S.M. Butler's Blog, page 31

This entry is part 2 of 2 in the series ROW80 2013 Round 2

I don’t remember where I was for my last ROW80 update and right now, I’m too lazy to go look it up. So we’ll just start from here and go. I know what my overall goals for this quarter are so I’ll just talk about where I am.

I’m still working on NSA, my military romantic suspense. It’s a good story, and I’m smoothing out things that were rough, and adding things that deepen the characterization of the two main protagonists. So far, i need to add four scenes, which I just did a quick blurb on and moved on to the next. I’ll go back and write those when I’m finished with the rest. It’s really turning out well. I don’t hate it which is good. I’m planning on subbing that as soon as it’s done.

I’m also working on my new fantasy story, or rather my resurrected fantasy story. THis was a NaNoWriMo novel from 2008. It was one of four that I finished that month.  Sigh. i miss that output. Anyway, I’m serializing it since the way I’d originally wrote it lent itself well to serialization. The first book has at least four different episodic occurrences. So I’m rewriting that to make each episode stand alone, and that’ll be coming up in the summer.

I’m sending out my newsletter tomorrow morning with some other news, so make sure you’re on the list so you can get it.

And I think this is going to be a short update, because I have to get back to work. Hope y’all are having a great weekend!

Chip Kidd, who is a super smart book designer, did a TED talk about book covers back in 2012. I love this video. If you’re even remotely considering designing a cover, watch this video:

It’s been one of those weeks here at the Butler Casa. Too busy to do anything of any substance. But we’re coming up on the beginning of my weekend (starting Wednesday night, actually) and I’m excited. I’m hoping to get No Strings Attached finished and subbed in the next week.

And then I get to work full time on Magic Storm, my upcoming fantasy serial. I know, I haven’t talked about that yet, and I will. I’m working on cover art for the series right now, so I’m kind of waiting on the details for that. I like being able to show off the cover. It makes me happy.

Anyway, there will be more news about the fantasy in my next newsletter, which is set to go out here in a few days.  Just adding some last minute stuffs, and working on getting at least a draft of the book’s cover done to show you guys. Of course, you guys know me… That cover will change. But at least then you have SOMETHING to see. I’m still working out the serial’s logistics but i will let you guys know as soon as I have the details.

So how’s everyone’s week going?

I’ve been working hard on my classes this term. I’m close to graduating, so I’m really putting in the effort to get things done in a timely manner. And I’ve found a love for package design, which is one of my classes. I think that some of this will bleed over into my swag for Lori Fosters. I kinda want to use the die cuts she provided to make something fun. We’ll see how that goes.

Other than that, life is pretty easy. I’m setting up my releases for the year (or rescheduling, if I were honest) and I’m starting kickboxing tonight! I’ve been wanting to do this for months, so I’m glad that I’m finally biting the bullet and doing it. I’m a little nervous. I don’t want to look like a total newb. But I am, so I suppose that comes with the territory.

So good things are coming up. I’m feeling pretty optimistic. How’s everyone else doing?

 

This entry is part 1 of 1 in the series ROW80 2013 Round 2

If you’re not familiar with Kait Nolan’s ROW80 challenge, it’s an 80 day challenge for working writers to finish things. It can be whatever you want. Finish that novel, exercise regularly, anything that betters you as a writer. I’ve been pretty faithful about it up until this last round where I crashed and burned spectacularly.

But I’m hopping back on and trying to pick it back up now. Here’s the current check in post.

I usually do this huge long list of things that I will never get done anyway, but I’m going simpler this time.

Finish revisions on No Strings Attached and sub it.
Begin and finish my critique group’s Christmas anthology novella.
Finish the fantasy trilogy’s revisions and get that ready for primetime.

It’s a lot of work that will keep me busy, especially with school and kids and my graphic design day job business, but it’s not completely unrealistic.

So this weekend, I was actually pretty productive. Friday, I edited a lot. Saturday, I had cop school where I got to shoot a gun, and then edited at B&N with a friend. Sunday, I alternated between wanting to write the new first scene & not being able to figure out a conflict and trying to work on the load of homework I have to do. Sunday wasn’t all that productive, but to be fair, that’s usually the day I take off from everything, so it’s hard to force myself to work then.

All in all, it was a good weekend. I feel good about it and I’m actually ready to start the week this morning, which almost NEVER happens.

So, how was everyone else’s weekend?

I’ve been working on editing No Strings Attached, my military romance. I had put it aside after a glorious rejection last year, but I picked it up, and looked at the comments and I formed a plan on how to make the book better. Since it’s only been to one publisher, I’m going to create a plan for submission to others. I’ll let you guys know if it works out.

So that’s my plan this weekend.

I’ll be finishing it up, amidst my civilian police school, dinner with a friend,  and some other things, like homework projects. Hanging out with my friend will likely mean we will pretend to write for a while and then just talk because we don’t get face to face interaction that much.

But I think it’s doable that I’ll finish it. I have two requests from people to beta for me, so that’s probably going to happen next week if i can get it done.

Then I can go back to Off Her Game’s sequel and start thinking about the Christmas novella.

All in all, I’m having a good week. I’m hoping the weekend is awesome, too.

So how about you guys? Have any amazing plans for the weekend? Going out? Staying in?

 

This week has been all about getting into school again. After last week’s break, I’m starting a new quarter, with a new schedule to adjust to. Most of my classes are front loaded at the beginning of the week, which is nice. I much prefer a schedule like that.

Anyway, yesterday, I practically tackled the FedEx guy. I was expecting three packages yesterday and it said they required a signature. My dad has a way of not answering the door, so I was a little afraid that I’d miss it and I’d have to go to pick it up.

So when the door bell rang, I practically vaulted to the door, only for my mom to get it. Dang. Forgot she was home. But wait! There was only two packages, and not only did the guy not require a signature (when he should have) he only delivered two packages.

*sigh*

Cue more waiting.

Image provided by 123rf.com

In the meantime, I did a happy little dance, and opened the two packages. The first one is my new camera lens for my Nikon D90. It suffered a suntan lotion accident some time ago, so the lens wasn’t working. Then I realized the camera’s mirror is loose, so I’m still going to have to take it in to be cleaned and fixed. I was kinda hoping to avoid that… Anyway, I’m super happy that it’s taking pictures now. But since I have a digital photography class this term, I really wanted to use my camera for that. Will need to see what I can do. :/

The second package was my new laptop backpack. I’ve been carrying the black Targus backpack for nearly six years. If you’re in the market for a decent backpack that will last forever, I highly recommend that brand. They are incredibly durable. Anyway, the brand is kinda boring. You mostly find them on military exchanges, which means they need to be black for military peeps to carry them in uniform. i wanted something colorful, so I got a really durable, super pretty green, white, and grey plaid backpack. It’s awesome and has back cushioning that allows venting, which in Texas, is kinda important.

So the FedEx guy shows back up about 20 min later, probably cussing because he had to come back. Well, dude, if you’d waited for my signature like you were supposed to, I’d have told you there was a third. Oh, and this time, he asks for a signature. Now this package is huge. It’s about three feet in length, maybe two and a half in width, but it’s skinny.

I open it, and unpack the whole thing. More than half of the box is bubble wrap. I finally get down to the contents, my new Wacom pen tablet, and it’s literally less than half the size of the package it came in. THe actual tablet itself is about the length of my arm, from my fingertips to my elbow. It’s crazy, but I’m kinda glad, because it’s both obscured from what anyone might think is in the package, and protected by the two tons of bubble wrap.

I’m super excited to play with my new tablet. This means drawing on the computer is going to be a lot more fun. This means more digital illustration. I can’t wait. And digital illustration will fit neatly into my next project’s plans, which I still haven’t talked about here, but I’m still getting the details of the project ironed out. Everyone will know as soon as I know…

Today, I’ve got class and then it’s #writersdatenight with Sidney. I’m going to purposely leave my tablet at home so I get work done…

OMG, I’m dying laughing this morning, thanks to this site: Gizoogle. Type in anything to search. The site translates it into ghetto-speak.

For example, here’s my bio:

Suzan Butla be a romizzle lyricist wit a penchant fo’ Dr. Shiiit, dis aint no joke. Pepper, ice hockey, n’ ghetto domination. I aint talkin’ bout chicken n’ gravy biatch. Yo ass can also find her on on Twizzle (often twizzlin inappropriately!) n’ Facebizzle or watch her ramble incessantly on her B-ta-tha-L-O-Gizzay bout various thangs like hockey, shoes, online pimpin, n’ even her mad picture-takin game from time ta time. Right back up in yo muthafuckin ass. Sometimes, dat dunkadelic hoe talks bout freestylin n’ hood media.

Suzan be a gangmember of Romizzle Writaz of America, its chaptas Uptown Texas Romizzle Writers, n’ YARWA. Right back up in yo muthafuckin ass. Biatch currently lives up in Texas under a not-so-secret hood identitizzle wit tha two monstas she gave birth to, freestylin books n’ plannin her next step up in ghetto domination up in tha twilight minutez of tha night simply cuz it’s on tha down-low up in tha doggy den n’ dat thugged-out biiiatch can concentrate.

This might be the best thing I’ve seen all morning…

It’s been a long weekend, y’all. I’m exhausted…

Friday night was the book signing for Dreamin in Dallas. It was a lot of fun.

I got to hang out with the lovely Heather Long and Nikki Duncan, in which we did a lot of quoting of musicals and told a lot of silly stories.

Heard Mark Coker speak. He didn’t really say anything that I didn’t already know, but to be fair, the workshop was geared towards beginning self-publishers, which I’m glad to say, I’m not anymore.

And then I went to Cherry Adair’s workshop on texturing and layering your novel. Wow. I was way impressed with her ability to show me things that I knew but hadn’t sunk in yet. I freely admit that my craft skills lag behind my technical skills. I know how to write a story. It’s not that. It’s the fact that my Photoshop skills and techy know-how is actually stronger than my writing. So, I think I’m going to work on craft for a while, figure out what my weaknesses are, and go from there.

Anyway, it was a fun conference. Today, I’m just taking it easy. School starts this week, so I’m taking advantage of my last day with no responsibility and just relaxing. Tomorrow, I go back on the diet I neglected for the conference, school, and editing the book that keeps growing.

Hope you guys are having a great weekend too!

I haven’t been doing a lot of blogging here. And for that I am sorry. This week and last have been the blog tour for Off Her Game so I really have been focusing on that. All my blog juice has been channeled into guest posts and interviews. Don’t worry, though. I’ll be back to bothering y’all soon enough.

So I’ve been thinking about doing a serial novel with some older works of mine.

I could do it here on the blog, or I can set up a secondary subsite for it.

I haven’t really decided how I’m going to do it. I’m leaning toward the subsite so I don’t crowd up people’s blog readers unless they want it. Is that something that y’all would be interested in? It would be a side project, so it would be contingent on me having time to post it.

Have you guys read a really good serial novel lately? What do you guys think? Any recommendations?

 

Off Her Game is officially released today! Those of you that pre-ordered, thank you so much! Those of you ordering today, you’re awesome.

Thanks to everyone for all the support and love today, especially Team Awesome, who has listened to me whine about this book for months. Thanks to the ARC reviewers for being honest and kind in their reviews. Thanks to all of you that have bought or will buy Off Her Game. I

I’m still on tour so don’t forget to check out the posts each day!

Links to buy Off Her Game:

Amazon  |  B&N  |  iTunes  |  Kobo  |  All Romance

It’s out. That means I can breathe… right?