Writing • Page 39

cover reveal!!!

 

look what came in!!

 

Oh yeah writing friends I published a novella. Book one coming in April. Check it out if you like gardeners, dogs, and spooky plants. High fantasy, KU or free with email signup.

 

work in progress: death’s door (previously the other side)

 

I agreed to do a manuscript swap as a beta reader for a fellow writer and it's such a slog. 166,000 words and it's just not good. It's the poorest imitation of Game of Thrones, right down to a few scenes being way too similar. The deadline is April 14th and I'm not even halfway through. I honestly should have given up by now and provided feedback as to why, but since this is my first time as a beta reader I figured I'd labor through it, and I'm regretting that decision.

Hard thing is, they're one of my beta readers and I'll feel like a jerk if he finishes my book and I don't finish his

 

That’s the worst, I’ve been there. I’d just skim the rest and give him sensitive but honest feedback—say the second half lost you a bit due to XYZ. Authors need a gentle wake up call sometimes and it’s actually for their benefit.

 

How do y'all do that? I don't know where to find a writing group and others to work with. All of the avenues I looked up (e..g, local groups on social media, various Discord servers) always come up short for committed writers.

 

It’s tough to find a critique partner at the start. You just have to sort of insert yourself in the community. There’s no one right way to find fellow writers, but once you do, you just maintain real friendships and connections with them. Supporting one another’s efforts/achievements and being open to review their work-in-progress as well.

 

Yeah mine have always been community-driven. My writing group is a dude I became friends with at church, his brother, and their friend (whom I’ve literally never met in person, but he’s one of my closest friends now). Or the SFF forum here on chorus, I offered to beta read somebody’s book and mentioned I was writing as well and have now had a couple of friends via that thread offer to beta read and critique.

That said @a_cuppa_joe I’ll volunteer myself haha, if you want a beta reader/critique partner/accountability/sounding board/ whatever, just lemme know, I’m down.

 

A fellow poet reaches out to me to tell me they rated my book on storygraph. I excitedly go to check and they gave it 3.5 stars

 

Question for any non-fiction/historian/writers or those who can help me out?

If writing based on research, for example say I wanted to write a history of a band (as an unofficial biography), but would be conducting interviews with those in the band, close to, worked with, etc. - would that writing be subject to copyright laws? As in, am I allowed to tell someone else's story if the information is all there for me to find and get?

 

Thank you so much! I really appreciate that. I'll DM you today! :)

 

starting the 4th draft today utilizing the beta reader feedback that was provided to me. while the feedback was mostly positive, now begins the delicate art of incorporating said feedback without sacrificing/compromising too much

 

finalized the next book's description today, the collaborative one that's coming out this summer

 

uhhhh you had me at bird-watching club!

 

I'm thinking of doing a picture book, but I'm not positive... Curious on people's thoughts here.

I think it might be fun to do, and could let me explore other creative avenues. Keep in mind that I'm thinking of doing both the writing and art, but I'm not the best at doing art.

Here's my deviantart and you can see what I've done: https://www.deviantart.com/mysummerjob/gallery

Obviously if I did the art it would be in the pixel art style you see in my gallery.

 

I think the pixel art looks cool and I think you should go for it! What's making you hesitate?

 

I'm very self critical and harsh on my own work* (especially when it comes to the visual medium) though I'm a bit easier on myself when it comes to story writing and poetry (in fact I've self published a few poetry books up on Amazon, or can check my online stuff for free at MySummerJob - poet at allpoetry) even with how much I struggle with grammar.

There's also the fact that I have another writing project I've been working on since 2015, "finished" the first book (still needs to have proofreads and touchups) in the series back in 2018, and have kind of hit a wall with it (I have notes, ideas, and ways to move forward, but just lack the motivation so that is on a hiatus... Plus my current computer has tech issues (like the hdd drive is dead (it's a dual boot with 500gbs that has the OS on a SSD and the 1tb hdd that died (need to see if I can get it repaired or data recovered)).

Seeing as how on this computer I paid for a pixel art program called "Aseprite" but it reads/writes off my dead drive and the main SSD doesn't really have that much room. I could use free art programs like an online one called "Piskel" but that one isn't good and I haven't figured out how to get layers to work in that one.

*I know I could probably team up with an artist, but I'm both unemployed and broke so I figure it would be better to do it on my own... Though now I think about it Pixel Art for a book might be pretty niche as well, but also cool to do (and different from the norm).

Honestly the more I write about this the more I'm leaning towards doing it, even despite the issues I'd face...

 

Can't criticize something that doesn't exist! I mean that in a positive way - anything is better than a blank page, no matter how terrible a first draft might turn out.

Nothing gets motivation going like being creative, so working on a new project would at least get you creating new stuff and at best get you motivated to continue with the earlier project!

These are all excellent reasons to go for it! No downsides, only upsides, and it sounds like a cool project to me.

 

Took a big swing and asked Geoff Rickly if he’d blurb my upcoming book. He actually replied and said he’s overcommitted but that it seems like a great project and he’d love to read and blurb it if he ends up having the time.

I’m about to send it to him, which is a surreal feeling. Grew up on this guy’s lyrics and his book last year was one of the best.

Pretty amazing he’s responding let alone considering to read it at all. If we get a blurb from him, I’d lose my mind.

 

My second poetry collection is moving at such a glacial pace coming together. I legit feel like I've lost "it" when trying to get the pieces down.

 

been there. no shame in taking a break and doing some reading of your favs to reignite that spark

 

Whenever I get writers block I'll read a couple books to get some inspiration and to just take a break

 

Good news, I started working on the story and creating the outline that I'll use the book... I even got a friend (possibly more in the future?) willing to help read my notes and give me feedback so I'm feeling a bit better about how things are starting.

 

I can’t say much more now, but a project I’m working on (unrelated to stuff I’ve been publishing) is in the audiobook recording stage, and I just heard the first take, and I am DYING it’s so good. I’ve never heard my writing read before and it’s incredible.