This is the official blog of author Rick Just
Sunday, March 2, 2014
Saturday, February 22, 2014
New books, old books
Quite a lot to report, which is why I haven’t been blogging.
First, I have finished the first draft of The Crappy Used Diary and it is off to
the editors. I anticipate a sprint release. Right now I’m looking for a few
beta readers who are willing to give an early version of the book a read and
write a short review once it is published.
Second, I just released the complete Wizards Trilogy for the first time. Wizard Chase, Wizard Girl,
and Wizards’ End have been available
for some time as individual books. This is the first time I’ve made them
available in a single set. They are currently only available on Kindle. If
demand is great enough, I may publish a printed version. I hesitate to do that,
because it would be more than 600 pages in trade paperback.
Third, I made a major decision regarding Blood Anjels. After doing further
testing I determined that the title wasn’t working. It gave the potential
reader the wrong impression. The cover, though well done, wasn’t helping,
either. The book has just been published under the new title Angel , and with a new cover. Blood Anjels will be discontinued, probably
early next week. So, those of you who have a copy with the old cover and title
now have a limited edition collectible. Sell it in a couple of years and send
your kids to college. Or, maybe, buy yourself a nice lunch.
Sunday, January 19, 2014
First 100 pages: Q&A with Rick Just about his book, Blood Anjels
First 100 pages: Q&A with Rick Just about his book, Blood Anjels: 1. Who is your favorite character from Blood Anjels and why? My favorite character is Lasa, the heroine. Secondary ch...
Monday, January 6, 2014
Scramble
My mind won’t quit making words! This has little to do with my writing, though one might think constant word creation would benefit a writer. This is an unwelcome artifact of word games.
As I’ve mentioned before in this blog, I play Words with Friends and a couple of electronic versions of the game Boggle. It is my my mind’s obsession with the latter that gives me fits.
Boggle, as you may remember, is a game where letters are arranged in a 4 letter by 4 letter grid. In the pre-digital days, letters were on a six-sided cube (which is redundant, but so be it). The Boggle game itself was a plastic box which you could shake to randomize the letters. I still remember the rattle.
Today’s digital versions use randomization algorithms to assure that each game is different. The point of the game, digital or analog, is to find as many words as possible using only adjacent letters.
Doubtless there are certain words in the English language that appear more frequently, because the letters are more common. Every individual is probably drawn to certain letter combinations because of the way their particular brain works. Or, maybe the digital elves just like certain words. I notice that STONE, STONED, STONES, STONER and STONERS show up a lot. As far as I know, I’m not predisposed to seek out STONERS, but there you have it. Bonus: TONE, TONED, TONES, TONER and TONERS are hiding in plain sight when the aforementioned words appear.
Variations on TUNE, TRAIL, RAIL, DEER, DEAR, SEER, and several other letter combinations seem prevalent in my games. All of them are now prevalent in my mind. I find myself looking at a word and dissecting it for its parts. During the day, if I’m doing something that doesn’t take a lot of thought, my mind wanders through random words, restacking the letters in different ways. At night, I dream about making words with little squares.
This is mildly irritating to the top levels of my thinking machine. However, I know this is simply the way my brain--your brain, too--processes new information. I’ve had it happen before with games I’ve been obsessed with and with projects I’m really concentrating on at work. A dream about spreadsheets. Zippy.
Fortunately, this also happens when I’m deep into the writing of a novel. Writing novels is what this blog is mainly about, in case you’d forgotten or were distracted by whirlings of your mind.
As I’ve mentioned before in this blog, I play Words with Friends and a couple of electronic versions of the game Boggle. It is my my mind’s obsession with the latter that gives me fits.
Boggle, as you may remember, is a game where letters are arranged in a 4 letter by 4 letter grid. In the pre-digital days, letters were on a six-sided cube (which is redundant, but so be it). The Boggle game itself was a plastic box which you could shake to randomize the letters. I still remember the rattle.
Today’s digital versions use randomization algorithms to assure that each game is different. The point of the game, digital or analog, is to find as many words as possible using only adjacent letters.
Doubtless there are certain words in the English language that appear more frequently, because the letters are more common. Every individual is probably drawn to certain letter combinations because of the way their particular brain works. Or, maybe the digital elves just like certain words. I notice that STONE, STONED, STONES, STONER and STONERS show up a lot. As far as I know, I’m not predisposed to seek out STONERS, but there you have it. Bonus: TONE, TONED, TONES, TONER and TONERS are hiding in plain sight when the aforementioned words appear.
Variations on TUNE, TRAIL, RAIL, DEER, DEAR, SEER, and several other letter combinations seem prevalent in my games. All of them are now prevalent in my mind. I find myself looking at a word and dissecting it for its parts. During the day, if I’m doing something that doesn’t take a lot of thought, my mind wanders through random words, restacking the letters in different ways. At night, I dream about making words with little squares.
This is mildly irritating to the top levels of my thinking machine. However, I know this is simply the way my brain--your brain, too--processes new information. I’ve had it happen before with games I’ve been obsessed with and with projects I’m really concentrating on at work. A dream about spreadsheets. Zippy.
Fortunately, this also happens when I’m deep into the writing of a novel. Writing novels is what this blog is mainly about, in case you’d forgotten or were distracted by whirlings of your mind.
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
Giveaways
A little holiday giveaway for my readers. Christmas day and Boxing day, you’ll be able to get my newest book, Blood Anjels, along with the first book in the Wizards Trilogy, Wizard Chase, for free (the Kindle versions) on Amazon. Oh, heck, since it’s Christmas, let’s make the same offer for the Keeping Private Idaho. That’s December 25 and 26, only on Kindle.
Saturday, December 7, 2013
Remembered for Writing
A thought occurred to me yesterday as I clicked the submit button on a grant application. I’ve published five novels, one nonfiction book and been the major editor on five other nonfiction books. Those books will provide some entertainment and perhaps a little enlightenment to readers. But, will I be long remembered for them? Probably not.
As a sometimes grant writer (a term commonly used incorrectly, including here) I might get some measure of immortality, I suppose. At least, something that comes from it might outlive me.
But, if I am really remembered at all for my writing it will be by one of the smaller, but more important, readerships I have. If someone a hundred years from now reads my writing and is glad for it, that someone likely be a future relative. My family will remember me as the driving force behind a little family history magazine I have been editing for 27 years, called Presto Press. It’s what I’ll be doing this weekend. Making memories, with the crucial help of other family writers. I’m a novelist, grant writer, blogger, artist, and producer. I’m glad for all that, but the most important thing I do is keep Presto Press going. Now, to it.
http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/581189
As a sometimes grant writer (a term commonly used incorrectly, including here) I might get some measure of immortality, I suppose. At least, something that comes from it might outlive me.
But, if I am really remembered at all for my writing it will be by one of the smaller, but more important, readerships I have. If someone a hundred years from now reads my writing and is glad for it, that someone likely be a future relative. My family will remember me as the driving force behind a little family history magazine I have been editing for 27 years, called Presto Press. It’s what I’ll be doing this weekend. Making memories, with the crucial help of other family writers. I’m a novelist, grant writer, blogger, artist, and producer. I’m glad for all that, but the most important thing I do is keep Presto Press going. Now, to it.
http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/581189
Thursday, December 5, 2013
Y2K and Climate Change
Authors, particularly science fiction writers, often warn us of impending doom. In an odd little twist, if we believe doomsayers and act accordingly, the doomsayers then sound a lot like Chicken Little.
Remember Y2K? Airplanes were going to fall out of the sky, the power grid was going to collapse and we wouldn’t be able to see cats on the Internet. That didn’t happen, so the doomsayers were wrong. Right?
In that case, we listened to the doomsayers. Government, businesses, and citizens took steps to assure that computers would be able to get through the dreaded date safely. There were a few glitches, but no one died. Hardly anyone was inconvenienced. As a result, those warning us about Y2K were roundly ridiculed. People forgot that the reason technology did not collapse on a date certain was because those who recognized the problem worked day and night for months to see that disaster was averted.
Enter those warning of myriad disasters associated with climate change. Many in the general public are ridiculing the predictions of scientists. Meanwhile, many governments, businesses, and citizens are quietly taking measures to avert the disaster. We’re already seeing negative effects, so the chances are slim that we’ll come out of this one as cleanly as we did Y2K. But if the measures taken, combined with the positive impacts of new technology, do substantially forestall the worst effects of climate change, you can count on the ignorant to laugh at those who worked so hard to warn us.
Remember Y2K? Airplanes were going to fall out of the sky, the power grid was going to collapse and we wouldn’t be able to see cats on the Internet. That didn’t happen, so the doomsayers were wrong. Right?
In that case, we listened to the doomsayers. Government, businesses, and citizens took steps to assure that computers would be able to get through the dreaded date safely. There were a few glitches, but no one died. Hardly anyone was inconvenienced. As a result, those warning us about Y2K were roundly ridiculed. People forgot that the reason technology did not collapse on a date certain was because those who recognized the problem worked day and night for months to see that disaster was averted.
Enter those warning of myriad disasters associated with climate change. Many in the general public are ridiculing the predictions of scientists. Meanwhile, many governments, businesses, and citizens are quietly taking measures to avert the disaster. We’re already seeing negative effects, so the chances are slim that we’ll come out of this one as cleanly as we did Y2K. But if the measures taken, combined with the positive impacts of new technology, do substantially forestall the worst effects of climate change, you can count on the ignorant to laugh at those who worked so hard to warn us.
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