Saturday, December 28, 2013

Working Title - Chasing the Sun, and editing Cycles of Destruction

Do you write with a pen, or on a word processor?

The reason I ask is because I definitely prefer the word processor, but sometimes I get in these moods where only the scratching of an inkpen, the frenetic pace of writing as fast as I can think, of scribbling out on paper, can do my thoughts justice.

But then I have to go type in 15-20k words into the wordprocessor ANYWAY, and it's so annoying!  I just want to be writing, for God's sake, not retyping stuff.  I don't like to edit at that point, anyway, so I'm trying not to do too much editing while retyping.

Does anyone else have this problem?  It's like listening to yourself talk on a video recording.  Drives me nuts.

Anyway, it's almost time to start editing my NaNoWriMo novel, Cycles of Destruction - Earth.  It's a sci-fi book.  I expect to have the editing done soon (I hope!)

Oh, other great news!  I'm going to be working with a new publishing company called Epitome Press...cause my wife and I are making it.  Mwahaha!  It's not up and running yet, but you can join the twitter account @epitomepress to get previews and updates.

Keep reading, have fun!  Be safe!

Monday, December 16, 2013

Publishing Company - Do It Yourself!

Good morning, faithful readers!

Firstly, I want to toot my own horn a bit.  I just went through all my emails and backlogged messages, catching up on everything that I was behind on.  Huzzah!

So, what this means is, if you message me, comment on something I've done, etc., I'll actually see it now!  Yayayayayay!!

Secondly, my wife and I are planning on starting our own publishing company to help get our novels into bookstores.  According to the information I've read so far (and, admittedly, we're at the beginning of our research process), you need three published novels to get listed as a distributor by a bookstore.

I've done two, and I've got a third in the revision stage, plus another about half done.  I love writing!

I'm looking forward to the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards this year; I tried submitting Chains of Prophecy last year, but...I put it in the wrong category <.< >.>  Oops.

In other news!  I've updated my website for the first time in forever.  It's so nice to be caught up!

Keep reading, keep writing, keep loving life!


Friday, November 29, 2013

NaNoWriMo is over!

This has been an amazing ride!  1667+ words a day, a book finished in a month... 

When I started, I was ready for this to be difficult.  Trying.  Instead, I found that the pressure reinvigorated my writing spirit.  I had felt like I was dragging my heels in the mud, barely eking out a few hundred words a day, and sometimes not even that.
No more.
Now I know I can find the time.  I did it for a month.  I can do it for another.  And another.  And another.

Thanks for reading!  Keep an eye out for my NaNoWriMo book in a month or two.

Friday, November 8, 2013

Day 7 of NaNoWriMo - my first setback

So I've been cruising along on NaNoWriMo, getting a little over 1700 words in each day, just ahead of the curve.  Day 7 comes along, and, while on break and at lunch I get a little over 400 words done.  No problem.  I'll finish at home.

I get home, unpack my laptop...and the charger is missing.  I forgot to bring it.  You wouldn't think that would matter, except my laptop (since my personal one got stolen) is a piece of crap that can't hold a charge for twenty minutes.  Seriously.

So I bust out another 400 or so words before the battery gives out.  Less than half the day's quota all told.

But!

I shall persevere!

I will make up the missing words today and bring myself back up to speed!

All hail NaNoWriMo!

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

NaNoWriMo is...AMAZING!

Hello, faithful readers!

First, I want to say, "Wow!"  I updated my blog for the first time in a while yesterday...and in less than 12 hours I got over a hundred pageviews!  Thanks!

Now...NaNoWriMo.  For those of you who don't know, NaNoWriMo is the acronym for National Novel Writing Month; the objective is to complete a 50k novel in 30 days.  This requires an average of 1667 words per day.  I started writing a sci-fi/thriller novel (it didn't start out as a thriller, but you know how that goes).  I'm on track and will cross 10k words today, Day 6 of NaNoWriMo.

What can I say?  Putting myself under this kind of pressure to write has been like a shot in the arm, like a draught of caffeine when I'm dragging!  I had forgotten how much fun it was to just churn words out on the page like that; since I lost my computer (and the half-novel that was on it), I've been struggling to find time to write.  So many things kept getting in the way - the day job, kids, sleep - and I was having a hard time putting 100 words down, let alone my old quota of 1600.

But...when I have to do it?  When it's the matter of success or failure at an admittedly made-up deadline?  I get 1700 + easy and still have time in the day.  I find a few moments to type and there are another 100, 200, 300 words.  It's like I'm on steroids, like a runner in a marathon would feel if he/she was dragging ass after the 21st mile and someone came by and pumped all the fatigue out of their body (I was looking for a realistic analogy with that, but couldn't find one <.< >.>).  Keep a lookout for Cycles of Destruction - Earth, first draft finished around the end of November!

Keep reading!

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Damn, got overwhelmed...

So my computer got stolen, I lost 30k words of a book because of it, and I've been busy busy busy...

But NaNoWriMo has got me off my butt, and I'm back!  If you sent me a message or something and you thought I ignored you, I promise that wasn't the case.  I'm reconnecting, writing, and coming back into the fold.

I wanted to give a big "thank you" to everyone who reviewed my novels while I was away!  Your reviews make my day.  Thanks!

I'm 8500 words into my NaNoWriMo novel, a sci-fi thriller story called Cycles of Destruction - Earth.  I can't wait to see where it goes!  I'm also working on a paranormal fantasy story involving Apollo as the last pagan god, so stay tuned!

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Progress Report - Bonds of Fate

The second installment in the Samuel Buckland Chronicles, Bonds of Fate, is coming along swimmingly!

I just passed 25k in wordcount; that is up almost 2000 from when I started today.  I'm focusing on getting this written a lot more than I had been; there was a big lull where I didn't get much at all on the paper because of lack of time.

Also!  We're moving to Hawaii!  I need to learn Hawaiian, and find a day job...unless my writing breaks out, of course, and I get hugely successful overnight.

....

Please?
;)

Keep reading!

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

And Chains of Prophecy is up as well!

The paperback version of Chains of Prophecy is now up!  This novel has been getting great reviews (from the people I can get to review it, ;).  It is currently 4.8/5 on Amazon!  Check it out if you'd like to read a new, exciting paranormal fantasy!

https://www.createspace.com/4309296

Monday, July 15, 2013

The Drifter is available in print!

I have produced, via CreateSpace, a print version of The Drifter and it is available NOW!

At CreateSpace's e-store: https://www.createspace.com/4217874

At Amazon:  http://www.amazon.com/The-Drifter-Mr-Jason-Crawford/dp/1490925848/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1373899304&sr=8-2&keywords=the+drifter+jason+crawford

Huzzah!  This is awesome!  As much as I like e-books, there's something about holding the book itself, the cover, the paper.  If you've been holding off for the written version...here it is!

Keep reading!

Friday, July 12, 2013

Twitter lists!

So I'm working on building twitter lists now so I can see tweets from the people I most care about and RT them more often.  I feel like I've been remiss on my RTing and, if you're one of my tweeps, I apologize for that.

This is very difficult, though' I think I'll need to read some online tutorials on how best to set up these lists.  I've only put people into one list so far, but it's really cool to see just their tweets and respond easily to them!

Thanks for reading!

Writing - Art, Craft, or both?

I had an interesting (and brief) discussion with another author after we both wrote a review of someone's work.  Both of us agreed that the novel we had read had serious flaws, although he was more optimistic on those flaws than I was (to an extent). 

This discussion hinged on the idea that some authors, considering writing to be an "art," do not think that there is a "right" or "wrong" way to do something - after all, if I'm painting, then I can paint whatever I damn well feel like and if people don't like it, that's their problem.  Similarly, an author can consider their work to be "theirs" and then, if people don't appreciate it, so be it.  When it looks the way I want it to look, then it's ready.

The other viewpoint, though, is that writing is more of a "craft."  In a craft, you are producing a product for the consumption of others, and if that product is not useful to them, you have failed in your goal.  Stephen King considers writing a craft, as stated in his book On Writing.  In this view, if an author's work is not appreciated, not accepted, not LIKED by at least a good portion of his/her target audience (whatever that target may be), then the work is NOT READY and needs to be refined.

I admit freely that I am a "pantser," which, if you aren't aware, is an author who doesn't plot, doesn 't plan, and just follows the characters around and writes down what is going on.  Still, when I go back over the work, I take into account the views of my beta readers and consider whether or not this phrase would work for other people, or that description is enough to evoke the image in another's mind.  This is not easy, not easy at all, but I have to remember that the story already exists in MY head - other people might not (won't, definitely won't) see it the exact same way.

What do you think?  Is writing an art, or a craft?

I'd love to hear from you!

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Crossing 20k words on Bonds of Fate!

So I made it past a landmark today - 20000 words written on the next Sam Buckland novel, currently titled Bonds of Fate.

This novel is a lot of fun to write, because I get to explore deeper into Sam's world; if genies, demons, and angels exist, what else is there?  What else could interact with him, challenge him?  I'm learning a lot about Jewish Kabbalah and other stories, and it's very, very cool!

Remember:  If you want to talk to me about my writing or whatnot, you can email me at jasonpatrickcrawford@gmail.com

Thanks for reading!

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Price cut!

I've dropped the price on Chains of Prophecy to 2.99, and The Drifter is also going for 2.99.  You can find my novels on Smashwords here or Amazon here and here.  Give them a try!  Download the samples!  Take a chance!

I'm on a blog! I'm on a blog! Wow!

Visit Kristin McFarland's blog to view interviews by myself and other authors!  Get a little insight into what makes us crazy people tick.

http://kristinmcfarland.com/2013/07/10/why-write-contemporary-fantasy-with-jason-crawford/#comment-1926

Oops

Remember, folks - if you have more than one blog, make sure you switch between them before posting material appropriate to the other blog.

Oops.

The book review I deleted here is available at http://curtainofreality.blogspot.com.  Sorry for the confusion.

New Cover, Proof Copies!

Good morning!

First off - Chains of Prophecy has a new cover!  I finally figured out how to use those cover creator programs and I made it look a LOOOOOOOOTTT better.  Check it out and tell me what you think!

Chains of Prophecy

Also, I have ordered proof copies for both Chains of Prophecy and the Drifter!  It's exciting to see actual copies of books, like, in my hand and stuff.  <.< >.>  I'll let you know when I've approved the proofs and they're available for sale!

I'm trying very hard to get reviews for Chains of Prophecy as well.  I've gotten 4 really well written ones up on Amazon, but it hasn't catalyzed any sales yet.  Hmmm....got more work to do!

I'll see you all around!  Keep reading, keep writing, keep loving life!

Sunday, July 7, 2013

OMG! Reviews are posting!!

So, the people who have promised to review Chains of Prophecy are coming through in spades!  Several reviews have already made it to Goodreads or Amazon.  If you've been wondering about if this book is for you, here are the links to those reviews to help you decide!

5/5 on Amazon:  http://www.amazon.com/review/R27N6RGBWY04B7/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm

Another 5/5 on Amazon:  http://www.amazon.com/review/R1UQDS5P0F5OY1/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm

4/5 on Goodreads:  http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/653670963

And more on the way!  Reception of this novel has been great so far!

Try it out!

Friday, July 5, 2013

CreateSpace for the win!

I just submitted both of my novels, Chains of Prophecy and The Drifter, to CreateSpace so I can have print versions of them made.  This is going to be awesome!  I'll let you know when they're available, in case you prefer hard copies to e-books!

Keep reading, keep writing, keep enjoying life!

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

And...the Drifter is live on Smashwords!

Ladies and gentlemen!  My second novel is now live on Smashwords!  You can find it at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/332718.  I have also submitted to Amazon, so we'll be seeing it there soon as well!

The Drifter - coming soon!

Guess what!

The first novel I wrote (it needed some extra work) is about ready to be published!  Titled The Drifter, it is a story about an amnesiac vagrant in New York who discovers that he is actually a member of a very select group of supernatural beings that each have power over some facet of existence - Death, the Forge, Communication, etc. - and he has to deal with the implications of that as both allies and enemies from his former existence come calling.

Woohoo!

Wishing Shelf Independent Book Awards Submission

Good morning, everyone!

I am submitting Chains of Prophecy to the Wishing Shelf Independent Book Awards today!  You can check out the award here .  This is a great chance for me to get some more reviews and, maybe, win some exposure!  Wish me luck!

Friday, June 28, 2013

Saturday, June 22, 2013

Status Update!

Crossed 15k words in my WIP, the sequel to Chains of Prophecy, last night.  Didn't get as much written as I would have liked, but it's okay.  Progress is progress!

In case you don't know, I started another blog, a book review one, for paranormal/urban/epic fantasy.  You can check it out at http://curtainofreality.blogspot.com/

Has anyone else ever been frustrated by a lack of reviews?  I had Chains of Prophecy free for a week and 137 people downloaded it.  I've gotten nothing but great comments from my reader circle back home.  I know people are busy and don't necessarily read super fast, but...no reviews yet?  None?  On any of the places my book is available?

AAAUUUUGHH!  The suspense!  It's murder.

Keep reading, keep writing, and keep loving life!

Oh, I updated my website too.  www.jasonpatrickcrawford.com.  Got a bookstore on there so you can easily access my novels!  Huzzah!

Monday, June 17, 2013

Who Else?

Just as a random question - has anyone else ever read a novel while working on your own and thought "How will I match that?"

Gotta push past it!

On the plus side, my novel continues to get rave reviews...from people who can't post those reviews online :(

Stephen King Was Right - You Have To Read In Order To Write

Reading is really helping me reenergize my batteries for writing :) I've read five novels in the last week and I'm having two thoughts.

One:  There are a lot of amazing authors out there that I would be missing if I hadn't decided to go on this reading spree.

Two:  Sometimes I despair that my books will be as good as some of the ones I'm reading.

But!  I forge on.  I am over 12k words into the sequel to Chains of Prophecy, currently titled Bonds of Fate.  Still fun.  Still great.  More from Samuel Buckland to come!

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Book Review: The Beholder by Ivan Amberlake

So, I've decided to put book reviews on my blog when I finish one.  It'll help me post more often and, hopefully, bring some traffic to my fellow authors.

My first review is for Ivan Amberlake's The Beholder, available at Amazon here.

My Score - 5/5

The Beholder is a sterling example of what happens when an author introduces real people into a world which he/she has clearly envisioned. The characters are deep, real people with authentic motivations and desires; I wanted to follow Jason Walker on his journey of discovery, and I held my breath as he fell for the otherworldly Emily Ethan.

I did not feel that there was a wasted word in this book. I read it in about 2 and a half hours (I read fast, obviously) but a good chunk of that time was me being up waaaay too late :) Any author that can make me put off sleep for reading is doing something right. If you like anything by Neil Gaiman, you will appreciate Amberlake's "The Beholder."

I look forward to reading more.  Pick it up!

Monday, June 3, 2013

Good morning!

I have e-published my first Samuel Buckland novel; Chains of Prophecy; it is available at www.smashwords.com or https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jasoncrawford.  I hope you will read it and give it an honest review.

Thanks in advance,
Jason P. Crawford

Thursday, May 23, 2013

I am back!

For all my faithful readers (as few of you as there may be yet), I am back!

The day job dragged me down; I haven't had much time for anything writing related.  Except!  Summer vacation is almost here, and with it, unfettered freedom for literary pursuits!

Good news - I have decided to publish my work via the very excellent Smashwords and CreateSpace; my wife is working on designing my cover images, and they will be up very soon.

I will also be changing up the website to reflect these new developments.

If you are asking, "Jason, why did you go the independent route?" there are several reasons.  There was the obvious drive to just get it done, of course, and the attractiveness of the exploding e-book market, but here's the main thing: 

I write because I love writing, and I want other people to enjoy reading what I write.  I don't want to wait two years plus for someone to maybe publish my books so they could be read.  I want them read NOW.

Hope you enjoy reading them as much as I have enjoyed writing them!

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Grinding wheels in the mud

So I've been feeling stymied lately.

Not just that it's time and effort to find an agent.  I knew that.  I expected that, and I shall persevere.

No, it's that I had a great writing routine set up:  kids would go to bed, then I'd write for a couple of hours before bed. 

Then my middle son (almost 4 years old) decided to hate sleep.  I've been spending over an hour a night trying to put him to sleep...which makes me very tired as well.

On top of that, I have to get up very early for work.  This has combined to make me chronically tired.  I don't want to be tired, so I try to write...but I'm too tired to write, but I'm not asleep, so nothing good happens.

Fortunately, summer is on its way, and with it, freedom!

Thanks for reading.

Sunday, April 21, 2013

If only...

You know what I wish?

I wish that I could write for a living.

I wish I could stay home and play with my kids, and then work when they're in bed, and never leave the house.

I wish that I could make my living in an industry that values creativity, originality, and imagination.

I wish I could inspire others to want this as well, just as I was inspired.

I wish that I could have the chance to reach an audience, and my career would live or die based on that audience's decision, rather than standardized tests or my failure to do paperwork.

I wish that I could help others do the same.

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Fighting the battle, waging the war

So, here's the progress I've made so far:

I've submitted Chains of Prophecy to a few agents; I already got one rejection (hooray?).

I've finished my edit of The Ragged Man, and am changing the title to The Drifter as the first title was already taken by a best-selling novel.

I received back a critique of my query letter from a Writer's Digest Webinar; these things are awesome, and you get to keep the materials afterward.  I highly recommend that, if a webinar applies, you do it!  I'll be working on correcting my Drifter query letter today and finding new agents to submit it to.

I wrote a three-line pitch, or "elevator pitch" for Chains of Prophecy and used that to submit it into a savvyauthors.com pitch contest.   I like my chances with that three liner, and I'll post it here and on my website later.

I've gotten back into my third novel, and, once again, the events are surprising me.  I did not expect for the writing to take quite as dark of a turn as it has.  I like it :)

My Twittering is working - I'm over 470 followers in about a week of work, so that's pretty good.  Special thanks to all of you who may be reading this.  I appreciate the support!

I...think that's about everything.  I plan to be updating my website soon so check that out at www.jasonpatrickcrawford.com, and thanks for visiting!

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

A good review! The landslide begins! (I hope :)

About a week ago, I sent out the first draft of my new novel Chains of Prophecy to my alpha readers.  I got my first reply back today.  I quote:

"Couldn't put it down.  A real winner!"

I'll be speaking to this reader later to talk specific points of good and bad, of course, but the fact that I wrote something that someone couldn't put down just...made me all glowy inside.

What about you?  Have you ever made or created something that someone else found amazing?  I'm sure you have, so you know what I'm talking about.

I've already made a couple of edits to Chains of Prophecy, including fixing a really bad continuity error (note - if you ditched the car three scenes ago, don't let your protagonist drive off in it.  <.< >.>)  I think that this book is definitely better written than my first...which is no surprise since it's NOT my first :)

Also:  I have increased my Twitter following by 400% or so in less than 24 hours.  Of course, I was only starting at 18, so this is not as impressive as you might think, but I'm on my way to establishing my writing platform!

Everything's working out today!

(ducks as the other shoe drops)

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Expanding Social Media Presence

So social media for writers has been described as "icing" or "gravy" compared to their writing.  I agree with this.  Writing is, of course, the most paramount skill for writers, much like surgical skills for surgeons or driving skills for race car drivers.  However, as someone who enjoys meat and potatoes and cake, I can tell you one thing:

I like my meat and potatoes with gravy, and I like my cake with icing.  Thank you very much.

To that end, I have undertaken a major expansion in my social media presence.  In the last 40 minutes, I have expanded my Twitter following by over 40% and made contact with other writers on their blogs.  This will be an ongoing effort and I will do my best to keep you all posted. 

In case you want to join the Crawford revolution, you can follow me on Twitter at @jnewmanwriting, and/or my facebook account at Jason Crawford.

Thanks for coming!

Monday, April 8, 2013

The second is better than the first!

My wife (one of my alpha readers) is currently looking over the first draft of Chains of Prophecy, the second novel I've completed.  She tells me that she likes the writing style and the technique used in the book much more than in my first novel, although she insists that she really likes the story of the first one, The Ragged Man.

I guess this is another example of practice making perfect, and supports what other authors say:  the more you write, the better you get at writing.

Keep on writing, and reading, and reading about writing or writing about reading!

Thursday, April 4, 2013

And...we start with a setback.

So, I was looking to see if my new website had showed up on search engines yet (it hasn't) by typing in first my name and then the name of the first book I have put up there (unpublished as of yet):  The Ragged Man.

Turns out that The Ragged Man is the title of a very excellent book written by Tom Lloyd; you can find it here.  It's part of a series, and I very well might pick the whole thing up if I can get them on my Nook.

Anyway...

Curse you, Tom Lloyd, for getting to my title first, despite the fact that our books have nothing to do with each other!  Curse you!

*goes thinking about new titles, grumbling.*

We Begin!

Hello, fellow lovers of reading and writing!  This blog will be about my trials and travails as I attempt to become a bestselling author of fantasy and urban fantasy novels!

...Hey, at least no one ever said I was dreaming small ;)

Anyway, stay tuned for posts about ideas I have, progress I make and setbacks I suffer, and the random little things that inspire an author (like me!) to dive into yet another fictional world.

So, in the words of the late, great, Robert Jordan, as spoken by Ishamael the Forsaken: 

"I win again, Lews Therin."