Planet of the Eggs - new comic series - Launches!

It's true - I've partnered with Charlene Brash-Sorensen and together we've launched the new comic series Planet Of The Eggs - first issue, Cracked Open. 

The eggs arrive as darkness descends on the Planet of The Eggs.

Lost in the mists of time the magic of Eggland reemerges with the arrival of the Anointed Six. Under the guardian wing of Eight Hooter, an owl of great wisdom, the newly laid eggs embark on perilous adventures.

A prophesy kept by the Mystic Council heralds their arrival and predicts their rolls in rescuing Eggland from dark forces.

But our eggs are young and untested and unsure. Will they pass the test in the first skirmish with the evil snake BloodBlink or will they fail?

The Golden Feather has been stolen and the eggs of Eggland are cracking. 

What dangers and treachery lurk? Will the Eggs run out of time before they come into their own magic and solve the intertwined mysteries?

Follow the adventures, engage with the heroic eggs and follow the trail deeper and deeper into betrayal and the unknown.

But the adventures have just begun! The second adventure is in the works, titled Grimoire: Book of Spells and Lost Knowledge. 

Discover you love the characters? There are T-shirts available at Skreened with more on the drawing board!  Be the first to get the book and the T celebrating your favorite character. 

Check out all the designs! at www.Skreened.com/PlanetOfTheEggs

Readers Stalking the Wild Indie Writer

http://bit.ly/mSefTW

Well, not stalking...not really, but readers don't you want to discover some writers who aren't always just the main stream? There are some great writers out there who aren't on the "best sellers" list whether said list is for real or manufactured. Yep, for every great or even rather poor author you see heavily promoted through a publisher, ther are many others wonderful writers out there who've opted to self publish and go the Indie route.

The market is driven by just that, the market. If a book doesn't fit the cubbyhole a certain agent or publisher has, then the book is passed over and it may be a great read you'll never see because of it. 

But the Indies are bringing it to you. You might dreat light reading in your favorite genre or discover very specific technical or research materials.

There is still a bit of a negative image of self-published writers and many misconceptions. So let's talk about that and see where we are.

One thought is that a self-published author can't be any good or that author would have publishing contracts with an established house. Well, I won't dispute there are lots of self-published books out there that probably should never have been published. But, if you think back over all the stuff you've read you no doubt feel similarly about a lot of books that were traditionally published.  I know there were a good number of those I never finished.

The reality right now is that publishing is changing - fast. Writers have a lot more freedom and many more choices. Some self-publish because they find themselves in a niche so narrow not enough people would buy the book to warrant a big publishing house or even a smaller one to publish. Others want to keep the entire process in their own hands and not be dependent on the publishing house's whims. Still other writers make the decision to self publish because it's business - they can actually make more money. Yes, writers, just like you, actually have to earn money to live.

I'm doing some self publishing now and I have been published by major houses Doubleday, Harlequin, Five Star, Pinnacle, Manor and internationally as well. Why? Because I like it. I like the process and the control. I can pick my own designer, my own art work, etc. And there are other reasons. That's just an example. Everyone has his or her reasons for being an Indie.

So, why would you, should you be interested in Indie authors? 

You might like to support individual artists.

You might like the variety, enjoy discovering new things and new sources for your entertainment buck.

If it's non-fiction you like you might unearth helpful books published by experts in your field - and you might not even realize they're self-published.

You might be interested in shorter works like novellas and such that major publishing houses don't do much of.

There are lots more reasons to support Indie authors, but that's just a few.

So, how do fascinated readers who want to become avid fans find these gems?

Well, Amazon  is one obvious place to look. There you can find lots of Ebooks as well as paperbacks, etc. through their hard copy arm, CreateSpace. Smashwords  offers a wide variety of Ebooks as well. You can toss a search into your search engine searching for your favorite genres and see what turns up.  There are smaller Ebook publishers as well. The Fictionworks handled publication of my book, Stormrider (2 5 star reviews so far and a recommendation from Tony Award Winning Actor John Cullum) and offer a wide variety of Ebooks and sees to it they're available in a variety of formats. Your local bookstore will no doubt carry Indie published titles by local authors and maybe some from afar. There are others, Kobo for example.

So go forth and seek. Oh, and hey, if you find a great source, a great book, or an equally great Indie writer let us all know. Post your suggestions in the comments box below and tell the world.  

Hello Young Writers Wherever You Are

The young writer can sometimes be the butt of a lot of abuse. "What do YOU have to write about?" they may be asked. "You haven't experienced life!" another states officiously. "Why don't you worry about that later - just go out and have fun now, you're only young once. The Writing can wait."

Your answers are, in order, you have plenty to write about, if you're alive you're experiencing life, and if you're a writer THAT IS fun - oh, and BTW, thank heavens you're only young once!

See, now you're armed.

I began writing when I was about 12 and I just sort of skipped the short stuff and went right into novel mode. I sold my first book when I was 21 (back in the prehistoric typewriter days) and it was published by Doubleday when I was 22 (a western novel titled Night Of The Flaming Guns - oh, and I wrote it in the first person as a middle aged man). There was a healthy blob of luck in that scenario, but there was also a lot of writing. I had a Godmother who read my work, critiqued and criticized. My advice to the new young writer is to find someone like that. Could be a family friend, a trusted teacher, a relative, someone to whom you give free rein to criticize your writing and who you trust enough to actually listen to.

Being a young writer today, you have a leg up on me when I was young. Back then there was no web (ahhhhhh, run screaming into the night in horror!). There were a lot of visits to libraries (where I borrowed most of my books for research or reading as I was broke), visits to bookstores, to see what was new on shelves (and to make an occasional paperback purchase back when they cost 50 cents), and getting lucky and meeting an author or two along the way.

Avenues to publication were limited as well - pretty much ink on paper or nothing. Now you can blog (like I'm doing here) Tweet (like I'm doing there at www.twitter.com)
You can even download a toolbar from StumbleUpon that can send you in all sorts of interesting directions on the web. for inspiration. There are still the print outlets, there are Ebooks and Ezines. You can easily create your own Ezine or newsletter and distribute it. There are sites where you can post your writing and have it critiqued, or just read. Heck, you can just blog some of your fiction for folks to read and invite comments - then get the word out that it's there. Stone Soup is still on the web as well, a place for young artists and writers. Want to find some markets where young writers have a better shot? You might try the free newsletter at Writer Kid.

What I'm trying to get across here is if you're a writer of any age write (did I mention you have to read too? - comes with the territory). If you're young, don't let yourself be discouraged by someone telling you you aren't ready. You don't have to have a major tragedy or traumatic even in your life to prepare you to be a writer. You simply have to live. If you've fallen off a bike or had a stomach ache you've experienced pain. If your dog died you've experienced grief. If you wonder what makes things go or gaze up at the sky in stupefied amazement you have curiosity. Use those things. Expand. Give those experiences to your characters and your writing will bloom.

Keep writing and eventually you'll reach your goals. Is it a lot of work? Yep? Fun? Mostly. Will you become famous? (hahahaha - well, maybe - not many writers become famous and aside from the desire to sell a whole lot of books and be appreciated, not many I know want a whole lot of fame, just a whole lot of time to write).

The main thing to understand is 'rejection' is a major part of a working writer's life, one who freelances and submits fiction for publication. Don't get discouraged and don't let the naysayers get to you. Think of rejection as a learning opportunity (or if you're in a bad mood, that some jerk didn't know what the heck he or she was doing).

Rewrite and revision are also both a huge part of a writer's life so get used to it. No professional writer got to where he or she is today without lots of rewriting and revision - and lots of rejection.