Welcome Back! I'm almost finished with my degree! I'm so happy about that. Also, I finally finished writing something new. It took far longer than I thought it would, but after years of not writing much, I guess I have to get back into it. It could've been the depression or some mental block that kept me from writing. I shouldn't let anything get in the way of things I love, but sometimes life happens. In any event, I started a Wattpad account and finished my first novella in years that's ready to read for free.
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Looks like it's been well over a year since I last posted anything. I guess I was lost for awhile. Happens to everyone from time to time. It didn't help that my first traditionally published book was a flop and they don't offer it anymore. At first, I was upset about that, but the fact I sold as many as I did when no one even knew my name was good enough for me. And besides, now I can edit it some more. I wasn't fully prepared to even begin to write something like that at the time. It's gong to take some further research and a higher talent level than I currently have to make it the way I want. Might even end up being a life long project to get it right. The point is, I'm always trying to improve myself and my craft and I see this as an opportunity to do just that.
So, what have I been up to besides being locked in my house due to the virus? As I just said, I'm always looking to improve myself, and one of the ways I wanted to do that was learn how to do my own book covers. So I went back to school and I'm not one drawing class away from an Associates in Graphic Design. It's a very interesting subject and I enjoy it far more than I did Broadcast Production. During my classes, I came up with a few more ideas for things. The trouble is, I think a writer is supposed to pick a genre and stick with it, but it's not possible for me to stick with anything. I'm going to write what I want and hope it's labeled and designed well enough for the reader to understand which age group it's for, though I doubt I'll ever write a book for adults. Well... never say never. I might be out of my funk now, maybe, perhaps. I have a good feeling about the rest of this year, but I guess that's all ultimately up to me in the end. Stay tuned! What I really need to do is write something new. I was hopeful that something would spark my imagination, no such luck, or maybe it's because of something else. Maybe my brain is too preoccupied with stuff like passing my classes to think about things like creativity. Or maybe I've just gotten lazy.
Happy Year of the Rat! Hope your year is going well so far.
Okay, I know what you’re thinking. “Where have you been?” you ask. What can I say? I’m a boring person. What am I going to blog about? Today, I got up, ate some breakfast, got some exercise, at three pieces of cake and half a loaf of farm bread because 10 minute of cardio totally cancels out all the sweets for that day then sat around staring at a flashing icon on my computer. That’s boring. Nobody cares. Well, now I have a bit of information to share. I’ve started some college art courses. Hopefully, it’ll spark my creative side and I’ll be able to finish some of the stories I’ve started. So far, my art courses are pretty fun, but the computer courses for Graphic Design are wearing on my nerves. It’s very interesting to learn, but boy oh boy do computers like to argue with me. But this isn’t about my mental breakdown in trying to get my Adobe programs to download and then actually work while trying my absolute best not to completely smash my laptop. I’d lose all my stories if I did that, which reminds me that I should probably back them up on something just in case this laptop suddenly stops working like my last one. And then the video I have to watch is for 2019 program on a Mac and I’ve got a 2020 program for a PC so I need to search the comments for the short-cut commands the guy is talking about and also things aren’t in exactly the same place for me which makes it just a tad harder. Went off on kind of a rant there. Anyway, this is about the latest review of my book Bridge of Desitny. Once again I have a glowing review on Red Headed Book Lover that you can read here. Inspire, motivate, believe. We all rise together. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Looks like I fell off the face of the earth there for a bit. I've been busy... doing nothing. I'll just view that as a more extended break than I'm used to.
While looking through Twitter, I came across a person who wanted to share his work but found it difficult to do so, something I completely understand. It's terrifying to share something you've poured your heart and soul into for days on end, but if you want others to see it, it's a thing that needs to be done. For me, the easiest way to start (if you can call it easy) was to share short stories with a select group of friends and family members who can offer truthful opinions without being jerks about it. People who love you are less likely to hurt your feelings, so it's like being rewarded for your work when they like it. Later on, you might have to prod more truth out of them perhaps thinking they aren't being completely honest with you, and that's still okay because it will teach you how to take criticism. Next up is sharing with strangers. It doesn't have to be complete strangers. Joining a creative writing class where everyone is in the same boat is helpful as is finding online writing groups like Books Go Social or places to share your work like Commaful where other writers can offer up their experiences and advice. You can trust that, since they're also sharing work, they'll be more likely to present their critiques in a way that's easy to take. They can also share advice, resources, and other things that have helped them along the way. The final level you're reaching for is a corporate one. Will you have the fortitude to push through rejection after rejection after rejection with no answer as to why? No critique, no tips on improvement, just a flat no? It's very difficult to not take these rejections too seriously. They're not necessarily a reflection of you or your work even though it feels like a personal attack. Maybe that particular company can't handle the workload anymore. Maybe you didn't do proper research and they don't take your genre. Maybe your synopsis doesn't get to the heart of your story. There's a really good chance they didn't even look at what you sent, not because it was bad, but because they just didn't have the time or some personal reason that distracted them. Criticism is very hard to take at first, but something that's just going to happen no matter what you do in life, but the right criticism is going to help you become even better at that thing. The truth can set you free, but first it's going to make you mad. Taking little steps to become accustomed to it can help you deal with the much larger punches to come, punches from people who hate you for no reason and only want to see you fail. Bottom line is to take the baby steps you need to get you over the hump of fear. Be like Nike and "Just do it!" Be like Lowe's and "Never Stop Improving" on your craft. Sharing something you've created never stops being terrifying, but it does start to get easier once you know that there are people out there cheering you on. Inspire, motivate, believe. We all rise together. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. It’s come to my attention that I can actually offer advice just by talking about my publishing experience. I was like, “me? You want to talk to me about this? Well, okay, it’s your book.” But really, don’t we all have advice to give based off our individual experiences? So here’s my attempt at a beginners guide to publishing. Congratulations! Getting a book written is no small feat and having it published is an even more amazing endeavor. Now that it’s all set up and ready to go, the real work begins. If you’re going the traditional way, then an editor is already included, well, should be at least. If you’re going it on your own, then for the love of all that’s pure and decent hire an editor. Have you read social media posts? I’m hoping that you’ll want to sound more intelligent and make sense to your readers. That’s where the editor comes in, and no I’m not talking about your mom or best friend the business major. Unless your best friend is an A+ English major with a clear understanding of grammar rules, hire a decent editor. The problem here is that editors can be expensive and even then still make mistakes, so do your research and make sure to check their work. While your editor is doing their thing, do a little marketing for your book on all your social media accounts. I said a little. You don’t want to come across like an MLM hunbot.
So, you have a finished, polished book with a great cover. With publication date in hand, let’s market that book. Up the days you market but keep your media interesting. Look for places that offer reviews at a decent price you can afford. You can find one such list here. Write a press release and send it out to your local media friends. See if your local bookstores will be willing to sell it. What’s that? You thought your publisher did that? Guess again. It's just a fact of life. All authors have to market their own books. There are plenty of online resources written by other more experienced authors with better information on that like here and my favorite place here. Find writing opportunities and other helpful resources here.
I’m not saying one way is better than the other, not yet anyway. I believe there are pros and cons to both. The setup for any book can be an expensive endeavor. If you’re publishing on your own, then that price falls on you, but you get a much bigger percentage back in sales than you might if you had a publisher. If you do have a publisher, that cost falls on them and then they make it back by taking a large percentage of your sales. Depends on how much work you want to do on how the book comes out. Your publisher will do some, they don't want you to fail and they know the best places to start you out. If you're on your own, that marketing is 100% on you. Marketing is big part of book sales and either way you go, you're going to be doing a lot of it.
Anyway, I'll probably get back to the food porn some other time maybe perhaps. The next thing in the book is appetizers so maybe I can do those as snacks or double up for a lunch. I can't make any promises. you know how (so not) consistent I am.
Inspire, motivate, believe. We all rise together. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. I may not have written about it for the last nine days or so, but I've still been making the breakfasts in the diabetic cookbook until finally running out. Well, not completely out of breakfasts. I still have scones to make, but the other recipes were just different versions of French toast with fruit. I'm only going to make one of those, but really, I can make French toast anytime and without a recipe.
After making the other things, I decided to just go through all of the muffins. They were okay tasting, the carrot-pecan ones being the biggest shock in tasty given my hatred of carrots, but my absolute favorites that I'll be making again would be the sweet and savory. I know I'm supposed to be using fat free and low sugar ingredients in most of these recipes, but I know I wouldn't use them again so I just went with what I had on hand. Regular peanut butter went in those and regular sausage went in the sweet and savory. Perhaps that's why I liked them so much.
The flavor turned out to be really good. I'll have to remember what I did. I'm not real big on measuring added seasonings like garlic powder and herbs.
With the blintzes, the crepes were the best tasting part of that. I made those with pancake mix. Crepes are easy but a time consuming pain in the butt. The blintzes were okay. I thought the pears needed to be cooked longer than what it said and that they needed a little more sugar, but they're diabetic things so sugar isn't really allowed. I still have peach scones to make and I may make more sweet and savory muffins since I have some blueberries left (might just make regular blueberry muffins) but as far as the breakfast recipes go, I've gone through them all with the exception of the three French toast recipes, like I said before. Out of all the things in the breakfast recipes, the quinoa was the most energizing, the easiest to make, and the most disgusting. I guess next month is going to be appetizers as snacks month. Maybe I'll try to be more consistent with it, but I'm pretty sure we all know the answer to that. Inspire, motivate, believe. We all rise together. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Day 3 and I decided to double up making 2 recipes on the same day. I didn't think a fruit and cottage cheese parfait would be filling or last much past an hour, I may have been wrong.
I'm sure one or the other would've been enough of a breakfast. Personally, I think the parfait would make a better snack than a breakfast so that's something to keep in mind for the fruit and yogurt parfait in the book. I'm sure I'll double up again on whatever day I plan on making that. I had every intention of just going in order, but there are other things I want to try first.
Yesterday's breakfast didn't have that same energizing effect that the grassy cardboard flavor of quinoa brought. It was a bit more energizing than my usual breakfast, I'm guessing because of the veggies, but not as much as the quinoa. So that may mean that the stuff that's the easiest to make and the hardest to take might just be the best for me to eat as far as feeling awake and energized, ready to take on the day, but with a flavor like that, I think I'll just put up with feeling rundown mid-afternoon. Working on documenting my experience with this book has started to spark my creativity for whatever reason, so there may be a story or 2 heading your way very soon, or maybe another entire book. Is it the act of documenting that's helping, the increased amount of fruits and veggies, or maybe a combination of both. If you're feeling so inclined, cast a vote for me in the 2019 TCK Reader's Choice Awards. Just click here, the link will take you to the voting page, A Warrior's Path: Rise of a Legend is on page 8, 19th selection down from the top. And if you feel so inclined, check out the books tab, scroll down, and get yourself one of two free book, or both. Inspire, motivate, believe. We all rise together. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. |
AuthorYA Fantasy author and amateur photographer living in New Mexico. A reflection of herself, her characters are timid at first but tend to stand up and push through when times get tough. Archives
April 2020
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