This book is ridiculous!

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00RGK9XCI

This book "Dear Reader your pet may be a servant of Dear Leader", capitalized on the North Korean drama we had recently with "The Interview". It is very short, but pretty humorous. Have any of you checked it out? What do you think?

-Matt

Over Half Way Through NaNoWriMo

Alright, I am a little over 25,000 words into NaNoWriMo... a bit behind! Have to step up to writing 2k words per day to finish on time... challenge accepted :P. I hope you are all doing well! Any updates on your NaNo? Let me know!

-Matt

(Follow me on Twitter! @MattTaylor1776)

NaNoWriMo update!

Alright NaNoWriMo is quite the challenge! The best tip I have heard so far is to only stop writing once you know what will happen next... that way when you start back up, you wont be stuck there wondering what to write. Simple, but brilliant!

I am a little under 10k words in... checking out this program called Scrivener... I've heard great things about it, do any of you know how good it is? Recommend it? Avoid it? Let me know!

Hope you are all doing well both in writing and in life... I am feeling motivational today so here is something I always remembered from my health teacher way back in high school:

"Do the best with what you have, and where you are."

So keep at it guys! Share the blog, leave your comments, if you want to write a guest post then sweet! Let me know! Find me on Twitter (I promise I follow back) @MattTaylor1776

-Matt

Short Stories!

Short stories are a growing trend among all authors, new and published alike. While old publishing methods arguably did not favor production of short stories, new publishing practices with the advent of the eBook market (Here's lookin' at you Kindle/Amazon) are enabling all writers to produce and distribute short works to a massive audience. Here are some benefits of short stories:

Earning Potential: With the ability to put out multiple short stories within a short length of time, and sell them at a price that most full length novels are being sold for. Shorts offer a great way to make quick income. Per word, a short story can make more money than a novel. Shorts also offer multiple selling options. You could sell: Short 1, Short 2, Short 3. Three options right? Well consider a 4th option which won't cost you anything but a few extra minutes, sell a collection of the first three shorts as a value bundle. More often than not a reader will pick up the first short, and if they like it purchase the collection instead of individually buying the other two -which works out great for you, if you stop to consider what is actually taking place.

Bridge Between Novels: Alright, so you wrote Novel 1, and are getting to work on Novel 2. Meanwhile your loyal fans and ravenous readers are chomping at the bit to get at more of your work. To see other aspects of your world, and to be taken on more adventures. You can use short stories to sate the hunger of your followers while you type away at Novel 2, whether its to include short side stories or introduce other characters.

Networking: Short stories offer a great way for you to network with other writers and readers. You can use it to hook new readers onto your work, or to develop writing skills. Plenty of websites like Figment, and Wattpad service thousands upon thousands of new writers and offer readers looking for the next big thing a source to scour. (Shameless plug: My buddy and I who also run the blog "Wordsmiths Foundry" have made an account on Wattpad where we will be sharing shorts/flashfiction randomly. http://www.wattpad.com/user/WordsmithsFoundry)

Male vs Female perspectives!

Alright,

So either because I'm sadistic, or just up for a challenge, I decided to start writing a story with a female lead character. If you guys couldn't guess by my name, Matt, I am a male. I realized something... it's hard.

I had gotten a fair few pages written, and one of my friends who enjoys alpha reading for me decided to read what I had so far. She is also, a girl.

"Matt, this doesn't really seem like a girl speaking."

That was the first thing she said to me! I was like, huh? Then it dawned on me. If you and I both described a car, we would give a different description pointing out different aspects. For example, I may first notice the color:

"Damn, that red is really sexy."

While you may be like:

"Damn, that car has a lot of dents in it. The driver must be reckless."

The fact is, people notice and point out different things. This varies by age, occupation, and as you may have figured out -gender. A cop entering a room may first look for threats, potential hidings spots, escape routes. While carpenter Joe Citizen may recognize the style of cabinets, or how abused the wooden carved handrail is.

Girls, and guys, notice different things first. Whether its a person - "damn that girl has a nice rack" may be a guys first reaction. A girl may be like "that's a cute ear ring, or I wonder what perfume she is wearing -I think it's that *insert some name here* from Victoria Secret."

Or if it's a room

"Damn the fridge is too small, you can't fit beer in that!"

"What a lovely stove. Those blinds are sick, I need to get some of those."

However you write it, guys and girls will have different perspectives and notice different things. They will speak differently, treat others differently.

I'll keep it short today! If you have any input feel free to share! Like, comment, share this blog with your writing friends.

-Matt

Got my second edit back!

I received the second edit of "Heedless" back from the editor at CreateSpace. Unfortunately due to some cosmic mistake (or just an error on my own) I had resent the firsts draft of the story. So I essentially have just gotten my original story revised two different times.

I probably should have vouched to keep the same editor. Maybe she would have caught the mistake. Either way, I got the service I paid for! At least I can compare both now and see what each editor picked out.

Do any of you have interested editing/editor stories?

Comment below! Like and share!

-Matt

NaNoWriMo is coming up!

Alright,

Who here is getting ready for NaNoWriMo? When you will fill your month of November by frantically throwing words on paper until you hit your word goal, generally 50,000 words. Full disclosure here, I've never done NaNoWriMo from scratch. Last November I just started halfway through by counting a story I had already been working on... don't judge me!

This year. It begins.

I shall grab NaNoWriMo by the horns, wrestle it to the ground, and pummel it mercilessly until it cries for mommy -or it will be the other way round. (Here's hoping it isn't.)

Anyway, if you have any intention of participating in NaNoWriMo, comment below! How are you preparing? Doing world building now? Outlines? Just brainstorming in general?

http://nanowrimo.org/

Above is the link to the NaNoWriMo website! Check it out!

Good luck to all of you! Don't forget to share this blog, comment, like, whatever! It's a community and I look forward to hearing from all of you.

Happy writing, (Thats my new closing... sounds better than 'thanks!', right?)

Matt

Revisions update!

Alright, so the first short, "Heedless" is going through its second round of editing. Pretty exciting, although I'm not sure what more could be changed. If anyone is interested in reading it and giving some feedback that would be great. If there is an artist out there who would like to take the challenge of making a cover, that too would be great.

How's everyone doing? I hope you're all having a great week. I'm trying to find things to write while I go through revisions... easier said than done...

-Matt

Lies of Locke Lamora

Been listening to this on audiobook through the Audible App on my iPhone!

Great story, very interesting. At first, I didn't think I would like it. But after a while it really got moving and caught my interest. If you like heists, this is a great book. Takes place in a setting that kind of feels like Venetian Italy, it has canals with the gondolas and all that good stuff.

I don't really want to say more for fear of spoiling anything, so go ahead and give it a listen. Let me know what you think about it!

-Matt