Oops! I almost forgot to post this video review. I received it from a young man who certainly seems to like the Behold the Eye trilogy.
Fantastic!
Lately I’ve been working very hard on marketing. If people don’t know about my books I’m pretty sure they won’t buy them. And if they don’t buy them I might have to stop writing.
Sigh.
The problem is that I don’t know how to do marketing. How do I get my writing discovered by the people who will most enjoy it?
Especially since I have little or no money to spend on that oh-so-important marketing.
So I turned to Facebook. I’ve been a busy little bee, sharing and posting, doing everything in my power to increase the traffic to my Facebook Fan page.
After all, the more people who see my page, the more who will buy my books. Right?
Wrong! I’ve managed to get a ton of traffic to my Facebook page without any increase in book sales.
What I’ve gotten instead are requests for relationships.
I showed the requests to my best friend, who also happens to be my husband. He just shook his head and grimaced.
Then I deleted the requests since they give me an uneasy feeling.
Almost like I just looked down and discovered that I’m balanced on a tightrope that’s been strung across the ocean. Just below me, circling and watching with greedy little eyes, is a massive school of ravenous sharks.
Waiting for me to take one wrong step.
More excitement!
I received another video review. This one is about Department of Temporal Adjustment.
She says it’s fun to read!
Fun was what I was going for when I wrote this book.
It’s wonderful that she actually pronounced my name right.
I love everything about this video review.
I began writing on a new book this morning. It’s a novel for kids and has an outline, but no title yet. Not even a working title.
When I’m trying to figure out new characters I often let them have a conversation. Conversations reveal so much. Then I write down the conversation and use it to build upon.
These characters are preteen boys in the 1920s who are getting ready for a backyard campout.
Here’s the conversation:
“I saw a ghost in the old Jackson house!”
“You did not!”
“I did so. Yesterday. My ball went up on the porch and I went to get it. And there was a ghost, sitting on the porch swing.”
“In broad daylight?”
“No. It was dusk. I was about to go
in to supper. David saw it too.”
in to supper. David saw it too.”
“Where is David? And where’s Eddie?”
“They’ll be here soon. They’re
finishing up their chores. But David saw the ghost too. Only he was in the
yard, not on the porch, like me.”
finishing up their chores. But David saw the ghost too. Only he was in the
yard, not on the porch, like me.”
“What did you do?”
“What do you think I did? I ran.
Left my ball on the porch and ran.”
Left my ball on the porch and ran.”
“Chicken!”
“I couldn’t let it touch me. It
reached out for me. It wanted to grab ahold of me and take me back to its grave.”
reached out for me. It wanted to grab ahold of me and take me back to its grave.”
“That’s silly. Ghosts are just your
imagination.”
imagination.”
“Says you!”
“Yes says me. And my dad. He says
that a ghost is a person’s fear manifesting itself in visual form.”
that a ghost is a person’s fear manifesting itself in visual form.”
“What does that mean?”
“I think it means the bigger the
scaredy cat the bigger the ghost.”
scaredy cat the bigger the ghost.”
“Okay then. How big is your ghost?”
“Me? I’m no scaredy cat. I don’t
see ghosts.”
see ghosts.”
“Prove it.”
“What do you mean, prove it?”
“Prove it. Go to the Jackson house
and get the ball off the porch.”
and get the ball off the porch.”
“That’s stupid. I don’t want to go
to the Jackson house. It’s dark. And David and Eddie aren’t here yet.”
to the Jackson house. It’s dark. And David and Eddie aren’t here yet.”
“Like I said. You’re scared.”
“I am not!”
“Yes you are! That’s why you won’t
go.”
go.”
“Why should I go all the way to the
Jackson house to get your ball? If you want it back, you get it.”
Jackson house to get your ball? If you want it back, you get it.”
“I would, but don’t want the ghost
to get me.”
to get me.”
“I told you, there’s no such thing
as ghosts!”
as ghosts!”
“Then you should be safe. Go get
the ball.”
the ball.”
“No.”
“I dare you.”
“No.”
“I double dare you!”
“I don’t want to go and I don’t
need to go. I’m comfortable here, by the fire.”
need to go. I’m comfortable here, by the fire.”
“If you don’t go, I’ll tell
everyone you’re a chicken, and a scaredy cat, and afraid of your own shadow.”
everyone you’re a chicken, and a scaredy cat, and afraid of your own shadow.”
“You’re the one who ran away, not
me. You’re the chicken. Ghosts are not real.”
me. You’re the chicken. Ghosts are not real.”
“Are too!”
“Prove it!”
“I’m trying, but you won’t let me.”
“Huh?”
“Just go to the porch. If you see a
ghost it proves I’m right. If you don’t it proves your dad is right.”
ghost it proves I’m right. If you don’t it proves your dad is right.”
“I don’t wanna.”
“Like I thought. You’re scared.”
“Am not!”
“Are too!”
“Fine. Just to prove to you there
are no ghosts I’ll go. But you have to come with me.”
are no ghosts I’ll go. But you have to come with me.”
“Deal! I’ll stay in the yard. You
get the ball from the porch. If you can.”
get the ball from the porch. If you can.”
I know where this is going.
Do you?Note: Is this my best writing? Not even close! This is a stream of consciousness type of writing and isn’t supposed to be polished. If it ends up in the book it will only be after multiple rewrites.
1,237.
4,381.
Numbers, just numbers. Or so it would appear.
But each of those numbers represents something important to me.
54,357 is hours spent in front of my computer, sometimes so deep in thought that my house could have fallen down around me and I would not have noticed.
54,357 is a labor of love.
54,357 is my attempt to make the world a better place.
54,357 is laughter and learning to stand up for yourself.
54,357 is heartbreak and hope.
54,357 is the word count of Gray Zone.
54,357 is a finished book.
1,237 and 4,381, on the other hand, represent beginnings.
1,237 is a new kid’s book, a fantasy novel related to the Behold the Eye trilogy, but not a continuation of it.
1,237 is the chance to enter an entirely new world.
1,237 is looking forward to losing myself for hours as I build that world.
1,237 is meeting new characters and making them real.
1,237 is just an outline, but it is an outline that I can use to build something wonderful.
4,381 is a second Department of Temporal Adjustment book.
4,381 is delving into the intricacies of time travel.
4,381 is exploring history, and figuring out which events most effected our present.
4,381 is recreating our world in a different way.
4,381 is the outline and summary of chapters. A very good beginning indeed.
54,357.
1,237.
4,381.
Digits strung together to form a number.
Or are they more?
I want to share an interesting tidbit about Gray Zone.
That’s the how it began. If you’re wondering why, well, that is an entirely different post.
When I opened the email I almost jumped for joy, I was so happy.
I had been waiting, for what seemed like forever, for Department of Temporal Adjustment to be made available on Amazon in the Kindle format.
And now it’s there!
I think I’ll reread it. Only this time, I’ll read it as an ebook.
I have two books in the works currently (I’m not including Gray Zone, since it’s finished), and one of them is connected to DTA. It probably wouldn’t hurt to remind myself of the ins and outs of the story.
I just got a great video and I wanted to share it.
It was done by Annabel and Sarah, and it’s about Behold the Eye: Braumaru.
Enjoy!
It is fantastic!
Bullies have been around for as long as anyone
can remember. We’ve all seen them. They are the
biggest, baddest kids on the playground and everyone knows to stay out of their way.
But there is a new breed of bully in town, one that is unseen and virtually invisible. A sneaky breed that hides a cruel streak that drives the bullying behavior behind a screen name. A breed that pummels a victim with negativity much more brutally than the old style bully could with his fists.
These cyberbullies do it partly because it is so easy. It takes very little effort to snap an embarrassing picture with a phone and post it, spread a rumor via twitter, or send an abusive text.
From the bully’s point-of-view it’s little different than a game. None of it is really real. It all happens in the no man’s land that is the digital world. And the digital world is, after all, simply a fairy tale land made up of wispy clouds of data.
Besides, the bully is safely hidden behind a mask. No one knows who contributed that comment or posted that humiliating picture, so as far as the bully’s is concerned, there’s no reason for guilt.
But the victim’s point-of-view is quite different since she can never escape the bully’s insulting taunts. And instead of an embarrassing moment dying a natural death, it goes viral. Suddenly everybody knows about it. Life becomes a misery.
And stays that way. Zombie-data lives on forever on the Internet. Rude comments, insulting tweets, and mortifying pictures never truly die, they just keep coming back over, and over, and over again. There is no escape.
This is the world that we live in, but it doesn’t have to be this way.
Our first task to to make everyone understand that the digital world IS a part of our world. What goes on in that crazy, mixed up place doesn’t stay there.
It is what Gray Zone is all about.
Ridiculosity is a noun that means something that is silly, funny, or absurd.
Worthy of ridicule.
It is a good word, for as far as it goes.
The problem is that it doesn’t go far enough. It isn’t ridiculous enough to mean something that is the ultimate of ridiculousness.
For that we need a new word. A word that represents a new era in which people have found a way to be more ridiculous than in any other era.
Yes, people, we now live in the Era of Extreme Ridiculosity (the EER for short). An era that was invented by the Media (although named by me), nurtured by the Internet, and given a huge injection of growth serum by smart phones with cameras.
So I would like to propose a new word that was created by my husband.
He thought long and hard for this word. He wanted it to portray the true flavor of what it is to be ridiculous while still appearing normal enough to be plausible.
Drum roll please….
The new word is:
Ridiculosilo
Ridiculosilo is the low comedy of ridiculous. It is supreme ridiculousness. It defines the ultimate amount of ridiculosity.
It’s an extremely good word. Quite appropriate for the EER, don’t you think?
Use it well and use it often.