Write-a-Thon Check-in

Posted on June 20, 2012 by Michael R. Underwood

Almost halfway through Week One of the Clarion West Write-a-Thon, I have gotten off to a great start with 3893 words, mostly from a great session of writing on Saturday (technically before the Write-a-Thon, but I’m counting it since I wrote on Saturday that weekend and not Sunday.

Here’s my participant page (where you can sponsor me — hint, hint) http://www.clarionwest.org/writeathon/michaelrunderwood

The Write-a-Thon is taking sponsorships/donations through the end of the workshop, so you have a bit over five weeks to sponsor me. I initially pledged 10,000 words in these six weeks, but I hope that my strong performance so far will let me annihilate that goal and keep going. Word count will likely slow down when travel gets more intense for my day job and when Geekomancy comes out, but I need to keep making words so that there can be another geek-tastic adventure with Ree next year.

Check in soon for a big announcement about Geekomancy‘s release! Excitement! Adventure!

Clarion West Write-a-Thon 2012

Posted on June 16, 2012 by Michael R. Underwood

For those of you who don’t know, I attended the Clarion West Writers Workshop in 2007, and it was a huge boost to my writing career. Clarion West allows writers to focus on craft and critiquing for six weeks. Most writers are urged to write a story each of the six weeks as well as critiquing 3-5 short stories by their classmates each day during the week. It’s often described as Boot Camp for writers, and while I haven’t done a military boot camp, my Clarion West experience was certainly a crucible. I’m still applying and re-interpreting lessons learned at the workshop, and Clarion West also gave me a community of peers, most of whom I’m still in touch with and some of whom I see once or twice a year at conventions, keeping up and basking in one another’s successes.

Digression for plugs — Success like Cassie Alexander’s NIGHTSHIFTED, first a three book (and counting!) series about a nurse that works in the paranormal ward of her local hospital; David Constantine’s PILLARS OF HERCULES, a Roman Steampunk action-adventure novel that includes Steam Engines, a Possibly-Divine Alexander, and the secrets of Atlantis; Melinda Thielbar’s MANGA MATH series of manga about kids in a dojo that have to use math and martial arts to solve mysteries; and others!

I wrote my first salable novel after Clarion West (though it hasn’t sold yet), and I’ve tried to keep some connection to the workshop by participating in the Write-a-Thon most of the summers since.

For more info about the Clarion West Write-a-Thon, head here: http://www.clarionwest.org/writeathon

I’ve pledged to write 10,000 words and am hoping to raise $150 this year. My participant page is here, in case you feel like sponsoring me. 🙂

http://www.clarionwest.org/writeathon/michaelrunderwood

Blurb 2: The Geekening

Posted on June 13, 2012 by Michael R. Underwood

I’m honored to have three blurbs from fellow authors and advance readers of GEEKOMANCY , which we’ll get to use for the initial release of the book (including one on the book’s cover, perchance).

Underwood’s Geek Fu is strong–and he’s not afraid to use it. GEEKOMANCY is fun, fresh and full of geek culture references that will have you LOLing to the very last page. This book is one hundred percent pure awesomesauce and totally FTW.

— Mari Mancusi, award winning author of The Blood Coven Vampire series

Modern, sleek, and whip-smart, GEEKOMANCY is a wonderful blend of geek and pop culture — you’ll find yourself grinning knowingly at least every other page. And Ree is the perfect protagonist to navigate Geekomancy’s world — geek enough to hold her own, yet human enough for me to be deeply invested in her struggles. I can’t wait to read the next one!”

— Cassie Alexander, author of NIGHTSHIFTED

If Buffy hooked up with Doctor Who while on board the Serenity, this book would be their lovechild. In other words, GEEKOMANCY is full of epic win.

— Marie Lu, author of the Legend trilogy

Now back to doing my authorial happy dance. We’re less than one month out from GEEKOMANCY’s release, and I am reaching the stage of excited where it requires deliberate effort to calm down at times. I’m also hard at work on the sequel, so that there can be another adventure with Ree Reyes to share with readers next year.

Gamer Girl/Country Boy — Geek and Sundry music video

Posted on June 11, 2012 by Michael R. Underwood

One of this week’s offerings from the Geek and Sundry YouTube channel is a music video for a song called “Gamer Girl, Country Boy” by Felicia Day and Jason Charles Miller.

Watching the video, in addition to being amused, I found myself thinking that this would probably become a theme for the GEEKOMANCY readers who ship Ree and Eastwood (of which I know there are more than one).

First Geekomancy Reading

Posted on June 4, 2012 by Michael R. Underwood

I’ve uploaded video of my first public reading of Geekomancy, from the WisCon Feminist Science Fiction Convention. Check it out for a taste of the fun, the feel, the ridiculousness of Geekomancy!

First Blurb for Geekomancy

Posted on May 30, 2012 by Michael R. Underwood

Today, I got the first blurb for Geekomancy! And it’s a doozy, if I do say so myself.

“If Buffy hooked up with Doctor Who while on board the Serenity, this book would be their lovechild. In other words, GEEKOMANCY is full of epic win.”

– Marie Lu, author of the Legend trilogy

This is me doing my happy author dance. Those who have seen the ‘There Will Be Flail’ video will have a good idea of what said dance looks like.

We’ll be able to use this quote on the cover, at the various websites, etc. Cover blurbs are a great way to give a snapshot of what is worth getting excited about in a novel, and they help draw in the audiences for established/popular authors to build buzz. We’ve got a few other leads out for blurbs, and I hope the novel connects with some of the other folks reading as well.

Interviewed at LS Murphy’s Blog

Posted on March 27, 2012 by Michael R. Underwood

And lo, my first interview as an author!

http://lsmurphy.com/2012/03/27/5-questions-with-michael-r-underwood/

2012 Debut Author Challenge and Sequel Musings

Posted on March 10, 2012 by Michael R. Underwood

I’ve been invited to participate as a featured author in the 2012 Debut Author Challenge at The Qwillery.

I followed the DAC a bit last year, and have had author friends featured last year and more folks featured this year. I’m excited to participate in this conversation, sharing thoughts about Geekomancy, writing, and whatever else comes up. My presence there is currently slight, since I don’t have a cover or locked-in pubdate for the book. But as that info comes in and I get approval to unleash it on the world, you’ll find it there as well as in all of my other social media presences.

This week, in addition to flailing in excitement over the deal, I’ve been thinking about possibilities for the second book in the Geekomancy series. Adam and I will be talking this coming week, and I’m very excited to chat about future possibilities for the series — I’ve never written a sequel before, so it’s going to be a great challenge to take the same core concept and fun characters which caught so much attention with Geekomancy and take it up to the next level, with new characters, new stories, and new geeky jokes and references.

Set Mode to Agented

Posted on February 17, 2012 by Michael R. Underwood

I’m thrilled to announce that I’ve signed with Sara Megibow of Nelson Literary Agency (http://www.nelsonagency.com/) to be my literary agent. Sara is well-connected, energizingly enthusiastic, and the team at Nelson Literary is, in my opinion, in a fantastic place to help support their authors in these tricky confusing times in publishing.

Sara is working with me on GEEKOMANCY right now, and I could not be more excited. More news as it arrives!