May is a bad month for blogging

Hi folks,

As you may have noticed I haven't had much to say this month. I am still writing, but its been at a slower pace these past few due to other commitments. I think I can still hit my target, but this week I will not be adding to much to my word count--if you know what I mean.

One of those commitments resulted from becoming a member of a website devoted to people who write--and read--Young Adult books:

http://yalitchat.ning.com/

So I am getting feedback both on Son of Ogres and Rust. I decided to introduce Rust as a YA book since two of the main characters are teenagers. This doesn't necessarily mean this is how I will market my book to agents, but at least it is a possibility.

I am getting some very useful feedback and I hope I am giving some in return. I haven't doing as much on Gather.com lately... :: Bad James :: ...but there are only so many hours in a day, eh?

Well, I will post more when I have more to say.

Continuing on my write of passage,
James Baron

It’s my 20th Wedding Anniversary today! w00t!

So 20 years ago today my wife and I got hitched. No big plans tonight since she is taking a night class tonight, but there is a 4-day long weekend coming up…

Has it really been 20 years!?!? I have known her longer than I have not known her. On one hand it doesn’t seem that long, and on the other it seems like she has always been in my life. I guess that is one of the paradoxes of true love, eh?

Sigh… :-)

New RUST Chapter Uploaded - Chpt 7

I just posted a new RUST chapter to DocStoc:

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/38717545/RUST---Chapter-Seven

That is all...

New RUST Chapter Uploaded - Chpt 6

I just posted a new RUST chapter to DocStoc:

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/38592185/RUST---Chapter-Six

That is all...

You can now DOWNLOAD my chapters

Dear faithful readers,

It has come to my attention that nobody has been able to download my chapters for the DocStoc website. I had set the copyright setting to "Traditional" and this means you cannot download it...which I didn't know until my buddy informed me his son was going to read NANUQ but he couldn't print it out!

So I have changed the copyright setting to "Attribution-Non-Commercial-NoDerivs"...which in short means you can now download or print my chapters.

Here is the location to go to access all the chapters I have posted so far:

http://www.docstoc.com/profile/jamesbaron

Enjoy!

Continuing on my write of passage,
James Baron

New RUST Chapter Uploaded - Chpt 5

I just posted a new RUST chapter to DocStoc:

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/37627076/RUST---Chapter-Five

That is all...

RUST - Week Six - Day One

Got back into the world of RUST this morning on the bus. Yesterday I was working on completing my 2nd draft of SON OF OGRES--which I did--and then I emailed it to my proof reader last night. When he gets the time he will take another stab at it. I am practically shivering with excitement about sending this puppy out to agents.

So I working on Chapter Five and managed to get onto page two while on the bus. I am really looking forward to writing the interesting part of the chapter and see if it grabs the reader like it hope it does. I want to convey a sense of awe and wonder in my young hero Rifter, and to have the reader feel that as well.

Continuing on my write of passage,
James Baron

Proof reading Son of Ogres - Part II

So my proof reader and I were going over my YA/Teen novel, SON OF OGRES, last week. So he spotted some interesting errors, problems that I had missed. Here are a few of them for your reading entertainment:

"Beside him sat a large box of broken pottery. Jagged pottery shards were covered with drying blood. A single tooth lay by the box, broken off at the root."

Proof Reader: Umm...why is there a box of broken pottery in the barn? Isn't that a strange thing to have just lying around?

"Stroggins led him out into the cool night air. Only Mother was out tonight; her light cast a soft glow to the surroundings."

PR: You might want to mention Mother is the name of the moon first...

"The companions stopped at the last town before Nialicburg where they purchased a wagon to hitch to their pair of pack mules. "

PR: Where did the pack mules come from? You never mentioned them until now.

"I am going to be in big trouble if that old dwarf finds out what Tal’rai really means in pix, Bordel thought as he drew nearer to the chamber."

PR: We are near the end of the book and you've only mentioned this express Tal'rai once before in the previous page...you might want to mention early if you want this comment to have any impact on the reader...

Continuing on my write of passage,
James Baron