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Wednesday Weekly Roundup


And Book 1 is OUT! Check it out! There’s also the series announcement, and of course the series page! And since I’m still tinkering with all the books, giving them a last pass, I won’t be doing any pre-order on this series. Next year I hope to be more organized!

I’m impressed by how much I accomplished this year despite everything. Two short series, one Kickstarter and a few Storybundles – what else can I ask for? Yes, there’s another Storybundle coming soon, stay tuned for the announcement…

This week, despite “losing” a day to an unexpected trip, I wrote 17K, so I’m clearly still on a roll! 🙂 And I backed a Kickstarter that will give me two more short online workshops + the research books I brought back from England, I guess I’ll be fine until the end of the year, LOL!

Now I’m back to the dreaded DayJob and the usual routine… it’s still quite hot for September, but hopefully autumn (or the fall) isn’t too far away at this point. And maybe before Christmas Techie Bro will fix my laptop, LOL!

That’s all for today… have a great week!

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by Barb on 14/09/2022  •  Permalink
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Posted by Barb on 14/09/2022

https://creativebarbwire.wordpress.com/2022/09/14/wednesday-weekly-roundup-153/

Wednesday Weekly Roundup


COVER REVEAL!

Here are the covers of the upcoming new series! An exciting, new, wondrous fantasy world of dragons and magic! Book 1 will be out in two weeks, so coming real soon… 🙂

Last week I wrote over 12K, most of which on book 5 – still tinkering with the rest. This week I won’t be writing at all, but hopefully next week I’ll reach 350K for the year. And I still don’t know which project will take me to the end of the year, LOL!

Anyhow, I’m taking this week off writing – yes, another one! Its the third this year, sheesh! But this time it’s for a vacation, not for wearing the publisher cap, I swear! 🙂 I badly need to recharge the creative batteries!

Which doesn’t mean I will not write at all. I may do some new vignette or jot down ideas in my notebook. We’ll see. I guess a creator’s mind is never on vacation anyway! 🙂 But I’m sure even Laptop will be happy to be switched off for a week.

I hope to be able to catch up on some reading this week, and if I read something I like, you’ll see it on Bookbub, as usual. Because y’all are following me on Bookbub, right? I hope to fill that 2-month gap since last recommendation soon, promise!

That’s all for today… have a great week! 🙂

by Barb on 31/08/2022  •  Permalink
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Posted by Barb on 31/08/2022

https://creativebarbwire.wordpress.com/2022/08/31/wednesday-weekly-roundup-151/

Wednesday Weekly Roundup


And the new title is out, later than expected, but it’s here! Terrans is a standalone book not included in the box sets, but if you want to try the series, this is a good one! 🙂 Check out this alternate history in which by now we’re cleaning up the planet and visiting the Star Nations! Out now, eBook and paperback!

I should probably mention the Smashwords edition has to Table of Content. I got a few tickets about the ToC missing in Silvery Earth books, but I took them all out of their distribution, and whenever the merging is complete, the Smashwords shop will get the D2D edition that has it. Apologies for the months in-between, but I don’t really see the use of a ToC in a fiction eBook – I certainly don’t use it, but whatever! 😉

Last week I wrote close to 9K and finished the next project last book. Now I’ll have to print it out and check it, but I have time to write something else before I send everything to Mighty Editor in September! And I skipped the Happiness is… vignettes on Sunday on Instagram because I had no internet and no landline from Saturday afternoon to Monday morning.

The heat has gone down a bit, but I still look forward to my week off. I badly need a break from the routine – work, write, publish and the likes. The Laptop is still acting up a little, but it looks like it works again, so I won’t have to move things between computers for now.

I’m also busy brushing up Italian titles and in September I want to try to send something out and possibly write something new, so there won’t be many more new titles in English this year. I also need to rebrand all those Italian covers, so I’m still quite busy, LOL!

Soon I’ll do a cover reveal for the new series… meanwhile, have a great week!

by Barb on 17/08/2022  •  Permalink
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Posted by Barb on 17/08/2022

https://creativebarbwire.wordpress.com/2022/08/17/wednesday-weekly-roundup-149/

Wednesday Weekly Roundup


So, no writing this week either, but I managed to finish updating all the Silvery Earth titles, and even enrolled most of them in the site-wide sale with Ghost Bus Riders. Everything over 2.99$ is 50%off for the whole month, so go grab ‘hem eBooks! 🙂

As for the “new” titles, it’s only reprints, so, Tori, feel free to ignore them. Anyone else who hasn’t read a book of Silvery Earth, it’s all new, so check them out! Brand new covers and blurbs, hope you find something you like, there’s a little bit of everything! 🙂

I know I promised another title this summer, but I might not publish it for Sci-fi July as I intended originally. You’ve had a glimpse of the cover in the Star Minds Universe rebranding post, but I sent one of those stories to Galaxy’s Edge, back in March, thinking by now I would know if they accepted or not.

Last week I learned that the editor has been ill, and asked for a few more weeks of patience, hence I’m postponing publication of Terrans for this reason. If if she happen to like that story, the title might come out even later, but it will come out, eventually! 🙂

Now I’m finally back to the project I had to set aside for Silvery Earth. I only have a handful of titles left in my rebranding-reblurbing-republishing endeavior and I feel much better, even if my old laptop keeps giving me problems (some old Window update makes Photoshop crash, so I constantly uninstall and reinstall it to make it work, sigh!) – I’m seeing the light at the end of the rebranding tunnel, LOL!

I better go back to writing, now. It’s the only think keeping me sane these days. Imagining to be somewhere else with my characters instead of this crazy planet. Have a great week! 🙂

by Barb on 13/07/2022  •  Permalink
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Posted by Barb on 13/07/2022

https://creativebarbwire.wordpress.com/2022/07/13/wednesday-weekly-roundup-144/

Wednesday Weekly Roundup


Surprise! I published one of the summer titles already! It’s because I enrolled the other three in the Smashwords July sale starting soon, so if you missed them, you can grab them all at a discounted price. Or in one click on Amazon as a series (although this is the prequel, so it shows up underneath).

Before the Shadows (Ghost Bus Riders 0) is now live on most places, including as paperback. And above you can see the new ebook covers of the whole series, another rebranding done, yay! Also the latest title is available on Smashwords as well – store only, with no distribution, since I use D2D for that.

I thought I’d put the new titles on the Smashwords store only, taking out all the distribution channels, hoping that they will already be there and keep the reviews whenever the actual merging makes one dashboard vanish.

Last week I wrote a little over 5K, then stopped, since I had finished the four novels of the project and I need to go through them again before writing the fifth book. So I used the “time” to tackle Silvery Earth rebranding.

It will take some time, but the current 50 titles will go down to 26, (including 4 box sets), unpublishing all the duplicated stories I wrote through the years. That series grew out of order and it was high time I went back to it and cleaned it up.

So this week I preparing new covers and new documents and new blurbs for the whole series, although it’s now more manageable (and the same length as Star Minds Universe). I will have to update the page with the chronology as well.

Meanwhile I probably won’t write much. I tried to go back to a rather long short story that begged to become a novel, but it turned out there is no longer story yet. And it’s Urban Fantasy/contemporary fantasy, and I need to get away from our world at this time.

Even if it’s set before Covid and the subsequent messes, this planet is not the place I want to write about at this time. I considered writing about a space ark of people fleeing this disaster area that has become Earth, but again, I don’t see the story, so maybe one day, but not now.

Between rebranding and the like, I might check a couple of old stories that might fit in the new project if I translate and rewrite them. We’ll see. Mostly I’ll be working on Silvery Earth, though. Also, the comic book I planned on drawing will probably not happen.

Next weekend is creative weekend, so we’ll see if any of my illustrator/comic book artist friends want to do it, if not, it’s another story that stays in the drawer for now. Now I shall go back to my publisher work, hoping next week I’ll get back to being a writer! 🙂 Have a great week!

by Barb on 29/06/2022  •  Permalink
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Posted by Barb on 29/06/2022

https://creativebarbwire.wordpress.com/2022/06/29/wednesday-weekly-roundup-142/

Wednesday Weekly Roundup


Yes, it’s now available for all at the usual suspects – ebook and paperback! 🙂 My Kickstarter backers are happily downloading their digital rewards and besides keeping my tight publishing schedule (one title a week) so I’ll be able to send out the paperbacks to the few who backed them by the end of the month, I’d say I’m done! Now to you to enjoy this mini-series! 🙂

Last week, being off the damn DayJob, I managed 19K by the weekend, so I took it off to do other publishing things. Yeah, still trying to revamp everything, but it’s going to take some time. But the next book of the current project is halfway done, yay!

In the end I had over 20K, which shows how much more productive I am when I don’t have to go to a boring office in the morning (and sometimes spend half hours waiting for damn buses which means it takes me one hour and a half to do five kilometers! 😦 ), so here’s to hoping I can quit at some point and think only about writing, publishing and reading! 😀

I also finished the Time Traveler’s Almanac. Of the 60+ stories I loved 15 and did not finish 11. Do I recommend it? Dunno. If you want to try reading time travel fiction, this door-stopper definitely gives you a wide (but not ultimate) view on the topic.

Now I better move on to other things, at least in reading! I’m going to get another couple of ebooks from Kickstarters, so I really should get the new Kindle going, but maybe I’ll read another paperback first. We’ll see!

Since Da Strip on Instagram ends in two weeks, I guess I’m moving the Happiness Is… posts there. You can still find them on this blod if you follow the tag on the sidebar. Now I better go back to writing! Have a great week!

by Barb on 04/05/2022  •  Permalink
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Posted by Barb on 04/05/2022

https://creativebarbwire.wordpress.com/2022/05/04/wednesday-weekly-roundup-134/

Wednesday Weekly Roundup


And the brand new collection of original stories is out! Check these Lands of Wonder part of a new series of original short stories!

Five original stories to visit Otherside, Elsewhere, Silvery Earth and alternate future timelines of Earth. Travel to these magical, weird or hyper-technological places with the characters.

Can they find their way back? Do they even want to? Do they have any choice in the matter?

Portals can be tricky like that.

Enjoy these travels through time and places, a batch of fantasy portals that even gives a preview to the coming Duology. It’s available also in paperback!

I went back to Book 2 on Thursday as I traveled to cooler places for a few days and ended up writing almost 7K by Sunday, which is more that I wrote in the previous three weeks put together, LOL!

Writing the epilogue this week and a couple more things in this world. Editing is still scheduled for September, so you won’t see any of it before then.

You know I don’t like to give writerly advice because I grew up in the age of the typewriter and changed my ways and what I want to write many times in 40+ years. But if you want a 10-year summary, head off to Chuck Wendig’s who has one lesson for the ten years in the writing mines.

Also, if you’re still afraid to put yourself out there, check Kris Rusch’s latest post on fear and all writers. I still struggle in finding my bookshelves on the various retailers because I don’t follow trends, but I keep publishing because I enjoy the process of writing those stories, creating covers for them and putting them out there. Eventually my audience will find me.

If you write for younger audience, you might want to consider joining TikTok – it’s taking the book industry by storm. It seems to be working well for sci-fi romance too… I doubt my readers are on TikTok, so I shall pass for now. I have enough dealing with Facebook and its Page antics.

I mentioned last week that there were changes at BundleRabbit… a brand new name and a brand new site! Folks, welcome PubShare! I’m still studying the new dashboard, but it’s not as bad as WordPress! 😉 Soon you’ll get the results with a brand new curated anthology. Stay tuned!

The heat is already frying my brain, so not much else to say. Back to writing and putting together that anthology. Have a great week! 🙂

by Barb on 07/07/2021  •  Permalink
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Posted by Barb on 07/07/2021

https://creativebarbwire.wordpress.com/2021/07/07/wednesday-weekly-roundup-91/

Wednesday Weekly Roundup


Last week I went over 15K again, although it took me a couple of false starts before going (and a deleted scene that had to be rewritten). Still in present and future Earth, watching the apocalypse unfold through my vampires’ eyes. Should take me to August, and then we’ll see! 🙂

Meanwhile, a gentle reminder that the Smashwords Sale is almost over. If you want to grab those first five books with the brand new covers at half-price, go get them now! And don’t forget the code for the latest title, so you can add it to your shopping cart for free! 🙂

And after two weeks of our Mighty Chuck fighting The Zon POD Service, we finally have More Future Earth paperback! Now the anthology is really complete, go check it out!

If you’re an indie author and you’re still chasing algorithms, I suggest you read this post by David Gaughran. It has a cute unicorn! 🙂 I don’t even try to follow or predict algorithms, since they’re way smarter than me anyway.

And I read Homo Deus, which hasn’t endeared the little buggers to me! 😀 I’ve come to the conclusion that hunting algorithms is like catching typo faeries – a useless endeavor! 😉

Although algorithms can be fooled. This week Facebook keeps reminding me where I was last year at this time (20BooksEdinburgh for the newbies of this blog). How about 2, 4 7, 10 years ago? They can’t remind me anything because I didn’t post anything…

So, algorithms can be fooled. Don’t feed them data or they’ll turn into Gremlins and get in charge of your life – well, your decisions, mostly! 😀

Maybe next year I’ll relaunch for my 10-year anniversary. Maybe I’ll do a Kickstarter. Maybe. Definitely no earlier than next year. When hopefully things have settled to the new normal even in Yankee country. Because even though in Italy it’s not that bad, I’m worried for my North American friends.

We shall overcome. Meanwhile, I’ll keep writing. And publishing. And writing this blog. Have a great week! 🙂

by Barb on 29/07/2020  •  Permalink
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Posted by Barb on 29/07/2020

https://creativebarbwire.wordpress.com/2020/07/29/wednesday-weekly-roundup-43/

Wednesday Weekly Roundup


Last week I wrote a little over 9K and wrapped the Future Earth Series. Now, during this week and the next, I probably won’t be writing much, since I need to go through all the 5-and-a-half books to make sure they flow… and 10 and 11 won’t get to the proofreader until next week.

The cover reveal event will be on this very blog on Sunday, July 27! There will be giveaways and I’ll introduce you to the new covers for the old titles, as well as the new titles, so mark your calendars (or follow this blog, LOL!)

It’s been fun, and interesting – a new way of writing a series for me, but then, this series is different from the others. It has numbered books for a reason! 😉

I don’t know yet what I’ll write next, but probably I’ll stick to vampires, in the past, possibly, since the two I want to mention don’t survive the apocalypse – well Bran’s first fledgling doesn’t survive the Roman Empire, LOL!

And meanwhile, there’s another anthology out! One again Mighty Zon proved difficult, but we made it! The paperback is not ready yet, but the ebook is live everywhere… Check out More Future Earth and this batch of new stories.

More stories for our future – with less tech, probably, but still life on our planet. Post-apocalypse, dystopia, last men and women usually struggling to survive. Bookstores as treasure troves or abandoned places, factories and cities in various states of disrepair, locations from North America to Europe to Japan, all over our beautiful planet.
The Book Store by Jason A. Adams
The Last Books of Nara by M.L. Buchman
Access All Areas by Fulvio Gatti
Lisa’s Odyssey by Barbara G.Tarn
A Cupboard Full of Seeds by Meyari Mc Farland
The Crossing of the Moons by C.A. Rowland
Imposible by Lesley L. Smith
The Last Maple by Rebecca M. Senese
Alone at the End by Vonnie Winslow Crist
A New Script by Tao Wong

Also, theres a Kobo promo coming up, but it will be on the Publisher’s Page. So if you’re interested only in new titles, you can follow that! 😉

You may have heard of the changes in publishing and the awesome Kickstarter Brandon Sanderson ran. Now there’s even going to be a (paying) Kickstarter Full Workshop to help you start your own campaign. I still can’t do any of it until I’m an employee (don’t ask!), but hopefully at some point I’ll be able to quit and will have a project worthy of a Kickstarter (because at the moment, I really don’t have any).

Another interesting post is Kris Rusch’s Holes in the Economy, and mostly her writerly advice (which I’m following, in case you didn’t notice, LOL!):

We can’t keep track of it all, so we keep track of what we can. All I can do right now is urge you to do a few things:

  1. Have compassion for the people around you—all of them. We’re very stressed out as a world right now.
  2. Write a lot and publish a lot.
  3. Wear a damn mask and stay six feet away from others.

Eventually, this DDoS attack of news and change will ease. It always does. When, none of us knows. We can only trust that we will get through this.

And we will get through it together.

Unfortunately I can’t, at this time, write about fictional heroes dealing with pandemics or economic collapses (in fact the Future Earth Chronicles are well after the actual apocalypse), and I’m looking for humorous stuff both to read and to write. I’ll find something, eventually… but I’m wondering how Urban Fantasy writers are doing in the pandemic – are they adding it to the magic and vampires and werewolves and angels and demons or are they just ignoring it?

Today I want to end with a couple of R.E.M. songs, since I think both apply to me at this time…

and

by Barb on 15/07/2020  •  Permalink
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Posted by Barb on 15/07/2020

https://creativebarbwire.wordpress.com/2020/07/15/wednesday-weekly-roundup-41/

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