Category Archives: Publishing

2013: Wrap it Up

Posted on December 31, 2013 by Raymond Alexander Kukkee

© by Raymond Alexander Kukkee

Happy New Year!

imagesParty, people!  It's already December 31st and  2013 has been consumed, used up, down the pipe, glug-glug,   it's  gone!  New Year's Eve!    A perfect day? Yes!   Sun was out.   Here in NW Ontario it's been incredibly Canadian today, brutally  cold and bright for the last day of 2013.   At -38C,  the snow  squeaks when you're brave enough to go out and  walk on it, Apparently it is too cold for Florida-types,  but in reality,  it was a perfect, normal, winter day. Perfect for partying New Year's Eve, and the party's ON!

Speaking of perfection, in 2013, completed goals,  fulfilled dreams, even small successes helped and it's a perfect day to stay in and  wrap it up.

First of all, with something over  381,000  hits on this website in just over 11 months (since the 'hit counter'  was installed on this site, that is  ) —which is amazing — I want to thank each and every one of my loyal readers for stopping in here at Incoming Bytes.com. 

I also wish to thank my friends  around the world near and far;  those with creative, persistent ideas, wonderful solid people  who continue to inspire and support my dreams. Movers and shakers, individuals with dreams of their own,

For example, Robin Tidwell at Rocking Horse Publishing suggested we put my previously-published eBook    Morgidoo's Christmas Carol  (a unique Christmas classic for all ages ) into print.  Not just an idea!  It's done and out there!   Fantastic.   

Rocking Horse Publishing designed a new cover for the  2nd edition.   Robin did a  wonderful job on the project.  Morgidoo's Christmas Carol 2nd edition  is now out  in the USA,  Canada, UK, India, Australia, France,  Germany, Spain,  and everywhere else Amazon reaches. In fine bookstores everywhere.  How can that NOT be an inspiration and good luck for an author?

Now it may sound strange that I  specifically  mentioned Robin Tidwell, but she was actually the first person ever to read 'Liv Manlin' , my first novel that was collecting dust,   and encouraged me to submit it for publication.  It ended up being named "The Fires of Waterland" (historical fiction) (Redmundpro)  that was published and launched in January of this same lucky year. 2013, The Year of the Writer.  How do you beat that?

Then there's the  luck of the Irish,  —After all, everybody has luck, don't they? er....No

Did you publish a best-seller, too, win the Megabucks lottery or perhaps a free ticket for the Super 7?  How about the gazillion-buck SuperBall?  Did you even come close? Win a free donut?  Find a quarter on the coffee-shop parking lot?  Write a few short stories?  As an aside, did you ever persuade the spouse to read your first poem?  My first poem was awful. It's still awful.   

Nooooo...you say?   Okay, those were trick questions anyway.  Did you close your eyes, scribble more poetry, and just buy another ticket ? Did you keep on writing no matter what your critics said?  Did you listen to your instincts? There you go, that's called persistence, and optimism. Hope.   It is lucky to be persistent.   Join the group.  You're in great company. We all win when we keep trying. Smile.   Lottery non-winners, authors-to- be published or not,  scribblers and lucky anonymous, terrible poets, ordinary people.   The eternally hopeful. God Bless us all.

That's the point. We're optimistic, looking forward to 2014 and the NEW opportunities offered. Learn lessons in life. Take notes. Who knows, we may even publish again, put out a new edition,  and really get that best-seller going —and win the lottery too, (which might be easier) in 2014...er...we hope.

Meantime, good health, no accidents---how can good luck like that be beaten?

We may have to look this way and that, searching under rocks, and think positively to identify the genuinely wonderful things that did happen looking back at 2013,  because  sometimes they're tiny. Miniscule tiny miracles.  A page at a time.  We always have greater expectations, don't we?  I  have to admit that  2013 was not perfect by any stretch of the imagination,  and let's be realistic. Publishing a book or, winning the lottery doesn't guarantee life will be better. . Oh yeah?  but it wouldn't be nice to run a test on that theory ?

Let's Wrap it Up

No matter; the year 2013 is toast anyway 365 days gone, so let's wrap it up.  Best of 2014 to EVERYONE. Have a Happy and Safe New Year,

p.s.  And please don't drink and drive, plan to come home to your loved ones in one piece..

Happy 2014 !!

 

Is that Incoming I hear?

photo credit courtesy of www.gahzebo.com

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Writing Life: The November Novel

Posted on October 20, 2013 by Raymond Alexander Kukkee
© by Raymond Alexander Kukkee th (2) I can't believe it.  It's almost November again.   The once-spectacular colors of autumn are fading fast,  turning ghostly dull and lifeless in our chilly  rain.  They always do.  We creative types  don't like it much when the Blah's and Writerblocks come knocking either.  At this time of year Northwestern Ontario (which is officially one of the sunniest places in Canada, how can that be?)  is typically  blanketed  by lifeless, pewter-gray clouds. From our vantage point,  they are motionless,  uninteresting,  low, loaded with water,  and magically   propped up only by raindrops.  In other news, gGarden's in, fall cleanup pretty much done, so what to do? It's always a good question, isn't it? What will  you be doing this November?  Blogging?  Niche articles?  More of those brilliant, but never-pay-a- penny  articles for content mills promising great things?   How about a  November novel?  Wait..... Isn't that almost a tradition? Did you participate in NaNoWriMo last year? This is 2013, The Year of the Writer,  so never mind procrastinating and  daydreaming, bending paper clips and teasing the cat, dear scribbler. Sharpen those pencils collecting dust in those wonky dust-covered ceramic mugs on your desk instead if you haven't got a quill pen.  Get paper. Get excited.  Jump up and down. Shout.  Hum. Meditate.   Create  some new, unique  characters that will  drive the world to distraction  instead of waiting for life to happen. Drink some coffee.   Listen to the muse. She'll agree that  November's a great time to write.

 NaNoWriMo

Seriously.  How about tackling a complete novel?  A minimum of 50,000 words in 30 days. Will you be brave enough to join the annual  NaNoWriMo challenge this November?  For writers everywhere, writing 50,000 words or more  to a deadline is a substantial  challenge. I wrote one successfully  last year,  just under 70,000 words,  but then I was  spurred on and competing with that incredibly prolific writer and good friend  Amanda Dcosta, CEO and creator of Mandy's Pages.  The tortoise and the hare. A fine race it was too.  Raised some dust.  Guess who was the tortoise.  I write slowly, methodically, and.....well, good thing there's no obligation to say who finished the race first.  Neither of us has published those novels either.......yet, that is.     How about you, do you dread your November effort will just be another  boring " 50,000 dark and stormy nights" effort?    Hm... Persist. Be encouraged;  maybe it will turn out to be the Great American Novel after all.  We can dream, and we are eternally advised that practice makes perfect. The need for practice  is a great reason to try.  Let's face it, writing is a craft; a skill.  Conscientious effort produces results, however imperfect;  but writing with the intention of practice is usually  improved.   Perhaps this November it will  be honed to perfection. Do you have a unique novel  in the dark files of your mind?  Dig it out; go for it, dial up the muse! November offers other interesting options.  "What? Anything, tell us, tell us!" you shout with glee.  "What on earth could be as exhilarating as writing 50,000 words in 30 days? " Have you Heard of  GrammoWriMo ?   Recently I was  informed  by  Allison VanNest, Grammarly's Head of Communications —about the folks at Grammarly tossing their hat into the ring for the first time this November with a novel idea —a community novel. It''s an interesting idea;  you can write 800 words and participate in a community novel  that will be cooperatively written by hundreds of authors  including  Gayle Brandeis, who also happens to be a published NaNoWriMo author.   The scoop is that  Gayle will write the first and last lines of this potentially amazing book . To join Gayle and be involved, all you have to do is sign up!   Check out this interesting idea, and by the way, —you can even help decide the plot!  For more information, go to  http://www.grammarly.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/GrammoWriMo-Logo.png Thanks to Allie at Grammarly for that timely information!

Happy November!

Regardless,  whether you decide to tackle a  NaNoWriMo  novel, GrammoWriMo,  short stories or  other options, —choose well, and plan for an exciting November. Pssst....tell me what you're doing, and don't forget to  keep on writing!   Is that Incoming I hear? +    
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