I love all sorts. Today I am going to introduce you to one of my favorites.
Give me the Brain. You pay $4 get a pdf and print some cards. it’s neat as all get out. this is how I did it. The game is so fun. the concept is you are zombies running a restaurant. There is one brain between you. Some tasks require the brain to do. some don’t. The winner is the one who ends up with no cards.
There is a version of cards already made on Amazon…But I like my printed cards best. We went and had them laminated. Found a fake brain at the dollar tree that we keep with it and a six sided dice. (You need the dice) It has been hours of fun for us.
A single game usually takes around 15-20 minutes to play and can be anywhere from 2-10 players with no problems. The flavor text on the cards are a source of humor…and it really is good clean family friendly fun. (we got the deck when my daughter was around six. She loves it.)
This weekend I was easily able to make that goal and then some.
My daily goal? 250 word count and a poem. It doesn’t sound like a lot… but I don’t often make it. Between the publication process and life being what it is… I stay busy.
I had no Internet and no computer and no access to the phone where I have been. So I was just able to draw and write.
I got a new kids book written, several poems, and Serena got quite a bit of her new story for the spring fae corps Anthology done. (It’s about half way written now). I was only gone for a weekend.
Maybe I need to plan on writing retreats. Serena needs to start putting some work in on her books. Next year this is an option for me.
But being out of contact is anxiety inducing for me. This is a wonderful thing for my writing but it is not a good thing for me personally. It is something I will have to think about.
My grandmother was fond of Plastic Canvas as a medium…This is a pair of Earrings I chose to make out of Plastic Canvas. It felt like sharing them was appropriate for the season. BTW these are actually ones I made for me…
Help me choose what my new volume will be? I have less than 10 poems in Echoes left to write. Each of these are supposed to be Free Verse with no theme….
The writing on this new one will probably be done in November but the volume itself will not be ready for release until next year.
So Jenny Elliott – Friend, Intern, all around I cannot live without her in my life type person…asked me what the list was for the anthology publication. (The To-do List that is)
I told her it is the same for each book…and I sat and thought about what that means for the anthologies, for my books, and for each book I work with.
I need a front and rear cover to work with.
I need a clean formatted and edited manuscript to work with.
I need a blurb, and an author list.
I need a Release date.
I often am the designer for the covers my company publishes. That makes having them easier. There are a couple of authors that provide their own covers but most just go with the ones I make.
The authors often just send me the written stories. I put in the formatting and edit it as I go. Many of them have the writing edited before I see it, but not all. Formatting is putting in order – Title page, a copyright page, Contents, Chapters, About the Author, About the Publisher.
Some authors write their blurbs, some expect me to write it. Either way, It is not as difficult as writing the entire story. The author list is an obvious thing…
The release date is based on how many others I have in the calendar at a time. The limitation is mostly me. I can only do so many of these at a time.
Okay I have the manuscript…now what? I use Draft2digital, Amazon, Google Play Books all for Ebooks. D2d has the best expanded Distribution. Amazon has the best reach in general. Google….well…why not? I do Not Like D2d’s Print. So for print I use Amazon and Barnes and Nobles press.
Then I have to deal with Marketing. I try to do the same type of images for every book. Do I always manage it? No, not really. I have way too much going on…and often this is where I drop balls. Ideally, I want for each book to do a cover reveal image set. I want to do 3 teaser images. I also want to share an about the author image for each book. Now the last one can be made once and often reshared for multiple books. An Author does not often change their bio. Mine has changed perhaps once a year. Mostly because I have changed where I am focused. Some authors never need to change theirs. I also like to occasionally do “Coming Soon” images…for example….
It’s simple and really only gives the link and the cover. This gives people the urge to go check it out. Then once you have them…spread those images everywhere.
So I have started working on Serena’s Gathered Bones.
I have also started working on her Heaven’s Forgotten Tales. Which is basically a gathering of stories and poetry from her that she has published in various places. Much as Apocalypse athenuem is.
I realized that I am writing more – both as Patricia and as Serena Mossgraves. That I am doing a lot more daily work than I used to. So I might actually go through the future volumes I have prepared covers for…
So I am considering doing some covers for the fun of doing the cover design. And I am wondering if I should plan a future volume for Serena as well as for me.
It ends up being a little bit of a question as to whether or not I have been playing with the poetry with her or if she should continue to write it.
Pattimouse 