Guest posting!

I've been talking about my self-publishing journey here since day one -- but if you'd like a general overview, see my guest post over at Daniel's Literary Endeavors. Hat tip to Daniel for inviting me to post!

See you on Wednesday for Indie Life day!

Unicorn Bell week: long crits

I will be critting in the long form (1 - 1.5k) over at Unicorn Bell this week. There will be a Tuesday post but then I will be on vay-cat-shun... no, wait, on holly-day... whatever those things are where you don't do anything for a while.

Index for future reference:
Intro
First Crit: logic questions
Second Crit: clarity!
Third Crit: dialogue and slow starts
Fourth Crit: voice and flashbacks
Fifth Crit: small details, subtle things

Giving thanks, 2012 edition

It's Thanksgiving Day, here in the US, and I am thankful for the amazing, empowering year it has been.

I'm thankful for my Kickstarter supporters and the opportunity to self-publish. I'm thankful for all the reviews I've gotten and overwhelmed by how positive they have been. I'm thankful that the first draft of Disciple, Part VI is so close to being finished -- only a few more days of writing left. Including today, since obsession doesn't take holidays.

I hope everyone is enjoying a peaceful day, good food and good company.

Today Disciple is featured over at Cup of Porn! I wrote a character interview -- it is safe for all audiences, but if you go clicking around over there, make sure there are no stray eyeballs looking over your shoulder. I threw this interview past my betas and they told me it was amusing, so if you'd like to hear a bit of Prince Kiefan's side of the story, check it out.

And speaking of Kiefan...
I've been working on materials for my second Kickstarter campaign, which is coming in January and wherein you will be able to pre-order Disciple, Part II. Below is the first draft of the banner for the project page, which will be the basis for the blog tour button and more.

It's also a sneak peek of the cover for Part II. There's more to the cover, but this's the important part. The pretty boy. Feedback is welcome!

So, on my to-do list for the next year:

• run the Kickstarter campaign in January, pre-selling Part II to pay for its production,
• blog tour in January to promote that,
• publish Part II by April 1st, 
• publish Part III sometime late in the summer, 
• I'd like to try my hand at convention panels, 
• and oh, maybe write something different. I've got all that hard science fiction lying around, still.

Yes, I'm a little odd. I make resolutions in May and write yearly to-do lists in November. What's on your to-do list for next year?

Unicorn Bell week: characters

It's my turn to blog over at Unicorn Bell, so things will be quiet here this week. I am also blog touring, this week, for Disciple, Part I so there will be some updates over at Disciple of the Fount.

Did you miss the big announcement? Disciple, Part II will arrive by April 1, 2013.

I'll be talking about how I develop my characters, over at Unicorn Bell. Index of posts, for later reference:

Those strange beasts
Grass roots
Getting to know them
What's on the page
Two more thoughts

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.

Spending the week at Unicorn Bell

They let me have a second week, so I guess it didn't go too badly last time... I will be blathering about plot over at Unicorn Bell this week.

Handy index of posts for the future:
#1 The five parts of a plot
#2 Walking backwards from the climax
#3 Plotting the way down the mountain
#4 Where the climb began
#5 Which domino fell first?
#6 Wrapping it up

<-- One more week and I will stop pestering everybody about this! Plan B will go into effect over at the book blog, Disciples of the fount. Stay tuned.

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.

Dialogue at Unicorn Bell

I will be posting about dialogue at Unicorn Bell all week -- drop on by! I'll be critting dialogue submissions of up to 500 words.

Index
Monday: Intro
Tuesday: Character
Wednesday: World-building
Thursday: Meaning vs. words spoken vs. the reader
Friday: Research vs. Development
Saturday: My dialogue in the hot seat