Elizabeth Investigates

Random Musings June 16th, 2015

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Hello My Imaginary Friends,

I hope you enjoyed Part 3 of Only Human, last week. I’m enjoying getting into the head of this character. She’s an interesting combination of awkward and intense.

Today’s going to be a random set of musings. Feel free to skip to headings that are more your taste

Critique Group

I was asked to join a Critique Group. My first reaction was utter panic. I’ve heard terrible things about writers groups in general; all kinds of horror stories about people critiquing the wrong things or just tearing you down for fun. Yikes.

Then I heard who was in the group. One is a writing coach, at least two are published authors, and all of them have a lot more experience in the writing community than I do. Double Yikes.

I dithered and waited and then finally decided to join and see how it was. (I could always run away arms flailing in fear in needed.) Turns out I had nothing to worry about. We had our first session last night and I read the first 2000 words of Everdome. They seemed to really like it which gives me hope. They were supportive and super friendly. (They could be holding it all in to pounce on me later… Naw…?)

Sometimes it really pays off to get out of your comfort zone; especially as a genre writer in Ottawa. The people here are fantastic

Time and Writing

I spent three months thinking about and planning Parasomnia before I started writing it. Then I took ten months to write it. Two months for the first edit. Then there were the Weditor and Beta readers 1 and 2 (All super-fast) and my further edits. I’m not over a year and a half into this novel and I’m almost ready to send it to Beta Reader 3. Once they’re done I’ll have another full edit and another pass by the Weditor.

If all goes well I’ll have something to pitch and submit by end of October which will mark 2 years of working on the book. That is an immense amount of time and energy and all that is before I start submitting it to agents and publishers.

Oh and that’s nothing compared to A Study in Aether (Which started as The Mitten Wizard) I started writing that in November 2009. It’s gone through 3 titles, 1 complete re-writes and a dozen readers. Heck one publisher still hasn’t gotten back to me and I submitted it almost 2 years ago. (My rant at the complete and utter lack of professionalism of that publisher will have to wait for another day. Let’s just say I will NEVER submit, or buy, another book to/by them.)

It just takes a lot of time.

New Sci-Fi Television

Dark Matter

I watched the first episode of Dark Matter last night and I enjoyed it. It’s not an action Sci-Fi but the action in it is really good. The characters are interesting and likeable. (My wife and I had fun naming the Firefly/Stargate archetypes)

It shows promise and has a good mix of humour, intrigue, and special effects. I’ll definitely be watching next week

Killjoys

Speaking of next week, I’m really looking forward to Killjoys; a new Sci-Fi about space bounty hunters by the creative crew of Orphan Black. (Awesome!)

Check it out:

Gaming

I’m just finishing the Emerald Spire Superdungeon with my players and it’s been fun. It’s a giant dungeon written by some of gaming’s best designers. It feels a little light on story but it’s a lot of fun.

This weekend I’m starting Character Creation on a homebrewed setting I’m calling the Pandora Archives using my custom made system FADDS (Four attribute Dual Dodecahedron System). I’m totally Nervouscited!

I NEED THIS GAME!!!

Ok! There’s roughly 36 hours before the Kickstarter A Match Made in Austin is finished and they’re $400 away from their goal.

I’ve already pledged at the $45 level that would get me a hardcopy book and a copy of the game. Seriously how many times can you say you’re getting a game and a book for $45.

If you want just the physical game it’ll be $25 (Seriously an awesome card game for $25???)

Please GO SUPPORT IT! (I want my copy…)

untitled

That’s it for today.

 

Go Support A Match Made in Austen… NOW!

Éric

What has Eric Been Doing?

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Hello My Imaginary Friends,

It feels like a while since I’ve written a real update about everything going on, so here’s an update on what I’m working on.

Novels

A Study in Aether

The book is currently with Beta Reader 1 (or 12 depending on how you’re counting.)

I plan on sending it to Beta Reader 2 by the end of January and 3 by the end of February. If all goes well I’ll be able to resubmit in April. Yay!

Parasomnia

I’m roughly 36% done editing and it’s taking a long time. It’s all about motivation unfortunately. I’ll start working more on in it next week. I’d like to get it to the Weditor by the end of next week. Yikes!

Everdome

I’ve been planning and prepping and wishing I could write instead of editing. So yesterday I caved and started writing a little. I’ve now got 3000 words total of a novel I haven’t technically started.

I’ll start writing it officially once I finish editing Parasomnia, so hopefully Christmas week and then in the New Year.

Stories

Sun-Speaker Universe

I’ve written a sequel to Hal The Sun-Speaker and it should be edited and serial posted here sometime in the future.

Crystal Death Multiverse

I previously called this Project Kitchen Sink. I haven’t worked much on it but I do have 3 completed stories that I’m considering serial posting here.

The Cosmic Cuckoos

The Adventures of Helen will be returning soon. I really enjoyed this story but got distracted by Felix Felicis.

The Ridiculous Adventures of Felix Felicis

This story started as a one off word of the day and turned into a time spanning epic which makes me giggle every time I re-read it. I hope it’s made you laugh as well.

I’m planning on wrapping this one up around April Fools.

Games

The Simplest RPG

I’ve done a little work on fine tuning this game and I have a playtest on Saturday that should give me an idea how well it’s works. I’ve created a cute little character sheet and everything. I’ll post more next week.

FADDS

I won’t have a website up for FADDS this year but I have been hard at work fine tuning the system. I’m very close to the editing phase.

I have a playtest for FADDS this weekend too so I should be good to make some edits and then go through the whole thing to fix issues and clean up language.

Coffee

Next step

I’m ready to call my coffee experiments a success. The product is good and I’ve had some good reviews. I’m planning on upping my production capabilities and next convention I plan on having a giant thermos to let people test the coffee.

My next phase in production is to test out weird flavours. My best sellers were Cinnamon and Banana so I’d like to try some unlikely flavours. I’ll try out some of the fruity stuff and see what happens.

Flavours

I’m keeping the Raktajino, rebranding the Banana Cream as Minion Coffee, and adding Jabba the Peanut a peanut butter flavoured coffee.

I think, unless I hear different, I’ll retire the Spiked and Davroast.

Want Some?

I still have some Spiked(Butter Rum) and Davroast(Chocolate Hazelnut) left over if you’re interested.

Youtube

Silver Stag

I’m still volunteering with Silver Stag Entertainment. Go check out the shows. We’re really quite funny.

JenEric Designs

Things have been quieter than the night before Christmas on the JenEric Designs Youtube page.

All is not lost. I have an idea that is both easy and cheap to produce. Bonus is that my antiquated Premier will be able to handle it easily. I just have to get it set up. More on that later.

 

Well I’ve been busy lately…

What project, that I’ve been working on, would you like to see more of?

Éric

Responses and Houses. Yay!

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I have a lot of stuff to talk about today so let’s split it up into topics.

House

Let’s start with the good news. My wife and I have bought a house. My in-laws have been a great help throughout the process and I am lucky to have them. We’re moving on the 29th of March, which means I’ll be crazy stupid busy for the next month. I’m trying to fight down the panic right now.

Who thought moving 800+movies and 2300+ books would be so much work?

Writing

On Writing by Stephen King

The last book I wrote came together in amazing and beautiful ways, for me anyways. It was a culmination of three years’ worth of thinking and planning.

This new book isn’t like that. Writing is hard. No seriously, some days I wonder why I bother. I’ve been writing a novel a year for the past three years and I’m now a third of the way through my fifth novel and sometimes I feel like it’s just too much work.

Then I start writing and realize how much joy it brings me. It’s a feeling that I have to hold onto even in my most depressed and insecure moments.

But sometimes it would be nice to get appreciation from someone who doesn’t know me.

Publisher Response

In that vein, I received word from one of the two publishers yesterday. It’s a kinda rejection and possibly the nicest I’ve received. That’s saying something, I’ve been rejected several dozen times (not much compared to most authors but I’m still young and haven’t written enough short stories) and they’ve all be extremely nice about it. I’ve really only received 2 kinds of rejections; the nice ones and the “no response” rejections.

They basically said they liked the story and the characters but that it needed a good rewrite and editing. The word “compelling” was used which I take as a great compliment.

The only part that stung was that they said it read like a first draft. It was my sixth draft and third rewrite. I’ve reached the point with the book were I know I need professional help. (Insert Psychologist joke here!) They did say I could resubmit once I had reedited and rewrote the novel.

It makes sense, they’re a smaller publishing company and my book needs an editor, which is expensive. I’ll wait and see what the other publishing house says and then I’ll have to look for an editor. Unfortunately editors are expensive and we just bought a house.

Anyone know a good editor that won’t cost me more than a used car?

As I said I’m still waiting on one reply for this novel and I’m waiting on a short story anthology. I’m still hopeful.

I would like to thank the publishing house for the sweet things they said… so if you’re reading, thank you.

Silver Stag Entertainment

I’ve really been enjoying being a guest of this podcast for the past few weeks. It’s great to sit around and chat about movies and books with smart and funny people.

I was on the panel this week for The Diamond Throne by David Eddings.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fm7qhKtNFlo]

Survey

Tomorrow is the last day to fill in our survey so if you want to win that 10$ gift card this is your chance.

Go do the survey, Only 2 Days left.

contest

Thank you for listening. Tomorrow you’ll get to choose who dies in my newest novel.

Éric

Just Watch Me

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It’s the holiday season. For some, that means stress piled on top of stress. For me this year it means I’m ignoring the stress and cuddling up with the good feelings. (And I haven’t even bought my yearly Irish Cream. I swear.) There’s just something so hopeful about this time of year.

Resolutions

Someone once told me to make New Year’s resolutions that you know you can accomplish. Let me give you advice my wonderful Imaginary Friends. Make New Year’s resolutions that you can accomplish, that you can fail, and that you want to accomplish.

I could easily say that this year I’ll lose 30 pounds. It’s possible, I could easily fail, but I don’t really care enough. I could say that I will breathe regularly. It’s possible, and I certainly want to but I can’t really fail. So follow the three guidelines and you’ll have nice, useful, and attainable goals.

Last year I resolved to do three things, Read more, Write regularly, and Post more on this blog. Two out of three ain’t bad right? I managed a novel and 4 short stories. Read 31 books and I’m on 32. I unfortunately didn’t update much. Sorry.

This year I resolve to do three things again, Write regularly (500 Words a Day of novels or stories), Continue Reading as much (30+ might be tiny compared to my wife who reads that in 3 months), improve my internet presence (See next).

Projects

I have multiple projects in the works, some of which have been in the works for way to long. I’m hoping to get them started and some of them finished this year. Others might take a few years but I’ll get there.

FADDS (Four Attribute Dual Dodecahedron System)

I’ve been working on the rules for FADDS for going on 3 years now. I have most of them worked out and I’m hoping to have a downloadable PDF and hyperlinked SRD finished by the end of 2014. From there I’d like to work on beta testing at Cons and maybe running a kickstarter for the basic rules book.

Elizabeth Investigates (or the Baker City Adventures)

I’m going to be taking a break from writing this series. As much as I love the characters and setting, it’s time to diversify my available products. In other words I’d like another book to shop around. I am waiting to hear from a few publishers about the first book. If they decline it I’ll look into self-publishing. (See previous post for incoherent ramblings.)

Project Kitchen Sink

When I was in high school, one of my favourite books was the Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury. I loved it for the structure. It’s effectively a series of short stories that work themselves into a larger narrative.

Lately I’ve been enjoying George R.R. Martin’s multi-character style, where he jumps from one character to another filling in their side of the story. I did this in my latest novel and my beta readers have said they enjoyed it.

Project Kitchen Sink is a going to be a Fantasy novel riddled with elements of science fiction, mystery, and adventure. It’s going to jump from one protagonist to the other in an over-arching plot with multiverse destroying consequences. I want it to be character driven with multiple different styles. I’m aiming for it to be a standalone novel that is roughly 100,000 words. I have 5 characters stories plotted out.

The Dying World

This is a story and world I’ve been working on for about half a year now and I’m hoping to turn it into a generic roleplaying game adventure. It would be a large fantasy/sci-fi adventure that is compatible with any roleplaying system.

This is a ridiculously ambitious project and I might not get started until summer. Before I submit/publish it, I’ll have to run it with at least 1 group.

The basic story will be laid out in a future post.

Youtube

Last year I became obsessed with some youtubers and decided that if I ever get the right equipment, I’d start my own show. I’d like it to take on several formats and post once a month to start and maybe every week when I get good at it.

The formats would include but not be limited to:

  • How Hard Could it be to Cook _____ (Where I cook something I’ve never tried before.)
  • The Canadian Conspiracy Nut (The fictional story of a conspiracy nut who accidently got it right.)
  • Basic Vlog (Where I can rant and talk about stuff.)

Websites

I want to create a website that combines all my online stuff and my wife’s and organizes it coherently.

The main page would be JenEric Designs and that would integrate:

And add:

  • A Youtube Channel,
  • A Store for JenEric Designs,
  • And Forums

The idea would be to have some sort of content being published at least 4-5 times a week.

In Conclusion, We’re Just Starting.

That looks like a lot more than I expected but I look forward to it. I hope this hasn’t been too long and rambling.

I also hope that the followers (or what I call My Imaginary Friends) will follow and grow as the projects get realized.

That’s it for now. Try and enjoy the season and all the joy that it brings.

Elisabeth Investigates: Memories of Faust

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Hello,

I have finally, after over a year, finished my third book Elizabeth Investgates: Memories of Faust. It is a sequel to my second book Elizabeth Investigates: The Mitten Wizard

I would ask/beg/plead that you read the new novel and send me your comments. Either in the file or separately if you proffer.

Here is the link to my cloud server. I have made available every type of file I can think of.

For those who would like to reread the extended and heavily edited first book here is the link.

The only major change you need to be aware of is a name change. I changed Sally Lavall to Cassy Lavall.

Feel free to share the books with others, I would love as many comments as possible.

Thank you in advance and enjoy,
Éric