by admin | December 26, 2017 · 10:47 pm
Did you hear? We have a new book on the shelves! (The digital ones anyway.) With Operation: Endgame out and waiting for you to read, The Shared Desk is looking back on the ministry of Peculiar Occurrences and talks about everything a writer thinks, feels, and fears when wrapping up a series and dropping the curtain on familiar grounds.
And really, are they done with the Ministry? Well……
00:00 — Introduction
- Whew! It’s been a week…
- If you want to relax, Dunkirk is NOT the movie to help you with that.
- Okay, if you didn’t hear about it today…
- Operation: Endgame is coming out today in all digital formats.
- And did you know a new Christmas story is out for Tales from the Archives?
- Audio and print books are coming in January/February 2018.
- There’s also a special offer on 12/26 and 12/27 so download your copy now!
04:08 — Episode #85: Ending a Series
- You are having so much fun with this series, but now comes a time to wrap it up.
- Nothing new for Pip with the Books of the Order.
- For Tee, reaching the end has been proving elusive.
- There’s a lot of time invested into a series, its characters, its world…and you wonder if you have one more book in you.
- Is the drive and the desire there?
- Pip was sad to see Sorcha and Raed go…but she got over it.
- Tee’s issue with getting Operation: Endgame done — REAL LIFE.
- Tee’s failed attempts at writing a series
- MOREVI (which has fans on PSN and Twitch apparently)
- The Billibub Baddings Mysteries
- Tee may not have wanted to say goodbye to Books & Braun just yet…
- The Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences is not going anywhere. The podcast and this series, however, are done.
- Ending on your own terms feels pretty damn good.
- Kickstarter made it clear: A demand was there.
- Tee finished Operation: Endgame…and fell apart.
- Achievement Unlocked: We reached the end we had planned.
- Verity Fitzroy is making the sting of ending a series less painful.
- Change of all kinds take place in Operation: Endgame.
- We do resolve things in the book…mostly.
- BIG SHOUT-OUT to our editor, K.T. Bryski who will be here next week!
- Humble beginnings to the series and the wild ride that ensued…
- And we’re still married…but there was that one time during Curse of the Silver Pharaoh….
- Taking a break from now until the summer because we got stuff to do on our own!
- How can we forget Countless Hues of Crimson? Rivaled only by this amazing work of literature…
- Taking a bittersweet Victory Lap
26:40 — Writers Off the Clock
- We just finished a book. LET’S GO TO THE MOVIES!!!
- Let’s talk about some of the movies we saw over the weekend….
- Dunkirk
- Hans Zimmer decides to actually give us a really amazing score for this cinematic triumph.
- Wait? you mean, things happened in World War II before Americans got involved?
- Just brace yourself for those first ten minutes.
- Hands down, Nolan’s best film.
- Star Wars: The Last Jedi
- Spoiler Alert — JUMP TO TIMECODE 42:09 TO AVOID SPOILERS
- LAST CHANCE — 42:09 TO AVOID SPOILERS
- Tee liked it more than Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens, but did not like it as much as Rogue One
- Thoughts on the middle section
- Thoughts on Rose
- Thoughts on humor in Star Wars
- Thoughts on Mary Poppins
- Thoughts on Fan Rage
- Thoughts from someone else about how we’ve been here before…
- Bright
- Bright is, according to Pip, Shadowrun.
- It was more like Training Day: Shadowrun, but here’s the rundown of this (pretty damn clever) plot.
- This is not high art, but it does not pretend to be anything else than what it is. AND IT WORKS!
- Definitely rocking a Men in Black or Alien Nation vibe.
- We talked about Suicide Squad, but this is a better film.
- Critics are hating Bright…but Netflix is listening to the audience.
- Why Alien Nation was a better television show than it was a movie.
- Is race an issue in this movie? Yes. Because LOOK AT OUR FREAKIN’ HEADLINES!
50:42 — The Wrap-Up
- The Adventures of Centaur Cop, coming soon from Pip Ballantine.
- We’re done for the year. So, go out, use that Amazon.com gift card, and buy our new book!
- K.T. Bryski is coming!
- 2017 was better than 2016, that’s for damn sure.
- Foreshadowing for the next show — Your Author Word for 2018!
- If you have an event and want The Shared Desk to appear there, or if you just want to share an opinion about the show, here’s where to find us…
- 703.791.1701
- pip@pjballantine.com
- tee@teemorris.com
- …and social media, of course.
- Pip’s Patreon will feature the first episode of her ALL-NEW PODCAST!
- Yep, she’s got a website (with a teaser) — We Don’t Talk About That
- And you can hear it first….if you become a subscriber.
- See you in 2018!
54:15 — The Last Word
[display_podcast]
Find us on Twitter at either Tee’s or Pip’s account,
leave us a voicemail or questions for the show at 703.791.1701,
or leave us a comment here at the blog.
We’ll talk about it!
And remember, you can find the show on iTunes or Stitcher!
Subscribe, listen, and review.
Enjoy the ride
and we’ll catch you later.
Filed under Episodes
Tagged as 2017, 2018, audio, Books of the Order, Bright, comedy, Countless Hues of Crimson, desire, digital publishing, distraction, drive, Dunkirk, eBook, Fifty Shades of Puddin', K.T. Bryski, Kickstarter, Morevi, movies, netflix, Operation: Endgame, parody, Patreon, Pip Ballantine, Podcasting for Dummies, print, priorities, PSN, real life, release, series, Sorcha Faris, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Tales from the Archives, Tee Morris, the Billibub Baddings Mysteries, The Curse of the Silver Pharaoh, The Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences, Twitch, Verity Fitzroy, writing
by admin | June 29, 2017 · 8:19 am
We’ve been busy lately with wrapping up one project and starting a brand new one. However, we are never too busy to learn new things, and Pip is doing that presently with Nick Stephenson and his course, How to Find Your First 10,000 Readers. This may sound like we’re drinking the marketing guru’s Kool-Aid (mmmmm…fruity) but we are asking hard questions. Nick’s got answers.
00:00 — Introduction
- All the SEVENS!
- Shameless plug for Happy Hour from the Tower…
- Sonic Boom is encouraging bad behavior at home.
- What are we up to?
- Podcasting for Dummies, the Third Edition
- Operation: Endgame
- Listening to Geo again, and still loving that skeptical goofball!
- Where is Tee going to be ON HIS BIRTHDAY? Well, he’s launching Podcasting for Dummies in Phoenix, Arizona!
- Jack Mangan needs to get back into podcasting.
04:50 — Episode #77: Pip Is Learning New Things
- You can be marketing books for years (like us) and still miss steps.
- When marketing goes bad…
- Pip decided to take a deep dive course in marketing with Nick Stephenson of Your First 10,000 Readers
- Who is Nick Stephenson?
- Who is endorsing nick? Well, Joanna is, for one…
- You can see some of these changes happening here.
- Pip begins to share her newfound knowledge…and channels a Beatnik instead.
- Your website should be doing this. (I didn’t know that!)
- Free really isn’t “free” when you look at it.
- Tee wants to buy Nick a pint based on his sense of humor.
- Nick practices what he preaches.
- A look at how to value your work.
- Pip is learning a HECK of a lot!
- When covers go bad, it’s EPIC.
- Authors can really be cheap.
- With lessons learned and learning from the lessons of others, it’s time to a To-Do List.
- Launching a book? Tee’s got that covered.
23:45 — The Loot Crate Lookie-Loo!
- Who’s opening THE BOOOOOOXXX?!?!?
- June’s Theme: Alter-Ego (Something Pip and Tee are familiar with.)
- Tee-shirt: A Classic Transformers shout-out.
- A Spider-Man Q-fig
- An Incredible Hulk bowl, perfect for a raging teenage barbarian!
- A poster book of DC Comics’ New 52 comic book covers
- Nice Loot Crate pin nod to Spider-Man’s nemesis, the Green Goblin
- We made a dent in our Geeky Prize Giveaway Stash at AwesomeCon, but we’re filling it up again…
28:52 — Writers Off the Clock
- It was a VERY special weekend at the Morris household….
- Introducing our daughter to ALIENS…
- She handled The Matrix really well, but it wasn’t the R rating that bothered us.
- Do you have to show someone Alien before you introduce them to Aliens?
- Pip will not be writing freehand anytime soon.
- There is only ONE — DEFINITIVE — VERSION — of Aliens…
- What the Director’s Cut adds to the Aliens experience.
- Aliens have inspired successful games. One of them scared Phil Rossi!
- After 30 years, the movie is still solid. Masterful storytelling in film.
- Character development in Aliens
- Even the music plays a part.
- The writing question: Why do the sequels and prequels fall so short? Where do you go after Aliens?
- Tee’s one question for Alien: Covenant…
43:51 — The Wrap-Up
- Well, AwesomeCon lived up to the hype!
- Where are we going to be?
- 30 June-July 2, BlerDCon in Washington D.C. (Sunday only! BRIGHT AND EARLY!!!)
- 14-16 July, Motor City Steam Con in Detroit, MI (Break out your PJ’s!)
- 19-20 August, Mechanicsburg Mystery Weekend in Mechanicsburg, PA (Lots to do during this Mystery conference…)
- 1-4 September, Escape Velocity in Washington, D.C. (A weekend of hardcore geekery with Nick Kelly!)
- If you have an event and want The Shared Desk to appear there, here’s where to find us…
- 703.791.1701
- pip@pjballantine.com
- tee@teemorris.com
- …and social media, of course.
- Ah, the glamorous life of writers…
[display_podcast]
Find us on Twitter at either Tee’s or Pip’s account,
leave us a voicemail or questions for the show at 703.791.1701,
or leave us a comment here at the blog.
We’ll talk about it!
And remember, you can find the show on iTunes or Stitcher!
Subscribe, listen, and review.
Enjoy the ride
and we’ll catch you later.
Filed under Episodes
Tagged as Aliens, AwesomeCon, BlreDCon, character development, class, continuing education, DC Comics, education, Escape Velocity, family, George Hrab, Incredible Hulk, Joanna Penn, lessons, Loot Crate, marketing, marketing tips, Motor City Steam Con, movies, Nick Stephenson, online class, Operation: Endgame, Pip Ballantine, Podcasting for Dummies, seminar, Spider-Man, storytelling, Tee Morris, the Creative Penn, The Geologic Podcast, writing
by admin | August 6, 2013 · 3:39 am
Tee and Pip pull off the miracle podcast and reach NUMBER 25, but they don’t do it alone. From the headquarters of The Gearheart comes Renaissance Man Alex White. He’s an artist. He’s a writer. He’s a musician. He’s brought so much of his talent to the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences, and now he comes on mic with The Shared Desk to talk about how he got his black belt in collaboration fu.
[display_podcast]
00:00 — Introduction
- Tee goes with a HBO theme on the opening drop-in’s…
- Welcoming a special guest, Alex White, who is in town…because he wants to be!
- What’s going on with the three of us?
- Pip’s turning in new pitches. (Titles need a bit of work…)
- Tee’s closing in on his Kindle Worlds’ deadline.
- Alex has a new work-in-progress that delves into the paranormal.
- Paying authors: We think it’s fun!
7:29 — An Audience with Alex White, Master Collaborator
- Apart from Jack Mangan, Alex White has contributed and collaborated with us the most concerning the Ministry.
- Alex and the crew of Disasterpiece Theatre
- What’s the pitch? (Not the show, but that is the show.)
- It was a great show…until Shia LaBouff was brought into the Ministry.
- What’s the fun in prepping your guests?
- Be careful, Alex. Hollywood, SyFy, and Michael Bay is listening…
- …and Tee goes there. “Inappropriate.”
- The recent collaboration(s) between Alex and the Makers of the Ministry
- On working with Tee Morris and Pip Ballantine, the editors
- The importance of editing
- Making editors into the “bad guys”
- On working with Tee Morris and Pip Ballantine, cover art clients
- We got a beautiful cover….
- ….but it was a tough journey getting there.
- RELEASE THE DROP-IN’S!!!
- Revealing what’s behind the curtain when cover artists and clients work together…and when things are not what are expected.
- Beware the “sternly-worded nut-slap” from Pip Ballantine.
- And then came the back pedal…
- Working with Friends: the Pros, the Cons, and the LARGE AMOUNTS OF MONEY EXCHANGING HANDS…
- Again, beware Pip’s sternly slap-to-the-nuts.
- Alex gives some advice for the author when working together to create the cover you want.
39:18 — Seriously? Seriously.
- Alex reveals a cold, hard truth about The Shared Desk.
- Talking about trust — how about that Cuckoo’s Calling book?
- Hold on…who’s writing this book again?!
- QUICK LOO BREAK!
- Should J.K. Rowling be pissed?
- A look at the insecurity of a successful problem…and how we wish we had it…
- You hire a lawyer with a degree of privacy in mind.
- The dangers of when besties get together, whippin’ out their secrets….
- …and Tee goes there. Again.
47:24 — The Wrap-Up
- Big props to Alex White for joining us on the 25th show!
- Alex made us love him all over again.
- Alex White and Harvey Keitel — worth every penny!
- What’s coming soon…
- For Alex
- Dragon*Con appearing, including a LIVE Disaterpiece Theatre
- A possible BIG reveal for DTP fans
- Catch him at the Parsecs as Fire in the Snow by Starla Hutchton is in the running….
- For Pip & Tee
- Authors After Dark
- Baltimore Book Festival
- Strasburg Steam Festival
- Cover Reveal of Ministry Protocol — August 8!
- And an unexpected sale that is coming to bookshelves for the holidays!
- And how about this for an ending — hitting it on all cylinders!!!
RELATED LINKS
Find us on Twitter at either
Tee’s or
Pip’s account,
leave us a voicemail or question for the show at
703.791.1701,
or leave us a comment here at the blog.
Enjoy the ride
and we’ll catch you later.
Filed under Episodes
Tagged as Alabama, Alex White, arti, Bloodshiot, collaborations, compositions, Deadwood, Delilah S. Dawson, Disasterpiece Theatre, editing, Game of Thrones, Harbinger, HBO, Jack Mangan, Kickstarter, Kindle Worlds, Michael Bay, movies, Pip Ballantine, Sharknado, Southern Mythology, Tee Morris, Tee Tate, The Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences, The Newsroom, Virginia, writing
by admin | July 11, 2012 · 1:56 am
So it’s been a while since we have sat down and recorded a Shared Desk, but how about this — when we finally got a chance to record a Shared Desk, we did it with the lovely P.J. Schnyder. This episode is about tough choices we make as authors in bringing about the demise of a character. Why do we do this to our creations? Is it for shock value? Is it for impact? And do we really care in the end?
00:00 — Introduction
- A brand new Shared Desk, and this time we brought a friend!
- Who is P.J. Schnyder?
- The way to a woman’s heart: Meat and Explosives
- Letting the drop-in’s fly!
- And God said “Okay, Tee, enough with the drop-in’s!”
02:46 — Making Tough Choices
- What happened between Shared Deskepisodes
- The dangers of drinking with agents, editors, and new friends…
- Getting complaints — a second one from a book critic — concerning a choice Pip and I made in The Janus Affair…
- Do we create characters simply to kill them?
- Evoking the name of Joss and when he kills beloved characters in his works.
- When do authors cross a line?
- Did J.K. Rowling go too far (or not far enough) in The Deathly Hollows?
- Tee’s gripes on Farscape and clever twists on bringing characters back
- Jumping genres and discussing a gratuitous death (or was it?) on M*A*S*H*
- We do care about the characters we kill.
- Do we write for entertainment, or to make an impact?
- TANGENT: Waxing happily about random drop-in’s for computers and future shows…
20:51 — Writers Off the Clock
- Sonic Boom is away at summer camp…so we have been indulging…in watching movies…
- Tee and Pip are talking about John Carter. (P.J. is talking about porn, we think…)
- A pleasant surprise of John Carter
- Terrific characters
- A lot of charm
- Fantastic visuals
- Tee, Pip, and P.J. go into Disney’s bungling of John Carter‘s marketing
- This movie had a lot going for it! (Even the credit sequence was good!)
- Bringing it back to marketing of books — when it works, when it doesn’t, and when it boggles the mind….
- What does P.J. do to relax?
- How does P.J. manage her time?
- Shout out to Stella Price!
36:23 — The Wrap-Up
- Drinks to mix, food to prepare, and stuff to blow up!
- Time to plug away!
- And here’s where we drop a little surprise on P.J. Schnyder as we all wait to hear from The Parsec Awards…
- What’s coming up for us…
- Pip has Hunter and Fox out and Wrayth coming soon…
- Pip is aiming to start a new series in November
- Now that The Janus Affair: A Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences Novel
is out, Tee & Pip work on Dawn’s Early Light
- Tee is looking up Tales from the Archives: Volume 2 launches on April 10 with new stories from the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences
- Upcoming Conventions
- P.J.’s Upcoming Conventions
- …and Pip shows up Tee on the Creative Commons tag. Again.
RELATED LINKS
[display_podcast]
Find us on Twitter at either
Tee’s or
Pip’s account,
leave us a voicemail or question for the show at
703.791.1701,
or leave us a comment here at the blog.
Enjoy the ride
and we’ll catch you later.
Filed under Episodes
Tagged as Agent Coulson, Archer, Balticon, BEA, Blogworld, choices, decisions, Gimmie Shelter, J.R. Blackwell, John Carter of Mars, Joss Whedon, M*A*S*H*, marketing, movies, P.J. Schnyder, Patricia Briggs, promotion, Stardust, Steampunk World's Fair, The Avengers, The Parsec Awards, writing
by admin | December 7, 2011 · 1:54 am
It’s been a month! Where have these two been?! Well, Tee & Pip have been tackling deadlines, and that struck them as a good topic for the next Shared Desk. So join these two in a deep dive into the wonderful (no seriously, wonderful) world of deadlines.
00:00 — Introduction
- What are you sitting on, Pip? (No, it’s not a euphemism!)
- Running down a laundry list of what’s happened between episodes
- The Janus Affair is now off to New York!
- Thoughts on the Goodreads Choice Awards (We were #8 in the Top Ten…and that rocks!)
01:55 — Deadlines
- What is it about being sick around deadlines?! (It’s something Pip and Tee do well.)
- The importance of deadlines — why they are needed
- Defining a deadline
- Congrats to all the participants of NaNoWriMo
- How we love buffers in podcasting…and with deadlines.
- What happens during deadlines — Life.
- Deadlines are not a terror, but a motivator for the writer
- Good catches during the editing process
- From an editor’s point-of-view, how do you gauge time to give contributors for deadlines?
- Understanding benefits and consequences when fiddling with a deadlines
- Acceptable “Life Happens” siutations
- When the deadline is kept — promotion and touring
- Managing multiple deadlines
- Reviewing the future deadlines we have on our chalkboard (Personally, I like Barn & Mule…)
- After you reach your deadline and send things off, celebrate!
- What did we do?
- Tee is the g–damn Batman!
- Pip does something she hasn’t done in a while — started a recreational read!
- Getting caught up after a deadline, and looking ahead to what we need to do…
- And while Tee takes a drink…Pip goes quiet.
21:03 — Seriously? Seriously.
- Some things were going down in the publishing world…and it hits Tee’s hot button.
- Thanks to Tee Tate and her blog, Lit Stack for bringing this to our attention.
- Here’s Quentin Rowan a/k/a Q.R. Markham, and his story.
- Does his story sound familiar? That’s because he copied it from someone else.
- What pissed Tee off? He wanted us to feel sorry for him.
- With soundtrack, the dramatic reading falls apart…kind of like this guy’s lie.
- And now Tee and Pip go off on Quentin Rowan’s “addiction”
29:32 — Writers Off the Clock
- Taking a breath…
- With Pip being sick, Tee and Pip curl up with Bridesmaids.
- A review…complete with spoilers
- What we liked about the movie
- Not afraid to go there
- Meeting the various bridesmaids
- Rock solid funny…up to a point.
- The fourth act…what the hell happened?
- Chris O’Dowd — kept Tee’s attention
- Two of the Bridesmaids disappear for the remaining of the film
- The movie stops being an ensemble piece and becomes a formula rom-com-buddy-chick-flick
- And what the hell was the end sketch with Melissa McCarthy?!
- This movie was marketed like The Hangover…but it felt more like The Hangover of Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
43:22 — The Wrap-Up
- Hanging in there…
- How we’re wrapping up 2011
- The Janus Affair: A Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences Novel— We got the cover…and it’s BEAUTIFUL!
- Hunter & Fox — Another pretty cover…and we’re sitting on that one, too!
- Still trying to narrow down release dates for 2012
- Let your favorite bookstores know about our upcoming releases.
- One more show for the year…and what a year it has been.
- The final show of 2011 will cover Setting Goals, and the first show of 2012 will be the Fan Appreciation show!
- Where to find us online…including a Goodreads Discussion Group!
- And here’s where Tee completely shuts down…
[display_podcast]
Find us on Twitter at either
Tee’s or
Pip’s account,
leave us a voicemail or question for the show at
703.791.1701,
or leave us a comment here at the blog.
Enjoy the ride
and we’ll catch you later.
Filed under Episodes
Tagged as Arkham Asylum, Batman, Bridesmaids, deadlines, Goodreads, Hunter & Fox, Life, Lit Stack, movies, NaNoWritMo, plagiarism, planning, The Hangover, The janus Affair, time management
by admin | August 9, 2011 · 10:25 am
A general scope out of who we (Tee Morris and Philippa Ballantine) are, what we plan on doing with the Shared Desk podcast.
Hopefully this gives you an idea what you can expect as we proceed forward in this new endeavor.
If you have any ideas, queries or comments then please email either pip AT pjballantine DOT com or tee AT teemorris DOT com, or drop us a voicemail at 703.791.1701.
Filed under Episodes
Tagged as format, introduction, movies, orientation, Philippa Ballantine, Pip Ballantine, podcasting, segments, Tee Morris, television, welcome, writing
