Sorry I'm a little late posting this. I had hoped to have some social media news, but that might have to wait. (See below for more about that.)
Meanwhile, if you happen to be in the southeast Kansas or southwest Missouri region, you may now buy Another Shot without having to pay shipping costs! Look for it (and Outsider) in the local author section at the Hastings store in Pittsburg, KS, and at Vintage Stock in the Northpark Mall in Joplin, MO. I appreciate both stores and their book managers for offering my two novels. Check them out and shop locally if you can. (Otherwise, you can find both novels on amazon.com.)
I was really hoping to have a Facebook page set up by now, but other events intervened. For one thing, I went to see bald eagles in Stella, MO, over the weekend. Quite a sight! For a town with a population of 158, Stella had a lot to offer birders, including information about eagles, a quilt show, some homemade snacks and quite a few eagles. Adults and juveniles were perched in trees and soaring overhead, chirping to each other. I saw at least 15 of them. It was well worth the drive!
I have a day off from work tomorrow, however, and since it's supposed to turn bone-chilling cold again (what a winter!), I have good reason to stay inside and see if I can master the fine art of creating a Facebook page. I'm not sure how much time I'll be able to spend on it, since I'm sometimes hard-pressed to meet my goal of a blog each weekend, but I've decided to try. I'll let you know next weekend how it went.
What do you think? Any advice? Any suggestions? Please feel free to post comments below and let me know your thoughts (even if it's to tell me I'm crazy to try this).
Thanks for reading!
Sunday, January 26, 2014
Sunday, January 19, 2014
Closet Spaceship Part 4
(Here's another fiction installment.)
Hawkins laughed.
Captain Lamont’s expression didn’t change but I saw a slight twitch in his jaw.
“That doesn’t really answer my questions,” he said.
“Okay,” I said. “My name is Diane McCallum. I came here from Southeast Kansas on a sort of …”
I was going to say “magic” but I decided that was a poor choice of words. I wasn’t in Oz or anything, after all.
“… time-travelling spaceship,” I said.
This time one of the crew members behind me laughed. I was pretty sure I heard at least one release the safety on his weapon, but I kept my eyes on Lamont. He was doing his best to show no emotion but it was clear he didn’t believe me.
“How else could I get on your ship without detection?” I asked.
“Stowaway,” Hawkins said.
“That’s unlikely,” Lamont said.
“More than time travel?” Hawkins asked.
“Where is your ship?” Lamont asked me.
I thought about this for a minute or so. Then I decided it was too late to turn back.
“It’s invisible,” I said.
I heard at least three of the armed men behind me scoff loudly.
“So how do you find it again?” Hawkins asked with a smirk.
“It finds me,” I said. “Usually before I’m ready.”
“I don’t suppose you have any form of identification on you,” Lamont said.
Well, what do you think? Do you keep your driver’s license with you when you’re online?
“No,” I said a little apologetically. Maybe I’d need to consider that in the future, although it would seem a little silly. Besides, I didn’t know how much I could take with me when traveling. I wonder if there’s a weight limit, for instance. Hmmm, I might have to test that sometime. (And before you ask: yes, I was fully clothed. Would you really have asked me that?)
“All right, I’ve heard enough,” Lamont said. “Put our guest in a safe place until we can learn more about her.”
“Come on,” I protested as Hawkins took a step forward. “I’ve made you famous.”
It was more than a bit of exaggeration (sales aren’t that good right now), but I didn’t want to go to a “safe place” at all.
“Excuse me?” Lamont asked.
Too late, I realized they might not want to be famous, given their profession.
“Well, not now,” I explained. “In 2013, I mean.”
“How could we be famous before we did anything?” Thompson asked.
Hawkins chortled. “Time travel, remember? Let’s go.”
He probably meant to take me aft, where I knew there were a couple of rooms with locks on the doors.
“Captain Lamont,” I said.
This got the captain's attention, since he hadn’t introduced himself yet.
“Two things,” I continued. “First, if they still have amazon.com, check me out.” I spelled my name for him.
“And the second thing?” he asked.
“Goodbye,” I said.
I’ll admit it: I didn’t want to be locked up … so I left.
What can I say? Writers can do that kind of thing, and it seemed like a good idea at the time.
Don't worry: the crew of Outsider will see me again.
(Meanwhile, let's do our best to make them famous, okay? Tell all your friends and relatives to check out the Penumbra series! Thanks for your support.)
I had just been discovered aboard Outsider and the captain had asked me who I was. There
was really nothing to do but say it.
“I’m a
writer,” I said. “From 2013.”Hawkins laughed.
Captain Lamont’s expression didn’t change but I saw a slight twitch in his jaw.
“That doesn’t really answer my questions,” he said.
“Okay,” I said. “My name is Diane McCallum. I came here from Southeast Kansas on a sort of …”
I was going to say “magic” but I decided that was a poor choice of words. I wasn’t in Oz or anything, after all.
“… time-travelling spaceship,” I said.
This time one of the crew members behind me laughed. I was pretty sure I heard at least one release the safety on his weapon, but I kept my eyes on Lamont. He was doing his best to show no emotion but it was clear he didn’t believe me.
“How else could I get on your ship without detection?” I asked.
“Stowaway,” Hawkins said.
“That’s unlikely,” Lamont said.
“More than time travel?” Hawkins asked.
“Where is your ship?” Lamont asked me.
I thought about this for a minute or so. Then I decided it was too late to turn back.
“It’s invisible,” I said.
I heard at least three of the armed men behind me scoff loudly.
“So how do you find it again?” Hawkins asked with a smirk.
“It finds me,” I said. “Usually before I’m ready.”
“I don’t suppose you have any form of identification on you,” Lamont said.
Well, what do you think? Do you keep your driver’s license with you when you’re online?
“No,” I said a little apologetically. Maybe I’d need to consider that in the future, although it would seem a little silly. Besides, I didn’t know how much I could take with me when traveling. I wonder if there’s a weight limit, for instance. Hmmm, I might have to test that sometime. (And before you ask: yes, I was fully clothed. Would you really have asked me that?)
“All right, I’ve heard enough,” Lamont said. “Put our guest in a safe place until we can learn more about her.”
“Come on,” I protested as Hawkins took a step forward. “I’ve made you famous.”
It was more than a bit of exaggeration (sales aren’t that good right now), but I didn’t want to go to a “safe place” at all.
“Excuse me?” Lamont asked.
Too late, I realized they might not want to be famous, given their profession.
“Well, not now,” I explained. “In 2013, I mean.”
“How could we be famous before we did anything?” Thompson asked.
Hawkins chortled. “Time travel, remember? Let’s go.”
He probably meant to take me aft, where I knew there were a couple of rooms with locks on the doors.
“Captain Lamont,” I said.
This got the captain's attention, since he hadn’t introduced himself yet.
“Two things,” I continued. “First, if they still have amazon.com, check me out.” I spelled my name for him.
“And the second thing?” he asked.
“Goodbye,” I said.
I’ll admit it: I didn’t want to be locked up … so I left.
What can I say? Writers can do that kind of thing, and it seemed like a good idea at the time.
Don't worry: the crew of Outsider will see me again.
(Meanwhile, let's do our best to make them famous, okay? Tell all your friends and relatives to check out the Penumbra series! Thanks for your support.)
Saturday, January 11, 2014
Copyright Registration
Now that I have Another Shot published, it's time to register it with the Copyright Office. My work is copyrighted as soon as I write it, but this gives me additional legal protection. Besides, I can't tell you how amazing it is to receive an official copyright certificate in the mail!
So how do I do this? Most of it can be done online, which is convenient, and I completed the first two steps this morning. First I went to www.copyright.gov and selected the eCO Login option. Since I had already signed up for Outsider, I merely had to log back in using the same login and password (it's a good thing I keep all this information where I can find it again because it had been eleven months since the last time I signed in). At this point, I selected the option that I was registering a single work with a single author. After that, I proceeded through a series of pages that asked me for various information, such as the title of the work, when it was published, my name and address, who is the claimant, who gives permission for use, etc. Most of it consisted of me filling in my name and address several times.
Step two was payment of a small fee for the registration. This costs less if you do it online than if you choose to register by mail.
Now all I have left is to send in my two copies. This is called Mandatory Deposit, a rule that states that two copies of the best edition of the work must be submitted to the Copyright Office within three months of publication (and within 30 days of registration online). These two copies are for the use of the Library of Congress. I don't know if you've ever been to the Library of Congress, but it's an impressive place ... and the thought of one or two of my books residing in that building is downright incredible.
(I don't know for sure that my books will be kept there, but it's possible, and that's enough for me.)
So that's it! It's not too hard. They say I should allow several months before I receive the certificate. I think with Outsider it took about three months.
While I'm waiting, it's back to selling. Stay tuned for more news on this front and please tell everyone you know about the Penumbra series. Thanks for reading!
So how do I do this? Most of it can be done online, which is convenient, and I completed the first two steps this morning. First I went to www.copyright.gov and selected the eCO Login option. Since I had already signed up for Outsider, I merely had to log back in using the same login and password (it's a good thing I keep all this information where I can find it again because it had been eleven months since the last time I signed in). At this point, I selected the option that I was registering a single work with a single author. After that, I proceeded through a series of pages that asked me for various information, such as the title of the work, when it was published, my name and address, who is the claimant, who gives permission for use, etc. Most of it consisted of me filling in my name and address several times.
Step two was payment of a small fee for the registration. This costs less if you do it online than if you choose to register by mail.
Now all I have left is to send in my two copies. This is called Mandatory Deposit, a rule that states that two copies of the best edition of the work must be submitted to the Copyright Office within three months of publication (and within 30 days of registration online). These two copies are for the use of the Library of Congress. I don't know if you've ever been to the Library of Congress, but it's an impressive place ... and the thought of one or two of my books residing in that building is downright incredible.
 |
| Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. |
So that's it! It's not too hard. They say I should allow several months before I receive the certificate. I think with Outsider it took about three months.
While I'm waiting, it's back to selling. Stay tuned for more news on this front and please tell everyone you know about the Penumbra series. Thanks for reading!
Saturday, January 4, 2014
Happy (Warm) New Year
If you're reading this in the United States, I wish you warmth because most Americans are facing some bitter cold this weekend. I hope you'll all be safe. Here in southeast Kansas, we're in a Winter Weather Advisory and we have a Wind Chill Warning for tomorrow night, so I can empathize with those of you in the deep freeze. 2014 is a challenge, but I keep reminding myself that the days are getting longer...
The cold weather has had one good result, however: it's kept me inside and I've actually had time to do a little reading. If you want something that is fun to read with a terrific main character, I highly recommend Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files series. This is some serious fun! Harry Dresden ("the only openly practicing professional wizard in the country") is one of the most complex characters I've discovered for a while and I'm ready to make my way through all 15 or so novels. So far, I've read two of them, but I have a total of six in my possession. Those other four look mighty tempting right now... Maybe this storm will be good for something after all! If you get a chance and you like fantasy/mystery/noir/adventure, give this series a try. Storm Front is the first in the series. That seems appropriate for this weekend, doesn't it?
Remember that Another Shot is now available and please keep spreading the word about the Penumbra series. I appreciate your support!
The cold weather has had one good result, however: it's kept me inside and I've actually had time to do a little reading. If you want something that is fun to read with a terrific main character, I highly recommend Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files series. This is some serious fun! Harry Dresden ("the only openly practicing professional wizard in the country") is one of the most complex characters I've discovered for a while and I'm ready to make my way through all 15 or so novels. So far, I've read two of them, but I have a total of six in my possession. Those other four look mighty tempting right now... Maybe this storm will be good for something after all! If you get a chance and you like fantasy/mystery/noir/adventure, give this series a try. Storm Front is the first in the series. That seems appropriate for this weekend, doesn't it?
Remember that Another Shot is now available and please keep spreading the word about the Penumbra series. I appreciate your support!
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