Tag Archives: writing

by

Winter is HERE

http://www.amazon.com/Winters-Heart-A-C-Warneke-ebook/dp/B00ICUPD2A/

Winter's Heart ebook

Winter’s Heart is here and the correct version is up and I got the publication date that I wanted even though I didn’t know I wanted it until I hit the publish button: 2/10/14.I’ve been publishing for two years and Winter’s Heart is the tenth book I published. What is even cooler is that I published my first book (Darkness Comes) two years ago on 2/10/12 and I hadn’t known until yesterday when I was looking at my dashboard waiting for Winter’s Heart to go live.

You can have Winter for $2.99 or you can wait because he will be free Valentine’s Day weekend: 2/14/14-2/16/14. Because everyone needs a little Winter loving. Also, the aforementioned Jodi has directed me to a site that will make up a ton of t-shirts if enough people order (and pay) for them. It’s sort of like kickstarter but it’s a t-shirt marketing campaign and I’d like to gauge the interest before I start one because you need 50 people to have the t-shirts made. They’d be $10 plus s/h (which was like $4 Us and $7-10 international.) Let me know if you’re interested in the comments below or on facebook. The design I have right now is:

shirtFront

Advertisement
by

Wow, it’s been a week

I have been putting off writing on my blog because I wanted to keep the Siren Song video at the top. Plus, I’ve been busy writing other stuff, mostly Stone Destiny but also letters to my son while he gets through basic. From the letters he has sent home he seems to be doing well. Personally, I would have been happy if he had decided to stay home for a few more years instead of bolting out the door the moment he turned eighteen. (it was five and a half weeks after he turned eighteen, but who’s counting?) He is so determined to be independent and ‘m not sure where I went wrong (I’m kidding; I am so bloody proud of him. It’s just, he is such a great person and I miss him like mad!) Sigh.

Some days I feel like a fraud, especially when I get on boards with other writers and they talk about all of the marketing and signings and stuff they’re doing. There is so much more to self-publishing other than putting a book together and hitting the publish button. Unfortunately, I’m happy doing exactly that so I really want to thank all of my readers who have taken the time to email or post on facebook or leave a comment here; it gets me off my ass to actually do more than simply hang out in my cave. Thanks to readers’ response I wrote Stone Romance and am working on Stone Destiny, two books that I doubt I ever would have written on my own. As a reader, remember that you have a LOT of influence – don’t be afraid to use it! Writers – well, this writer – tends to get lost in their worlds and without that outside prodding I’m pretty sure we’d be happy just staying there, a little bit isolated and disconnected from everyone else, even in a crowded room. Thank you all!!

Thank you!!

Thank you!!

by

Hmm, how terribly interesting

This past weekend was the freebie days for Awakening and while it did well (over 2,000 downloads) it didn’t do nearly as well as Blind Attraction (well over 20,000 downloads.) And yet, with all of the Blind Attraction downloads, Awakening still inspired more hits to my blog/website. It’s strange but I think that it is also very interesting. One of the coolest aspects about being a self-published author is not being bound by someone else’s schedule, which is also a bad thing if I am having a particularly long writing slump. It also means I get to focus on the books that have a higher demand (ahem, gargoyles) instead of following a set time frame.

I started this thing just over a year ago with Darkness Comes and I had every intention of writing the second book immediately but I had Stone Lover and Blight more or less ready to go so I published them and went back to work on Darkness Comes part 2 (it has had several working titles, including Darkness Sees, which would be followed by Darkness Conquers, which I thought was hilarious.) But then a funny thing happened: readers discovered a love for gargoyles and so I wrote Rhys’s story, with the plan to follow up with Armand’s. Taking a little break after Rhys I cleaned up another book that I had written and that became Siren Song. Then back to work on Stone Destiny, which was put on hold because life happens.  Since I was busy with everything else, I pulled out two other books that I had written to clean up for publication: Blind Attraction and Awakening (originally titled Original Sin: Eternal, or something.) Now I am back to writing Stone Destiny and it is going in some directions that I didn’t expect but it is moving forward. Yay!! I think the extra time that it has spent percolating has improved the story; I hope it has, at least.

Anyway, what I guess I am trying to say is if you love a book, especially a self-published book, let the author know; you’d be surprised at how much sway you can have influence which book gets written next. Write reviews, tell your friends, become a fan on facebook, leave feedback. whatever it takes to have your voice heard because you have a lot of power. Writing can be very solitary and hearing from readers can make a HUGE difference. I know that there are a few people out there waiting for the continuation of Darkness Comes and I am really, really sorry that it has taken me so long to get back to it; I will write it, I swear.

My current schedule (subject to change, depending on, well, my readers) is:

1.) Stone Destiny (50% done!)

2.) After Blight (75% done)

3.) Darkness Comes part 2

4.) The continuation of Awakening

5.) …. (I have 2 that I really want to work on plus a billion more ideas, any one of which might scream loud enough at the right time to be picked.)

So, happy reading!!

by

A look at the chaos of writing

Yesterday I wrote about the chaos of my organization abilities – or lack there of. So today I decided to take some pictures to share the craziness. Not only are the notes scattered over pages and pages of paper the writing is barely decipherable. Of course, not everything that is written on paper will be in the story – and a lot of what isn’t written will be. If only every story followed the same rules I might be able to figure out a better system but I have written several books and every one has taken its own path. It’s enough to drive a person mad – talk me back from the ledge!!

As always, I love  love love hearing from readers – feel free to post comments here or on facebook.

 

by

Voodoo writing

I’m pretty sure writing is a type of magic: every single time I sit down at my computer to begin a story I panic and wonder if this time the words will come or if this time there will be nothing there. Every. Single. Time. Even half way through a story I battle with the doubts and fear of looking and finding nothing there. And then there are the absolutely dreadful periods when there IS nothing there – no thoughts, no ideas, just endless miles of blank thoughts. At those times, one just feels empty inside and tries to fill the void with mindless busy work. And at the first sign of something the sense of relief is profound – the imagination hasn’t completely died! And once that blockade disappears, one can see that what had appeared to be endless miles of nothingness was in fact a mirror reflecting another mirror giving the illusion of nothingness: everything was still there, it was just hiding. It’s hard to remember that when faced with a barren wasteland. The illusion is created and shattered on what appears to be an outside whim and if I could figure out the secret to both I wouldn’t have a panic attack every time I open my computer to write.

The other side of a barren wasteland is disappearing into the zone, when the writing just flows and words magically appear on the screen. The real world disappears as I get lost in what is happening to my characters – their thoughts, their movements; it’s a movie within my head. And as wonderful as it is to fill up pages and pages of a story it is also nerve-wracking: where did these words come from? Often times when I re-read what I allegedly wrote it’s  different than how I remember it, making connections that I hadn’t intended but work out so well. My fear is that the little muse that issues forth these words will become disgusted with me and disappear one day. So, not only is there the fear of having nothing to write but also of losing the voice that tells the story.

Yes, writers are a little insane – at least this writer is. 🙂 But that is what makes my characters so very interesting.

by

Marketing versus writing

I know that there are some authors out there who can market effectively and still find time to write – they are much better at managing their time than I am. For me marketing and writing require two different areas of the brain and I just cannot make the switch over the course of a single day (sometimes more than that) so I find I can either market (or try to market, since I’m not very good at it) or write, which has all too frequently been put off in attempts to get my books out there. I have read how others do it – setting up a schedule and closely adhering to it, hit all of the social media sites, set up author tours (what the heck are those?), etc – and I just haven’t found a way that works for me. I need to hire a marketing firm… I wonder if they would work for homemade caramel corn and sugar scrubs.

And then there is the issue of separating ego from, well, everything. I would like to think I can handle negative feedback but in truth it is very difficult and my evil, fragile ego wants to take the 50,000 words written for Stone Romance and burn them. Luckily, it is hard to burn words that are typed into a computer – unless I burn the  computer, and in that instance I think I would have to trash the hard drive to truly eradicate the words. Actually, select all and delete would work just fine….  Hmm (eyes computer and keyboard.)

Luckily, the positive feedback smacks my ego back into place. 🙂 They are sustenance for a wretched soul.

by

My first author interview!

http://independentparanormal.blogspot.com/2012/06/interview-with-ac-warneke-author-of.html

Click on the link to read my first interview with Jennifer Rainey of Independent Paranormal. I enjoyed the interview because she emailed me the questions and I could write the answers down. In real life it takes my brains a few minutes to warm up and by the time it does the person I’m talking with probably thinks I’m a complete idiot. 🙂 When I write the words are just there, but when I speak there is a bridge that has to be erected so the words can find their way out of my mouth. With people that I know well – friends and family – the bridge is solid and strong and always there; with strangers it’s a ghost bridge and I don’t always know if the fates are going to be kind and let it solidify enough to speak or if it will disappear and let the words go crashing down.

 

 

by

I lack patience

I can plod along for endless days, seemingly accomplishing nothing, but when I want something done I want it done immediately. I guess that is why indie publishing appeals to me so much – I write the book, edit the ever-loving crap out of it, and then BAM! I can upload it to amazon and it’s published.  It’s available within twenty four hours (usually closer to twelve) and I am gratified – it is done in a timely fashion and there is no waiting around. Having attempted to go the traditional route, I found the waiting to be tedious and I did not submit as many stories as I should have and I wasn’t nearly as diligent in sending out queries. Without that motivation of getting published, I wrote less frequently and it became a never ending circle of procrastination. With nearly instant indie publishing, I have been writing so much more because I get to see the finished product immediately instead of hoping to see something within two YEARS – and that is only if the publisher is will to take a chance on an unknown, un-agented author. Now, if I decide I want to try the traditional publishing route again, I will have something more tangible to show them… For now, I am enjoying the indie side of things because in addition to wanting something done quickly, I tend to be a little bit of a control freak – at least in certain areas that I can control, since the world is chaotic and I need at least the illusion of control if nothing else.