A few days ago I posted a blog. It is probably similar to several blogs that I have posted over the past few years where I struggle to see where I fit in with everything.
The few people who follow me and care no that for the longest time I have struggled with where my body of work falls in the large scope of things. I have often felt on an island, alone (or with few others around doing the same thing). For some reason, I thrive on being defined in a group because I think that gives me direction and parameters to work under. It could also give me sources where I could see what worked for others and what hasn't.
So I am still writing the biography. It feels as if I'm back in school in the sense that I'm not drawing off my own imagination and controlling things. This feels less like writing and more like wordsmithing. I have most of the information in front of me and I just have to decide how to present it.
I'm starting to plot out the sequel to Unreachable and I've come up with a major snag and I haven't even written word one yet. See, Unreachable and the Christmas story are both written in the first person. Now I have this sequel, which is going to be even more complex, and am wondering if I "HAVE TO" stay with first person because it fits the series. Should I swap to third because it would help tell a more complete story. Can I swap back and forth between chapters when I need to show action outside of Ms. Rosenthal? Thanks for the help.
The other morning, the 5th of July, I was driving on my paper route and all of a sudden I heard scraping from under my car. At first I thought I ran over a garbage can lid. I got out of my car and some drunk guy starts yelling at me that I ran over his dog. I didn't see the dog then, I didn't even see the dog when I ran over it. I couldn't tell you if it was laying in the middle of the road when I ran over it or if it darted under my car.
A long time ago I belonged to a wrestling club called World Class Wrestling (not what you saw on tv). I was one of the better wrestlers to come out of the club and was voted Mr. Florida my senior year of high school before going on to winning two national championships and the Coca-Cola international tournament in Honduras while in college.
So, I'm closing in on finishing my next novel. It will be the fourth and final installment of the God Bless the Child Saga where we will see what happens leading to Jenny graduating high school (won't be the last book featuring the characters though, I have a cameo planned or two). O need a few people to give me feedback on content (so no spelling or grammar work). I have the book edited a little after halfway now, but could use some advice on what to add or what to take out or if things add up or not.
I could really use some motivation. That is one of the downsides of not posting stories regularly while you work on really big projects, you hardly get any feedback.
I am sitting on something very hot right now. I am half way through writing a biography about an undercover narcotics officer for a major metro police force who happens to be transgender and just went through SRS.
I know I have had some success self publishing, but this is well beyond the scale of God Bless the Child and Unreachable when it comes to importance and marketability. I admit, I might not have what it takes to make this book the success that it should be on its own. I need an agent, but I have no clue how to find one or where to really look.
It's termite swarm season here in Florida and guess whose house has got them. MINE. For some reason there was a roll of Toilet paper on the entertainment center and when I went to move it I noticed all these wings just laying around. Weird, I thought, the pixie's decided to hoof it. I went to move the toilet paper back to the toilet paper room (a.k.a. bathroom, a.k.a. danger zone). To my surprise, thousands (maybe less) of termites were crawling in and around the TP roll. So I threw the roll out and hopefully all the termites.
As I general rule, I always picture myself as a bottom rung kind of person who is trying to get to the next level but always seem to have some difficulty. I hardly ever see myself as popular or good at something and that mindset helps me continue working and improving. I oft times have this theory that something bad is going to happen and that people general dislike me for various reasons. I know my writing doesn't appeal to everyone, but whose does?
I think it's important to celebrate when one of us does well in the commercial markets. I don't think people quite understand how difficult it is to get ranked on Amazon within any Genre, especially bigger ones. Tanya has always enjoyed great success right out of the gate with anything she has published, so well that I'm down right jealous, and her newest release "In the Shadows" is no surprise. I'm glad to see something of length and value do so well.
How many people really care about what happens to Jenny from the God Bless the Child series? Would anyone be interested in seeing a story from when she is in high school?
This should be of interest to anyone who is publishing or is thinking of publishing on Kindle. Is there a bigger market for TG fiction than we think, that question should be answered in part today.
The great experiment is about to begin. Can a transgender fiction book break into the top 100 on Amazon? This book has a shot. It has been ranked as high as 58th in thrillers, surpassing people like Stephen King and W.E.B. Griffin. So, for this week, and this week only, Wrestling Against Myself is priced at .99 cents to send a message to Amazon that yes, transgender fiction can sell and should be featured prominently. Let your voice be heard by spending less than a cup of coffee at McDonalds and when you are done reading the book, leave a review as well.
I try to let people know what's going on with me, especially after I don't produce something in a month. I am hard at work on Phenom, the fourth book in the God Bless the Child saga. I finally got to the main issue and it should be smooth sailing from here on out (probably not). I am over 50k words and I already see areas that I need to do major reworks over, but I'm hoping for that random bit of inspiration to hit me.
I know we have some artists and aspiring artists here, so I wanted to afford you the opportunity to get this free book on drawing manga style stuff. I figured a few of you would really be into it and we can get stories with pictures. It's free today and tomorrow and if you could, leave the poor chap a review. He has given me some pretty good input on my covers and stuff and it's nice to help people outside the community too.
I need someone who can develop a few web pages for me and I'm willing to pay someone to do it. I need a really good author's web page and another one that is to remain secret. I've tried to do it with Wix, but that leaves me wanting. I know what I want, I just don't have the tools or knowledge to do so. Please send links to pages you've developed so I can see your work and prices. Thanks.
I'm thinking about being more vocal about subjects as I enter the world of public speaking, focusing on equality and acceptance. Here are some of my messages for those who are struggling:
Just to let those who are interested know, Growing Up Jenny is now available in paperback and on the kindle. This is a re-release and highly edited version of the original. It is roughly 15,000 words shorter and is free of many of the grammatical and spelling errors of the original. It is a very powerful story of a young girl who goes through SRS and has to deal with the communities response as she gets adjusted not only to her new family, but also her new self.
So the petition to Amazon for them to create a transgender fiction genre ran up to 223 signatures and then it just stalled. Considering the amount of hits we get on this site, I think we can hit the goal of 1000 signatures in a day if people just took a few minutes out of their busy schedules to sign.
Checks can be made out & sent to:
Joyce Melton
1001 Third St.
Space 80
Calimesa, CA 92320
USA
Note: $6000 is the operating, maintenance and upgrade budget. Amounts received in excess of the $6000 will be applied to long term debt accrued over the last 19 years.
