The Read ...
My middle grade reading continues with Derek Landy's action filled Playing with Fire, the second Skulduggery Pleasant and Valkyrie Cain book. Landy keeps the action rolling here, a great achievement for the second book in a series/trilogy(?). But ... can't really see much character depth. While Landy creates a host of fun characters -- especially villains, they pop in and out of the action as needed. Who they are is left up in the air. -- Maybe an exercise in minimalist character development?
Not even Valkyrie Cain grows much in the year between stories -- though I think there was a paragraph where she muses that her parents are good people instead of just another annoyance.
Still the book's a great read for light amusement.
Web Stuff ...
As I struggle to get an ending on the Voices draft, I keep wonder why I'm spending so much time on the web, social networking ... or whatever you want to call it. Today, Kris Tualla wrote a blog on publicizing your work in her blog "What's an Independent Publisher to Do?" on 1st Turning Point. Don't trip over the term "independent publisher". Click the link to find a nice checklist of stuff to do to get the word out about your work.
Now if I only had an email list. [Actually, I do. But I don't think I'd get many sales out of 20 people.] I'll be muttering more about publicity in the future as I try to make my web-time more efficient. I think my first step will be to blog only two times a week.
Progress ...
Still grumbling about getting an end on my draft of Voices. Last night, I got all wet in the flood. Tonight, I get to confront social services and the neighborhood busy-body?
I also seem to remember I was going to clean off my desks before NYC son arrives. Need to clean it off since I'll be working from a paper draft when I revise.
Trivia ...
Turning carnivore at a local steakhouse for the old man's birthday. A 40+ year tradition -- though now we split a meal so we don't stagger back to the car.
5 comments:
Hi Kay -- thanks for the link to the 1st Turning Point post. I'm always looking for new marketing ideas.
I had to chuckle at your comment about cleaning off your desk so you can work with a hard copy for revisions. I posted something about doing that about three weeks ago, and my desk is still a mess. Maybe tomorrow...
Isn't there a song about "tomorrow"?
Ah, yes, "it's only a day away."
Ah, finally getting caught up on your blog. I read all your posts since I visited last (where does time go!!!) but forgive me for being lazy and leaving only one comment. This MG series sounds interesting enough- Valkyrie and a skeleton??? - that I think I will try it even though it doesn't have much character depth. If nothing else it will be fun to read to my kids, once we finished Lightning Thief. As always I find your links useful and esp. enjoy the bits of trivia! Enjoy your trip (inspite of family confrontations. Every family has those)
Margo: Valkyrie is a proper name. She's a rather snarly but astute early teen with a passel of obnoxious relatives. And, of course,being chased by the villains trying to take over the world.
Maybe I should be giving a summary of the book before I point out the parts I like.
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