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Archive for the ‘Writing’ Category

The Devil’s Typesetter

Posted in Fallen Cloud Saga, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on 20 Sep 2012| 1 Comment »

When I decided to publish the new FC books myself, I rather knew what I was getting into. Publishers, for all their flaws, do provide a lot for the writer. I’ve seen it, experienced it, and though I bitched about a lot of it at the time, I surely do miss it now.

Some of the services a publisher provides that are now on my plate: editing, copy-editing, fact-checking, cover art, and typesetting. (And this doesn’t even get into the marketing/distribution side of things.)

It’s that last one, though…typesetting. It’s a bloody mare’s nest of minutia and details. But its importance cannot be understated. I’ve done this before, but it’s always a surprise. (more…)

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Let Me Count the Words

Posted in Fallen Cloud Saga, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , on 18 Sep 2012| 1 Comment »

Kurt R.A. GiambastianiCounting words used to be important. It also used to be arcane.

As the physically printed word goes slowly out of style, the importance of word count diminishes. When I worked as a head pressman at a small newspaper, word count was king because word count translated to column inches, and you only had so many of those in each issue. Reporters typed up their story, handed it to the typesetter who typed it into a machine the size of a van. Long strips of paper came out the far side which we then painstakingly—and absolutely literally—cut and pasted onto the page mock-up. Word count gave us an idea of how much space each article would use. But it was not a literal count of the words.

(more…)

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Are We Reaching?

Posted in Culture, Hi Tech, Writing, tagged , , , , on 17 Sep 2012| 2 Comments »

Fifty followers. Fifty.

That may not sound like a lot to you, but it does to me. I’m not even 100 days into this experiment, and already there are 50 of you who found it interesting enough to click the “follow” button. Not bad, in my estimation, especially since most of you 50 (if not all of you) are new to (the thing that is) KRAG. That’s a pretty good reach, in my book.

Mostly, though, it proves a point: Blogging is powerful.

(more…)

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FC Covers

Posted in Fallen Cloud Saga, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on 16 Sep 2012| Leave a Comment »

Cover art is here! I’ve also decided that I won’t be going with a hardback version of these books; production costs are too high and the demand is too low. We’ll be putting these out in trade paper and in e-book formats.

Onward!

originally From the Heart of the Storm

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Got Milk?

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , on 14 Sep 2012| Leave a Comment »

Kurt R.A. Giambastiani

“I did not, in the course of my response to the matter in April, 1861, consider within the limits of credibility that these heretofore stalwart men—many of whom were well-known to me—could be anything but misguided or deceived by the machinations of others. I did not and could not conceive of the authors of such actions as reasoning, civilized members of an otherwise flourishing country.”

Abraham Lincoln, A War Remembered, 1875

See what I did there?

(more…)

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Searching for Brightness

Posted in Fallen Cloud Saga, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , on 13 Sep 2012| Leave a Comment »

There were several topics in my head this morning, all vying for attention.

Yesterday was a bad day—personally, nationally, internationally—and the opinions, the frustrations, the anger built until, about 9PM, the dreaded pall of futility and depression began to creep upon me. How to battle not only the news of terrible events, but the rash and unwise reactions that predominated the blogosphere? After so many years, after so many trials, have we learned nothing?

I tried to shake it and turned back to my work prepping The Year the Cloud Fell for re-release. Editing—even a quick review edit like I’m giving these books—may seem like an odd method for lifting one’s mood, but it paid off, for out of the blackness of my mood, there came a warm and friendly light. (more…)

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A Star is Bought

Posted in Culture, Movies, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on 12 Sep 2012| Leave a Comment »

Yesterday, several of my writerly-feeds went nuclear after The Huffington Post reported that Abigail Gibbs was awarded a six-figure contract for her first novel. Every writer I know decried the state of writing when a newbie author would get such a deal for what was essentially (their words) “glorified fan fiction.”

First, nothing in the article leads me to believe that this is fan fiction. Though “inspired” by the Twilight series, there is nothing in the article that says she’s used characters from the series (a hallmark of fan fiction). Sure, she posted articles on Wattpad, but that doesn’t make it fan fiction, so, let’s drop that label, shall we? (more…)

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