Barbara G. Tarn's Blog, page 178

Random Friday

I might have already mentioned that, but it's a "special" (not in a good way) Friday in Italy. Americans have Friday 13, Italians Friday 17. So 17 is the most unlucky number in this country – I've heard that some hotels don't even have a room #17 for that reason. #13, on the contrary, used to be the winning number for Totocalcio (some sort of lottery based on soccer games – you should be aware that soccer is the only sport loved in Italy, and that Italians put out the Italian flag only when the Italian national soccer team plays the world championships – that ran from 1946 to 2003), so it's a good luck number. Talk about different cultures and numbers!

It's also the first Friday (after 2 weeks) with no snow-alert in Roma. I'm a winter person, I love snow – but NOT in Roma, where we're not used to it and nobody knows how to handle it. Last Friday was a nightmare for me – my colleague didn't come to work because she has a child and schools were closed, so I went on my own. But then I read on the ATAC site that the "snow-plan" would become effective at 1pm, when half the buses would disappear, so I asked the manager to close at 12.30 and go home earlier. Pity there was a technician for the broken printers of the office and I got out at 12.45 – and saw the bus go by!

I panicked, as that bus is every 20 minutes or more, and I was afraid there wouldn't be another and I'd be stuck in the middle of nowhere because of the snow-plan. It was drizzling/raining, not snowing, and I waited 30 minutes until another bus showed up. But that would mean that the second bus I needed to go home wouldn't be there, so I consulted my printed sheet from the ATAC site to see which buses would still be running. I took the Metro to Laurentina and then waited 15minutes for the last bus of the series to leave and take me home – took me one hour and a half of anxiety. And then it didn't snow as much as the previous weekend.

Hopefully we've had enough for another 27 years, but it didn't really help my nervous breakdown! I stopped waking up in anguish at dawn, and now the alarm clock kills me (it has killed me for two mornings in a row, at least!) and I look forward to Saturday when I'll be able to sleep all morning if I feel like it (not Sunday, but Saturday should be enough to recover).

You might come to Roma as a tourist and visit only the touristic places and find many buses and the Metro and everything, but if you live here, especially in the outskirts, you're really doomed. My bus was totally absent for both the past weekends (luckily I don't work on weekends) and sometimes I wait for it 20 to 50 minutes (and it has a 20minutes trip, so it means there's only one doing the round trip…). On the timetable it's supposed to show up every 10 minutes during school times/months, 20 minutes rest of the day/summer.

Now I have to take two busses to get to work and the second bus is every 20minutes as well. So Wednesday I lost the usual 7.45 one (and it takes 50minutes to get to the end of the trip), so I arrived at work at 9.10. Yesterday the 7.45 left at 7.50 but did the whole journey in 40 minutes. Traffic is always a surprise, especially in the outskirts where more people take their cars to go to work.  So in Roma you know when you leave, but you have no idea of when you'll arrive wherever you need to go. Sigh.

Mr Writing should really start earn some money so we can move to a better environment, LOL! Although unless I make it really big, I don't think I can afford another mortgage – owning a house is what keeps me in Roma. Where sometimes you find world DVDs at 3 euros, decide to watch them subtitled and discover some subtitles are missing. Not too many, so you're still able to understand the story, but it's kind of funny to watch the character speak (Mandarin, no less) and nothing is written underneath. Doh.

Anyway, I bought The Promise because it was 3euros and had Hiroyuki Sanada in it (although it's a Chinese movie, not Japanese). In spite of the missing subtitles, I enjoyed this fantasy story. Sometimes the computer graphics were a little excessive, but most of the visuals are very good – in an oriental way. There are martial arts, goddesses, men with super powers, love, revenge… it's a good ride. It's not Bollywood, but if you enjoyed Hero or House of Flying Daggers, it's in the same vein. And

Writer Wednesday

Smashwords has been down most of yesterday and KDP isn't that fast in making books public, but finally before dinner I was able to upload also on Smashwords. Except they were backlogged, so I didn't manage to see the titles go live before going to bed. I might have to update with the links today, whenever I find them.

New releases: Books of the Immortals – Prequels FREE on Smashwords (when it gets premium distribution, I'll ask you to go and tell Amazon about it, LOL) and Love&Prejudice by B.G.Hope – revised edition. Also during the weekend I went on Lulu, so now you have 5 more issues of S.K.Y.B.A.N.D. + Omnibus 2 – all in print and available. Next weekend I hope to work on the PDFs for DriveThruComics although I'll sell only the single issues there, as the PDFs of Omnibus are too big.

I also participated in the Self-Publishing Survey with only less-than-50-bucks royalties for 2011 (on all sites, so I haven't seen a dime, LOL!), please help them to reach their 1000 Indie Authors goal: if you're indie/self-published go and waste 20 minutes there instead of wasting time on Facebook, Goodreads, Twitter or your favorite social network/time waster!

The Technium talked about the 1000 True Fans, but the post (AND the updates – haven't read the comments, though) are from 2008, so before Amanda Hocking. I think now it's easier to reach those 1000 True Fans and be able to quit your day job.

My indie publishing expenses were higher last year than what Dean and Kris mention in their posts, but I live in a non-English-speaking country and had to hire editors. Although attending the Think like a publisher workshop and finding cheaper editors and new betas should see my expenses plummet this year. Last year I also paid my friend Cristina for the BoI covers, so hopefully this year I'll spend less and earn more.

Before Smashwords crashed, I managed to see I sold one copy of the Italian novel on B&N – some Italian who emigrated to the US? Considering I haven't sold any on Kindle Italia… I'm happy! For more on the Amazon/B&N/Big 6 feuds, you have Writers Beware and Joe Konrath (guess whose side Joe is on? ). Personally, I won't keep all eggs in one basket. I haven't sold a copy on XinXii yet, but I've just started – less than a month ago – and it took me a couple of months to start selling on Smashwords and KDP, so I'm not in a hurry.

And now I'll stop checking those numbers, like Shelli Johnson suggests. Reminder to myself: write from your heart, and don't bother with numbers – you were never good at math anyway!

I'm also reading the Ninc Binder where at some point they mention guest posts or blog posts in general should be 250-500 words long (which goes along Stephannie Beman's post on 9 blogging tips). Now, that's what I did last year with my shorter daily posts, and it took me almost two years to find 40 subscribers. Now I post longer posts every other day and I've found 40 more in six months (although the new blog schedule is only 2 months old).

Which means Dean is right once again: no blind following the "rules", do what works for you! For me, as I plan on writing much more this year and publish under 2 pen-names (3, but the Italian stuff only needs revising and formatting, so I don't count it as writing), the new schedule with less-but-longer posts works just fine.

I'll also follow less blogs because I want to read more fiction – which includes the manuscripts I requested from Loralie's Crit Partners Blogfest) and until I can quit Day Job, I'll have to limit my interaction with other bloggers/authors. Sorry guys&gals, got some writing to do!

Happiness is…

Six Sentence Sunday

Hello, Sunday visitors. I'm participating in a blogfest this weekend, so I'm posting six sentence from the WiP I'd like to be considered in the blogfest. Six sentences from Chronicles of the Varian Empire – The Left-handed Warrior.

***

The Varian ships were allowed to berth in the harbors of the Amazons Country, but the crews were forbidden to leave the trade area that divided the port from the proper town. Slaves were transferred in a big warehouse until the sale.

Kurt disembarked with the other prisoners, unable to catch a glance of Beth. He began to worry for his friend's health, but he doubted the captain had killed her. He must rescue himself first, though, then he could think of hunting down the Varian captain and free her as well.

He waited to be on put on sale, wondering who would buy him and how he could get away from his master.

***

Like the previous post from this WiP, it's a six sentence scene. There's only two of them, though, so that's all!

Now hop back to the official blog for more six sentence goodies! Have a great Sunday!

Blogfest: I'll Scratch Your Back, You Scratch Mine

Welcome to the ISYB,YSM blogfest (don't you love acronyms? With such a long title, I thought I'd shorten it, LOL!)! Check the other participants at the blogfest link – I'll be sure to visit them until the 13th, in the meantime, here's me.

I write adult fantasy as Barbara G.Tarn and I'm currently looking for betas for Chronicles of the Varian Empire – The Left-Handed warrior (from which you'll have an extra excerpt on Sunday, so come back if you like what you read here).

The first draft is complete and ready to go out to betas and editors. It's 40.000words (like CVE1 – The Spell).

I'm looking for overall thoughts on plot and pacing, and if the readers gets confused or lost or bored. I'll have an editor or two to check grammar and typos, but feel free to point them if you see them. I need to know if the story was compelling enough or you had to trudge to it, bored to death! I need a reader's input, so if you're a writer, take off your writer/editor hat, thank you!

The blurb:

The struggle between Humans and Genn gets nasty.

Orphaned by Human bandits, adopted by Genn, seeking revenge and becoming a warrior under a not-so-accomodating Emperor. Especially if you refuse to serve him to side with the Genn.

The first 500 w0rds:

1. GLADIUS

The caravan of colored wagons meandered like a snake across the bare plain, moving at a slow pace. Some were light and open, others were closed either with wood or heavy curtains to protect their noble occupants from the harshness of the unpaved road. Knights in chain mail and weirdly shaped helmets rode along, protecting the wagons and checking everything was going smoothly. The atmosphere was cheerful, and calls and laughter went from one vehicle to the next.

Some wagons belonged to strange ephebic beings with long blond hair and pointed ears: the Genn, one of the four Magical Races, who were free citizens of the Empire. They were all tall, slender, keeping their hair long even in old age as they never went bald, and had blue or green eyes. They were a minority in the long train, but they were striking with their golden hair gleaming in the sun.

It wasn't the first time they left the Capital, where they had been living for the past seven years, but Kurt and Blondsun were quite excited by this trip. The Emperor had decided to hold some games at Gladius, where it never rained, to celebrate fifteen years of reign and peace. Curled up at the back of Blondsun's father's open cart, they often glanced at the Emperor's closed wagon behind them which was the center of the procession, surrounded by the Imperial Guard. The wooden wagon was painted with the colors of the Empire, its four windows closed by heavy curtains, its occupant invisible and well protected both from the heat and from assassins.

"Do you think I could participate in the Games?" Kurt asked, hopeful, to his almost-twin, as he liked to call Blondsun. A dark-haired teenage Human in a cart full of Genn, he was the odd one in this particular lot.

"You're not a warrior yet," Blondsun flashed his dazzling Genn smile at him. "You're good, but not good enough yet. You could win the archery contest, but the rest?"

Kurt frowned. He was fifteen, not much for a Genn, but a lot for a Human like him. People were made emperors and inherited lands and titles at sixteen in the Human world! He was better than Silverstar, Blondsun's older brother, and his own sword-teacher was very proud of him, saying he could take advantage of being left-handed. He was sort of slim and didn't have a horse to joust, but still…

"You're envious because I might actually make it," he grumbled.

"Envious?" Blondsun stared at him in wonder. "And tell me, Kurt, what can a Genn apprentice magic user envy about a training Human warrior?"

Kurt smiled against his will. Blondsun was right. He was still a grown-up child, but he wasn't stupid. Besides, everybody knew Genn were superior to Humans, and not only because they belonged to a powerful Magical Race.

Random Wednesday

Because Friday is Blogfest time – so writer's stuff – I'm doing the random post today for a couple of reasons. First, Roma made the world news for the snow. We hadn't seen that much since Jan.6, 1985, when it lasted for a whole week or something. At the time I didn't work and was glad to skip school (well, Illustration course, first year. I made it to the second and didn't pass. Continued without their very expensive diploma, LOL).

Jan.6 - 1985

This year it was sort of harder. I already have problems with DayJob without adding the snow! For the whole weekend there was no bus in the suburb, but Monday morning it was there again. Except it was all quite icy, so I didn't walk to the next stop because I was afraid of ice. I took 150 pictures or something like that, thanks to digital cameras (I was doing photography in 1985, so I had a b&w roll in the camera and did only the few in that 24 or 36 film), walked around, found one supermarket open (but empty of bread and fresh vegetables, luckily that wasn't what I was looking for) and kept my extra electric heater on all day.

Feb.4 - 2012

I checked at my parents' the old photo albums, they have 3 pics of the snow in Roma 12 Feb.1969 and it wasn't this bad either. In 2010 (February) it lasted two hours (I was home sick, I noticed because I saw the pictures on Facebook from friends and looked out of the window – but, like I said, it lasted two hours).

On Facebook this weekend I found this funny image of Roma south turned into a ski resort… my house is somewhere between the Laurentina and Ardeatina skilifts!

Anyway, this was another reason to tell DayJob that I can't drive to work, neither in the snow nor without, so they'll leave me somewhere I can reach by bus. I had to go to the center to talk to Human Resources yesterday, so I saw what was left of snow on the Coliseum – not much. But I think the Fori Imperiali were still closed as the snow hadn't been cleaned out. I also had a look at Fontana di Trevi, and wondered if it was frozen during the weekend – it wasn't yesterday! And the snow was almost gone on Via del Corso and the little streets around it.

Before the snow I got my UPS parcels, one from Lulu and one from Amazon. The Lulu one had SKYBAND and I had to redo Omnibus 2 because I skipped a page and duplicated another. Sigh. So I've re-ordered it, sorry to keep my only reader waiting. Again, I don't know if I'll be able to have the download version as well, and I didn't have time to format for Kindle and Nook to put on DriveThruComics either – I was busy writing, LOL!

The Amazon parcel had Habibi – another door-stopper graphic novel in hardback (which made me dream of a hardback version of the final SKYBAND…) and even if Craig Thompson is not as good as Terry Moore or Colleen Doran, his story is wonderful, mixing Bible and Quran and Arabian nights and… well, I'm glad I bought it.

And then there was Luck by Chance, a glimpse at Bollywood from an insider. This is the first movie from the twins of Zindagi, and it's a curiosity about the Indian movie industry, with some superstars playing themselves and the definition of Bollywood Hero (meh, no citations on IMDB, sigh. But you can check the trivia). So if you're curious about Bollywood and want to see one of those movie-inside-the-movie things, you might miss some citations (just like I did), but it's fun. Although the second movie (Zindagi…) is better! But the writer-director applied the well-known rule of  "write what you know" to her first movie!

Happiness is…

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Six Sentence Sunday

Hello, Sunday visitors! Did you miss me during the past two weeks? I certainly missed joining the fun…

So, without further ado, from my latest release Chronicles of the Varian Empire – The Spell, six sentences about the spell of the title.

***

She was sick of tricking him into her arms by assuming someone else's look. He was right, he'd never know her real face. But he could grow fond of "good old Pearl" if only…

Then she had an idea. What if she sent him in the future, when his Human friends and relatives were all dead and she could be the only face he knew and could turn to? It wouldn't make much difference for her and she could end her life with him…

***

Chronicles of the Varian Empire – The Spell is out on Smashwords and Kindle.

Now hop back to the official blog for more six sentence goodies! Have a great Sunday!

Random Friday

Back to DayJob after four weeks and a half. An interesting experience for when I'll be able to quit!

The first two weeks I was too sick and depressed to notice time flying. I felt guilty for being sick and felt useless in the world at large.

Week three was the best: I was feeling better and I went out and met some friends.

Week four I was feeling well – too well, actually. I wanted to stay at home and do what I like without bothering to go out and meet anyone. But a part of me was missing my colleagues. I'm antisocial and never get bored at home, and for that reason I need to keep that part-time DayJob for a few more years. Or I might as well become an hermit.

The last three days I was kind of anxious again. Would I find my place? I mean, my nervous breakdown was also caused by a feeling of inadequacy, and that I had become a number, not a person. Would I still be a number or would my long absence make me a person? An employee with a sort of mid-life chrisis who in spite of being hired for a job she doesn't like, can't ignore her duties?

And then on the last day at home my internet connection went sloooow again, at least in the morning, so I took it as a sign to go back to work if I wanted this post to go live and provide Alpha Reader with a printed copy of CVE2 at our next meeting. I have accomplished much in my "freelance month", but I still have a lot to do – hence I'm studying Kris Rusch's Freelancer's Guide (not only for writers, but for anyone who is either forced by this economy or chooses to go full time freelance). Some things I already do, others I haven't considered them yet.

I need to go back to DayJob to set up my vacation time for this year, as I have a few events I'd love to attend, especially in this first half (and let's be honest, it's still DayJob that pays the bills and travel expenses. Mr Writing is taking it very slow, sigh): the Salon du livre de Paris and Torino Comics, where I'll get to meet Terry Moore and ask him to sign my copy of Echo paperback (even if I have to bring a door-stopper on the train to Torino). So, I hope I'll get the days off to do both. And the second half of the year is still open.

Anyway, I managed to set up my writing and publishing plan for the year during January, and hopefully it will go smoothly. I'll have to work around some dates and I'm thinking of doing something in March (if I don't go to Paris) on Goodreads, to celebrate one year there.

And then yesterday I walked to my bus stop as usual (meaning as I did last year, LOL) in spite of the cold and went back to the office. Some missed me, some didn't, and thank God it was a busy day, so I didn't have much time to think.

In the afternoon I checked flights and hotels, and today or Monday at the latest I'll ask the boss for those vacation days, and we'll see what happens. I guess I'm happy to be back, so I can socialize for five hours a day, otherwise, like most writers, I wouldn't talk to anyone for days on end (considering that Mr Writing doesn't answer me, so I gave up having conversations with him! ).

Oh, and Amazon was kind enough to send the first batch by UPS, so I got a door-stopper graphic novel and a DVD I will soon read/watch and review!

Sunday the six sentences are back… have a great weekend and see you next week!

Writer Wednesday

So, I had my "formatting weekend" and managed to upload the BoI on XinXii (see the nifty little button on the side-bar?), first PDF only, then I added mobi and epub files generated with calibre. Have no idea of how they look, but well… Europe, here I am. I'm also slowly uploading to DriveThruFiction before I go to their "comics" section – I need to modify the pages of SKYBAND  (especially the few in prose) to format them for the ereaders screens.

Speaking of  which, after correcting a couple of typos here and there, I uploaded chapter 10 and Omnibus 2. I'll wait for the printed copies before making them public. Except there won't be a PDF as Lulu now has another section for e-books, so it's another formatting and upload. They have a formatting manual much like the one Smashwords give – and then they distributes epub with ISBN to their partners including B&N. To which I go through Smashwords. So I wonder if I should put myself through their epub-generator or  just do the e-version for DriveThruComics, even if it means spreading stuff on many sites, and not all have everything. But then, tthat's already how it is, as some titles are available only in certain places (like the art books – only in print – or some Smashwords shorts with no ISBN that don't go to the extended distribution).

Now, I wanted to add a few links to the usual suspects (and a couple of new ones), but I decided not to. Because this is not an "how to" blog and some things are not really up for discussion anyway. You know by now what I think and who I follow, so it's useless to point you to the posts that made my little brain go in dozens of different directions – so that I needed to stop and focus or I would accomplish nothing. I'll share only this hilarious link about the publisher-dating dictionary, because it's Brisish humor, LOL! Oh, and this one in case you want to use Goodreads for your marketing. I haven't used it that way yet, so I'm sending you to a fellow Creative Reviewer again (did I mention it's the best GR group evah? Especially friendly to indies? ).

I also signed up for Loralee's blogfest: I'll Scratch Your Back, You Scratch Mine… if you're looking for betas or crit partners, join the fun. And see you on the blogfest in 10 days. Which, by the way, means I won't have the "fiction week" after all, as I want to put out those BoI – Prequels. So one of those (free) shorts will be an exclusive new story. Stay tuned…

I also formatted the new book last weekend, and I did the cover for the third time (fourth, actually, but one version didn't reach the color version) – finally I'm happy with it. Ladies and gentlemen, CVE1 – The Spell! And no, I won't show you the attempts this time!

Blurb: Get on the wrong side of a powerful magic user and face the consequences.

A spell sends him 100 years in the future. With no way back. Adapt or die.

Living in the future – heaven or hell? With an embarrassingly adoring guide, life can't be easy.

The Spell is now live on Smashwords and Kindle, sometimes later in the month XinXii and Drive Thru, and in print only next month when Allan de Sayek also comes out – as they're both "short", I'll print them together, considering that the two stories happen almost at the same time! So, check this latest Silvery Earth baby and have a great week! This Sunday I'll sign up for SSS again, I wonder if they missed me…