This blog post was published on and may be out of date. Visit starshipsmage.com for current information on the Starship's Mage universe. Two years ago today, I launched Starship's Mage: Episode 1 on Amazon. I had high hopes for its success - I quite liked the novella and was very pleased with it. Over the course of it's first three months, however, it sold less than 100 copies. The general fate, so far as I can tell, of any stand-alone e-novella from a new author. I was disappointed ... Read more »
Writing
Looking backwards
So, due to the wonders of Amazon's payment scheme (what I earned in October is paid at the end of December), I now know what I made in 2015 from writing income. Most notably, October was my best month ever. This continues the trend of the month after the release of each of my Space Opera novels being my best month ever XD While 2015 is not over, this seems as good a place to look back on where things have gone and where they are yet to go. This year, I've put out three novels, and still ... Read more »
The 25,000 word death zone
I have been writing for most of my life - all of my adult life and some before that. As I've said earlier, I've finished five novels. I have two I regard as active works in progress. But a quick and dirty survey of my folders found me nine major projects, six of which were over 10,000 words. Average length of my unfinished non active projects was 15,000 words, but only one is over 25,000 words. This is about what I was expecting. 25,000 words seems to be a mental 'switchover' point. ... Read more »
Back – and forth. Publishing and why we write.
Well, the last few weeks have been different. Finished up with the convention I was at, finished moving, and then some personal issues cropped up. Suffice to say, I haven't been writing much, but I promised a weekly post and I've been slacking! So, this week we're talking about getting published. Let's be clear: I have not yet been. I have a good agent, so it is probably reasonable to assume that at some point in the distant future, I will be. However, this is not a fast or easy ... Read more »
Moving conitnues, excerpt in place of post
Move continues, and is almost complete. In lieu of a proper post, here is the first major action sequence from 'Shadows of Grey Tower' [he was brought through the house to] a cleared area in the center where old walls had been removed to create a meeting hall. Footsteps and excited whispers echoed through the House’s wooden walls as Carrick was hauled into the Hall and dropped before the Head of House. The Head was older than Carrick’s Head had been. Age had worn him down to a wiry thing ... Read more »
Surroundings and description
When I first started writing, I wrote in a way one of my editors (one of my first year university english teachers) described as 'writing like an engineer.' I described actions, persons, thoughts and conversations, but I wrote very tersely and often missed vital description. It is a habit I have tried to break myself of, while also being careful to avoid the pitfall of too much description. Little things around your characters and events are important. What time of day is it? What time ... Read more »