CM Simpson: Writer & Gamer

“It’s working!” “I know it’s working. Run!” Merry and Pippin (played by Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd), Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, 2002 There is something about this scene that always grabs at my heart. Even having watched it more times than I care to admit, I still feel that familiar constriction as these two hobbits draw harm away from their friend. As reckless as they are, if it had been anyone other than Frodo, or perhaps, Sam, would have they made this sacrifice? It’s hard to say, but watching them forgo their chance to accompany their friend, or even bid him goodbye, pulls at my emotions. It’s a memorable scene, and one that makes me laugh, even as I gasp at the risk they take to enable Frodo’s escape. It’s also balanced by the high tension and drama of the scenes that follow. Boromir’s sacrifice and redemption, and the sadness of his passing, the poignancy of his oath to Strider and Strider’s oath in return. This i...

I have three writer names. This is the only one I share, and I’m even uncertain about that. As you know, I’ve been looking at the changes in publishing and weighing up how I’m going to approach my writing career. It’s not an easy set of choices, for all the reasons in my previous post ( Changes, Changes, Changes ), and even now it’s not set in stone. I’ve decided to keep my currently published writing name with the publisher it’s with now. I like them as a publisher, and I’m happy to keep that writing name with them. I hope they feel the same way about me as I’ve been on hiatus until now. No doubt my other writing name will blog about it. My other writing name has placed in a writing competition run by the publisher for which her work was originally pitched, and she was asked to submit it to the editor of that line. I’m still working on my decision with that. On the up-side, if they publish that writer name, I garner ‘respect’ from writers who value such things, and gain th...

So here I am, watching the changes going on in the publishing industry by reading upwards of a hundred blog entries a day. I just know I’m going to have to dip my toe in. It’s not logical to do otherwise. Judging from what I’ve been reading over the last six months, it’s not logical for a number of reasons: All signs are that independent e-publishing is the slush-pile of the future. Publishers and agents appear to be watching the e-lists of Kindle and Nook and offering contracts based on an author’s success on those lists. The next few months will confirm if this is the case. Traditional publishing is in the midst of re-form. Until it decides on how it’s going to cope with the changes brought about by the new technologies, it will remain in this state of upheaval and instability. It’s not fun to be contracted with a publisher or agent, only to have your contract nullified when their business closes or they have to make cut-backs. It might be better to wait until the market re-sta...