Tag: Dark Side of the Moon

In Need Of Some Advice

#Amwriting

Recently, I’ve been toying with the idea of ebooks. I have three fully written novels ranging from 87k to 120k words and they are hiding somewhere in my computer with their fourth partially written counterpart and the plans for the following instalments. It will probably do me a disservice to mention that I started writing these when I was fifteen (just six short years ago), but they have been through quite rigorous editing, I assure you.

I’ve tried querying the series before (mostly when I admit I was too naive to understand the query process) but with no success. My more recent queries, at least, were a little more experienced, but still no change in the response they received.

Perhaps this is because I’m just not very good at querying or perhaps it’s because my story is too much like too many others or maybe my writing style just isn’t likeable enough or agents have far too many queries to take anything from mine. And since those lacklustre responses to my queries, I’ve realised that I may never get Jo’s story published in through traditional routes.

Continue reading “In Need Of Some Advice”

When I Am King You Will Be First Against The Wall

I’ve sent an email query or two today. This is after receiving an email rejection from an agent. As much as this isn’t what I wanted, I am glad that the literary agent in question got back to me as quickly as she did. In fact, I’m just glad that she got back to me. I appreciate that agents are busy people and that they might not be able to get back to everyone, but sometimes just the impersonal rejection letters are appreciated. After all, that means they’ve definitely looked at it and that it hasn’t somehow been missed and overlooked. That’s perhaps one of the things I worry about most. I also feel bad for those people who are rejected just because they have no idea how to write a proper query letter. I admit that I was one of them and without joining twitter and following agents and writers I would still have absolutely no idea. I also admit that I’m terrible at writing letters. I always spend time worrying how I come across in them. With snail mail, this worrying is prolonged. At least with email, I have the chance to redeem myself quickly with a response and an apology for my cackhanded (this means dreadful and is probably a colloquialism) approach.

On another note, the computer mouse is aptly named. One of my cats, Baby (he’s a boy despite his name), enjoys watching the mouse on the screen. It’s quite amusing. He likes to follow it with his eyes. He’s very much a laptop cat. Sometimes he even sits with his paws on the touch pad and watches the mouse move as he moves his paws. He also likes youtube videos of other cats.

I must also apologise to the readers of this blog. I am aware that I have gotten slightly carried away with the political things going on in the country at the moment. That’s mostly because nobody seems to know what the hell is going on. Even the politicians are stumped. Still, I promised a new flash fiction piece and I shall certainly be writing one soon. My intentions were to write one before now, but I have regrettably been quite busy. I started writing Absolute Power and I am getting rather excited about it. Absolute Power is a critical book in regards to the series. Lots of things are due to happen in this book and I am going to relish them all.

(Lyrics in the title are from Paranoid Android by Radiohead… but I prefer Sia Furler’s version)

The Blush In The Sky Begins To Fade

Hope everyone enjoyed the flash fiction. It’s nice to hear feedback on it, especially as it was a piece I wrote for my friend and I had no real direction except that it was to be about water.

Happy holidays to everyone, by the way.

I’m not Christian, but I will enjoy any chocolate sent my way. I really shouldn’t because it’s giving me an awful complexion right now. Luckily, no one seems in a hurry to give me any more, though, so maybe my complexion will be saved. Do I care? No. I’d just like to stuff my face and get fat. My cats would take advantage if I was fat, though. They’d use me like a big beanbag to sit on. They sit on my shoulders and back already when I’m stood up.

Anyway, I just did this quiz on Facebook and I found it interesting so I’ll share the answers with whoever reads this:

You are: The Idealist (INFP) 

In general, INFPs focus deeply on their values, and they devote their lives to pursuing the ideal. They often draw people together around a common purpose and work to find a place for each person within the group. They are creative, and they seek new ideas and possibilities. They quietly push for what is important to them, and they rarely give up. While they have a gentleness about them, and a delightful sense of humor, they may be somewhat difficult to get to know and may be overlooked by others. They are at their best making their world more in line with their internal vision of perfection.

You are clearly an Introvert

You scored 54% in the direction of Introversion, which means you are clearly an Introvert. People who are clearly Introverts are reserved, quiet, and contemplative. They dislike the social pressures of large groups and being the center of attention, but are not necessarily shy. They frequently spend time alone in order to reflect and “recharge”.

You are an iNtuitive

You scored 11% in the direction of iNtuition, which means you are an iNtuitive. iNtuitives like to discuss ideas and tend to approach new information intuitively, focusing on the “big picture” rather than specific details. They find the future more interesting than the past, because they can shape it. While they recognize the value of down-to-earth practicality and concrete experience, they tend to emphasize the importance of imagination and inspiration.

You are a Feeler

You scored 16% in the direction of Feeling, which means you are a Feeler. Feelers are caring, supportive, and appreciative. They naturally reach out to other people, preferring to cooperate and agree rather than argue over who is right. They are comfortable with emotions, both their own and those of others.

You are clearly a Perceiver

You scored 77% in the direction of Perceiving, which means you are clearly a Perceiver. People who are clearly Perceivers lead a flexible, spontaneous lifestyle and avoid making definite plans whenever possible. They get excited by starting something new but find it difficult to finish. They see all sides of every situation, so much so that it is often unclear to them what’s “right”. When faced with a decision, they will put it off for as long as possible in order to consider all their options. Even once the decision is made, they often second guess themselves. 

Which reminds me that I need to have a conversation with my mother. It’s not so much that it reminded me, but I do need to have the conversation with her. It’s going to be awkward, but I don’t know what else to do. I also desperately need to get a job. There’s a lot of stress on my mind at the moment, suffice to say, and I’m not sure how everything is going to work.
In other news, I finished editing Dark Side of the Moon. I’ve asked a friend to proof read it just in case there are any mistakes that either I or Andrew have missed out. I’ve been looking up literary agents in my copy of ‘2010 Writer’s Market: UK & Ireland‘ (which has a web address of http://writersmarket.co.uk if you want to go look it up). The book also has plenty of helpful tips about submitting synopses and queries, so it’s well worth buying. 
(Lyrics in the title are from Magnolia by The Hush Sound)

I Found A Boy Who Had A Dream Making Everyone Smile

Today, every attempt to write more of Chapter 23 of Secrets has been thwarted by interruptions.

Firstly (which was not so much an interruption as I said hello to Andrew and discovered he was editing the book cover design he had created me), I helped with my opinions and image searching to edit the book cover of Dark Side of the Moon that my friend designed. It looks even better than it did and I think he’s even more of a genius with graphics. He’s going to be designing the graphics for my new site. Personally, I reckon that this will make the site even more fantastic than I could have originally designed. He has a knack of being able to figure out exactly what I want from the mass of congealed matter that makes up my brain. Anyway, results of today’s editing are below so you can tell me what you think of his lovely design:

Secondly, I’ve had lots of people trying to talk to me about various things… which is fine… but I don’t need the distractions right now. I want to get Secrets finished instead of getting sidetracked (you could probably argue that this is sidetracking me, but I wanted to mention all the stuff I needed to mention so I could continue on with Secrets). I know people don’t mean to distract me, but they always seem to know when I’m on a roll with whatever I’m writing and they just barge in with their hellos. I’m maybe being a little dramatic, but you have to admit that it is frustrating. Other people might say that I should just ignore whoever they are. I would do, but then I feel inordinately mean by not speaking to them. Dreadful, isn’t it?

Nevertheless, a friend instant messaged me and he’s started doing some writing of his own. His introduction to his piece can be found here and I’m sure that if any of you can provide him with feedback, then he’d be really appreciative. Personally, I think it’s an excellent start. His narrative voice is really strong and it draws you in and interests you straight away. To say that it’s not something I would normally pick to read, I’m glad I did. The title doesn’t really make me jump at it, but the actual writing of the piece is engaging and does make me want to read more. The writing is humorous, too, as if you’re listening to your friend describe something that has happened to him or her whilst you wait for the bus to arrive. My point is, I enjoyed it.

He’s also told me that he uses some freeware especially for writers to type in. I’m reliably informed that it’s a useful tool… and also that, if you want it to, you can set it so that it makes typewriter noises whilst you write. I think he finds this particular feature the best. Personally, I wouldn’t use it, but that’s because I’m rather set in the system I have for my writing. Nevertheless, it seems like something that could work for a lot of people so I thought I’d give it a quick mention. It’s called Q10. At first, I thought Didrik was trying to say I needed some skin care for wrinkles (I should hope I don’t have wrinkles. I’m only twenty!), but I had a look for it on the ‘net and it seems to have a number of good features. Despite this, I still don’t want to swap MS Word for it, but everybody is comfortable with different things. I’ve linked to it, anyway, so you can have a gander for yourself. It may or may not suit you. If you’re like my friend Didrik, though, you’ll love it just for the typewriter noises. It seems to work for him anyway.

Something else that I want to mention is my friend’s online magazine. I’ve mentioned it before, but this is Greyson’s second issue of OverByte and it still seems to be doing really well. It looks a lot more professional now and he’s had a lot more support getting the latest issue sorted. It’s primary audience are independent game makers on the internet. I’m not a game maker but I did skim it for the jokes and the ending comic, which were all thoroughly enjoyable. Plus, it’s nice to see how far he’s come along with it. On a private note, I think it’s helped build his confidence a lot too. In a weird way that makes me really proud of him. So, in support of my friend, you can find OverByte at its own site and, if you’re an indie game maker and you’d like to write articles for the next issue, you can register to audition.

(Lyrics in the title are from Oxygen by Colbie Caillat)