CM Simpson: Writer & Gamer

Last Friday, I worked up a new writing and publishing schedule, and, on Saturday, I got to work. I didn’t manage the 10,000 words I was aiming at – and I’m still not sure I can manage it, but I’m going to keep trying. However, these projects started out on schedule, and are still tracking well.   Wheelchair Romance#4 Hannah watched the puppy play on the grass. It barked and bounced after a butterfly, almost making her laugh. Except Hannah didn’t feel like laughing—but at least she didn’t feel like crying. She didn’t feel like anything. Her parents probably thought that was bad, but Hannah didn’t. If she couldn’t feel happy, then not feeling anything at all was okay. Which was why she didn’t know how to feel about the puppy. He was cool, but she hadn’t asked for him. She didn’t know how she was going to look after him. She was in a wheelchair, now. Why didn’t anyone understand that? Long Hair #1 Mr. Kembo was sitting behind his desk, when Michael and Hele...

  As Carlie Simonsen, I originally wrote this piece for the Dark Side Down Under website, six months ago, and we’ve asked her to repeat it here. Carlie writes mostly speculative and paranormal fiction for Younger readers, and very rarely hint at romance. She also writes science fiction ( Dear Tiger , Rocky to the Rescue ), fantasy ( Assassin, Not ), contemporary ‘reality’ with a twist ( Long Hair , Tag Man One , The Dog’s Way ), science-fiction-fantasy blends ( Spit ), and contemporary reality with no twist ( Legacy of Dreams , All Alone ) . So, p eople ask me why I write for a younger audience, and what they need to do in order to write successfully for that age group. Over the years, I’ve come up with the following tips, or rules: The first rule is DON’T WRITE DOWN: No one likes being talked down to, or having it all explained as if they are too stupid to work it out for themselves. Just write the story. Write to entertain. Youngers are *young*; they’re not morons, ...

Looks like I completely forgot to post this last week, so… before I post Week 3, which will go up tomorrow morning, I thought I’d better get this out. Overview New words produced: 7,066 Works completed: 1 Covers created: 4 Works published: 4 Tier 1 Tasks SciFanNovel1A—Freeman’s Choice . Chapters 7-10 revised. This project is currently 244 days ahead of schedule.   DarkFantasyNovel1C—Shadow’s Fall: Still waiting on beta reader edits. This project is currently 90 days ahead of schedule. Tier 2 Tasks RomanceNovel14A—Taylor’s Story: Added 1,000 words. This project is currently 64 days behind schedule Tier 3 Tasks Chapbook4—Long Hair: formatted, created cover and uploaded. This project was completed 14 days ahead of schedule. ChapBook5A—Rocky to the Rescue: Chapters 1-4 revised. This project was completed 32 days ahead of schedule     Extras ShortStory23—The Soul in the Sword: formatted and published ShortStory30—Pigs Might Fl...

When Michael sees movie star, Ky Lin, taking down the bad guys with her long-hair karate, all Michael wants is to be able to do just that. He convinces his karate teacher to train him, and works hard, even when the kids at school tease him. Michael is super-excited when he finds out Ky Lin and her co-star, Joe Wy, are coming to visit his school, but when thieves strike, the visit is in danger of being cancelled. Can Michael discover who is stealing money from the kids and offices at school before the head master calls the movie visit off? Or will his long hair just get in the way? Set in a world similar to our own, where long hair really can be used as a karate fighting style, Carlie Simonsen's Long Hair is a teen to young adult story that deals with issues of teasing and working towards one’s dreams even when those we want to please most don’t support us. The non-illustrated version of Long Hair can now be found at Smashwords , and will soon be available from Kindle, K...

At the start of each quarter I make a note of the works being carried over from the last, and how many words were added last quarter. To start this quarter, I’m bringing forward five works from last quarter at a total of 173,063 words. Of these, 41,389 were added last quarter. As part of this process, I usually take a look at what was started, progressed and completed in the previous quarter, and tally up what I ended up publishing. It helps me put things in perspective. So, last quarter I started three new works, completing two, and progressed 16 older works, of which I had to complete two and revise 14. In total, I published 13 pieces of work last quarter, totalling 250,995 words, of which 10,281 words were new, and 240,714 were revised. In addition, I created 11 new covers (two of the covers released were created in late 2012), and several black-and-white line drawings. The final thing I do is a quick average of the words produced per day. Last quarter, I produced 51,760 wo...