C. L. Norman

I work in a Barnes & Noble that is connected to a mall. Not just a mall but THE mall for the entire community and most of this part of this state and the neighboring one as well. Barnes & Noble is open on Easter. The mall was not. Not surprisingly, the most common question, by far (and I do mean far), was “When does the mall open?” I wanted to sport a top hat a la Mad Hatter with a sign in the brim saying “The mall is closed for Easter.” The part that did annoy me was all the people demanding to know why would the mall close on Easter.

Really? I, the lowly bookseller in one store connected to a much larger mall,  is not going to know the answer to that. Aside from that the mall is closed every Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas with special hours on every other major holiday. These folks should have known to call at the very least before journeying in for a day of shopping. And for gosh sakes, don’t blame the shop-girl trying to sell a book or two during the middle of her Easter holiday.

But by far the best parts of my day were in the morning and the afternoon. I woke up at 6:30 am (missing my alarm for 3 am) to put the baskets together, imagining I heard the pitter patter of child feet with every crinkle of plastic. One of my children still believes in the bunny and I didn’t want to spoil that with my sleepiness.

Baskets ready, I spent a couple hours on my laptop before the first child (teen. Does that still count as a child?) made her appearance. Over the next hour, the other three kids gathered around. Then an hour doing Mad Libs and laughing with my children passed before I had to tear myself away to head for work.

After work, egg hunt time.

Finished the day out with dinner, some time researching family genealogy, and of course a new episode of Game of Thrones.

What a wonderful day. How was your Easter.

        

A new year has arrived! (. . . and there will be much rejoicing.) And with it the almighty resolutions and goals post.

You can read my goals from last year here. Let’s find out how I did.

• Finish and polish the novel I started during this year’s NaNoWriMo : Failed—I restarted this novel during NaNo 2010 and the story is much stronger now but still unfinished.
• Submit enough short stories to various markets that I have five pieces circulating at once: Failed, mostly—I had four stories circulating at once. I’ve decided that this goal was too loose and too long term. It allowed my procrastination tendencies to kick in and take over. It left me stranded at the end of the year with very little time due to the holidays and one last story to write.
• Attend RadCon and MisCon. Put my hand out and say “Hi” to at least one author at each. : Success—I attended both of these events and chatted with authors at both. At RadCon it was a narrow success. I said Hi and blushed and stammered and I don’t even remember who I talked with. Though I did spend an hour with Dean Wesley Smith and Darragh Metzger during the writing workshop and learned a lot.  MisCon was much better. I talked with Patricia Briggs, John Dalmas, Harry Turtledove, James Glass and others at various times during those four days. It was totally worth the heated cheeks to talk with these professionals.
• Research into a third con to attend, and if money permits go: Success—I found a third con to go to, SpoCon, but money was too tight to go. However I helped organize and put on a local writing conference, Rivers of Ink, and attended. I even had dinner with Patricia Briggs afterwards. I also attended Write on the River this year, and met and chatted with Terry Brooks, one of the first authors that made me fall in love with the fantasy genre. Before him, I mostly read classics like Little Women and Anne of Green Gables.
• Keep up with this blog, including more fiction pieces and more regular posts: Failed—I actually stopped posting for a while. I didn’t post any more fiction pieces and in general, I let you all down.

Last year is over, done, finished. On to 2011! My goals for this year are as follows:

• Write 5000 words a week for January, February, and March. This goal is much more immediate and set in stone than the above goal of circulating short stories. Some of these words will be on short stories, some on novels. I set the goal for the first three months because I know I can do better than 5000. I just need to get the habits into place first. At the end of March, I’ll reevaluate the word count goal for the next three months based off of children’s activities, work schedule, and how I did in the first three months.
• Finish what I start. This one is so very hard for me. I get these cool shiny new ideas and I whip out a fresh document and start typing. Less than 1000 words in, the shine has worn off and I want to move on to something else. This year, I will not let that happen.
• ePublish what I finish or submit to a traditional publisher. I will continue to fill up my inventory of titles available by yours truly this year.  This goal was the hardest to decide on. I was so tempted to say “Publish a short story every week or every two weeks.” I decided against that though as I want to also work on longer projects and if I fail once, I tend to give up. I didn’t want to leave myself that out. If I stay on target on the first two goals, this goal will be easy. I should also still be finishing enough projects to be self-publishing regularly.
• Continue to make contacts at conventions and writing conferences. As a part of this and expanding on last year’s goal, I will also start promoting my stories at these events. I will print up something to hand out to those interested in my stories and I will suck it up and talk about myself if the opportunity arises. I will be grateful that my complexion is such that only I will know if I am blushing.
• Keep this blog and the new webpage for my publishing self, Kandake Publications, up to date. I’d like to set a regular schedule for entries on the blog but if my schedule comes down to writing on a story or writing on my blog, I want the freedom to choose the story.

Those are my writing goals/resolutions for 2011. I’ll keep you posted on how I’m doing. What are your resolutions/goals for this year?

        

As I mentioned on Friday, I published a short story as an ebook and it is now available on Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and Smashwords for 99 cents. I detailed last time my decision making process and why I thought it was right for me.

Today, I will describe how I prepared to e-publish this first time.

I downloaded the free ebook from Smashwords about how to format my stories for electronic publishing. That’s right. I learned how to format the silly thing before I even chose a story to put up. I read through the entire thing and familiarized myself with the process. I didn’t know everything I needed to know about formatting it after one read through. That wasn’t going to happen until after I put what I read to practice.

Choosing The Story:

The caps and the bold and the colon above make this seem like there will be some secret here. Some sort of great revelation as to why I chose Survive to Eat to publish first. The honest answer is that there is no secret. This story was available to publish. I’ve been sending this one out to traditional markets for over a year and have been getting encouraging rejection letters back but no acceptances yet. Since I had just come out of NaNoWriMo, I didn’t have any short stories finished and unsent. With the holiday retail season upon us, writing time is at a premium (have I mentioned I work retail?). So the only short story available was this one and while I can’t say that the writing is the best, I do stand by the story. I enjoyed writing it and Aetran is an interesting hero that speaks to me (he may even have more adventures in his future) and I hoped that others would enjoy his story too.

So the story is chosen, and it was a simple matter to then go through and format it according to the guidelines on Smashwords. The price was easy to settle upon. 99 cents seemed pretty fair for a short story.

A trip to the bank to open up an account exclusively for my internet profits and I was set.

I created accounts at all three sites and uploaded the file. Done.

But wait! What about the cover? you ask.

The cover was both the most complicated and the easiest part of my adventure. I tried a free ebook cover creator on the web but had issues when I could never create one of the free accounts (stupid, automatically generated emails that never made it into my inbox). Then I tried PowerPoint and I was pretty happy with the end result until I tried to resize it to 900 pixels tall by 600 pixels wide. The words blurred and the program kept ‘fixing’ it by flipping the numbers. I honestly don’t know what I was doing wrong and I didn’t want to spend the time to figure it out. I then tried the Paint program that came free on my laptop. I opened a photo my husband took of some interesting trees on a camping trip this summer. I then resized it and added some text and Voila! A cover is born.

The hardest part of this will be keeping this going. I want to publish a new story every couple of weeks but that will mean finished a story every week or so. We will see how that goes. Keep an eye on this page to find out.

        

Last night, I finally had all my ducks in a row (unless one wandered off and I don’t realize it is missing yet) and sent my first short story out into the world to be e-Published.

I woke up this morning and Barnes & Noble already has it for sale. I’ve been walking on air ever since. Amazon and Smashwords will have it available soon as well and when they do I will provide links to those pages.

I wanted to share with you my experience in putting this first work up for the world to see. Let me make myself very clear, despite all my excitement, I am very aware that this is just the first tiny step. I hope to keep putting up new short stories every couple of weeks and eventually have novels available. I did have to start somewhere and it was kind of like that first time I stepped onto a stage and the lights were on me and I had a line to say; it is totally unlike anything I expected.

Decision Time:

The first thing that had to happen was the decision to epublish. I’ve been toying with this idea for quite some time now. On again. Off again. Do I? Don’t I? Have I mentioned I’m a ditherer?

While I dithered I read up on the subject. I knew I couldn’t make a decision without arming myself with information first. I read blogs that were pro-ebook and some that were anti-ebook and others that were middle of the road. I talked to and listened to writers who held many differing viewpoints on ebooks. And I came to a conclusion.

Just as every story is different and every writer has a different style, the decision to epublish is a personal one. There is no right or wrong answer to this question. Which was a very freeing thought as I hate being wrong. (Just ask my co-workers)

So now the question became is my writing good enough to self publish? Frankly, I still don’t have the definitive answer to that. I have been receiving very good feedback on my stories from NYT Bestselling authors, co-workers who have worked in the book business for years, and, while I have yet to get a treasured acceptance letter, publishers are very rarely using form letters to reject my submissions. I take all this to mean that I don’t suck. Someone (or more than one) out there will be interested in reading what I write.

So now the decision is nearly made but when should I begin self-publishing? After I finish that novel I started for National Novel Writing month? After I prove I can produce short stories regularly enough to publish regular? I am a procrastinator and these kinds of questions (read excuses) can put off that first publication date indefinitely. I could feel that paralysis creeping into my being and I couldn’t just make the decision to go ahead and do it already.

That is until I read this post by J. A. Konrath.

He is extremely pro-ebooks and so I know to read what he writes with a grain of salt (in fact I try to read everything that way as I know I am extremely naïve, sometimes downright gullible) but a couple little lines in there caught my attention.

Millions of ereaders will be sold this holiday season, and next season will be even bigger.
In 2010, my January sales had a nice bump, from new Kindle owners trying out their new gadgets. 2011 will begin the same way.

I work in a bookstore and I know just how many e-readers are being bought as Christmas gifts this year (well maybe not know as in the exact numbers nationwide, but know as in how many folks are buying locally of the kind we sell). Admit it, you know someone who is getting an e-reader for Christmas, don’t you?

I wanted to take advantage of all those people who would be opening up their electronic devices on the 25th of December and looking for stories to read. That knowledge made me decide that now was the time.

Next time, I will describe how I went about choosing a short story and putting it up for sale.

        

This week can be summed up in one word “Busy”.

I don’t have much to report unless you are interested in hearing about all the mommy duties and extra hours I worked this week. However there are a couple neat things to report.

Work

I work at the nook desk one to three times a week and this week was no exception. Monday the news came down that the price on “nook original” was being dropped and a new “nook lite’ was coming in and it’s price was even better. So lots to learn about at work and now nook is even more tempting. I find it incredibly easy to spend money and my job is one big temptation and they keep sweetening the pot.

Proud of my Brother

My baby brother graduated from Perry Technical Institute on Thursday and I am so proud. He has always struggled with school and to see him walk up in his cap and gown; receive his certificate; and walk with a smile on his face  was a great moment. My baby sister graduated last month and now the youngest of us (and there are 8 in the family) has made it through some form of higher education. It is a very cool moment for the family.

Hopefully next week will be a bit more interesting to share. At the very least I’ll be wishing you a Happy 4th. Have a good week.

        

• DO come in with a smile. Your’s might be the only one the bookseller sees that day.
• DON’T come in in the middle of a conversation on your cell phone and ask for help: or talk loudly on your blue-tooth. We don’t care to hear about your personal life and we will hear it.
• DO bring as much information about the book, you are looking for, as possible: title, author, and, for the best results, the ISBN.
• DON’T ask for the book with the red cover, about this big, that was up on one of the tables about three months ago. If you can’t remember the specific book, don’t expect someone who handles hundreds of books in a day to remember.
• DO feel free to be cleverly funny. We all like a laugh now and again.
• DON’T approach the customer service counter and say “I’m a customer. Service me.” and smirk. Especially to a female employee. It’s not funny. It’s creepy. Eww.
• DO browse the shelves and take your time. You never know what you might find.
• DON’T rearrange the books on the shelves as a joke. It isn’t a joke, it’s annoying.
• DO feel at home in the store. Books are friends. You want to be comfortable bringing your choice home with you.
• DON’T leave your used gum anywhere near the books; or anywhere other than the garbage can. Please.
• DO ask for help; either by phone or in person. Putting the book in your hands is the best part of working at a bookstore.
• DON’T say “I’m looking for a book.” and stop. We know you are looking for a book. You’re in a bookstore.

        

Howdy Friends. It has been a slow week of writing and watching the clock and wondering when my husband is coming home from work. He was putting in A LOT of extra hours and so I spent extra hours with the kids to give them more parent time.

Reading

I am trying out an ebook for the first time this week via the B&N eReader app for my PC. I prefer the print book still but the ebook was free and I like that price so we will see.

Writing

Speaking of ebooks, Barnes & Noble announced pubit! this week and everyone is buzzing about it at work and in my social networks. My writing group is considering trying to publish an anthology using that technology. There are a lot of things to take into consideration and decisions to make but it is still exciting all the same to have that option out there.

I submitted some stories this week and in the process I accidentally submitted the same story twice. I used the right word counts in the cover letters but the same title and the same file attachments. Seconds after hitting that send button I knew I had done it and then I panicked. How do I let them know I made a mistake and sound professional at the same time? I am such a worry wart but it was a small but good experience. I learned how to say Oops! like a professional.

Spider Tracks

Another great post by Dean Wesley Smith on Talent as a Myth. I like what he has to say about it and in fact, had already come to the conclusion that the hard work he talks about is the next skill I need to develop to continue in the writing field. My problem though comes from everyone telling me how talented I am but not believing them. My self esteem is very weak and I always think that when folks praise my writing clearly they are just being nice and they mean the opposite.

Discovered the site Adventures in Children’s Publishing and the character worksheet series. I found them interesting and while I am not sure I will actually use the sheet, I did find reading through the questions with my current MC in mind helpful.

J. A. Konrath’s press release for Shaken by Amazon got me thinking. I am still too new to this business to know all the ramifications or even be able to guess them but this is a neat development. So many changes coming down the line, it makes a writing career seem like a sandbox full of possibilities as long as one has the imagination to pursue them.

So my week went well, how was yours?

        

Working today, I realized something about the readers/shoppers of the Science Fiction/Fantasy section of the store. I realized that they ‘own’ their section of the store. Or rather I should say we own it.

Readers of other genres are just want pointed to their favorite authors and they are good to go. They are pretty flexible to change. They realize that they are in a store owned and operated by other people.

SF/Fantasy readers are very attached to their sections being set up a certain way. Any changes or mistakes in the organization of the books earns a quick comment to the nearest bookseller. No bookseller handy? Then they ‘fix’ it themselves.

When I first started working in bookstores, I took extra interest in my favorite section of the store. I learned the do’s and don’t's of shelving and displaying books there. I memorized which shelves the major authors were on as ‘bookmarks’ to the rest of the section. If given an option about where to work, I chose the fantasy section. Now I am unofficially in charge of the section. Now it is mine on a whole other level.

I pay close attention to how the customers shop, where they look for their books, and how they discover the next author to try. Readers of SF/Fantasy don’t tend to wander around the store looking for books on display or what’s on sale in the bargain section. They beeline for their section and lose themselves in the corridors filled with spaceships, elves, swords, and phasers. They have everything they need there and no need to explore further.

The SF/Fantasy section is mine. Thank you for leaving it as you found it and for pointing out that the Dragonlance books are suppose to be at the end with the RPG novels and not alphabetized in the main part of the section.

        

Another month has gone and a new one has started. May always feels like the beginning of something to me. The flowers are blooming, the weather is changing and warming up, and school is wrapping up. Everything is transitioning and in some ways this feels more like the start of a new year than January 1st.

Reading

I read Bewitched and Betrayed by Lisa Shearin. It is the fourth in the series and it just keeps getting better. Raine is the perfect protagonist who keeps landing both feet in a lake of trouble and sinks fast. Mychael, the perfect paladin, reveals that he has more than a touch of the rogue in him. Tam, the dark mage goblin, has a fairly small part in this book but a memorable one. Lisa also has a talent for writing in a traditional fantasy setting using modern language that pulls the modern reader in. I am already having trouble waiting for the next one.

Charlaine Harris’ new Sookie Stackhouse book, Dead in the Family, is out this Tuesday so you know what I will be reading when I get out of work then. The combination of the humor, the complicated love life, the who-done-its, and the ever growing cast of characters keep me coming back for more. I am very excited for this one.

Writing

I proved I could write a short story in a few hours Monday. I found out the deadline for a workshop I wanted to participate in was the date received by not the date mailed and suddenly I lost two days. I could have sent in one of the stories I have out in submission but that felt like “cheating” to me and so I wrote something. I read the first six pages on Wednesday night for the Open Mic Night at B&N and everyone seemed to enjoy it. However as I was nearing the end of what I was writing, yet again it seems that I am not writing a short story. I am writing either a prologue or the first chapter of something much longer. This is just further proof that I need to start writing (and more importantly finishing) novels.

Thursday I tried to start and finish my #flashfriday submission because I worked on Friday. All I managed was an intoduction to the protagonist. And then he wouldn’t stop yammering in my head. I have never had that experience before and it was almost unnerving and definitely distracting. After a particularly irreverent comment on a magazine I was putting out at work, I firmly told him to be quiet until I could sit in front of a computer. Since then he has been unusually well behaved for him and I need to smack him until he goes back to normal. Normal for him that is.

Writing Events

Saturday night, Patricia Briggs was in the store for a signing for her latest Mercy Thompson book, Silver Bourne.  I spent about 20 minutes chatting with her husband, Mike. He gave great insights into a writer’s life and especially their beginnings. Nap time will never sound the same again. I will be seeing them again at the end of May at convention in Missoula. Hopefully I won’t be so in awe of her writing that I can’t talk to them both as friends.

That was my week, how was yours?

        

Happy Sunday folks. Another week over and we are back together to talk about it.

Reading

D. D. Barant’s book, Death Blows, was released this week and I had to pick it up. This series starring Jace Valchek, FBI profiler from our world, stuck in an alternate reality where humans are only 1% among a population of vampires, werewolves, and golems, is a delight. This sequel is a fun continuation of the story that began in Dying Bites and delves into comic book history. The world of superhero supernaturals is explored and is very enjoyable. I recommend this series to fans of the urban fantasy/who-done-it genres.

Writing

Still struggling with bad habits. Remember back in November when I was so excited to be writing daily during NaNoWriMo? I am working on getting back to that and shutting my inner critic up. She has gotten very noisy lately, jabbering non-stop from her position behind the driver’s seat. Rude, much? Compliments on my writing has given her permission to try to take over the steering wheel. I am working on tying her up and throwing her in the trunk. If you have a spare roll of mental duct tape, I could use it.

Gaming

We started a new Pathfinder campaign this week. I am running the Kingmaker adventure path for a group of seven friends and family. This adventure is fun and different. It is a fairly open field for the characters to roam in. The quest structure is very free form, in face it reminds me a lot of Everquest 2 or World of Warcraft. Wanted posters, NPCs wanting favors, and location discoveries yield quests that award traditional loot and experience. I fully expect to have fun running through this campaign.

Other Tidbits

Dean Wesley Smith popped the myth that writer’s don’t need to practice here.

Barnes & Noble Explorations tells us how to know if you are a SciFi/Fantasy geek here.

The NovelDoctor has some advice for getting through those troublesome middle sections of our novels here.

Romance Writer’s Revenge has a case for pantsters here, not that I need convincing.

How wondrous fine was your week? Anything new happen? or was it the same-o, same-o?