Friday, December 21, 2012

Somewhere in a Winter Wonderland...

I still haven't found my camera battery charger since our move, so this picture is from last year.  I'm not sure if there will be time for cookies this year for the same reason.

Mmmm....memories....

Hopefully I will find the charger today (pretty sure it's in one of two boxes), and then I'll post some pics of the snow in my new backyard, the Xmas tree devoted to science fiction television, and the brownies I'm hoping to bake this afternoon.

'Till then, Happy Holidays!
Al

Monday, December 10, 2012

Motherhood

Arrival of the Traveler is now back on Nook.  I apologize to anyone who was looking for it while it was down during the KDP Select enrollment.

Two of my editors for the Redemption series are pregnant right now.  The third is trying to get pregnant.  One of them is in labor today.  Me?  I'm still merrily typing along, hoping that the madness ends.

And by that, I mean the multiple drafts I've worked myself into.  Of course that's what I meant.

It's December, and it's cold out; walking through Denver and the auto-mosphere has my nose, throat, and lungs in knots, and I have a cold to boot.  This has led to the prescribed consumption of cold medication, which has a tendency to bring out the hypergraphia and lower inhibitions.

Enjoy the posts this winter, readers.

I am currently restructuring Redemption to remove most flashbacks in favor of a linear timeline (two editors complained of this feature of the book, and it never sat right with me to begin with).  Yes, this is making an already long book longer.

Arrival of the Traveler was right around 90,000 words.  Redemption now sits at 137,000 words, and counting.  Too long.  Something is getting the ax, or I will have to cut it in to two books.  Problematically, I had envisioned this book as one solid episode in the overarching Redemption plot line, so it will be difficult to split in half if need be.

I could just release it as is--one big chunk of story.  But then, the rest of the novels are going to seem off balance being of normal length compared to this monster.  But then, I don't know why I worry about this stuff, because it will all depend on how sick I am of working through the edits once they are done.  When I have the green light from the editors, this baby will probably fly regardless of length.

Which brings me back to my editor in labor.  Kudos, sister.  You have made an actual human being in less time than it has taken me to edit this novel.  Kudos, good luck, and may motherhood bring you all the happiness you have dreamed.

Al

Friday, December 7, 2012

Kindle Giveaway Follow-Up

Over the last 3 months, I've had Arrival of the Traveler in the KDP Select program.  For those who are curious (I know I was before doing this), here is what's happened so far.

I gave away a goodly number of books--enough to raise Arrival t#40 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Fantasy > Contemporary.  The KDP contract asks that authors not reveal specific sales figures, so that will have to do.

Since the end of the promotion, as other authors have reported, I have seen an uptick in the sales of the following two books in the series.  For me, this has been the most exciting part; people out there have actually read the first book, and enjoyed it enough to come back for the second book.  They enjoyed that one enough that they came back for the third book.  

Having now completed it's KDP Select tour, Arrival will be returning to Nook tomorrow, so watch for it.  :)

People who are reading my books, thank you!  You are awesome!

Al