Time and projects are an interesting mix. I’ve found that it’s a constant effort to strike a balance between being away from and then knee-deep in a Work In Progress. This past week I found myself returning to my old stomping grounds: Spirit Hackers.

While my plans to get back to this long-in-progress book has been delayed by life, I was able to get back into my chair and resume the final round of edits. While working on chapter 26, I was sucked fully-back into the story in just minutes. I reconnected with my characters and it was good, comfortable. Best of all, the hour I spent tweaking was all I needed to spark the drive once more. The following night I was back at the editing after work and stuck with it for two hours.

In that time, I hit a key goal for the book: I broke past 80,000 words. That number may not mean anything to most people, but the 80k mark is the defining word count to make the book officially a novel. In my large to-do list that I reference as I edit in Scrivener, this was another item I was able to cross off!

This is the drive. This is me falling in love with the story again. This is the proof (to me at least) that this book still is a great idea and has a chance to make it out there. Time will only tell on that last part. I’m coming up on a three-day weekend and already I’ve blocked out six hours dedicated to more edits and further reaching my set goal of getting Spirit Hackers out the door to at least one queried agent this year. 2012 is still young and I’m roaring to go on this book.

Have you found yourself detached from a book or project and then sucked back in after just a few minutes? I’d love to hear about it in the comments!

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There’s something to be said for the state of the consumer over the course of the last ten years. Back when I was young (as the cliche goes) if you wanted a book, album, movie, or any other form of entertainment, you went to the store and bought it. The Internet forever changed all that by companies not wanting to actually be consumer-friendly and the ingenuity of people who wanted entertainment but were no longer willing to pay absurd prices. The proliferation of DRM didn’t help. I will admit, I was one of those people who had Napster on my computer in college.

Then something changed. In 2003 Apple made headlines by unveiling the iTunes Music Store and dragged the music industry kicking and screaming into a place that ultimately saved their business. As of October 2011, they’ve sold over 15 billion songs. For me, a legal service that charges fair prices and lets me continue to own what I’ve paid for, returned my mindset to one that believes it’s better to pay for content rather than pirate it. The terms, pricing, and flexibility on how I can use it is fair. Unfortunately, not everyone shares this belief.

I am known as the ‘Apple guy’ to many people and when I am at the day job, people will always come to me with their new iPad purchase or ask me questions about whatever Apple gadget they have. I will always recommend apps or services I use but then I get asked the same question: “Is it free?” When my answer is “no”, my suggestions are blown off. This happened recently, again at the day job, when someone asked about apps for a new iPad. The conversation went something like this:

Me: “Get app X, Y, and Z.”
Person: “Those are free?”
Me: “No, but only ninety-nine cents or two ninety-nine.”
Person scoffs, then says “Oh, you gotta pay for it? No thanks. I’ll just jailbreak.”

I ended the conversation right then and there. I have no problems with people hacking their device to customize it but this person decided that hacking it in order to pirate apps that are worth money, was the way to go. To make it even more frustrating was the fact that this person was drinking a large Starbucks coffee the whole time. In their world, a coffee costing anywhere from two to six dollars has more value than a $2.99 app. This is an app that you own forever and took someone months to develop AND had to pay Apple $99 just to be a certified developer & get into the App Store.

We live in a society that does not value the work writers, musicians, and all other artists do in order to make this entertainment. Someone sees my book on Amazon and sees just that: my book on the virtual shelf. They do not see the months (or years) it takes to write it, the months it takes to edit it, the time and cost of having a cover designed, nor any of the other work done.

I’ve even had people come to me with a brand new Kindle or Nook, very excited about it. I’m excited for them too until they tell me they “downloaded a thousand books” from some torrent site or were given the books from a friend. Just to be clear, we’re not talking public domain stuff. This strikes a chord because most of the time the person telling me this knows I’m a writer. It’s like walking up to Eric Clapton and showing him his entire discography burned onto CD-R’s. Talk about insulting!

In an attempt to fight this mindset, I make sure to price my books fairly and I always opt out of any DRM mechanisms if I am given the chance to. I want my books to fit the model of Apple’s music service: make the terms fair and people will be willing to pay. We must return to valuing people’s work and understanding that not everything can be free. If I don’t sell any books, how can I justify spending so much of my free time writing more? How many people would go to a job if someone said “put in all the time and effort but give it to me for free.” The answer is nobody.

In the end, I will continue to write books because it’s my passion but seeing even the smallest upticks on B&N’s or Amazon’s sales reports is a validation and pure motivator to continue down this path. Don’t steal content, acknowledge the hard work of others, and most importantly respect the fact that I’m competing with your Starbucks drink when it comes to your dollars.

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I’ve been meaning to get a new post up to Copious Notes for a while and unfortunately I haven’t had the time. With a moment to breathe, I can finally catch everyone up with where I am with my books and what you can expect in the next few weeks and months.

First, I want to thank everyone who’s picked up a copy of Redbacks. I’m grateful for each and every person who saw the book and thought “oh, that looks good.” Reviews are coming in and the book (currently) has a five-star rating on Amazon.

My plans after the release of the book has been to return to Spirit Hackers and finish the final round of edits before embarking on the daunting task of querying agents. The idea was to start that two weeks ago but then something big happened: I bought a house. It was in the works for some time but now that has dominated my free time as packing and preparing for a move shot up to become a top priority. I think I’ve said this in the past, but the time I get to really work on my writing is on my days off. That time is currently occupied with this whole house / moving thing.

As it stands, I will likely not get much done on the writing front until next month but if an hour here or there comes up where I’m free, you bet your bottom dollar I’ll be in my chair working on edits.

This whole thing has taken the break I had planned for after the release of Redbacks (one week) has morphed into a month. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing since a recharge is good for the mind, body, and soul after the end of one project. The most important thing is that I’m still on track with my goals for 2012.

On an unrelated note, it’s been one of the mildest winters on record here in the northeast and I couldn’t be happier. Aside from one snowstorm in October, 2011, we’ve had a total of 3 inches. In mid-march we had the windows open and beautiful 50-70 degree days have graced us at a time when I’m normally just putting away my down coat for my wool one. I love it. I’m getting a bit of spring fever and it’s fantastic. Anyhow, I have a few blog posts in mind for the upcoming weeks so while I may not be writing, I will have plenty more to share with you. Until then, enjoy this fantastic warmth if it’s happening by you!

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Happy Monday everyone! This past Saturday I was out and about with the family when my phone buzzed with a few notifications. Lo and behold, my Google alert triggered for some reviews that had been posted for Redbacks!

Now, reviews are a funny thing. You love getting them but you’re praying at the same time that it’s a positive review. In my mind I just know I’m going to read things like “this sucks” and “trained monkeys in a room could write better”. Luckily, I outsmarted the monkeys this time around as Bliss Morgan and Tricia Kristufek both gave Redbacks wonderful praise. I know a lot of writers fall into situations where if they think something they wrote sucks, everyone likes it. I don’t have enough experience to make up my mind on that, but I’ll take all the kind words I can get.

Here’s a quick excerpt from both reviews and I’ve linked to them so you can read the whole shebang. Please take a moment to visit both their sites and show them some love. I want to send a big Thank You to Bliss and Tricia for taking out the time to not only read the book but to write & post a review.

“It’s a quick-paced adventure with roots in zombie literature and religious apocalyptica alike, and one I quite enjoyed.” -Bliss Morgan

“A quick post-apocalyptic read” -Tricia Kristufek (4 Stars)

Now, I’m off to figure out how those monkeys get trained!

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It’s Friday afternoon and officially the end of the week for most. I wanted to get a quick blog post out to thank everyone who checked out Redbacks and joined me on Google+ on Wednesday evening. I had a lot of fun and enjoyed reading the book to all in attendance.

I’ll have a full and proper post next week reflecting on the book and the launch but the best news was that it hit #70 on Amazon’s bestseller list for SciFi Anthologies! Everyone have a great weekend and we’ll regroup on Monday!

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Today’s the big day and REDBACKS is officially on sale! Woohoo!! I’m so excited for this day to be here and it’s going to be a lot of fun. This blog post will be updated throughout the day with the latest news about the book.

Good morning everyone! So now it REALLY feels like book-release day since I got some sleep. Always a good thing. Barnes and Noble has completed processing of the book and it’s now available to all you Nook owners here:

If you’re interested in an autographed book, I’ll be able to get one to you within an hour today so it’s a great day to order. Of course, you can get your book signed tonight on the Google+ hangout, and that’s a blast.

12:30 AM: The book is on sale! You can purchase it from Amazon, SmashWords, my store, and in print through CreateSpace. All the links are on my Store. Barnes & Noble is still processing the book, so while it’s missed the midnight on-sale date it should be available later today. You can read it on your Nook if you get it from SmashWords.

In addition to all this, you can pin REDBACKS to your Pinterest pinboards, tweet using the tags #Redbacks or #AsDarknessEnds, and also tag me on Facebook. Stop by if you can on my facebook page, as I’m holding a day-long launch celebration.

Finally, don’t forget I’ll be on Google+ at 8:15 PM (EST) reading and signing copies of REDBACKS for everyone. I hope to see you there!

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