Ksenia Anske's Blog, page 52

What is this new Ello thing?

You've all seen me raving about Ello this and Ello that in the last couple of days, I'm sure. Many of you are asking, "What the fuck is this thing?" and "How do I get an invite?" and "I'm in but it's all confusing and white and I'm lost like a sacrificial lamb!" and "My brain is turning vitriol blue from this eye that is staring at me and where is the "like" button and, oops, I just deleted my post, and..." Bla-bla-bla. Yeah, yeah, I get it.

I am the queen of Ello already and I will share wit...

I have won the Amtrak Residency!!!

Photo by Phillip Schumacher

Are you breathing? Are you breathing?? I'm not breathing. I can't move. I can't even blink. I can't believe it. Out of over 16,100 applicants only 24 writers were selected!

AND I'M ONE OF THEM!!!

What? What??

I have found out the news 2 days ago but couldn't share. I was dying to share, dying! And finally I can! Here is the official blog post from Amtrak about it. And here is another blog post I have written about being selected as one of the 115 semi-finalists (in...

What every story needs

Photo by Ksenia Anske

I've been spontaneously writing short (or very short) stories lately. Dunno where they come from. I think it's time I start on my next book? Is that what my brain is telling me? Anyway. Rereading them reminded me of something I have heard for the first time at Chuck Palahniuk's reading several years ago. He read a couple of his short stories, and someone in the audience asked what every story needs. If there are any rules, any elements that make for a great short story....

Another short story, about autumn

Photo by Joel Robison

This is ridiculous. I was tired and I tried to nap. I put my head on the pillow. I heard crows cry in the street. I started seeing this picture in my head, reached for the phone, typed in one sentence. Put it away. Tried to nap again. No luck. The story started developing in my mind. I couldn't stop it, dammit! So now, no nap, but here is the story.

CROWS.

Crows are autumn. The sign of autumn. Their "cra-cra-cra" and then another "cra" like a period at the end of a sent...

Just a short story inspired by Chekhov

Photo by Ana Luisa Pinto

I don't know where this came from. I was sitting here, reading Chekhov's short stories in English for the first time—I read him in Russian, but never in English—and then this itch came about. A word. "There." Then a picture. A snapshot of a river. And, I could't not write it. It had to come out. So here it is. Here you go. (I must say, I didn't edit it at all and the whole thing took me only 30 minutes, so please forgive any mistakes you see.)

ILKA.

There. No, not th...

Catering to your true fans

Photo by Sosij

Hey, indie writers? This is what marketing your self-published books is about. It's about catering to your true fans, even if that might upset some people. As you're aware, I'm doing a cleaning spree on Twitter, unfollowing most accounts, so I'm left only with about 2K of those that I really want to follow and read. After being on Twitter for almost 5 years, it's not easy. In fact, it's ruffling some feathers, as you might have seen in the comments to this post about dealing...

Dealing with online trolls

Photo by Joel Robison

Well, today was interesting. I woke up and saw a tweet in my Hootsuite thingy (I use it to manage my Twitter account) from a woman whom I have unfollowed a few days ago in my Twitter cleaning spree. She mentioned me to another person, a man whom I have unfollowed yesterday (and who bitched me out, and to whom I was nice in return, trying to give him love). She called me a scammer, and she said that I begged my followers for money to go to Russia to see my sick mom, an...

The best books on self-publishing

Photo by Ksenia Anske

Anonymous asked: "I am a writer like you. I am now working on Book #1. You clearly know what you're doing with books, and what compelled me to write was your "Reader, you are my publisher" comment. Honestly, it took my breath away. It made me feel like I am on the right path in electing to pole vault over the agent/publisher industry gatekeeper and self-publish.You CLEARLY know what you're doing. I am wondering if you can recommend one or two solid books on self-publish...

On death and writing

Photo by Amy Spanos

I have blogged about death before. When Philip Seymour Hoffman died (here is that post), and when I came across a man on the highway who was hit by a truck minutes ago and died (here is that post), and when I was hit by a truck and didn't die but woke up in the hospital with a bloody face and half of my body bruised black (here is THAT post).

Joan Rivers died 2 days ago, and multiple tweets about it made me look her up. Yes, I have heard her name. No, I didn't really kno...

Some social media lessons for writers

Photo by Joel Robison

I've been doing something crazy these last few weeks. I've been cleaning up my Twitter, like, REALLY cleaning it up. If you have followed me on social media from the very beginning, you will recall that I have started out from nearly nothing, have built up quite an audience, and then have slowed down. I've been doing this for 10+ years (social media), so I know the automation tools and the various ways of "boosting" your numbers for show. I've been guilty of doing it...