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.
