Tag: book

life

I am probably going to make a vlog about this in the near future, but I have successfully stretched myself too thin creatively. I am writing a new book, I have one submitted to a new publisher who promises to reply by the end of the summer, and and I keep coming up with vlog ideas instead of blog ideas, if that makes sense.

No, I am not scrapping this site. To be as utilitarian as possible, I use it for advertising and notice of publication and tangents about literally nothing but what is going on in my mind.

Yes, this is a hint that updates will be slower than you may be expecting.

I ask for your ongoing patients and love for the next few months. I will be dipping in and out with nuggets of text and I will always link my latest videos here, as well as flooding my socials with them.

If you haven’t checked it out yet, I have a BuyMeACoffee account. Great way to financially support me and my stupid artistic endeavours. As I mentioned, new book news I hope available soon. New book being written, and NO YOU CANNOT READ IT.

If you haven’t yet, pick up a copy of You’re Not Dead. Or, at the very least, let someone know that it exists. It would be really cool if you gave it a rating, but even knowing that you have read it tickles me to my core.

I did another Vlog

Don’t you enjoy how I make the fact that I did another video sound important?

Anyway, I hope you enjoy these. I felt like I needed to do something, as I have been slacking on writing here and in my next book.

I hope you have read and enjoyed the latest version of my last book. I have been in contact with another new publisher. I hope that I will have exciting news in that world soon.

Too life.

I am sorry I have not been doing proper updates. For transparency sake, I haven’t been writing my next book, either. A lot has gone on over the last month, and my mind has been everywhere but the keyboard. I think I’m back into the groove, now.

WAIT.

No, false alarm!

My next book, yes, I should probably talk about that at some time. It’s mostly done, and I only have a few points I need to either elaborate on, or completely re-write. A special thanks to “Some Guy Named Rob” for putting up with my bullshit over the last month or so. Have you check his YouTube profile? He’s doing some really cool stuff, and that is aside from his podcast about my book! The music he produces weekly is some of the best instrumental ambient/soundscape stuff you will find. I am not saying that from bias, it’s very much the truth. I will fall on that sword, if I have to. His podcast voiceover? Beautiful. Am I gushing again? I’m sorry.

SPEAKING OF PODCASTS

I have been spending a lot of time working out my next “script”, and I really hope you all enjoy and subscribe. I am sorry if you are sick of my shilling, but I will continue until I no longer feel the need for an external source of advertising.

Also, I’m thinking of dropping the numbers from the podcast. Verdict? Leave a comment below, or get hold of my privately. Whatever works for you, really.

Publisher?

This is a strange post, so you have to read it with an open mind.

I came to the realization recently that I have accidentally stumbled into a publisher.

I can hear the confusion already. “This is the third pressing of your book. What do you mean you JUST realized that you have publishers?”

I should note at this point that I am happy with my short stint with Friessen. They were fantastic, and very cognizant of the fact that I had little idea of what I was doing.

Olympia is different.

They told me that, as soon as the book was pressed, it is hands off from me until they need me for unforeseen events. They want me to sit back and work on my next book, and not worry actively about additional distribution. They claimed that they will look for publicity in the forms of interviews and reviews, and they have already contacted several stores, both online and off, about carrying my book.

For the sake of comparison, at this point, Friessen had pressed my book. By their metrics, their mission was done. I do not fault them: I had signed that contract for production, and they were a temporary storage facility for distributors to collect copies of the book when time needs.

A simpler way to explain it: Friessen was a producer, Olympia is a partener.

Some, if not most readers of this blog, are screaming “NO SHIT” at their screens. I do not think that it is unreasonable to feel that way.

Counterpoint: I was not aware what I was in for. I am far from offended, and I am trying my best to be prepared. I do have my next book over 70% done. It’s just strange to think that this is actually kind of happening! I am more that certain that someone will feel as if I am wrong on parts of my mindset.

Hell: I will probably come across this post in a few months and think “…you fucking pleb…” and then resist an urge to delete it to pretend that there is no record of my ignorance.

To be completely blunt: I am kind of writing this post BECAUSE I am in such disbelief right now. As I stated, I made this realization rather suddenly just the other day. I am still kind of reeling.

No, this is not a thinly veiled brag. Honestly, this is me coming to terms with what is going on.

Seriously: it would mean the world if you looked into my book. If you have a copy, there is no obligation to get a new copy. I mean, the cover is beautiful, and the grammar and spelling is cleaned up. It’s a bit more streamlined, and some of the ideas are given greater weight. If you have the old version, either old version, thank you. If you want to see what has changed, get yours today!

OH! I should mention that I am looking for “sponsors” on my vlog! I have started a “Buy Me a Coffee” and a small donation of $10 is enough for 1 min of ad read! The only other stipulation is you have to give me an ad to read. I am happy to say that I am working with a friend of mine, once he gets me a script.

HEAR THAT, CORY? I NEED THAT FUCKING SCRIPT!

it’s HERE!!!

I finally have my copies of the You’re Not Dead re-release! It’s beautiful! I am ecstatic!

…ahem…

I will be posting a more comprehensive list of places to buy it soon, but in the meantime: I will post a link to the Olympia store here. I know that it will be available on Amazon.co.uk, and I know of a couple others by name, but the Olympia store is the best and most immediate way*.

I hope to have more information by next week, but the announcement of this will hold you over, I hope.

SUCH A BETTER COVER!!!

*If I am wrong, in anyway, I am sorry.

reviews

No, this is not a link to a known review. This is a request for writers of reviews to reach out!

I have the final PDF for my book that comes out in 4 days. I would love to send it to people who want to write a review for it.

Just comment below, or find me on Twitter. I will get back to you in a matter of hours, and we’ll work together!

Soon

In 10 days, my latest publication of You’re Not Dead gets released through Olympia publishers! I am beyond excited. I have paired it down so it’s just the tale of hospital life, I was given over 300 new edits that needed to be made, and I signed a contract that my next book has to be pitched with them!

Okay, the last point was more of a humble brag, but I am very excited!

The book has a new cover, as well! I will not spoil it until I get my copy, mostly because that does not seem fair to me, but I can assure you that it looks pretty! Probably because I didn’t make it this time in 20 min while I waited for water to boil for my fifth cup of coffee.

Anyway, as soon as I get more information, I will be sure to pass it along. Keep your eyes peeled to this site, as I will be posting the new cover once I get the final proofs and whatnot!

Just a reminder that I scrapped my Patreon, and am now using Buy Me a Coffee. It seems like exploitative to ask for donations when I actually produce something as opposed to demanding a kind of subscription. I am prone to go silent for weeks at a time; and, for that, I am incredibly sorry!

Overwhelmed

Hi!

I’ve been horrible. I haven’t done an update worth anyone’s time on any public forum. Not that I haven’t tried, but simply because everything I have done, as of late, has turned out poorly.

This is the fourth or fifth time trying to write this blog, and I have written several about other topics that I have scrapped. I have recorded a new vlog/podcast a few times, and get so frustrated in the editing phase that I scrap them completely. Even Facebook and Twitter posts are deleted before they are posted, for no reason outside of vanity.

I think part of the issue, but not the whole issue, is that I am in flux again. I am sitting on my hands waiting for my novella to go to print. I have three books on the go, only one is at any point of finality, and it’s still not long or good enough.

I wonder if I am being too hard on myself, or if I just need a month where I actually get some time off. I can hear it now: YoU aRe UnEmPlOyEd!

To fight that point, I am working on three books, pencilling out a new vlog/podcast, and I am trying to keep coming up with new blog posts. So, yes, a month off of everything would be nice.

None of this includes the stress of the day-to-day, which is more annoying than anything. I have some reasons to think that I am only a month off of better and more stable things. I won’t get into all of that yet.

The end point is that I need some support. Emotionally would be great, but I would also like to hit 300 followers. Consider donating to my Patreon so I can keep progressing this site, and maybe look into something else cool. The next book I am for sure releasing is almost written: I am doing my reading of it to look for structure issues. If you would like to be included in the substance editing, let me know somehow.

I haven’t recorded it in a while, so I’ll say it here.

I love you.

Short Video Notice

It is not even 30 seconds, but it serves as a notification that You’re Not Dead is being released soon. I have completed the editing, and changed some stuff around. If you are in a position where you manage distribution of text, let me know the places to get hold of you. I am kind of out of exact dates, but I assume that I will be getting the forms this coming week. Those forms will help me get my text out to the masses.

Also, if you use the YouTube subscribe aspect, I have been a little slow as of late getting new vlogs and whatnot done, but good weather is around the corner! I hope to increase releases in the next few months.

Editing is depressing

Yes, I love it when someone else edits my work. Yes, I love when someone tells me what I did wrong, and I love trying to fix things.

HOWEVER.

It will always be depressing when I get work back and see the edits in the triple-digits. Especially when most of the mistakes are stupid and seem like they are things I would NEVER do wrong. Examples are using the wrong “there/their”, switching affect and effect, and missing commas.

Yes, it was a “book” that I wrote in a week. Yes, it was under 500 edits in a manuscript that was well over 15000 words long. I mean, with all of these considerations, it is amazing that there were so few mistakes. Yet, I felt my soul cry a bit with every red-mark that I located.

On the plus side: only 3 comments were made towards content. They were good points, and my logic behind the mistakes was horribly flawed. The other saving grace was that I noticed the mistakes as soon as I read over the sentence. I cannot decide whether that is because I am a much better writer, or because I have no read the material for so long.

My eventual point is that, if you can, get someone else to edit your work. Especially because, in my case, over 50% of the mistakes were words spelt correctly, and the grammar was sound enough to be ignored by spellcheck.