I've no idea why it took me so long to do this, but I FINALLY created my Author page on Amazon! You can find here:
Paul V. Cwiakala
Here you'll find a photo of me, a little bio, and a link to Fallen Saints. There's also a button to follow me, that way Amazon will contact you when my next book, Castle at the Icicle's Edge and Other Stories, goes live.
If you get a chance, please take a look!
^_^
Friday, June 26, 2015
Monday, April 27, 2015
Coming Soon: Castle at the Icicle's Edge and Other Stories
With Spring here at last and the Summer around the corner, it's time for me to stop using the weather as an excuse and start DOING real work. I've picked up work on Snake Crime and The Bird Men at War - I hope to submit the latter to Innovate E-Magazine by June. At the moment I have Snake Crime tentatively slated to be published by Silk Baron in September, but I may change my mind and see out another small market instead.
Even more, as the title suggests, I'm publishing a Short Story collection! Castle at the Icicle's Edge and Other Stories is going to collect nine or ten of my short Science Fiction and Fantasy stories together and, at long last, get them out there for people to actually see and read! The collection will include:
Castle at the Icicle’s Edge
Silent Mars
Queen of Fire Mountain
Catalonia
Sir Gordon
Man of the Century
My First Fake
Thirty Years Away
Doravon vs. Raynor
I may also include my short story Latter-Day Revolutionary, if I can complete it by June. Yay! I have stuff to publish! \^.^/
Unfortunately, I've made little progress on Earth Refound in the last few weeks so I've had it taken off Silk Baron's release schedule. It'll go back up when things get moving again with it and I get a better idea of when I'll be finishing it. In the meantime, I've done all the above and will probably be commissioning cover art for the Silk Baron release of A Slave of the Bird Men, which is on track for a June 2015 release assuming Innovate #10 is published when I expect.
I'm also debating publishing a collection of my more "literary" short stories, but I have about half as many of those as I have for Castle on the Icicle's Edge so I don't know if it will be worth it. We'll see how I feel about it when we're closer to the June releases.
Even more, as the title suggests, I'm publishing a Short Story collection! Castle at the Icicle's Edge and Other Stories is going to collect nine or ten of my short Science Fiction and Fantasy stories together and, at long last, get them out there for people to actually see and read! The collection will include:
Castle at the Icicle’s Edge
Silent Mars
Queen of Fire Mountain
Catalonia
Sir Gordon
Man of the Century
My First Fake
Thirty Years Away
Doravon vs. Raynor
I may also include my short story Latter-Day Revolutionary, if I can complete it by June. Yay! I have stuff to publish! \^.^/
Unfortunately, I've made little progress on Earth Refound in the last few weeks so I've had it taken off Silk Baron's release schedule. It'll go back up when things get moving again with it and I get a better idea of when I'll be finishing it. In the meantime, I've done all the above and will probably be commissioning cover art for the Silk Baron release of A Slave of the Bird Men, which is on track for a June 2015 release assuming Innovate #10 is published when I expect.
I'm also debating publishing a collection of my more "literary" short stories, but I have about half as many of those as I have for Castle on the Icicle's Edge so I don't know if it will be worth it. We'll see how I feel about it when we're closer to the June releases.
Monday, March 16, 2015
A Slave of the Bird Men (Part Two) Now Available in Innovate #9!
The second installment of my short story A Slave of the Bird Men has just been published in Innovate E-Magazine #9! Even better, the story has made the front cover! \^o^/
Oh man, this is so huge, so exciting! I had no idea I was going to be mentioned on the cover, I'm so happy about this!! :D
Please, if you haven't already, check out Innovate. It's pretty awesome! There's a great selection of stories, poems, and articles in every issue, it's definitely worth a few minutes of your time. I was personally impressed by the size and quality of the magazine itself, atop of the quality work you can find inside.
The Print Edition is available now from Amazon.
Thursday, March 12, 2015
Winter Sucks
Well, that went about as terribly as I feared.
I hate Winter. It's cold, it's dark, and everything just dies. Amongst the casualties, as noted in my last post (geez, has it really been nearly seven weeks?) has been my writing drive. Yep, just as I worried in my last post, I've written basically nothing since January. Oh, I've gotten little bits of Earth Refound and Snake Crime written here or there, but for the most part nada. In their place I worked a bit on a Godzilla timeline over at www.alternatehistory.com I've titled Up from the Depths, but that's pretty much fan fiction and not really what I want to be doing.
Now that we're through the worst part of Winter (I detest February), things are getting better. The weather is warming and the mountains of snow are melting. Even better, my writer's block is finally starting to clear! Rather than keep toying with the projects I've been dawdling on, I've decided to step away and try another project - this one is a sci-fi/action/thriller involving good aliens, bad aliens, and the FBI. I'm excited about it! It's outlining nicely (far more nicely than Earth Refound, actually) and I think I'll be ready to start it properly very soon. We'll see how that turns out.
In between, I'll keep hacking away at Snake Crime. I have the first scene nearly finished now, and since it's supposed to be a short story that's an even bigger victory. I'm still on target for a June 2015 release for that and (hopefully) a stand-alone version of A Slave of the Bird Men through Silk Baron Independent Press. The latter depends largely on whether or not Bird Men is finished serializing in Innovate E-Magazine, since I don't want my release to clash with the magazine's.
Let's see where it goes from here. Thanks for listening!
I hate Winter. It's cold, it's dark, and everything just dies. Amongst the casualties, as noted in my last post (geez, has it really been nearly seven weeks?) has been my writing drive. Yep, just as I worried in my last post, I've written basically nothing since January. Oh, I've gotten little bits of Earth Refound and Snake Crime written here or there, but for the most part nada. In their place I worked a bit on a Godzilla timeline over at www.alternatehistory.com I've titled Up from the Depths, but that's pretty much fan fiction and not really what I want to be doing.
Now that we're through the worst part of Winter (I detest February), things are getting better. The weather is warming and the mountains of snow are melting. Even better, my writer's block is finally starting to clear! Rather than keep toying with the projects I've been dawdling on, I've decided to step away and try another project - this one is a sci-fi/action/thriller involving good aliens, bad aliens, and the FBI. I'm excited about it! It's outlining nicely (far more nicely than Earth Refound, actually) and I think I'll be ready to start it properly very soon. We'll see how that turns out.
In between, I'll keep hacking away at Snake Crime. I have the first scene nearly finished now, and since it's supposed to be a short story that's an even bigger victory. I'm still on target for a June 2015 release for that and (hopefully) a stand-alone version of A Slave of the Bird Men through Silk Baron Independent Press. The latter depends largely on whether or not Bird Men is finished serializing in Innovate E-Magazine, since I don't want my release to clash with the magazine's.
Let's see where it goes from here. Thanks for listening!
Saturday, January 24, 2015
Fits and Starts
We've all got bad habits.
Mine is that I'm incredibly lazy. It's a fatal flaw I've been aware of since I was a kid and have fought my entire life, with varying degrees of success. It's also, as mentioned in my last post, a major factor holding me back - if I could figure out some way to force myself to consistently write, day in and day out, I'd be much better off.
I bring this up because my laziness has led me into another dry spell and, despite wanting to, I've written next to nothing for Earth Refound in the last couple of weeks. I finished Act One last week and am about to start Act Two, but I've just frozen up. This is a point that's always been tough for me to push past, since this is the point the story shifts and we get started on our adventure proper. I have things outlined, but I'm honestly a little vague as to what I should be doing here. I had similar issues with Fallen Saints at about this point. Perhaps I should jump ahead a scene or two and write the next part that interests me? It's always an option, but rarely one I take since I tend to write everything in sequential order.
Instead of writing, I've spent more time drawing and browsing my usual Internet forums - fun, sure, but not exactly productive. It also hasn't helped that my day job has been a bit more hectic than usual.
It'd be nice if I could find some surefire method to get me to sit and write more often, but I know none exists. What I really need is more willpower, to crack a whip and just DO it. This has always been difficult for me, because no matter what I tell myself I know that I can always just ignore it. There can be no consequences I've I don't believe there will be consequences!
I did manage to write a little more today, though not as much as I'd like. My weekends (Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday) tend to work out more in my favor, so perhaps this week I'll finally break into Act Two for real? We'll see.
What I really don't want is for Earth Refound to go down the same path as Fallen Saints: a week-long burst of productivity separated by months of little more than thinking to myself, "I really need to get back to this."
I got Act One done. Time to do the second!
Mine is that I'm incredibly lazy. It's a fatal flaw I've been aware of since I was a kid and have fought my entire life, with varying degrees of success. It's also, as mentioned in my last post, a major factor holding me back - if I could figure out some way to force myself to consistently write, day in and day out, I'd be much better off.
I bring this up because my laziness has led me into another dry spell and, despite wanting to, I've written next to nothing for Earth Refound in the last couple of weeks. I finished Act One last week and am about to start Act Two, but I've just frozen up. This is a point that's always been tough for me to push past, since this is the point the story shifts and we get started on our adventure proper. I have things outlined, but I'm honestly a little vague as to what I should be doing here. I had similar issues with Fallen Saints at about this point. Perhaps I should jump ahead a scene or two and write the next part that interests me? It's always an option, but rarely one I take since I tend to write everything in sequential order.
Instead of writing, I've spent more time drawing and browsing my usual Internet forums - fun, sure, but not exactly productive. It also hasn't helped that my day job has been a bit more hectic than usual.
It'd be nice if I could find some surefire method to get me to sit and write more often, but I know none exists. What I really need is more willpower, to crack a whip and just DO it. This has always been difficult for me, because no matter what I tell myself I know that I can always just ignore it. There can be no consequences I've I don't believe there will be consequences!
I did manage to write a little more today, though not as much as I'd like. My weekends (Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday) tend to work out more in my favor, so perhaps this week I'll finally break into Act Two for real? We'll see.
What I really don't want is for Earth Refound to go down the same path as Fallen Saints: a week-long burst of productivity separated by months of little more than thinking to myself, "I really need to get back to this."
I got Act One done. Time to do the second!
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
Goals
I'm not an expert on either publishing or writing. Not even close. The best I can offer is that I have been writing for most of my life and have read pretty extensively on both traditional and indie/self-publishing, so at the very least I can offer some informed opinions on those matters.
All that being said, I'd like to talk a bit about goals.
Personally, I have modest goals for my writing and my career (at least, I hope they're modest!): to write as much as I can, publish as much as I can, and if I manage to make a few bucks (or pick up a few fans) along the way, well, awesome. My goal for many MANY years has been just to finish a book, any book, and get it (or anything, really) published. In 2014, after years of dreaming, I finally made that a reality when A Slave of the Bird Men and Fallen Saints were published.
So, with that out of the way, what are my goals now?
1. Publish two books and two short stories in 2015. Last year I accomplished a major life goal by having one short story and one book published. This year, I hope to double that. I'm pretty sure I know what stories I'm going to focus on to accomplish this goal too, which is boosting my confidence a whole truckload.
I've already started the first book of 2015: Earth Refound, a science fiction/adventure novel that, much like Fallen Saints, was a project I started a while back (in this case, Summer 2013), abandoned, and have now finally returned to. I'm very happy with the progress I've made so far, though considering my issues with productivity (see Goal #2) I've no clue how long it'll be before it's finished. The book I'll write after that is up in the air, but at the moment I'm interested in writing a thriller.
I'm much more set in the short story department! I've already begun a science fiction/mystery short story titled Snake Crime that I'm excited to work on. After that, I'd like to finish a sequel to A Slave of the Bird Men that I started a couple of years ago - I have pie-in-the-sky ideas of collecting the two into a single volume some time in the future.
If I can accomplish this goal, my confidence in my ability to turn this from a hobby/dream into an actual career will multiply! Time will tell, though.
2. Boost my productivity. This is a much more nebulous goal than the previous one, but it's an issue that has always plagued me. You see, I'm naturally lazy. It's easily my fatal flaw, the thing that has and (unless I conquer it) always will hold me back. It took me years to write Fallen Saints when, in my opinion, it should have taken only months. I wrote all of A Slave of the Bird Men during the time it took me to write that book! I need to spend much more time sitting and writing than I do now. Even just an hour a day would be a huge improvement! I suppose this is more of a long-term goal than something I can accomplish in just this year, but it's definitely an important one.
3. Get my work into more markets. This is probably the easiest and most concrete of all my goals for 2015. I'm already blown away by how many markets Fallen Saints has turned up in, but there are some key places I'm not available in yet. The next wave of markets I want to target is the remaining major eBook stores: Kobo, iBooks, Google Play, and GoodReads. I also want to, eventually, produce an audiobook for Fallen Saints - it's a portion of the market that I, myself, have never been interested much in but I'm convinced it's big enough that I shouldn't ignore it. Another area I'd like to expand to is foreign languages, specifically Spanish. Half of my family is of Dominican descent and, despite being good enough with English that I can write books, my Spanish skills are pretty terrible. I'd love to get my work translated into Spanish, just for that personal reason. Beyond that, I think German, Chinese, and Hindi are probably going to be important if I really want my work to be accessible outside the United States and Anglosphere. The audiobooks and foreign languages are much more distant goals, things I probably will not do in 2015, but they are on my mind.
The future has opened up so much for me this year, so many things now seem possible and within my grasp, it's hard to focus on just the tasks right in front of me. I'll do my best though and, if I'm lucky, maybe all of this will pay off. If not, ah well, at least somebody will be happy to read my work. ^_^
All that being said, I'd like to talk a bit about goals.
Personally, I have modest goals for my writing and my career (at least, I hope they're modest!): to write as much as I can, publish as much as I can, and if I manage to make a few bucks (or pick up a few fans) along the way, well, awesome. My goal for many MANY years has been just to finish a book, any book, and get it (or anything, really) published. In 2014, after years of dreaming, I finally made that a reality when A Slave of the Bird Men and Fallen Saints were published.
So, with that out of the way, what are my goals now?
1. Publish two books and two short stories in 2015. Last year I accomplished a major life goal by having one short story and one book published. This year, I hope to double that. I'm pretty sure I know what stories I'm going to focus on to accomplish this goal too, which is boosting my confidence a whole truckload.
I've already started the first book of 2015: Earth Refound, a science fiction/adventure novel that, much like Fallen Saints, was a project I started a while back (in this case, Summer 2013), abandoned, and have now finally returned to. I'm very happy with the progress I've made so far, though considering my issues with productivity (see Goal #2) I've no clue how long it'll be before it's finished. The book I'll write after that is up in the air, but at the moment I'm interested in writing a thriller.
I'm much more set in the short story department! I've already begun a science fiction/mystery short story titled Snake Crime that I'm excited to work on. After that, I'd like to finish a sequel to A Slave of the Bird Men that I started a couple of years ago - I have pie-in-the-sky ideas of collecting the two into a single volume some time in the future.
If I can accomplish this goal, my confidence in my ability to turn this from a hobby/dream into an actual career will multiply! Time will tell, though.
2. Boost my productivity. This is a much more nebulous goal than the previous one, but it's an issue that has always plagued me. You see, I'm naturally lazy. It's easily my fatal flaw, the thing that has and (unless I conquer it) always will hold me back. It took me years to write Fallen Saints when, in my opinion, it should have taken only months. I wrote all of A Slave of the Bird Men during the time it took me to write that book! I need to spend much more time sitting and writing than I do now. Even just an hour a day would be a huge improvement! I suppose this is more of a long-term goal than something I can accomplish in just this year, but it's definitely an important one.
3. Get my work into more markets. This is probably the easiest and most concrete of all my goals for 2015. I'm already blown away by how many markets Fallen Saints has turned up in, but there are some key places I'm not available in yet. The next wave of markets I want to target is the remaining major eBook stores: Kobo, iBooks, Google Play, and GoodReads. I also want to, eventually, produce an audiobook for Fallen Saints - it's a portion of the market that I, myself, have never been interested much in but I'm convinced it's big enough that I shouldn't ignore it. Another area I'd like to expand to is foreign languages, specifically Spanish. Half of my family is of Dominican descent and, despite being good enough with English that I can write books, my Spanish skills are pretty terrible. I'd love to get my work translated into Spanish, just for that personal reason. Beyond that, I think German, Chinese, and Hindi are probably going to be important if I really want my work to be accessible outside the United States and Anglosphere. The audiobooks and foreign languages are much more distant goals, things I probably will not do in 2015, but they are on my mind.
The future has opened up so much for me this year, so many things now seem possible and within my grasp, it's hard to focus on just the tasks right in front of me. I'll do my best though and, if I'm lucky, maybe all of this will pay off. If not, ah well, at least somebody will be happy to read my work. ^_^
Saturday, January 17, 2015
Fallen Saints Now Available at Books-A-Million and Barnes and Noble!
The Fallen Saints Paperback is now available through Books-A-Million and Barnes and Noble! If you usually prefer to buy your books through those retailers, now you can.
This is so exciting! I hadn't realized the book was available through either of those chains until this morning. Awesome!
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