*Unless it’s great writing, first and foremost. I am not downplaying the importance of therapeutic writing. It’s a valuable tool whether self-directed or used in a more formal recovery program. I’ve used it, myself. But I’m not being paid to read what other people write, and then evaluate it in terms of their recovery from…
Read More Why I won’t read therapy writing*(Scroll down for new info.) Or why it is not enough to research publishers once, at the start of your writing career. Diligent authors need to keep tabs on the industry at large, especially on already-established publishers. Because you never know when one is going to melt down… Anyone who has been involved in romance…
Read More Ellora’s Cave and Elephants in the RoomAccording to SFWA guidelines, the fantasy novella has been a novel for the last eight thousand words. Huh. That means I’m working on two novels and two novellas this fall. Eeep. *** Update, September 26, 2014: the provisionally-titled Singer in Rhunshan is finished at 53,200 words. I’m not going to pretend there are no typos, tense…
Read More Wordcount milestonesI’m blabbing about art and armor today. When I really began reading fantasy and science fiction in the late seventies and early eighties, I didn’t pay much attention to the different portrayals of men and women on book covers. I loved those cover artists equally, shrugged off their foibles, and learned some basic principles of…
Read More Real women, real armor, and worldbuildingI occasionally make digital art covers for other people, when I have time and my intermittent art abilities function properly. Here’s one, with text layout by A. G. herself. I think we did okay, for a creepy little spec-fic steampunky-sort-of-story. It’s only 28 pages, and under $2 on Kobo and Itunes. Go check it out. Blurb: Milton Jones…
Read More The Collections Agent, by A. G. CarpenterContinuing my last post: let’s talk about marketing self-published works, and why hybrid authors may have advantages that self-pub-only authors might not have. The hard, cold truth? Most unknown, first-time self-published and indie-published books don’t sell very well. Their authors have a rough time reaching enough of a buying audience to make the equivalent of a living…
Read More Self-publishing and Hybrid authors, pt 2I had a long, involved email exchange recently with some writer friends scattered around the world: print authors, digital authors, authors working for commercial contracts, authors who’ve gone almost exclusively to self-publishing. We all came to mostly the same conclusion: We think the future, or at least the near-future to five or ten years out,…
Read More Self-publishing and Hybrid Authors, pt 1Thousands of votes have been made and tallied by now: Tessa Bailey is the returning champion of the 2014 Sex Scene Championship, for this thrilling excerpt. Prizes will be drawn tomorrow from among all the votes, comments, tweets, and FB like, so keep your fingers crossed and an eye on your email (lots of readers…
Read More 2014 Sex Scene Championship Winner!This is not a review. This is me getting ready to review a book*. And gloating a little. In between working on The Last Added Scene for ‘Singer in Rhunshan’ and flaying my fingers on faux-finished fiberglass, I have managed a digital coup. This: I have an e-book Advance Reader Copy (ARC) of Alis Franklin‘s…
Read More Gloat gloat gloatThanks to RL work commitments, I haven’t been as diligent about posting these in real-time. I figured those of you actively following the tournament in realtime are doing so from the contest homepage over at Scorching Book Reviews. This listing is more of an archive service for future reference. Quarter Finals: http://www.scorching-book-reviews.com/sex-scene-championship-quarter-final-1-cris-anson-vs-tessa-bailey-mstessabailey/ http://www.scorching-book-reviews.com/sex-scene-championship-final-2-laura-kaye-laurakayeauthor-vs-kelly-jamieson-kellyjamieson/ http://www.scorching-book-reviews.com/sex-scene-championship-quarter-final-4-eden-bradley-edenbradley-vs-kimber-vale-kimbervale/ http://www.scorching-book-reviews.com/sex-scene-championship-quarter-3-round-5-vivian-arend-vivianarend-vs-sidney-bristol-sidney_bristol/…
Read More 2014 Sex Scene Championship Quarter Finals and Final Round (adult links)Today I worked on the (currently) last revision to that pesky fantasy novella, repaired a vintage British umbrella, varnished the covers for a new mini-book, crashed a thread on AbsoluteWrite, and apparently earned the ire of an anti-AW website. Why? Because I glanced at a trainwreck of an online debacle on another site completely, one…
Read More Nefarious Achievement Unlocked (adult language)We have arrived at the Finalist Round, with 16 supercharged competitors. Fasten your seatbelts, folks… http://www.scorching-book-reviews.com/sex-scene-championship-the-final-16-round-1-cris-anson-vs-leela-lou-dahlin-leelalou_2/ Sex Scene Championship the Final 16! Round 1 – Cris Anson vs Leela Lou Dahlin (@LeelaLou_2) ____ http://www.scorching-book-reviews.com/sex-scene-championship-final-16-round-2-jade-lee-writing-as-kathy-lyons-jadeleeauthor-and-tessa-bailey-mstessabailey/ Sex Scene Championship Final 16! Round 2 : Jade Lee writing as Kathy Lyons (@JadeLeeAuthor) and Tessa Bailey (@mstessabailey) ____ http://www.scorching-book-reviews.com/sex-scene-championship-final-16-round-13-laura-kaye-laurakayeauthor-vs-lexxie-couper-lexxie_couper/…
Read More 2014 Sex Scene Championships, Finalist 16, Rounds 1 – 8Last batch for Part 2, folks. Some of these will be expired by the time you read ’em, so you can’t vote. It’s Life, I’m afraid – sometimes I can’t get to this blog for a day or two. (And this tournament is moving fast now!) http://www.scorching-book-reviews.com/sex-scene-championship-part-2-round-11-sidney-bristol-vs-diane-albert-jen-mclaughlin/ Sex Scene Championship Part 2 Round 11 :…
Read More 2014 Sex Scene Championship, Part 2, Rounds 11 – 16Dyslexic* and semi-literate ‘publisher’ starting major new genre press; thinks ‘loving the genre’ and being ‘financially solvent’ will be enough. http://i1359.photobucket.com/albums/q799/snugglyoranges/gifs/tumblr_m374orkay51rqfhi2o1_500.gif * I have friends and family who deal with various forms of dyslexia. They have my utmost respect. Since I was four, I’ve never lived in a world where words betrayed my brain. I understand…
Read More Yeah, that’s gonna workLong weekend, writing deadlines, Labor Day parties – sorry for not updating sooner. Here we go: Round 4: http://www.scorching-book-reviews.com/sex-scene-championship-part-2-round-4-laura-kaye-laurakayeauthor-vs-scarlet-day-scarletdaybooks/ Laura Kaye (@laurakayeauthor) vs Scarlet Day (@scarletdaybooks) ____ Round 6: http://www.scorching-book-reviews.com/sex-scene-championship-part-2-round-6-amber-belldene-amberbelldene-and-lexxie-couper-lexxie_couper/ Amber Belldene (@AmberBelldene) and Lexxie Couper (@lexxie_couper ) ____ Round 7: http://www.scorching-book-reviews.com/sex-scene-championship-part-2-round7-holley-trent-holleytrent-vs-kelly-jamieson-kellyjamieson/ Holley Trent (@HolleyTrent) Vs Kelly Jamieson (@KellyJamieson) ____ Round 8: http://www.scorching-book-reviews.com/sex-scene-championship-part-2-round-8-lucy-felthouse-cw1985-vs-danni-price-dannipricewrite/ Lucy Felthouse (@cw1985) vs Danni…
Read More 2014 Sex Scene Championship, Part 2, Rounds 4 – 10Blessed be the weekend, for it is long and full of writing! ∞
In a few days, I’ll post complete images of a new book art piece over on my 2014 Book Arts page. Here’s a teaser: One of the joys of doing book arts pieces is that I get to use my old poetry, rather than trying to sell it for one cent a word in poetry…
Read More Arachne poem and book artSince I’m on long work hours this week and under writing deadlines, the rest of my tournament posts will be brief. You’ve already read the excerpts, but you can go back to read my quick summaries in the part one posts. Moving along to Part Two! Round One: Samantha Ann King ( @SamanthaAnnKing) vs Cris Anson…
Read More 2014 Sex Scene Championship: Part Two, Rounds 1 – 3 (adult links)The first round is behind us – here’s to everyone for playing. Now we’re up to the second tier of brackets, and things should really heat up. Remember, read and vote for your favorite of each pair of excerpts; you could win prizes after all the dust has settled. Here’s the schedule for tournament pairs…
Read More 2014 Sex Scene Championship: Part TwoFrom Scorching Book Reviews, Nix posts the following: “The winner of round 15 is Danni Price! Massive thanks to Misa Buckley for joining in! The winner of round 16 is Lucy Felthouse! Massive thanks to Lisa Fox for joining in! The winners of round 17 are Shari Slade and Amber Lin! Massive thanks to Joely…
Read More 2014 Sex Scene Championship: winners of Rounds 15 – 28