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Ideas are cheap…work is costly…

I am in the middle of a flood right now. A flood of ideas, and somehow it feels like I am paddling madly yet going nowhere.

Creating ideas. Wait a minute, you are saying that sounds like a good problem to have! Ideas after all are the stuff writers are always chasing after. The more the better, right?

Here’s the thing most people don’t know, ideas are cheap. There are millions of people out there with ideas for books, and probably many of those are fantastic ones. Yet how many of all of those ideas see the light of day, and the ink (even electronic ink) on a page?

Here’s the scoop, it isn’t having the idea that is the real work of writers. It is writing it, molding it, editing and polishing it. There go your hours and hours of labour, far more than one moment of inspiration.

My very first book signing in America, was at a bookshop in Baltimore. It was Monday. Lunchtime. On the third floor. By the cafe. Yeah, there weren’t many people there, but the ones that did show were memorable. Apart from the lady whose cats were dictating a book to her, there was this young guy. He sidled up to our table, and whispered, like it was a state secret, “I have an idea for a book.”

Tee and I both smiled politely. “That’s nice.”

Then he looked at us and in all sincerity went on, “If you write the book, we can split the proceeds 50/50…”

Even back then, a tiny seed of a published writer, I nearly burst out laughing. This gentleman honestly thought his having a thought, was the same value as writing, and editing a whole bookâ€”at minimum probably six months of a person’s life.

As I recall, neither of us laughed, we simply nodded and said something like, “That’s nice, but we’re rather busy with our own projects.”

The only people I would write an idea for would be someone whose ideas come with more value (i.e brand recognition)….like Chuck Wendig writing for Star Wars.

Anyway, right now I am indeed dealing with my own ideas, and plenty of them. As of this moment I am sitting on three new novels. One is a completed first draft needing to be polished up. Two are maybe half done. Beyond that, I have two other projects I am working on with Tee Morris. I dare you to look at my list of projects. Go on. I can’t or I might run screaming.

So yeah, I have a lot of ideas all flying at my head right now. Organising them and getting them to stand in an orderly row is half the battle. My weapons are a white board, a calendar and a lot of tea.

Maybe I am just a whiny author with too much to do and not enough time- but then isn’t that everyone, not just writers? Point taken, let’s jump back into it then!

The Returning…

It has been a whirlwind of a year already…

January saw me returning to New Zealand to support my family. It was a bit nerve-wracking, but all is now well. Still that is where the month went.

Then comes February. I went into the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee with a fabulous collection of writers. This is the second year of Smoky Mountain writers, organised by the fabulous Alex White. It was a week of excellent food, plenty of time to write, and beautiful views.

I worked on Immortal Progeny, the rather epic new series of gods and monsters fighting for supremacy, and three sisters caught in the middle of it all. This was the story I started last year, and it has been a slippery beast. However, after a week in the Smokys with me, the story decided to behave itself, and now I am about 40,000 words away from finishing it.

I also finished three chapters and a synopsis of a series, tentatively titled Primordium (thanks for the suggestion Starla Huchton!). This is set in the same world as Geist. Honestly, I thought I might have been done with that world, but then around Christmas my brain woke me up with a bunch of cool ideas. Suddenly I was catapulted back five hundred years into the world of the geists, the geistlords, and the Order. A young woman terrified the new things she can see. An older grieving mother trying to warn the world of the dangers. A whole new continent of wonders and dangers.

Immediately, those stories obsessed me, and in the Smoky Mountains, I was able to get out the first three chapters. Now sent off to the agent, I am looking forward to returning to that world to finish the novel.

For now I am working on Immortal Progeny, then the YA Ministry Seven novel, and then returning back to Hollywood.

The retreat was a great way to start the year, and the Smoky Mountains certainly inspirational.

So long 2014…

*insert the inevitable writerly post about the end of the year*

2014 has been a challenging year. A series of financial bumps meant I concentrated mostly on keeping our family afloat. Unfortunately this meant I didn’t get to finish many projects, but mostly felt as though I was running from pillar to post, trying to keep the boat sailing.

I started three novels and finished none of them. However, they are all half done, so I know I can quickly finish all three in the New Year. So rather than concentrate on the failures, going to look at the successes, because there were some.

The family stayed right side up, which is somewhat of an achievement considering the challenges of keeping health insurance and a roof over our head. Tee Morris was my partner in this success, and it’s important to recognise we both achieved something pretty awesome. I’m a lucky person to have him at my side, and be able to write with him

So it wasn’t all bad. I (well we since I am co-writer) did finish one project. The Diamond Conspiracy, the fourth of the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences was finished and edited. It’ll be out in March of 2015.

I spent a blissful week of writing with a band of fellow authors at the Smoky Writers retreat in February. I honestly feel like that kept me together through the year, and I am looking forward to it in the new year.

I released Weather Child, and hopefully in the mid-year will begin work on the next book in the series.

One-Stop Writer Shop launched, and Tee and I signed a contract to produce a social media book for authors with Writers Digest. Look for that in the Fall of 2015. I laid out books for clients, and created ebooks. I also worked on my first non-fiction layout job.

I taught my first class in social media, with Tee standing by to catch me if I wobbled.

We went to all sorts of places in our convention travels, and we got to meet up with friends old and new.

Unfortunately in August we lost our friend and colleague PG Holyfield. It still doesn’t feel real, and I keep expecting to see his face at events, hear that laugh of his, and wrangle him to lend me his voice for a project. In response, I was lucky enough to contribute a story to Tales of a Tesla Ranger, the anthology that celebrates his life and gives him adventures he should have had.

I don’t believe in resolutions, they are too easy to break, but I do believe there are points where we can realign ourselves. 2014 was a year of survival, hanging onto each other through bumpy waters. It laid foundations, so 2015 will be about building on it.

Thanks to all my readers and listeners for continuing to support me, I wouldn’t have managed 2014 without you. Hopefully you’ll enjoy what I have to put out in 2015.

Jobbing Writer

typewriter I admit I have been a bad little blogger!

I was good at the beginning of the year, with lots of rants, but with so many channels of social media, I confess somehow blogging sometimes falls down my radar.

Thinking about it, I guess it is because writing is what I do all day long to keep the roof over our head, doing more writing sometimes slides down the priority list! Also, as per usual there are a thousand things to do.

Much like my post about the time involved in audio-editing, I thought I’d give a glimpse through a crack in the door of my writing world.

Here’s a sample of what I have been doing since last we spoke

Promotion (oh yes, this takes time)

The Ministry Initiative, our Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences roleplaying game, made its debut to backers of the Kickstarter.

The announcement of the next Ministry Protocol novel, the Diamond Conspiracy release date. It’s coming in March 2015! No cover art as yet, but that will come.

Blogtours. The talking about Dawn’s Early Light continues…but we made USA Today’s HEA!

Sidelines

Worked on production of an audiobook with Lauren Harris being the voice talent. See my post on that over at One-Stop Writer Shop

Worked on production of the audiobook of Ministry Protocol

Worked (and continue to do so) on the production of an audiobook of Weather Child

Working with Peter Woodworth on the villains supplement for the Ministry Protocol.

Working on and maintaining all the various social media channels. Keeping them full of interesting content is important these days.

Working on promoting and building our business of helping independent authors over at One-Stop Writer Shop

Writing

Submitted a proposal for two new Ministry books.

Submitted two proposals for new series.

Working on my project codename Deadly Hollywood

Working on another Aroha Murphy story for another multi-cultural steampunk anthology.

Phew! So I hope, dear reader you understand the scope of being a jobbing writer. It is exhilarating, exhausting, and I love it.

But from now on I’ll try and stay on the blogging rails!

Bang for your buck

Often I get asked which method of buying my books send the most money back to me. For awhile I didn’t have much of an answer.

All ebook platforms are pretty much the same, give or take a few cents. Also with recent controversy surrounding Amazon, there are some of my readers who are not happy to buy from that platform.

I’ve been thinking of selling direct from this website and the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences one for awhile, and after a bit of research I found Gumroad.com. This site has been around for awhile, and has become popular with all sorts of independent creatives.

So now all the links on this site, and the other ones Tee Morris and I operate will be turning in that direction. Our work will still be available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and all the places you might expect to find them, just here, you will find our own product.

So let me know what you think. To purchase you just need a credit card (since I also know some people have a problem with Paypal) and it is a secure link through Gumroad.

Weather Child by Philippa Ballantine

From the writer of Books of the Order and the
co-author of the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences comes a
new historical fantasy about two lovers separated by magic
and circumstance.

Never alone. Never apart.They are the Awakened, a unique breed of people in a remote corner of the world. Faith is one of these gifted carriers of the Seraphim; and in return of her unconditional love, her Seraphim grants her powers of
incredible potential.

But not all carriers embrace their blessing. Jack loathes being an Awakened. He never asked for it, his Seraphim keeping him alive even in spite of his desire to die. Not even a great war could rid him of this curse.

Now a magician of incredible ability and a walking dead man must find a way to work together to save the Seraphim.
Someone covets the power of the Awakened, and will not stop until that power belongs to him.

$2.99 (includes both .mobi and .epub formats)