Writing

Laugh or Cry

August 4, 2014 By Lynne

I’m laughing this morning, because to do otherwise would probably mean the end of some poor inanimate object when I hurl it against a wall. There’s a reason my weapons are locked up today. My frustration abounds and there isn’t a damn thing I can do about it except remain calm and smile. But that’s all happening on the outside. Inside… well… you know…

Sometimes, events conspire against us. And it’s no one’s fault. Shit just happens. I was planning on releasing a new book last week, but I elected to hold on the release until all the changes were done to the Blood Link series covers and all the changes to the website were complete. Then I held up because it was important to look at all the options and decide what to do about the new Prime Unlimited and Barnes and Noble.

Finally, I was ready to go on all the stuff and that’s when it just sorta turned into one of those nightmares from hell. I don’t do most of the technical crap. I have little to no patience when technology doesn’t work as advertised. My skills don’t extend much beyond calling or emailing Dean to fix whatever it is. I even installed remote access for him, so now I can just sit back and watch him click stuff on my screen from his home. This saves him a lot of travel time and gas, and he doesn’t have to watch me pace or listen to me bitch.

CreateSpace (print on demand) and Amazon (who owns CreateSpace), both advertise their ease of use for self-publishing. They are. Sorta. Maybe. Not for me. But they aren’t horribly difficult for someone with patience and a basic grasp of today’s technology. Yeah, that lets me out. But I have sat there (almost being quiet) and taken notes while Dean has loaded my books. He felt that I should have an idea of how it’s done… just in case he fires me as a client. Yeah, he’s so not getting to do that.

Anyway, you load your unique and fabulous cover image to the template in CreateSpace and load the manuscript and the site generates the interior and wraps your cover around it. Based on the thickness of the book, there may be a few adjustments that need to be made to the fold points for the spine and for centering of the cover. If you don’t make those adjustments you wind up with a crappy looking book. Dean is the one who makes those adjustments. I look at it and go “Oooooohhhh. Awwwwwwww. Pretty!” Did I mention that I’m one of those people that can’t figure out which side is up on a to-go container?

Getting CreateSpace right is the first step. Once you have this right – and it can take a day or two – then you can use CreateSpace’s templates to generate the cover for Amazon and the interior for the Kindle. When it all works, it only takes 24-48 hours to be live on Amazon and CreateSpace with your amazing work of creative genius.

That didn’t happen this time. We don’t know why. Somehow, somewhere, someplace in the great unknown, the technology gods frowned upon my book. They pointed and giggled and decided to see if they could make me insane. It wasn’t like that would be a big challenge, but they did it. They attacked.

CreateSpace loaded beautifully. Dean only had to make minor adjustments to the cover for fit and alignment, the interior didn’t give him any issues, and a mere 36 hours after hitting the send button, the book was live on CreateSpace. But somewhere between CreateSpace and Amazon there was a glitch and instead of having a single book with the options of format, I had two separate books. The one in the Kindle Store was great. The cover looked good, it downloaded fine, and everything with it was good. But when I searched the main site for the book, it brought up a link to the book with no cover image. When I clicked on the link it took me to the book, but there was still no cover image and no link to the Kindle.

No freaking image, my ass! I have a great cover and you aren’t showing it! There was much ranting and cursing at this point. All of it on my part.

Dean has remained calm and unflappable as he’s worked the problem. This is why I pay people to do things for me. I would have broken something and probably called the support tech at Amazon names that would have gotten me banned from the site. As it is, poor Daisy Dog and Boo Kitty have gone running a couple times in the last week as I’ve gotten more and more frustrated by something that I can’t control.

So when will it all be fixed and ready to go? I don’t know. I know that smarter people than me are working hard to fix whatever it is that’s broken. My suggestion for the appropriate placement of a small thermonuclear device has been ignored. Multiple times. Apparently this isn’t something that can be resolved with unlimited firepower and a willingness to use it. Although, I’m pretty sure that I heard Dean cursing under his breath this morning, but that could have been at me for bothering him when he was working. Having nothing positive to add to the conversation, I have done the responsible thing and stepped back. Yeah… I know… that’s not my usual course of action, but what else can I do. I have to smile and leave it to the experts. But if it isn’t fixed soon, I’m going for Door #3.

I swear to you there is a book. It’s got a great cover. It’s a great book. And it will be available soon. Maybe…

No Guts – No Glory – No New .45

July 30, 2014 By Lynne

As I prepare to release Vapor Point, I find myself stuck between a rock and hard spot. Amazon is offering a great new program that might help an independent author like me get noticed and perhaps be read by people who may not otherwise see my books or know of my existence. The new Kindle Unlimited program is part of KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) Select – the author side of Amazon Prime.

With the original Prime membership, a reader could “borrow” a free book each month. As an Indie, I didn’t get too excited about this. Let’s face it, who’s going to borrow a $4.99 book by an unknown author like me when you can download your favorite established author’s new $12.99 book at no charge. While I would love to say that I’m all about trying the new guy for free, it’s simply not true. I’m just like everyone else – I’m looking for the best deal for my money.

However, with the new program there will be no limit on the number of books that can be borrowed by a program member. This means you won’t be forced to choose between the new Michael Connelly thriller and my latest release – you can have both for your membership fee. Download and read any book past the 10% point – a little farther then the free preview – and the author gets paid. A sweet deal for the reader and the author.

Here’s the rub – an author must make Amazon the exclusive digital (ebook) distributor for the book for as long as it’s enrolled in the program. The enrollment period is in 90-day increments. Here’s how Amazon explains this:

What does it mean to publish exclusively on Kindle?
When you choose to enroll your book in KDP Select, you’re committing to make the digital format of that book available exclusively through KDP. During the period of exclusivity, you cannot distribute your book digitally anywhere else, including on your website, blogs, etc. However, you can continue to distribute your book in physical format, or in any format other than digital.

So if I want in, I can’t sell an epub file for a Nook, Kobo, or Sony reader – those folks get their digital books through Barnes and Noble.

Realistically, 98% of my (not so many to begin with) book sales are through Amazon. I’m not bothered by a retail exclusive clause that doesn’t allow me to sell digitally through Barnes and Noble for the 90-day period, but I don’t like that I can’t distribute to my readers through my own website. Do I understand why Amazon requires this exclusivity? Of course – we all do. If you want to drive Barnes and Noble’s digital trade into the ground, then you have to cut off the supply to the other devices. And the way to do that is through incentives to the publishers. In this case me.

What makes it a painful decision is that a lot of my personal friends have Nooks and Kobos. I take pride in being a loyal friend. But financially… it would be silly not to try this program.

I didn’t load the digital version of Blood Link Book V – The Healer to Barnes and Noble when it was released in December. That decision had nothing to do with the KDP program. At the time, it was a decision based on the hassle of working with Barnes and Noble. They were making some internal changes to their self-publishing program and loading or adjusting books was a giant horking pain in the butt. I chose to hold off loading the book in hope they’d resolve some of their technical issues. I never did get around to loading the book. The mail from Blood Link fans with Nooks or Kobos was minimal. I took care of those few folks independently utilizing PayPal. But based on the exclusivity agreement – I won’t be able to do that if I opt into the new system.

I think it’s important to point out that this doesn’t mean that the folks who don’t own a Kindle are without options. Anyone can read a Kindle formatted book on a phone, tablet, laptop, or desktop without buying a Kindle reader. The applications are completely FREE through Amazon. I’ve embedded the link to the applications page for you here. This was how I read the Kindle version of my books for the first year I was published. Now I own an inexpensive Kindle as well as a Nook so I can read in either format.

I’ve been at this for a couple years now, and if you’ve spent any time following along, you know that I’m terrible at self-promotion. That hasn’t stopped me from stumbling around and trying new things. I still have a lot of questions about this program:
Will this help me be seen and become established?
Will I sell more books/make more money?
What will it cost me in terms of readership?
Will I go from a faithful ten readers down to a faithful eight?
Do I enroll one book or all my books?

I don’t know the answers yet. But I do know that if I don’t sell enough books to cover the costs of editing, producing covers, and my website, then I’m not going to be able to afford to continue publishing, much less ever afford a vacation, a boy toy, or a new .45 and the ammo to put through it. You all knew that I’d come back to the weapon didn’t you?

Based on where I am and looking at where I would like to be, I’m going to give the program a try. And just for the record, I threw the boy toy in as a distraction in hopes that Mr. Scott wouldn’t notice the part about a new .45. Ssshhhhhhhhh!!!

The Predictability of Lynne Scott

May 9, 2014 By Lynne

I took a little time off. Call it a voyage of self-discovery. Hell, call it what it was – a reality check.

The simple truth is that I doubted myself. I know… it’s shocking, but there you have it. I too have doubts. I let one person’s opinion matter more than others. Not that I should have discounted it, the opinion was valid and deserved consideration. Someone had to have the courage to tell me what they thought even if I didn’t want to hear it. But I took it to heart and let it eat at me when I should have just accepted it for what it was and moved on.

Here’s what happened.

I sent out several chapters of a work in progress and asked a few of my favorite betas to read it. My only question was: Does this have legs? I wanted to know if they felt like the story had potential or if I’d gone too broad on the topic. Five out of the six betas liked it. They pointed out a few issues that I would need to address if I was going to make it work, but they liked the premise.

The sixth beta – not so much. He told me that it was “fine,” but he didn’t feel an urge to read more. He already knew that my gal would kick butt and take names. He told me I was “predictable.”

As we all know, it wasn’t personal. It was honest and damn important feedback. I just couldn’t see it for a little while; nor could I accept that there was nothing wrong with being “predictable.” It took a bunch of conversations with other authors and readers to understand that it’s not only okay to be predictable in some ways – it’s important.

If you read certain authors, you know what you’re getting each time. It’s why you buy and read their books.

A Harlequin romance will always be feisty girl meets hot guy, they connect, sex, misunderstanding, sex, misunderstanding, and happy-ending. Women buy them because they know exactly what they are getting and it’s what they want. They don’t want real life, they want the fantasy of what a romance novel offers.

Everyone picks authors based on their likes and the predictability of those authors. You read Dean Koontz and Stephen King because you want the crap scared out of you. You read Michael Connelly because you love Harry Bosch and you like cop novels. You read John Sanford’s Prey series because you like psychos and cops. You read Russell Blake because they’re fast paced and fun.

My ten faithful readers buy my books because they like what I give them.

I write books about strong women who generally have some type of problem to overcome. They often have a military or law enforcement background because these are the people most likely to be put in the positions I want them put in. The books are action, adventure, and suspense with a healthy dose of non-gratuitous sex connected to a non-sappy love story.

My heroines are sometimes the damsel in distress, but they are never completely helpless and they are never, ever, drama f***ing queens. They’re independent, resilient, resourceful, and in most cases, willing and able to fight back. They are also tender-hearted, love dogs, want to find love, and almost all of them are flawed in some way. Life, their jobs, wars, discrimination, and crazy people may have battered them, but all of them will attempt to stand on their own two feet. And all of them just want the love of someone who accepts them for who and what they are.

My heroes are almost always the doers of the world. Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and cops. Who wants a hero who has no idea what to do when the s*** hits the fan? They’re often men who’ve seen a little too much of the dark side of the world, but they aren’t afraid of confrontation, and they don’t suffer fools. This is rarely the first rodeo for these guys.

And, my people are not “youngsters.” I prefer them to be in the mid-thirties or early forties. I get tired of perky and inexperienced. Give me someone with some life experience who’s made mistakes and knows what they want in a job, a relationship, and in life.

So, yeah. I am predictable. I write what I like to read. Each one is better than the last one. And each one will leave you satisfied.

This is my niche.

The Healer – Blood Link V

January 2, 2014 By Lynne

I’m very proud to announce my newest release is now available. I hope you all enjoy it.

The Healer – Blood Link V

Where the military and vampires meet.

Dr. Peter MacKenzie is weary. Twenty-four hours after the attack on the unit that has left several of his friends severely wounded, Mac has a full plate. What Mac doesn’t need right now is someone from the Department of Defense Inspector General’s office showing up because they’ve noticed an anomaly in the blood bank records.

Agent Holly Lind doesn’t want to waste her time going to Camp Revells to deal with a bunch of idiots who can’t spot a simple computer error. Dumped out of her job in cyber security after an argument with her boss, Holly is forced to cool her heels for a year in the IG. But that doesn’t mean that she stopped playing with computers. Working under her hacker alias of “Portunes,” Holly is still testing security and on the lookout for unauthorized infiltrations of the NSA and DOD computer systems.

What Holly doesn’t know is that there’s a hacker out there looking for a way into Camp Revells, and he’s sure she’s that way in. “Invicta” is chasing “Portunes” through cyber space and he now wants Holly almost as much as he wants to destroy the vampires of Camp Revells. What “Invicta” hasn’t counted on is that once Mac meets her, he will want her too.

Editor: Arwen Newman
Cover Design: Liquid Reality Studios
112,000 Words

Available now for your Kindle at Amazon through the link on the right.
Also available in paperback at CreateSpace or Amazon.

It’s Fiction, People!

November 24, 2013 By Lynne

Question: What if you have no background or experience in the subject you choose to write about?

Answer: No problem. Everything I have ever needed to know for a book can be found on Wikipedia or at the bottom of a Jack Daniels bottle. And if I still feel lost and confused, I just stay at a Holiday Inn Express overnight.

One of the best things about my job is the rather eclectic nature of the things I choose to write. I pick a subject that interests me, and then I go find out more. Research is always fun. Finding a site on the Internet that has great facts about my chosen subject is fairly easy, but I can also wind up on a site that’s the equivalent of a diaper full of diarrhea. Picking and choosing which links to follow often makes for an interesting afternoon.

In this instance, I’ve spent a little time looking at Dugway Proving Grounds. It was exhilarating (maybe the right word is frightening) to read some of the available information about this place.

Here’s a great example of how a single website can lead you astray for more than a day. Just for fun, go to Wikipedia and skim the information on Dugway Proving Ground. It begins with the basic facts and then moves into the history, which is all pretty bland until you think about just what they’ve been testing out there.

Yes that’s correct – biological and chemical warfare agents. You know – the bend over and kiss your butt goodbye type of stuff.

The next two items in the article are the Sheep Kill Incident and the U.S. General Accounting Office report. It seems an open air test in 1968 may not have been restricted to the range and many, many sheep off the range died. The subject of the 1994 General Accounting Office report is the previously accomplished (1940-1974) “open-air” testing of bacteria and viruses. The government has no idea of how many people may have been exposed to these agents at the time. As for the wildlife… well… even my Ranger friends told me they were warned not to consume anything that grew or ate things that grew while they were on Dugway. That whole “Don’t drink the water!” scenario in this section of the Wikipedia article just gives me that icky-creepy feeling. Anyone have an extra Atropine injector?

But it’s the final item in this article that proves the diaper theory and gives this location a truly bizarre twist – Alien speculation. Yup. Welcome to Area 52. The UFOlogists (their word not mine) got all excited when the Genesis, a NASA space probe collecting solar wind samples, malfunctioned and was brought down on the proving grounds in a controlled crash in hopes of saving some of the samples. Suddenly, the alien conspiracy theory nuts were citing passages of The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton. After all, that facility was out in the damn desert too. I followed several of the cited sources for this section of the article, and those led to more links, and more speculation, and… well… you get it. Solid facts (the Genesis being brought down, and the location at Dugway of many telescopes) are at the heart of the speculation, but some of the folks who perpetuate this stuff are just as far out there as the alien visitors they believe are using Dugway as a spaceport.

As for what I know about chemical and biological agents – not much. I know they scare the crap out of me. Almost more than rats and dark dirty basements. Almost. I have some digging to do. I fortunately know how to look things up and ask questions. I may even know a few people who can answer some of those questions. The trick will be to do the appropriate level of research without triggering the interest of the NSA, Homeland Security, and a whole host of other folks I really don’t feel like talking to. The goal is to avoid a visit to Guantanamo Bay.

Just as a reminder – I write FICTION! Yes, it’s important to hit the range of possible and plausible so that it’s more believable, but in the end, it’s still just a freaking story. How many times have you read a spy thriller involving the CIA and their facilities? Do you really think the author has a clue what the inside of those secure facilities looks like? When do you think the author visited the interrogation bunker in Eastern BumFuckistan? How do you think the author got access to the ultra-secret military installation? And, if he did, do you honestly believe he’d put the real details in the book? C’mon! We all know the CIA would have that guy locked up in a secret prison, while some doppelganger took his place and put out a new book every two years with false information to mislead us. You don’t really think the Tom Clancy you saw in all those interviews was the real Tom Clancy do you?

I repeat – I write fiction! The idea is to make you suspend your belief for a couple hours of reading enjoyment. Oh, yeah! I am definitely going to use Dugway as a character in a book. I won’t use its name – I’ll simply call it “the range” or the “the proving grounds.” A place this pretty from a distance must house some dark doings and secrets.

Now, if I could only get an interview with one of the aliens at Dugway…

All photos were stolen from the internet with my apologies to whoever owns them.

Final Inspection!

October 31, 2013 By Lynne

Are you ready for NaNo 2013? Have you checked your Go-Bag? I can’t let you deploy into a hazardous writing environment unprepared.

FALL IN
Let’s go, people! I have better things to do than wait on your butts to get in line.
Dump those bags for inspection.
NOW!!!

I’ll call out the checklist item, and you produce it promptly.
Did you just roll your eyes, mister? This is not a freaking game. This is NaNo!

Caffeine. My coffee cup goes where I go. I prefer regular ole coffee when I start my day of writing, but some go for the iced tea, the energy drinks, or the soda pop. Whatever works. I personally don’t want all that happy heartburn crap from Starbucks when I’m trying to work – just make a pot of Folgers or Dunkin’ Donuts or whatever it is that you like, suck some of that go-juice down, and put your pinkies on the damn keyboard.

Easy there, Sparky – too much of a good thing makes it hard to keep your pinkies on the keyboard.

Socks and knickers. No, I’m not one of those kinky ole first sergeants that gets off on looking at your stack of tighty-whities. Unless you’re a young, healthy, built like the proverbial brick outhouse Marine and are willing to model them, just leave them in a neat stack where you can get to them. You need 30 days of stuff (or 15 days if you’re Army and turn them inside out once) so you don’t have to waste your time doing laundry.

Personal hygiene items. Ah Jaysus, writing recruit, yes, you need them and yes, you will use them! Otherwise all the picking and scratching that comes from a lack of hygiene takes your pinkies away from the damn keyboard. Besides, you aren’t in the damn Navy – wash yourself and change your damn underwear. That’s an order!

Real food. You should have laid in some food as grocery shopping is not time well spent during NaNo. I fortunately live near a base and have purchased MREs for when I run out of pre-cooked meals and microwavable items. I’ve found that chucking an MRE at Mr. Scott makes him stop whining about being hungry. He doesn’t eat the damn thing, people, he leaves the house and does the hunting and gathering thing that all men should do for their women.

Quit being a damn bleeding heart. He’s fine. He likes Taco Bell. It’s not like I’m making him eat my cooking every night.

Snacks. Anything bad for you is good for you during NaNo. You’re expending a lot of energy and you need to keep those fingers moving. Eating snacks at your desk also saves all that time wasted in going to the table to eat real food. Save the real food for your spouse.

Suggestion: Reward yourself with chocolate. (Oh, and for you boots and civilians – when a first sergeant suggests something… it should be considered a freaking order. Get your damn chocolate. NOW!)

Automatic pet food feeder. They don’t have opposable thumbs and therefore require you to do your part for them. Automatic feeders will at least make sure they don’t miss too many meals. Anyone not taking care of the pets will have to deal with me.

Booze. Not until after you meet the goal at the end of the day. If I catch you drinking on the damn job, I’ll find a way to publish the garbage that you wrote while under the influence. Alcohol is a known contributor to bad spelling, bad grammar, and an inflated opinion of how great your freaking writing is – you actually begin to believe all the nice things your mother says.

Back off, Hemingway! Alcohol will not make you great – Hemingway does nothing for me. And it is all about me. I don’t care what the damn bleeding heart literary geniuses think. This is a word count war not some damn deer camp drinkathon. Put the bottle down!

Poncho liner and blow up pillow. Move your chair out of the way, grab the dog and your woobie and close your eyes. I don’t care if you wanna spoon with your Writing Battle Buddy, just don’t be doing that crap where everyone can see it. People just get plain stupid when they don’t get enough sleep.

Bedtime story – There are bad men… and they are all hiding under your bed with clown masks. Nighty-night, princess!

Music. I’m not much for music when I’m writing, but do what you want. I like to be able to hear the voices in my head when they whisper.

First sergeant warning – if the voices you hear in your head are the character in your story – this is a good thing. If the voices in your head are telling you to get your gun and watch out for the people sneaking up on you from behind – this is not a good thing. Call me and I’ll talk you down.

Sense of humor. If you forgot to pack it – you shouldn’t be attempting NaNo.

Good luck, writers! I’ll be going in to battle with you, so pack your bags and get ready. We’ll be jumping of the cliff in the morning. Let’s put some boots on the ground and pinkies on the keyboards – it’s time to go!!!

Writing

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