Author: Aaron Apollo Camp

Blogger and author from Westville, Illinois. Politics, sports, and writing nerd.

Categories
Aaron Apollo Camp Projects Administrative

How oral surgery will impact my writing and writing-related work

Due to a painful dental condition necessitating surgical removal of my upper right wisdom tooth, I am scheduled to undergo oral surgery on June 16. This oral surgery was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic; my oral surgeon was not able to return to work until very recently.

My writing and writing-related work will be impacted by my oral surgery, as follows:

  • I will continue to do some writing and writing-related work, albeit at a slower pace, until I undergo oral surgery.
  • Once I undergo oral surgery, I will be taking a one-week hiatus from all writing and writing-related work.
  • My YouTube channel is officially on hiatus until after I undergo, and recover from, oral surgery; there will be no new YouTube videos from me until June 23, at the earliest. I hope to be able to upload a new YouTube video no earlier than June 23 and no later than June 30, but that window of time is tentative.
  • I will not be publishing any new books until 2021. I hope to be able to publish several books throughout 2021, but I don’t have release dates set in stone for any of my works in progress.
  • This blog, and the other Apollo Corner blogs, will go on hiatus until June 23.

I have undergone oral surgery once before, so I know what to expect from oral surgery. It takes approximately one week for my mouth to fully heal from an oral surgical procedure. Once I undergo oral surgery, I hope to be able to return to writing work as soon as possible, hopefully without having to write through pain!

Categories
Aaron Apollo Camp Projects Authors Book Marketing Books Editing English Language Grammar Outlining Publishing Writing Advice Writing Opinion Writing Skills

Introducing my YouTube channel

AUTHOR’S NOTE: All of the sound effects that I use in my YouTube videos have been obtained without charge from ZapSplat, whose web address is https://www.zapsplat.com.

I apologize for not writing a new blog post on here in a month and a half, but, since my previous blog post, I have successfully launched my new YouTube channel where, in the coming days, weeks, months, and years, I will be providing my advice and opinion on matters related to writing, editing, outlining, publishing, and other writing-related topics. I’m proud to be part of the AuthorTube community on YouTube!

Here’s the trailer for my YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZ97exSry5E
Sound effects obtained from https://www.zapsplat.com

Not counting my channel trailer, I’ve uploaded two videos to my YouTube channel so far. The first of these videos is about why I believe that “describe, don’t explain” is better writing advice than “show, don’t tell”. The second of these videos is about my three-step outlining process for novels and novellas.

Sound effects obtained from https://www.zapsplat.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-CvrFtcfvE
Sound effects obtained from https://www.zapsplat.com

From this point forward, I will begin uploading new videos on Tuesdays, aside from some occasional Thursday uploads. While I won’t necessarily upload new videos every single Tuesday, I’ll do everything possible to avoid going more than a few weeks between uploads. I chose Tuesdays and Thursdays as upload dates as a courtesy to fellow AuthorTube members Sarah Sutton and Meg LaTorre. Sutton, whose YouTube channel can be found here, uploads new videos on Mondays and Fridays, with writing sprints livestreaming on Wednesdays, and LaTorre, who runs the popular iWriterly YouTube channel, uploads or livestreams new videos on Wednesdays.

A helpful feature of my YouTube channel is my Best of #AuthorTube playlist, where I feature videos from fellow AuthorTube members that I find to be helpful, insightful, and interesting. Unlike my other YouTube playlists, which I use to categorize my own videos, my Best of #AuthorTube playlist features YouTube videos from others, not me.

I use the built-in webcam on my HP Stream laptop, which runs Microsoft Windows 10, to record my YouTube videos, and I use a computer program called Shotcut, which includes a YouTube preset for video exporting, to edit and format my YouTube videos. Shotcut is a free-to-download, open-source program for Microsoft Windows, Apple MacOS, and Linux, and Shotcut’s website can be found here.

I hope you enjoy my YouTube channel. Feel free to follow this blog and subscribe to my YouTube channel!

Categories
English Language Grammar

What is the proper plural form of “encyclopedia” or “encyclopaedia”?

Over the past week, I ran a non-scientific poll on my recently-launched, writing-themed Twitter page to determine what my Twitter followers thought was the proper plural form of the singular “encyclopedia” or “encyclopaedia”, and here are the final results of the poll:

https://twitter.com/AuthorAAC/status/1242307034701344771

With a total of 13 votes cast, seven votes were cast for “encyclopedias”, three votes were cast for “encyclopediae”, two votes were cast for “encyclopaediae”, and one vote was cast for “encyclopaedias”. Ten votes were cast for either “encyclopedias” or “encyclopediae”, and three votes were cast for either “encycopaedias” or “encyclopaediae”, which indicates a majority preference for plurals based on the “-pedia”-suffixed form of the singular “encyclop(a)edia” over the “-paedia”-suffixed form. Eight votes were cast for either “encyclopedias” or “encyclopaedias”, and five votes were cast for either “encyclopediae” or “encyclopaediae”, which indicates a majority preference for the “-s”-suffixed plural over the “-e”-suffixed plural.

I prefer to use “encyclopedia” in the singular. However, I do not regard “encyclopaedia” to be a misspelling, as I regard “encyclopaedia” as a valid alternate spelling of the same word. I almost never use “encyclopaedia”, except when I need to acknowledge that there are multiple acceptable spellings of “encyclop(a)edia”, such as this blog post or the poll that I ran on Twitter. Usage of “encyclopedia” is commonplace in American English, but some other English dialects may use “encyclopaedia” as the common spelling.

Regarding whether I prefer to use the “-s”-suffixed plural or the “-e”-suffixed plural of “encyclopedia”, I regard the “-e”-suffixed plural to be more formal than the “-s”-suffixed plural. I will generally only use “encyclopediae” as the plural form of “encyclopedia” to express formality within formal writing, otherwise, I use “encyclopedias” in the plural.

Categories
Books Fiction

How I classify works of fiction based on word count

There is no single strict, universal standard for classifying works of fiction whose content is entirely or predominantly word-based based on the length of the book, whether it be by word count or page count. With the advent and popularity of eBooks in recent years, I tend to regard word count as a more important measure of a work of fiction’s length than page count.

Terms that are commonly used to describe a work of fiction by word count, from longest to shortest, are novel, novella, novelette, and short story. Here is how I classify works of fiction based on word count:

  • Novel – At least 40,000 words
    • Long novel – At least 275,000 words
    • Intermediate novel – At least 75,000 words, but at most 274,999 words
    • Short novel – At least 40,000 words, but at most 74,999 words
  • Novella – At least 17,500 words, but at most 39,999 words
  • Novelette – At least 7,500 words, but at most 17,499 words
  • Short story – At most 7,499 words

If the classification system looks familiar to you, the definitions of the four primary classifications of works of fiction by word count are virtually identical to the ones that the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) use for the Nebula Awards. The only major addition to the word count classification that is not used by the SFWA for the Nebula Awards is my subclassifications of the novel classification.

The three sub-classifications of the novel category that I provided in the classification are not arbitrary creations of my imagination. I based my novel sub-classification on the word counts of novels in the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling and novels in the A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin. All of the Harry Potter novels are in my intermediate novel sub-classification, and all of the A Song of Ice and Fire novels that have been released as of the writing of this blog post are in my long novel sub-classification. The Harry Potter novels range in length from 76,944 words to 257,045 words, whereas the shortest A Song of Ice and Fire novel that has been released so far is 292,727 words in length.

It is important to note that the classification applies to fiction works in which the exclusive or predominant method of conveying the story is through words. Works of fiction that are graphic-based, such as comic books and graphic novels, cannot reasonably be classified by word count. Even where word count would be a reasonable measure of the length of non-fiction works (examples being biographies, essays, and manifestos), I avoid using terms like novel, novella, novelette, and short story to describe non-fiction works. Word count is not the best measure of the length of many different types of non-fiction works, such as dictionaries, encyclopediae, telephone directories, cookbooks, and atlases, where a measure like number of entries, number of recipes, number of maps, etc. is a better measure of length. Additionally, word count is not the best measure of the length of a poem or a poetry collection (number of lines or verses is preferred for poems; number of poems is preferred for poetry collections).

It is also important to note that different people or entities may have different criteria for classifying works of fiction by word count. For example, the annual novel-writing event National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) has a 50,000-word minimum for a valid novel entry.

Categories
Aaron Apollo Camp Projects Administrative Authors Books Publishing Self-Publishing

My writing work will continue through a stay-at-home order in Illinois

Starting at 5 PM CDT today, a stay-at-home order, issued by the Governor of Illinois, will go into effect across the entire state of Illinois due to the ongoing novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. A list of permitted activities during the stay-at-home order can be found here.

Due to my mother being in poor health and having to spend a considerable amount of time of each day caring for my mother, I have only recently started getting around to doing writing work on several books to be written and published, and this writing work will continue during the stay-at-home order. As a self-published author, I work from home under normal circumstances, and my work as an author is not incorporated as a business in Illinois or any other jurisdiction. However, final publishing of books that I am currently writing will not be done while the stay-at-home order is in effect in Illinois.

While the stay-at-home order is in effect in my home state, anyone with an Amazon account can buy gifts for me from my Amazon wishlist.

Categories
Aaron Apollo Camp Projects Books Fiction Non-Fiction Poetry Publishing Self-Publishing Writing and Publishing Technology

Why I have not done a whole lot of writing work so far in 2020

In the first calendar month of this year, I hoped to have been able to do a lot of work on several eBooks that I hope to be able to self-publish at some point either later this year or further into the future.

However, on January 4, my mother was hospitalized due to a severe medical condition, and, on January 7, my mother underwent approximately three hours and 15 minutes of surgery, in which multiple surgical procedures, including the installation of a hopefully temporary stoma and colostomy bag and a procedure to repair a hernia, were performed. The surgery was mostly successful, and my mother has since been transferred to a medical rehabilitation facility. Although my mother has been recovering well, she was scheduled to undergo a minor surgical procedure at the rehabilitation facility today to fix an issue that was resulting in occasional leakage of her colostomy bag, and I will visit my mother tomorrow, as I’ve done nearly every day since she was initially hospitalized. I am hoping that my mother will be able to come home as soon as Monday.

Due to the need to visit my mother daily while she recovers, and the need to do tasks around my house that my mother would otherwise do, I have been doing little in the way of writing work so far in 2020. However, with my mother continuing to recover, I hope to be able to commit a couple of hours or so of each day on writing-related work, starting in the very near future.

I will also provide an update on my current works in progress:

  • I will not be publishing any new works before May 1st of this year, although I hope to self-publish multiple works before the end of 2020.
  • I am currently considering ending new works in The Chronicles of Vazkelt series after only a single eBook was published, with a work in progress in that series, Love, Tragedy, and Volleyball, possibly written and published as a stand-alone work not part of any series under the name Love, Tragedy, and Volleyball or a different name.
  • Regarding the planned Superhaikus poetry series, I am considering writing one or more collections in that series before Seventy-Two Microseasons. I will likely use a different self-publishing service than PublishDrive to publish poetry collections, due to PublishDrive being an eBook-only self-publishing service and a desire to publish poetry collections in both eBook and paperback formats.
  • Regarding the planned Rebuilding Our Republic political non-fiction series, I am considering renaming that series, although I hope to be able to complete the first book in that series sometime in the late spring or early summer of that year. I have done preparation work on a book in the series, tentatively titled Unicameral Congress.
  • Regarding the planned historical fiction novel Alt-America, I am in the preliminary stages of determining whether to write a single novel under the name Alt-America or a two-part series of novels, with the series title of Alt-America.

I am also in the very preliminary stages of preparation work regarding a pair of upcoming fiction series, although I am not currently classifying either of these series as works in progress:

  • I am currently in the very preliminary stages of preparation work regarding a political fantasy series, with a series name yet to be determined.
  • I am currently in the very preliminary stages of preparation work regarding a science fiction series, with a series name yet to be determined.
Categories
Authors Writing Advice Writing Skills

ShaelinWrites is an invaluable resource for authors

As a relatively new person to the writing community, I have begun to watch YouTube videos about the writing craft in an effort to learn more about the writing craft and improve my own writing skills. A YouTube channel that I have come to regard as an invaluable resource for book authors is ShaelinWrites, which is the YouTube channel of Canadian author Shaelin Bishop.

My favorite feature of ShaelinWrites is Shaelin’s writing advice videos, in which Shaelin offers advice on various aspects of the craft of writing books. These videos are very informative, and can be anywhere from several minutes to nearly one-half hour in length. Shaelin’s style of giving writing advice is very pleasant, and I strongly like how she doesn’t try to bind people into one style of writing and seems to be genuinely interested in helping writers improve their craft. There is a lot more content on ShaelinWrites, including vlogs and other writing-related videos, and I love how she has organized her channel into playlists.

Design a site like this with WordPress.com
Get started