Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Weekly update
Finally getting back in a writing groove with the novel, but again I'm finding it much more interesting to write about the braces - getting the braces and the feelings of being a young woman with braces - than any of the erotic side, which still feels sort of forced. I hope I can integrate it seamlessly into the final version, but for now the sex stuff seems a bit silly to me. But I will try to take it more seriously!
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Weekly update
Time flies but the writing doesn't. Right now the girls' orthodontic treatments seem to be flying by faster than anything I'm writing. Not that they feel that way about it. But I try to make some time for the book when I can, and I will get it done!
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Weekly update
What I've found most difficult in writing this more explicit book is the pacing. The pacing of the sex that is. Since I'm trying to make it more explicit I'm trying to put more sex in, but so much else gets in the way, because I can't help but also try to tell a real story. And so all sorts of stuff has to lead up to the sex for exxample, and I find a lot of that more interesting, so I get distracted and forget to emphasize the sex.... But I'm working on it! And it probably just means that I'll have to do more editing at the end to make it work. Which means it's going to take even longer....
I can't believe it's been almost a year since I published anything! I've written a ton, but nothing that's completely finished. But I hope I'll have some summer reading for the fans!
I can't believe it's been almost a year since I published anything! I've written a ton, but nothing that's completely finished. But I hope I'll have some summer reading for the fans!
Sunday, February 03, 2008
Weekly update
So now, when I do find time to write, I am juggling two projects.
The old one: I have over 200 pages of it but it needs a lot of work and I am a bit worried that it doesn't fit into any reader's expectations, so I will probably take my time with this one.
The new one: about one-third done, and much more ...well not really explicit but let's say adventurous. I'm having some fun trying to do this, though a lot of it is that teenage girl twittering (or teenage boy smirking) about some of the things I'm trying to do with the characters. But I think I have come up with the right sort of compromises, so that it fits in with the other Dr.Wrighting books AND satisfies readers who want a bit more risque content. My husband is having fun with it too, since he's the one who has guided me through what the characters need to do. He's the sex-advice man. Sex-description advice. No, not so much description, but telling me who-what-where-when. I'm not totally comfortable with all the ideas, but I think I'm close to a balance between telling a story and offering some ...thrills? It's much harder to write than I thought. I'm incapable of doing just sex, and when there's any sort of story it's hard to get sex into the narrative flow. It still needs a lot of work too, so it'll probably be a few months before I can publish. I hope my readers aren't too impatient, and I hope it will be worth the wait!
The old one: I have over 200 pages of it but it needs a lot of work and I am a bit worried that it doesn't fit into any reader's expectations, so I will probably take my time with this one.
The new one: about one-third done, and much more ...well not really explicit but let's say adventurous. I'm having some fun trying to do this, though a lot of it is that teenage girl twittering (or teenage boy smirking) about some of the things I'm trying to do with the characters. But I think I have come up with the right sort of compromises, so that it fits in with the other Dr.Wrighting books AND satisfies readers who want a bit more risque content. My husband is having fun with it too, since he's the one who has guided me through what the characters need to do. He's the sex-advice man. Sex-description advice. No, not so much description, but telling me who-what-where-when. I'm not totally comfortable with all the ideas, but I think I'm close to a balance between telling a story and offering some ...thrills? It's much harder to write than I thought. I'm incapable of doing just sex, and when there's any sort of story it's hard to get sex into the narrative flow. It still needs a lot of work too, so it'll probably be a few months before I can publish. I hope my readers aren't too impatient, and I hope it will be worth the wait!
Sunday, January 06, 2008
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year to all my readers! Not surprisingly I haven't been able to get much done over the holidays, so it will still be a while before the next book comes out. Sorry about that!
I've also been thinking more about writing something a bit more risque to appeal to the fetish readers, though I'm not exactly sure how to go about that. I did talk to my husband about that and we came up with some ideas, but I'm still not sure about the whole thing. It is sort of fun trying to do this, but I feel a bit silly trying to write some of these scenes. But my husband thinks some it might work. But it will take a while before I have that all figured out.
Meanwhile the essays at the site continue to be really popular, and I'm trying to figure out how to capitalize on that too, but I haven't come up with any good ideas there. Though I do have a few more essay ideas too. Now if I could only find the time to do everything! But I should be able to find more now that Christmas-New years is over.
I've also been thinking more about writing something a bit more risque to appeal to the fetish readers, though I'm not exactly sure how to go about that. I did talk to my husband about that and we came up with some ideas, but I'm still not sure about the whole thing. It is sort of fun trying to do this, but I feel a bit silly trying to write some of these scenes. But my husband thinks some it might work. But it will take a while before I have that all figured out.
Meanwhile the essays at the site continue to be really popular, and I'm trying to figure out how to capitalize on that too, but I haven't come up with any good ideas there. Though I do have a few more essay ideas too. Now if I could only find the time to do everything! But I should be able to find more now that Christmas-New years is over.
Sunday, December 09, 2007
Weekly update
Life doesn't slow down much at this time of year but everything around IoPress seems to. A lot of people are coming to the site to look at the two Dr.Wrighting essays, but I don't think anyone has bought any of the books on the past month! I wonder if anyone will give them as Christmas presents? I have too much to do through New Years to even try and think of any way of getting readers more interested, and while I'm working well on the next book that's going to be long (which makes it expensive), which I feel a bit bad about. And it's still going to be a while before it's ready.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Weekly update
Everything seems to have slowed down - slow book sales, slow writing. So the new book will definitely only be a 2008 production. I like the way it's shaping up, but it is taking longer to shape than I expected.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Weekly update
For a while I was kind of down about the slow sales of the books, but once I was working on the next one again it didn't bother me as much. Being able to sell them is a good excuse for writing them, but I really like the creative aspect - telling a story and figuring out how to write it. I am a bit worried about how long the next one is going to be - maybe I'll try soemthing really short after that!
I did take the girls to see Nancy Drew which finally opened here. Emma Roberts actually looks so young in it that maybe she could have worn braces for the part! It wasn't like the Nancy Drew I grew up with, but once you get over that and accept the need for a lot of modern updating it wasn't too bad. And the girls liked it.
I did take the girls to see Nancy Drew which finally opened here. Emma Roberts actually looks so young in it that maybe she could have worn braces for the part! It wasn't like the Nancy Drew I grew up with, but once you get over that and accept the need for a lot of modern updating it wasn't too bad. And the girls liked it.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
More feedback
Anonymous left a comment to my last post and suggested some reasons for the low sales. It's always good to get feedback - thanks!
It's great that he liked Love and Braces as a "braces fan" and I guess I am beginning to wonder whether the appeal of the books maybe really doesn't reach beyond fetishist readers. But I still find that hard to believe. With millions of kids going through having braces I would think that there's a broad continuum of different reactions to having them, from forgetting about them completely as soon as the treatment is over to, I guess, becoming obsessed with them. And I thought my books would fit in one big part somewhere in the middle of that continuum, but maybe they really are much closer to one of the smaller extreme parts of it.
Anonymous points out some of the parts of L&B that are apparently fetishist. I guess some of that, like especially the exaggerated braces, makes sense, but some was just necessary or natural for the story. Colleen's braces (she's the one who doesn't really need them) are obviously unrealistic, but I needed an adult with braces as a friend for Sylvia and I thought it would be good to have a contrast - better than if Colleen were going through the same thing Sylvia is, even if it meant inventing an unrealistic reason for her to have them. And the kiss between the female characters seemed appropriate in those circumstances (just like the different kisses between Sylvia and some of the male characters).
I almost regret not having more of the "hot" stuff in L&B, but I find it hard to try to imagine what would work. There's only so often I can describe the glistening silvery metal and all that sort of thing....
Anonymous also mentions the lack of information and lack of juicy excerpts. I'll have to try and think how to improve that, but it's hard to figure out what to post on the website. There aren't that many passages that are self-contained, which I think is the best kind to post, and I also don't want to give away some of the good parts. But obviously I have to do a better job at getting readers interested, so I'll try and see if I can come up with better or more descriptions of the stories, and maybe some different or additional excerpts.
It's great that he liked Love and Braces as a "braces fan" and I guess I am beginning to wonder whether the appeal of the books maybe really doesn't reach beyond fetishist readers. But I still find that hard to believe. With millions of kids going through having braces I would think that there's a broad continuum of different reactions to having them, from forgetting about them completely as soon as the treatment is over to, I guess, becoming obsessed with them. And I thought my books would fit in one big part somewhere in the middle of that continuum, but maybe they really are much closer to one of the smaller extreme parts of it.
Anonymous points out some of the parts of L&B that are apparently fetishist. I guess some of that, like especially the exaggerated braces, makes sense, but some was just necessary or natural for the story. Colleen's braces (she's the one who doesn't really need them) are obviously unrealistic, but I needed an adult with braces as a friend for Sylvia and I thought it would be good to have a contrast - better than if Colleen were going through the same thing Sylvia is, even if it meant inventing an unrealistic reason for her to have them. And the kiss between the female characters seemed appropriate in those circumstances (just like the different kisses between Sylvia and some of the male characters).
I almost regret not having more of the "hot" stuff in L&B, but I find it hard to try to imagine what would work. There's only so often I can describe the glistening silvery metal and all that sort of thing....
Anonymous also mentions the lack of information and lack of juicy excerpts. I'll have to try and think how to improve that, but it's hard to figure out what to post on the website. There aren't that many passages that are self-contained, which I think is the best kind to post, and I also don't want to give away some of the good parts. But obviously I have to do a better job at getting readers interested, so I'll try and see if I can come up with better or more descriptions of the stories, and maybe some different or additional excerpts.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Weekly update
This month alone over 1000 people have come to the IoPress site and read the 94 Weeks and Single Episodes essay about braces on TV and over 200 have read the essay on Lolita's Braces. That's awesome, and it's gratifying to see so much interest in some of my writing. But even though all these readers also see some information about the IoPress books when they come to the site it's really disappointing how few copies are being bought. Even if only 1% of the readers of the essays bought them, that would already be quite a few copies sold, but in September it's been a lot less than that.
I'm not sure whether I have the wrong information about the books at the site, or not enough information, or whether the books just don't sound interesting to everyone who comes to look at the site. It's very confusing, and also kind of disappointing. I really thought that with all the people who get braces every year - literally millions in America alone! - there would be a good audience for books like mine, but either I haven't been able to reach that audience yet, or they're just not there. It's frustrating and I'm not really sure what to do about it. I like writing the books, no matter how many or few I sell, but it is a bit harder to be as enthusiastic if I can only get so few people interested. And I would like it if the books at least paid for themselves - I'd like to make enough to cover the Lulu and website costs. It's not that it's a lot of money, but it would be easier for me to justify continuing to do it to myself. Right now it seems almost like a vanity publishing project. If I sold enough to cover my costs then it would be like being a real author and publisher (even though lots of publishers don't seem to make much money with their books either!).
Meanwhile, the next book is going well, except I want a better title than "The Girl Next Door" which is the working title I've been using. Parts of the book have gone off in directions that I didn't expect, and that's a lot of fun. The characters really take on identities of their own and they sort of force me to let them act in particular ways. But it's still a long way from being finished. And it's also going to be really long - which is a pain because it means it will be more expensive too.
I'm not sure whether I have the wrong information about the books at the site, or not enough information, or whether the books just don't sound interesting to everyone who comes to look at the site. It's very confusing, and also kind of disappointing. I really thought that with all the people who get braces every year - literally millions in America alone! - there would be a good audience for books like mine, but either I haven't been able to reach that audience yet, or they're just not there. It's frustrating and I'm not really sure what to do about it. I like writing the books, no matter how many or few I sell, but it is a bit harder to be as enthusiastic if I can only get so few people interested. And I would like it if the books at least paid for themselves - I'd like to make enough to cover the Lulu and website costs. It's not that it's a lot of money, but it would be easier for me to justify continuing to do it to myself. Right now it seems almost like a vanity publishing project. If I sold enough to cover my costs then it would be like being a real author and publisher (even though lots of publishers don't seem to make much money with their books either!).
Meanwhile, the next book is going well, except I want a better title than "The Girl Next Door" which is the working title I've been using. Parts of the book have gone off in directions that I didn't expect, and that's a lot of fun. The characters really take on identities of their own and they sort of force me to let them act in particular ways. But it's still a long way from being finished. And it's also going to be really long - which is a pain because it means it will be more expensive too.
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