Follow Friday: Playlist?

It is once again Follow Friday, hosted by Parajunkee. If you are interested in finding other book bloggers and blogs you might like, you should definitely head over to visit Parajunkee and join in on the fun.


This week's question:
What is your current playlist?

That's easy!
Death Cab For Cutie: The New Year
Dropkick Murphys: Worker's Song
Elf Power: Come Lie Down With Me
April Smith and The Big Picture Show: Terrible Things
Iron and Wine: Sodom, South Georgia

That's it for today,
thanks for reading,
buh bye then

WIP Wednesday (Book Trailers?)

(picture found at thedvshow.com)


Sooo... I don't know how to say this, but there isn't much for me to tell you about my WIP this week. I am actively editing every day, but there has been no writing and that bums me out.

However, I have decided that once I receive the book's artwork I will be making my very first book trailer. It's a strange concept to me, and most of the book trailers that I've seen have been... well, just awful. I did see a few that were rad, though, and I have some great ideas on making mine rad as well.

Hopefully.

Here is one of Amanda Hocking's book trailers. I really dig the simplicity of the artwork and music together the way she's done it.

Click here to see the book trailer at Youtube


It's another step I've decided to take toward using every medium available to get the word out there about my book. It's all about self promotion, and I need to wrap my head around it.

Have you ever created a book trailer? Seen any that you absolutely loved or hated?

Thanks for reading,
buh bye then

Point of View

Ken sat in front of the old, beaten desk, his blue eyes now dry and bloodshot from staring at the screen for so long. Back and forth, back and forth he went as he tried to make his decision; knowing that this one choice would shape everything. He rubbed his eyes and breathed deeply, cursed softly and began typing. The keystrokes were quick and succinct as he banged away, filling that white page with tiny, black symbols.

Once I was finished with that first page I downed what was left in my coffee cup. The dredges were cold and bitter... time for more. I didn't want to look at the page yet, didn't want to know whether or not I had made the right choice. Still holding the coffee cup, I patted Willie as I stood and headed toward the kitchen.
He hopped off the couch and followed me closely, his floppy ears bounced happily as we went along. It was a treat that he wanted, and I couldn't resist after looking into those puppy-dog eyes. He laid on the cold kitchen floor, chewing away on that smelly, jerky snack as I filled my cup again and went back to my desk.

Ken slammed the steel blue coffee mug onto the desk, slopping its contents over his mousepad, his desk speakers, everything. It didn't help his mood as he held down on the delete key. It was all wrong and he knew it. Another morning without making a decision, another blank page.
"This shouldn't be so hard," he muttered as he used his sleeve to clean up the spill. "It's only first or third person!"


What about you guys, ever have any problems deciding what the point of view for your WIP is going to be?


Thanks for reading,
buh bye then

Book Blogger Hop

It's Book Blogger Hop time again. If you're interested in joining and finding lots of other book bloggers to connect with, head on over to Crazy For Books and join in on the Hop.

Today's question:
"Pick a character from a book you are currently reading or have just finished and tell us about him/her."

Well, I'm actually rereading the Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice (if you're wondering how much they sparkle, go read the books and forget about the Cullens).

I'm still on the first book, so the character that is most prominent is Louis. Now, Louis is a gentle soul... what I mean by this is; Louis is a whiner. He spends the first century of his new life trying to get away from Lestat, who is fun and awesome (even if a little abrasive). As a matter of fact, I'm fairly certain that Lestat is the only person that Louis ever comes in contact with that he doesn't fall in love with. He's wishy-washy like Romeo, and he does everything he can to make sure that he is sad about the amazing life and powers he has.

However, Louis is still pretty rad and able to dole out punishment when the time comes.

Ok, now go visit other blogs on the Crazy For Books link list, follow new bloggers, and have a great weekend.

thanks for reading,
buh bye then

WIP Wednesday... or Thursday if I'm a slacker

Sorry I didn't get anything posted yesterday, somehow I completely forgot that it was Wednesday.

There's not a whole lot as far as updates go, I've been editing and editing and editing, which doesn't leave much time for writing. To be honest, I'm having a hard time working on Clockwork Charlie this week because my brain is full of things that need to be done before I can publish "The City."

However, I can tell you the new title for, The City:
The River Runes; Book one of the Caithiir trilogy

It took some time to settle on a title, but this is it folks. I'm excited about it.

I will give an end word count soon, once editing is final.

Clockwork Charlie has had a little work done, the new wordcount is :18,804

I will be updating the rest of the pages just as soon as I'm finished here. Which I am :)

thanks for reading,
buh bye then

Self Publishing Rules (that I have learned so far)

Here we are at Monday again, don't worry it's only one day. We can beat it!

First off, I'd like to say, "Welcome!" to my new followers. I have to say that my first Follow Friday was a great success. I came across lots of new blogger friends, and there were even a few that found me. I've decided that I will rotate the Book Blogger Hop and Follow Friday each week for at least two months. More traffic to this blog is pretty exciting, and both are fun and easy to do.

Today I'd like to talk about some of the things that need to be done, to be successful in self publishing. Though it seems there is no "yellow brick road" to being successful, there are several things that link many of our more successful self publishing authors.

Make it your very best work!
Once the novel is finished with revisions and editing and editing and editing and the cover is all ready to go, it will be time for publishing. I'll be using Lulu and Smashwords for my paper and ebook publishing, respectively. These are both great options for authors that are serious about self publishing. I will have to buy my own ISBN, but so will anyone else that wants to be able to sell a paper book. (publishers that only sell books through their own site seem to be rather scammy to me)

Self Promotion. Promotion. Promotion.
Though I will do my best to keep shamelessness to a minimum, I will be promoting everything I do. Everyday. This blog, my Facebook page, and my Twitter account will all be used to let people know about what I'm doing, as well as how, when, and where they can get my work. Also, once I have submitted for publishing, I will be starting my own GoodReads page. (no link in that one, there is no page yet!)

Book Blogs!
There are many fantastic book review blogs out there, and most of them would be happy to help a new, self publishing author by giving a review. If they like your book, their readers may jump on the bandwagon, and if they don't like it, well, at least it puts your name out there. These folks mostly do what they do for free, so no complaining. Be gracious and thankful for their honest opinion. You can also do a blog tour, though to be honest; I'm not sure what this means yet. (hehe, that's me slackin)

Keep writing.
Write everything you can, tell every story your brain wants to put out there. If you like them when they're written, start over at the first step and keep going. The more work you have out there, the more likely it is that people will find you and be able to decide if they like your work. Most of us are not famous, and it takes a lot of work to get your name out their.

There are other things to be talked about (ebook prices and how and when to change them, refreshing your backlog, whether or not to find an agent, etc...) but I have blathered on long enough today. Besides, I'm no expert so you may not even want to listen to anything I said. :)

thanks for reading,
buh bye then

Follow Friday: Judging a Book By it's Cover

Follow Friday is an awesome chance for people to meet their fellow book bloggers. All you have to do is click on that button up there, and then follow the directions from the host of "Follow My Book Blog Friday"

This is my first week so I'll post the rules here as well. First, however, I'd like to answer this week's question:

Do you judge a book by its cover?

I suppose I do. I tend to be drawn to covers that are simple and help to point you in the direction of the story. It's not a concrete thing, I'll read a book that seems interesting no matter what it's cover looks like. I just may not ever pick it up to see what it's about if the cover is all cluttered.


To join the fun and make now book blogger friends, just follow these simple rules:

1. (Required) Follow the Follow My Book Blog Friday Host { Parajunkee.com } and any one else you want to follow on the list
2. (Required) Follow our Featured Bloggers - http://mykeepershelf.blogspot.com
3. Put your Blog name & URL in the Linky thing.
4. Grab the button from Parajunkee and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say hi in your comments
5. Follow Follow Follow as many as you can, as many as you want, or just follow a few. The whole point is to make new friends and find new blogs. Also, don't just follow, comment and say hi. Another blogger might not know you are a new follower if you don't say "HI"
6. If someone comments and says they are following you, be a dear and follow back. Spread the Love...and the followers
7. If you're new to the follow friday hop, comment and let me know, so I can stop by and check out your blog!