SNOW!!! … Finally!

by Widdershins

This week was our turn to have our very own arctic outflow. The temperature dropped from +10°C, to -10°C with a windchill of -18°C, in 24 hours. Gusts of wind added their own special flavour to the mix, and we engaged all our ‘lost power’ procedures … topped up the water dispensers, made sure the generator had enough gasoline, got a big pot of soup going in the slow cooker, that sort of thing.

Thankfully none of our measures were needed. (touch wood, because another cold and snow wave is immanent) Like most of North America, our electricity is in dire need of an upgrade, so it’s better to be prepare everything and not need them, than freeze!

Herewith be a bit of snow …

A light dusting

A light dusting

… that got a bit heavier and blew about all over the place. I tracked one poor little snowflake as it tried to get down to the ground at least three times.

I ducked out the front door and got this shot in between ginormous gusts of wind

I ducked out the front door and got this shot in between ginormous gusts of wind

By the time night fell  the air was full of snow, blown about like dust …

The white streaks are the slower moving bits of snow

The white streaks are the slower moving bits of snow

Mrs Widds and I valiantly braved the wild weather to shovel and salt our paths. Although there wasn’t much overall snow, I did my artistic duty and hastily swept a design into the driveway …

Smiley Face is looking a bit concerned

Smiley Face is looking a bit concerned

-oOo-

In other news, I finally managed to upload a print version Prelude onto KDP and order a proof copy that should arrive on our, chilly, doorstep sometime around the end of the month.

I’d put the whole process with KDP on a par with my Smashwords experience. Not overly complex, but hard work. Once I’d formatted my manuscript for a printed page, rather than a scrolling page (ebook) the rest was fairly straightforward.

So, as soon as I’ve perused the proof copy, all things being equal, it’ll be live on Amazon!

-oOo-

Now back to the snow …

As I was sweeping off the back stoop I came across the most amazing sight. Tiny star-shaped bits of snow. I dashed inside for my camera, (which I occasionally use as a phone) and tried my best to capture the wee things before they blew away.

This is the best shot …

Of all the red deck-chairs on the whole island, this little beauty fell into mine

Of all the red deck-chairs on the whole island, this little beauty fell into mine

And these lined up like a constellation in the night sky. The Mother (Nature) never wastes a pattern! …

Hello there, little stars

Hello there, little stars

-oOo-

No-one sings about the cold like Annie Lennox …

 

 

Advertisement

37 comments on “SNOW!!! … Finally!”

  1. Alicia Butcher Ehrhardt says:
    06/02/2019 at 2:20 PM

    I see a heart, some six-sided stars, and at least one shamrock. Are you sure these aren’t Lucky Charms?

    Liked by 2 people

  2. allysnotebook says:
    06/02/2019 at 2:42 PM

    Great comments and photos of the Snow. I noted that you have used Smashwords. Is it a good site, do the manuscripts really get promoted as they say ? I have got an ebook that is sitting stagnate in Smashwords even though I have done all the right things. The copies sold were by people I know. I would appreciate your thoughts please. Cheers Ally

    Liked by 2 people

    • Widdershins says:
      06/02/2019 at 5:41 PM

      If you got through the ‘meatgrinder’ then your book is ‘available’ on a whole bunch of world-wide platforms. All that means though, is that if someone in India, for example, wanted to download your book, they could do it through a local platform that Smashwords is affiliated with.
      Just like any form of publishing these days, traditional or indie, the author gets to do all her own promotions and marketing.
      I would suggest you think about putting it up on KDP. (amazon’s kindle platform) It’s not all that different from Smashwords and your MS is already formatted for ebooks. A kindle edition would also be available on all Amazon’s sites around the world (Smashwords has a wider reach but aren’t as well known)… but the promotions would still be up to you.
      As far as promotion goes I decided to do one thing a week. This week it was getting the print version up. Next week I’m going to look into how Goodreads works. The week after that, I’m going to contact a couple of blogs that do reviews … that way I don’t feel overwhelmed by it all.
      I hope this helps. If you have any more questions, just ask away. 😀

      Liked by 1 person

      • Audrey Driscoll says:
        06/02/2019 at 6:12 PM

        I have my books up on Amazon as well as all the ebook stores Smashwords distributes to. The only thing to keep in mind if you do this is that you can’t put your Amazon books into KDP Select. That requires making them Amazon exclusives. And marketing, unfortunately, is up to us authors. The good thing about that is we can do as much or as little as we want.

        Liked by 2 people

        • Widdershins says:
          06/02/2019 at 7:40 PM

          … and KDP Select isn’t paying anywhere near as well as it did in the beginning … too many … unscrupulous individuals gaming the system and not enough oversight from the Zon.

          Liked by 1 person

  3. bone&silver says:
    06/02/2019 at 4:18 PM

    Snow! Lovely. And starry snow at that 🙂
    Meanwhile we’ve AT LAST had a bit of soft rain (not like poor flooded Townsville), but a welcome sprinkling nevertheless 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

  4. Sue Vincent says:
    06/02/2019 at 4:30 PM

    Love the little stars 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

  5. Suzanne says:
    06/02/2019 at 4:37 PM

    Those star shaped snow flakes are lovely. It sounds like you are well prepared for living in a cold climate. Your enjoyment of it is infectious but I don’t think I could ever live in such a place.

    Liked by 2 people

    • Widdershins says:
      06/02/2019 at 5:25 PM

      It’s taken us a while to gather everything we need, but we’re good to go now … that’s winter taken care of, but once the temperature gets above 25C I’m done ‘fer. 🙂

      Liked by 2 people

      • Suzanne says:
        06/02/2019 at 8:52 PM

        You wouldn’t like it here in Oz now then. There are many places where the temperature has been over 40 for most of the summer. Luckily the southern coast isn’t one of them. We are getting hot weather but not stifling.

        Liked by 1 person

  6. Audrey Driscoll says:
    06/02/2019 at 6:15 PM

    I hope we get several cm of snow before the next “Fraser outflow” event. That will give the plants in the garden a bit of insulation from the cold. I’m getting psyched to deal with losses among the less hardy plants.

    Liked by 2 people

  7. Su-sieee! Mac says:
    06/02/2019 at 10:20 PM

    Whooo-hoooo! for proofs and for snow. Hurrah! We got some snow, too, on the mountains.

    Liked by 2 people

  8. Scrum_Jet says:
    06/02/2019 at 10:36 PM

    We had snow last week. Good luck with the publishing endeavours.

    Liked by 1 person

  9. jenanita01 says:
    07/02/2019 at 1:50 AM

    Reblogged this on anita dawes and jaye marie.

    Like

  10. jenanita01 says:
    07/02/2019 at 1:55 AM

    I love the idea of limiting promotional activity to one thing a week, I am having a lot of becoming overwhelmed, and this might well be the answer!

    Liked by 1 person

  11. TanGental says:
    07/02/2019 at 3:11 AM

    Glad about snow and esp. glad about book….

    Liked by 1 person

  12. derrickjknight says:
    07/02/2019 at 6:37 AM

    I like the slow moving snow shot – and the Annie Lennox video. Good book news

    Liked by 1 person

  13. Wise Women Travellers says:
    07/02/2019 at 8:46 AM

    Great beginnings! A lot of work, but doing it yourself, you don’t have to wonder if the work was done or done correctly! like the idea of one thing a week…makes it workable. Love the snow shots. makes me want a warm fire and a hot chocolate.

    Liked by 1 person

  14. D. Wallace Peach says:
    07/02/2019 at 9:06 AM

    We got our first dusting too. I’m a little jealous of your solid white coverlet. Cute smiley face!

    Liked by 1 person

  15. Snow, Prelude, and a Shaman-y Post « Widdershins Worlds says:
    18/02/2019 at 10:07 PM

    […] When last we hear from our intrepid SNOW!!!™ reporter she had discovered that snow really does form ‘snowflake’ shapes. […]

    Like

Comments are closed.