Barbara G. Tarn's Blog, page 170
July 11, 2012
Writer Wednesday
First, a word from Laxmi:
Hi all,
A quick shout out, to click through the link below and VOTE for THE DESTINY OF SHAITAN at the Summer 2012 readers pick awards
http://www.mlgarrett.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/summer-2012-readers-pick-award-entries.html
Voting closes July 14, so have only a few days left and am lagging far behind 
And of course if you were to tweet it out or share it on your FB page then that would be awesome!!
Appreciate your support
Still a couple of days left, so go for it! I haven’t read the book yet, but it’s the only title I recognize in the list anyway, LOL! Then, don’t forget the Smashwords sale – Unicorn Productions has everything 50%off. I see the Amarantine series is also discounted, so go grab it now! The first book is FREE, and if it doesn’t hook you into buying the other three… well, not my fault, LOL! And in spite of the title it has NOTHING to do with the more famous 50 shades (and came out before that), so if that’s what you’re looking for… forget it! 
BUT if you’re looking for vampires with humor, go for it!
As for Lady Ice (always free…), the color version is available on Facebook! I’m still struggling with formatting for Kindle and Nook… so the “dedicated week” I planned on using at the end of June, I did something else. Why bother reformat something that is already available out there for free anyway? And formatting new titles has proved sort of beyond my strength at the moment. So if I could just go back to coloring and lettering that chapter 11 of S.K.Y.B.A.N.D…. I know I’m talking to Jo only here, but well, I know she reads me!
About the prose, last Sunday Telecom Italia decided I should have no way to get online (the ADSL went dead around 10.30 in the morning when I decided to check my email and didn’t come back until Monday sometimes after 7.30 which is the time I left for DayJob), so I spent it checking Technological Angel. I still need to go through it one last time, then it will be off to beta readers. It changed a lot since 2002, and not only because it ends ten of our years later, LOL! I think I also made it a more character-oriented tale and tightened the plot (although I fear part 2 is still sort of meandering, I’m not sure if it’s world/character-building or wasted words…), and of course write the new ending.
Then I went to work on CVE3 *waves at Kelly the Mighty Beta* so I could send it to the editor for a final pass before publication. Here again I had to cut out secondary characters and plots that made it too episodic, and I hope I managed to reach the right balance for this story. It’s still the longest of the CVE, and probably the last for the moment. The rest will be Records – or short stories and novellas that fill the holes. And then I’ll decide what to do with the paper version – not that I received any requests yet. And going to local bookstores is daunting in this heat (both English independent bookstores are in the center of town where it’s even hotter that the suburb I’m in). So maybe after the summer I’ll consider the print versions of this year’s titles.
Some writerly link: Michael Kingswood on small thinking in business. Writers must become business people – I still have a long way to go, but I get what he’s saying here – and think about the long run, not just now. I mean, if you want to have a career, you don’t look only at today, do you? You make projects for the future. You try to plan ahead. And you improvise! OK, that’s just me, because I felt I needed to adjust my publishing schedule – which is fine, as long as you know you’re in for the long run.
Being the self-taught wonder that I am, I’m glad I saved some money on education that wouldn’t have really helped – but then I live in a country where creative writing is not taught at university, only private workshops can be found and I used them to spend vacation time from DayJob with likeminded people (or so I thought. Of all the people I met at Italian workshops, I’m the only one still writing. Talk about an undying passion – because I started and never stopped when I was much younger). Also, Italian university is a lot of theory and nothing practical to help you fit in the real world – that’s why I didn’t go at all and started DayJob at 21. Anyway, Italian university teachings apparently apply to creative writing in US universities, according to Kris Rusch!
One more post on Authors Guild that seem to have really lost it if they back Publish America only to take down Amazon! Thanks, David Gaughran, for the insight. Glad there’s a class-action suit against PA. Although stupid writers will keep falling for them (or others like them). Sigh. You’d think that in the internet era writers would be savvier, but no, they still fall for the scams that abound out there…
I’m not saying it’s easy (it’s not). Taking care of everything is hard, and you need to be well organized (or a Virgo, like me, LOL!). Or so determined to quit a damn crazy DayJob that you’re ready to learn every month something new about this brand new world of publishing. Hey, I might see my first Amazon check in 3 months or so (I reached the 100$ minimum + 60 days for payment + 30 days until delivery…), but it took me over one year and a half. Do you hear me whine and say I won’t publish another title? No. I slowed down, but I’m still writing, thank you very much! CVE3 will be out August 1st and I’ll try to publish maybe a couple of short stories that month as well. Maybe even one this month – either a Record of the Varian Empire or a B.G.Hope short story. We’ll see…
July 8, 2012
Random Sunday
OK, I postponed the randomness because I messed up dates for the latest interview. Meh. Fried brain in this heat. Glad I met Laxmi, though! Sorry. So, for the randomness – some reading and a movie!
World cinema again! I had it on my ToBuy list and it was graciously offered in Italian newsagents courtesy of Ciak magazine this month, so I bought it. Et maintenant on va où? apparently started like Spurlock’s Where in the world… – the writer director on the verge of parenthood thought about the future of his/her unborn child. In this case, she was pregnant during religious struggles in Lebanon. So, it’s the eternal fight between Christians and Muslims (see My name is Khan), but this time the women step in. It’s a Lebanese movie, but it might as well be Bollywood – they call it a “musical”. Not really, although there are a couple of songs for the romantic subplot. And I absolutely love this song (the reason why I wanted to watch it in the first place, LOL! Sorry I couldn’t find it with English subtitles)!
The movie has humor, sadness and shows another place. World cinema recommended for everyone – stop silly religious struggles, no God EVER asked to kill whoever doesn’t follow the same precepts/rites that you do!
I read The Lair of the Jaguar God because it deals with were-jaguars. I’m not a fan of werevolves – but was curious to read about other kinds of therianthropy. Besides, this book is also hot M/M romance, so it was a fun ride. It didn’t gave me any ideas for my own were-animal (in sci-fi, so he’s called a mutant, LOL), but it was good nevertheless. Pity for the bad editing provided by the publisher. Oh, and I’m not saying for how many months it had been sitting on my Kindle!
Another Blog Hop win is Scarlet and the White Wolf – which is book one of a trilogy. Now, for those of you familiar with yaoi scene, this is really an uke/seme story, from the look of the characters (short, young, dark-haired uke, tall, older, fair-haired seme) to probably the execution – they meet, they hate each other, but they’re meant for each other, so we already know where they’re headed. It’s Jason Mink and Ricky in a fantasy setting. OK, Ai No Kusabi (the novels) is longer (and I’m still waiting for volume 7, that comes out in September. I might actually give up and just remember the much shorter OVA). I might read the other two books in this series when my TBR pile goes down a little. But I’m actually sick of Yaoi storylines and would rather read real gay literature instead!
Final Blog Hop win is Caged – #2 in a series. Not that it mattered that it’s book 2, mind you. Mixed feelings (and not because it’s erotica – so don’t read it if you’re not eighteen, LOL). I like the story, but at the same time it had a very slow beginning and the characters felt very stereotyped (especially the parents) – sometimes falling in the “too stupid to live” category that is normally used in fantasy. And it also felt like a sci-fi story unless the whole world turned gay while I was not looking – I know they usually stick to their peers, but there was no trace of straight relatives or friends in this story. AND being Italian, I had problems with the guy called after a town + at some point I was wondering where he was because he was looking at the “ocean” outside of his window and there’s no ocean in Tucson,AZ nor it Italy (the Mediterranean is a SEA, not an ocean. Not big enough to be called ocean. That’s why we use WINDsurfs – or used to in the 1980s. You can tell I don’t go to the beach much, huh?). So that’s why I hesitate to read the other books in the series, especially if they’re actually set it Italy (as apparently is #1). But I did like the story in spite of the “heavy” parts with rape and torture (I skipped more the sooo-romantic ones, actually, haha) so I’ll wait and see if I want to read more of this series. Maybe I should just stick to the author and ignore all books set in Italy or with (co-called) Italian characters!
And because it’s so darn hot I’d rather procrastinate writing, I spent yesterday afternoon drawing. So here go the results…
Hritik – color pencils (Caran d’Ache)
Keanu – black pencils + gouache (black & white)
July 6, 2012
Author interview – Laxmi Hariharan
The randomness is postponed to Sunday because I messed up guest posts and interviews. So you have some movement on this blog and disrupted schedules, LOL! I was contacted by this author’s publicist back in May, and I admit I haven’t read the book yet (but it’s on the TBR list – I actually bought in on Amazon, but its sits on my Kindle. Sounds familiar? Yeah, I know. More time to read and write, please, and Life, please, bugger off, LOL!). But when I heard the blurb about futuristic Bombay… well, how could a Bollywood fanatic like me give up the chance to interview someone who wrote about future India (or anything about India for that matter, LOL *waves to her Desi friends*)? So there you have it, ladies and gentlemen please welcome Laxmi Hariharan!
Q. Where do you live and write from?
Bombay today (big change from when the city I grew up in)
A. I live and write from London in the real world. But really I was on Arkana when I wrote this novel And the scenes set in Bombay are inspired by my growing up years in the city, especially my trip last December when I drove through the new Bandra-Worli sea link which has opened in the city connecting the outlying islands with the main city. And wow! Had it changed. It gave me a lot of inspiration for the futuristic Bombay scenes I wrote in the book.
Q. When did you start writing?
A. I wrote my first poem when I was five years old. No kidding! Inspired by the mango tree outside my home in Andheri – a suburb of Bombay. I finished the poem and knew I was going to write a novel – many novels. And then thanks to Ms. Hermes, my English teacher at the convent school I went to, I graduated to Wordsworth and Keats very quickly. (I went to an English language girls only convent school, run by French nuns. So English became my first language very quickly).
Q. What genre(s) do you write?
Future Bombay?
A. It is still a shock to me that I write so much in the fantasy space and it is a constant surprise to me how much I use Indian mythology as a north star. I had to trace my memory back to when I was very little, about five or younger, and recalling my grandmother telling me stories of the Indian Gods and Goddesses and their adventures to understand that my subconscience had soaked that up and was using it as a springboard in my writing. My grandmother was this amazingly strong woman. She lost her husband early and single handedly brought up her five children and various assorted nephews and nieces. I find that she speaks through me when I write. Overall I find I have more in common with a fifteen year old scifi geek (super heroes, et al) than the more typical ‘Desperate Housewives or Sex and the City’ kind of person people often classify me in.
Q . Where do you find your inspiration? Do you put yourself in your stories?
A. It’s a cliché but yes a lot of autobiographical incidents sparked off The Destiny of Shaitan. There is a kernel of truth in many of these chapters. The trigger for this book was Hong Kong. I lived and worked there for a few years and thought it was the most fantastical of all the places I had lived. The kind of experiences I had, were literally out of this world. Specifically from the moment I landed in Hong Kong, I found that I developed a racing heart – literally every time I shut my heart I could hear it pump as it were really afraid. A kinesiologist told me that Hong Kong was the seat of commerce – the base of the universe; and so for a person who was quite in touch with myself, to be surrounded by all that pursuit of money was a real shock. But it was such a bizarre experience, having a physical manifestation of something which was so intrinsic, it forced me to put pen to paper and start a story about what would happen if someone landed in a futuristic city and had strange encounters with people who could be from another planet – that character turned out to be Tiina in The Destiny of Shaitan. The rest followed.
Q. Do you have a specific writing routine?
A. Growing up in a modest middle class South Indian family who were very academically inclined, my Dad would insist we wake up really early in the morning to study. This has stayed with me. I find I write best if I wake up early in the morning 4 am if possible; and if I am really inspired and write till at least noon. If I am on a deadline I might write all day; like with Shaitan, the last 75 pages were written in two days – over a weekend. By the end of it, the muscles of my right hand had swollen up – it was crazy.
Q. Outliner or improviser? Fast or slow writer?
A. Ah! Shaitan was so organic; it grew from some real soul level inspiration. But did I struggle to make sense of it for the reader. The characters were off having great adventures and me the poor writer was scrambling to make sense of it. So for my next book – I am writing the outline, chapter, scene breakdown first. Writing’s the easy part/
Q. Tell us about your latest book
A. The Destiny of Shaitan, is a coming of awareness story. It’s sci-fi with soul, where the profane meets the fantastical.
When Tiina accompanies Yudi on a mission to retrieve the Isthmus from the ruthless Shaitan, she seeks more than the end of the tyrant; she seeks herself.
Driven by greed and fear for his own survival, Shaitan bulldozes his way through the galaxy, destroying everything in his path, including Tiina’s twin sister Maya and her best friend Rai. Tiina wants Yudi to destroy Shaitan, thus fulfilling the prophecy of Shaitan being killed by his firstborn. But she finds that Yudi is hesitant to do so. The final showdown between Tiina, Yudi, and Shaitan has unexpected consequences, for Shaitan will do anything in his power to win the fight. The universe is at stake, the combatants are determined, and Shaitan’s ultimate destiny will be fulfilled.
Q. Indie publishing or traditional publishing – and why?
A. I had two small publishing houses in India who were interested in publishing the book. But I found when it came to the crunch, I wanted control over it. I could not hand over my first born to anyone else. I wanted to edit it, design the cover and market it. I am so all over the internet, I knew no-one else could represent it better than me. So here I am – in the crazy, amazing yet satisfying world of Indie publishing.
Q. Any other projects in the pipeline?
A. My next novel is called The Seven Islands. I loved the scenes of a futuristic Bombay in which some of Shaitan is set so much, that my next novel is completely set in this world. I may even explore further the relationship between Tiina and Artemis – the shape-shifting spaceship who has a crush on Tiina.
Q. What is your goal as a writer and what are you doing to achieve it?
A. I want to share what I have learnt on my life journey through my writing; if I get my reader to feel with his/her heart and learn to live in the moment, which I believe is true happiness, I’ll be happy.
About Laxmi Hariharan: I am a writer, technophile & dare I say, a futurist, with a penchant for chai and growing eye-catching flowers. Wanderlust drove me out of my home country India and I travelled across Asia, living in Singapore and Hong Kong before coming home to London. I am inspired by Indian mythology; I draw strength from the stories my grandmother narrated to me as a child. It is in acknowledging my roots that I found my voice. When not writing I love walking in the woods with my soulmate, and indulging my inner geek.
I would love to connect with you on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest or my website.
Enter and win either a $15 Amazon Gift Card or Autographed Paperback of The Destiny of Shaitan!
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July 4, 2012
Writer Wednesday
OK, first – happy 4th of July to my American friends. I’ll always remember Mark Slaughter thinking the fireworks were for his birthday, LOL! So also, Happy Birthday, Mark! 
Because I’m a sloth in summer and because it’s been six month since the new writing/publishing schedule, I guess it’s time to revise it and adjust it to my new needs. So, I switched around some titles, not sure if I want to waste time and energy with short stories until after the summer, therefore as soon as I finish writing Technological Angel, I’ll dive into the Records of the Varian Empire, that tie CVE2 and CVE3 – and it’s a short story collection, so single titles might come out during the summer, LOL.
CVE3 should come out in August, a longer novel than what expected. As I don’t have that many Silvery Earth fans yet, I didn’t feel pressured to issue it as scheduled in January (June 1st…).
Also, I might not write the new book with the fall of the Empire this year – or maybe I’ll write it, but won’t publish it until the next. Not because I’m scared of a brand new book (I’m having lots of fun with the new ending of Technological Angel, even if it means rewriting most of what I already have to adjust, LOL), but because I’ve changed my writing process.
When I was younger I just dived into the story and went where the characters took me (hence the very episodic stories). But with Technological Angel I started a new trend. From what I remember (that was 2002), I spent three months thinking about the characters and world building before actually writing down a single word.
Of course now I need to change all that, but I really changed my mindset. I think I need to mull over the fall of the Varian Empire and the characters involved (of course I know who they are, part is written, part is still in outline form) before actually writing it. And then I need to let it rest for a month or two – because (and that’s not changed) the latest story is always the best, but after a few months it gets “old” and not so good anymore.
Not to mention after years, so you know how I feel about older stories now! I know there’s gold in them, but I’ll have to dig deep to bring it out. Like I had to do with CVE3 – deleting characters and useless subplots and making it more compact. And no, it didn’t hurt murdering my baby!
And Kris Rusch’s excellent post on perfection also helped me to decide NOT to touch what is already out there. I had considered revising Jessamine next year, or maybe Allan de Sayek, but with so many stories still on my mind, I think I’ll just move on. I can’t please everybody anyway! And I will have more m/m romance on Silvery Earth – so even if you’re disappointed with aforementioned AdS, don’t give up on me, and try the longer novels with gay characters, LOL!
Now you probably have heard that there’s the Smashwords summer/winter sale… and Unicorn Productions enrolled ALL its titles in it. There’s a Goodreads event, a Facebook event (although I set the date to July 15 as there’s no way to say from X to Z day) and kind bloggers have helped to spread the word of the sale. Please share the above and invite all your friends. 50% off everything, which makes a lot more titles FREE (i.e. the ones listed at 99cents if you don’t want to check them all – but then a novel is only 2.50$… worth trying, no?).
Just FYI – the titles that are ALWAYS free are Books of the Immortals – Prequels, Jessamine (both novella and graphic novel), Lady Ice and Starblazer because they were originally published on blogs (Serial Central or this one) and the first two are also free on Amazon.com. But plenty more have gone free because of the sale, so check it out!
A special thank goes to whoever downloaded the first title for free on Monday and another 4 on Tuesday. Thank you and hope to see you back on Silvery Earth soon. And please remember to leave a review!
Now, Friday I have a guest, so the randomness is postponed to Sunday – more reviews of books and movies for ya! Now I should try to check all those wonderful blogs out there… but I’d rather be reading a book instead… sigh! Hard choices we face!
July 1, 2012
Sunday interview – A.T.Weaver
I won her book during the Hop Against Homophobia and I must admit I had mixed feelings about it. My GR review of First Impressions Don’t Count:
On one hand it was too slow-paced for my tastes, too much “boring” description (but then, I’m someone who hates descriptions, so I found myself skipping paragraphs of foods, clothes or even – I don’t know – glass-making or how to ride a bike) and felt as if the author has done a lot of research on various things and had to put them all in the novel.
The extended families with many names – often quite similar – were also sort of confusing (and I often wondered “Who’s this again?”) and sometimes it was a bit repetitive – OK, much like real life, I guess.
On the other hand it was funny and poignant and the interactions between the characters was endearing. I chuckled during most dialogs and it’s a sweet romance.
So, I don’t know who to recommend this to… m/m romance lovers? Romance lovers in general? Dunno… check a sample and see if you like it!
I still wished to know the author better, so I wrote to her and asked her if she’d like to be interviewed. She said yes, and now I’m even more in awe of her. The interview came back with a little premise: Excuse me if I get a bit long winded.
She’s not, really. I’ve had worse! Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome A.T. Weaver!
B. Where do you live and write from?
A.T. I live in an independent living facility for the elderly in Olathe, Kansas. We’re very sensitive about the way the name of our town is pronounced. It’s Oh-lay-tha, which is a Shawnee Indian word meaning beautiful. Olathe is located twenty miles southwest of downtown Kansas City, MO on I-35 and is where the Oregon, California and Santa Fe Trails crossed. Olathe is home to the only stagecoach stop on the Santa Fe Trail still open to the public.
In the 1990s we went from a population of approximately 17,000 to over 100,000 in ten years.
Q. When did you start writing?
A. Back in 2003, I was unemployed and living with my son and his girlfriend. I got hooked on a TV show called Boy Meets Boy and ended up in a Yahoo group with over 3,000 gay men. After the show was over, we continued to talk and they educated me to the problems facing the LGBT community. They also recommended books and movies for me. I discovered most gay stories had some type of tragedy involved. When I decided to try my hand at writing, one of the guys said he would love a book where the boy meets the boy and they ride off into the sunset together.
I also became very vocal in regards to equality. My kids think I’ve lost my mind. I attended my first ever protest rally in 2008 after Prop 8 passed in California.
Q. What genre(s) do you write?
A. I write about gay men. I do not write erotica. I don’t want my teenaged grandkids picking up one of my books and saying, “OMG, my grandmother wrote that!” I try to write stories that show gay people are no different from straight people. After all, don’t we all want ‘someone to laugh with us when we’re happy, someone to cry with us when we’re sad and someone to grow old with us?’
Q. Where do you find your inspiration? Do you put yourself in your stories?
A. A lot of my plots come from stories my friends tell me. Like in First Impressions where Jenny carries Dave’s babies for her brother. That came from one of the guys in the Yahoo group.
The only part of me that goes into my stories is my sentiment.
Q. Do you have a specific writing routine?
A. No. I wish I did.
Q. Outliner or improviser? Fast or slow writer?
A. I guess you’d say I’m an improviser. I tend to write scenes and then put them together. I know what I want to happen, I just have to get from here to there.
I’ve written three books in nine years so I’d say slow.
Q. Tell us about your latest book
A. My latest book is called Catriona’s Curse and I don’t really know where the idea came from. It started out to be a ghost story but then I changed it to reincarnation. It’s set in modern Boonville, MO. with flashbacks to the era of pre-Civil War, World War Two and Women’s Suffrage.
or
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/102867
Q. Indie publishing or traditional publishing – and why?
A. I’ve gone with self-publishing because I couldn’t get anyone to read my first manuscript. After paying $500 to have my first book published, I started using Create Space.
Q. Any other projects in the pipeline?
A. Right now I’m working on two stories. One is about a young man who ‘comes out’ by breaking the nose of a soccer teammate and a few months later meets his dream man. Mike is twelve years older than Danny. Again, I’ve based that part on couples I know where one partner is considerably older than the other.
The other story is a paranormal short story. It’s about a werewolf (or maybe a shifter)
Q. What is your goal as a writer and what are you doing to achieve it?
A. I’m 69 years old so I don’t really have any goals. I just write to keep my mind active and me out of trouble.
Barb says: This last answer awed me. I’ve seen much younger writers shy away or balk at indie publishing because they felt it’s too hard (or they sign with Publish America thinking they’re smart – and then they whine and lament their company sucks. Duh). And they’re born with technology. And unlike “elder” friends who got lost with paying services, this lady could be my mom and she used technology to keep herself young, along with the writing. My lady, I bow to you! Happy writing and many sales to you!
June 29, 2012
Random Friday
First, a message from Prue:
Dear Everyone,
For the first time ever, I am offering Gisborne: Book of Pawns FREE through KDP Select for Saturday and Sunday. This is a completely unknown journey for me and I would so appreciate any help you might choose to give me by letting your online groups and friends know.
I understand if you feel you just want to delete this email as giant cheek, so apologies up front.
Gisborne: Book of Pawns…12th century secrets
FREE THIS WEEKEND
http://amzn.to/JFLNh8
I have already downloaded and it’s been sitting on my Kindle for some time (along with A Thousand Glass Flowers that has been sitting there even longer *blush*), but you should try it too. Especially if you like historical fiction. I’ve read only Prue’s fantasy titles so far, but the excerpts of Gisborne were good and I look forward to having time to actually read it!
I did manage some Kindle-reading last week, but I had to go through Smashwords titles first (only to avoid their friendly review reminder, LOL). So, here’s a list of very short reviews of what I read.
David Farland’s At a virgin’s doorstep – 4stars only because he had unicorn HUNTERS! The mighty sorceress known as the Lady of the Unicorn would have none of that!
Kiana Davenport’s House of skin (found on Joe Konrath’s blog last year, so that’s how long books can sit on my Kindle, sigh): 4 stars – read the review on the GR link.
Marie Dee’s To have a warrior (found through Six Sentence Sunday – again last year…): 4 stars – review as above.
Gemma Parke’s A Switch in Time (another Six Sentence Sunday found): 4 stars
All were pretty short (or short story collections).
Then I won 5 books during the Hop Against Homophobia, and Emery’s Ritches is one of them. 5 stars: hot and funny – and even if it’s book 2 and I didn’t read book 1, I enjoyed it nevertheless. Now, I should get book 1 (but not 3 as I don’t like “bears”! ;-p)…
Another title that I won you will hear about on Sunday. And then I have 2 PDFs left to read, which I’m going to do as soon as I finish what I’m reading at the moment.
And finally, one Bollywood review (only one DVD still not arrived…) Dil To Pagal Hai – an “oldie” because it’s from the late 1990s. So no kissing in Bollywood in the 20th century (you have to wait for Hritik Roshan to start seeing kisses in Bollywood movies, LOL)! But it’s a nice romantic comedy and it has great songs and wonderful dance numbers (that have actually something to do with the plot, LOL). Shahrukh Khan is at his best and Madhury Dixit is as beautiful in contemporary clothes as she was in Devdas, playing Chandramuki.
Today is Roma’s holiday – SS Peter and Paul – so everything is closed. So I might as well stay in and write, LOL! Have a great weekend!
June 27, 2012
Writer Wednesday
I forgot to mention that while in Massa I saw the first fireflies of my life – I was bummed because I didn’t see them in Certaldo and then my cousin’s wife said “Look, a firefly!” and suddenly in a garden in the middle of a town I saw one. Three the following night. I didn’t know they were seasonal, and apparently this year was good for them. But then the heat fried my brain and I forgot to mention it, LOL!
Anyhow, I’ve sent out the new version of CVE3. So I’m done cutting chapters and characters, adding the beginning of the next book that actually belongs to this one, etc. I even put back in two scenes that I had cut out at first translation when the actual end was supposed to be the middle of the next book. So I’m very curious to hear what editors and beta have to say about the changes. And wordcount went from 58K to 76K, so this makes it the longest novel for this year, LOL! Anyway, it’s a little like Loralie‘s revisions of her book, which means we’re all the same after all – fast or slow, sometimes we really turn our stories upside down!
I must thank Prue for discovering the Cosmopolitan cover generator – please check her “historical” issue and then the Silvery Earth special here.
I’ve tried to summarize what happens in CVE3, with the southern campaign, an Amazon marrying the Varian Emperor and on the cover your neighborhood warrior woman, Astrid, the female protagonist. And no, I didn’t submit for a real Cosmo issue – why, would you like to read it? Well, you can’t because it’s a medieval world – they haven’t invented newspapers yet (they have in BoI – Earth, but this is before) and certainly not magazines… so this is really a virtual issue!
The story I worked on last week is this year’s sci-fi title, Technological Angel. Which starts on 1982 Earth, so it took some research to add to my own memories of what and wasn’t available at the time! Again, I’m pointing to a post about Technology by Loralie as I’m a technophobe (but I’m still here indie publishing, LOL. Ever heard of a technological luddite? ). I wonder what younger people would think of 1982 Earth in my novel – yes, there’s also 2002 and now, for obvious reasons, it ends in 2012. You can tell I first wrote it ten years ago, but it evolved a lot through Italian betas and my own writer-evolution. I sure hope to have at least one of them that reads English to check the latest version when I’m done. I still have to write the final part about 2012, but as I started this back in April, I need to type what I have so far to continue organically. Hopefully soon it will be done – I might discuss it with one beta at the Chicon7!
Now, Katy gave me the Liebster Blog award, which I already had from Georgina back in January, so I’m not really passing it on. I believe it changed from what it used to be (see original post), but I did receive some blog awards that requested to say something about myself and answer questions… so I will answer Katy’s questions to follow the new rules because she tagged me and she deserves an answer even if I don’t pass it on! Here goes.
11 Questions for Those Bloggers:
1. What is the weirdest thing you have ever done in public? Gee, I don’t know, I hate being at the center of the attention… but if you poke me enough, you can watch my nice hysterics!
2. Why did you get into blogging? Because I’m a compulsive writer – can’t stop writing (although I decreased the number of posts, used to be short and daily, now longer and every other day)
3. Whose idea was all this, anyway? Dunno, Katy, but someone twisted the rules during the past 6 months, it wasn’t like this!
4. What is your favorite genre to read? Fantasy – although some subgenres such as urban or paranormal don’t really appeal to me. It must be another world, not our planet with vampires or werewolves!
5. What is your favorite genre to write, just for you? steamy m/m romance – I end up censoring it whenever I want someone else to read it, LOL!
6. What is your favorite book you wrote? usually the last one – but I haven’t written anything totally new since I started translating/rewriting and publishing my Italian stories.
7. Do you have a favorite book? If so, what is it? anything by Brunella Gasperini, my inspirator.
8. What kind of music do you like to listen to? 1980s pop, 1990s rock, celtic, Bollywood – anything, really, from any era and any country, as long as there’s some form of melody!
9. Favorite food? I eat to live, don’t live to eat…
10. (this is bloody exhausting) Will you still be friends with me after all this? Of course, Dear Editor!
11. There is no question 11! You’re welcome (hopefully this will relate to Question 10). Phew!
I’ll stick to the old rule for this award – no questions and no nothing. And, like I said, I will not pass it on. If you want it, grab it, and answer Katy’s questions!
Now, closing with a few links: Dean Wesley Smith on e-book pricing again. Michael Stackpole on traditional publishing obsolete thinking about e-books. 6 steps to publishing on a Shoestring. Actually, check all of SPAL if you wanto to learn to DIY! And don’t forget the new Smashwords requirement for cover images (I always uploaded the same image I used for POD, I only did the “e-book version” when I started uploading to Xinxii or Drivethru…). That’s all for today!
