Ana Spoke's Blog, page 7

I wrote 2.8Kwords today. And 2.6K yesterday. What’s changed, you ask?

Well, Josh has been asking that. Every time I’ve bragged about kicking my goals the last few days, or that I’ve written almost 20K words in less than two weeks, he inevitably asks what’s changed. That’s because I’ve struggled to deliver on my ambitious long service leave writing plan, averaging only about 500 words per day, with occasional bursts of 2-3 thousand per day. Those were usually followed by days of writer’s block.

So what has changed? I decided to examine the last few months, and these are my thoughts:

1. TOOLS.

I credit Scrivener with helping me get my third novel off the ground quickly. I wrote Shizzle, Inc and Indiot in Word, which is fine, but I can only now appreciate how difficult it was to plot a full-length novel with subplots, multiple characters, and several plot twists, in a linear document. Scrivener, if you’re not familiar with the tool, allows you to chunk and organise your novel, so you have a clear “skeleton” of acts, chapters, and even scenes onto which to add finer strokes of your prose. I’m not sure why I’ve never tried it before, especially because it’s free to try for 30 days, and only costs $40 to purchase outright.

(Note: I googled and found a 20% coupon, so it only cost me $32. The coupon is WORDSWITHJAM and only works on the full version, but it may stop working soon. If that’s the case, just Google another one.)

I have also purchased a much more expensive Dragon Naturally Speaking narration software, but I’m finding that it’s difficult for me to use it at the moment. Some of it is my accent, so I will have to invest some time into training my Dragon. The other problem comes from twenty-plus years of “thinking through my fingertips.” I’m not giving up on it, though, and hey – just used it to type out this sentence!

2.  MOOD.

I had a personal drama unfold earlier this year, which meant that I spent my February crying, and March elated when it finally resolved. Try writing comedy when the world is dark and tears are literally streaming down your cheeks almost constantly. Try writing anything at all when you’re so happy, you don’t care about anything, including your goals and aspirations. I guess what I’m trying to say is that if you have pressing issues of any kind, concentrating on something else is difficult. All you get are fight-or-flight, not sit-down-and-write response.

Also, while I’ve managed to write about 30K words of Indiot in November-January, I had to eventually conclude that those particular words were garbage, and I was continuously rewriting/editing/deleting as I progressed further with the first draft. So even if I wrote 2-3K on a good day and then deleted as much of the old stuff, the resulting word count was insignificant. And that’s just the nature of writing. I’m thinking what I wrote today is pretty good, but I’m not sure how I will feel about it in another month or two.

3. ATTITUDE.

This is a weird one. Some credit is due to bad reviews and people on KBoards advising me to scrap my cover, scrap my series, and write in a different genre, because chicklit is dead. Those comments hurt, but then they give me some kind of angry energy and desire to prove those people wrong. It also helped that a few days ago I’ve downloaded DMX’s X Goin’ To Give It To Ya and I jump up and down to it whenever I’m starting to feel low. To paraphrase DMX, “Ana’s gonna give it to ya” and “First we gonna write, and then we’ll write more!” DMX is not for everyone, but damn! Listen to it enough, and next thing you know, you just want to drag race and smash things, and maybe challenge strangers to a dance off…like I said, not for everyone.

4.PRIORITIES.

I’ve let my social media stagnate a bit. What can I say, I was an addict. I still reply to messages, but only once a day, and only after I’ve done my daily writing quota. It’s great to have an active following, and I’m not going to let it stagnate into a deadpool, especially not with #ComedyBookWeek coming up, but I think I now have my priorities straight. Writing comes first. Everything else is after.

5. ROUTINE.

Ah, I left the seemingly boring, but very important thing to the last. It’s also related to setting priorities – now I get up early, have my coffee, walk the dog, and sit down to write. Today, I had my first thousand words by 9am. The feeling of accomplishment is like a drug – I had the 2.8K done by 1pm, and then decided to quit for the day, out of fear that I may burn out.  I still had the energy to burn – you should see my sparkling kitchen.

Tomorrow the goal is 3K. Ana’s goin’ to give it to ya!

#ComedyBookWeek Calendar of Events

So wonderful to see everyone excited about the big event! I have started the list of links to what will be happening each day – if you have a post/review/interview happening during 16-23 July, please let me know in the comments below, and I will add it to the Calendar.

Dear book bloggers – please make sure your review is posted on the scheduled date, or advise me if you want the date moved. Once you have a dedicated URL for the post, please advise, and I will update the link (the links are currently generic to your blog).

16 JULY

C (the happy meerkat) review of Shizzle, Inc by Ana Spoke.

17 JULY

Barb Taub’s review of Must Love Ghosts by Ani Gonzalez.

Jam (Leaves et Livres) review of Do Not Wash Hands in Plates by Barb Taub.

18 JULY

Rosa Temple’s interview with Ana Spoke, author of Shizzle, Inc.

C (the happy meerkat) review of Space Adventurer #1 by Carrie Hatchett.

19 JULY

Rosa Temple’s Review of How To Cook Up A Disaster by Rachel Elizabeth Cole.

20 JULY

C (the happy meerkat) review of Do Not Wash Hands in Plates by Barb Taub.

Rosa Temple Guest Post by Bernadette Maycock, author of It Started with a Snub.

21 JULY

Jam (Leaves et Livres) review of Can You stiff Your Divorce Lawyer by Portia Porter.

Guest Post by Susan Daffron on Rosa Temple’s blog.

FB group ‘Books and Everything’ interview with Jackson Lear.

22 JULY

C (the happy meerkat) review of Kingston Raine and the Grim Reaper.

23 JULY

 

PLANNED BUT NOT YET SCHEDULED:

Ani Gonzalez will be reviewing KL Phelps(Mind if I come in), Leigh Selfman (Haunt Flashes),  Barb Taub (Null City #1), and Shizzle, Inc.

Ingenious Cat will review Kelpie Dreams.

#ComedyBookWeek – source page for book bloggers

I’ve decided to post all participating books early, to allow book bloggers to easily choose one (or a few!) books for review. If you are interested in reviewing any of the books below, please contact the author directly using their social media contacts, for a free review copy. You can also approach any participating author for an interview.

Once you’ve planned an “event” (a book review, interview, or a guest post), please do the following:

Let me know, so that I can add it to Calendar of Events,
Make sure to use #ComedyBookWeek in your post,
Use the hashtag in any Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook ads of the post – we will be retweeting all posts with the hashtag during the week of 16-23 July!
Use this graphic wherever and whenever you can:

And now, for the books. Click on the image to visit the book’s Amazon page, to read the blurb or author’s bio.

Please let me know if you’re an author and would like to add your funny book to this list.

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My Never Ending Journey to Find Success with What I Love – guest post by Bryan Caron

My blog is supposedly about self-publishing, although that’s just the current flavor of my personal journey in pursuit of happiness. It has also become a platform through which I’ve “met” other writers and creatives actively pursuing their various original dreams and ideas. It has been a pleasant surprise to discover just how supportive these people are of me and each other, even though we’ve never met, and some I only know by their pet avatars.

So I was more than happy to host this guest post by Bryan Caron, who has generously volunteered his time to beta-read Indiot and provide thorough, constructive feedback. I was even happier when I saw the title of his guest post. It’s a look into the world of someone willing to take a risk to pursue a creative dream.

Before I get to the post, let me tell you a little more about Bryan.

He is a published author of several books, with the latest one, The Spirit Of…[image error], coming out today:

Bryan is also a graphic designer – which, I’m sure, comes in handy. Below are some of the samples of his graphic work, more of which you can find on his website Phoenix Moirai.

     

And now, without further adieu, please put your hands together for Bryan’s post!

My Never Ending Journey to Find Success with What I Love

For anyone who was a product of the 80s, you may remember having seen (and adored) The NeverEnding Story. For those who aren’t familiar with the movie, or for those who don’t remember, there’s a scene in the film where Atreyu (the warrior chosen to fight the Nothing threatening the land of Fantasia) and his horse, Artex, are caught in the Swamps of Sadness, where “everyone knew that whoever let the sadness overtake him would sink into the swamp.” Unfortunately, Artex almost immediately succumbs to the sadness. At this point, Atreyu might have given up. Artex was his only companion. Without him, Atreyu is alone, afraid and all but hopeless. But he doesn’t let his grief get the best of him. He soldiers on, and though his travel through the swamp continues to be rough and arduous (almost leading to his demise), his struggles are eventually rewarded.

I bring this up because the scene is a great metaphor for pursuing and finding success in doing what you love. The road can be very hard, at times lonely, and can sometimes leave you feeling hopeless. This is especially true if you’re an artist of any kind — whether it be as a painter, a musician or, like me, a writer. The number of rejections; the long hours of spilling your soul onto a canvas, never knowing whether anyone will ever appreciate it; days that go by without any sales; the worries that come with your everyday obligations and responsibilities to yourself and others; the sacrifices you have to make to scrounge up enough money to pay your mortgage — these can all be aspects of the Swamp of Sadness, seeking to envelop you to the point of giving up on your dreams and falling back on a heavily-traveled road most people find easier to traverse. But, when you have the strength to fight through it and believe in yourself, your talent and your passion, you will more than likely be rewarded in some way. Whether that’s monetarily or simply knowing that your words (or art or music) has affected someone so much that it helped them get through a tough period in their life, until it happens, we have to keep believing we have something to offer.

For me, pursuing a profession in writing and art is something I won’t ever stop doing. I’ve told this story before, but the first time I knew writing was what I wanted to pursue was when one of my English teachers assigned us to answer the question from “The Lady or the Tiger”. One page is all we needed, but the next day, I had seven college-ruled pages ready to hand in. From that day on, writing assignments that let me stretch my imagination were my absolute favorite assignments in school.

The road to achieving this feeling on a daily basis has been a long and winding one. I am obsessed with movies, and my college years started with a failed attempt at film school. But that experience led me to pursue an art degree, only to end up earning a Bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing, and then return to school to gain my Associates in Computer Graphic Design (you know, to pay the bills), and use that to learn filmmaking and editing on the fly. I do believe that everything happens for a reason. We may never know the why, but our choices have meaning, whether it be to gain knowledge, learn a lesson, achieve a goal or grow stronger, everything that happens teaches us something and pushes us forward. Every step of my career has been frightening, exciting and at times overwhelming. But through it all, I’ve continued to grow, both artistically and professionally.

I don’t have to make millions of dollars with my art, but being able to write every day and make a decent living where I don’t have to stress everyday over paying my bills — that would be a dream come true. I haven’t found it yet, but I can’t see myself giving up just because it may seem easier to do. After all, the hardest things in life are often the most rewarding. When I decided to jump ship from the 9 to 5 cubicle to start my own business, I had very little money in my bank account and had almost no idea what I was doing. I still have very little money in my bank account, and am still finding my footing in regards to building the business, but the whole thing has been amazingly freeing, both personally and creatively. Now I get to design, write and film wherever I want and on my schedule (for the most part — there are still client expectations and obligations that I need to consider, but you get my point). It’s been two years since I started Phoenix Moirai and though I have to force myself to step out of my comfort zone almost every day, it’s been very rewarding thus far, and I am very much looking forward to what the future holds.

There have been a lot of technological advancements over the twenty years since graduating high school that have led to various opportunities I wouldn’t have had had I given up early on after receiving nothing but the word “No” from publishers and agents. Looking back, I probably wasn’t ready to achieve the success I was seeking at the time. And let’s face it… reading some of the work I wrote back then with the knowledge I have now, yeah, I can see why it was rejected. It wasn’t that it wasn’t any good; I just had a lot more to learn, and as I grew as a writer, experience gave me new insight. But between those first heartbreaking rejections and the excitement I still feel publishing a new novel of my own accord, I never stopped writing; I never stopped making films; I never stopped creating; I never stopped pursuing my dreams. Setbacks and failures are only failures when you let them hurt you instead of using them to move forward. Choosing to go into the graphic design field may have seemed like a step back for me, but doing so has opened so many doors in writing, film and design that I may not have found otherwise.

There’s a lot of noise out there nowadays. With Twitter and Facebook and YouTube and Instagram and Pinterest and platforms that allow anyone to publish a book, it’s hard to to be heard; it’s hard to find an audience; it’s hard to break through and get noticed. Should that stop me? No way. It just means I need to remain patient, continue writing, continue meeting new people like Ana, and keep marketing and getting the word out the best I can. Until then, I will continue to work hard at my craft, continue to build my business, design, write, make films and keep my held up high so that when Falkor finally finds me, I’ll be ready.

 

The very latest cover series mockup

Thank you so much for all your comments! I have obsessed some more over the photos and composition, downloading mo less than forty fonts and a few dozen cityscapes and curvy women in beautiful dresses. I pushed and tugged the rip this way and that, and I am now excrutiatingly close to being done with it. As per usual, I’m not so sure about the fonts, although I think the title font is now the best I’ve managed to find in three days of going nuts with 1001(literally!)freefonts.com. The author/series name on the first one is exactly the same as title, only not in capitals. The third one has much planer author/series fonts.

As per usual, I’m not so sure about the fonts, although I think the title font is now the best I’ve managed to find in three days of going nuts with 1001(literally!)freefonts.com. The author/series name on the first one is exactly the same as title, only not in capitals. The third one has much planer author/series fonts.

What do you think? And thank you in advance[image error]

#ComedyBookWeek is coming – do you want to participate or help?

Marketing funny is hard. If you are a humor writer, you will know exactly what I’m talking about. If you are a humor consumer – it may come as a surprise.

Before I started trying to market my books, I naively assumed that funny should almost sell itself – after all, the biggest blockbusters are usually comedies, and isn’t it a natural for the word of mouth? When it comes to books, however, humor is a tiny category, dominated by autobiographies of famous comedians. In fact, most ebook marketing sites don’t even have a mailing list for it, so I’ve had to slot Shizzle, In into Action&Adventure or YA with mixed results.

I was reminded once again of how few comedy writers are out there when I joined KBoards and saw the invitations for author cross-promotion. They were all either for fantasy, paranormal, or romance. Or the combination of the three. That makes sense, of course – those are the largest categories of ebooks on Amazon. I was sad for all of three minutes, and then I did what I tend to – take some initiative.

I decided to start a humor/chicklit cross-promo. I was a little nervous at first – after all, I’ve been a member for all of five minutes, but the response has been overwhelming – so far a total of 24 authors have signed up! Not only that, one of them made a banner for the event, so we are all legit now:

So what is planned? At the moment, the main emphasis is on gathering numbers, and starting to promote #ComedyBookWeek as an event designed to help readers discover new Indie humor authors. All funny books are welcome, by the way – chick lit, satire, whatever, as long as it makes people laugh.

The rough plan at the moment is that during the event week, participants will post blogs with links to participating books, post interviews, guest blogs, tweets, and whatever else they usually do with their social media platforms. The aim will be to generate buzz with the hashtag #ComedyBookWeek, to help people connect and find new funny reads. We also plan to approach book reviewers and maybe some outrageous ideas as well – suggestions are welcome!

If you want to participate by submitting your book or by offering to host an interview or review, please let me know, or join us on KBoards!

 

Please help me redesign the covers for Isa Maxwell series – including the third book!

First of all, sorry for the Rafflecopter giveaway starting later than I expected – forgot that it’s in the US. If you’d like to go into a draw to win a $20 Amazon gift card, please enter here.

Now, about the cover design – I’d like to thank everybody who’s helped me along the evolution of Shizzle, Inc Inc cover. I just had a look at the first mock-ups and some developmental milestones along the way, and I can’t believe how much the cover has changed. I did not have a clue at what I was doing, and thanks to you, I keep getting comments on Twitter that people have bought Shizzle, Inc based on just the cover alone.

I love that cover, and the one for Indiot, but the problem is, they don’t look like they belong in a series:

  

That’s a problem because my marketing strategy is now relying on pushing the free first book in the series, in hopes that people get hooked and buy the second, and the third when I get to write it.

So this is what I’m thinking of doing instead, and by the way – meet the mock up for the third book in the series! I’ve decided to do a mock up of all three books at once, to see immediately how they will look next to each other. The new idea is to take the rip effect seamlessly across the entire series. In each book, Isa is on top, at the same scale, and at the bottom is the antagonist threatening to ruin her life.

What do you think about these versions? Version A has different title fonts and backgrounds, and version B has the same fonts and background across all three covers.

VERSION A:

VERSION B:

In addition, I would appreciate the input on:

Author name font and size
Series name font and size.
Font for Shizzle, Inc – I will update the rip, and want to update the font, too.

Thank you in advance for your help! To return the favor, I plan to stage another free cover design giveaway shortly, so please stay tuned!

Follow me on BookBub for a chance to win a $20 Amazon gift certificate!

Yes, that’s right – I am holding a Rafflecopter giveaway for a $20 Amazon electronic gift card. Why am I doing this? As usual, there’s method to my madness, or at least that’s what I keep telling myself…

I want to get a BookBub promo, come hell or high taxes, and I am hoping that getting followers on their website would help me do just that. BookBub rejected Shizzle, Inc (Isa Maxwell escapades Book 1) for the 4th time, despite it gathering over 40 reviews and currently ranking in top 100 of the entire Free Kindle store. The high ranking is due to a promo, which netted almost 2,000 downloads in two days. I will have a review of all my May permafree promos after the end of this month, but for now, thank you eReader News for this:

Still, to get to my goal of 100,000 downloads by the end of the year, I will need to catch that elusive BookBub promo prize. It alone can potentially net me 20 thousand downloads for a very reasonable $70 (chicklit category is the smallest one). So instead of wallowing over another rejection, like I’d originally planned, I’ve made an action plan of how I can win over those stern BookBub editors. I find action plans in general soothing, but this one, in particular, is Aloe Vera for my burned ego.

This is what I’ve done or will be doing over the next month:

Enticing people to follow me on BookBub with Rafflecopter giveaways. Yes – more than one. I’m starting with a $20 certificate and will report on how many, if any, followers I will get. If it’s successful, I might try a $50 gift card next time.
Revising my book covers to look like a series. This seems to be one of the factors people mention – professional-looking covers with great typography. I will be keeping my designs almost the same, but taking the “rip” effect across the series and getting a professional to help choose the typography.
Re-editing Shizzle, Inc yet again.
I’ve revised the blurb for Shizzle, Inc and the editor will check it as well. If anyone has any comments on the Shizzle, Inc blurb, I’d appreciate them!
Already added Indiot to my BookBub profile.
Updated my bio everywhere, including my Amazon Author Page. What do you think? It used to be one pathetic sentence…
Already added a”follow me on BookBub” button to the right-hand side menu on this blog, using these directions and my own image widget directions.
Added a “follow me on BookBub” link to my email signature. I don’t use it that much, but why not? Set it up once and never have to think about it again. My signature also has links to both of my books on Amazon now.
Created this ClickToTweet link, which I can add to posts, author bio, etc. You can create your own on Click to Tweet website, free of charge.
Will get even more reviews via the continuous free giveaway and using a NetGalley co-op.

There. I can apply to BookBub again on 10 June, and you better believe it – there is a reminder in my calendar to do it once a month.

I have a gut feeling about it. It could turn out to be gas, but once again – time will tell.

Guest post by P.J. Byer, the author of Trial Bay Series

Oh, how sweet it is to see your first book online or on a bookstore shelf…It doesn’t get old – and personally, I think finishing the second novel is an even bigger achievement. All of us, aspiring authors, are working so hard towards the dream of writing well, publishing often, and building an audience. So it’s my pleasure to introduce an author who has just published her second novel – please put your hands together for P J Byer, the author of Trial Bay Series!

You can learn more about P J Byer on her Amazon author page.

Corrosion – Book 2 in this YA series, is written from a unique angle – teen and parent tell their side of the story. Secrets exposed shatter lives.

Cover by Black Ant Australia Designs

Well, it’s done. The second book is complete, and is really a prequel to Book 1 Collision. That book traces the arc of runaway, Stella, and her father, Paul Lawson’s fractured relationship to their tentative reunion in Trial Bay. Their story hints at the many lies buried in the heart of their family history.

Now, Corrosion delves into these generational secrets and deception. In alternating chapters, it unravels the story of Stella’s father, Paul, and his mother, Mary. I’ve tried to make it fast-paced – a page-turner – and there’s quite of bit of action. Swimming at Bondi beach, an unexpected surfing accident, an hysterically funny visit to Luna Park, a luxury Pacific cruise, an atmospheric visit to Trial Bay gaol, a hasty marriage, a dangerous assault, a tumultuous and romantic reunion, conflicts about choice of school…and there’s more! It’s all happening.

Being a born and bred Sydney girl, it was great fun setting much of the story here, as well as the beautiful Trial Bay on the NSW mid-north coast. Our spectacular Sydney harbour with all the sea craft criss-crossing it, spanned by the Harbour Bridge, and the Opera House in the foreground…I’m biased, but it really is the most beautiful harbour in the world. And I’ve seen a few! This prequel covers fifty years, spanning 1958 to 2008, and the research was intriguing, trying to imagine myself in Sydney streets with trams sixty years ago, and bring them to life.

Giving both mother and son alternating chapters, and vivid, authentic voices, was one of the biggest challenges with Corrosion. But this was essential because I wanted the reader to invest in, and understand, each character. Perhaps, they may not always like them, but there is a growing empathy. And while this story charts the disintegration of a parent/ child relationship, it also delves into passionate romances, as well as solid friendships.

The driving force behind my writing is my fascination with how people tick. Aren’t we all intrigued by this? What causes people to make certain decisions and choices in life and relationships? Why do some relationships, be they parent/ child, partners, siblings, friends fragment over time, and others flourish? Some relationships stumble, and eventually refresh; others, after one obstacle or more, never recover.

Paul has several positive connections – the warm attachment between him and his housekeeper, Beryl; his closeness to his unreliable, yet loving, father, Don; his budding romance with Sally; his friendship with his school mate, Ray. He is a teenager struggling to establish himself and make his needs and wants heard with his mother and father…and not always succeeding.

Photograph by Flora Greenslade.

Despite her best intentions, Mary can’t escape the rejection of her childhood and disappointments as an adult. I find it interesting how some people can move beyond their past hurts – but Mary cannot. And these difficulties tarnish her life. Rust, like the metal objects crumbling in the weather in the photo above, dissolving over time, is a key motif in the story to underline the pain of deteriorating relationships. However, I have tried to balance this with many loving and sustained relationships as well.

There’s much to savour and enjoy in Corrosion. It’s a thought-provoking book about family relationships in particular, set in a time in Sydney already long past. Check it out on Amazon.

Review – Shizzle, Inc.

Nothing better than waking up to a good review…thank you so much, Drew!

House Valerius

Shizzle, Inc. by Ana Spoke

First things first, I’m not sure I would have chosen to read this if it wasn’t written by someone I follow on Twitter. Having said that, I did enjoy it.

The book is billed as the first in the Isa Maxwell Escapades series. To me, escapades is probably the best way of describing the events of the novel. Isa seems to stumble from one poorly thought out plan to the next in her quest to become famous and win back her shallow ex-boyfriend.

The fact that she doesn’t have much in the way of qualifications or talent doesn’t stop her applying for the position of personal assistant to Mr. Hue, eccentric playboy billionaire and head of the titular Shizzle Inc. The fact that she succeeds in getting the job and keeps getting promoted and given more responsibility for the company is as much due to her…

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