Tag: C.K. Beggan

A quick note

Hello.

It’s been a while.

I’m well, how are you?

That’s good/I’m very sorry to hear that.

(But seriously, I hope you are all well and getting by.)

As we all go through this oddness of what some medical professionals are calling “a baby virus” (some baby!), I wanted to drop a quick note with the following orders of business:

#1. Book reviews!

Have you seen them?  The most recent ones are of Andrew Einspruch’s excellent and funny The Purple Haze (fantasy + humor) and Helena Rookwood’s The Prince and the Poisoner (fantasy + just a little romance).  These are two books I loved.  I know I could use a trip to the Carnival of Stars right about now.

Princess Disasterface, Ep. 2.4

#2. New comics!

I’ve been lagging on Princess Disasterface, but managed to complete an episode in April (Episode 2.4).  It somehow takes me hours just to do one page.  Maybe because I can’t stop putting details into areas behind walls that will just get half-covered anyway (see image at left!).  I’m working on ways to be more efficient, but not much luck so far!

#3. NEW new comics!

Social Isolation and Growin’ Pup are my latest (much faster to draw) series…es (just updated today with Social Isolation #4 and #5, and pupdated with Growin’ Pup #3).  Social Isolation will of course be a temporary comic, which I may or may not turn into something else later using the same character.

Growin’ Pup is based on my own life with my puppy, who is a big sweetie that barks at birds for not playing with her and tries to eat EVERYTHING outside.

#4. Writing!

A second edition of A Shadow in Sundown, in which I correct the formatting mistakes of the first edition, spiff it up a little with a new cover and some little graphics, and include a preview of book 2 in the series, will be coming soon.  It’s also looking like I may need more than 4 novellas, so I might have to drop the whole “Quartet” idea.  How DO authors predict these things?  (Though I guess extending a series is pretty common.)

I’m also preparing a pair of free short stories, one set in a version of our world split between magic users and not, and the other about a rather resourceful witch.  More on that later!

#5. What I’m reading:

Tempests and Slaughter by Tamora Pierce (Book One of the Numair Chronicles).  Alas, I haven’t read her work in a long time.  I’m on a library wait list for Alanna: The First Adventure and Wild Magic, both of which I want to re-read.  It’s been wonderful to try something newer (I say newer because I’m behind the times and it’s likely only new to this Tamora Pierce fan).  So far so good 3 chapters in!  (Of course.  It’s Tamora Pierce.)

That’s all for now.  Take care everyone!

-CKB

New episode + a message about Australia

Update (2/5/20): The message from author Andrew Einspruch can now be found here.

It’s happened!  I’ve crowbarred another episode into January before it ends.  Episode 2.2 is here.

It’s been exceedingly hard to get work on Princess Disasterface done this month.  Like a lot of people, I get migraines when the weather is up and down like this.  And it has been a VERY odd January.  I find myself celebrating each time the ground freezes (very unlike me) because I don’t have to wipe mud off my four-legged friend’s paws for once.

Switching tacks to something more serious now:

One of the things I have been doing, besides trying to create new comic and website content (and editing, writing, and more editing…), is making another special episode of Princess Disasterface.  I was inspired by what I think is an extraordinary email from the mailing list of Australian author Andrew Einspruch, whose house survived the bushfires, but with some damage to the animal sanctuary he co-runs (the people and animals are all safe).  I hope to be able to share the email with you all with permission, but either way I’ll try to pass on the heart of his message and draw attention through Princess Disasterface-humor.  I do believe that humor is be a good way to help serious messages reach others, especially when so many problems and tragedies need our attention and can overwhelm us.  All I can do is try!

In the meantime, USAToday has an article from earlier this month with lots of places to donate that benefit humans (including the families of fallen firefighters), and animals (including places that have formed campaigns to replant affected areas).  As for Einspruch’s email, The Deep Peace Trust Sanctuary has a fundraising campaign here, and he also suggests BlazeAid.

The heart of Einspruch’s message, by the way, is that if you can’t donate, pass it on so that it may reach others who can.

Cheers to you all,

CKB

New (Year’s) Content

Hi, all!  First off, let me wish you all a peaceful New Year.

I come bearing content.  Princess Disasterface now has its first Holiday Special (aptly titled Holiday Special #1), and we now have an illustrated Cast of Characters.  One of the lines came out a bit blurred by our witch friend.  Gah.  Something to fix in the New Year.

I’ve been toying with the idea of creating an actual Princess Disasterface comic book.  But where will I find the time?  Another resolution, I think.

In other news, I am very slowly putting together a fantasy short story collection to showcase my writing style.  Sales of my first novella are NOT exciting (in fact they may still be zero).  Building something like a reader base takes time. I doubt I would buy a review-less book from a first-time indie author, either.  So the goal is to continue to put out accessible quality content and eventually attract readers. That is the plan, at least!

There’s still a paperback version in the works, too.  (You notice my blog posts read like a wish list of completed tasks?!)

I couldn’t be happier that you’re all here with me on my comic(al) adventure, though.  Thank you for making Princess Disasterface a part of your free time.  It’s been a wonderful year.

Cheers, and a Happy 2020 to you all,

CKB

Self-publishing A Shadow in Sundown

My new novella is almost here!  In ebook form anyway.  A Shadow in Sundown (Book One of the Open World Quartet) will be released on Amazon first.

So what’s next?  Paperback, promotion stuff, adding the book to other retailers…it’s overwhelming at times but I’m looking forward to it, too.  I’ve been trying to get this together since the summer, was sure it would happen in November and…well, here we are.  Almost at the end of the year!

A Shadow in Sundown has an even longer history than that, though.  Looking back at old files, I think this story started 8 years ago.

What I remember is that I wrote it quickly, and that I had no idea to do with it next.  It wasn’t long enough to submit to a literary agent–not by a long shot.  I brainstormed ways to make it into a longer book, tried to expand on it, tried to add perspectives of new characters and continue the story.  Nothing quite worked.

Years later, I realized, Oh.  I write novellas.

After that, some of the writing problems I’d struggled with for ages started to make sense.  But there was one new problem: unknown authors rarely get novellas or short story collections published.  So when it was time to do something with this story that started so long ago, I had to learn how to become an indie author and self-publish.

I do wish novellas were more common today.  It’s true that some of my favorite books are uncommonly brief (like The Buddha in the Attic, or The Whale Rider), but in today’s market a standard word count range, for a first-time novelist, is generally very important.  (Journals are also an option.  You can read a little bit about literary journals in yesterday’s post, Goodbye to Glimmer Train.)  So for this, for me, self-publishing was king.

And here we are.  (And here we go!)

I’ll be sharing more about A Shadow in Sundown in the coming days.  I hope you’ll take a look.

Oh, and Princess Disasterface will be coming back soon, too!  I’d say in the next week or so.  As always, stay tuned, and thanks for reading.

Cheers!

-CKB