Barbara G. Tarn's Blog, page 182

back on track?

Barb&Techie Bro trying to awaken the stupid PC

Finally my computer seems to be back online (maybe the threat to be thrown out and substituted with Borrowed Laptop scared it enough to start working again! ), so I hope to catch up with what happened in the past week, when none of the web pages opened for me (in fact I made a comment on a blog, and it never appeared, probably timed out, sigh. When I recover, I'll try to do it again).

I have to catch up what's going on everywhere online, so I won't comment on that. I'll try to finish uploading and making public the printed books I received last week (see pic), hopefully tomorrow (need to be able to cut and paste the blurbs from the e-book, don't want to retype everything! ).

Barb's little library

I used the forced offline time to actually draw some SKYBAND, before I start the next book (Chronicles of the Varian Empire book 2) – and running up and down Roma, I did 130km in 5 days for work. That's 15euros of gas/fuel I'll never see again, sigh. Hopefully this week I'll be able to go by bus again, next week we'll see. It's not only having to drive 13,2km first thing in the morning, it's also lots of rain flooding the streets and traffic jams everywhere – thank you, December! Yesterday I couldn't even find a paying parking spot and spent 20 minutes trying to find a hole to place my poor baby (JJ is 16-year-old, and I'm not selling her, haha! Don't want any of those stupid brand new models!).

OK, hopefully tomorrow I'll make a more intelligent post… sorry, but I'm still very upset by the mess DayJob has become! I'm leaving you with pics of my printed babies – just out of the Lulu box and in the little library (that's everything I had printed since 2009, and some are still private)!

latest Lulu batch

Happiness is…

Six Sentence Sunday

I don't know why last week I wasn't on the list. I'm sure I signed up… maybe a glitch somehere… anyway, the post went live as usual, I just couldn't see my name on the official blog, sigh.

Anyhow, here's the next character from Books of the Immortals – Earth – and the last SSS of the year. The next character you'll meet in 2012!

This is Valfred, the northern runaway prince with the horse with highlights in its mane.

***

"Your horse will draw the attention of all the horse-breeders of Konigtown," Knowles said. "It belongs to a race they have never seen. But don't sell it."

"I could never do it! He's my only possession, along with my sword, I'd rather sell my body than them!"

"Selling your body? How?"

***

(OK, 7 sentences, but one is only one word). Books of the Immortals – Earth is available on Kindle and Smashwords.

Now hop back to the Official Blog for more six sentence goodies… happy Sunday and a great Holiday Season to all the Sunday visitors!

sigh

I'm having problems with the internet at home, so I'm writing this from the office, just in case tomorrow I'm not able to access WP. It started with very slow opening of pages, and ended with timing out every time I try to open a link or access something. Couldn't get on my Gmail account either. Sigh.

Hopefully the problem will be solved before this goes live and I might delete it and rewrite it, but if not, here's something for today.

Got the printed copies of my book (I took pics, but I didn't bring the camera, so I'll add them next week), did some quick check of formatting, and had to re-upload 3 prose works and 2 chapters of SKYBAND. I won't make the links live until next week, though, so more to come.

DayJob was the worst week of the year, and I'm still recovering. Sorry I didn't have time to visit your blogs and share more links. I hate how the work PC shows the WP dashboard, so I'll keep this short once again. More next week. Have a great weekend!

Historical novel

So, I've been through it again after some months and a couple of comments (from alpha-reader on the whole manuscript + a critique of the first 4000words) and corrected a couple of mistakes thanks to my Templar expert friend – I don't know where I got the idea that the Krak des Chevaliers belonged to the Templars… it's for the Hospitalliers, darn it! Thus two scenes have been moved to Tortosa because the other option suggested (Belfort) was actually in the hands of Saladin at the time I needed it.

And I also checked a couple of non-fiction books from my mum's library (she's my other expert of the Middle Ages, pity she can't read my novel because her English is so bad…) and ended up reading the biography of St Hugh of Lincoln, which made me realize that even if he's only a secondary character, he wasn't behaving "in character" AND I probably misplaced him or his functions a couple of times as well.

So, six scenes to revise  and two brand new. I'm putting some meat on my lady's life (the two knights are busy enough already! ) and finding her interesting pastimes (or ways to make her life… more miserable, LOL). Now I'm looking for (possibly fast) beta-readers. I'm hoping to consult with a Muslim doctor for the middle of the story, but if you'd like to take a look at the whole 73500words thing, drop me a line.

Historical-fiction readers, before you say it, I know it's short. But without input I'm unable to fill the blanks. I can add subplots and stuff but can't pulp it up if I don't know what you think is missing. So any comments are welcome, really. Even by non-history-buffs who would like to read a tale of friendship and love and revenge set at the end of the 12th century.

Another short post

Quick reminder: today is the last day to get Stories for Sendai (buy links in the sidebar). I have managed to read only two stories, but they were both very touching. Unfortunately DayJob is killing me this week, and reading doesn't really help – I can't concentrate much. So my review for the book might come out too late. Anyway, get it now for a good cause.

Also, if you're looking for kid's books for Kindle, check this site. Just in case you plan on giving your babies a Kindle for Christmas!

Another indie author cry for help (from fellow Creative Reviewer Shane):

Hello everyone. To the Bloggers of the group I request your help. I have written a FREE full length enovel as a way to spread awareness about myself as an author. How Gods Bleed is a dark fantasy story involving werewolves and warriors. I really tried to do something a little bit different with the werewolf and am very eager to see what people think about this story that I have created.

So, if that's your cup of tea, please follow the download link.

Now, because I'm depressed and fear I'll never get rid of stupid DayJob, some hope for anyone like me feeling down for low sales… Self-published authors find e-success! I know we can do it too!

One last think: myths about introverts. Totally true! To which I can add a P.S.

Extroverts GAIN energy from being around people. They leave a party or other gathering full of energy and excitement.

Introverts SPEND energy being around people. Even if they're having fun, it uses up their reserves. Eventually, they need time alone to recharge their batteries.

Summary of the past week(end)

So, I was off DayJob and somehow managed NOT to sign up for Six Sentence Sunday. I was sure I had done it when I prepared the post, but then on Sunday I didn't see my name on the list. Sigh.

Before the Book Fair (started on the 7th) I've been working on the print version of the longer works that came out in the past three months. Thanks to Lulu&UPS, I should soon be able to check those books and make them available for sale – in case you want to buy a paper book as a Christmas present!

The Book Fair – boy, what a riot, at least for me! Interesting panels that gave me some ideas on the Italian market, but I still have to figure out some things. The Italian e-distributors are NOT author-friendly, so I'll stick to Smashwords and Kindle for now, hoping to try XinXii soon. And I'll stay away from the KDP Select program for now, I'm seeing too many discussions about it, and I don't want to be stuck with legalese on Amazon, I know they're not my friends, but the people who are looking into it are, so I'd rather trust them!

I left a copy of Air (the now out-of-print European edition, maybe I should have asked for money, haha) to an Italian publisher, if they're interested I might translate it (back, but it changed a lot in the meantime) and let them publish the Italian version – if I like the contract, that is. They do mostly the paper versions – e-books aren't loved over here – and I already have a buyer for that, my former beta-reader who can't read English!

Sunday I was so tired I went back only because Saturday I forgot to buy from my friend – see these?

minor and major arts

And then I bought this with the Italian knights of the 14th and 15th century as my next historical novel might well be in those centuries which I had already considered when at the Paris book fair I found the reproductions of the two manuscripts on the right which are a first attempt at doing "comics" in the 14thand 15th century.

And besides I could throw in the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, so we'll see. More research to do, but I so love the clothes!

(Boy, it took me one hour or more to be able to schedule this post – two attempts at starting it and two attempts at uploading the pics! I better prepare the next one during my morning as if I do it in the afternoon, WordPress becomes exceedingly slow! )

Going down

OK, as I'm definitely on the "down" curve of my yo-yo moods, I better keep this short. I'm too tired and sick to do a summary of the rest of the fair. Know only that Sunday I went there only because Saturday I forgot to buy from my friend the Templar expert. So I just dropped by to pick that stuff and went back home and slept one hour and a half.

Murphy's law was still hitting me real hard yesterday. Hectic Monday at DayJob – and being depressed didn't help. It was pouring rain and the streets were flooded and it took 45 minutes for a 20minutes trip. By car, new place, new "job". Not something you want on a rainy Monday morning. Hopefully it's really temporary, and I look forward to my little walks to the bus stop every morning.

When things settle down, I'll be a little more talkative and tell you more about the new research I stumbled upon when checking facts for the historical novel. I didn't want to let a day go without letting you know that I'm alive – and struggling!

Have a great week!

Happiness is…

Six Sentence Sunday

Here's the second main character of Books of the Immortals – Earth,  Kevan de Sire,  a bastard son who is now heir to his father's Dukedom after the death of his half-brother. And his pains are only beginning…

***

"No!" he shouted, hugging her. "Jasmine!"

She was alive, but the smell of blood filled his nostrils.

"The one that ran away… hit me…" she whispered. "Kevan…" her eyes filled with tears. "I love you…"

***

Books of the Immortals – Earth is out on Smashwords and Kindle.

Now hop back to the Official Blog for more six sentence goodies… have a great Sunday!