Bad Wolf, story stater...

So, what follows is the first little segment I wrote of the novel I'm working on for publication later this year. I wrote this about two years ago, and am just now getting back to it. Lol.

Enjoy:

Azariels's head throbbed as he sat up. He felt the warmth of his flesh through the palm of his hand, and knew the light would sting his eyes when he opened them. Still it had to be done.

Pain flared, momentarily, and a small tavern room opened up to him when the lights cleared a little. There had been drink last night, and plenty of it, and now he was sitting on a rough mattress with a wool blanket pooled around his waist. He didn't have to look to know the innkeeper's daughter was laying to his left. She was a young thing, Azariel also knew, between fifteen and seventeen summers, and there would be blood staining the mattress. The elf smiled at this last bit, and wondered just how many virginal notches that made on his belt.

Still, there was a time to make a quiet exit, and that time was vanishing as fast as Sol rising in the sky. He was out of bed, his pants and tunic on when the heavy fists fell on the door.

“Felicia!” The innkeeper called in the gruff and grizzled voice of an old soldier.

Felicia, a dainty redhead, shot up into a sitting position, her wide eyes staring at the door.

“Damn it,” Azariel said.

“Felicia, open this door!” There was no pounding this time but Azariel heard the click as a crossbow was drawn and its bolt set. He checked the catch on his belt, making sure it was secure, and slid both his knives back into their sheathes at his hips. He grabbed his rusted greatsword, a weapon as blunt as the side of a tree and broken down to the length of a longsword, he slid it into the frogs on his back, leaving it open to the world, and started for the window.

“You're leaving?” Felicia said, panic in her voice. The night was coming down around her, no doubt.

“I'm a big fan of not getting shot with a crossbow,” Azariel said. He lifted the window and looked out. They were two stories up, and the nearest building, a little general store, was more than thirty feet away. Straight down was the answer, painful maybe, but necessary.

“We can explain it to him,” Felicia said, her voice pleading, dancing towards hysteria. “We can tell him we're in love!”

Azariel looked back at her for a moment. She was beautiful with skin the color of alabaster, and great big green eyes. Her hair was like the sun setting on the horizon, and had been the thing that attracted him to her in the first place. He considered it, considered staying with her, and decided against it within a period of two seconds.

The door exploded inwards, the knob ripping off and splinters flew in every direction. The innkeeper stepped in, a man six feet tall and built like a dwarf with a beard to match. He leveled the crossbow and fired within heartbeat of the door opening. The bolt whistled through the air. It hit the wood of the window sill hard enough to throw another series of splinters into the air. Azariel stared at it for a moment and the two inches that separated it from his hand.

“No, daddy!” Felicia said. She flung the covers aside and charged her father. “I love him! Please no!”

“I'll kill ya!” the bartender bellowed and yanked the string back on the crossbow faster than anyone Azariel had ever seen.

“Yeah,” he said, and set his foot on the window sill. He ducked his head and kicked. The elf flew, his back and legs straight as an arrow, and his arms out like the feathered fletching. He turned in the air, rolling head over heels, and landed in a crouch. His ankle yelled at the contact, but Azariel was up in short order. Another crossbow bolt struck the ground, kicking up dust.

“I'll kill ya! Ya damned elf!” The bartender said. Azariel glanced back, saw the innkeeper was already loading another bolt. Still the elf couldn't resist himself.

Azariel spun on his heel, sweeping both arms out, and the left back in as he bent at the waist. He flipped his shoulder length blonde hair over the top of his head and made a show of flipping it back. He straightened and locked eyes with the innkeeper. The man had his crossbow leveled and sighted. Still Azariel smiled, a devils grin. He could see Felicia over her father's shoulder. She was tugging on his arm, trying to get him to stop.

“I wish you luck in your endeavor, kind sir,” Azariel said, the devils grin never leaving his face. “My name is Azariel Athendash. Though, I'm unable to face off with you today, I hope you seek me out. I could use a good challenge.”

With that Azariel ducked and spun. He heard the bolt impact where he had just been standing. The barkeep would be loading another bolt by now, but Azariel's legs were swift, and carried him out of the crossbow's range, and around the corner of the general store. He slowed to a walk as he moved towards another cluster of buildings closer to the town wall. He'd stored his gear under one of the two watch towers, and it was time to retrieve it. It was time to move on from this little hovel, time to move on to bigger and better conquests. Maybe a city.

And, there's a bit more too it, but I think I'll post the rest of it elsewhere then here. On Watt Pad or Medium, maybe DeviantArt. Or maybe all three. Anywho, when I do post it, I'll make sure you all have links. And, I hope you all can't wait for the book!!!

Ryan

6-19-14

Good NEWS!!!

Today was supposed to be a blog post about Han Solo, but I think I'm going to hold off on that post till tomorrow.

Why?

Because I have good news that I can and can't tell you about.

What's the good news I can tell you about?

Well, I'm starting work on a new book. It's a fantasy story that encapsulates one of my number one favorite Dungeons and Dragons game moments. I would tell you what that moment is, but it would ruin the story. Let's just say that it involves a halfing and a dragon. Yes... it get's you all excited doesn't it?

Anyway, what's the good news I can't tell you?

That would be the publication date of this story. I have a date in mind, and my calenders and goals are all marked towards this, but I'm not going to get to far ahead of myself.

All I will say now is that I am going to self publish this book, and I hope to have it on the market by the time fall rolls around. We'll see how that goes with me working on it and what not. And, I'll let you know more the closer I get to my goal.

Also, if there's an artist in the audience who would be willing to work for next to nothing I need to get some cover art for the book. That might have to wait though.

Anyway, peace out.

Ryan

6-18-14

Yarn

So, earlier today, I sat down to write my blog post. It was a post about yarn. Well, it was supposed to be a post about yarn. What it turned into is not something I want to go through again. So, we’ll go back to the original topic.

Yarn. What is it?

Google defines Yarn in two ways. First it says that yarn is a spun thread that is used in knitting, weaving, or sewing. And, second it describes yarn as a long or rambling implausible story. I agree with both statements.

In a way, I’ve been obsessed with yarn for the last few years. While I was still in college, (taking weaving classes at the time, I believe) I came up with the idea of working with yarn professionally. Basically running my own little internet store, where people could come and commission different types of yarn based products (so long as they didn’t involve knitting) and I would satisfy that commission to the best of my ability. I’m actually rather good at crocheting, and I can weave some… though it’s been a long time. And, it’s still something I think about doing.

Just a fun little on the side business where I make blue and black scarves for Mingo Central’s football games for just a tiny bit of profit. Or do a series of blankets/afghans/something big and sell them on ebay or what not. But, I’ve never done that. I think it’s because I’m not that dedicated to the idea of the yarn business. It’s just not something I see putting my whole life into.

But, in a way it is.

I want to write stories for a living. I want to look into my dreams and show the people the magic that hides right behind the clouds on the bright sunshiny day. I want to show them the terror in the bent broken tree with its shadow crawling across the courtyard… getting ever closer to your shoe… I wonder what would happen… (I just got chills. lol) And, now I want to keep going with that idea. Lol.

I want to write yarns. I want my stories, as improbable as they might be, I want to see them spread far and wide. I do want to dedicate my life to yarn. And, I guess today is as good a day as any to do it.

For the last 8 years my New Year’s Resolution has been the same thing. I want to get a book published. I want to get a book published. I want to get a book published. I’m going to stop wanting this year. I’m going to stop failing at that one little resolution. I’m going to be a published author by the end of 2014 if it kills me. I might not be making my money living off of what I write, but I’ll be damned if I’m not going to supplement my income in just that fashion.

And, this still isn’t the fun, lighthearted post I wanted it to be. It’s serious, and it’s one of those breaking point moments. They’ve come this far and no farther, and all that hubbub. (I think that’s from Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers… it might also be 300… not sure which.) The point I’m trying to make though, is that I am admitting I have a problem. I am not a published author. I want to be a published author. And, today is the day where I finally dedicate myself towards pushing for that goal. Today I shall stand in front of the great beast and cry YOU SHALL NOT PASS!!!

I hope some of Mel’s students are reading this. Because that’s exactly what she says about you :P Lol. Just kidding. She loves ya just as much as she loves me… and that’s saying something because I go out of my way to annoy the crap out of her.

My brain got lost somewhere in there. But, yes. This is a public declaration of my goals. My goal for the year of 2014, become a published author. I would like to say that’s my goal for the next three months, but I think it’s going to take a wee bit longer than that to get my book ready to go. So, I’ll start work on it as soon as I get off work tomorrow, and you’ll get a daily update of when it’s going to be ready. J

And… now I have to remind you that I’m also writing a D&D adventure, and that might take some precedence, since the group expects me to have new stuff for them to do every week. But, I will dedicate some of my time to my novel. I promise.

On that note, I’m going to say anywho, because I don’t think I used it anywhere else in the post, and I’m going to let you all go for the day.

Later kids.

Ryan

1-25-14

Journal: 6-24-13

So, I almost wrote fourteen instead of thirteen for the year, and I was like, why in gods name do I want it to be a year from now!?! I mean, I'd be okay with it, if at that point in time, I was a full-time freelance/blogger/novelist/writer thing. Yup. That would be okay with me.

But, there are a lot of changes that are going to occur in the next twelve months, hell, I literally won't be sitting where I'm sitting at right now this time next month.

We're moving, the first of the changes I suspect. And, within the coming month (by July 14th to be exact) we have to be in our new place. Which shouldn't be hard. It's literally on the same property we're on. It's just owned by a much nicer landlady. She's been renovating this thing for a while, since she got her modular home in back in December. And, the work is now at its apogee. just a few more things, and the house will be livable. There will be a few things that will have to be done after we move in, such as painting, and kitchen cabinets, and... I think those are the only two actually. But, yeah, it's pretty much done.

The other change I'm sensing on the wind is my job. I plan on, within the next couple of weeks, to have a better job, either in travel time, meaning less money spent on gas, or a job that pays more than what I make right now.

And, of course, I'm going to continue to try and figure out how to make money online with my own writing. HubPages is just the tip of the ice burg. I need to find out how it ticks, then I'll take that information to another site that's similar in nature. And, another. And, another. And, another. I might monetize here, and do things a wee bit differently. I don't want to get rid of these posts. I like the here's what I did today posts that I do. The little posts that make it feel like I journal. But, what I might do is monetize the blog, and begin posting things like my fiction and fanfiction and what not on here. I don't know yet, though.

If I did try to turn this into a money making machine, what would you all suggest?

• Keep the blog as is, just add ads to it.
• Make a new blog, one for fiction, fanfiction, and advertisements while leaving this one alone.
• Add what you want, and try to use the pages system to make navigating the site a little bit more easy.
• Talk to Kristen about getting my WordPress website going, then worry about monetizing that site. Or something like that.

Yeah, I really don't know. Its frustrating. And, I'm not very good at this.

I need to do some research on this type of career, and see how other people pull it off before I get myself in way too deep.

Anywho, good night.

Ryan

Admission: 6-16-13

Being Honest

So, being honest, I didn't write a post yesterday. In fact, in the last three or four days I've only written one post. I dislike the fact, but I'm not going to complain about it now. There's no reason too.

Anyway, my brain has been scrambled, and I find it almost completely impossible to focus on one thing at a time. Like my DnD adventure. I've got the story hook, seeds, and the first encounter written. Now, trying to work on the second encounter I draw a total blank. I want to work on this. I want to play Dungeons and Dragons sometime in the next week or two. Get the game started at the very least. Bah. I don't know.

And, the things that have been distracting me are other things I love. I've got three story ideas that are demanding attention. And, they're based off of my favorite moments in DnD. (I think I'm going to do a HubPages article on those moments.)

One is in the planning stages; I'm trying to get to know the characters and the story, fleshing it out, and working it out in my mind before I try to put pen to paper, even to start the Snowflake outline.

The second is a short story. Like most of my short stories it's a seat of the pants story, I'm just letting it take me where the story wants to go. No doubt I'll give it a second draft, and then try to get it published in one magazine or another.

The third is a novella based on a game played with an old friend. I still have to ask permission to use a lot of the plot elements, but I think he'll say yes. And, I think this is going to be one of the best damn stories I've ever written. At the moment it is also a seat of the pants story, letting it take me where it wants, with a vague idea of where it's going. I'll definitely outline it for the second draft, and that's if not having an outline doesn't drive me insane before I get to the end of the first draft.

There was something else I wanted to mention, but I can't remember what it was. Guess it was just a brain fart.

Anywho, I've got to get ready for work, so that's it for the day. Later tots and taters.

Ryan

PS: I meant to bemoan my lack of article writing and lack of work on Cold Lunch, but I don't feel much like complaining right now. So, I'll leave it at that.

Journal 6-11-13

She’s ALIVE!!!

If you were paying attention to Mel’s status updates, then you saw that Button got an emergency trip to the vet yesterday, and we are happy to report that she is okay. And, the excitement was all caused by an allergy to fleas…

Yup. Button is severely allergic to them, so allergic in fact that she breaks out all over, over grooms, scratches until the bites pop, tears clumps out, and she managed to pick up an infection too. Lymph nodes in her stomach had swollen up to the size of golf balls in what had to be a matter of hours. Those swollen nodes were what caused the freak out, which was a necessary freak out, and got Button the medicine she needs to get better. As well as a way to take care of her, and the other cats.

But, yeah, I thought she was gone. Even before we’d left for Charleston I’d resigned myself to the fact that my kitten wouldn’t be coming home alive. I gave up, and I turned off. If I hadn’t, I don’t know how last night would have gone. I’m thankful it wasn’t what we thought it was, and I’m thankful that she’s still here with me today, even if she’s a cranky little animal. And, entertaining or not, I think I’m going to make some more videos of her. That will make me feel better. Yeah, I think that will make me feel better.

I don’t have anything else to report for the day, except that I’m extremely hair brained. I’ve been trying to get ahead of where I need to be on articles so I can get some time to work on Cold Lunch. Well, yesterday, I got a wild hair up my ass to write a DnD adventure. (This was before the problems with Button.) So, I managed to spend today much the way I spent my first two semesters of college, flipping back and forth through game reference books to put an adventure together. In the end, I’ve got a town of two hundred and twenty-three people statted out, the hook and story seeds for the adventure, and one of the monsters in the first encounter done. I could have had one, maybe two articles written and typed. Then I’d be ahead of schedule. As it is, I’ll be scrambling when I wake up to get tomorrow’s typed, and posted.

On a lighter note, I read the Open Gaming/Game License or something like that. Basically, it’s a law that allows content creators to publish content relating to such and such game without getting explicit permission from the copyright holder, or trying to get the material published through said copyright holder’s company. That means, after a little bit of game testing, you’ll be able to buy a Ryan Smith original 3.5 edition d20 fantasy role playing adventure. I think I’ll try to come up with a shorter description for it. Like a Ghost Co. Games adventure, or something like that.

I dunno.

Anywho, I think it is past time for bed. I’ll talk to you cool cats later.

Ryan

PS: I know I’m a nerd.

Typing project In the Beginning #5

We’ve got a new place!

So, things worked out alright this week. I thought it was going to be a terrible one, what with all the drama and the thinking that maybe we were going to be homeless, and all that wonderful fun shit. Yeah, and my head hurts right now. The TV seems to be running, and that’s distracting.

Anyway, we’ve got a new place to move into. We’ll be signing the lease agreement and paying the deposit and what not tomorrow, and we won’t have to worry about losing our hot water, or the place burning down because of a bad breaker box (its brand spanking new in the new place). It will be nice. The only thing I don’t like about it is that it’s two bedrooms. With our roommate (my best friend since like fifth grade), I won’t have a writing room. This is something I can deal with, because the kitchen is separate from the living room. So, when I want to write without the TV I can just move to the kitchen table, or set up a corner in my and Mel’s room.

We’ll also have room for a treadmill, either in the living room, or in one of the bedrooms, and getting the treadmill is going to be free (roommate’s parents are giving it to us), so there’s going to be no excuse for us not to get exercise. And, I think that will be good for us. Getting in shape, getting healthy, that’s important. I don’t want to get into my thirties and forties and have to worry about a heart attack taking me away from my family. Yeah, I don’t know where I was going with that.

Anywho, I’ve got the line edits done for In the Beginning, and I still don’t know what to do with it. Do I try and sell it to a traditional publisher like Harlequin, or do I self-publish it? I don’t know. I really don’t know. I guess I could try to sell it first, and if that doesn’t work out I can self-publish it. I’m a poor decision maker. A very poor decision maker.

So yeah, I guess I’m just going to do something, about something, and maybe something else, then say ‘Good Lord, why did I do that?’

What sort of good news do you have this week?

Ryan

Stats:

                Snowflake Completion: N/A

                Pages Written Today: 0

                Pages Written Total: 18

                Pages Typed Today: 0 (single spacing)

                Pages Typed Total: 28 (single spacing)

                Word Count Today: 106

                Word Count Total: 14,328

                Line Edits: Done

                Final Word Count: 14,328

(Missed a paragraph in the original typing. Lol.)

Advertisement: Read more Stephen King, and R.A. Salvatore, and Lawrence Block, and Hell, just read more in general. Lol. Then buy a lot of my books, whenever they start coming out in stores.

Typing project In the Beginning #3

High Hopes

Going to be looking at a new place today, hopefully it will pass inspection and we’ll be moving in the next couple of days. There was a trailer we wanted to buy a while back, a really frigging nice one, but that fell through, and the last place we looked at fell through (almost literally, the roof caved in). So, yeah, really hoping this place will turn out just right.

I also hope to make a million dollars in the next two weeks, just so I can afford to buy Christmas presents. Lol.

I’m sitting here, and I really can’t think of anything to say at all. I’m just drawing a blank. How do people blog like this? Lol.

It’s funny how Microsoft Word recognizes Lol as a word. I can’t remember adding it to my dictionary (doesn’t mean I didn’t), the red squiggly stopped showing up under it. And, that made me think of text speech, and text speech made me think of this one meme (?) cupcake showed me: I know when your texting in class. You don’t just look down at your crotch and smile. Or something like that.

I think I need more sleep.

I don’t even think coffee would help right now.

Anywho, I finished typing In the Beginning this morning. I was hoping to get it all done on Saturday, and do the line edits yesterday. But, it looks like I’ll be doing the line edits later today. Then I’ll be done with it. And, I’m at the point where I don’t really know if I want to self-publish it. I think it’s really good, and in some way I feel like self-publishing it would be demeaning to the story in some way. Like I didn’t try hard enough to get it published.

Le sigh.

I don’t know. If anybody has any advice, send it my way please. I’m alone in the dark here. Lol.

What do you have high hopes for?

Ryan

Stats:

                Snowflake Completion: N/A

                Pages Written Today: 0

                Pages Written Total: 18

                Pages Typed Today: 2 (single spacing)

                Pages Typed Total: 28 (single spacing)

                Word Count Today: 1,059

                Word Count Total: 14,222

Check out critters.org, if things work out, and I don’t mess something up, I should have a short story coming through the queue this week. Speaking of critters, I really need to do my critiques. Lol.

Typing project In the Beginning #2

Hot Water At Last

Ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to announce to you, and your sensitive little noses, that we have hot water back.

And, according to my typical writing schedule, this post is late. I should have written it last night, and had it posted at seven something PDT. That didn’t happen though because of the mood I was in yesterday. It was a crappy mood, much like today has been. I don’t know why, but I just get into these stretches of feeling like I’m worthless. And, I could go on and on about this, but I really don’t think it’s something you want to hear. If you do, please say so in the comments, and I’ll be happy to put up a post that is nothing but me whining.

Today however is not that day.

Today we’re talking about hot water. We got our hot water back exactly one hour ago, and my wife has already taken a shower. I however, took a hot shower yesterday at our neighbor’s house. But, since the hot water was not back on yesterday, then we still get to add another 10k to Cold Shower. 80-90 thousand words, and I’m thinking it’s going to be a psychological horror story, focusing on a “powerful” figure in small town politics. The town will rise up against him, and torment him in small ways, that grow larger and larger and larger, until the man and his families’ lives are at risk.

Donna Hole commented on one of the other posts that it should be like a slumlord sort of thing, and that’s exactly what I’m going for. So, thank you :) Next, I will probably blow her blog up with questions about this sort of thing.

Anywho, In the Beginning, I’ve got another scene typed on it (not what I wanted to get done), but I’ve only got one more scene to type. Then the polish. And, then the final decision on whether I should self-publish it, or if I should try to do it traditionally first. I’m not sure. And, I’m not good at making decisions. Not good at making decisions at all.

Well, I’ve talked enough today, I’ll chew your ear off some more tomorrow.

Ryan

Stats:

                Snowflake Completion: N/A

                Pages Written Today: 0

                Pages Written Total: 18

                Pages Typed Today: 3 (single spacing)

                Pages Typed Total: 26 (single spacing)

                Word Count Today: 1,703

                Word Count Total: 13,170

Today’s advertisement: … … … … pepsi…

Typing project In the Beginning #1

The One in which I whine a lot. 

I don’t know what to say today.

Today, has just been one of the most draining days I’ve ever had. We were trying to get a new place, it wasn’t a great place, mind you, but (in my opinion) it was a better place than we’re staying right now. And, it was only going to be a temporary solution while we wait for another place to open up. One we know that we’re going to get.

But…

I think I typed this line in one of my In the Morning Light chapters.

There’s always a ‘but’ isn’t there.

Well, yeah, mother-in-law hated it. She flat out hated it, and pointed out a few things I’m not going to post here. And, it wasn’t a pleasant conversation at all.

Now, I feel lost, by what she said about me, not too me, about me, I feel lost. I know I’m not the best person in the world, and I don’t know what to do to fix that. I don’t know what’s broken inside of me that just makes the world feel heavier than it is. I don’t know what to do. I really don’t.

My typical answer is to turn to writing, to try and fix my problems by burying them under the troubles of people that only exist in my head. I run away, and I hope (using that word loosely) that my writing will pan out, and be successful, and I won’t have to worry about the damn bill collectors, or if I’m not providing enough for my family. Hell, I just want to feel like I’m pulling my own weight. I want to make the ends meet.

People will tell me, and maybe it’ll show up in the comments section, that it gets better. All I ask is when? When does it get better? When can I stop worrying about all these things? When can I stop worrying and enjoy life? Because, right now I just want to quit the game.

Eh…

I shouldn’t be unloading this on you all, and it would probably be better if I deleted this post right now. But. But. I don’t know.

On a lighter note, our water is still out, so Cold Shower is up to 70-80k words. Maybe it will make it to the epic level. Personally I hope not. At the rate I’m going it would take almost 12 more days to get to the definition of an Epic novel. And, I can’t go without hot water that long, not to mention that I don’t know if I can write something 200,000 words long.

Eh…

Typing is going good on In the Beginning. If I keep it up I’ll be done with it tomorrow. Then I’ll use Sunday to make corrections to it, and get the cover design off to my artist. Then I’ll work on Cold Lunch for awhile, and when it gets closer to January I’ll start to freak out, and try to get the formatting done, the formatting for each of the major retailers (putting it up personally at Amazon, B&N, and iBooks), then using Smashwords to get it out to the rest of the retailers.

Hopefully, I’ll make some money off of it. I sound like a hack, but I really want this to work out. I really do. I want life to work out.

Sorry about whining so much.

Ryan

Stats:

                Snowflake Completion: N/A

                Pages Written Today: 0

                Pages Written Total: 18

                Pages Typed Today: 7 (single spacing)

                Pages Typed Total: 24 (single spacing)

                Word Count Today: 3,914

                Word Count Total: 11,472

Advertising: Today I’m sticking with the name of this blog. Crazy people are a blast to be around, sometimes, find some crazy friends, or one friend who’s really crazy, and have a party. And, drink a beer or two for me.

Cold Lunch Draft 2 project journal #10

Personal Insanity

So, I’ve sat here for about fifteen minutes looking at the screen and got nothing to write about. Hell, I even used my jar of topics to come up with something to talk about. It’s written above, but I still don’t know what to write. I could talk about the time I spent in an insane asylum, but that was just one of those really weird dreams that comes out of nowhere.

Although, my cats been a real bitch today, and that’s starting to drive me crazy. So, that dream about a mental institution might come true.

“What’d you do to get stuck in here?” A bald guy with bandages on his fingertips asked. “I killed seven guys and made each one representative of the seven deadly sins.”

“I killed my cat.” Me.

TV drives me crazy. I’m not good at separating my attention. So, whenever the TV is on, I can’t focus enough to work on whatever it is I’m trying to write. That does drive me a little crazy. I dunno.

Anyway, I didn’t work on Cold Lunch today. Instead I worked on my self-pub project. Trying to get the cover stuff together. My wonderful little sister-in-law is going to be doing the art work. It will be revealed here as soon as the work is done. Lol. Then, naturally, there will be plenty of advertisements on here, and my face book, and my twitter, to make sure all six people I know gets the message. Lol.

So, yeah, what things kind of drive you batty?

Ryan

Stats:

                Snowflake Completion: Done

                Pages Written Today: 0

                Pages Written Total: 7

                Pages Typed Today: 0

                Pages Typed Total: 11

                Word Count Today: 1,693

                Word Count Total: 3,011

So, yeah, the stats are pretty much the same. As for advertising something today, I got nothing. So, the end of this blog post is commercial free…for now.

Cold Lunch Draft 2 project journal #5

Self Publishing

Not sure how random of a topic self publishing is, but it’s something that’s crossed my mind every now and then so I figured I might as well talk about it.

…crickets chirping…

Alright, so I don’t know much about self-publishing. I’ve never published anything other than a blog post and a few fanfiction stories. So, as for publishing things to sell, I have no clue.

A couple of my friends, however, have self-published; I would like to say their experiences were atypical, like they made millions of dollars off of what they published. But, saying that would be a lie. They both put more money into publishing then what they’ve gotten in return. And, that’s what you see a lot with self publishing. A lot of hard work with no return.

Frankly, I don’t like that idea. Call me a hack, but I want to make money off my work.

I have thought about the free-ish methods of self publishing. Amazon and Smashwords, but that seems like it would be a lot of work too. And, I’m not too sure how that would look when I tried to go the traditional publishing route.

It seems a bit like a double edged sword. If it does well, and I mean really well, it looks good. If it doesn’t do well it looks like you went the self publishing route because nobody else wanted to publish your work.

So, I dunno.

If I did self publish, though, I’d probably use a penname.

How do you feel about self publishing?

Ryan

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