In spite of Joleene’s generous words, I will have to do this every other week from now on. I’ve found my own procrastination/time sucker tool: reading other blogs. I was so proud of my almost 40 books read last year, and now, six months in, I’m not even close to a quarter of that number. So I’ve cleaned up my blogroll and won’t be visiting your blogs as often as I used to, but I’ll be there. In return, I hope to post a book review or author interview every no-links-week, starting hopefully from the next. Sometimes you have to make choices, like Ruth Ann Nordin said.
Now, to the links! Jo’s post pointed me to Judy Croom’s post on dealing with the IRS as non-US-resident. I had to comment on that, being one myself! 😉 Like Judy and other commenters, it’s not I don’t want to pay taxes on my royalties (although a little part of me wonders why I should, haha :-D), I don’t want to pay them twice, in both countries. I also don’t want to be labeled “unwelcome visitor” because I had a confrontation with the IRS – I still want to be able to visit friends and places over there… (And don’t worry, IRS & Agenzia delle Entrate, today I have a little over ONE euro on Lulu, less than 3$ on Smashwords and around 7$ on KDP – not going to see those royalties anytime soon…).
Justine Graykin on digital self-defense! Cat Woods on series writing as an umbrella! Leigh Townsed on how to train your pets (and the writer in you)! Guest post from Lisa Killan on writing well without writing perfectly! Mike Finn on woulda coulda shoulda – didn’t, so what! Guest post Shanna Germain on choosing your own adventure!
Aren’t all those authors (published or unpublished) awesome? Words of wisdom a go-go! See how reading blogs can get addictive? Sigh! 😦
On non-writerly topics, Noobcake on waste of water and other ecological stuff. He’s darn right, shouldn’t take much effort from all of us to do that…
A writing reminder: Write-a-thon is coming, go to Clarion blog to sign up!
Mesmered has interviewed another traditionally pubbed author who went indie, Ann Swinfen. So it’s not only on Joe Konrath blog that we read this, there must be some change going on, right?
Blood-red pencil on not using “judging” words and writer intrusion.
LA Times on Kindle spam – reader beware of cheap and free reads… and writers beware of this unfair thing that clogs Amazon, forcing us to do better… Just wondering if those spammers ever rank high on Amazon. Probably not, but they still clog the site, making it even harder for legitimate writers to go up… sigh.
Agent Jessica Faust on email etiquette… and agent Janet Grant on freebies. My freebies haven’t brought me any paying readers yet, but I think it’s early. I have downloaded free stuff, and often (if I enjoyed it) I downloaded also the paid stuff (Joleene Naylor comes to mind… ;-)), but it’s on my TBR pile. Now I simply add things I want to read to my Smashwords library for future purchase! 😉
Speaking of Smashwords, here’s the coupon to get Fire half price: AK69D. Simply enter it on check-out. It expires on Sunday, so hurry! 🙂
Yesterday I got my first Bollywood movie (Umrao Jaan – my Indian friends can tell me if the remake is better or worse than the original… I know I love Ash&Abishek! ;-)) and I sure hope to find time to watch it sometime this weekend… Have a great one! 😀
Barbara G.Tarn - writer 
Viv
/ 17/06/2011Regarding freebies and samples, I think it can take a long time for people to follow up. I’ve downloaded a massive number of samples etc but finding time to read them and decide if I want to buy the whole is hard as my work takes a chunk of time and attention. So it might be a year or more before someone gets round to reading your freebie or sample.
The thing I have to make myself remember is that while my writing is important to me, to others it’s just another book. That’s what makes it so thrilling when someone gets back to me, often a year later and tells me how much they enjoyed it. The internet has lulled us into a sense of the instant feedback; it’s quite deceptive.
Sow your seeds and be patient; it can take years and years. You’re in it for the long haul, Barb, you’re no fly-by-night!
xx
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Barb
/ 17/06/2011Viv, you are totally right! Thank you for reminding me all this! 🙂
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Joleene Naylor
/ 18/06/2011I’m terrible about even getting to the ones I pay for, let alone the freebies. I have some books I won in a contest last October that I still haven’t read, yet. It’s sad how little I’ve read this year. I could probably count it on my fingers!
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Hema P.
/ 17/06/2011I completely understand your wanting to cut down on reading blogs — I have decided to go one step further and take a break from the blogging world all together for the next few weeks. 🙂
About Umrao Jaan, ack! Don’t watch the latest one. Even though Aishwarya Rai looks stunning, the movie’s a dud (the same goes for Abhishek, unfortunately)! As for the old one starring Rekha, it is a classic for every possible reason. You should watch that! At least, that’s my 2 cents… 🙂
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Barb
/ 17/06/2011aaah, too late… but I’ve seen in the trailer that it’s based on a book… have you read the book? I might eventually order also the original movie on DVD, I like Rekha since I saw her in Mira Nair’s Kamasutra! 🙂
Happy blogging vacation! 😉
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Joleene Naylor
/ 18/06/2011The trailer looks cool 🙂
every other week?!?! But where will I steal.. erm, I mean, find, links at, now 😉
LOL!
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Barb
/ 18/06/2011well, it has become a mutual stealing! 😉
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