S.L. Viehl's Blog, page 93

Get Feedback, Help a Pup

Author P.N. Elrod is holding a virtual garage sale to raise funds to pay for her pup Fuzzy's vet bills, and among the treasures are donation critiques:

Limit is 2500 words. If it goes longer to finish out a paragraph, that's okay, but don't send more than that. Most editors and agents make a decision based on the first couple pages. 2.5K words = 10 manuscript pages. Send the start of the story or novel, no prologues, no middle of the story with your "best" stuff.

The author asks for a donation (minimum $10.00) in return for the critique, which is quite reasonable. I also have it on good authority that a very cool bag of convention swag will be added to the Garage Sale page in the near future, so check back for updates.

Birds & Art

Before we get to the Friday video, some of you know how my home is a magnet for nesting birds. I don't know why, but I suspect it has something to do with the fact that I feed them all year long. If you're going to have babies, might as well be near the best take-out place in the neighborhood.

For the last several years I have found birds nesting in the oddest places: on top of my birdhouses, in my potted plants and my hanging plants, but the absolute strangest spot of all time was in our backyard grill:



I thought I was the only author who attracted these ditzy birds, but it turns out they're after Shiloh Walker, too:



All I can say is lift the lid and check your grill before you turn it on, writers.

I do have a delightful video for you this week that features Lila, sort of an artist version of Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Amélie. It is long, but worth every second (and features music and background sounds, for those of you at work):

"LILA" from Carlos Lascano on Vimeo.

Three Wishes

Spring arrived and brought time to dream
as the world woke up
and turned to green

To celebrate winter's finish
She's granting you three wishes


I wish for wonderful things to see and learn and do



I wish for peace for all of you



and I wish everyone has time to make their dreams come true.

Will Write for Kittens

While cruising around some links I came across Written? Kitten, aka the most adorable writing prompter on the internet. It's very simple, in that you type your words in the box provided. For every hundred words you write there, you get a (virtual) kitten, as you can see from my first try here:



I forgot to do a screen capture when I reached 100 words, so my screenshot actually shows my second kitten. This little online tool is oddly delightful, and while obviously all in good fun, might even help you bust through a writing block (unless you hate cats; then you might want to try a heartless unfeeling wretch prompter.) I think it would also be great for kids who are learning how to type or journal, or who might be slogging through written homework.

Off & Sub Op

I am taking off today to deal with some family business. So that your stop here was not wasted, here's an interesting new sub op I found among the marvelous market listings over at Ralan.com:

According to their web site, Spacesuits and Sixguns is a "magazine of contemporary pulp fiction – simple, straightforward storytelling with an emphasis on action. We’re not looking for Lovecraft or Howard pastiches, or stories set in the 1930’s. Read a dozen pulp fiction stories, soak it all up, then ask yourself: what if this happened in my hometown today? Write close to home, write about what you love, and follow Elmore Leonard’s maxim: leave out the parts people skip. All genres accepted — detective, horror, mystery, adventure, SF, sword and sorcery. We love them all." Length: "Give us about 4000 words. Shorter is fine. We’re flexible. If it’s longer and it’s good, no problem. Rule number one – be fun!" Payment: "Pays 4 cents/word on publication." Query on reprints, electronic submissions only, see guidelines for more details.

Not a Penny Ten

Ten Things You Can Have for Free

Freeware caution: always scan free downloads of anything for bugs and other threats before dumping the programs into your hard drive.

CintaNotes is a "Windows application that will let you easily collect and manage thousands of text-based information pieces. The application sits in the Windows system tray and springs into action on a hotkey. Ergonomic, fast and inobtrusive: you’ll feel it is part of the OS. And all this together with excellent searching and organizing abilites — CintaNotes makes collecting, organizing and finding information a breeze. A must-have for all knowledge workers: a no-nonsense, simple and pleasant way to maximum productivity" (OS: Windows XP/Vista/7/8)

Desktop Journal is a "basic and straightforward journal software, meant to store your entries safely, without all the confusing and frivolous bells and whistles. All entries are encrypted and access to the interior of your journal can only be accessed by you (front-cover passcode). Entries can be searched by date, you can simply flip through your entries by page (forward and back), or you can set the trackbar thumb to jump to a desired location within your journal pages. The interior of the journal also contains a user friendly, searchable and integrated contact book which can store names, numbers and email or street addresses of family or friends. Complete help-files are also included" (OS: Designer notes "There are no special system requirements. Windows platform (compatibility): XP, Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8/8RT [RT is the ´light´ version installed on most small tablets])

DoPDF is a "free PDF creator that does what the name suggests, creates PDF files. Once installed it will allow you to convert any type of printable documents to PDF files. doPDF installs itself as a virtual PDF printer driver so after a successful installation will appear in your Printers and Faxes list and also in the list of All Programs" (OS: Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista/7)

DreamPlan Home Design is a home and landscape planning and design software that allows you to "Visualize and plan your dream home with a realistic 3D home model; create the floor plan of your house, condo or apartment; custom set colors, textures, furniture, decorations and more and plan out exterior landscaping and garden spaces" [PBW notes: if you want a freeware to help you design a particular setting, this one could be quite useful] (OS: Windows 7, XP, Vista and 8 64-bit)

Efficient Calendar is an "elegant and easy-to-use scheduler, planner and reminder. Multiple calendar views, such as Day and Month views as well as list view are available so you can better arrange and track your events. All appointments, meetings, events and tasks can be reminded in time as configured, and you will never miss any important event" (OS: Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista/7 [32-Bit/64-Bit])

Interactive Calendar is a "fusion of a multi-functional desktop calendar with impressive customization capabilities and a convenient task manager, capable of bringing some order to your business and personal life. This unique software displays a calendar and its cells right on your desktop wallpaper, making it an integral part of your Windows theme. Interactive Calendar renders cells 400%-1000% faster than its closest competitors, which makes it the fastest calendar software of this type on the market. No delays and update lags, no jerky refreshes – the user interface is both smooth and natural looking. Planning your time with Interactive Calendar is a breeze. Its greatest advantage is the degree of visual customization it supports. You can customize everything from the position of the calendar on the screen to its size, color, transparency, font, shadows, cell spacing and much more, to make sure it stays in line with your desktop color scheme. As a bonus, Interactive Calendar includes a built-in wallpaper changer" (OS: Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7/8 [32-Bit/64-Bit])

Money Manager is a "free, open-source, cross-platform, easy-to-use personal finance software. It primarily helps organize one's finances and keeps track of where, when and how the money goes. It is also a great tool to get a bird's eye view of your financial worth. Money Manager includes all the basic features that 90% of users would want to see in a personal finance application. The design goals are to concentrate on simplicity and user-friendliness - something one can use everyday" (OS: Windows, Linux and Mac OSX)

Task List Guru is a "free task list organizer ideal for personal task management and small project management. You can organize not just tasks, but also task lists, notes and reminders. Task List Guru has a hierarchical task list tree with icons that allows you to organize all your todo lists and notes in a structure with icons. You can choose from 48 different colorful icons for your to-do lists - this makes using this organizer fun" (OS: Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7/8)

TodoPlus is a task management program that allows you to "Break down your goals into small and achievable steps; reduce time spend on unimportant tasks; focus on your most important tasks first; stay focused on one task at a time; always know what to do next; achieve more in less time by being more productive and reduce stress caused by having too many tasks in your head, and the fear of forgetting something important" (OS: Windows, Mac OS X)

WowBase is a program that allows you to "create your own database quickly and easily. The main feature of the program — records are not in the form of rows, and in the form of cards. This method of editing the records you have not tried! There is quite a different attitude to the records: now this is not one thin strip of thousands, and a separate independent object that can be manipulated. You can even copy a few records and send them via instant message or e-mail to a colleague that he added them to his table. Very simple interface and minimal facilities needed for editing tables" (OS: Windows XP/Vista/7/8 [32-Bit/64-Bit])

IngramSpark for Indies

I've had more than a few folks ask me about free publishing services for indie authors, in hopes that I had something tucked away in the No-Cost file. Unfortunately:

1. I am not an indie author, unless you count self-publishing e-books for the last thirteen years. Since they're all free I think that makes me crazy, not indie.

2. From my limited POV (and when I say limited I mean it in the comfortably-fits-in-my-favorite-thimble sense because I don't do it myself) unless you handle everything -- formatting, cover art, promotions, web site, Twitter, Facebook etc. -- indie publishing is never 100% free.

So those are the disclaimers, and I defer anything I write in this post in advance to any dissenting indie author with more experience than me, which is basically every indie author.

That said, I did a little homework and found that if you're interested in going the indie author route IngramSpark may offer the most pub for your buck as an all-in-one low-cost pub/concierge POD service:

Ingram Content Group has introduced IngramSpark, a new Publish-on-Demand platform that enables the delivery of content worldwide to readers in print and electronic formats. Powered by Lightning Source and CoreSource, Ingram’s ebook distribution platform, IngramSpark is specifically tailored to the needs of the small and independent publisher.

IngramSpark streamlines sales, account set up, content management and customer support activities into an easy-to-use, self-service platform. All you need to get started is an email address, print-ready PDFs for print titles, EPUB and JPEG for ebooks, an ISBN, and a credit card.

Here's a look at their pricing (my comments are in italics):

Account Set-Up: Free (excellent)

Title Set-Up ~ Loading, storing, and managing book, ebook files, and metadata per title.

Book and ebook -- $49.00 (submitted at the same time)
Book -- $49.00
E-book -- $25.00

(Admittedly not cheap but I think in the range of reasonable for most wallets.)

Titles are eligible for automatic free set-up with an initial order of 50+ copies. When a print order is placed for 50 copies within 60 days of title set-up, the customer will receive a $49 refund. (I would first figure out how much 50+ print copies are going to cost you before signing on for this. As in spending $1000.00 to save $49.00 is a bit silly.)

Print On Demand (Print & Ship): Printing and shipping costs will depend on your book type, volume, and shipping location.
You can print as many copies as you need (one or thousands). We have volume discounts available for large print orders. (They have a Print and Ship Calculator to help you estimate costs, too, which can be helpful.)

Global Market Access (Book & Ebook Distribution) ~ Your title(s) are automatically available for purchase to over 39,000 global retailers, and their consumers. (I would want to know upfront if Amazon, B&N and BAM are among these 39K retailers, but that's me.)

Book and Ebook Market Access -- $12.00 per title, per year (if submitted at the same time)
Book Market Access -- $12.00 per title, per year
Ebook Market Access -- $12.00 per title, per year

(Not so thrilled about this charge, as access has already been granted via the set-up charges, but a dollar a month is also reasonable for most wallets.)

Publisher Compensation:

When your books are sold through our distribution network, you are paid:
Printed (POD) Title -- Dependent upon your wholesale discount, you are paid 45% or 60% of List Price minus print costs
Ebook Title -- 40% of List and Agency Price

(And this would be when? Something you might also want to find out in advance.)

Upside: This is quite a bit cheaper than the indie publishing platform my literary agent recommended to me some time back, so I hope that means indie author services are becoming more competitive.

Downside: It's all self-service, so if you mess up something along the way you might end up with a clunker or having to repeat the entire process. I also suspect that if anything goes wrong it may take some doing to correct, so you might want to find an author who has used the service and ask them about their experience with it.

Speaking of that, does anyone out there use IngramSpark's services, and if so can you share any intel on how they perform? Or do you use another POD publisher that provides more services for less $$$? Please let us know in comments.

Spec Fic Contest

The Twentieth Annual Garden State Speculative Fiction Writers Short Story Contest is now open for entries, and this year's theme is "Harping on Conspiracies": "1970s paranoia is back in fashion, but with a 21st century technological edge. Does the NSA listen in on every little tweet? Will drones watch over the backyards of America? And what exactly is HAARP (the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program), with its high-power radio frequency transmitter facility located deep in the Alaskan wilderness? Is the Air Force really studying the ionopshere, or is electronically tickling the Northern Lights a cute cover for more sinister experiments in weather manipulation, satellite disruption and mind control? Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to impress us with the wildest conspiracy you can imagine, whether inspired by current events like those above or drawn completely from your worst hypothetical fears. All genres will be considered, and the subject matter need not be limited to modern, scientific skullduggery. Freemasonry, ancient cabals, cults, secret societies and good, old-fashioned assassination plots are just as welcome." Length: up to 4K (firm); prizes: "All authors will receive written critiques from each of three first round judges. The top three stories will move on to the second round, judged by Hildy Silverman, editor-in-chief of Space and Time Magazine. The 1st Place story will be published in a future issue of S&T, as per editor’s timeline and discretion, and the author will receive the Graversen Award ($75), in honor of the GSSW’s founder, Patricia Graversen. The 2nd and 3rd place winners will receive $40 and $25, respectively." No entry fee, no reprints, electronic submissions only, see contest page for more details. Deadline: July 31st, 2014.

Crazy Real

This computer animated video looks so real it may actually make you queasy (some sound effects, for those of you at work):

Crazy Furniture from immortal-arts on Vimeo.

Quilting Picasso Update

Thanks to a couple of quiet nights I've been able to make significant progress on my Picasso project, which presently is in this stage:



The glaringly white ribbon flower is now a lovely tangerine hibiscus color, thanks to some careful application of not-too-wet watercolor paint:



I chose this particular shade to compliment Picasso's colors and to match the hedge that bloomed outside the back door of my childhood home. I think it's important to weave a little personal history into any creative project, even when it has special meaning only to you; that is what makes it uniquely your work.

The lady now has some pretty lace and bead cuffs for her dress, too:



I'm not sure if the cuffs are too fussy for the piece, but her sleeves looked a bit naked without them, and they pick up some of the colors of the midsection beading I did. I've also decided on the fabric I'm going to use for the other half of the project:



I believe I'm done with embellishing Picasso's lady, and now I'll move on to finishing up the piece (I do have to set it aside for at least a week while I take care of some work-related business stuff, too.) I'm still sticking to a mantra of keep it bold and simple, which so far has worked out very well. For all of you who are interested, when it's done if I'm happy with it I will be giving away the finished project here at the blog, so if I don't mess it up in the very near future (end of April, beginning of May or thereabouts) it could be yours.