I'd decided to log my progress on my latest WIP called Jewel of the Gods. While this manuscript did not evolve in the most straightforward manner, I still thought it might still be fun to share how it evolved over time.
There will be several spots where the starting number won't match the previous sessions end number - that's normally somewhere where I deleted notes I'd added at the end of the book I no longer needed.
There's also a huge gap in there or two where "Supernatural" took over my li…
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Added by Gloria Oliver on December 13, 2009 at 10:13am —
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Thanks to Tor Books I won a copy of the novel FlashForward through a contest on Twitter. I’ve also been watching the series on TV (actually on the ABC site as Thursday nights have way too much on at the same time! I’m a week be
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Added by Gloria Oliver on November 1, 2009 at 9:25am —
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When my gaze came across the man-sized raven I thought my heart would stop. It walked through the death shrouded streets as if the Grim Reaper could not touch it. A wide brimmed black hat adorned its head, the ensemble filled out with black cloak, black leggings, a touch of white at the cuffs and a ruffle around his neck. Its glassy, oversized eyes stared at everything around it, its long beak as dark as night. There were no wings that I could see. But it didn’t need them. It walked the streets…
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Added by Gloria Oliver on October 2, 2009 at 6:22am —
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Audio Books are becoming all the rage of late. But there’s one thing about them I do not understand. The pricing!
My husband started looking into them because he has a long commute to work plus he doesn’t have a lot of free time to read. He picked some up from Half Price Books to check them out to see if they were something he might like. And he did. Then I started looking at what he was paying for the things even devalued and almost had a heart attack.
The pricing on these things is insane! A…
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Added by Gloria Oliver on August 9, 2009 at 9:19am —
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One of my publishers - Zumaya Publications - has now become a part of the Espresso Book Machine Pilot program! (Which means my books are too!) Here's some info on the project sent for us to spread around. Sounds cool!
Late in April, Zumaya Publications completed the paperwork that places all our titles currently being printed at Lightning Source into their pilot program with On-Demand Books, makers of the Espresso Book Machine. Other participating publishers are John Wiley & Sons, Hachette…
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Added by Gloria Oliver on May 24, 2009 at 10:12am —
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Dragonball: Evolution
Staring - Justin Chatwin, Yun Chow Fat, James Masters, Emmy Rossum, Jamie Chung and more...
Premise: Based on the famous Japanese manga and anime series by Akira Toriyama, this live action rendition centers around Goku, a young martial artist, an ancient legend about an evil destructive alien named Piccolo, and seven Dragonballs that if gathered together would summon the dragon Shanglong (sp?) and grant the summoner one wish.
Review: I've followed Akira Toriyama's…
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Added by Gloria Oliver on April 19, 2009 at 10:15am —
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My Name Is Bruce
Staring Bruce Campbell, Grace Thorsen, Taylor Sharpe, Ted Raimi and more!
Premise: A Chinese god, Guan-Di, has been released in the small town of Goldlick, and it is set on revenge for the death of some Chinese miners back in the 1800's. Not knowing what to do, the town kidnaps the down on his luck actor Bruce Campbell, hoping he will come and save the day. Except Bruce believes this is just a set up by his age…
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Added by Gloria Oliver on April 12, 2009 at 10:49am —
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March is Small Press Month!
Being as all my books and most of the anthologies I have been lucky enough to be in are from Independent and Small Presses I figured I would do my bit to push for a little awareness!
SmallPress.org has a site full of events happening all across the country to promote small press and small press authors.
With so much of the content coming from the big publisher becoming so cookie cutter, small pre…
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Added by Gloria Oliver on March 16, 2009 at 6:53am —
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Started work on this in January and am only now getting this post done. 2009 seems to be keeping me busy! Dang!
Anyway, I had an idea back early in the year for a neat webpage I could add to my main site. You see, for the longest time ever, I've always had runs of weird coincidences. Nothing meaningful or life changing, but just enough of something to make themselves noticed. I've had no many in fact that my husband doesn't even bat an eye at them anymore and if anything seems to look forward t…
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Added by Gloria Oliver on February 22, 2009 at 9:24am —
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A few weeks ago I went to one of our favorite family owned restaurants. After we’d ordered and got our food, I noticed that unlike the norm, this time they’d not added the colorful bit of garnish they usually placed on the dishes they served. While the food was as good as ever, the missing bit still, weirdly enough, detracted from our dining experience. Now that the garnish was missing, I understood how much such a simple thing had actually added to the enjoyment of the meal. So while something…
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Added by Gloria Oliver on January 18, 2009 at 3:59pm —
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Well, after way too many months of avoidance and procrastination, I was finally able to carve out a chunk of time to get all the pieces together and finish the first of my much needed four book videos!
Woot!!!! The Book Video for
In the Service of Samurai is COMPLETE!
If you care to take a peek, you can find the bugger
here.
It's not going to win any Academy Awards, but hopefully it will get the point across. Heh heh.
N…
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Added by Gloria Oliver on December 21, 2008 at 9:37am —
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Going on a major splurge of absorbing 10 years worth of SG-1 in about 1.5 years makes a few things stand out in the watching. One of the items that kept popping up over and over is a big no-no in writing, so I was quite saddened to see poor Captain/Colonel Carter stuck with it over and over and over again - the old dreaded "As you know, Bob..."
Handling of information already known to the characters but which the reader might not know and needs to be told is a tricky item to handle in writing.…
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Added by Gloria Oliver on December 14, 2008 at 10:39am —
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My YA book, Willing Sacrifice seems to be on a roll!
It finaled earlier this year for the Dream Realm Awards (didn't win though - I suffer from one of those "always a br
…
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Added by Gloria Oliver on December 6, 2008 at 4:53pm —
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Do to life, time constraints, what have you, I haven't done any movie or book reviews for a while. But, I will be doing one today as this little movie is unusual enough and off the beaten path enough it needs all the help it can get. Besides, it stars Jared Padalecki and since…
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Added by Gloria Oliver on November 16, 2008 at 9:45am —
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I've owned a lot of cars in my time. Of our household, my car is normally the least used, its main function to ferry me to and from school/work. And most cars I've owned have actually performed marvellously with very little problems. However...
When they go, they go BIG! It's almost as if in order to serve me and give me the least amount of problems, they save up all those little bits and let them grow and grow until one day - WHAM! Major issue, kaput, done, gone, money-pit-if-you're-crazy-and-…
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Added by Gloria Oliver on November 9, 2008 at 10:40am —
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As an author, the last thing I want is Real Life intruding while I struggle to create Fantasy Life in a novel. But, that's the thing about Real Life...it's real and you have little control of it sometimes and it tends to intrude when you least expect it.
Back at the beginning of the year I mentioned how 2008 was the Year of the Fire Rat. That chaos, both good and bad, would reign supreme. And it has! In spades! With two plus months to go before the end of the year, it doesn't seem to be slowing…
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Added by Gloria Oliver on October 19, 2008 at 5:08pm —
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I've been horribly remiss on posting the last few months aside from Promo stuff. Very sorry! Life has taken some unexpected directions and something always has to pay. Ugh. At times we don't get to choose what, however...
Anyway, I'd been thinking about this topic for months since my writer's group had a party over the summer and now I will finally share it with you -- The Goober Factor.
What is the Goober Factor, you ask? Well, first you have to look at the word Goober. According to…
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Added by Gloria Oliver on August 24, 2008 at 3:34pm —
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I tried to avoid this as long as I could, figuring I already had way too much to do (not counting writing!) but this year I saw it was inevitable so...
Here is my first book video!
Since branding is in, I made the first one of myself and quick flashes of the books.
Had to wait till my logo was finished and have gone through much technological agony. (I swear it's like I am cursed!) But stubborness has persevered and so -- voila! Video! (Now I have to dry my eyes out looking for stock pics for…
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Added by Gloria Oliver on June 29, 2008 at 4:21pm —
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Well, in the last few years a lot of the talk has moved toward the importance of branding. Nowadays you need to push your name, a tag line, and even a logo just like any other product out there on the market.
Thanks to friends, I was able to get a tag line that fits…
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Added by Gloria Oliver on June 16, 2008 at 6:40am —
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Since I have suffered what seems to be My First Obsession Ever, I figured it might be helpful to create the Top 10 Ways to know if you're truly obsessed so I can make sure. Here we go! (Please feel free to add any others you think might be applicable.)
10. You watch/read all new episodes/editions three times during the same weekend. (Check! This one I am at 100%)
9. You have joined groups online to fanatically discuss your obsessed topic and froth along with others as obsessed as yourself and…
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Added by Gloria Oliver on May 26, 2008 at 2:31pm —
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