Are you like me? Have you been getting bogged down on e-mails, posts, following, commenting and everything else except getting your work in progress moving forward? Or maybe it is progressing, but not as well as you think it ought to. I really had planned to have my third installment of Earth’s Pendulum out by the end of 2012. Yeah, right. Not by a long shot. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Yvonne Hertzberger
Driven To Distraction….?
‘Tis the season to be … driven to distraction?
Deck the halls, bake the goodies, shop ‘til you drop, wrap the gifts, trim the tree, hang the stockings, light the Menorah (I know I may be a bit late with this one), sing in the choir … the list is endless. Continue reading
When I Find Myself In Times of Trouble …
Recent weeks, months even, have brought much controversy and angst to the Indie writers’ world. It has brought a whole new meaning to the term ‘sturm und drang’. Conversations on posts, Facebook, Twitter and other social media abound with laments, anger, anxiety and cries of ‘foul’. Continue reading
Congrats to Flash Fiction Winner Yvonne Hertzberger
Our flash fiction champ this week is Yvonne Hertzberger. Congratulations to Yvonne, and thanks to everyone who participated – excellent entries!
The winning entry is rewarded with a special feature here today and a place in our collection of winners which will be published as an e-book at year end.
Without further ado, here’s the winning entry: Continue reading
Redux: No More Professional Writers?
[Contributing author Yvonne Hertzberger is away either modeling lingerie or making linguini—I'm a little unclear on the details, the phone connection is a little iffy up here in the mountain enclave. Anyway, enjoy this encore performance of an article that rings ominously as true today. - Hise]
On July 26 the Globe and Mail, Canada’s most respected newspaper, devoted two-thirds of the front page and half of the second page of their Globe Arts section to the article. ‘There will be no more professional writers in the future’ (their punctuation) Naturally, I was most interested. It came on the heels of a similar article in the Guardian. Other rags posted on the same topic. I got the impression they all timed their diatribes together for greatest impact. The purpose, as I see it – war on self-publishing and a (futile) reactionary attempt to save the old guard. Continue reading
Tuesday Tutorial: Bublish
All right everyone. I will take the plunge and try my hand at a tutorial. Let me tell you about Bublish and guide you through how to use it. Hey, if I can do this, anyone can. No, really, I mean it. Please do forgive the lack of artistry on the arrows. I am no artist.
Bublish has been around only since June of this year, so I had the good luck to be an early subscriber. Bublish is the brainchild of Kathy Meis and Charles Wyke-Smith. I have had extensive email contact with Kathy and she was kind enough to spend 40 minutes one-on-one with me when I hit a snag. (Thanks Kathy.) I have nothing but praise for the support I have received.
What makes Bublish unique is that it has the author take snippets of text from their book and asks them to write an insight about that snippet, then share it on Facebook and Twitter. Do this regularly and you will have tweets going out that are non-repetitive, interesting and – my favourite – not pushy buy my book spam messages. They are little hooks meant to entice a prospective reader to take a closer look at your work. Heck, they might even want to buy it. The links for buying are on the site, so that is just a click away. Continue reading
The Best Laid Plans
About a year ago (Yeah, that long, I’m slow, OK?) I gave myself a new challenge. After all, the last one I gave myself went fairly well. So why not? Right? I mean, we all want to improve our craft. At least those of us who are serious writers do.
That was my aim; to hone my craft, to become a better writer. And what better way to attempt that than to give myself a new, more difficult challenge.
“What challenge?” you might well ask. I wrote my first book in multiple third person point(s) of view. That accomplishment made me proud, especially when I held my work of art in my eager hands. (don’t laugh, it’s not polite) For the sequel I gave myself a new challenge. To write in the first person and still make the story move forward. I am writing a trilogy, so the whole plot had to move forward, not just the life of Liannis, my main character. I think it worked. At least, that is what readers and reviewers tell me. Continue reading
Happy Birthday Indies Unlimited
Waaaaay back in October of 2011 Indies Unlimited was no more than a twinkle in the eye of a certain Stephen Hise, fondly (or not) referred to by us, his minions – er, I mean, members and staff, as EM or Evil Mastermind. That moniker has proven to be apt as you will see. Continue reading