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A bumbling madman in an unholy relationship with the written language. Author of Exile, Magus; Exi...
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Thomas J. Arnold liked the forum thread, Present tense not working for me
I know this is four days old, but I’m new here and I just had to join in.

I had been working on a novel for about six months when I started reading The Yiddish Policeman’s Union. It was a forest that I disliked, full of trees that I couldn’t get enough of. The story bored me to tears, but each sentence was just magical.

"There’s a second or two of tromboning as he brings the paper within focusing range. The flesh of his right arm sloshes in the wineskin of his sleeve."

"At 12: 03 the sun has already punched its ticket. Sinking, it stains the cobbles and stucco of the platz in a violin-colored throb of light that you would have to be a stone not to find poignant. Landsman, a curse on his head, may be a shammes, but he is no stone."

I immediately rewrote one of my scenes in present tense, put it in a Google Doc parallel with the original, and ran it by a half dozen readers. I didn’t have a whole lot of confidence in it, not having tried present before. Turns out, those readers liked the present version without anyone actually mentioning that particular difference.

I’ve since rewritten a large portion of the novel in present, so I guess I’m pretty bought in. I’m getting better at it. It’s just so, well, *present*. As a reader, I’m there! Sometimes to the point of exhaustion, in fact (which may be the downside).

Anyway, just wanted to chime in. Great to meet everybody, by the way.
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    Thomas J. Arnold liked an update for Women Like Us

    We have us  a book, folks! Over the weekend pre-orders surpassed the 250 mark, and "Women Like Us" will become part of the Quill imprint. A most hearty thank you to everybody who supported this endeavor. It really means a lot. Of course it’s also a little scary -- now you’ll have an actual book in your hands, which means you’ll be reading it. Feel free to criticize, though. I have developed a very thick skin! While I’m not exactly sure of the timeline, the book will go through a short edit and design phase, and then it goes into production. I’ll update again when I know exactly when delivery will start to take place.  Thanks also to all those who participated in the somewhat kooky contests, and of course the winners -- CJ Dukes, who won the cool osoporto.com Surf/Swim mugs, Michael Scotti who took home the Beagle Freedom swag, Terry Lillienfeld, who snagged that sweet McCall’s Meat and Fish Company Gift Certificate, and Victoria Weaver, who won the chance to help design and place on my person the tattoo honoring our Derric of the Beagle Freedom Project!

    Having had no experience running a crowd-funding campaign, this was certainly an educational experience with lots of ups and downs. But a shout-out to a few fellow Inkshares authors and their books for their encouragement and support seems in order too, including Matthew Sobin’s https://www.inkshares.com/books/the-last-machine-in-the-solar-system, Billy O’Keefe’s https://www.inkshares.com/books/these-are-my-friends-on-politics-0985, Amanda Ornecks https://www.inkshares.com/books/deus-hex-machina, Tony Valdez’s Dax Harrison https://www.inkshares.com/books/dax-harrison-2276 and Janna Grace’s https://www.inkshares.com/books/the-talkers-are-talking.Check out these books too. There are more of you guys who were a big help, and to all of you I offer most sincere thanks as well.

    Honestly, it’s rather exhausting running one of these campaigns. So for a while I will be focusing on getting the book out and not doing the hard-sell (although of course sales are always good so don’t hesitate!) But once again, I truly thank you all for helping to make this happen.  



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