Making Some Progress

As I said last week, right now I'm using this blog as a way to hold myself accountable to moving forward on the books. And it's not going as well as I'd hoped.

Thank goodness for my tablet. I used to think of writing as something you do sitting at your desk, on a computer. I know, for other people, it's legal pads and a pen or a typewriter, but I'm rubbish with both of those, and I've done almost all my writing on a computer.

Right now, it's when I can, where I can. On Monday, I was sitting in my truck, 15 minutes early for a meeting, writing a new scene on my tablet. It's not as fast, but that day it was the difference between something and nothing. I opted for something.

Now I need to get my draft broken up into tablet-sized pieces so I can edit on the go to. The way my life is going, I think that's the only way this'll get done.

Good news is I'm liking the new scene and character, and I think Pat, who won the contest to be the character, will like him too. I expect we're going to see a lot more of Father Eyler. :)

Update on Writing

I know I've been inconsistent with updating this lately, but my goal is to change that, no so much for you readers but for me. When I neglect this blog, I also tend to neglect my writing.

My reasons are kind of good. My coaching business has picked up, and I'm doing more and different work than last year, much of it some sort of writing. But I love this fiction series, and I don't want to abandon it.

So, my goal for the next few weeks? I need to get Werewolf in shape. All beta reader feedback is in. I have a new character to add from the contest on my Facebook page. My editor is lined up and ready. Time to get something to her.

Watch this space. This will be where I hold myself accountable.

Formatting for Kindle

I've been busy working on getting my non-fiction book ready to put up on the Kindle store, so working on fiction has been on the back burner, but The Enthusiastic Networker is almost ready. As soon as it's up, I will get back to working on editing the next installment in the Warlock Case Files. I want to have it on sale sometime in the spring.

Formatting for Kindle was a bit of an adventure, but I finally found a great resource, Format Your eBook for Kindle In One Hour. Not only does he walk you through it step by step, but he includes an HTML template. Do some basic formatting in Word, drop it into the template, follow the rest of his steps, and you're done! It took me a little longer than an hour, but most of the was Word's fault. Boy does it add a lot of extra, stupid stuff that you need to get rid of to create a clean copy, ready for HTML.

It is designed for fiction, but it looks like I will be able to make it work for Enthusiastic Networker since it's mostly text. If you have lots of graphics or tables, it's not sophisticated enough to handle those, but there are other resources out for that

If you are in the middle of formatting, try the book. And feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Glad to help fellow authors!

The Case of the Haunted Vampire is Published!

I know this blog has been dead for several month. My coaching business has been very busy (in a good way), and my fiction writing has suffered for it. However, I had set a goal to get The Case of the Haunted Vampire published before Christmas, and I just made it!

The cover was professionally designed, and I'm very happy with it! The book was professionally edited, and I think she did a great job too.

Here's the Amazon link http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006OSLW18

To celebrate the release, I'm going to give away 15 free copies. All you have to do is comment on the blog, with your email address and the format you prefer. Mobi for Kindle or Epub for almost every other reader. If you goof and ask for the wrong format, just email me back, and I'll get you the right one.

First 10 comments get the book automatically. All other comments will go into a hat, and I'll draw 5 names on Christmas Day for the other giveaways.

Don't worry. I will not harvest your email addresses for any other purpose. If you want to be on a list for future releases, let me know, but otherwise, I won't send you any more messages after the free copy. If you are uncomfortable with leaving your email on my blog, comment below and then email me at warlockwriter@gmail.com, and you'll still be eligible.

I think that covers everything.

Back In the Saddle

I realize I've let this blog lapse for a while. I had a lot going on, most of it not conducive to writing. But I'm back and working on the books again.

I sent The Case of the Lost Werewolf Puppy to beta readers and an online critique group, and the reactions have been interesting. Overall, readers have liked it. I've received some excellent suggestions to make the book stronger, and I'm looking forward to sitting down and making some changes.

But I noticed an interesting trend in the critiques. Several people warned me about "info dumping" in the first chapter. It's a fair comment. This is the second in a series, and I do need to introduce the characters and get readers who may not have read the first story up to speed. I tried to do this by interspersing background information and asides by Dafydd to fill in important information. I do think I will go back and look at what really needs to be there as opposed to what can probably come out or be introduced later.

So, good comment. However, the ones who criticized me for info dumping also requested more information! Seriously, readers can't have it both ways. You can't tell a writer, in the same critique, to both take out and add more!

Part of the problem is I could only submit the first chapter to the group. If a reader wanted the entire book, they had to request it directly from me, and not everyone wanted to take the time to read the entire book, which I respected.

But it still made for an odd juxtaposition of comments.

Until next week, then! Back to writing on the latest installment, which finally has a title! The Case of Old Acquaintances. Intrigued at all?

I'm Improving As A Writer

You know how all those books on writing tell you that the way to get better as a writer is to, well, write?

Yes, I believed them. I mean, it made sense. The more you practice any skill, the better you are likely to be at it. But now I'm seeing the difference that regular writing makes. This year, I've written over 110,000 words of fiction. That doesn't include blog posts or anything else. That's just fiction. And it's only August.

I've never written that much fiction in such a short period of time, and I can see the difference its making in my writing.

I just re-read The Case of the Lost Werewolf Puppy, and it's better than Haunted Vampire, even taking into account that Werewolf Puppy is a first draft. The writing is cleaner. Characterization is better. Description is better. Everything is just better. Once I edit it, the differences will be even clearer. That doesn't make Haunted Vampire bad. It just means I'm improving. Haunted Vampire is definitely good enough to publish.

There were five scenes in Werewolf Puppy that had me worried. Three were fight scenes. One was a ritual casting, and the other was the first introduction to Lounge 201, the vampire bar. Fight scenes used to give me trouble. I'd write and rewrite them and still think they sounded lame. None of the scenes were lame. They need work, but only cosmetic stuff. The final fight scene actually had me tense up, and I wrote the darned thing, so I knew what happened!

The scene at Lounge 201 surprised me. I did some things with description and character actions that I'd forgotten. I think I did a good job setting the mood, which was important. That entire scene was about mood and posturing. I'd never written a scene like it, and I'm pleased with the result.

As for the ritual casting? It took me four days to write that scene, and I hated every  minute. I was sure it sucked. I mean really sucked. When I re-read it, I thought it wasn't too bad. I'll get better at writing them in the future, but it was decent.

So what I'm learning is that writing new kinds of scenes isn't hard. Dialogue has always come easy for me. Action scenes are getting easier. Mood pieces are possible to get right the first time. It feels good to be learning my craft.

Oh, one more result of regular writing. I'm getting faster. Earlier this year, it took me about an hour and half to write 1,500 words. I thought that was pretty good. Now I've got it down to about an hour for 1,500 words. To put that in perspective, I just finished reading a book on writing. The author, who writes full time, sets a daily goal of 1,500-3,000 words. It takes him about 5-6 hours to produce that. I can hit his low-end goal in about an hour. Not bad. I do it by being ruthless about not stopping. I don't edit as I go. Ever. I just keep moving forward. The only time I'll let myself look back in the manuscript it to check a fact. And I don't let myself edit (except for maybe adding a missing piece of punctuation or correcting an obvious typo).

If you're a writer, I'd love to have you share what you've learned from regular writing.

Excerpt from The Case of the Lost Werewolf Puppy

As promised last week, here's an excerpt, showing how I use Dafydd and his non-cambat magics in combat. This is still a draft, so any comments are welcomed!

***

"We've got company," Paul said.

I looked again. Still nothing. "Where?"

The word had barely left my mouth when two things happened, almost simultaneously. One, I heard a low, menacing growl, maybe 20 feet from me. Two, Paul picked me up and threw me, hard. I must have flown 30 feet, in the opposite direction from the growl.

I hit the ground and skidded several more feet. If I'd had a bit more warning, I might have been able to turn my skidding slide into a controlled roll, but as it was, I hit my head and saw stars for a moment. I forced myself to shake it off, knowing, even in my confusion, that I didn't dare stay down for long. Paul was good, but I didn't know how many there were, and I couldn't rely on him to protect me.

Forcing my legs to work, I scrambled behind a nearby dumpster--Paul had good aim and presence of mind—and, hidden for a moment, glanced around to see what was attacking us.

My heart sank when I saw my friend fighting three large wolves.

Have you ever been to the wolf enclosure at the zoo? You might think you have an inkling of what I saw. Zoo wolves have a wildness about them, even in captivity. They pace back and forth, with a smooth motion that you just know could spring into a hunting charge at any moment. They look dangerous, and, on an instinctive level, humans respond to that by keeping their distance.

Let me tell you that there is about as much similarity between zoo wolves and these creatures as between a wolf and a poodle. Sure, similar species. Fur and fangs. That sort of thing. But wild wolves are tame house pets in comparison to these.

In the first place, the three creatures attacking Paul were almost half again as large as even a big wolf, almost all of it muscle. Their fur was long, shaggy and looked like it would offer decent protection, even against small arms fire. And the way they moved? Pure killing power. I've read that man is the top predator on Earth. No way. These things were way above us.

Fortunately, vampires are also above us on the predator scale, and for the moment, Paul was holding his own. He whirled with easy grace, his claws extended to slash first one wolf, than another. While I'm certain he could have handled two with relative ease, three were too much. As he tossed one wolf aside with what looked like a casual back-handed blow, another slid underneath his guard and snapped at his ankles, aiming to hamstring the vampire. Paul twisted at the last minute, and dropped one leg to catch the blow on his thigh. Then he glided to one side, positioning himself so that he faced all three wolves. He was facing in my direction, and I knew he was trying to keep their attention on him and off me.

I appreciated the effort, but I could see he wouldn't last long. Another wolf timed his motion to slash at Paul's side, and the vampire gasped, loud enough for me to hear, even from 30 or so feet away.

Time for me to get into things. Normally, I'm not the kind to get into a dust up like this, but ever since I met Paul, I knew I was going to have to be prepared to get physical, so I've been working on some things I can do quickly. First, I reached into my coat pocket and pulled out a potion. Keeping an eye on the fight, I unscrewed the bottle top and gulped it down. (In case you were curious, small water bottles are a great way to carry around potions. Much better than the glass vials used in most high fantasy novels.)

I felt the effects almost immediately. My vision sharpened. Sounds were clearer, and I could hear the hitching breath of one of the wolves Paul had wounded. The night air moving on my skin felt like it had weight. I nodded. Good. It worked the way I'd hoped.

I pulled out another bottle and yelled, "Paul. Heads-up!"

He truly is amazing. While still holding off three wolves, he hopped back, putting a few feet between himself and the furred buzz saws. I threw the bottle, trusting my enhanced reflexes and senses to get it moving in the right direction.

Paul did the rest. With one hand, he slashed through the foreleg of one of the wolves. It yelped and hobbled to one side, out for the moment. The biggest wolf leaped for Paul's throat, but the vampire spun one way in a quick feint and then reversed the other way, leaving the big wolf off balance.

The bottle flew, one end over another, seemingly in slow motion, closer to the fray with each rotation.

The final wolf saw it and changed direction, hind legs bunching for a leap.

I yelled. "Hey! Fur face. Over here."

The wolf's head moved to look at me, and I grinned, catching his gaze directly. I tamped down my fear, letting none of it show in my eyes or expression.

It shifted its weight slightly, preparing to leap in my direction.

The bottle rotated once. Twice. Three more times.

Paul dodged the big wolf, slashed at the smaller, which had recovered and jumped back to attack.

The bottle spun again.

Paul reached out with his right hand and caught it neatly. With a smooth motion, he lifted the bottle to his lips, and, not bothering to open it, sank his fangs into the smooth plastic and drank it down.

Immediately, his motions were faster, and his strikes had more power behind them. I nodded. Now he'd be fine. Especially since he only had two wolves to deal with. The other was just starting to leap my way.

But I'd planned to draw off one of them, so I was ready for it. I reached back into my pocket and drew out a small container. I held it ready. The wolf leaped, and it was moving fast. Without my potion, I'd never have been able to follow the movement, much less react. Under the influence of my magic however, the wolf's leap was in slow motion, and I was able to time to action for the top of its arc.

I actually moved closer to the wolf, wanting to show it that I wasn't afraid (even though I was), and needing the distance to be just right.

When the wolf was in position, I held up my container and triggered it.

I'd timed it just right. The spray hit it directly in the eyes, like I'd wanted. I jumped back as the wolf let out an anguished howl. It's precise leap devolved into a helpless tumble, and it fell, hard on one side. If it hadn't been so big, its whimpering would have sounded pitiful.

I smiled as I ducked back behind the protection of the dumpster. I held my pepper spray container in front of me, ready to hit it again.

It continued the whimper, and I peered out from behind the ripe metal structure. The wolf was frantically pawing at its eyes and letting lose pitiful whines and whimpers, in between racking coughs. It tried to look in my direction, but its eyes were screwed shut and watering profusely.

After a moment, it stood up and staggered away, apparently out of the fight for good.

I nodded in satisfaction. I'd gone all the way and bought the Triple Action spray, a mix of pepper spray, tear gas, and a UV dye, for good measure. Not that I thought we'd be identifying him in the near future.

I turned my attention back to Paul's fight, while still keeping some of my attention on the retreating wolf.

My efforts had helped. Paul was bleeding freely from several wounds, but the smaller wolf was retreating, tail between its legs and one paw held up while another dragged the ground in an obvious limp.

The larger wolf was attempting a fighting retreat, but its movements were slow, and as I watched, it turned tail and ran.

Paul started to chase after but then sagged, coughing. I recognized the effect of the potion wearing off, and I hurried to him. My own potion was fading, but I could still see well enough to watch both wolves backing away. I held up my pepper spray and motioned in the direction of the third wolf, whose pained howls could still be heard, moving in the opposite direction.

Both wolves snarled but continued to run (or limp) away.

***

So what do you think?  I was pretty pleased with how well Dafydd did in this fight.