Writing

Why I Write LGBT Characters

lgbt flag

Because we still refer to them as LGBT characters.

They’re still a novelty.  We get all excited (or angered, depending on your political/religious stance) when a character in a TV show turns out to be gay or bisexual.  Let’s say, being attracted to the same gender is a recessive trait (yes, I do believe it is genetic), then statistically, gay or bisexual people should make up about a quarter of the population, yet in the media, they make up only between 1-5% of the characters in shows and movies.  On top of that, in certain aspects of the media, they are wholly absent.  Do you see the disparity between population and representation? Continue reading “Why I Write LGBT Characters”

Writing

February 2015 in Review

Starting in January, I decided it would be a good idea to look back at each month and see what I have accomplished in my writing and marketing as well as reflect upon what needs to be improved in the future.

February was a meh month for all of my work.  While I finished the formatting for The Winter Garden in ebook and paperback and was able to move up the release date to March 15th, I didn’t get much done in terms of book three.  I did make a little progress with all of my projects. Maybe part of the problem is that my hands and mind are in too many places at once.

What I did accomplish: Continue reading “February 2015 in Review”

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Author/Novel Spotlight: Kara Jorgensen, The Winter Garden

Her is an interview I did with Jeffrey Collyer. Check it out!

JeffC's avatarJeffrey Collyer author

In this post I hear from Kara Jorgensen about her forthcoming novel, The Winter Garden, the second book in the Ingenious Mechanical Devices series.

Kara Jorgensen is an author and professional student from New Jersey who will probably die slumped over a Victorian novel. Midway through a dissection in a college anatomy class, Kara realized her true passion was writing and decided to marry her love of literature, history, and science through steampunk.

What made you decide to publish a novel?

Since I was ten, I have wanted to be a writer. I always thought I would need to search out a publisher and wait to be picked from the slush pile, but when I realized self-publishing was a viable option that would allow me more freedom than traditional publishing, I jumped at it. I had my first book, The Earl of Brass, pretty much ready to go. It’s…

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Writing

What I’ve Learned From My Thesis Proposal

I don’t really read much steampunk.

When I submitted a draft to my professor, he sent back revision suggestions with a note along the lines of “What steampunk books can you cite in your bibliography?”  I stared at the page for a few minutes before sitting back and sighing. Shit, I needed to add steampunk books.  Somehow, I didn’t think I would need to reference any.  Continue reading “What I’ve Learned From My Thesis Proposal”

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Indie Book Review: The Earl of Brass by Kara Jorgensen

Check out Kate’s awesome review of The Earl of Brass. She is also a fellow steampunk writer, so give her some love.

Kate M. Colby's avatarKate M. Colby

kara book
The Earl of Brass (The Ingenious Mechanical Devices #1) by Kara Jorgensen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Disclaimer: I was given a free electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This review may contain minor spoilers.

The Earl of Brass (The Ingenious Mechanical Devices #1) by Kara Jorgensen is a bold social commentary, an adventurous love story, and a gorgeous example of the steampunk genre. The novel follows Lord Eilian Sorrell, the heir to an earldom, who loses his arm in a dirigible accident, and Hadley Fenice, the fiery prosthesis maker, as they both battle the constricting roles placed on them by English society. To escape England, if only temporarily, they embark on an archaeological dig and find more than they bargained for in the desert, in more ways than one.

The characters and styling of The Earl of Brass are the crowning jewels…

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The 2K International Writers’ Blog Tour – Cheryle Baker

Kate M. Colby's avatarKate M. Colby

Cheryle Baker

Hello, I am Cheryle Baker.  I use C.Lightwalker for my virtual escapades thus the name of my Blog “Lightwalkers Blog”.

Cheryle Bill Hill Springs 2011I may not qualify for this tour.  I am not a published writer, in fact I recently enrolled in WordPress Blogging U 101, as a way to discipline myself to write on a regular basis, be accountable to doing the writing and to have some sort of structure.   I write sporadically, mostly for myself.  My main focus has been on poetry.  I attended courses Intermediate, Advanced and Form Poetry taught by Micheline Maylor at Alexandra’s Writers Society Centre in Calgary a number of years ago.

What is the first piece you remember writing (from childhood or young adulthood)?

When my great grandfather passed way, I received the phone call. I about 15 at the time.  My Mother and Father were out, probably at a Friday night dinner.  My…

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Writing

The Low-Down on The Winter Garden (IMD#2)

If you follow me on Facebook, you may have seen that the release date for The Winter Garden has moved from March 31st to March 15th.  When I arranged the pre-order for the story, I had left plenty of room in case I got busy with class and was unable to finish and edit it as quickly as I planned.  As it turns out, I have everything ready to go about a month ahead of schedule.  Part of me would love to release it today, but due to the way Amazon has the pre-order set up, I can’t move it up that far.  I decided to release it two weeks early, which will allow me to do one more proofing of the opening chapters, but both the ebook and paperback will be out by March 15th.  Let me tell you a little more about The Winter Garden in hopes that it will pique your interest. Continue reading “The Low-Down on The Winter Garden (IMD#2)”

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The 2K International Writers’ Blog Tour – Jay Dee Archer

Kate M. Colby's avatarKate M. Colby

Jay Dee Archer

jay deeBorn in a very small town in Alberta, Canada, I went through an atypical childhood as a nerd, all the way up until university.  I have been living in Fujisawa, Japan, which is near Tokyo, for nearly ten years now.  I’m an English teacher, but writing is my passion.  I’m married and have one daughter.  We will be returning to Canada next year, where I will hopefully find a lot more time to write, and a lot more privacy.  Although I teach English and write, I have a university degree in physics and astronomy from the University of Victoria in Victoria, British Columbia.  This helped fuel my obsession with everything science related, including science-fiction.  When I’m not writing (which is most of the time), I’m playing with my daughter, going out hiking and walking, and blogging.  Through my walking, I also like doing photography, and have gone…

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Writing

The Importance of Proofing

I had a minor rude awakening this weekend.  My proof copy of The Winter Garden came last weekend, so I decided I would give the book one more round of proof-reading to find some leftover typos and make sure everything was in order.  I quickly found out, it was not perfect.

Somehow italics in certain chapters magically disappeared.  No idea how it happened, but somewhere between the original file and the paperback, half the italics in the book did not translate.  Luckily, I discovered the issue Saturday night and fixed it using Word’s compare draft feature along with control-find.  At times, I wish I didn’t reference so many books or have my characters think so much, but the issue did make me very aware of what nearly skated under my quality-control radar.

This is why when you create a paperback, they send you a proof-copy to check over.  At first, I didn’t notice it because half the book had italics (sprinkled throughout), but chapter two didn’t along with many others.  Comb through your manuscript with eagle eyes.  Take your ebook or original copy and compare it to your paperback because that is how issues like this are spotted. I didn’t notice it until I was correcting typos and had my Word file for the ebook and paperback editions both open and saw that a book title wasn’t italicized.

Apart from the italics issues, I also caught quite a few typos or awkward phrasings that were easily smoothed. Proofing is a time to put the final polish on your novel and make sure everything is up to snuff. Luckily, now it is all fixed, though I’m sure I’ll find more silly errors within the coming months, but the issues have been caught and the both formats have been finalized for publication.

What am I going to do with the 35 days between now and March 31st when The Winter Garden is released? Hopefully work on book three.  More about that will come as I get further into it.

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The 2K International Writers’ Blog Tour – Kimberly DuBoise

Kate M. Colby's avatarKate M. Colby

Kimberly DuBoise

kimI live in the Midwest with my husband, cat and dog. I have taught preschool in the public school system for ten years. I have written and published a book of poetry and a non-fiction book on faith. If I am not reading or writing I am probably cooking or walking. My blog is called the tinypoet because I am tiny- 4’6 to be exact. I have Turner Syndrome, which impacts my daily life and thus my writing.

What is the first piece you remember writing (from childhood or young adulthood)?

I wrote a book titled The Hidden Castle when I was nine and still have it. I remember choosing the cover. It was fun to illustrate, too. It is a mystery, action story that reflected my love of Nancy Drew back then! I got an A+ on it, still remember that. It meant so much to me. …

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