SFFS: A Third Snippet from Escape

Welcome back, everyone! For those who haven't kept up with my latest releases in the past several months, Escape is a brand new novella I have out (a collaboration with Lyndon Perry), the first in a young adult steampunk alternate history series. In fact, I posted up the first except just last week. It's been a while since I've written anything outside of the Aston universe, so I'm excited to see how my fans react to this new title. And now that it's finally out over at Amazon and Barnes and Noble, you can pick it up today (of course, you can also get a paperback too). Be sure to check out all of the wonderful authors on the Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday blogroll. And now, here's a snippet from Escape:

Abe finished his morning inspection, then returned and stopped in front of my bed. “Whatcha have there, Max?” He extended his hand toward my pocket, waiting for me to produce its contents.

“None of your business, Abe, and you know it.”

Abraham Tate wasn’t really a bully, but sometimes power went to his head. That didn’t sit well, what with him being nosey and all. Plus, he seemed to think our lives were all like a plot in one of those penny dreadfuls he was always reading.

The boy next to me snickered. “It’s a picture of his daddy.” Tommy Jacobson. Now he was a bully.

Not to worry, I do plan on coming back to post another snippet from this one next week. But why wait? Pick up a copy of Escape using the links above!

Writing Processes

I got tagged by fellow author and my favorite cover artist T. K. Toppin to participate in this blog hop about writing processes and what it takes to shape and produce a book. And now, on to the questions...

What am I working on?
Currently, I'm working on the fourth Aston West in-the-series novel, tentatively entitled Resurrection. But life wouldn't be all that exciting if I didn't have my hand in a dozen other projects at the same time. So, I'm also working on several new short stories to put into my next Aston West Triple-Shot. And on top of that, I've been working toward completion of another Aston West novella, Fallen. Outside of my series work, I've been teaming up with Lyndon Perry toward the completion of two more books in a series of novellas featuring orphan Max McCannor (with the first, Escape, just published). And I've been toying around with the idea of some other non-sci-fi titles. Busy busy!
 
How does my work differ from others of its genre?
I often hear from folks who tell me they don't ordinarily enjoy science fiction, but they love my stories. I imagine that has to do with the focus on characters and not on the science. Additionally, I think my lead character Aston is not what your first choice for a hero would be. He doesn't fit the stereotype of the (as my favorite label from the "Firefly" series indicates) "big d*** hero" like most in the genre do. He's the everyman who just happens to get into more than his fair share of tricky situations, and I think that  resonates with more than a few readers who like to think that they, too, could be in the same boat.
 
How does your writing process work?
It varies, depending on what I'm working on. For longer works like novellas and novels, I usually develop a plot outline first (at least with my Aston West series, since most of my major characters have already been developed...for stuff outside of the series, I have to put together some character sheets beforehand). Sometimes I start directly with the plot outline. Other times, I start with index cards. Either way, I come up with a multitude of scenes I need to have happen in the story, and in a rough sequence. That's not to say that the process won't diverge from the plan along the way, but I always like to have a good idea of where I'm going so that I don't get lost in the jungle that is the writing process. Once I have the game plan, I just start writing, referencing back to my plot outline as needed.

For my short stories, I usually come up with the same type of scene list/plot outline, but it usually only takes up a single sheet of notebook paper. Then, the writing begins.

After the first draft is done, I wait a while and then get right back into editing over and over until I pull the trigger on publication.
 
And now it's time to tag someone else, so my co-author in the Max McCannor series Lyndon Perry, you're up!

SFFS: A Second Snippet From ESCAPE

Welcome back, everyone! For those who haven't kept up with my latest releases in the past several months, Escape is a brand new novella I have out (a collaboration with Lyndon Perry), the first in a young adult steampunk alternate history series. In fact, I posted up the first except just last week. It's been a while since I've written anything outside of the Aston universe, so I'm excited to see how my fans react to this new title. And now that it's finally out over at Amazon and Barnes and Noble, you can pick it up today (of course, you can also get a paperback too). Be sure to check out all of the wonderful authors on the Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday blogroll. And now, here's a snippet from Escape:

The younger boys all scurried to attention, satisfying Abe’s ‘Army’ illusions. I carefully tucked my personal treasure back into my pocket, and rose from my thin, fraying mattress.

Abe strolled down between the rows of equally outdated beds, gazing upon the troops. We were a motley bunch if you ever saw one. Everyone stood around in our dirty, hole-ridden hand-me-down rags donated by mining town children we often heard stories about from out west. I’d long since grown out of the clothes my grandmother had handmade for me almost a decade ago. Those shirts and slacks had supposedly been stuffed in a closet, waiting to be brought out once one of the younger boys grew into them. ‘Waste not, want not,’ the orphanage staff would always tell us. But since there had been plenty of younger kids come through the orphanage and I’d never seen my clothes reappear, I figured they’d sold them and pocketed the money.

People tell me I shouldn’t be so pessimistic.

Not to worry, I do plan on coming back to post another snippet from this one next week. But why wait? Pick up a copy of Escape using the links above!

Weekly Goals - March 19, 2014

The big goose egg this week (although I did come up with a title for my new short story). Here's the latest recap:

 

1. Write 1,300 words on Resurrection - Nothing completed
2. Write 1,000 words on the new short story - Nothing completed, other than the title "Reciprocity"

 

Progress toward my monthly goals for March:

1. Publish the print version of Seeker - Cover art finished.
2. Complete the first draft of a new short story (estimated 2,000 words) - Came up with a title
3. Edit the final version of "Just Rewards" - Not started
4. Write 3,000 words on Resurrection - Completed around 1700 words

 

Now for this week's goals:

1. Write 1,300 words on Resurrection

2. Write 1,000 words on "Reciprocity"

Next week, I'll recap my weekly goals and report my results.

SFFS: A Snippet From "Escape"

It's been quite a while since I've posted a snippet (and if I'd remembered, I might have posted one earlier this month). Welcome back, everyone! For those who haven't kept up with my latest releases in the past several months, Escape is a brand new novella I have out (a collaboration with Lyndon Perry), the first in a young adult steampunk alternate history series. It's been a while since I've written anything outside of the Aston universe, so I'm excited to see how my fans react to this new title. And now that it's finally out over at Amazon and Barnes and Noble, you can pick it up today (of course, you can also get a paperback too). Be sure to check out all of the wonderful authors on the Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday blogroll. And now, here's a snippet from Escape:

Being alone in this world sucks, and don’t let anyone tell you different. It’s horrible as a little kid, and even worse as a teenager.

As I sat and stared at the small picture in my hand, one I’d kept in my jacket pocket for almost nine years now, my mind raced to California. I wished for maybe the thousandth time that I could just make my dad instantly appear by my bed and stand beside me like he was in the photograph.

But that was the way of fairy tales, and not the nightmare I lived on a daily basis.

“Meal time, ladies,” one of the older boys, Abe, called out. He always acted as if we were in the military rather than the orphanage we all lived in, The New York Charitable Orphanage for Wayward Boys and Girls. I wouldn’t say we called this place home, because I still had far better memories of a home, two homes in fact.

Unfortunately, fate had dealt me an ugly hand of cards, twice in a row, even worse than the ones Abe dealt us during our illegal poker games after lights were out for the night.

Not to worry, I do plan on coming back to post another snippet from this one next week. But why wait? Pick up a copy of Escape using the links above!

Weekly Goals - March 12, 2014

Still in a bit of a slump. Here's the latest recap:

 

1. Write 1,000 words on Resurrection - Completed just over 900 this week
2. Write 1,000 words on the new short story - Nothing completed

 

Progress toward my monthly goals for March:

1. Publish the print version of Seeker - Cover art finished.
2. Complete the first draft of a new short story (estimated 2,000 words) - Not started
3. Edit the final version of "Just Rewards" - Not started
4. Write 3,000 words on Resurrection - Completed around 1700 words

 

Now for this week's goals:

1. Write 1,300 words on Resurrection

2. Write 1,000 words on the new short story

Next week, I'll recap my weekly goals and report my results.

Weekly Goals - March 5, 2014

Well, another week with very little accomplished. Hopefully sometime soon, I'll be able to break out of the slump again. Here's the latest recap:

 

1. Write 1,000 words on Resurrection - Completed just under 800 this week
2. Write 1,000 words on the new short story - Nothing completed

 

Progress toward my monthly goals for March:

1. Publish the print version of Seeker - Waiting on final cover art
2. Complete the first draft of a new short story (estimated 2,000 words) - Not started
3. Edit the final version of "Just Rewards" - Not started
4. Write 3,000 words on Resurrection - Completed around 800 words

 

Now for this week's goals:

1. Write 1,000 words on Resurrection

2. Write 1,000 words on the new short story

Next week, I'll recap my weekly goals and report my results.

Monthly Goals - March 2014

For those who missed it back in January, I set up the writing goals I aim to accomplish in 2014. Right after writing that post, I then read Dean Wesley Smith's post about how to be successful at your writing goals.

One of those suggestions was to report in to someone, whether you miss your goals or accomplish them. So, I to report it to you, my loyal fans, bringing back my old habit of weekly goal-setting and reporting. In addition, I've decided that a set of monthly goals would also be good to do (since they'd end up being more "grand scheme" and would be easier to tie into the annual goals).

So, another month has gone by, and it's time to recap my results from my February goals.

1. Complete the final draft of Fallen - Completed
2. Complete the first draft of a new short story (estimated 2,000 words) - Completed "Just Rewards" with around 2,700 words)
3. Write 5,000 words on Resurrection - Not completed, only 1,800 words
4. Generate a new plot for another new short story - Completed
5. Create a print version of Seeker - Completed

Sadly, didn't get as much done as I would have liked. But Seeker should be out in paperback fairly soon, so hopefully folks will check it out. Motivation has been in the toilet this month, for various reasons, so I guess I should be glad that I accomplished as much as I did. But still, I'd like to get farther along.

Here are my goals for March:

1. Publish the print version of Seeker
2. Complete the first draft of a new short story (estimated 2,000 words)
3. Edit the final version of "Just Rewards"
4. Write 3,000 words on Resurrection

As always, I'll report my final results on the first of next month. In the meantime, check out my weekly goals postings to see how I'm progressing.

Here's to everyone striving to accomplish their writing goals for 2014!