"Be like dandelions"

C. A. M. Lindman (1856–1928)

In a previous post I mentioned a talk by Neil Gaiman — his 2013 keynote speech at the Digital Minds Conference. It was received fairly quietly when he made it, because he said a lot of stuff that particular audience didn't necessarily want to hear. But that's not the part of the speech that really stuck with me.

I love Neil, and my agency doesn't pay me to say so. He has some very cool philosophies that I embrace. In his speech, he says to the audience, "Be like dandelions."

What he's talking about is getting your work in front of as many people as you can, as many ways as you can. I'll stay away from the aspect of that philosophy that I know bothers at least one of my co-bloggers: the idea that readers downloading books for free is a good thing (easier to say when you're a bestseller and able to pay your bills). The aspect of this I really latched onto is the "as many ways as you can."

I think this is a critical piece of advice for authors today, whether indie or traditionally published, or somewhere in between.

My life often feels overwhelming. I work a day job. I'm a single mom half the time. I have book deadlines. I'm always struggling to make ends meet, and I never feel I get enough accomplished.

In 2012 I contracted with Tor for two books, and then last year I contracted one more. Those books until recently have been the entirety of my publishing career, because frankly it was all I could handle. But as we all know SFR is a tricky genre. It's hard to get your name out there, and your work noticed. The jury's still out on whether my first three books will sell enough copies to get me another contract.

Since I'm not likely to quit, I decided the best thing I could do while working on my next book is try a few new things. Shorter works. Edgier works. Different heat levels. Different formats. Different audiences. All of them my signature blend of romance and geeky spec fic.

Except for the occasional procrastination-inspired infidelity, I am typically a monogamous writer, sticking with one project until it's finished. So this is a real challenge for me. But I'm convinced that it's the way to go, and that working on multiple projects might even help me to be more efficient by keeping me inspired and warding off writer's block.

So to illustrate my point, here's a list of the irons I've got in the fire. I cannot possibly compare to the unstoppable (and undoubtably sleep-deprived) Pippa. But for me, this is bustin' out.

• LOST THINGS, FOUND THINGS — This is the new book I've been working on, and I am super excited about it. It's set in Portland, a town I adore. A little physics, a lot of mythology, and a sexy couple with a date with destiny. You can read a short excerpt (and see photos from my research trip) here.  
• A HEART FOR COPPER — This steampunk fairy tale is the "choose your own adventure" style short story I wrote for SilkWords, the company where I work as senior editor. It's also going up on WattPad, where I'll ask readers to vote at each choice point to see the next segment of the story. (Or they can buy the whole thing with all the choices here.) It will also be available soon in the Kindle Store. 
• THE GARDEN RULES — An erotica short (first in a series) I'm going to publish using a pen name, either myself or in partnership with my literary agency (TBD). I'll admit I went into this thinking it might be a good way to make some extra cash. But I ended up really having fun with it. I originally planned to submit it to Kindle Shorts. Actually I did do that, and got a request for the full story. But then I decided the margins are much better to go KDP. 
• RED — A zombie-ish story that started out as a piece of flash fiction. It's been on the back burner for months, but the idea stuck with me. It's a gritty first-person, present-tense SFR, and I wasn't sure whether it would have a large enough audience to merit devoting a lot of time to it. But I had this idea to use it as a WattPad experiment. I've posted the first two parts, and will squeeze in more work on it as I can. The plan is not to have a plan. I'm not plotting in advance. I'm truly pantsing this one, one scene at a time. Yep, told y'all I was bustin' out.  

In another of Neil's talks, he tells the story of a woman who was trying something new and feeling anxious about it. He told her: Pretend you're a person who can do this. I think he's onto something. 

Are you spreading your writerly seeds? I'd love to hear about your projects!

A HEART FOR COPPER: A "pick your path" steampunk romance

For about six months now, I've been working with an interactive fiction site called SilkWords. I met up with the site's founders at their first focus group. I thought they had a great idea, and I was looking for editing work. It turned out to be a match made in heaven.

SilkWords' founders are Keri and Boyd Multerer, a wife-and-husband team. Boyd founded Xbox Live and was the director of development for Microsoft's Xbox One. Keri (who has a background in environmental science and genetics, how geektastic is that?) is a mom of three who knows that for many women, reading for fun is a luxury not often savored. The Multerers' goal with SilkWords was to provide a fun, interactive, and emotionally satisfying entertainment option that doesn’t require a huge time commitment. 

SilkWords was born this past Valentine's Day. I've been working with the Multerers as their partner and senior editor, setting editorial direction and vetting submissions (and pretty much anything else that needs doing because this IS a startup). I've also been itching to try my hand at a "pick your path" story (many of you are probably familiar with Choose Your Own Adventure stories from childhood), and as my book tour for THE OPHELIA PROPHECY wound down, I made it a priority.

Today my first "pick your path" story goes live. It's also the first short story I've written since my contract with Tor. Here's a little bit about A HEART FOR COPPER, whose heroine is a sort of Pinocchio / Tinman mashup (though nicer to look at):

An automaton created by an inventor's son, Copper has finally been given a heart by her young master. Her choice of whether to keep the key or give it to him will decide her fate in this steampunk fairy tale. 

"A Heart for Copper" artwork by Indie Designz.
Read the story for $1.99, or by subscription to SilkWords.

One of the things I enjoy about writing and reading "pick your path" is you don't know for sure what to expect. We only require one HEA per story (though typically stories have more than one), which leaves the author free to explore multiple possibilities. Also makes it kind of fun as the reader, trying to pick the right path to the true romance ending. We are looser about erotica submissions, requiring only one positive or hopeful ending. Anything with at least one HEA is labeled romance.

In COPPER, this flexibility allowed me to fully explore consequences of the first choice point, which is a play on choosing the dark or light side of the force (the quick/easy v. the hard).

If you're interested in A HEART FOR COPPER or other SilkWords stories (including DANGEROUS RENDEZVOUS by The Galaxy Express's Heather Massey), you can read all the introductions free (up to the first choice point). To read more you either buy the story (my story and Heather's are $1.99) or sign up for a subscription. SilkWords also offers at least one free story a month for folks who create a free membership.

The Science Fiction Romance Brigade's bundle in the Brenda Novak auction includes a year-long subscription to SilkWords. And SilkWords is also offering a year-long subscription coupled with a year of Godiva chocolate in a separate listing ("A Year of Romance").

Bid at: http://brendanovak.auctionanything.com/

SilkWords is an exciting idea and has been a super fun endeavor. When I first heard about it I couldn't believe no one had done choice-based stories for romance, the most popular fiction genre. And erotica? Boy is it a natural for this format (MF? FF? MFM? Bondage? Domination?). Future phases of the site will expand the interactive reading experience to include reader and author interaction, with the goal of building a community around the concept. We're also looking at publishing connected stories, set in the same world but written by different authors. The possibilities are endless, really.

Did you read CYOA stories as a kid? (I know my books were dog-eared.) Have you written a CYOA?