All posts tagged fantasy

Wednesday Weekly Roundup

Last week I wrote 4.5k words, so no, I didn’t reach 350K yet. I wasted two days between projects once again, and spent the weekend drawing the next strip (you can see some videos of the WiP on my TikTok). I have started another story, so I can probably put a few thousand more words in, but I doubt I’ll get anywhere near 400K.

I’m currently a little over my 2017 wordcount, which was my lowest. Here’s a breakdown of the last few years:

2011-2014 I didn’t keep track of yearly wordcounts, so I can only count the published works: 1263600words (1.2million words)

2015: 402700words

2016: 468700words

2017: 347100words

2018: 535300words

2019: 533100words

2020: 588800words

2021: 470600words

2022: 523822words

2023: 347380 (today)

This year I also published a book in Italian and spend a couple of weeks translating Magical Friends, so even more time spent NOT writing, along with all the travels. I’m in flux, I’m changing how I do things and how I create, so I guess slowing down is okay.

I’m also trying to read more, to get back to drawing and watching movies, which I had practically stopped. I got rid of Da Muses, but that didn’t help. We’ll see what kind of creator comes out of this crysalis! 😉

This week I’m off day job so I hope to finish the edits of the books I got back from Mighty Editor for next year’s publication, publish the December title in ebook and paperback, draw more of the strip AND finish the story I started, or at least get halfway through it.

Hopefully the wordcount will go up, but mornings will be busy anyway with various errands, going to a book fair here in Rome and the like. I’m also trying to move a little more, dancing with myself as the old song used to say.

I shall close with that song! Have a great week!

by Barb on 06/12/2023 • Permalink

Posted in indie publishing, real world inspiration, writing projects

Tagged drawing, fantasy, indie publishing, webstrip, wordcount, writing

Posted by Barb on 06/12/2023

https://creativebarbwire.wordpress.com/2023/12/06/wednesday-weekly-roundup-217/

Wednesday Weekly Roundup

Last week I wrote over 14k, which brings my yearly total to 300K. If I manage 350K by the end of the year, I’ll be more than happy. I wrote too many short stories this year, LOL! The procrastination between projects has become a real burden. Next year I hope to travel less and write more longer works, so I’ll waste less time! 😉

But a couple of those short stories have been published! After Crones, I have a story in this brand new anthology! It could be considered part of Before Future Earth Chronicles, except it’s brand new… and without the ominous parts (aliens and vampires)! So if you want to read about the apocalypse of Western Civilization and a lot more great stories, check this out!

And the Kickstarter is now live! Meet Flaminia, Lavinia and Erminia, the three granny witches you might have already heard about if you bought a couple of anthologies (Witches and Crones)… in fact those two short stories have been incorporated in the novel. They are slightly older than me, but it was a blast writing them! 🙂

Check also the other Witchstarters here – over 600 projects! Of course it’s not all books, but why not explore all the categories? Or you can filter by “publishing” if you want only books, probably…

Now I better go back to writing that novel! Have a great week!

by Barb on 04/10/2023 • Permalink

Posted in indie publishing, writing projects

Tagged anthology, fantasy, indie publishing, kickstarter, post-apocalypse stories, witches, writing

Posted by Barb on 04/10/2023

https://creativebarbwire.wordpress.com/2023/10/04/wednesday-weekly-roundup-208/

Wednesday Weekly Roundup

Last week I managed a solid 12K+ and I hope to finish this project this week. I have a long weekend during which I can go through a few longer projects before I send them to Mighty Editor for proofreading.

Yes, August 15 is national holiday in Italy, and I took Monday off since I’d have to go to work for less than 3h30. So four full days to go through what I already have and program the rest of the month. I may do another bout of shorter works until then, and resume the longer projects in September.

There should be a new story out in the anthology Crones, which is included in the Potions and Midlife Notions storybundle that should go live today, but I might be early in posting this, so I’ll do an extra post when I have all the links.

The heat is relenting, so I might go and cut my hair sooner than expected. I let it grow because I wanted to be able to tie it up during the worst of the heat, and since we’re breathing again, I may go back to my short bob soon!

Anyone remembers that sometime at the start of they year I opted in to a digitally narrated audio book program on Draft2Digital? Well, apparently the audiobook is live! So if you want to listen to a series of contemporary romance stories, you can go here (link to Apple.com, if you’re from another country, I’m sure you can find the audiobook on the iBookstore). It’s only 4,99$… and please let me know how you found it!

Now I better go back to writing… have a great week!

by Barb on 09/08/2023 • Permalink

Posted in indie publishing, real world inspiration, writing projects

Tagged contemporary romance, digitally narrated audiobook, ebooks, fantasy, indie publishing, writing

Posted by Barb on 09/08/2023

https://creativebarbwire.wordpress.com/2023/08/09/wednesday-weekly-roundup-200/

Wednesday Weekly Roundup

And last week I did even worse, 7.5k! But by now I should have reached 200k this year… except it’s July and I should be at 250k minimum! Ah, well, I will catch up. I’m currently on a project that needs research (historical, so online is fine), so I’m slower than usual. As soon as I finish this, I’ll get back to making up stuff in places I already know – although I did book another research trip for the end of October! 😉

I’ve been lazy with letting you know that Daughters of Maadre (formerly published as Amazon Sisters) is now at 99c. Go check it at your favorite e-book retailer. The paperback, unfortunately, can’t be discounted. And again a special thanks to the cover artist, Shafali Anand, who provided the above.

The heat is here, so I’m going out as little as possible, like every summer. My summer hybernation should make me more prolific, I hope! I still have to go to the office in the mornings and come back in the worst of the heat (lunchtime) with even less buses than usual. But I will survive another hot summer!

Still tinkering with covers, but I’m looking forward to publishing the stories I’ve been writing and sharing them with ya all, since you’re so faithfully following this blog and liking so many posts! 🙂 Like I said, the first title will come out in September, so it’s a couple of months wait.

Meanwhile, have a great summer (or winter, if you live down under like my friend Nikalee)! That’s all for today… have a great week!

by Barb on 12/07/2023 • Permalink

Posted in indie publishing, the Human being, writing projects

Tagged ebooks, fantasy, indie publishing, writing

Posted by Barb on 12/07/2023

https://creativebarbwire.wordpress.com/2023/07/12/wednesday-weekly-roundup-196/

Wednesday Weekly Roundup

Last week I wrote over 13K, which means by now I have reached 500K, yay! I wasn’t hoping to reach the goal this year, honestly, so I’m glad I did. Anything I write in the next four week it’s bonus words! 🙂

Not as good as past years, but I’m not complaining. And here’s a picture of all the books published this year in English (and yes, all have the paperback version)!

I don’t have plans for the new year yet. I hope to wrap up the current project this week, then we’ll see. I’m waiting for feedback on a story that I submitted, if it’s rejected, I’m going to write the novel for that one. Or maybe I’ll write a batch of shorts so that in 2024 I can do a Make 100 Kickstarter. I don’t have enough stories to do it in January 2023 yet.

Yes, I have a lot of shorts, but I wanted to do a volume of original, never-published-before stories, and I don’t have enough of those yet. So I’m going to write a few more, and see if I can fill those gaps. I also still have a couple of stories under consideration at traditional mags, and won’t hear about them until the end of January, so it’s definitely not for this year.

I have almost finished the shorter works on the New Kindle (which I won’t bother review or recommend), so I will start a new novel soon. I still have to pick a genre, though (yes, they’re mostly SFF, but it varies from space opera to urban fantasy to paranormal to whatever, so I’ll have to decide what to read next).

Hope the digital TBR list goes down by half at the end of the year, but I doubt I can do it! 😉 Here’s to wishing you happy reading, writing and mostly, have a great week!

by Barb on 07/12/2022 • Permalink

Posted in indie publishing, real world inspiration, writing projects

Tagged ebooks and paperbacks, fantasy, indie publishing, reading, space opera, writing

Posted by Barb on 07/12/2022

https://creativebarbwire.wordpress.com/2022/12/07/wednesday-weekly-roundup-165/

Wednesday Weekly Roundup

And Book 3 of Immortaland Dragons is out! Thanks you for whoever is following me on Amazon and buys it as soon as it comes out, I hope you’re enjoying the reading! I thoroughly enjoyed creating this smaller world with less creatures and skin tones than Silvery Earth, but a much stronger magic system.

Last week I wrote almost 13K on the italian social sci-fi story, and I hope to finish it this week, so I can go through it and decide what to do with it. I will probably submit it to a publisher first, then indie publish it if they don’t want it.

Meanwhile I’m reading, so I’ll be able to write a few more stories in English before the end of the year. I have a few anthologies I want to submit to. And speaking of anthologies, I have a story in the one below!

Witches is part of a storybundle at this time, and you can find it here. For the visually impaired, the blurb is below.

Witches: Cutter’s Final Cut – Issue 4

Witches. Who doesn’t need more witches in their life?

These pages contain stories of witches, big and small.

There to save a baby’s life. Or perhaps a town. Or searching for a helping hand, a friend, or even a very special book.

If you’re looking for upbeat, contemporary stories with just that little bit of extra sparkle, you need this anthology!

Issue Four of Cutter’s Final Cut: dedicated to pushing the boundaries of genre fiction.

Be sure to pick up the whole series today!

My story is about an elderly witch and it’s very different from my other contemporary urban fantasy. Yes, this is the year of experimenting new subgenres of fantasy, LOL! And I’m still not sure what my next big project will be, but I’ll make further experiments also in sci-fi soon – well the Italian story is already an experiment, since I haven’t written much social sci-fi to date, except Soul Thieves.

In case you have no idea of what I’m talking about, here’s Wikipedia’s explanation:

Social science fiction is a subgenre of science fiction, usually (but not necessarily) soft science fiction, concerned less with technology/space opera and more with speculation about society. In other words, it “absorbs and discusses anthropology” and speculates about human behavior and interactions.

So there, now you know! Have a great week! 🙂

by Barb on 12/10/2022 • Permalink

Posted in indie publishing, real world inspiration, the Human being, writing projects

Tagged anthology, fantasy, indie publishing, storybundle, witches, writing

Posted by Barb on 12/10/2022

https://creativebarbwire.wordpress.com/2022/10/12/wednesday-weekly-roundup-157/

Wednesday Weekly Roundup

One week left for the Heroines of Space Opera Bundle! Grab it now before it’s gone forever!

So last week I wrote the last 190 words in English for now, and started on the Italian story, throwing in 6380 words. Most were around the weekend again, since during the week I was busy wrapping the Immortaland Dragons.

Now I even formatted all the books, the only thing left to do is upload them! 🙂 Book 3 is coming, so stay tuned. And thank you for whoever already purchased Book 1, I hope you’ll enjoy the ride.

I’m currently writing near-future, non-space-opera sci-fi, and considering how things are going in the real world, it’s not the best place to explore, so I hope to get back to fantasy soon. Unless I come up with a new space opera saga with a space-faring Earth meeting aliens! 😉

In theory I have a couple of alternatives, but I’m sick of recycling old stories. Even re-reading them is painful, and I can still see the “movies” but I’m probably the only one who can, so… I guess I’ve changed, both in the way I write and in what I write!

There’s no going back, so onward! Have a great week!

by Barb on 05/10/2022 • Permalink

Posted in indie publishing, real world inspiration, writing projects

Tagged fantasy, indie publishing, science fiction, space opera, storybundle, writing

Posted by Barb on 05/10/2022

https://creativebarbwire.wordpress.com/2022/10/05/wednesday-weekly-roundup-156/

Wednesday Weekly Roundup

Book 2 is out as promised! Giving the final touches to Book 5 so it will be ready for the November release… The series page is growing everywhere there is a series page (publisher, Amazon, Smashwords)… but unfortunately the Kobo promo in certain regions for Book 1 is over.

Last week I wrote 415 words in English then started thinking about the next project that will for now be in Italian. But I’ve discovered I don’t really want to translate my own works anymore, so from now on I’ll probably have different titles availabe in the two languages.

Although I might write another book on the same topic in English, eventually. I’m back to sci-fi for a couple of months, also to honor the Heroines of Space Opera bundle of which I’m part. I haven’t had time to read any of these books, but I hope to catch up on some fiction reading in the coming months. If you like SF, don’t let this bundle slip away, though!

The newsletter with a free story is going out soon, and you still have time to subscribe on the publisher’s site. Just enter your email, it’s a two-step process, so if you don’t confirm, you won’t receive anything. It’s bi-monthly, so it won’t encumber your inbox very often! 🙂

More changes coming to FB Pages (and we came a long way since Fan Pages already), so maybe I should write about a world without disruptive tech, LOL! But I decided to be optimistic despite the apocalypse going on around us and to write about a technological future (since the untechnological post-pandemic Earth is already featured in the Future Earth Chronicles).

After 21 Lessons for the 21st Century and Homo Deus, I’m going through Enough – Staying Human in an Engineered Age which was published in 2003, and some things are already happening… so Human Beware! 🙂

That’s all for today! September is over already… Have a great week and read through the apocalypse! 😉

by Barb on 28/09/2022 • Permalink

Posted in indie publishing, reading, real world inspiration, writing projects

Tagged ebooks, fantasy, indie publishing, science fiction, space opera bundle, writing

Posted by Barb on 28/09/2022

https://creativebarbwire.wordpress.com/2022/09/28/wednesday-weekly-roundup-155/

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! 🙂