Where Personal and Professional Life Collide...

  this time with a #friend-ly story that's perfect for upcoming Mothers' Day reading...

I posted this blog entry five years ago today. It was true then, it’s true now, it will forever be true.


Did you work today? Are you sure?

There is a trend among many writers, fostered by nifty word-count bars and graphics, to post metrics of daily word count. This is a useful tool. It forces accountability and many of us – lazy writers that we are – need that public accountability to get shit done.

However, the trend is also a dangerous one, because it leads to the feeling that unless you have nailed a certain word count you haven’t actually “done” anything.

We’re all guilty of it – “I did X and Y but I only wrote 500 words so the day’s a failure.”

Let me respond to that as pithily as I know how.

Bullshit.

A story isn’t words. Words are what convey the story. The stronger and more effective your conveyance, the better people respond. That’s the goal. But there is more to “writing” than the actual act of crafting sentences.

There is research, and planning, and thinking. Note-taking and chasing down facts, and considering about how it all connects. It may not feel like writing, and it’s not always as much fun as writing (except to the few, the proud, the research junkies), but it feeds the writing. It creates a deeper, more layered and thoughtful story. More, research triggers ideas, and the ideas trigger thoughts, and those thoughts move the story in ways we-the-writer might not have anticipated or planned.

So how can that process be any less “writing a story” than the actual choosing/typing of words?

Idea + Plotting + Research + Word choice + Editing/revising = Writing.

Post your word counts if it works for you. If it doesn’t, if it makes you feel stressed out or unhappy because it highlights the fact that you spent the day ears-deep in research or inputting editorial corrections rather than laying down new words? Don’t. Deep-six the word meter and wallow in the fact that you were doing some damned heavy lifting.

Don’t allow yourself –or anyone else – to discount everything that comes before (or after) the laying down of words as “not writing.” Because you ARE. From inspiration to perspiration to polish. And you should give yourself credit for the whole damned difficult process.


(to find the collection this ended up in, check out
http://bookviewcafe.com/bookstore/bvc-author/laura-anne-gilman/)

Oh. Oh, hey. Lookit that! The 4th Sylvan Investigations novella, AN INTERRUPTED CRY, is up at Book View Cafe!

Danny Hendrickson — ex-cop turned PI — and his partner Ellen could be any low-rent private investigators trying to make a difference, and a living, in New York City.

Except Danny’s father was a faun, and Ellen is a storm-seer.

Which means that they bridge the line between human and fatae, between Talent and Null — and specialize in helping people who fall into the dangers between…

In “An Interrupted Cry,” a blackout hits New York City. Talent — cut off from the current that fuels their abilities — are at a disadvantage. Already reeling from one of her visions, Ellen discovers that her partner/mentor, Danny Hendrickson, has gone missing, leaving a violent scene behind…

…and the city is in the dark about what’s coming, in more ways than one.

And remember, not only are books at BVC DRM-free, so you can read them anywhere, on any device you like, but 95% of all monies go directly to the authors (5% goes to support BVC, which is _kind_ of like it all going to the authors).

(this edition has been slightly and carefully revised from the Kickstarter edition.)

For your reading amusement (and possibly edification), I blog over at BVC about my recent trip to Yellowstone National Park....

And my next installment of Westbound is up, over at Book View Cafe!

In which I discuss time, weather, and the difference between NYC and Seattle street crossings...

Well, it took a while, but we're finding pirated copies of the Sylvan Investigation novellas. But it's not really a problem, because pirating self-published books only hurts the...oh, wait.

*snarls a little*

If you want to give a finger to pirates, and a hand-up to the creators, may I suggest stopping by Book View Cafe to do your shopping? All monies from books bought at BVC go directly a) to the author and b) to maintain the BVC co-operative.

The OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE is replicated below, in all its glory.  But the important thing for readers of this blog:

YES, THERE WILL BE AUDIO VERSIONS OF FROM WHENCE YOU CAME. AND DRAGON VIRUS.

AND "MILES TO GO" AND "PROMISES TO KEEP."

And yes I am very ljf*&jh!; excited.

(I've already heard from the narrator for the first two projects, and he seems to be having a good time with them.  Updates when/as I have 'em, including on-sale dates...)

-------------------------------------------------------

Book View Café

www.bookviewcafe.com

Contact: Sue Lange
media.relations@bookviewcafe.com

Book View Café Signs Deal with Audible

August 21, 2013 -- Book View Café (BVC), the author-run publishing company, today announced an agreement with Audible, Inc., the world’s largest seller and producer of downloadable audiobooks and other spoken-word content. The worldwide English-language audio rights deal, which includes a substantial part of BVC’s rapidly growing catalog, will make more than 100 works of romance, science-fiction, fantasy, young adult, mystery, as well as nonfiction titles available as audiobooks to a global readership. Book View Café’s impressive line-up of author-members includes Hugo, Nebula, and Philip K. Dick award winners and New York Times bestsellers.

“Having our titles available at Audible is further evidence of the momentum Book View Café has gained in the past year,” says Pati Nagle, BVC president. “In that period we’ve launched our new online bookstore, signed distribution agreements that are getting our ebooks into libraries and online booksellers worldwide, published 113 works, taken on six new members, and seen our first New York Times ebook bestseller for a BVC original.” She adds, “It’s a huge win for BVC, enabling us to outsource our audiobook services and give our authors immediate access to a vibrant and growing market segment.”

BVC’s business development manager Chris Dolley agrees. “This is the first of more such deals,” he says. “We look forward to making other titles we acquire available at Audible going forward. We want all of our authors to benefit from more exposure to Audible’s engaged and increasingly significant audience of book lovers. ”

“We are delighted to add titles from this strong group of Book View Café authors to the Audible catalog,” said Audible EVP and Publisher Beth Anderson. “Our members, who download an average of 18 books a year, will especially welcome this increased selection among many of their favorite genres.”

About Audible

Audible, Inc., an Amazon.com, Inc. subsidiary (NASDAQ:AMZN), is the leading provider of premium digital spoken audio information and entertainment on the Internet, offering customers a new way to enhance and enrich their lives every day. Audible’s mission is to establish literate listening as a core tool for anyone seeking to be more productive, better informed, or more thoughtfully entertained. Audible content comprises more than 150,000 audio programs from content providers that include leading audiobook publishers, broadcasters, entertainers, magazine and newspaper publishers, and business information providers. Audible is also the preeminent provider of spoken-word audio products for Apple’s iTunes® Store.

About Book View Café

Book View Café is an author-owned cooperative of over forty professional writers, publishing in a variety of genres including fantasy, romance, mystery, and science fiction. In 2008, BVC launched a website,bookviewcafe.com, initially offering free fiction and gradually moving to selling ebooks of members’ backlist titles, then original titles. The cooperative has gained a reputation for producing high-quality ebooks, and is now moving into print editions. Book View Café may be found online at www.bookviewcafe.com.

For more information about BVC, please contact Sue Lange at media.relations@bookviewcafe.com

Originally published at Writer. Editor. Tired Person.

At Writer. Editor. Tired Person.

When I first started out in this biz, I heard a lot of writers talking about “casting” their books, and researching for visuals (typically actors, but not always) as part of their research prep.

And this struck me as strange (then again, I don’t create playlists for projects, either.  So I may be an outlier.)

Y’see, I don’t ‘cast’ my books before/while I’m writing them – or even after, honestly*.  It’s not because it wouldn’t be fun, or because I don’t think about what my characters look like… it’s just that I have to wait until they tell me what they look like.

Crossposted to BookView Cafe, if you prefer to comment there.

Because some of you may've gotten shiny new e-readers recently, and some of you may've missed my happy flailing when these were first released, and because hey, if I'm not telling you about my books, I'm falling down on part of the job, right?

Dragon Virus
$4.99 at BookView Cafe Amazon B&N

“Laura Anne Gilman makes you care. You care about her characters and their choices; you care about what’s happening to their world.”
—Walter Jon Williams

It began soon after the Millennium. Reports of newborns with strange malformations, too weak to live…caused by a single genetic mutation. Or, as the press quickly dubbed it, the Dragon Virus. Scientists predicted that it was an evolutionary dead end; that the mutation would burn itself out quickly; that it was nothing to be worried about.

They were wrong.

Everything was about to change.

Six connected stories, charting the end – beginning – of everything we know, everything we fear, everything we hope for….

With an Introduction by Walter Jon Williams

From Whence You Came: A Lands Vin Novella
$4.99 at BookView Cafe
Centuries before the Vineart War, massive sea-serpents roamed the seas, endangering the lives of all who sailed there. Only the greatest magic could keep them in check, and protect the coastlines from their depredations. And then…they disappeared. Legend credited Master Vineart Bradhai, and called him a hero.

Legend…. is not always accurate. And often, the truth is a better story.

Set in the world of the Nebula Award-nominated Vineart War trilogy

Practical Meerkat's 52 Bits of Useful Information for Young (and Old) Writers
$2.99 at BookView Cafe

Writing is a craft. Publishing is a business. Today’s world requires you to understand both.

A year’s worth of first-hand advice from the popular “Practical Meerkat” series, including:
• Knowing When Not to Complain (and how to do it)
• Bar Schmoozing with the Big Dogs (even if you don’t drink)
• Dealing with a Difficult Editor/Agent
• and 49 more!

Anthologies:

Beyond Grimm
Edited by Deborah J Ross and Phyllis Irene Radford
$4.99 at BookView Cafe

Not your grandmother’s fairy tales…

From the far-ranging imaginations of Book View Café authors comes this delirious collection of classic tales newly twisted into dark, dangerous, and occasionally hilarious re-tellings. From the golden isles of Greece to the frozen north, from fairytale castles to urban slums, join us on an unforgettable journey!

Breaking Waves
Edited by Tiffany Trent and Phyllis Irene Radford
$4.99 at BookView cafe

All proceeds from the sale of this anthology will go to th Gulf Coast Oil Spill Fund f the Greater New Orleans Foundation.

Breaking Waves offers glimpses of maritime splendor, poignancy, and humor through the works of poets, essayists such as Rachel Carson, and Hugo and Nebula-award winning authors such as Ursula K. Le Guin, Vonda N. McIntyre, and David D. Levine.

http://www.lauraannegilman.net/reading-material-available-only-in-drm-free-digital/

And with the push of the send tab, SOUL OF FIRE (Portals #2) is off to Madame Editrix.  It will come back to me for dire revisions, as she points out all the mis-builds I was too in-the-guts to see, but right now I'm feeling pretty good about the book, and the duology overall.  You'll get to see the results in August (Heart of Briar) and October (Soul of Fire) 2013.

Having hit send, I then tried to figure out how many words I've written (novels and short stories, but not including multiple rewrites of same) in 2012. I'd say 350,00-ish, best guesstimate.  No wonder my brain now feels like a slice of processed cheese food.  Worse: if I do as planned in December, it will hit over 400,000.  

I may have done more the year I was writing one Vineart book and two Cosa Nostradamus novels, plus short fiction, but considering that was the year Madame Agent said "don't do that again...."

Anyway.  On to happier thoughts! Ebookses! That you can buy!

DRAGON VIRUS is now available at Amazon and B&N, for those of you who prefer to stick with your regular ebook dealer bookseller. It will, I hope also be up soon at Wizard's Tower, and various other indie sites.

Buy early, buy often! And if you prefer the limited edition hardcover, Fairwood Press still has some available!


Meanwhile, BookView Cafe is having a December Sales Event on many of their ebooks, including my own PRACTICAL MEERKAT and the anthology BEYOND GRIMM.

And now, if you'll excuse me, my cheese food brain and I are going to drink some wine, and stare at the tv, and maybe try to read a book I didn't write....

EtA: Oh, and eat.  I should eat something more than the bowl of rice and yogurt I had for lunch, huh?