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Archive for the ‘Biosphere’ Category

I don’t have a problem with saying “Happy Holidays” referring to the holidays in December, but I’ve never heard so many advertisers go out of their way not to mention Christmas. We have a right to celebrate Christmas and the Jewish people have the right to celebrate Hanukkah. Just mention the specific holiday as well as the umbrella term, holidays. Though, the commercialism of the season isn’t the point of Christmas and Hanukkah, it bears reminding the advertisers that the spiritual meaning behind these celebrations inspired people to give gifts in the first place. And it also bears mentioning the meaning behind Christmas and Hanukkah is God.

Meanwhile, my e-books are free on the Smashwords sale. I’m thinking of making Contagion Phase 1: Biosphere into Book 3. Beginnings is really Book 1. I hadn’t planned on writing the third book, but right now Books 2-4 all go together, and Biosphere is more of a spin-off. But then, I’ll to see how hard it is to change it.

Meanwhile, the content editing (editing round 1 of 3) of Mind Master Chronicles: Butterfly is progressing, but it’s time consuming. I have to make sections I wrote out of order all flow together. Plus, I have to write sections to fill in the gaps. I do five pages at a time. It will take at least three months for it to be ready.

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The writing/ typing/ editing/ and proofreading are going well. I’m about a third of the way through the Contagion Phase 2: Beginnings final round of editing. Mind Master Chronicles 4: Butterfly is about a third of the way through typing/proofreading. Then, the three rounds of editing will begin. I’m trying to write a page in Contagion Phase 3 six days a week. It’s almost done and is ready for typing … as is Mind Master Chronicles 5: For the other four books, my goal is writing 3 pages per week.

I’m giving up my GoDaddy site since they’ve integrated AI into it. My domain name will eventually redirect here (WordPress).

I’m participating in the Smashwords Summer/Winter Sale! It lasts the entire month of July. All five of my currently published books will be free. Here is the address: https://www.smashwords.com/shelves/promos/

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Writing Update 7

Tomorrow’s the day! Contagion Phase 1: Biosphere will be released! I have updated the Books Available links page with links to retailers. It will be available in eBook format for $2.99, paperback for $12.99, as well as the Everand subscription service.

If you have Amazon Prime, you can use No-Rush Rewards or Amazon Day Rewards and get Amazon Digital Services credit to buy the Kindle Ebook versions of Contagion Phase 1: Biosphere, Mind Master Chronicles: Puppet on a String, or Break the Leg to Bend the Knee on Amazon.  You can get up to $3.00 per transaction, which would pay for any of these Kindle eBooks. [Update: It appears the Amazon No-Rush Rewards policy has changed. You now get $1.00 Amazon Digital Services credit per transaction.] And of course the Mind Master Chronicles: Labyrinth eBook remains free.

Also, currently buying an eBook for $2.99 gives you 9 Kindle Rewards points per book toward the purchase of other Kindle books. Once Contagion Phase 1: Biosphere becomes available on April 29th, it should also net you 9 points for the eBook. As far as the paperbacks go, you can get 10 pts for Mind Master Chronicles: Labyrinth, 15pts for Mind Master Chronicles: Puppet on a String and 12 pts for Break the Leg to Bend the Knee. Since Contagion Phase 1: Biosphere is still in pre-order, points aren’t listed yet. But the going rate is 3 pts per dollar spent on Kindle eBooks, and 1 pt per dollar spent on paperbacks. 300 points equal $3.00 in Kindle Rewards book credit.

In July, I plan on submitting this book and my other three books to the Smashwords store sale.

I am happy to have completed the book and am hopeful it will be an enjoyable read for any readers out there! Meanwhile, the typing up of Mind Master Chronicles: The Pretender (Book 3) is almost complete and it will then enter the some-days-it-seems-endless editing process. After the typing of Mind Master Chronicles: The Pretender (Book 3) is complete, then the typing will commence on the prequel to Contagion Phase 1, which is aptly entitled Contagion Phase 2: Beginnings. The typing and the editing of the two books will occur simultaneously. Happy reading! And if you like any of my books, feel free to leave a rating! I appreciate it! Thanks!

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Writing Update # 6

I finally got the pre-order for Contagion Phase 1: Biosphere up. It is set for release on April 29th, 2024. Right now it is available at the Smashwords Store for pre-order. It comes in the following formats at the Smashwords Store: epub mobi pdf lrf pdb txt. The price will be $2.99 for the eBook. Here is the summary:

Contagion Phase 1: Biosphere

In order to please her father, sixteen-year-old Kenya Winters agrees to go to a summer internship at the biosphere. She thought her being claustrophobic made the situation enough of an ordeal, but the reality is far worse. For outside the biosphere horrible things are happening — an experiment has gone terribly wrong and the consequences from it may just destroy them all.

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1545993

I’ve also submitted the book to Draft2Digital for the print version. The price for the print version is $12.99. It is also set to be released on April 29th, 2024. I will be providing links to other stores as they become available! Thanks for reading this!

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Writing Update 5

I’ve decided to do a fourth go over on Biosphere. I’ve decided to make this a pattern for all of my future books. I intend to do five Word pages on days I edit my books. Then, I will do four rounds. It just doesn’t feel like I’ve been thorough enough otherwise. Then, I plan to do the formatting and the cover. My new goal is to have the book up for pre-order in April. The release date goal is set for Monday, April 29th. I figure around May is a good time to release a new book. I think this will give me enough time to get everything to my liking and build up some anticipation for my release as well.

Meanwhile, I’ve decided to set my baseline price for most of my eBooks to $2.99 instead of $3.99. I know it’s hard to find money in the budget for books these days. Labyrinth will still be set to free for most retailers. Biosphere will be $2.99. Of course, I also intend to participate in the Smashwords Store sales when they come up. As far as I know, they’re still having one in July.

I’ve also changed the category of my book series The Mind Master Chronicles from juvenile fiction to regular fiction. I did this because the first two books … Labyrinth and Puppet on a String … could probably fit either category, but the third book, that’s in the editing process, and the fourth and fifth book, which are being written, lean more toward adult fiction. In other words, they are on the edge of adult and really edgy and dark juvenile fiction. But since people tend to view juvenile as a subcategory of children’s books, and I don’t see these as children’s books I decided to move them to adult fiction. Still, since there aren’t any sex scenes in the book, right now I’m not inclined toward the 18 warning / recommendation for the Mind Master Chronicles. I just don’t want people to blindly give books three through five to a five-year-old because they’re listed in the children’s section. And it really didn’t make sense to me to have books in the same series in different categories. Hopefully, this change won’t be too confusing for people.

I want to thank the people who have read my books. It’s probably easier to get books for free at the library. But I think it’s still hard to break into the library system if you’re an independent writer rather than a traditionally published one. So, I appreciate the effort people have made to read my books, even though I don’t have as much access to readers as I could have.

I realized recently how important readers are. They are rare gems to be treasured. It’s really gratifying for a writer when someone actually identifies with your work. Ideally, it truly is a symbiotic relationship where everyone benefits and is made happier as a result.

So, I will continue to make my books as affordable and accessible as possible. And you readers keep up the good work. I am convinced your efforts are appreciated by the authors whose books you read!

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The editing of Biosphere has been taking longer than I had hoped. Really, in retrospect, I had no idea how long it would take. Each book is different. For this book, I jumped around a lot between scenes, which unfortunately left a lot of scenes not linked together well. So, I’ve had to write the linking scenes to make smooth transitions between sections. I’ve finished my first run-through. I will probably have to go through it two more times to make sure it flows smoothly and is logically sound. This is going to take longer than expected to do well. So, probably the end of January would be the soonest it might be released. I wish I could know in advance how long things will take, but like I said there’s really no guide in place to writing books.

Meanwhile, I have finished the first drafts of the third book in the series with Biosphere in it, and the third book of the Mind Master Chronicles series. Currently, I’ve been writing Book 4 of the Mind Master Chronicles, Book 2 of the book in the series with Biosphere in it and my other standalone book.

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I am delving into editing now. Biosphere has been typed; now I have to continue with my commitment to get it done. I can edit, but I don’t enjoy editing. And really it’s hard to shift gears — to go from creative flow, which is enjoyable, to perfectionistic nitpicking, which is not. Plus, there seems to be an impossibility of anything being perfect in the English language. You’d think that would be a relief — that that would mean a reduction of expectations. But in reality, it seems to be the opposite. The lack of consensus on a lot of things means that routinely people will think that you’re wrong, and you just have to live with that. Still, I like writing in English. Not only is it familiar, but it also has more flexibility than any language I’m aware of, so the capacity of self-expression is pretty high.

In order to try to get Biosphere ready by Cyber Monday, my self-imposed goal, I’m reducing work in other areas. I’m only consistently writing in two books rather than four at the moment — unless I feel inspired to write something. I’m finishing up the third book in the Mind Master Chronicles series and the second book in the series with Biosphere in it. Right now Mind Master Chronicles Book 3 is being typed, but only at most two pages a day until Biosphere is published. I made a schedule for myself for the editing, formatting, and cover. Now I have to stick to it.

As far as the writing goes, the second book in the series with Biosphere in it has turned out to be unpredictable. I’ve been letting it go its own way rather than having a set direction for it. That seems to work for it.

As far as Mind Master Chronicles Book 3 goes, it is darker and more violent than I anticipated — much like the world itself. So, I don’t know if I should set it as an adult book like I did Break the Leg to Bend the Knee. Mind Master Chronicles Book 3 lacks sexual content, and it’s really not more violent than say The Hunger Games, but I’m finding it to be kind of psychologically disturbing to get into the head of a sadistic psychopath. Of course, I’m not sure how realistic Kurt is as a sadistic psychopath, but it feels realistic. I don’t know. I may err on the side of caution and just set it to adult. The first two books are really complete in and of themselves, so you don’t have to read Book 3 to have a complete story it you find it disturbing. But I do think it’s a worthwhile book since I find most things in the world disturbing now, and yet so many people don’t seem to see how truly disturbing the world is.

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