My Sporadic Thoughts

9-6-22 (cards and stickers)

Got a craft fair coming up next month, and a really big one the 1st week of December. Besides displaying/selling my books, I sell some of my art. Usually it's painted bird houses, modge-podged coasters, and a few random paintings.

I'm going to paint some maraca eggs to look like guinea pigs, but I'm also going to sell some of my art via greeting cards and stickers.

I keep thinking that I should open an Etsy store, but I never do. Perhaps if people like my cards and stickers, I will. Having a website doesn't seem to do me any good, except letting me keep all of my site links in one place - which is nice.

As always, I really hope my creations sell. I never want more than enough to recoup my costs - which is kinda dumb if you think about it. The printing places make money off of me when I order cards, stickers, books, etc, then I pay for tables and shipping, and I make.... negative money often. *sigh* such is the life of a person who 1) hates marketing 2) doesn't like selling themselves 3) feels greedy asking for any money at all and 4) is shy

Anywhoo.... if my stuff sells, and people seem to like it, maybe an Etsy store isn't a bad idea. It might be better than just loading my images on Redbubble. I've sold 2 stickers of the scarecrow below for a 59¢ profit that I'll never see cuz they don't send me my money until I've made $20. 😑

3-23-22 (YouTuber)

I've been putting up regular YouTube videos for 1 year and 1 month now. My channel hasn't grown by leaps and bounds, but I went from 4 followers (not sure what they were following then) to 20 😊

I now have 39 videos up - woohoo! and one even has over 1000 hits (1.1k to be exact). Granted, that one isn't from my books. It is just a short where I talk about how you can use toothpaste to remove hair dye. One lady called it "cringy", but otherwise, I've had no negative comments, so that's a win.

I wish I could say that all of these videos and views were leading to sales, but alas. That won't stop me from writing though. I still plan on finishing The Plague Doctor. I wanted it done last year, but lost steam and ambition. It will get done this year tho, along with redrawings for Juanito and putting out a dark collection of "nursery rhymes". I have a few doodles done for it, but need to sit down and put it into a manuscript. All of the poems are done tho. I did those last year.

Oh, and I'm working on a manuscript for The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Since it's in the public domain and I love the story, I rewrote parts of the story a few months ago. I then put out a YouTube video where I read my retelling. After sitting on the work I did, I thought, why not publish it. It doesn't hurt anything if I do or not, so I'm cleaning up my version, and should have that out in a month or two.

12-7-21 (Am I a painter now?)

I just finished a craft fair over the weekend. It's a big one, too. My daughter used to go to a preK-12 school, and the craft fair takes up nearly the whole building. It's right off the highway, too, so we see a lot of traffic.

I sold 3 books 😁, donated a 4th as a door prize, and sold a few small crafts I do. I've spent weeks sewing little plastic canvas "squeeze my cheeks" - which if you don't know what that is, no worries. Plastic canvas was all the rage in the early 90s. My mom still has the magazines with the patterns in them. We used to get a new one from the store every month or so. She would make tissue box covers (still does on occasion), squeeze my cheeks (I'll put a pic below so you know what that is. we put hershey's kisses in their face), coasters, and barbie furniture for our dolls.

I brought two "paintings" I did to the craft fair as well. I put it in quotes because they were canvases from the $ store w/ an outlined picture on it. I did spend more than an hour painting them though. Paint pens might get in smaller spaces than a brush, but they sure take a long time to paint with, but I was stubborn and determined. Anywhoo... I insisted on using a paint pen for both "paintings", and sealed them when I was done. I set the two I had out near the end of the fair once there was room on the table. As we were closing up shop, a lady bought the sloth one for $5 😊

I've sold illustrations before - especially as cover art, but never a painting. I was excited someone liked it and turned to my daughter after we left. "I sold a painting, Roo," I beamed. "Does that make me a professional painter now?" I asked.

My dear daughter turned to me with a deadpan expression and simply stated, "No." *sigh* children - the squashers of hopes and dreams. lol.

6-3-21 (my own publisher)

It's not easy being my own publisher. Thinking of a name wasn't bad, and I have my wonderful sister set to build me a website and help design a logo. And the problem isn't the client either. The books are already written, edited and up on Amazon/Kindle. The issue, for me, is that though I love to learn, it all feels so overwhelming!

I've had to update all of my recent manuscripts (I'm only doing 2020 and up - so not Howie or The Circus Elephant). My updates are all localized to my copyright page. I added the published by with an email address, but then on to ISBNs (that sounds ominous in my head - lightening crack, blackened sky, crow cawing).

I finally decided to buy my own ISBNs a few weeks ago, but my mouse hovered over the purchase button for awhile before I clicked it. I went with a 100 pack as each book uses 2 at least (one for a physical copy & one for epub copy) & I plan on writing more books.

A few days went by before I was ready to try and assign an ISBN & boy was it hard. Somehow I landed on the extended form right away where it asked me an overabundance of questions. I closed out, complained irl & on Twitter, then tried again a few days later. This time it opened to the standard form which was super simple. Now I have 6 ISBNs used up. I fixed the copyright page of my books again & am updating them on Amazon/Kindle.

My next step is to learn how to use Draft2Digital so I can expand my market. They're supposed to be starting a beta project of sending print books to IngramSparks - at least that's how I've read it. I'd love that because I want to be in bookstores, but I don't want to pay IngramSparks. They charge you every time you upload your file, and I reupload a lot on Amazon - every time I find something or the format doesn't sit right. I mean, how can you tell sometimes until you get your proof? IngramSparks makes you finalize your upload before you see your physical proof. If you change something after that, they charge you. No thanks.

Anyways, wish me luck on Draft2Digital. 😊

4-21-21 (new book)

I have a new book out!!! It's my 1st poetry book, but not my last. I have 2 more planned. One will be funny with Shel Silverstein-type poems and illustrations (I don't draw as well as he did tho), and the other will probably be similar to the one that I just published yesterday.

A Myriad of Emotions: I did what most poets do, I put my feelings down on paper, or the feelings of others - some real, some not.

I have a few illustrations in the book, some explanations of the poetry-style (there are many different types from paradelle to Poe - I'm really proud of that one... it was hard to match his style), and I have a couple of photographs I took.

The feet in big shoes for "Growing Up" is my niece in my mom's shoes ❤, and the girl looking out the window for "Second Round" is my daughter. I took 3 pics of her sitting there, then gave her the ok to go. However, after looking at them, there was something I liked about each, but something I didn't, so she sat for me again. Thank you, Raven ❤❤

And while I'm here, now thanking people, even though it's in my dedication... Thank you Pete, Paul and Maureen. You were a huge help in editing and organizing this book. Thank you, Thank you 😊

So now... please check out my "Books For Sale" tab... or wait for me to record myself reading some of my poetry. In that case, it'll eventually show up in my "Video and Audio" tab... but I'd still like you to buy the book. After all, it's why I publish. (that and the stories are no longer sitting in a drawer or on a flash drive wallowing in obscurity and cobwebs 😉😂)

3-15-21 (roller coaster)

Such a last few days I've had.

I finished a drawing for Saint Patrick's day = yay!

I had a guy, I reviewed a book of, harass me via email = boo!

I had David Ault accept to read something of mine for charity = YAY!

And I had a fellow writer on Twitter receive a book of mine she bought = Yay!

Oh, and I had a co-worker help me find someone to recement my walkway = yay! (depending on the cost)

And you may say, well, how can this be a rollercoaster when so many are "yay"s, but let me tell you, that guy via email was an ongoing issue. Normally when I do a review, I send a message showing I've purchased their book. Then a week or two later, I send another message saying I'm done. And that's it. I'll say "thank you" when they send me the same messages back, but then we have no further contact. This guy, though, kept attaching me to email conversations he was having with another author. So I figured he wanted some critique feedback like he was doing for the other guy. I politely let him know about a few grammar issues, then said I liked his book and would put up a review later that day. (which I normally never say anything about a review - just that I'm done reading).

I figured that'd be that. Well, he replied w/ thanks for finding his mistakes. I said "you're welcome". He asked if I used a program to catch grammar issues. I said "no". He said he was impressed. I said "thanks". And then I hoped that was it. I was wrong. After he saw my review, he messaged me back. He said he understood why I didn't like the sexualization of his female lead, but then asked what was wrong (so he didn't understand). I said he focused too much on her appearance since she's a minor. He agreed again, and thanked me.

I felt bad about using the word "oversexed" and edited my review to tone down my critique. I still felt the need to leave it, but made it a minor point since the book stays PG-13. I praised everything else about it, though, because it was a good story imo. He messaged me again. He thanked me for changing my review (which I did for me), and then proceeded to send me section after section of his story where he thought he should change things. This was too much for me. I had only wanted to read a book, write an honest review, and move on to another book (I love reading).

I told him he didn't have to change anything since I wasn't his target audience. He said he had to since my review was "a kiss of death", and that "no woman would read it after what I said". I told him I made it a minor point, worded it so it wasn't a blaring critique, and that is was the only thing I didn't like. I said nice things about the rest. He then kept harping on me, saying I did write it well, which he thanked me for again, but that he could give me pointers on how to write a review that would garner him more sales. He said I was rude because I didn't let him see the review before I put it up, and that he wasn't allowed to edit it.

I pointed out that what he was asking was against Amazon policy, and that he was being rude, condescending, and a bully. However, it wasn't until that last email from me that he stopped. In the meantime, he did say he would contact another author who he knows reviewed my book to have him change the review so he could show me the correct way to write one. What an a**hole. 😡

Anyways. now it's Monday, and I haven't heard from him since Saturday, so hopefully he'll leave me alone, or I'll report him to Amazon.

That said, David Ault is going to read a story of mine of Friday!!! on a live YouTube stream!!!! And a lovely lady on Twitter likes my #cloudart book!!! 😊😊😊😊🥰🥰🥰🥰 At least it's a happy ending for now, so I'll take it.

2-17-21 (always trying something)

1st off, I am still in Novelette for my plague doctor book, which I think will be called "Pesti Bubbonica". There are a ton of books already called "The Plague Doctor". Who would've have guessed? 🤷‍♀️

And since I am coasting along on the story, I have started going to my writer's meetings again. Last Saturday was the first in several months. I took chapters 1 & 2, and will take 2 each time since they are small. We meet every other week, so... I better get writing cuz I have 19 chapters right now, and we'll catch up fast.

I am always trying things to sell my books without being too pushy. I am running an ad campaign on Amazon.uk again. Last time I spent... $15-$16 and got a sale after the fact. This time, I've spent £3(ish) and have one KU sale, and one ebook sale.

That said, I can only irritate people on Twitter so much by posting on writer lift tweets. I think it's awesome that people do those, and that someone starts them, but since we are all trying to sell, no one seems to buy, or maybe that's just me.

So... I have a YouTube channel that I rarely use, and thought, what the hay? hey? I'll start using it. Besides, my sister started one, and I feel energized to use mine. So every other Saturday (starting this weekend), I'll try to put up a video of me reading something I wrote. Let's see if that helps with any sales. I did 47 last year, and 10 so far this year. One day I'll break 100.

1-18-21 (new year, new project)

I don't know about everyone else, but my brain is always on to the next thing. It's hard to keep it still and focused. I'm surprised I ever get projects done. That said, I have a new book I started last Tuesday. And before anyone thinks, "wow!" or "kudos", I'm always starting new books. Congratulate me if I actually finish one. 😊

In all honesty, I do hope I finish this one. It would be a nice feather in my cap to say I wrote a novel. This is my 5th or 6th attempt since I was a teen. 2 will probably never gone anywhere, one 100% will never go anywhere, and I have some hopes for the last 3.

My story takes place in Italy... Sicily to be exact. And it centers around a plague doctor who is neither a doctor, nor has anything to do with plagues. Think of him as a genie instead.

Anywho... I don't know if a novel is in store for this book, but so far it's definitely going to make it out of the short story range. I think novella has a nice ring for a story based in Sicily.

As of this exact moment in time, I have 5996 words written, edited, and basically done.

My scale is such:

Flash fiction = under 1000 words Short story = 1000 - 7500 words Novelette = 7501 - 30,000 Novella = 30,001 - 70,000 Novel = 70,001+

12-22-20 (repairman-man-man-man)

I had to go to the local laundromat yesterday. It's been a few years as I've been lucky to have a washer/dryer at home. However, my washer decided to stop entering the spin cycle over the past weekend. It's the second time since I bought my house (the washer and dryer came with it).

This time, at least, I knew how to run the diagnostics and which parts I might need (I just reordered the ones I did last time).

My daughter and I can't agree on how long I let it go before fixing it last year, but we both know it was over a month. Hopefully it'll only be 2 weeks this go around. I think I should (jokingly) starts a home repair service. I've replaced the drum belt on my mom's dryer a few years back, the shower heads in our house, and the lid switch and actuator in my current washing machine. Too bad I only fix these things myself to save money. Kudos to the people who do this as a full-time job. I get frustrated too easily.

Here are some pics of my work (sort of - I guess I didn't take a pic of the dryer once the new belt was on.)

11-17-20 (publishing and ads)

It's NaNoWriMo month and I've written a short poem or two (no more than I do in a normal month), and ~520 words. The 500 words are a short story, written from the monster's point of view (my daughter's suggestion). It's a dark comedy, or a horror comedy, depending on how you want to label it.

And that's about all I've written, which brings me to my topic - publishing. I am part of a local writing group, but haven't really been going this year. I've had ideas, but haven't really felt ambition to write. This whole year has been a wash, sort of. I've published 2 books, and illustrated another that was published. It's my best year so far, but the stories for the one book were written last year, and my other book is mostly pictures/photography.

Anywho... I get reminders every week to join one of the online writer's meeings, and I don't. Now they have NaNoWriMo themes as well as the regular meetings, and ... I skip those too. I should go. My work can always be improved. It doesn't hurt to get ideas, but ...

The meeting for this Saturday is about publishing. I self-publish. I do this for a few reasons. 1) I can get my book out faster, 2) I've tried traditional publishing, but how many rejections can you get before stopping? 3) while I've improved my drawing and writing skills, I'm scared. The world rejects you now. They reject you on dating apps, they reject you on social media by not liking something you are proud of, they reject you by not following you, and a person can only take so much rejection. Sometimes I'm brave and I submit a story to a podcast or online magazine, but they reject me too. I don't want a whole work to get rejected. I can take small rejections, but... there are thousands of agents/publishers out there. How many do I have to slog thru to get them to like something I'm proud of?

I think my dream now is to publish my works myself, and maybe I'll "get found" by an agent/publisher. But then will they want to change me? Or will I still have the freedom to do what I want? Create how I want to? Again, the truth is I'm scared to find out, so I take the safe way out, quietly writing books and pushing them out into the world, hoping someone sees them, and likes them as much as I do.

That said, with a wry grin, and a tiny chuckle, I finished my ad campaign. It was suppose to run almost a month, but I stopped it at 3 weeks. It got 41,083 impressions, 68 clicks and 0 sales. I did only spend $15.64, but still. Maybe I'll do a different market or a different platform next time. I can take small rejections, after all, and I seem, at least, a little determined to get my books out there and seen.

10-22-20 (podcasts)

I didn't jump on the podcast bandwagon when they first became a thing. I have listened to a old-fashioned few radio shows while driving through different states. Kind of like Orson Welles' War of the Worlds, but less like a movie, and more like a tv show for your ears.

My daughter though, began quoting things from Night Vale presents to me 2 years ago. I had no idea what the quotes were from until she said it was a podcast. When we moved 2 years ago I never set up cable. We still don't have it. We have wifi and watch Netflix discs, but no regular tv. Podcasts sounded like a good idea. I could entertain myself by watching those, and it would leave my hands and eyes free to paint or draw at the same time.

Night Vale wasn't for me, but it began a chain of suggestions for me. Now I listen to tons of podcasts while arting at home or playing on my pc or phone, or while on my walks at work.

So because I can, and I like to share, here are some of my favs (and I do put up reviews on Podchaser under cannibalbananas):

I am in Eskew The White Vault Liberty The Bridge The Magnus Archives The Orphans

I have a thing for creepy and tend to listen to a lot of British productions, but Fool and Scholar with Kaitlin and Travis are top of my list.

A few others that I've listened to and liked are: Vast Horizon, Civilized (it's funny), Marsfall, Unwell, The Black Tapes, and Wrong Station. Hmm... seems I listen to quite a bit of sci-fi in space as well as spooky podcasts.

I'd ask for suggestions, but I don't know how to insert a comment section on Google sites. Feel free to drop me a line though. TTFN 😊

9-24-20 (inspiration)

Ahh, inspiration. A fickle mistress. Lol. Am I being too cliché? I think so. But let's talk about inspiration anyways. The nice thing is that it can come from anything. Sometimes dozens of creative thoughts assail you in a moments notice. However... sometimes you can sit there like a lump, racking your brain for one idea, even a lousy one.

I try to write down any idea that comes my way; either on a piece of paper or on my phone. I find that if I don't grab it the moment it enters my head, it's pretty much gone for good.

That said, I had a moment of inspiration this week. My sister was observing my niece while doing online schooling. (she's only 5) The teacher wanted the class to write stories (I assume with a parent's help). The stories could be anything they wanted, except for one thing. They had to be based in reality. The teacher then gave a few examples. "You can't have a fish in a tree, or a hippo in New York," she told them. "Those aren't real." As someone who thrives off of imagination, I hate when people try to stifle it.

Anywho... so my sister told me this via Messenger, and a small idea formed. Once my fingers hit the keyboard, I had a fully flushed out rough draft for a new children's book. The working title is "Fish in a Tree", and the dedication will be "For those who tell you can't, when you can." I'm taking it to my writer's group this weekend. Then the hard part of illustrating it will happen. Maybe it'll be a book for sale next year. One can dream.