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Crash Landing

Crash Landing

Category Archives: Books

Projects in Development

27 Monday Sep 2021

Posted by crashdlanding in Audience participation, Black Pine, Books, coming soon, Fiction, I’m Crafty and You Can Too!, My Writing, News, Non-Fiction, On Writing, Premium, Self Publishing, silent secret

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crash landing, crashdlanding, do ction, facebook, in development, non-fiction, projects, silent secret, sisters, writing

Just so I can remind myself I have stuff I should be doing

1. “Silent Secret” (research)

Dropping “the”. Cover created using Canva (not sponsored, but you can holla at me, Canva! *wink*)

Plot: A young woman goes missing just before her high school graduation. Presumed dead, she is honored at her graduation by family and friends. Twenty* years later, after her friends and classmates go their separate ways, they receive postcards in the mail from their hometown, Black Pines. “Have you forgotten about Haley?” One young woman, the missing girl’s childhood friend, returns home to seek answers. (Something like that)

Silent Secret started as a “random generator” story. The premise was to use random generators for as many aspects of the story as possible. The title, characters, and at least some extent of the plot was created by generators. They mostly came from links available on the Seventh Sanctum website.

I’ve written a little on this story, but I want to do some research before anything solid. Eventually it’ll be available by the chapter, on a monthly basis, as premium content!

At some point it’ll be self published as well.

2. “Sisters Make the Best Accomplices” (development?)

Cover made with Canva (*wink*)

Plot: (so far) Two sisters, with very different personalities, who honestly don’t get along super well (sounds like a generic sister story) get into complicated shenanigans. They have to learn to accept their differences and work together to get out of the mess they’ve gotten themselves in.

Honestly got the idea from a random Facebook image someone shared. I think I woke up thinking about it. Had some downtime at work and wrote an opening scene. If I can get the time to work on it, it’s gonna be a good one!

Don’t tell my sister, it’s gonna be dedicated to her.

Eventually I’ll self-publish this one as well.

3. Facebook Poll Story.

Guess how I created this? Yup. Canva.

Premise: On my Facebook page I post each “chapter” of a story. The next chapter’s content is determined via poll posted on the Crash Landing Site group. ALWAYS check the page first, for the chapter. Then vote in the poll. Haven’t figured out yet how to post the chapter and poll as one post.

I haven’t revealed the general plot or theme, yet. I want to watch and see where the readers take the story! So far we’re one chapter in so check it out! This one is Facebook exclusive!

I’m also going to be giving three self-published copies of the finished story to the three people who participate the most in the polls.

4. “I’m Crafty, and You Can Too!” (Delayed)

I PAID FOR A SUBSCRIPTION FOR THIS ONE CANVA. I LOVE IT.

The weird sounding title was on purpose, FYI.

My goal was to make tutorial/informational videos on my YouTube for people who want to learn more about various crafts! I so often get people who tell me “I wish I were crafty.” I wanted to show them how!

I’ve gotta get my crap together and get going with this. I’d love to do it but honestly I’m afraid of being in front of a camera! That and the debilitating fear of rejection. 🤦‍♀️


Anyway, I’m sure there’s a million other things I want to be working in. Like my nephew’s letter keychain and sticker. Sorry my dude. I’ll get ya eventually.


Thanks for reading!

-c

Be sure to follow for updates! I try to post something about something at least once a week!

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Things I’ve always wanted to do

13 Thursday Jun 2019

Posted by crashdlanding in Books, Non-Fiction, Truth, Unfinished Business

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big ideas very little follow through, broke, bucket list, crystals crazy schemes, Dreams, if wishes were horses, money wasters, non-fiction

Almost exactly a year ago today I bought a ukulele on Amazon. I can probably play one cord. If I look it up on the internet.

The Uke is just one of the many examples of things I wanted to do (learn to play an instrument) that I’ll never do. SO HERE’S A LIST (in no particular order). Several I have attempted and even spent money on. Never succeeded.

  1. Learn to play an instrument – UKE
  2. Learn another language (I tried Irish, Spanish, and Sign) – I’ve bought CDs and books.
  3. Relearn to ride a bike (I’m told I know how but I can never seem to pull it back out) – Bought a bike, tried once. Was afraid of falling. Sold the bike three years later.
  4. Learn to make homemade biscuits – bought a cookbook (by one of my mom’s favorite tv personalities because of that and the biscuit recipe), a set of biscuit cutters, flour and buttermilk. Forgot.
  5. I’ve always wanted to be a good singer. I’ll NEVER spend money on that. My child likes my “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” just fine.
  6. I’ve always wanted to be a private detective. I have googled it, several years ago. It’s very expensive. I also didn’t drive at the time so I would have felt weird asking my husband for rides to stakeouts!
  7. FLIP HOUSES. Gotta have money to make money on that one. Ironically the cookbook person from number 4 used to do houses on TV.
  8. Wedding plan. I love weddings. This one started when I thought I’d never get married. Still love weddings.
  9. Tutor. I bought a book for this one. Had the idea to start my own tutoring business. Thought my education degree would be a good selling point. I worked for a tutoring company for a bit. It was a second job.
  10. Earn a living from writing. Ha. Ha ha ha. HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAAAA!!!

-c

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SERIOUSLY?!

15 Wednesday Oct 2014

Posted by crashdlanding in Books, News, Non-Fiction

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amazon, Black friday a zombie story, over priced, sales

I make it an unhealthy habit to go on Amazon and check out my books. Usually the first one that I go for is “Black Friday: A Zombie Story”. Amazon tends to adjust the pricing of the paperback (not Kindle, though) as they see fit, and I’m fine with that. I don’t sell many copies, and what I do sale, I make, like, less than a dollar in royalties per copy.

But this time around I happened to notice that there were some people trying to sale used copes.

This does not bother me, not in the slightest. If my book can get around to people, and they enjoy it, fine. That’s the point, right?

But the fact is, there are three sellers “attempting” to sale the book USED VERSIONS OF THE BOOK for MORE than what Amazon is. Not only that, but at minimum, a dollar and more than what I originally had it set as!

WHAT?!

WHAT?!

How in the world do they think they can make any kind of money off of this?! I’m surprised to this very day that I’ve sold, like, eleven copies in two years. The fact that someone is trying to sell a USED copy of a book WITH OBVIOUS PROBLEMS for $1-$2 more than Amazon, I am shocked… just… shocked.

To the sellers… you’re stuck with it. Might as well read it!

-c

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Darkness

15 Tuesday Jul 2014

Posted by crashdlanding in Books, Darkness, News, Self Publishing

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

complete, Darkness, rush job, self-publishing

The cover of my novel "Darkness" not my best work

The cover of my novel “Darkness” not my best work

Since my last post, much has happened. Mostly devastation and sadness. Mostly concerning my mom. On Thursday July 3, she was transferred from our local hospital, to one two hours away. On Saturday, she ended up needing emergency surgery to remove the offending problem. I won’t go into to much detail, but she is now currently on the ventilator in the Surgical ICU. Two hours away. Its a very sad, very distressing situation, and it doesn’t help in the least that I’m pregnant.

I have frequently wondered if my “horror-moans” are more out of whack than those of other pregnant women. I’ve cried so much in the last ten days that I’m surprised I’m not dehydrated.

Anyway, in  light of these events, I decided one evening, coming home from work, that I would say “Screw it” and throw together the files and such necessary to complete the self-publishing process on “Darkness”. I was up until about 4am this morning–or yesterday, whatever–working on cover related things, fixing interior file errors, and uploading documents. I am content to say that the process for both Paperback and Kindle Book formats are complete, and I am simply awaiting confirmation that they have both gone live.

If you happen to have a CreateSpace account, you can already purchase a paperback copy of the book for $8.99. You may be able to find it with this LINK.

Please forgive any errors and typos and hideous covers. I’m not the best proofreader (I also got to lazy to do it all over again) and I’m not a skilled graphic artist. If you decide to purchase it, I hope you at least enjoy the story.

 

-c

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“Come back! We miss you!” Said No one. Ever.

09 Monday Jun 2014

Posted by crashdlanding in Books, Darkness, My Writing, News, Non-Fiction

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Comeback, CreateSpace, Darkness, editing, inklings, publishing

I keep meaning to make my triumphant blogging return, but sadly, I just… Don’t.

I’m going to do what has become a thing for me, now. I’ll blame it on pregnancy. You see, I am constantly tired. Sometimes I wake up tired. And then I go to work all day, and MORE TIRED.

Coming home and blogging is not something that sounds thrilling to me, so, I indirectly blame pregnancy!

But what would I blog about anywho? I’ve not worked on “Darkness” I’m weeks, so no news there. Although I have uploaded a trial copy to CreateSpace, and OH MY WORD no errors!

I still plan on one more run through, and I need to add the “about the author” at the end. Probably going to skip any table of contents, if it doesn’t throw off the ever so complicated layout.

The cover is still the most frustrating part. But I do have a friend who I’m thinking of asking to draw or sketch an image for the cover. Maybe. Or maybe I’ll try it. We shall see.

Also, I was watching my 12 yr old nephew play some video games this weekend and (sadly) I came up with two “inklings”. “Inklings” are what I call teeny tiny blips of ideas.

I say “sadly” because I promised myself that nothing else gets written until “Darkness” has been published! But I do plan on jotting them down. Perhaps I’ll make them into blog stories!

-c

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UGH

21 Wednesday May 2014

Posted by crashdlanding in Books, News, Self Publishing

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

editing, NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, self publish, self publishing

So, after a long day (and an even longer period of not posting) I am actually working on my book/story/novel/really long piece of fiction. And let’s just say, it’s not the fun part of “working on it”.

I am in the editing stage of “Darkness”, my NaNoWriMo novel. It’s really more of the aesthetic stage, where I perfect the layout, page numbering, and stuff like that. Not the most fun part of the journey, to say the least. There are about 32 chapters to go through, and basically what I’m doing right now is the same thing repeated for all 32 chapters. Oh the glories of self-publishing!

Of course, there are self-publishers out there who can actually afford to pay for such services, and pre-pregnancy I had every intention of paying for a cover. I also had every intention to have this whole thing done by May. I laugh in the face of deadlines. Mostly those sad “fade to crying” laughs that just sound pitiful in the end.

The thing is, I know Perfectionist-Me will just have to keep going back and trying to make everything just right, and she will never be happy! So, I’m hoping I can at least get this done before the next National Novel Writing Month rolls around!

Wish me luck!

-c

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Woo! Whose up for round two?!

04 Friday Apr 2014

Posted by crashdlanding in Books, My Writing

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Darkness, editing, non-fiction, writing

I have, this night, finished editing Darkness! This edit was mostly for typos and wording issues. And I am so glad to be finished!

A writer’s work, however, is never done!

The next stage of the process is formatting for self publishing. I use CreateSpace to self-publish all my finished work. And there is a lot to be done to Darkness, before I can complete it.

I usually just refer to this stage as “The technical work”. Layout and formatting for uploading to CreateSpace.com involves making it look just right so it comes out looking right in hard copy form. The process is complicated and hard to explain right now, but maybe at a later date!

Suffice it to say that my projected “release date” of sometime in May is hopefully accurate!

Wish me luck!
-c

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Darkness

29 Saturday Mar 2014

Posted by crashdlanding in Books, My Writing

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

blog post, Darkness, editing, fiction, ideas, mine, NaNoWriMo 2013, novel, original fiction, self-published, writing

I’ve been sitting here trying to think of an interesting blog post. I’ve bounced around about nine billion ideas, and apparently almost 2am after a full day of work is just a dead zone for my brain activity. So, in lieu of something better, I present to you, the previously elusive details on my much mentioned NaNoWriMo novel.

I don’t know why it’s taken me so long to discuss this with you. I am quite proud of it, though I’ve neglected it for the last FOREVER. It’s the longest thing I’ve ever written, and it was completed in 30 days. A task I will never attempt again, unless of course, I have been given a month off from adulting. Yes, I turned adult into a verb, write it down it’ll be famous.

My 30 day novel idea started with one simple sentence, uttered by a co-worker as she left one September evening. I doubt she even knew I’d heard, or if it mattered. She and another co-worker were walking out, and they said something along the lines of “It’s already dark, it its only 8:30!” Of course, in the Fall, time starts getting all weird, and the sky decides its time for nap-nap, so darkness falls a bit earlier.

But, my writer’s brain (this should be a condition, perhaps the name of a syndrome) decided that this would make interesting fiction. And so, about two months later, “Darkness” was born.

The story (calling it a novel still feels odd and makes me giggle) is about the world without the light in the sky-no sun, no moon, no stars. Something, telling you would give it away, has taken the light. The first to be affected, in the confines of the plot of the story, are three large dogs, owned by the first characters introduced. Edward and Rosalie. The dogs, Do, Re, and Mi, are frightened of the dark and their owners bring them in.

As the endless night wears on, people quickly grow concerned. The President (at this point he is unnamed and has no physical traits. YAY FOR EDITING) intervenes. He assembles a mighty team of scientists. Sorry to disappoint, but THINK OF THE POSSIBILITIES. I am not salivating.

The scientists–a geologist with an attitude, a psychologist with a superiority complex, a shy botanist, a timid zoologist, a retired meteorologist with with a  weather themed name, a German astronomer with an interesting accent, and a biologist who now that i think of it has no defining characteristic YAY FOR EDITING–are tasked with discovering the cause and delivering us from darkness.

The darkness seems to suck up all light, swallowing it up, weakening the streetlights and headlights on cars. Soon, it seems to suck up life as well. Birds fall from the sky, deer, attempting to find somewhere safe from the darkness, die in the middle of darkened roads. And very quickly, it begins to seep into our homes, and into places more private–our minds. Not only is the world darkened, but the people in it seem to grow darker as well.

Intrigued?

I hope to get my rear in gear and get back into editing soon. I’ve made it about a quarter to halfway through, and that’s just a rough edit. Once that’s done, I hope to snag a decent designer whose willing to go cheap to help me create a cover fit for a bestseller, or just a self-published wonder. When I know, you’ll know!

And as always, thanks for reading!

-C

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I hate editing

11 Tuesday Mar 2014

Posted by crashdlanding in Books, Non-Fiction

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

editing, fiction, non-fiction, process, publishing, writing

For the record, I have been trying to think of a good idea for a post for ages, but I cannot seem to come up with anything interesting. In fact, I’ve been so frustrated and annoyed that I can’t find something I’m looking for that its what’s really occupying my mind.

I have two currently “in need of editing” but “done with actual writing” pieces. One is a reedit of “Black Friday” and the other is the first stage of editing on my 2013 NaNoWriMo novel (I will NEVER do that again).

Of course I have a volunteer editor for BF, but she’s also a college student, not to mention the two jobs. A girl’s gotta get paid, and she volunteered for “Black Semester: The Editing Story”. Volunteering is low paying, so I’m really in no rush. I’m crazy lucky to know an English major, even luckier that she (either) likes me enough to volunteer for such an epic undertaking (or liked the story enough to make sure the typos and wording did not make her want to scratch her own eyes out. Or mine). And I appreciate her effort, and I hope she knows that (shout out to Brittney).

My other “In progress” editing is being done solely by little ole me, and I’ve been on hiatus from it for more than two months now. I’d be in trouble if I had a deadline for some reason (one of many reasons why I refuse to do NaNoWriMo again). I hate deadlines, and I hate pressure. So, its also lucky I’m not under a writing contract.

Generally when I do my own editing, I simply edit for typos or badly worded sentences. And believe me, there’s enough trouble with just that. If I were actually going through and editing for all the writing boo-boos that can and do happen (especially when you’re writing a 50,000 word novel in 30 days) I’d be at it for ages.

Another problem I have with my least favorite part of being a writer, is that when I do go back through, I often reread a part here and there, or think back at how I wrote the story, and think of a whole new way to write it, a whole new way to tell the story, I get ideas for grand changes or rewrites. Once I get them, if I’m in the mood I usually am (if I’m editing at all, I am in said mood) then I attempt the impossible. But I do it, and excuse my language, half-assed, and I try to rewrite or edit without completely changing the entire document.

When I first bought my iPad, I thought, “If I find the right app, I can use this on the go, to edit my stories!” And I did, at first. I found Pages for the iPad and downloaded it (it was free!), and soon emailed myself a copy of my NaNoWriMo novel, and started rereading and editing (what I call a soft edit, just typos and general smoothness). I cannot remember for the life of me how far I’ve gotten, but it’s been more than a month, at least, since I’ve even opened the app.

Q: Why didn’t I edit as I wrote?

A: Have you even HEARD of NaNoWriMo? NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month is a “contest” or basically a race to try and write a novel, at least 50,000 words, in 30 days. It starts on November 1st and ends on November 30th. What do you get? Uh, bragging rights? And you can BUY a tee shirt that said you did it. I did not buy the shirt. I was just glad to have finished. I knew that if I did edit while writing, I would most likely spend too much time “perfecting” the un-perfectible than actually writing. I ended up finishing a few days early, I think, but I did it, by Jove! It was mostly due to the fact that I just really got into the writing of it.

I attempted NaNoWriMo for two reasons. In college I’d heard of it, and had always wanted to participate. I was either too early or too late, whenever I would remember it. But this year I was actually on top of it, and I’d gotten the idea for the story in September.

The second reason was purely to prove to myself that my writing bone had not been irreversibly broken. Turns out it was a muscle injury and it was just sprained. I proved to myself that I wasn’t blocked or broken or wasted. I could still write. And man did I write!

But then I got the big idea that I wanted to enter the Amazon Breakthrough Novelist award. I never finished editing, obviously, and I got lazy (it also didn’t help that I was having a rough time at my day job). I’d had a reminder set on my phone, and kept ignoring it. On the first day of entry, I snoozed the reminder, shrugged and said, “Meh.” Luckily I hadn’t made solid plans on the prize money, amirite?

So, if it comes down to editing, a good hard thorough editing, then I will never be a contracted, agent-ed, or anything else remotely related to being a professional writer. I have a friend who is a freelance writer, and man am I jealous (Shout-out to Kim). My bestest friend (yes, I am 29 and I said “bestest”) writes more in a year’s time than I can in a decade, so she’s got me beat too (shout out to Selena).

I once dreamed of being a writer, and actually making a living off of it. I also dreamed of being an elementary school teacher too, but I’m currently in retail. But then, I don’t know if I could stand to write something, edit and reedit, fall shamelessly and hopelessly in love with the story I’ve written and send it to a publisher just to have them send it back and say “fix this, and this, and that, and those too, and we’ll go from there”.

Dude. No.

-c

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Image

Bookified Lyrics

07 Friday Mar 2014

Tags

bookified lyrics, mycherochroncles, twitter

20140307-032918.jpg

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Posted by crashdlanding | Filed under Books, Non-Fiction

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