Wednesday, December 30, 2009
New Year's Writing Competition!
Our first-ever New Year's Writing Competition starts January 1st. For more information on contest rules and prizes, head on over to the main site, Complete Writing Solutions.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
One of many...
January 4th will be the official unveiling of the website we will be using for the launch of Marginal Boundaries, a forthcoming speculative fiction ezine.
At present, we are looking towards proceeding as a quarterly publication, 100% digital and 100% paperless. Submission periods will be January, April, July, and November.
Submissions will open up when the website goes live. We are aiming for the first publication to release in March.
Something to keep in mind: this first issue is more or less an experiment to see how profitable we can make the ezine be. Since we have no plans for doing any print format, we can keep the cost of production fairly low. I am not making a profit from this venture; 100% of the funds will remain in the 'zine. This means more money for the writers, more money for the artists, more money for the editors, and more money for the advertisement of the 'zine. Currently I am assembling a team of editors and artists, and while I have several on board, I'll likely be bringing one or two more editors on board in February as we start going through the submissions.
If the first issue goes as planned, we will be moving towards a second issue, and beyond. If things go beyond expectations, we will be doing an annual print format which will focus on the "best of 2010" from our online department. If things really take off, we will look at bumping production to every couple of months, and perhaps doing some POD issues as well.
2009 was a good year. I was blessed enough to have a bit of money to play around with several different investment opportunities. This is the first of several that we (Evy and I) have planned for 2010. My work in the fiction field has been slowly growing, and I'm using this opportunity to push further into the market, albeit in a new direction.
In any case...spread the word! While we aren't officially opening the website until January 4th, 2010, the more people who know about it the more submissions we can get, the more interest we can generate, and the more issues we can sell. The more issues we can sell means the wider our range of opportunities, and expansion into the professional market rather than indy.
At present, we are looking towards proceeding as a quarterly publication, 100% digital and 100% paperless. Submission periods will be January, April, July, and November.
Submissions will open up when the website goes live. We are aiming for the first publication to release in March.
Something to keep in mind: this first issue is more or less an experiment to see how profitable we can make the ezine be. Since we have no plans for doing any print format, we can keep the cost of production fairly low. I am not making a profit from this venture; 100% of the funds will remain in the 'zine. This means more money for the writers, more money for the artists, more money for the editors, and more money for the advertisement of the 'zine. Currently I am assembling a team of editors and artists, and while I have several on board, I'll likely be bringing one or two more editors on board in February as we start going through the submissions.
If the first issue goes as planned, we will be moving towards a second issue, and beyond. If things go beyond expectations, we will be doing an annual print format which will focus on the "best of 2010" from our online department. If things really take off, we will look at bumping production to every couple of months, and perhaps doing some POD issues as well.
2009 was a good year. I was blessed enough to have a bit of money to play around with several different investment opportunities. This is the first of several that we (Evy and I) have planned for 2010. My work in the fiction field has been slowly growing, and I'm using this opportunity to push further into the market, albeit in a new direction.
In any case...spread the word! While we aren't officially opening the website until January 4th, 2010, the more people who know about it the more submissions we can get, the more interest we can generate, and the more issues we can sell. The more issues we can sell means the wider our range of opportunities, and expansion into the professional market rather than indy.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Happy Holidays
Whatever you want to call your holiday and regardless of which religion you follow...have a happy holiday with your family and/or friends.
Turn off the cell phone, log off the interwebz, and get back to basics. Enjoy some time away from the office, away from the jobs, and just revel in the sense of celebration as we embrace humanity and are thankful for all the blessings the previous year brought us.
Religious or not, the Christmas season is a time of joy for many different cultures around the world, all of them with their own unique way of celebrating. Rather than fight over whose name for the season is more politically/religiously correct, and rather than sneer down your noses at another person's way of celebrating, take the time to accept that everyone on this planet is your brother or sister, in the spirit of humanity.
Happy Holidays, and here's to a great weekend!
Turn off the cell phone, log off the interwebz, and get back to basics. Enjoy some time away from the office, away from the jobs, and just revel in the sense of celebration as we embrace humanity and are thankful for all the blessings the previous year brought us.
Religious or not, the Christmas season is a time of joy for many different cultures around the world, all of them with their own unique way of celebrating. Rather than fight over whose name for the season is more politically/religiously correct, and rather than sneer down your noses at another person's way of celebrating, take the time to accept that everyone on this planet is your brother or sister, in the spirit of humanity.
Happy Holidays, and here's to a great weekend!
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Hola
I don't update the personal blog much these days because I'm busy elsewhere, but I will from time to time...although there may come a time in 2010 when I transfer everything over to a different place as things expand.
So, since the last update, I signed a contract for a science fiction MMORPG out of Dubai. The outline they sent me was pretty awesome, and I had an hour long interview over the phone with the head honcho regarding mechanics, outlines, story concepts, and otherwise. Basically, I'm taking the ideas he laid out in outline form and giving them a 6-12k word background story that weaves together all the elements into a short story that he is going to give to an animation team to create an intro movie that they will use to shop for additional funding.
It's a start up. Even if it doesn't go anywhere, at least it's another fiction sale, and to be honest....it paid better than Asimov's or Analog would have paid, which are the two highest-paying sci-fi magazine markets in the world. So it's a few different birds with one stone.
However...I have to say this: after all my years of MMORPGing, the concepts their team has for mechanics and story are extremely unique. I've never seen anything like what they have on paper, and while it's true there is a difference between what's on paper and what can be programmed into a game, they absolutely sold me on the concept from the first 15 minutes of the phone conversation. I truly believe that this is a game that could very well establish a healthy niche for itself based purely upon its uniqueness and its breaking away from the traditional way things have been done for the past decade. I cannot give away too much because of the NDA, but suffice to say...you haven't seen anything like it, not in any game ever created to-date. It's 100% original, 100% badass, and 100% applicable to all styles of gamer...hardcore to casual.
So that's pretty badass :)
What else? Hmm. Already mentioned selling another short story. Ah, yes! After some deliberation, I've decided to front the money for a startup of my own. 2009 was a good enough year that Evy and I have a little bit of extra money, and I'm using that to expand the business. One of the things I'll be doing in 2010 is paying for advertising for Complete Writing Solutions. I'm going to get a logo created for the website, and then I'm going to fork out a grand or so for a marketing campaign. Not much to start, but it's what I'm willing to put out at this point in time.
I still have an e-book I want to launch in January...but this sci-fi project took over for the last part of December, because it's just so damn cool :) So, hopefully that e-book will be done by the end of January. It ties into a little project that I'm going to do for the month writing for a content site to prove just how profitable it can be, while keeping an eye on global awareness.
Another thing I'm doing is starting an e-zine. I've already been in contact with a couple of editors, and I'm slowly building upon some concepts I have. It's still in the planning stages at the moment, but I'll be working on the website in my spare time during January, and launching sometime during the first month. When I say launch, I say "opening for business" and taking submissions for stories. It will be fantasy and science fiction-themed, or rather...speculative fiction. It will be 100% digital; that is, no print format. At least not to start. A major issue in the spec-fic markets today is every time you send something out, you have to wait 4-6 months to hear back from editors as to whether or not they want your story or not. Our plan is to cut that down to a month at most. We won't be dealing with the post office in any way, shape, or form. Everything will be done 100% digitally. The plan is to start small, and build up from there. I'm fronting the money for the venture, and the overall goal is that it won't be a profit venture to start, but more of an expiriment to see how many copies we can sell. If we sell enough copies to turn a profit, we'll put out a second issue, and so on and so forth.
I have some very passionate people on board so far, and I'll be keeping an eye out for more in the coming weeks. Ultimately, it's starting out as a passion project with a fairly small budget, and the first issue will be a simple test to see whether or not it's profitable. If it isn't, I'm only out a small amount of cash, but if it works...then we can head into a round 2.
Not much more than that at present. I'm still doing the research into pricing, marketing, and otherwise.
That's it for my Christmas post. I probably won't post here again until after Christmas and the New Year, so for all the readers...Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, and I hope you have a great 2010!
So, since the last update, I signed a contract for a science fiction MMORPG out of Dubai. The outline they sent me was pretty awesome, and I had an hour long interview over the phone with the head honcho regarding mechanics, outlines, story concepts, and otherwise. Basically, I'm taking the ideas he laid out in outline form and giving them a 6-12k word background story that weaves together all the elements into a short story that he is going to give to an animation team to create an intro movie that they will use to shop for additional funding.
It's a start up. Even if it doesn't go anywhere, at least it's another fiction sale, and to be honest....it paid better than Asimov's or Analog would have paid, which are the two highest-paying sci-fi magazine markets in the world. So it's a few different birds with one stone.
However...I have to say this: after all my years of MMORPGing, the concepts their team has for mechanics and story are extremely unique. I've never seen anything like what they have on paper, and while it's true there is a difference between what's on paper and what can be programmed into a game, they absolutely sold me on the concept from the first 15 minutes of the phone conversation. I truly believe that this is a game that could very well establish a healthy niche for itself based purely upon its uniqueness and its breaking away from the traditional way things have been done for the past decade. I cannot give away too much because of the NDA, but suffice to say...you haven't seen anything like it, not in any game ever created to-date. It's 100% original, 100% badass, and 100% applicable to all styles of gamer...hardcore to casual.
So that's pretty badass :)
What else? Hmm. Already mentioned selling another short story. Ah, yes! After some deliberation, I've decided to front the money for a startup of my own. 2009 was a good enough year that Evy and I have a little bit of extra money, and I'm using that to expand the business. One of the things I'll be doing in 2010 is paying for advertising for Complete Writing Solutions. I'm going to get a logo created for the website, and then I'm going to fork out a grand or so for a marketing campaign. Not much to start, but it's what I'm willing to put out at this point in time.
I still have an e-book I want to launch in January...but this sci-fi project took over for the last part of December, because it's just so damn cool :) So, hopefully that e-book will be done by the end of January. It ties into a little project that I'm going to do for the month writing for a content site to prove just how profitable it can be, while keeping an eye on global awareness.
Another thing I'm doing is starting an e-zine. I've already been in contact with a couple of editors, and I'm slowly building upon some concepts I have. It's still in the planning stages at the moment, but I'll be working on the website in my spare time during January, and launching sometime during the first month. When I say launch, I say "opening for business" and taking submissions for stories. It will be fantasy and science fiction-themed, or rather...speculative fiction. It will be 100% digital; that is, no print format. At least not to start. A major issue in the spec-fic markets today is every time you send something out, you have to wait 4-6 months to hear back from editors as to whether or not they want your story or not. Our plan is to cut that down to a month at most. We won't be dealing with the post office in any way, shape, or form. Everything will be done 100% digitally. The plan is to start small, and build up from there. I'm fronting the money for the venture, and the overall goal is that it won't be a profit venture to start, but more of an expiriment to see how many copies we can sell. If we sell enough copies to turn a profit, we'll put out a second issue, and so on and so forth.
I have some very passionate people on board so far, and I'll be keeping an eye out for more in the coming weeks. Ultimately, it's starting out as a passion project with a fairly small budget, and the first issue will be a simple test to see whether or not it's profitable. If it isn't, I'm only out a small amount of cash, but if it works...then we can head into a round 2.
Not much more than that at present. I'm still doing the research into pricing, marketing, and otherwise.
That's it for my Christmas post. I probably won't post here again until after Christmas and the New Year, so for all the readers...Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, and I hope you have a great 2010!
Monday, December 14, 2009
Moving forward...again.
Not much new in the world of Tim. Website brand is growing slowly, and I'm pushing the market out. Invitations to do guest posts, of which I've done one so far, with another one next week. E-book is coming along nicely.
Rights from one of my short stories just reverted back to me in November, and I just re-placed it over at Abandoned Towers. Discussed making it into a serial, but I'm just too busy to realistically do it until March at the earliest.
Three other shorts in submission. Thinking of calling about one of them because it's been in since June and I haven't heard anything from the editor yet. 6+ months is pretty ridiculous.
Stumbled across a sci-fi MMORPG being developed out of Dubai yesterday, looking for a writer. I sent off a query and the guy got back to me within a couple of hours, and I have a phone interview with him tomorrow (Tuesday), so finger's crossed. It's just a single 6k-12k word short story (background story based upon their outline) to start, but the pay is decent and there's a potential for future work if things pan out, including quest writing and further story development. Of course it's a start-up, so things are simply in pre-development stage at this point, but it was an interesting enough opportunity that I couldn't pass up querying about it. After all, it combines fiction work with freelancing, so it's the best of both worlds :) And I love writing sci-fi, plus it furthers my progress in the fiction universe, so.
In any case, I'm pretty excited about that. I'll let you know how the phone call goes tomorrow. I wasn't actively looking for work at the moment because my first few months of 2010 are booked pretty good, but every once in awhile you stumble across those gems that are just so perfect you can't help but query about them, regardless of how busy you are otherwise.
Hoping to get our Christmas tree up this week. We still haven't managed to rearrange the living room...Evy and I keep finding other things to occupy our time. We bought tickets for the Avatar premier this Friday at the Imax, in 3D, so that should be fun.
Anyway...that's it for today :) Got some studying to do and some e-book work to hit up. Hope everyone is doing well!
Rights from one of my short stories just reverted back to me in November, and I just re-placed it over at Abandoned Towers. Discussed making it into a serial, but I'm just too busy to realistically do it until March at the earliest.
Three other shorts in submission. Thinking of calling about one of them because it's been in since June and I haven't heard anything from the editor yet. 6+ months is pretty ridiculous.
Stumbled across a sci-fi MMORPG being developed out of Dubai yesterday, looking for a writer. I sent off a query and the guy got back to me within a couple of hours, and I have a phone interview with him tomorrow (Tuesday), so finger's crossed. It's just a single 6k-12k word short story (background story based upon their outline) to start, but the pay is decent and there's a potential for future work if things pan out, including quest writing and further story development. Of course it's a start-up, so things are simply in pre-development stage at this point, but it was an interesting enough opportunity that I couldn't pass up querying about it. After all, it combines fiction work with freelancing, so it's the best of both worlds :) And I love writing sci-fi, plus it furthers my progress in the fiction universe, so.
In any case, I'm pretty excited about that. I'll let you know how the phone call goes tomorrow. I wasn't actively looking for work at the moment because my first few months of 2010 are booked pretty good, but every once in awhile you stumble across those gems that are just so perfect you can't help but query about them, regardless of how busy you are otherwise.
Hoping to get our Christmas tree up this week. We still haven't managed to rearrange the living room...Evy and I keep finding other things to occupy our time. We bought tickets for the Avatar premier this Friday at the Imax, in 3D, so that should be fun.
Anyway...that's it for today :) Got some studying to do and some e-book work to hit up. Hope everyone is doing well!
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Friday, December 4, 2009
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Hate mail!
Woot! I got my first piece of hate-mail over at the official website today :) Some lady actually took the time to go out of her way and write this really LOOONG e-mail talking about what a joke I am, how much of a hack writer I am, and etc. etc. etc.
She's just upset because I get to travel around Europe with my wife 4-5 times a year and she's stuck in an environment where her 80k a year barely manages to pay the mortage, car payments, and her kid's health insurance. I didn't chose your life for you, lady. You did!
Jealousy is an odd beast. I've never experienced it. I have always had everything I wanted in life, but I also worked hard to get those things. If I see something, I go out and get it, however I need to. I don't begrudge someone else for taking a different route, or having a different path to success.
It reminds me of my last experience in the US. I dropped my mom off at Safeway and was circling the parking lot, not looking for a space, but just waiting for her to grab a few gallons of milk on Christmas Eve. I saw her coming out, so I pulled around to the entrance and happened to park in front of an empty parking space, at which point I was visually, verbally, and audibly assaulted by a woman who began honking her horn, flashing her lights, screaming out her window, and flipping me the bird, all at the same time.
This Christmas season, take a breather, folks. Understand that the world is a great big place and you are NOT the only person on it. Act like a douche-bag and people are going to treat you like one.
She's just upset because I get to travel around Europe with my wife 4-5 times a year and she's stuck in an environment where her 80k a year barely manages to pay the mortage, car payments, and her kid's health insurance. I didn't chose your life for you, lady. You did!
Jealousy is an odd beast. I've never experienced it. I have always had everything I wanted in life, but I also worked hard to get those things. If I see something, I go out and get it, however I need to. I don't begrudge someone else for taking a different route, or having a different path to success.
It reminds me of my last experience in the US. I dropped my mom off at Safeway and was circling the parking lot, not looking for a space, but just waiting for her to grab a few gallons of milk on Christmas Eve. I saw her coming out, so I pulled around to the entrance and happened to park in front of an empty parking space, at which point I was visually, verbally, and audibly assaulted by a woman who began honking her horn, flashing her lights, screaming out her window, and flipping me the bird, all at the same time.
This Christmas season, take a breather, folks. Understand that the world is a great big place and you are NOT the only person on it. Act like a douche-bag and people are going to treat you like one.
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