Barbara G. Tarn's Blog, page 146

Writer Wednesday

Oookay, first the writer’s news! One title up for B.G. Hope – Choices is now out on Smashwords, Kindle, Barnes&Noble and then Kobo and Apple… maybe. Kobo is always slower even if you go direct. As for Apple – they took 10 days to add Rapture, maybe because of the cover. Let’s see if this much less “erotic” cover goes live faster – and there’s no mature content whatsoever. I hear Apple takes up to 16 WEEKS to approve erotica… glad I don’t write in that genre!

Also, yours truly (Barbara G.Tarn – I know, I have too many names) is featured in a Smashwords authors anthology, Wyrd Words. The edited and cut version of Conall’s sons, Half-blood is the last story of the anthology. Being the last is almost as bad as being the first… what if I leave the reader with a bad taste? Hopefully not! Anyway, it’s FREE and it’s live on Smashwords, go and get it right now!

And if you’re on Goodreads, vote for Wyrd Worlds on this Listopia (I’ve also added Star Minds, if you feel so inclined to vote for that one too… )! You can also vote for it as best sci-fi anthology listopia… My review is on the Goodreads book page! Read it, so you can comment knowing what I’m talking about, LOL!

I’ve wrapped draft zero of Amazons, but didn’t finish the S.K.Y.B.A.N.D. pencils during the weekend, so I’m falling behind there too. Sorry about that. I’ve become a sloth! Also, I’m considering writing a Snippet I had decided not to write, since it fits this anthology guidelines, so I might get to it soon. I’ve come up with an opening and I know where it goes, so why not. Thus, only one of the planned Snippets won’t come out after all (because I don’t write erotica and that’s a tough one, about slave trade in the galaxy and human sex toys. Maybe one day, but not this year).

The links: David Farland on balance. I know I should probably study a little more, but I think that writing as much as I do is as much of a school than attending any writing course, LOL!

Small publishers, the good and the bad. Rhemalda Publishing is closing, leaving its authors dismayed but not unpaid. No Boundaries Press closed without paying its authors, editors and cover artist. Writer beware before signing with a small publisher. Here we have the perfect example of the good (Rhemalda) and the bad (No Boundaries)… And also of the so-so, like this publisher canceling a book for a very silly reason.

Another excellent analysis of the new world of publishing and new services (such as MatchBook and Oyster) by Kris Rusch. Nobody knows anything anyway, but I think the publishing industry is following the music industry, so stay tuned and watch it change under your eyes. I can tell you it changed in the past 2 years since I started publishing my titles to the various e-retailers… Improvise and adjust and you’ll be just fine!

The wonderful Amanda Hocking on how to give yourself writer’s block. It’s not brand new, but if you really don’t know how to stop your creativity, you can follow her advice. Like her, I don’t know what writer’s block is, so I’m glad she did this handy post for me!

How to overcome your fears when writing – it’s mostly geared to freelance writers, but I think it applies to fiction writers too (you know, those with writer’s block or low self-esteem…).

Now, back to typing Amazons and penciling S.K.Y.B.A.N.D. – have a great week!

Happiness is…

Sunday Surprise

Seems like I’m finding some guests to honor this blog at last! This second September guest is also from the SFF Kindle event of last July. I read her book, The Lost Gateway, and enjoyed the mix of fantasy clichés (twisted, mostly) and originality that made for a very entertaining read. So I contacted the author and she kindly replied to my usual writerly interview. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Josephine L. Brooks!

Where do you live and write from?

Currently I live in Idaho, just outside of Moscow.  The University of Idaho and neighboring Washington State University in Pullman give the small town an urban feel.  Outside of town wheat fields give way to wilderness.  The summers are idyllic, but the winters are deep with snow and very dark.

I’m a city girl at heart, but I’m fine writing wherever I happen to be.  I tend to take my laptop all over the place.  At home I have a desk in front of a window with a view of Moscow Mountain, and I can watch the storms stack up over my house.  But when I need to feel the buzz of people I will go write in some of the neat little coffee shops in Moscow.  When I go to the Washington or Oregon coast I usually bring my laptop as well.

When did you start writing?

I was 13 when I started.  I wrote off and on for years, but never seriously.  I was too concerned with survival to worry about frivolous things like writing.  Scholarships weren’t enough and I worked to put myself through college.  My sole focus was on my career.  I didn’t slow down until I had my child.  It was at that point my priorities shifted.  Long work weeks, travel, late nights, and tons of stress didn’t make much sense when I had a little human needing love and attention.  I quit, but I’m not much of a homemaker.  Within a week I was going crazy.

I started writing fiction again, but by then my mind had been trained along a different path.  I was used to business writing, and the focus in business is clarity and brevity.  I still write that way.  If something isn’t moving my story forward, I delete it.

 What genre(s) do you write?

I write fantasy and occasionally some science fiction.  I will read just about anything.  I’ve tried to write other things but something odd always happens and it inevitably turns into some form of speculative fiction in spite of my intentions.  I guess that’s just how my mind works.

Where do you find your inspiration? Do you put yourself in your stories?

Inspiration comes from movies, TV, books, news, a passing comment or an interesting person.  Moscow has more than its fair share of interesting individuals.  Sometimes I’ll just sit in a coffee shop and watch.  It’s sort of amazing.  I think that once you are open to story possibilities, it’s hard to not be inspired by everything.  Sometimes it’s difficult to shut it out.

It would be difficult to not put myself into my stories.  I show up in various aspects of different characters.  In The Lost Gateway, I’m most strongly present in the three witches.  Sabine’s romance with Enyeto is drawn from my own relationship with my husband.  Granny Fog is my own sarcastic internal voice.  Ronat is either my mother or me in about twenty more years.  I don’t want to analyze that one too closely.

Do you have a specific writing routine?

I write Monday through Friday.  Some days are better than others, but as long as I’m consistent things seem to flow well.

Outliner or improviser? Fast or slow writer?

Within the structure of the story I tend to be a plotter.  I know what the beginning and ending will be along with the various character arcs and several critical points of conflict.  But in the details I tend to be an improviser.  This way I’m free to flow with the story and it doesn’t fall apart after a few chapters because it didn’t have a good foundation.  This also means that I’m not wasting a lot of time writing sequences that don’t move the story forward.  It still happens, but not that often.  Beginning to end, The Lost Gateway was written and edited within six months.

Tell us about your latest book 

The Lost Gateway is an epic fantasy adventure.

Enyeto’s world has been invaded by monsters. The wizard who agreed to help has betrayed him. Only two back-country witches are willing to stand between his tribe and total annihilation.

The Lost Gateway is a stand-alone novel, but I’m working in the same world with some of the same characters for my next book, The Warlock of Ravenswatch.  I hadn’t planned to do this, but the response to The Lost Gateway was positive, and I hate to disappoint people who have become attached to the characters.   It should be out some time in November.

You can check out my blog or my Amazon author page  for more information.

Indie publishing or traditional publishing – and why?

Indie.  I claim that The Lost Gateway is my first novel, but that’s not true.  It’s my second novel.  My first novel was written prior to the current indie boom.  I shopped it around to various agents and publishers.  People were interested in it, and then they weren’t.  It was exhausting.  In fact, I have a hard time even looking at that first book.  It’s probably best that it remains stored somewhere on my computer never to see the light of day.  But it had to have some promise or there wouldn’t have been any interest in it whatsoever.

When I wrote The Lost Gateway I was determined to not go through that again.  I have full creative control and none of the waiting or frustration associated with traditional publishing.

Any other projects in the pipeline?

The Warlock of Ravenswatch is due out in November.  I’m also working on an urban fantasy novel.

What is your goal as a writer and what are you doing to achieve it?

My goal is to get as many of these crazy stories out of my head as I can before I give up my last breath.  I’m working on it one story at a time.

Random Friday

So, I’ve finally read Orwell’s 1984, and like David Icke said, we’re really living it. Should have titled it 2014 and he’d be called Nostradamus! Anyway, I’m now trying to deprogram myself – even if it’s not easy. But I know I hate doctors and medicines so much, usually self-healing works with me! If you need help, check the BEST You Project, it has lots of good advice. Or you can try this book (I haven’t read it, but it looks similar to what I’ve read). Or you can just be a lemming, but then don’t complain!

I’m now reading Fiction River #3 – time travel stories. As usual it’s mostly very good stories. Maybe one day I’ll do a workshop that might have my story published on there, but at the moment I can only read the issues. Except I should renew my subscription, LOL! Now I’m thinking of submitting more short stories to more mags, but the wait… 4-5 weeks or “by mid-November” means I can’t publish them before they reply. So I don’t know.

I’ve done half the pencils of SKYBAND, and all the covers – including Omnibus 3. Let’s make it an Art Friday and give you a little preview.Click to view slideshow.

Hope to finish the pencils by the weekend, so I can start inking – and then the hard part, the coloring! Hopefully by the end of the month I’ll be able to publish #13 on DriveThruComics, though. And I’m already missing those Caran d’Ache portraits, haha. Talk about procrastination techniques! NO, Barb, no new portraits until 2014 – you gotta finish your graphic novel first!

Have a great weekend!

Writer Wednesday

Okay, so week off meant that I drew a couple of pages of SKYBAND, then started (re)writing Amazons and already decided to cut out a chapter (but recycled it in a Star Minds Snippet, LOL). Not much done, but well… one needs a break from time to time, right? In fact I spent 4 days offline, since my cousin was busy the night I considered asking him to check my e-mail. And guess what? I survived!

So now back to writing Amazons, and I’m thinking of trying the pre-order thingy on Smashwords for this month’s titles. Which will probably mean I won’t use Draft2Digital for these two, at least not now. And I’ll have to remember to upload to KDP closer to the release date. Anyhow, David Gaughran did an excellent post on the two distributors – Smashwords vs. D2D. I totally agree with him!

Like I commented on his post, Smashwords has added another outlet, Flipkart – the Amazon of India. But like Shafali told me, the Indian market is not like Americans see it! Anyway, if they boycott Amazon in India as they do in the US (yes, KDP Select authors, some readers boycott Amazon and therefore they’ll never read your books! ), we have another outlet. Not that I’m selling anything in the sub-continent yet… maybe I should write more body switches with Indian characters in it (as if I’ve sold a copy of Ciaran&Harith anywhere besides the US, LOL!)!

Amazon now allows to price the Kindle version at a discount for whoever buys the POD version – which means I can do it only with Star Minds, since it’s the only book that has a POD version with CreateSpace. It’s called Kindle Matchbook and it works like the DriveThru print program (see SKYBAND, where you can either buy the PDF or the POD version or the PDF+POD with discount on the PDF). So have checked that box on the KDP dashboard – I don’t know when it’s going live, but the Kindle version will be at 2.99 if you buy it with the POD version…

More wisdom from Kris Rusch about career vs. publication. It’s probably obvious by now that I’m a career writer and not a one-book wonder. I might have slowed down the output (mostly because the intended rewrites/translations turned out to be unpublishable, so I needed to reassess my writing goals), but I still have plenty of stories to tell. And I will publish them, slowly but steadily! Kris is right, it’s a way of life. I’m so happy I have the means to put my work out there, that I don’t care if I have abysmal sales. My readers will find me eventually. Even the Italian ones (sold 2 copies of an Italian novel on Amazon Italia during the summer, and on Kobo it’s only Italian short stories that sell…)!

Since I haven’t heard from Mark Coker and obviously publishers can’t use the Smashwords Interview feature, I’ll copy/paste it here… just imagine you’re on Unicorn Production’s Smashwords page!

Why do I get a unicorn instead of an author picture on this page?
Because that’s the logo I used on my photocopied zines back in the 1990s – and still is on the POD version of my books. E-books don’t have rooms for logos, so there you have it!

So, who’s behind the Unicorn logo?





A very prolific writer who tackles many genres. Somebody said that writers should brand themselves so readers don’t get confused. Personally, I read everything, so I think it’s a publishing myth, but for clarity’s sake (and also because different genres use different kinds of covers), I have 2 English pseudonyms (and 1 Italian).

Who are these authors?





Barbara G.Tarn writes adult unconventional fantasy and some sci-fi. That’s the name that appeared on those photocopied zines way back when. It was mostly comics and graphic novels at the time. A.K.A. Barb, she writes, draws and blogs

B.G.Hope writes contemporary stories. Mostly it’s the prose version of Barbara G.Tarn’s screenplays (when I attempted the conquest of Hollywood, I had only one pen name) and stories set in the present, including m/m romance. Her web page

Finally, Barbara Sangiorgio writes in Italian – for those stories that would get lost in translation. I’ll have to do her interview on her blog






Where did you grow up, and how did this influence your writing?
Well, I grew up on Planet Earth, moving around the continent called Europe for the first 13 years of my life, then got stuck in that boot shaped peninsula, since that’s where I was born. But I’ve always felt international and still wait for the world without borders of a 1970s song I used to sing (in Italian, sorry).

Since I’ve always felt different, my characters are almost always outsiders and outcasts (sometimes outlaws), since that’s how I’ve felt for most of my life. I started writing when I came back to my hometown – I hated everything around me and started retreating in my own worlds. And I haven’t really come back since!






What’s the story behind your latest book?
okay, I’m a very prolific author, so anyone asking me “how is your book doing/coming along” will get a blank stare from me. I don’t remember what book I was talking about with that person, so whoever that is, s/he should remind me which one. Just check what’s new at the bottom of this page!   (note that the Smashwords Interview feature should display all the author’s books at the end of the page. Doesn’t work with a publisher account)






What motivated you to become an indie author?
I hate legalese and contracts. And I’m a control freak. And I’m too prolific for traditional publishing. And I write unconventional stuff with unconventional voice, so… indie a go go!

I’m very happy to be able to go out there and find my readers. I have a niche that traditional publishers won’t cover. So, if you’re an adult who still loves fantasy and sci-fi and other wondrous stories, check me out! Someone once told me I reminded her of George R.R. Martin, but since I haven’t started on Game of Thrones yet, I have no idea. I haven’t read Tolkien, so you won’t find any of that for sure! No quests and no coming of age, but the rest… anything goes! Character-oriented and probably shorter than what traditional publishers want, but I believe the story has the length it has and I’m sick of pumping up wordcount to meed “industry standards”!






How has Smashwords contributed to your success?
They were the first where I uploaded my e-books! I started uploading on Kindle a few months after I started publishing on Smashwords. It’s a slow growth and evolution, but I like the fact that you can download whatever format you want from here!

I have a Kindle Keyboard, but I prefer buying from Smashwords. Pity some authors are stuck with KDP Select…






What is the greatest joy of writing for you?
Making up stuff! Create worlds, listen to characters talk… Write down those movies unfolding in my head. Since I watched a lot of TV (until the early 1990s), sometimes my stories are very episodic, like TV series. Sometimes they’re movies with sequels and prequels and spin-off. Sometimes they’re real comics or graphic novels, since that’s another major influence on writing for me. I’m married to Mr Writing, and I love weaving stories from “what if” – which can be something that happened in reality, an image, a sentence, whatever strikes my wild imagination. I love being a creative goddess!

What are you working on next?





Again, depends on which pseudonym you’re asking. The Italian titles are just formatted and uploaded, but the English ones need translation and rewriting. Even if the main pen name is Barbara G.Tarn, I always try to add titles for B.G. Hope as well… And then it’s Barbara Sangiorgio when I don’t have anything ready in English!






What is your writing process?
Improvising! Write by the seat of my pants! Call it what you want. I don’t outline much. I pour out a first draft longhand, then type it and give it to beta-readers. Then it’s editing, revisions and adjustments and it’s off to editor. Then it’s final check, format and upload!

I’m a fast writer because I consider myself a storyteller, not a wordsmith. I need to tell a story, not write the perfect sentence. I get a lot of blank stares from other writers who agonize over a comma… sorry, but I don’t know what writer’s block is!

Also, I’m very character-oriented. I’ve written stories from drawings of characters. Or I simply watch the “movie” unfold in my head and write it down. That’s why I’m not really into five-senses writing and have a lot of dialog. I’m plot and character-oriented in both my writing and reading habits!

My influences come from movies, comics/BD/manga, and other books. Sometimes reality, but you can tell I don’t like it much… Sometimes history – and I’ve learned to love my research, but also not to pour it all in the fictionalized version or it would be a quite boring reading experience!






How do you approach cover design?
I’m also an artist, and since I also do graphic novels and comics, I draw most of my covers so they fit with the ongoing graphic novel S.K.Y.B.A.N.D. (not on SW unfortunately, since the docs are more than 5MB – image heavy). So Barbara G.Tarn has illustrations for covers (mostly mine, but sometimes I hire other people) because I hate SFF covers with photographs, and B.G. Hope has more photographic or graphic covers – all done by me (except when I can’t find the proper photograph, I think I’ve used 3 from other photographers). Same for Barbara Sangiorgio (it’s contemporary fiction in Italian, so photos are OK! ;p).






What do you read for pleasure?
Anything that sounds remotely interesting, fiction and non-fiction. I’m not into erotica or horror, but everything else is fine.






What book marketing techniques have been most effective for you?
Write the next book and publish it. Write the next book and publish it. Oh, and did I mention write the next book and publish it? I announce it on my blog and Facebook ONCE, then go back to writing!

Do you remember the first story you ever wrote?





Yep, and I’ve “recycled” it in two of my fantasy novels – I tried to keep the style through the translation. Half is in Chronicles of the Varian Empire – The Spell, the other half is in Books of the Immortals – Water…




When you’re not writing, how do you spend your time?
Unfortunately I have a DayJob, albeit part time. When I’m not there wasting my time, I draw (listening to the music), watch movies (Bollywood obsession lately, but I watch movies from all over the world) and sometimes do nothing (meaning I lie on the bed thinking stories to entertain myself that I know I will never write, which might be perceived as a waste of time, but I don’t care). I’m a writer and a lone wolf. I’m an introvert and proud of it!

Happiness is…

 

Sunday Surprise

And we’re back! The first guest for this new cycle is Tim Flanagan, the mighty organizer of last July’s Kindle event! Not only he set that up, but he even was kind enough to answer my writerly questions! I’ve read book 1 of his Moon Stealers series, and it’s an interesting mix of SFF – I mean, it has aliens, faeries, Arthurian legends… But I’ll let him talk about it. So, without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Tim Flanagan!

Q. Where do you live and write from?

A. I live in Kent, UK in a hidden coastal town that still has fishing boats hauling their daily catches onto the shingle beaches to sell beside chalk board signs. I work as a Podiatrist three and a half days a week, whilst spending the rest of my time writing. I have an office under the stairs at home. It is only just wider than my shoulders and you have to step over the chair to sit in it, but it gives me a private place where I can close the door and pretend to work.

Q. When did you start writing?

A. I remember writing little stories with illustrations when I was less than 10 years old. The summer holidays seemed to last for ever, so I used to amuse myself by writing stories. I thought I would eventually draw a comic book one day, but instead wrote books. I think my artistic abilities enable me to write in a very visual way which appeals to children with equally vivid imaginations.

Q. What genre(s) do you write?

A. Difficult to define really. My current series, The Moon Stealers, is a mixture of genres, including Sci-fi, adventure, fantasy and dystopian. It seems to fit in this new genre called Urban Fantasy.

Q. Where do you find your inspiration? Do you put yourself in your stories?

A. I see inspiration everywhere. Sometimes it is in the most obscure of places and may be a word I hear, a phrase or a concept. I have a book with odd words and phrases scribbled in. Sometimes one word will spark a chain of events in my mind or be the core to an idea. I have a genuine interest in so many things that writing is a great way for me to learn about them as I write. For example – there is one book I am working on set in London in 1600′s, so I have enjoyed researching that period, and especially looking through ancient maps of London to see how it differs and get a feel for where my characters are living.

Do I put myself in the story – no, not as a character, but I live everything the characters are going through and every emotion they feel. When I’m writing a sad scene, I feel really down afterwards. When I’m writing action scenes, I feel alive with adrenaline pumping making me write twice as fast.

Q. Do you have a specific writing routine?

A. I write when I can. I have a wife and three children that also need my time. Sometimes I bargain with my wife – if I get the DIY jobs done, I get a couple of extra hours on a Sunday to write! I write all day Monday, as well as Tuesday afternoons – the house is quiet and I can concentrate. I can also drink as much coffee as I like without the intake being monitored! Evenings tend to be for editing, blogging, social media stuff etc.

Q. Outliner or improviser? Fast or slow writer?

A. I know what my end point is, but I never truly know how I’m going to get there. That keeps an element of excitement in the writing for me. Sometimes it’s fascinating how the story turns a corner and takes you in a slightly different direction or you learn something from your research that makes you rearrange a chapter so you can include it at all costs! It surprises me sometimes how my brain seems to know whats happening more than I consciously do. Things I wrote in book 1 of The Moon Stealers, which didn’t seem particularly important at the time, become important in book 3 or 4.

I’m a fast writer – about 1,000 words an hour. But that doesn’t mean they are good words. I always review each chapter after I’ve written it, so those 1,000 words get rearranged, altered and elaborated.

Q. Tell us about your latest book

A. I’m working on book 4 in the Moon Stealer series. This is taking longer to write than the other three as I need to make sure that all the loose ends are tied up and everything has a purpose and direction, as well as conclusion. Due out in December.

The Moon Stealers begins with a meteorite that lands on our planet with a bacteria at its core. The bacteria grows and changes into something that threatens mankind. The story is told from two points of view – adults, who try to approach the problem from a scientific angle, and children, who resurrect ancient myths and legends to defend the human race.

Q. Indie publishing or traditional publishing – and why?

A. Indie. I like the freedom and speed of indie publishing. I have complete control over every part of the process; can change prices at the touch of a button, update cover art, change formatting etc. and without having to wait a year for publication as it is with traditional publishing. I’ve read so many articles and books that tell of traditionally published authors taking their backlist and self publishing them on KDP. The royalty percentages are something to be taken seriously. 70% compared to 12-15% traditional – it’s a no brainer!

Q. Any other projects in the pipeline?

A. I’ve recently started working with a great illustrator, Dylan Gibson, and we have a couple of joint projects on the go. The following is a vague list, in publication order, that takes me to the end of 2014:

Book 4 in the Moon Stealers – December 2013

Pre-teen detective story + illustrations – December 2013

YA Futuristic London Underground story + illustrations

YA London Dragon book set in 1600′s

(Possible) 2nd Pre-teen detective story + illustrations

Omnibus edition of all 4 Moon Stealer books, plus extra info, maps and appendices

2nd Edition of a Medical Textbook (Update from one I wrote in 2007)

phew! – think that’s everything!

Q. What is your goal as a writer and what are you doing to achieve it?

A. I have 6 month, 12 month, 3 year, 5 year, 10 year and lifetime goals. My short term goal is to earn a living from writing and give up the day job. I have already been lucky enough to reduce it to 3.5 days a week in the last 6 months, but would like to write full time. To achieve my goals I am writing at every opportunity, building a quality following on social media (it’s the type of follower you have that matters not the quantity of followers!), linking with other creative people, blogging regularly, putting my name out there and helping other authors.

_______________________________________

At some point in Tim’s childhood, he was abducted by aliens and sent on a voyage of knowledge and discovery across the universe. Eventually the aliens realised how pointless this was and, as a failed student, he was returned to Earth and left with a family who brought him up as a human bean. But, the persistent memories of new worlds, dragons and other creatures, continued to knock at his frontal lobe, desperately trying to break out. To avoid making a mess and calm his imagination, Tim began writing as a way to communicate with Earthlings. Fuelled by Chilli and Nachos and a bottle of wine, Tim manages to balance a love of loud rock music and fast cars (preferably red!) with emotional chic flicks, smart leather shoes and a well tailored suit. He has successfully infiltrated the humans and hides behind the façade known as a family. He learns from his children, but is regularly told to stop acting like a child by his wife. Naturally shy and unsociable by nature, he is selective of the human company he keeps, preferring to be around old books, bonsai and art. He cries at ‘It’s a wonderful life’ but sulks if fed evil vegetables disguised as Parsnips or Peas. He is bored by mundane conversation, excited by architecture and castles and fuelled by Caramel Latte Macchiato’s. Occasionally, he likes to catch up with old acquaintances on Tatooine, Westeros, and Middle Earth, and stare at fantasy and concept art as if it is a window to his childhood adventures. He is always trying to learn lessons from the masters; Mr Charles Darwin and Mr Lionel Ritchie, about life and love. Tim’s galactic mission is to translate his brain activity into a language that inspires and entertains you, transports you to different worlds and grants you an audience with the characters you have dreamt about, but never dared to remember. All of this in an attempt to redeem himself with his childhood alien abductors and travel the stars once more.

 

Links

Blog : www.timflanaganauthor.wordpress.com

Facebook : www.facebook.com/timflanaganbooks

Twitter : www.twitter.com/timflanauthor

 

Sci-Fi Fantasy Adventure books for MG and YA:

The Moon Stealers and the Quest for the Silver Bough (Book 1) – 29 June 2012

The Moon Stealers and the Queen of the Underworld (Book 2) – 10 Sept 2012

The Moon Stealers and the Everlasting Night (Book 3) – 25 March 2013

Random Friday

Monday I was off DayJob, the weather seemed to be nice, so Techie Bro said we could do a short day trip (he’s the one who checked the weather, I honestly don’t care, haha!). So around 9.30 we headed for Orvieto – where he spent some of his compulsory military service in 1994 – where I remembered a painting (fresco?) in a church and wanted to see if I remembered correctly where it was.

It is – the Cappella S.Brizio painted by Luca Signorello. Except when I saw it (last century) it was probably a rainy day, so the chapel was very dark. On Monday it was sunny and it looked completely different! This is the wall I’m thinking – see all those men in tights at the bottom, typical of Italian Renaissance? I didn’t dare snapping a picture inside the chapel since it was forbidden, so I’m not posting any, but simply linking to other places. The inside of the Duomo, though, I could take!

Then we went to Civita di Bagnoreggio, the “dying town” – except it’s now very much alive with places to eat with Trip Advisor stickers all over… And you’re supposed to pay an entrance fee as well. Anyway, it’s a neat little medieval town, except it has no inhabitants (in theory – I saw even advertizing for B&B services…). Here’s my picture of it.

Next we stopped in Ferento, but the ruins of the Roman amphiteater were closed. So we went to Sutri, and found a short archeological walk (since it was almost 6pm by then, we didn’t have much time left). Again, here’s a picture, so you know what I’m talking about.

[image error]I did 130 pics, with a lot of skies and clouds as well. Tuesday my legs hurt from going up and down those little towns on the hills! I didn’t bring my camera to Massa (Carrara), so I won’t post any more pictures. Have a great weekend and talk to you next week!

Writer Wednesday

Writerly update: short story by B.G. Hope out – from a Stephen King’s prompt. I had problems choosing a category. Is it horror? Thriller? Psycological thriller? I had no idea, hope the tags help the readers to find it. So if you’re looking for a story with a stalking wife and a husband victim, check Rapture – now on Kindle, Barnes&Noble, Smashwords and soon Kobo and US i-bookstore (since I’ll be away, just check the author page on those sites to see when it’s live – I won’t post the link here again). It’s short and not sweet (or it wouldn’t be a Stephen King’s prompt! ).

Writer beware of certain publishers. You’re better off on your own than with one of these…

I will be eternally grateful to Kris Rusch for her post on Career Writers. I know exactly what she means, even if I’ve been not published for 30+ years. I’m the only career writer in my offline writers group. They still stare at me as if I have two heads because I’m so damn prolific. They’re still stuck in the 20th century (okay, they’re all my elders, but still…). They’re still afraid of self-publishing (probably still feel it has a stigma or it’s too much work).

And that’s valid for all the writers I’ve met in real life (except the ones I met at Dean Wesley Smith’s workshop, of course – and he’s Kris’s husband! ). Lots of people who talk about writing, but never put their butt in the chair. Lots of people who have only one or three books in them and spend the rest of their time bemoaning how the world don’t get their literary masterpieces gathering rust in a drawer. Lots of people who don’t believe in themselves and their writing enough to let it go. Your choice, folks. Don’t bemoan to me, though… If you need help with indie publishing, you’re welcome. For the rest, keep it to yourselves, thank you.

I’ve also heard of people who rewrite after reviews. How professional is that? Write a new edition after a few years, especially if it’s an historical novel is fine, but “significant editorial changes” that prompt Amazon to send you an e-mail? I think Michelle is right to be confused about it (I buy mostly on Smashwords and my Kindle wi-fi is always switched off, so I haven’t received any yet) – indie authors should consider their publication final like a traditional publisher would make it. Move on, folks, I’m sure you have others stories to write without lingering on the old stuff!

David Farland on dialog tags – when I started reading I was grumbling all over, but when I reached the end of the post, I was grinning. Although I’ve heard British writers say that “he/she said is invisible while all other dialog tags are redundant”, I’m glad I’m Italian and I stuck to the Italian rule (where “said” is boring and practically forbidden, LOL). So I have a mix of both, and I certainly don’t sound like Hemingway, since I’ve never read him, haha!

You’ve probably heard of the new Smashwords Interviews feature. All good, except it doesn’t work for “publisher” accounts like mine. I’ve tried to change the questions so that they’d fit a “publisher” account, mentioning why it has a logo and not an author picture, adding a question about the pseudonyms, etc. But when I hit “publish” it came out as my username, not the Unicorn Productions page. And it didn’t show the list of books at the end, since all the books are under the ghost accounts and not the “publisher” (main) username…

At this time Mark Coker hasn’t replied to my comment (#23 of the above post), so I’m holding it back. Maybe next week I’ll post a version here, if things haven’t changed in the meantime.

Now today I’m off to my father’s hometown, and I won’t bring Laptop with me. I can write longhand and I’ll have my Kindle (and my cousin’s computer if I really want to check my e-mails), but I’ll be mostly offline until Sunday. So have a great week!

Happiness is…