Interview: Glenn Gamble stops by!

Hello again, friends. Today, I have a special treat for you. I recently sat down with author Glenn Gamble, who told me all about his latest release. I'm honored to be part of his blog tour! Check out the interview below.

1. Tell us about yourself, and what you like to do outside of writing.

Lines of coke, pouring my thoughts onto Microsoft Word in-between swigs of Jack Daniels, and betting entire checks on rat and roach races taking place in project apartments across America. I also send morning texts to Charlie Sheen bragging about my TigerBlood.

All kidding aside, I like to travel, play poker, and casually follow current events.

2. How did you begin writing? Do you have other artistic leanings as well?

I had to find a way to move out of my mother’s basement because the mice had marked their territory and made it clear that I had 30 days to move out. I tried rapping, but those dinner plate chains and 40 lbs pimp goblets were a bit too heavy for my delicate arms to carry. Before the mice took over my sleeping area I used to be a songwriter. I also tried my hand at music production, but I realized that I sucked at it, and that I was getting too old to compete with Justin Beiber posters on impressionable teenagers’ walls so I retraced my childhood roots and began writing stories.

3. Tell us about your current book.

The Jim Money book series is the Gambler – Kenny Rogers movie with more action. Each book in the Jim Money Series is a cumulative story about Jim Money wanting to ease out of his criminal lifestyle by forsaking his gambling and shylocking business for a more honest living. For Jim, wanting and actually getting out of the underground society is easier said than done when he’s presented with situations that force him to either revert back to the criminal minded Jim or become a deceased Jim.

4. For anyone who's never read a Glenn Gamble book before, what is the main thing you'd like them to know about your work?

It really depends on the series that I’m writing. For the Jim Money series, my books are plot-driven with lots of action and occasional instances of comic relief. My Darius Blaylock series is a gambling romance series where my books focus more on Darius’s struggle to balance his gambling and business aspirations with his love life because the sensibilities that he’s developed as a professional gambler conflict with his ability to communicate with women.

5. Where do you see yourself, and your writing, in ten years?

I will have at least 100 novels and 50 novellas published

6. What do you think about the rise of digital publishing? Do you think that it could ever overtake traditional, paperback publishing?

The rise in digital publishing has been very liberating for me. It allows me to experiment with different story formats and publish the kinds of stories that doesn’t neatly fit into specific genres. Authors who choose to self-publish can do so inexpensively while taking their careers into their own hands.

As for paper vs digital, I do not believe that paper will die a slow death as many self-published authors have predicted. Some insiders have predicted a market shift where ebooks will account for 70% of all booksales with paper picking up the other 30%. Many authors seem to agree with this assessment because retail stores are closing. I disagree with this sentiment. I think paperbacks will account for a significant portion of book sales for years to come, while the hardback will phase itself out due to expense. Retail bookstores will adjust their business model after seeing Borders’ demise.

I believe that some indie bookstores will begin hiring self-published authors as their consultants to help them transition to the changes that are going on in the book industry. The stores that will survive will adopt a community centered approach to their business. Many will start having writing workshops, poetry workshops, book parties and other functions that serve the community. These smaller bookstores will become bigger bookstores because of the community approach. I believe that some bookstores will start publishing local authors as suggested in JA Konrath’s blog post. I definitely would sign a book deal with a local book seller to publish a paperback that would be exclusive to that particular bookstore only. This would be a win-win scenario for new authors and midlist authors. They’ll get the push in those bookstores that they would never get with a traditional publishers because it’s the store’s books. The traditional publishers might also get into the retail business as well because 20 and 30% sell through rates isn’t good for anyone’s profit margin.

7. What advice do you have for those that would like to write a book?

Write the kind of book that you like to read for your first novel. After you’re finished with your novel hire an editor to proofread your work to find the punctuation and grammatical errors in your work while fishing out the weak points in your story.

7a. What is the best writing advice you have ever received?

Read a lot and write a lot.

8. Do any of your characters reflect you or people you know? In what ways?

The people that I know or come across in my life are the inspiration behind my characters. For instance, I might assign an a ex-girlfriend’s abrasive personality to one of my characters to showcase how a woman with a similar personality might react to a situation presented within the story. Jim Money reflects some aspects of my personality from when I was a young, professional gambler.

9. Tell us where to find you on the web. Book links, website, blog, the whole nine yards.

Here’s the link to my books on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Glenn-Gamble/e/B002BMGSVK

I also have books available on Nook at the following links:

I also write blogs here: http://www.GlennGamble.com

10. Any final words?

When you’re buying books, take advantage of the “try a free sample” feature to determine whether or not you’d like to read any book that you’re looking to buy. Don’t forget the read my message below

Bon Appetit Contest

Five lucky readers will win a free copy of Bon Appetit, by answering the following questions. Please submit the questions and answers to glenngamblebooks (at) gmail (dot) com

1) When was Bon Appetit published? (Month and year)

2) How many books have I published in the Jim Money Series so far? (Hint: The answer can be found on http://bn.com and http://amazon.com )

3) What is the url to my twitter page? (Hint: It includes my first and last name.)

You can use any of the links below to find the answers to the three questions.

Glenn Gamble is the author of A Thousand Chances, Bon Appetit, Escape, On the Run, and
James. All of his books are available on Amazon Kindle http://www.amazon.com/Glenn-Gamble/e/B002BMGSVK and Barnes and Noble Nook http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/Glenn-Gamble?keyword=Glenn+Gamble&store=allproducts and Smashwords http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/glenngamble

He also encourages you to go to his website http://www.GlennGamble.com


Thanks, Glenn for stopping by!

I am not (repeat: not) a hack writer

^ What that says.

I am only beginning to embark on the next phase of my writing career, with the release of two ebooks. This, however, does not mean that I began to write yesterday, or that I do not know what I'm doing. I've been writing fiction since I was ten years old and I'd like to think over the 19 years that have passed, I've gotten pretty damn good at it. I'm not going to profess to be a literary genius, and I can't lie about knowing everything there is to know about grammar (I did drop out in 9th grade, y'all)...BUT, I know quite a bit about storytelling, creating interesting characters and proper sentence structure. I strongly object to being dismissed as someone who knows nothing, simply because I have only just started in this realm - or because I have published anything in this realm at all.

Independent writers are not all bad, just like webfiction writers are not all bad. There are going to be some shitty things written and posted, with incorrect punctuation and lots of misspelled/misused words, sure. But you know what? For every story that you find that contains those monstrosities, you'll find at least three more that do not.

Think before you speak - and make sure you know what you're talking about before you lump anyone into a category you obviously have no idea about.

Introducing: A Blog Tour Bonanza in celebration of ID: Book 2

Hey everyone,

I am pleased to announce that book two of the Independence Day series will release this coming Monday (June 20). In anticipation of that, some fellow writers and I have joined together to bring you a blog tour that will change your life!*

Five stops, five hosts, ten chances to win - you are not going to want to miss this!

• On Monday, June 20, we kick off the action with an interview by the very talented G.L. Drummond, over at Feral Intensity.
• Tuesday, June 21, join us for an excerpt or two with the lovely Rebecca Clare Smith.
• On Wednesday, June 22, take a look at the Independence Day series and preview the second book at Daily Dose of Dauna, with up and coming author Dawn Needom.
• On Thursday, June 23, settle in with indie author Shaina Richmond, as we delve a little deeper into the interpersonal relationships that dominate this book series.
• On Friday, June 24, we'll spend the night at The Guest House, roast marshmallows and share ghost stories about the victim of the first book, Carol Mathison, and everyone who would have wanted her dead.

If you are a fan of this series, you will not want to miss this great event. Oh, and did I mention you can win stuff too? At every stop, I will be giving away two free copies of the book - and all you have to do is comment to enter the contest!

Thanks again to all the respective hosts and I will see you on the blog tour!

* This may be a slight exaggeration.

On Feedback, Reviews and Support

As you all know, I released my first venture into the world of ebooks a little over a month ago. This book contained the first ten chapters of my web novel, a web novel I am actively looking to convert into ebook format from now on. I made the conscious effort to keep the book free, because absolutely none of it was previously unreleased material. Every single chapter included had already appeared on the website, absolutely free of charge, therefore, I didn't see a reason to charge someone for something they could, in theory, get for free somewhere else.

(I will state for the purposes of clarification that I am in fact charging .99 for the ebook on Kindle, but this is because I have included extra content - no, it's still nothing new to the web audience, being character bios and a town history page, but coupled with the content of the book, it helps to set the stage and I view it's worth the buck).

Download statistics were, as they probably are with any free ebook, absolutely astronomical in the first few days. I amassed 300 just in the first week alone, through very little effort of my own. Sure, I put links on my FB and Twitter pages, but other than that, there were few avenues I could really pursue for pimping purposes. I was very encouraged by such a strong reception that I made what I now realize was a mistake - I assumed that every single download represented another new fan.

The mistake in my logic is simple: just because a person downloads a free book does not mean they immediately rush to their favorite ereading device to devour it. It doesn't mean they will ever do that, really, because it's not unheard of for people to hoard free ebooks, without any real intention of ever getting around to them all. Okay, maybe that's not fair to assume. Maybe they really do intend to get around to them all, but given that they downloaded so bloody many of them, it will take a good few years just to sift through the pile. This means that while my book may have been downloaded hundreds of times, by hundreds of people, this does not guarantee that any of them have actually read it...or that those that have read it have actually enjoyed it.

This is where reviews come in handy. I'll be brutally honest (no reason to put up a brave face around you guys, after all). I've made one sale on Kindle. Just one, and probably to a personal friend or family member, because I highly doubt enough random strangers know who I am to purchase my first ebook out of the clear blue sky. I've made a whopping .35 off this whole endeavor so far - which is still more than I put into it, so I guess I am still making a profit of sorts, but that is not the point. The point is, I am not making much of a profit off this. I am not really in it to make a profit, though I can't lie and say it wouldn't be ace to eventually earn enough royalties to be fairly comfortable in my decision to be a writer. But again, that is not the point.

The very belated point to this is...I am not receiving a profit off this. I am not getting much of anything out of this, aside from the pride in seeing my name as the author of an ebook. I have no idea if those that have downloaded the book have liked it, or have even read it. This is where a review would really, really come in handy. Yet, I only have one of those at this point, from Gayla, who was kind enough to give me 4 stars on Goodreads. Thank you, Gayla. You rock my socks.

If just one percent of the people who have downloaded the book would leave a review, good or bad, I would have a much better idea of how this idea is shaping up for me. I am not asking for an epic, three-page love letter to me and the book (though I wouldn't stop you if you wanted to leave one...) A few lines would do just fine, as long as they were honest and civil. If you don't like the book, feel free to tell me so - and please, please tell me why. Tell me what you disliked about it. Tell me what I could have done as the author to improve your reading experience. Tell me what you would have liked to see instead. Tell me all of these things - in a review (I can take it!) or in a private email, if you'd rather go that route. By the same token, if you enjoyed it, say so!

Independent authors tend to have a bad reputation in the more hoity-toity circles. We're viewed as inferior, because we don't have that banner of being traditionally published. Sadly, this reputation isn't always very fair to those independent authors who work their asses off both on writing and promotion...but it is still there. This is why I think it is so important to support those indie writers that you really enjoy. Leave a review for them. Shoot them an email. Don't make them have to go on their blogs, get down on their hands and knees and literally beg a word (any word) out of you, as I've just done. So many get discouraged by the lack of response, whether it's indicative of any issues with their work at all. If it is at all within your power to do so, stop this from happening. It will not take more than ten minutes of your time to click a star on the ratings chart and jot down a few thoughts on the book. It does not have to be a rigorous, time consuming activity at all - most authors, myself included, would be happy with just a few lines.

As an independent author, let me tell you first hand - your opinions matter. Don't let timidity or lack of time to give a thorough review stop you from leaving some thoughts. Often, independent authors are far more accessible than their big-name counterparts, and to let you in on a little secret, we love discussing our books! Get a dialogue going if you're more comfortable talking privately and more one-on-one. Contact the author and let them know what you thought of their book, good or bad. Trust me, we can take it...well, most of us can, anyway.

It all boils down to this: authors write to be read. Of course, we also write to write, because the story claws at the very fabric of our beings until we unleash it upon the world...but when we do unleash it, we really do enjoy hearing the thoughts of our audience. So don't be shy about it, please. Leave reviews. Write emails. Let people know what you think - you might just make the author's day.

Book Review: Breakfast Anytime, by Christopher M. Thompson

Book: Breakfast Anytime
Author: Christopher M. Thompson
Genre: Poetry
Description: A selection of poetry covering a variety of topics which range from heartbreak to humor, love to loss, redemption, remembrance, and rebellion. Purposely presented without definitive grouping of the poems, Breakfast Anytime" is designed to make the selection a literary and emotional buffet.
Source: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/44331
Price: $1.99 USD

Review: This collection of poems runs the gamut from passion between a couple, a parent grieving their child growing up too fast, scorned lovers and more. My favorites included the title poem "Breakfast Anytime", an acrostic which tells an interesting story; "Amazement", a sweet poem told from an ill child's perspective, and "The Cure for a Broken Heart", a cute piece about a young woman seeking a doctor's advice on how to get past a break up.

I recommend this collection for poetry enthusiasts, as well as those that enjoy lyrical imagery. Very well done.

Rating: ****/*****

Rating Guidelines:
* = Didn't like it at all.
** = It was okay.
*** = I liked it.
**** = I really liked it.
***** = The best book evah (I don't give many of these, obviously)

Getting to Know...Christopher M. Thompson

This is a reciprocal interview with author Christopher Michael Thompson, whose Smashwords title Breakfast Anytime can be found here: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/44331

1. Christopher, thank you for joining us.Tell us about your Smashwords title, Breakfast Anytime.

When I was a kid, one of my fondest memories was always going out for breakfast when visiting my grandparents. They (and I, imitating them), would always order the same dish - chipped beef and gravy on toast. My grandmother was the first to cross over and her loss affected me greatly. Grandpa carried on in her stead though, taking the grand-kids out for that Sunday breakfast when we came to visit. When he passed, so did the breakfasts.

One day, taking my own kids for a treat, we stopped in at this little out-of-the-way diner and sat at a table. Typical diner visit except I swore that I saw my grandparents in glimpses and half-sights within the diner - that old feeling of strangers looking familiar. Trying to shake it off, I busied myself with the menu, anxious not to cry in front of the kids, but two things on the menu made that impossible. Chipped beef and gravy on toast and the words "Breakfast Anytime". As odd as it may sound, those two words brought a joke by the comedian Steven Wright to mind where he quipped "The menu said 'Breakfast Anytime', so I ordered french toast during the Renaissance." I didn't laugh, but rather looked at the people around me and, just as in the poem, asked the waitress for chipped beef on toast with my grandparents. The poem was born on the back of a kid's menu while we waited for our food, our poor waitress Lois unknowingly drawn into the story as if she had always belonged there.

When it came time for my poetry to be compiled into a book, I looked at all of the poems and Breakfast Anytime had always struck a chord with people, it - above all others - cited as their favorite and so, in both honor of the poem's popularity and my grandparents' memory, "Breakfast Anytime" became the lead and titular poem of the pack.

The other poems have done the same for people, some finding joy in the humorous poems, others the voice that they lacked during heartbreak. Just like the title reads with subtitle appended, my dream is for this book to be one to go to at any time day or night for both fond memories and for catharsis.

I want my readers to be able to enjoy "Breakfast Anytime."


2. Which poem contained in the book is your personal favorite?

Well, obviously, Breakfast Anytime is right up there, but I would have to say that "Pinocchio Triumphant" would have to be my favorite. It was written in the voice of a character that I have been developing and writing for for nearly 25 years. The intenet was still young when I wrote this and I was using the anonymity of IRC chat to develop Aerin's 'voice', character-wise by pretending to be a more human version of her.

I have always been sensitive to women, but grew even more so as I looked out at the internet through the eyes of one. As a man, I could hold serious and meaningful conversations at the drop of a hat in IRC, but as a woman it was like diving into a pool of sharks after being severely lacerated first.. Often, the chat programs would crash from the "a/s/l" and "wanna cyber?" private messages and as my ire grew, so too did 'hers' and I watched my fingers fly as "Pinocchio Triumphant spilled out of absolutely nowhere, Aerin screaming for decency among the indecent.

Times, I am glad to say, seem to have changed since then, but the poem has grown beyond just a rant about online chat but to a whole new level, a friend of mine - tired of being treated like an object - getting the stanza bout ripping at her doll's features permanently fused to her skin in a tattoo as a personal mantra not to allow anyone to tear her down.

It was Aerin's first poem of many and, as such, holds a special place in my heart.

3. In your experience, what is the greatest difference in writing poetry and fiction? Which do you prefer writing, and why?

The greatest difference, for me, has been the moment of inspiration, really. Sometimes, when I am feeling something, I will feel a call to put it into verse instead of prose. Or vice-versa. Some of my poems have even been born WITHIN a narrative, the character themselves waxing poetic like the characters from Grease talking normally and then bursting into song. That really makes it tough for me to distinguish which is easier as it is the emotion - and not my mind - which shapes my words.

It may sound pretentious, and pardon me if it does, but I see my writing as an artist sees a culture or painting. The art lets the artist know when it is finished, not the other way around.

As for my personal preference, I like the narrative writing as it allows me to write longer stories. A poem, unless it is an epic like some of the great classics, goes on for only a page or two before it is "finished".

4. The poem 'Amazement', contained in your book, particularly touched me. Can you let us in on what inspired that poem?

I took a job at a school district in Arizona where one of my co-workers was pregnant and having a harder time than most as early tests had shown a birth defect in the baby. He had what they nicknamed a "frog's heart", two chambers instead of four, and his birth itself was a delicate matter and very trying for the parents because they got to see him for only a few minutes before he was rushed from the delivery room to an operating room to have a shunt installed. Things were very touch and go for a while after that with more operations and waiting to pass an 'all clear' point where his survival odds looked stronger.

I wrote this poem shortly after his birth as she blogged the news on her Carepages site. even without hearing her voice, you could read the worry in her words and my simple "My thoughts are with you. Hope things turn out well." note became "Amazement", the original note being deleted with just the poem remaining. I didn't do it for fame, to show off, and certainly not for any other selfish reason, but to give the baby an uplifting voice during troubling times.

I have kept tabs on him even after moving away, and I am happy to say that he is still alive and well, a little physically scarred from repeated surguries, but as normal and active a child as any mother could hope for.

I am glad that it touched you as well.

5. Where can readers find your work, and you, online?

My work, for the moment, is only on Smashwords (https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/chaophim), but I am taking it to CreateSpace to have print-on-demand capabilities. I can be found on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/Christopher.Thompson72), my blog (http://chaophim.blogspot.com/), and a couple of Play-by-Post role playing games where I participate in collaborative storytelling. Come November 1st and April 1st, I will definitely found on the NaNoWrimo and Script Frenzy sites respectively. I have links AND countdown clocks to those events on my blog at the bottom.

Thank you very much for taking the time to interview me and I hope that I have answered the questions to your satisfaction.

At a crossroads...

As the title of this post would suggest, I am facing a fork in the road. As everyone knows (mainly, because I won’t shut the hell up about it!), I have recently released the first ten chapters of my web serial Independence Day as an ebook. I’ve done a lot of thinking about this, and I feel as though this is where I need to be. This is where I need to market my material. This is what I want to do.

I am strongly considering doing away with Independence Day as a web serial and continuing the story in ebook form only. This, of course, would mean there would not be chapter by chapter updates anymore, and that the website would no longer be accessible. I understand there are a few who might question my decision on this, but I am trying to look ahead. This is a story I long intended to try and publish, and the more I learn about traditional publishing, the more I question whether or not I have a snowball’s chance in hell. Also, as many of you are aware, I’ve had my issues with the current state of web fiction for some time. Perhaps this is not where my story belongs – perhaps this is never where my story belonged. Perhaps I just need to cut my losses on the whole idea of webfic and move forward.

I will admit, I am about 75% sold on the idea…but I’m still interested in input. How do you all feel about this? What would you do in my shoes? I will state now, on the record, that I do intend to charge for subsequent volumes of the ebook, after giving them all a thorough edit (I have my list of things to rework already!) However, I am not doing this for the sole reason of making money because quite frankly, I don’t need the money. I have a stable life and any money made would only be extra cash…a dividend, if you will. This decision is not motivated by money – it is motivated by my desire to give this story the platform I have always felt it deserved.

Again, though, I’m open to other views. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Any angles I might not have looked at? Any concerns about the transition from webfic to ebook? Comment and let me know. Let’s talk about this, and let’s see if we can make the best decision for this book together.

Quality or Quantity?

My name is Bex, and I am the world's slowest writer.

It didn't used to be this way. I used to crank out 4 chapters a night, back when I was 16 and had little else to do. Granted, these chapters weren't nearly as polished as something I could come up with now, but they were good enough at the time.

Even when I first started Independence Day (<--- link goes to the ebook! Clicky, clicky download, my pretties!), I was doing fairly well with writing. It took me roughly a week to finish a chapter, and I was able to write 20 in the first year alone. And then...well, I guess you could say life happened.

I met a man, we had what some would probably call a whirlwind courtship, I married him, we settled into domestic life and...I quit writing. Not quit as in, "I am never writing again, evah!" Quit as in, "Oh, write? Why would I wanna do something silly like that when I could fuck around on Facebook instead?"

Yeah.

I used to be one of those that had an impressive little backlog of material. I was about six chapters ahead of the viewing audience, but when the aforementioned life began to happen, I quickly used it all up. I became what I always hated: a person that writes and updates as they go along. There's no set schedule anymore. I update when I have something to slap up there. Maybe it'll be a week from the last one, maybe it'll be a month - but it'll come. Patience, grasshopper.

This, obviously, got me to thinking. I suppose if I really wanted to, I could start hitting it again with the writing. I could force myself to start writing Nano-style (not giving a shit if it was any good or not) and have a bunch more chapters for my overwhelmingly vocal (HA!) audience to enjoy. But...I've seen stories that do have that. I've also seen how quality falls by the wayside. I've seen "your" in place of "you're", I've seen implausible, unrealistic storylines - hell, I've even seen subtle plagiarism, though I honestly found it more flattering than anything else. Boo yah.

It's not my scene. I'm not saying I'm immune to silly grammatical mistakes, but I refuse to fall for the other two. I won't have a scene that doesn't advance the story in some way. I won't put anything on the website that would compromise the integrity of the story thus far. I won't, no matter how tempting it might get, go ripping anyone else off, just to have a dramatic moment of my own. I am better than that. I can wait, and since I'm not really dealing with a screaming, rabid throng of readers up my ass, presumably they can too. To me, it's the only thing I can do. I won't sell out, and I won't give anyone that is reading anything less than my absolute best.

I think I'm making the right decision. There are probably some who would disagree, but they're the very same ones that missed the clear distinction between "its" and "it's" in grade 2, so their opinions don't amount to much, really. I will continue this story when the words come. I will finish this story when I can come up with an ending to do it justice. Until then? I'll brush up on my grammar, ignore the imbeciles and live my life. I think it's all I can do, you?

Guest Post: Introducing Code Walker, by GL Drummond

Joining us today on Insecure Engima is G.L. Drummond, a prolific independent author, who has recently released a new book entitled Code Walker. I asked her to give us some insight into the book and then asked her a few specific questions, so have a look at what this talented lady had to say:

Code Walker overview:

In the fickle worlds created when cyberspace and reality overlap, it’s all too easy to blur and shift lines…moral lines, lawful lines, lines of code and destiny, until the surreal becomes real. Walking those lines back to the source, and rebooting the system, isn’t exactly a job for a girl who plays nice - but it does pay extremely well.

As Riley Cabot never qualified as a ‘nice girl’, life as the Code Walker is sweet.

Only thing about codes is that they break.

Excerpt from chapter Bold Moves:
Around ten AM that day, after a few hours of heavy sleep, Riley checked her mail and grinned maniacally while reading:

Subject: Re: Loose Ends

Message Body: We have an even bigger problem now, princess

"Oh, 'we' do, huh? Not from where I'm sitting, Green Eyes." A moment's thought changed her grin to a smug one, and she typed a reply.

Subject: Problem?

Message Body: From my seat in the peanut gallery, looks like it's all your baby, Green Eyes.

Less than twenty minutes later, she received a reply that made her laugh out loud, bringing TJ out and into his surf boy Avatar. "What's so funny?"

"Seth Monroe, Teej. He seems to think we have a problem." Riley grinned, brown eyes gleaming with amusement. He read the emails over her shoulder after quirking an eyebrow for permission. The AI smiled as he read:

Subject: Re: Problem?

Message Body: You owe me for Chinese, princess. I have a bad habit of collecting on debts.

"What are you going to do? That's like a challenge to your honor...a bold move, Mr. Monroe." TJ looked at her wicked grin, his changing to match it. "You've tracked him down."

"He's at the Shanghai AP right now, waiting for his flight. That tells me that Green Eyes is anal about punctuality, because his flight doesn't leave for another two hours. He'll arrive in Baltimore tomorrow. Has two layovers." Her grin faded as she blinked, then came back strong. "I owe him for Chinese? Dude, let's see about that."

Author Interview:

Tell the readers a little about yourself; Name, location, life behind the computer and all those other details!
My name’s Gayla Drummond, writing as G. L. Drummond. I live in the big ol’ state of Texas, in a small town where everyone thinks I’m nuts because I’m a writer. Heh.
When not writing, you can usually find me slaving away to fulfill the needs of several furry people, as I have a horse and five dogs. Oh, a House Hunney and a couple of kiddos too. =)
And…[leans forward to whisper] I play World of Warcraft.

World of Warcraft? Really? Hey...that's okay. I play Super Mario Brothers. Obsessively. Like twice a day. Ahem, moving right along...how old were you when you began writing?
My first attempt at a book was when I was 11 years old. I wrote, illustrated, and bound a book about different horse breeds. Then I gave it to my youngest brother, who promptly ate it.
Fame, it’s so fleeting. =)

Well, his eating your book could manifest into a good thing, if you look at it the right way. He ingested all the knowledge you presented, and hopefully something good came from it! :) So tell us...what motivated you to release Code Walker independently, as opposed to trying your hand at traditional publishing?
I’ve released all my works independently, and to be honest, haven’t considered going the traditional route since I was 11 years old, and thought that I wanted to grow up to be a writer. Since I didn’t become serious about writing fiction until I was almost 37 years old, doing that whole ‘write and wait’ game didn’t appear extremely attractive to me.

What benefits do you find in independent publishing that are not available to traditionally published writers?
The biggest benefit is control of your finished product. You write it, you decide who to hire to edit it, who will design your book cover and exactly how it will look, where you want to distribute it and how much you want to set the price at.
Traditional publishing doesn’t give you any of those options, plus I’ve read that they often force title changes, covers that don’t suit the story, and well, pretty much everyone knows they don’t bother marketing and that few books earn out their advances.

Though you've made quite a name for yourself as an indie author, there might still be a few out there that have never heard of or read anything by you before. What might they expect if they picked up one of your books?
I’d say a fun, entertaining read for most of my stories. A few are darker, but they’re meant to be, so that’s good for those who like dark. One of the things I’ve received the most compliments on by readers is the dialogue. I do it snappy. =)


When pitching movies or TV shows to producers, writers often describe them in "high concept" terms ("It's Die Hard, but on a Tram!" "Think Pretty Woman meets Blair Witch Club!"). So what's your high concept pitch of Code Walker - in less than ten words?
You had to go and ask me something I’ve never even thought about! Yikes. Uh, “Think The Matrix, just more fun!”
Crap, I failed. That’s only six words. And it’s not that great of a pitch anyway, LOL.


What is the nicest review you've gotten, for this or any other story?
All of my reviews have been nice (yes, I mean those that take a ‘this worked, that didn’t work’ approach too) – so far. I’m certain somewhere along the way, some negative ones will happen, but I’m not going to obsess over them. Not everyone has the exact same tastes in anything.
One that surprised me was the reviewer’s compliment that I write like Heinlein. That totally made my day. =)

That is a high compliment indeed! So what do you hope readers will say about Code Walker?
I hope they say it’s a fast-paced, fun ride with likable characters. Because if that’s the overwhelming consensus, the Code Walker crew could return for a second adventure. I do have an idea and a few bits written towards that possibility.


And finally, the most important question: where can our readers find this delightful ebook of yours?
It’s available at Smashwords, Amazon, and will be available at several other sites in the next few weeks. Takes a bit of time for a new release to propagate everywhere.


Thanks so much for appearing on Insecure Enigma today, Ms. Drummond!
Thanks for having me, Bex! =)

Ms. Drummond has graciously offered up a free ebook to one of the commenters on this post. All you have to do is comment to enter the random drawing, so do it now! Winners will be announced exactly one week from today!

My entire frame of mind can be summed up with this one song:

I Don't Belong, by Kevin Max:



Lyrics:
And so we broke up
And so you decided
It was you, it's always you
Even though we were friends
I felt uninvited
The fraternity of fools
And I'm drowning slowly
(Down we go)
And I'm fading like ink that's a hundred years old

I don't belong, say I'm wrong
Told you that you should have known me better
I don't belong, this my song, this my song

You made me your prince
You made me your pauper
Then you turned and closed the gate
Even though I messed up
There wasn't an offer of love
No mercy or no grace
And I see right through you
(see right through you)
You wanna be just like me, don't you

I don't belong, say I'm wrong, say I'm wrong
I don't belong, this my song
Told you that you should have known me better

Stupid things I've said and done
Oh don't you walk away
Battles that I've lost and won
Shame, shame, shame on me
What I used to think was wrong
I'm for the underdog
I like the one that don't belong

I don't belong, say I'm wrong
Told you that you should have known me better
I don't belong, this my song, this my song
I don't belong, say I'm wrong
Told you that you should have known me better
I don't belong, this my song
Told you that you should have known me better
You should have known me better

Where it stands...

I am a very unhappy camper most of the time. I am unhappy for a number of reasons, some of which are too personal to put out here (even on a secret blog), but some I can tie directly to my own insecurities. Those will be the ones I address here.

As some of you know, I hung around in webfiction for a while. Almost a decade, to be more exact. I got my start in 2004 and despite a few starts and stops, I was pretty confident with my place in the genre. Well, after I grew disillusioned with creativity in general in 2006, I took three years to regroup and returned to webfiction with ID in 2009. It was a totally different scene. Instead of the familiar poorly written soaps, we had an influx of...demons. Fairies. Swords. Dragons. All of this stuff that I'd never seen before and to be honest, had very little interest in. Still, I was willing to make the most of it and be more welcoming as a veteran of this scene and all. I made friends with a precious few of the new writers (the majority, including the "cool kids" - every school's got them - ignored me) and did my best to bridge the gap. It seemed the soap fans didn't dig the fantasy stuff, and the fantasy fans didn't dig the soaps. I took it upon myself to intermingle freely with both factions. After all, it couldn't hurt, right?

Well, it did. It hurt me, because no matter how hard I tried, I could never find the acceptance I craved in webfiction. I couldn't even get acknowledged half the damn time. The final straw came on Christmas Eve, when I discovered that one of the webfic elite had created a list of pretty much every imbecile with a WP blog and enough remedial grammar knowledge to throw a story together - seriously, her list was about 23 pages long...and I was not on it. My husband tried to calm me down by saying maybe it was an oversight. It was not a damn oversight, because she knows quite well who I am. I won't say how, because that would reveal who she was and I do not want to name names here but...suffice to say, she knew me. She just chose not to include me for whatever reasons and that hurt me.

So I packed it all up, decided to raise a huge, snot-encrusted middle finger to the genre and forged out independently. I kept ties with the few friends I'd made and severed everything else. I didn't need the hurt and the rejection, especially when I struggle with enough of that in my personal life. I know I'm better than that - and I know I'm better than some of the shit these "cool kids" like to laud on their blogs and Twitter. I don't need their validation anymore, and I don't give a shit what they think or say about me - or, what they do not say about me, which would be far more precise.

And you know what? I strongly resent all these new people (one of which had the NERVE to once allege that he invented webfiction in 2007, when I happen to know a number of people who could prove that wrong just by their sheer longevity) driving me out of the niche I'd been involved in for almost a decade - far longer than the majority of them. I hate it. I hate that they came in and took over like they did and that I no longer fit into the scene, despite my best efforts to adapt and fit in with them. That bothers the FUCK out of me, guys. But what the hell can you do about it? Clearly, I'm outnumbered and there's nothing I can do but just leave them to it. They can fucking have webfiction, since they "invented" it. I'll do my own thing...except, that's not proving to be very beneficial for me marketing wise.

I must preface this by saying, I was never pulling in any huge numbers, even when I was intermingling with them. They didn't give a shit what I was doing over here, nor did a lot of people. I mean, shit - I could probably have done a special episode where Jeff pulled an orb of evil from his pocket and unleashed a daemon (sic) upon the city and the animals all sprouted wings and flew a leaf-clad Marnie to safety and these people still wouldn't have given a fuck. It would have been right up their alley, but they still wouldn't have paid any attention to it. It's just how they are, and that's what hurt me so much but ANYway. I was not pulling in great numbers before, but I'm really not now. I've lost my niche. I hang out at a board with a lot of Sims writers now, and I'm a chick who's never played the Sims before in her life, so once again, I'm the odd guy out. I must say, though, that these ladies are far nicer than the cool kids of webfic, but still...it feels strange to be there sometimes because I am just not a part of that scene.

I feel homeless. I don't have a place that I belong. I don't have my target audience. I don't have much of anything going for me, except a damn good story and some strong characters...but what the hell good is that if nobody appreciates it besides myself? I have become so disillusioned lately, because I put such effort into every update and agonize over every single paragraph, but it's still universally ignored. This makes me wonder if it's worth all the focus I give it. It makes me wonder if I should even continue this because I don't honestly know if I have another year of hurtful rejection left in me.

I need a hug and I need some answers. What the hell am I supposed to do? This shit hurts me probably more than it would hurt a "normal" person...but my feelings are still very real. What can I do?

First post

And it's a song, because sometimes, music seems to speak far more than words can.



This is my journey. Hopefully, you'll be along with me for the ride.