Ksenia Anske's Blog, page 47
February 7, 2015
How reading affects my writing
Books. Such inconspicuous little objects. Tightbundles of paper with some squiggles inside, yet they contain a charge of energy greater than that of a bomb. They can change your perception of the world, they can change your life. I have had several moments like this, and you've been collectively hounding me to blog about them. This will be the post about what I read, how I read, how readinginfluences me, how I choose books to read, and several examples of how specific...
February 4, 2015
Switching extended print book distribution from CreateSpace to Ingram
BOOKSTORES ARE ASKING FOR MY BOOKS!
That's the good news.
MY BOOKS ARE DISTRIBUTED VIA CREATESPACE AND ARE NON-RETURNABLE!
That's the bad news.
But I did what Hugh Howey said to do! He published allhis books through CreateSpace before he hit it big. He even got freeCreateSpace ISBNs for all of them! Well, yeah, but after he did hit it big, his gianttraditional publishertook care of the extended distribution.Actually, I don't know. I'd have to ask Hugh. I'm assuming itdid. Now, before I confuse...
February 3, 2015
Draft 3 of THE BADLINGS is done!
The trip to Spokane has distracted me fromblogging about this. Are you ready? Here we go.
DRAFT 3 OF THE BADLINGS IS DONE!!!
This is such a fun book to write, at times I feel guilty. Instead of crying every daylike I did when writing IRKADURA, I'm giggling and sniggeringand laughing. Due to the copyright I had to cut down the number of books the badlings jump in and out of down to 10. Thetitle has changed from CORNERS to THE BADLINGS as itdoesn't fit the story anym...
February 2, 2015
On the pain of being aloof
This has haunted me since I can remember my first interactions with other kids. "Hey, Kuba!" they'd call me. My last name was Kubeeva and my nickname somehow became the synonym for Cuba. I would look up from whatever it was I was doingand wonder what I havemissed. Often some mischief would've happened already, like my school bag would be stolen or, in one particular case, a group of girls told me to hide and wait for them, while they took off. I'd be so far gone into my head that to dismay o...
The trip to Spokane and how I keep shedding my fears
It happened! It happened! The universe provided—because I shouted that I will wring its neckif it won't. Namely, I've been invited to do a book reading at Auntie's Books(THANK YOU!!!)in Spokane and had no idea how I would get there (I have no car), but then a miracle happened. Like, a real miracle with thunder and lightning and everything. One of my readers, Katie Lee Cook, shouted at everyone everywhere to find me a ride. Then my other reader, Cassie Rainn, has graciously offered to haul my...
January 28, 2015
How I launch my books: I DON'T
Shocker! Not what you expected to hear.Ana Elisa Miranda asked me this question, about how I launch my books. I thought abouttelling you that I strap them to a seat like Laikas and hurl them into space on board of various Sputniks. I also thought about the idea of chucking them into bushes out the window or, an amusement of a more gregarious variety, tossing them on people's heads from a high balcony and see what they say.
That wasme not being serious. Thisis meattemptin...
January 24, 2015
How often should you blog and indulge in social media?
This question arose today from a conversation with Isaac Marion. We were chatting about incessant prodding done byagents, marketers, social media experts, hungry raccoons pretending to be social media experts, and a slew of other people who think they know what kind of an online behavior leads to better book sales. As you have guessed, this prodding is aimed at writers. Its message is simple. "Sprinkle yourmarvelous thoughts online in a liberal layer, daily, smear it on s...
How to expand your vocabulary: STEAL IT
As a native Russian speaker, my biggest issue with writing in English is having a wide and deep and venerable (see? I'm trying) enough vocabulary to express the girth and thebreadth and the uber-complexity of my visions. Or, in simple words, bloody know how to bloody describe this bloody scene that bloody hangs in my brain like a pictureand I CAN'T BLOODY FIND THE EXACT WORDS TO DESCRIBE IT INTHE EXACT BLOODYWAY I SEE IT.Whew, it felt good to say "bloody" so many t...
January 19, 2015
What I learned about plotting from reading Moomin books
Illustration by Tove Jansson
Reading every day is one of the best things you can do to yourself, to develop as a writer. Someone said something along the lines of "writing is doing it, reading is learning it." It blows my mind each time I come across something new that I haven't seen before, especially if it's something unexpected. This time it happened while reading Moomin books by Tove Jansson. I grew up on these stories (they were popular in Russia), but have never read them in English. S...
January 16, 2015
Should I file bankruptcy?
Not the topic you expected me to blog on, right? "Has her hollow skull snapped under the pressure of too much writing?" you think. "Has she completely gone off her marbles? Has the wind got in her head???" Well, the thing is, what's to follow is a very personal story (I seem to have plenty of them in my drawer called "shit that happenedin my life"). As you know, I used to have a startup called Lilipip. Thewebsite is still up, if you want to look.I was bent on making it...
