Article written by ULRIKE How did all this happen? When did I decide to become a writer in this world of many? Should I call myself a teacher instead of a writer? Looking back, it was meant to be. Born in a small town in Austria, I always felt displaced. From early childhood on I remember being the ‘different kid’ that stood out. Not in a rebellious way, just more creative and inquisitive to the standards of my village. Somewhere around the age of twelve I knew I wanted to be a singer, and the dream of traveling foreign countries and meeting exciting people held a grip on me. On the midnight train heading to Vienna I started the journey and teamed up with a Top 40 Band playing in a somewhat seedy nightclub. This union lead to living my dream; Germany, Switzerland, England – working as a singer in hotels and bars, all the while moving on to bigger cities – moving on up! After a concert I attended in London, a friend pointed out that I should visit Hollywood, California- ‘You’ll fit right in’ he exclaimed, and even though I wasn’t sure about this new idea I was willing to give it a try. Mentally this move produced a shift in my consciousness that proved to be the biggest step I would make. Everything fell into place with astonishing ease. No doubt, I was home. Thirty years later I am still in California, in the same spot: physically but not mentally. Shortly after this life-changing move I found a job working as a waitress at a Hollywood nightclub. Seemingly out of the blue, I was asked by another waitress, if I thought ‘Jesus was suffering on the cross’. At the time I only had read a few New Age articles and wasn’t well versed in all of the topics. I, however, believed that Jesus was a man that had true Understanding, and with this Understanding he surely was only showing his disciples the power he had over his life and death. ‘No’ I said, ‘I don’t think Jesus suffered. I think he knew exactly what he was doing. He was absolutely aware of this demonstration, and he chose it as a way to prove that ‘life lives’. Death is nothing but a big bully and unreal; imagination at its best.’ This dialogue proved to be the pivotal starting point of my awakening. This new journey of soul searching and truth finding was exhilarating. I read everything I could get my hands on. I joined a metaphysical class and tested everything I learned. I experienced faith, hope, amazement and wonder. I had to learn the English language basically from scratch, and I did this through reading book after book after book. After five years of intensive study and application of what I learned, I began to teach metaphysics to a few students and I loved it. We are all teachers and students of life and this was a wonderful way to grow and learn. As this desire developed further, I reached back to my ‘other’ love - writing. I started a book many years ago about my travels in Germany. I had written many poems, but I had also made a promise to myself that ‘one day I would actually publish a book’. Little did I know that it would take another thirty years to make this dream come true. Life happened with the usual ups and downs, but I never veered off the path for long. I knew deep down in the innermost chambers of my Soul that I meant to write, teach, and spread the Truth of Being. I embraced the Universe and all New Age teachings. I drank from the Eastern philosophies and feasted on many wonderful teachings of the West and East alike. The idea of a better Universe, and a ‘We are all One’ concept was engrained in my being. However, even though this journey proved to be exhilarating I was still waiting ‘until the time was right’ to dedicate my life to my passion. Why? At that time leaving the corporate world seemed impossible, too many bills to pay, and too many expectations of this earthly life…what would it take for me to make the transformation? Early 2011 the change came unexpectedly and fast. I was laid off from my job of almost twenty years. Even though I was surprised, I really wasn’t. I had known for some time that I was mentally through with this type of work. I was longing to fulfill my dream, I could taste it, feel it and I knew that it was only a matter of time. And here it was. The Universe had made the decision for me; had helped me to get where I wanted to be all along. ‘Thank you Universe’, I mumbled as I took my last paycheck and trotted home. ‘Thank you!’ It took no time to get that pencil sharpened and the ideas started to flow effortlessly. ‘Someone’ was constantly whispering in my ear- my own ‘knowing’ took charge. My goal was to write about my knowledge of the workings of the mind, and I wanted to share all the goodness it had brought into my life. Today, I feel that I am a messenger of Truth and that it is my duty to help others. My first book “…because you can!” was finished in eight months and affirms my beliefs of unity and goodness for all. And lastly, even though it seems that I have accomplished everything I set out to do, I know in my heart of hearts: The Journey of a Lifetime has only just begun! ULRIKE is an inspirational writer/author and metaphysics teacher. She teaches the art of right thinking in a scientific, step by step program, that benefits all areas of your life; health, wealth and most of all happiness... you can contact her at: Website Goodreads Books on Amazon YouTube
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This Marketing Monday tip is completely, utterly stolen from DigitalMarketer because Ryan Deiss is a genius and his ideas were meant to be run away with...and I'm ever to eager to listen and apply! So, when he shared 6 Simple Facebook Contests You Can Set Up in 5 Minutes we jumped on board and adapted them for the release of Snow Blood. We started with #1 - Like to Win. Post to Facebook for new page likes and pick the winners! Ours got a full copy of Season 1 of Snow Blood. Continuing on each week for each Episode of Snow Blood we'll be going to the next contest. Here's the plan: #2 Comment to win. Post to Facebook. Comments get entered. Pick winners. We thought of asking people to answer, "Name Brogio's love of his life." Or "What breed of dog is Snow Blood?" Correct answers get an Amazon card. #3 Solve to win. Post a puzzle, comments get entered. Pick winners! This one we may or may not do. I'd thought of posting a picture of those "How many animals in the picture" type thing like Where's Waldo and have people guess the number of wolves in the picture. Correct answers win! #4 Upload pictures to win. Have fans post pictures. Pick winners! For this, I'd have people post pictures of their dogs. Right up on the author page. Winner receives an Amazon card. #5 Caption to win. Post a picture. Have fans comment a caption for posted picture. Pick winners! This we decided not to do. We don't have anything really, except this: Anyway...I might try it another author's site, but I've got pictures like these that deserve captions. You might want to have your fans comment their captions. Do a mem to let everyone know who won and give a prize. #6 Join the email list to win. Post a status giving people an easy way to join the email list and offer a digital copy of Snow Blood. ACTION ITEM: Go to 6 Simple Facebook Contests You Can Set Up in 5 Minutes and see the examples they did and the full article for yourself!! Erotic romance is a wildly popular and mainstream genre, earning money and acceptance at an incredibly fast pace. Still, in day-to-day, ‘boots on the ground’ life, it isn’t always easy to find a kindred ‘romance reader’ to share your joy. I’m shy about opening the topic but some conversations turn out pretty darn sweet, and I make a new friend. (This is a fictional example:) A brunette working in my neighbor’s yard leans over the fence and extends a hand. “Hi, I’m Sandy, George’s girlfriend.” “Hi, Sandy, I’m Marilyn. It’s nice to meet you.” We shake hands, smiling at each other. “It’s nice to meet you too. This is a great neighborhood.” She leans her elbows on the fence. “Yes. We like it.” I lean on my rake, happy for a chat. “Me too. George has asked me to move in with him.” “That’s lovely. You make a beautiful couple.” “Thank you. You’re the first neighbor I’ve met. What do you do?” “Well, you know, family, home, write a few stories.” “Oh, you’re a writer. What do you write? “Romance, mostly.” “Romance! I love romance. Have you ever read Silvia Day?” “Absolutely, I love her books. Have you read Shayla Black?” “Oh, sigh, yes. Maya Banks? “All of them. Joey Hill?” “Oh, my, god. Yes! Have you read her newest? You need oven mitts, it’s so hot. Do you want to go out sometime and talk books?” “Sure, that would be fun.” “I’m so glad to meet you ….” “Yes. It’s wonderful to meet a kindred reader.” And (also a fictional example) sometimes you meet nice people, but they’re not kindred readers. “Hello, nice to meet you.” I say upon introduction to the wife of a friend of a friend. “Hi,” she says. “So what do you do?” “Well, you know, family, home, write a few stories.” “Oh, you’re a writer?” “I enjoy it, yes.” “What do you write? Have I read anything of yours?” “Romance, mostly. What do you read?” “Oh, not romance!” she sniggers. “I like non-fiction—things like politics, current events.” “That sounds interesting. What are you reading now?” “Oh, it’s tragic! It’s about the scandal of …” At this point, because I love fiction (where no one really gets hurt) and have heard about the heartrending and unavoidable tragedy in the news, I’m nodding my head politely while wondering when I can escape back to the latest Joey Hill book, or Patricia A. Knight book, or Eden Bradley book … I’ve been fortunate to find wonderful friends who not only enjoy reading similar stories, but are also critique partners who help me write. Life is good. Happy reading, Marilyn Marilyn Lakewood is our latest UP and Coming author! Diving into Sugar Kink Ink, her debut novel "Chase's Hard Wear" is expected to be released December 2014. This new series revolves around light bondage and BDSM themes that tantalize until you scream! "Chase's Hard Wear" will be the first of three and maybe more in the series. Marilyn writes stories with hot, alpha males to inspire her during the long Northwest winters. She loves creating XXX romances with protective, hard-lovin' heroes and sexy fantasies. Okay, NOT that I'm pitting my authors against each other because all my authors appreciate each other--but I've been concentrating on work count lately. Naturally I wondered what my authors PUBLISHED word count was for 2013. So below I've got the low down. Remember, this is for 2013 published works. It's also an estimate because I quickly ran through the word count of the whole book--legal wording & all. ACTION ITEM: Tell me your word count for 2013! Author Patricia A. Knight Affectionately called: PAK Titles: 3 Hers To Command Hers To Choose Hers to Cherish Total Word Count: 215,378 Author Carol McKibben Affectionately called: Mom Titles: 1 Luke's Tale Word Count: 60,827 Author John Daly Affectionately called: My etiquette guru Titles: 1 The Key Class Word Count: 47,024 Author SNMcKibben Affectionately called: SNM Titles: 5 Lady Alene and the Widower But For You, Yes Cougar Bait in the Coffee Shop The Demon Inside Me Escape To Vampire Dam Word Count: 46,791 Author ULRIKE Affectionately called: Ushci Titles: 2 Inspire Your Day The Seeds Will Sprout Somewhere Word Count: 13,824 (Wednesday Whimsical) I can handle constructive criticism. From others it's helpful. From myself? It's paralyzing. It's unhelpful mostly because the inner critic id jumping down my throat to fix this right away. Conversations go like this: Me: I only did 500 words yesterday so I just really need to get things on paper, can you like, take a nap? Stephon (the inner critic): You should really edit before you start. Me: No. I really just need to get this scene down. Stephon: Okay. Me: *type, type, type* Stephon: Typo. Me: That's okay. Stephon: No, you should fix that. Me: *type, type, type* Stephon: Why are you having him do that? Me: Just typing... Stephon: Guys don't really think that way, your making him too girly. Me: I just have to get it down, I'll change it later. Stephon: Well, why do it twice when once is good enough? Me: Because you're parlaying. Stephon: God knows you need to slow down with all the crap going in your head. Why not just do both at the same time. Me: Arrrghgghhgh! Shu-up Stephon! Stephon: No. No I don't think I will. Oh--change that. Me: Fuck you. Stephon: Anytime, baby. From there there's a lot of inward shoving and juvenile language. What my imagination draws up to kill my inner critic he edits down. But I've found Stephon's weakness. He's male, so he's visual. I'm a 60 WPM typist that does not hunt and peck my keys, so all I have to do is close my eyes and type, thus not giving Stephon the chance to see what it is I'm typing. When I open my eyes, he immediately goes into critic mode and from there, we clean up the text. He hasn't seen it twice and I get my thoughts down. It's a great combination. ACTION ITEM: If you've tried to conquer the inner critic and have failed, try closing your eyes and typing. I realize this doesn't really work for those that hunt and peck, but it could be a great excuse to learn how to type. I find closing my eyes helps me dive into the world I'm trying to bring out and helps with world building and word count. Stephon still protects me from many a "tell" and he seems to be happy with the arrangement.
Photo Credit: SkyWalker108 via Compfight cc
Ohhh! Look at those pretty colors to write in! Today's Toolbox shall be Wrting Tools. I've found some websites with some fantastic Creative tips for working writers. First -- Wired "Top Tools For Creative (and Working) Writers" http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2007/02/top_gadgets_for/ Second -- Wordbitches "6 Reasons Why Scrivener Is The Best Writing Tool EVER" http://wordbitches.com/2013/04/26/6-reasons-why-scrivener-is-the-best-writing-tool/ My writing tool for the day is your phone. Your phone has a microphone--or many of them do. I bet if you look, you'll find an app or recorder on your phone. I use mine all the time to dictate notes, blogs, passages of my short stories -- whatever. Your ACTION ITEM for the day is to find that recorder, make it easy to get to and use it. Start a diary. Dictate your grocery list. Record a story idea. Often times I'll go through my voice recordings every month. I even have it on my ORGANIZATIONAL To Do List. ~ Ducks flying tomato ~
Photo Credit: Kalexanderson via Compfight cc
I surround myself with a group of authors of like mind and this past week, they have been the awesome while I've been the suk. It happens. I'm not down because I have awesome sauce days and everybody's going to have the rain splatter on your burger days too. If you read this blog regularly you'll see the Cover mishap, the Free Kindle Book splurge, the endless cover passover for a new authors cover. But what's been amazing is watching my author's soar. They have been inspiration, support and awesome sauce this past week. I'm amazed at their ability to scramble about and make it look effortless. Balancing life as an Author is much like having a dog. It needs to go for a walk. It needs food. It needs water. It paws at you for attention. It's not all writing. Wait...what? Not all writing? You have a life. That life requires balance. Sometimes you can't blog because, well, life happens. What will help you balance life? The answer is so easy that you'll prolly throw tomatoes at me. Drum-roll... Organization. ~ Ducks under counter ~ I use flash cards. ~ Ducks under counter ~ I use an app called Any.do ~ Ducks under sofa ~ Google calendar ~ Ducks behind refrigerator ~ and I have a To Do List Book that I use as well. ~ Splat. Wipes off tomato. ~ Organization is balance on schedule. My Ultrachron lite app is set to 45 minutes and every time that puppy barks at me I get up, walk around, take in some water and decide if I'm going to continue what I'm doing or go to the next item on the list. A side effect to this is I feel like I've done something. It feels good to cross off an item from the list. ACTION ITEM: Try making a list, setting a schedule and seeing if that works.
Woe is me! I only have one book!
Down at the bottom of this post you can hear my thoughts in the MP3 file instead of reading them! I absolutely have to give props to Online-Convert.com for charging me nothing to convert my .ga file to an .mp3 file. So here's what I said, not verbatim but close: When you, as an author, write a book and market that book, you are not offering a book. You are offering a service--the service of entertainment or knowledge. Your book is not a product. Yes, you can hold a book in your hands, you can hold an e-reader in your hands, you can even see the book on your computer. But while your book is tangible, it is not tangible as well. Because while your words and feelings in the book can be read, it's your thoughts within that book that come out. That is the service that you give to the reader. Your offering that service of knowledge or entertainment. That's not a tangible thing. You're giving them a service of thought. So the next time you go to market your book stop thinking about it as a product and start thinking about it as a service. When you think of it like that, my model for writing is the best possible option. While one book can reach thousands of people you still have a consumable service. Write more books! Frick, you're a writer. Write. Action Item: Write good books. <--- PLURAL on purpose. Hey look! I talk too! Push the button! Push it! Push! Bidding Jobs. Just like in your Bio, don't start with "I..." Instead, tell them how Vampires taught you to write. Or not. Remember you are selling your writing and it's on display from your bio to your portfolio, and each bid. Instead concentrate on what you will do for them. Decide on what you want to be paid--both hourly or salary because you don't want to limit yourself from either one. Then go to "Find Work" and "Search Jobs". On the left hand side you'll want to choose Writing & Translation (or whatever profession you chose). Now, go to the search box above the job listings. What's your niche? Copy writing? Editing? I put in horse and got one job. Nothing for dressage, but 23 results for animals! Ghostwriter Wanted for Writing Fantasy/Sci Fi Books!!!! OH, stand back ya'll that one is MINE! Content for a Dolphine Website!!! Whaa! Can I swim with the dolphins! Oh! Oh! Mine! Mine! Know this. These jobs come in every day. Tomorrow there will be 20 more. Oh, I just searched dogs and got 11 results. Hell yeah! If at first your search does not succeed--try another! Be creative! Be the ball! Action item: Bid on 5,10 or 20 jobs. Repeat every day. Go!
Repeat Customers I have a client that I can honestly point to and say, "She does elance right!" She is the book cover artist for Truenotdreams. She conntacts me every month and asks how I'm doing and if I have any projects. She gets me thinking about all the wonderful covers we've done together and how easy she is to work with. This is how you get repeat customers. She got me hooked with our first cover together... Dr. Vampyre. She links everything to Deviant art, sends traffic my way, and in return I'm an advocate for Truenotdreams. Let's take a look at what she does: 1. She stays in contact. 2. Her work is fanominal. 3. She is the best deal even with other competitors I hand her all my work--because... 4. She is easy to work with. 5. She gives me freebies that are easy for her to do. 6. She gets the job done on time or before. 7. She is always responsive when I email. She charges slightly more than say a pre-made book cover service, but honestly, I get to choose the photos and she puts it together--um, no brainer. I will gladly hand her most my projects. It's the little things that freelancers do to stand out. so that list above is your guide. Action Item: (Choose 1 or all) * Contact and old client and find out if they need anything. * Give a freebie away that took you 5 minutes. * Link an article to their blog that will send traffic. Don't worry--they will notice. I'm going to give you one more goodie to round out to 5 parts! Next up--Bidding projects. |
Dear Reader,
My efforts are to make this a learning blog where writers can see the flip side of publishing. If you have comments that will improve your experience or have a certain topic you'd like discussed, please contact me through email - HERE. ~ Sincerley, Your Editor Stephanie McKibben Head Troll Troll River Publications Books on Kindle
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