Category Archives: Announcements

Guest Posting and a 17th Century Science Fiction Novel!

Widdershins MaskI have a guest post today over on Sonnet O’Dell’s ‘Dusty Pages’ blog – drop by, I’ll put the kettle on and we can share a cuppa.

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And now … a truly wondrous phantasmagorical find! A Science Fiction novel written and published by a woman in … wait for it … 1666. That’s (let me write these numbers out, because – supreme awesomeness) Three Hundred And Forty Seven Years Ago.

Thanks have to go to Women and Words, Stevie Carroll for bringing this out into the blog-o-sphere. (well, my little corner of it)

The story is titled: ‘The Description of a New World, Called the Blazing-World’. (our fore-mothers sure knew how to craft a blistering title) by the ‘Thrice Noble Illustrious and Excellent Princesse, the Duchess of Newcastle, Margaret Cavendish’ (another impressive title)

Stevie’s post on Women and Words has a synopsis but if you want to read the story in its lyrical entirety, you can read it HERE.

“Here on this Figure Cast a Glance.
But so as if it were by Chance,
Your eyes not fixt, they must not Stay,
Since this like Shadowes to the Day
It only represent’s; for Still,
Her Beauty’s found beyond the Skill
Of the best Paynter, to Imbrace
These lovely Lines within her face.
View her Soul’s Picture, Judgment, witt,
Then read those Lines which Shee hath writt,
By Phancy’s Pencill drawne alone 
Which Peces but Shee, can justly owne.”

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“You can make explicit certain social problems which, again, would be prejudged or not encountered at in real life, because people have set up defenses against it. Fantasy allows you to get past defenses” – Elizabeth Moon, Science Fiction and Fantasy Author

 

‘Identical’ has its own Page

WiddershinsMask and the Maple TreeTomorrow, 31st March, Episode 3 of ‘Identical’ will be published right here! In order to make it easier to read the previous episodes, the series now had a whole page all of its own.

Presenting, ‘IDENTICAL’ – the complete serials … Ta-dah!!!!! … OK, it’s only two episodes so far, but soon, my pretties, soon there’ll be lots, lots more.

If you try to read the episodes via the ‘categories’ down there on the right, you’ll find they’re listed chronologically, which means the latest episode is at the top of the page. I have no idea how to change this around to make them more readable, if anyone has any ideas please let me know … however, a page all of one’s own is far better.

See you tomorrow,

Widder

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“I really fall in love with my characters, even the bad ones. I love getting together with them. They tell me what to do; they take me on a wild and wonderful trip” - Jackie Collins

The Self-Published Author and the 30%

Widdershins On Red VelvetI read this article today by David Gaughran on his blog, ‘Lets Get Digital – How To Self-Publish And Why You Should’. It’s on his ‘Practicalities’ page, and if you scroll down to the last topic you’ll come across this information:

Amazon, Smashwords, etc, are obliged by US law to withhold 30% of a self-published authors royalties unless they are provided with a Social Security Number? (for US authors) They hold on to that 30% until the end of the tax year. If it’s not claimed then it goes to the IRS.

International authors are subject to the same law, and they can apply to get that 30% released as well.

There are two ways to do this – get an ITIN (Individual Tax Identification Number) from the IRS, which, from what I’ve just read, is a painfully long process, or you can get an EIN, (Employee Identification Number) also from the IRS, which is slightly less traumatic.

If you don’t live in the US and are, or are planning to, Self-Publish, these two posts give you step-by-step instructions on how to obtain these numbers.

How to get an EIN (Employee Identification Number) which I got from Catherine Ryan Howard’s Blog, Catherine, Caffeinated.

How to get an ITIN (Individual Tax Identification Number)

If, after reading these posts, you’re tempted to think it’s not worth the effort, take a moment to study this chart.

30%

Just as writing is an art, it’s also a business, and making sure we get all that is due to us in return for our blood and words, we need to take care of business … and then get back to writing!

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“No, there is literally nothing on the business side that I wouldn’t sacrifice in a heartbeat to have an extra couple of hour’s writing. Nothing” – J.K. Rowling

WANACon: The View from the Back of the Room

Widdershins MaskBut first … NEWS: Last year I was invited to do a guest post for the Clarion blog.

It’s up today. Writers Craft#112 You Have To Be There.

Clarion is a Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer’s Workshop, and is a big deal in a SF writers Universe.

My invitation came about because I follow the Clarion blog, and I leave comments. The blog editor read my comments, followed the link to my blog, liked what she read, and invited me to do a Guest Post – Proof of the importance of comments (so long as it’s not drivel, or just a :D )

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Wana-Conference Logo

Rather than do a bit of an intro to WANA itself, (‘cos this is going to be a long post anyway) this is WANA … and this is what they’re about.

WANA stands for We Are Not Alone. (OK, I can’t help myself, I’m intro-ing) It’s a community of, and for writers, and this weekend they had their first on-line writers conference.

As is the way of these things, I discovered WANA via … erm … can’t remember exactly who, but it was by connecting to someone who was connected to someone who was in WANA. I looked around and liked what I saw, and joined.

Up until this Con, the only real engagement I had with WANA was to read (and comment) on Kristen Lamb’s blog. Kristen is the Driving Dynamic Diva behind the whole kit-n-kaboodle. When she announced WANACon, I checked my Paypal account (phew, just enough!) and signed up, with the attitude of, “ok – show me what you got”.

WANACon showed me!

Friday’s session started too early for me – 8am EST (5am for me – one of my friend’s favourite quips is that she gets up ‘at the crack of 9am’) so I missed the first three speakers, but from then on it was a full-on, flat-out, steep listening and learning curve.

The platform they used to deliver the lectures (for want of a better word) combined a live video feed with a real-time chat window. This enabled the audience to engage with the speaker and ask questions via a microphone as well as typing into the chatbox.

We could comment on what the speaker was saying via the chat, without interrupting their flow. It also allowed Jami, the moderator, to post any links (email addresses, URL’s, etc) the speaker mentioned, for us to access in real time.

The only downside of a platform this complex was bandwidth. The sound occasionally broke up and screens froze if there was a lot going on at once. All the sessions were recorded, so this was a momentary frustration.

Anything glitch-ier was swiftly resolved by Tech guy extraordinaire, Jay. (who is, I hope, enjoying a well earned rest) (I thought I had a link for him in my notes, but no. He is a tech wizard, and very approachable. If you have any web-y, tech-y issues, you could contact him through the WANA webpage I linked to earlier)

I want to comment on the gender makeup of the audience. On average each session had 20-25 participants, and I can recall there only being two men in the room at any given time. (apart from the presenters/speakers, 8 of which were women, and 4 men)

This reflects just how involved women are in every level of this writing profession of ours. And it’s truly a wonderful thing.

The conference brought home to me yet again, how fast the industry is changing, week by week, (sometimes it feels like hour by hour) and how, if we have any ambitions to make a living writing, we MUST keep up with these changes. Which is not to say we have to run around like chooks with our heads cut off and end up disappearing into the black hole of the eBook/social media revolution. Our first priority is, and must always be, to write.

But, we also need attend conferences like this one, where the focus is on presenting the latest up-to-date information by people who are practicing what they teach.

We must have a working understanding of the basics of publishing, marketing, social media, the whole nine yards … or at the very least, know where to get that information when we need it, which means keeping up-to-date lists, and/or engaging with people who keep those lists.

So … I sat at the back of the room, took notes, asked questions, made comments, and absorbed everything. I did get somewhat brain-dead by midday Sunday, but that’s the nature of engaging with this sort of intensity.

I watched the interplay of relationships between the other participants who knew each other outside of the conference.

I witnessed the respect these women, (and the men) had for each other, both personally and professionally. It made my little feminist heart proud, it did.

WANACon gave me a sense of hope that women like Kristen will be, and are, driving our industry forward in a way that is ethical and authentic.

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“I believe in communication; books communicate ideas and make bridges between people” – Jeanette Winterson

To the ‘If’s and But’s’ Apologisers

Widdershins Mask in an odd moodNEWS FLASH:

Next week I’ll be at a FREE online writers conference about indie publishing. It’s called IndieReCon – Making Indie-Publishing a Mission Possible.  It runs from 19th February to the 21st. Check out the schedule, and the list of giveaways!

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One of the new features I’m introducing this year is a category called ‘Passion Play’s’. Passion Play’s are, in essence, rants. Things that get up my goat. (to mix a couple of metaphors)

I’m a laid back kind’a Libran. My boundary between what is and isn’t acceptable is a wide one. Something can encroach into my boundary, to a certain point, and I’ll debate with myself whether to challenge it or not. Once it passes over the line on this side of the boundary I will take action.

Sometimes I’ll rant … erm … spleen vent … erm … PP, about big stuff, and sometimes it’ll be about little stuff that gnaws away at me like an incipient toothache.

On to today’s PP …

The other day I took myself off into town for a cuppa and a general peruse of the main street of our town.

I do this at irregular intervals to, a – make sure I’m still occupying the same reality as most of the world around me, (a side effect of writing SF set in all sorts of otherworldly locations) and b – to observe human interactions for character fodder. I usually end up in my favourite cafe for a bracing chai latte before heading back to Widderlake and my own multi-universes.

The cafe was fairly full. A couple caught my attention. They’d chosen to sit at one of those low-table-and-overstuffed-armchair combinations that force you to speak louder than you otherwise might in order to be heard by the other person who’s at least a meter away.

These two were in trouble. An argument had ensued and they were now trying to put some pieces back together. She was a bit teary and he sounded exasperated.

At one point the entire room heard him blurt out, “I’m sorry! I apologise if I’ve hurt you, but …”

I wanted to roll up my newspaper and smack him behind the ear!

And this is why …

Every time I come across a politician, sportsperson, celebrity, etc, attempting to apologise for their behaviour, whether it be the thought-less drivel that comes out of their mouth or their actions, I cringe, waiting for the qualifier.

It’s not only the folk with a public profile who do this, it’s rife within our whole society.

There’s a huge discussion on why we as a culture, have created these qualifiers, that I’m not going to get into here. That’s not what this post is about. I do have my opinions, and if anyone’s interested, mention it in the ‘comments’ section and we can have the discussion there. I welcome all points of view, but lets keep it on topic and above the waistline, eh?

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My two favourite qualifiers? ‘If’ and ‘But’.

When you apologise for something you’ve done or said, don’t start like this … “If I’ve done anything to offend and/or hurt you …”

The reality is, that if you feel the need to apologise, then by definition, and rational or not, justified or not, you have already offended and/or hurt the person you’re apologising to!

This is a sneaky back door exit strategy to avoid accepting the consequences of your behaviour.

And then there’s … “I’m sorry, but I didn’t mean… (fill in the excuse of your choice here)

Adding the ‘but I didn’t … (excuse)’ on to your apology is only about making you feel better, it’s got nothing to do with the person you’re apologising to, so don’t dump it on them, and expect them to understand, or make you feel better about your actions. That’s not their job, it’s yours. Explain later, if, when, and where it’s appropriate.

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Back to the cafe scene – the young woman stopped crying and (although I had my back to them, I imagined her glaring daggers at him) stormed out. I watched her get into her car (probably hers, seeing as she had the keys) and drive off.

I left soon after and wondered if she ever returned for him or whether he’s still sitting there, trying to figure out what it was he said.

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“Never go to bed mad. Stay up and fight” - Phyllis Diller,1917-2012, actress and comedienne

England is One Step Closer

Widdershins Mask in an odd moodMP’s vote 400 to 175 to pass same-sex marriage Bill.

One more country a step closer to recognising that marriage is between two people.

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“A sucessful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person” - Mignon McLaughlin, journalist, author.

The Next Big Thing

Widderlake WillowTree

Widderlake WillowTree

Many thanks to Jennifer, of ‘Cosmic Driftwood’ fame,  and her post ‘The Next Big Thing, – 8 degrees F Style,  wherein she picks me to be ‘it’!

This is how it’s supposed to work …

1 – Thank and link to the person who picked me – Done

2 – Pick someone to be the next ‘it’ – There are quite a few folk who read my blog that I know have a Next Big Thing on their horizons, so, you’re all ‘it’.

3 – Answer these questions:

What is the working title of your new project? Where do your ideas come from? What genre do you write? Cat-person or dog-person? What’s a one-word description of yourself? Will your work be self-published or traditionally published? How long does it take you to write a first draft? Whose work would you compare yours within your genre? Who are your favourite writers? What else might pique a readers interest?

Done? – Not so much.

In fact not gonna do it at all. Well … sort’a, kind’a, because I have to preface it a bit, ramble on, take a few steps sideways, and doh-see-doh along another pathway.

I’m outlining another novel. A big, challenging stretch-Widder-as-a-writer novel, that, no matter how hard I try, refuses to be shoehorned into a SF genre. (in this case, SF stands for Speculative Fiction)  I could add gratuitous SF but that would be cheating.

It’s not going to be a SF novel.

This got me to thinking about branding.# How I brand myself as a Writer, and how I’ve branded this blog.

That subtitle, up there, just underneath the name of my blog, is my brand.

“Writing Lesbian Science Fiction and Fantasy since the 20th Century”.

Which translated, means; I am a Lesbian. I am a Writer. I write Science Fiction and Fantasy, and I’ve been doing it for quite a while.

I’ve ambled along those lines with my posts as well. Occasionally writing about something I’m passionate about, (ranting) or what’s happening in my life, my writing, my world, and I’ve brought almost everything back to either writing or SF stuff.

These things won’t change, but I’m about to add another layer to what I post. Not so much changing direction, more like shifting the goalposts, my brand, a little.

What that layer is, I’m not exactly sure. It’ll evolve as I go along. These things usually do.

With this new novel, (working title: ‘Dedication Page’) I’m officially branching out into other genres … which caused me to have long internal, and external, conversations about using ‘Widdershins’ as my nom-de-voyage for these alternate adventures … but that’s another story.

As for those questions at the beginning of this post? I’ll answer the one that a pair of intensely staring yellow eyes is strongly advising me to answer … cat personcatpersoncatperson!

P.S. I’m going to do a little interior decorating too!

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“My name became a brand, and I’d love to say that was the plan from the start. but the only plan was to keep writing books. And I’ve stuck to that ever since” – John Grisham, author, lawyer, politician

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# Excellent post about branding at ‘The Creative Penn’: Branding for Writers: An Essential Step to Building Your Author Platform

# And the lighter side of branding from Holly Robinson in HuffPost Canada

 

Danger! Iceberg Ahead!

HUGE!!! Iceberg on Widderlake

HUGE!!! Iceberg on Widderlake

This recent cold spell resulted in a phenomenon I’d never seen before. Perhaps to Northern hemisphere dwellers it might seem like just another winter’s day, but for someone who’s experience of monochromatic landscapes has been drought baked deserts  or bushfire charcoal plains, the sight of an entire lake of frozen water left me with a sense of magical wonderment that’s difficult to articulate.

Widderlake is frozen!

Only tiny patches of open water remain

Only tiny patches of open water remain

The ice isn’t very thick, certainly not thick enough to walk on. This is the Lower Mainland after all – a little patch of rainforest tucked up against mighty Pacifica – but still enough to take my breath away. When the snow started falling and turn it into a giant white Portal to the Great Mystery, I found myself laughing and crying with the joy of it all.

Fun fact about the Pacific Ocean: If you look at a globe of the world, the Pacific Ocean almost covers an entire hemisphere.

Imagine if humans had evolved as an aquatic species … our world might be called ‘Ocean’ instead of ‘Earth’ …and think of the size of our backyard. Last time I checked our little blue planet was 30% dry dirt and 70% water … Hmmm … I feel a story coming on.

Before I go … I’ve been tagged by the lovely Jennifer Mason-Black of ‘Cosmic Driftwood’  (great name for a writer’s blog!) in the game of ‘Next Big Thing’ spin-the-bottle.

As most of my regular readers know, I tend to pass on these taglings, or change the ‘rules’ significantly. This time is no different … I decided to do it, (and change the rules – of course) because … the timing ties in wonderfully with a big adventure I’m about to undertake. Not being one who lets W.O.O.s# pass me by unopened, I decided to Carpe the Diem.

This Thursday, (31st) all will be revealed!

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“I’m an Irish Catholic and I have a long iceberg of guilt!” – Edna O’Brian, poet, playwright, novelist

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# W.O.O. – Window Of Opportunity

 

Cornucopia I

Widder With a Glint in her Eye

Widder With a Glint in her Eye

This Sunday 9th December, 7pm ET (4pm my time!) I am the guest author at The Writers Chatroom.

Please drop by, say, “Hi”, and join in the fun.

This link will take you right to The Writers Chatroom log in page. Enter a username, and click on ‘sign in’. You don’t need a password. Every Sunday there’s a guest author and every Wednesday is a writerly themed open chat.

And … I’ve been a little distracted from my writing of late so, rather than stress about producing half-assed work I’ve put my writing projects into stassis until after Winter Solstice, 21st December. This includes ‘Identical’, my blog serial. It’ll start up again on 1st February, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed!

The Solstice is when the New Year begins for me, and with it comes a blast of energy that I plan to tap into.

-ooOoo-

 

I don’t know a lot about Rubens as an artist, (apart from what I just read in his Wikipedia entry)  except that he tended to paint women with flesh on their bones. For that alone he gets my admiration!

 

The Goddess Abundantia with a Cornucopia by Rubens

The Goddess Abundantia with a Cornucopia by Rubens

Cornucopia, also known as the Horn of Plenty, symbolises abundance, in all things.

I visualise it as another realm of existence, where all things exist simultaneously. All we, here on this Mortal/Physical Realm need to do is discover the skills to manifest here with us. Dead easy, right?

Laugh

Anyway, ‘cos this post is about a whole lotta stuff, whose only connection to each other is that they caught my attention, I decided to go with ‘Cornucopia’ as a title, rather than, ‘Whole Lotta Stuff’!

-oOo-

First up: My publisher Eternal Press, is having a sale. 25% off any eBook, until 31st December. Use this code at the checkout: 129BHMVNZH1F … Formats available: epub (Nook compatible, pdf, mobi (Kindle compatible), lit (Microsoft Reader), and pdb (Palm)

-oOo-

Next: If you’d like to make any sense of what happened in the publishing world over the last little while Anne R. Allen has a wonderful post from an indie/self publishers Point of View with the fabulous title: Indie Publishing in 2013: Why We Can’t party Like It’s 2009 … Well worth a read.

-oOo-

Thirdly: Women And Words  is having a ’12 Day Hootenanny’ starting on 12th December. All you have to do is leave a comment and you go into a draw for books by the Authors listed at the bottom of the post.

-oOo-

Nextly: For WordPress Blogistas, WPbeginner has posted about very cool plugin where you can draw doodles or add drawings when you comment on WordPress blogs,strangely enough titled, ‘How to Allow Users to Add Drawing or Doodles in WordPress Comments’!

-oOo-

Lastest: An alternate ending for The Wizard of Oz.  Take it away Dorothy …

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“After all, to the well organised mind, death is the next great adventure” – Albus Dumbledore, in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone   by J.K. Rowling

 

Two Years Ago Today …

… I blogged for the first time, right here!

This is how that first post looked. (I’ve added a few bells and whistles since then) It’s a lovely little story about the possibilities of flight.

These years of being a blographer, have been a wonderful flight through the soaring updrafts, and near-earth collisions of my becoming a published author; have chronicled my move from being an urban Vancouverite to an island in the middle of Widderlake dwelling country gal; have offered me the great privilege of making some wonderful frogs. (friends on blogs)

Thank you all for being there and listening, and engaging.

While I’m in a ‘thankyou-ing’ frame of mind …

To Audrey Shaffer (of The Writers Chatroom fame) for her fabulous introductory course in how to build your author brand and platform. That was what kickstarted me into this blog in the first place.

To my wife, Mrs Widdershins, with whom (as I stated on the dedication page of Mortal Instinct) all things are possible.

The best thing though, has been finding my writerly voice. Posting something meaningful once a week (on and off) has been a challenging adventure that I wouldn’t’ve missed for quids.

Tomorrow a new cycle begins, with Episode 1 of my blogserial, Identical. I hope you enjoy the ride.

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“Let us celebrate the occasion with wine and sweet words” – Plautus – 254-184 BC, Roman playwright.