This has been a fun week filled with more positive feedback about Angst. I've been somewhat successful at getting a few distribution chores out of the way, and I'm making good progress on Angst 2.
Angst is now available on Smashwords http://bit.ly/eZsVDd . This should place it in the Apple iBook store, Borders, Sony, Kobo, and more. I also submitted Angst to be included in the new Google ebook store, hopefully it will be available there soon as well.
This weekend @angst_fan and I are meeting with a friend's husband, an artist with some new book covers ideas. I just ordered a new high quality microphone and hope to start recording the audiobook for Angst early next week. (I think it should turn out okay as long as I don't sing). I'll try to post a few minutes of the recording to my blog for opinions (or laughs).
Most important, a quick thanks to some awesome twitter friends! Thanks to @Bryndled1 for the review on @FantasyFaction site! http://fantasy-faction.com/forum/reviews-recommendations/angst-david-j-pedersen/ @Thesleepingwolf for his kind Amazon review http://amzn.to/gTBCmJ @Mnm_010 and @angst_fan for their reviews on B&N http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Angst/David-Pedersen/e/2940011870057/ I really appreciate the support and am truly inspired to work hard on Angst 2.
I think I'll go get the weekend started!
Friday, January 28, 2011
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
On Writing: The Benefits of Sharing
The best decision I ever made when writing Angst was to share. I had finished about half the book, further than I had gotten with any other writing project. I felt good about what I had accomplished, but was insecure as to whether or not anyone would enjoy the story as much as I wanted them to. I was about ready to take one of those really long breaks that some people call burnout, when I decided to share the first handful of chapters. My wife was kind enough to edit them before sending so it didn't look like a 1st grade writing assignment, and I doled them out to some nearest and dearest that I knew enjoyed fantasy.
I purposefully gave friends chapters that ended with a mini cliff hanger. I wanted them to ask for more, call it egotistical, but it worked. The first day was disappointing. My closest friends couldn't stop their entire lives, take a day off work, or tell their families to piss off so that they could make me feel better about my writing? What the heck? After a very long couple of days, they started sharing feedback. They seemed really excited, enough so that it felt genuine and not like, "oh, you're my friend so here is a free pat on the back." Handing out chapters that ended in mini cliff hangers, and feeding off of the want for more, really drove me to finish the first book.
Now I'm starting on Angst 2 (working title by the way), and I find that I'm enjoying a similar trend. New friends on twitter, and old friends through facebook, are reading the first book. The feedback and enthusiasm is inspiring, and the main reasons I'm making such good progress on Angst 2. My sincere thanks to everyone who has read Angst and commented on my first book. I look forward to sharing more.
I purposefully gave friends chapters that ended with a mini cliff hanger. I wanted them to ask for more, call it egotistical, but it worked. The first day was disappointing. My closest friends couldn't stop their entire lives, take a day off work, or tell their families to piss off so that they could make me feel better about my writing? What the heck? After a very long couple of days, they started sharing feedback. They seemed really excited, enough so that it felt genuine and not like, "oh, you're my friend so here is a free pat on the back." Handing out chapters that ended in mini cliff hangers, and feeding off of the want for more, really drove me to finish the first book.
Now I'm starting on Angst 2 (working title by the way), and I find that I'm enjoying a similar trend. New friends on twitter, and old friends through facebook, are reading the first book. The feedback and enthusiasm is inspiring, and the main reasons I'm making such good progress on Angst 2. My sincere thanks to everyone who has read Angst and commented on my first book. I look forward to sharing more.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
So many stories…so little time
I write out of necessity. Not for money, or recognition, (not yet anyway), but I get a bug that forces me to throw up a story. My time to write is limited and my list of story ideas is long, but I can only work on one project at a time right now. So somewhere between family time, social life, exercise, video games and eating, I gently force some time to do this thing called writing.
To add to my long list, I recently came up with some fun short story ideas that take place in the Angst universe. I would really like to share a new one every couple of months between books. I like the idea of writing about characters other than Angst, to share more insight and background. Some stories will take place in the past, and some will be about what happens between the first and second book, but herein lies the problem. I've been bit once again, and the bug is making me work on the Angst 2 (working title).
This is a good thing, and I loftily hope that my second baby comes out a little easier than the first. It seems that once I start writing a project, I have to keep working on it until I'm done. As for the short stories, maybe while I'm steamrolling through Angst 2 I'll be able to sneak them in between chapters.
Which characters would you like to learn more about?
To add to my long list, I recently came up with some fun short story ideas that take place in the Angst universe. I would really like to share a new one every couple of months between books. I like the idea of writing about characters other than Angst, to share more insight and background. Some stories will take place in the past, and some will be about what happens between the first and second book, but herein lies the problem. I've been bit once again, and the bug is making me work on the Angst 2 (working title).
This is a good thing, and I loftily hope that my second baby comes out a little easier than the first. It seems that once I start writing a project, I have to keep working on it until I'm done. As for the short stories, maybe while I'm steamrolling through Angst 2 I'll be able to sneak them in between chapters.
Which characters would you like to learn more about?
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