Nathan Fillion: Castle is Coming to the St. Louis Comic Con

Tomorrow is the Wizard World Comic Con in St. Louis! And one of the main reasons I'm going is to see Nathan Fillion, a.k.a. Richard Castle, best-selling mystery author on the television show Castle. It's a smart, funny show and you should check it out if you get a chance.

Castle has the old-school, best-selling-author fame and fortune and a bullet proof vest he commissioned plastered with the word "Writer."

So far I've heard no acknowledgement of ebooks. He's still going on expensive book tours and living the legacy high life, unaffected by the self-publishing revolution. But he's so cute doing it.

The picture is Castle and Beckett solving a murder at a sci fi convention. I thought it fitting. Please set your phasers to stun and not to kill...

Blog Hop - My Writing Process

Welcome to all 3 of my blog entries! Fear not. More are coming. I plan to start blogging about my quest to make a living as a writer through self-publishing.

I'm getting back into the swing of things with a Blog Hop that my writer friend Tricia Sanders invited me to join. I can't wait for her to publish her CeeCee Cavanaugh cozy mysteries. You can check out her blog and read about her writing process at her blog A Novel Approach.

Here's to living the dream, writer friends.

1. What am I working on?

Way too many projects. When it comes to writing, I have the attention span of 3-year-old at Disneyland. I have started a zombie book, a space opera, a young adult novel, a literary novel, a non-fiction self-help book for overweight teens, a Christmas romance, and a contemporary romance. Someone give me a deadline, please. I did manage to finish a book about my liquid dieting experience: My Liquid Diet, How I Lost 58 lbs, My Eyebrows, and an Internal Organ.

2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?

I hope it doesn't. I want my books to have all the qualities that I love in a good story - likable characters, humor, excitement, and swoon-worthy heroes. Even the non-fiction.

3. Why do I write what I do?

I write in lots of different genres because I read in them. Also ideas come to me like a swarm of angry bees, and I swat one away only to be stung by another. I made that sound a lot worse than it is. I actually like the bee swarm.

4. How does your writing process work?

It involves knocking cats off my keyboard, hiding from teenagers, and promising myself lots of chocolate if I actually write something. On one project. For more than 10 minutes.

Then I have a vague idea of scenes I want in the book. I start with one and then write until I work my way logically to the next, adding scenes as I go. It's sort of a combination of pantsing with a very shaky outline. I try to come up with what motivates each of my characters before I start, so I know how they might react in a given situation. What would they do based on what they want out of life?



 

The 2-Year Plan: Making Money as an Indie Writer

I've wanted to be a writer as long as I can remember. I've started at least a half dozen projects, but finished few. So this year, I made a plan. My youngest is graduating from high school in June. Both my kiddos will be busy with work and college, so it's time. Over the next 2 years, I want to publish as much as I can.

My grand scheme started in January when I epublished my memoir about a liquid diet I went on after my divorce. Next up is a zombie book followed by a Christmas romance. From eating brains to eating pumpkin pie. Yeah, I'm crazy that way.

That's the plan for this year. My main problem is staying focused on one project long enough. I also procrastinate and get distracted by very legitimate, everyday issues and just living life. So the quest begins.

It's odd. I thought being published would be exciting, but mostly it was terrifying in a way I hadn't expected. I put myself out there, and I felt the exposure keenly. I still feel it somewhat. I'm not sure if it will be better or worse when I publish my fiction for the first time. Only time will tell.

Onward.

YA Writing Contest for YA Writers

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxxPyHutKC9_QbmPsG0QfI78J6bFoucAZDShSZ5yKfhL3PmW1STf0Ppt0763jc7AEVcqqOFjrF1wD7BvRm24a_FwthgEzDBCN-37uYix-A-76i7CFXJ2V5H8ymsBCjU6LAIVdGdACfj5A/s1600/Ghost-Hand-for-WEB-21.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="73" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxxPyHutKC9_QbmPsG0QfI78J6bFoucAZDShSZ5yKfhL3PmW1STf0Ppt0763jc7AEVcqqOFjrF1wD7BvRm24a_FwthgEzDBCN-37uYix-A-76i7CFXJ2V5H8ymsBCjU6LAIVdGdACfj5A/s320/Ghost-Hand-for-WEB-21.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
My author friend Ripley Patton is having a YA writing contest to celebrate the release of her YA novel, Ghost Hand, which is coming out in November. If you are a young adult who writes YA, you could win cash and be published in the sequel to Ghost Hand. <br />
<br />
You must be a young adult (ages 13 - 19) to enter the contest. Check out the deets <a href="http://www.ripleypatton.com/ghost-hand/the-ghost-hand-ya-short-story-contest/">here</a> and good luck to everyone who enters.

Support Ghost Hand - Indie Publishing with Kickstarter

Welcome to my first blog post for everyone out there who is thinking of self-pubbing. I can't think of a better way to kick off this blog than by supporting a talented writer who is going indie, Ripley Patton.

Ripley is using Kickstarter to raise money to publish her young adult novel. Kickstarter is a genius website that helps us starving artists raise money to finance our projects. The artists offer rewards to their backers, and everyone who backs a project becomes a patron of the arts and helps talented people make their dreams come true.

Check out this gorgeous cover for her novel Ghost Hand! Here is the info on this soon-to-be-published book.

WHAT IS GHOST HAND ABOUT?
There are secrets we keep hidden deep inside of us. Secrets of abuse and abandonment and self-harm. No one can see them. No one can find them. No one can touch us there.

But all that is about to change.

Olivia Black just discovered that her ghost hand, a genetic defect, can do more than light up a room. It can reach into people and pull things out. Things from the darkest depths of the human psyche never meant to exist in this world.

Olivia can pickpocket the soul.

But she can't control her ability, or the strange items it extracts, and the only thing between Olivia and the men bent on taking the power of her hand is a boy she barely knows and doesn't trust.

Check out Ripley's video appeal:

I've read the first few chapters of Ghost Hand, and I love this book. You can read them yourself here. Her talent is obvious. Please join me in supporting her campaign so I can finally read the whole thing! She is already 76% funded with just 5 days left to go. But if she doesn't make her goal, she doesn't get anything. That's how Kickstarter works.

Every little bit helps, and the minimum pledge is only $5. Also, check out this excellent blog post on Karen Woodward's blog on why Ripley decided to self-publish. I think it will resonate with all you writers out there who are thinking about self-publishing.