Hello SErs! Happy New Year! I hope you’ve all had a good holiday season. Today being the first post of 2019, I thought it might be nice to kick things off by looking at creativity … more specifically, where it comes from. What are we talking about when we mention having a muse?
Personally, I’ve never experienced talking to or with my muse. It doesn’t manifest that way. I found my creative flow after learning to meditate, and it was in that quiet mind that I discovered what could be called my silent muse.
Below is a great video about the split brain and its implications for the muse within. Please do take a look, especially the bit that talks about the brain telling itself stories! The video lasts for just under five minutes. Youtube has lots of great videos on the brain and personality.
Victoria Zigler is a prolific author, mostly of books for children and poetry. She has an impressive catalogue. She is also blind – and has visited the Library Of Erana in the past to discuss the accessibility (or otherwise) of publishing, reading and enjoying books. I’m pleased to welcome Tori back, where she discusses the issues of self-publishing on Amazon vs Smashwords.
Tori – over to you
“Which platform is best for self-publishing?”
It’s a question you’ve likely heard many, many times – one especially popular with people comparing Smashwords to Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) – and one that will have a different answer, depending on who you ask, and what experiences they’ve had using one platform or the other.
Here’s another question for you though:
“Which platform is more accessible for visually impaired authors who rely on screen readers?”
This one may also come with different answers, depending…
I was going to do a big post thinking back about this year. Honestly, it started off messy and continued on that route. Anxiety issues, semi-retirement from being an author, and a bunch of personal disasters. I feel pretty thoroughly battered from life and those who have chosen to be the deliverers of pain. So, I’m just going to avoid looking and hope the future is even a little brighter.
Another year ends
Yet the emotions carry over
Joys and pains
Ignore the calendar
Only the callous and cruel
Can make a fresh start
By tossing all the past away
Humanity exists
With hearts that see an end
While remembering the beginning
All wish to carry only the good
While ejecting all the bad
Finding different paths
In the hopes of success
To drive away the hurt
As we come to the end
This year has been really rough for a variety of reasons. Sales plunged into the dumpster and ignited. War of Nytefall didn’t really take off. Personal stuff went and still is going haywire. It started with my son being terrified of the bus, but that thankfully ended by the next school year. On a brighter side, I have a day job that I find fulfilling and am trying to find a way to get up a few levels. Still, the overall theme of 2018 for me was destructive change to my life. I’ll try to be as positive as I can here, but it’s going to be tough and a few followers know why.
I tried to get a lot of editing done this week because I want to release War of Nytefall: Rivalry in April. It didn’t go that smoothly, but not for bad reasons. Last Sunday was a day in the city with one of my closest friends, which was a blast. We need to hang out more often. (By the way, I mean NYC when I say the city. Sorry.) Monday was me waking up to help my oldest friend work on his house in the morning, which went as smoothly as our usual projects. It all worked out, but the rain was an issue and a short guy like me isn’t the best to have work on a ladder. Well, he did say I was all he had since it was Christmas Eve and I’m Jewish. Tuesday was ‘AQUAMAN’ with the parents who thought I needed some cheering up. They were right and it was a great movie. The rest of the week was Lego, appointments, and other adventures with my son. Both of us are back to school on Wednesday, so we’re trying our best to have a lot of family time. That means editing is at night if I have the energy.
The rest of this post is about the future and I think I’m going to divide it up:
Bedlam
I thought long and hard about this, but I think the blog story is where the adventures of Cassidy and Lloyd Tenay are going to end. With the job and other things, I only have so much time and energy to write. As much as some people enjoy this story, I’ve had more people tell me that they aren’t fans. It hurts to leave them in limbo, but I need to prioritize and put them on the shelf. One reason for this seems to be that more people prefer my fantasy adventures than my dystopia. I get the feeling that I’ve been pigeonholed and the bulk of my audience won’t follow me to other genres. As you’re going to see in a bit, they might not even follow me to other stories. Anyway, 2019 will be the last journey for Cassidy and Lloyd unless something major changes in terms of time, money, energy, and requests. Sorry to those who enjoy them.
This is one of my core series, so it’s going to take priority. I’m hoping to release Book 3 in April and Book 4 in December, but it depends on me getting things done. Rivalry is going to need some non-me eyes at some point, which scares me. A lot of people have offered help, but many of them talk about tearing it apart and rebuilding it. Doesn’t help that it’s part of a series, which makes shredding it more difficult. That’s not even the biggest challenge here.
As I said, it feels like much of my audience won’t follow me to other genres. They see this series as ‘vampire’ instead of ‘fantasy’ even though it takes place in Windemere and is written like an adventure story. I’ve also heard complaints that Clyde isn’t like Luke Callindor and Mab isn’t like Nyx. Seems people want me to write more Legends of Windemere and my new series is getting hurt because of that. Well, the champions are done. I need to write this one to get to the next one because I’ve got all of the Windemere adventures planned out to create a specific story. If I stuck with the first series then it would get stale and lose its appeal. Really wish I could do more to draw people to War of Nytefall, but many have made their opinions known in private that they didn’t want me to end my first series. This has been a major part of my frustration all year because I simply can’t give people what they want. That’s just reality here because I have no more champion stories to tell.
Ichabod Brooks
While he isn’t being retired like Bedlam, it will take time to get another collection out there. It has been suggested that I put his stories up here and then publish, which is an option. He could take the Thursday slot after Bedlam. Yet, I need to write some things first, which requires time. For now, Ichabod is going to be a side project in the truest sense of the word. If I don’t have time for Nytefall then I’ll work on Ichabod and use him as a mental cleanser between editing runs and new writing for the core series. This means he will return some day since people want that. Should point out that many seem to claim they love Ichabod in the same breath they say they aren’t big fans of Bedlam. That’s another reason I’m doing this because it feels like I had to pick one or the other due to limited time.
That’s really it for projects and plans. Not much else to say here. Just going to post the goals of the week, add a video, and head out.
Finish editing War of Nytefall: Rivalry.
Figure out how to get more editing done without an alpha reader.
Enjoy New Years Eve.
Play Lego Star Wars II with son.
Finish reading Rave Master.
Go back to work.
Prepare the Sunday posts for January that will be Top 5 2018 posts.
Prepare Derailing Bedlam and Teaser Tuesday posts for February and March.
Possibly start writing War of Nytefall: Eradication.
We’ve all been there. Just as your head hits the pillow, an idea pops up. Maybe it’s something new or maybe it’s the solution to a story you couldn’t figure out. Either way, you’re in a dark room and starting to fall asleep. What are some things you can do to keep the idea?
Hold on tight to it and hope that it stays in your dreams. Try to carry it through until the morning. Sure, it’s never worked before. There are times you even came out with an entirely different idea that wouldn’t work. It’s not like you have the energy to crawl out of bed anyway.
If you share a bed with someone, wake them up and tell them the idea. That way, it’s on them to remember. Go to sleep with complete faith in their memory or hope that they decide to write things down. After all, they knew what they were getting into when they partnered up with an author.
Keep your cellphone or a notebook near the bed. Just be an adult, muster your strength, and jot down some notes. If it costs you an hour because the idea kept rolling then so be it. Everything is worth it as long as you can understand things in the morning and not let it drift away. Why did you keep writing about cabbages and bandicoots?
Can’t reach anything to write on? Keep a marker under your pillow and write the notes on your own body. The face isn’t a good idea because drool might erase parts of it and everything will be backwards in the mirror. Limbs are okay for simple ideas, but the torso has the most space. Only real problem is that you have to write in the dark. Well, that and possible smearing.
Just give up on sleeping. You know this idea is going to lead to another one and you’ll regret not going down the rabbit hole. The flow of creative juices will give you the energy needed to get the job done. As far as functioning the next day, you have some sick days saved up, right? The kids can just be fed by putting cereal in a bucket too, so no reason to worry.
Go to sleep and see what happens. Let fate roll the dice on this idea. If you’re meant to use it then it will be waiting for you in the morning. If it’s gone then it was never meant to be. That or it will be smart enough to show up when you have the time to write it down. Seriously, why are ideas so rude?
Keep a recorder near the bed. It isn’t writing, but it will get the job done. Your words might be a little slurred and groggy, which is the price you’re going to pay for being an author.
As usual, here is your warning that this story has cursing, sex (not graphic), innuendo, and violence. It’s my Rated-R action adventure called Derailing Bedlam. This is the fourth outing (third official) for Cassidy and Lloyd, so feel free to click on one of the two covers to see how it started. Each one is 99 cents!
Hello SErs! Happy New Year! I hope you’ve all had a good holiday season. Today being the first post of 2019, I thought it might be nice to kick things off by looking at creativity … more specifically, where it comes from. What are we talking about when we mention having a muse?
