P.H. Solomon's Blog, page 311

This is continuing feature on Archer’s Aim – Fantasy Authors Unplugged. I hope to frequently share an interview with a fantasy author. If you have authors to suggest and/or questions you’d like to see answered then leave a comment or send me an email. If you are a fantasy author and would like an interview please let me know and we’ll plan one that fits your schedule.

Since there was an opening this week, I thought I’d re-cap interviews from previous weeks in case anyone missed any of these.

Back in December, Daniel Adorno appeared with an interview about his epic fantasy, The Blade Heir.

 

In January, Fantasy Authors Unplugged first featured Autumn Birt that covered her Rise of the Fifth Order trilogy which begins with Born of Water. She also shared her inspiration, upcoming plans and thoughts on book trailers.

The next week, Ed Ireland appeared and shared his latest book, The Stormbringer.

On January 21st, Michael Edging was featured with his co-author, Steve Arnold, for Annwyn’s Blood.

The last week of January featured C. S. Boyack with his latest book, The Cock of the South.

The first week of February featured, Leisl Kaberry, author of The Titanian Chronicles,

Next, Robert Penner, author of Dark Moon Shadow was featured.

Most recently Loren Weaver was featured with her new release, Tiger’s Peace.

What I’ve found interesting in these interviews is the wide variety of known authors who have influence those featured in Fantasy Authors Unplugged. I hope everyone has found something that peaks their interest in these interviews. I’ve certainly enjoyed all of them and hope to get around to reading all these books as soon as I can.

Comments have been very favorable for these interviews so take a look at some of them. These featured authors have been very thoughtful and gracious with their time. I feel certain and some of these authors will have growing success in the coming years.

If you’re a fantasy author and would like to be interviewed for “Fantasy Authors Unplugged” just contact me via email or one of my social media channels and we’ll set one up. I do have weeks open for March so let me know if you want to set up a week.

Please share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section. I’d also love to connect with you over social media so check my contact page for that information. See the News page for announcements and remember to sign-up to receive news and posts by email. I’ve added a new sign-up tab on my FaceBook page to simplify the process. New followers can download The Black Bag via free coupon today! Also, the cover of my book, The Bow of Destiny, was revealed recently so take a look.

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Filed under: A New Dawning, Amazon, Annwyn's Blood, Blogging, Blood Moon Sacrifice, C. S. Boyack, Cover Reveal, Creativity, Dark Moon Shadow, Ed Ireland, Fantasy, Fantasy Authors Unplugged, Fiction, Fire At Dawn, Goodreads, Indie Publishing, Leisl Kaberry, Loren Weaver, Marketing, Michael Eging, Robert Penner, Self-publishing, Stormrider, The Broken King, The Cock of the South, The Last Ranger of Sarn, Tiger's Peace, Titanian Chronicles, Writing Tagged: Autumn Birt, blogging, C. S. Boyack, Coverart, Daniel Adorno, Ed Ireland, Epic Fantasy, Fantasy Authors Unplugged, Fantasy Fiction, Leisl Kaberry, Loren Weaver, Marketing, Michael Eging, Robert Penner, Self-publishing, writing

Last month I sent my book, The Bow of Destiny, to my editor for a structural edit. I expected the book to be out of my hands for about thirty days. This meant it was a perfect time to work on the next book in the series, An Arrow Against the Wind, as well as some of my short fiction projects.

I set a schedule to complete the rough draft of the second book and got started. I also began a hefty overhaul of a short story that was a very rough draft. I worked into a balance with these projects after weighting their priority according to my available time.

By the time I was in a steady rhythm with these projects I had accomplished a great deal. I had written several chapters in the second book and revised the short story into a cohesive draft. I expected to finish the rough draft of An Arrow Against the Wind by the time The Bow of Destiny came back from the editor.

But to my surprise, the editor returned the manuscript several weeks ahead of schedule. There was good news as she far fewer structural issues than previously so the book is rounding into shape. I just needed to address these structural issues and be ready for the next round of detailed editing.

But now I was faced with problem. Should I finish the rough draft on which I was working or pivot to edit the manuscript in progress. I had allotted time to complete An Arrow Against the Wind but I also needed to have The Bow of Destiny ready for the editorial schedule. What should I do?

This question stopped me cold for a few days while I weighed the options. I thoroughly enjoyed writing like I was on book 2. However, the first manuscript needs to be completed.

Dueling priorities had me trapped. The quandary had to be examined. I took a serious look at An Arrow Against the Wind. I knew there would need to be some structural changes to the manuscript. I decided to go ahead and do these to find out how much writing was still needed to complete the rough draft. In the end, I found that I needed much more than I originally thought. I could still write higher word totals each day and finish the draft by the deadline.

Next, I considered all that needed to be addressed on the first manuscript. I started a fluid schedule to determine when I could finish the changes and be ready for the editorial schedule. I found that I would be well ahead of the schedule.

In the end, I’ve chosen to complete the edits for The Bow of Destiny. It needs to be completed first and be ready for the editor’s schedule. This weighed much more to me than the second manuscript. The advantage to completing the editing was that I would have the manuscript waiting for the editor and I could already have pivoted back to completing the rough draft of the next book, even have that completed.

The take-away here is that you can make a solid schedule but circumstances change. A project schedule should be fluid enough to allow for shifts in priority. Learning to be flexible with your schedule is necessary to managing projects – and for me these books are parts of a larger project. How you prioritize your projects is up to you but flexibility may be necessary.

What unexpected events have you encountered that required changes to your schedule? How have you adapted to circumstances to move in a different direction while still accomplishing your over-arching goals? Please share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section. I’d also love to connect with you over social media so check my Contact page for that information. See the News page for announcements and remember to sign-up to receive news and posts by email. I’ve added a new sign-up tab on my FaceBook page to simplify the process. New followers can download The Black Bag via free coupon today! Also, the cover of my book, The Bow of Destiny, was revealed recently so take a look.

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Filed under: Blogging, Cover Reveal, Creativity, Editing, Fantasy, Fiction, Indie Publishing, Planning, Self-publishing, Short Fiction, Short Stories, Social Media, The Black Bag, The Bow of Destiny, Tips, Twitter, Writing Tagged: blogging, Coverart, creativity, Editing, Facebook, Fantasy Fiction, Goals, Indie Publishing, Launch, P. H. Solomon, Planning, Self-publishing, Short Stories, Social Media, The Black Bag, The Bow of Destiny, Twitter, writing

A few weeks ago, I shared about using the document template feature of Scrivener. It allows you to create a template internal to your project with differing features and content so you can start writing more quickly without forgetting your commonly used elements for your documents. It makes the process of writing approachable.

But what should you include in a document template? How much should you include? What’s the benefit of this bit of work? Let’s take the last two questions first.

As to how much you should put into a document template, this depends on your needs. If you need a simple template with all the common formatting for your project then it’s a straightforward process. If the nature of your project requires more information then you should include that. For instance, with a blog or newsletter project (assuming you are using a year-long project for these), you can use the document template to include common content that appears in all your posts or newsletters.

As to the benefits, it’s a time-saver. You won’t waste time re-creating the same document conditions every time you start a new chapter, blog, newsletter, etc. Also, this template usage eliminates forgetting to include common content such as those used on blog posts and newsletters.

But what should you include in your Scrivener document template? Here are a some suggestions:

1. You may want to create several templates depending on what your project is. As an example, I’m using a year-long project for my blog posts and newsletters so I may need multiple templates for these. This is especially true of my blog project where I develop different kinds of posts. I can make different templates for Scrivener posts, interview posts, serial posts and general category posts.

2. Include your ending content for blog posts. Again, these may differ based on the type of post.

3. Include introductory content. Again this may differ depending on usage but it sure helps you jump into writing without much worry with getting everything correct.

4. Regarding formatting, do you have special formatting that will be used in your project several times? Then you should consider creating a template that incorporates this formatting. There’s nothing so time consuming than trying to re-create formatting to match earlier content. With the document template you can re-create that formatting by choosing to use the template.

The main take-away is to include as much as necessary to simplify your writing process rather than get bogged down with unnecessary details. As I run across a repetition of form in projects I’m creating a new document template or adding necessities to existing ones. That way I will spend less time on continuity and complete my writing faster.

How can you use document templates in your Scrivener projects to streamline your writing? If you’re already using this feature, what elements of your writing do you include in your document templates? Please share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section. I’d also love to connect with you over social media so check my Contact page for that information. See the News page for announcements and remember to sign-up to receive news and posts by email. I’ve added a new sign-up tab on my FaceBook page to simplify the process. New followers can download The Black Bag via free coupon today! Also, the cover of my book, The Bow of Destiny, was revealed recently so take a look.

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Screenshots from my blog project

Just as a note: I am not affliated with Scrivener in any official capacity. For support questions, pricing and other concerns please contact the vendor.

 

Filed under: Blogging, Cover Reveal, Creativity, Editing, Fiction, Indie Publishing, Planning, Scrivener, Self-publishing, Social Media, Tech Tips, Templates, The Black Bag, The Bow of Destiny, Tips, Twitter, Writing Tagged: blogging, Coverart, creativity, Editing, Facebook, Formatting, Indie Publishing, P. H. Solomon, Planning, Scrivener, Social Media, The Black Bag, The Bow of Destiny, Twitter, writing

 

Photo used in The Bow of Destiny book trailer

Author’s Note: This is the conclusion of Part 2 of the prequel blog serial entitled “What is Needed”. Click on these links to read Part 1, Part 2 (first section), Part 2 (Conclusion), Part 3 and Part 4 This series is a companion to The Bow of Destiny (Part 1 of The Bow of Hart Saga). The events of the blog series pre-date those of The Bow of Destiny by several hundred years but include several long-lived characters who appear in the forthcoming novel. This material is copyrighted and not intended for reproduction except at the author’s consent.

 

What is Needed (Part 5)

by P. H. Solomon

Their chains clanked and scraped the stone floor as the three of them shifted.

Zelma’s resolve slipped into weeping while she clung to Hastra’s hand. “How are we alive?”

“I don’t know.” Hastra touched her blood-stained dress and the hole where the Kregen stabbed her. She ran her finger along the line of her mortal wound but found no blood. Best not probe that further. She withdrew her hand and squeezed Zelma’s with the other.

Howart cleared throat. “It’s the prophecy. We live because of it.”

“Why not the others then?” Hastra chewed her lower lip.

Beyond Zelma, Howart’s chains rattled. “What is needed is given.”

Hastra mumbled the response with Zelma. “But what has been given besides life? We are chained in darkness and useless here.”

“We must wait and see.”

“Perhaps.” He had a better grasp of the moment than she. They might be waiting for the rats to chew them to the bone. She shuddered. Did my heart beat? Would she live through the pain of rat bites? She squeezed Zelma’s hand again. Best not mention anything to her.

The time passed and Hastra dozed. She awoke to rat’s fur brushing her ankle. She kicked with both feet. The rat squealed and it pattered away.

Zelma gasped at Hastra’s commotion. “What’s that?”

“Nothing, just woke from a dream.”

“I heard something running on the floor.”

Hastra jumped as Howart’s deeper voice boomed in the silence. “There are rats in here.”

Zelma’s chains rattled as she pulled her feet closer.

After that Hastra sat awake and waited for the rat to return. Teeth gnawed on boards in the darkness and matched her hunger pangs. At least she still got hungry. She rubbed her raw wound inside her dress. Better than the alternative.

Later, the door’s lock snicked open and woke Hastra. Light shined around the edges of the door. Trolls with food or they’ll drag us before Kregen again. It wasn’t a flickering torch. She stirred and her leg-irons scraped the floor. A rat squealed as it scrabbled away.

Howart and Zelma woke with groans as the door opened. Hastra squinted at the glow and her eyes watered. A silhouette stepped into the doorway. Her chains clicked and fell open. She gasped as the figure with the wide-brimmed hat waved them to the door.

Zelma leaned close grasped Hastra’s arm. “What’s going on? Who’s that?”

Hastra patted her sister’s trembling hand and opened her mouth to speak. The hat – he’s the one who healed me. “I think we should follow.”

Howart kicked his chains away. “Who is it? Why should we follow.”

“First, he’s got a light. Second, he let us loose and third, he healed my leg several months ago.” Hastra struggled to her feet and her knees wobbled.

The stranger moved into the passage beyond the room and the light faded as he walked away.

Howart stumbled to the door. “Hurry, he’s leaving.”

Hastra and Zelma leaned against each other and followed. They stepped into the hall as their rescuer turned a far corner. The three Withlings hobbled after the light past broken doors and intersecting passages that stretched into brooding darkness.

They arrived at the stairwell out of the lower cellar and Howart paused. “This isn’t the way out. It’s back up to Kregen and trolls. Should we risk it?”

Zelma climbed a few steps before she turned back. “Maybe they are gone and this man came to free us.”

Hastra followed her sister. “Stay in the dark but I think we have no other choice.”

They gained the upper cellar and drew near the stair to the keep when the noise of trolls echoed from above them.

Howart stretched his thin arm in the sisters way. “Still here. Where’s he leading us, back to them?”

The man’s light faded and then grew brighter. He waved to them. “Come, it’s safe. There’s food for you.”

Hastra shrugged to Howart and pushed past his out-flung arm. “Think how he set us free without keys. I’m following him. Anyway, he says there’s food.”

Hastra scurried on the stair and the other’s feet scuffed on the stone behind her. They needed the food soon. She’d faint without it. She touched the rent in her dress where Kregen’s knife-blade killed her. There were too many miracles in this since that moment.

The Withlings gained the main level and hustled after the man in the wide-brimmed hat. Lumps lay in the shadows of the unlit main hall.

Hastra’s gaze touched the hand at the moment Zelma gasped and wept. They’re dead, all the Withlings were dead. Fixed stares greeted Hastra wherever she whirled.

Zelma covered her mouth with her hands. Howart gaped and his eyes bulged from their deep hollows. They wound through the hacked bodies until they stood by the door to the dining hall where trolls hooted and snarled.

Their rescuer waved his arm into the room. “Eat, take what you need. When you finish I will show you out.”

Hastra whispered in spite of the din from the trolls. “But we’ll be seen. They’ll kill us.”

The man in the hat pointed to a table where no trolls sat. “I have everything you need prepared. Go on.”

She glanced at her companions and their doubtful expressions. He had set them free without keys. Hastra peeked into the dining hall. The trolls fought and laughed, their tusks and fangs flashed in the light. She’d run if they noticed her. She held her breath and stepped through the doorway.

The trolls never noticed her. Hastra lowered her head and scurried toward the table laden with food. Around her trolls howled their vile glee but none of them even glanced her way.

At the table Hastra snatched food without thinking and shoved it in her mouth. She chewed and groaned. Howart and Zelma joined her and they ate their fill. Howart found sacks into which they shoved the excess for provisions. They returned to the doorway and the man in the hat.

“Follow me.”

Hastra bent and cocked her head as their rescuer strode past her. She never quite saw his face. She hefted her bag and walked behind the sight of his brown coat and hat.

The man in the hat led them to the chapel. Benches and chairs lay overturned and they picked their way through the ruined room.

Their rescuer kicked a pile of broken wood and pointed to a leather-bound book lying spine up and open. He cocked his head to Hastra. “You must take this burden. Write the prophecy in it and all your visions.”

Hastra stumbled through the refuse, knelt and gathered the book to her breast. She blinked tears and nodded. She knew him now. She wiped her sorrow from her cheeks.

“Time to leave.” The man in the hat turned the wreckage. The three surviving Withlings trailed after him.

They followed out the front door but turned to a postern gate down the wall.

Hastra blinked under the gray sky and the brushed her hair across her face. She sucked in a long breath. Clean air. At the gate Hastra paused with her companions.

The man in the hat pushed the gate open. “Go to the old tower if you still serve as Withlings.”

They shuffled out the gate. Here the chill wind snapped their tattered cloaks and bit their faces. Hastra hobbled on the narrow trail beyond the walls of Withling’s Watch.

Zelma’s voice rang in the gusts. “He’s gone. Who was he?”

Hastra cocked her head at the gate and motioned to her sister and Howart. “Come, we’ve a mission to fulfill now. Maybe we’ll see him again.” It’s just us now. “What is needed is given.”

End of Part 5 (Part 6 will be re-posted on 12/20)

Please share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section. I’d also love to connect with you over social media so check my Contact page for that information. See the News page for announcements and remember to sign-up to receive news and posts by email. I’ve added a new sign-up tab on my FaceBook page to simplify the process. New followers can download The Black Bag via free coupon today! Also, the cover of my book, The Bow of Destiny, was revealed recently so take a look.

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Filed under: Creativity, Crowdfunding, Crowdsourcing, Deep POV, Fiction, Indie Publishing, IndieGoGo, Marketing, Self-publishing, Social Media, The Bow of Destiny, Twitter, What is Needed, Writing Tagged: Announcement, creativity, Crowdfunding, Crowdsourcing, Deep POV, Indie Publishing, IndieGoGo, Launch, Marketing, P. H. Solomon, Social Media, The Bow of Destiny, Twitter, What is Needed, writing

I’ve recently written about Scrivener templates and different types of content that could be developed using this software. In fact, I’m using it as I write this blog. But for new users, finding information and tracking projects can be confusing. Here’s a short post with a tip to help other new users track their content.

Where Is Everything?

Learning robust software like Scrivener can appear daunting when you first start using it. You jump right in and start creating folders and text containers. The binder isn’t too hard to master and writing is writing.

But how much did you write? How do you set goals and track them? Fortunately, there are tools available in Scrivener that meet these needs.

Words written appear in the bottom bar of Scrivener. This count and amount cover just the container in which you are writing. That’s simple enough. But what if you need more specifics?

The Projects Menu – Project Targets

The answer is the built into Scrivener. Click the Projects menu and then choose Project Targets.

Want to set and track goals? Use these Project settings.

You’ll note that I’ve set this goal to 500 hundreds and my session target to 500 hundred words. If I were writing more later in this same container (for example, if this were a long scene in a book/chapter), I would have another session goal later. By checking my current session I know if I’ve reached my daily goal if that’s important. So that’s an easy way to know how much I’ve done already and what my goal is.

The Projects Menu – Project Stats

But what about seeing more about my project statistics? On the Projects menu select Project Statistics and this is what’s displayed:

You’ll see what the whole project statistics in words and pages. In my example what is showing is my whole Blog 2015 project which is quite new. But if this were a book that total would be more meaningful. For my current purposes I would be concerned with the second displayed section – Selection. This indicates how many words I have in my current blog. At this point, it’s actually several hundred more words than this screenshot but you get the point.

Want to change some of what is displayed? Click the Options tab:

The Projects Menu – Text Statistics

Need more information about what you’re writing? Just click the Projects menu again and choose Text Statistics. Click the arrow beside Word Frequency. This displays information about the your word usage which is very handy to see how often you are repeating words.

So there are a few tips on viewing and managing your goals and content. Want to read more of my Scrivener-related posts. Check some of my recent posts or click the Scrivener category near the end of this page. And yes, I did meet – and surpassed – my set goal for this post!

Got any Scrivener tips of your own to share? Please share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section. I’d also love to connect with you over social media so check my Contact page for that information. See the News page for announcements and remember to sign-up to receive news and posts by email. I’ve added a new sign-up tab on my FaceBook page to simplify the process. New followers can download The Black Bag via free coupon today! Also, the cover of my book, The Bow of Destiny, was revealed recently so take a look.

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Scrivener screenshots from my 2015 blog project.

Cover art for The Black Bag licensed from iStockPhoto.

Filed under: Blogging, Creativity, Fantasy, Fiction, Indie Publishing, Planning, Scrivener, Self-publishing, Social Media, Tips, Twitter, Writing Tagged: blogging, Coverart, creativity, Facebook, Indie Publishing, Launch, P. H. Solomon, Scrivener, Self-publishing, Social Media, The Black Bag, The Bow of Destiny, Twitter, writing

Clip Art Image Copyright by Microsoft. Clip Art Used by Permission of Microsoft

Having trouble with your blogging? Are you struggling with getting posts written? Have you found that your struggling with keeping up with your blog schedule? Here are some tips to try getting the most out of your site and gaining consistency.

1. Get organized. I know that’s anathema to some writers but being organized helps eradicate confusion so you can focus.

2. Write your ideas down in some format so you can at least come back to them. I have so many ideas that I’m backlogged. But that’s what I need – something to turn to when I just don’t know what else to write about. I’ve just got ideas waiting to be written and I plug into them regularly and knock them out.

3. Express one idea in a short post. Try not to make your posts too long. If what you’re writing is long then consider breaking it into pieces. Give yourself space to express the ideas well. Also, writing complex ideas in several posts gives you the opportunity to write several articles ahead which helps keep your schedule on a sane pace.

4. Write daily for your blog and journal. You’ll find that ideas pop out of the most unlikely places when you write often. You’ve got plenty of seeds for ideas to grow, just take time to scatter them. I get ideas for posts even when I’m writing fiction. I just stop and make sure I put them into a new document in my blog project.

5. Write often enough to be as many posts ahead of your schedule as possible. Once you get ahead, stay ahead. By being ahead you’re never worried about meeting a deadline for the next day – or today – since the stress can vapor-lock your creativity. If you write posts as often as you can you’ll develop a backlog. I’m scheduling my posts as far ahead as I can but if something happens to change my scheduled posts I can re-arrange easily enough.

So don’t wait, go write something! Be productive! And don’t worry, if you have something to say and do it well then people will read it.

How do you keep your blogging schedule? Do you have trouble with balancing your blog with other writing? Please share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section. I’d also love to connect with you over social media so check my Contact page for that information. See the News page for announcements and remember to sign-up to receive news and posts by email. I’ve added a new sign-up tab on my FaceBook page to simplify the process. New followers can download The Black Bag via free coupon today! Also, the cover of my book, The Bow of Destiny, was revealed recently so take a look.

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Filed under: Blogging, Creativity, Editing, Fiction, Indie Publishing, Planning, Self-publishing, Social Media, Tips, Twitter, Writing Tagged: blogging, Coverart, creativity, Editing, Facebook, Goals, Indie Publishing, P. H. Solomon, Self-publishing, Social Media, The Black Bag, The Bow of Destiny, Twitter, writing

This is continuing feature on Archer’s Aim – Fantasy Authors Unplugged. I hope to frequently share an interview with a fantasy author. If you have authors to suggest and/or questions you’d like to see answered then leave a comment or send me an email. If you are a fantasy author and would like an interview please let me know and we’ll plan one that fits your schedule.

Today I’m interviewing Loren Weaver who has a new book out today. So let’s jump right into the interview and find out more about this new release being launched today!

Interview

Q. Please tell us about your latest book.

A. My latest book releases today! I’m so excited! The book is called Tiger’s Peace and is the fourth book in the Victoria Novak: Paranormal Division series. Victoria works for the Federal Paranormal Division of the FBI to solve paranormal crime. So if a vampire or wereanimal did it, Tori will investigate. In this latest book, she’s been kidnapped and must organize her own escape!

Q. How many other books do you have published?

A. I have three others in the Victoria series. They are (1) Havoc’s Cry, (2) Archangel’s Salvation, and (3) Shadow’s Lament.

Q. How did you choose urban fantasy?

A. I’ve always been an urban fantasy reader. I love the idea of magic and strange creatures in an ordinary, everyday setting. It mixes what we know of life with the supernatural that we imagine about life. So when I started writing, it just kind of happened that all the ideas in my head were urban fantasy stories.

Q. What inspired your latest book?

A. In this book, Tori makes friends with a young weretiger with a severely abusive background. When she escapes, she takes the tiger with her. The two become super close. This idea was actually inspired by my sister, who’s my best friend. Tori needed someone outside of work to be friends with, and so Lucian was born.

Q. Do you work from an outline?

A. I do, mostly. Since I have a bad guy in the shadows, I have to know who it is and drop hints Tori’s team can follow. So I always have a basic outline, and sometime quite an extensive one. I note particular scenes I want to be sure and include when I think of them so I know where the story is going. Then, I just write!

Q. What’s the most fun part of launching a new book?

A. When you get home and there’s a box on your front door, you open it up, and hold that brand new, brightly colored, real live copy of the book in your hands. Nothing makes me feel more accomplished as an author than that first moment I hold a brand new book in my hand, feel it, smell it, and run down the halls screaming in excitement. Yes, that happens every time.

Q. What’s the hardest part of launching a new book?

A. Getting people to know it exists. The hardest part as a writer in general, but especially around a new launch, is marketing. I’m so excited about the new book, so I want everyone else to be excited too!

Q. Have you started writing another book yet?

A. Yes! I actually have two more in editing stages and I’m already writing the next Tori book. The two in editing stages aren’t from the Victoria Novak series, so I’m pretty excited to branch out from this series, although I’ll come back to Tori’s adventures soon.

Links!!

My site: http://www.lorenweaver.com

Twitter: twitter.com/readlorenweaver

Facebook: facebook.com/authorlorenweaver

Get my books: http://www.lorenweaver.com/victorianovak

Loren’s Bio

Loren Weaver is an engineer for an oil company as her day job. A long history of math and science craze coupled with a love of problem solving led her to Georgia Tech and a degree in Engineering. Currently, she lives abroad in ever-warm Ecuador drilling for oil out in the jungle and learning Spanish.

She loves crazy sports and has her black belt in Tae Kwon Do, master SCUBA diver certificate, and motorcycle license. Her dream is to one day set foot on all seven continents, dive the Great Barrier Reef, and jump out of airplane just to say she did.

Loren writes because she loves to hear and to tell a good story. She put finger to keyboard and wrote her first story at the age of eleven about a little girl and a dragon. Since then, she’s grown in her writing skills and even started on a Masters in Creative Writing.

Great job, Loren. Thanks for stopping by today and sharing your new book with us and letting us get to know you as well. Best wishes on sales!

If you’re a fantasy author and would like to be interviewed for “Fantasy Authors Unplugged” just contact me via email or one of my social media channels and we’ll set one up.

Please share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section. I’d also love to connect with you over social media so check my contact page for that information. See the News page for announcements and remember to sign-up to receive news and posts by email. I’ve added a new sign-up tab on my FaceBook page to simplify the process. New followers can download The Black Bag via free coupon today! Also, the cover of my book, The Bow of Destiny , was revealed recently so take a look.

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Filed under: Amazon, Fantasy, Fantasy Authors Unplugged, Indie Publishing, Loren Weaver, Marketing, Self-publishing, Social Media, Tiger's Peace, Writing Tagged: Announcement, blogging, Coverart, creativity, Facebook, Fantasy Authors Unplugged, Fantasy Fiction, Indie Publishing, Launch, Loren Weaver, Marketing, Rave Reviews Book Club, Self-publishing, Social Media, Tiger's Peace, Twitter, writing

Not too long ago I was just not having a good day. I was rather upset by external circumstances that left me in a foul mood. I was trying to write and was just distracted by my ill humor.

But I forced myself to sit down and write my intended goal for words. I sat down and started writing and ignored how I felt because it wasn’t very creative. However, a funny thing happened on the way to my writing goal – I transferred some of that mood to the page.

The scene on which I was working was actually perfect for my mood. I was tense and the scene needed that tension between several characters. I found that what I had written carried over well with my POV character in this scene.

Now I’m not suggesting that you artificially force yourself into various moods just to complete writing. That would be difficult and require acting lessons. However, sometimes your mood – if you aren’t any good at acting – can really influence your writing.

Just a suggestion, but if you find yourself in the proper mood for a particular scene why not go back to it and re-write some and let your mood carry-over into it. Better yet, if you know you have an upcoming scene that mirrors your current mood maybe you can make good use of it and write ahead just to capture what you need. You can catch up later and maybe find what you wrote to have several parts that are worth keeping, maybe even help you with plot fixes and other ideas.

Better yet, actually address the real issue of authentic emotion in your characterization. How do you sift your wording without being distant or relying on adverbs? When using deep POV try referencing The Emotion Thesaurus and then think about how an emotion or mood feels. Then find ways to get that nuance into your writing.

So don’t just stew in a bad mood, use it. Make lemonade out of those lemons. Then sweeten it up with some editing later. Then when you’re done go be nice to yourself and let go of that bad mood. Use your mood for some fictional mood and maybe you can enhance what your writing. And remember, those positive moods can be just as helpful depending on the scene. Not in the mood, the salt in the necessary ingredients with some reference material.

How do you write mood and emotion? Where do you find inspiration for fictional tension? Please share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section. I’d also love to connect with you over social media so check my Contact page for that information. See the News page for announcements and remember to sign-up to receive news and posts by email. I’ve added a new sign-up tab on my FaceBook page to simplify the process. New followers can download The Black Bag via free coupon today! Also, the cover of my book, The Bow of Destiny, was revealed recently so take a look.

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Filed under: Amazon, Blogging, Cover Reveal, Creativity, Editing, Fiction, Indie Publishing, Planning, Self-publishing, Social Media, The Black Bag, The Bow of Destiny, Tips, Twitter, Writing Tagged: blogging, Coverart, creativity, Editing, Indie Publishing, P. H. Solomon, Self-publishing, Social Media, The Black Bag, The Bow of Destiny, Twitter, writing

It’s been a while since I wrote about project management. I recently had some thoughts about the subject and wanted to share some tips for better project management and productivity.

1. If you often find that you’re unable to focus this could mean that you’ve got a lot on your plate and just can’t get it organized in your mind well enough to be productive. You know how you open tabs on your web browser and then open more? Sometimes you may even have some open for a long time. Your browsing and your computer might slow down as a result. The same thing happens with your mind – too many mental tabs are open – work to get them closed by organizing your day.

2.Daily goals and schedule – use a schedule to know how and when something will be dealt with – otherwise you can flounder under the uncertainty. What needs to be done gets mentally assigned time, place, function, etc so that you can eliminate uncertainty. Now you may notice your mind some spinning and getting nowhere – you’ve just planned how to go about your work.

3. Follow the schedule as much as possible. There will be need for changes so be willing to be flexible. But follow the schedule as best you can and start closing those mental tabs. Clear these and productivity improves. You’ll find that you’re getting more accomplished by addressing all the items on your mental list. The importance part is that you get them out of your mind and scheduled so you can work on them.

4. How this works on a long-term schedule – this type of schedule doesn’t change as much nor does it require quite as much management. I might set goals/deadlines for some writing projects but this can – and does – get adjusted due to intervening events. However, my managing your daily schedule and goals well you may find that your bigger plans are more on target and you start closing those bigger tabs with greater regularity.

Want to be more productive but find yourself distracted with a reasonable schedule? Try working in a space that’s tidy. Avoid the internet while working – there are several tools you can use to help discipline your activity. Don’t research during your writing time – do it beforehand. Make sure you get enough sleep – being too tired means it’s harder to focus and writing takes lots of mental acuity.

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How do you address issues of productivity? What do you find important with scheduling your day? Please share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section. I’d also love to connect with you over social media so check my Contact page for that information. See the News page for announcements and remember to sign-up to receive news and posts by email. I’ve added a new sign-up tab on my FaceBook page to simplify the process. New followers can download The Black Bag via free coupon today! Also, the cover of my book, The Bow of Destiny, was revealed recently so take a look.

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Filed under: Amazon, Blogging, Cover Reveal, Creativity, Editing, Indie Publishing, Planning, Self-publishing, Social Media, The Black Bag, The Bow of Destiny, Tips, Twitter, Writing Tagged: blogging, Coverart, creativity, Editing, Indie Publishing, P. H. Solomon, Planning, Self-publishing, Social Media, The Black Bag, The Bow of Destiny, writing

Scrivener is a powerful writing tool. I write about it weekly with tips and usage ideas. To read more of my posts click the Scrivener tag or category at the end of the page.

The Conundrum

My book, The Bow of Destiny, has been with an editor for a structural edit. I’ve received the manuscript back with a list of changes to address. But I need to make some regular decisions on where to make additions and how.

One of the beauties of Scrivener is that I can use the Binder to easily find places where specific changes should be made. I’m using this feature heavily as I revise The Bow of Destiny for its next round of editing.

However, one of the first things which I found to be a quandary was where to add a particular, short scene. I knew I could add it to the end of chapter 9 or the beginning of chapter 10 without any effect on continuity. However, I didn’t know which to choose as the best.

The Answer

Then it occurred to me: which one is longer? This would likely be a determining factor since I didn’t want to make one chapter inordinately long. That’s where another feature of Scrivener came into play.

To determine the length of each chapter I clicked onto each folder and obtained the project statistics. The comparison allowed me to quickly decide on the end of chapter 9 as the place to add the scene. I created a new document container and wrote the scene without hesitation.

How-to

If you need to make such quick determinations about pieces of a project you can do so easily just like I did using Scrivener. While in the section of your project in question, click on Project and then on Project Stastics:

What’s displayed in the following is a window that indicates the totals for the whole project and then for the specific selection. For my purposes, I looked at the selection statistics for each chapter, comparing the number of words and pages and found chapter 9 to be the shorter of the two and my choice was easily made.

With Scrivener, the question at hand was easily answered so that I didn’t waste time on it. I finished my scene addition in less than forty-five minutes – and in the process got the idea for this tip. Once again, Scrivener has proved to be invaluable as a writing tool.

What decisions hold you up while editing? What are your favorite features to use in Scrivener? Please share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section. I’d also love to connect with you over social media so check my Contact page for that information. See the News page for announcements and remember to sign-up to receive news and posts by email. I’ve added a new sign-up tab on my FaceBook page to simplify the process. New followers can download The Black Bag via free coupon today! Also, the cover of my book, The Bow of Destiny, was revealed recently so take a look.

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Just as a note: I am not affliated with Scrivener in any official capacity. For support questions, pricing and other concerns please contact the vendor.

 

Filed under: Blogging, Cover Reveal, Creativity, Editing, Indie Publishing, Planning, Scrivener, Self-publishing, Tech Tips, The Black Bag, The Bow of Destiny, Tips, Twitter, Writing Tagged: blogging, creativity, Editing, Indie Publishing, P. H. Solomon, Scrivener, Self-publishing, Social Media, The Black Bag, The Bow of Destiny, Twitter, writing