Suburban (in)Sanity

Book Review - Infinity Ring Book 1: A Mutiny in Time by James Dashner

I've been reading a ton in advance of the kids' fall book fair (which they do through the awesome independent bookstore Anderson's Bookshop in Naperville, IL.) It's so much better to be able to hand a kid a book I've read and be able to say "You liked 39 Clues. This book is pretty similar but has *time travel*!" which is what this review is about. I'm trying to keep my Goodreads account as current as I can so feel free to friend me or follow me over there if you want the absolute latest.

Infinity Ring Book 1: A Mutiny in Time is a quick read about kids in a alternate future history world where the Americas were discovered by two brothers, not Christopher Columbus.

Dak and Sera are best friends and 12 when the story opens. Dak's into history, Sera's a science geek. These interests prove helpful when the two become embroiled in an international time-traveling scheme to reset historical "breaks" where history went wrong.

In the vein of 39 Clues (even comes with some trading cards packed into the cover.) Looks to be a fun new series for middle-grade readers.

I found some of the characterization overly simplistic, little view into the main character's motivations aside from what is obviously stated/required due to the events of the plot, and some cardboard cutouts holding places for what will hopefully be more interesting characters in future books. A good quick read for kids looking for action-based middle grade. 

Book Review - Matched by Ally Condie

I just finished Matched by Ally Condie . It was excellent, I highly recommend it. It is a(nother) YA dystopia. What I found interesting was how the author manipulated the limited point of view of the main character to have us, the readers, brought along on the journey to see how the existing Society was oppressing the main character and all of those she holds dear. The fundamental conflict is a love story conflict, but the book was recommended to me by a friend's 16 year old son, so I believe there's plenty in it that would appeal to males and females.

Matched opens with the main character getting ready for her Match banquet, where she'll learn who her Match will be with all the other 17 year olds from her borough. Unlike the other kids, though, her Match is someone she already knows, a boy she grew up with who is already dear to her. Later she looks at her microcard with her match's info, which she doesn't need since she already knows him, and for a brief moment a different boy's face pops up as her Match. Problem is, she ALSO knows him.

So the main conflict begins with Cassia's curiosity about the other boy, Ky, growing, all while she's starting to notice the oppressive aspects of her Society, such as the three pills they're all required to carry at all times (red "for emergencies", blue that can provide nutrition for three days, and green to calm down) or the fact that at 80, you die. Everyone does.

Because of the love story premise, I'd keep this in the upper middle school/high school age range for recommendations, but there is no overt violence or sexual content so it could be appropriate for younger readers (just might not be that interesting.) The parallels to war time oppression and oppressive regimes in modern day are very interesting and could lead to great book group discussions.

The pace is quick and I found myself enjoying the way the author unveiled the story so much that I slowed down in reading it, which is something I do sometimes when I want a book to last. I felt the characters were very believable, and even though it's a love story, really it's a rebellion story, and that made it very very interesting.

 

Psst....did you know I wrote a novel?

Well, actually I've written several. Four at last count, though the 30+k words sitting on my computer at the moment are giving me the stink-eye. They're not a FINISHED novel yet. (Adrift, the hairy-eyed work-in-progress, is probably going to land right around 50k when complete and is a middle-grade science fiction story set on a family space ship that gets taken over by pirates.)

But THIS one, Convergence by Karen T. Smith, this is my pride and joy, my first ever novel. I wrote it in 2007 for National Novel Writing Month (which takes place in November of every year and I can't recommend highly enough.)

I finished November of 2007 with Convergence in first draft form at about 55k words and I honestly was sure I could do *anything.* The thrill of finishing a book is unmatched, in my opinion. It took me an awful long time to finish finish it, as the first draft was on the rough side to say the least (first novel! most people hide their first novels from the entire world. I beat mine into submission instead.) And then I did try the standard NY submission process for quite some time. And then...you know what? It's a changing world in publishing today. I decided to independently publish this book and other forthcoming titles (including Adrift, perhaps sooner than later, depends on how enthused I get about edits to A Star to Lead Me, which is my planned next release...)

This is a very exciting time to be a writer, and a very exciting time to be me simply because I'm really fascinated with the whole process - dreaming up book ideas, writing books, submitting to NY, submitting to agents (something a lot of people do but I long ago decided I didn't want to go that route), formatting for ebook peculiarities, doing covers, writing blurbs, figuring out marketing and promotion (er, scheduling time to write the blog posts...) and on it goes. It's a fascinating time!

At any rate, check out my announcement over on my author blog, and if you've read the book, let me know what you thought! (and if you have a moment, could you please write a review? Reviews help sell books, it's just the way of it.)

Thanks so much for letting me share my excitement with you.

Book Review - Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi

This book surprised me. It came up on a bunch of "people who read X read Ship Breaker" lists and I started tracking it around. When I read the acknowledgements and learned that Paolo Bacigalupi is friendly with other MG and YA writers I adore (Sarah Prineas, Greg van Eekhout), it started to click. But beyond the fact that this writer knows others I like, this book is just flat out excellent.

This is the story of Nailer, a light crew member, teen boy living on the gulf coast in a post-apocalyptic world of brutality, riding from one storm to the next. His father is unbelievably cruel, his life full of work breaking down big old ships on the coast, hoping to find a "Lucky Strike." When he and his friend discover a small yacht wrecked after a storm, they've hit the bigtime, until they find a girl hurt inside. The process of figuring out what to do about the girl, avoiding his brutal father, and eventually leaving his gulf community is the meat of this fast-paced story.

For parents, the story includes quite a lot of violence, adults against each other, adults against children. The characters pull through for the most part. There is also some youth drinking, which helps illustrate how foreign a world these kids live in, even while we can envision it from trips to Florida. I would suggest it's best suited for kids old enough to handle these mature themes, which to me is 13ish and up, 7th gradeish and up. Depends on the reader. The violence and drinking are not any worse than that portrayed in Hunger Games (though the kids partake of the firewater in this book.)

The way this book surprised me is that I'm generally a little sick of YA dystopias. I'm a super-fan of science fiction and a writer of YA/MG sci-fi myself, and get tired of the bleak and dark future portrayed in so many. While this book does paint a pretty desperate picture of the future, the spirit of the characters carried me up and out of that bleakness. I really enjoyed this book.

I enjoyed the pacing, I enjoyed the way Nailer had a plucky spirit that made me root for him from the very first moment. I enjoyed the richly painted future world that was similar but oh-so different from our current world. I found the book immensely compelling, very hard to put down. I hope you will, too.

Book Review - The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander books 1&3

I'm in the process of considering a move from Shelfari to Goodreads, and decided to look at some of my book reviews on Shelfari (one of many reasons I'm only *considering* the move, since I would hate to lose all that intel!)

In doing so, though, I realized I had reviewed two of the Prydain books by Lloyd Alexander. These are books I often recommend to other readers and other parents of voracious readers, so I thought these might be of help. I only reviewed the first and third in the series, but each book is excellent in its own right. We listened to the five on audio book and really enjoyed them, we can't recommend them enough.

The Book of Three:

The story of the assistant pig-keeper and how he goes off on an adventure and learns much about his land and himself in the process. There's an excellent sidekick-type of character, a girl he meets about 1/3 of the way through. Her voice and quips lend a richness to the story, and much comic relief. My kids (ages 6 & 8) absolutely loved this story, which surprised me. We listened to it on audio, and it was read by a very talented british voice actor, which made it even better. Highly recommend.

The Castle of Lyr:

Lloyd Alexander's Prydain Chronicles have been a wonderful source of audio entertainment for my family. We particularly love the audio recordings of these books, as the voice talent is exceptional. Gurgey is our favorite head - a creature of indeterminate origins, Gurgey often speaks of "my poor tender head" and is known for semi-alliterative phrases like "crunchings and munchings" that are very funny.

 

In this third book of the Prydain series, the princess Alanwe (by the way, only long long after we read this book did I learn that it's spelled Eilonwe - ah, well, this is one of those risks of listening to books rather than reading them in print. And I am one of those lazy people that is not going to go fix it all...) is going to another castle to learn to be a lady. Taryn and Gurgey accompany her, and meet up with the Prince of that castle - a flighty nimwit named Ruun. Before long, there is interest and intrigue when Alanwe goes missing, in the company of the ambitious chief steward, Maag. Taryn and friends join the search, with Taryn agreeing to protect Prince Ruun for the king.

 

They encounter tangles and mishaps, and everyone's character is tested.  

 

The real value in these books is in the way the characters are each so unique, yet also so distinct. It is pretty easy, even without the benefit of the added dialects and inflections that the voice talent on the audio cds provides, to tell who is talking just by the kinds of things they say. They each have a way of speaking and a way of getting their points across that is hard to miss.

 

The kids find the different charcter's voices engaging, and the action and battle scenes (very mild battle, adequate action to keep an 8 year old boy entertained) hold their interest throughout the whole book.

 

I find these stories a little slow moving at times, but the unique characterizations and fun little magical details or lore of the land to be really interesting. Very much worth it, and if you can get it - do the audio book!

Book Review - The Boy at the End of the World by Greg van Eekhout

Because the Internet is Awesome™ (more on this later) I have had a chance to read an Advanced Reader Copy of the forthcoming MG sci-fi novel The Boy at the End of the World by Greg van Eekhout.

 

The middle-grade age range has very little science fiction published in it, I get frustrated at the lack of space and robots and stories about the future that are particularly geared toward middle-grade readers, as I happen to have two sharing my home at the moment. I also am weary of the very dark and depressing dystopias that occupy the YA space and pass for science fiction. While I loved Hunger Games as much as the next person, it's not something I'm comfortable reading with my soon-to-be-fifth and second graders. Too much.

So I'm here to tell you that while Boy (I am also growing weary of typing the whole title out, so you're just going to have to cope with a shorthand...) is a future dystopia, it's also a really interesting and active book, great for middle-grade readers, a special appeal to boys.

This is the story of Fisher, who wakes up in an "ark" that he has only cursory knowledge of (he has cursory knowledge of many things.) Click the robot assists him in escaping, as the ark is under attack. Fisher is a boy, and knows some things but not others. He's been pre-loaded with the Fisher profile, so his specialized knowledge runs deep in the fishing arena, but not much else. But he's a plucky kid, very determined, and he has a large vocabulary of curse words (referenced obliquely like that, in a way that's very funny) that he can use when things get tough. He sets off to get away from the ark, since it's under attack and all. Click the robot follows, trying to keep Fisher safe as he has been programmed to do. Before long they find a mastadon (a small mammoth/elephant like thing) that Fisher nicknames Protein. Protein accompanies them on their travels, never saying a word but having an impact on the action here and there. Fisher figures if things get desperate enough, he can always kill Protein and eat him (hence the nickname.)

We follow Fisher as he and his ragtag band walk across a post-apocalyptic United States seeking other surviving humans living in other arks. Along the way they encounter all kinds of challenges and Fisher has to use not just the knowledge and information he was "pre-loaded" with (according to Click the robot) but also the new skills he develops during the journey. He befriends a sentient prairie dog, Zapper, who is critical to the final conflict.

I'll leave the details of the plot off to avoid spoilers, but a few points about the book for potential readers. This is a great book for boys, but would be appealing to girls as well. It's aimed at middle-grade readers. My fourth grader read it in almost one sitting (before bed one night and after waking the next morning.) It clocks in at 210 pages, thus does not feel particularly intimidating for those reluctant readers. The action keeps the story moving, another plus for boy and/or reluctant readers.

As an adult, I appreciated the way the story provided all kinds of instruction about environment, survival skills, etc. as incidental to the storyline. Fisher tries to set traps to catch small game, for instance, and has to figure out how to travel (by foot for the most part, traversing huge swaths of the former US in the process.) Some kids might realize they're being taught in the course of reading, but the instruction is well buried in the narrative, I think it works well for the story. The story ends tidily (some sadness) - but there is a final chapter that easily leaves the door open for a sequel, which I hope Greg van Eekhout pursues!

In short, I highly recommend this middle grade science fiction novel, particularly for boys. The Boy at the End of the World by Greg van Eekhout, due out June 21st!

 

P.S. The Internet is Awesome™ because I got this ARC by being friends with another author whose work I love, Sarah Prineas, author of the Magic Thief book series. We've never met in person, love that internet thing and all my imaginary friends therein.

 

On being a Mom and a Writer

I originally wrote this for a writer's board I participate on, but it relates so well to what I talk about on this blog that I wanted to share it here, too. The context is that another writer was complaining that she is limited in her reach right not because she's a mom. This is my reply:

I want to give a little working/writing/mom love. Being a mom is a really important job. The kids really benefit from all we do. When they are small it can be very brain-sucking work (just how many times do I have to tell Junior here that hitting his baby sister with Thomas the Tank Engine is Not Appropriate Behavior In Our House?) But on the flip side, there is IMMENSE creativity required in parenting, as any mother who has escaped the grocery store without buying the entire contents of the candy traps at the checkout desk can attest to. "How many green things can you count? Show me your toes. Show me your nose! What's that letter? What should we have for dinner? Let's sing Wheels on the Bus!" -- and now those of you who don't have children might better understand the slightly insane glint in our eyes as we exit the grocery store parking lot...

Immense creativity. I'm 100% convinced it has helped me be a better writer.

The most stunningly awesome amazing unbelievable thing that has happened? Context: I decided to start writing as a New Years Resolution in 2007 when my youngest was just 3. My now 7 year old writes the most amazing stories, they are *unreal.* She is publishable at age 7 and you just have to believe me that I'm not being overly dramatic. (The 9 year old is also interested in writing but hasn't yet mastered the ability to move the pictures from behind his forehead to the page. He's getting there.)

I haven't done anything specific with the 7 year old to develop this skill, other than immersing our family in the world of stories. We read stories constantly, we listen to audio books, we tell each other stories, she reads my stories, she is so entrenched in the world of storytelling that she naturally tells beautiful stories in her 1st grade assignments. It's honestly astonishing. And when she fills in the little worksheets to tell her classmates about her family, you know what she puts by my name, even though I actually make my career elsewhere?

Author. 

So don't for a minute doubt the time you're investing in your children while they are young. It is worth it, and there is time yet. And your creativity is sparked every day. And before long you find yourself writing the stories your children are begging you to write, because they're your biggest fans and you want to please them.

Excited! A favorite book - Magic Thief - is on the Rebecca Caudill list for 2012

I just love it when books I love get noticed by others, thereby bringing them more readers, more of an audience, and hopefully enticing those authors to Keep Writing Us New Stuff, because after all, most readers are addicts of a sort.

So when my kids' school librarian emailed me today to tell me that one of my most favoritest books ever - The Magic Thief (I blogged about the third book in this series, Magic Thief: Found, last summer)  made the Rebecca Caudill list for 2012 I whooped with excitement. No really, I whooped. Or exclaimed with glee. Audibly. I'm certain some sort of noise escaped my lips. The kids were here, they heard me, I swear.

What is the Rebecca Caudill list? It's an Illinois Young Readers Book Award for kids in grades 4-8, they get to vote! So I'm doubly excited because this book, which I think has been overlooked by entirely too many young readers, will get increased attention because kids can read the RC books and vote on them. Yipee!

You should read it. Great book featuring an alternate magical fantasy world with a really compelling main character. The kids and I listened to the first book on audio as well, and it was excellent, great voice talent (and selected by BookList as one of the top audio books of 2010). I was surprised to learn the author liked the audio book as well. I didn't know how connected authors are with the audio productions of their books.

So run, don't walk, to get yourself a copy of The Magic Thief by Sarah Prineas.

 

My reading round-up, YA and Middle-Grade sci-fi and fantasy

I had put some thoughts together about what I've been reading lately for another board and thought I would share them here, too.

But first, I'm curious - does anyone else use Shelfari to track their reading? I like to track what I read, and have used Shelfari in the past, but my account is out of date at the moment while I consider several things.

Many readers I know use Goodreads. Anyone have any comment on the difference between them or an opinion over which is better? In parallel, I'm contemplating a move of this blog over to the wordpress blog I've stubbed out, you know, change of scenery and all. They do not appear to have a way to connect a Shelfari widget, which is one of the reasons I've stalled. Would appreciate any thoughts on goodreads vs. shelfari or if there's something else better out there. I've seen some people using a facebook widget, but I want something I can integrate on a blog.

Okay, here's the goods. In the interests of time and because I bought them from Barnes and Noble for my Nook, I'll include links there (I read most of these in ebook format) - but you know how it goes, you can get most at your local library, from Amazon, or better yet - your local bookseller. I hear Anderson's Booksellers in Naperville sells some ebooks, too. This represents, FYI, about 2 months of my reading.

I've been on a Diana Wynne Jones streak lately, and absolutely adore her books, every one of them, for the way she plays with magic, makes fun characters, and tells not big grand earth-shattering end-all battles between good and evil, but just nice stories with interesting magic.

The ones I've recently read include all of the books in the Chrestomanci series (In order, they go: A Charmed Life, The Magicians of Caprona, Witch Week, The Lives of Christopher Chant), plus a short story collection featuring the same characters (called Mixed Magics), and The Pinhoe Egg, which is set in the same universe and features the main character Eric Chant from the first Chrestomanci book (the characters overlap some throughout all four or five of those books.)

We also did the audio book of The House of Many Ways, very enjoyable voice talent, and audio of Enchanted Glass (library loans). My primary caution with her books, particularly evident in audio, is that they tend to be slow burns. They're not going to grab you by the throat, but they're lovely stories told in interesting ways with interesting magic and compelling characters. Just be patient with them and give them some time to warm up. If you can only spare time to read just one, read Howl's Moving Castle, which was not available in ebook form but is an astonishingly good book.

Next was I am Number Four, which is coming out in a movie soonish. It's an interesting sci-fi story. There's some online discussion/controversy about the book as it's written by someone then marketed through what some are calling a "scheme" - another author selling rights and supposedly paying the original author pennies. I have no idea, but it's a YA sci-fi and there's precious little of that so I read it. Nice story. Enough tension and interesting features, not too crazy on the action end. Reminded me of The Warrior Heir, but I liked the writing a little better in this book. We've started seeing trailers for the movie (main actor is the same one who played Alex Ryder in Stormbreaker) on TV so the 9 year old has asked to read it now. It's themes and content aren't too advanced, though there's a bit of kids drinking beer once and loads of kissing, but that's within our tolerances so I'm queing it up for him for his next read.

I read Life As We Knew It, by Susan Beth Pfeffer, which is a future dystopia about the moon being hit by an asteroid and coming closer in orbit to the earth, and the massive catastrophes that result. Very interesting story, told 100% first person journal-entry style. I loved the style, and enjoyed the story. It was a much smaller story than I figured, I kept expecting some big grand event to take place, but really it's also a small, close story about a teen and her family and how they survive in crazy circumstances. It's also YA Sci-fi. I recommend this one, but warning that the story is a bit of a downer, I found it tiring to read after a bit and am glad to have moved on, mostly just because it seemed so *real.* I suppose that's a sign of the writer's skill, eh? There are other books out in the series but I'll take a break before (if) reading them. Because it's a bit of a downer and there's a small section where the mom accuses the daughter of sleeping with someone and they throw around the term "make love" about a hundred times on one page, I'd recommend holding off for most non-teens.

I just finished The Comet's Curse by Dom Tesla, a radio personality in Colorado. It's a YA sci-fi, set on an "escape ship" leaving earth after a catastrophe (by this point I'm starting to wonder if there are ANY YA sci-fi books that aren't categorized as post-apocalyptic or disaster or dystopias. Sigh) has caused everyone on earth to be afflicted by a horrible disease that will kill them after age 18. So a crew of 251 15 and 16 year olds are sent into space to escape the disease and recolonize another planet. This is the first in a series.

I didn't love the storytelling style (interleaved narrative with present-day and flashbacks, quite a lot of "telling" to the audience. It felt like it was written in a style appropriate for a younger reader, telling us things that we could intuit from the text just fine. I think it's just the writer's style, though, as the choice of 15 and 16 year old protagonists puts it smack in the center of the YA genre.) Story was just so-so. I don't highly recommend it, but I'm glad I read it because I am certain my stories are at least as good as this one! As for reading level/age - while the story features older protagonists, I think this is a fine book for younger readers because the content is kept clean (a few crushes/what-does-she-think-of-me kinds of things but that's it.) The storytelling style might also work well for a younger reader (thinking 9-13, plus those in the 14+ YA age range, of course.)

I'm now just starting to read Shipbreaker, by Paolo Bacigalupi, which is up for some awards this year. It's another future dystopia (le sigh) set in coastal Florida where the main character is a boy who helps break down huge old rusty oil tankers to get their parts. The storytelling is EXCELLENT and is a fantastic study in how to communicate a lot about an unusual environment/different world via basic dialogue and narration, without resorting to blocks of exposition. He also uses a lot of slang and unusual terms, which makes it challenging to read but also interesting to see how the terms are introduced and how you can figure out what is meant by them.

So far I'm really impressed, but not far enough to say more than that. I think the writing is fantastic, though, so I'm glad even though it's another intense dark seemingly depressing future story. I'm about halfway through and the story gets pretty brutal, the main character's father is a problem, drug abuse is common, and even the kids pass around a bottle of alcohol one night and talk about hangovers. The whole story has you wondering whether the main character will survive the day, much less what will happen next. It's very compelling to read. Reminds me a lot of Hunger Games, but in a way it's even more brutal because this world that the main character lives in sounds like it could happen to us, given a little less luck with the environment and more global aggregation. Because of the slang, the drug and alcohol mentions (and some passing veiled references to prostitution) - I'd stick this with YA readers only, but your mileage may vary. In any event, it's a fantastic read and I'm finding myself coming up with all kinds of excuses to go read. Like now. Time to finish this blog post so I can finish the book, enjoy!

Money, here's your mouth - on getting published in 2011

Today's prompt is Achieve. The scoopage:

December 28 – Achieve What’s the thing you most want to achieve next year? How do you imagine you’ll feel when you get it? Free? Happy? Complete? Blissful? Write that feeling down. Then, brainstorm 10 things you can do, or 10 new thoughts you can think, in order to experience that feeling today.

So, either publishing my active novel (by that I mean the one that is currently finished and I'm actively seeking publication for) through traditional publishing or putting it out myself as a self-published ebook and print-on-deman (POD) book is my goal.

I think I will feel elated when I reach one of these two goals (traditional publishing is my primary goal. Doing it myself will be less elational but still exciting.) I've been writing since 2007, started as a New Year's Resolution. I love to write. I wish I were better at it, but I know the cure for that - more writing (and/or cowbell, in appropriate doses.)

I feel two things very strongly about writing. The first is that writing is a career that is actually compatible with my desire to raise my children. This is big, since my other career (technology and eLearning consulting) is often in direct opposition to my desire to be here for my kids, either due to geography, time commitment, client needs/demands, or my own personal style and work ethic.

The second thing I feel very strongly about re. writing is that I *need* to write these books, these sci-fi books where girls are the main characters and do amazing things with technology, have crazy adventures, and come out okay. I need to write books that girls can read when they are ten and twelve and fourteen and see that being a girl geek can be normal, can be good, and is perfectly reasonable. This is really really important. I need to write these books for my own girl, but for all the other girls out there, too, the ones like me who had an aptitude but didn't know another soul who liked to figure out how to solve problems using technology, who wanted to know what was inside a computer, who could make things happen without even realizing they knew how.

This is the part of the post where I list what I will do to achieve this goal.

Deep breath.

1. Keep novel marketing packages in the mail, at least five of them, at all times. Sidenote: A novel marketing package includes a query letter, a sample of the book (first two chapters in my case, 15 pages) and a synopsis of all the major events of the story, including the ending. I blogged about writing a query letter back in October.

2. Research more markets, so the process of addressing a new query letter is simpler, as this is one of those things that tends to hold me up.

3. Hmm...I think I need to read more YA book blogs, and find more YA sci-fi to read. I have not found a whole lot out there. Gone, Maze Runner, and I am Number Four are the only recent ones I've read. (Would love more ideas if you have them...high-end Middle-grade would work, too. Protagonists in the 12-14 range.)

4. Put up another short story (or two, or fifteen) on Kindle/Barnes and Noble/Smashwords, to practice the formatting needed for ebook publishing. (Did you see my post from yesterday about my stories available for purchase?)

5. Pre-address five more novel packages. Wow, that's a simple and smart idea.

6. Implement a simpler tracking system for novel submissions. I am not happy with the spreadsheet I've dreamed up, it seems overly complex for what I need it to do. I think I might do best with a simple chronological listing. Out to X market on Y date, back on Z...

7. Read this writing book that's sitting on my desk (20 Master Plots by Ronald B. Tobias.)

8. Consider attending a writer's conference, though this requires such careful planning due to DH's job and life commitments, it might not be possible. At least research some.

9. Start editing book #2, prepping it for market. Hope to have it in the mail by March.

10. Write the next book.

I think a lot of writers forget #10, but that's got to be high on the list if I want to make any sort of living at this. If I am to be a self-published writer, one of the primary things that will help me be successful is having a number of publications available for purchase, not just one or two novels, but whole collections, batchs of short stories, and other things to help people who read one book of mine find my other work (and hopefully spend their hard-earned pennies on it!) I write fast, if I could just crack this confidence/skill issue (I am a good writer, I just don't always know WHAT to write. When I know what to write I can write extremely quickly.)

What about you? What goal do you hope to achieve in 2011? How do you plan to go about getting there? Care to join me on a crazy train?