Last night I started reading Chuck Wendig’s cybercrime novel, Zeroes. So far, it’s a lot of fun.  But fun is typically what I expect from Chuck.

Zeroes has me thinking about other ways to assemble different characters. This one has a team that has to be assembled by a common thread, here in the form of a government agent.  I may have figured out why the beginning of my scientists vs. kaiju story just didn’t work.

Reading fiction for fun and figuring out what makes the stories I like work is a pretty good game so far. 

In other news, my promotion experiments continue. Even though I’ve done it for multiple accounts now, it never ceases to amaze me that the trick to building a Twitter following is to follow lots of people, preferably who are interested in what you have to say or are promoting. So, hello to everyone who has come to visit from Twitter!

I’m also experimenting with an automated DM for new Twitter followers. I usually hate getting them when I follow people, but that’s because so often it’s just an ad for their product. I’m hoping to use mine mostly as an invitation for conversation. I have mentioned my newsletter in there, but it’s not the focus of the message. I have gotten a few very nice responses to the DM so far, and I’d love for it lead to real connections with other creators or fans.

The short story I’m currently working on has helped me figure out some important mechanics about my zombie space opera universe, questions that have been holding me back from working on it further. I’ll have to remember this in the future; if I’m stuck, work out an event in the backstory. I need to block off a few hours this weekend to grind the first draft out.

It’s supposed to be cold and wet in Austin for the next few days, so that shouldn’t be too hard to accomplish.