No predictions, no "best of"

There's plenty of other places to get best-of-this-year lists and predictions for next year. Meanwhile, I'm getting down to business:

Kickstarter!
Yup, here we go. I feel like I have talked myself blue in the face about this, and now it's finally starting.   This blog will be on the quiet side in January, since I will be blog touring and posting over at Disciple of the Fount. Maybe one post a week, here. We'll see.

Pre-order Disciple, Part II, pick up a bundle of both parts, get in on the "Prologue to Disciple" (yeah, it needs a title) that I'm starting to write. See the final book trailer! It's better than the trailer for Part I; I learned many lessons from that.

Happy New Year! 
I'm not an optimistic person by nature, but this is bound to be an interesting year. The second anniversary of this blog will come in February. I want to publish at least two more parts of Disciple. The Storybundle.com deal has turned out well, thus far. Maybe I'll even get back to writing science fiction at some point.

And I'll be cheering everyone on, in the writing blogosphere. I know I'm not the loudest person when I do that, but I'm with you.

Book trailer: Disciple, Part II

Yup, I'm doing it again. I've tried to apply the lessons learned from the trailer for Part I:

• Keep it short
• Minimalism is fine
• Sound effects aren't needed
• KEEP IT SHORT 
• Videos need critting too

So, all thoughts on this are welcome. Especially if you have not read Part I yet.



Saturday, drop on by Disciple of the Fount for the official cover reveal for Part II! Plus, I have some exciting news about Part I...

Guest blogging at Cup of Porn

Confession: I lurk around Cup of Porn all the time. It's not all my cup of tea, but the scenery is nice. Today I am a feature on Mix-it-up Monday!

Yes, my Kickstarter project is a go! If we get to $3,600 in pledges, I will be producing two different bookmarks instead of the one that I'd planned on. Everybody who has a bookmark coming to them will get one of each design.

I'm building a book blog at Disciples of the fount for book-related info, updates, etc.

This has suddenly turned into a busy week -- I'm going to need to write Part V to its first stopping point ASAP. See you on Thursday for a blog post.

Guest post at Rebeka Harrington

Today I'm guest posting over at Rebeka Harrington's indie promo blog -- my first shot at blogging for readers, rather than writers. That's something I need to be doing more of.

I have one more mini-blog-tour post coming up next week, at Cup of Porn. My Kickstarter project ends on the 30th. I'm looking forward to that.

Guest blogging at Elizabeth Twist!

I discovered Elizabeth Twist's blog during the A to Z Challenge and I've really enjoyed reading her posts -- so I was thrilled when she wanted to interview me about my Kickstarter project. Check out the interview here!

In other news, I have survived my first week of Kickstarter. And I thought waiting for responses to queries was nerve-wracking! Fortunately, the stress is driving me to take my frustration out on my characters as I start plotting Part V of Disciple. I should be able to get a few blog posts out of the process, too. (cracks knuckles and grins)

Guest Blogging at The Bluestocking Blog

I'm blogging over at The Bluestocking Blog today!

Since my Kickstarter project is for Part I of a six-part series, I blogged a bit about recursive plotting -- because the same structure applies to the series as a whole.

Happy 4th of July! Or, if you're recovering from Canada Day, I hope you're feeling better. I will be posting on Thursday with a regular blog post, unless I get in another guest blog before then.

The Mini Blog Tour

My Kickstarter project is up! Yes, I'm a nervous wreck. Just keep writing... just keep writing...

I am guest blogging in a few places to promote the project, and this will be an index of those posts for future reference.

• Book trailers: Where to start? at Unicorn Bell
• Recursive Plotting at Bluestocking! 
• Interviewed by Elizabeth Twist!
• Guest post at Rebeka Harrington! 
• Guest post at Cup of Porn!

If you are looking for a guest blogger to fill in the gaps this July, email me! My project runs until July 29th and I'll be trying to get the word out until the bitter end. My email is blankenship(dot)louise(at)gmail.com.

Still more Kickstarter stuff

Bookmark design

Fancy bookmarks. People seem to like them. Roni Loren recently asked her readers about promotional swag, and the answers were very interesting. I will be printing up a set of bookmarks to give away to my Kickstarter backers -- this is the current design, but it's probably going to be replaced once I have the cover artwork. Or maybe I'll print two bookmarks. 

I'll admit, I'm the sort of person who uses store receipts and other scraps for bookmarks. Anything with a tassel on it seems to suffer... an unfortunate demise, in this house... glares at cats.

I hope my Kickstarter project will be live by the end of the week. It will run for four weeks. I hope to raise $3,500.

And I will need to promote it! Are you looking for a guest blogger? Somebody to interview? I will gladly do that in exchange for a chance to plug my Kickstarter project while it is running. I can blog about writing, or about Kickstarter projects, or anything about Disciple, Part I that you'd like to know.

Email me: blankenship-dot-louise, at gmail.

And no, blogging this week will not follow the usual schedule.

Book trailer -- second draft

Thank you for all the great feedback -- I think it's definitely better now!

Any other problems jump out at you?

I also shot a brief bit to say hello and... well, it's me, what do you want. Nothing is going to keep me from cringing at the sight of it. I'll put it after the trailer and then list the picture and sound effect credits.

Then I need to polish up the story portion of the Kickstarter project, polish up the sample of the story, and we may be ready. The financial arrangements went through.

Urgh. Butterflies. Just keep writing, just keep writing...

Compare to the first draft!

Kickstarter banner - first draft

Each Kickstarter project needs a 4:3 banner (I went with 800x600 pixels) for its listing. Here's my first stab at one, featuring the new and improved monster eyes that I will put into the video tomorrow.

Look for the second draft of the video tomorrow.

I've also started a new blog for book-related stuff -- just to reserve the name, for now. I need to redecorate before I start posting there, and that'll have to wait until I get this project up and running.

Book trailer -- first draft

(deep breath) Well, that was different.

An introductory movie is pretty much required for Kickstarter projects, so I put together a little (one-minute) trailer for Disciple, Part I. Now I'm glad of the money I spent some years back on a community college class that taught me the basic theory of multi-layer composition and basic animation. Luckily, I got AfterEffects as part of my Adobe Creative Suite package. And I know where to find decent, free, stock photos.

After staring at it for -- seventeen hours? -- I've decided it's over-wrought, corny, and probably too rushed. I'm also the wrong person to crit it right now. So, for your weekend blogging pleasure, a book trailer to crit. I know what I think is a problem -- what do you think?

Now for the part of the video where I sit in front of the camera and try to sound like I know what I'm doing. This should be hilarious...

Compare to the second draft!