The Mando Method

Crowd Sourcing Expectations

Peter Germany Editing, Horror, Horror Writer, Planning, Preparation, Writing , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I’ve been playing catchup with podcasts, so have been bing-listening to The Mando Method Podcast by Armand Rosamilia and Chuck Buda. There was an episode, I think it was Chuck’s Mailbag #9, but don’t hold me to it. But in it there were responding to a question and the conversation got around to social media and being present. Making sure you post consistently and so on. I can’t remember the exact wording but there was mention of crowd sourcing and expectations. This kinda hit home a little. I’ve got an active Ko-Fi page and I’ve been regular in posting in my ‘Welcome To My Nightmare’ tier which is a short story/chapter from a longer story, once a month that hasn’t been been published elsewhere before.

I have zero expectations of earning money through this site. I’ve been blessed in that I have had contributors. (You know who you are and I love you!) But I didn’t set the page (or my inactive Buy Me A Coffee page) with the intention of making a nice chunk of cash each month. I set it up because once I get a few books published I will start building a fanbase, and then it’s somewhere people can come. When they do they’ll see there’s a number of posts, mainly short stories that they can check out.

I am feeling like a fraud. I talk a lot but don’t do anything to get my work out there. But, I feel I am making progress. I’m wrapping up longterm projects. I’m planning future projects. I am moving forward, just slowly. But I am getting there. Stories are ready to go, the zombie book and Penal Earth are there. Just need to get the money for the cover for zombie (this cover is awesome!). And with Penal Earth, I’m gonna start trying to find a publisher for it.

Good Morning, March 26th 2022

Peter Germany Editing, Horror, Horror Writer, Short Fiction, Writing , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Howdy, folks! How are you all doing this morning?

It is a gorgeous morning here in the South East of England, so obviously I’ve been sat at my desk, in my pjs and dressing gown writing. I’m off to work this afternoon and knew I wanted to get some words written. This I’ve done, 1393 all in all and I’ve finished typing up the ending of the zombie book. The next stage is transferring it to the main file, then do my final pass. In that pass I’m looking at just a few minor tweaks. There will be one larger addition to the first part of the story that will give a character a lot more depth and motivation. That will only be a couple of lines though and is the largest tweak that this final pass will have. Then it’ll be off to my editor for her to give it a final pass to make sure I’ve not left any really stupid grammatical errors or plot holes with this new ending. Which reminds me I need to message her and the cover artist.

So, what’s next? Next will be typing up one of the short stories that I’ve recently written as well as continuing with the story for an anthology I’ve been invited to submit to (need to check that deadline). I do also want to start my final pass on Penal Earth, but that can wait a little as I don’t have the money to send it to an editor yet. I do have a few notes from a dear friend who read it and picked up a few pieces that I, my mum and beta readers had missed. So this coming pass will mainly be for those.

I just want to give a shoutout to The Mando Method Podcast. Armand Rosamilia and Chuck Buda have always produce engaging, informative, and just damn entertaining content that I have learnt a lot from, but now they are doing a monthly roundtable episode where they’ll bring in two other authors and I’m really enjoying these episodes. Sometimes a podcast will make a change like this and it doesn’t quite work, but Armand and Chuck have nailed it with this one, and it really adds a new element to their podcast. I strongly recommend checking them out.

Just a little pimping out my Ko-Fi page. It’s still the bog standard page but membership will be up and running soon. You can follow for free, and I won’t be putting this blog behind a paywall. Once in a while I’ll put a post up on Ko-Fi that will then come here maybe a few weeks later, but these what I think of as journal posts will never be behind a paywall.

I’ll end todays post with my flash fiction piece, Ghost, which appeared in the 84 Stories 84 Words anthology.

NaNoWriMo 2020: Day Fifteen

Peter Germany Books, Cat, Home Office, Horror, Horror Writer, Insperation, Life, Nanowrimo, Podcasts, Reading, Writing , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Wow, halfway through the month already. I’ve had a chill out day today, which I need to stop doing. I need to get up on a day off, have breakfast, get dressed, get writing. Simple as that. No thinking I’ll watch an episode of this or that (today it was The Queen’s Gambit, which was lethal as I’ve all but watched it now). I still got 2317 today, but I could have got 3000 words done, if not 3500. I know I have the ability to do that when I’ve got a day off and I should be doing it. For the speed I can write at and the time I have, it is easily doable.

I was on a Facebook live event tonight with the Mando Method Podcast folks. It was a lot of fun and in the hour before it I managed to crack out about a 1300 words to add to the 1000 or so I’d already written throughout the course of the day. We talked about NaNoWriMo at the halfway point and how we were all progressing. We touched a few other topics as well. It was a lot of fun, its been a while since I laughed that hard. It was really good to talk to these folks in real time as well. Armand Rosamilia and Chuck Buda have been very supportive to myself and many other writers. Please give it a watch 😊

Grumpy cat stare!

I’ve got one more days leave before getting back to my normal working week, so writing time will be cut down. But I can still get all the words done I need to, and more. I’m going to set myself a target of an hour at my desk a day. That’s head down and writing/editing. I’m not going to set word count goals at the moment, I want to get in the habit of spending that hour a day at the desk. My biggest enemy is myself and in particular my lack of discipline. That is something I need to overcome.

Under The Weather is the third book I’ve been published in. With my story, The Snow, I knew roughly what I wanted to do with it but it took a few little twists and turns along the way, but it was never a difficult write. One major element did change in the story which changed the entire theme of the tale. I still think it works, and it’s one that I’m really happy with.

Well folks, that’s me wrapping it for the night. I’m gonna watch a bit of tv and then read a little before bed. I’m aiming for an early start tomorrow.

10th of January 2018

Peter Germany Editing, Podcasts, Writing , , , , , , , , ,

Good evening all. I’ve written 565 words toady on a zombie story during my lunch break and this evening I got another chapter edited for PE3.

On Monday I edited about 8000 words, out of just shy of 60k. So me being me thought, well! Ill be done by Monday! I won’t. But I’ve got a good start on it and would really like to shave about 10k off the total word count.

I listen to a few podcasts but one of my favourites is The Mando Method Podcast. This is a writing podcast hosted by Armand Rosamilia and Chuck Buda. The most recent post is really good, and I’m not just saying that because Armand and Chuck say some lovely things about me. I’ve been sharing this podcasts episodes for a long time now and recommending it to writers I know. It is by far one of the best writing podcasts out there and I’d recommend any writers at least check it out.

That’s me done for the night. I’m going to watch a movie and then bed.