I’m busy revising Mik Murdoch: The Power Within for my publisher. After a bit of a shaky start, I think I’m hitting my stride…I think. The problem is, when I wrote this book, I knew it needed more of a continuous storyline than the previous one. The previous book, Mik Murdoch, Boy Superhero is very much an origin story. It is comprised of many little mini-stories that follow a larger plot. This one is more of a big-picture story that has mini-stories in it. I wrote the second book the way I did because I think it needs it. But, when I was writing it, I was concerned that the people who liked the first one would like it less […]
Read moreCategory: About Writing
Fun and Creativity
I have always liked to create things. When I was young(er?) I would make things out of wood and paper and whatever else I had at hand. I’ve also always written stories. Granted, most of my stories were childish and not terribly good, but I was able to write them and feel good about what I’d put on the page. That is even more true now, although I put the added pressure on myself of wanting the stories to be publishable. And, in the case of Mik Murdoch: The Power Within, I want the book to be equal to or better than the first one in the series. It has meant writing, rewriting, editing, revising and stressing about the book. […]
Read moreBig News!
As you may know, J.R. Murdock and I collaborated a couple years ago on a book. We wrote what we hoped would be the first book in a new YA/Steampunk/Superhero series. Writing as a team was a real learning experience with ups and downs, but we managed to finish the book, currently titled “Jack Kane and the Statue of Liberty”. J.R. wrote the protagonist POV and I wrote the antagonist. The story went through several editorial iterations before we felt it was ready to submit. And submit we did! And today, I am very pleased to announce that we have signed a book deal with Champagne Books. The book should be out in the fall of 2014. And, in case […]
Read moreUps and Downs
Being a writer seems to be full of ups and downs. Up – you just finished writing your book, which is brilliant. Down – you submit it to 243 different publishers and receive an impressive collection of rejections. Up – Publisher #244 asks you for a full submission of your manuscript Down – You get rejection #244 Up (eventually, maybe?) – You get a contract Down – you get your revisions and the number required is 582 revisions and half the manuscript scrapped. ….and so on. Why do we do this to ourselves? Glory? Fame? Not money (although that is a common misconception – i.e. that getting published will result in lots and LOTS of money). I know, for me, […]
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