Tag: career decisions

Getting settled in the land of the Kartulis

About three weeks have passed since I came to Georgia, and I’m starting to feel comfortably settled in this new place.  I like it a lot out here: my host family is great, I get along really well with everyone at the school where I work, the kids are so crazy eager to learn it’s… Continue reading Getting settled in the land of the Kartulis

Teaching English and other future plans

I got my flight plans today from the TLG people in Georgia!  I’ll be flying out next week from JFK, connecting in Kiev and arriving at Tbilisi Wednesday afternoon.  On Monday, I’ll take the train down to my aunt and uncle’s place in New York city and spend a couple of days with them before… Continue reading Teaching English and other future plans

STARS OF BLOOD AND GLORY 1.1 is finished!

That’s right!  After what felt like six hours of un-anesthetized brain surgery, Stars of Blood and Glory 1.0 is finally complete!  Here are the stats: words: 76,326 chapters: 18, prologue & epilogue ms pages: 360 start date: 20 Dec 2011 end date: 2 Feb 2011 Some extended stats, just for fun: days spent writing: 36 miles traveled: ~5,500 viewpoint characters: 5 characters from… Continue reading STARS OF BLOOD AND GLORY 1.1 is finished!

What I’ve been up to recently

I thought it would be a good idea to do a quick post explaining what I’ve been up to the past month or so, since a lot of things have changed and I’m sure they will be changing a lot more in the future.  So, here’s what’s up: As you may or may not know,… Continue reading What I’ve been up to recently

Writing log results

For the last month or so, I’ve been keeping track of my daily writing habits to look for patterns that might give me some insight on how to improve my creative process. I’ve amassed somewhere around 65 data points, and I think the results are clear enough to notice some trends.

plot vs. PLOT and an interesting serial publishing idea

Back in English 318 at BYU, Brandon Sanderson used to tell us that there was a big difference between “little-p plot” and “big-p Plot.” The first applies mostly to chapters and scenes, which he said he could teach us.  The second refers to the overall story structure, which he couldn’t teach in a classroom setting… Continue reading plot vs. PLOT and an interesting serial publishing idea

Climbing the 10k mountain

I recently read an amazing blog post by Rachel Aaron, in which she explains how she went from writing about 2k words per day (about what I’m doing) to routinely breaking 10k. This is something I really want to do with my own writing.  As I noted a couple of weeks ago, I need to… Continue reading Climbing the 10k mountain

Why I won’t be signing up for KDP Select

In the last couple of weeks, there’s been a lot of discussion about Amazon’s new Lending Library program.  Just a few days ago, Amazon opened it up to indie writers with the KDP Select program.  By signing up, writers gain access to Amazon Prime members (US only), where readers can borrow the book for free… Continue reading Why I won’t be signing up for KDP Select

Why I’m not submitting to the 2012 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest

Last year, I submitted Genesis Earth to the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest and made it to the quarter-finals.  I’m pretty sure I could do at least that well this year, but after reading the contest rules, I’ve decided not to participate. Why? Because of this: 5. GRANT OF RIGHTS. By submitting an Entry and… Continue reading Why I’m not submitting to the 2012 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest