Opinions wanted!

The Apocalypse Blog has finished. I’m still reeling (and not entirely sure what to do with myself today!).

But there’s no rest for the wicked and I’m very bad. I’ve been poking at the new blogfic for while now.

A little summary of the upcoming blogfic: it’s the ship’s log of the Starwalker, a ship with an experimental, space-folding drive, as recorded by the ship herself. She’s an AI with a few glitches, with a lot to learn, including how – and if – this new drive of hers works.

The site for Starwalker is up and just about in shape. Take a look!

I’m still fiddling with it (and obviously, the content isn’t all there yet), but I wanted to gather some opinions before I put it down. I think I’ve got the navigation and features that I want in there – any suggestions?

Things I’m not sure about:

• The font of the title. It’s kinda boring. Hmm.
• The date thingy.  I just don’t know if I like it or not. Maybe it’s just that the colours need to be changed. But that’s graphics and I’m terrible with those. Gah!

Also, on this one, I’m going to be allowing comments on the blog. I think it was a mistake not to allow them on AB (but I was too stubborn to go back on that decision 😉 ), so we’ll see how it goes on the new one.

So, any thoughts on the site? Criticisms, suggestions, preferences?

Milestone: End of the world: complete

I have just edited and scowled and edited and tweaked and… made myself stop and post. The Apocalypse Blog’s final instalment has just gone live.

Wow. I say this a lot, especially at the moment, but: wow. I’m a little stunned to realise that I’ve made it to the end at last. I’ve been living with Faith and her adventures for over a year now, and it has been draining! Some of you have been with me that long as well, so you know what I mean!

I don’t know if the end came out quite the way I wanted it to. Or, more precisely: I don’t know if I pulled it off. I’ve had that image in my head for months, that last twist to let Faith’s story both finish and carry on at the same time. I hope I did it justice. Hell, I hope I did my readers and the rest of the story justice.

I’m going to do a more thorough retrospective at some point, but for today, I’m going to collapse. I’m going to enjoy this weird feeling of freedom and sadness, and be immensely proud that I got all the way to the end.

Some fun stats:

• Total wordcount: 344,295
• Total number of posts: 417

And to top everything off, the Apocalypse Blog has had over 1100 visitors this month! It has been struggling higher every month, and the previous highest was 903 visitors in one month. I have no idea how good or bad that truly is, but it has been growing and that makes me happy. I never dreamed I’d get over 1000 people to the site! Whoo!

Today has been a good day. Thanks to all of my readers and supporters – you are why I write.

Time to celebrate.

Guest posted!

Over the last week or so, I’ve been toying with a guest post for another blogfic, the Inventor. Yesterday, it went live! Huzzah!

I’ve been meaning to write a post about this blogfic for a while. It is written by a very good friend of mine, Julie, who did a guest post for me on the Apocalypse Blog.

The Inventor started in October (2009) and posts three or so times a week. It tells the story of a teenaged girl who has run away from home to the streets of San Francisco. She spins a different story to every person she meets, and she lies to herself just as often, while she struggles to figure out how to survive homeless, jobless, and friendless.

Julie uses some great images and turns of phrase in her writing, and she doesn’t shy away from the unpleasantness and vulnerability of living on the streets. I can’t wait to see where she’s going to take the story.

I was delighted when she invited me to do a guest post for her. For some reason, my brain immediately jumped on the idea of a hooker (what does that say about me?). Julie said she wanted to bring in prostitution sooner rather than later, so I started poking at it right away (hmm, not sure that’s the right phrasing). And thus, Savannah was born.

Writing the post has been a welcome distraction, a bit of a break from my usual Apocalypse Blog writing, and great fun. It’s a lot lighter than much of the stuff I’ve been writing of late! It also came out in present tense – I’m not sure why. I thought about switching it into past tense, but it seemed fairly comfortable in present (and Julie didn’t mind), so I didn’t bother.

So there we go. I have starred in another blogfic! Go me! Go read it, tell me what you think!

I have four posts left of the Apocalypse Blog. Only four! Time to go work on them.

Forward thinking

With the Apocalypse Blog running headlong towards its conclusion, I have been turning my brain to the brightening question: what next?

Some of you may know that I’ve had another blogfic knocking around in my brain for most of the year. As often happens when I dive into something new, ideas clamour for attention. When I was getting into the groove of AB and loving it, I asked myself ‘what else can I do with this format?’ And an answer came immediately to mind. I have held off doing anything with that idea, because I wanted to remain focussed on AB and get that done before something else distracted me.

More recently, I’ve had another couple of ideas crop up, one with a story attached and the other more of a character and concept. These are both blogfic-type ideas as well. They’re not very well-formed, but one might take shape soonish if I have the time.

There are some other things that I have been putting aside in order to focus on AB as well. The post-a-day schedule really hampered by ability to get any other writing done, and the novel I wrote last year has fallen by the wayside. I’d like to get back to it, edit and redraft it, and start to do something with it. I also have a short story that I stopped halfway through (I can’t remember why – I think I hit a snag with it), and I want to get that finished too.

And because I’m a glutton for punishment, I am not quite ready to say goodbye to AB forever once the new year rolls around.

So, things I have lined up for the next year:

• Novel – edit/redraft. Aim to submit.
• Apocalypse Blog –
  • Finishes 31st December 2009.
  • e-book it – need to look at how, where, etc. Also need to decide whether/how much I should edit it.
  • Shorts – short stories showcasing different cast members. Masterson, Jersey, Bree – I think I can do these without any problems. At some point, I might look at the Seekers’ future, too.
  • Merchandise – design and make available (?).
• Other blogfic –
  • Starwalker – a ship’s log, told by the ship. Site is halfway done, planning is partly done, needs some work to nail down cast and details. Posting 2-3 times per week (none of this every day craziness!).
  • A smite-happy angel in a Hawaiian shirt. Earth suddenly cut off from Heaven and Hell. Ahhh, handflappy. Yeah, that’s all I have right now. Tentative name: Earthwalker.
• Short stories – various. Finish that outstanding one! This one is definitely a maybe.
• Do more writing tips posts.

Hmm. It’s a lot, looking at it like that. I get tired just thinking about it all. The first thing I have to do is finish up AB. It’s a struggle at the moment – I still have over a week left to write, and it’s hard to find the time and energy with everything else going on right now.

In my original planning, I had hoped to be having a break right now. AB was supposed to have been finished off in November, leaving me a couple of weeks of December to myself as a break, and then a couple of weeks of planning for the next one. AB would post itself up until the end of the year, and by the time 1st January rolled around, I’d be ready to start posting the new blogfic. Perfect.

Yeah, that hasn’t happened. I’m still writing, editing and posting AB. I’m still rushed off my feet with everything. My head is reeling with everything I have to get done, and I am never going to get everything (anything?) prepared for the next blogfic before the beginning of 2010. Considering how painful it is to write and post with no kind of buffer, I don’t want to start the next one without at least a week or two’s posts in-hand. Preferably two weeks’ worth.

I’m the only one setting these schedules for myself. And you know what? I don’t need to punish myself with them. So I’m going to take January off. I’m going to take that month to do my planning, set up the site/s, build up a buffer of posts, and get myself ready to dive into the rest of the year. I need a chance to get my feet under me before I set off running again.

So that’s the plan. Get through the next week and a half, collapse, then catch my breath and start the craziness all over again. With slightly more planning and maybe a trace less crazy. Who knows?

You gotta try, right?

Apocalypse Blog merchandise

I received an email this week about the possibility of producing AB merchandise, from an Australian-based online serial publisher. They’re setting up a merchandise store for their own web serials, and wanted to know if I would be interested in having AB stuff go on there, too. No set-up fees, no charges, nothing, but I can earn commission on all my merchandise.

It’s an interesting idea, and without seeing anything contractual, looks pretty good. (I need to check into the rights issues, I think.) I don’t mind so much about the money (though some extra is always good!), and I think I can probably get a design put together based on the awesome AB book cover that was done a few months ago.

I’ve been pondering this for a couple of days, and now I throw the question out to all of you: should I do it?

How many people would want (and buy!) an Apocalypse Blog t-shirt, or badge? (That’s what they’re offering to start with – t-shirts (black and white) and badges.) As a guide (I’ll need to check this when I get home), the shirts came out to about $25 and the badges to about $2 (Australian dollars, so cheaper in US dollars). Quality is roughly equivalent to Cafe Press and another store whose name I have forgotten.

Thoughts? Preferences? Considerations? Bite my hand off?

Milestone: Apocalypse Blog’s first birthday!

One year ago today, the first post on the Apocalypse Blog went up. In today’s post, Faith reflects on the intervening period, in the first of two, possibly three anniversary posts.

I keep getting to these milestones and sitting back, feeling stunned as I turn it over in my head. I’m so proud to have made it this far.

When I started out, in my heart, I wanted to run AB for a full year. That’s was my original goal. I wasn’t sure if I could do it, though – I’d never done anything like this before, I didn’t know if I could keep up the pace, and I had no idea if I had enough plot to keep it interesting for this long. I forced myself to take my time, to not rush from one pre-planned plot point to the next. I set a tentative goal of six months, to see how it went.

I think by the time I was about three months in, I knew I could spin it out for a whole year. Still, it’s more than a little amazing to think that AB has been a large part of my life for an entire year. My brain has trouble wrapping around that.

Two weeks to go. One week’s worth of posts left to write. Wow.

Today was the perfect time to go check on the e-Fiction Book Club, where I found that they have put up a review of AB. It made my day. I’m still grinning. It’s the sort of review that makes me bounce.

Thanks to the e-Fiction reviewer (Cassie) for taking the time to read the blog, and thanks to all my readers for sticking with me for so long. I adore you all.

Milestone: 400th post!

Today, the Apocalypse Blog’s 400th post went up! Huzzah! Everybody: dance!

It’s hard to believe there are that many posts, and that the average wordcount per post is still rising. I haven’t updated my little spreadsheet in ages (I really should do that), but they’re usually over 1,000 words these days!

I have about 10 days’ worth of posts left to write (having spent the weekend sorting out a gnarly plotting issue and editing up the next week’s posts). I’m really looking forward to getting my head down and getting those posts written out – there’s so much still to come! Hopefully I can fit it all into those 10 posts!

Fingers crossed, huh? Almost into the final run, my lovely readers. I’m so excited to be getting to the end, even though I know I’ll miss it when it’s done.

Do you want a sneak peak at the end? Here you go: “And then they ate us all.”

No, wait, I have a better one: “And then I woke up and realised I’d been in a coma for a year.”

You don’t want lame? Okay, I shall restrain the urge to give it an ending that will make you want to beat me with sticks. I shall endeavour to not suck! 🙂

Sluggish

It hasn’t been a great week.

There was that review, which knocked me sideways a bit. Then you lovely people pulled me up again – thank you for all your comments, support, and honesty.

I’ve since had another review on Web Fiction Guide, which raised similar concerns to the previous one but in a much less damning way. It felt more balanced (but maybe that’s just me).

On the plus side, I’ve been getting a load of hits through from it, and more feedback is great too. My overall rating is pretty good (looks like a 3.5?), and I’m happy with that. Happy enough for now, anyway.

On top of that, the CFS has been crawling up to smother me this week. I’ve been getting sleep (which is usually my toughest battle) but still waking up tired. Worse and worse each day, until yesterday my alarm pulled me out of the middle of a very vivid (and strange) dream. I am never dreaming at that time – I don’t remember the last time that happened. My body clock knows I get up at just after 6am, so I’m at least semi-awake by then.

Today, I got up feeling like lead. My glands feel like they’ve come up, and I’ve had cotton-head half of the day. I am currently subsisting on sugar and caffiene, and wondering just how little of tonight’s work Christmas party I can be there for before I can slip away. If the party wasn’t between the office and my house, I wouldn’t be going at all. Plus, I put a dress on today for the damn thing, so I might as well use it.

It hasn’t been a good week for writing. With those things tugging at me – in a downwards direction – it was really a bad time to tackle a post about a character in a dark place. The whole thing went sideways and ended in a position that I’m not sure I can recover from. I’m writing about ten days from the end of the blog, and there isn’t time to work with that. Luckily, I’m writing far enough ahead of the posts that I have time to fix it.

This morning, I abandoned the desire to surge ahead anyway, and went back to fix the post. Basically, I rewrote it with an additional element that I had originally intended to be in there, but had been unable to find room for the first time around. I started with the new element and made the rest fit in around it, and I think it’s going to wind up better for it. I’m itching to get it finished, but I’m so braindead that I can’t bring myself to review yet another technical ticket because it hurts too much.

Instead, I wound up procrastinating by registering the Apocalypse Blog on NetworkBlogs on Facebook. Another way to share the joy! I hear that it’s a good way to advertise, and while it may be a little late in AB’s case (as it’s ending soon), no harm in trying. Those of you on FB – follow, share, enjoy!

I’ve put off everything I had planned to do this weekend, except an evening out with a few friends. For the rest of the time, I will be resting and attempting to sort out the hash I’ve made of AB this week. Thank goodness for buffer. Oh, how I missed you, buffer.

Coming soon: AB’s next milestone, and news about the next blogfic on the horizon. It’s coming soon. Hopefully not too soon. In the meantime, wish me sanity and sleep.

Review blues

The Apocalypse Blog hasn’t had many reviews. I haven’t been pushing for them – the best way to get reviews is to review other web fiction, and knowing how little time I have, I don’t feel capable of putting in the kind of time it takes to do that. I felt bad asking for reviews, knowing that I couldn’t reciprocate. So it’s okay. I don’t mind. I get feedback from my readers and that’s fantastic. It’s more than I hoped to get.

Still, it’s always nice to be reviewed (especially when you haven’t asked for one). A couple of months ago, one of the editors over at Web Fiction Guide did a review on AB (I know I meant to link to it, but I can’t remember if I did or not). It was mostly positive but not entirely – which is to be expected, and, I felt, fair. I don’t expect my work to be flawless or suit everyone, and as I’ve said many times, I welcome feedback.

On noticing a spike of click-throughs from the WFG listing recently, I checked it out and discovered another review had been put up. This one was by the writer of the Blog Fiction blog, which is a great resource for blog fiction writers and readers. This review made me far less happy than the previous one did.

It has its positive points, all of which I am gratified to hear. The reviewer says my characters are realistic, the story is involving, the setting is engaging, and the site is “an example of how to put together a Blog Fiction site”. This is wonderful to read!

And then I got to the ‘cons’ section of the review. According to this reviewer, all of the above good points are let down by the writing. In summary: I tell more than I show, and it’s difficult for the reader to connect to the action or the characters.

I won’t lie – that hurt. The Apocalypse Blog has its flaws, but I had hoped that the writing itself wasn’t a huge one. I know I’m not perfect. I know posts have gone up when I’m less than happy with them. But still. It’s a knock to have it stripped down that way.

I’m not going to bitch and whine about it. This is what this particular reviewer felt when he read AB, and bad reviews (by which I mean ‘negative’) are part of this game. I can comfort myself by looking at the first review, which described the blog as “so well-written, so dark, disturbing, and emotional, that I had to stop reading”. But that doesn’t make this particular viewpoint go away.

So the question becomes: what do I do about it? This is one person’s opinion, which is valid (it’s his opinion and he is entitled to that) but not all-encompassing. I’m not going to beat myself up about it, or stop writing. I’ve had good feedback too. But it does make me nervous.

I could attempt to explain or excuse that the style the reviewer disliked: the blog format demands a certain amount of ‘summary writing’, and there simply isn’t time or space to go into every event in detail. For some of the events in the story, I didn’t want to go into a lot of detail about, because while they happened, they simply weren’t important enough at the time.

But excuses and explanations don’t tackle the problem. This is one person’s opinion, but just how widely is this view held? (I am of the view that when three people read a piece and two give the same feedback, a writer should listen, even if the third person disagrees.)

Did the writing hurt the blog? Did I summarise too much? Did I gloss over things that I should have gone into detail about? Did I focus too tightly on some things and not give enough story-space to others?

I’m not looking for a pat on the back. (Some reassurance that it wasn’t as catastrophic as the review suggests would be nice, though!) I started the Apocalypse Blog to stretch my writers’ muscles, to explore new avenues in my writing, to expand and learn new things. If it’s flawed, I want to know. I want to improve.

So, what do you all think? Feel free to answer here or leave your own review on WFG. I value your honesty.

The Apocalypse Blog is currently being read by the e-Fiction Book Club for review. I’ll admit to being more than a little nervous about that, especially after reading this latest review. I have my fingers crossed and my heart in my mouth. The rest of me is in other people’s hands.

NaNoWriMo: Achieved!

It’s the 29th November, and I finally hit 50,000 words. Whoo-hoo!

It’s such a relief. I have been struggling all week, and my wordcount graph reflects that. Work has been nuts, with the new guy starting – I had to be in charge of inducting him and training him – and interviewing another candidate for the new vacancy we’ve been allowed to recruit for. And I had a deadline to meet on Friday, which involved much squinting at complicated spreadsheets and trying to work out if all the figures were correct.

On top of that, I’ve been out a lot and, of course, the CFS has been biting down hard. I wound up collapsing on Friday night and giving myself the night off, even though I had barely written anything the day before (due to an unplanned evening at the folks’ place, thanks to breaking trains and a dad who needed a lift home).

Luckily, the write-ins have been great for my productivity. I entered the weekend with 8k to go – not exactly ideal, but not horrific either – and wound up doing almost 4k at yesterday’s write-in. Today, I managed to get my head down and push through those last few posts to hit 50k just after 6pm.

Aaaaand, relax.

In all of my previous NaNo adventures, I have hit the target with a week or more to go. The first year, I petered out and coasted through the last week, ending on about 56k, just glad I got through it all. Last year, I was determined to get to the end of the story and powered on through to almost 70k. This year, I’m just glad I made it at all. This really is a lot closer to the bone than I like to cut things!

I guess it’s a symptom of how my year has been. More than once I’ve been up late, desperately trying to focus on an Apocalypse Blog post properly so that I can get it edited, and then post it before I fell into bed. Once, I had to backdate the time slightly to squeeze it into the previous day, as it was almost 1am when it was finally going up. (One lovely reader noticed! Despite my sneaky fiddling with the posting time. It’s so good to know people are paying attention!)

I wish I could take a break now. But not yet! NaNo might be finished, but AB isn’t, not quite.

I’m about halfway through December. Only a couple of weeks’ worth of posts, and then I’m finished. I have tomorrow off work, to rest and recover from everything, so I plan to spend that editing the first half of December. Then I can focus on getting the last half of the month written, polished up and posted.

Almost there. Almost done. I can’t wait. I want to see the whole story, hold it in my hands as a complete thing. I’m looking forward to telling everyone: I did it. I got to the end, I got through a whole year and a long, winding story.

For tonight, though, I’m going to put my feet up, feel good about myself, and look forward with hope. It has been hard work, but it’s all working out nicely. That makes it worth it.