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   That's pretty cool. :)

   I don't have anything definitive to report on Volume #11 yet, but I'm hoping to have it out by Wednesday. I'll update when I have a better timeline.

Update on Volume #11

Volume #11 is nearly done. I'll know more this weekend when I finish editing.

I'll try to update on Saturday once I have a better idea of the release date. 

I'm also going to be setting up a mailing list in the near future, so stay tuned for news on that!

Fate Lock Volume #11

What am I up to this week?

   This week has been crazy. 

   Writing has been my greatest passion for my entire life, but passion doesn't pay the bills... at least not yet. I'm hoping that in another year I'll have enough income to write full time. Until then, I have to start working again. So...

   I started a new job. It's a really exciting opportunity, but I'll be working most days during the week. Never fear!!! I will still be updating Fate Lock at least once every three weeks, though I would prefer to post a new episode every week or two weeks.

   The reason I've been running behind for the past few volumes was because of my job search. Realistically, the new job will be just as time consuming as the job search, but hopefully it'll be less stressful. 

   Everything seems to be falling right into place now, and I'm going to be marathon-ing Volume #11 this weekend, so stay tuned for updates.

   

   Don't forget to share Fate Lock with your friends! 

Volume #10 Release Date

  Good news! Volume #10 will be out Friday 10/30!

And then everything went horribly wrong. . .

   I feel like screaming.

   So, I was having trouble with Chapter 2. I've been working on it off and on for the past three days. The pacing was wonked, and the whole scene felt rushed. I just couldn't get it right, so today I rewrote part of it. That seemed to be working, and then it just wasn't.
   Chapter 2 had to go. It just didn't make sense... and so did half of Chapter 1, and half of Chapter 3... 5,000 words in all that I'm going to have to completely rewrite. That's at least 5 hours worth of work, and that's at my best rate. It could easily take me twice that long.
   I wish I drank alcohol. If I were Kylie, I would be getting hammered right about now. If I were Riss, I would be punching someone... probably Gregory... I think I'll make Riss punch Gregory in Chapter 2 just to get my frustration out... (Kidding. Riss was already going to punch Gregory in Chapter 2... You'll see...)

   It was my own fault. I had this super exciting thing that I wanted to toss into Chapter 2, but it just didn't belong there. It was crowding out the real purpose of the scene. I might still use it later, though honestly, I think I've given the story enough plot twists that all my characters are walking around with permanent wedgies, so I'm gonna try to let this gem slip through the cracks. The story doesn't need it.

   Part of me wants to stay up all night and finish the damn thing, but I know me. If I try pulling an all-nighter, my hourly word count will tank. I won't actually finish it any faster than if I had just gotten 8 hours of sleep, and on top of that I'll catch a cold.

   Now for the good news. I am proud of me. While, yes, I am flipping frustrated, in the past a setback like this would have sent me into YouTube procrastination mode, and I wouldn't have written a thing for a week. Instead, I found the problem, hacked it out, and spent an hour creating a very detailed plan for how I'm going to make the new version of Chapters 1, 2, and 3 even better.

   I had to cut so much out that I'm not sure where my completion percentage is sitting anymore, but I'll update when I figure it out. I'll know for sure by tomorrow morning.

      I absolutely 100% have to be done by Wednesday, but I'm setting my exceptionally unrealistic completion deadline at 5pm tomorrow evening.

Volume #10 Update #4

Sunday 10/25/15
10:30pm . . . Completion 65%
Writing 85% - Editing 71% - Formatting 20%

  I had the most frustrating afternoon. Nothing wanted to work for me. I was hoping to get the writing portion of this volume completed by midnight, but that's not happening.
  I'll get as close as I can as fast as I can and update at Midnight.

4:00pm . . . Completion 63%
Writing 85% - Editing 66% - Formatting 20%

  Heading into the final stretch on this one... I'll update whenever I take a breather. I struggled with some of the scenes in Chapter 2. The pace of the story really starts to take off in this volume, and Volume #11 will be the most exciting yet. Stay tuned... ;)

Volume 10 Update #3

Saturday - 10/24/15
7:30am . . . *Completion 50%
Writing 60% - Editing 55% - Formatting 20%

  I kept meaning to update yesterday and then forgetting about it. The last 25% of each volume always goes the fastest for me. I'm really excited about the scene I'm about to start writing, so I expect that by 7pm, I'll have another 20% progress to report.
  I fully plan to have Fate Lock Volume 10 done by noon tomorrow. I'll be working through the night, and I'll update here every few hours. Wish me luck!




*As a guide to my completion percentages... The writing phase takes about 1/2 the total time I spend working on any given volume with editing and formatting taking up the other 1/2.

Volume 10 Progress Report #2

Tuesday - 10/20/15
7:30am . . . *Completion 20%

Writing 39% - Editing 0% - Formatting 0%

  I've hit a slowing point, and for me, that means it's time to start moving onto the next phase... Let me enumerate... :)
  I write longhand with pen and paper so that I can't go back and fiddle around/nit-pick with the story. There are only so many times you can change a word or reorganize a sentence when you're writing longhand. Eventually, the paper becomes completely illegible.
  I used to be very picky about paper quality, but over the past year, I've swung the other direction. High-quality, glossy paper doesn't absorb ink as efficiently as low-quality, porous paper. The higher quality the paper, the messier my hands look by the end of the day. For this same reason, I REFUSE to write with gel ink pens.
  While I'm not picky about paper quality, I am EXTREMELY picky about pen quality. I actually only use one type of pen, the Zebra BP F-301, and I have a lot of them.
  These pads are great. You can tear out half the pages without ruining the pad, and the pages you tear out will all still be glued together. It's fantastic.
  Another great thing about these 100 sheet writing pads, is that they are cheap, so I don't feel wasteful about only writing on the front side of the paper. I use the back-side to make notes about changes I want to make in Stage 2.
  Stage 2 is the typing phase.
  When Stage 1, the handwritten portion of my story, starts to slow down, I move on to Stage 2. Then back to 1, then back to 2, until I'm finished. Stage 3 doesn't generally begin until Stages 1 and 2 are complete, but that's not a hard and fast rule.
  I'll update again some time this afternoon. I have a couple things to do today other than writing, but I should still be able to get some good time in on the story. If I have time, I'll try to post the first paragraph or two of Volume 10 on the blog.

*          *          *

Tuesday - 10/20/15

12:00pm . . . *Completion 26%

Writing 39% - Editing 24% - Formatting 0%

  At my current rate, I should have Volume 10 up for sale by Friday, but I don't feel like it should take that long. That's my #1 problem though. I never think things will take as long as they actually do. I'm always looking at my BEST rate and thinking that I can work at that speed constantly. Obviously, that's not feasible.
  I cut six inches off my hair this morning when I got out of the shower. The scissors were there... My hair was there... and I was getting sick of all the tangles. So now it only comes to my waist. I might cut off even more so that it comes to my shoulder blades. I pretty much just wear it up all the time anyway. Any thoughts, internet?
  I REALLY need to dye it. I have 6" of brown showing above the blonde, but I sorta don't want to have to keep up with the blonde anymore either. I bought some dark blonde hair dye, and I'm going to try to fade the top part into the bottom part, so it can grow out ombre style.

*          *          *

Wednesday - 10/21/15

9:00pm . . . *Completion 31%

Writing 45% - Editing 31% - Formatting 0%

  So sleepy...
  I didn't get as much writing done today
as I wanted because I spent about half the day trying to find a replacement for my cover art program. It keeps making my computer crash, and every time that happens, I lose the progress on the image. It also takes several minutes to save the file, so I've been trying to find a balance between losing work and saving every few minutes... PAIN...
  I did get some new cover art completed while I was testing out every graphic design program on the internet. Some of the programs I found have some really interesting effects... This is the new frame image for Volume 6. What'd'ya think?

 *As a guide to my completion percentages... The writing phase takes about 1/2 the total time I spend working on any given volume with editing and formatting taking up the other 1/2.

Volume 10 Progress Report

  I thought I might try something a bit new for Volume #10. . . We'll see how it goes.

Sunday - 10/18/15
12:15 pm . . . *Completion: 0%
Writing 0% - Editing 0% - Formatting 0%

  So, I spent the past four days formatting the paperback version of Book #1. That will be Volumes 1-6 compiled into a single book. The file's so big that it's making my computer slow and taking forever. (I have to get a new computer soon. Part of the reason the last two volumes went over schedule was due to my computer crashing repeatedly. ) It's probably going to take me another two weeks to finish it, so I'm going to put that on hold for now and start working on Volume 10.
  I'm at a place in the story that I MASSIVELY changed since I wrote the original version of the series, so for the first time since I started the serialization, I'm going in without a single scene written. Funnily enough, that should make the process a bit quicker. I write much faster than I rewrite.
  *As a guide to my completion percentages... The writing phase takes about 1/2 the total time I spend working on any given volume with editing and formatting taking up the other 1/2.

*          *          *

Monday - 10/19/15
12:24 pm . . . Completion: 10%
Writing 20% - Editing 0% - Formatting 0%

  I thought I'd be a bit further in by now, but the first chapter of Fate Lock Volume #10, which I might call "Lost Without You", took longer than anticipated. It's hard for me to start writing a scene if I'm not sure how the characters are going to react to a particular situation. I tend to sit, staring at a blank page, trying to work out what I'm going to write before I write it. I keep forgetting to remember that I write better when I'm completely clueless and winging it.
  What I thought would be the first three (separate) scenes of Volume 10 actually merged into one giant and LOOONNNGGGG scene that will take up at least the first 2 chapters.
  Technically, it's my damn book, so I can say where the scenes begin and end and cut them up however I feel like. But to me, it never feels like the scene is over until there's a time skip, usually accompanied by exposition... i.e. Four hours and four florist shops later, my mother finally decided that we had found enough flowers. 
  I just love the alliteration in that sentence. If you hadn't noticed, I really like alliteration.
  I'll try to update again during my next break ~3:00pm or so.

*          *          *

10/19/15

4:00pm . . . Completion 14%

Writing 27% - Editing 0% - Formatting 0%

  

  Just a quick progress update, and back to work I go. Let me know if you like these mini-updates, and I'll start doing them for each volume. The next scene should really fly, so I'm hoping to hit 50% on my writing completion before I run out of steam today.

*          *          *

10/19/15

7:30pm . . . Completion 19%

Writing 37% - Editing 0% - Formatting 0%

  I didn't quite hit my goal of 50%, but I managed to tack on another 10%, and now it's bedtime. I'll update again tomorrow. 

*          *          *

Fate Lock Volume 9: Lost and Found is LIVE!!!

One misunderstanding after another is driving a wedge between Kylie and Riss. Kylie is desperate to fix their marriage, while Riss seems content to scatter its ashes.

Finally! Volume #9!

So, what's up with my lateness issues???

I am incapable of moderation. When I start to approach a deadline, I panic, and I stop sleeping and eating. One might think that would get my work out early, right? Um, no... See, when I'm exhausted, sleep-deprived, stressed, and malnourished, my efficiency takes a massive hit. It doesn't just half my productivity, it quarters it. I go from producing 800-1,000 words per hour to 200-250 words per hour.
 It's not healthy, so I'm trying to get things on a more even keel. There's some bugs to work out, but I'm hoping that by Volume 11 or 12 I'll be back on a real schedule. I'll post updates on my progress.

To check out Volume 1 of the series, click here.

Current Mood: ANNOYED

I can't believe how many dislikes this trailer has...



Jem was my favorite cartoon when I was little. (I think I mostly liked her name because it sounded like mine.) I used to watch Jem, immediately followed by Transformers, which I didn't like as much, but She-Ra and He-Man were my peeps! When I was five, I begged my mother to take me to Fantastic Sams to get my hair cut just like Cover Girl from GI Joe... which turned out to be a mistake... but hey... learning opportunity.



While I don't remember much about the original show past the pink star earrings and opening credit theme song, this trailer irked the hell out of me.

Jem was magic.

Jem was special.

Jem was my idol...

This girl is none of those things.

Aside from the names of the characters, this show shares absolutely no similarities with the 80's cartoon.



Hollywood needs to stop repurposing and dismantling my childhood!!!

I win Twitter

I'm not sure what I did, but my twitter followers increased by 25% yesterday.
I updated my profile.
I changed my header photo.
I retweeted a few interesting articles.
And I've begun to use hashtags in my promotional tweets...
I've never thought that twitter was that interesting as a social media platform, but I'm beginning to see the appeal. It's an opportunity to be a part of a world-wide conversation.



Follow @JimmieHammel

Update on Fate Lock: Volume 9

I haven't written in my blog in awhile, but since not all my readers are on Facebook, I thought this might be a better way to keep people updated about my series, Fate Lock.

I'm currently working on Volume 9, and I think I should have it up for sale by Wednesday evening... However, I SUCK at estimating time... Generally, I need about twice as long as I say I will.

So Fate Lock #9 should be available sometime between Wednesday evening and Friday morning.

To check out Volumes 1-8, link below.

Amazon.com

Gamify Your Life

      I found an awesome app in the Google play store. It's called Task Hammer. Essentially, it's a to-do list, but with a twist. It exploits a loophole in your brain to keep you motivated and on-task. 

   

   Basically, a person will be perfectly happy to perform an annoying or monotonous task, if you can find a way to make it a game. I'm ashamed that for several months when I was 8, my mother used this little loophole to play a game we called "Cinderella". She would sit and watch soap operas while my sister and I put away our toys, did the dishes, and cleaned the bathroom, and whenever there was a commercial, my mom would come in and scold us theatrically for not working fast enough. I eventually got wise to this game and she created another one called "Fairies" which involved magic wands (feather dusters) and pixie dust (Windex). 

   But this app is WAY better than the Cinderella game. It's an RPG and in order to level your character, you  create a to-do list and then cross items off of it. You set the importance of the tasks, and the more important the task, the more XP you receive for completing it. I think the best part of it is that you can set a task to repeat daily, weekly, or monthly. You can also select "postpone" to move the task to the next day if you don't think you'll be able to finish it. the GUI is really cute and so far it is helping me get more crap done. . . Hence... three blog posts in one week. :)

Jimmie Hammel

JimmieHammel.com

Fads in Publishing

 

  Publishing seems to chase fads the way fashion does. One season it's vampires, the next it's apocalyptic fiction, then fairy tales. One season it's all about YA, the next, everyone's putting out erotica.
What's next? Fairy steam punk? That might actually be adorable.

  But my point is this... no one stopped reading YA when the 50 Shades series came out. People are still watching The Vampire Diaries, even though the Twilight craze has passed. Personally, I would rather read something new, different, and well-written, then a lame copy of whichever book is currently sitting at the top of the best sellers list.

  I think that's one of the biggest strengths of the indie publishing industry. No one is worrying about what's 'in' or 'trending'. People just want to read whatever looks good to them.

Jimmie Hammel
JimmieHammel.com

Fear of Failure

   "If you never try, you will never fail, but if you never try, you will never succeed."

   "Show me a person who has never failed, and I will show you a person who has never accomplished anything."

   "Failure is success if we learn from it."

   "Failure is nothing but an opportunity to learn from your mistakes."

   Why is failure so terrifying? Fear of failure is the number one reason that aspiring writers kill their own dreams. Some don't even realize that their writer's block or stalling tactics are a fear of failure. I recently read an article on the subject* and it gave a list of behaviors that could help a person recognize a 'fear of failure' in themselves. I looked through the article and then applied the traits and behaviors to the ways they might manifest in a writer.

Never Starts 
   For some this might manifest as telling themselves they couldn't possibly do it, even if they've never tried.
   There's also a common malady among genre writers that has killed many a young novel. We call that one world builder's disease. These writers might plan a novel for years without ever writing one word of it. Over planning can derail even non-genre writers however. Knowing your characters is good. Knowing that their third-cousin's cats eat Purina's 'Yummy Tummy Tuna Delight', and that her best friend's great uncle had a drinking problem and spent 6 months in the Betty Ford clinic, not helpful.Unless the third-cousin lives with her, and has 18 cats... that might make for a funny short story actually.
   Another type of 'never starts' is the person who sits down in front of a blank page and freezes. They want to write but they don't know WHAT to write.

Starts but Never Finishes
   There are a lot of this type.
   People who rewrite the first chapter over and over.
   People who get half way finished, decide it isn't any good, and start over.
   People who get half way finished, decide it isn't any good, and start something else.
   People who get half way finished, decide it isn't any good, and just quit.
   People who get writer's block.
   People who wait for "inspiration".
   People who procrastinate.
 
Finishes but Never Shows Anyone
   This type is rarer than the others. These people have finished a novel, maybe even several, but they're too self-conscious to let them out into the world.
   The over-editor falls into this category as well. This person finishes the rough draft but never seems to be done "fixing" it. They rewrite, change, and tinker to eternity. They just never quite seem to be able to let their work out of their hands.

Let's Rejection Become Truth
   This type can happen anywhere along the route to writing a novel, during planning, working, or upon completion. Someone says they can't do it, or they aren't good enough, and the person takes it to heart and gives up. It might be a teasing friend, a nagging spouse, a critical beta-reader, an uninterested editor, or even the writer's internal critic, but someone says something that destroys the writer's confidence... and they give up.

   I can't say that there's one universal fix. For some people it helps to imagine their goals. For others that seems to paralyze them. For some people it helps to set themselves 'rules' like... "Write for x minutes every day" or "Only do x number of edits" or "Only spend x number of hours planning a novel". But some people don't work well with rules or can't seem to follow them.
   I only know what works for me, and I have had almost ALL of these self-sabotaging problems at some point, so here's my secret... just write. Forget all the other crap. Forget about people maybe not liking it. Forget about how long it's going to take. Don't worry about the fact that you don't know what you want to happen in chapter 35 when you're still writing chapter 10. Don't stress over the AWFUL paragraph in chapter 2, you can fix it later. Because no one will ever like it if they never get the chance to read it. No matter how long it takes, a finished novel is still an accomplishment. Once you get to chapter 35 you'll find a way to fill in the hole in your timeline, just trust yourself. You'll get the chance to go back and fix those broken pieces but if you never finish, then it doesn't matter anyway, so just write. For now, at this exact second, don't worry about any of that, just write.


Jimmie Hammel
JimmieHammel.com

*Fear of Failure article at MindTools.com.

P.S. I would also like to say that after scanning through several articles on MindTools.com, I actually subscribed to their Newsletter. It has been years since I subscribed to anything, ((I think the last one was for OfficeMax sales and coupons)) but Mind Tools offers loads of really helpful tips and tricks to keep yourself focused, and motivated.




 

The Things You Learn

   I had to do a little research for my novel today. It's the first time since the initial planning stages that I really wasn't sure how to describe something, and whether it worked the way I thought it would. Today, it was the ocean.
   The question from my research was this... What are those long piles of rocks that jut out from the shoreline called and what are their purpose? Now, I thought I knew what they were for. In my brain those were called breaklines (they aren't) and they served the purpose of breaking waves before they hit the shore (which they do). My search turned up two terms, breakwater, and seawall.
   My next question was obviously... What is the difference between a breakwater and a seawall? And what did I discover, you ask. A line of rocks that juts into the ocean is called a breakwater. They are used to reduce the currents and wave heights in a harbor. A seawall completely encloses a section of ocean and prevents damage to the shoreline caused by high waves or tidal flooding.
 
   If you'd like to know why this was information necessary to my science fiction novel, my main character crashes a flying car into the ocean during a hurricane.


Jimmie Hammel
JimmieHammel.com

Nose to the Grindstone

   I've been back to blogging for a few weeks now but I haven't mentioned my writing once, so I've decided to finally post an update. It's been over a year since I started my science fiction novel, which has had MANY titles, and I'm now calling The Immortality Gene. I shelved that project twice, and started it over twice, but I'm working on it again it now. There was something missing and it took me awhile to figure out what that something was. I didn't stop writing while that project was in limbo however. I started two other novels which are languishing on my hard drive half finished. One was a detective story murder mystery called Shackled. The other was an epic fantasy adventure story called Fate Lock.
  I think the number one thing I've learned from the past year that I haven't been blogging is that I am really good at getting to 40,000 words, and then I start to second guess myself. Both Shackled and Fate Lock were flowing along at a great rate, until I got to the 1/3 mark... and then I stalled out. I'm not sure if I'm not spending enough time in the planning stage, or maybe my outlines aren't detailed enough. I'm not getting bored with the stories. I even tried pantsing it on the fantasy novel. It did not work out well. The pacing in that story is incredibly wonked. If I ever decide to finish it I will have to cut my way through it with a machete.
  I tried moving on to parts of the novel that I felt confident about, but that leads to me feeling overwhelmed. What's done? What isn't done? How do I tie these pieces together? I HAVE to write the story in order. If I start working out of order then I get flustered and frustrated which leads to me being stuck.  All roads lead to me not knowing where to go next.
   I thought maybe I was getting stuck because the genres weren't right for me. That's why one is sci-fi, one is crime, and one is fantasy. (Though they all have a little bit of sex... A novel without some sexual tension is like eating pizza without cheese.) I thought maybe switching genres would help me stay focused, or perhaps I just hadn't found my true calling as a writer. I haven't tried my hand at suspense or comedy yet, and I do not write romance. I don't think comedy would be my cup of tea. I'm not funny enough to keep people laughing on every page. Spies, war, and politics are a snooze for me, so those genres are out.
   Anyone have any ideas for keeping focused when you start to feel stuck???

Jimmie Hammel
JimmieHammel.com 

SUPER SPAM

   I really didn't want to do it, and I was hoping that I wouldn't have to, but I've disabled anonymous comments on my blog. In the past two weeks I've been getting repeated and annoying spam comments, up to 80 per day. Maybe in a month or two I'll re-enable anonymous commenting and hope that the spammers have moved on to some other poor blog.

Jimmie Hammel
JimmieHammel.com

Back in the Hospital... again.

   What prompted me to begin my New Years Resolution: Betterment! was yet another trip to the hospital. This one lasted for three days. Because of the smoking, (15 days quit!) and the asthma, when I catch a cold, it always turns into Bronchitis. This time, it didn't wait. I caught the flu on Christmas Eve and by Christmas Day I was running a 104 degree fever that wouldn't go down. Even worse, my asthma medication wouldn't work. I kept using my inhaler and it kept not helping. I would take cough syrup, same result. I got worse and worse and worse before I finally had to go in to the ER. During triage I got really confused about some of the questions they were asking me, like, "Why are you here?" and "What's wrong with you?" As it turned out, when they put the ET finger on me, my oxygen saturation was in the low 80's, so they hooked me up to some O2 and put a bunch of drugs in me. And none of them helped.
   They had to admit me to the hospital to keep me on O2 and I spent three days extremely uncomfortable and STARVING. They refused to bring me edible food. But I also wasn't allowed to smoke, nor was I given any kind of nicotine replacement. I was also assaulted by 19 year old sadists with butterfly needles. THIRTEEN shots, and that's not counting the ones that went into my IV. I was stabbed by 13 separate needles. Some of the bruises were so bad, they didn't even show up until I went home. One of the little miscreants actually used veins in my wrist to draw blood. That was after she stuck me in my forearm and proceeded to dig all around with the needle.
   Then a nurse's assistant took it upon herself to lower my oxygen from 5 liters to 2 and I nearly suffocated. And the day shift nurse actually chewed me out for my room being so messy. By that point, even with the oxygen on, I couldn't stand up without passing out. If I took the oxygen off, I had about 2 minutes before everything got very blurry and my hands turned blue. I was barely able to use the bathroom without assistance and she was reprimanding me for not cleaning up my room. They wouldn't even give me Advil to help with all the pain in my chest and back. (If you didn't know, gasping for breath causes you to pull muscles under your shoulder blades. Then every time you breathe in, you're treated to excruciating stabbing pains all over your back and sides.)
   Even after my fever was under control and the flu symptoms had subsided, my chest was still so congested and my bronchi were so swollen that I had to stay in the hospital another 24 hours. I wasn't even sure I wanted to leave when the doctor discharged me. I was still having trouble keeping my O2 levels up, but I went home, slept for a full 24 hours and when I woke up, I was feeling much better. Ha! Take that H1N1.
   I really learned something from this experience. #1 - Get an effing flu shot. #2 - Smoking is retarded. #3 - Prevention is easier than treatment. I am determined to lead a healthier lifestyle. I'm not in my twenties anymore. I can't eat pizza for every meal, smoke like a chimney, and pull all-nighters twice a week. I can't wait to get sick to start taking care of my body.

Jimmie Hammel
JimmieHammel.com