So, that art is done. I wanted it a bit loose for the style. Next up is to paint a robot with acrylics. At least his base color. Most of my art relates to my writing. I am my own source. I don't do fan art unless this is source fan art :) #artday #writingcommunity #booksky

Here is the colored version. Enjoy! #inktober #ink #marker #art #writingcommunity #WitchBoard

Inktober #1 This is a repurposed drawing I altered for today's Inktober. This is what a Ba'neesh looks like. I am going to go color and then I'll post that as 'the additional work' for inking today even though it will be marker/pencil work. #inktober #ink #art #illustration

So, my visit to the post office today means I shipped the first coloring book into the wild and I priced shipping to the foreign country person. If you are thinking of ordering from me, at the moment I can take paypal, check or money order. I have to set up the rest. #writingcommunity #booksky

Warning: some writers discover the innocent act of writing a micro fiction can be the start of a novel. Sometimes your brain is ready to pounce on any possible opportunity to escape your brain to the page. Be careful out there. #writingcommunity #booksky #writinglife

I saw a $40 pot roast, in the wild today, in the discount bin. No seriously. Beef is on the brink of truly unaffordable right now. Soon, hamburgers will be mystery meat scraps of questionable origins...

For those of you on Social Security and/or a government pension from the military - it is illegal for the fed gov to stop payments to you. However, don't expect to reach anyone in the social service offices for the duration of the stoppage - they are constipated.

All my assorted running around is done. Now I need to reset my brain back to my projects. There are tricks to getting things done. For me, a mental reset does wonders. Also, no self bashing talk, in your head or aloud. You support YOU first.

I went to the post office and it was business as usual. Quite a bit of trump bashing talk in the line though. Americans are not amused by this asshat faux president.

You should be able to write a micro fiction in one day. Push yourself. You should be able to write it in two hours. Push yourself harder. What twisty little nugget is alive in your brain. This is October - weird writing month. Is your house haunted? Got a drunk ghost? #writingcommunity #booksky

Micro fiction is an excellent teacher. It will force you to trim off all the fat in your writing. Be concise. Encapsulate your story into a very fast read for readers with minimal time. It has a single twist element. It has a strong character. It lands the ending. #writingcommunity #booksky #micro

humpity day - did the gov shut down? dunno. it's chaos at the top and declining day to day. For writers, it's all about writing short stories today. You can write micro fiction. Micro fiction is typically 300 words or less, 500 is the limit. That's one page. #writingcommunity #booksky #microfic

I have received a few orders for the coloring book already, one is International. Very fun and exciting. I likely will do another print run just after the market, particularly if I sell any there. I will post the official market flyer soon for anyone local who may want to attend. #writingcommunity

I ordered a renovated ipad and apple stylus today for a specific project. It arrives sunday so I will do up the art for the project for the next couple days. It will fit with inktober so expect some images upcoming :)

The novels you write are yours. No agenda. The world you live in may pressure you to 'perform' your novels to satisfy other peoples ideas of what you should be doing with your work. Your novel is in your brain so your relationship with its life is up to you. #writingcommunity #booksky #writing

Your brain has no difficulty having ongoing novels in multiple series still in the writing phase. Often your MCs evolve and change. Other characters take over. Your initial idea expands or even goes sideways. This is you changing over time, like a character does. #writingcommunity #booksky #write

Once you write your first series you understand the resting phenomenon much more. More story shows up. Then you learn that one novel may flower into 10. You may have a series brain and not know it. Resting allows you to find out. Readers love series. #writingcommunity #booksky #writingseries

I spent some re-read time this week on a novel technically finished around two years ago. I added in perhaps 10 sentences and yet I made a radical change to how the book landed. I will wait again for maybe six months to see if there is more. I will be busy in between. #writingcommunity #booksky

The ending of your novel will work itself out into more nuanced form. We are usually not talking about rewriting your novel, this is more about rethinking how you get to the ending. You will see it slightly different over time. You need that time. #writingcommunity #booksky #longedits

When you remove the pressure of publish today, you give your brain permission to do the long edits. A long edit is the coming together of your slower parts of your writing brain that continues to solve for your novel. You will find more tiny bits to seed in. #writingcommunity #booksky #longedits

We rest novels to allow them to draw the juices of that novels creation back into it. If you are a series novelist this is particularly critical. But, if you write stand-alones you need it too. Every 3-6 months do another editorial pass. Hunt typos. #writingcommunity #booksky #restingnovels

Once your novel is clean, it really should go to sleep for a bit. You should go write something else and know it is parked in your file, resting. What happens is your brain fiddles in the background. When you are back to writing the next thing, it's still working. #writingcommunity #booksky

Let's talk a bit about how to rest your finished novel. The big push today is to hurry your rough into clean and instantly into some book form to sell it. Why not? Well... your novel isn't done. Your brain isn't really done with it. There's more... #writingcommunity #booksky #novelwriting

Today is pre-October or zero day. It's a FREE write day. Write Edit Revise Re-write Brainstorm Outline Do all of the things... Find a good spot and a hot drink and a quiet mental space and invite yourself away into your mysterious hidden worlds. PLAY!!! #writingcommunity #booksky #writingday

Tuesday is arrived. My kitties fell in furnace love all over again last night. This morning I found them worshipping at its feet. My furnace is a radiant type (very old) with no fan. It crinkles from heat expanding metal. It is our official fall cue...

Writers often hope their real life partners or friends will emulate a friendship they have inside their head, a character. Often our real life relationships don't fully measure up to our experience with characters. Characters are a hard act to follow. #writingcommunity #booksky #characters

Writers often believe all of their very best friends are invisible. The child that becomes a writer later in life develops strong friendships with the characters in books. These are the child's invisible friends, their intimate secret relationships. #writingcommunity #booksky #invisibility

You may not really want to be a 'big' writer. Our culture tends to pressure us to perform based on elevated status like money or fame. These are often false metrics that are more meaningful to others. You may write because you love it. It's fine. Hopefully you will still share #writingcommunity

My next project is making stickers. I hope that this goes well. I think I have everything I need. I am also going to do two ink projects for the beginning of inktober. I will show them here. I am likely to film them too for the youtube channel.

They powered up my aged furnace and now I have first day stink. ::sniff sniff:: My cats haven't found it yet but will by tonight. I am running a fan to move the stink around. We are expecting overnight temps in the 40s tonight. So, I will have happy kitties!

If you have a dedicated author website, you can have trailers for various novels, favored reviews, carousel ads and more. Visit large and well-designed author websites to see what their larger budget is paying for. Learn good author site design. #writingcommunity #booksky #websites #authors

If you have published novels. Visit the sales pages of each novel at least once a month. Look for bad reviews. Report any you find for removal. There are bullies online who only write nasty reviews often never reading or buying anything. You are the broom. #writingcommunity #booksky #badreviews

If you are selling through amazon, they offer you a free author profile where you have room for a bio. Fill it in. Add your avatar, hook up the free goodies they offer for you. Expand your visibility and access. Make sure you open your email daily to see. #writingcommunity #booksky #profiles

What you want is for readers to feel that reading your content is a positive in their life. Operate from that position. Your contact toward your fans should be geared toward 'value gain' for their satisfaction and enjoyment. Don't lead with sales ads. People hate ads. #writingcommunity #booksky

By keeping your shortcut marketing links in a desktop file it makes you more likely to use your links and QR codes. Spreading yourself out is part of basic marketing. You are a product. Your novels are products. You are selling both to strangers. Present well. #writingcommunity #booksky #profiles

If you have novels published, go to the selling page for each novel and copy the active part of the link or put the link through a condensing program for a short usable link (like bitly) Save your book cover image and this link to share easily, from a desktop file. #writingcommunity #booksky

Get used to attaching your link to your posts or emails. Get used to having a QR code on your author business card that you hand to people. Make your landing page easy to find when people are looking for you online. If you have novels published... #writingcommunity #booksky #websitelinks

Your author profile photo should be: * your face (best) * a good avatar * an attractive image you own * an attractive art you own Remember you are selling yourself as a brand ambassador for your novels. Stephen King's face is his well-known avatar image. #writingcommunity #booksky #avatars

Be consistent and make sure all of your profiles are filled out and 'helping' you. Don't leave money on the table. Avoid all political, religious, controversial references in your bios. Put those kinds of interests on your NON-professional social profile elsewhere. #writingcommunity #booksky

Go to every social media site you use associated with your writing career. Post your profile to be neutralized writer focused content. Ex: I am a scifi/fantasy author with a focus on cyberpunk and grimdark. Find my latest novel 'blah blah' here: [link] #writingcommunity #booksky #bios #profiles

Take a few minutes today to create a folder on your desktop that has a document called 'Bios' where you write a small bio, medium bio and long bio. These should be neutral-language descriptions of your brand author identity. No typos. Clean language. #writingcommunity #booksky #profiles #bios

A website will cost you ongoing money. To reach the point of creating one you have to become convinced that you really want an author career. Spending ongoing money is a commitment. In the meantime you make do with a free page or linktree or similar. #writingcommunity #booksky #websites #money

I mentioned that this is your FIRST fan funnel. It is likely that this free start will grow. Most writers find a dedicated personal author website is a good idea. This is a location for your fans to find you and your books. It is where your bio will live for press. #writingcommunity #booksky #page

Once you have the webpage or linktree, copy the url (the link) and paste it in a document. Then find a QR generator site and generate a QR code of that link. Keep the document with both on your desktop for easy use. USE THEM to send fans to your inbox. #writingcommunity #booksky #webpage #links

A fan funnel is simply some kind of web page that has an email address collection form that will send the address to your writing email address. A free webpage A free linktree Both can work. No cost to you so no excuses. Once you have the page... #writingcommunity #booksky #linktree #webpage

The second branding/marketing step is to create your first fan funnel. This is a way for you to capture email addresses of people who say they like your writing and/or want to support your writing. Yes, your family are probably first, then friends, coworkers, neighbors... #writingcommunity #books

It's Monday. This is where you think about the value of your writing career to you. Depending on your answer to that simple question you will put aside spending money to support your career and novel marketing (linked). It's up to you. Put your money where your passion is. #writingcommunity #books

I have successfully vacuumed around the furnace. The person is supposed to come between noon-four. Typically it takes the person about 5 minutes to light me up. I behave like a helpless female. tsk. Truth is I don't like being on my belly with ancient tech and flames.

I am creating a dot grid on my artist block. It gives me dotty eyeball. So taking breaks every couple rows. The block is only 8" x 8". I'll take a pic when this part is done.

The only thing left on my to-do list today is vacuuming. It can wait. 🧹