Rangers on the Read

Hey all,

I’ve decided to start a project on social media called “Rangers on the Read.”

What is it? It’s a project in which I give my book Rangers over Regulus to one person that I know, and they will read it and pass it on. Sounds simple, right? It really is, it’s a project with no real parameters except curiosity. Where will my book end up?

I’ve left a message on the inside cover with instructions. You can read them below:

If you’re looking at this message, one of your friends has given you this book to read.

This book is starting out with one person, and that person is going to read this book and pass it on. I want to see where this book ends up. Call it an experiment of sorts.

I’d like to try to keep track of it, so if you receive this book and feel like updating where it is and who you are, just send me a message, maybe a picture of where it has ended up this time.

#rangersontheread is the hashtag I’ll be tracking on social media.

You can PM me on Twitter @aa_powell or Tumblr alexpowell-writer.tumblr.com

or even email me at aa.powell.author@gmail.com

Or you can just read and pass it on.

Seems pretty straight forward, right? Just read it, send me a message if you like, and pass it on to the next person. I want to see where the book ends up. I’ve decided that I’ll start with just one book for now, and I’m starting it in Prince George, BC, Canada, which is my hometown.

In case any of you readers are wondering where the heck that is, I’ll tell you. Prince George is a town of about 72 000 people in the middle of the Caribou Central Interior of British Columbia. It’s near the west coast of Canada, and is the largest city in northern BC. It’s an hour flight to Vancouver or Edmonton, and a ten hour drive by car. Two major highways run through PG, one running east to west and another running north to south. We have a small university, the University of Northern British Columbia (not to be mistaken with UBC, which is far less awesome).

If I had to take a guess where the book is going to end up, I’d say probably the university. But I can’t say that I’d be surprised if it ended up anywhere else.

My book might just circulate around Prince George for awhile and then end up in a garbage somewhere, missing its cover. Or it might end up on the other side of the world.

I guess we’ll wait and see. I might try this again with my starting point in Vancouver later, if this turns out to be a success.

Thanks everyone, I’ll keep you updated on its progress.

Summer Writing Projects

I’ve gotten a bit behind on my writing projects of late, which makes me a bit sad. Apart from being a writer, I’m also a student trying to get into Grad School. That’s going well for the moment, so I’m returning to writing projects I need to get done. I’ve included a couple of pictures of my hometown in the post, just so you have an idea of what type of place I’m writing in.

Top of UNBC hill in Prince George

My cyberpunk novel is actually finished being written, revised, and beta-read! It took almost forever, and right now I’m on the editing stage. As you know, I find editing tedious but necessary to the final project. The novel is at 58K words right now, and I will be submitting it as soon as I finish my editing rounds. As I’ve discovered, I really like putting unnecessary words like “started to” and “began to” at the beginning of sentences and have to take them out. It is time-consuming, but I’m hoping to be done editing by mid-May.
My ace dragon story is already outlined at over 40k words, and these types of things have a tendency to get away from me. So I’m guessing that it will probably end up around 50-60k words by the time I finish. As I’m hoping to get a lot of writing done this summer, I’m hoping to have the writing bit finished by the end of July.
I keep saying I’m going to write for collection and anthology calls, but the things I write end up being longer than expected. So I’m going to try and fit in a short story for the Bisexual anthology call Enchanted Soles with Less Than Three Press. I find short stories the most difficult to write, so hopefully I won’t get carried away!

The road at the bottom of UNBC hill

As usual, I have plot bunnies running around breeding profusely inside my head as well as projects I put on the back burner. I’ll try and stick to my guns and get everything finished. Summer writing projects are fun. Two summers ago, I was in Vancouver, and I managed to finish off Hakusan Angel while writing in posh cafes. Prince George is slightly less posh, but hopefully, that won’t curtail the writing flow!

Writer’s Block

All writers commence groaning.

Writer’s block: a sort of strange and terrible phenomenon in which all creativity and motivation abandon the writer’s brain and leave for parts unknown.

How do we beat it? There are tons of different suggestions out there. Some of them work, and some of them don’t. Sometimes, it just seems best to sit down and do something else other than writing because of this problem.

I have a secret for you: being a good writer doesn’t come from momentary inspiration.

As much as you may doubt yourself and your writing ability when you don’t feel the writing vibe, you don’t just start being a terrible writer just because you aren’t feeling it right at that moment. Sometimes, you just have to push on through and keep writing, even though you don’t want to. Some of us don’t really have a choice, thanks to looming deadlines.

The thing is, your writing is still going to be good, even if you think that it’s boring when you’re writing. Sometimes, you don’t know what you’re going to write next, and that’s where the block is coming from. This is where you actually have to think about the mechanics of your work, and not just about the creative juices. I did mention in a past post that some people outline and some people don’t, and either is fine. But that doesn’t mean that you garden-growers out there can stop thinking about where your story is going and what kind of message you want to send. That means that in order to move your story along, you need to figure out where it goes next, and what kind of scene will take it there.

For outliners, this is the easy bit. What did you plan to write next? Do it now.

Now for the hard part. Write it. Whatever scene you’ve decided you need, get it down on paper, or on your computer, or wherever you write. Because the thing is, even if you don’t think it’s going to work, or is boring, or that it’s bad, it’s actually not. Once you’re done, set it aside for a bit and come back to it later, or add onto it again, when you’re thinking creatively again. I can almost guarantee you that if you look at your work later, you can’t tell the difference between scenes you wrote while feeling creative and inspired and scenes you wrote while feeling bored and stuck in a rut.

The problem? Most writer’s block stems from being bored. Well guess what? Writing is actually work sometimes, and sometimes work can be boring. Suck it up and get writing. After all, the only thing that suffers from you slacking off is you and your story.

Now that we’re done with that semi-inspiring speech, I’ve got some work to do on my own projects.

On Not Giving Up

Okay, so your submission to a publisher came back with a rejection. Not only does it happen to the best of us, it happens to all of us. The vast majority of writers have publishers reject one of their works at some point or another.

It doesn’t mean that you’re a bad writer, necessarily. There are many reasons for a publisher to reject work.

One of them is that the work that you’ve submitted isn’t exactly what that publisher is looking for right at that instant. Sometimes it’s harder to figure out what a publisher is looking for when they have a general call out. Try again. Just because that publisher rejected it, it doesn’t mean every publisher will.

It could be that the publisher has limited space, and that they can’t publish everything that comes their way, even if it is good. It might be just that they’ve decided to go with authors that they are already familiar with, or that your work is similar to another author’s, so they went with the other one. It happens.

And I know you dread to hear it, but sometimes it is because of the writing.

So, I have a couple of questions for you, if you suspect that this is the case.

How long have you been a writer, and how much are you practicing? I’ve been a writer since I actually could write, and I get feedback from fellow writers at regular intervals. Are you taking any writing courses or following any writing blogs? Getting advice from others who can give you critical feedback?

The only way to get better at writing is actually writing. I’ve looked at some of my old work, and it’s just horrendous. But that’s looking at it from now. You can only get better with practice. That, and reading. Please read as much as you possibly can, because that’s how you can tell if you’re improving.

Don’t give up on writing because you got one rejection letter.

Title Creation

Now, to talk about yet another part of writing that I really suck at. You guessed it! Making up a title. I really really have problems with coming up with a snazzy title because I’m always paranoid that it sounds dumb.

I cheat a little with titles. I always make my friends and fellow writers help me out.

I have six publications out so far, and all six titles were hard for me to come up with.

“Across Borders” was my very first title, and I have to admit, I was playing it safe with that one. I can’t claim that it’s a very inspiring title. It’s very straight forward and to the point. The story is literally about two lovers from opposing nations, so it really is, as it says, “across borders.” Very simple. At least it’s not ridiculous.

“Insanity Girls” was my next title. It shares its name with the name of the punk rock band that one of my characters is in. I liked the name “Insanity Girls” for a band name, I wasn’t so sure if it fit with the title of a story. I couldn’t really think up a different name, however, so that’s the one I stuck with.

“Rangers over Regulus” was the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to come up with. I made a mind map chart to try and figure out what kind of name would be good for this story. I asked friends. I banged my head against the wall. One of my friends suggested “Libby on the Range” as a joke, which I found funny because the acronym was LOTR (like Lord of the Rings. Sorry if that isn’t as hilarious to you as it was to me). That’s what Rangers was called for the first three months of its life. I finally did pick a name, and there are still a few people who don’t like the title.

Next up was Hakusan Angel. That one was slightly easier, because I was basing it off of a Japanese-type naming system. With names like “Gunslinger Girl,” “Sailor Moon,” “Boys Over Flowers,” and “Marmalade Boy” to go off of, “Hakusan Angel” wasn’t such a weird title.

“Love Rampage” mind map

Next came “Love Rampage,” which I actually turned into my publisher with the title “Unicorn story” because I couldn’t come up with a title before the deadline. Luckily for me, Less Than Three Press doesn’t require authors to come up with a title immediately and will even help you out with one if you need it. Not that you should be lazy and just let them make up all your titles, but if you’re seriously stumped, it’s not absolutely necessary to have one when you’re submitting your story. I think I came up with “Love Rampage” in a fever dream.

“Sky Knights” was the easiest title ever, for some reason. Obviously, since my characters are aviators, the “sky” part was easy. I wanted the title to convey that my characters are guarding their homeland, and to express their bravery. So I just mashed them together, and it turned out to be a title that said what I meant.

So there are all my stories for title creation. I think I might have made a post before about mind maps, but in case you’re interested, I’ll explain what that entails.

Cyberpunk novel mind map

Basically, it’s a word association type map. You write down the themes of your story in bubbles and then make little off-shoots of words that are associated with that theme. If I were to make a mind map for “Sky Knights,” I would have put “aviator” in one bubble and “sky” would be one of the off-shoots. Then you look at all the words you can come up with and try to combine them to make a title. Sometimes it doesn’t work, as in the case of “Rangers over Regulus.”

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Hey all! Today is probably one of the best days for romance authors everywhere, at least on a fictional level. I can’t speak for anyone else, but Valentine’s Day is easy to make perfect when you’re writing about someone fictional!

I hope everyone’s having a good Valentine’s Day regardless. I know a lot of couples today who tried and failed not to be ridiculously romantic today.

If you’re a single person, I have a pick-me-up in the form of some awesome sales on romance novels today! Recommended to read with a side-helping of vodka.

I’m the Featured Author for February, so all my titles are 20% off! Just go HERE to get instructions on how to save some dough at Less Than Three Press. I’m going to be the Featured Author till the end of the month, so go check that out! And if you’re wondering who the Featured Author for March is, there’s still a bit of time to nominate someone, and then it will be time to take a vote on who it will be! Go HERE to nominate the Featured Author for March!

Last but not least, it is Valentine’s Day, so there’s a sale on everything at Less Than Three Press for 20% off until tomorrow. And guess what? It’s stackable, so you can get 40% off my books until the 15th!

To be honest, that’s why I love Valentine’s Day the most, because of all the sales on romance books. Also, all the chocolate goes on sale afterwards, so you can have cheap and delicious chocolate and a cheap and delicious romance novel to go with it!

Have a Happy Valentine’s Day everyone, and Happy Reading!

Rainbow Awards Runner Up

I forgot to mention, because I happened to be in France while the Rainbow Awards were announced and was generally drunk on Normandy pear cider and Calvados: Rangers Over Regulus was fifth runner up for the Gay Futuristic/Sci-fi category!

As you can imagine, I was very pleased for myself when I discovered this, right before I was on a plane for 10 and a half hours on my return to Canada. I know, it’s been a month, but you must forgive me for forgetting. I had to go through customs twice on my way back: once in the States, and a second time in Canada. And then I had to pack up and move house once I got back. And then it was Christmas.

Now that it’s the New Year, I can remind everyone in case they forgot, like me.

The other runners up in the Sci-fi/Futuristic category were:

2. Light by Nathan Burgoine

3. Piper by Leona Carver

4. Strain by Amelia C. Gormley

And the winner was Rarely Pure & Never Simple by Angel Martinez.

Sky Knights cover release

Hello all, I hope you’re having a good 2015 so far!

Just giving everyone the chance to see the cover for Sky Knights, done by London Burden!

I love this cover a ridiculous amount. As you can see, the outline of the plane is meant to look like the plane my protagonists fly, a wooden biplane called the Po-2 Polikarpov.

Sky Knights is part of the Damsels in Distress anthology, and is currently up for preorder!

I’m also excited to see the stories by my fellow authors who will also be part of the anthology. I’m glad to see that so many people submitted a story to this anthology, because we really need more awesome lesbian and bisexual ladies. Usually, there’s one or two stories about queer woman in anthologies published by Less Than Three Press, but it’s great to see an anthology dedicated to showing how awesome our female characters can be.

Sky Knights is about two Soviet pilots during WW2 who are part of the infamous Nightwitches squadron, night bombers that flew perilous missions in tiny little wooden planes. This story is a historical fantasy, because I couldn’t resist with the magic. However, the part where women were allowed to be pilots in the Soviet army during WW2 is historically accurate. There really was a women’s bomber squadron that the Germans called the Nachthexen who risked their lives harassing the German front lines. They were also snipers, sappers, tank drivers, and battle medics.

With this story, I wanted to show that there were women in real history that did amazing things, including become part of one of the most feared bombing units of the war. Women are so often left out of history, their accomplishments glossed over to make it seem like women can’t do anything. This is doubly true of queer women.

Keep that in mind when you are reading, that all the women in this story were based on women that really did those death-defying things.

Sky Knights will be released March 25th, 2015.

Happy New Year everyone, happy writing and happy reading.

Gay Romance Northwest meet-up 2014

Hey all!

I’ve just arrived back home in Vancouver after a weekend in Seattle. I was attending the GRNW meet-up, which was an amazing event in spite of its fledgling status, only in its second year running.

The meet-up took place on the 20th of September, but there were still pre meet-up events taking place on Friday. I arrived early enough on Friday that I had a good wander around Pike Place market and had lunch at French restaurant Maximilien where the waiter informed me that, upon asking to know the catch of the day, “Oh no, you do not want THAT m’moiselle, le saumon is a MUCH better fish!” Of course, I had to take his advice.

Then, I got abysmally lost while trying to find the Drumheller Fountain on University of Washington campus. I was slightly late to the pre-reading meet-up at Flowers bar and restaurant. I was very quickly added to the Less Than Three Press contingent upon my arrival. LT3 editors/authors present were Megan Derr (Head of Operations), Samantha M. Derr (Editor in Chief), Sasha L. Miller (Chief Information Officer), Isabella Carter (author, Dragon Slayer), Talya Andor (author, Signal to Noise), E.E. Ottoman (author, Song of the Spring Monsoon Waning), and Amanda Jean (editor).

After some good (very strong) drinks and some mysteriously-appearing (and quickly disappearing) pita bread, we all wandered over to the University Library for the Queerly Yours reading.

The Queerly Yours readings were excellent, very thoroughly enjoyable. We heard from E.E. Ottoman, Jordan Castillo Price, Rick R. Reed, and Radclyffe. They all kept us on the edges of our seats and wanting to hear more!

And of course, after that, we all headed over to the District Lounge and had a blast.

And that’s BEFORE the actual conference, which was amazing.

We started off our morning with a few different things. There were writing workshops, a reader’s meet-up and author pitch sessions.

I went to the World Building writing workshop which was moderated by J. Tullos Hennig and featured panelists Talya Andor, Astrid Amara, Ginn Hale, Laylah Hunter and Belinda McBride. What followed was a lively discussion about the world-building process in fiction. Everyone had a different method for how they built up the world their characters lived in, and had great things to say about culture, character design and diversity.

Which brings me to the second writing workshop, which I was a panelist for. I was part of the Diversity in Writing workshop, which was moderated by Marites Mendoza (Marketing and Online Services Coordinator, Seattle Public Library). My fellow panelists were Heidi Belleau, Dena Hankins, and Pearl Love. I think visibility in writing for minority characters is extremely important. We had a lot of fun debating the meaning of the word diversity, giving pointers on writing outside one’s experience and the importance of doing research.

We had a break for lunch in which several of us cleverly decided that getting dim sum was the way to go. Actually, I didn’t decide much. One moment I was in the library and the next I was eating pork buns. Such is the way of life.

Then we moved on to the panels in the afternoon. The keynote address was given by five authors reading letters to their past or future selves. Those taking part were E.E. Ottoman, Rick R. Reed, Jordan Castillo Price, Radclyffe and the sadly absent Rose Christo, who sent a letter ahead anyway to be read aloud by Tracy Timmons-Gray (Events Coordinator and Head Miracle Worker). Their letters were very touching, and I’m sure that many listeners were actually moved to tears.

There were three panel discussions: Writing the Rainbow, Printed Love and The Evolving LGBTQ Romance Genre.

Writing the Rainbow was moderated by Anne Tenino and featured panelists Jove Belle, Ginn Hale, Jordan Castillo Price, Rick R. Reed and Karis Walsh. The discussion included what being a published author is actually like, the things the panelists found difficult to write and why they decided to be romance writers. It was very informative for aspiring young romance writers.

Next up was Printed Love, which was moderated by Tracy Timmons-Gray and featured publishing industry pros Len Barot (President of Bold Strokes Books), Laura Baumbach (Owner of MLR Press), Tina Haveman (CEO of eXtasy books) and Anne Regan (executive editor of Dreamspinner Press and Harmony Ink Press) and LT3’s very own Megan Derr (Head of Operations of Less Than Three Press). Here, we got an in-depth view of the ins-and-outs of the industry as well as how each made the decision to get into LGBTQ publishing.

Lastly, I was on the last panel, filling in for Rose Christo. We were moderated by Nicole Kimberling and my fellow panelists were David Matthew-Barnes, Lori L. Lake, Pearl Love and E.E. Ottoman. We had a great time discussing where the future of LGBTQ fiction lay, and what we hoped to see from writers in the future. I think we made some very good points, and I hope to see more writers and readers of LGBTQ fiction in the future.

I said lastly, but after all that, we all traipsed on over to the Hotel Monaco for the Book Fest. We were in alphabetical order, so E.E. Ottoman and I were seated next to each other. I think we spent as much time talking to one another as anyone who stopped by our booths. We were both giving out postcards. Mine were designed on very short notice by London Burden, LT3 cover artist.

Finally, at long last, we finished off our tour of LGBTQ fiction at the Rendezvous, where we heard several authors do short readings. We heard from Amelia Gormley, David Holly, Z.A. Maxfield, Kate McLachlan, Charlie Richards, Jeffrey Ricker, Tara Spears, Lou Sylvre, Jay Vaughn, L.A. Witt, and Heidi Belleau. The excerpts were wildly exciting and sometimes hilarious, and a good time was had by all.

Thus closed the Gay Romance Northwest meet-up 2014, and I look forward to seeing everyone in the future, hopefully at the next conference in 2015.

Posters and Postcards

Hey all!

In preparation for my attendance at the Gay Romance Northwest meet-up tomorrow, I’ve prepared some swag that I’d like to show you all!

This poster and postcards were commissioned from the lovely London Burden, Less Than Three Press cover artist and all-around amazing lady. They are for my book Rangers over Regulus.

And here they are in hard copy, just waiting to be taken to the conference!

M	T	W	T	F	S	S
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30	31

alex powell

Quills&Ink Cafe

lgbt author