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Category Archives: Personal

Chasing a Following

31 Mar

It’s been some time since I sat and typed anything for this site. I can understand if the only people coming here are spammers. After all, I haven’t given much meat to digest.

It’s not intentional. To be honest, I’ve been having some fun posting videos over on YouTube (if you want, you can check them out at http://www.youtube.com/user/JustusRStone). There’s something liberating about not having to force my hands to translate the happenings in my brain. For some reason, the mouth seems much easier to perform that task. Maybe because of its closer proximity to the brain?

But being on YouTube has given me some food for thought. And I suppose it’s not just YouTube, but also Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and all these messes of social networks that have noodled into my brain and have me thinking. Just what am I doing? What validation am I seeking?

Checking my YouTube page to see the stats for each of my videos has become a daily habit. Bizarre really, given that I’ve done little to promote the channel and my videos betray my amateur status. There’s little there to justify getting viewer counts in the tens of thousands. Yet, there’s so many on YouTube that have just that. And I can’t help but think how an indie writer could benefit from such a huge following. I mean, that is the reason we’re chasing people on our various networks, right? We talk about warm things like community, support and connections, but the real reason so many indies hit the social web is to gain customers. And perhaps that’s the other reason why my blog hits, video views and twitter followers haven’t exploded; because I’m worried about customers.

Which is stupid given that I currently have nothing to sell (but that’s a whole other post).

My most viewed video on YouTube is a rant about how the current team of people involved with the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie are seeking to change the origins of the characters. Does this have anything to do with my writing? Not even in the most remote sense. And that wasn’t why I made the video in the first place. I did it because I was mad (yes, I am a fanboy). But that upset connected with others. Why?

That’s where the noodling in my head has been stemming from.

The answer I’ve come up with is… sincerity. That video is who I am. I didn’t do it because I wanted book fans to follow me so one day I might sell them a book. I didn’t do it to try and gain hordes of followers. I did it because it struck a true chord in my fanboy heart and I had to say something about it.

I think I’ve been doing things for all the wrong reasons. I think I’ve allowed myself to get sucked into the “gain a following and create a presence” vortex. I’ve spent too much time worrying about how to get people to follow my exploits instead of focusing on the exploits themselves.

So I’ve decided to stop worrying about it. Whether it’s here on the blog, or over on YouTube, it will be a reflection of who I am and what I really feel the need to talk about. If people find that interesting, well, they’re welcome to follow along. In the meantime, I’ll just keep rambling….

 
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Posted by on March 31, 2012 in Blogging, Personal

 

My Plans/Resolutions for 2012

08 Jan

 
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Posted by on January 8, 2012 in Personal

 

It’s a New Feature We Like to Call a VLOG….

21 Nov

It’s my first Vlog!! This is going to be an ongoing thing here, because I’m hoping it’ll get updated more than my written blog articles :) Hope you all enjoy & I’ll be doing more soon.

 
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Posted by on November 21, 2011 in Blogging, Gaming, General, Movies, Personal, Reading

 

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News of My Death Has Been Greatly Exaggerated

14 Oct

Wow, a month and a half since my last post. You’d think I’d forgotten this blog existed.

Truth be told, I just haven’t had much to share with the world. The Veil has stalled in edits. I mean, it’s getting there, just a lot slower than I had hoped. But with all things The Veil, I shouldn’t be surprised. That book has always taken longer than I hoped. And perhaps the reason is that I’m not ready for it.

I had a lengthy discussion via email with a fellow writer named Regan Leigh. We were comparing notes on the YA series we had in progress. As I outlined the scope of The Veil, I realised that this thing is big. Maybe too big. With every edit and passing day, I seem to throw more into it. At present, I have 1 book written, another book started & plotted, and two more books with very rough outlines. And that doesn’t even end the blasted thing!

It dawned on me that if I self-published The Veil Book One, I’d be making a deal with my readers that the series would be completed and done so in a timely fashion. Am I ready to dedicate myself to seven years or more on one series? If I’m honest, I’m not. Regan gave me some sage advice; Set aside The Veil until I learn to manage my writing time more efficiently. Stick to more standalone stories until I’m more proficient at organising my thoughts and then I’ll be able to write the Veil series.

It made sense, but was scary at the same time. Because writing a book, it’s like nurturing a child. And when you’ve finally got it to a point where it can walk, stand and think on its own, it’s hard to let go. But I know I need to do that. I’m just not ready to tell that story yet.

Which is not to say writing it was a waste of time. I’ve learned a great deal from it. I’ve also gained the confidence that comes from knowing that I have finished a novel.

In a convenient twist, an idea for a book struck me the other day and I’ve fallen in love with it. It’s a fantasy. I’ll be doing some world building and telling a single story in the one book.

And to push myself to the limit, I’ve signed up for Nanowrimo.

If you’re not familiar with it, that’s National Novel Writing Month, which is in November. The idea is to write a first draft of a novel equaling at least 50,000 words within the month’s time. That works out to approx. 1,667 words a day. Which is a lot more than I’m used to.

To get ready, I’m planning ahead. That’s right, the pantser/write-like-it’s-chess boy is planning ahead! Because that’s one of the lessons I’ve learned from The Veil. The better I had planned a chapter, the faster it was to write. I did have days where I hammered out 2,000 words in a single session. If I plan a whole novel, I’m hoping I can do the same.

During Nanowrimo I’ll be doing more frequent updates here on the blog. Yes, I do intend to breathe some new life into this poor, neglected corner of the web.

I feel great about this new book. It feels like a winner. Hopefully I still feel that way by the end of November.

 
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Posted by on October 14, 2011 in Blogging, Personal, Writing - General

 

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When Did You Become a Writer?

09 Jul

A bit of a personal blog entry this morning.

Was there a defining moment for you? A point where scraps of stories hidden in folders became work aimed at being published? When was that moment that you started including “Writer” in bios of yourself?

When I was in grade school, I loved to write. There was only one type of assignment I looked forward to and that was creative writing. I was that kid who was assigned a “short” story and turned in a binder with chapters. In those creative and heady moments of youth, seeing my name on a book cover was my singular goal.

But as with most dreams of childhood, I strayed from that path. Other interests and influences pulled me away. Over the years I wrote less and that vision of my name on a cover dimmed.

Fast forward to me in my thirties. I had rediscovered writing, but had no focus. Every story I started was left only partially completed. I had ideas, pages and pages of ideas, but I couldn’t translate that into a finished product. My wife developed a look that said “Will you just shutup and write” that I saw on regular occasion when I started a conversation with “I had an idea for a story…”

My defining moment, the thing that finally made me focus on finishing something, anything, was the death of my father.

My dad left an impression on people. Even now, two years after his death, I still have people that stop me in my work life and tell me how amazing my father was and how he influenced/helped/changed/supported them at some point. I have a set of morals that I can easily trace to my father.

As I mentioned in a previous post, my love of science fiction, fantasy and reading I can trace to hours spent sitting next to my dad watching classic Star Trek and Doctor Who.

When my dad took early retirement, he looked forward to trips with my mom and had thoughts of writing a book about his paramedic days called “Life Under the Lightbar.” You can imagine his dismay when he was diagnosed with lung cancer two weeks after his retirement party. And then a year-and-a-half later, he was gone.

So much planned and dreamed. So much left undone.

As the grief subsided, I realised that dreams shouldn’t be put off. I looked at my pile of half-finished writing and loose ideas and thought, “If I die tomorrow, I don’t want a bunch of half-realised dreams left behind. I need to finish something.”

And now, a first draft is done.

My dreams are larger than just one first draft. What I truly want to leave behind is still incomplete. Which is fine, because I intend/hope to have more time to finish it. But I’m on the road. I feel that I can call myself a writer. I feel less unfulfilled than I did before.

Did you have a defining moment? Was there something in your life that finally pushed you hard enough that you were able to type “The End?”

 
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Posted by on July 9, 2011 in Personal, Writing - General

 

Should Self-Pubbed Authors Refer to Themselves as “Indie?”

08 Apr

I’ve seen the odd snarky comment on Twitter about this, so I thought I’d weigh in.

Should Authors that choose the route of self-publication refer to themselves as “Indie Authors or Writers?” Seems a number of people are bothered by this. Their argument seems to rely on the fact that it is the small press publishing houses that are “indie” and not the authors themselves.

I call bulls*!#.

Let’s look at the two areas of artistic expression where indie is considered, by many, to be a badge of honour; the film and music industry.

What makes a band or filmmaker indie? Well, they aren’t paid to create their work. Instead, they invest in the tools to create it and then find a way to put it out to the world for consumption. Perhaps that’s a simplified view, but really, what else is there? They are creating work that isn’t being done with the blessing and bankroll of a major corporation. They take all the financial risks themselves and, if they’re lucky, reap the benefits.

So what makes them any different from a self-pubbed author?

Did the indie band build their own instruments? Did they build the software they used to record and edit the music? Did they create the infrastructure of iTunes that they used to market and sell their music? No, they didn’t do any of those things. They used their money to buy existing, proven, equipment and then used an existing means of publication.

Did the indie filmmaker build his cameras? Did he create the film and projectors used to show the movie? No, he outsourced all of those things.

If we apply the “publisher is the indie” aspect to the film makers and bands, then shouldn’t iTunes or the company that created the DVDs be considered the indie ones?

The fact is, in today’s ebook world, an author can write their book and create the epub file themselves. In fact, they can do everything up to the point where they have Amazon or iBookstore or the like sell the product. In the sense of the ebook, the author has done everything. The online etailers are just the store where they sell their product.

And if an author decides to create a paper and ink version of their book, they are still involved in the whole process, and in the end, they still pay for the service. They take the financial risk upon themselves to produce the book. No one pays them for it. There is no security that they will ever recoup the money they have invested. In essence, they have outsourced the printing, the same way the indie film maker outsources DVD production, the same way the indie band outsources CD production.

In truth, there is no difference between the financial risk, effort, and love of craft between the indie filmmaker, band, or author. They all create works of art and they all take financial risk to get their work out to the world. Just because they use a company to outsource a service doesn’t strip them of their indie status. After all, they are still the ones paying for it.

I mean, should Compaq get partial credit for my novel because I used one of their laptops to write it? Should Scrivener be considered the indie author because I used their software?

In the end, the reason writers are being questioned as to whether they are indie is because self-publishing still has such a bad rep. It’ll take years of amazing self-pubbed authors to wash that stain away. When that happens, being in complete control of your creative content will be seen as a badge of honour, as opposed to being a hack who couldn’t get a book deal.

So writers, proclaim yourself indie. Get outside the box. Write amazing, crazy stuff that no publishing house would touch and get it out there into the world. There will be people who will love you for it!

 
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Posted by on April 8, 2011 in Ebooks, Personal, Publishing, Writing - General

 

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