I've Hijacked Tossing It Out for Friday the 13th!

Happy Friday the 13th, everyone! It is a glorious day to be hijacking Arlee's blog @ Tossing It Out. And as I've been saying all week, I have a (hopefully) nice surprise awaiting you there. It is not my typical flash fiction, but still fiction related. Not to mention the title announcement of the second book in The Lorne Family Vault series. Please check it out and enjoy! :)

Your regularly scheduled flash fiction will reconvene next Friday, when I will be posting my entry for Candilynn Fite's July edition of Follow My Lead.

WoW: A Royal View on Back Story

Today I opened On Writing to page 229...

The most important things to remember about back story are that (a) everyone has a history and (b) most of it isn't very interesting. Stick to the parts that are, and don't get carried away with the rest. Long life stories are best received in bars, and only then an hour or so before closing time, and if you are buying.
                                        - page 229, Stephen King's On Writing

Back story can help create 3-demensional characters and help to brighten the colors on the canvas of your literary masterpiece, but it doesn't propel the story forward. Make sure the back story is important and relevant to the primary story.

In my second book, I wrote a large chuck of back story that reveals a major insight into who one of the main characters is and why she acts the way she does. To make the story flow faster, I took this chuck of back story, broke it up into small bite-size pieces, and sprinkled it throughout the book. I think--I hope--it will ultimately be an effective device in keeping readers' interest and pique their curiosity.

Don't forget to visit me at Tossing It Out on Friday for my hijack of a guest post and big Book 2 reveal. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to writing. I'm so close to finishing my WIP!

Monday Musings: Accidents & Happenings

I commute an average of two hours a day, 45 minutes to work, 1:15 home, if I'm having a good day. I've done this for six months now, and it started out being terribly long. But over the past few months, I've come to embrace it because it gives me two hours a day to read (audio books and text-to-speech on my Kindle).

With six lanes of heavily congested highway traffic at all hours of the day, I've seen my share of accidents. But since I've been doing this extended commute, I am caught in extra traffic due to accidents daily, whether its on my side of the freeway, or on the opposite side causing drivers to slow down and gaze upon the carnage.

Last week, I was caught in a three car accident. A fire engine and several police cars completely blocked traffic to help clean debris and make room for an ambulance. The three cars were smashed together to make one long Frankenstein-fused vehicle. Once I was allowed to pass, within five miles of driving, I witnessed two cars collide on the opposite side of the freeway, sending several more cars into the concrete center divider and others to shoot out to the shoulder. Two days later, I passed a five or six car crash, with one of the cars flipped upside-down. People ran through traffic trying to help one another. No emergency vehicles had yet arrived.

Seeing these things every day is helping to mold a new perspective. I am very small in this great big world, but I can have a significant impact on many people's lives, for good or bad. Accidents may be a strange place to find inspiration, but the world is a strange place. And perhaps, I'm a strange person.

This week in Happenings

Candilynn @ My Writerly Musings has announced her July Follow My Lead flash fiction contest. Be sure to check it out and submit some fiction of your own. I'll be submitting mine on Friday the 20th. Why not this Friday for Friday Flash you ask? Well...keep reading to find out.

James Anderson has just begun a new Friday theme: Ask the Editor Fridays. Have an editorial question you've been dying to ask? Send James an email and your question could find itself in his next post.

On Friday, I'll be with Arlee Bird @ Tossing It Out for one of his Hijack My Blog posts. It is an extra special post for me because I'll be announcing the title of The Lorne Family Vault, Book 2. I'm so excited to share it and I hope you enjoy my post. It won't quite be my usual flash fiction, but I hope you find it entertaining. :)

What else is happening this week? Would you like to share? I'd love to spread the word.

Insecure Writer's Support Group Wednesday

Happy 4th of July, everyone! And happy Insecure Writer's Support Group Wednesday. Thank you again to Alex J. Cavanaugh, the creator of the group. The first Wednesday of every month is dedicated to this group of supportive writers. If it's something you're not familiar with, then please click on Alex's link above for more information and to sign up!

Provex City has been out for a few months now and I'm a few short weeks away from finishing a draft of the second book in the series. I've spent the past month writing with a fury to get this book done. Today, I'll be passing the 100,000-word mark and I'm estimating I have 10-15K more to go.

Now I'm getting scared again. This book will be taken from my sole possession and given to others to read. Dear God, the horror! The honor! And the inner conflict! On Provex City, I let my wife read chapter by chapter as it emerged hot from the printer. On this book, I've kept it mostly to myself, only sharing a few key plot points. I thought it would be easier this time, but I think it's harder. The expectations are higher. I should be a better writer. It has to be better. No pressure.

I'm in talks with Vic @ Sketcher Girl Studios for the cover design and I can't wait see how she makes my vision come to life! Also, I've decided to announce the title for Book 2 in my guest post for Arlee @ Tossing It Out on July 13th (Friday the 13th!). I'm planning on a character post, so it won't be me hijacking Arlee's blog, but an extra special guest (not Oliver). Hopefully, he'll be cordial.

So I'm excited of what's to come, but also petrified of how it will be received. Hopefully good, but it's not the end of the world if it's not. I will keep writing no matter what. Persistence and determination will win out in the end. These are my insecure thoughts for the moment, and now that moment has passed. Time to get back to writing. Book 2 isn't going to finish itself. Have a wonderful (and safe) holiday.

WoW: A Message from the King and Lesser Things

I've mentioned on numerous blog posts and comments to others that the main writing book I use for insight and inspiration is Stephen King's On Writing. So I thought I could use my Wednesday on Writing segment to highlight some of the King's pearls of wisdom by opening to a random page and finding a quote worthy of noting. And I know every page is noteworthy, but this will be the test. I shall not cheat.

Talent renders the whole idea of rehearsal meaningless; when you find something at which you are talented, you do it (whatever it is) until your fingers bleed or your eyes are ready to fall out of your head. Even when no one is listening (or reading, or watching), every outing is a bravura performance, because you as the creator are happy.

                                     - page 145, Stephen King's On Writing

I've been having trouble balancing blogging and writing over the past few months. I've wanted to build my blog as much as possible, but my writing has suffered as a result. I've seen similar comments on other blogs, so I realize I'm not alone. Though over the past few weeks, I've put my foot down! And this time it wasn't under the wheel of a backing-up car (not a smart place to put your foot down). My writing has to come first. That's the reason I built this blog in the first place. So now I cut myself off if I haven't hit my allotted word count for the day, which is not always a painless process--I just need to check one more post! Just one more, and then I'll be done!

So with that, Book 2 in The Lorne Family Vault Series is chugging along and I can finally see the end. It's not within reach yet, but it's visible. I'm estimating to write that liberating final word in three to four weeks. I was so afraid when I started that it wasn't going to be as good as Provex City, but now I feel it will be even better once it goes through all the necessary rounds of editing.

My added motivation as of late is to get a new project started, which is in the planning stages right now. What is it you ask? I'm sorry, I cannot divulge such information just yet eager readers. But I can say that it's already keeping me up at nights with anticipation. This detour from Oliver's adventure won't be too long, but it will be refreshing to attempt a new story, with a new voice, and a new style.  Yes, that keeps me up at night.

How is you WIP going? Are you a fan of On Writing? Are you looking forward to the weekend already? The year's almost half over--isn't that crazy!?

WoW: Your/You're in for a Treat

 Writing Tip: You're vs. Your

I didn't want to screw up my new schedule on the second week in, but I entered the 2nd Annual Flash Fiction Blogfest on Monday and want extra time to check out all the blogs participating. I definitely recommend you checking out the link, or blogs on the linky in my previous post.

So I'll keep this brief. I ran across this video on Monday and found it interesting: it's of a white rapper, Mac Lethal (I don't listen to much rap and hadn't heard of him until stumbling upon this video), explaining the difference between you're and your, which is one of many common mistaking in writing. I must admit his rapping is hilarious, informative, and impressive. ***Advisory: if you're offended by swearing, don't watch this video.***

Provex City News

Julie at What Else is Possible? mentioned Provex City in her post last Friday, which is awesome and I can't thank her enough!
A few comments from last week advised me to do a blog tour for my book, which sounds great, so I'll have to look into what I need to do to make that happen.

The other thing I really want to take advantage of is utilizing Goodreads. I still haven't done much with it, but I know there are a lot of authors and readers on that site and it's a great place to meet more people and promote. Wish me luck! Friend me, if you haven't already. :)

Work in Progress

Well, I've written about 1000 words in Book 2 over the past week, which is not something to brag about. But at least I did 2 new flash fiction pieces, which I am proud of. My writing routine at work has been disrupted as of late and hopefully I can get my time back real soon because I'm so close! I've just delivered Oliver into a huge heap of danger and need to find a way to get him out of it. The funny thing is that I don't know how he's going to escape yet, and if everyone he's with will escape with him, but I'll think of something.

Do you place your characters into situations where you don't know how you'll get them out until they're already in the middle of it? Did I use you're vs. your right each time in this post? Don't answer that one.

Attention!!! 

On Friday, I'll post my very first review, and it is of Alex J. Cavanaugh's CassaStar. The Ninja Captain himself may even stop by and share a few words...you'll have to check back to find out!

WoW: First Wednesday on Writing!

 Writing Tip: Less is More.

Ernest Hemingway believed that through omission you could strengthen your story. The reader then must fill in those gaps with their own feelings and emotions. His Iceberg Theory states:

If a writer of prose knows enough of what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them. The dignity of movement of an ice-berg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water. A writer who omits things because he does not know them only makes hollow places in his writing.

                                               - Ernest Hemingway in Death in the Afternoon

When Stephen King was in high school, submitting short stories to magazines, he received a rejection letter with a critique that he has used throughout his admirable career.

"Not bad, but PUFFY. You need to revise for length. Formula: 2nd Draft = 1st Draft - 10%. Good luck."

                                                                           - Stephen King in On Writing

Both of these quotes speak to not over writing. Get to the point. Get to the action. Describe selectively and focus on things pertinent to the story, driving it forward. Let the reader fill in the gaps. Take out the fluff. The leaner story should be more clear and flow more gracefully. There is an elegance to simplicity. Less is more.

Provex City News

Have you checked out the Provex City review from Allison at Geek Banter? If not, then I've got just the link for you! CLICK HERE. Geek Banter is also a great blog to follow, so don't be shy.

I've been so focused on this blog that I haven't really gotten out and campaigned Provex City around the web. I'm looking into utilizing Goodreads and the Kindle Forums more. I think that's a good place to start, but do you have any other suggestions?

I have to make a decision soon as to whether I'll remain exclusive to Amazon to keep Provex City on the Kindle Lending Library or take the opportunity to put it up on Smashwords, which will distribute the ebook to other sites like Barnes&Noble and iBookstore.

I'm up to 16 reviews on Amazon, which is a great start. Now, how can I make it 100?

Work in Progress

Currently, my WIP is the second book in the Lorne Family Vault Series. For now, I'll just refer to it as Book 2. I've promised myself not to start using the title until I finish with my first draft, and as you can see from my left sidebar, I'm at 82,000 words with an estimated 110,000 for completion. It may only end up being 100,000, it's hard to tell, but I don't want to rush the climax. My writing has slowed as of late due to competing priorities, so my goal of finishing in a month's time is sliding back. Now, my goal is two months, and to hopefully have the book available by Halloween. Now that I've given myself some public deadlines (or estimated times of completion), I can't wait to see how I do.

How is your WIP going? Have you set goals for yourself? Do you have rewards planned for when you reach your goals? How much do you typically cut from a manuscript? Have you read a book by a fellow blogger that you'd like to recommend (I just finished CassaStar currently reading Slipstream, and just downloaded The Backworlds)?