Taking it too seriously?

Well, I certainly didn't mean to take two months from the time I wrote the last post here to this one.

But having said that, I have been thinking an awful lot about what I should be doing. And I haven't been sitting on my hands. But me starting an e-publishing company isn't getting you stories. Oh, I've been thinking and thinking. Do I want to go back to writing novels? Does it make sense to keep on doing the short stories? How about the possibility of doing serialized work? Jonathan Coulton did the Thing a Week, and that worked out pretty well for him. Does the forced march make sense here?

The only thing I haven't been doing, alas, is actually writing new fiction. This is a problem. Moreover, I seem to be so obsessed with getting the RIGHT answer that it's not allowing me to take action. Even writing this blog post could be a procrastination technique on my part. (curse you, insidious procrastination!)

I don't know what to do. And it's really, REALLY bugging me.

On Saddles, and Getting The Frakkin' Heck Back On Them...

There's a concept in physics known as potential energy. Wikipedia describes it as the energy stored within a physical system as a result of the position or configuration of the different parts of the system. It has the potential to be converted into kinetic energy - motion - and in the process, do work.
I've just spent Memorial Day weekend at Balticon, in Baltimore, MD, USA, hanging out with and learning from some of the most creative and inspiring people I know. Authors, producers of audio, artists, (got to meet Howard Tayler, of schlockmercenary.com, and was promptly embarrassed by the implications of the Poke-Ball shirt I was wearing).
There's been a lot of inspiring discussion. I've gotten some good information. I've talked with a bunch of people about this project I'm doing at www.flyingislandpress.com, and there's been some encouraging developments along those lines. I am stoked. Recharged. Repositioned.
But that doesn't do anyone any good (aside from the warm fuzzies), unless that potential is converted into actual work. If anything, that's the lesson I'm taking away from Nathan Lowell, P.G. Holyfield, Patrick McLean, Tee Morris, Philippa Ballantine, Mur Lafferty, and everyone else. We only have so much energy to expend in a day. Let's use that to do good work.

My Two Cents on Marketing Mad Poet Files

First, just a couple of quick thoughts. Mad Poet Files originally had two driving forces behind it.
1. I needed a way to get myself into and KEEP myself in the writing habit. A bi-weekly short story podcast does that. Making me come up with fresh content every other week keeps those writing synapses firing and fresh.
2. I planned on taking those stories, picking the best one and firing it off to the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future contest once a quarter. Quick aside: High Moon won an Honorable Mention my first try out of the gate, so that's encouraging. There's no guarantee that it's going to happen this time around, though. I don't see anything in the quarter that is quite at the quality level of High Moon. I've got two days to get a story in the mail to them (the contest runs quarterly), and it'll probably be No More Kings. We'll see.

But there's been this nagging thought in the back of my head that I could possibly start selling these stories.

MPF 6 - Blood Red Sand

This is a story that's been kicking around inside my head for years. Hopefully, getting it out and down will make room for more stories.

It's like I've heard other people say. Ideas are easy. Execution on those ideas - that's hard.

So, here's hoping you like this episode. If you do, please leave a comment. If you really do, consider buying it in ebook form. $2.00 cheap. You don't need that blueberry scone. Instead, you can support what I'm doing here - if you like it. And if you don't, please let me know. I can't get better as fast if I don't have feedback.

Anyway, enjoy!

Download MPF6.mp3

MPF 5 - The Cost of Miracles

Welcome to the 2nd half of the story. I'll try to consolidate these in the future, which means I need to get writing earlier in the process. Good news is that I'm working on a collaboration RIGHT NOW with Scott Roche, of the Archangel podcast. Of course, I don't know if that will appear here but...

Anyway, here's the rest of the story of Alexander, Markus, Ragnar, and Fabius. Hope you enjoy it!

Download MPF5.mp3

MPF 4 - A Premonition

MAN, I stink at titles.

Anyway, here's a story. At least the first part of one. It will be continued in the next episode, which will be along real soon now. Hopefully by the end of the week. Whew!

Meantime, I hope you enjoy this. This week's lesson - Write First, Edit Later. I'm going to be spending some quality time at writeordie.drwicked.com. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this week's part of a story. Seemed like a logical place to end it.

Download MPF4.mp3

So, I've been doing these rants on ustream...

This one is number three. The first one was too long to post to YouTube, but I've done a better job with the other two.


And if you want to see the others, number two is here, and number one is here.