megwrites

Seeing another Twilight search/replace fic get a seven figure deal from a big name U.S. publishing house suddenly just made me feel proud of what I've written and of my own novel (City of the Hand)

Why?

Because I haven't made a lot of money off of it. Medical bills still loom, as does rent and all the other costs of living - but hey. Every tiny little bit is a gift a wonderful gift and I treasure it. I'm not complaining, because it's still more than zero, and it's still something.

It's still work I did that people out there loved enough to say "here's some money, precious money, that you can have because of this tale you told me". It's basically just a text file. It doesn't even have cover art, though I'd love to have something to show what the main character looks like.

It sure isn't the perfect book. Maybe the plot slows in the middle or the characters read flat or there's a load of cliches or the antagonist comes off as shallow and unbelievable or the ending's predictable.

Maybe all those things.

But I didn't search and fucking replace the names of anyone else's characters. I didn't window dress someone else's story and say that I did this great thing. I had influences, I had things I drew on, authors who inspired me with their works, certainly. Nothing is ever 100% original. I'm sure you can see bits and pieces of them in there, but I didn't play Ken-and-Barbie with their characters and repackage them to sell to the world.

I did my best. I reached for new things (or new-to-me things) and I put it out there for others to have. For free, even. Because I don't think there should be a sign on literature that says "you must be this wealthy to ride the ride".

I probably won't make seven figures (or hell, three). Probably won't get suddenly famous for this. Or the next book or short story. I'm okay with that. I'm not owed fame and riches just because I showed up, privileged as hell in a society that skews the field in my favor in so many ways.

I just know that I'm proud to say that I didn't have to rename any damn thing in my novel because it was already copyrighted to someone else's name.

Did I say July 1st? I mean almost August 1st.

You waited patiently, so here it is. The entirety of The City of the Hand as an e-book, free for download in PDF, Mobi, and EPub formats.

Instructions for Download

1. Right click on the file with the format that you want

2. Select "Save Link As"

3. Select the "Save" button

4. Enjoy!

1. City of the Hand (PDF) - Complete Novel

2. City of the Hand (MOBI) - Complete Novel

3. City of the Hand (EPUB) - Complete Novel

Let me know if anyone needs this in a different format, if the formatting is wonky on your e-reader, or if you have any other questions or concerns.

And for those who want to put into the tip jar (which would be really welcome right now thanks to some medical bills), you can do so:

Also, signal boosting and telling any friends or fellow readers who might enjoy this book about it and where to download it is very welcome. Feel free to share this widely.

As always it's under a Creative Commons licence so you're free not only to share it with everyone you know, but derivative and transformative works (fan art and fanfic, for example) are welcome (hell - loved!) with credit given to the original source.

Thank you to my spouse person, who has been with me this entire time. All those who have encouraged me. The brave souls who read my first drafts (and who get thanked in the acknowledgments), everyone who's signal boosted, donated, or just cheered me on, and to everyone who's read whether I know it or not. You're awesome.

Dedicated to: @xiomberg for the generous donation in the tip jar for City of the Hand. I hope this poem is worthy of your gift to me.

"Writing Implements"

I miss writing in pencil
the way I did when a student
erases then seemed
a restrain and an insult to
my certainty
I wanted pens, pens, pens!
I bold, in colored ink
mistakes regardless, no, especially!
I treasured my errors then
in the days of pink rubber ends
like a mat to catch me
when I overbalanced, miscalculated
I wanted to let them all stand
even when I fell
I wanted the unfettered tightrope
I wanted the danger of permanent decisions beneath me

Now I use pens and all my wrongs
find inky immortality
the misspellings misunderstandings
mischief misery mistiming
missing words
all forever and ever
incontrovertible and uncorrectable

Older now, I push harder on pens and
my hands ache if I've pressed long enough to
try to squeeze perfection
from my very joints
I try harder, I try with better paper, better tools
I even try to let the lines curl
until mistakes become miracles

And still my teeth ache to bite on wood
and rubber and to find the ease
of wiping any and everything away
to leave a new space and a new start

Well, it's been ten weeks from the first posting to this, but all thirty chapters of

cityofthehand are up and available to read. You can now go from beginning to end!

The final ebook file (which I hope to have in EPUB, MOBI, and PDF formats, gods willing and laptop don't fry) should be up and ready for downloading on 1-July. If not, it may be after the 4th before I get it done. But rest assured, if you were waiting for the final ebook file, it's coming.

Seeing as how part of my incentive to reward any who tipped/donated was to give them the full ebook early, I'm now changing that. If you put in for the tip jar, you can either get named thank you on my tumblr, twitter, or DW/LJ sites or you can have me link/signal boost to any site or person or thing you think deserves it.

If you tip in $25 or more, then you can get those things listed above *and* a short story, poem, essay, etc.

I'm actually kind of a little emotional here. I guess these ten weeks have been something I looked forward to. Because every week I had at least one thing I had to get accomplished, and seeing more and more people either friend the various journals where I posted the novel or send me a nice note or two or even put into the tip jar gave me badly needed boosts when I was feeling down.

As I said last week, money is still tight around here and Girlie!Dog had to go and need some medicine this week. Gah, silly dog, not wanting to get contagious diseases or heartworms or ticks. Such a princess this one. Geez. *sarcastic eye roll*.

I'm a bit shy about asking, but if anyone had any thoughts about putting into the tip jar - even if it's just a dollar or two - now would be a REALLY GREAT TIME to do that and I could sure use it.

And if you can't or don't feel like it (fair enough!), dropping a note to say how you liked the book or recommending it to a friend you think might enjoy it is also something that would really be awesome. Feedback - criticisms, critiques, praise, or just "hey, cool book" - is always welcome with me.

Better yet, I know better than to argue with reviews, so feel free to review it as honestly as possible!

You thought I forgot didn't you?

Nope!

The next three chapters of The City of the Hand are live! They're up and ready to read either here at Dreamwidth (

cityofthehand) or over at the LJ mirror of the novel (

cityofthehand)!

We're getting very, very close to the end now. This is the second to last update. Next week (probably on Friday) will be the final three chapters and then on July 1st I'll have the entire ebook file (in PDF, MOBI and EPUB formats, god willing) ready for people to download if they like.

Also, if anyone was thinking or considering about putting into the tip jar, please do. Money's gotten a little tight with a few medical bills and also Ye Old Car becoming very ye and very old and at the end of it's lifespan a few extra dollars would be really welcome right about now. Again, it's not as urgent as some folks who need money, but if you had any hankering to put any little bit into the tip jar, now would be a real great time to do that.

It comes with benefits! If you want to get the complete ebook file (in format of your choice) before July, any amount of money will do.

If you donate $25 or more, you get a short story, essay, poem, or other creative work from me. So if you like certain characters, want to revisit certain places, or just want to know some stuff that isn't in the story, put your cash in the tip jar and request away. How many times do you get to tell the author what you want to have written? I'll even try to draw the characters if you like. I make no promises about the quality of the resulting art, however.

Even if you don't have or just don't feel like putting money in (understandable), if you liked the novel even a little, tell a friend! Share a link! Write a review! I'd love to see anyone's honest, over all opinion. And I always welcome criticism, critique, and comments.

So I hope you've enjoyed taking this little journey in free fiction with me, and I hope most of all that you're enjoying this story. If nothing else, let it inspire you to know that if someone like me can write a whole damn book, you certainly can.

I’ve now posted the next three chapters of City of the Hand on Dreamwidth (

cityofthehand) and Livejournal (

cityofthehand!

It’s up to chapter twenty-one and just a mere THREE weeks away from the conclusion. So if you haven’t got to catch up, now's a great time.

Not to mention that anyone who donates any amount of money (any!) in the tipjar gets the complete ebook file upon request!

And if you donate more than $25, you get a short story, poem, essay or other written work. Want to know more about a character or revisit a place in the world you just couldn’t get enough of? Want some history about the City of the Hand? Just chip in and make your request!

I hope you’ve been enjoying reading thus far and I hope you’ll keep reading! Thanks so much to all those who have followed, given feedback, donated to the tip jar, and supported me. I love you all!

I bet you thought it wasn't going to happen, but you were wrong, hahaha! Neither health issues nor the health care system in the United States of Assitude nor extended weekends shall keep me from posting!

The City of the Hand has been updated with the three next chapters. We're now more than half through and getting ever closer to the thrilling conclusion. You can read them either on Dreamwidth: (

cityofthehand) or over on Livejournal (

cityofthehand). Remember that comments are on, including anonymous ones, so don't be afraid to tell me what you think so far!

As a reminder, those who donate any amount can get the completed novel in ebook form emailed right to them. MOBI, PDF, EPUB. Merely donate and receive.

Anyone who donates over $25 gets a short story, poem, essay, or other written work about the novel of their choice. Want to revisit a place you liked, want to know the history of something, want some friendshippy or 'shippy goodness between characters? It can be yours for $25.

The new chapters of The City of the Hand are up and ready to read here on DW (

cityofthehand) or over at the LJ mirror (

cityofthehand).

We're half way through the book now. And if you haven't kept up or gotten a chance to read, no worries. You can start from the beginning any time you like! That's the great thing about books. They wait for you.

The next three chapters of City of the Hand are up and available for your reading pleasure at both DW and the LJ mirror. So, have at:

cityofthehand / cityofthehand.

Question for anyone still reading (bless your souls): Would having a wordpress or tumblr mirror be at all helpful or is everyone pretty much able to access LJ and DW satisfactorily enough? If so, I can set something up. If not, I'll keep cross posting between these two sites.

And as always: linking, recommending if you liked it is appreciated and comes with my love and gratitude. So, feel free to tell anyone and everyone about it. Donations in the tip jar get you the entire ebook file free ahead of time and anything over $25 gets you your own poem, short story, or non-fiction essay on topic of your choice!

The City of the Hand now has a fully functional LiveJournal mirror for those who are not on DW and may not want to be. I hope this will make things more accessible for folks!

cityofthehand

Same content, different site. Let me know if anything is wonky or buggy or not working over there!

Would having a livejournal mirror for

cityofthehand be helpful and make it more accessible/readable to people or is everyone finding it easy enough to get to it on dreamwidth?

The next three chapters of City of the Hand are up and ready for your reading pleasure. Just hop on over to

cityofthehand!

As always, feedback, comments, criticisms, and critiques are welcome. As are links and recommendations to friends if you like the story. And, of course, tip jar contributions are very appreciated. Donate in any amount and get the entire novel in ebook format (have it before all your friends do!). Tip over $25 and you get a short poem, story, or essay of your choice written. Tip over $30 and, well, pick your poison. Tipper's choice!

OH MY GOD. Somebody put money in the tip jar for

cityofthehand. OH MY GOD. I'm freaking out and having like hyperventilations of joy.

Whoever you are that put a tenner in the tip jar, I LOVE YOU FOREVER. I never thought anyone would, really. I only checked paypal on a lark. I was just glad to have the story out there and have a few people following it. Seriously. I just cannot even express how awesome this is.

I wrote a story and somebody liked it enough to give me money. This has never happened before.

This is seriously a big high point for me.

Also, my husband suggested that I offer those who put money in the tip jar the opportunity to get the entire novel as an ebook file (pdf or something) so they don't have to wait for the entire thing. Anyone think this is a good idea or not?

I kind of like the idea of having something to say, "Thank you person who put your hard earned money in my tip jar."

Thoughts?

1. Half the letters requested are sent out and in the hands of the U.S. postal system. The other half should be in the mail by next Tuesday at the latest.

2. In case you missed yesterday's announcement, the first three chapters of my novel The City of the Hand are up at

cityofthehand. Links, signal boosting, feedback, criticism, critiques, and dollars in the tip jar are all appreciated! Let me know if anything about the layout makes things hard to read or if another format would be more helpful for readers. I'm here to serve.

3. Thank you to everyone for the wonderful and kind birthday wishes. I love y'all so much. I really do. It really means a lot to me when people take the time to wish me a happy birthday. Wish you could be here to share in the booze and cake with me. Or, well, the food and drink of your choice!

Tomorrow is my birthday and as a slightly early birthday present to myself, I am proud to announce:

cityofthehand

I am now putting my fantasy novel, The City of the Hand online in it's entirety. It's somewhere shy of 100,000 words. This novel is the story of Maira who's just going about her business as a courier when she stops a murder (but not in time) and gets burdened with delivering something very dangerous on behalf of a dead man. Except that it seems, suddenly, some of the most powerful people in the city aren't so must interested in that as they are her.

So in addition to the world's longest and worst delivery job - there's a snarky, dashing, handsome sorcerer, two agents of the secret police who are way too awesome for their jobs, all kinds of people with all kinds of wings, a Tract Lord who once made it rain bodies from the sky, dramatic chases and diabolical priestesses, mysterious messages, the most delicious food that nobody ever ate, never ending carnivals, and a deadly, all-consuming, evil forest where the trees eat people.

The first three chapters are posted there along with acknowledgments and a table of contents. The novel is 30 chapters long, so I'll be posting three chapters a week -- god willing and the creek don't rise. At the end of posting, I'll have the entire thing in one neat ebook format so that people can put it on their e-readers if they like!

I've been debating doing this for a long time, and decided to do it after seeing a few other folks doing the same and because honestly, what I want for this novel is for people to read it and (hopefully) love the story.

Yes, there is a donation button because I really could use a few extra bucks for food, medical costs and various things. But don't think of this as a charity project. This is all about putting something out there because I want it out there. And if you want to throw a buck or two in the tip jar because you liked it, that's awesome.

I also welcome comments, critiques, and people linking and signal boosting. Oh, and let me know if anything is buggy with the layout of the site.

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an interesting monster

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Just wanted to say this (feel free to skip right on by)

The City of the Hand - Full Ebook File (the wait is over!)

A poem owed

The last and final update for the novel

Special Saturday Update

City of the Hand, updated!

Better late than never!

New chapters!

Update time!

Hot off the presses!

Question for the masses

Read on, Garth!

OH MY GOD

Letters and things!

I can barely contain my squee! It's finally done!

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