The Stories of Scott D. Southard

December 13, 2012

Writing About Tolkien
Tomorrow! Tomorrow! To say, I am looking forward to seeing The Hobbit tomorrow is to not to do it justice. Tolkien and his writing was a major influence on my writing (I discuss this in the post here). Yes, I don’t write fantasy typically, but this is more soul-related, life direction. Okay, this may all sound dramatic, but it is so very, very true for me. So I will be there, the first showing on Friday, turning off my iphone (with its Hobbit case) off for three hours… the only question is do I wear my Middle Earth t-shirt?

I’ve written three different articles about Tolkien this year. I think it is a record. Here are the articles:
I hope you enjoy the movie!
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December 12, 2012

A JANE AUSTEN DAYDREAM is in the Spotlight at My Jane Austen Book Club
I have the honor of sharing that A Jane Austen Daydream is being showcased on the website My Jane Austen Book Club right now!

You can read not only a description of the book, but also the first two chapters!

You can find the book on the site here or here.
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December 12, 2012

A JANE AUSTEN DAYDREAM Giveaway!
This is a part of getting my book published I was not expecting and it’s kind of fun. My publisher is giving away items related to my new book!

This month two lucky readers can win A Jane Austen Daydream poster. I think it is a great cover and would be a neat addition in any classroom or nearby bookshelves (or, dare I dream, in a Jane Austen museum???)

To enter, please visit the Facebook page for the book here (https://www.facebook.com/AJaneAustenDaydream?ref=ts&fref=ts) and click on the giveaway button after clicking on the like button. It is as easy as that.

If you haven’t picked up the eBook yet for A Jane Austen Daydream, you can find it here:
The paperback is coming in a few weeks. I hope everyone is enjoying the daydream… Cheers! And, as always, thanks for reading!
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December 11, 2012

My Online Literary Experiment: Riding the Train
On this Friday I will be sharing Chapter 21 and I am, honestly, feeling more stress and pressure now around the writing of the book than I have ever before.

Wait… have I said that before? Whatever the case, I am on the train and we are flying down the tracks. Little animals beware!

Part of the stress might just be because I have to keep up this blog at the same time… and there is the matter of my new little book being released last week!

(Oh didn’t you know? Here is a link for my info- https://sdsouthard.com/2012/12/07/a-jane-austen-daydream-my-latest-novel-is-out-only-4-99/.)

Yes, there is a lot going on and I feel it in my writing bones…

The Struggles

As I noted in my last update I am no longer ahead a week in my writing, which means Chapter 21 is still a work in process even today, but that is not my big problem. My big problem is that as I get near the end there is so much I want to do which means my chapters are getting long.

When I first began the experiment, I thought the chapters would always be between 10 and 15 pages, in the most. Well, that was thrown to the wind with the first 20+ page chapter emerged (Chapter 3).

Ah, Chapter 3… What did you do to me!?!

(more…)
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December 11, 2012

First Review for A JANE AUSTEN DAYDREAM!
From Dan Wiggs, author of The Jane Austen Travel Guide:

This book made me smile. The closing pages of a Jane Austen biography always reduce me to tears, what with her singular failure to find love and her horrible illness and early death. This book takes the opportunity to dream her up the romance we are not sure she ever had. Do not come here looking for historical or biographical accuracy; these are not its concern. It is, as its title makes clear, a daydream, a lighthearted flight of fancy, intended to amuse and distract. Watch out also for the many references to her novels, which are like a puzzle, challenging you to recognize where they are taken from.

I hope you will check it out:
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December 10, 2012

A JANE AUSTEN DAYDREAM has a Facebook page!
A Facebook page for A Jane Austen Daydream has been created on Facebook by my great publisher. I hope you will consider liking it. There are samples from the book, comments, and giveaways! Yes, prizes related to my book. How cool is that?

Right now they are giving away a poster. (I kind of want one.) You can find the Facebook page here.

And as always, you can find the book for purchase here:
I can not wait to hear what people think of the work…
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December 4, 2012

The First Trailer for A Jane Austen Daydream
A video of me introducing A Jane Austen Daydream and talking a little about the book. Also includes the first glimpse of the cover.
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November 28, 2012

My Online Literary Experiment: Okay, Am I Stupid?
Deep breath…

So a few weeks ago I got called out by a writer/editor/publishing professional on Twitter questioning my goals and my thoughts behind this experiment of mine, Permanent Spring Showers. My little book inspired by Dickens.

Twitter, in its limited word span, can make things seem harsher than the writer may actually have meant it to sound (I did feel like he was condescending) but it threw me a curve.

Was I jarred? Yeah, I was jarred. I still am jarred.

I also like the word “jarred,” but let’s continue.

Basically, his argument was broken down into this point:

What publisher would publish or consider a book that people were getting for free?

Before other bloggers and writers take to my twitter site (@sdsouthard) to find the guy and twitter attack, let me say that about two-years ago I would have agreed with him. Yeah, I was in that camp then because I was trained in writing grad school to think of the publishing world in that black-and-white way. Heck, every book on writing and publishing would agree with him!

But the fact is that while this argument once made sense to me, it is not that way today. The world has changed, I have changed. (more…)
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November 21, 2012

This Black Friday Consider Southard
Hi readers!

Have you enjoyed my editorials on this site and my original fiction here, Permanent Spring Showers and Upon the Ground? If so, consider picking up one of my already published novels this holiday season for yourself or as a gift! I have two very different books currently in print and if I can promise one thing it is that you will be surprised. One of my goals as a writer has always been to give a reader something new on the written page (or screen).

My Problem With Doors

Jacob’s life changed in a single moment when, as a toddler, he walked through his bedroom door only to find himself in the office of a British officer in Capetown, 1870. This would begin a thirty-year journey which would take him from ancient to future civilizations, and innumerable places and times in between. Through all of his travels, Jacob seeks for the purpose of his predicament while meeting pirates, poets, loves, and even Jack the Ripper.

My Problem With Doors is available as a paperback (on amazon here), an eBook (on Google Play here) and even as a downloadable audiobook (here).

Megan

Megan Wane is caught in a life of dull dreariness. She goes to work in a dead end job with a boss she can’t stand, and comes home to a silent apartment with only a standoffish cat for company. She can only get away through her imagination. And there, in her thoughts, there exists a fairy-tale kingdom with wizards and dragons. A place called Prosperity, where she is both a princess and a hero. On this day, both Megan’s external reality and her interior world will suffer tragedy that will turn her life upside down and shake her to the foundation. Can Megan turn disaster into deliverance?

Megan is available as a paperback (on amazon here), an eBook (on Google Play here) and even as a downloadable audiobook (here).

Oh, and did I mention A Jane Austen Daydream is coming as a paperback and eBook this December??? More info to Come!

Happy Holidays!
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November 1, 2012

My Online Literary Experiment: Cheat! Cheat! Cheat!
In today’s update around the writing of Permanent Spring Showers I must throw myself upon the mercy of the court… I mean, my readers. The mercy of my readers

Yes, I had done something I had promised not to do around the creation of this book. How big a deal this is truly is your own to decide, but who said making a book was easy? And when you consider how many plots and characters I am juggling with Permanent Spring Showers, well it’s not…

Okay, I am just rattling off excuses now. Let’s move forward to the updates and my guilt.

Cheat!

Some of the more careful readers might have already caught this mistake. (Did you? Have you been giggling at me behind my back?)

As mistakes go it is not a big one, I get that, but it is jarring enough to take a reader out of the little dramatic universe I am creating. And while I do consider Steve an unreliable narrator in a few ways, he is not unreliable enough to make that big a mistake. He does have a watch. (more…)
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