Awkward...

The Professional Awkward

Yesterday was one of those odd days. First, I received a rejection letter for a job application. Huh?

I had already assumed that the company was not interested in me because more than two weeks had passed. That's the standard. It seems weird to get one, especially since the wording was that the job position had been closed, rather than saying it had been filled. Don't get me wrong, I'm used to rejection letters. I just didn't know that companies ever notified you when you didn't make it through the initial application process.

There was also encouragement to apply for positions at the company's other imprints -- this was for an editorial assistant position at an imprint in one of the large publishing companies. But I doubt that will get me anywhere. Though because of applying, I have been left with weekly emails for similar job listings. Maybe I'll try again, but if my resume doesn't change, I'm not too sure interest in my resume will change. I'm thinking even for an entry level job, there's going to be a who-you-know element. Time to network...

The Surprising Awkward

I've been spending what free time I have trying to finish up Here's Lucy because Hulu is going to expire it in a few days. It's been helpful in my research for my latest project, especially when it comes to fashion, but then I had to sit through this episode yesterday (awkward...)

The Not Awkward

The writing. The writing is fully grown and wildly confident--she left that awkward stage long ago. I've signed up for Medium and have started to upload some of my previously published pieces. "Second Shadow" is up right now, along with "Tuesday Morning Hangover." I'll be adding more in the coming weeks. Hopefully I will be able to get new pieces up soon.

I know I sing the Patreon song a lot, but if you are interested in getting a new poem from Pieces tomorrow, go ahead and sign up to get exclusive access.There will be a new piece up tomorrow, and more to come soon on Wattpad.

That's all for now. I'll be over here, working away and hoping the next great idea doesn't strike me just yet... I've got too much piled up for that!

April Bringing Showers... of Projects

If you haven't figured it out by now, I like to celebrate National Poetry Month every April. This year, I've decided to work on a poetry project--a manuscript for submission to a publisher (one of the few that still consider unsolicited work).

I thought this would mean skipping out on April's Camp NaNoWriMo, but they've implemented some pretty awesome changes, including letting you set your writing goal to word count, line count, page count or hours spent writing (I hope these options carry over into November's contest as well). So now I can use Camp NaNo to complete my manuscript within a month. To be honest, a lot of the work is written; it just needs edited and compiled to a full-length project.

Now that there are plans in place, I can't wait until April!

Into the Second Phase

Life has slowed down a bit here. Actually, it's more like a standstill. There's the huge dump of snow that we got yesterday, but there's also a lack of work. I actually haven't had a single job 2014, though not for lack of trying. That's what I get for raising my standards. If I don't work for chump change, I apparently don't get to work.

For now, I'm still smiling. But by the end of the week, I may be in pre-launch for panic mode. Even though I'm snowed in, I'm probably staying afloat emotionally simply because I have big dreams. The dreams themselves won't get me anywhere, but if I find the right next step to take, the world's mine. Right??

But I'm not down and out completely yet. I still have my current writing project. I tried to drum up some mystery around it with last week's Instagram post, but I'm ready to reveal what it all means. These seemingly random numbers correspond to haiku. Lots of haiku. In fact, last's year's goal was to write one haiku each day for the year. I managed to write about 345 before my time was up. Out of all those, I narrowed it down to 100 to put into a manuscript.

These 100 (I deleted one so it may only be 99 now) are going to be published as a collection. I plan to self publish through Kindle Direct Publishing because I have never heard of a single publisher that buys haiku-only manuscripts. But if you exist, come talk to me. ;-) KDP also gives me a lot of publishing flexibility without any cost. Soon, it will be available through Amazon as an ebook. And remember, 'soon' is a relative term.

At this point, all of the poems are edited. I just need to complete the formatting, draw (or have someone else draw) a few of them to break up the monotony and then figure out what I want to do with the cover art. I'm a little nervous because I've tried to publish a poetry collection before, and cover art/artwork is where I got stuck last time. We'll see what I can do.

Kindle Matchbook: The Early Verdict

Today, Amazon launched its new program Matchbook. If you are already familiar with Amazon's Autorip program for music, Matchbook does the same thing, only with your previously purchased books. Matchbook provides Amazon customers with Kindle versions of the print books they previously bought. At today's launch, the company estimates 70,000 titles are available, with more being added all the time. However, unlike Autorip, these Kindle books are given at a discounted price instead of free. While some titles will be available for free, most will be reduced to prices that range between $0.99 and $2.99. Books available include those that have been sold on the site since 1995, when Amazon first started offering books.

Each Kindle edition available from the Matchbook program will come with all the perks of any full-fledged Kindle book including Whispersync delivery, X-ray and much more.

Already, there are some issues with the program that avid readers just don't like. First, hundreds of thousands of titles are still not available--and they may never be available. That is because publishers are able to opt in and out of this program, and many publishers are not on board yet. Readers are also not happy with the fact that they can get free MP3s with an Autorip purchase, but will still have to pay a price for a digital copy of a book they already own. Many are asking why anyone would want to buy a second copy of a book they already own. While it may help someone who has lost or misplaced a book they want to read again, most serious readers would not purchase the digital version unless it was available for free, or they really wanted to have multiple versions of a book available to them.

As to the choice of books that are available, I went to the sit today to see what I would have available from my library. I was provided with five titles, all but one priced at $2.99. There were none available for free, even though I'm sure I bought some print versions of classics I already know Amazon publishes in a free ebook version (though probably through a different publisher). Knowing that I have my printed copies readily available, I won't be purchased any of these digital copies.

However, if you were the publisher or the author of a printed book, would you be willing to opt in to this program? Do you think that it would boost your sales overall, or no make much of an impact?

Sittin' In A Blizzard

Well, if there was anything that would make a writer sit at their desk and write, it would be blizzard conditions. Luckily, it's only impeding travel and not cutting the power or anything [update: intermittent Internet... just enough to be annoying]. I have been working on the normal, everyday writing stuff. My plan is to get that out of the way so this afternoon I can get back to poetry or short story submissions that I have been pushing aside for a number of reasons that really aren't good enough.

I have also been going through my Writer's Market (which is the 2012 versions, so technically it's obsolete) and marking the listings for potential agents, publishers and all the other listings it includes. Am I ready for agent queries? No, definitely not. But I'm trying to put all of the information together early so that I can be prepared when I am ready. That, and I'm having to do a little detective work to find literary agents that will take on a poet. Not many want to mess with poetry because it is such a low paying market.