Ten Writer’s Habits I’ve Acquired. Which to Kick, Which to Keep? By Pamela Schloesser Canepa

A post about striking a balance with your newfound writer’s habits. Thanks to Chris Graham at The Story Reading Ape Blog for giving me this opportunity!

https://thestoryreadingapeblog.com/2018/06/13/ten-writers-habits-ive-acquired-which-to-kick-which-to-keep-by-pamela-schloesser-canepa/

Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog

It happened the first time I committed to NANOWRIMO. I became a slightly different person, a more intense version of myself. In looking back at the last two years since becoming a self-published author, I realize how much I’ve changed. Here is a list of ten habits I acquired when I decided to stop writing in isolation and become a published author.

1. Likely the most common habit, I started losing track of the time at night. This is because I was either in writer’s groups on Facebook learning or staying up chasing an idea. When this happens, it means you are catching the spark. Be thankful. It’s not a bad habit. It certainly beats falling asleep in front of a TV show.

2. Getting hooked on a favorite show on Netflix (Hulu, Roky, whatever). Please don’t confuse this with falling asleep in front of the TV. This habit is…

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New Release! #scifi novel, Detours in Time

Today is the day!  Detours in Time, my most recent novel, is now live and available for purchase at Amazon.com for Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, and in paperback!  Please check it out,  purchase the book, read it, or add it to your Goodreads Want to Read or Currently Reading shelf if you decide to purchase or even just want to read it later.  If you read the book, please leave a review, no matter how brief, on Amazon and consider sharing it on social media.  Perhaps you might share this post on your social media?  All of these things help me gain visibility as an indie author and are greatly appreciated!

Goodreads link:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35261459-detours-in-time-1

Amazon link:

Independently Published.

Genre:  Sci-fi, time-travel/adventure   221 pages (e-book), 301 pages (paperback)

Read the book that early readers have called “Captivating!”  Here is a blurb:

On a whim, feisty Tabatha takes a trip to the future with Milt, an awkward science professor. The supposed fun trip turns intense and presents some moral dilemmas when they make discoveries about their future selves and learn that while their actions may save one life, they could destroy another. Amid the turmoil, the two must decide if their actions have drastically altered the lives of the people they have met.  Can Milt and Tabatha agree on a course of action?

Teaser:

“He was twenty years her senior, but from his childlike curiosity and goofy sense of humor, one wouldn’t know it, and they got along very well.  Of course, traveling back in time and meeting his twenty-two-year-old-self did not help matters for Pinky at all. ”

See how a fellow blogger and author supports indie authors at: https://smorgasbordinvitation.wordpress.com/2017/06/16/sallys-cafe-and-bookstore-author-update-geoff-le-pard-and-pamela-schloesser-canepa/

 

One Year Anniversary! #indiewriter #amwriting #RRBC

It’s my one-year anniversary with Rave Reviews Book Club!  I’ve just renewed for another year with them because 1.  the exposure can’t be beaten  2.  I’ve gained readers and reviewers through them  3.  I am part of a network of authors on Twitter who all help each other build a platform and gain exposure.  All of this is really priceless, especially for an Indie author.  I’m still new and still learning things almost daily to help my author promotion and platform, but this book club has really helped.  I’ve been featured as book of the week, invited as a guest on two blog radio talk shows, part of a Book trailer party that got my book video seen, and have been welcome to many other opportunities, some which I haven’t tried yet, but I may do so this year.  (There are a writer’s conference and the Spring Blog Party that I have yet to try).  If you’d like to know more about this Book Club and author’s resource, go to http://ravereviewsbynonniejules.wordpress.com and see if you might want to join!

There is also another anniversary worth celebrating here.  It has been one year and one month since I self-published a book!  I’m still writing and getting ready to publish another, but I’d like to thank all of the helpful people I have met through various Facebook and other online groups as well!  I’ve learned invaluable lessons such as where to get attribution-free photos, how to use Canva, what are some alternate e-book publishing venues, and how one actually writes a good blurb.  I’m still working on that one!  I love the camaraderie among indie authors, and though self-publishing is a time-consuming venture, I plan to continue!  Look for news in June regarding my new release, a time-travel novel, and the Facebook event I have planned.

Along with the self-publishing journey, it was a year ago in January when I started blogging here at WordPress.  I am so thankful for the bloggers I have met who share other writers’ material and posts and offer regular chances, such as Jackie’s “Echoes of My Neighborhood” at acookingpotandtwistedtales.com and Daniel Ray’s Re-blog opportunities at dreambigdreamoften.com.  That and the many writing prompt opportunities, as well as the #weekendcoffeeshare, have helped me to meet more writers, network, and learn more about sharing my writing in multiple ways.  Thank you, fellow writers!

 

C is for Contests. #AtoZChallenge

4/04

“I cheated in the contest.”  Seinfeld quote.

Sorry, I had to throw that in, because it is all I can think of any time there is a contest!  I’m a diehard Seinfeld fan, and my brain quite easily goes South to his innuendo and jokes.  But I digress.

I’ve been thinking about how I started publishing my writing.  The answer is this: contests.  Yet, I’ve never won money in a writing contest.  I was in Poetry contests as a teen and in my early thirties.  Each of those got my poems in an anthology, a beautiful book which was mine for, a fee.  I bought both but never won any money.

A Wattpad contest is what encouraged my first self-published book of fiction.  Maybe because I wasn’t sure what to write about, and this contest gave a premise.  The contest was just for a short story, but the feedback I got from it was encouragement enough to make me try my hand at self-publishing.  Since then, I have entered into a Writer’s Digest contest (didn’t win), and plan to enter more.  As long as the fee is not exorbitant, why not try?  Each time, I hone my skill a little bit more.  Nonetheless, I have to be true to myself, and write in my own unique style, rather than trying to write the way the winner actually wrote.  They could be looking for something different every time.

The beauty of the contest that got me started on this journey was the fact that I was risking putting my writing out there and NOT winning.  Once I got over that, I was able to have the nerve to publish, because some may not think I’m the best writer, but maybe some will.  My ego can sustain not winning, so I think it can sustain the popularity contest and occasional criticism.  It was really a good preparation, much better than the vanity press contests.  So what happens now?  I keep publishing my writing!

Made for Me, Book 1, sci-fi romance

Made for Me was a continuation of my short story that was entered into a Wattpad contest.  Find out more about it at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DZ5230G.  Seeing Through Sampson’s Eyes was a sequel that follows Norrie from Made for Me, who has now become a young woman who is exploring the world and learning who she is.  It offers a lot more suspense than the first, which has been called a sweet love story with a futuristic flair.  Both are now in paperback as well as Kindle Unlimited, and you may find them, or find more about them, by exploring my Amazon author site at https://www.amazon.com/Pamela-Schloesser-Canepa/e/B01E0KV716.

The bottom line is, remember who you are writing for, and it doesn’t just boil down to a handful of judges in a contest.  Write what you enjoy writing!

Indie Writers Rock! An Interview with Lisa Wood,Newly Published Author of the novelette, Burnt Offering

I am pleased to announce my first ever author blog interview!  What makes it even more exciting is the fact that this newly published author is also a friend of mine who was once a co-worker.  Lisa Wood just recently published her first sci-fi fantasy e-book, a novelette titled Burnt Offering, on Smashwords and on Amazon Kindle.  It seems she and I have a bit in common, even down to the fact that she loves the author, Christopher Moore!  Here’s the rest of the scoop on this new author:

 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.

My name is Lisa Wood.  I am a theatre teacher.  I have been writing forever, but I recently decided to share some of my work with people who didn’t know me (that was terrifying).  So far, I have published a novelette (Burnt Offering) and a flash fiction (‘Til Death… Well Maybe) which has a longer sequel on the way (Death Won’t Wait Forever).

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?  

The most recent book that I have completed is called Burnt Offering.  It was inspired by my mother’s battle with cancer.  I was dealing with some intense emotions and I channeled them into a Cinderella themed story.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?  

   I see pictures in my head, and I just have to turn them into words.  I always carry a notebook around with me, because I can never tell when the next story will haunt me, and I can’t get them out of my head until I write them down.  It’s cathartic.

What authors or books have influenced you?  

   I love Neil Gaiman, Shakespeare, Mercedes Lackey, George R.R. Martin, Christopher Moore, Jane Austen just to name a few (really, I could go on and on forever about authors that I love).  I think my writing is influenced by everything around me all of the time, especially things that I didn’t particularly like.

What are you working on now?

Right now, I have a few stories on burners.  I am trying very hard to finish Death Won’t Wait Forever, the sequel to ‘Til Death… Well Maybe.  I also have a thread I’m following on the fairy tale remakes that involves the Wizard of Oz and a post-apocalyptic future that may or may not include my favorite kind of undead creatures.  And there is my big project which I have been working on forever, but recently I stalled on it.  I will come back and get the last fifth of it written when the pictures take over my head again.

Do you have any advice for new authors?

For me, writing is and always has been a therapeutic practice.  Even before I had a story to tell, writing in my journal was the easiest way to keep my sanity as a kid.

What are you reading now?

I’m listening to the Game of Thrones audiobooks, reading the HedgeKnight II graphic novel, as well as Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Play, and a great book for work that is so amazing I forgot the title of it 😮

What’s next for you as a writer?
I never really do know what is next for me.  Once an idea strikes me, I write it down and if I’m not already engrossed in something else, I make an outline and start writing.  I suppose the world will just have to be as surprised as I am what will come out of my head next.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you, what books would you bring?
I would want to bring books that I had never read before.  I have a very good memory for books, and I’d love the chance to read some new things that I have never read before.  But I think at least one of those books would have to be a giant blank notebook 🙂 just in case…

Find Lisa here:

Lisa’s Author Website: 

http://lisawoodbooks.wordpress.com/

Author’s social media links:

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/LisaWoodBooks/

http://www.instagram.com/lisakins05

Preview and buy her books here:

Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/lisawoodbooks

Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01KCR1U8G

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/til-death-well-maybe-lisa-wood/1124240140?ean=2940153150567

If you buy Lisa’s book, please kindly give her a review on the site where you purchased it . It helps the author, and it helps other readers.

Lisa, thank you for letting me interview you for my blog!  I wish you much success in your writing endeavor!

“The Truth or I’ll Shoot,” Free Short Story, Smashwords Debut as an Author

 

This is my debut as an author on Smashwords!  I’d love it if you checked out my site and maybe downloaded a free short story!  A review would also be greatly appreciated for this paranormal/detective story, “The Truth or I’ll Shoot,” at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/651691

I just had to do this, even though it required some self-schooling on formatting.  But it’s a great feeling to conquer something new!  Why should I miss out on a whole other publishing venue?  It’s free to publish.  You don’t need an agent.   They distribute to Nook, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, etc.   I’m in!  So, the plan is, when I publish from now on, I will publish on Kindle and Smashwords.  I’ll probably even get my already published books on there when their 90 day enrollment is done.  Can you tell I’m excited?

In just a few days, I’ve had 26 free downloads of my short story.  This is good news.  Users of Smashwords are meeting me as an author for the first time.  I’d love to get a few reviews of my story, though, and that might also serve to help my visibility on Smashwords before I publish my next book, a novelette, to both Smashwords and Kindle in August.  (Yeah, that’s really soon.  You’ll be hearing more about it in a week or two)!

So, why not give this mysterious, paranormal story of an odd family legacy a try?  It’s around 2,900 words, and free.   I’d really appreciate a review.  Let other people know I’m worth giving a look. Again, you can find the free story here on Smashwords:  http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/651691

Thanks!

Pamela