Archive for February, 2012

March is for Monsters starts NOW!

Feb 29

Posted by john in Appearances, Promos/Giveaways | 1 Comment

I know it’s really still February, but I’m starting the giveaway early. Today through Friday, you can get Monsters Beware free on Amazon.

Yesterday you could get Love Stinks, the newest Bubba the Monster Hunter story, free right here. Today it’ll cost you a buck on Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

And now you can get entries into the March is for Monsters giveaway! You can win a Kindle Fire, or autographed books!

As always, there’s other cool thriller and horror freebies over on Epic Kindle Giveaway!

And it now seems that I signed up for a table for StellarCon, which I completely forgot about, so I’ll have a table and will be around to sign stuff and sell books all weekend. Stop by and say hello. Did I mention that Patrick Rothfuss is the Guest of Honor? Did I mention that Patrick Rothfuss has written two of the best fantasy novels I’ve ever read and that I’m totally a fanboy of his? Did I mention that I ordered his books in hardcover for the express purpose of getting them signed this weekend, regardless of the fact that I’ve already read them electronically? I might be a little excited to meet him. In case any of you were wondering, we writers still have our favorite writers that we get all squee over, and Rothfuss is one of mine. So I’m more than a little excited.

I’m less excited about going to the dentist tomorrow, but I totally need a cleaning, and I think I need a filling, and I need to get both of those things done this month while I still have dental insurance. The dental insurance plans that I’ve seen suck – they’re something like $80/month, with a max annual coverage of $1,000. If I’m going to have to pay almost a grand a year to have insurance, and that insurance only pays a grand in benefits, then I’m still screwed. So I’d not going to have dental insurance after this month, so I’m trying to get anything done by the end of March, when my coverage ends.

Hope to see you at StellarCon,or if not there then at SETC next weekend, or at MidSouthCon the end of the month!

Epic News

Feb 27

Posted by john in Appearances, Business of publishing, Writing | 1 Comment

I’ve joined forces with Scott Nicholson (although according to a comment recently, I may actually be Scott Nicholson, since no one has ever seen us in a room together, but I assure I am not Scott Nicholson, nor could I play him on TV. I’m much too fat these days. But I digress, which makes me more Peter David than Scott Nicholson, but that’s a whole ‘nother post) in his promotional site The Epic Kindle Giveaway. This is a collection of thriller and horror writers all tweeting, facebooking and cross-promoting our Amazon freebies. This should hopefully bring some additional exposure to my work, and some more Twitter followers and more subscribers to my mailing list.

You are signed up for my mailing list, right? I’m still learning how to use MailChimp, but I managed to get out a promo newsletter last week about The Chosen, and some of you obviously enjoyed the reminder, because I sold twice as many copies of that novel the day after the newsletter went out than I had the rest of the month. So that was effective.

I’m also learning to use HootSuite to more effectively manage my Twitter and Facebook feeds, which will become increasingly important as some of my other ventures get off the ground later this spring. I like the interface, and I’m learning how to schedule tweets and posts so I don’t have to be at my computer all the time, which is nice. These tools will let me jam all my promotion and social media time into a shorter window, so I can write in bigger chunks. And that’s the whole goal, right?

This weekend was pretty good on that front. As my days at the job are dwindling, I decided to burn an extra vacation day and not work any more full weeks in the office, so I took Friday off. Friday I got 3,519 words in across two projects, Paint it Black and the Cindy Slaughter book. Saturday I did 4,170 words on three projects – Paint it Black, Cindy Slaughter and mostly on the new Bubba story. And yesterday I got 2,685 words in on the new Bubba story and Paint it Black. I haven’t titled the Cindy Slaughter book or the new Bubba story yet, hopefully I’ll finish the story tonight and have it available for purchase before the end of February.

Yes, I know it’s tight. Thank god for Leap Year. I also still have revisions on Genesis that I’m working on, and I’d like to have that finished soon after getting the Bubba story out the door.

This weekend is StellarCon in High Point – I have three panels, a reading and a signing, so there’s plenty of chances for folks to come by and say hello. If you’re in the neighborhood, please stop by.

And here’s a little more of my music to write by – The Dirt Drifters. I’m loving these guys right now.

Photos for Friday

Feb 24

Posted by john in Appearances, Theatre | No Comments

I’m in a play right now called Almost, Maine for Ballantyne Community Theatre, a fledgling theatre company here in Charlotte. We have our last two performances this weekend, so I thought I’d put up a few photos from dress rehearsal to give you guys a little of the flavor of the show.

March is for Monsters

Feb 22

Posted by john in Promos/Giveaways | No Comments

I’ve enrolled all the Bubba the Monster Hunter stories (except Cat Scratch Fever, because it’s new and I want you Nook owners to be able to get the story) in Kindle Select through April, and I’m going to use the month of March to work on really seeing what I can do with this program from Amazon. Now I’m no Scott Nicholson, so don’t expect me to be giving away no ten Kindle Fires or anything like that, but I do think giving away one Kindle Fire is not out of the question. So I’m working on a giveaway, and a whole bunch of other stuff. Watch this space for more details!

Here’s the schedule for the free Bubba stuff -

Monsters Beware – Free February 29-March 2

Voodoo Children – Free March 5-9

Ballet of Blood – Free March 12-16

Ho-Ho-Homicide – Free March 19-23

Tassels of Terror – Free March 26-30

 

And Bloggers – you can get entries just by posting, tweeting, sharing or otherwise helping publicize this giveaway!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

StellarCon 36 Update

Feb 21

Posted by john in Appearances | No Comments

I got my schedule this morning for StellarCon 36 in High Point, NC. It looks like a jam-packed weekend of geeky fun, so if you’re anywhere in the area, come on over and say hi! Here’s what I’m scheduled for -

Friday – 5PM – 5:30PM – Reading – I think I’ll pull out some Bubba stuff, maybe a little Black Knight stuff, and maybe even a little poetry if anybody shows up to see the reading.

Friday – 8PM – Prop Building – I’m a theatre guy, so I can talk a little about building props, but it’s not really my strong suit. This will be a rare chance to see me on a panel where I don’t talk a lot.

Saturday – 2PM – The Role of the Publisher in Today’s Market – this will not be a chance to see me be quiet. I’ll be the one championing small press and self-publishing. Should be fun. Too bad Mike Stackpole is doing an interview at this time slot, since this is kinda a hot button for him. With Misty Massey, so I’ll be polite at least. She’ll poker me if I misbehave.

Saturday – 6PM – Pushing the Limits in YA Fiction – What issues should YA lit deal with and what should the boundaries be? I feel like YA lit should deal with anything that young adults may actually have to deal with, but I’m kinda silly that way. On a panel with people who know way more about the genre than I do, like A.J. Hartley and Davey Beauchamp.

Sunday – 1PM – Where do you get your Ideas? And other stupid questions. – This oughta be entertaining

So I hope you’ll be able to come out and join me. In other news, I still have need of a minion for a couple of cons coming up this year. It’s not a paid position, but I’ll get you into cons for free. If you live somewhere that I’m going to be, and have interest in attending cons and helping out a scatterbrained author (or maybe two), let me know.

 

Schedules – those imaginary things that we pretend to live by…

Feb 20

Posted by john in Business of publishing, Writing | No Comments

There have been a few questions posted as to when the fourth book of the Black Knight Chronicles will be out (tentatively titled Paint it Black, subject to change at any moment).

The honest answer is…I don’t know. Working with a publisher is a different beast, y’all. For the first time it’s not just my book that somebody (me) is thinking about. They’ve got a calendar, and I know Book 4 is on there, but I don’t know what the release date looks like. I know when my first draft is due (March 31). And I think that I’ll make that deadline, but it’ll be tight. I can already tell that this book will be a little darker, probably a bit longer, and will feature all your favorite characters from the first three books. I’m at around 20,000 words right now, or about 1/3 of the way through a typical Black Knight Chronicles book. And I’m not sure I’m more than 1/4 of the way through the story, so that makes me think it might run longer. But I’ve been wrong before. I thought the same thing about Knight Moves, and it ended up shorter. I’m learning a lot working with a developmental editor for the first time. She’s kicking my ass about plotting and making sure everything paces out right, that I lay the groundwork for things early in the book that I want to use later in the book, and stuff like that. So I’m getting everything out of the traditional publishing process that I’d hoped for so far. Now for the money truck to back up to my door…

But I don’t know when Book 4 will drop, and as soon as I know something, I’ll let you guys know.

What I do know is that we’ll have a new Bubba story each month (on average, I might have to double-dip in March to make up for February), and sometime in the spring we’ll have the Cindy Slaughter novel/novella. I can’t tell how long it’s going to be yet. I’m at 20,000 words in that one and have just gotten to the start of Act 2, so it might end up being a full-blown novel as well.

Then this summer I’ll have Book 2 of Return to Eden, I promise. I think that series is going to be a one book per year kinda thing, though, so it might be 2013 before I wrap it all up.

Book 5 of Black Knight Chronicles is due to Bell Bridge the end of September, so that’ll take up the summer to write, along with the Bubba stories, and I might work on Book 3 of Return to Eden when I finish it, or I might hammer on another project or two that I’ve been kicking around in the back of my head.

So while I don’t know when you’ll see the next Black Knight book, I know there will be a Bubba story this month (or two next month, I promise), the Cindy Slaughter book late spring, Return to Eden 2 in the summer, and more Bubba stories to keep you laughing at my gun porn all year round. A few people have asked if Bubba is going to get his own novel, and the answer for now is “no.” Bubba’s a fun diversion between books, and a way to blow off steam, but I haven’t built enough backstory yet for him to get his own novel. It might happen, but almost certainly not in 2012. There might be a Bubba origin story next year, but we’ll see how I feel about the Cindy Slaughter book when it’s done, and whether or not I want to play around in that universe any more.

So there’s a little ramble on what I’m working on. Currently two books at the same time, which is working well, but I don’t think I want to try to hop between three. That’s why there might not be a February Bubba story, but I’ll get back on track someday, I promise. Like in a couple weeks when I quit the day job!

In other news, I’ve decided to open Falstaff Books up to other authors. Currently I’m looking at working with playwrights, but that might broaden to general fiction writers in the future.

When it’s hard…

Feb 14

Posted by john in Writing | No Comments

And no, this is not a Valentine’s Day dirty joke post. :)

I was sitting here looking at a blank screen thinking Shit. I have nothing new to say. So what else is new? I haven’t had anything new to say on this blog forever. I’m busy. I’m writing. I’m rehearsing. I’m writing. I’m rehearsing. Ad Nauseum.

Then it hit me – sometimes it’s not easy to write. Last night and this past weekend was a fine example of that. I wrote nothing on Friday or Saturday despite having both days off from the day job (5 weeks and counting!), but I decided that between the day job and rehearsal, I was going to give myself permission not to write if I didn’t feel like it. But Sunday that shit had to be over. I went to my parents’ to celebrate their birthdays (their birthdays are three days apart, so we celebrate them together), and got in a little writing before we left. I only got a little over a thousand words down, but it felt like I’d written 5,000 by the time I was done.

Then last night was more of the same. I wrote a little over 2,300 words, but it felt like 10,000. My writing muscles are rusty after writing practically nothing for a couple of weeks due to other commitments. But that’s kinda the deal – if you’re going to pursue this in any professional capacity, there will be days that you don’t feel like writing. Tough shit. It’s hard to sit there staring at an accusing blank screen, but that’s the job. People pay me to write things – books, stories, articles. And I love writing. But some days I just want to play Skyrim all day. And pretty soon, I won’t have anyone to answer to but myself (and my editor for some project, but usually just me and my bank account). So I’m learning to put my butt in the chair even when I don’t want to, and knock the rust off that’s built up in a month of playing theatre again. I think it will be easier to do shows when writing is my day job, and I’m not juggling three different things all at one time, but we’ll see.

Tonight is Valentine’s, so I’ll probably lose most of my writing time again, but Suzy and I have spent precious little time together this year, so it’ll be worth it. It just means I have to work that much harder Wednesday night to catch up, and to keep the rust from getting too thick on my typing fingers.

Video – The last six weeks

Feb 10

Posted by john in Uncategorized | No Comments

There’s been enough going on in the last six weeks to fill up a video. It’s been, in a word, crazy.

Jan-Feb 2012

NC Amendment One

Feb 8

Posted by john in Real Life | 5 Comments

Warning – political post ahead.

 

Okay, you were warned. If you follow me on Facebook, this is your official warning that from now until May 8th, there will be a bunch of posts decrying Amendment One, the ballot measure that NC will be voting on to outlaw gay marriage. I’m staunchly against this, as I am in favor of equal rights for all people, and taking away someone’s right to stand in front of a justice of the peace, put their fifty bucks on the counter and say “Til Death Do Us Part” seems wrong to me. I would like to think that my stance on gay rights doesn’t influence my writing too much, but I’m sure it’s pretty apparent to the readers of Back in Black that I’m all in favor of gay marriage. Or as we like to call it amongst my friends – marriage.

I’m not going to debate all the pros and cons of the issue here, but suffice to say if you see me at a con and I’m wearing a shirt that says something about equality, and I have several, that’s what is being referenced. I was loathe to use my modest notoriety as a bully pulpit until I realized that the opponents of civil liberty in our country don’t share my reticence. So I’m speaking out, in no uncertain terms, about my opposition to any constitutional amendment, or law in general, that reduces freedoms. And this is the first one that hits home for me, because it impacts so many of my friends.

I’m a straight white southern guy, happily married for over sixteen years. So why is this important to me? Because I think that all of my friends should be able to declare their love for each other openly without fear of reprisals from society, government or anyone else, as long as both parties are of legal age. Because I think it’s stupid that one couple that’s been together for ten years can have visitation rights in the ICU, and another one can’t. Because I think that it’s stupid that if Suzy and I adopted a kid, and something happened to either one of us, the kid stays with the other one, but a committed lesbian couple can be together for decades and have their children taken away from one mother if the other one dies. And this isn’t a random possibility – these are things that happen. And it seems unfair to me. So I’m speaking out. I’d like to think that my readers will mostly agree with my positions on this issue, but if not, that’s okay. I have friends and relatives that I disagree with too. But I just wanted to warn you that I think this amendment is bullshit, and you’re probably going to hear a lot from me about it for the next few months.

Back on a ladder

Feb 6

Posted by john in Theatre | No Comments

At least this time it was only a ten-footer. Spent a big chunk of yesterday hanging lights for Almost, Maine, the show I’m in that opens this Friday night. Pretty simple rig, only a few lights with one special effect, but we had to put everything in the air including dimmers and cable, so that took a little more time than normal. I also picked up a design gig for later on in the year and one for next year as well. I had really intended to be finished with design after RENT, but now that I’m leaving the day job I feel like I’ll have enough time to do a few shows a year without killing myself.

I’ll be designing The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee for Theatre Charlotte in May, and another show that I can’t talk about yet because it hasn’t been officially announced. But it’s a director that I’ve worked with several times before, and he and I get along famously, so it’s pretty much a done deal. I think I can probably do 3-4 shows a year without burning up too much writing time, and the extra income is always nice. Plus I’m good at it, which certainly doesn’t hurt :) .

I didn’t write yesterday – I gave myself the day off. I hammered out almost 5,500 words on Saturday across two projects, and I feel pretty confident that the Cindy Slaughter thing will be finished this month. Paint it Black will be done next month, and I need to get a Bubba story knocked out in February as well, so I’ve got plenty to do. I also have some more work to do on Genesis before I move on to Exodus, which is due at the editor’s in May.

Watched most of the second half of the Super Bowl, and was happy to see Eli win another one. I’m far from a Giants fan, but I thought they were the lesser of two evils, so I enjoyed the outcome. And isn’t it about time that people start asking Peyton about his brother, rather than the other way around?

After the game I watched The Voice for the first time and I really enjoyed it. I liked the format, I liked most of the judges, and some of the contestants had good stories. So I’m pretty well hooked on that, which is all I need. Suzy and I have now watched all of the Burn Notice on Netflix, and just started Stargate: SG-1. With ten season of that, it oughta keep us occupied for a good long time. And all I can say is that Amanda Tapping looks downright juvenile with blonde hair. And fifteen years younger. She’s much hotter on Sanctuary.