That’s a pretty major judgment for me, who doesn’t like to make such judgments on this blog.

If you don’t know the story, I was following it on a time delay; days behind in my feed reader (I still am, in fact!), I hadn’t wanted to comment or say anything, and yes, the situation is on my list to spend some time letting Chelle rant about. I probably will still let her.

Here’s the story: Randy Blythe is the frontman for Lamb of God. He was arrested in Prague because at a LoG show, a fan died. The authorities are, rightly or wrongly, holding Blythe accountable.

After his arrest, Blythe was thrown in jail. Bail was set. Bail was posted. Blythe wasn’t released. He spent a month in the slammer, in a foreign country. It must have sucked.

But… Wednesday, as I was trying to get ahead in the stupid feed reader (didn’t happen!), I came across this statement Blythe has made. Thanks to Blabbermouth for printing it and for letting me link to it.

What a classy, classy dude he is. My hat’s off to you, Randy. And gosh darn it, would you come spend some time teaching my kid to be as awesome as you are?

Mid-month, I took a look at how the Smashwords Summer/Winter July sale was going for me. The results were interesting, so if you missed it, head on over and see how the month was shaping up.

Now that the month is over, I have even more fascinating facts to report.

First is that even though I have one new title out since last year’s sale, I sold eight fewer books. This is despite having two books for free that had never been free before, including Trevor’s Song.

Demo Tapes 1 and 3 tied for top seller. If you recall, mid-month, Trevor’s Song was tops. It actually came in fourth of my six books, trailed only by the standalone short story, Mannequin, and my non-free title, King Trevor.

Conventional wisdom holds that novels sell better than short stories, especially short story anthologies, and the Demo Tapes are, I think, marked pretty clearly that they are short stories. Not only are they short stories, they all appeared on The Meet and Greet in a less-edited fashion.

I don’t know. I don’t get it. Maybe the opening of Trevor’s Song is too rough for people; he’s too hard to like. Maybe you really do need that intro of the Demo Tapes to come back for the novel. I’m not sure. Maybe it’s that The Demo Tapes were more visible, since more people write novels than short stories. Maybe it was the phase of the moon, the severity of the sunspots, the colors of the Northern Lights…

In short, who knows? Only the people who bought the books know for sure what they were thinking, and even if they leave reviews, we may still never know what led them to their purchasing choices. We’ll only know what they thought of their reading experience — and so long as that experience is good, that’s ultimately all that matters. It’s those reviews that help power sales. We all know this.

Which means I’ll wrap up with a big thank you to the people who’ve joined the Trevolution for the first time; a lot of gratitude for the repeat offenders, so to speak; and a reminder to leave even a few words in a review. “I liked this because… but I didn’t like…” Fill in the blanks, folks. That’s all it takes, and us authors will be your fans for life.

I was editing, of course, the other day — well, yesterday, in fact — when I caught the Tweet: Machine Head had released the video they’d finally made for The Darkness Within. (Here’s the site that was linked to. That’s some enthusiastic fan writing their copy. Umm…wow.)

I’ve gone on record before about my love for guitarist Phil Demmel. Love? Okay, fine. Crush. And about the song, about what it evokes from my own musical past. It wasn’t that long ago; surely, you remember. I’m not the only one who seems to have loved the song. After all, the band’s CD containing the song came out in 2011. And here we are, in 2012, and there’s finally a video. Dare I say this song could break Machine Head out and bring them a whole new audience?

A LOT could be hinging on this video.

So I dropped the work I was doing — who needs to get paid when there’s Machine Head videos? — and went to watch.

Utter disappointment.

It’s not that it’s not a good video. Well, maybe it’s not. It’s full of images of religion and darkness and maggots and girls cutting themselves and torture and kinky nuns and … yeah. I had to yawn. Some of those images and ideas are OLD and TIRED.

Not to mention there wasn’t a single image in the entire video that meshed with my interpretation of the song. It’s a long song!

Oh, I know. I’m hardly the be-all, end-all guru whose wise words are listened to and who sets fashion trends and all that — although, of course, I should be. But this seems like … a cop-out. All those cliched images and not one tie-in of music and religion.

Did the director not get a copy of the lyrics? Did he (or she, but I’m pro-woman enough to hope a woman wasn’t behind something so lacking in vision and innovation) miss the part that goes, “Music my savior/Save me” over and over again? Or “Mystery’s forgotten chords/I strum in vain to please the Lord”? Or “Music, it will set you free”?

HOW???

The worst part is that the band did the heavy work for the director. They did the innovating, with the music-as-religion theme. All the director had to do was follow along. It shouldn’t have been that hard. The climax, the epiphany… it’s all right there, in the music. That song — and one of the reasons I love it — has a serious denouement in it. Not many these days do.

Missed opportunity.

And I ain’t talking about the lack of Phil Demmel in the video, either.

I’ve been liberated, in more ways than one.

Over at Amwriting.org, I’ve posted a new piece of fiction, called Liberation Day.

This is NOT a story of the Trevolution. At least, right now, it’s not.

Instead, it features a character I’ve been trying to work with for a long time now. I never saw this particular story coming, but sometimes, I guess, a character needs to sit and think and grow before you can unleash him or her (or both) onto the world.

I daresay you’ll be seeing more of these two, although probably not soon.

Stay tuned, and be sure to stop in at Amwriting today. Leave a comment, why don’t you?

The lovely — and for once, I mean that and am not sneering as I type — folks at Amazon have decided to include The Demo Tapes triplets in their 4-for-3 promotion.

That means you can buy all three Demo Tapes anthologies in print (instead of the Kindle format) and get something thrown in for free!

Go on. What are you waiting for?

Oh, you already have Demo Tapes 1, 2, or 3?

Well, go browse around! Check out my list of other Rock Fiction you may have missed. See if any of THEM are on the sale. Maybe it’s Demo Tapes 3 that you’ll get for free…

Go find some new reads while supporting your favorite author.

Hey! What do you mean? *I* am your favorite author.

Right??

Right.

One of my clients, Kenya Wright, has been posting a series of Q&As with editors — me and two others who she has worked with.

Stop in and check it out. She’s giving away a 20-page edit, but not from me.

If you want to work with me as your editor, you’d better hustle. My rates go up to new clients as of August 1, and I’m currently booking dates in late October, November, and December. Better get a move on!

Talk about a bad song that will NOT die.

Yep, it’s Warrant’s Cherry Pie, a song that made me embarrassed to be a woman back when I was something like 16. It still does. That song… ugh. Talk about one of those songs I actively run from.

The rest of this post has very little to do with that song (I think and hope). It’s really about Jani Lane’s ex-wife, Bobbie Brown, and the autobiography she’s working on. There aren’t a lot of details about the book; rather, talk was mostly about the upcoming TV show she’s starring in, which will be all about her and some other ex-rocker wives and how they’ve reinvented their lives.

Uhh… sure. I mean, why not? We saw the great Married to Rock fizzle and die after only one season. Maybe this will succeed where that one failed. Who knows?

All I know for now is that there’s another Rock Autobiography in the works, that there’s a TV show that’ll only be on Canadian TV (bummer), and that Jani Lane continues to have passed on into another world. One where, hopefully, there’s no cherry pie.

Read the press release for yourself.

Honestly? I am so busy with editing that I haven’t been doing much writing. I miss it terribly, but by the lack of demand from you guys, I’m wondering if my little endeavor, started over six years ago, has lost some of its charm now that everyone and their sister is posting fiction online.

You tell me.

Maybe you want more Chelle, more Roadie Poet. More of the non-Trevor characters. Or maybe you miss Trevor. You tell me.

I’m also not reading terribly much, as that place who pays me to write reviews keeps assigning me stuff to read. Pesky people; don’t they know there’s a whole world of Rock Fiction I need to continue exploring? Sheesh. You’d think if they are paying me, they’d be more accommodating to my schedule. No?

(Yeah, okay. Truth is I’m extremely grateful for them and their books and their payments and the challenge of writing a 400-page book review. There’s a true art to writing a review that’s so short, and I love that I get to practice it so much.)

It’s all about balance, and right now, balance is hard to find. Balance between writing, editing, reading, and taking care of the house and the kids. And cats; I picked up another foster duo yesterday (who brought some little pesky friends with them from the feral colony they were born into. How long before the Frontline takes care of it?). It’s summer, so the kids are home. My work schedule has changed.

And I love it. I really do.

Every day is different, every day a challenge.

So if I’m slow getting back to you about an e-mail, if you’re waiting on an editing sample, if you want anything from me and I’m slow… well, you know what’s goin going on. It’s nowhere near as easy as I made it seem a couple of years ago.

But that’s okay. It’s exactly what it should be.

Last year, the fates conspired against me and I had to split my time between a dance recital and Boy Scout Camp. THAT is one hard transition to make, let me tell you.

This year, I’ll be wrapping up the Dance Mom part of my life in the nick of time. The recital is (was, depending on when you read this) tonight, and tomorrow morning, I’m shoving my First Class Scout into the car and heading off for a week.

My agenda goes like this:
1. Dodge raindrops.
2. Avoid the lake.
3. Hope tent doesn’t leak on Nook.
4. Read book for the people who pay me to write reviews for them.
5. Do some writing for the Troop.
6. Earn Adult Merit Badge.
7. Excel in the part of the Adult Merit Badge that’s dedicated to taking naps.
8. Avoid being eaten by bears.
9. Keep 54 Scouts and 11 Scouters in line.
10. Bring brownie batter to camp already made. Pour into Dutch Oven. Stick on campfire. Prove the naysayer wrong and watch them turn out beautifully.

Ahh… now THAT is my kind of week.

Hope yours is every bit as good!

I’m over at 1001 First Lines today, talking about … first lines! (Bet you couldn’t figure that out on your own.)

Stop in and join me ’cause there’s some fun stuff happening.

As a Rock Fiction author, I sometimes think I have an image to maintain. A rep to protect, as the famous line from Grease goes.

Here’s some help.

It’s called Wear Your Music.

Now, maybe the site’s not so well-named. I mean, this doesn’t really fly as clothing, now does it?

Still, clothing or not, I’ve longed to have one. Maybe one day, for my birthday, someone will surprise me.

There are other lovely surprises on the site, as well. How many of you remember this Thursday Thirteen post I wrote back in 2007? Maybe that’s where the inspiration for guitar string bracelets came from. Wear Your Music even has bass string bracelets.

They also have something I hit on in that Thirteen post from almost five years ago: real-life guitarists have donated used strings to the site. They are then turned into bracelets, with a portion of the proceeds going to a charity designated by the artist — and the range of charities is interesting. Prices range from $50 to $500 for Eric Clapton‘s strings. $500! Wow!

In between, there’s members of Breaking Benjamin, Avril Lavigne, Carlos Santana, lots of folk you may not have heard of before (although you may recognize band names) … and two dudes named Hetfield and Hammett.

Honestly? I’d be happy with the original, non-star-used bracelets. You know what I’m gonna say… buy books. Let me afford it…

My friend, author Emily Casey, has interrupted my editing nirvana to remind me — and everyone else — that I am a born writer. She’s doing it in one of the most clever ways possible: by giving books awhile WHILE trying to educate even the most bashful reader about how important it is to support your favorite authors.

Here’s what she has to say about the Boost a Book event:

You, the reader

When you read a good book, you want to tell people about it! But aside from trying to convince your friend that they’re really going to like this random book you just found, what can you, as a reader, do to help an author?

How To Help
Word of mouth is of course really helpful, but did you know that just by leaving a review, you can make a book more visible to other readers? The review can be on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, your blog, Goodreads, Shelfari, it doesn’t matter. If it’s where readers can find it, you’re helping. The more times a book shows up on the internet, the more people hear about it.
[Note from Susan: If you post a review of any of my books on your own blog, I’ll link back to it.]

You can click the “like” button at the top of the book’s Amazon page, or the “Tags People Associate with This Product” at the bottom of the page. These help the book come up in search results and the “Readers Who Bought…” section.

You can also tweet about the book, mention it on facebook or Google+, or request the book at your local library or bookstore (if it’s in paperback).

The Good Stuff
The Boost a Book authors have some great fans and we know you all do some of these things already. So as a thank you, we’d like to offer some free ebooks. And, as an added bonus, we think it’d be fun to offer more books and more contest entries for each book you boost.

So grab your free entry below for a chance to win a free ebook from one of our Boost a Book authors. And if you want to discover even more new authors (by winning free ebooks) you can let us know how you’ve boosted a book and get extra entries.

How cool is THIS???

I’ve got some books in this give, myself, helping bring the grand total of books to be given away to 45. Yes. 45. How ’bout THEM cookies?

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Whoops! This interview with Vanessa Eccles almost slipped past my radar.

Stop in and see why it’d have been a shame if you missed it.

Nine more days of school and I am SO not ready for summer vacation. Or am I?

Check out my plan for getting work done AND entertaining my kids during this year’s upcoming break, over at WorkingNaked.com.

Wasn’t there some song in the 70s or 80s that started out like that? Dance with me/I want to be your partner/Can’t you see…

Yeah. I remember it.

Anyone got a title and artist for me? (If you know it and want a free download of something from my backlist, holler. What the heck; it’s a Smashwords coupon and a memory like THAT ought to be rewarded.)

The dance today isn’t some veiled sexual comment, like the song is. It’s a happy dance.

Dudes, I am SWAMPED. A big editing project, a couple of samples, a Last Look edit, some PR, some real-life people to connect with, some books to edit for that big name review company who pays me to tell them what I think of a book or two… SWAMPED, I tell you. I’m so swamped, it’s hard to know which project gets top priority and my full attention at any minute of the day.

And I am loving every minute of it. (I’d love it more if the auto-schedule feature were working right ’cause I’ve got cool posts that I’ve been too swamped to hand-post!)

Bring it on. Keep it coming. It may mean less of me on social media. But it means an income, and it means I’m happy and a happy Susan means more good fiction coming your way, as well.

And while I’m this swamped, go visit Jaidis Shaw. I’ve got a Featured New Book spot I need to get up for Monday, so stop in and see what she’s about. Whet your appetite so when she’s here, talking music, you’re TOTALLY into it.

Keep the good stuff coming, guys. It’s magic, and I’m loving it. May it only get better from here.

Come over to Yinz Readin’, home of local girl Laurie Koozer, to see what my favorite children’s book is. You won’t be disappointed!

I took a few hours just now when I should have been writing, and re-added all the book reviews that used to be linked to from the Rock Fiction page.

And the recovery from being hacked continues…

If you haven’t been over to the Rock Fiction page yet, what’s keeping you? Go check it out. Read the reviews. If you know of any good reviews I can link to, let me know. If I’m missing any Rock Fiction titles that need to be on the page, let me know. Drop a note to your favorite Rock Fiction author (well, other than me) and ask them to send me their book for review (although I’m way backlogged!).

I’ve got a few more things to do behind the scenes, and then it’ll be off to some of that magic time that, on Twitter, we call #amwriting.

It’s quiet over here at West of Mars. There are a couple of reasons for this.

First is that I stopped in at Shayna Gier’s blog, talking about the reaction to King Trevor’s release. Go see it… there may be a secret or two that gets revealed!

Second is that another amazing writer has found her way to me, and I’m currently helping her hone her prose from damn fine into incredible. This project will most likely take me into next week, which means very little writing or blogging will be happening.

And last… have you clicked through lately? Why not do it now? You’ll find a whole new look going on here at West of Mars. Regrettably, it came at a cost — the archives of Rocks ‘n Reads have been lost forever, and Win a Book may or may not be recoverable.

I’ll be reposting, slowly, when I have time, the book reviews I’d posted at Rocks ‘n Reads. Keep your eye on the Rock Fiction page and watch as, slowly, the links to the reviews change.

Onward and upward, my friends. Remember to pick up your copies of my books, and to contact me first when you need an edit.

No fiction again this week; it’s been another hectic one. Hopefully, writing time will resume in the immediate future.

You guys know I like to find all sorts of crazy, creative ways for people to express themselves.

But heavy metal bellydancing?

Why not?

MOONHOAR is a metal bellydance duo featuring Hairy The Beast and Warta The Destroyer. Formed in New Orleans, MOONHOAR fuses various styles of bellydance with their own experimental moves to one of the most intricate and heavy music genres… metal. All of their pieces are based on dark themes found in history, mythology, or the occult. They state, “We don’t do restaurants, but we will do funerals!’

Seriously… why NOT??

(and can I learn??)

**quote from Blabbermouth.

Yeah, okay. Lame post title.

You don’t think? Read on.

Alex Lifeson, the guitar virtuoso of rock legends Rush, is the latest musician to expand into visual arts. The Kidney Foundation of Canada is offering limited-edition copies of his artwork. And I do mean limited — only 250 are being printed!

It’s pricey, too, as befits a special print for a special cause — $275 Canadian for us here in the States (shipping to the US included). The prints have an original autograph from Alex, but they do NOT come with a frame. You’ve got that expense on top of the cost of the print.

Still… I think collecting art from musicians is a cool thing to do. Go buy my books so I can, eh?

Here’s more info, from the official site.