God's Great Acrimony - now available!

Click here and comment to help out an aspiring/starving writer.

That's how the West was won!

On board with two more big clients! Cha-ching! More web content being slung out, so when you surf around the net, think about all those people (me) that write the garbage you're glossing over.

The Value of My Time

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then how much is a thousand words worth? I know my rates, and I guarentee that they are below most others for the quality of content I provide, but does that mean I'm worth it?

Case in point: I got a job offer this weekend for CAD 3.00 / 250 words + research. They provide me with the topic and basic description needed, and I write up a summary based on my additional findings and whimsy.

Not only is this below my rate, but I also need to convert it to USD in order to, you know, actually spend it. I requested negotiation on the payment, so we'll see. Still, is that kind of an offer par for the course? Am I valued at that rate by clients even though I don't value myself that way?

This is just rambling, so feel free to ignore.

Read "Thirst for Chaos" now!

http://www.jungleage.com/article/164/thirst-chaos

Clicky, clicky.

That was recently sold to Jungle Age, a new site that is trying to make itself known. I strongly encourage you to check it out, and tell the site owners how much you love my writing :-)

I should note that their posting system is awkward, which resulted in them trying to tinker with the story to make it viewable. Thus, no paragraph breaks. I assure you that I
always
insert
paragraph
breaks.

General update on all projects

Lots of furious typing going on these days, and a good bit of audio production as well. Let's run down the list of projects so you can see how I fill up my free time (which mainly happens after the kids and wife go to sleep).

THE BRASS RING -The first in a potential trilogy of novels, being written by commission. The outline is approved by the editor and I'm plowing through the required 50K word count. This is an urban crime novel, focusing around a family in power. The patriach wants to expand into white collar crime and get into the LA market, but it's proving difficult. I want the main character here to be scary, like, Lex Luthor scary. He's smart, quick, and deadly.

RED PLANET RISING -This is an anthology I'm putting together, featuring some amazing writers. Josh Reynolds, Barry Reese, Curt Fernlund, Ed Ainsworth, and about ten more people are on board. I'll probably bug Brandon Wilt for cover art in a couple months. The anthology concept involves Mars, and each story will have the planet as a critical story element in some way. Each story is a max of 6K words, linked to Mars. That's the only guideline writers were given, so I'm excited to see what they turn in!

THIRST FOR CHAOS -Nearly done with this short story. 5K words max, to be posted on a new site coming soon. This was a pitch for the Black Library that got ignored, but has now been sold to a new buyer. Almost done writing it, and it's a ton of fun to be working in sword & sorcery fantasty again. The characters are based on a Nordic archetype, so lots of big swords and pillaging.

DEALTICKER & MAIN STREET HOST -Lots of articles for these two companies. I pump out maybe 15 articles a day between the two of them. They are easily my two biggest clients at the moment, and it's fortunate that they are run efficently by some awesome people. Both these clients provide longterm, ongoing work, and I'm proud to be working with them.

CITYWALKSZ TOURS -I completed the Lisbon, Portugal tour last week and am now working on a waklign tour of Dubrovnik, Croatia. It's a very long, tedious process to edit/process the voice over I lay down, but worth it. Lots of fun, great expierence. Finding royalty-free music that fits the culture is a challenge, though.

Duotrope can suck it

I just discovered that as of Jan 1 that Duotrope is now limiting access to paying members. $5/month to see listings of sites I could just Google? No thanks. In a related story Duotrope was just removed from my Favorites tab.

Thirst for Chaos = SOLD

Awhile ago, The Black Library held their annual submission contest. I know a guy that works with them a lot (and you know him, too) and asked for advice on submitting a prop. It's all Warhammer stuff, which I love from my youth, and I pulled together a writing sample and solid story idea.

Never heard back from The Black Library. Apparently, they just ignored every submission and didn't tell anyone, choosing to focus on their established writing pool instead of ushering in hopeful newbs.

That obviously doesn't sit well with me, but to each his own. It's their business and they can do what they want, even if it was a giant middle finger to potential writers that thrive on feedback.

Move forward to yesterday, when I answered a posting asking for fantasy story submissions. I got to talking with their editor, revised my Black Libary prop, and resubmitted the idea. It got accepted, and BAM! Another story sold.

"Thirst for Chaos" will be a 5K word short about Bolstagg Frielander and his ethical dilemna with deciding to either vanquich a comrade-in-arms who is being corrupted by black magic, or allow him to flee due to his past good deeds (hoping his will is strong enough to fight off the infection).

It will eventually go to http://jungleage.com/, a recently created site undergoing revision.

Hear that sound? It's the sweet music of cash hitting my back account.

Books, books, and more books

Reading, writing, reading, writing...that seems to be the name of the game when it comes to my free time. If I'm not nose-deep in reading a book, I'm knuckle-deep typing one up.

Yes, that's correct! Yours truly has been commissed to write a series of novels. The only thing I can say at the moment is that it falls within the urban crime genre. An excellent type of subject matter to work within, and one I honestly prefer to write.

Gritty, dark, revenge type stories are my bread and butter. I've revised the submitted summary and have gotten into these characters' heads already. I'm charging through and the 50K word count shouldn't be a problem.

50K? It's my own persoanl NaNoWriMo. Only this one comes with a contract promising compensation.

Good news, kids! Daddy is taking you on a whirlwind tour of NYC's gutter trash. Perhaps the next time you're in a book store, you'll search for a little tome that shall be called, "The Brass Ring."

Commercial Writing v Ficiton Writing

The majority of my writing these days is commission work, with clients bombarding me with article requests and content editing. It's paying the bills (not all of them, but more than you would think), but it is so stale at times.

At the end of the day I'm so drained from cranking out a few dozen articles that I have no energy to work on my own fiction. I suppose that's a great problem to have these days, what with people barely scraping by and all.

I'm a copywriter by trade, so it's not like I don't want this. I used to sit in my studio at Forever Broadcasting and dream of the day when I could do nothing but freelance work like this all day long. I'm pretty much there these days...and it tastes like sour grapes.

I do love me some sour grapes, though.

The bittersweet after effects of so much freelance work are daunting. Yes, I'm doing precisely what I set out to do, but now I can't get a short story finished to save my life. And poor Brandon Wilt, who has provided with me intensely amazing artwork (interior and exterior) for several projects, is left with only one set of eyes to look at his detailed masterpieces: my own.

My inability to get shit finalized and sold is grating on my nerves, but the money that rolls in every month from commercial work paid for Christmas. Six of one, half a dozen of the other. A catch-22, if you will.

I almost feel like issuing a challenge. Give me an idea for a fiction piece and I'll get that thing completed, slam-bam-thank-you-man

The rattle of a death cry

Sick? Yeah, you know it. Hard to focus on writing anything, or even write AT ALL like this. Pnuemonia, bronchitis, and the flu do not mix well together.