Reconnecting with Writing & Art. Plus, a Surprise!

Being a writer while being in a full-time doctoral program, maintaining a full-time job, and trying to learn a language is really challenging. Over the last few weeks, I’ve been reminded time and time again just how important it is to keep my creative work a priority, because stories and art are my passion. So much of the energy I have for all my other roles stems from being creative and doing creative work. 

This past weekend, I spent most of my time working on book projects and as a result, I feel happier and healthier than I have in months. And while I love all the other things I do, this made me realize I can’t let myself go this long without working on my creative projects—especially when I’ve invested so much time and energy into finding amazing resources and tools to help me do them. It’s a balancing act I think we all face to some degree, and it seems like it’s one I’ll probably continue to struggle with for the next year as I finish up my school work. 

On the bright side though—I'm super grateful I have a place to go to re-energize. Working around the house this weekend, I got so excited about all the reading, writing, creating, painting and learning I want and need to do to make the art I want to make. I have books about illustration, design, copyright, research, language learning and screenwriting all waiting to be read. I have my Wacom tablet, new paints and canvasses, and new notebooks ready to be filled. And bit by bit, I am going to do just that! 

This weekend I also got to try out a new program that I invested in a few months ago. It’s called Vellum, and it’s an amazing book creation app that formats both ebook and print layouts (Note: only available for Mac users at this time, my apologies!). I used it to format a special project I’ve been working on over the last few months and also to update the ebook versions of The Vampire Skeleton Series book, which—surprise!—now have new covers. Check them out below! 

I love these covers so much. They were designed by James T. Egan of Bookfly Designs, who just does really excellent work. I’ve worked with James a few times now and I am always really inspired by his creativity, experience and professionalism. I’m so happy with how they turned out! There are currently two books in this series and the third book will be coming out this September. The new book is called A Spectacle of Stones and I will be putting it up for pre-order in a few weeks (the first time I’ve ever tried doing this, so I'm looking forward to learning the process). I’m really excited to share the cover for this book as well, and will be doing that in a few weeks! 

Ahhhh. It's been a whirlwind couple of weeks and I actually have more exciting news to share, but I think I will save it until my next post! Until then, happy creating everyone!

S. 

Language Books at Last!

Every once in a while, I feel the urge to change course and do something different from what I’m doing. To write a different genre of book than I currently do or to write in an area I come across as I research Indigenous education—in which there are so many potential areas. Sometimes this happens because I read an article or thread someone posted on social media and I realize how far we still have to go for even the faintest possibility of reconciliation and shared understanding to occur. And because there is an endless stream of ideas and information appearing every day—it can become very easy to get distracted. 

There were also times in the last five years where I thought I should write things and try to publish in the traditional industry and while it is still one of my goals to write and publish as a hybrid author, I’m super happy I stayed committed to a goal of creating and publishing books in the language—even though it took me a long time to figure out what it was that I could help create. All I had was a vague idea that I could make books to read to my girls and something that could help me learn, too.

One thing I definitely did not expect was that my desire to create more language resources for myself and my daughters would also reveal a dream I had of becoming an illustrator, or that the language book project would become one of my first opportunities to illustrate someone else’s story. But that is exactly what it did and for the first time, I’m able to show how that project is shaping out! 

This book is the first of five in a set of Cayuga language books that are written by my husband, Kehte Deer. They represent one part of a larger resource development effort that is being guided by a curriculum we created to help increase Cayuga language use in our home. I’m super excited to share more about that in the upcoming months but for now, I just want to share that the project exists and that Kehte has done a really amazing job writing these stories. They are fun, creative and informative books packed with some really helpful content and we're looking forward to releasing them! I’m excited for all of the projects that I have coming up this year, including the next book in The Vampire Skeleton Series, but I may be the most excited for these ones :). 

As the five-year anniversary of my blog approaches, I’ve been reflecting back on the choices I’ve made so far and the kinds of projects I hope to do over the next five years (as well as planning some really fun giveaways!). So far, this has involved a lot of discussion, research and planning but all in all, thing are moving in a good direction and I’m very grateful for the art and creativity that is in my life. It’s an exciting time :). 

So without further adieu, here is a sneak peek at some of the illustrations from the book! 

S. 

Giving the Gift of Story

A short little post, as this week has been all about getting ready to celebrate my daughter's 2nd birthday. If there's one thing I've experienced being a parent, it's that it's hard to find a good birthday gift for your child. Something that means a lot to you, something that shows them you love them more than anything and something they will have forever. 

I wrote this story for her birthday last year but didn't have a chance to finalize it and at the time, I didn't have all the other skills or know-how to finish it. Fortunately, I've learned a lot over the last year and was able to format the print book, design the cover, and insert the illustrations all by myself, which was awesome!

                                                  Illustration by Kehte Deer

It's a tiny book but it has a special place in my heart and so I'm super happy to share it with you (it's free to download on my book page). It also has a nice little message about Treaty relationships, which we felt was important to teach our daughter about from an early age. 

                           Illustration by Kehte Deer

I put the book in the bookstore yesterday (which is when her birthday was) and the print version came today, so we'll give it to her at her party this Saturday. It's very exciting! I'm super happy with how the print version turned out and I absolutely love that the tools are now available to make projects like this. 

Finally, a I'd like to say a very special thank you to my husband who did three of the six illustrations for the book. If you have a chance to check it out, I hope you enjoy it.

In the meantime, happy writing everyone! 

S.

P.S. You can also see the proof copy of The Skeleton Key which comes out next week! 

5 Fantastic Resources for Self-Publishers & Indie Authors

Earlier this week, I was listening to a writing podcast. The topic was self-publishing and the guest speaker was asked for the number one tool they would recommend for writers who were considering self-publishing. They recommended Google—which is definitely a gateway to some fabulous resources, but I felt like I would want something more specific if I were looking for help or if I were going to provide guidance to a just-starting-out-me. 

Granted, I am not as far in my self-publishing career as many authors, but I have spent the last two years reading about self-publishing and these are dozens of resources I would have recommended to myself if I’d known they’d existed. (Although I also think finding your own way to resources and connecting with online mentors is in and of itself part of the journey).

Nonetheless, here are five resources I would recommend for new authors who are considering self-publishing that will save you valuable time and help get you on your way!

The Creative Penn website and podcast

A fellow #monthlywritingchallenge participant was the first to recommend Joanna Penn to me. Joanna runs a website and podcast called The Creative Penn and her site is filled with tips for indie authors on everything from writing the first draft, to finding editors and cover designers, to getting started with an author website and to marketing your book. In addition to her blog posts and podcasts, she also writes a lot of non-fiction books for authors, but one of her resources—the Author 2.0 Blueprint is free and it has a lot of very helpful information.  

She's also compiled some helpful pages. For example, this page has a list of potential cover designers. This one has a list of potential editors. And lastly, this page contains the tools and resources she uses as an indie author. Have a look and you will see what I mean about useful, practical resources. 

The Self Publishing Formula Podcast

This is a fairly new but already amazing podcast. It features two writers—one who is a best-selling indie author and another who is in the process of writing his first novel. Together, they interview other successful writers and entrepreneurs about their writing and publishing journeys. One of my favourite episodes that would definitely be helpful to new authors is this one: Five Must Do Actions for New Authors. This interview with Marie Force is also fantastic and super inspiring. 

The Business Rusch

Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s website is one that I have recommended before but I want to do so again. There are so many great posts in her Business Rusch series, as well as the Freelancer’s Survival Guide and Business Musings. Kristine is a hybrid author, meaning she publishes independently and with traditional publishers. She has been in the business of publishing for forty years and has a lot of perspective to offer. 

The Alliance of Independent Authors

I have just started subscribing to the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi) mailing list. There are so many great resources on their website but the one I would like to recommend in particular, is the Indie Author Fringe Festival that ALLi held at the London Book Fair two weeks ago. It was an amazing event and there were a ton of presentations, all of which can be viewed on their website. The presentations cover a range of important topics like cover design, the future of publishing, editing, and more. Watching even a handful of these presentations can bring new or undecided authors up to speed quite quickly on current publishing trends (which is definitely helpful in a constantly shifting environment). 

Last week, I wrote about my own takeaways from the festival. 

The Monthly Twitter Writing Challenge

Finally, I have to recommend the monthly twitter writing challenge. Whether you decide to self-publish or pursue the traditional route, there is no escaping the fact that you need a finished, well-polished book. The only way to get that gleaming gem is to keep writing until you finish a first draft and then work on it until it’s as error free as it possible can be (without scrubbing the soul out of it!). Then do that again. And again. And again. 

Over the years I’ve found that to write a lot and to write consistently, you need to establish a writing schedule and a supportive environment (online or otherwise) that works for you. The monthly twitter writing challenge is my favourite writing community. It works for me because I like to have a very basic word count goal per day (500 words) when I’m writing something new and I also need the encouragement to roll up my sleeves and start editing when the time comes. And because I am 100% an introvert, it’s super hard for me to join physical communities. Participating in the writing challenge gives me a way to be accountable and to be inspired by others at the same time. There are so many writers willing to share their experiences with you—both the ups and the downs. It might seem silly, but their daily support and tweets have always made me feel less alone. 

So there you have it—those are five of my recommendations for authors who are considering self-publishing or looking for helpful information. At the very, very least, these five resources provide you with some support and some information to consider as you try to make up your mind about what you want to do.

What about you? What resources do you wish you'd known about when you were just starting out? 

Happy writing!

S.

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6 Lessons Learned from the Indie Author Fringe Festival

I just finished watching another great presentation from the 2016 Indie Author Fringe Festival that took place at the London Book Fair last week. Basically, #IAF16 was twenty-four hours of incredible interviews, presentations, blogs and podcasts. You can find them all here. There was so much fantastic information that it was a challenge to keep track of all the things I wanted to work on by the time the event was over, however—I have picked out a few follow-ups I think are achievable within the next year. So without further ado, here are my 6 takeaways from #IAF16, organized into short, medium and long-term goals. 

Short Term Goals (1-2 months)

LESSON # 1: Update my social media descriptions. I’ll be the first to admit that when I first joined Facebook and Twitter, I wasn’t exactly sure how I wanted to represent myself to the social media world. I have a ton of interests and all of them seemed important or central to my online identity. I care a great deal about humans all over the world having fresh water. I want the education system to represent diversity well, particularly where it concerns Indigenous Peoples. And I love learning to speak the Cayuga language. But what I find myself tweeting, or reading and thinking about the most is my passion for writing and the incredible joy that I get from every aspect of the self-publishing process. There’s a better way to succinctly communicate that via my social media bios, and I’m going to take some time to figure out how.

LESSON # 2: Learn to use bit.ly to make my links shorter. One thing I've learned is that the little things can go a long way to tidy up or better organize the information I’m sharing or want to share with the world. I always wondered how people managed to make their links shorter—especially given the character limits on various platforms. Fortunately, this presentation by Jane Friedman helped shed some light on how easy it is to make links more accessible. There's several other nuggets of wisdom in her presentation, but this is a small one I was super happy to hear about. 

Medium Term Goals (3-6 months)

LESSON # 3: Record an audio book. At present, I have three books out. One is a short novel, one is a collection of stories and the third is a novelette. I would love to turn these into audio books. Over the next 3-6 months, I will be working on bringing this material to life in the audio format. This presentation by Joanna Penn was incredibly helpful in determining how and where to get started.

LESSON # 4: Practice making stronger and catchier images/covers. So, a confession. It was only in the last month that I discovered the wonder that is Canva (this despite the fact that I’ve read about it in so many self-publishing blogs) and I’ve been obsessed with it ever since. I love how easy to use it is and moving forward, I plan to use it a lot to help me craft images for my blogs and design cool infographs or just make more interesting images. And while for the most part, I plan to hire out all of my cover designs, I still love making the attempt to design covers on my own (even though I’ve made pretty much every rookie mistake that the three wonderful cover design presentations covered!). One of my favourite presentations was this one by Derek Murphy. I took a ton of notes and look forward to trying to make better images based on what I learned here. And I have to admit—this is probably not the best use of my time as an author but as I’m super fortunate to have all of this really amazing software (InDesign, Photoshop, Premiere, etc), it would be a real shame to not put it to some good use—if not for my own author brand, then definitely for my publishing company’s. 

Long Term Goals (6 months - 1 year)

LESSON #5: WRITE MORE BOOKS. If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the last two years of serious writing, it’s that making time to write every day—even 500 words a day—can really add up. The number one piece of advice I heard consistently in each panel and presentation—was to keep writing and producing great stories. Not necessarily social media posts, or newsletters, or blogs, or sales descriptions—but work hard to finish that first novel, then the second, then the third. This year I plan to write three new books, a non-fiction book, plus write a novelette and a few short stories. So far, I’m doing well in meeting that goal. I’ve written the first draft to a book called The Wall of Bones, and I’m working on another book called The Fortunes of Ithaca right now. I’ve also written two short stories. Since creation is the funnest part of being a writer, it’s easy to make time for it. That doesn’t mean the ideas are always there or that I still don’t get lost—I definitely do. But making time to write every day has certainly paved the way for me to write more stories than I’d ever have dreamed possible as little as three years ago.

LESSON #6: Continue Organizing My Writing Business. In March of this year (right at the start of my March break vacation), I hired a facilitator to help me work through a strategic planning session for my author business because I wanted to get organized around the activities I was going to undertake on behalf of my books, as well as those I was going to undertake for my publishing company (since they are slightly different and have slightly different audiences). 

This exercise was incredibly helpful. It helped me to set some specific targets for what I hoped to achieve over the next year such as establishing an email list, setting up my finances in a responsible way, taking care of my intellectual properties, and understanding my distribution networks in a way that didn’t interfere with the creative/creation aspects of writing. It also helped me to see that you don’t have to do everything all at once. That it’s okay (and honestly better) if you tackle one thing at a time. For instance, I spent the last week getting more familiar with Canva. The week before that, I spent setting up a separate business account for author related expenses, and the week before that I spent learning about how to create ebooks in Scrivener, etc., etc. Tackling these new tasks or technologies in bite-sized pieces has made it a lot easier to incorporate them into my work in a meaningful and effective way. 

So that’s it—those were among my biggest takeaways from the Indie Author Fringe Festival. I am super excited that the Alliance of Independent Authors has made the presentations available for everyone to view. The presentations are an incredible resource and even though I knew you could watch the videos at any time, I still woke up and tried to attend most of the events on the day of because I’ve never been to a writer’s conference before and I thought it would be fun to pretend I was (which it absolutely was). So I want to say a big thank you to the Alliance of Independent Authors for creating a space for these topics to be shared with those of us who can't travel to these book fairs in person. I learned a lot and I appreciate it so very much! I hope you all have a chance to check them out as well!

Happy writing everyone!

S.