Yes, this is the best bonus track ever. Yes, this song is a bit creepy at the end but it illustrates what it’s like being a writer. We sit alone in room, lit only by the computer monitor, typing away. At some point the company of our imaginary friends isn’t enough. We start to crave the companionship of a breathing human being as much as we crave writing another chapter. And of course, we don’t want too much company because introversion and all that but we still crave a little people time. Thankfully we can satisfy both cravings at the same time!

If there’s a writing community where you live, meet up with them for some writing time. That’s right, you’ll be among a group of writers who occasionally talk to one another but mostly you sit in a coffee shop or library and write. It doesn’t matter if those around you are writing in the same genre because you’re all fulfilling the same dual need.

Now I hear some of you saying “But I live in the smelly nether region of nowhere! There aren’t any creative types to hang out with!” And I hear others saying “I can’t write outside of my sacred writing space.” Well for you, my friends, there is the internet. Yes, it’s often a distraction (darn you, cat videos!) but when used wisely it can be a useful tool.

Mary Robinette Kowal introduced me to Google +. I know, say what you want about the site itself but video chat is the most wonderful way to get some writing done without leaving your creative space. It also allows you to get to know writers from all over the world, while being productive. The way Mary runs her writing hangouts is that everyone chats for fifteen minutes and then writes for forty-five minutes. At the end of the writing time the cycle starts over and repeats until everyone has to depart for other things. You can also do this on Skype and FaceTime and the length of writing vs. socialization time can be adjusted to fit your/the group’s needs.

Another option is a chat room. One of my mentors introduced me the online writing group that she belongs to. It’s a private group of professional writers, which is why I’m not naming it or the site, but the group logs in to a site that they created for this purpose. It doesn’t have any fancy graphics or features. It’s just a chat room. However, like the G+ hangouts the main focus of the group when in the chatroom is to socialize, work out plot problems, and get writing or editing done. The members hail from all over the world so no matter what time of day it is, there’s usually someone logged in. Now what makes this unique, other than the privacy, is that the members have friendly writing battles.

I know. “friendly” and “battle” are words rarely seen in the same sentence and for good reason. In this case it really is the truth. We set a time frame, usually thirty minutes, and we write as much as we can during that time. When time is up we share our word counts and congratulate everyone on how much they accomplished. It doesn’t matter if a member got 1,000 words down or 100. They receive equal praise from the group. If a member is in the midst of edits they’re welcome to battle with the writers by editing as much as they can in the given time frame. Again, it doesn’t matter if they completed edits on two pages or two sentences. The progress is equally praised because everyone in the group has a family to take care of, or a day job, or both in addition to being an author. There’s a mutual understanding of how life can get in the way of creativity so any progress on a story is an achievement worthy of praise. It’s a wonderful way to work.

Whichever site you choose to try, if it doesn’t work for you, don’t give up. Maybe video chat is too intimidating. (Watching yourself write can be weird at first.) Try writing with your camera off, try other sites, find or create a group with dynamics that feel right to you. It can take a few tries to discover exactly what kind of and how much interaction you need. This is a big world. No matter what your needs are, online there’s a place and people who can fulfill those needs without additional cost or inconvenience to you.

Happy writing!

Novamind

May 11, 2015

fictorians

A guest post by Katie Cross.

When you say ‘writing a first draft’, I say ‘massive splitting headache’.

Don’t worry, it’s my day job. #Igetawaywithit

Fortunately, I have a tool that helps me avoid and/or diffuse the headache of a first draft in the beginning teeth-grinding-stages of tension and angst.

*cue music*

Novamind.

Novamind is basically mind mapping at it’s greatest. It’s an easy to learn, easy to use software that I’ve used since writing my first book to brain dump creative ideas and work my way out of plot holes.

Here’s an example: to show you the massive size that mind mapping can give. And don’t worry, it gets even bigger.

Software for Writers that Saves a Headache or Ten by @kcrosswriting

Let’s be honest, stuff like this can get pretty pricey.

That’s why I love Novamind5- because I installed the “lite” edition for free and it does everything I need: provides an endless backdrop of unexplored possibilities so I can mind map my brains out. You can pay yearly, or the upfront fee for all the bells and whistles, but all I ever need is a blank white screen and the ability to brain dump.

And . . . free.

Because what aspiring author actually has money, right?

When it comes to mind mapping, I have only one rule: No idea is rejected.

Even unrelated ideas are welcome and accepted.

Really, even the bad ideas are just another spider leg in a long chain. Maybe I’ll end up using it. Maybe not. But allowing my mind to be open somehow gives me permission to be creative, and that changes almost everything. It opens those closed doors of writing that make me say, ‘Uh . . . I don’t know where to take this story.’

Of course, I don’t limit mind mapping to just the computer. A good ol’ pen and paper while sitting in Starbucks sipping chai has never failed me either. But one look at my handwriting will tell you everything you need to know.

That whole doing-it-by-hand doesn’t last very long. 🙂

Software for Writers that Saves a Headache or Ten by @kcrosswriting

New to mind mapping? No problem. Here are a few other mind mapping websites/links that you can check out to get you started in the awesomeness.

How to MindMap your Book.

Different Mind Maps for Authors.

An Author’s Guide to Mind Mapping.

If you haven’t tried it out before, I’m telling you: you gotta try it. #butseriously

Next time you’re stuck on a plot hole, you don’t know what to write, or you need to add depth to a scene or a character, try mind mapping. Grab a paper, a computer, a chai, and sit back into a creative immersion.

Katie Cross likes cookies and mind mapping tools to help her write. #forreal @kcrosswriting

Katie Cross used to be fond of gummy bears, but lately her tendencies lean more toward cuddling with puppies.When she’s not writing YA fantasy novels with kick @$%#*(@ females that don’t need a man to save them, you can find her at Starbucks.

Celebrating a Launch

May 9, 2015

Frank Morin

Fantasy Frank Morin Publishing No Comments

Big magic.

Big adventure.

Lots of humor.

May 1st saw the release of Set in Stone in both hardcover and ebook format!

The release of Set in Stone was a long time in coming and a huge milestone. It kicked off the 8 books in 8 months publishing blitz I’m trying to do this year, and launched the Petralist series, a YA fantasy series that’s already being enjoyed by a wide audience, from middle-schoolers to adults.

Tomorrow, at sixteen, Connor will reveal his secret curse to the world and take his place as a guardian.

If he survives today.

When armies descend upon his peaceful village, led by superhuman Petralists and clever Builders, most people run and hide. Connor’s not that smart. He manages to get caught in the middle of the escalating conflict. Worse, he learns his curse is the rarest of powers, and both sides will do anything to control it and secure his loyalty. Connor is fast, but even he can’t outrun this avalanche.

Truths are sacrificed, loyalties are sundered, and dangerous girls twist his heart into knots.

That’s when things get complicated.

While his friends try to free the village under siege, Connor peels back layers of intrigue and half-truths to find secrets neither side wants him to know. Surrounded by deadly enemies that all claim to be his friends, Connor must choose a course with the lives of everyone he loves hanging in the balance.

His only hope is to gamble everything on a curse that could destroy them all unless his final choice is Set in Stone.

The book launch was a great experience. In fact, I blogged about it here.

You can find Set in Stone at every ebook retailer. Hardcovers are available online as well, or you can order signed copies directly from me. I’ll have my website (www.frankmorin.org) updated soon with the shopping cart. Until then, feel free to contact with requests.

The sequel, No Stone Unturned, is expected to be released in August.

#8books8months #SetinStone

DMCA Tools

May 8, 2015

Guy Anthony De Marco

Guy Anthony De Marco Publishing 1 Comment

As authors, piracy is a constant threat to our income and property. Some don’t mind having their works available for download, while others are adamant that their work should be purchased. Should you find your works posted on a pirate website — or worse, plagiarized with someone else’s name as the author — you can take action to remove the infringing material using the legal tools provided by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, or DMCA. Please note that sending false claims can get you into legal trouble, so don’t use the DMCA tools to play a practical joke. These tools can be used by non-US authors. The good news is it’s easy to do the steps required; the bad news is it may take some time for the works to be removed.

To be proactive, you should request your fans to alert you when they find pirated works on the Internet. Another proactive approach is to set up a Google Alert using a unique sentence or two from your story. It’s best to catch the pirates as soon as possible to get the link removed before too many people find it.

Our first stop is Google, currently the world’s most popular search engine. Using their copyright infringement tool to delete links to your stolen material is simple. For example, to delete a link from Google’s web search results:

Log into Google. Note you must be logged in to Google to fill out the form. You can create an account if you don’t have one. If you have a GMail account, log in using that.
Surf to https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/dmca-notice?pli=1&
Fill in the complete form. If any field is not completely filled in, no action will be taken.

You may, of course, send a notice via fax or post. Most sites require your first notice of infringement to be sent via fax or post so they will have your signature on file, but Google does not. Google will post your DMCA notice (without your name and signature) to chillingeffects.org.

For Yahoo and Bing, you will need to send your first request via fax or post. Subsequent requests can be emailed. I have included a generic sample DMCA request at the end of this article, plus links to targeted DMCA sample requests, including Yahoo and Bing.

Mail or fax your Yahoo request to:

Copyright Agent
c/o Yahoo! Inc.
701 First Avenue
Sunnyvale, CA 94089
Fax: (408) 349-7821
Email: copyright@yahoo-inc.com

Mail or fax your Bing request to:

DMCA Request
Attn: K. Carlson
Microsoft Corporation – The Microsoft Network
One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98052
Fax: (425) 936-7329
Email: dmcaagnt@microsoft.com

Now that we’ve taken care of the links, we can focus on getting rid of the actual infringing content. There are two avenues we can take. The first is to request the infringing website to remove the content. Places like Scribd.com and Pastebin.com will typically act on a DMCA notice quickly because they are concerned the US Government will seize their domains. The other path is to send the request to the hosting company of the infringing website. If your content is posted on a random person’s site, this is a better method to get the content removed. Some overseas sites and host providers, especially in China, will not care about copyrighted material, and they’ll ignore your request.

To start, we must first find out who owns the domain and where they are hosted. The research tool to find the owner and host is called a WhoIs Lookup. There are several versions available. I will typically use either MXToolbox or Network Solutions. For MXToolbox, surf to their site and click on the down arrow at the end of their menu. Select WhoIs Lookup from the menu and enter in the pirate domain name. For Network Solutions, at the bottom of their page you will find a WhoIs link. Click on that, then enter in the domain name. You should get something similar to this, using FICTORIANS.COM as our example:

Domain Name: FICTORIANS.COM Registry Domain ID: 1647105966_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.godaddy.com Registrar URL: http://www.godaddy.com Update Date: 2014-03-24T12:24:08Z Creation Date: 2011-03-24T04:32:50Z Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2016-03-24T04:32:50Z Registrar: GoDaddy.com, LLC Registrar IANA ID: 146 Registrar Abuse Contact Email: abuse@godaddy.com Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: +1.480-624-2505 Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited http://www.icann.org/epp#clientTransferProhibited Domain Status: clientUpdateProhibited http://www.icann.org/epp#clientUpdateProhibited Domain Status: clientRenewProhibited http://www.icann.org/epp#clientRenewProhibited Domain Status: clientDeleteProhibited http://www.icann.org/epp#clientDeleteProhibited Registry Registrant ID: Registrant Name: Registration Private Registrant Organization: Domains By Proxy, LLC Registrant Street: DomainsByProxy.com Registrant Street: 14747 N Northsight Blvd Suite 111, PMB 309 Registrant City: Scottsdale Registrant State/Province: Arizona Registrant Postal Code: 85260 Registrant Country: United States Registrant Phone: +1.4806242599 Registrant Phone Ext: Registrant Fax: +1.4806242598 Registrant Fax Ext: Registrant Email: FICTORIANS.COM@domainsbyproxy.com

(truncated a long repetitive list)

Name Server: NS2339.HOSTGATOR.COM
Name Server: NS2340.HOSTGATOR.COM
DNSSEC: unsigned

Lucky for us, this domain seems legit and has plenty of contact information. You can send a DMCA request to the Owner, Administrator or the Technical Contact. If someone’s site was hacked and is being used to host pirated material, this method would get a fast response. The site owner may thank you for alerting them to the hack.

Let’s say that the site had false or outdated information. We can send our DMCA notice to the company that owns the actual servers that contain the pirate website, known as the host. At the bottom of the list are listings for the Name Server, which is how computers translate website names into numeric addresses that they can understand. Copy the site name and extension, in this case HOSTGATOR.COM from the above FICTORIANS.COM example, and run it through the WhoIs Lookup tool. The tool will show you who is hosting the infringing website.

Domain Name: HOSTGATOR.COM Registry Domain ID: 91478876_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN Registrar WHOIS Server: WHOIS.ENOM.COM Registrar URL: WWW.ENOM.COM Update Date: 2015-04-13T21:33:43.00Z Creation Date: 2002-10-22T22:07:55.00Z Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2015-10-22T22:07:55.00Z Registrar: ENOM, INC. Registrar IANA ID: 48 Registrar Abuse Contact Email: ABUSE@ENOM.COM Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: +1.4252982646 Domain Status: REGISTRAR-LOCK Registry Registrant ID: Registrant Name: ADAM FARRAR Registrant Organization: HOSTGATOR Registrant Street: 5005 MITCHELLDALE Registrant Street: SUITE #100 Registrant City: HOUSTON Registrant State/Province: TX Registrant Postal Code: 77092 Registrant Country: US Registrant Phone: +1.7135745287 Registrant Phone Ext: Registrant Fax: +1.2814767800 Registrant Fax Ext: Registrant Email: Registrant:

(truncated additional information)

It turns out the (probably undead) pirate site FICTORIANS.COM is hosted by HOSTGATOR.COM. Send your DMCA notice to the host. They will either help to get the copyrighted material removed or kill the entire pirate site.

You can, if you feel it is warranted, send a DMCA notice to the website and the host. Remember to always be professional — finding your work pirated or plagiarized is not a fun thing, but getting it removed will give you at least a modicum of satisfaction.

Generic DMCA Request follows. Notes are in [square brackets].


Attn: Legal Department, [Web Site Legal Name: ARRGH-A-PIRATE.COM]
Pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 USC 512(c)(3)(A),

this communication serves as a statement that:
1. I am the exclusive rights holder for the title(s), listed below,

of copyrighted material being infringed upon:

	Title, Publisher, Date of Release, ISBN

	My Cool Book, Tor, 4/1/2001, 9781234567890

	My Warm Book, Tor, 4/1/2002, 9780123456789
	[TITLE (you can do more than one on a single take-down and save time),

	PUBLISHER (list the full publishing history of a book), DATES OF RELEASE,

	and the ISBNS the title has had. If the book has had several ISBNs,

	list them all. If there were multiple publishers, list them all.]
2. These exclusive rights are being violated by material available on your

site at the following URL(s):

	a)	http://www.arrgh-a-pirate.com/stolenbooks/My-Cool-Book.html

	b)	http://www.arrgh-a-pirate.com/stolenbooks/My-Warm-Book.html

	[Use the full URL address to the infringing material]
3. I have a good faith belief that the use of this material in such a fashion

is not authorized by the copyright holder, the copyright holder's agent, or the law.
4. Under penalty of perjury in a United States court of law, I state that the

information contained in this notification is accurate, and that I am the exclusive

rights holder for the material in question.
5. I may be contacted by the following methods:

EMAIL: me@myemail.com

URL: http://www.myauthorwebsite.com/contact.htm

POST: Ima Author, POBox 123, Town, NY, 12345-0123

[Your email address may be placed on a spam list. Use GMail or an email with a good

spam filter if you can.]
6. I hereby request that you remove or disable access to this material as it appears

on your service in as expedient a fashion as possible. Thank you.
Regards,

[If you write under a pen name, you can use it here. Otherwise, use your real name.]

I would like to thank and acknowledge both Cari Silverwood and Sam Stone for a copy of the DMCA notice they’ve used to successfully remove infringing material.

An example Yahoo DMCA notice, in Word format, can be found at http://www.seologic.com/worddoc/dmca-yahoo.doc
An example Bing DMCA notice, in Word format, can be found at http://www.seologic.com/worddoc/dmca-bing.doc

About the Author:

Guy Anthony De Marco is a speculative fiction author; a Graphic Novel Bram Stoker Award^®; winner of the HWA Silver Hammer Award; a prolific short story and flash fiction crafter; a novelist; an invisible man with superhero powers; a game writer (Sojourner Tales modules, Interface Zero 2.0 core team, D&D modules); and a coffee addict. One of these is false.

A writer since 1977, Guy is a member of the following organizations: SFWA, WWA, SFPA, IAMTW, ASCAP, RMFW, NCW, HWA. He hopes to collect the rest of the letters of the alphabet one day. Additional information can be found at Wikipedia, GuyAndTonya.com, and GuyAnthonyDeMarco.com.