So, last week I was off for my first trip out of Italy since the pandemic, but I did manage to write almost 3K, longhand on a small notebook that I tiped when I got back home on Sunday. So I reached 350K this year and may reach 400K, but definitely not 500K. Although, there’s still four months, so you never know! 🙂
I also somehow reached 500 likes on my Facebook page (thank you very much) and keep getting new subscribers to this very blog, so welcome! 🙂 Gearing up for the next release, since I have to travel again to get my parents back to Rome (Saturday was a bad day for traveling – the train line was interrupted and Techie Bro couldn’t get to Tuscany and I arrived back in Rome at 2.30am instead of half past midnight), so I’ll go since I’m still of Day Job until next week.
The trip was a group tour of a part of England I hadn’t visited (not that I saw much besides London and the medieval castles easily reachable from there, LOL!). We went to Salisbury, Bath, Bristol, Exeter, Mount St Michael, Glastonbury, St Ives, Tintagel and Stonehenge (the order might be slightly wrong, I’m not checking my schedule), and I came back with a couple of books for future research.
I also had time to read another book before plunging back into Dragons of Immortalands, and I recommended it on Bookbub, as usual. I wasn’t the target audience, but I enjoyed it nevertheless. Worldcon came and went without me, although I got a link for the virtual part even though I had donated my membership. I passed that on too, since I really wasn’t in the mood for it.
This week I hope to finish a few projects, but I probably won’t make it with Book 5, so I’ll have to ask Mighty Editor to postpone the second week of editing. It should be done on time anyway.
I may put up the pre-order of the other books whenever I finish book 5, but so far pre-orders haven’t really worked for me. But! It’s been ten years, and things might have changed, so… pre-orders it will be for the other books! 🙂
Last week I wrote less than 5K, but managed to put out another Italian title. Also, my cousin’s friend helped me with the covers of the new project, since I’m very limited with what I can do on the writing computer! Still, the yearly total is over 300K, so I’m not complaining.
This week is starting slowly, but I managed to book a week of vacation when I’ll hopefully decompress. And see some new places. I’m currently not happy with the flights, but maybe we’ll be able to change them later… sigh!
Anyhow, hope you enjoyed the free story in the newsletter! It goes out every two months, so I won’t really spam you! Feel free to subscribe, if you haven’t already! Eventually I’ll publish those stories, but at the moment I have no plans for them.
Now I shall go back to writing, and typing Italian stories (written in the 1990s) in the computer, and dealing with life in general, LOL! I wish you a wonderful week!
This is the last week of the Smashwords July Sale, so make sure you grab any discounted books before they go back to full price. A gentle reminder that the four Ghost Bus Riders books can be purchased for a grand total of 10.50$! Also, most Silvery Earth books are 50% off if you want to try a new high fantasy series of standalone!
Last week I wrote 10K, and hopefully this week I’ll manage another 3K which will bring the yearly total to 300K. I’m traveling, so I don’t think I’ll write much (busy meeting people), but I hope to get down at least another story before the end of the month.
And I’ll be working on the new project’s covers with some help from a friend, while I’m there. If you’d like to know more about that and get a free short story, subscribe to the newsletter on the right hand bar of the publisher’s page… The newsletter and the link to the short story will go out August 1! 🙂
On another note, today is my dad’s 90th birthday, so celebrating him! 🙂 And that’s the reason I’m traveling, he doesn’t spend the summer in hot Rome… 😀
That’s all for today… try not to melt if you’re in the northern emisphere. I’ll be fighting mosquitoes, but being in an old house with very tall ceilings, it should be cool enough to sleep without sweating too much! Have a great week!
Two more older titles had a face-lift – new cover, new blurb – please, check them out! Lost in the Milky Way (formerly known as Yash&Ryo Lost in the Milky Way) and Soul Thieves are now gone from Smashwords as well, until they manage that actual merging with D2D, that is.
Last week was my most prolific of the year with 25K written, but then, I was off DayJob. It’s also a personal record, the previous one being 21K/week! Whenever I’ll manage to be a full-time writer, how much more will I be able to write? 😉
Although again it’s a series of novels… my wordcount drops dramatically when I write short stories, because of the day-break between projects. If I write a 40K short novel, I’m putting down more words in a month than if I write four 10K stories.
There will be a series of shorts when I finish these novels, but they’re all mostly connected, so I should be able to write them quickly. My poor editor doesn’t know what’s coming for her in June, LOL!
Now, about that Kickstarter… my author copies arrived, and I realized that one book has a cream interior, the others white. Teaches me not to check when I publish the rest after four years, but then… Future Earth Chronicles anyone? 😉
For whoever came late to the party, in Future Earth Chronicles, the paperbacks have alternatively white and cream interior because I screwed up with the first two… For Otherside I realized my mistake when I received my copies, so we have a vintage-looking first book and brand new ones! 😀
Otherside paperbacks
There is still time to get Visions of the Future bundle and get all those awesome sci-fi ebooks for a ridicusly low price. Check it out, and if sci-fi is not your cup of tea, share with friends, in case someone is interested! 🙂
Now I shall get back to writing… and working on that non-writerly stuff… and Friday I’m back to DayJob, sigh! Have a great week! 🙂
And the last title being out, the series is now complete, and the series page updated with all the links! The paperbacks should be on their way to the backers who requested them. So I guess this Kickstarter is done! 🙂
Now I should be able to announce the second rebranding for the Star Minds Universe, and here you can see the new covers! There’s also new blurbs, if you’d like to check them out. The series page is updated too.
The titles are slightly changed, but the stories inside are the same – well, a couple of volumes have a new title, because “Interregnum” didn’t make sense anymore, so I changed it to “Confederation”. And you also get a sneak peek of the book coming in July! 🙂
The Smashwords/D2D merging means the books will vanish from Smashwords for a few months, they still have no idea when they’ll be able to send titles to the Smashwords store, but since my only Smashwords customer already has them, I don’t think they will be missed! 😉
Also, the slightly different title means I had to let go the Createspace paperbacks and make a new edition with a new ISBN on KDPprint. I didn’t change the art on the paperbacks, only the typography and the blurbs, but since the title is locked to the ISBN, I decided to create a new edition. Same interior, though! 😀
I wrote almost 13K on the new project last week. I hope to get that much done this week, but this rebranding will keep me busy as well. It’s not only the Star Minds Universe getting a face lift! I did mention I need to tackle Silvery Earth as well at some point, and I’m already starting experiments, but I probably won’t be able to do all the books until the summer.
Meanwhile I take care of the rest! 😀 And write the next book, of course! On TikTok I posted a couple of WiP videos, with things that won’t end up in the final book, like maps… but they’re useful when your characters wander a lot like mine! 🙂
The strip is over on Instagram, so from Sunday you can check the Happiness is… vignettes there. Yes, truly, I’m getting rid of Da Muses, how cruel can I be? 😉 I’m finding other ways to inspire myself, I did change the way I write my books through the decades, so I’ll be fine…
The next big news might be a Sunday Surprise! Have a great week! 😀
And my next Kickstarter is live! Check it out, read the excerpts, grab the original novella for a buck or the whole series before it goes live at retailers – if you like ebooks, that is! 🙂 This will be a little longer than the previous one, because it’s new stuff and I want people to have time to find it.
It’s an experiment on book-launching. After 10+ years of write-and-release with not very good results, I decided to try this technique for my latest mini-series, in the hopes of actually grabbing some readers. Pre-orders never worked for me, so we’ll see how this goes.
Last week I wrote 6500words, again short stories, I haven’t found a long project yet. I’m at 98K for the year, so I’m not complaining anyway. I’m actually surprised I did this much already! 🙂
This week I haven’t written a word yet, but life got in the way with looking after aging parents and the usual mess at DayJob. Here’s to hoping I can retire early next year and not be bothered by that at least.
I used what little concentration I had to edit the Otherside books, so they’ll be ready when the Kickstarter ends! 🙂 I got book 2 and 3 back from the editor last week, so I’ll concentrate on that for now, and then finish the project I had started (a couple more shorts to write for that one).
I’m absolutely delighted to announce that my Star Minds Starter is included in the Visions of the Future bundle at Storybundle! And look at the company! All those awesome authors sharing space with me! As always with StoryBundle, you decide what price you want to pay.
For 5$ (or more, if you’re feeling generous), you’ll get the basic bundle of four books in any ebook format – WORLDWIDE.
• Obeah by Marcelle Dube • A Little Piece of Home by Kris Katzen • Star Minds Starter by Barbara G.Tarn • The Year of the Cat: A Cat of Space and Time by Kristine Kathryn Rusch and Dean Wesley Smith
If you pay at least the bonus price of just $15, you get all four of the regular books, plus SIX more books, for a total of 10 !
• Gravity by Maggie Lynch • Games of Fate by Kris Austen Radcliffe • Plurapod Pathogen by Kari Kilgore • Unexpected Futures by Annie Reed • Grapevine Springs by Dean Wesley Smith • Thieves by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
This bundle is available only for a limited time via http://www.storybundle.com. It allows easy reading on computers, smartphones, and tablets as well as Kindle and other ereaders via file transfer, email, and other methods. You get multiple DRM-free formats (.epub, .mobi) for all books!
It’s also super easy to give the gift of reading with StoryBundle, thanks to our gift cards – which allow you to send someone a code that they can redeem for any future StoryBundle bundle – and timed delivery, which allows you to control exactly when your recipient will get the gift of StoryBundle.
Why StoryBundle? Here are just a few benefits StoryBundle provides.
• Get quality reads: We’ve chosen works from excellent authors to bundle together in one convenient package. • Pay what you want (minimum $5): You decide how much these fantastic books are worth. If you can only spare a little, that’s fine! You’ll still get access to a batch of exceptional titles. • Support authors who support DRM-free books: StoryBundle is a platform for authors to get exposure for their works, both for the titles featured in the bundle and for the rest of their catalog. Supporting authors who let you read their books on any device you want—restriction free—will show everyone there ‘s nothing wrong with ditching DRM. • Give to worthy causes: Bundle buyers have a chance to donate a portion of their proceeds to AbleGamers ! • Receive extra books: If you beat the bonus price, you’ll get the bonus books! StoryBundle was created to give a platform for independent authors to showcase their work, and a source of quality titles for thirsty readers. StoryBundle works with authors to create bundles of ebooks that can be purchased by readers at their desired price. Before starting StoryBundle, Founder Jason Chen covered technology and software as an editor for Gizmodo.com and Lifehacker.com.
And now to the less important news! The latest title, Children of Darkness, is related to my story in the Halloween Spectacular. These seven stories of vampire-making as well as “Under the Samhain Moon” may well be the start of the next Vampires Through the Centuries novels or novellas… as soon as there is some interest, that is.
Because at the moment I’m fully immersed in another world, and until I finish those books, I won’t be able to concentrate on anything else. But I wrote 11K+ last week on this project, so I’m not complaining! 😀
A funny-sounding Kickstarter to back might be Artists are Weird but Writers are Crazy – if you still have some sense of humor, that is. Considering that I’m both artist and writer, I must be both weird and crazy, but then, normality is overrated! 🙂
Another good news for paper-books lovers is that Books2Read links will now include the print edition! Since I’ll have to add it manually, though, it might take some time until all the links are updated on the publisher page… But I’m on it, and I will announce there when I’m done! 🙂
The above rebrandingof the Star Minds Starter is only the beginning. The whole series will get a face-lift in December, around Worldcon. Some covers will be new, others will only have new lettering on them. Next year I’ll tackle Silvery Earth, but it’s a much more complicated and longer series of standalone…
A good Kickstarter similar to the Halloween Calendar of Stories is now live! The Holiday Spectacular Calendar of Stories runs Nov. 25-Jan. 1. Back it now and get your stories during the Holiday Season! 🙂
Those people at WMG Publishing are definitely busy! They even reprinted one of my stories in Twisted Robots, Oh, My!: Stories from Pulphouse Fiction Magazine! You can find it here!
Also, their Halloween Spectacular Calendar has started and you can still subscribe to it here! Eventually you will get my story in your inbox, although I have no idea of when! 🙂 Meanwhile two awesome stories have already landed you subscribers’ inboxes!
Last week I put in a good 12K both in the novel that was supposed to be finished and into a new short story. I finished the latter this week and I’m still tinkering with the novel, even though it’s with the beta-reader, because new details show up with every new word written!
These two shorter stories I’m writing this week are actually side stories of the novel, from points of view that are not present in the novel, but I thought it would be fun to tell them. To get in the mood for the first story, I rewatched From Hell, which turned out to be an excellent choice.
A less good choice was trying to read The Last Man by Mary Shelley. I couldn’t get past Chapter 3, too slow moving for me. So yeah, I Did Not Finish a classic, but I’m a slow reader and I can’t waste time reading things that don’t grab me. I’ll be content with the summary, thank you very much! 😉
If you want to see my reading recommendations, head for Bookbub, since I no longer use Goodreads. Or wait for the end-of-the-year reading post on this very blog!:)
One sentence struck me in Kris Rusch’s latest business post, Untapped.
But indies—that’s a different story. And too many of them are caught in the new-new-new treadmill. Time to step off that.
While I wait for part 2 that will probably deal with indies, I’m pondering what I’ve been doing this year. So, I made new covers for the first five novels, although they were available only through Kickstarter. I’m about to rebrand a series and even redid the covers of the ebooks of Ghost Bus Riders.
I haven’t published as much as I used to, but it was expected. I’m preparing new things for the new year, and you might have a taste of them by the Holidays. All this while having the first month with ZERO sales or page-reads on Amazon since I started indie publishing. I’m glad I’m wide, at least a few euro will trickle through anyway in a couple of months! 🙂
Now I should probably go back to reading and watching those pop-ups I got from backing Kickstarters. My TBR pile is more daunting than ever, but I won’t give up! Have a great week!
And the last Ghost Bus Riders book is out! Again sending to the publisher’s page for the blurb and everything. I also uploaded the paperbacks for all three, although you might want to wait for me to tell you they’re fine! 😉
I noticed I had to put a higher cover price on Amazon.AU and I’m using this to warn my Australian readers that some of my books are on sale on eBay Australia at a much higher price. Even if you hate Amazon and don’t want to buy from them, I don’t see why you should pay 50AUD for a paperback on eBay… just saying!
Last week I had written 6k+ when I realized this story and another I already wrote needed to become a novel. So I’m happily back to a longer work, which means my wordcount should increas in the coming week(s) as I try to fill in the blanks and make it a nice, gripping story (hopefully).
It will be published next year, but it’s a good start! I will probably write another novel for that mini-series as well, exploring that world, so it’s another long title to write next (along with a couple more that I have in mind, one spawned by a short story, the other a serial novel or something).
So even if this year is less productive than the last, I’m not being too hard on myself. If you feel you’ve hit a writing wall, check Kris Rusch‘s take on it.
Be kind to yourself. If you would tell a writer friend to take a day off in your situation, then take that day. Figure out how to treat yourself fairly and well.
Because that’s the thing that will get you writing again. Not pressure, not mentally cracking a whip.
Kindness.
Just a friendly reminder, in these tough times.
And that’s why I’m not berating myself if I won’t reach my 500K. I know I can do it again, when I’m not grieving for my life in shambles (and I’m lucky, I shouldn’t complain, but the sudden changes were really a trauma for me) and my health improves.
Just keep writing and reading and take care of yourself. I have plenty of books with all the Kickstarters I backed in the past months, but I’d like to suggest you one more, in case you don’t have enough. Thunderpaws & The Tower of London is about a cat and some British humor. Have a great week! 🙂
My name is Barb, and I'm a writer, sometimes an artist, mostly a world-creator and storyteller of fantasy worlds. I write in more than one genre, although mostly SFF.
I blog about life, the universe... OK, you can guess I'm a writer, but not Douglas Adams, so I'll leave the Hitchhiker's Guide aside. And if you'd like to DONATE, please buy one of my books. Take your pick! :)
This is my blog, about the "creative barbwire" that I am - there's no rose without thorns, right?
Enjoy...
Barbara G.Tarn - writer 