A.J. Maguire

Author: ajmaguire

  • Book Review – WarDroids by J.M. Filipowicz

    wardoids-99Over the last several weeks I’ve been sick or dealing with a sick child or preparing for the Holidays, which meant very little time in front of a computer. It also meant a lot more time to read and one of the books I had the pleasure of reading was Wardroids by J.M. Filipowicz.

    I’ve never read anything by this author before so this was new to me on all fronts; new book, new author, new experience. And I loved it.

    This book begs the question of what it means to be human, which is a theme I have always enjoyed. Seriously, Data from Star Trek The Next Generation was my favorite character because his struggle to understand humanity and to be more human forced the crew of the Enterprise to more critically review their own humanity. Wardroids grabbed me right away precisely because it worked this theme in so overtly.

    Filipowicz is very talented with character development. I felt thoroughly aware of and in tune with the personalities on the page and was quickly invested in the story.

    I don’t want to give any spoilers so I can’t get into the plot, but it held me to the end and left me satisfied as a reader. If I were giving it a rating I’d do four stars out of five. (Or hearts or little robot men or whatever.) There does need to be a bit of a parental warning on this one. There are adult themes within the novel that might not be appropriate for those of a younger age.

    All in all, Wardroids is a good book that will get you questioning your own humanity.

    About the Author

    J M Filipowicz lives in a quiet condo on the surface of the moon, with a beautiful view of the cosmos through her geodesic dome. She spends her time imagining new worlds and writing stories by Earthlight.

    Having graduated from the University of Toronto with a degree in both art and writing, she occasionally paints her subconscious onto canvas and performs improv at the Staircase Theatre in Hamilton. When she has to come down to Earth, the she resides in Burlington, Ontario, Canada with her husband, two children and her dog, Worf.

  • Self-Publishing Journal Entry #3

    Dear Diary,

    Scrivener hates me.

    I find this quite sad because I really like Scrivener and its little note-card preview and clean setup. And really, I’ve done nothing to deserve its hatred. We only just met a month or so ago.

    How do I know it hates me?

    Because it refuses to be rid of the subtitles in my work. I’ve tried seven different times now and it always brings up a subtitle after the word “Chapter” … even if the area is left blank. Even if I click on the “please don’t do this crap” button that it told me to click on in the instructions.

    The manuscript looks very nice apart from that. It just has “Chapter One” and then “Untitled” right underneath it.

    Orange Beast
    Orange Beast

    The Big Orange Beast has declared that Scrivener is on strike until I bring home soft food again. After all, he did not agree to this diet and he has every right to soft food regardless of the fact that he is beginning to look like a lumpy potato.

    He is also quite displeased that I left for Thanksgiving. He did not rage-vomit on my floor while I was gone though, so I believe he is accepting the fact that I like to visit my mother every couple of months.

    I’ve decided that all of my editing must be done by the end of this week. My Beta Readers have all checked in (for the most part) and I know what needs doing. In fact, I managed to get most of their comments already implemented into the book, now I just need to tweak wording and make sure everything flows right.

    I’ve also decided that Tapped is going to be YA, which is terribly frightening. The age is right. The main character is right. I was just being stubborn about the whole idea due to … you know … never having written YA before.

    What can I say? I’m living dangerously. First time self-publishing, first time writing YA. It’s an adventure.

    Which reminds me, I really ought to pin down a cover for this thing.

  • Happy Thanksgiving!

    Yes, this is a day early. No, I don’t care. I’ll be out of town for several days so this is the only chance I’ll get posting my annual “This Is What I’m Thankful For” article before the holiday is over so … you get it today.

    I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday! I hope you all eat whatever your family tradition prefers you eat and that you enjoy some time off with loved ones. And I hope everyone takes a deep breath and steps back to really appreciate the things that they have, which is what I’m doing today.

    This year I am thankful for …

    1) My son.

    As always, he is the front of the list. He is funny and adventurous and full of spirit. I get to watch him create some of the most amusing stories with his Lego’s and his action figures and he reminds me every day to think outside of the box.

    2) My cat. 

    Because he’s a big orange beast who talks back to me when I’m asking questions about my work. He’s shaped a bit like a potato and has a crooked tail and sometimes jumps onto the back of my chair to attack my head if I’ve been at the computer too long.

    3) My family.

    ‘Cause they’re awesome. All of them.

    4) My hands.

    All it takes is stabbing yourself once to make you realize just how much you need all of your fingers. This year I am especially grateful that the feeling has returned to 100% of my left hand. This makes writing 110% easier to do.

    5) The Writing Community 

    I’ve had the pleasure of being introduced to several writing communities in my time; Hatrack, Forward Motion, WriteOn, Author’s Den … the list goes on. But in truth, the writing community I have right now has grown on its own. I’ve found people through those sites, certainly, but not all of them have stuck.

    I’m talking to the people who have stuck — I love you all. Thank you for your support, your own creativity, and for just being you. I couldn’t do this without you.

    Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Be safe and have fun.

  • Round Robin Blog Tour – Favorite Foods

    Yes, I realize this is abominably late. There’s nothing I can do about that now except what I’m doing, which is posting the article despite its tardiness. My heartfelt apologies.

    So!

    Favorite foods?

    I love mashed potatoes.

    Well, I love potatoes in about every form I can get them. I’ve even chopped a potato into little bitty bits and cooked it in my taco meat before (seriously, this tastes way better than it sounds.)

    I learned how to make home-made potato soup from scratch … none of that frozen hash-brown stuff for me!

    I’ll be going to my mother’s for Thanksgiving and she knows my potato fetish (which has happily been passed to my son) so she will be making a LARGE pot of potatoes to accommodate.

    That said, Christmas is generally spent at home and a friend passed along this wonderful wine cake recipe that I absolutely adore. I’ve decided to make it a tradition because I love it so much. My son is young enough that I’m allowed to adopt traditions still.

    Blog Tour Stops!
    Marci Baun  http://www.marcibaun.com/
    A.J. Maguire  https://ajmaguire.wordpress.com/ (YOU ARE HERE!)
    Fiona McGier http://www.fionamcgier.com/
    Judith Copek http://lynx-sis.blogspot.com/
    Diane Bator http://dbator.blogspot.ca/
    Beverley Bateman http://beverleybateman.blogspot.ca/
    Skye Taylor  http://www.skye-writer.com/
    Ginger Simpson http://mizging.blogspot.com/
    Victoria Chatham http://victoriachatham.webs.com/
    Margaret Fieland http://www.margaretfieland.com/blog1/
    Rachael Kosnski http://the-doodling-booktease.tumblr.com/
    Anne Stenhouse  http://annestenhousenovelist.wordpress.com/
    Heidi M. Thomas http://heidiwriter.wordpress.com/
    Helena Fairfax  http://helenafairfax.com/
    Rhobin Courtright http://www.rhobinleecourtright.com/

  • Tossing in the Towel – NaNoWriMo 2014

    Illness struck my house last week. It started while my son was having a sleepover, the poor kid suddenly had a fever and I had to separate the boys during the sleeping portion of said sleepover to keep our guest from catching it. (Didn’t work, our guest has been sick the last couple days too.)

    Being the mother that I am I spent all night watching my son’s fever spike and level and spike and level until finally Sunday morning we were able to run out and get some more Tylenol. By Sunday evening I was sick as well. And for several days Hazen and I stayed home, nursing our illnesses with frequent naps and intermittent bouts playing Star Wars.

    And soup.

    Lots of potato soup.

    My NaNo project was left aside.

    While I could possibly rush through the next two weeks to get to 50,000 words before the end of November I know that they would be 50,000 really horrible words. Rough drafts are notoriously bad, but the abomination that would sprout from such a rush would require the entire work be thrown away and restarted in December.

    Which would be a complete waste of my time.

    So!

    I am formally throwing in the towel for NaNoWriMo 2014.

    I wish everyone the best of luck who is continuing to plug away at their NaNo novels. You’re all awesome. You can do this. Keep moving forward!

  • Handwriting vs. Typing Debate #1

    My first book was written almost completely on 3×5 cards that I stored in my cargo pockets while serving in the Army. I kept them in a Ziploc bag since … you know … Army stuff. Field exercises in Hawaii were murder on paper. If you’ve never been to Hawaii then let me tell you, they have this red dirt that can stain anything.

    I mean it.

    I took the advice of a more experienced soldier and purchased an extra uniform for the sole purpose of rolling around in reddish mud.

    Now then … I don’t recommend using 3×5 cards to write your whole novel on for several reasons.

    #1) Unless you’re in a situation where you absolutely must store your work in your cargo pocket, why would you want to?

    #2) 3×5 cards with numbers on them are still a pain in the batoosh to keep in order. Should you be crazy enough to do this, find an organization style very, very quickly.

    #3) 3×5 cards are easier to lose than full pages of paper. Again … some sort of filing system is absolutely necessary here.

    All that said, I do still use 3×5 cards. I just don’t write the whole stinking novel on them. I write blips, lines, descriptions, plot points, or anything that catches my attention that I think could be useful. The actual writing of the novel normally takes place in a notebook.

    I love the feel of pen on paper. Something about it just calls to me, sets my creative mind to wandering, and helps me focus on the novel at hand. And this was all well and good for my first several novels.

    However … looking at a series like Tapped, which at this juncture is approximately 7 books long with offshoots for novellas and short stories, it has become increasingly apparent that I need to adapt my writing techniques. The problem isn’t so much writing on the notebooks, but the editing process that comes after.

    You see, after I’ve transferred everything onto the computer and done at least 3 passes at the novel, I inevitably print the whole thing out and find myself handwriting EVERYWHERE.

    No, really. Everywhere. Margins, napkins, between lines, no place is safe.296311_500604823329356_837081728_n

    So in essence I’m handwriting the novel twice.

    This takes time.

    Trenna fans will agree with me here in saying it takes too much time. (I’m so very sorry. But I do promise Usurper will be out next year.)

    This is what inspired the Residual Haunting challenge. For those of you just joining us, Residual Haunting is the serialized novel I have been posting up on Wattpad and its own story blog. It has been written completely on the computer, which accounts for a slight lack of description but a very stylized flow to the narrative.

    Since I am over midway through the book now I figured I would do a bit of a Pro vs. Con update on this experiment.

    Pro — Character voices flow better.

    Con — I had to go back in and write descriptions of the characters.

    Pro — Timing for writing the rough draft has been cut in half.

    Con — Character depth is missing. Who are these people and what do they want? (Aside from not being eaten by the monster roaming the museum.)

    Conclusion — The rough draft will be rougher than normal when this is done. I will have to go in and add graphic detail to make the setting come alive. I will have to slow down and use the 1″ picture frame (thank you, Ann Lamont) on each of the characters. We will have to see at the end of the editing process if this actually saves time in the long run.

    Now, these are my experiences. Someone else will likely have different results. But as writers it is our duty to experiment and learn different ways to approach the craft. It’s the only way we’ll grow.

  • National Novel Writing Month – 2014

    That’s right. I’m one of those crazy people, the one’s who take November and turn it into a month-long marathon with words.

    I went grocery shopping and stocked up on caffeine, chocolate, and popcorn. I made sure my son had a new Wii game to entertain himself while my brain is occupied in all things Dead Weight. (Yes, that’s the title of the new manuscript.)

    I revisited the series Bible — because this is the second book in a much larger series — and plucked out the items I want to explore in this book.

    … and since the first book hasn’t come out yet I’m not allowed to share any of them with you. Cause … you know … spoilers.

    I can talk about theme’s, though!

    Complicated, fun, themes!

    So … Tapped, the first book, is centered on the theme of family. Real easy to spot. You’ll see it when the book hits virtual shelves in January. (January 13, 2015. No, I haven’t forgotten. Yes, I am still playing with formatting and such.)

    Dead Weight’s theme is “letting go.”

    I know, it’s not one word. We’re supposed to try and filter everything down to a one-word theme and all that but … No. Screw the rules. That’s my theme.

    I don’t have a word count yet because it’s all handwritten but I’ll make sure to post such a thing on Friday. Until then … I’ve got writing to do.

    Go, NaNo-People! Let’s get this done!

  • Self-Publishing Journal Entry #2 – Oh, and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

    Dear Diary,

    After a solid week of experimenting with different eBook converters I have developed a new and startling twitch at the corner of my left eye. The Orange Beast informs me that this twitch is really my subconscious reminding me that my beautiful cat is starving from a lack of soft food.

    Hard food be damned, he wants that soft food and he wants it now.

    10635909_782868961769606_5871221890528925045_n
    The Orange Beast.

    I believe it comes from not being able to transfer an epub document from Calibre onto my iPad. I’m pretty sure that’s where it started anyway. It might have come from hunting for all the weird transcription errors that transferred between Word 2010 and Open Office.

    There is a part of me that feels dirty having so many different word processors on my computer now. I’ve used Microsoft Word for decades now but never gone past the need to format college papers and such. One would think that a program I paid money for would come equipped with everything I need to convert files like this … and perhaps it does and I just haven’t discovered it yet.

    We are now at the end of the week and I have dabbled in just about everything in my search for the right document converter. I’ve kept a running tally.

    Calibre: Looked neat but only lets me view the eBook through its system. Might be missing a step here to get it into published form.

    Scrivener: Very neat. I love the notecard preview thing it does. Not sure how to take the titles out of my Chapters but I’ve got 27 days left and counting on my free trial to figure it out. (And really, if I like it enough I’ll probably go ahead and purchase a copy.) Also, I was able to email my iPad a copy of the epub book to look through, so that’s progress.

    Sigil: … I just barely scratched the surface of this one. I am wary of CSS. I am not a coder and do not wish to break my book in unfathomable ways. I will update later once I’ve gotten my hands a little dirty with this one.

    Open Office: … weirdly like my Microsoft Word Document only with a function that lets me see formatting issues in the manuscript. This was necessary for conversion with Calibre but when I went to do the same with Scrivener it royally screwed the pooch. I took up the Microsoft Word mantle again and was able to convert a clean copy of the novel onto Scrivener without issue.

    1017384_550226461700525_1986671538_n
    Me taking on NaNoWriMo and Kindle Conversion.

    I haven’t tried anything with Kindle files yet. I will tackle that one once I’ve figured out the basics of this conversion process.

    In any case, it’s Halloween and I’m taking the night off. No writing. No converting. I shall bake spooky cupcakes with the Spawn, carve pumpkins, build a haunted ginger-bread house, watch Doctor Who and play Star Wars until midnight …

    Because at midnight National Novel Writing Month begins and I’m running full-tilt for the 50,000 word line.

  • Halloween and Doctor Who

    I don’t do Trick-or-Treating. I did when I was a kid but I remember all to well having to let my mother go through the candy to make sure nobody had done anything particularly nasty that year. We’ve all heard the horror stories and the urban legends and all things awful that could be done to unsuspecting children on All Hallows Eve and, regardless of whether or not they are real, I just can’t seem to let my son do this.

    Which is sad, I know. I love Halloween and I love watching my son pick a costume and I make sure he has every opportunity to wear said costume throughout the month of October (and often the rest of the year.)

    But as a single parent who lives in an apartment complex full of college students I draw the line at trick-or-treating.

    Over the last six years my son and I have made our own traditions for this special night. We both dress up, we make a special dinner, and we try to construct a haunted ginger bread house. Mostly we just eat the pieces but for about 20 seconds the thing manages to stand upright.

    We watched Scooby-Doo last year but this year we’ve both decided to watch Doctor Who.

    We’ve been catching up on the new season since Monday and the episode called “Listen” scared the skittles out of us both. Totally appropriate for Halloween, wouldn’t you say?

    I mean, there was one part where some thing was sitting on this kid’s bed, hiding under a blanket. It was so terribly creepy that my son hid his face. I was little better, clutching him to my side and wondering just how far Moffat was going to take this particular story-line.

    In any case, I’m sure there are people out there who will say I’m robbing my son of a grand experience by barring him from trick-or-treating. To you I would say, let’s agree to disagree. There are plenty of other things my son and I can do to celebrate that don’t include driving down unfamiliar streets hunting for the houses with their lights on.

    We went to the corn maze twice this month. We have pumpkins to carve. We have cupcakes to bake and a haunted ginger bread house to construct. And we have Doctor Who to watch.

  • Self-Publishing Journal Entry #1

    Dear Diary,

    10676192_782868888436280_3445750894630733710_nI have taken to talking to my cat again. Whilst my son slumbers and I work late into the night the big orange beast is the only company I have, and in my sleep-deprived delirium I might have dreamed up his responses. I have no one to blame but myself, I know.

    I am the one who decided I wanted the manuscript to go out to Beta readers Monday morning.

    I am the one who scheduled a 48 hour timetable over the weekend to take the first pass at the manuscript.

    Well, it wasn’t the first pass. Technically speaking that was the 4th. It just happened to be the first read-through since deciding to embark on the self-publishing journey.

    I am also the one who spent a disgraceful amount of time hunting through pre-made cover art. I still haven’t found the right one and am resigning myself to the idea that I’m going to have to commission someone.

    My cat insists I should save my money for soft food. He is quite peeved at me for not having purchased any in IMG_0051over a month. But he’s gotten a trifle pudgy so I’ve limited him to hard food until Thanksgiving or Christmas.

    I am slightly concerned that he might take matters into his own hands and either bite my feet in protest or opt to rage-vomit. (He does this whenever I leave for the weekend to let me know his displeasure.)

    On a good note, he is supportive of the self-publishing idea. I know because he sits on the back of my chair and purrs, creating a pleasant vibration for me while I work. It’s like a mini-massage thing only fuzzy and better. I fully believe that his presence helped me get through that 48 read-through period and, while some of the emails to my Beta readers might not have made a lot of sense, at least they got out in time.

    I’ll score this as a win.