Some Numbers
20 Feb 2012 2 Comments
in Updates Tags: blogging, The Queen's Butterflies, writing
Hello!
On Friday I posted my 600th post, and I thought it would be a good time for a look at some of my writing-related numbers to date.
Blog views all-time: 17,610
Blog Followers: 60
Facebook Fans: 37
Copies of Butterflies Sold: 32
Here’s hoping that all of these will go up! Thanks for your contribution to these. I’ll put up another update when I hit 700!
A Decision
10 Feb 2012 2 Comments
in Updates Tags: Chasing Butterflies, novel, query letters, reading, The Dragon Pendant, The Queen's Butterflies, TV, work, writing
So far, 2012 has been crazy busy for me. I’ve had some time to read, to start revising Dragon, and to get hooked on Being Human (the U.S. version), but my down time has been far outstripped by my busy time.
Because of this, I have made a decision about Butterflies. I am going to leave it as it stands, keep it available as an e-book, and start sending queries to publishers. This means that I am setting aside my idea for a massive overhaul, at least for the time being.
Instead, I’ll focus my writing energies on getting Dragon ready to query and pondering the realities of writing Chasing. 
Consider yourself updated.
Done with Dreaming: A NaNo Follow-up
13 Dec 2011 4 Comments
in Updates, Writing Tags: Leigh Townsend, Life in Dreams, NaNoWriMo, novel, The Dragon Pendant, The Queen's Butterflies, writing
Life in Dreams is officially finished! I met the 50,000 word goal for NaNo on Nov. 28, and yesterday I wrote the ending of the book. Hooray!
It’s really rough, and it’s going to require a lot of editing and some major revisions. That’s okay, though; I knew that was the case when I started NaNoWriMo. The final word count is 54,634 and it is 25 chapters long, plus a prologue. Whew.
I realized something as well – finishing Dreams means that I wrote not one but TWO complete novels in 2011. That’s right, Dragon Pendant was also written entirely during this year as well! Turned out to be a busy year.
I know, I know. Go ahead, say it. I wrote two novels and neither of them is a sequel to Butterflies!
Who knows? 2012 might finally be the year for Chasing to get off the ground. And I’m hoping to revise either Dragon or Dreams enough to put it up on Smashwords with Butterflies. I’ll keep you posted.
Second Week Slump? A NaNo Update
15 Nov 2011 4 Comments
in Updates Tags: airports, NaNoWriMo, plot, update, work, writing
According to the folks over at NaNoWriMo.org, it’s not unusual for writers to hit a second week slump. They don’t write as much; maybe their motivation is lower, maybe they hit a wall… Any number of reasons can make writers have trouble the second week.
I had a second week slump, but not for any of those reasons. I spent the week at a professional conference. (I knew it was coming and I signed up for NaNo anyway. We’ve already addressed that I’m crazy.) The travel days were great; I wrote something like 3,000 words in airports and airplanes on my way to Minnesota and again on my way back. While those two nearly double days should have helped, I was just over a day behind (1678 words, to be exact) when I returned.
Fortunately, I had my usual weekend (Sunday and Monday) to get caught up, both on sleep and on writing. Yesterday alone I wrote about 4000 words (that’s a lot of words!) and now I’m back on track. I also got past a little “what comes next” mini-wall. I knew in the big picture what was next, but deciding the smaller events hadn’t happened. (I started a fight, which is always a great way to get the plot going again.)
If you’re writing, I hope you’re on track! If not, thanks for cheering me on!
Suddenly Obsessed with Writing: A NaNo Update
08 Nov 2011 2 Comments
in Updates Tags: blogging, NaNoWriMo, update, writing
Blog posts written days in advance. Inspiration flowing like a mountain stream during the spring melt. 12,000 words in the first week. I’d say NaNoWriMo is serving its intended purpose!
On Thursday night I wrote four blog posts. As I already had Thursday and Friday scheduled, this took me through today. (I started this post on Thursday, although I stopped part of the way through when I realized I might jinx myself.)
Now that I’m adding to the post a little closer to the date, I can definitely say that the writing just keeps coming. I’m almost a week ahead in blog posts! The story of Erin and Aurana is flowing well, and although I can see some possible bumps down the road I’m not going to worry about them yet.
This is just the first week, so we’ll see how the rest of the month shakes out. For now, though, I’m pleased I chose to participate!
The Website, Not the River
15 Sep 2011 1 Comment
in Updates Tags: novel, publishing, The Queen's Butterflies
Exciting news! The Queen’s Butterflies is available for sale on Amazon.com!
It took a little effort, but it wasn’t difficult. It will be interesting to see if my numbers improve now that the book is for sale on both major e-book retailers.
Anybody have any amazing marketing tips?
A Little Update
17 Aug 2011 1 Comment
in Updates Tags: Amazon, Chasing Butterflies, novel, Smashwords, writing
I was hoping to be able to give you a Smashwords update, with some big numbers that included my Barnes and Noble and other retailer sales.
Sadly, this is not to be. Right now my total stands at 10 sold on Smashwords, with other numbers still pending.
I do have one quick update, however, about the e-book. Apparently Amazon and Smashwords are having a little technological trouble, and it’s looking like December is the earliest it will ship to Amazon. Therefore, I am going to explore Amazon’s own e-book service so I can get it out for the Kindle, too.
In the next two weeks I have some time off from work. (It will include travel, but as usual my physical absence will not translate into a blog absence.) I’m hoping to really get some writing done; I’m still trying to find my rhythm with Chasing, and hopefully some non-work writing time will help even it out.
That should be all the fun updates I have – I will keep you posted on numbers, Amazon, and the status of Chasing!
A Quick Butterflies Update
20 Jul 2011 3 Comments
in Updates Tags: publishing, query letters, Smashwords, The Queen's Butterflies
I wanted to give everybody an update on the status of The Queen’s Butterflies. On Monday it was approved for Smashword’s premium status, which means that it is now in the queue to be distributed to other retailers. Today it was sent to Barnes & Noble; it should show up on their site for sale in about 2 weeks. The other retailers are still pending.
As of today, I’ve sold 9 copies.
I’ve decided to let it ride for about a month, to see how sales go once it’s up on other sites. At that point I’ll start querying again, although I haven’t decided if I’m going to go for agents or publishers this time.
If there’s still no interest generated by queries by the end of the year, whatever I’ve made on e-book sales I will re-invest into self-publishing for real.
Today I realized that I can say “I’ve been paid for my writing” which is an awesome feeling.
Cover Art!
05 Jul 2011 1 Comment
in Adventures, Updates Tags: cover, Smashwords, The Queen's Butterflies, writing
I have cover art! A coworker did a beautiful painting for me, which I photographed and edited to make a lovely book cover.
The cover for The Queen's Butterflies
I also have an image file of the map that will be added to the document tonight. The Queen’s Butterflies should be available as an e-book by the end of the week!
No News Is No Thank You
23 Jun 2011 Leave a Comment
in Updates Tags: agents, publishers, query letters, Smashwords, The Queen's Butterflies
We’ve reached the eight week mark for my last active query letter.
What does this mean, you ask?
It means that the agent in question is not interested in my novel.
Part of the system I used to decide who to query had to do with how they respond. I gave preference to agents who actually respond, interested or not. While I understand it, I’m not a huge fan of the “I will only reply if interested” concept. That kind of leaves me wondering, you know? Fortunately, the agent in question has an automated response to queries (which means I know she got it) and a deadline for responding (which means I know it’s a “no”) so I guess no response technically counts as a response in this case.
The only other agent on my current list was not accepting queries as of the end of April. I’m debating if I should continue to query agents at all or maybe switch to publishers. The turn-around time is much longer, but you never know. A direct approach may work for me.
For now I’m hoping that the e-book will do reasonably well, and sales numbers might give a boost to my query letter. I think I’ll focus on getting that up and available before I start querying again.
Just because agents don’t enjoy the book shouldn’t mean it’s not available to interested readers!
