-bride/
I have three more planned that I need to write that will be going live over the next three days. I think it's a fun way to celebrate the release of a book, to publish a few short stories for people to enjoy for free. Naturally, I had to start with Ogma. He's probably my favourite character to write about in the series.
The writing today hasn't even begun, unless you count the flash story. I should count that, right?
Anyway, I'll be getting on to that. In the meantime, you can check out the little details about The Hounds of Hell below.
In the aftermath of Balor’s attack on Dublin City, Fionn Murray and Michael Curran travel back to Fionn’s hometown in Galway, to visit his sickly parents. With the help of his childhood friend, Emily Shanahan, Fionn hopes to nurse his parents back to health. At the same time, he hopes to find some answers about his birth parents.
With the local hospital filling up with victims of dog attacks, and a superhuman neighbour to deal with, Ireland’s chosen hero has another evil to stand up to. The hounds of hell are on the roam, and no one living is safe.
Friday, June 7, 2013
Back in the Game
After last night's blog post, I did something I haven't done in a long time: I wrote some fiction. Specifically, I wrote a flash story entitled The Last Leprechaun, about Fearghus from Balor Reborn. It felt good, getting to dive back in the world of Modern Irish Myth. It's the first time a new story has gone on the new website since it went live last Saturday.
I was excited to get it online (after some trouble with my server), and even more excited when the first comment for the website came in, with loads of questions about issues raised in the story. Someone was definitely curious about the state of things from that single story alone, set in 1993, before the events of Balor Reborn. Which is all the more exciting for me, because there's some actual interest in what happens in the book from someone who hasn't read it.
Before the comment even appeared, though, I had drawn up my list of Things To Do, to last until Tuesday. It's simple: blog and poem each day, and pieces of books every day (from a chapter of a novella to a chapter to a short ebook) to the point that each of the books will be complete by Tuesday's end.
It's not a case of "write this book in X amount of days". I just gave myself the task of writing individual chapters on particular days. It's much more easily managed, it's much less daunting, and I think I might actually be able to stick to it.
Which brings the title to mind: I'm back in the game of writing seriously.
I can have these two books completed next week, and a flash story ready to go for Friday next week. And this is just the beginning. I have some writing to catch up on, so I figure if I get into a rhythm of writing a fair bit each day (not even too much for my capabilities, and with no weekday job) I'll be able to get up to scratch on where I should be at this point in my plan.
I figure it helps that I've been writing regularly every day. Despite the weather, and despite the temptation to sit back and relax now that exams are over, I've been producing a blog post and at least one poem every day this month. Simply adding to how much I have to write each day isn't actually a drain on my time; let's be fair, I don't really do much with my time right now.
So, I might have a few days when I just write like crazy. And then play Skyrim and blow people up. But if I do that for long enough, I'll have a fair few books in the barrel ready to be launched. (Does that metaphor work? Let's go with it anyway.) Given the fact that I could, potentially, write a novella in a week (heck, I've done it on several occasions in the past!) I don't think I'm going to task myself too much on this. Balor Reborn was a three-day writing process. As was Stepping Forward. With The Hounds of Hell in the pipeline (or...you know...barrel...) I think it's fair to say I'll have the series being released on schedule.
Who knows, people might actually really enjoy it.
I know the flash stories help, anyway. While they're all standalone stories, some of them are connected to each other, and others to the main series. And they're fun as heck to write.
I might end up posting a couple every month (but several this month to create a bit of an archive for visitors to ModernIrishMyth.com) until the series is complete (and perhaps even beyond then!). The way I see it, that's over twice as many stories on the site as there are now, and a fairly large collection of free stories. I just have to see if I have that many myths to use, first, without digging into the ones I plan on using for the series.
Sure, we'll see. I'm back to writing, it's not quite terrifying, and I might actually get into it to the point of writing a lot every day until I'm all booked out (which, considering the amount of books I have in mind to write, will take a long, long time). The game is writing, ladies and gentlemen. Are you in?
I was excited to get it online (after some trouble with my server), and even more excited when the first comment for the website came in, with loads of questions about issues raised in the story. Someone was definitely curious about the state of things from that single story alone, set in 1993, before the events of Balor Reborn. Which is all the more exciting for me, because there's some actual interest in what happens in the book from someone who hasn't read it.
Before the comment even appeared, though, I had drawn up my list of Things To Do, to last until Tuesday. It's simple: blog and poem each day, and pieces of books every day (from a chapter of a novella to a chapter to a short ebook) to the point that each of the books will be complete by Tuesday's end.
It's not a case of "write this book in X amount of days". I just gave myself the task of writing individual chapters on particular days. It's much more easily managed, it's much less daunting, and I think I might actually be able to stick to it.
Which brings the title to mind: I'm back in the game of writing seriously.
I can have these two books completed next week, and a flash story ready to go for Friday next week. And this is just the beginning. I have some writing to catch up on, so I figure if I get into a rhythm of writing a fair bit each day (not even too much for my capabilities, and with no weekday job) I'll be able to get up to scratch on where I should be at this point in my plan.
I figure it helps that I've been writing regularly every day. Despite the weather, and despite the temptation to sit back and relax now that exams are over, I've been producing a blog post and at least one poem every day this month. Simply adding to how much I have to write each day isn't actually a drain on my time; let's be fair, I don't really do much with my time right now.
So, I might have a few days when I just write like crazy. And then play Skyrim and blow people up. But if I do that for long enough, I'll have a fair few books in the barrel ready to be launched. (Does that metaphor work? Let's go with it anyway.) Given the fact that I could, potentially, write a novella in a week (heck, I've done it on several occasions in the past!) I don't think I'm going to task myself too much on this. Balor Reborn was a three-day writing process. As was Stepping Forward. With The Hounds of Hell in the pipeline (or...you know...barrel...) I think it's fair to say I'll have the series being released on schedule.
Who knows, people might actually really enjoy it.
I know the flash stories help, anyway. While they're all standalone stories, some of them are connected to each other, and others to the main series. And they're fun as heck to write.
I might end up posting a couple every month (but several this month to create a bit of an archive for visitors to ModernIrishMyth.com) until the series is complete (and perhaps even beyond then!). The way I see it, that's over twice as many stories on the site as there are now, and a fairly large collection of free stories. I just have to see if I have that many myths to use, first, without digging into the ones I plan on using for the series.
Sure, we'll see. I'm back to writing, it's not quite terrifying, and I might actually get into it to the point of writing a lot every day until I'm all booked out (which, considering the amount of books I have in mind to write, will take a long, long time). The game is writing, ladies and gentlemen. Are you in?
Monday, August 24, 2009
Flash Fiction
Hello, good people on the Internet, readers, writers, bloggers, vloggers, retail workers, office drones, party people, anti-socialites, and mermaids; I'm back after a much too long absense (*gasp* six whole days!). The reason for this absense is that I have news for you all that I only want to spread in Vlog form. Or at least, start in Vlog form and write the matching blog here too. My family have been against me on this agenda... By that I mean I can't make the video because they're never all out of the house when I'm still here!
Until such time I might be able to Vlog again, I have more news better suited to this blog. As you might guess from the title, I now write Flash Fiction. It's a rip-roaring barrel of fun and I highly recommend it. So far I've written four stories and submitted each one to a different magazine that my delightful followers on Twitter recommended to me.
Now it's your turn to recommend something: music. I know, it doesn't seem connected, but I'm going to attempt something mad that encompasses songs by a particularly fantastic band, and I'd like to know I have the creativity in me before I go forth. So, songs (they must have lyrics please) that I might be able to make a story out of. The only ones that are excempt otherwise are songs that are already stories (for example, Journey's End by Chameleon Circuit, or A Boy Named Sue by Johnny Cash).
By September 22nd latest, I will have heard from the first magazine. At that stage, if I'm successful, I'll leave a link to the story. Until then, music, music, music!!
Leave the song and artist in the comments below, or a direct link to the song on YouTube (which is where I will be going to listen to these wonderful songs). If you prefer to reply on Twitter, use the hashtag #musicpaul and I'll get all the recommendations. Thanks!
Until such time I might be able to Vlog again, I have more news better suited to this blog. As you might guess from the title, I now write Flash Fiction. It's a rip-roaring barrel of fun and I highly recommend it. So far I've written four stories and submitted each one to a different magazine that my delightful followers on Twitter recommended to me.
Now it's your turn to recommend something: music. I know, it doesn't seem connected, but I'm going to attempt something mad that encompasses songs by a particularly fantastic band, and I'd like to know I have the creativity in me before I go forth. So, songs (they must have lyrics please) that I might be able to make a story out of. The only ones that are excempt otherwise are songs that are already stories (for example, Journey's End by Chameleon Circuit, or A Boy Named Sue by Johnny Cash).
By September 22nd latest, I will have heard from the first magazine. At that stage, if I'm successful, I'll leave a link to the story. Until then, music, music, music!!
Leave the song and artist in the comments below, or a direct link to the song on YouTube (which is where I will be going to listen to these wonderful songs). If you prefer to reply on Twitter, use the hashtag #musicpaul and I'll get all the recommendations. Thanks!
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