Another tip from an author on TiKTok! 🎉🧡🧡
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By RJ Artworks First off, I am in no way saying Rock and Roll is noise. It was on my am radio blasting me from the headboard from the time I was young enough to think Speed Racer could be my boyfriend. Even before that, I sucked my thumb as I fell asleep to Golden Earring’s Radar Love. Okay, TMI, but it illustrates my love of the genre.
Come on, look at those eyes… But you have to admit, some voices in rock music don’t always leap out of the noise, and all you end up with is noise. That’s what it’s like trying to keep up with social media. A necessity if you’re an indie writer trying to leap out of the noise and get your books noticed. It’s been quite a journey navigating the crescendo, trying to be friendly, then weeding out the bot lurkers from the ones who are truly sharing their creative endeavors and interested in yours. But this isn’t about the challenges of marketing and sharing posts.
What I’m noodling over tonight is that there are some amazing voices that do leap out from time to time on Twitter, Instagram and yes, even the bizarre world of TikTok, really nice people who share tweets or posts because they believe in paying it forward. Creators helping creators. Some even giving free advice. My wish is to share those bits here as often as possible. When a TikTokker makes the effort to give great editing tips, or share how they made the decision to self-publish, I’m going to pass it on, because it’s fabulous stuff!
Another way I will be sharing is through featuring writers, artists, and all kinds of creatives in interviews on my blogs. I’m excited to bring you my very first one in a couple weeks. So, stay tuned for my conversation with swords and sorcery fantasy indie writer from Down Under, Douglas W. T. Smith. He has lots of experiences and tips to share from his own writing journey, and we both hope you will find it useful and inspiring.
This is a shout out to all the ones out there giving as much as they’re getting. Here is some Radar Love to fall asleep to… whether you suck your thumb or not.
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Okay. Who of you besides Sara Cannon. We know she’s the queen of notebooks and planners when it comes to organizing her writing and life. Check out her YouTube channels if you haven’t already!
I’d love your comments on planning systems you like to use, if any. If not, how do you organize your work?
Before I was a writer, I was a planner nerd. Well, maybe a planner girl? Planner addict? No matter what you call it, once a person starts collecting planners, it’s hard to stop. It’s only a question of which system you like best. Unless you’re like me and like them all for all sorts of reasons. These days, though, I’ve settled with Personal Planner. I can customize everything just the way I want, and it’s fun to design it each year. I often use my book covers for the cover art, but you can use their beautiful templates too.
For cover aesthetics in my favorite ring binders, it’s Filofax, first the Malden, next the Original, and third, the Finsbury. Gorgeous but too much work, unless you’re a normal non planner person who doesn’t need to decorate, and used the Filofax inserts that come with. Hmmm. Never could do that.
Other Ring binders:
I was crazy about Daytimers back in the 80s and 90s. Still have my favorite cover, tapestry and leather. 
My Instagram was devoted to my crafting and planners. Then, I started writing. I created an author account on Facebook linked to Instagram. Something happened when I tried logging in using two-factor authentication. Instagram booted me from my author accounts with nary an ounce of help to get me back in.
So, I decided to return to my PlanKnitStitch and rebrand it as starlightc.writer. I hated the idea it might seem like I was abandoning my stitching and planner friends, but I just didn’t have it in me to go for a new account.
I also have a love for all travelers notebooks for when you want super customization. And went the expensive route a few times just to get a Chic Sparrow or two in my collection.
A few other custom travelers notebooks:
Erin Condren’s are beautiful, but they just haven’t stuck, though I tried out a couple:
No planner nerd is full-on nerding over planners unless you collect Hobonichi Techos.
And of course the pens and pouches… I won’t go into the sticker collection… you’re welcome :)
The End…
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Check this out from Fantasy Author Douglas W. T. SMITH
I’m so happy to announce ‘Shadow of the Wicked’ is now available on AUDIOBOOK! I’ve been dying to share this news. I has been quite the process and I…
Shadow of the Wicked AUDIOBOOK -
Great tip about Amazon Advertising for self-publishers. 🤎🤎🤎
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A nice short video you may relate to if you’re wondering about self-publishing versus pitching to publishers.
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1978 Houghton Mifflin Company
Stitched by me on hand-dyed fabric with hand-dyed silks and cotton floss – finished in 2020. Elevenses pattern by Fiddlesticksau
2002 12-disk collectors edition – 16 hours of movie – an amazing 16 hours of appendices (Yes we watched every bit of it all the way through – at least one time in one weekend!)
Admittedly, this was not collected by us, but acquired in an Ebay bundle about ten years ago. Had to grab all that amazing artwork.
Okay – I’m done nerding out now. And thank you if you made it this far!
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Artwork by Kael Ngu I don’t know about you all, but I’m feeling it, Conquest, War, Famine, Death. We’ve seen every form of the hammer coming down on mankind these last two years. What does it mean? Are we in an apocalypse, or is one coming? Or will all of the climate change, crazy-ass world leaders, and violence and hate disappear in some miraculous way before the horsemen make an appearance? What if they’re here and we just don’t know it?
Regardless, we plod along with daily life, those of us not touched by tragedy (and those numbers in just two years are staggering). For me, this means writing. I’m grateful to have a happy place to escape to, even if my first book was set in the Sierra Nevada Mountains where over a million acres burned thirty miles away the summer I published it.
I couldn’t even breath in my own house while I clicked away on my keyboard and tried not to think of the demise of old growth forests, pioneer towns, and all the animals trapped in the inferno. I dedicated my series to those brave firefighters and citizens battling blazes too hot to control, while the insane university professor started another one right behind them. It was the least I could do.
Many of my fellow indie writers tell fantastic stories with apocalyptic scenes, horror at it’s most grim, with the reaper waiting at the end for the hapless protagonist. I love them, love the thrill of knowing death is around the corner, waiting for the end to see what it looks like, but finding out it’s too late. Then I listen to the news. Our reality these days poses quite a challenge to horror fiction writers, when reality can be truer.
I’ve been dabbling in writing horror myself recently, to stretch my writing muscles, find out if I can go to those dark places in my mind that my pod people stay clear of, ever watchful of the shrouded figure with the scythe.
Maybe the aliens who seeded my mind with them know something I don’t, because they’ve given me characters who wish for happy endings.
Artwork by Kael Ngu -
Many writers classify themselves as introverted because they are part of a select group of people who can create new worlds in their head, work in isolation for hours on end, and persevere to get every word just right all at the same time.
Louise WatersWriting is hard. Not everyone has the capacity to create stories or articles out of thin air. More often than not, writing is an activity that requires solitude, which is why some of the world’s best writers are also introverts. As famous YA author John Green once said, “Writing is something you do alone. It’s a profession for introverts who want to tell you a story but don’t want to make eye contact while doing it.”
Is this why my pod people often start out as loners, then become part of a pack? Hmmm…
Having selected those snippets above that leapt out at me from researching on Google, it should be noted that Ms. Waters, guest blogger for Jennifer Kahnweiler, declares herself an ambivert.
am·bi·vert
/ˈambəˌvərt/
noun
PSYCHOLOGY
A person whose personality has a balance of extrovert and introvert features.
I’ve done a lot of those personality tests over the years during “team building” work meetings, at conferences, wherever. But, for some reason this short blog went a long way towards helping me figure myself out. Wait! I haven’t figured myself out yet? Am I the only one who’s still working at it in their 50s? Does anybody ever figure themselves out completely?
I would still be in the dark if I hadn’t started writing novels two years ago, and writing every day since. Because now this resonates in me, big time. I used to think I was more of an extravert. Maybe I was at some point. Now, I want nothing more than to tell stories from the place I’m happiest in. My solitude.
As in everything in life, there are no absolutes. I believe we all become something different at different stages of our lives, choosing different combinations that help us cope with our surroundings at any given moment. Sometimes it’s because we’re growing, sometimes it’s because we’re taking a step backwards. None of it matters so long as it gets us where we want to be eventually.
Camera shy guests
I’ll be putting this to practice over the next months with my fellow indie writers. My colleagues are happy to step up and let me interview them. However, I’ve been getting a pretty consistent message. Camera shy to the last! So, stay tuned to see which ones I can coax (including myself) into a video, or which ones are happy to chat with us in a blog. I’m just excited to see where this will go, and willing to be inspired by them however they want to share.
My goal with reaching out and talking with other writers and all kinds of creative people is to let all of you know that we’re in the same boat, struggling to become better writers, artists, crafters, creators… who want to learn and share what we’ve discovered.
Top resource for today’s blog
Jennifer B. Kahnweiler, PhD, is a bestselling author and one of the top global leadership speakers on introverts in the workplace. Her pioneering books, The Introverted Leader, Quiet Influence, The Genius of Opposites, and Creating Introvert-Friendly Workplaces have been translated into 18 languages. The Introverted Leader was named one of the top 5 business books by The Shanghai Daily.
Artwork by Ryan J Neal
