S.A. Hunter's Journal

No, I haven't published a new book.

2012-02-12T00:16:00.006-05:00

(I wasn't going to comment on this here, but I forgot about the Goodreads widget in the sidebar, so felt my hand was forced.)

You may notice a new book by S.A. Hunter.

It isn't me.

It seems someone else has chosen to publish under this name. I'm not sure how to deal with this. The other S.A. Hunter has also written a fantasy novel. Goodreads has linked the book to my profile, and iTunes pulls the book up when you click the link "Other works by this author". Amazon has a clear delineation between us, but confusion is inevitable. I'm not sure why this other S.A. Hunter decided to use this particular moniker. When I Google myself or search on Amazon, I appear and thus would indicate that using that particular author name may be ill-advised, but I don't know. Maybe I'm inflating my own importance, but it is rather troubling.

The other S.A. Hunter is already on Facebook. Again, that isn't me. I haven't published a page yet. (And doesn't that sound inevitable? You can still vote in the poll and sway me.)

Right now, I'm trying to decide if I should approach this author and/or her publisher. Asking someone to change their author name seems highly presumptuous, but I picked my author name because it was rather distinctive. (And once upon a time, the number one search result for Stephanie Hunter was an Australian escort service. I could not compete with that.)

So, again, no, I haven't published a new book.

Should I have a Facebook Page?

2012-01-21T11:42:00.013-05:00

On my ever growing list of things to do, I have Facebook near the top. I'm not a heavy Facebook user. I barely ever log in. I know other writers have had success with Facebook, and I know a lot of readers are probably on it, but I don't know how much people would like this addition. I don't know what would happen if I did add a Facebook page. I've looked at other authors who have pages. I would definitely announce when projects were coming out, but being pithy and sharing links looks unlikely. Being pithy takes a lot of work. If you have an opinion, or if you don't, please take my poll below. It will help me know what I should do. Thanks!

Should I have a Facebook Page?

P.S. I've also added a "Subscribe by email" widget to the sidebar if anyone would like to get posts in their email. It is handled by Feedburner.

My Review of The Seventh Tower: The Fall

2012-01-21T06:46:00.002-05:00

The Fall by Garth Nix

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Garth Nix creates amazing worlds in his fantasies, and the first book in the Seventh Tower series is no exception. I teetered between giving this three and four stars because I felt some of the fantastical elements were rather rushed. He throws out brief two sentence descriptions of all these unknown beasts, and they seem to be there purely to identify what the form a shadowguard assumed rather than truly adding to the story, and since none of the animals have familiar names, it's hard to keep track of them and what they're supposed to be.

The magic system is intriguing being based on light in a dark world with a strict color heirarchy for the society with those in the red tower being lower than those in the orange and so on. Finding out more about this world would be interesting. I will try to read the next in the series, but I'm not rushing out to get it. The book is listed as being for nine and up. I feel like maybe Nix was light on details to keep the younger readers interested, but older readers will be left wanting when they crack open the book. Because it is the first in a series, nothing is resolved, and Tal is no where near his goal. This is rather dissatisfying. Nix, at least, didn't leave off at too taunt a cliffhanger. I think he would've lost a star on this review if he had.

View all my reviews

New Things with Blog

2012-01-15T10:29:00.003-05:00

Hi Everybody,

Well, it seems ye olde Blogger has been making some changes, and I've finally become aware of them. First, commenting is now threaded. It was begun by default on this site, but seems to still be off on the story sites. I'm not sure why that is, and I'm still not sure if I like threaded comments better than flat. (I just realized that the story sites may stay flat since they were posted before threaded was an option.) I'll keep comments threaded here until I see compelling evidence to stop it.

Another new thing is mobile view templates. I'd turned on mobile view a while back for this blog. I liked that there was a mobile view, but I didn't turn it on for the story sites. I didn't like the mobile view THAT much, but now they've updated it, and I think it could work well for the story sites. I've gone through and turned it on for them now. I think the chapters are too long for mobile view, but I can't shorten them without the changes affecting the full version sites. The main reason I changed them is because the text is A LOT easier to read on a smart phone with the mobile view enabled. I've made some small adjustments to try and make the sites functional in mobile view without changing the full web version sites too much, but have not done any hard testing. If anyone has any opinions or insights let me know. One odd thing that I've found is that if I swipe my finger across the screen, Blogger decides that I must want to go back a post or something, which is rather annoying, but I can't see how to fix that. I really don't know how many people stumble across my stories with their mobile devices, but I would like to make the sites as accessible as possible.

And yes, I picked the book template for the mobile view because I'm a nerd, and I really didn't think anyone wanted to look at the pink stripe version for longer than five seconds. I hope nobody was looking at the sites with their smart phone while I was mucking about. I changed the template a gazillion times as I tried stuff out.

Measuring Success

2011-12-30T14:05:00.001-05:00

As I obsessively check sales figures, I'm trying to decide if what I'm seeing is good or not. (Reading articles about Amanda Hocking doesn't help.) How do we self-pubbed authors determine if we're successful? And I realized I never really set a bar for myself. I hadn't defined what success would be beyond a hazy concept of being able to quit my job and write full-time.

When I set Unicorn Bait and Scary Mary for free, I had no expectations. I knew I would get some downloads, but I had no idea what the numbers would be. (I'm going to use only Amazon data in this post because it is the most up-to-date and accessible.) My books were initially .99 on Amazon. They stayed .99 for a few months, and I wasn't seeing much in the way of sales. In the first month, I sold zero. Then I sold 1 the next month. I sold 84 copies in the next nine months. Then Amazon finally made Scary Mary free like I wanted.

And then my socks were knocked off. Scary Mary was downloaded 16,125 times in one month. I was beside myself. I couldn't believe just how many people were downloading Scary Mary. I was sure this was some sort of sign. And it is a sign. A sign that free is the perfect price for a lot of people.

As of today, Scary Mary and Unicorn Bait have been downloaded over 110,000 times on Amazon. If I add up all platforms, their total downloads are north of 150,000. That's amazing to me because I did no promotion outside of my own website. I've had some reviews on small indie blogs, but I know the driving force behind that six digit number is the free price tag.

Considering how well the free books did and how many people have read Scary Mary, one would think Stalking Shadows would be a great success. I mean at least 50,000 people have downloaded Scary Mary, and it appears a great many enjoyed the book...so Stalking Shadows should be a best seller, right? Um, no. Stalking Shadows was released in late October of this year, right before Halloween. At this time, it has sold about 600 copies. Don't get me wrong. 600 is pretty damn good, but when I compare it to 50,000, it seems kind of well, paltry.

So I'm having to adjust my perspective. Selling 600 copies of Stalking Shadows is GREAT. I'm very happy with that number, but I've got to accept that nothing will ever beat free. I mean look at this--Scary Mary has been downloaded 12,000 times this MONTH on Amazon.uk, and Stalking Shadows has sold 220 copies. Comparing these two numbers and wondering why there was such a disparity could drive someone insane. Someone could wonder if maybe 11,780 people read Scary Mary and didn't think it was good enough to read the sequel. Someone could wonder if she can really hack it.

Or someone could take a deep breath, stop refreshing the reports screen in Kindle Direct Publishing, and write the freaking sequel to Unicorn Bait. Someone thinks that's what she'll do.

Selling Out

2011-12-17T00:45:00.008-05:00

I've been struggling with something that feels a little sacrilegious. I've been thinking about switching from free to charging for Scary Mary and Unicorn Bait. I would most likely leave the free versions up on their websites, but I would charge for the ebook versions, and any updates I would make to the stories (in most cases grammatical) would only appear in the ebook version. My thinking is purely monetary. My current dream is to make enough money where I could reduce my full-time job from 40 hours a week to 32 or less (while still keeping my full benefits, I would just be paid less). The ultimate goal is to support myself solely by writing, but I know that isn't likely anytime soon. I just want to reduce my schedule by one day right now.

I know if I switched both books to .99 that the downloads would take a nose dive, but they wouldn't stop completely. I would possibly make fifty bucks a month or something but that would help me get a little closer to my goal of reducing my work schedule. That's not a guaranteed dollar amount, but I feel it's very likely, especially as a lot of reviews have been generated, so new readers may be willing to put down .99 for a book that a lot of other people have seemingly liked.

In my mind, one of the hiccups to changing to .99 is the free online versions. I worry that readers might resent the fact that I charge .99 for the ebook while giving it away elsewhere, but I've been told by some readers (they email me directly) that they would've happily paid for the story. This is wonderful to hear, but I worry that other readers may not feel that way. I've also seen some other authors charge for their ebooks in one location while giving it away elsewhere.

If I did begin charging for the stories, I would at least make another pass through them to fix any errors I found. (I just realized that somehow the first piece of dialog by Mrs. Boon is not italicized in Scary Mary's ebook version. I don't know how that happened.) But I wonder about adding any other content to make paying for the story worthwhile. I could add a sneak preview of Stalking Shadows to Scary Mary. That's a no brainer, but I don't know what to do about Unicorn Bait. I could add a sneak preview to (OMG, this will be first reveal of the title to the sequel) Dragon Prey. BUT that is still being written. I'm not even sure the first chapter will stay the same, and I would need to indicate when the sequel would be available which OMG (again), I have no idea about.

And I don't know if anyone really reads these posts so I may be typing into the wind, but if you have an opinion pro or con, please feel free to leave a comment. Even if no one comments, typing out my thoughts here has helped.

ETA: Well, this is ironic. It appears I was just featured on GetFreeBooks.com. Never fear, I'm not making the books for sale this instant. I'm just thinking about it, and I'll need a little time to read back over the stories to polish them a little more, but I am seriously considering charging, especially as I look at getting professional cover art for Dragon Prey. Dragons are expensive!

Vote For Me!

2011-12-09T08:00:00.001-05:00

Made a fun discovery Thursday night. It seems I've been included in a few lists over on Goodreads, and there's a voting option to each list.

Unicorn Bait is on these lists:

Unicorn Books
Best Unicorn Books

Scary Mary is on this list:

Eye of the Beholder

So if you have the time and are so inclined...VOTE FOR ME!

I know I won't beat Peter S. Beagle in either Unicorn list or any list really, but I want that second place! ;-)

To whoever added me to these lists, thank you so much. They made me happy!

And no, I did not vote myself, and it has nothing to do with the fact that Goodreads tracks that sort of thing...

My Review of The Hunger Games

2011-12-07T08:00:00.000-05:00

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Yes, I finally read this widely read, highly acclaimed, soon-to-be major motion picture book, and it was good. The story was familiar. The idea of people being chosen by lottery to kill each other has been done before. I feel every review should at least mention Battle Royale. I have not read the book but I've seen the movie of the same title and many elements are the same. Both stories center around teens who are forced to kill each other until there is one victor.

This is not to say that Battle Royale was the originator of this storyline. Go back to gladiator days and this story was actually lived by some poor souls. The idea of kill or be killed is plum storyline material. How Collins story stands out I think is in the character of Katniss Everdeen. She has lived a hard life and had only herself to rely upon, but she is still a good person. She's fiercely protective of her sister, is entirely self-reliant, and has a strong moral code. But she doesn't trust people and views everyone with suspicion and cannot accept things people say to her at face value. Her struggle to accept that other people might actually care for her and confusion of who she might care for beyond her family is wonderfully handled. I plan to read Catching Fire and am intrigued with how the story will progress beyond The Hunger Games. The world Collins created is still largely unknown but what Collins revealed in the first book makes me eager to learn more.

View all my reviews at Goodreads.

Achievement!

2011-12-01T12:58:00.013-05:00

I did it with only a half hour to spare, but I wrote fifty thousand words in November! I really appreciate my local Wrimo group. I don't think I would've been nearly as successful without them. I'd never word warred before this and wouldn't have guessed it would be such a boon. I surprised myself with how much I got written while furiously typing in a room with a bunch of other furiously typing writers.

Now, don't get too excited because the STILL untitled sequel (I'm really struggling with the title) is not close to done. It needs another thirty to forty thousand words and then the editing may just kill me, but I have gotten a firm start on this book. That wouldn't have happened without Nanowrimo.

I have to say that I have seen some anti-Nanowrimo articles online and they don't make much sense to me. They claim that having a lot of people write is a bad thing. I feel there's an elitist tone to these articles. Like only select people may write stories. This is preposterous. Everyone can write a story. It doesn't matter if it's good or bad. Everyone can write a story. Now, I can have some sympathy for the agents and editors who get a flood of submissions from people who wrote a story and are now sending them in without any editing or proofreading. But I still applaud the person for participating. I think writing is a wonderful thing and everyone should do it. Now there have been studies that found journaling to being a health benefit. (One article here.) I think storytelling may offer many of the same benefits. I mean just look at the list provided in the article all of the bullets could easily apply to storytelling. So go write a story! Don't worry about it being good and have fun with it. It will do you good.

So Procrastination Looks Like This...

2011-11-29T00:58:00.006-05:00

I'm emulating Lisa a little tonight, never mind the 8,000 words I still need to write. Have to say this was a very funny episode of The Simpsons, and why yes, that is Neil Gaiman. (Sorry about the ads, but it's Hulu's deal.)

Over halfway done!

2011-11-22T02:03:00.005-05:00

I've made up the words that I needed to write and am now over halfway done. How's the story going you may ask, and my response would be to laugh nervously. The outline I'd written in October that I thought would serve for the 50,000 words that needed to be written is largely out the window. I've added some major elements that have taken over the story, and I'm struggling with how to deal with them. I worry too much with how the first draft should go. I know I should just let everything fly and deal with it in edits, but I can't help myself.

Now it's Thanksgiving, my cat is sick, and I need to write. So I should probably get to that...

I hope you all have a wonderful Turkey Day. I will be spending it with family and eating far, far, (ugh!) far, too much.

I'm Behind!

2011-11-16T10:26:00.005-05:00

Well, it has finally happened. I've fallen behind in my word count. I need to make up 5,000 words. Luckily, I'm off work next week so I think it will be okay, but I'm madly trying to make up for lost time.

One thing that's throwing me off is the internet. It's so easy to lose time researching a question or checking email or responding to comments. The internet is one big time suck, but it's unavoidable. And I can't imagine giving it up. Look at me now posting to my blog. Too bad I can't count these words.

Anyhoo, here's a cool image I picked up during my research. It is a spring action snare trap. You know like on Looney Tunes. I needed to know if they really existed so I asked all-knowning Google and this is what it gave me. The image is from a book called Fox Trapping.

Update

2011-11-07T23:01:00.007-05:00

As promised, here is an update on my so far untitled Unicorn Bait Sequel. I am on course to write 50,000 words. I'm doing pretty good, but it is tough to write 1600 words everyday. Sometimes it just feels like there isn't time! It doesn't help that the month of November seems to conspiring against me and jamming a lot of unexpected events in. But I've broken into the five figures which is a really great accomplishment.

The text is no where near polished, but there are bits of it that I am quite amused with. The humor is definitely back for the sequel. Working with all of these characters again is great. I'm really grateful to everyone who said they'd love a sequel. I had not planned to do one but I'm glad I am now.

If you're curious, Stalking Shadows is in my estimation doing well on Amazon, though I am amused by Amazon.uk being the much more robust market. I've sold four times as many copies there as on Amazon.com. I'm not sure why that is. Scary Mary was been downloaded quite a bit on the Amazon.uk site as well.

Stalking Shadows still hasn't been approved for the premium catalog on Smashwords so it is not on BN.com or in the iBookstore. It hasn't been rejected either so that's good. I saw on a forum recently that it generally takes 9 days for a submission to be approved for the premium catalog so it should go through any day now. Then it should appear on the other eBook sites a week or more later. It varies by retailer of course. Of course, this is all assuming it is approved, but I don't believe there is any problem with the upload. As far as I can tell, I did everything necessary to it.

And I am still taking requests for the Unicorn Bait sequel. I'd appreciate title suggestions too, though I know I haven't given any details about the plot. Here's what I can tell you: Naomi has to save Tavik AGAIN. Except it's not Errilol she's facing this time. The enemy is much worse. And I'm afraid to say anymore. Well, I'll keep updating that word count widget, and I'll write again in a week or less.

Thanks!

Now Taking Requests

2011-11-01T22:57:00.003-04:00

WARNING: I am talking about the Unicorn Bait sequel so there are spoilers for Unicorn Bait. If you are planning to read Unicorn Bait and wish to be surprised, avert your eyes, AND GO READ UNICORN BAIT! It's free! I don't know how much easier I can make it for you, except reading it to you, but I got a sore throat, so tough.

WELL, I have written over 2000 words today for the Unicorn Bait sequel, which is above the daily minimum. So go me! And in a bit of perfect timing, I received an email today from someone who'd read Unicorn Bait and enjoyed it. She had one request for the sequel: More cussing woodland creatures. And you know what, I can do that. ;0) In fact, I'm all for a whole foul-mouthed forest. I don't know how crazy I'll get, but when I originally wrote Unicorn Bait, I took dares from a thread in the Nanowrimo forums. That's how the Umbreks happened and the weird tree guys in one of the happenstance realities Naomi accidentally teleports to. Sometimes having a weird, off-the-wall suggestion helps the words flow or sparks the imagination. Also I just like crazy. So go ahead, leave a suggestion and maybe it will appear in the sequel!

Oh dear, I just found the document where I saved some of the dares that intrigued me. One has already jumped out at me:

Have male characters with the nicknames Bambi, Grandma, and Polly. Bonus points if you include logical back stories.

I'm thinking biker gang. Or the high fantasy equivalent. It'll be great!

So give me your recommendations, I'd love to read them!

Let the Trumpets Sound!

2011-10-28T17:02:00.014-04:00

Oh my, I think I've published a book! Just in time for Halloween, Stalking Shadows is out for all you ghouls and goblins! Well, actually it's available for purchase only at Smashwords at this time. Amazon is still mulling it over, and Smashwords has to push it out to Barnes and Noble and the iBookstore, which may take more than three weeks. 10/31/11 ETA: Whoopie! Amazon has it available now!

As you can see, I went with the blue shadow hand cover. Thank you everyone for voting and commenting! I hope you like it. I'm thinking I may pay someone to design the cover for my next book. I know just enough about design to see that I am not the best person to be doing this. I've uploaded SS to Amazon, but it says it will be at least 24 hours before it is available. Once it is, I will supply links.

For posterity, here are the results from the cover poll:

Which Stalking Shadows book cover do you like best?

The orange one! 106 (46%)

The blue one! 111 (48%)

Neither. :-( 8 (3%)

Can't decide, they're both great! 9 (3%)

Total Votes: 230

So...I didn't bow to the majority...which says, I don't know. I really liked the way the blue shadow hand turned out, and I didn't know how much it would cost to get permission to use the photo hand. So the poll shows that I'm cheap, but I already knew that.

What really prompted me to finally publish Stalking Shadows was NaNoWriMo. I am all excited about participating this year. My local chapter is having a lot of events and get-togethers which I hope to attend. I've done Nano twice before, but it was on my own. I think being involved in a community will really help me to stay on task.

I plan to do something crazy for Nano. I plan to write a sequel to Unicorn Bait. Unicorn Bait was my Nano project the first time I participated in Nano. I wrote 50,000 words and then I wrote an additional 30,000. It went through heavy edits and eventually became the Unicorn Bait we all know and love.

I've been working on the plot for the sequel. Getting stuff figured out before the actual writing has to begin is kind of unusual for me. I think I've got a good idea for the story, but I won't know until I start actually writing. I hope to get at least 50,000 words written this November. My secret goal is 80,000, but I really don't know if I'll manage that.

I'll keep everyone updated on my progress once a week over the next month. Really! I promise! I can't promise the updates will be coherent. But I will update. ;-)

Finishing Touches

2011-09-05T23:49:00.003-04:00

A good friend is proof reading Stalking Shadows now, and I hope to have it back from her in a few days. Once I look over her suggestions and corrections, I'll work on getting the book formatted and ready to upload. I will be charging .99 for it on all ebook platforms, but the rough draft will remain online and free to read. Once it's uploaded, I will begin going gung-ho with the third in the series. I wrote about 1000 words tonight to Long Dead, but there's tens of thousands of more words that need to be written.

So there's still a couple of more weeks until Stalking Shadows is out for ebooks. I updated the poll to allow voting to continue and bumped the post up for it to just below this one. Thanks everyone for your input! I have to say I'm leaning heavily toward the large blue shadow hand cover that Pinky suggested, but if you feel differently about which is the better cover, please let me know.

Possible Book Covers

2011-09-05T18:47:00.000-04:00

(This post will be "pinned" for the foreseeable future. Any new posts will appear below.)

Here are two book covers I've been working on for Stalking Shadows. Once I settle on one, I will likely work on redoing the website to reflect the cover. Tell me which one you like and any suggestions you may have. I'm not sure about the font, but haven't found one that I like better. You can leave a comment or click on the poll on the sidebar. Thanks!

Because I'm obsessive, here are two updated versions of the book covers. Not a lot of changes, but I think they're better.

ETA: 5/15/11

Pinky had an interesting suggestion. She wondered what the orange cover would look like if done in blue. I messed around with the settings and came up with this. Sort of like it, though I feel like it's missing something, but felt that way about the original orange too. Sadly, I can't edit the poll to add this one as an option. If you like it, please leave a comment!

Amazon's Popular Highlights

2011-08-14T00:12:00.004-04:00

I just discovered Amazon's new feature "Popular Highlights". It seems Kindle users can highlight certain text, and Amazon collects it if allowed and then displays it on the book's page. I was thrilled to see Scary Mary had a few, and they were amusing passages, though I didn't realize Cy's mock gushing over Mary would amuse readers enough to highlight it. Unicorn Bait had even more highlights listed, and I began reading them with joy until I realized mortification would be more appropriate. It seems readers were noting the typos in the text, and now they're quoted on the book page for all to see. ACK!

I'm the first to admit that my text is not perfect. I try to get it as close to immaculate as possible. I really do try, but stuff slips by me. It doesn't slip by you guys obviously. And I don't blame you for highlighting the typos. You shouldn't have to deal with them. But...but...if I update, will the highlight be fixed? I feel like a great big red pen has whopped me on the head, and I deserve it, but...but...Excuse me, I have to go hide now.

My Review of Bitten

2011-08-04T21:14:00.001-04:00

Bitten by Kelley Armstrong

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was an awesome book. I really enjoyed the protagonist's struggle with her werewolf side and her desire to be normal. I loved that we are introduced to her in the middle of her life. We don't begin when she's bitten or at her first change. She's an established werewolf who is used to her existence. Some of the situations of the other pack members seemed way too perfect. Everyone's rich! But Elena and Clay were great characters. I could've read another 500 pages, which is good since I have the sequel Stolen sitting on my shelf.

I've seen a few reviewers compare Elena's struggle to the modern woman's struggle. Girls are indoctrinated to be sweet, soft creatures. That idea has been eroding over the past fifty years, but it hasn't eroded completely. And Elena's struggle with her concept of normal and who she truly is resonated with me and made the story much richer than many urban paranormals I've read. Her revelation that she was a bitchy, argumentative woman, not because she was a werewolf but because she was human was a beautiful thing.

View all my reviews

Originally posted on Goodreads.com

My Review of The Dead Girls' Dance

2011-05-30T13:29:00.002-04:00

The Dead Girls' Dance by Rachel Caine

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Well, Dead Girls' Dance picks up where Glass Houses ended. I wasn't sure it would by the sneak peek at the end of Glass Houses that was included in my paperback edition, but I'm glad it did. Caine continues to expand the world of Morganville. Our heroine Claire has to strike out on her own to save her friends. Everything continues to happen very quickly and action keeps coming. Caine does offer some nice respites from the action though that allow the reader a little bit of a breather, but one has to wonder how much longer someone can continue to live under the pressure and anxiety that Claire and her friends have to deal with. Luckily, Dead Girls' Dance doesn't end on such a dramatic cliffhanger like Glass Houses, but there is plenty of drama fodder for the next book, which I already own and plan to read.

One thing that I do question is the actual Dead Girls' Dance. I almost wish there hadn't been a party with that literal title. From the jacket blurb and the fact that the book takes it as its title, I expected it to figure much more greatly in the overall plot, but it is almost an afterthought at the end, while what happens there while horrific, it also seems superfluous to Claire and Eve's quest. They had much closer and dire problems to deal with without adding the Dead Girls' Dance to the mix. But still that is a minor quibble, and I can see mechanically why Caine included it. It does serve some purpose. I look forward to reading the next in the series.

View all my reviews

Originally posted on Goodreads.

My Review of Touch the Dark

2011-05-16T14:02:00.003-04:00

Touch the Dark by Karen Chance

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I liked this book enough to finish it, but it took me a while to read because I put it down a lot without feeling compelled to pick it back up. The main character Cassie goes on the run from a slew of vampires on the first page, and the action never stops after that which got very tiring after a while. Cassie has a long history with vampires having been raised by them, and it was nice how she accepted them and didn't question their ways. They were ruthless killers, and she knew that, and she knew she couldn't change them. While Cassie had this long history with the vampires, which was believable half the time. There were some characters she supposedly knew really well, but I had trouble believing. One was Thomas, her roomie. On the one hand, the narrative indicated that they didn't get to know each other well, but on the other hand, Cassie seemed really hurt by him and very vested in him. I never really believed in the relationship. This is another story where there were far too many characters for me to keep up with and the ones I was interested in didn't have much time if any in the story. Tony, the vampire after Cassie, was only seen during a conference call. He's very important to the story but was never really in the story.

One thing that surprised me was Chance's use of historical figures as vampires. This could be an incredibly clever idea, but I never got a real sense of these historic figures. For the most part, they never featured heavily in the story, and I didn't get a true sense that this would be for example what Raphael would be like if he were a vampire. The character could've been anyone because his actions and personality didn't seem modelled after the artist.

This is a minor quibble, but Chance's vampires can go out during the day, feed without biting, and wipe memories--Why aren't they ruling the planet? Anyway, the story is basically a set up for Cassie inheriting a whole slew of powers on the last page. There's a bit of a deus ex machina at the end, which was as annoying as the character that delivered it. I liked many parts of the book, but it seemed like Chance was trying to do too much with this one story. By the end, I wasn't sure what all had gone on and what all still needed to be done and not really caring. There's time travel, vampires, wererats, witches, ghosts, faeries, and mention of demons. I won't be actively looking for the second in this series unless I'm given serious guarantees that it gets better.

View all my reviews

Originally post of Goodreads.

What I'm listening to

2011-05-15T23:36:00.004-04:00

This is getting some serious wear in my CD player. (Yes, I still use CDs. For you youngsters, they're these shiny discs that look a lot like DVDs but only play sound. Don't make me have to explain what DVDs are, you digital freaks.) Love this album. I especially love Hot Summer Night. I could've sworn that song was a remake of an older Southern rock classic, but it's completely original. It's timeless. Can't help moving when it starts. Of course there's Paris, which is getting some radio play and made me get the CD. Really like that one too. Medicine is really good too. I like the upbeat tracks obviously. Surprised to read that this is their third album. I'm gonna have to track down the first two and see what they're like.

My Review of Bones of Faerie

2011-04-26T14:58:00.002-04:00

Bones of Faerie by Janni Lee Simner

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Bring on the Faerie Apocalypse! Really enjoyed the world Simner created in this book. It was wonderfully terrifying. The way the plants and animals were changed by rampant magic was very interesting. Wish a bit more of the history of the war was revealed and a little more time spent in the village before the journey so we could see 'mundane' life, but this appears to be the first in a series so that's all fodder for future books.

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(This review originially posted on Good Reads.)

My Review of Glass Houses

2011-04-19T20:54:00.004-04:00

Glass Houses by Rachel Caine

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was a very fun read. I didn't know much about the Morganville Vampire series except a lot of people seemed to like it. I picked it up and was hooked. The characters and situation are great. The vampires are clearly the bad guys, which is actually refreshing in our post-Anita Blake/Sookie Stackhouse world. I've already placed my order for the second in the series and look forward to cracking it open. The story ended on quite the cliffhanger.

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(This review originially posted on Good Reads.)

It's Here!

2011-03-26T13:16:00.003-04:00

I finally uploaded Unicorn Bait to Smashwords (and then uploaded four more times as I tried to figure out what I did wrong in formatting). It is FREE!

With this new edit, I added unicorn factoids to each chapter beginning. They were fun. I fleshed out a few scenes and adjusted a few things for story flow/logic. I am sure there are many grammatical and spelling problems I failed to fix, though I've read over this thing twice now in preparation. I hope readers enjoy the story.

Since uploading it Thursday night/Friday morning, it has been downloaded 130 times, which is just great in my estimation.

If anyone downloads this story to reader, I'd like to know if it looks okay. I don't have a Nook or Sony Reader so can't access to see if the formatting is screwy.

Here is the link to Unicorn Bait on Smashwords.

It's Coming

2011-03-19T20:29:00.002-04:00

I'm on the home stretch of the Smashwords edition of Unicorn Bait!

This is the cover I think that I'll use. Any comments are welcome. :-)

I Laugh in the Face of My Self-Imposed Deadlines!

2011-01-22T13:59:00.003-05:00

So yeah, the Unicorn Bait Smashwords edition is still only halfway done. If you were waiting with baited breath (ha, punny), hope you haven't died. It doesn't help that I'm going really slowly through the text. I want to make the story as good as possible, but there are some inherent flaws in it that I can't fix, and I can't seem to accept that.

But I'll keep trudging as best I can. I need to start producing some new content as well. I have more time now which is good. No more classes for me for a bit. So this is just an update to say there's no update. Sorry!

Interview Up at ErgoFiction and Review at Indie Paranormal Book Reviews

2010-12-08T00:03:00.004-05:00

Just to show how far in the sand I've had my head lately, an iterview I did with ErgoFiction went up over a week ago, and I failed to catch it. I want to thank Letitia and the rest of the ErgoFiction crew for the opportunity, and if you're interested in online fiction, you should definitely check out their zine.

My interview at ErgoFiction.

Also Scary Mary has been reviewed over at Indie Paranormal Book Review. Michelle has been linking to Scary Mary for a bit now and featured it on a cheap/free read blog post. This is a great site to discover new stuff on that you won't hear about through mainstream channels.

Scary Mary review at Indie Paranormal Book Review.

Well, that's it for now. I am going back to radio silence. I'm still hoping to get the Smashwords edition of Unicorn Bait out by New Year's.

Review of TextNovel

2010-10-21T08:00:00.001-04:00

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned signing up with TextNovel.com. I've uploaded 5chapters of Scary Mary to the site and to see how it worked and what sort of response I would receive.

My first impression is the the site seems a bit clunky, but I believe it is supposed to be accessed primarily through cell phone text messages. I was very impressed though with the ease of uploading. A simple copy and past accomplished it. All formatting carried over, no line breaks were lost. I wish Blogger did that. I didn't break the chapters down to smaller chunks. I thought I might need to, but the site let me upload the full chapters without fuss.

At this time I have: 11 fans, 13 votes, 5 comments

The website was set up by a fledgling literary agency. They've already sold one novel from their site to St. Martin's. Supposedly, they review submitted stories for new talent. One thing that is sort of squicky about all this is their Featured Author deal. For varying amounts of money, a story will be Featured for a number of weeks and put at the top of the proverbial slush pile. This is very close in my mind to a reading fee, which is a red flag when considering agents.

I tried to look at the site through my iTouch, and it doesn't have a mobile view. I was very surprised by this. I'm not a texter and am kind of a Luddite in regards to cell phones. How stories appear through texting will probably always remain a mystery to me, but why not have a mobile view? That seems like a no-brainer.

I don't have the time to commit to any deep immersion into this community. It seems a lot like Fictionwise or any other large site to post fiction on. Though again, I haven't been able to see how an actual text messaged story would appear. I think SM would most likely be a bore to read through that medium. I wonder how many readers and writers truly utilize this feature. Overall, I don't think this is the answer to all our online writing and reading desires and have no plans to fully migrate to the site. The rudimentary fee structure for premium access (and I couldn't find out what that meant) and the featured author fees makes me a little leery. I understand a site wanting to make money, but it seems like an odd endeavour for a literary agency. We'll have to see how long it will be before another book gets paper published from their site and by who. (A partnership with Lulu does not count.)

Will I keep uploading? Maybe. It had already fallen off my radar for a bit and only after a few new fans did I remember to update. If anyone has different impressions, I'd love to hear them.

Trying New Things

2010-09-20T08:00:00.001-04:00

Over at the Fiction 2.0 Google Group, reading stories through cell phones was brought up. I've looked at my stories through my iPhone and while they don't look bad, they could be better. I would like to build a template to make them iPhone and Droid friendly but haven't found a handy tutorial for it. FrancesP though mentioned TextNovel. It's a story site for the cell phone. I clicked over and uploaded the first chapter of SM, which was ridiculously easy; all I did was copy and paste from the website. All the formatting copied too. I wish that was how it always worked. I'm curious to see what happens. Within the first few minutes, I was notified of my first fan. If it seems after a week (or sooner) that SM is getting good traction there, I'll upload the 2nd chapter.

Also, I'm trying Project Wonderful advertising again. I've tried advertising through them before without much success but that was more from my lack of commitment to the endeavor and unwillingness to part with any money. I've placed bids on a few story sites and will monitor how much traffic I get from them. I used a copy of the Amazon Kindle cover for the ad. I think it will attract more users than my previous old one which was a modified copy of the black and white banner.

I also shot Barnes and Noble an email asking if Scary Mary could be included on their Free eBook page. SM shows up fine on their site, but it can only be found by direct searching. Other Smashwords free books are featured in their Free eBook category, so I'm hopeful it'll be added.

I'm hopeful these new things will bring me feedback and more readers. I'll report back soon.

I'm on Scribd and Didn't Upload It

2010-09-18T14:02:00.004-04:00

Found Scary Mary again uploaded without permission. This time it's on Scribd. Recently, Paperback Writer shared the news that Scribd will begin charging users to download free content. This fee is not shared with the author, and the authors were not initially made aware of the conversion to a fee structure. Again the person who uploaded my work will not be making money off it, but Scribd could be (not just from the download fee but from the gazillion ads on every page too). I tried to figure out a way to submit a request for it to be taken down, but it seems the site is in the middle of some sort of upgrade. I couldn't even figure out how to notify the user who had uploaded my work that I would like it taken down. I'll continue to pursue this because I don't like the idea of Scribd making money off me, especially without my permission and because the site seems atrocious. While I was on there, it was a mess. Maybe that was due to the upgrade in progress, but I have a feeling that the site is just bad to surf.

The whole concept of Scribd seems highly problematic. I read several articles during my searching that revealed a number of big name authors having their work uploaded illegally to the site. Take into account comments on Paperback Writer's article that even if people remove their content, Scribd may still retain a backup copy that's presented to users, I'm wondering if Scary Mary will vanish from the site. I'm not upset yet about this, but if it becomes a true battle to get my work taken down, I will become very angry.

The copy of SM that was uploaded was the one from Smashwords. Front and center, there's my copyright notice, which reads,

"Smashwords Edition, License Notes:
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please download an additional copy for each person or direct them to the author’s website for free reading options."

Wish I knew what the user was thinking uploading my story. The person on Wattpad claimed they were uploading it to share with a friend. The person here has no information in her bio. Scary Mary appears to be the only thing she has uploaded. I will try to pursue contacting her first with a request to take it down, but not sure what that will involve. I can't see a way to direct message her, unless through Facebook? I have a Facebook account, but it's for personal use. Don't really want to use it for writing business. Well, we'll see I guess. I won't really be able to do anything until this upgrade of whatever is finished.

Short Story: Coping

2010-09-11T17:58:00.005-04:00

This story was originally published in the zine Seasons in the Night, vol.4, March 2005. Unfortunately, the zine seems to be defunct now. I thought I’d share the story here. I like the setup and group of characters.

Coping
by S.A. Hunter

My support group was meeting tonight. There were seven of us if I counted Wally Orback, the counselor, but he didn’t have the side-effects. He just ‘empathized’. God, I hated him, and I’d stop going if my job, my doctor, and my mother didn’t keep such close tabs on whether I went. If I didn’t go, well, it was less of a headache if I went.

The meetings took place in the community center, the same as AA, NA, GA, and any other anonymous addiction support group one could think of. In fact, I think an ‘I wish I had an addiction’ anonymous support group met there on Thursdays. We were so anonymous though that we didn’t even have an anonymous name. When we met, Wally just put up a sign that said simply ‘Private Session - Do Not Disturb’.

I slipped in a minute before nine. I was always the last to arrive. The group reluctantly broke up from around the coffee table and began taking seats in the circle. I sat between Ralph and Simon. Ralph and I nodded hello to each other. I liked Ralph. He was old. I suspected in the future, wrinkles like his would be either viewed with mistrust or would go in and out of fashion like bell-bottoms. From his dazed expression, I could tell Simon was off somewhere in his head. I hoped he’d been given de-caf. The last thing I needed tonight was a raving lunatic hyped up on caffeine screaming about the aliens on Grove St. who were beaming satanic messages into his head. Simon should have been institutionalized rather than given the drug. The side-effects made him ten times worse, but supposedly he was on his meds and all right. At least that’s what his mother, the city counselor, insisted. He really wasn’t allowed out of the house except to attend these meetings.

Kara, Ian, and Bob were on the other side of the circle. Kara gave me a little wave. Being the only other woman in group, Kara relied on me as a compatriot, but I didn’t always come through with the reinforcement of girl power. The fact was I held her in contempt. She was thirty-six and still used her daddy’s credit card, but she insisted she was an independent woman.

Wally clapped his hands together to begin the meeting. Some of us, who weren’t ready for it, winced at the loud sound. “Welcome everyone, I hope you had a great week since our last meeting. As you all remember, Ralph was telling us about a conflict between him and his son. Ralph didn’t want his son, who just turned twenty-one, to rush out and take the drug. Ralph wanted him to mature more and have kids. This was a very heated topic. Did anyone have any further thoughts on the subject?”

Kara spoke up first. “I still think Ralph should encourage his son to take the drug. If he became immortal then they’d be like together forever. What do grandkids matter then?” I rolled my eyes. Of course, she felt that way. Kara wanted to always be Daddy’s little girl. I doubted she’d even considered freezing any of her eggs before taking the drug. I had, though I admit the possibility of them getting freezer burn before I used them was very likely. The idea of kids scared me, but the possibility of none scared me more.

“Plus you said he’d banked some of his sperm already, so he could still have kids,” Ian added.

“It’s not the same,” Bob said with a heavy sigh. Bob was a granddad and had been firmly on Ralph’s side.

“How?” Ian asked. Ian was twenty-nine. He’d banked some of his sperm before taking the drug.

“A child from a test tube is the same as a child from the womb, but the experience of the parent is not the same. The joy is once removed. It’s antiseptic.”

Ian just shook his head. He’d never know firsthand the joy of real conception and pregnancy. There would be no labor for him or his wife. They would simply call their doctor and nine months later, be handed a baby.

“What about adoption? Is that sterile too?” That seemed a bit like dirty pool to bring up. One of Bob’s grandkids was adopted.

“No, there’s labor in adoption too. It’s different but still there.”

Ralph bowed his head at the rehash of last week’s discussion. “Have there been any new developments?” Wally asked.

Ralph nodded. “He took it. I’m not angry with him. Sure, I was disappointed when I first heard, but I’ve accepted it. I’ll just be sad.”

“Side-effects?” I asked softly. That had been another major concern.

Ralph shook his head. “Praise God, no.” Everyone let out a collective sigh. It was funny how we all loved our immortality but regretted our existence. Side-effects would do that to you.

“I ate a June Bug. It was crunchy,” Simon said. Kara wrinkled her nose. Bob grinned. Ian sighed in exasperation and slouched down in his chair.

“Now Simon, you know you shouldn’t eat insects,” Wally told him.

“But it was alive,” Simon pouted.

“Yes, it was,” Wally agreed.

“And its life will make me stronger.” He flexed his scrawny arms to demonstrate.

“No, it won’t, Simon,” Wally said.

“The bug eaters should have their own group,” Kara said. She despised Simon and I hated her a little for that. Simon was a nut case, no question there, but he was one of us. She had no right to try and push him out.

“But every vampire needs a Renfield,” I said.

Wally threw his hands into the air. Ian snorted. Kara looked shocked. She always looked shocked when I brought this up. Bob wryly shook his head. Out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw a glimmer of amusement in Ralph’s face. Simon bounced up and down on his chair. In a sing-song voice, he chanted “Renfield, renfield, renfield!”

“Shut up!” yelled Kara. Simon stopped for a second to glance at me. I was biting back a smile. He grinned widely and started chanting again only in a lower voice.

“We are not vampires,” Ian droned. We’d had this argument time and again, but it was a fun argument.

“Oh come on, aren’t you ultra-sensitive to the sunlight? Doesn’t the merest whiff of garlic make you want to heave? Tell me you don’t want your meat so rare it could moo?” Simon mooed ecstatically.

“We are not monsters. What we have is a legitimate medical condition.”

“A medical condition with no known cure. There is no going back.”

“So? Neither can anyone else,” said Kara.

“So?” I spat. “Everyone else can go outside in the daylight without wrapping up like Eskimos, their body temperatures stay at a toasty 98.6º while ours drops to whatever climate we’re in. We can’t go out in below freezing weather, or our blood literally freezes. Need I mention the cravings: The fascination of a strong smooth limb, the hypnotic thrumming of a pulse, the smell of fresh blood? Kara, don’t you dare lie and say you’ve never experienced it. You live one block over from a butcher’s shop. You have to be plagued by it constantly.”

“No, I don’t!” Kara replied triumphantly. “I moved last week.”

I rolled my eyes at her. “The point is we’re stuck this way until we commit suicide so why even bother discussing any of this? The only point to life anymore is on the sharp end of a stick.”

“I think you mean period, not point,” said a voice from the doorway. We whirled around in our seats to stare at the new speaker. He stood just inside the room with his whole body in shadow. I heard low growls from several throats, and raised an eyebrow at the group. I hadn’t brought up the predatory instincts in my rant, but with that response, I didn’t need to.

“I’m sorry but this isn’t an open session. You must be referred to attend,” Wally said.

“But I was. Here is a letter from my doctor. I’m sorry I didn’t contact you earlier and please forgive me for being late.” The newcomer stepped forward into the light. We all blinked. He was paler than all of us. He had short dark hair that was slicked back and large hollow looking eyes. He was the stereotype people thought of when they thought of us the ‘afflicted’.

Wally stood up and met the man at the edge of the circle. He took the letter the guy held out and looked it over. “I’m sorry, but I’ll have to check this before I can admit you into the meetings.”

“I understand. You can call him at home if you like. Here I’ll give you his number.” The guy took the letter back and scribbled a phone number on it.

“Now?” Wally asked slightly flummoxed.

“I really would like to attend this meeting.”

Wally’s eyes widened slightly. Someone eager to join our support group had never happened. We’d all been prodded here until we couldn’t take it anymore and joined. Wally excused himself to go make the call. We all sat silently. We were not about to speak again until the guy had been okayed. There had been people, investigative journalists mainly, who had tried to sit in on meetings like ours. We were the weirdos of the world, and the public was curious about us like they once were about pinheads and wolf-girls. We were a modern day sideshow, but we did not want to be on display. We wanted to live our lives quietly and deal with the hardships inherent with our conditions privately.

The new guy didn’t seem to take our silence as unfriendly. He stood outside the circle comfortably. I saw him looking over the group, getting first impressions. I could imagine what he thought. Frank and Bob looked like they should be out on the front porch of a general store smoking pipes and chewing the fat. Simon’s unkempt hair and stained clothing alone would indicate him as slightly unhinged, but as if that weren’t enough, he’d begun to tunelessly hum to himself as he rocked back and forth. Ian went for cool and disinterested by examining his manicured nails. He was very fastidious about his appearance. He didn’t want to be pretty, just impeccable at all times. Having the side effects was as annoying as lint on a pair of slacks to him. Kara was smiling at the new guy. She missed the sunshine the most of all of us. She used tanning lotion in the summer and kept blond streaks in her hair with hydrogen peroxide. I knew what the guy would see when he looked at me. I was in one of my funeral girl fazes. I was all in black with stark make-up and my hair pulled back in a tight pony tail. If there’d been words on my shirt, they would’ve been ‘Leave me alone’.

Wally came back after ten minutes. “Well everyone, it looks like we have a new member. Please welcome John Farmer.”

“Welcome, John,” Kara said brightly. I scanned the rest of the group. Unlike Kara, no one else was so eager to welcome him. We were still wondering if he were for real, after all he wanted to be here. Wally brought a chair forward for John. Kara instantly leapt up to move her seat to make room for him. I pressed my lips together in annoyance. With the new seating arrangement, the new guy was directly across from me.

Wally retook his seat and turned to the newcomer. “I think it would be good, John, if you start by telling us a little about yourself.”

He nodded. “Well, you all know my name. I’m new to the city. I moved here because of a job offer.”

“How long have you been afflicted?” Bob asked.

“Afflicted?” John asked. Lord help me, he truly looked like he didn’t know what Bob meant.

“When did you take the drug and get the side effects?” I supplied.

Comprehension sparked in his eyes, and he nodded again. “I took the drug five years ago on my thirty-third birthday. You call the side effects an affliction?”

“What would you call it?” Frank asked gruffly.

“I view immortality as a gift.”

Wally beamed and nodded his head. “Good, that is a very good outlook.”

I could see the group closing off as they silently disagreed. Even Kara, the bubbliest of us, was having a little trouble. “Don’t you feel sort of cheated, though? Yeah, we got immortality, but unlike everyone else, we’re saddled with all this other stuff. I mean we can’t go out into the sunlight anymore.”

John shrugged. “I miss the sun, but I get to see an endless number of nights, and I think the moon and the stars are just as beautiful as sunlight.”

“Everyone else gets both, though,” I argued. “You say this is a gift, but everyone else got more. How precious is our gift since we got less? Everyone else gets to enjoy eternity. We get to watch them from the sidelines.”

John opened his mouth to reply, but Ian put a restraining hand on his arm. “Please, don’t challenge her. She’ll just start on the whole vampire thing again and frankly, that gives me a headache.”

John turned to Ian and gave him a bewildered look. I could feel a mischievous smile tugging on my lips. Wally jumped in before I could begin again my little dissertation on how we were modern vampires. I pouted slightly.

“John, you have a very positive outlook, and I am very happy you can express it so well to the others. I think we could use a little positivism in this group. Too often, the others drown themselves in angst. I can understand a little depression, but everyone here has to at least acknowledge that you have fallen into resenting the drug and what it has done for you.” Again, I rolled my eyes. It was so easy for Wally to spout these platitudes. Tomorrow when he woke up, the sun would be streaming in through his curtains, and he’d go and make himself a nice hearty breakfast and relish what the day had in store for him. We, on the other hand, would wake up in an enclosed room completely dark, stumble out, and let our eyes slowly adjust to dim artificial light, force ourselves to eat, take our prescription pills, and wonder how much longer we could keep doing this. Okay, maybe I was projecting my typical day onto everyone else, but theirs couldn’t be much different.

I wasn’t the only one getting irritated. Bob sat forward in his chair and leveled a hard glare at John. “Tell me boy, do you have family?”

John frowned at being called ‘boy’. “I have some distant relatives,” he answered.

“Well, I have a wife, three sons, all married, and eight grandchildren. One of my grandkids graduated high school last week. His parents, cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandmother went to the ceremony, but Granddad had to stay home because it was too sunny. I missed one of the most important days in my grandson’s life. I’ll probably miss a lot of important days because I can’t go out in daylight. Don’t give me that ‘but you have forever’ crap. I’d rather have had a finite number of days than no more days at all.” Bob sat back, and he raised his hand to wipe his face. Ralph reached over and squeezed his shoulder.

“See, this is exactly what I meant. You all dwell on the negative rather than the positive. You have all the time in the world to spend with your grandson. So you missed this one thing, you still have--”

“Shut up, Wally,” Ralph ordered.

Wally gaped at the demand. We all waited for Bob to compose himself. Bob, at the moment, was the bravest of us all because he’d gone through something none of us had to suffer yet. We hadn’t missed any important moments so far, but they were out there waiting to slip by us.

A low chuckle began. All heads swiveled toward John. He had his head bowed, and his shoulders were shaking slightly in his mirth. I could feel the others tensing. None of us liked the way he sounded. Kara finally took it upon herself to ask him, “Uh John, what’s so funny?”

He lifted his head still laughing and because I was sitting directly across from him, I saw his elongated canines, a common side effect. We had to be careful not to flash them in public. There was a case in Seattle of a man with the side effects being arrested because the officer said he’d been threatened when the man smiled at him too widely.

“You are all pathetic!” John exclaimed. We all jerked at this exclamation.

Wally caught onto our rising ire. He knew if he didn’t step in, we just might attack our newest member. Violent tendencies were another common side-effect. “John, lashing out at the group will not help anyone. No one here is pathetic. Side-effects are very difficult things to live with.”

“Yeah, well that won’t be any problem for this group, they don’t live.”

“Now see here, we might not have the rosy picture of the world that you seem to have, but we live, and we manage. You don’t know any of us,” Ian protested.

“Do you regret taking the drug?” he demanded.

Ian cast his eyes around at us as if searching for some support before answering. “No, I don’t,” he said, but he didn’t say it with much conviction.

John snorted.

“I don’t like him. He’s not going to be here next week is he?” Simon whispered. I reached over and patted his arm to calm him.

“Only if we’re lucky,” I answered.

John heard my reply. He whipped up his hand and pointed at me. “You fantasize about being a vampire, right? You don’t even want to view yourself as human anymore. That is just pathetic.”

“And you’re not? You want to see the world as all sunshine and rainbows, forgetting the fact that very sunshine will burn you to a crisp the minute you step outside unprotected. Why not say we’re vampires? Garlic makes us heave. Raw meat makes us drool. The sun burns. We’re immortal. In my dictionary, that spells vampire.”

“Vampires are monsters. They’re dead, rejected by God, fiends. Why would you want to think of yourself like that?”

“Because I call them like I see them.”

“You think you’re a monster because you took the drug. Are we all monsters then?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “I admit we don’t have all the vampiric traits. Crosses don’t harm us, and we can still see our reflections in mirrors, but I can feel the evolution of those traits beginning within me. I veer away from religious houses now when I walk down a street. I avert my eyes from mirrors. Who knows, one day a church could burst into flames when I set foot inside, or I won’t recognize a mirror immediately when I see one because I won’t be in it.”

“So why aren’t you in your coffin?” John demanded.

“Because the sun’s down, idiot. I’m allowed out at night.”

John did one of his skin crawling chuckles again. “Little girl, no one is afraid of you. You do not have even an ounce of menace. You may dress all in black and look dourly at everyone, but you’re just scared of growing up and being frozen in time makes you think you don’t have to.”

“You don’t know a damn thing about me!” I jumped to my feet. “If you want to accuse someone of wanting to be child forever, why don’t you look at Kara?”

“Hey, wait a minute!” Kara shouted.

Wally rose from his seat and got between John and me. “Jennifer, settle down. John brings up some very valid points. Your obsession with vampires is rather unhealthy and disturbing, but let’s just call a truce for now shall we?”

Ralph got up and gently pulled me back to my chair. I sat reluctantly. Wally retook his seat. “Do any of you agree with her?” John asked the group. Kara shook her head vigorously. Ian shook his head as well. Bob rubbed his face with his hand. Ralph patted me on my knee, but he shook his head. Simon was the only one who nodded. If John thought he would prove something by showing nobody else except a crazy, bug eating boy agreed with me, well it was his first session of group.

“Good to know I’m not the only one who appreciates what he was given. Immortality is a wonderful thing. We won’t age. We possibly will never die. We have all the time in the world. I can’t imagine anything better.”

Wally had been nodding his head along with John up until his last statement. Even he knew better than to say stupid things like that around us.

Ralph’s hand rose from my knee where he’d been keeping it like a weight to hold me down. He placed it on his own leg. I could tell by the whiteness of his knuckles that he was applying far more pressure to himself than he had been to me. “Why are you here?” he demanded. His voice was tinged with anger and challenge. “If you’re so well adjusted then why are you here with us?”

John jerked at the hostile tone. “Because I’m new to the area. I thought I could meet some people.”

“You thought this was a social opportunity?” He looked incredulous. I think we probably all did.

John hunched his shoulders. “I don’t know many people in the area, and my job doesn’t put me in contact with many coworkers. I thought meeting others with the side effects would be a good idea.”

Ian barked a laugh. “You say we’re pathetic and not living life, but at least, we have family and friends to spend the nights with.”

John dropped his head and stared at his shoes.

Kara reached out tentatively and touched his shoulder. “Don’t you have anyone?”

He shook his head.

“Well, now you have us,” Wally said, and his overblown good nature made it über trite. Our raised eyebrows were more understated but just as emphatic. We did not think we wanted to have John, let alone let him have us.

Wally wanted to keep the session going so cast his eye around the group for a new victim. “Ian, you said two weeks ago that you thought your law firm was subtly discriminating against you. Have you approached any of the partners with your concerns?”

Ian smirked. “No, that would ruin the lawsuit I’m building.”

I joined Ian in his smirk. We were bloodthirsty due to the side effects. I sometimes thought Ian’s profession made him doubly so.

“Ian, I’m not sure that would be a wise decision,” Wally stammered.

“And I have to disagree. I know I can get nearly two million dollars with a solid case, maybe even more if they want to settle and keep the whole matter hushed.”

“But you won’t be able to continue on at the firm. What about your future?” Kara asked. Kara’s consideration of the situation surprised me. Maybe she was growing up, by millimeters maybe, but growing nonetheless.

“I’ve always wanted to start my own firm,” he replied as always showing he had thought everything through to the very last dot. Ian would never be hard up. He’d probably already confirmed a stable base of clients to take with him when he left.

“I hope you nail those bastards to the wall,” chuckled Bob. Ian’s smirk widened, and he flashed his canines to the older man.

“Well, I hope all goes well, Ian,” Wally said, but he didn’t sound hopeful. He sounded queasy. I had a growing suspicion that Wally was a vegan or turning into one by continued contact with us. Wally swallowed uncomfortably and looked around the group again. His eyes settled on me.

“Jennifer, you haven’t really told us anything tonight about how things are with you. How are things at home and work?”

I shrugged. “Everything’s going okay.”

“No problems? No difficulties?”

I blew out a puff of breath. “Everything is exactly the same as the last time you asked me four weeks ago. If you want to stop doing that entirely that’d be fine with me.”

“How’s your mother?” he persisted.

My hands curled into loose fists. “She’s fine.”

“Has she reconsidered taking the drug?”

“She’s still mortal all right. She won’t take the drug. She doesn’t want to end up like me. She’d rather die.”

“I’m sure that’s not the reason your mother refuses to take the drug.”

“Well, she won’t give me another reason. She grows older everyday, and she won’t take the drug. She loves the sun on her face more than--” I stopped myself.

“More than what, Jennifer?” Wally asked.

“More than me, okay! My mother loves the sun and daytime more than she loves me. She won’t give even a day up of that to spend with me. Do you know it’s been six weeks since we spoke to each other face-to-face? I go to her house, and she won’t answer the door when I knock. I can hear her in there, but she won’t even come to the door to tell me to go away.”

“Oh Jennifer,” Kara said. I pressed the heels of my hands to my eyes. I was not going to cry.

“But you two still talk,” stammered Wally.

“Yeah, on the phone, she’ll talk to me for hours. I can’t stand to hear it ring anymore. I hate the damn thing.”

“Your mother is weak,” John said.

I didn’t even know I’d launched myself at him until Bob and Ralph pulled me back. Simon was making a strange keening sound in his chair and had curled into a ball. Kara and Ian had leapt back out of their chairs. Wally was actually at the doorway ready to bolt. John still sat in his chair. He hadn’t moved a hair.

“Let’s all calm down,” ordered Bob. Ian righted my fallen chair, and Bob and Ralph pushed me back into it. My eyes were still locked with John’s.

“Come on Jenn, don’t let the new guy goad you. You’re one of the tough ones,” Ralph said to me.

I took deep calming breathes. “Don’t tell me the thought of ripping him apart hasn’t crossed your mind tonight.”

Ralph flashed me a small understanding grin. “It has, but it’d just make a mess and put Wally in hysterics.”

I nodded my head. I did a quick glance at John. He was smiling. The sonuvabitch was smiling. My hands curled into fists again. Ralph looked at John and shook his head. He pulled his chair right up against mine and sat down. He placed a hand on my shoulder to weigh me down again. I jumped when I felt a hand wrap around my opposite arm. I looked over to find Simon. He gave me a cautious look. When I didn’t shrug him off, he scooted his chair closer, but instead of restraining me like Ralph, he huddled against me. I had a felt a flash of guilt for upsetting him. Everyone settled back into the circle, but it was into an uneasy calm. We were all tense, and it was all due to the new guy who was still grinning like an idiot.

“I’m really glad I came tonight. I’ll make sure to be on time next week,” John said. We all stared at him in bewilderment. He was happy about tonight?

“That’s great, John. We’ll have a seat saved for you,” Wally said in his most valiant attempt to be upbeat, though the quaver in his voice sort of ruined it.

“Are you going to skip?” Ralph asked me softly.

I thought a moment, and shook my head. “Nah, maybe next week, he’ll provoke Kara, and she’ll rip him apart. That’d be fun to watch.” Ralph chuckled and squeezed my shoulder.

Wally closed group with the same mantra at every meeting, “Remember to take eternity one night at a time and that there’s always group.”

If Only...

2010-09-06T00:06:00.002-04:00

I am quite envious of lots of people on the internet. I look at what they're doing and see so much happening and think, "If only I had the time, I might be able to get in on that or do something similar." I've really reduced the amount of time available for me and writing. I've never been very disciplined when it came to writing and it probably shows, but now I've really stretched myself thin. I'm taking two classes this semester. One is work related sort of in a subject I know nothing about and the other is for personal enrichment. I'm also still working full-time. Writing is unfortunately at the bottom of a very long to-do list, and I will admit, watching stuff on Hulu often trumps writing. I need my Eureka fix. I have been working on Unicorn Bait, but MAN that's taking a lot of editing. I thought I was editing it before when I was posting it but that was a joke. I'm rewriting so many scenes and am giving myself headaches on how to resolve plot holes that I'm about to throw my hands up in defeat.

Oh and I'm seeing the same type problems editing UB in Open Office as in MS Word which is weird. They aren't exactly the same display problems but definitely similar. I'm going to try working from a .txt file now to see if the problems persist. I think the story may be cursed, probably by Errilol.

I want to write. I want to create characters and have them do stuff and have fun, but I just don't seem to either have the time or the energy. I wish I'd win the lotto already. Too often I'm having to steal time, like I am now, to work on writing stuff. I should be going to sleep now, but I'm going to go open a story file and try writing a few hundred words. I hope I don't oversleep again. I may not like my job, but I do want to keep it.

Writing Difficulties

2010-08-28T21:28:00.004-04:00

I've uploaded a copy of Scary Mary for the Kinlde and like the iPad I have to charge .99 for it. It's still free on Smashwords so I'm worried that someone becomes annoyed that they purchased this book when it's free elsewhere. (I've sold a grand total of one copy.) I don't know if I should remove the Kindle version from Smashwords or not.

I've gotten my first review over at Smashwords. That's nice. The reviewer was very fair. I hope she comes to my website to read Stalking Shadows. I'm still seeing sluggishness at Smashwords. Right now, I can't get the site to load. Over 300 copies have been downloaded.

I'm very annoyed with Microsoft Word. It is making it nearly impossible to edit Unicorn Bait. The display goes wonky whenever I change anything. The cursor appears on different lines after I type something and lines repeat or disappear. It's maddening. It's all in the display. The lines don't actually repeat or disappear. They just appear to. It's very difficult to keep track of where I am or to keep any sort of flow going when I have to page up and down to refresh the screen. I've spent way too much time searching for a fix to the problem. I thought it was being caused by some images that were embedded in the text and removed all of them, but the problem persists. I'm downloading OpenOffice in the hopes it will treat me better. Scary Mary and Stalking Shadows don't have this problem in Word. I don't know if it's the length of the work that's causing it or not. Microsoft's website offered no help, only the chance to buy the latest version of the program.

Random Tidbits

2010-08-15T09:00:00.002-04:00

Scary Mary has been downloaded 248 times from Smashwords since I posted it 2 weeks ago. It has been approved for the premium catalog, but it hasn't been uploaded to any other vendors yet. Considering my total lack of real promotion, I still think this is pretty good. A lot of people are taking a chance on my story. I hope they like it.

Haven't really been editing Unicorn Bait like I planned. I've been writing new stuff instead. Started a completely new story which I'm not sure will really do anything. I started it when I was feeling pretty down in the dumps so it's a depressing sucker, which is an unintentional pun if you know the story features vampires. Man, I really hate how mainstream vampires have become. The market is over saturated with them. I don't know why I'm bothering, but it's a story I can go to when I'm not feeling cheerful in the slightest. I've also been working on my superhero story a little. I need to work on The Shackled Witch, which is the story I plan to post next, but I ran out of steam on that one for a bit. Waiting for the charge to come back up on it.

I think I'd really like to get a netbook. I've been looking at them a little, and Woot.com isn't helping any by offering some at very low prices, but I can't decide if it's worth the expense. I have a laptop, which is what I'm using right now to type this, but it's old and heavy. I don't use it a lot. I weighed it today, and it's eight pounds. It's not very easy to lug around. I have an iTouch which I've tried writing on some, but it's useless for editing. I've actually been using a spiral notebook lately to write the new stuff. But then I'm going to have to sit down and transcribe it to computer and that's really annoying. I'll keep mulling it over I guess.

A Few Updates

2010-08-04T07:12:00.004-04:00

Well, it appears the copy of Scary Mary has been removed from Wattpad. That's encouraging. I don't know if it was the member or the site admin that removed it. I think probably the site admin since my comments to the member were unanswered. I get the feeling she's no longer participating on the site. I don't know if I should go put it up on Wattpad or not. I don't really want to. Offering the story in multiple locations will just make managing responses difficult.

Scary Mary is still getting downloaded on Smashwords. I'm over 150 free downloads now. Still don't know if that's normal or not, but either way it's encouraging. It hasn't been approved yet for the premium catalog, but I did reload it over the weekend so that probably made it go to the back of the queue. Still no reviews of it, but it has only been a few days. I have noticed that the site is sluggish a lot and there were a few times where it would not load at all. That's a little frustrating, but so far, I'm pleased with the experience.

I don't know if Smashwords will offer Scary Mary through Amazon. They format it for the Kindle, but from a few things I've read, they haven't been able to upload items to Amazon for some time. I may have to go the direct route with Amazon, but like the iPad, Amazon requires a price of at least .99 to be listed. Still feel weird about offering it free one place and charging at another.

Pirated!

2010-07-31T13:44:00.004-04:00

Well, I don't know if this means I've finally arrived, but I found an unauthorized copy of Scary Mary up online last night as I was searching for reviews of SM. It seems a young lady has put my story up at wattpad, which is funny b/c Lulu has just partnered with them and sent me an email saying how wonderful the site is. Didn't figure I'd already be on it...I've left comments for the user to kindly remove my story, but I think she may no longer be active on the site. I'm not upset per se, but I don't want to leave the story up like that. If I don't see any action in a few days, I'll pursue channels on the site to have the story removed.

My insistence that this copy be removed may seem strange b/c I do offer SM free here and now over at Smashwords, but I feel like I should have some control over where the story exists. I don't like the idea of people posting my story and getting feedback on it and generating attention for themselves. I want the attention. I'm greedy like that. We'll see what happens...

I posted what happened over at Web Fiction Guide to hear other authors take on the subject. Those that publish in .pdf form were much happier to see their stuff posted by others on download sites. I think the format of how something is published will determine an author's reaction when something like this happens. Well, the authors feelings on this will probably determine the format they publish in actually. I think its interesting the willingness some authors have in sharing their work. Sharing my writing has always been kind of nerve wracking for me, so their happiness with it being everywhere like that is sort of incomprehensible. I mean I get stage fright so their freeness is something sort of alien. Anyway, I set up some Google alerts for all my work to try and keep better track of stuff like this and not find out about is six months or more after the fact.

Smashwords Edition Up!

2010-07-30T21:46:00.002-04:00

I'm sure I'll find some terrible flaw in it eventually (the liscence statement is wonky I know), but Scary Mary is now up at Smashwords. I have no way of looking at some of the formats, but of the ones I could view, they looked okay.

I'm quite surprised by the number of downloads already at Smashwords. In less than 24hrs and no promotion, it has been supposedly downloaded 63 times. I don't know if that's standard and if bots are responsible but it is intriguing.

I've decided to keep Scary Mary free. I feel like it is a little too short to charge for, and I am offering it free on the internet. If I were charging for it, I'm sure the downloads would be nil. If people read it and like it, they'll be more likely to check out other work by me. The Ipad edition may have to cost .99 though. I signed up to be offered to Ipad users, and there was some verbage to the agreement saying the price had to end in .99, and if it didn't, Apple would round it up to the next .99. I don't know why Apple would insist on it being for sale, but we'll see. It isn't over there yet, and I don't know when it will be available to Ipad users to see what the deal is.

I've been setting up my profile over at Smashwords. I even put up [shudder] a profile picture. Supposedly as I type this there have been a few more downloads of SM. I wonder if there will be any reviews.

Well, I'm definitely going to keep my eye on Smashwords and see how that goes. I need to go over to Scary Mary's website and put up a front page explaining all the different reading options and maybe post a few quotes from reviews.

Smashwords #398 in queue

2010-07-29T22:35:00.002-04:00

That's what it says right at this moment with my upload to Smashwords. Just under 400 other books are being uploaded ahead of me. I've set Scary Mary at free for now on there. I'm not sure if it will stay that way because I do love dubloons, but for now I'm leaving it as is. One reason is because the story is still free online at the website. I wouldn't feel right if someone bought it without realizing they could read it free online. I'm not sure if anyone would buy my book without first coming in through the website, but I'd rather not take that chance right now. If I do set a price, I figure it will be low. The minimum is $.99. I might charge that or a little higher. I have to see how much I have to accumulate before Smashwords will pay out. If I have to sell a hundred copies before Smashwords pays out once, it's just better to give the book away. Also, I'm not sure how the book will look once it is finished uploading and being converted to all the different formats. If it looks like shit, I definitely don't want anyone buying it.

Well, I'm not staying up to see if the upload is successful. I'm #351 in the queue now.

Responding to a few comments

2010-07-22T17:00:00.002-04:00

Fiona asked about the reason for Gran's bad mood in the last few chapters of Stalking Shadows, and I confess that I may have not made it very clear. I'm worried that her motivation may not be actually logical and that's why Fiona and possibly others don't get her or assume there's more at play than a conflicted person like possibly supernatural involvement. I'm not sure what to do. I hope Fiona can come back and reply to my comments and tell me what could help her understand.

Another very good reader comment was by Steve who wondered about Gran's reaction to something that happened to Mr. White, (I'm trying to stay clear of spoilers.) and the truth is I didn't consider Gran's reaction very clearly. I think it has something to do with POV tunnel vision. I was focusing on Mary and what she was going through I didn't spare Gran a glance. But I should've b/c Mary would have.

That's one of the tricky aspects of storytelling. The author assumes since she's making up everything that only what she presents matters, but she has to remember that while she's writing a story, she's creating a world full of people and places. While the story may only be showing a small sliver of that world, it has to be rich with details b/c everything is interconnected. Things don't stop just because the POV is turned from them. Gran was going through something, but I didn't notice it. I don't know if I'm explaining that well at all, but I'm very glad Steve pointed out something I missed.

Stalking Shadows COMPLETE!

2010-07-18T21:45:00.002-04:00

I finally did it! I finally finished Stalking Shadows. And you know I was adding to the end again. I really hope people like the meandering ending. I know it goes on kind of long, but I feel like it has to so I can finish up a few things and to get Mary into a good space for that glimmer of happily ever after.

Will there be a sequel to Stalking Shadows?

I certainly hope so, but I'm going to let these guys rest for a while and work on other stories. I've been working on my urban fantasy for a bit today, and I think it's coming along. It's no where near done, but I like the progress I'm making.

I don't know what I'm going to do now that SS is no longer hanging over my head. I let this puppy sit in the corner for over a year while I poked at it with a stick. I know that's terrible treatment of a puppy, but I couldn't seem to help myself. Hopefully now I've turned over a new leaf and can work freely and happily on new stories.

I've said this before and I'm going to keep reiterating it, I am never again posting a story as I write it. It's all or nothing from now on. I don't know if I'll even try to serialize my next story. I'm going to definitely have the whole thing written before I begin posting. I don't know how others do it, but it just does not suit me.

Commenting on Comments

2010-07-16T10:27:00.006-04:00

I'm finally looking at comments that were left for me ages ago. For the most part, I feel bad that I didn't respond when they were left because all comments are valuable and readers don't need to leave them. But I did delete one from Scary Mary the other night, mainly because it made my head hurt to decipher, but also because Scary Mary is promoted as YA and I want it to be pre-teen and teen friendly, I didn't think it prudent to leave the profanity-laced comment on there. But I make no such claims here (or on UB), so here's the comment in all its head scratching glory:

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Chapter 1":

ok mary umm u lame asz fuck and get a life u dont scare no body anyway so just get wit it ok lil asz gurl u must scare everybody else but u doont scare me at all try again next week lol dats if u can scare me lmfao dats why u dont have a boy-friend at all but i do lol

Posted by Anonymous to Scary Mary at April 22, 2010 6:41 AM

Isn't it great? I love the fact that the comment is directed to Mary. I wish I were clever enough to respond as Mary, but I'm leery of doing that because it's a slippery slope to insanity. I wonder if the reader came back the next week to see if Mary scared him this time? I didn't get anymore comments of this colorful nature so sadly I don't know. I wonder how this reader stumbled onto my site?

Chapter 12 Up!

2010-07-15T22:29:00.002-04:00

After a minor setback with my health, I posted chapter 12 today. Only 2 chapters left to post and then I'll be done. Two chapters might not seem like a lot, but it is to me. There's a big showdown and then a lot of interpersonal stuff. I hope readers like the conclusion of the story.

Working but Slow

2010-07-13T23:25:00.003-04:00

I've been reading back over chapter 12 of Stalking Shadows in preparation of posting tonight, and it's basically ready, but I'm not going to try and format it tonight to post. I got sidetracked a bit by deleting stuff at the end of chapter 2. I'll have to update that now. What I did was I took out a bit of dialogue that mentioned Mrs. Polk, Chowder's former owner, but since Jake is no longer in the story, Mrs. Polk doesn't really serve any purpose. I had mention of Mrs. Polk in chapter 12 as well, and it was glaringly useless now so I figured I should cut all mention of her completely from the story. I decided to add some different dialogue to the end of chapter 2 to take the axed text's place, but unfortunately, I'm stumped for the final line to finish the chapter. I may decide to just post it as is. The dialogue is just a little bit of fluff. Inconsequential really, but it's fun b/c it's poking a little fun at something.

Stalking Shadows is getting done

2010-07-12T23:56:00.003-04:00

I uploaded chapter 11 tonight. I'm not sure how smooth it is since I started writing more goddamn content while supposedly editing. I ended up adding about two pages to the chapter. I'm sure there are some errors. I just hope there just aren't any plot errors.

I've really fallen out of the game. I've been lurking over on WFG for the past few days and cruising other story sites and everything has built up so much! I'm an old-timer in web fiction, but I am no pro. Some of these guys are real pros. I tip my hat to them.

Been checking out Smashwords as a way to deliver my stories for ebook consumption. I initially thought I'd throw Stalking Shadows up as a .pdf or something so people could download it and read it free, but don't know how to do it simply. Lulu doesn't seem to have an option for free ebook, at least I couldn't find it in my bleary eyed perusal of the site. Smashwords definitely allows it, but I figure if I do it might as well go all the way and set up the file properly.

Anyway, I'm going to keep mulling over the whole ebook thing. It's going to have to go on the back burner as I continue to actively wrestle with uploading Stalking Shadows to the website and try not to write anymore new stuff to the freaking story. I'm happy it's filling out, but I just want to get it over with.

Nearing Home Stretch!

2010-07-12T01:28:00.008-04:00

The next chapter post for Stalking Shadows will have new content! But would you believe I began adding new material at the very end? I can't believe I'm writing new content this late in the game. I really struggled with the ending for this and it's getting very Harry Potterish (as in going on for chapters after the story is over), but I feel like I need to tie up some minor loose strings that were still dangling after the big bad has been vanquished. Jake is out of the story and I sort of miss him, but I think I will use him in the next Scary Mary Adventure, but that will not be the next thing I'm writing. I have several stories in progress that I want to finish and then post. Those won't be done serially I think. I definitely won't be posting as I write. I'm never doing that again. The pressure burned me out in a major way. I don't know which story will be posted next. It'll be whichever finishes first. I have an urban fantasy, a superhero story, a juvenile vampire story, and a juvenile fantasy all in the works. Word count wise the urban fantasy is the furtherest along, but I've stalled out on it a bit, and since I've been really focusing once again on Stalking Shadows and pushing myself to post it, I haven't glanced at any of my other works in progress, except the juvenile vamp story b/c I've been primarily writing it on my i-phone. Though you want to talk about rough drafts, try writing on an i-phone, there is no going back to edit and porting the text over to my PC is like getting a root canal. Anyway, just wanted to say Woohoo! new content almost posted to Stalking Shadows and hopefully, I'll have the full thing posted in a couple of weeks and then I can scream it from the moutaintops.

Oh, and I redesigned Scary Mary's banner a little and redid the buttons. That was fun, though I don't know if Eli over at Novelr will like this font better. It might still make his eyes bleed. Oh well.

Some Headway Made

2010-05-28T22:54:00.004-04:00

I posted the new version of chapter 4 and deleted the post with the 2nd half of the chapter. All of chapter 4 is now in one post. I think I'm going to keep doing that with the future chapters. I don't know if I'm going to keep the old comments though. While they're nice to have, I don't know if anyone but me benefits from them.

Now for something maudlin...

I'm not really versed in the writing biz. I used to seriously want to go the traditional route, but I got discouraged really easily. Tonight I decided to poke around again to get info about getting published and want to run home with my tail between my legs in regard to how tough and scary it is to go pro, only problem is I am home and I don't have a tail. I really gotta take my hat off to anyone who writes and submits over and over after all the rejection. I'm never going to go pro. It was my dream to write for money. Now I just want to write and I have trouble with that even. I'm going to stop now because it's late and I'm getting kind of loopy from sleepiness. I'm hoping it rains tomorrow so I can stay inside and maybe work on SS more. Hope to have chapter 5, v.2 out tomorrow.

Blerg

2010-05-24T22:08:00.005-04:00

I had conveniently forgotten how much I'd changed the chapter breaks during revisions. I'd even added a 'new chapter' within the previously posted sections. It's a combination of new content and rearrangment. I think chapter 4 has most of the new content actually, even though chapter 5 is the 'new' chapter titled 'Volunteering to Help'. There's a Cy, Kyle, Mary scene that is new in chapter 4.

I sort of want to do away with the part 1 and part 2 divisions of the chapters. The reason I did them was because posting a chapter a week was very tough, but I thought I could manage half a chapter. Now that the chapters are radically different and I'm posting them in whole, I think it would be better to keep the chapters all together. I think it would make for a better reading experience. I don't know if I'm odd, but I rather read one long screen than click through a lot of small ones. The only thing that is making me pause from merging the chapter parts is I don't want to loose the comments, which I could save by copying and pasting, but they don't look very good that way. Le sigh, I'll keep mucking about with it.

Sometimes writing makes me feel old.

2010-05-23T21:40:00.005-04:00

I'm not sure how this pinged my radar, but I had a bit of dialogue from Rachel in Stalking Shadows that has seriously gone out of date. She says, “Yes, of course, I know because I’ve been secretly stalking Vicky all this time. I have a small shrine to her in my closet. Every night, I burn bubblegum incense and cuddle a Kleenex she once sneezed into while I photoshop her picture onto the covers of Glamour and YM.” I decided to google the titles to see if they were correct. Well guess what everybody, YM ceased publication in 2004. I never read it, but it was one of those glossy magazines that the 'cool' girls were supposed to read. At least I think it was supposed to be cool. Hard to say sometimes with that stuff, but I believe it was. I've changed the line to Glamour and Vogue. Neither of those better go out of business anytime soon or else I'm gonna feel like a dinosaur and will have no idea what to replace them with. I've exhausted my knowledge of style magazines.

I posted the revised chapter 2. I left the end alone with Gran and Mary mentioning remote viewing and the Moores. Poor Tipsy is lost and will not be found in this installment, but I'm told she's bunking with a friendly beagle at a nice home on Maple Street. I figure a little extraneous information won't hurt anything at this point. I may get a wild hair in a few weeks and edit the exchange, but for right now, I'm leaving it alone. I was also able to revise and post chapter 3. There wasn't much to do to it so it was pretty quick. I'm hoping most of the chapters will be that way. It just sucks trying to keep the edits up-to-date between my word document and the blog.

I am planning to post a .pdf of the completed work.

Dear God, when will it end?!

2010-05-22T15:57:00.004-04:00

I'm starting to post the new and improved (and completed) Stalking Shadows. I've only posted the first chapter so far because I'm having to read through all of it for the zillionth time to catch things that are wrong. I've removed Jake from the story because his story, which I do want to possibly tell sometime in the future, was not really gelling with the Shadowman's. I really grappled with Jake's story and tried to make it work and that's partly why it took so long for me to get anywhere near to posting the new edition. Right now I'm stuck on the end of chapter 2 and trying to decide to either completely remove the conversation between Gran and Mary about Mrs. Polk (who appeared in the first story) and her new dog Tipsy. I think I might want to leave some mention of the Moores and remote viewing but I don't know if it's germane to the story and may just be rather random to new readers. And even as I type this there's a little voice in the back of my head whispering, "Why not put the letters back in? He could still help find poor little Tipsy." And I tell that little voice to shut up, I've already taken all the letters out of the story (even the new ones that were never published on the site) and have adjusted a lot of the text that referred to Jake, but I'm still finding little threads that were tied to Jake and it's annoying me because he was the B plot, never the A and how did he integrate so thuroughly into the story (maybe because I tried to integrate them. Shows me doesn't it?) But I'm hoping an alternate conversation will come to me for the end of chapter 2. Maybe something that will help the main story. So yes, I am alive and I'm writing, but I'm cranky. And new posts here will be me whining more than likely.

Can't say I didn't warn you.

Reintroducing Myself

2009-09-28T21:12:00.006-04:00

I came up with the idea for this post on the way to work this morning and not until now, after 9pm have I had a chance to write anything at all. I've lost the urge that came with thinking up the idea of this. I thought I'd tell a little bit about myself to let people know why writing doesn't happen. It wasn't going to be tragic or earth shattering, just stuff about my day-to-day.

Well, my day-to-day sucks. I work 40 hours a week minimum. My job is at a large university in a busy library and in the busiest section of the busy library, which is the media section. I shuffle DVDs, VHS, and the occasional laser disc while juggling student workers and answering emails from faculty who are coddled way more than I was when I was a baby.

I don't make enough money to live anywhere near campus. Shit, I don't make enough money to park anywhere near campus. (Yes, we have to pay to park.) So I have an hour commute each way if traffic isn't bad. I don't take a lunch hour so eight hours at work, two hours in the car, eight hours for sleep, and an hour for shower and dressing leaves me with supposedly five hours to myself everyday, right?

This is where my day gets hazy. I'm not quite sure where those five hours go. I fritter them away somehow. I know how I did it today. I went to Lowe's to buy Masonite for my art class. That put me home at about 7pm, and I fixed dinner. About 8pm, my mom calls to say she's driving by to give me food. Yes, I am slightly spoilt. She stops by, we chat for a little bit. She doesn't even sit down, so the stop is fifteen minutes max.

I am trying to watch an episode of the Vampire Diaries during all of this. (Yes, I'm watching it and enjoying it. Shut up.) I finally finish all of that around 10pm. (I've been jotting off and on in this post for the last hour.) I really should go to sleep in an hour. I have a nasty habit of staying up until 1am. I need to quit that. I've bought sleeping pills to hopefully help me.

The PLAN for tonight was to work on my art class stuff. I didn't figure the trip to Lowe's would take an hour, and I'm feeling really discouraged because I spent ALL DAY Sunday working on my art class stuff. I had to write a little paper, work on a painting, and do some studies for another project, but I'm still not done. I have to do more study work for the other project and finish the painting I'm working on, and the class is this Wednesday night. There's no way I'm getting it all done tomorrow. So you see, my day-to-day sucks.

And don't even ask me about writing!

7/29/09

2009-07-29T23:55:00.002-04:00

I'm still tinkering with the plot, and the funny thing is that what's forming shares similarities to what I'd originally planned but a few days ago, I thought the original plot was completely thrown out. I really hope to get a lot of writing done this weekend. (I may push to finish this sucker.)

7/27/09

2009-07-27T23:31:00.003-04:00

I'm not sure if today's installment is exactly sticking to the rules of writing. It's mainly plot brainstorming. I'm going to call it good for now. I got a fair bit figured out which is comforting and will make writing tomorrow even easier.

7/26/09

2009-07-27T00:42:00.002-04:00

Only wrote 160 words tonight due to a nasty headache due to flea bombing the house. Hopefully will do better tomorrow.

7/25/09

2009-07-26T01:00:00.004-04:00

Ugh, I got the writing done, but I'm more focused on a mundane problem beseiging me and that is fleas. Man, fleas are evil. I'm fogging the upstairs of my house right now, but my cats still got them, nevermind having been treated with Frontline about a week ago. I'm going to have to fog the downstairs and figure out how to do that tomorrow. It's going to suck. No doubt about it. But at least the writing got done.

7/24/09

2009-07-25T00:30:00.002-04:00

Nothing really to report today. The words added up quick today because I had a clear little bit to write, but plot didn't move forward much. At least not the main plot. Trying to figure out how the story ends is tough. I'm pretty proud of the final confrontation in Scary Mary and trying to write something as good as that or even better is a pretty daunting task to me. I hope something comes together soon.

7/23/09

2009-07-24T00:10:00.003-04:00

I wish I were a better writer. One who could plan stuff and actually do it. I'm always interested in hearing how authors plot their novels. Some use note cards that outline the story while others write it down like an instruction manual. I tried to do note cards with Stalking Shadows, but I couldn't figure out all the bits of the plot so I started writing before I had it fully planned, and now I've thrown out all the note cards because I didn't stick to any of the things I had planned, except for putting Vicky in a coma. I don't even know how to layout chapters. I just realized that I'd gone 30pages without a chapter break, and previous chapters were on average about 10 pages. That's how I've been figuring chapters. Every 10 pages, chapter break. I know that's too simplistic, but I figure it's better than not putting chapter breaks in at all. Well, got what I wanted done. That new thing that I had introduced into the plot from yesterday has been toned down a bit, though I'm still working on it. I'm closing in on the end of Chapter 11. Man, it doesn't seem like I've gotten very far at all.

Keep on, Keeping on

2009-07-22T22:59:00.001-04:00

Well, got writing done today and I gotta say, when you're forced to churn out stuff then plot sort of happens that you may not have planned or even thought about. I introduced something that I'm not sure where I'm going with yet, but I'm pretty interested in pursuing it. Hopefully by the time I sit down to write again tomorrow, I'll have some idea about what the hell I'm doing.

Write Or Die

2009-07-21T22:05:00.010-04:00

I've become addicted to the website Write Or Die. It's a neat little tool that forces you to write. If you don't, there are dire consequences. I've been using it off and on the past few days, and it's really helped me out. I have a bad habit of lingering over stuff too long and ruminating on what to write next to the point where not much of anything gets written. I've been getting 500 words out at a time with Write or Die and that's pretty good for me. Now, all this stuff is rough draft stuff, but it's getting written which is the important part. In case you were wondering, Stalking Shadows is now 3000 words longer than Scary Mary and is not done yet. Unfortunately, I'm still trying to figure out how this sucker ends.

Well, I'll start blogging again I think. Expect to see quite a few of the following accompanying my posts:

Scary Mary

2009-05-25T20:57:00.017-04:00

The dead speak to her. She wishes they'd shut up.

Scary Mary is a complete novel free to read online about a high school girl who hears ghosts.
It is written for a young adult/teen audience, but everyone is welcome.

Reviews of Scary Mary

LL Book Review
LK Gardner-Griffie says, "S. A. Hunter’s characters jump off the page and into life. You are pulled into the story from page one."

Web Fiction Guide
Donna Sirriani says, "Go read this now."
Morgan O'Friel says, "It’s a must-read for anyone who enjoys supernatural stories, despite its high school focus."

Interview

Books and Bites interviewed me about Scary Mary.

Merchandise

You can purchase a hard copy of Scary Mary from Amazon or Lulu.

And coming soon T-shirts!

Bookmooch

2009-05-07T21:54:00.004-04:00

I'm not sure how widely known this site is, but I really like Bookmooch. I've been able to pick up a lot of books that I wouldn't have gotten otherwise. Sure, the books I really, really want aren't there, but that's to be expected. On the other hand, I've gotten some fun stuff like The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Book. Now I know the best way to fend off an alligator. Never know when I might need that.

Anyway, I like the site. I use it. Wanted to mention it. It's a great way to get rid of books and receive new ones. My initial inventory was made up of a bunch of Dragon Lance novels my brother didn't want anymore. I found out pretty quickly that there were people who were more than eager to take them off my hands. And because I sent them those books, I got a copy of The Big Over Easy by Jasper Fforde, which I'm really enjoying.

Hey, got any cool book resources you use?

Didn't Forget - Just Didn't Post

2009-05-06T11:34:00.008-04:00

Okay, so last night when I got home from work, I was so tired I went to sleep and slept until I needed to get up again for work. I thought about posting to this here blog, but sleep won out. The reason I was so tired is because I was up way too late the night before working on the new banner than you now see above. I'm not sure if it's great, but I think it's better than the plain text banner I had before. I also tried to change the template for the blog, but couldn't get it to work exactly right. I think I'm trying to do something that Blogger won't let me do.

Today is the end of my work week. I have the next three days off. I plan to work on SS and on my last assignment for my painting class.

Almost Forgot

2009-05-04T21:57:00.004-04:00

I know it's bad that I almost forgot to blog on only the second day of my week long daily blogging challenge, but Mondays are rough. Work is hell, and I have class in the evening, but I only have one more week of class. I've enjoyed Introduction to Painting, but it will be nice having that off my plate for a bit. I've signed up to take Painting I in the fall, but I'm taking it easy this summer.

I posted the first paintings I did for the class a while back, and I meant to post the second set. I've had the digital pictures for weeks now, but I never could muster myself to post them. Well fear not, here they are now. The assignment was to do a study in the light half of the gray scale and another in the dark half. I'm happiest with how the dark half turned out. My proportions and perspective are all wonky in the light gray scale painting.

Well, more tomorrow. See ya.

Blogging

2009-05-03T08:20:00.002-04:00

I'm going to try a little experiment. I want to blog everyday for a week and see how that goes. I'm not going to be writing anything deep and meaningful. I just want to force myself to post something everyday and see how it goes.

The posts will generally remain writing or book related. I'm not going to go off on home life and family. I may write about art or art class. Like tomorrow, I have another big painting due and I've been slacking on it like crazy. I need to do some serious work on it tonight, but I don't know if it will get anywhere near done for class tomorrow. I wish I'd committed to it like I had for previous assignments, but it's almost the end of the semester, and I'm starting to feel burned out. Plus, I'm just not interested in doing landscapes.

I also waited until the last moment with SS again. It got written yesterday. It's shorter than my usual installments, but the preceding part was longer, so I felt justified in being brief. Funny thing is that most of what happens in this week's installment is new stuff that wasn't planned in my outline, but what I had planned wasn't very good, and I'm much happier with what happened.

Horace Thistlebottom (and most writers should recognize the surname and get a smile. If you don't recognize it, google it.) is a character I came up with months ago in a very early stab at a sequel. I need to now find the notes I'd written down for him. I hope I have notes because I can't remember everything I'd thought up for him, but I'm afraid that 'everything' I thought up for him may not have been much. We'll see.

Things I looked up while writing chapter 8, pt.2: Toy dog breeds (Scottish Terriers are NOT toy dogs) and sic vs. sick (interchangeable)

I'm Baaaack!

2009-04-26T11:51:00.004-04:00

After the long hiatus, I'm back. Chapter 8, pt.1 of Stalking Shadows went live at midnight, and I'm back into the swing of things. I still haven't figured out exactly how the story will end, but I know what's happening for the next several chapters at least.

I'm a little frustrated with my own ability at present. I can envision pretty clearly everything I want in a scene but translating it into words is tough for me. Dialogue is easy but figuring out what words to use to describe action and location are tough for me. I want it all to flow seamlessly, but it ends up feeling akward, at least to me. Letting stuff sit for while after I've written it and going back will usually help me. But I don't really have that luxury here, and sometimes, I'll get so deep into editing something, that I lose perspective and it'll get jumbled and akward again.

I'm still spread too thin with class, work, and writing, but class is wrapping up in three weeks, and work will become much less stressful in two. I figure I should be all right writing wise until then.

I'll try to be a little more dilegent with this blog, but I've made that promise before and broken it, but I'll keep trying.

P.S. Look at the new button for Unicorn Bait. It matches the banner now!

Blogcatalog Declined Me, sort of

2009-03-31T23:00:00.008-04:00

In my ongoing quest to advertise/promote my stories, I made a few submissions to Blogcatalog. I saw that they had a fiction section and thought Scary Mary and Unicorn Bait might fit in nicely. I saw another story site there and some short fiction sites. They declined all of my submissions except my journal site. (Well, I didn't submit Stalking Shadows, which would've been interesting to see if they'd accept it or not.) Their reason for declining the sites was that they weren't blogs. I guess that's fair. I no longer update those sites with new content. I still go back and edit them, but no new entries. I thought they might get a pass because they are on a blog platform and had other blog trappings like comments, but they said nope.

Now, I wonder if they'd accept Stalking Shadows since that is currently updating with new posts (except for being stalled for a bit). Shit, why don't I just make up a submission and see? If they decline it, I'll know, but other ongoing stories are listed, so I think I'm on solid ground with this one. We'll see. They don't offer a definition of blog that I could see, which would've helped. They're pretty quick at least to make their decision. I'll know in a day or two if Stalking Shadows is listed.

ETA 4/5/09 - Stalking Shadows was approved. So all ongoing stories will more than probably be accepted by Blogcatalog. How much traffic will be gleaned from listing with them is still to be seen. I think it will be a matter of how much effort is placed in joining the community.

I'm Tweeting

2009-03-30T13:01:00.004-04:00

Twitter seems to be everywhere. I hear radio stations advertising their twitter. Almost every blog I follow has a Twitter account, and a lot of web authors have gotten them. I still have trouble deciphering people's feeds because like on Facebook, exchanges take place across two locations. It isn't all gathered in one place, at least not in a way I an observer can discern easily.

My reason for finally getting an account is to put it on all my sites and let visitors see what else might be happening. I could tweet about a recent WFG review I'd posted, or warn that an update may be a few hours late. I think this could be a very handy tool for me. I just don't want to get too invested in it socially. I want a tool to use, not another goof off option.

My twitter account is at http://twitter.com/sa_hunter and I'll have feeds for it on the sidebar of the sites.

ETA 4/26 - Why didn't anyone tell me I was using the verb wrong?

Books and Bites Interview

2009-03-20T19:19:00.003-04:00

Books and Bites kindly interviewed me about Scary Mary and posted it today.

You can find it here.

You know, talking about your writing isn't as easy as it looks.

Other Interests

2009-02-27T17:22:00.009-05:00

I don't know if I've mentioned it here, but I'm taking an art class (Introduction to Painting) at the local community college. It meets once a week from 5-10pm. I double majored in Art and English in college, but never took any painting classes. I decided to try it out. It's a lot of work. I'd forgotten just how much time studio classes require.

Since I'm spending so much time with brush in hand, I figure why not share the results with you guys. Here's my first assignment. We had to paint two pictures using only one color and white. The darkest value would have to be the color straight out of the tube. We had to do one painting of three eggs and then another of a white object. Each painting took about three hours.

For a first assignment, after only one class, I think they turned out pretty good. I'm not extremely happy with the cat creamer (it's actually much cuter than the picture indicates), but the eggs turned out pretty good I think.

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #425,686 in Books

2009-02-20T21:24:00.003-05:00

OMG! Does this mean someone has actually bought my book?! I think it does! Before there wasn't a sales rank at all. I can't believe it! I thought it would just sit on Amazon forever and not do anything. I've sold at least 2 books now. One book was direct to reader. He kindly asked me to get him a copy and sign it for him and then ship. He offered to pay for all shipping and everything which is was really cool of him. Thanks, Dave! (It's in the mail, BTW.)

In other fantastic news, Stalking Shadows got two glowing reviews over at the Web Fiction Guide. (Disclaimer: I am an editor there, but I didn't writer either of the reviews!) Sarah Suleski had some good things to say about it, and if you can keep a secret, I did imagine Cordelia Chase when coming up with Vicky. If you're gonna steal, steal from the best I say (and cover your tracks well, too). I was very interested in Linda Schoales review because she hasn't read Scary Mary. One thing that she said tripped her up a little was Chowder, which I'm fully willing to accept because I find it tough to explain the whole body/ghost thing. I mean he's a ghost that's technically in his body sometimes, but how to explain that? I mean he's not doing anything when he's in his body except hanging out. He can't move it or do anything zombie-ish. God, can you imagine a zombie Scottish Terrier? I'm not going there! And I know Mary wouldn't be happy if I did. She'd probably walk out of the story, never mind the amount of trouble Rachel would get into when she snuck him into school.

Chapter 6 of SS is coming along. I think it may turn out pretty good, and I possibly won't be slaving on it come Sunday and delaying the posting until early evening. Fingers crossed there.

New Installment of Stalking Shadows Is Up (Barely)

2009-02-09T02:00:00.006-05:00

It was rough today getting the new half chapter posted. I kept fiddling with the prose. I had more than enough written, but kept editing because I couldn't get bits of it right like the confrontation with Cy at the elevator. I still don't think it's working, but it's better. When I very first wrote it, it was Rachel who chewed out Cy for assuming her and Mary were there to screw with Vicky, but I didn't like it. I delved into Mary's head and realized she really needed to be the one who said something to Cy. I had to rewrite a lot after that too because it referenced the confrontation, and with Mary now being the one who spoke, everything was thrown off.

Things I had to look up to write this chapter: Grocery store cigars and what the emergency button is called on the hospital bed. The internet is very helpful sometimes.

Sort of unrelated, but when did Blogger start offering embedded commenting? That is great. I switched all of my story blogs over to it. I hated the blogger commenting page. Embedded comments is exactly what I want.

And I've added Stumbleupon buttons to everything. I'm thinking about adding Digg. Janoda over at Webfictionguide.com had stumbled me and had encouraged others to join and help drive traffic to story sites. I have a Stumbleupon account now, and I have stumbled a few story sites. We'll see what happens. This very blog got about fifty clicks from Stumbleupon the other day, which I think is a fluke or something, but still cool that people are stopping by or rather stumbling onto my site. Wish I could get some of them onto Unicorn Bait. That site has been sadly neglected by surfers, though the handful of people who do stop by are reading. I can tell by the page counts. But I want lots of people to see how pretty it is now too. :0)

Unicorn Bait Redesigned!

2009-02-07T16:24:00.004-05:00

Well, I went a little crazy yesterday and decided I HAD to redesign Unicorn Bait's web site. I'm very happy with how it turned out. It took FAR TOO LONG, but that's due to my very meager web design skills. I have to basically relearn everything whenever I set out to do something like this.

The banner image is a detail from Gustave Moreau's The Unicorns.

You may recognize the basic design from the mock book cover I made up months ago. It was a pretty easy matter to adjust it and make it into the banner image. I wanted to do something pretty awesome with the sidebar, but damn, nobody shows any love for the sidebar. I looked everywhere for some packet or something but couldn't find anything. I ended up doing only basic stuff to change the headers and whatnot. Looking into that took most of my time, and it was a pretty fruitless waste, but I'm still happy with the outcome. I also went in and started doing a few edits to various chapters. I need to do more of that. I think I've let it sit long enough and now can look at it with fresh eyes.

I have been working on SS. Will have more on that tomorrow, hopefully with a new chapter post!

Viruses attacking from all sides!

2009-02-01T17:08:00.003-05:00

I got hit with another computer virus on Saturday midday and had to stop and run multiple scans on my computer to clear it up, and when I thought I had, it popped up again. Going to go home tonight and look at the registry to see if it's in there, though all the scans should've picked it up. It didn't do any damage, but it's a downloader trojan, which means it'll invite nastier friends to my computer if not stopped and I don't want that.

Also I got a sore throat and a drippy nose. I'm taking pills, and it isn't very bad yet, but I'm feeling wiped and brain dead. I just hope it doesn't evolve into a sinus infection. I don't want to deal with the fever, aches, and mucus of that.

This week, I reached the end of my pre-written stuff. I need to write a new chapter to post by Sunday. I know some basics of what I want to happen, but it's not real clear. We'll see what happens.

Fiddling with the Update Schedule

2009-01-25T22:28:00.003-05:00

So with the last update for Stalking Shadows, I announced I would be changing my update day to Sundays rather than Fridays. Well, come Sunday, I had to rethink things again. I'm going to stick to Sundays, but I'm going to have to do only half chapter updates. I'm about at the end of my pre-written material and will have to start generating it completely from scratch, which I have never done before, but I know I will not be able to write a complete chapter in a week. I have a full-time job, I'm about to start an art class at the community college, and I would like to keep somewhat active with the Web Fiction Guide, which all means, ain't no way I'm writing a full length chapter in a week.

It's frustrating that I have to keep scaling back, but I know what I can and cannot do.

Other than that, everything's peachy. Hope people keep enjoying SS!

Fun New Listing Site

2009-01-12T20:50:00.004-05:00

I check my stats like a caffeine addict checks the coffee pot. Has it stopped perking? How much is left? Is it still warm? Should I make more? Should I brew another pot? I've had one today, but it isn't even noon yet. I can drink another pot easy. Has it stopped perking yet? How much is left? Is it still warm? Should I make more? You get the idea.

Anyway, I was checking my stats, and saw a new incoming link. It was for New Free Books. I didn't submit to the site, but ~~it doesn't look like one can~~ you can send an email with your site's info if you want to be included. What charmed me about this site is the explanation text at the bottom of the page. It reads:

My Treasure Hunt Philosophy: I am checking regularly for ways to expand these offerings. I try to pick the best ones. "Low minded" books should not be here. Please alert me of dead links and books that don't meet good standards so they can be removed.

Just keep in mind, this IS a "treasure hunt." The random order you find on this list is not accidental. It is simply a recognition that each book has its own unique personality. And moreover, if something is really fresh, it will defy traditional categorization.

With that in mind, I will stay focused on collecting valuable links, and I hope you enjoy browsing the wide variety of offerings for treasures that are right for you. And don't forget your friends... you may come across something that is just right for someone else.

So I'm wondering if each time you go to the site the order of the entries is different? Hitting refresh didn't do anything, but it would be an interesting experiment, having the stuff rearrange every time so you find something new, but I think the person running the site just sticks the new links in anywhere in the list. The link to me appears to be a newer one, but it's among older links. The entries aren't categorized beyond putting stuff by the same author together. I like the idea, and I'm very flattered to be listed. It seems to have been around for a while. I'm surprised I hadn't landed on it before.

Bit of a Blip Today

2009-01-09T00:26:00.003-05:00

Didn't get chapter 2 of Stalking Shadows posted until after midnight tonight, which is later than planned. Got hit with a nasty bit of malwary earlier in the day and have been fighting with it for five hours. I forget exactly what it's called, but it masquerades as a virus removal program. I didn't install it or anything, but some site I stumbled on must have infected me. It was a bitch to get rid of. My dad put me onto Malwarebytes, which I highly recommend. I'd been running Symantec and Ad-aware, and they were finding some of the badness but not all of it, and so the badness just kept coming back. I seem to be running clean now.

Thanks, Dad.

Chapter 2 is up. I'm a little unsure of it because I didn't get to obsess over it like usual, but maybe that's a good thing. I'll be reading back over it soon any way and fixing anything I missed...And I just went back and spotted something I wanted to change. It's a compulsion.

Rolling in the Debt

2009-01-05T16:25:00.003-05:00

As opposed to rolling in the money, I am rolling in debt. I am in so much debt, not from writing, just from life. Yeah, this whole writing on the web thing is no get rich quick deal. I haven't sold a single copy of SM. That's kind of depressing. I really didn't expect any real gain from this. My royalty for SM is like a quarter a book. That's right, I have the chance to make a shiny quarter per copy sold, and Lulu won't cut a check until I reach $25 (so I've got to make a lot of shiny quarters before I see anything), but that doesn't matter since I've sold nada. That's why I've increased the number of ads on some of the sites. I don't think they're too intrusive, but I want to start making a little money. I've made about $20 total in ad revenue, but that's over six months. Like I said, no get rich quick deals here.

Unicorn Bait Reviewed by Pychmum

2009-01-04T19:59:00.004-05:00

Damn, I'm going to save this review for when I'm feeling down and out. Like when I wonder why I bother to write, I ain't making money off it, nobody appreciates it, I suck. (Every downward spiral ends with 'You suck', which is kind of ironic considering the metaphor of the downward spiral, but you're unlikely to appreciate the irony when you're in the whirlpool.) Then somebody writes you something: a note, a comment, a review that says, "Good job!" And presto, change-o, you're out of the spiral and flying high. Just gotta be careful not to fly too high. Don't want those wings melting.

So thanks, Psychmum. Appreciate it :-)

Link to review. :-)

Stalking Shadows Begins

2009-01-01T22:55:00.005-05:00

The fact that I'm still not sure about the title to this project should indicate how very much it is still in the air. Half the time, I call it Shadow Stalking and the other half, Stalking Shadows. It's not that one moment I like one better than the other, it's because they seem interchangeable to me, and I keep forgetting that I've settled on the latter.

I have not worked on the sequel as diligently as I should have. I have maybe four chapters written at this point. I'm not even to the halfway mark. I'm not sure what is going to happen, but chapter one is going to post at midnight in a little while, and SS will be begun. Starting a new story on New Year's Day feels really good to me. It's how I should begin the year. Hopefully, I'll be able to keep up with my writing and not take any of those dreaded hiatuses, but I probably will be taking one in a month or two. I apologize now because I'll probably be too worn out to do so when it happens. Hopefully I'll be aware enough to post a hiatus message.

I hope readers enjoy Stalking Shadows. So far it's been pretty fun to write.

Reviewing and Being Reviewed

2008-12-22T13:44:00.002-05:00

I logged into Web Fiction Guide to post a review only to see a review from Donna Sirani for Unicorn Bait. Oh I was sorely tempted to put a hold on posting my review of The Next Generation by Wes Boyd and go read Donna's review, but I knew I wouldn't be able to just read Donna's review. I would then go to UB and look it over and consider what she said. So I forced myself to post my review and silently prayed it made sense and did someone somewhere some good, and then jumped back to Donna's review. She raises some very good points. I'm not willing to change how the story begins, but I probably should introduce some tiny little bit of exposition on what exactly is happening and introduce Naomi a little better.

I really appreciate and enjoyed the review, but what sucks is Donna asks a question I hadn't considered and don't address well in the story. It being: Where did Grandpa get the unicorn horn from? In my head, I figured it was just something he picked up in a yard sale and that's all, but Donna hints that it could've been an interesting avenue for the story to explore, but alas, I didn't explore it. I just let it be a plot construct. I can't make it a relevant story point now. The story is set. I'm not changing major plot points. I can't, not without rewriting the whole thing and that's something I'm determined not to do, but it's so tantalizing! No, will not be seduced.

I am rereading chapters though and grimacing at how raw they are. I was intent on just getting the action out. I need to go back and put more character stuff in.

When Web Novelists Disappear

2008-12-12T12:36:00.009-05:00

There's an interesting article up at Smart Bitches, Trashy Books about a "book [that] was originally put up online on the now defunct St. Rose Press (it was an AOL Hometown page, and those were all shut down in October), and was such a hit that NovelBooks Inc decided to publish it in ‘03." The book Greenwood by Sue Wilson is not available in print anymore, and the online content is only accessible through the WayBack Machine. Over at Novelr, the problem of what happens to web authors when they pass away has been mentioned, but now as far as I know, Ms. Wilson is hale and hearty; she has just disappeared. This is the first instance I've seen of an author's disappearance being mourned and access to her work an issue. Readers of SBTB have combed the WayBack Machine and posted a list of links to access, so others could read this book while others have sought out the author in an attempt to find out if she's written anything else and if she's going to publish Greenwood in print again. At the time of this posting, no one has been able to contact the author.

This is a sad thing. I have not read Greenwood, but the SBTB readers are discerning folk, and if they're raving about it, then it's probably damn good. Thank goodness for the WayBack Machine, but it does make me think about how ephemeral publishing on the web really is. They say putting a photo online is near impossible to completely delete off due to people grabbing the photo and posting elsewhere, but what about stories, especially original stories? Authors don't necessarily want our work grabbed and posted willynilly all over the internet, but if Google were to somehow implode tomorrow, all of my stuff would disappear. Sure, I have my stories on my computer and various thumb drives, but I would lose all the lovely comments and probably a bunch of edits as well and readers would be left high and drive until I figured out a new game plan. It's a serious problem that I should think about and other web authors should too.

And it should also be noted that publishing on the web shouldn't be a passing fling. Writers should be prepared to commit years to keeping their work online: Plan for hosting, check the story website, don't abandon it. If Ms. Wilson were to resurface, she would find a fan base ready to welcome her back. I hope she logs on sometime in the next day or two and discovers the love waiting for her because like the sea, the internet is an ever changing thing, and the love will have been buried by a tide of new posts and content.

Looky!

2008-12-11T20:00:00.001-05:00

This is going up on all my sites. I like this much better than the Lulu button, though if items are bought through Lulu, I get a better commission, but I think this is a better quality button.

Amazoning Myself

2008-12-06T03:00:00.010-05:00

Amazoning yourself: Similar to Googling yourself except the name/title search is done on Amazon. I bought a distribution deal from Lulu.com ages ago and finally used it with Scary Mary. It wasn't a bright move. When you sign-up for distribution through Lulu, you're book is set in stone. No changes are allowed without paying close to $80. But I'd paid over twice that for the distribution deal so felt I HAD to use it.

I peeked into Amazon tonight to see if it had showed up in their catalog yet, and was surprised to see that it had, but even more surprised by the cover image. They've somehow gotten a copy of an ancient cover. One of the early ones. Possibly the first. I don't know how that happened. I don't know why Lulu would even save that image after I uploaded a new one, but it's what's appearing on Amazon, and they're saying the book was published in 2006. Not sure why that is either. That was probably when I bought the distribution deal, but I never activated it until recently. I used a few feedback links on the Amazon page to try and get it corrected, but I don't think anything will happen. I guess I'll have to contact Lulu and ask them what's up. It's all very strange, but it is nice to see that the book is at least appearing. I checked Barnes and Noble, but it isn't there yet, though when it does appear, it will probably be the same as Amazon's, unless something's done. I'm definitely not buying a distribution deal for Unicorn Bait.

ETA 12/08/08: It's fixed! I got an email from Amazon saying they removed the wrong image and now the right one is there! Yippee! Now, if someone wants to go and write a review, I'll name my fictional first born after you.

I just noticed that they have the reading level set at ages 9-12. Where the heck did that come from? I don't neccessarily disagree, but I don't know if that's absolutely correct. Maybe 12&up. I'm just happy that the cover's right!

Gasp! Barnes and Noble has it now too! And they have the right cover!

Hmm, I'm curious by the 'in stock' text on both Amazon and Barnes and Noble. I somehow doubt they have copies in their warehouses, but I'm sure they'll be happy to get some if orders come in ;-)

Some Serial Love

2008-12-03T23:53:00.004-05:00

In a sort of reverse to expectations that became an underdog win, a serial (Or at least, I'm calling it a serial. It's a fictional character blog too I suppose.) was listed on PC World's Top 11 Lamest Blogs, but people were so charmed by the odd-ball storytelling that an outpouring of support has occurred for the writer, and it makes me happy. The blog is The Adventure of Pat O'Neil.

The author seems to be allergic to the Enter key, but it suits the rambling fashion of his stories. I increased the font, so the text wouldn't be quite so cramped, but the lack of line breaks doesn't detract from how nicely loquacious the voice is. These entries are meant to be read aloud. I left a comment for the author asking if he'd ever considered doing podcasts. I think he could be a star.

I hope readers stay with Pat's story and keep coming back. It's nice when one of our own get noticed and appreciated.

Web Fiction Guide Reviews

2008-12-03T08:00:00.002-05:00

I wrote a couple of reviews for Web Fiction Guide. I'm trying to be a good li'l editor again.

Unfortunately, they aren't very favorable reviews. I link to them because I got no current blog post.

Review of Moondust
Evangeline's Ride

OnlineNovels.net

2008-12-02T09:00:00.008-05:00

I ran across something surprising today. I was researching a new avenue for attracting visitors and submitted my two sites to onlinenovels.net. I know I had looked at the site in the past, but I don't think I tried it because I thought it was dead, but I saw a recent author was getting some traffic from it so I thought I'd give it a try. After I'd submitted my site, they emailed me back to say, "Sure, we'll link to your site for $5 a month." Bwhuh? First of all, the site isn't some uber beautiful web page. It's a simple list of links with what looks like author submitted summaries. Their email to me said, "Due to huge amounts of traffic and the time it takes to run [the website], I will now be charging a $5 monthly fee per new author." Dude, seriously? I weep for anyone who has fallen for this.

It may be the number one search result in Google for "online novels", but it isn't the number one site as far as I can tell anywhere else. (I've tried mightily to get an Alexa widget to work, but can't force it.) Check out these stats--

Traffic Rank for Onlinenovels.net:
Alexa traffic rank based on a combined measure of page views and users (reach)

1 wk. Avg.           3 mos. Avg. 
2,195,139            1,695,545

Traffic Rank for Free-online-novels.com:
Alexa traffic rank based on a combined measure of page views and users (reach)

1 wk. Avg.           3 mos. Avg. 
282,774              236,790

Traffic Rank for Starry.com:
Alexa traffic rank based on a combined measure of page views and users (reach)

1 wk. Avg.           3 mos. Avg. 
738,702              645,612

Traffic rank shows where a site ranks compared to the rest of the internet. What site is #1 for web surfers? Currently, it's yahoo.com, followed by google.com, and rounding out the top three is youtube.com. So free-online-novels.com is ranked 236,790 while online novels.net is 1,695,545, and I'm supposed to pay onlinenovels.net?

I am listed on both Free Online Novels and Starry.com . I haven't kept statistics, but I've gotten steady clicks from both these sites, and they're good clicks too. People have read my stories after coming to them from one of these sites, but I don't pay either of them to link to me. They do so generously on their own. I asked them to link to me, and they said sure. I wouldn't have any traffic if it weren't for these two sites. The fact that these two sites are able to host links for free and MORE links at that, (and Starry.com even posts pics for each story,) how the hell can onlinenovels.net feel they can charge $5 a month? I hope none of the authors I recognize are seriously paying this site for a link. A lot of the links on that site are old, one doesn't even exist anymore, and it's way too much damn money for just a link on a no-frills site.

If anyone does pay for a link, or even if they don't but are on the site, I'd like to know a rough average of clicks they get from this site.

(Slight disclaimer: I know Alexa information is flawed. It's extrapolating from a pool of users and is not a true survey of all the web (the same as Nielsen ratings for television), but there aren't any other well established tools to help me determine web site traffic for sites not my own, and the difference between the results of the three sites makes me think that Alexa isn't far off when used in a comparitive fashion.)

Stalking Shadows

2008-12-01T09:19:00.002-05:00

I've been working on the blog for Stalking Shadows. You can find it here. I'm trying to decide which banner would be best for the site. I'm leaning towards the second which is what I have up now on the blog because the text is easier to read, but the first one is more like Scary Mary's banner with the central placement of the image, though that doesn't mean it has to be there.

I'm not sure which banner I want to use. They're not radically different, but I have to stare at these a lot and I want the best one. If you wish to chime in, go ahead.

Blogger Woes

2008-11-29T20:58:00.005-05:00

Since Wednesday, I was getting 404 Page Not Found whenever I tried to visit my own journal and Project Wonderful was having regular conniptions because it couldn't see this site, though my other sites were just fine. Gotta tell you, that was a little off putting. Blogger issued an alert saying they were working on the problem with their custom domains, but offered no advice about how to deal with it or anything. I finally stumbled across some information that made me think the solution may be simpler than suspected. I'm going to post it here because it seems insane to expect people to figure this out on their own.

If you bought your custom domain through Google and are suddenly getting 404 page errors,

1. Log into Blogger
2. Go to Settings and publishing
3. Switch back to your blogspot address.
4. Check blogspot address to make sure blog appears.
5. Go back to Settings and publishing and change it back to your custom domain, you will have to choose advanced setting, then simply type in you custom domain address.
6. Check site. It should be back!

I don't know why this isn't detailed anywhere. Believe me, I have looked. It is so freaking simple. If it happens again, I'll redo these steps, but in the meantime, my blog is up and viewable once again. Heesh. I wish I hadn't waited several days to do this.

Stalking Shadows

2008-11-23T01:30:00.001-05:00

The plan right now is to start posting Stalking Shadows, the sequel to Scary Mary on January 2nd. New chapters will go up on Fridays. SS is not finished yet, so I have no idea how well this will work out, but I feel like flying by the seat of my pants. I may have my own personal Nano this December and just go gung-ho. I need to get back into the writing swing. That's for damn sure. I've been focusing on the day job too much, and it's been driving me crazy. I wrote 500 words to SS tonight, and it felt great. I'm no marathon writer like other people, so anything over 250 is pretty good for me. Well, that's it for now.

Responding to Comments

2008-11-21T18:44:00.005-05:00

I've spent the bulk of today responding to comments. I have been very bad and let a lot of them go without responding to them at the time of posting. Many of them were for typos and grammar problems that readers spotted, and I am very grateful especially to Nicole Spruit, Dave Jocsnix, and Sarah Rose for their keen eyes.

I am like a walking example of what not to do to have a successful online writing career. Not updating this blog regularly. Not having projects ready in the pipeline. Taking forever and a day to edit for a print edition. And finally, allowing weeks to go by before responding to comments. That is like the ultimate sin of the online writer. I apologize to everyone who was kind enough to drop me a line. I'll do my best to get my act together.

Scary Mary now in print

2008-11-21T00:48:00.003-05:00

I finally took the plunge and put Scary Mary up for print on Lulu.com. I'd purchased a distribution package from them ages ago and used that, though I won't buying that package again any time soon. It's just too nerve wrecking because once the project is set, it's set in stone. I can't change it even to correct text mistakes without paying a lot of money.

I put tip jars up on UB and SM. I don't know if anyone will give. Other authors seem able to get tips but I'm not going to hold my breath. If someone likes my writing enough to drop a dollar, swell. I'm still not sure how I feel about their inclusion. If nothing happens with them for the next six months, I'll take them down. Really I'd rather someone bought a copy of my book than gave me money.

I've also been putting together Stalking Shadows' website. I'm basically using SM's format, but trying to give it a different banner and what not. I'm hoping to start posting it on about January 1st.

Here's a look at Scary Mary over at Lulu:

The Delay with Scary Mary print edition

2008-10-15T19:23:00.005-04:00

I'm having issues with the printing of my cover with Lulu. I'm working with them to resolve it, but it is definitely slowing things up.

Here's what the cover is supposed to look like:

This is what I got from Lulu today:

The details of her hair is missing and I can't see the strap across her chest. Everything looks much murkier.

This is the second proof I had done. The first one was darker with less detail, though I could be at fault for a little of that by making the image bluier the first time, but I'm beginning to suspect that the printers do not handle dark covers well. I also wish, wish, wish that we could get them printed in matte instead of glossy. Dark covers are not helped at all by a glossy finish.

Now I'm waiting on Lulu to respond to my help request. I may just have to print another proof. But I hope not. I'm tired of waiting on this, but I do want to get it right.

Working, I swear!

2008-10-13T21:28:00.003-04:00

I've developed a nasty aversion to word processors. I can't bring myself to sit and type. I've been writing by hand instead, but the computer is looking less and less like a writing tool to me. I think part of the problem is that I stare at the damn computer all day at work. Today, I wrote thirty freaking emails to different people, most of them in response to something they sent me. I can't come home and stare at text on screen after that all day.

I'm waiting on another proof of SM from Lulu. They messed up the cover the last time, but they nicely refunded me, and I uploaded a new image that hopefully won't be confounded by the printers.

I'm working on a cover for UB for its eventual print run, though I haven't done the first bit of editing on that story. I'm playing with a detail of Gustave Moreau's painting The Unicorns. Not saying the cover will look anything like this in the end, but it's my first idea.

Shadow Stalking

2008-09-08T21:53:00.012-04:00

I'm trying to get into gear and really work on the sequel to Scary Mary. I haven't really made any stabs at it while posting Unicorn Bait. I'm hoping now to get some new stuff written. I discovered though that I'd made the chapters really short. I mean insanely short. It must have been when I was making UB's chapters short in my misguided attempt to make it more internet friendly. I've gone in and reduced the number of chapters to a third of what I had previously, but it's not perfect. I'd written passages as though they were the end of a chapter so I'll need to go back in now and try to rework them to make it flow in a longer chapter. I had the opposite problem with UB. I hadn't split the story up at all into chapters so going in and making really short ones was weird and not done well, and now I'm going to go back into UB going to take out about half the chapter breaks to make longer chapters.

Anyway, for the time being, I'm working on SM's sequel, though a superhero story that I'd started (because EVERYONE is writing one) has been coyly enticing me. I wrote about 651 words tonight. Pretty good if I do say so myself.

Here's a little graphical representation of my progress which I may continue to update and use or not. We'll see how demoralizing it becomes.

Shadow Stalking

12073 / 50000 words. 24% done!

UB Over!

2008-08-14T19:16:00.006-04:00

Gosh, it's over. What am I going to do with all my spare time? I'll tell you what I'm going to do--I'm going to sleep and maybe vacuum a little. Exciting, yes? Well, I'm excited about it.

What have I learned from UB?

1. Longer chapters are better. This is a matter of opinion, but it has become sealed in my head that longer chapters are better. Forget trying to make chapters into nice bite sized pieces. If you're posting 80,000 words, is it better to post 2,000 at a time or 500? Even if you're posting the 500 more often, the readers are still going to have to read 80,000 words by the end AND they won't have to click as much if the chapters are longer. Plus, readers probably won't wait with bated breath for 500 words like they would for 2,000. They're more likely to wait for about 2,000 to be posted before coming back. Again, this is all just a matter of opinion, but this is how I justify my opinion.

2. Having more chapters makes for a very long sidebar that looks freakish. I worried that the sidebar would become longer than the chapters. Point 1 would've made this problem null.

3. Preparing chapters ahead of schedule to post over time so you aren't always stuck in a bind the night before trying to edit the newest chapter is something I really should try doing. It would be so awesome.

4. I need to only have ONE project going at a time. Trying to post UB while editing Scary Mary made me really scattered. If I'm posting a story, I want my only priority to be that story. I'm done editing SM now anyway. I just need to get layout right and it will be DONE.

5. Readers are so nice. When I had to go on hiatus because of life issues, readers offered to lend a hand, and I was so touched. Even though I didn't take them up on it, the offer alone helped. Readers are also really good at catching mistakes. It was cool to have their eagle eyes catching what my sleep-deprived blurry ones missed.

All in all, I'm happy with how everything turned out. I hope to start a brand new project in a few months.

UB almost over!

2008-08-06T22:10:00.003-04:00

OMG, next week is the final chapter of Unicorn Bait! I hadn't realized how close to the end I was. I can't believe it. I don't know if I should warn readers or not. I mean if I don't, I don't know if that will startle them or not. A lot of readers were afraid I'd ended the story when Naomi went back home and funnily enough, that had been the original ending of the story.

Should I warn readers? I think I better. It'll soften the blow. I'm so happy everyone has read and enjoyed this. It's done me a lot of good.

Writing about Me

2008-08-04T22:11:00.005-04:00

A while back, Eli over at Novelr wrote an article saying that web writers need to build community among their readers. He said the only way to get readers talking is to talk to them. One way to talk to readers is through a writing blog.

In the back of my head, I thought, "Gee, I have a writing blog. Haven't done much with it, but even so, readers have come by to check it out and leave comments. Maybe I should try doing something more with it." Then I felt guilty because I've thought this before. I've thought that I should update this blog more often, I thought I'd written a post saying just that (but now can't find it) and if you look at the archives, you'll see that hasn't happened. I've barely posted once a month.

I've been too formal or stand-offish with my entries here. I've usually been reporting things from other sources, not discussing my writing. I didn't think anyone would want to read posts about me moaning that I don't wanna work on UB, but maybe I should talk about my writing a bit more. Here's an example: During edits of chapter 53 of UB, I couldn't think of a word and trying to think of it sucked up twenty minutes (or possibly more, though I don't want to admit it) trying to Google the word. It was a sort of carrying bottle (And aw hell, it JUST CAME TO ME) and I didn't have any luck finding it, and it drove me crazy. What was I trying to think of? Wineskin. That's what I wanted Naomi to carry when going to the special god spring, but I COULDN'T THINK OF THE DAMN WORD. So it became a jug with a carrying strap, which do exist, but it wasn't what I was picturing, and I can't believe the word just came to me. I was driving myself crazy. Googling antique water bottles, and looking at wikipedia's entry for drinking vessels. I knew wine could be carried in it so I looked at stuff dealing with wine too. I thought for a second that I wanted canteen but that wasn't right. I looked at Rider-Waite Tarot cards because I thought it could be on one of them, and yeah, that was getting a little off course, and I didn't see it on any of them anyway. I needed a search engine where I could've drawn what I wanted, and they spit back the word because I knew what a wineskin looked like but couldn't remember the name. Now I have the word, but don't know if I want to change it. Bother.

So yeah, I'll try to write more entries here about stuff like that. My process or whatever you want to call it.

I also made the feed for this site appear on UB so readers can check it out if they want.

Really, I should write a post here every week about the most recent update and link to it from the chapter, but I'm scared to commit to something like that. We'll see. For now, I'll try really hard to write more posts here about just what I'm doing in general like I'm working on the Lulu edition of Scary Mary. I'm in the middle of chapter 8 of that. So a little over halfway through. I really want to pick up the pace with that.

And this post is much longer than I intended. See this is what happens when you let a writer talk about herself. You get WAY more than you bargained for. If you want to complain to anyone, go to Eli.

Web Fiction Guide

2008-07-25T23:15:00.005-04:00

I was invited to be an editor of Web Fiction Guide and accepted. I'm really hopeful that this site will become a beacon to surfers seeking online ficiton. It's a lovely site with a lot of potential. I plan to be involved with it for a long time. Check it out, you can leave reviews and find new stuff to read.

Unicorn Bait Review

2008-06-21T21:15:00.004-04:00

I got my first review of Unicorn Bait on Pages Unbound. I don't think Alex Predoehl has commented on UB's blog so his review was a nice surprise. Overall, his review was pretty glowing. He gave it an 8.5 and said he only lowered it because he personally likes a few other stories on PU better than UB. I respect that and 8.5 is nothing to sneeze at anyway.

I haven't pushed for PU reviews like others have. I guess I should. It makes sense. When I first registered with PU it was so small that my stuff was easy to stumble upon but now that it's bigger and getting more traffic maybe I should change the PU links to be links to my entries at the least.

Because PU isn't really set up to respond to reviews, I'll just write it here:

Thank you, Alex Predoehl for your review.

Current Cover

2008-05-30T21:26:00.003-04:00

Here's the current cover mock-up. Everyone's opinions have been very interesting with people going either way on what they like and don't.