That Nutty First Draft

Posted on November 19, 2012 by

As I’ve mentioned, I’m using NaNoWriMo to pump out a first draft this month. I went into how that all works for me a few posts back.

So here we are, nearly 2/3 of the way through November. Things are going well, but there were some rough days when the words needed to be ripped out of me like weeds in summer-baked dirt. I’m on time at the moment, though, so I’m happy with that.

It’s been an interesting writing experience. I had so much going on in October that I skimped on my outline a little. I told myself it was “good enough”.

Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Season of Giving Special (10% off Help Wanted)

Posted on November 13, 2012 by

A very bad thing happened to a friend of mine. I saw a lot of it, heard more. She survived to ask that I tell her story, and when I asked her what charity I could donate some of my royalties to – and encourage my readers to donate to – she immediately said “WEAVE!”

WEAVE (Women Escaping a Violent Environment) is an organization that helps women and children who are victims of domestic abuse or at risk for such abuse. They have a fantastic reputation and I’m proud to be donating 50% of my royalties from “Amy”‘s story.

Help Wanted is a story of generosity repaid with abuse.

Amy’s generosity exceeds her means, but when an old friend is down on his luck, she offers her couch. Paul is troubled, but Amy thinks she can help. Little by little, she realizes she’s in over her head. What begins as a simple gesture of kindness becomes a struggle to survive.

“Amy” gets resolution, but in real life too many women don’t. Sometimes they suffer for years because they don’t know what else to do. Sometimes they are killed. It is WEAVE’s mission to make sure that doesn’t happen.

So in the spirit of giving, I am offering a 10% coupon for Help Wanted through Christmas Day. Think of it as an opportunity to buy yourself a present and give to a worthy cause at the same time. Or buy it as a gift, and get twice the feel-goods.

The coupon code is: XG46W and anyone may use it at Smashwords.

Happy Holidays!

Posted in Help Wanted, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Special Limited Time Offer for Help Wanted!

Posted on November 11, 2012 by

For the next week Help Wanted will be on sale! 25% off at Smashwords if you use coupon code: UL62N

Please keep in mind that this coupon is for Smashwords, not Amazon. At Smashwords you can download any format you like, including kindle files. Help Wanted is DRM free, for your convenience.

50% of my royalties for Help Wanted go to a great organization called WEAVE (Women Escaping a Violent Environment).

WEAVE is the primary provider of crisis intervention services for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault in Sacramento County.  Through its involvement in the Rescue & Restore Coalition, WEAVE also provides outreach and services for international and domestic victims of human trafficking.

It is WEAVE’s mission to bring an end to domestic violence and sexual assault in partnership with our community. WEAVE’s vision is a community free of violence and abuse. At WEAVE we believe that crisis intervention services are only part of the solution.

Prevention and Education are critical in improving how our community responds to violence. WEAVE is committed to breaking the cycle of violence by educating the community to better understand the issues of domestic violence and sexual assault.      ~~~From the “About” Page on their website.

Readers tell me that Help Wanted is a good read, and I hope that everyone who purchases it enjoys it. But perhaps more important is that by buying  Help Wanted, you are contributing to a great cause.

So, my readers, please take advantage of this temporary reduced price by purchasing Help Wanted at Smashwords. Or, if you’re addicted to Amazon‘s whispernet delivery, you can purchase Help Wanted at full price there.

Posted in Help Wanted, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Help Wanted is Published!

Posted on November 4, 2012 by

I’m pleased to announce that Help Wanted is now available for purchase.

For the convenience of whispernet delivery, you can buy it at Amazon.

For download delivery in all e-book formats, Smashwords is the place.

Posted in Help Wanted, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Help Wanted Update

Posted on November 3, 2012 by

Hi everyone! I know I told y’all that I expected to have Help Wanted published by the end of October. And here we are in November and you haven’t seen hide nor hair. It’s coming, I promise.

When you publish an e-book, you have to do some very specific formatting, and the requirements are different for different retailers. I knew this going in. But I ran into a weird frustrating problem with formatting Help Wanted for smashwords. I don’t blame them; they offer a great service for self-publishers and they do everything they can to lay out their requirements in excruciating detail. It was just that I had inadvertently applied conflicting styles, and it took forever for me to figure out what went wrong. I almost bought MS Word before I figured it out, for goshsakes!

What that all means is that I’m actually ready to announce the Amazon version, but am still waiting on catalog approval from smashwords. I am hopeful that it will be green-to-go on Monday.

Meanwhile, you can read (or re-read) the excerpts for Help Wanted here: https://www.katsquill.com/?page_id=249

Stay on the edge of your seats, people, Help Wanted will be here soon!

Posted in Help Wanted, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

General Update

Posted on October 30, 2012 by

I’ve had a very busy October!

I took Help Wanted through the final editing stages and then transformed the file to be published at smashwords and Amazon. They should be live within a couple of days. Don’t worry, I’ll keep you posted!

My exclusive agreement with Amazon expires late next month, so I’ll be publishing The Sunshine Line at smashwords as well: target date December first. I won’t keep this bit a secret, either! Watch for me to announce a celebratory discount coupon!

I’ve also been preparing for NaNoWriMo 2012. Remind me not to try to publish a book the month before I write a rough draft, next time, won’t you? It’s been madness. Nonetheless, I will be ready to write on Thursday. This year’s NaNo will be the fourth full length novel set in the universe of The Sunshine Line, and I’m really stoked to start writing! Especially since I’ve spent all year editing and publishing. Writing is the fun part, and I can’t wait!

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Editing

Posted on October 24, 2012 by

Believe it or not, editing is not my least favorite part of the whole process. That position is occupied by marketing, with publishing a close second.

My editing process is quite lengthy, but isn’t difficult per se. I’m not suggesting this is the only way to do this. There are a lot of ways, including the very valid step of using a paid editor.What I’m about to describe is, to me, an organic flowing process… to someone else it might seem tedious, who can say?

Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Help Wanted: Excerpt Chapter Five

Posted on October 23, 2012 by

This is it! The last excerpt before publishing! I’m being generous, really; the excerpt is quite lengthy.  Help Wanted is due to be published by the end of the month, so you won’t have long to wait to read the rest. 

 

5. IN THE FLESH

The next evening, Amy picked up Maggie before going to Karen’s house. She didn’t know how much chatting and small talk would be involved in picking Paul up, and she didn’t want to charge up late fees at the day-care. Amy wasn’t entirely uncomfortable going to Karen’s house. She’d met Karen and Josef a few months ago at a yarly party, and had gone on a double date with them when she was dating SeeNoEvil. They were both very nice and had an earthy sense of humor that delighted her. She rang the doorbell with as much confidence as she could muster. Karen opened the door with a smile and bade her enter, then quickly slipped out of the way, so that Paul and Amy could hug and make “so happy to finally see you” noises. Paul had acquired a duffel-bag at some point, and all his worldly belongings fit in it with ease.

Continue reading →

Posted in Help Wanted | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Final Stretch!

Posted on October 21, 2012 by

We’re so close to getting Help Wanted done and published!

I worked on editing all weekend, those final little tweaks. I’m taking a day off from it tomorrow and then I’ll throw it on my kindle and see how it reads there. With any luck there won’t be any errors.

If I need to make further changes, I will do so. In the meantime, I’ll post Chapter Five, the last excerpt before publishing.

Then it will be time to upload it to smashwords and the kindle store! If all goes well, I’ll make the announcement by next weekend. I’m a little nervous, but I’ll be very glad to wrap up this project.

Stay tuned!

Posted in Help Wanted | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Help Wanted: Excerpt, Chapter Four

Posted on October 20, 2012 by

Help Wanted will be published by the end of the month. After this there will be one more chapter posted pre-publishing to get you hooked.

4. RESCUE FROM NEW HAMPSHIRE

Amy didn’t hear from Paul or see him as “online” on Gmail for some time after that. That was a good way to follow through on a self-fulfilling prophecy. Possibly Amy could have done more to help make the visit happen. Maybe she could have found more people with resources to help. But as the time came and then started to pass, she knew it wasn’t going to happen.

Amy didn’t brood on it, though. There’s no way on this earth that you can fix someone else’s problems. You can give them tools that they can use to help them fix themselves, you can sometimes take away burdens that are interfering with their ability to help themselves, but that’s as far as it could go.

Continue reading →

Posted in Help Wanted, The Writing Process, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment