NecronomiCon went fine, thanks. I managed to sell a copy. Yes, only one! It was still a sell! And hey, while it may have been to one of my old college friends, it was still a sell. I did a lot of networking while I was there. Lakisha Spletzer was a doll and happened to be set up next to me. Bill Hatfield was charming and entertaining. Andrea Dean Van Scoyoc was an interesting woman to get to meet and speak with. And there were so many other authors I got to meet that I could spend a whole post just on Necro. I'm pretty hopeful that I will be able to go back again next year with at least two books -- and maybe even sell two copies this time!
But I can't do that because there's more to catch up on! On 30 December 2010, Verdant: The Preterhumans Book 2 was released on Lulu.com! It's finally out! I feel like I should be doing a dance of joy of some sort.
I've also added both Amaranth and Verdant to Smashwords. There you will be able to find ebook copies suitable for Kindle, NOOK, Sony Reader, and other e-readers. Soon, they should both also be ready for the iTunes store, so you lucky people with iPads should be able to read it as well.
Finally, I am apparently way behind on posting videos, so... here we go: "Videos of a Struggling Writer" 12-15! Enjoy!
( Videos behind the cut )
It's been a while since I've made a post here, I suppose, hasn't it? I'm usually better about things like this, but it has been incredibly hectic as of late.
You may notice that the place to purchase Amaranth: The Preterhumans Book 1 has changed, from Cacoethes Publishing to Lulu.com. As of the beginning of July, Cacothes Publishing and I have parted ways. I don't want to say too much on the subject on a very public blog, so we will leave it at that.
Hopefully by the end of summer, Verdant: The Preterhumans Book 2 will also be available through Lulu.com. In fact, my plan is for the rest of that series to be published on Lulu. Other series will be published through traditional publishers, I hope.
I know some people have already purchased Verdant through Cacoethes. If you have done so, please contact me with a copy of your receipt and I will try to get a copy for you out of my own pocket. Yes, out of my own pocket. Because I love you guys like that.
And on a final note, I will be at NecronomiCon in Tampa/Saint Petersburg, Florida, from October 22 through October 24. While I'm there, I will be signing and selling copies of both Amaranth and Verdant. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone there!
- Location:FSU, Tallahassee, FL
- Mood:working
I did unusually well money-wise for the holidays, so what's left in this little raising race? About $100. I would be happy if I could get $200 or $300, so that I can go ahead and get AppleCare, but I can put that off a bit.
If I can get $100 more dollars saved up by Thursday, then I can go ahead and get the new MacBook before classes start back next Monday, January 4th.
So I would love to kick this little raising race into high gear. If I can get another $100 to go with the $62 that's already been donated, then I can get the MacBook by the weekend. You have no idea how much that would mean to me.
I miss having a laptop. I miss it so damn much.
- Location:Tallahassee, FL
- Mood:hopeful
I would love to know why this keeps happening to me. I suspect a lot of it has to do with the fact that all I can afford on my own tends to used models. I have no way of finding out how the person or people who had the computer before me treated it.
In August 2008, I replaced my iBook G4 (with a dead logic board) with a MacBook. Unfortunately, at the time, all I could afford was a used model, from 2006. It was from the "loaner" pool from my university's computer store; even that was $750. Now it seems to be giving up the ghost.
So I'm thinking that the best way for me to go this time will be to purchase a new one, preferably from the Apple Store itself or the Best Buy located here in Tallahassee. The one I am looking at is the minimum version, 2GB of RAM and a 250GB hard drive. I would love to go higher than that, but I am capable of doing my own upgrades, so it's not completely necessary to buy it all "pimped out".
I am running a fund raiser via PayPal, trying to get the money up to afford this, since I can't do it on my own, not and have the money some time in the next two years. I am currently accepting donations through PayPal at the link below.
I'm only trying to get up at least $800. That will go a long way to helping me offset the cost of the computer and the tax. Anything over that will go towards programs and AppleCare.
Any help is most appreciated, even if it's just passing on this link!
Thanks!
~Katherine
More information is available here. X-posted to Thoughts of a Struggling Writer.
- Location:FSU, Tallahassee, FL
- Mood:hopeful
- Location:Tallahassee, FL
- Mood:grumpy
I’ve been falling behind on video blogging, I was recently reminded. So I made up a new one last night. I’m getting a little better at playing with iMovie. I’m not great with it yet, but I’m definitely getting there. I can cut sections of video, add title bars, and do fades. Like I said, I’m getting there.
NaNoWriMo is just around the corner. I’m working on something new for it, a dark fantasy series called Lurkers. The first book, the one I’m working on is titled Fallen.
And here’s the video…
- Location:Tallahassee, FL
- Mood:sleepy
( Con impressions )
We'll be getting back to Tallahassee sometime around 6 or 7 tonight. My coworker fed the kitties last night and this morning. We'll be feeding them tonight, maybe having dinner, very possibly buying our limited groceries for the pay period, and then sleep. Sweet, sweet sleep.
Why "sweet, sweet sleep"? We had to call security to get the party next door to quiet down at 5:30 this morning. We're going to have a 5 to 6 hour drive on 2 hours sleep.
- Location:Saint Petersburg, FL
- Mood:exhausted
I have a few projects I'm working on at the moment. The most immediate is an RSS feed solely for my video blogs from YouTube, so that I can try to get them submitted as a iTunes podcast. Why, yes, I am growing ambitious. Thank you for noticing.
The other project is... a new story. I'm sorry to say it probably won't be one you see here. But if you can suss out my pseudonym, once it's finished, it shouldn't be that hard to find. More on that as it develops, mainly because I've had too bad a headache for while todo much in the way of writing. I'm hoping to hop back on that train again soon, though.
Finally, Necronomicon is about 5 weeks away! Eee! I so can't wait! I still need to buy my boots, though. They're just about the only part of my costume that hasn't been purchased. I have some picked out (on eBay), so it's just a matter of affording them: $15 for the boots and $13 shipping. It shouldn't seem like so much. I'll get them eventually, maybe even in 2 weeks.
In the meanwhile, much love, rock hard, and later!
- Location:FSU, Tallahassee, Fl
- Mood:sick
I’m planning on doing a video post sometime this week (before I go barbecue myself at Saint George Island), but I want to say a bit of this ahead of time.
First off, I won JulNoWriMo with flying colors: just under 51,000 words (about 120 pages). The novel is still ongoing, but I passed the writing challenge. The novel now has a title, more than “Untitled #011a”: Biscayne Beginnings. It’s even part of a series: The Seekers. I have high hopes for this series. When it’s done, I’m hoping to sell it to a great publisher — like Ace/ROC, Samhain, or Juno. Yes, I’m aiming high.
Next, I passed German 1120 with a 95% or an A. Because I rock. I’ll be taking at least one class again next semester, but it will be another one towards my Publishing and Editing certificate: Designing and Editing Newsletter.
And no, I don’t have the edits for Verdant: The Preterhumans Book 2 yet. Therefore, I have no idea when it will be out.
I will not be at Dragon*Con this year. It’s just completely out of my budget. And it really blows, since they’re doing casting calls for a TV series based on a book series I loved: The Vampire Diaries, by LJ Smith. (I do have to give Ms. Smith some props here: her writing, along with Mercedes Lackey and Maggie Shayne, is what inspired me to really want to write.) However, since I won’t be at Dragon*Con, I’m hoping to be at Necronomicon, if everything goes well between now and then. Hope to see some of you there!
And that’s about all my news for now. I’ll be doing a video post again soon. Because the world would be miserable without more of me.
- Location:Tallahassee, FL
- Mood:calm
- Music:"Weird" Al Yankovic - Yoda
CNN is finally* covering the situation in West Bend, Wisconsin, and certain people's call to burn books they disagree with. Stop for a second there, and read that again. "Burn books they disagree with" should be the key phrase that jumps out there. Does this sound familiar to anyone?
I have a novel approach in mind in remedy to your children being exposed to books or subject matter you don't want them reading. It's something that should be familiar, as it's what parents should be doing with their children's television intake, unless you're of the "TV as babysitter" mindset. It should even be familiar from menu selection and knowing what is and isn't good for your child. Here it is: go with your children to the library and decide with them what books they can and cannot read.
Now obviously my kids aren't exactly big readers, though the grey one is fond of sitting close enough to a computer monitor to burn anyone's eyes out. I can't cast any stones in that regards. But I do know that, for instance, certain foods would be things I didn't want them to have. I don't try to make the grocery store stop carrying them. Instead, I just don't give them to the kids. In other words, my kids' weird digestive systems should not dictate what other people's kids have access to.
I won't even comment on "sue happy" people. I'm just going to give you a simple opinion: censorship is wrong, especially for places like public libraries. I leave you now with a quote to consider, from Heinrich Heine:
“Wherever they burn books they will also, in the end, burn human beings.”
* I say "finally" here because I read about this on the ALA website over the last month. I even saw it on UK's The Guardian newspaper and author Neil Gaiman's personal blog a month and a half ago. CNN's running a little late on this one.
- Mood:pensive
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katherinewrites- Katherine Bell
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