Barbara G. Tarn's Blog, page 172
June 3, 2012
Sunday laziness
OK, it’s spring, so I’ve started sleeping in the afternoon again. Seems the siesta is for summer, but that’s how I function, LOL.
Apparently I’m not the only one annoyed at Easyjet onYahoo mail. Hopefully they’ll stop running that ad.
The Hop Against Homophobia post gets some 20 spam comment per day lately. Which means I’m constantly deleting comments from my spam folder. Sigh.
I might write an open letter to Mark Coker, as his trainees or new employees are really getting on my nerves. If there are new rules for uploading to Smashwords, please do like KDP and send an e-mail to everybody. If not, train your new employees properly, as getting into the Premium Catalog is slow enough already, without having to hear “need modification” for the wrong reasons. Sigh.
Just a short Sunday rant. Working on the e-book versions of Happiness is. Stay tuned…
June 1, 2012
Random Friday
So, the earth is still shaky in northern Italy and the dead toll has risen to 16. My friend near Modena sent me a picture of her half-crumbled office place, luckily nobody was inside, so it’s only building damage. INGV also has an English section if you want news of any earthquake (it doesn’t concentrate only on Italian earthquakes and volcanoes, although they’re the main focus). There’s also a neat little page where you can say what you felt (OK, there’s the link, but then it’s all in Italian) - I filled it when I felt the L’Aquila shake.
On to other topics – does anyone know how to block pop-ups on Yahoo mail? Easyjet’s ads have become really annoying, I’m sick of closing those pop-ups everytime I open a new e-mail (and I have a mailing list there, so lots of e-mails). One thing’s for sure: I’ll NEVER EVER fly Easyjet only because their stupid pop-ups annoyed me while checking my Yahoo mail. I don’t like low cost companies, but this one really got on my nerves. So kudos, Easyjet, you’ve just lost a customer.
I’ve always hated ads, so I thank the inventor of remote control for TVs – although I don’t watch TV anymore, in fact I’m stuck to 1980s TV ads, because in the 1990s I had a VCR (remember those? 
) so I recorded what I wanted to see and FF the ads. On the internet, the most annoying are the pop-ups. It’s easy to ignore the side-ads, but those stupid pop-ups… OK, most browsers block them, but Yahoo obviously doesn’t care. Grr. I like my Yahoo e-addy because it’s a .com. Hotmail gave me a .it addy. Sigh.
I will spare you a Friday rant about one of the most unprofessional writers I’ve ever met, he’s on Goodreads, and I’m not naming him, because even saying negative things is still talking and sending people his way – which I don’t want, LOL. But I know why indie publishing has a bad name, thanks to people like that guy. Grunt. Thank God for all the other great people (writers and readers) that populate the internet! 
I am closing this post with a writer-related article on business decisions for publishing careers. I have made mine, but as you can see there are many other options. As long as you’re honest with yourself and set realistic goals. I am a control freak, probably, but eventually I might try a small press – whenever I get back to that historical novel, for example. Because it’s one book, my first in that genre and I’m not in a hurry to publish it, so I could deal with trad publishing slothness!
So, have a great weekend! No Sunday post unless you want an excerpt of something…
May 30, 2012
Writer Wednesday
So, you’ve just had the last “original” Happiness Is… From June I’ll restart from the first, that went live in October 2009, when I had no followers at all. The vignettes will probably be quite new to you all, and by the time I post again all 135 of them, I might have a few more to add – and almost three years will be gone by, LOL! Where did the time go?
Hope you had all a great weekend. I’m currently rewriting CVE4 and had to stop and re-read before continuing (I wrote it back in 1993, typed it sometime in 2004 and haven’t read it since). I took out three chapters that were too episodic and didn’t really move the story forward (one was actually based on a dream… and I had to take it out… I’m not Dustin, see? ) and then had to combine chapters of the last third – that used to be the first story I wrote in English then translated into Italian in 1996 – because they were too short compared to the rest. As it couldn’t stand on its own and it still deals with the same characters seven years later, I added it to the rest.
Also, CVE3 (a.k.a. Lost&Oliver) I had it printed out and gave it to read to a friend and the shrink I saw at the time. Heck, I even submitted to a trad publisher that specialized in fantasy, and who replied they didn’t take unagented submission – now, there are no agents in Italy, except the ones that deal with rights of foreign writers, so how’s that for twisted? Anyway, I had a couple of people read it. But CVE4? Nobody read it. So here I am 20 years later finding holes in my plot and useless, meandering chapters, LOL!
I’ve heard from all the betas and editors in the meantime (that was fast, thanks, all!) and ended up discussing changes with a couple of them. Originally I had thought it episodic because I dreamed to see it drawn by Rosinski as a French BD (comic) – Oliver does look like a beardless Thorgal after all – so that’s why it reads like a collection of short stories. But I love the story and the characters, so I’ll make it a real novel – and if some deleted chapters can stand on their own, I’ll add them to the Records of the Varian Empire.
And it’s going to be one book (CVE3+4), so as soon as I finish the second part, I’ll re-outline it all, tighten it and rewrite. Glad I found some input to tame my episodic writing! And glad I found the courage to withdraw it from publication next month and wait until I’m happy with it. So the next Silvery Earth novel will probably be out in August instead of June, but it will be better that what I originally had. I probably need a new title as well, but I’ll brainstorm with beta&editors…
You might have heard, but the Taleist Survey results are now available on Amazon. I’m not sure I recognize myself in the lot, but I’m glad I participated. Next year’s version I’ll have more data to share, LOL! Speaking of surveys, here’s one for UK authors – like Dean says, (this is) information that should scare the hell out of traditional publishers.
Joe Konrath about traditional book contracts – yikes, run for the hills! But like Nathan Bransford says – traditional vs. self-publishing is a false dichotomy. Personally, I don’t think I’ll go near a traditional publisher anytime this year, but I can’t speak for the future. I’m getting used to the fact that I work better alone, and have given up the hope of finding the perfect team (and I badly need a better artist than myself for my graphic novels, sigh. Those temperamental artists drive me crazy! ).
I’ll close this post with my brainstorm on moleskine about the next CVE. See how a very secondary character jumped out to say he wanted me to tell his story? Sorry, pal, wait in line! I just love when I make connections between books, though, LOL! *spoiler alert* – click to enlarge image at own risk!
May 27, 2012
Sunday Interview
Because I don’t have any free excerpt I’d like to share (OK, maybe next week I’ll post one, if you ask nicely! ), and because I know I have two more coming up in July, I’ll use Sundays to post authors’ interviews – whenever I read something that makes me curious enough to contact the author, that is. I won his novella Masked Identities at the Hop against Homophobia and because I liked… ehm… the excerpt after the novella, I sent him my usual writerly questions and he kindly played the game… so, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Dustin Adrian Rhodes! (must give his blog address, I love the header! )
B. Where do you live and write from?
D. I live and write from fabulous Austin, Texas – the music capital of the world. I’ve called Austin my home since 1984.
B. When did you start writing?
D. Spring of 2010 I challenged myself to attempt something I’d not done before: write a novel. I penned the first draft of Auf Wiedersehen and I continued to write. Seems there were more than just one story floating inside my head.
B. Cool! It’s never to late to start! As long as you don’t quit, of course! What genre(s) do you write?
D. I started in M/M Romance but I’m moving into GAY LIT. I’m one of those bizarre writers who has a story to TELL and not consumed with the idea of writing just to SELL a story. I’ll be a starving writer for the rest of my life. LOL.
B. Where do you find your inspiration?
D. All of my stories begin as a dream. I watch the story unfold on the back of my eyelids as I sleep. As soon as I’ve written down the scene or scenes I’d dreamt the previous night, the projectionist will move onto the next scene(s). If I don’t record everything in proper detail, I’ll continue to dream the same scene(s) repeatedly each night until I’ve documented the entire dream in detail.
B. Allow me 30seconds of envy. In spite of writing genre fiction, I could never make believable the stories I wrote from dreams. I had to stopo doing that, LOL! So, kudos for managing this! Do you put yourself in your stories?
D. Yes, I’ve put myself in my first novel (Auf Widersehen~Journey to Goodbye), it’s closely based on my last relationship. My second novel (Outed By Anger) is based on my own coming out in a small Oklahoma high school. Both manuscripts are WIP’s.
B. Do you have a specific writing routine?
I write when I get the time and it also depends on my dang dreams.
B. I follow inspiration, so I guess at least in that we’re similar, LOL! Outliner or improviser?
D. I write the first & last chapters, then I “wing” the chapters in between.
B. Interesting method! Fast or slow writer?
D. I write first drafts fast, but I also do numerous re-writes which is where I take my time. Auf Wiedersehen is currently in it’s lucky 13th re-write.
B. Ouch. Please don’t get stuck in rewriting hell. Tell us about your latest book (add link if published)
D. I self-published my latest novella (Masked Identities) in Dec of last year http://MaskedIdentities.dustinadrianrhodes.com
It’s a contemporary hetro story wrapped around a gay Victorian story (1890 London). A college girl has recently broken up with her since high school. To clear her head, she visits her grandparents and discovers a book she had not read in her grandfather’s library. The Victorian story sparks some similarities to her relationship with her now ex-boyfriend. She realizes she has made a terrible mistake with her ex and decides to try to make an attempt to salvage the relationship.
I had two endings and couldn’t decide which I liked best, so I kept both endings. The reader can decide which ending suits ‘em best.
B. Unfortunately, I couldn’t care less for them, so I can’t help you choose. Hope you’ll write more about Sebastian and Ambrose instead! Indie publishing or traditional publishing – and why?
D. Storm of Passion (my first novella) and Masked Identities were self-published. I’d like to see if I can’t get my current WIP novel traditionally published. Why? I’m relatively new to the writing game and I’d like to experience everything I possibly can. My WIP novel may be the last (or near the end) of legacy publishing as we know it, digital and self publishing is slowly draining the lifeblood out of legacy publishing and traditionally printed books. Hopefully that day will never come, but I’m not waiting around to see if it does… I’m gonna see if I can’t get published in the old fashioned way.
B. Well, good luck! Remember to let me know, as that teaser chapter really hooked me! Any other projects in the pipeline?
D. Well, I mentioned both of my current WIP novels, and I’ve begun writing my next novella (Pulpit to Porn). Marc, a young minister must decide which is more important to him, his family or his religious convictions. He’s always been close to his family and he’s just become an uncle for the first time. His special needs nephew is being raised by his elderly parents and his single-mom sister. The nephew requires expensive medical attention which the family is unable to afford. Marc must decide if he will help his family financially and possibly jeopardize his career as a clergy. Faith and family become a serious internal struggle for the young minister.
B. What is your goal as a writer and what are you doing to achieve it?
D. In addition to the WIP’s, I’ve outlined 6 additional novels. Although each storyline is a stand-alone, many of the characters reappear with a few years passing between each story. If read in order, the novels could be considered a “series”, but that’s not my intention. I’ve developed a deep connection with these characters and they’ve got some interesting story lines between them.
http://www.dustinadrianrhodes.com
B. Whoot! Well, happy writing then!
Have a great Sunday everyon! 
May 25, 2012
Random Friday
So, you might have heard of Italy’s latest earthquake. No, I didn’t feel anything this time, but I have a friend in Bologna who keeps posting on Facebook he’s scared. Another in Modena sent me an SMS on Sunday, saying her house shook really hard on the 6th floor (that’s when the first, stronger hit happened).
That particular region was less struck by the recession – before the earthquake. And as we’re not Japan, we had 4 people dead in the earthquake when a factory collapsed. Now the local industry has been hit hard, and I don’t know how they will recover. Our politicians are still to busy to gather the last scraps of money to care. Sigh.
The weather has been crazy – cold in the morning, warm at lunch time (when it didn’t rain). Or at least that’s what it was like in Roma. Hope it didn’t rain on the earthquake region too. All this while planning my trip to Chicon7 at the end of August – still have to buy plane tickets, but I feel I’m already there.
But first June in Certaldo, not really participating to the medieval dinner, but watching again – and no, I don’t plan to dress up this time! I’m going by train, and the costume is too heavy and bothersome to drag on a train!
Besides, I might attend the New York Ren Faire again 10 years later – in 2002 I was blown away by the live tournament and look forward to seeing it again. Hey, I have a video camera now, yay! Pity for the cardboard castle in the background, but one day I’ll be in England at the right time to see Warwick Castle’s tournament!
Anyway, I’m not sure I want to drag my costume on the plane either, so I might rent one like I did 10 years ago, LOL. And in June I also hope to make it to Arezzo on a day-trip to see the Flag Weavers (it’s the only Italian tradition I’m so very fond of, LOL!) – but again, I’ll be in plain clothes as I don’t want to get on that intercity train with my costume.
I very much enjoyed Michelle’s post on blogging and where it’s headed. Like her, I consider it a weblog, not a marketing tool. Since I went “public” with WordPress (I had a few posts on my private Yahoo blog, that I copy/pasted here at the beginning of this adventure at the end of 2009), I enjoyed the interaction with other bloggers. I like discovering new blogs on the most different topics (my blogroll has changed a lot since the beginning) and feel sad when I see bloggers stop blogging because they feel they failed.
It’s like those writers who give up because nobody buys their book after 6 months to one year. And they have ONE book out. And they spam everybody with their release and then bemoan the lack of sales. It’s not a “get rich quick by jumping on the self-pub wagon”, babe! Same with blogging. Whoever started blogging thinking he/she could make money from it, fell flat on his/her face.
So I’ll keep blogging, with a less grueling schedule because in spite of loving it, I need time to write more books. So less-but-longer posts on the blog and more titles out there. And it’s OK to be scared shitless by this brand new world of publishing. It’s OK not to have a Twitter account, not to be on Google+, not to have an agent or a publisher or to try to do things on your own.
It’s not OK to get stuck in the 20th century. Trust me, I loved that century, especially the 1980s (my long lost teens, LOL), but they’re gone, and there’s no going back. It’s a scary new future changing too fast for most, but then – that’s life. Don’t be afraid of success. If it’s meant to happen, it will happen! I will write a non-fiction title about my experience later this year, in case you’re interested.
In the meantime have a great weekend!
May 23, 2012
Writer wednesday – blog hop results
So, it was so intense I didn’t have time to watch any movies, LOL! But I did have fun reading the 280 blog posts of the Hop Against Homphobia and have piled up a few more titles (as if I didn’t have enough to read already, LOL). And I won 3 e-books, yay!
Now, for my part. A very special thanks to the 100+ visitors that showed up on my blog (pretty down the line, so I’m sure most didn’t make it this far) and the 10+ who left comments. I actually did two drawings, so I have two winners.
First I had a manual draw because 1 comment was on the wrong post and Joleene had 2 (WP glitches…), so I wrote down the names and had my innocent, non-English-speaking 7-year-old nephew do the drawing.
Here’s the result. But as Joleene already knows my work (we didn’t cheat, my nephew can’t even read her name properly and my mum didn’t really help him as she can’t speak English either, LOL), I decided to do another drawing with Random.org.
So here we go, comment #8 is… Shadow Sterling! I’ve had trouble generating Smashwords coupons all of yesterday, but this morning I finally managed to do it, so I sent the coupon to them… and then I hope they’ll enjoy their copy of Allan de Sayek and give a honest review on Smashwords, Amazon, Goodreads or wherever else they can leave reviews!
Now, to new releases: the body switch is out, sorry it was late for the blog hop. Maybe next year I’ll have B.G. Hope participate and give away either one of her m/m romance stories or this novella – switch between married woman and young gay man. Go check it on Smashwords and Kindle. One copy is sold before the announcement – on Smashwords (thank you, dear reader, whoever you are – I assume you saw it on Facebook or browsing Smashwords!).
I have a few writerly links as well, with my comments, of course. Kris Rusch on the “brutal” 2000-word day – I don’t know what my daily wordcount is because I handwrite first drafts, but I am (mostly) on schedule with my publishing year. OK, CVE3 will probably be late, but as in June I’ll publish only short stories, I can relax a little with the wordcount!
For those of you who constantly check your Amazon ranking, here’s a post on the algorythm. Personally, I’m too busy writing to bother checking. I know I might not see that Amazon check this year either, but I’ll keep writing. OK, maybe after the summer I’ll have 100$ of royalties and will see that check and frame it! Anyway, I’m not really experimenting with price either, except for the double shorts of my other pen-names (two stories for 2.99$ instead of 1 at .99$) - well, it’s not really an experiment, as I don’t plan on changing it again anytime soon… Anyway, check also David Gaughran’s analysis of the whole matter.
And finally an excellent post on the changing politics of the self-publishing stigma. Again, who are the writers’ fiercest enemies? Other writers, of course. That’s what I noticed in many critique partners I had – they wanted me to write like them or like some writing guru who wasn’t even a fiction writer said we should. Now the book world is in the hands of readers at last. Let the readers judge you. You write for them and yourself, not for some bestselling writer you’ll never be able to emulate.
One final link is David Gaughran’s open letter to the DoJ. It’s probably gone by now, but still worth reading. I should have gone and signed it when I first heard about it, but it was a busy week last week, sigh.
Now I’ll go back to work and check your blogs and just keep writing. If it weren’t so rainy, I’d be inking SKYBAND 11 at work, but I don’t want it to get damp! Have a great week!
UPDATE about the Open Letter to the DOJ: I wrote David this morning asking if he had already sent it – he hasn’t, so if you would like to add your signature to that wonderful letter, drop him a line at the address he has given on the post! Let’s make a difference! From all over the world!
May 20, 2012
May 18, 2012
Random Friday
Found it? Easy to scroll down? Well, it’s been some time since my last blog hop – I did the Blog Jog twice (in May and November 2010), then a fantasy blog hop (link expired) once, and now it’s the M/M romance only blog hop. Fun! I got to meet other great writers at those blog hops, and sure hope to find more this time. Oh, and I’m not commenting on regular visitors comments on the blog hop (because they would count as comments or whatever) so you know it’s only because of the giveaway – but Jo, I appreciate your first comment and maybe you could join next year!
Actually, the linky link is not closed. When I started the hop I printed a list of 257 participants. By the evening it was 275, so maybe this morning it’s over 300. Granted, some links don’t work or weren’t active when I tried (no hop-related post) – shame on them. I’m not redoing the rounds because some bloggers forgot to schedule on time. And so far not too many problems leaving comment, but I’d be grateful if Blogger users took of the stupid Catchpa from their comments forms. Some already have, but not all. As for WordPress, don’t forget to uncheck the little box OR change the settings from your dashboard as explained here – I got flooded by unwanted WP e-mails because I forgot to uncheck that little box (if you do the same mistake, simply follow the link on the email itself and delete all the blogs added to your “follow” list).
Technically, Six Sentence Sunday is also a blog hop, but I’ve given up on that one (although I saw a few Sixers specializing in M/M romance on the still running blog hop). At the beginning (January 2011) there were less authors and it was easy to do the rounds, and everybody visited everybody. But now there are too many people signed up and I don’t think anyone does the rounds, or I’d have 100+ visits on Sundays (when I sign up for SSS, of course) – which never happens. Maximum visits were around 40 with 100+ blogs registered. So I don’t think I’ll sign up again before the summer. In September we’ll see. I don’t think readers want only six sentences of any book, although it might sound like an excellent trailer/pitch. But again, no sales from SSS, so why bother.
Jumping to unrelated topics (it is Random Friday, after all!), Bad Housewife here managed to turn her white hoodie into a baby blue one, by washing it with a blue thing (and I didn’t throw in my jeans because I thought “No, they’ll make the hoodie blue!”). Yay me – I hated the fact that it was white, now it’s not anymore, LOL! Maybe I’ll wash it with more blue stuff next time, so it will become really blue (color unavailable on Zazzle)! It goes well with the blue embroidery! Or I could have washed it with red stuff to turn it pink… too late, if I do it now it will become purple and I hate purple!
I was sent a link (no longer working) on Amazon’s study on the most well-read cities in the US. Someone said in that list there are all cities that have a university. What struck me is this, though: how come the Publishing Mecca is not on the list? Maybe publishers don’t read? Mmm? And they expect to know readers’ tastes?
And then Amazon strikes again by changing the rules of reviews. Baaaad Amazon! Bad for who? Publishers, of course. I’m very happy my reviews are from my readers. I don’t write for publishers, I write for myself and my readers. I don’t care what a literary critic thinks of my prose (it’s not literary, therefore it must suck), but I care what a reader has to say. Dear professors, lament the loss of real criticism all you want, but I’m not looking for your approval. Nor would I read any of your reviews (OK, I don’t read reviews, but I think readers shouldn’t care about Highly Acclaimed Literary Critic’s review either – especially genre readers like me, we know what HALCs think of our favorite books)…
Now I’ll keep this post short because I still have to do the rounds of the bloghop – 50 blogs a day and today I do have to go to DayJob in the morning, sigh. I hate wasting those 5 hours in an unappreciative environment, but it’s too early to give it up. It still pays the bills and the travels! I also hope to be able to review something new soon (yes, uneducated review by a writer who is not a native but loves to read English fiction books). But I keep adding titles to my Kindle or my Smashwords library and sometimes I feel I’ll never read them, sigh! 
I also have 2 DVDs left to watch that match the theme of this weekend’s blog hop – a
