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Wednesday Weekly Roundup


Happy to announce I made full use of Books2Read new feature to add paperback links. Now not only my books have all the paperback links I could find under the same UBL – geotagged! – but also the Curated Anthologies have one link for all formats! Ain’t it neat? 😉 It took me some time because I have about 70 paperbacks + the anthologies, but I finally made it! 🙂

And in all this, I still managed to write 13K+ last week, which brings the yearly total to 406K, which is very good since I wasn’t expecting this much. I guess I spent too much time with shorter works and the day-off in between them, LOL! Now that I’m back to writing longer works it looks as if my writing streak has recovered!

I might still not make it to 500K, but I’ll be happy anyway. I also published the Future Earth Box Sets, in case you want to binge-read the series and get with a little discount (sorry, Tori!)… the whole series is set in the future, after the apocalypse of western civilization, although Before Future Earth Chronicles is set mostly in the 21st century. But that’s why it’s called “Before”! 😀

FUTURE EARTH CHRONICLES

Box Set #1 (Books 1 to 5)
Raj and Bel travel around the world, a journey in search of more truths about the apocalypse, its survivors and the alien invasion.

Box Set #2 (Books 6 to 10)
Megan, Yollanda, Arjun, Azur and Shani continue the investigation after Raj and Bel have gone home, in the company of western vampires

Box Set #3 (Before Future Earth Chronicles + Book 11 and 12)
The complete collection of stories, prequels to the main series. From the arrival of the Phis’irs and their symbionts to the loss of control over Rainbow Towns, four centuries of future Earth history, concentrating on the apocalypse years.

Luke and the vampire war, Ahyoka travels to her father’s tomb.

And of course there’s the paperbacks as well, if you’re a fan of those, but I can’t create box sets with paperbacks yet, sorry!

There is barely a week left to grab the Visions of the Future Bundle! And check out the other great offers at Storybundle! Like the Nano Writing Tools (if you still believe you need to write only during NaNoWriMo and not during the whole year, LOL), or the Weird Fiction bundle.

I’ve been reading The Difference Engine more because it helps with my current worldbuilding than because I’m loving it. And because it was really cheap on Kindle. I had forgotten why I don’t like buy direct from the Zon – those damn highlights. I don’t care what other people highlight, and I checked, they’re turned off on KK (yes, I can still download on KK, the Wi-Fi works, it’s the connection to the laptot that is broken, hence I can’t copy whatever is on it or add anything, hence the New Kindle waiting to be used – when I’m done with what I have on KK, that is), but still they show up in this book. Annoying and distracting.

Anyhow, I’m trudging along. An unusual book for sure… Now I shall go back to my travel plans and my writing… Have a great week!

by Barb on 17/11/2021  •  Permalink
Posted in indie publishing, real world inspiration, writing projects
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Posted by Barb on 17/11/2021

https://creativebarbwire.wordpress.com/2021/11/17/wednesday-weekly-roundup-110/

Wednesday Weekly Roundup


The first writing week of the year ended with 11K written, even though I spent Sunday morning drawing Da Muse for his birthday! 🙂 I also used that time to think about the stories I was writing (because they’re entwined at the moment, so I kept jumping back and forth between them for most of the week), but decided not to change the current plot.

I also rearranged the side-bar of this very blog, adding the “follow me on Bookbub” button and moving things around a little. I also had a small trouble with the publisher’s site, but my Awesome Webmaster solved the problem of the failed plug-in in under a minute, or so he said! 😉

And of course, I hit the publish button on Future Earth Chronicles Book 11! Please welcome back Luke, who first appeared in Book 4 as vampire food in the alien facility under Mount Kailash… and see where this books takes him! 🙂 Being a sapling’s symbiont is not as bad as it sounds.

Luke got his microchips back and bonded with Xex, the alien sapling who came back with the Mothership. Now he must gather the Rainbow Towns security robots with his symbiont to face a new threat: a gathering of Asian vampires.

His life changed when the wanderers freed him from Daniel and the alien facility, and now it’s about to change again.

Book 12 (Mighty Editor’s favorite) will be out in two weeks, so stay tuned! 🙂

If you want free (or cheap) books, subscribe to IASFA – there’s currently a batch of military sci-fi on offer and more to come. “Each month we’re spotlighting works by hundreds of SciFi and Fantasy authors. Every book will be available for free during the promotion. Don’t miss a single one. Get on the list.”

I checked, and not all were free yet, but one was at 99c on Kindle and after trying the sample I bought it anyway (it was free everywhere else, just not on Amazon, and I can’t download mobi from Smashwords anymore). I also downloaded more samples on KK, so my TBR list is growing again, sigh. I’ll never get to the new Kindle, LOL!

And a new bundle is out! Fantasy romance, so if you fancy that, go check it. It includes “Beautiful” from yours truly – a Sleeping Beauty retelling as m/m romance more about the happily ever after than the before. The Love an Magic Bundle is available at the usual suspects!

https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/bundles02/production/BundleArt/montages/000/000/249/original/montage.png

In other news I had to comment on Dean’s post My Novel… since that’s what I usually ask about MY books! 😀 Especially before becoming a mysanthrope who doesn’t like to go out, I happened to tell my friends about the stories I were writing at random moments, and whenever they saw me again, they politely asked “How’s your book?” to which I stared blankly at them and asked “Which one?” Perks (?) of being too prolific, I guess.

And Kris’s post on Audio (2020 in Review) worth checking especially for the last part, or how artists have braved the pandemic and reorganized themselves. My audio sales have flatlined and I don’t know when I’ll have the money or the inclination to do more of them, and I’m still considering other venues for the strips.

If you watched Space 1999, raise your hand and I’ll high-five you. I know most of you weren0t even born when the TV series aired (including Tori), but you might have caught up with some reruns in the 20th century. I backed this Kickstarter and received my ebook copy with intro from Barbara Bain (who, for me, is Dr. Helena Russell of Space 1999, I didn’t see many episodes of the Mission Impossible TV show of the 1960s, but I definitely saw all of Space 1999, in Italian AND French). I got the PDF for now, since I can’t upload to KK, but I want to start reading it! 🙂

I might use my vacation time to program just that (the art part, not the audio part, sorry), finding another venue for the strips. I’m considering Tapas that allows also novels, especially episodic ones (like many of mine are). But I need to have a clear mind, which isn’t something I have yet.

Recovering from the Holiday Season is taking longer both because of what’s happening in the world (especially US and UK) and because I’m no longer young and full of dreams, but – since I’m here and now – I guess I’m meant to go through this mess and emerge victorious, or at least alive! 😀

So I’m not making too many programs just yet, taking one step at a time and keeping going. If you’d like to subscribe to my newsletter, there’s a link on the publisher’s page, I still haven’t studied how importing (from my old Mailchimp account, for example) works on WordPress. I won’t start sending it out until I have at least ten people subscribed.

I know there’s no free story just yet, but that’s another thing to do sometime this year. Be patient, and hopefully I’ll manage to do everything! 🙂 Meanwhile, have a great week! 🙂

by Barb on 13/01/2021  •  Permalink
Posted in reading, struggles to get through, writing projects
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Posted by Barb on 13/01/2021

https://creativebarbwire.wordpress.com/2021/01/13/wednesday-weekly-roundup-66/

Wednesday Weekly Roundup


Last week I wrote 12K on book 8 and spent Sunday afternoon drawing for a change. Well, the portrait took only 2 hours, but I also had a new Italian title out and covers to tinker with. Now I’m back to writing and hope to wrap up Book 8 by the end of the week, so I can move on to Book 9.

Some publishing news: Cash Flow for Creators is now live. I beta-read it and can vouch for it. It’s clear, fun, and if you’re not sure how to start your writing business, you should give it a try. If you’re not American (like yours tryly) some things might not apply, but at least you’ll learn how to add a business mind to your writer mind and publisher mind. I know, us indie must wear many hats.

Apple Books for Author launches with PC access, so if you ever wanted to go direct to Apple but don’t own a Mac, now you can do it! 🙂 Personally, I’ll stick with D2D for now, I’ll wait to see how this goes. I already have to open another account, probably with Book Funnel, to put out some reader’s magnets, I don’t want to bother learning another retailer interface.

This year I’ll just keep going like I always did, maybe next year I’ll have the energy to do a complete relaunch – more paperbacks, more audiobooks, whatever. At this time I have barely the energy to resume publishing regularly (and yes, next weekend you’ll get another Lone Wolves Team eBook) to the usual suspects.

A good projection on Schrödinger’s Future by the always awesome Kris Rusch, which is another reason why I don’t want to do much yet. Besides, my 10-year-anniversary is next year, so it makes sense that I keep the good stuff for next year. Of course I’ll have to start working on it at the end of the year, but hopefully by then we’ll be less stressed out.

On a happier note, we are now in Phase 2, and some businesses are open again, albeit as takeaway. I was able to have breakfast at a coffee shop and this week I know that if I catch that bus, I’ll find my pizza place open (it used to have tables so you could eat in there, but now, of course, it’s all takeaway), so I won’t have to cook 2 meals per day, yay! 🙂

Monday I was off day job again because there can’t be more than six of us at the office, so I stayed at home doing those online courses (officially) and finishing the cover rebranding of Future Earth Chronicles, even though the launch is still a couple of months away or more.

And for your reading pleasure, my friend Tameri Etherton has a free book out on Amazon – well, free until the 14th, so go get it now! Link is not geotagged, but I’m sure you’ll find your own Amazon store if you’re not in the US (just change the .com with whatever your Amazon store end with, that’s what I did to see it on Amazon IT)! 🙂

She’s just a girl standing in front of dragon asking him to love her. Or, something like that!
Fall in love for free! Snag your copy today! Free until May 14th!

Or, if you prefer epic fantasy, now’s your chance to get all four books in the Song of the Swords epic fantasy series for FREE!
Epic fantasy at its best! Free until May 14th. Snag your copies today! Love fae? Love assassins? Love fae assassins for FREE? Sweet! FREE for a limited time! Get your faerie assassins here free until May 14th! Yes, my good friend Tameri is giving away a lot of books until tomorrow! 🙂 Go get them now! 😀

If you’d like to try Latinx Dark Fiction there’s a new bundle out at StoryBundle, as well as the WriteBundle2020 if you want to work on your craft/business of writing. I know all the authors of the Write Bundle and I can only highly recommend them – they know their stuff! 🙂

Now I’ll be waiting for a couple paperbacks I’ve been wanting to read and hopefully order the new Kindle. Although I still have quite a lot of stuff to read on KK, but well… it’s getting bothersome not being able to check files and having to use Kindle4PC! 😉 Have a great week!

by Barb on 13/05/2020  •  Permalink
Posted in real world inspiration, struggles to get through
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Posted by Barb on 13/05/2020

https://creativebarbwire.wordpress.com/2020/05/13/wednesday-weekly-roundup-32/

Wednesday Weekly Roundup


By Wednesday last week I had finished Draft Zero of Book 7, so I had to stop, re-read, adjust, and so on. So only 8400 new words. Having found some mistakes on the first five books while writing 6 and 7, I decided to go through the paperbacks (something I used to do immediately, but since I moved to KDPprint and had to send the books live to order copies, I had shamelessly skipped the process) and catch typo faeries and adjust mistakes to what I’ve been writing.

It’s really minor changes for my one and only reader so far, and you can download the updated version from Smashwords for whenever you want to read them again. Whoever gets the series now (and on Smashwords it’s still 9$ for 5 books…) will get the corrected version. I hadn’t sold any paperbacks, so I’m not worried about those, LOL!

I won’t blame you if you don’t want to read the Future Earth Chronicles now, though. A side effect of the Covid-19 pandemic? Reading got a lot harder. Especially reading sci-fi:

Lisa Yaszek is also trying to be kind to herself. These days, the last thing the professor of science-fiction studies wants to do is read more science fiction. She already feels as if she’s living through a disaster, Yaszek said. She doesn’t need the excitement of somebody else’s.

Of course, she said, some might find comfort in dystopian stories, like E.M. Forster’s “The Machine Stops,” about a world where society lives underground, reliant on a giant machine to provide its needs, and the machine breaks down. The parallels are obvious.

Lots of science fiction is inherently optimistic, said Yaszek, who teaches at the Georgia Institute of Technology. It’s about the possibility that people might put down their differences and work together. Reading those narratives can feel discomforting right now, she said, because when you’re done, you return to this imperfect world, where people are making imperfect choices.

So don’t worry, the series will still be out there, possibly with five or six more books, when this is over! 🙂 We’re living through history, and it’s obviously keeping our minds busy with all the bombardment of contrasting news about the pandemic. Be kind to yourself and carry on! 🙂

What are your best practices? I can’t “write by committee” because I started on my own. In this time of upset, I moved brainstorming from drawing to playing Bubble Witch Saga 3 (sue me! 😉 ) and by now I’m well adjusted at doing my first draft on my writing laptop instead of longhand. The writing is not suffering, it’s everything else that went on the backburner! 🙂

Althoug I updated both the Future Earth Chronicles and the Star Minds Universe series pages. I’m still pondering if I should change the covers of Future Earth Chronicles – at least the ebooks. I’m working on new ones, experimenting before I buy the images for the next five or six books! 🙂

And our mighty curator A.L. Butcher put out another bundle! Here Be Aliens is now live on BundleRabbit and the usual suspects. In this bundle you can find Adventurer, the first of the Star Minds Lone Wolves books, along with a few more. Or you can check the series discounted on Smashwords (the first 7 books are 30%off as mentioned on this list of discounted titles).

This is science fantasy/space opera, so it should take you away from this planet for a while (although Adventurer starts on a different future Earth, where we have joined the Star Nations and are traveling to space, yay!). It’s also alternate future because the shift happened back in 2012! 🙂

Also, for your reading (dis?)pleasure, the trainwreck… of traditional publishing. I shall stay tuned for the indie version. The IASFA has also a Facebook group. And they’re NOT like the Author Guild mentioned by Kris Rusch in her post, that’s for sure.

Now off to working on the next book of Future Earth Chronicles... Have a great week! 🙂

 

by Barb on 29/04/2020  •  Permalink
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Posted by Barb on 29/04/2020

https://creativebarbwire.wordpress.com/2020/04/29/wednesday-weekly-roundup-30/

Wednesday Weekly Roundup


Hello and welcome to the new blog schedule! The Happiness is… vignette will continue until about halfway next year, but then I won’t restart the cycle like I’ve done so far since 2009. The only post will be on Wednesdays and, as the title says, it will be a roundup of everything writing and non-writing related. The Backstage Pass will continue on Sundays on the publisher’s page to keep that page moving while I’m not publishing regularly (besides Italian titles, I mean). Thank you for following me in this new step of my journey!

And to celebrate the 10 years Blogoversary, I’m going to do a Giveaway! 🙂 Any eBook of mine in your preferred format (or audio if you’re in the US, CA or AU, although that’s valid only for Otherside, I still have a few of those codes). Just drop a comment with the title and your preferred format! 🙂

Now Kobo might have added audiobooks to the KWL dashboard, but during the weekend the eBooks had vanished. I was trying to finish updating the Silvery Earth titles still out there, and on KWL I saw for a moment on Saturday morning all 120+ titles (and 60+ unpublished), then no more than 18 on Laptop, 21 on Netbook (but it did show the unpublished titles of the discarded pen name, grrr!).

And Techie Bro took Laptop for an update/upgrade, so I copied everything to Netbook to update DriveThru and KWL, but when Smashwords had “trouble” with a couple of documents, there wasn’t much I could do, since Netbook doesn’t have Adobe Reader to check ePub files. Maybe it has something to read ePubs, but I wasn’t in the mood for experimenting. So it was a hassle that dragged the whole weekend. Sigh.

As for writing, just a short story, a little more than 5K. I started dabbling in a contemporary story, but it might not be the right time to write it, so I’m contemplating other options. I’ve realized I’ve been reading too much non-fiction lately, too much necessary research, but it has taken the fun out of writing somehow. And took me off the reading market as well, since I’m a slow reader.

So I started reading all those bundles that came out on BundleRabbit and might have a look at StoryBundle (lookie look! Vampires! Maybe I should!) and other places. I am considering a new series with a no-longer-young heroine, but I’m not sure which genre it’s going to be. My characters grew up with me, I guess it’s time I talk about salt-and-pepper hair, although I have already done that with Bel. Hey, maybe I’ll write about her breakup with Raj because she became a grumpy old spinster, LOL!

The Infinite Bard story is up once again! There is now quite a collection of free reads there now, check it out! 🙂 And the publisher’s site is all updated, so at least that is done, yay! Have a great week! 🙂

by Barb on 02/10/2019  •  Permalink
Posted in struggles to get through, the Human being, writing projects
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Posted by Barb on 02/10/2019

https://creativebarbwire.wordpress.com/2019/10/02/wednesday-weekly-roundup/

Writer Wednesday


I got my first royalty payment from Findaway Voices (minimum treshold 10$ and there’s  the Paypal fee, but whatever) and remembered I still have coupon codes for Otherside. So if you’re in AU, US or CA and would like to listen to and review my audiobook, drop me a line.

 

  • Authors Direct is currently only available for users in the United States, Australia, and Canada on iOS and Android (non-Kindle) mobile devices.
  • Authors Direct Giveaway Codes are only for listening inside of the Authors Direct mobile apps and can only be redeemed at https://authors-direct.com/redeem/
  • The following retailers will allow your listeners to leave a review without having bought the book there: Apple, Google, Amazon (but not Audible), Kobo, Scribd (with free trial) and Downpour, in addition to standard review sites like Goodreads.

I have enrolled some books in the Smashwords Winter/Summer Sale, but I’ll give the titles next week, when the sale is live. Preparing all the Lone Wolves Team books for this summer’s release, formatting them and slowly uploading them as well. These won’t be part of the sale anyway.

On the 20BooksEdinburgh they’re starting to ask what we’ll be working on while in Edinburgh, but I don’t have an answer yet. It’s still a month away and I think I’ll be done with Torik by then (both the adult and the child). I’m thinking of challenging myself to write a short story a day based on writing  prompts – I already have plenty that I want to write, either to submit to traditional magazines or anthologies or because I want to tell that story.

Or maybe I’ll start on the next Quest book. Turns out Torik is one of them wanderers, so I changed his book title to The Path of Wood, then I’ll write the sequel as The Path of Metal, and The Path of Dreams will remain for Silvery Earth Kids prose, that I’ll include with Torik’s story. Although since these are set before the current Quests Books, maybe I won’t number them as such.

I was thinking I could do another Sci-Fi July bundle and related anthologies, but my mood is currently hopeless towards sales, and I’m too tired to put another anthology together. I’m not even happy with my own stories, so… next year I’ll try to publish another couple. There’s still six curated anthologies you can choose from and another project coming soon.

But wait, someone else set up a vampires stories bundle! Thirteen Stakes goes live today, go grab it now! 🙂 It includes Norman Blood from yours truly and a ton more awesome authors, including a short story that was in Nightly Bites Volume 1! 🙂

And it’s The Infinite Bard week again! Hop off to read another free story from an awesome author! I’m next, so see you there in a couple of weeks! 🙂 After the summer I’ll probably take down the stories on Prolific Works as well, so get them now. I might add a page of free reads to the publisher’s page, but I haven’t decided yet (besides the stories for The Infinite Bard, I mean).

I think that after the summer I’ll start tending the garden of my 200 published titles before putting out new stuff. Backmatter needs to be updated, some covers might be thrown out, some single stories with ugly covers might vanish (they’re all included in some collection or other anyway, and if they haven’t provided point of entry so far, they probably never will) and so on.

Not a complete relaunch or rebranding, but some tidying up yes. This should go hand in hand with house-cleaning and throwing out unneeded stuff, but we’ll see how that goes as well! 😀 Have a great week!

 

by Barb on 26/06/2019  •  Permalink
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Posted by Barb on 26/06/2019

https://creativebarbwire.wordpress.com/2019/06/26/writer-wednesday-374/

Writer Wednesday


Last week I wrote less than 7K but I was still busy with the anthologies and approving the second audiobook – which might be shorter than the first, but it still took two hours out of my writing afternoons one day and another half hour the next day to check the corrections.

Yesterday I had to check and approve the third and last (for at least 6 months or until I earn back the expenses) audiobook. Hopefully this week I’ll go back to my 10K or more and glad I was ahead with the great writing of the past months! 😉

So, Otherside audiobook is obviously live, and The Hooded Man will soon follow. Unfortunately I can’t give coupons to the people I wanted to give to, since none of them are either in the US, Canada or Australia (one is in the UK, one in Italy and one in India, at least for The Hooded Man), so… I’ll decide later, when I’ve written this week’s 10K, LOL!

These are the places where I found the audiobook so far: GooglePlay – iTunes – NOOKaudio. Can’t find it on Kobo and they tell me that Audible distribution can take up to 30 days before the title is live there. I hit “publish” on Otherside on March 17… so I guess by Easter it might be at Amazon too! 😉

In case you don’t follow the publisher’s page, there are a few books at 99c99p out now, in case you want to give this author a try. And there are the pre-order buttons for the anthologies.

Also, I’m in two new bundles now, Eclectica and Cat Tales #4, go check them! 🙂 Again, I have updated the publisher’s page, but not this blog, so for the available bundles go there! 😉

All this publishing stuff is stealing time from writing (although I’ll be fair, a lot of time is stolen by Bubble Witch Saga 3 too, maybe I should take it off the writing netbook and keep it only on the smartphone, but it’s sooo addictive, damn it!) but I’m still hoping to get back into the routine today.

The Lone Wolves Team is out in the galaxy fixing stuff, and bonds and relationships between members are blossoming. I already made the covers for the stories that will start to come out next month and I have chosen the images for the covers of the Legends of the Moren Empire even though I’ve written only Volume 1 so far (coming soon!), but I want all three to have the same feel.

I think the Star Minds Lone Wolves will keep me busy for at least a month, if not until the end of May, then I can go back to Silvery Earth. I have written 40+ strips for Silvery Earth Kids, but now I need to color and letter them… Now I better get back to those missions, the Lone Wolves Team has to save the universe – not! 🙂 Have a great week!

 

by Barb on 10/04/2019  •  Permalink
Posted in struggles to get through, writing projects
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Posted by Barb on 10/04/2019

https://creativebarbwire.wordpress.com/2019/04/10/writer-wednesday-363/

Writer Wednesday


Book 3 and 4 are really one split in two, so I didn’t really stop “between projects” except for the creative weekend with Cristina (so last week only 8K), that I used for my large print and illustrated paperbacks experiments. Book 3 clocked in at 47K (Book 1 is 42K, Book 2 is 44K) and I probably have as much to write in the next, then on to book 5!

Hopefully I’ll be done by the end of January when I can take a break… In the meantime have a sneak peek at the first five covers on the series page… The blurb for book 4 and 5 is very limited, I’ll make it better when I write them – it’s only a vague idea still! 🙂

Bundles Galore – Remembering Warriors is on sale for the last month of its shelf life. Grab it now at 3.99$ before it’s gone! 🙂 Other bundles are still available, but they’re diminishing… I will do another couple next year (along with the next iteration of Sci-fi July for the Worldcon). By the way, this is the last month of shelf life of Sci-fi July Redux too, so if you want to suport us, buy it now, if you can’t afford it, wait until it goes on sale closer to Christmas! 🙂

And I have one more reason never ever to get on Twitter, where people (newby writers) even attack longtime professionals like Nora Roberts! I might have not read her books, but I do know who she is, it would never cross my mind to accuse her of stealing my title/idea – which, by the way, is not copyrighted. It’s the execution that is. I hope that woman sinks into oblivion with her second book, she doesn’t deserve a career as a writer.

And if the above isn’t enough to dissuade you, here are six miths about traditional publishing (and not from Dean Wesley Smith’s blog!). But Indie Publishing isn’t easy either, especially if you put all your egs in one basket and your basket is leaking… Maybe the future will really allow us to go direct to readers with no middleman…

First The Why, Now The How: 25 Ways To Keep Making Stuff  by Chuck Wendig. And How To Make A Pretty Facebook Page by David Gaughran – cause we all want a pretty Author Page, right? 🙂 I still think the Publisher’s page has problems on mobile phones, but I don’t seem to be able to find a solution. Next trip to Turin I’ll consult with my webmaster…

Now, as soon as I reach my yearly wordcount, I can stop and do another curated anthology (probably starting before Christmas, but I doubt I’ll be able to publish it this year – sometimes writers are really slow! ;)). In the meantime, you have your choice between, the two Nightly Bites, the two Sci-fi Short Stories and the Rocketpack Adventures curated by Russ Crossley. The paperback make excellent Christimas gifts… just sayin’! 😉 Have a great week!

by Barb on 05/12/2018  •  Permalink
Posted in struggles to get through, writing projects
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Posted by Barb on 05/12/2018

https://creativebarbwire.wordpress.com/2018/12/05/writer-wednesday-346/

Writer Wednesday


And since I was reading so much sci-fi, I decided to keep writing sci-fi – well, science fantasy, since that’s what Star Minds is. So I will write more stories of Star Minds Lone Wolves in July then we’ll see. Because I don’t have to do research for those and I even re-read some of the older books (which meant I had to make a last minute change to the latest title) while looking for a story.

And after Icy Aya, please welcome Shanell! 🙂 Our starship pilot, that you first met in Star Minds Third Generation Snippets or you can find in the upcoming anthology Sci-fi Stories – Starships, finally has her short novel! Here’s the birth of the cover with the evolution from Techie Bro’s version to the current one – a change of look and starship that was already hinted at in Adventurer.

David Farland answers the question Does Social Media Work? You know the answer, don’t you? Nope, nope and nope! Not anymore! Especially not Facebook! 😉 So let’s start thinking outside the box (and ignoring those Facebook “suggestions” that only want you to spend some money on Facebook ads). How? Dunno. Experiment.

I’m keeping this blog active and the publisher’s page updated. Does that help? Dunno. Too early to say. But if you want some predictions on where social media are going, check out this forecast. I look forward to less self-promotion and more effortless self-expression! 🙂

I will mention today is the day Sci-fi July Redux aaaand Sci-fi Stories – Starships go live! Go grab them! Fill your e-readers with some sci-fi for a thrilling summer! 🙂 Yes, even bundles don’t sell that much anymore. I guess we saturated the market… Not sure about the anthologies, since mine never sold much… but after spending a long weekend curating the next, I sure hope you’ll at least check them out! 🙂

Also, I enrolled some books in the Summer/Winter Sale at Smashwords… go check all the authors participating! 🙂 Useless to put my own profile, since it doesn’t show in the list which are discounted and which aren’t… I made a list on the publisher’s site! 🙂

Last but not least, What I Learned by Dean Wesley Smith… from him and Kris Rusch I learned what Harlan says: Money flows TO the writer! Not that I’m getting much yet… sigh! But it’s the year of writing and being halfway, I’m at 270K, so… I’ll just keep writing. And maybe publishing, LOL!

Have a great week! 🙂

 

by Barb on 04/07/2018  •  Permalink
Posted in struggles to get through, writing projects
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Posted by Barb on 04/07/2018

https://creativebarbwire.wordpress.com/2018/07/04/writer-wednesday-324/

Writer Wednesday


Less productive week inbetween projects, I still tend to take a day off to check the previous work and prep for the second. Except I’m adding stuff in while I write the “companion”, so I’m waiting to re-read the whole draft until I’m done with both. Still having fun with those characters and even found models for the covers – one will be NeoStock, the rest will be DepositPhoto. So yeah, I’m also making mock covers, prepping for the summer, LOL!

Although the Silvery Earth covers are still illustrations (by the Awesome Federica Manfredi), but for sci-fi I’ll move to composites. Except the Post-Apocalypse Chronicles, whenever I get to writing book 2 (hopefully as soon as I wrap up these Star Minds novels) I’ll order the cover to the same artist who did Brainwaves. Gotta be consistent in the series, right? 😉

And we’ve got sales! Bundles sales! Spring Surprise is on sale until April 28. The Immortals and the Vampires of the World are on sale from 24 to 30 April. It is also the last week for Vampires of the World, it will be archived in May, so get it NOW! Only 3.99$ for 8 awsesome vampire novels!

And we got a batch of writerly links! 🙂 First, Chuck Wendig entered an Amazon Bookstore! Yes, you read it right, a brick-and-mortar Amazon bookstore! Can you believe it? Those shelves look great, by the way.

David Gaughran on giving a voice to Indies AND how to make killer promo graphics in Canva – the one above is still plain old Photoshop 7.0, but we’ll see! 😉 And if the demon of self-doubt bites you, Johanna Penn and writing and the fear of judgment. I obviously don’t fear judgment, but I do get self-doubt every now and then – with the umpteenth rejection, reading a much better writer, etc.

But then, scientists link depression and anxiety to high creativity, so… Even though I don’t say it out loud, I do have bouts of depression and anxiety. If it’s the price to pay for creativity, I’m okay with it! 🙂

Now back to writing and prepping the next bundle… Have a great week! 😀

by Barb on 25/04/2018  •  Permalink
Posted in real world inspiration, struggles to get through
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Posted by Barb on 25/04/2018

https://creativebarbwire.wordpress.com/2018/04/25/writer-wednesday-314/

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