And I got paperbacks! Both of the Ghost Bus Riders and of Crunchy with Chocolate! You may notice the paperback covers of GBR are not exactly the same as the ebooks. You can check the series page where they’re in the same image. The difference is in the positioning of the ghost bus, the image had a limited reach for the wrap cover, hence I had to move it around.
And a reminder of where you can find Crunchy with Chocolate, that includes my short story Dragon Life: publisher’s site + ebook universal link (paperback available on publisher’s site and Amazon). And yes, I’ve added it to the Other Publications page as well. Stay tuned for more, it’s not over yet this year! 🙂
For the second week in a row, I wrote more than 10K, so I might reach those 400K after all. Especially if I start on the second novel right now, with the first still fresh and out to a beta reader (and most faithful adviser – she was my offline beta before she moved back to the US). Still short of the original aim, but it’s been a weird year, and I’m not complaining at all.
Stay tuned for the Halloween Spectacular 2021 – did you subscribe to it yet? It’s coming really soon! More good news are coming, including a new title out at the end of the month, so stay tuned. I’m off Day Job so I’m working on multiple projects at the same time, LOL!
Now I’m going back to my neverending TBR pile of books (both ebooks and paperbacks) and my next writing project… 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! 🙂
That sale I had last year at the anthology workshop? It’s one of them! I have no idea of when it will actually land in your inbox, so you better go grab your Halloween Spectacular Calendar! It makes a great gift too!
Here’s how it works:
Every day, starting on October 25, 2021, and running through November 2, 2021, you will get an original short story sent to you (or the recipient of your choice) via email.
Each seasonally themed tale is accompanied by an introduction by the editor of the Halloween Calendar of Stories, Mark Leslie.
You will get each story in ebook format (epub and mobi), so you can read them daily on your own device, anywhere, anytime you choose. Or you can store them up and binge on a weekend.
Your choice.
As an added bonus, all subscribers will receive the Halloween Harvest anthology, which includes all nine stories, plus two bonus stories! Halloween Harvest will be released just two days after the calendar ends, on November 4.
Stay tuned for more – and the announcement of my story in the calendar! 🙂
click on image to go to site
I think I realized what changed in my writing and why I’m no longer having fun. I used to write stories based on “movies” streaming in my head. I started losing that “sight” some time ago, in theory to learn my craft, add setting and so one.
Result: now I write prose in my head and it’s not as much fun. I should try to get back to writing movies but with the depth and setting and all the other stuff. Except currently I can’t even see those stories that I used to tell myself (not for public consumption because, hey, not everything we do creatively is for public consumption! 😉 ), so I’m probably burned out somehow.
That’s why I’m taking it easy this year. I want to get back my inspiration – I don’t even see Da Muses anymore! So, I want them back in my mind to create more awesome stories. Although I’m also changing topics and veering into historical time travel, there’s still room for them.
Clearly taking inspiration from still pictures is not the same thing as having a real person in mind! About the Ghost Bus Riders, I still have a virtual cast, although I couldn’t put them on the cover, but for other stories/series it was no longer the case. So, back to my roots!
This week I wrote only a short story for an anthology and the weekend was busy. I’m mostly done with physiotherapy (feeling better, thank you), so hopefully next week I’ll have more writing time and will start the next project.
It’s still short works for now, but I want to complete another Themed Collection before I move on. You will get one at the end of the month and one in December, but I need one for the new year as well! 🙂 Then we’ll see.
Next weekend I’ll upload the last Ghost Bus Riders book and publish also the three paperbacks. Meanwhile, you can check out Crunchy With Chocolate – dragon stories that include one of mine… how cool is that? 🙂
First big announcement: new title, yay! Book 2 of the Ghost Bus Riders is now out on all retailers! Stay tuned for Book 3… (and again, since the new WP dashboard doesn’t collaborate, head for the publisher’s page to read the blurb, thank you).
Kickstarter chapter is closed, with a hundred more thanks to those awesome backers. I sent out the rewards on Saturday, and being such a small thing, it took me about one hour. I can’t imagine how long it would take if I had hundreds of backers!
I’m getting better at dealing with Kicksarter’s dashboard too – I found unread messages and other stuff I had ignored so far while working on my campaign. I learned to go there and check at least once a week to see if there are other annoucements that don’t reach my inbox.
And they have a neat button to “report spam” which I used gleefully on the first day (someone offering exposure and a backing pledge that would probably never materialize anyway) and even more gleefully when the Kickstarter was done and funded (these people clearly can’t read if the campaign is still going or not, how can they help me with visibility? 😉 )
Anyhow, moving on, maybe I’ll do another next year. This week I have to finish a few shorts to send Mighty Editor next week, but I’m still quite busy. I feel like I’m working full-time again, but it’s actually medical stuff (and renewing my ID) that keep me busy on afternoons. Hopefully I’ll manage to finish whatever I need to finish.
Production-wise, last week was low again, for the same reason as this week. I wrote 4600words and managed to wrap the October project (hints in the newsletter coming out tomorrow, you still have time to subscribe to it) so I can send it to Mighty Editor next week along with the story I hope to write this week.
Then I’ll probably go back to Otherside and write a few more stories for that one… or maybe I’ll start the new project. We’ll see! 🙂 Have a great week!
And the Kickstarter stress is over, yay! And it funded at the last minute, thanks to a very special person! Now I’ll be busy preparing the rewards, so even less time for writing this week, but I’ll catch up – I’m between projects anway, LOL!
Maybe next year I’ll do another, for a different series. I certainly learned a lot with my first attempt, and I thank again all backers for believing in me! 🙂 And if you’re a backer, your reward is on the way as soon as I figure out how to do it! 😀 (and if you didn’t select a reward, I have already thanked you)
Last week I wrote a little over 9K and this week I probably won’t write much, since most afternoons are busy with the above, physio and going through the next Ghost Bus Riders book that just came back from Mighty Editor. Gotta hit that “publish” button in the weekend, it will have to be ready, LOL!
The rest of the month I will write more short stories to submit to various anthologies – actually, for the rest of the year I’m probably writing short stories, and will start on the next long-form project in January. Maybe. We’ll see.
I hope to announce an anthology I’m part of soon, the editor sent us the proof and the cover and both look great, so stay tuned! 🙂
This is quite short, but not much else is happening, so I’ll go back to my editing and wish you a wonderful week! 🙂
This week’s big announcement is… publishing news! Please welcome my latest baby, first of three that will come out in the coming weeks! And since the WP dashboard is fighting me, check the blurb on the publisher’s page, sigh.
For now there’s the ebook only, I’m waiting for book 2 and 3 to come back from Mighty Editor, then I’ll prepare all three paperbacks and they’ll come out with the last ebook in October. Oh, and I made a new series page for urban fantasy if you want a preview of the other books and what’s next.
And we’re approaching the end of my Kickstarter campaign – next Wednesday it will be over – with not yet 50% funding. Check it out one last time, even 1euro will do, and share it with your friends. I’m happy it was a short one because the stress was… interesting! 🙂
Now, since you can see how many Kickstarters I’ve backed on my own, let me give you a rundown on the ones that are still active at this time. Check them out and possibly give them some love. Good reading stuff all over the place!
Spade/Paladin Conundrums: A Kickstarter Campaign I normally don’t read mystery, but I’ve been to a number of sci-fi convention… imagining a mystery at the next Worldcon tickled my curiosity (I do hope to get to Chicago next year, 10 years after my first worldcon, same place)! 🙂
The Gripping Fireheart Fantasy Series because who doesn’t love some fantasy? A smaller project that needs your help, much like mine! 🙂 Also, the author is European like me! 😀
End of the Line Another European author (or at least based in Europe) rebooting a disaster novel set in the Arctic. So check them out and give them some love, especially the European ones! 😉
Last week I did some writing (a little over 7K), but again, a lot of non-writerly stuff, trying hard not to get used to no-DayJob schedule. It was only two weeks after all. Plenty of time to reschedule my life in a couple of years or so – hopefully.
I also did a lot of thinking on what to do next, but I’m clearly not ready for Very Important Decisions yet. So I’m going to finish the year by writing shorter works, and will publish a couple more themed collections of originals, then next year we’ll see.
The next longer work can be serialized, but Kindle Vella is still US only at this time and I’m not sure Patreon would work as a subscription place. I will have to research how to bring it to you regularly before I start publishing it. I have also considered starting my own magazine (best way to serialize that project), but I’m not sure I can keep it going for longer than my old, photocopied stuff yet.
Maybe I will try to figure out what my strength are. This podcast was enlightening on many things. Maybe I will take the CliftonStrengths assessment next weekend.
This week is back to work with physiptherapy Mon.Wed.Fri afternoons, so probably less time to write. I’m just going to take it easy on myself, since my body is getting old and achy! 😉
Last announcement: my Jedi twin has a collection of short stories out! Check it out – you might have already read him in my curated anthologies, but this is all him! 🙂 Who doesn’t want to know what happens in The Record Store at the Edge of the Time Stream? 😉 Have a great week! 😀
I’m quite excited about this new adventure and I hope you like it as much as I enjoyed preparing it. It’s a new experience and I look forward to seeing how it pans out!
Last week I managed almost 8K between the Kickstarter prepping, the workshops (all done now) and some errands (including doctors visits).
This week is quite busy too, but hopefully I’ll manage my 10K this time. After all I’m at the office in the mornings, usually, so it’s not much different. And I have a book to format and publish as well.
After all those workshop, I’m now happy again to write and publish. I have fun writing and I enjoy making covers, hitting those “publish” buttons isn’t that hard anymore. So it doesn’t matter if I’m publishing into the void for another year or ten, I’m doing it for myself.
I still read fiction on Kindle (because I can change the font size and it feels like reading on paper, I can’t read on a phone or computer screen) and non-fiction on paper, but other people might have different reading habits.
I still print out my manuscripts to edit them (or when I get them back from Mighty Editor), because I can’t read on screen for long. And I try to read my own paperbacks because often I find more typos that escaped both mine and Mighty Editor’s eyes.
But I’m an elder reader with sight problems. I used to be short-sighted, now I’m also slightly near-sighted, sigh. That’s why I’ll probably never go back to my beads jewelry and I will give all the material I still have to a younger woman (I already found her, so don’t ask! 😉 Eventually she’ll get all my crafts materials).
Now I better go back to the writing desk. Those stories aren’t going to write themselves! Have a great week!
Last week I wrote less than 6K, only one story instead of two, and spent the weekend working on the strip, so I can get it out of the way and give the laptop to Techie Bro and see if he can fix the printer problem. I have reached 300K this year anyway, so I’m not worried – besides, I did mention that if I didn’t reach my goal I wouldn’t berate myself.
It’s almost as if back in January I already knew there would be life rolls coming along during the year, LOL! Well, it’s also the 10 years anniversary from my start in indie publishing, which means this is probably a year of assessment, more than production.
This week I’ll be busy with those online courses, so if Tori wants to do the virtual writing week with reciprocal accountability, I suggest we do it next week, after I send off the two books of the trilogy still to be edited to Mighty Editor and might be more in a writing mood.
I might write a story this week anyway, but again, I won’t berate myself if I’m not as productive as I used to be. It’s been a really shitty summer this year, but hopefully the worst is gone and things will get better from now on. Welcome to September, LOL!
Monday was spent with the Kickstarter Best Practices free workshop and trying to set up my first Kickstarter. Still under review, though, so I won’t say much at this time. The learning curve is steep, but eventually I will jump. Stay tuned.
Yesterday I wrote more than 2K on the new story and went to see the doctor, today I have an appointment for my right arm that still hurts, I’ll probably have to do more physiotherapy. We’ll see.
The weather has cooled down at last, so it’s easier to do everything, including a morning walk. Wishing you all a wonderful week! 🙂
Last week I wrote 11K+ on assorted shorts and will continue to do so this week, so I have some stuff ready for Mighty Editor the first week of September! 🙂 Covers are also almost ready, I’ll probably work on them next weekend, just in case.
I will go through the Kickstarter workshop first, then the pop-ups I gathered through Kickstarter or the Collection Workshop. I was thinking of doing some short traveling in Italy, but no, I’ll leave that to October when I have another two weeks off.
So “back to school” next week, yay! I usually call it research, but it’s still learning. I do have plenty of non-fiction books in my reading, be them history or some topic I don’t know much about. I might not recommend them in my end-of-the-year reading list (I only do fiction there), but I do add them to my Bookbub recommendations if I find the book on there. I may have already mentioned that I gave up on Goodreads a long time ago! 😉
For some mysterious reason, my 2-year-old printer suddenly stopped printing in colors. I tryed to uninstall and reinstall the drivers, but nothing… I guess I’ll keep it and buy only the black cartridge for now. I actually need to print in color only to do my pencil portraits, and I still have a few printed but not drawn, LOL!
Well, I also print out my final ebook covers… I guess I’ll stick to the mock-covers until I fix the problem or buy a new printer. The shop I usually go to is still closed because, thanks to Covid, we’re back to pre-2010 August closures. Sigh.
Oh, and I restarted posting Da Strip on Instagram, even though it’s still a PITA (can’t upload from PC, phone doesn’t see Dropbox, had to copy everything on microSD card) in case you want to follow. Last week was quiet enough that I managed to draw a few more in the morning (yeah, at DayJob), and I’ll try to do more from now on.
I guess that’s all for today… have a great week and Happy Birthday to Me! 🙂
Last week was mostly editing week and not much writing was done, although I did manage a short story I plan to send to an anthology that will open at the end of the month (under 5K/week). I’m probably staying in this urban fantasy setting until the end of the month, and then in September I’ll move on.
I went looking for a Canadian pen pal, since one of the stories I’m writing this week is set in Toronto and I hoped she could fact-check me, but a Google search informed me she passed away 10 years ago at age 42. I met her in 2004, getting away from the tour group (my mother and my sister went to Niagara Falls with the rest of the group while I met up with her) and she took me on the CN Tower. Then we lost touch and now it’s too late to rekindle the pen-palship. Sigh.
On Saturday (a.k.a. Bollywood night, usually) I rewatched Ashoka after maybe a decade? I realized that it will be 15 years (next April) since the start of my Bollywood mania on that British Airways flight to LA (to the Scriptwriter Showcase) that showed me KANK.
I bought Ashoka in London and haven’t watched it in years because it has the subtitles on the movie and often unreadable (white on white). But on Tiktok I saw this 6-year-old dancing to San Sanana and decided to watch it again – after studying a lot more of India history and weapons, LOL!
Besides Ashoka’s sword being a total fantasy and looking more like Conan the Barbarian’s than an actual sword, the anachronism I found was the whip-sword, which I believe was “invented” by the Maratha, like, a millennium later? It’s okay in Bajirao’s hands, but not really in Ashoka’s! 🙂
As you can see, it’s not even on this panel of Indian swords available @Mehrangarh Fort in Jodhpur… but besides that, there were plenty of talwars, a dagger I can’t really see in the panel above (a khanja? a bicchwa?) and at the end Kaurwaki uses a katar, wrapping it (badly) around her wrist.
And then my Hindi improved of one word, since I finally heard how to properly say “rakshasa”! 🙂 There’s plenty of them both in my Vampires Through the Centuries and even one in the upcoming urban fantasy trilogy, LOL! One day I’ll get back to study Hindi and Devanagari, but now is not the time, I don’t have the brain for it.
You can’t bring the past back. Embrace the future and wait for what it brings (says the woman who still uses a Nokia c1 for call, but does have a smartphone that she uses as tablet)! 🙂 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?
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