Learning WordPress, the hard way

Posted on August 7, 2015 by C. A. Sanders

As I mentioned before, I’m trying to upgrade and add more content to my site. It’s great to blog about geeky stuff and such, but I want to add additional resources for my books. They’re great big worlds that overflow the books.

I want to create wiki-like pages for Song of Simon and for Watchmage, something where readers can click on a table of contents and it’ll bring them to the right topic. Unfortunately, I don’t know how to do tabs. If I can’t figure it out, I suppose I can do each article as a blog post, and then link to the page. It won’t be as elegant, but I’m not an elegant guy

I’m also designing some SoS and Watchmage ads for Twitter. I have absolutely no skill with this. I feel like a teenage boy fumbling to get off a bra…I still have trouble with that, but that’s another story.

Damn you bras!!!!

I’m trying to make something like this (below) but better. I’m really impressed at the skill some of these people have with their ads. Maybe with practice I won’t look like a tool too.

I don’t know why it came out so small. Canva said that it would be bigger…phrasing

Like my posts? Follow my website or “Like” my facebook fan page and/or follow me on Twitter. You can also purchase my debut novel, Song of Simon, at any online bookstore or a real one (they both exist). Song of Simon currently has a 4.7/5.0 rating on Amazon, so it’s pretty damn good. If you’re looking for something FREE, you can read my serial (soon to be an expanded series of novels) The Watchmage of Old New York. Though it ended in February, 2014, it remains one of the most popular serials on JukePop OF ALL TIME!

Under Deconstruction

Posted on July 31, 2015 by C. A. Sanders

With The Watchmage of Old New York (the novel, not the serial) coming out soon, it looks like I have to do another revamp of my webpage. I would like to add additional source material for my novels. The hard part is motivating myself to do it.

Because both novels are fantasy, there’s so much to add. So far I’ve been doing it obliquely with my articles on Music History and NYC History. That’s great, but it’s not enough.

So what would you like to see as far as source history goes? For Watchmage, I can do stuff about the Dweller races and magic in general, but a lot of it also crosses into my NYC History articles. Do I get more specific about some things? I know that my piece on mid-century slang is a must.

For Song of Simon, I should probably do a character appendix. It’s an expansive book, and sometimes it’s hard for the reader to remember all the characters. I can also do stuff about specific regions, the gods, and the elemental races (Grugach, Ghillie Dhu, etc).

But for today, I’ll blog and rearrange some stuff. Maybe I’ll put up a new Music History article…maybe.

Promises Promises…Inside Out

Posted on July 16, 2015 by C. A. Sanders

Ok, I swear that I’m going to start adding more source material on NYC History today. I already have something on 19th century slang written (my own notes for Watchmage). I just have to rearrange it for consumption. Right now it’s in a form that only I can understand.

I should organize my files better. One day I’m going to be dead, and people are going to need to find my important files…

Inner Critic: Wow, Craig, that’s freaking morbid.
Neuroses: Yeah, people are gonna think you’re all emo and shit. A 38 year old emo. Good job.
Muse: “Whateva, whateva, I do what I want.”
Brain: Will someone make another pot of coffee…PLEASE?

Anyway, I have to do some more editing, but hopefully I’ll get it up soon…

Id: Hehehehe, you said “get it up.”
Sex Drive: You rang?
Neuroses: You’re ruining your blog with dick jokes!
Id: “Moar dick jokes, moar gooder.”
Neuroses: Now you’re just making obscure references.
Id: “I resemble that remark…”
Neuroses: SEE!!!
Brain: If you get me some damn coffee, I’ll be more original!!!
Stomach: *growls*
Brain: “Quiet, you!”
Neuroses: ENOUGH WITH THE DAMN REFERENCES!!
silence….
Id: “Fatality…Neuroses, wins.”
Brain: *sigh*

Now you’ve seen what goes on in my head. Take that, Disney!

Neuroses: You haven’t even seen the movie, and you’re doing a parody.
Brain: It’s ok, I used to watch Herman’s Head.

To be fair, I heard that Inside Out is very good.

This post really went off the rails.

Brain: This wouldn’t happen if YOU GOT ME SOME GODDAMMED COFFEE!!!

Fin

What to do next…

Posted on July 9, 2015 by C. A. Sanders

Watchmage is almost ready. I just sent the final copy off to the proofreader and layout artist. Now the question is: What comes next?

I could do the following:

1) go over the first draft for Watchmage #2: Cold Iron. I think it needs a lot of work (as all first drafts do)

2) Write more short stories. I’d like to do some shorts in the Watchmage world, but not using the main characters, per se. In that case, I should probably do the same for Song of Simon.

3) Start adding more content to this website. I haven’t done much on nyc history yet. I’d also like to add additional content related to Watchmage, like definitions of each Dweller type and how magic works. My editor thinks I should have an appendix for 1855 slang as well.

4) Dick around. No. If i’m not productive, I go a little nuts.

I’m leaning toward 2 or 3, maybe both.

Watchmage Update, or The Joy of Editing

Posted on June 3, 2015 by C. A. Sanders

On Saturday I got my edits back for The Watchmage of Old New York. There are cross-outs, critiques, and suggestions all over the place, and I couldn’t be happier.

It’s been a very long time since I’ve been sensitive when critiqued. That was knocked out of me by my first writing professor 20 years ago. Since then, I’ve learned to find the most ruthless, nitpicking, evil people to edit my work. I want someone with enough heat in them to burn out all of the impurities. If your editor isn’t ruthless, the product won’t be pure.

So far, Watchmage has been edited as a short story, a serial, and now a novel (each serial story arc gets its own novel. this is the first one). I think these are the last edits…maybe.

I love editing. I love revising. I love looking back at old work and thinking “man, I can do so much better now.” It means that I’ve leveled up, and I have a new xp total to reach.

Never fear your editor. Never get upset or discouraged by the red pen. It doesn’t mean that you’re not good, it means that you have room to get better, and this is how.

Enough with the rah rah philosophy. The update is that Watchmage is coming also smoothly, and I plan to release the first novel, The Watchmage of Old New York, this fall. Oh frabjous day, callooh callay!

Wow. Much Coffee. So Drinking.

Posted on May 11, 2015 by C. A. Sanders

I really like coffee.

Does this count as a blog post? It’s about nine in the morning. I’ve been up for about an hour and a half, and it’s only now that i’m having my coffee. So that means that the actual work time I get from sleep gives me 90 minutes of pep, and the rest comes from a mug.

I turn my morning coffee into a power breakfast (of sorts). Instead of milk or creamer, I add protein shake. My mug is about 20 oz. 10 oz. of coffee, 10 oz. of protein shake, and I have a light breakfast. In an hour or two, I will take a break from working and make a real breakfast.

But right now I’m having a ton of trouble writing. Maybe I’m overworked? Maybe I’m undercoffeed?

Maybe I’m underDoged?

No, I’m definitely not underDoged.

Ok, this is just becoming and excuse to put up Doge memes. I better get back to work.

Book Signing Anxiety

Posted on May 9, 2015 by C. A. Sanders

I’m doing my first book signing a week from today, and I’m starting to get really anxious about it. Getting really anxious is pretty much part of my MO, so it’s not a surprise. It’s still a pain in the ass.

The Poughkeepsie Barnes & Noble has a Local Authors Day twice a year, and this time I was lucky enough to get in. That’s great, wonderful, but I have no idea what to do. How long should my reading be? Do I make a poster with book pricing? I have extra copies of one of the anthologies I’m in. Do I give those away with a sale? Do I bring candy?

As far as pricing goes, I’m thinking 15$ for Song of Simon, 10$ for The Collected Works of Valerie Z. Lewis. Selling Val’s book is more important than selling mine, in my opinion.

So I’m going to brave ahead, and hope that I don’t fall on my face. If I do…there’s an IHOP nearby. I can drown my sorrows in maple syrup.

LAST DAY Goodreads Giveaway FREE BOOKS!

Posted on April 2, 2015 by C. A. Sanders

Today is the LAST DAY to enter my Goodreads Giveaway contest. Two signed copies of SONG OF SIMON (Damnation Books 2013) are available. Come on and enter. You’ve not nothing to lose, and might find your new favorite book.

Doge Author likes it. It has to be good.

Wow.

FREE BOOKS! Goodreads Giveaway

Posted on March 28, 2015 by C. A. Sanders

Hey everyone, my Goodreads Giveaway is almost over. Hurry and enter, you can win a signed copy of my dark fantasy novel SONG OF SIMON (Damnation Books 2013). It’s a great read, and any fan of high or classic fantasy will love it. Trust me, would I lie about the quality of my own book?–I mean…enter anyway.

Seriously, it’s a good book.
You’d like it.
I mean it.
Yes, you.
You too.
Yep.
Ye.

“Watchmage” Novel Update

Posted on March 26, 2015 by C. A. Sanders

I was planning for a May release of the novelized version of The Watchmage of Old New York. That isn’t going to happen. My editor is working very diligently on it, as is my cover artist. Neither will be ready for a while.

I’m ok with that. I’d rather put out something late, but of higher quality, than something rushed and faulty.

In the mean time, I’m working on the sequels, and some short stories for an anthology.

The short stories are affecting me. I have professional level stories going back fifteen years, and many have been published in magazines or journals. That’s great, but to me they are examples of how far I’ve come since those first trembling words. They take me back to a place I once was, but will never be again. Once I was full of hope. I thought that by now I’d have a major publishing deal and would be a true success. Instead, I let my madness overwhelm me. Writing has become less a dream and more a necessity. Writing keeps me alive, and it’s the closest I get to “happy.”

I am miserable by nature, and that is not going to change. I’ve found that I can’t even talk about my past anymore without triggering depression and/or anxiety. My anxiety is getting worse. I’m not a success. I’m a writer trying not to die.

Yeah, I know that I’m bitching and moaning. I also know that if you don’t have bipolar syndrome, any comment you make about “sucking it up” is ignorant and presumptuous. Live in these shoes. See how they fit. Take my meds and suffer the side effects. Suffer the twitches and ticks. Suffer the failing endocrine system. Enjoy living on a disability check, not because you don’t work, but because without Medicare, you are dead. I dare you.

Yet I still manage to work part-time. I still manage to scape out a living. People say that if you’re on disability, you’re lazy and sponge off the government and honest tax payers. Be thankful that you don’t have to.

By the way, I receive 800 dollars a month from disability, and 150 dollars from food stamps. Can you live on 950 a month? In one of the richest counties in the world (my rent for a studio apt is 1150? And be trapped here because you are so entrenched in the system? Try it. I dare you.

Or shut up. They both work.

This post took an ugly turn. Here’s a meme to make you happy.

casandersdotnet

The Website for Author C.A.Sanders

Category Archives: Writing