Weekly writing check-in: the one with the print layout

Chapter oneI completed the print layout for Dating on the Dork Side, mostly yesterday. I always think that I’ll do a little at a time, pace myself, not go all crazy and try to do the entire novel all at once.

Seriously, I think the InDesign interface has some sort of subliminal messaging, or crack, or something. I’m always telling myself: Okay, after this chapter, I’ll get up and do the laundry/eat/let the dog out.

Then it’s all: Okay, after this chapter, I’ll go be a human being again and do what other human beings do.

Yeah. Not exactly. On the upside, the print layout is (mostly) done.

I ended up with ~7,600 words on episode one for season two of Coffee & Ghosts. I did not finish it this week (so … close), but this coming week for certain. Or mostly certain. I probably shouldn’t jinx myself. But we have clearly moved into novella territory.

Writing Work:

  • Completed print layout for Dating on the Dork Side
  • Coffee & Ghosts season two: 7,600 words

Submissions:

  • A Measure of Sorrow (reprint market)

Rejections:

  • None

Acceptances:

  • None

Publications:

  • None

Weekly writing check-in: the one with fun with graphics

Coffee and Ghost mockup

So, a little fun with graphics this morning, a really good writing week, and more fun with print layout in InDesign.

I ended up with ~7,000 words on episode one for season two of Coffee & Ghosts, and I’m closing in on 12,000 words for the episode so far. I’m thinking I can finish it off this week (!).

After turning around that rejection this week, I ended up with a milestone of fifty story submissions for the year. So there’s that.

Writing Work:

  • Print layout work
  • Photoshop tutorials/graphics fun
  • Coffee & Ghosts season two: 7,000 words

Submissions:

  • Gretel and Hansel

Rejections:

  • Gretel and Hansel

Acceptances:

  • None

Publications:

  • None, but don’t forget to enter the Goodreads giveaway for Selfies from the End of the World. See yesterday’s post for more information.

Goodreads giveaway: Selfies from the End of the World: Historical Accounts of the Apocalypse

It’s Goodreads Giveaway time again! Head on over to the giveaway for a chance to win one of five copies of Selfies from the End of the World. The print layout is seriously gorgeous.
SelfiesAntho

No one understands an apocalypse like the people who have experienced it. Mad Scientist Journal has brought together twenty-three tales of people who have seen the world end. These accounts range from irreverent to surreal to heartbreaking. Zombies share space with global wars, super-viruses, canned peaches, and the death of the sun.

Want to know more about the anthology? Garrett Croker has completed a comprehensive review of all the stories–in four parts! Included in part three is the review of my story:

In a Manner of Speaking by Charity Tahmaseb is another real favorite of mine. As far as Soshi Patel knows, she is the last person on Earth, surviving by candlelight in a shelter she can never leave. Then, one day, she begins to receive a transmission on a makeshift radio. Jatar, the voice on the other end, knows things he should not be able to know. The connection the two grow to have builds slowly and is truly lovely in its execution, and the ultimate explanation for how Jatar knows the things he does is guaranteed to break your heart. This is a story I could go back to again and again, and again and again.

Weekly writing check-in: the one with the Goodreads giveaway

Look! Some new writing this week on season two for Coffee & Ghosts. Writing a second season? It’s challenging. If nothing else, I’ll learn something from this. Learning = good.

Finished up revision work/copy edits for another project (more on that later) and started in on the doc clean up and formatting.

And I have a Goodreads giveaway running this week (until the 15th) for a signed copy of the paperback. So, if you like your reading in paper form, head on over to enter.

Writing Work:

  • Revision work
  • Formatting and doc clean up
  • Coffee & Ghosts season two: 4,500 words

Submissions:

  • None

Rejections:

  • None

Acceptances:

  • None

Publications:

None, but the print version of the  Coffee & Ghosts series bundle has a Goodreads giveaway. Enter to win a signed paperback.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Coffee and Ghosts by Charity Tahmaseb

Coffee and Ghosts

by Charity Tahmaseb

Giveaway ends October 15, 2015.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/widget/156879

Weekly writing check-in: the one with coffee and ghosts

So, lots of coffee and ghosts this week. Final, final tweaks to get it ready to launch yesterday. If you like all your ghost (and coffee) stories in one place, this is the format for you.

Did some revision work this week and some brainstorming on a possible season two for Coffee & Ghosts and … I think I may have a season two. I’m thinking three stories this time, novella length (or so I hope). We will see.

And we did it. All four of my Girl Scouts are first aid qualified–and so am I (again). Minus a few bruises on my wrist from practicing chest compressions, all went well.

Writing Work:

  • Revision work
  • Coffee & Ghosts season two brainstorming and outlining

Submissions:

  • Gretel and Hansel
  • Knight in the Royal Arms

Rejections:

  • Gretel and Hansel
  • Knight in the Royal Arms

Acceptances:

  • None

Publications:

The Coffee & Ghosts series bundle is out in the world.

Coffee & GhostsYou can read more about that in my post here. But it’s available in one volume, or read each episode for free if you have a Kindle Unlimited subscription. It’s even in print.

Coffee & Ghosts: series bundle now available!

 

It’s here! The series bundle.

Get all your coffee and ghosts in one volume.

Just in time for Halloween!

Coffee & Ghosts

Coffee & Ghosts is a cozy paranormal mystery/romance serial told over five episodes.

Katy and her grandmother have always used coffee to catch ghosts. It pays the bills and keeps them in high-end beans. But after her grandmother dies and a rival ghost hunter moves to town, Katy fears things will never be the same.

She’s right.

From a beguiling and charismatic ghost whisperer to her new partner’s ghost swallowing brother and even a (short) stint behind bars, Katy navigates her new reality, uncertain her skills are equal to the tasks at hand. But are these things mere distractions—or do they hide something darker, far more sinister, something that has a long-held vendetta against Katy?

To survive, Katy must uncover an ancient secret. She must brew her very best Kona blend. She will need to rely on unexpected and unpredictable allies.

To survive, she will need to trust what’s in her heart.

Read the episodes for free with Kindle Unlimited! Or grab the series bundle and save 30%!

Episode 1: Ghost in the Coffee Machine
Episode 2: Giving Up the Ghosts
Episode 3: The Ghost Whisperer
Episode 4: Gone Ghost
Episode 5: Must Love Ghosts

Also available in print.

Weekly writing check-in: the one with more keeping time

cofee and ghosts headerThis week my story Keeping Time found a new home over at Luna Station Quarterly. This is a reprint sale, but it’s especially nice since the original journal is no longer online. So, come December, Keeping Time will again be available online.

Some rejections, some submissions, and some work on a series bible for the Coffee & Ghosts series. I have a hint of an idea for an upcoming season two, and maybe a hint of one for a holiday novella. We’ll see how that goes.

Otherwise, it was a week of wrestling with tech issues, from formatting to trying to get four Girl Scouts registered to do some online first aid training. Now, you’d think that last wouldn’t be so hard. Well? You’d be wrong. I think we’ve got it now, and by this time next week, we’ll all be certified. But keep your fingers crossed, just in case.

I’ve also been playing around with Canva (lots of fun) as illustrated above.

Writing Work:

  • Final review: Print and e-book layout on Coffee & Ghosts
  • Revision and formatting work
  • Ghost series bible and brainstorming

Submissions:

  • The Perfect Canvas
  • Incriminating Evidence
  • Gretel and Hansel

Rejections:

  • Gretel and Hansel
  • Incriminating Evidence

Acceptances:

  • Keeping Time

Publications:

  • None

Weekly writing check-in: the one with selfies at the end of the world

So … the world ended this week, and we have the selfies to prove it. Or something like that. My short story “In a Manner of Speaking” is included in the anthology from Mad Scientist Journal.

I’m still working on the very last adjustments to Coffee & Ghosts. It would go a bit quicker if this wasn’t happening:

zon

CreateSpace is all: That’s a nice file you have there. Too bad you can’t see it.

I suspect things will be up within a few hours. I did just manage to download all the new books and files to my Kindle. I can always go read. Or write. I could always go write something.

Writing Work:

  • Final print and e-book layout on Coffee & Ghosts (almost there)
  • Revision work
  • Proofing work

Submissions:

  • None

Rejections:

  • Incriminating Evidence

Acceptances:

  • None

Publications:

SelfiesAntho

Selfies from the End of the World is out in the world this week. You can see more about it in my post here.

No one understands an apocalypse like the people who have experienced it. Mad Scientist Journal has brought together twenty-three tales of people who have seen the world end.

These accounts range from irreverent to surreal to heartbreaking. Zombies share space with global wars, super-viruses, canned peaches, and the death of the sun.

Available in print and e-book: Kindle, Nook, Print, Kobo, iTunes

Now Available! Selfies from the End of the World: Historical Accounts of the Apocalypse

It’s here! The end of the world! Or at least twenty three stories about the end of the world, including one by me, In a Manner of Speaking.

What is it about? Well, there is a clue in the anthology description below (mine’s the story with the canned peaches).
SelfiesAntho

“It would be our duty, as citizens on this earth to document its end the best way we know and if that means a second by second update of the world going up in flames, or down in rain, or crushed under the feet of invading monsters so be it.”— Shivangi Narain

No one understands an apocalypse like the people who have experienced it. Mad Scientist Journal has brought together twenty-three tales of people who have seen the world end. These accounts range from irreverent to surreal to heartbreaking. Zombies share space with global wars, super-viruses, canned peaches, and the death of the sun.

Included in this collection are Rhoads Brazos, Samantha Bryant, Garrett Croker, Nathan Crowder, Matthew R. Davis, Kate Elizabeth, Mathew Allan Garcia, Sylvia Heike, B. T. Joy, Herb N. Legend, Samuel Marzioli, Mary Mascari, Nick Nafpliotis, Shivangi Narain, Brandon Nolta, Alexis J. Reed, Natalie Satakovski, J. C. Stearns, Charity Tahmaseb, Nicole Tanquary, Kristopher Triana, Dusty Wallace, MJ Wesolowski, and Caroline M. Yoachim. Includes art by Errow Collins, Amanda Jones, Shannon Legler, and Luke Spooner.

Available in print and e-book: Kindle, Nook, Print, Kobo, iTunes

 

Weekly writing check-in: the one with behind-the-scenes

Coffee and GhostsAnother week where I do a lot, then when I sit down to post my check-in, none of it seems all that interesting.

For instance, I completed the print and e-book layout for the Coffee & Ghosts series bundle, barring a few tweaks. But I can’t really show you that. I mean, we could sit here and watch the tracking number for the proof delivery.

But that isn’t very exciting.

Well, I guess I can show you the cover.

I also did a fair amount of revision work this week as well. That isn’t so remarkable. What is remarkable is I did half of that work at a coffee shop.

I never thought those studies–about how the noise level in coffee shops can boost creativity–would apply to me, since I’m such an introvert.

I. Was. Wrong. I am seriously pleased with the progress I’ve made, in the evenings no less, while my daughter is at her dance lessons.

I wouldn’t proofread in a coffee shop, but it’s great for coming up with creative solutions to story issues.

Lesson in all this? Even if you think you know yourself and your process, it doesn’t hurt to try something new.

Writing Work:

  • Photoshop tutorials
  • Print and e-book layout on Coffee & Ghosts
  • Revision work

Submissions:

  • None

Rejections:

  • Knight in the Royal Arms

Acceptances:

  • None

Publications:

  • None