Sunday, September 29, 2013

Still Obsessing...

You know how when a relationship ends you still can't stop thinking about it.  You start obsessing about what went wrong, and how much it hurt.

Goodreads, I can't get over you.  I think about you and it still hurts.  I don't know why we can't work things out?  Can't you reconsider?

You know, when I first opened my author account, some of my author friends were like, "You're not still going to review books, are you? You're going to make yourself a target."  I laughed and told myself it wouldn't matter.  After all, I was a reader first.  I'd already been a member of goodreads for 3 years before I added the author part.
And you know, mostly, it's been a good experience.  My readers have been fantastic.  They send me little messages and comment on my blog posts.  I've had a couple of weird experiences where author's have friended me over my reviews or commented on them and it made me feel uncomfortable, but that's about it.  On the other hand, I had author friends who wrote a book and subsequently deleted all their reviews.
And until Goodreads new policy, I've never considered what I review or how I review.  Now I find myself hesitating to discuss what I read.  Especially if it's in a genre I write myself.
Why? Well, now that my reviews aren't safe from any little bit of attention, it places me at risk.  If I want to maintain my author status on Goodreads, and keep my author account, then I need to make sure none of my reviews are questioned.
You may be thinking, "That seems a bit dramatic, Kate." And you're right.  It does!  But until now, there was never any fear of the dramatic.  Goodreads just left the users reviews alone (unless the content was extremely bad).  But now the rules are so vague and arbitrary, I'm suffering nerves whenever I post.  
Here is an example, just to put things in my perspective.  I read a LOT of YA.  It's always been my favorite age range for reading and writing.  I also review a LOT of YA.  Sometimes I'm not really that impressed by the content I read and I may give the book a review accordingly.
Well, what if an author doesn't like my review?  What if they go snooping around my account and see that I'm an author, too, one who writes in the same genre?  What if they decide that the only reason I reviewed the way I did was because I wanted to eliminate the competition?
You might pipe up here and say, "But Kate, as long as your review CONTENT speaks only of the book, you'll be fine."  Well, no, because as Goodreads has made evident, the content of the review is also in the INTENT of the reviewer.  If they arbitrarily decide that my review is unduly influenced by the fact that I'm a competing author in the same genre, then my review WOULD be about the author, and not the book itself.  Do you see?
"But, Kate," you might say, "You've been a member of Goodreads since 2008! Surely, Goodreads would take the time to look at your reviews and your record and see that you're a reviewer in good standing before they delete your reviews and put your account under notice."
Uh, well, there are people who've been on there for YEARS and Goodreads didn't give a DAMN about their loyalty and their overall review record.  They were summarily deleted.
I hate to say this, but Goodreads isn't a safe space for me anymore, as a reader.  And so, I won't be reviewing YA books with stars anymore.  I will still put an overall review in place, but since stars are what seems to trigger authors, I will be leaving them out.  If that gets me into trouble, then I will most likely not be reviewing YA books any more either.

That is where it stands right now, and I'm so sad about it.  But they made the rules and I just want to keep hanging out with my Goodreads friends.

Other, happier news:
The Angel & Her Gun and The Lost Flame will soon be up in audiobook form, as well.
I've been working on the outline for the second half of Terris and I'm very pleased.  I had outlines made before I started this book, but things have changed (as they always do for me, hahaha) and so the outlines had to change accordingly.
I'll have another Buzz Worthy News segment up tomorrow, so head on over to Cuddlebuggery.com and check it out!
Have a great day, and happy reading!

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Good News

Hey all,
Sorry for my slightly ranty post previously.  It just sets off my "fairness" radar when Gooreads would just DELETE hours of effort on the part of readers and without any warning.  How is that respect for users who have used the site for YEARS?  Not cool.  Decidedly not.

However, let's move past that now.  Let's pretend such things don't exist for the moment.
I have some great news!  Well, lots of great news, actually.  Firstly, part one of Terris is done!

It's been a long time in coming, I know.  Apologies to all my fans and thanks to their patience.  :)  Let's hope the rest of it goes fast!

Announcement number two: The first fifteen minutes of Compis' audiobook is done!  There will be a lot more good news on that front.  The audio is amazing, I'm so happy with it.

And third announcement: I will be the Cuddlebuggery.com Buzz Worthy News correspondent starting tomorrow.  This week's news was a lot of fun to write, so I hope you'll hop on over and enjoy.

That's all for now.  But enjoy the fact that Terris has 75,000 words written.  I know I will be.

Happy Reading!

Sunday, September 15, 2013

The Switch-Up

I used the almost title of one of my books for today's post because I have that itchy skin feeling again.  Do you ever get that, readers?  Like if you don't do something new or different or fundamentally life changing you will have the sudden urge to scratch a layer of skin off until a whole new you emerges underneath?

I am going through some life changes.  Perhaps they might seem minor to others.  My son just started his first year of school.  My youngest turned two and officially left babyhood behind.  I'm making some changes in routine and job and well, LIFE I guess.  It's exhilarating and terrifying, which is pretty much life in general around here.

But mostly, I've just been thinking about how life changes your plans all by itself.  When I remember Aeris, for instance, and all the work I did on Zyander's story that I had to then go back and RE-FREAKING-WRITE and I almost have a heart attack when I think about it.  Then there is my still-in-progress audiobook.  *sigh*  That has actually ended up for the better, too, but when my first contract fell through, I was pretty bummed about it.  Thankfully, I already had another voice actor I was pretty excited about and when that went through, I felt like all was smooth sailing again.

So, yeah, changes come whether you bring them or not.  Learning to roll with each change is my big work in progress.

As far as the writing front goes, yeah, I have three of my stories under contract for audiobooks now and I'm pretty pleased with who I've got for what.  I am three, count them, THREE chapters away from being done altogether with part one.  One chapter for Nikka, one for Zyander, and one for Luka—who made a little change in his storyline that necessitated adding a chapter.  I have really been kicking butt in the past week.

I have learned not to take that for granted, however, so on that front, I've decided to join up with ROW80 again.  This summer I was way too busy to continue with it, but I love supporting the other authors and being a part of all the mental creativity.  Maybe it will help me to get Terris finished once and for all.

I hope all the changes in your lives of late have been good ones!  Happy Reading!

Sunday, September 8, 2013

Woulda Coulda Shoulda

Ahhhhh... regret.

Have you ever ignored that still small inside that warned you not to do something?  If you're human (or like me, addicted to chocolate) then I know you have!  Then some time later, you are sure to wind up like me... bleary eyed and full of regret.

Regret can come from anything.  Forget to send that Netflix DVD back?  Well, now you have to wait through the WHOLE freaking weekend to get the next disc in True Blood Season 5.  Eat a giant piece of chocolate cake at the birthday party when you said you weren't going to (anyone seeing a theme here)?  Enjoy seeing the scale go up instead of down.

In my writerly world, I often regret wasting time.  Whether it's not mapping out the story well enough before hand or figuring out half way through that I made a wrong turn with a character, I HATE having to go back and rewrite huge sections of book.   I also regret it when I play around making my perfect playlist for writing to instead of actually writing.

Thankfully, my writing regrets are fading for the moment.  I've got three, count them THREE chapters left for Zyander and Nikka's Part One.  I also, surprisingly, added a chapter to Luka's Part One.  Then I'm on to the second half of Terris!  Exciting times, people, exciting times.
Happy Reading!




Monday, September 2, 2013

It's Hard to Type with a Busted Finger

That makes it sound as though I've broken my finger or something, which I most certainly have not.  I was peeling apples yesterday and I did manage to peel my middle finger open quite nicely, however.  To the point where I keep soaking through bandages (not blood, but water, because I'm constantly washing either faces or dishes).

These bandaids make it really difficult to type, let me tell you!

So, I feel like we have to have one of those awkward conversations, like you do when you run into your ex at the grocery store.

I know I haven't been on here in three months.  For a person who has faithfully written in her writerly blog every week, it is inconceivable to me.  

And the reason I haven't written isn't because I got kidnapped or because my computer died or because I moved to a land with no internet... no, I just got SUMMER busy.  Summers around the Copeseeley household tend to be in, out, and all around.  So when you take one author, add in three visits to the in-laws, one to my parents, a camping trip, and bronchitis & pneumonia, you get pretty much no writing at all.  

Yes, this is the bad news.  I've made about... 8,000 words of progress on Terris.  The good news is, my oldest has started kindergarten, my routine has become settled again, and I'm back to cranking out those letters.

Hopefully, it's all downhill from here.  I'm 2/3rds of the way through Nikka AND Zyander's part one and I'm really excited about where the story is heading from there.  I can't believe I'll be done with book three very soon!  Woohoo!!!

-Happy Reading!