NaNoWriMo 'Round the Corner

National Novel Writing Month is just around the corner. Any minute now within the rest of the day people all over the world will be able to access the site to set up their books all ready for November. Some are busy preparing their stories, working out every little detail of what to write, while others are taking the Panters approach and are waiting until the day before thinking about what to write.

On the 1st of November millions of writers from all around the world, no matter of race, colour or creed, will join together to face the task of writing 50,000 words in one month. Our inner authors will unite us in ways other things have failed to join us with. Together for 31 days we will battle together, facing ginormous word counts that loom above us and make us feel as though we cannot go on. Perilous plot holes, looming ahead in the ground that sink to the very center of the earth. Characters that refuse to obey our orders and demand a 50% pay increase or no dice. Together we shall all face despair, frustration, and an overwhelming urge to quit when the going gets tough.

But! We shall not go quietly into the night! We will not vanish without a fight! We're going to write on! We're going to survive!

We shall face that ginormous word count just like Edmund Hillary faced Mount Everest, we shall laugh in its face and climb to the top and triumph! We shall look down into those perilous plot holes and then swing over them like Indiana Jones. We shall face those treacherous characters and we shall proclaim 'No More!' and then see if we can't haggle down their pay increase.

The thing is that during the month of November we shall all face these things: despair, frustration, and an overwhelming urge to quit, but we can overcome them. I can't promise you that everyone who joins in with us band of merry writers will succeed to 50,000 words, some will fall away within the first week, maybe within the second and third week. It is all really up to you whether you succeed or fail. But remember this, NaNoWriMo is not about succeeding or failing. Don't worry about whether or not you'll really be able to write 50k or not, it's not about that, though some people might say so. What it is about is people from all over the world joining together to support each other in their works.

To me the goal isn't to write that many words, the goal is to just write, to create a new world in a story. If I manage to write 50k, or over, I'll be happy, but I'll also be happy if I only manage to write 20k. It's not about the number, it's about putting down differences to band together with friends, family, complete strangers and together delve into the magical world of writing.

So if you have ever wanted to write a story, ever felt that desire to get that story line that's been floating around in the back of your mind ever since you can remember down on paper, now is the time. Head over to NaNoWriMo and sign up. If you need a friend to help show you around the site, or if you just want a writing buddy for the event you can look me up as CaptainVonDelgo. I would be more than honoured to help you out, and I know others on the site will be more than happy to help you out as well. It's a great experience, and worth every day.

Price changes for my book

So I have been facing a choice for about a month now since publishing Of Lights and Shadows, of whether or not to go with the Expanded Distribution offer that Createspace gives you.

As of now my book, priced at $15.00, is only for sale on the Amazon and Kindle store and the Createspace eStore. However, if I select Expanded Distribution my book will be available for bookstores and other online retailers, libraries and academic institutions, and something called Createspace Direct which allows resellers to buy my book at wholesale prices. To me that offer is a wonderful thing and in an instant I would jump at selecting those channels to sell my book through. It's a brilliant way to make my book more open to the public, which at the moment it's only reaching a tiny bit of what it could be. It's open to the public, but only in a small area can you buy the book. Expanded Distribution opens that up for me and others and makes it more available.

The drawback to picking this option, which is the only thing so far that has prevented me from going with it, is that the list price on my book goes up about $6 which means that I cannot sell my book for under $18. I'm not sure about you, dear reader, but that price is a little too expensive for me. So the choice I have been facing is, keep my book relatively cheap, and only available in like three channels and hardly noticeable, or up the price a bit and have it open to almost everywhere.

The reason I'm explaining this all is because I have decided to go with the second option of selecting Expanded Distribution. To me it seems like the options of what I get outweigh the price change I will have to make. But just so you know, only the price of the paperback will be going up, the Kindle price is going to stay the same. Plus if you buy a paperback copy of the book on Amazon.com you receive a free Kindle edition.

I will select the options for Expanded Distribution on the 9th of next month, two weeks from now. On that day the price for Of Lights and Shadows will go up, unfortunately. Until that time the price will stay at $15.

However, a little something special for those of you interested in buying a copy of my book before the 9th, I have a discount code for $5 dollars off. 

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I believe it only works for the Createspace store (I'll give a link below), so be sure to head there rather than Amazon to use the code. If there are any problems with the code please let me know, you shoudl just be able to leave a message in the comments.

https://www.createspace.com/4486696

A Poem About Tea.

I wrote a poem about tea. It's very strange. I haven't drunk tea since I was a little boy, I switched to drinking coffee which is far more addictive. I still enjoy tea but I can't stop drinking coffee.

'Another broken day,
Like a tea cup on a tray,
Shattered along the way.

Tea cup upon a hill,
Tea cup buried in sand,
Away from life,
Detained from truth.
Inanimate,
Lifeless object,
Tea cup be thou mine.
Fill to brim with liquid drink,
A warming for my soul.'

I also wrote something else, a special little thing I like to call 1842.

'Sets a smile to my face,
And my heart to a race,
Still months after we said okay.

I look back at the date,
See that it’s pretty late,
But still see that it’s all okay.

The time passed on through,
Since we said, ‘how’d you do?’
Yet everything is still okay.

I’ve come to accept,
What I used to regret,
And know that things come to end.

But to look back and grin,
At the times thick and thin,
Is a sign that we’re where we should be.'