Writer Wednesday

Happy New Year! 🙂

Or, like my friend Laxmi says: “Naya Saal Mubarak :)” – thank you Laxmi, you were faster than Shafali this time! 😉 New Year Resolution: start learning Hindi, so I won’t bother my Hindi-speaking friends with translation requests anymore, LOL!

Please enjoy the last two posts with Holiday theme because the snow will soon stop to fall on WP blogs – so I’ll go back to the “old” look. The one that sticks 11 months a year, LOL!

So, have you done your New Year Resolutions’ list? Need help? Check Joe Konrath’s resolutions for writers (since 2006, you can see how his resolutions changed through the years) but mostly Dean Wesley Smith’s post on how to keep producing all year long. Either you think it’s NaNoWriMo every month, or you try to follow his advice.

Me? I’m married to Mr Writing and it’s a happy relationship – he always comes first, although I need to cheat on him from time to time to do cover or formatting or hit that “publish” button. Still 70% time dedicated to writing and 30% dedicated to other stuff (mostly publishing-related, but also art-related, LOL).

As for me, I’ve done my schedule for next year. Silvery Earth will see a bunch of Amazon stories, so go grab Jessamine if you haven’t already. It’s free, and will probably always be, as I don’t plan to rewrite it, and will work around it with the new titles. The first will be The Death of Queen Amazonia, founder of the Queendom of Maadre, also known (abroad) as Amazons Country.

Amazons Country – map by Federico Distefano

And before you tell me “Amazons” need a possessive apostrophe, I’m not putting it because the Chicago Manual of Style says it’s not compulsory. http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/CMS … ves06.html

Possessives and Attributives

Q. What is the correct punctuation for an event or location for a group? I have the following examples: delegates’ reception, members’ forum, speakers’ room. Is it correct to always use the apostrophe in this way? Thanks.

A. Always? It’s always correct to form the plural possessive with an apostrophe in that way, but it is not always necessary to use the plural possessive in writing about an event or location for a group. An attributive will often do just as well (VIP lounge), in which case you don’t need the apostrophe.

“country” being a location, I thought I’d drop the apostrophe…

Then Star Minds will see its completion as a trilogy, with added bonuses of short stories that will function as prequels – one of which might actually be FREE as loss leader to the trilogy. It will tell the story of Kol-ian’s arrival and stay on Earth from 1933 to 1982. Next year I hope to tell the story of the next generation (meaning Shan-leo and Dadina grown up – wait and see what Shan-leo decides to do ten years after Star Minds, when he’s 22! ;)) and something about the previous generation as well.

B.G.Hope will have a few titles out as well, a couple longer (novella-length seems to be her preferred format) and a few more shorts. Barbara Sangiorgio will publish some short stories when I don’t have time to write something new and then Star Minds will come out in Italian as well at the end of the year. So yeah, I’m all set.

I plan on attending the Paris Book Fair, but no idea of the rest. No Worldcon as it’s in Texas, so I’ll wait for Loncon 2014 – hoping to find other authors willing to do a panel with me in the meantime, LOL! Krish Rusch has a post on cathering to fans… except where are my fans? I know, 4998 more to go. Hopefully by 2014 I’ll have them – all of 5000 True Fans. One can dream, right? It’s not a goal, so I won’t be disappointed if it doesn’t happen! 😉 It’s nothing I can control – how many fans I have – so I just imagine. Maybe the universe will listen (see Om Shanti Om to understand the reference…)! 🙂

I have cleaned the sidebar during December, taking off dead links and not very used blogs. After three years I feel like I’m an old blogger and many of the friends I met during my first year have stopped blogging altogether. Meh. Glad there’s still Joleene, Shafali and Viv – keep blogging, girls! 🙂 Hopefully I’ll find new blogs to follow this year (I have already a couple in mind, but since I decided to cut on blog-reading to concentrate on (e)books, I try very hard not to add blogs on my sidebar, LOL).

One last thing – WRITERS, stop trying to sell your books to other writers! Especially you, the one-book-wonder marketing to death your only baby. Get back to writing your next book, for Christ’s sake! I’m a writer, and I support indie writers. So if you’re indie, no need to invite me to your giveaway or offer me a free copy of your book. If I want to read it, I’ll pay for my copy. If I don’t want to read it, I won’t enter the giveaway and I won’t read it.

I know, I’m mean, but the past year I got a few of those recommendations or requests, especially on Goodreads (and I’m a Goodreads Author, why would anyone offer me books to review? I review what I read, but I don’t have time to go looking for more books! I’d rather be writing, LOL).

Also, the “like for like” doesn’t sell any book, my dear writer. Don’t “like” my FB page telling me I should like yours. I haven’t sold any books through Facebook, so it’s a useless waste of time. I’ll “like” only authors or friends I genuinely like – and might discontinue my private profile as well. A few friends closed their FB account – can’t blame them, it keeps changing for the worst! 😦 The Author page will stay up until I have a real web page for Barbara G.Tarn or maybe Unicorn Productions or who knows. I’ve been procrastinating the web page thing for two years now. Well, maybe in 2013 I’ll make up my mind, who knows! 🙂

Oh, and about giveaways – I’ve stopped doing them on this blog and Goodreads because either nobody entered or nobody claimed their prizes. I am now very close to my 1000th post… should I do a giveaway? Anyone interested? If you are, please say so in comments. But then please claim your prizes. If you don’t like fantasy or sci-fi, you can try B.G.Hope’s titles. If you’re not really interested, don’t enter. Thank you! 🙂

So, this is Writer Wednesday – that’s all from the writer’s front. Stay tuned for Random Friday and new feature Sunday Surprise. Happy New Year, everybody! 🙂

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Posted by Barb on 02/01/2013

https://creativebarbwire.wordpress.com/2013/01/02/writer-wednesday-43/