The Great Gatsby

Someone linked me to the trailer for The Great Gatsby (coming in December), and I was pretty thoroughly blown away. Like most people, I read the book in high school, but I think it's one of those works you can't quite appreciate until you're older. It doesn't walk you through the plot--you simply see events unfold through Nick's eyes, and have to connect them. Nonetheless, it's powerful, and at the end Nick's derision and sense of disgust is one of the most palpable feelings in modern literature.

The trailer is bold and beautiful, and makes some clear points (We're quoting lines from the book! See, we're being true to the source material. But here's some modern music, because this movie parallels modern fast living and self-destructive behavior!).

But I wonder how a movie can pull off the plot, because the appeal of the book isn't the love triangles, it's the pure narrative power. It's in the disillusionment of realizing how people behave, and that some people can never get what they truly want in life. All the high-octane living in the world can't buy you love.

Flyday is free this weekend!

Yes, I finally got around to making Flyday a Kindle select, so I'm testing out the program. You can download it free on Amazon this weekend.

Afterwards it'll still be available to borrow for free if you have a Prime account and a Kindle, or back to the $2.99 purchase price.

I am still working on Saturnine, trying to make it the best it can possibly be before I release it. Stay tuned!

Sunset on Mars - update!

I finally released Sunset on Mars and Other Stories on Amazon. If you downloaded the Smashwords version last year, there's a new story I just added. It's about zombies!

I'm trying to get this little collection released for free on Amazon, but if you happen to download it at 99 cents, I will donate my author proceeds to Doctors Without Borders (as requested by the cover artist, K. B. Wittke). It's free here on Smashwords.

And now I shall go back to editing Saturnine and working on a paranormal YA romance about pixies battling vampires. Or as I call it, Tuesday.

The invisible business: how do you work hard when your work is at home?

I haven't blogged in a little while (and right now I'm squinting at the screen because Blogger has a new layout) but I've been hard at work writing and editing. I've been working on two novels simultaneously while publishing a few short stories under a pen name.

Now that I have actual writing income coming in every month, even if it is a small amount, I have to start re-evaluating things. It's more important than ever to keep my finances in order, to track my expenses come tax time. And I have to budget my working hours around a family and kids who demand constant attention.

"Are you working today?" people might ask, meaning, am I supposed to be at my regular job? At my regular job, it's absolutely essential that I be there for my shifts. But my writing-business time is more flexible. I could write from 9 am to 5 pm, with a lunch break. (That doesn't happen.) I could write in the evenings in between making dinner and taking various kids to and from sports and theater practice. (That happens.)

But it's hard to keep to a writing schedule when my job is not a physical thing--it's just me typing away at a laptop. Sure, I can go to a cafe, but even then people I know will stop me and want to chat. And at home, it's even worse. There seems to be 24/7 construction going on in my neighborhood except in the winter. The doorbell rings, the phone rings. Family members expect me to drop what I'm doing to run errands or watch one of their kids. If I decline, citing my writing, people start prodding me. "So?" they say. "You aren't really working."

Yes, my hours are flexible, but it's still a business I run and I still need to tend to it. Short of renting an office, though, I'm going to have to deal with distractions. So I have (mostly) solved this with the following measures:

Set up days in advance when you tell people you'll be unavailable. You're busy, end of story.

Shut off your cell phone when you're working, let the answering machine pick up landline calls, and don't check your e-mail or Facebook.

Set up 3-4 hour "bursts" when you can be productive, scheduled around dinner--or, on weekends, lunch. For me at least, after about 4 straight hours of writing, I need to take a break anyway, and that's a good time to eat.

If you have younger kids this won't work, but for older kids, set them up with activities they can do on their own. For me this usually means handing them a bucket of chalk and saying "It's a nice day! Go play outside!"

Accept imperfection. Maybe a daily word count goal is unrealistic, but you can set a weekly goal--say, a short story completed every week (that means about 1,000 words on average written for five days, which is doable), or a certain amount of pages edited. 

How do you balance work, a family, and writing?

Guest post by K.M. Parr

Writing: Behind the Scenes

By K.M. Parr

Writing is serious business. Don’t let anyone tell you it’s easy or comparable to a life of lounging by a pool, pen in hand.  As a matter of fact, writing is a lot less glamorous than people think.  It’s difficult.  Time consuming.  Frustrating.  Words don’t always come when you want them.  And even then, it’s one of the most rewarding experiences anyone can ever have. 

Someone once said, “Why do you do it, then? If you think writing is such a difficult endeavor, then how can you even call yourself an author?”

One thing this person didn’t understand is that this is the nature of writing.  It’s meant to be an adventure with unexpected twists, turns, and wonders beyond one’s imagination.  That’s what attracted me to the craft.  That’s why it is such an integral part of my life.  

The beauty of the written word is much like being in the middle of a life-sized maze: you’ve been placed into an unknown situation and now you need to write your way to the end.  Sometimes, you don’t remember how you got from one point to the other, but it works.  And if you go at it repeatedly, the way becomes familiar; you gain your bearings faster.  

I tell anyone and everyone that will listen to not be afraid to express themselves creatively.  There may be times when you are discouraged, but that’s all a part of the ride.  If it’s what you enjoy doing, do not give up.  

My advice to anyone who wants to make writing more than just a passing fancy: 

·         Write. Write a lot.  Write about your life, fictional characters, hypothetical situations, anything to get your mind moving.  

·         Don’t be afraid to ask friends to critique it.  Get used to having others look over your work and help you perfect it. 

·         Carry a notebook with you at all times.  Creativity comes at the oddest times. 

·         Have a plan of action.  Type it out for yourself if you have to.  Why are you writing? Do you want to self-publish? Submit to agents or publishers?  

·         Never let anyone tell you to stop.  If writing is what you enjoy doing, don’t listen to those trying to bring you down. 

K.M. Parr is the author of the newly released Alex in Wunderstrande: The Clairvoyance Clock.  Connect with her online at:

www.kmparrbooks.com

www.goodreads.com/kmparr

www.facebook.com/AlexinWunderstrande

@kmparr

  

Fear - and how it affects writers

First off, I did a guest post on my friend Jeff van Booven's blog on atheism. Ooh, ahh.

I am outlining a new book (one of the many I need to finish) and right now I'm in the infatuation stage, where everything reminds me of the book, and I keep thinking of great new ideas.

Who cares if it's a mess of notes, character design, and bits and pieces of scenes? It's my creative mess, and I like it.

But is that really why I'm working on the new book? I could go back and finish editing my last book, if I wasn't so worried over some of the edits.

Fear leads to stagnation.

Stagnation leads nowhere.

Don't get me wrong: lot of writers' fears are certainly right. "Does my book suck?" It's possible. "Will it hit bestseller lists?" Unless you're John Grisham--in your dreams.

Fear can often be grounded in reality. But fear also leads to writers closing Word documents and saying "Maybe tomorrow. Maybe next week." Months like November, when people rush to write 50,000 words, are a kick in the pants. Most of the novels--heck, I would say almost all of them--are terrible.

And then there was Water for Elephants, which started as a NaNo book. What if fear kept the author from writing it?

So let me list my fears...
What if people don't like this book?
What if I can't pull off a thriller/YA novel/etiquette guide for zombies? What then?

Normal enough. But why do we, as writers, edit and re-edit and re-edit and worry that our work won't be perfect? Nothing is perfect. Your favorite book will be the next person's novel-thrown-across-the-room. The novel you throw across the room today could be the novel you fall in love with next year.

So take that fear and put it into your work. Don't let it paralyze you. View it as something positive--something to help you improve. You are, essentially, playing around on a computer until you come up with something entertaining. So go do it.

What are your biggest fears as a writer?

Saturnine cover design

Thanks to everyone who entered my contest on S.M. Boyce's blog to win a copy of Flyday. The winner was chosen and I shipped out a signed copy. The contest is still going on for many other books, so go enter!

And as for Saturnine's cover art ... it's here!

Huge thanks to Robin Ludwig, who designed it. I'll keep you all posted about the release when the ebook is ready--won't be long now.