Here lately I have been getting spurts of inspiration… and urges to write or create. It always makes me feel like I’m feverish.
I can remember when I wrote when the muse struck me and the idea of using prompts seemed like cheating. Now, the prompts are more like a spring board. I am often less worried about the prompt than I am what I want to say.
I end up feeling like the prompts don’t fit with the idea of the volume I have been working on and I pass them by. I get a vision of what I want the book to look like and then I just don’t want it to be anything less.
Now that leads me down rabbit holes looking for just the right prompt, just the right idea to be just the right poem. Perhaps perfectionism is a true problem…
I have been doing the publishing stuff since 2010. For my own personal stuff, then I started with Fae Corps in 2019.
I struggle with depression, PTSD, Migraines, and a whole bunch of other health issues. Which is why I don’t do more than I do. Fae Corps does limited books because I don’t have the ability to do anything more.
I use several platforms to publish the books, with a few routines to make the work easier for me to accomplish. And I always leave plenty of time on the deadline so I don’t ever get pressured for time. Hence why we are starting to take the children’s book submissions for the kids week books now.
One of the places that I have used for publishing is draft2digital.com and I will continue to for the ebooks. Their print option however is awful. I stopped using them when we were getting reports of the cover for the books being delivered cockeyed.
Now I do the same place as they did separately. Better quality. The trick for their ebook set up is to prevent them from messing with the layout. So the only way to do that is to provide an epub file… which means I have learned how to make that.
That was in 2020 that I stopped using them for print. I really don’t know what I have been thinking. Someone pointed out that the print was wrong for Through the Sunshine… so I checked. I care about the quality of our books. So I will always check. Yes it is something that I can fix. Something that I should have already done.
Now, I am asking myself. Is the 17 books that I still have to port over a sign of laziness? Or that I have been doing too much? And should I even get upset with myself over the whole thing?
Honestly I think that I am just going to get it done and write it off as a learning experience. If I beat myself up over it, well it will just be longer for me to get it done.
The 17 books are a mix of the early Anthologies for Fae Corps Publishing and some of my poetry volumes. In order to get it fixed I will have to take it off sale on the one place and put it back up on the other two. So I am going to be doing this one book at a time. It should only have each book down for around a week in print only.
I will get each of them updated on their books2read.com links. I plan on posting on fae corps publishing as I have each book updated. This is a ridiculous amount of work and I am probably still going to be dealing with this well into the next year.
So I am done with the writing on Muse’s Masterpiece.
I will start Echoes tomorrow.
That being said… when I asked for a help to pick the next volume, I think that I miss-spoke. I always start with the idea that the volume is unthemed. (Unless I have a theme in mind) it evolves every time to bear a little bit of a theme.
I don’t do it on purpose.
I really don’t.
There is always some that don’t fit in the end exactly, but I don’t feel bad about it as it was not supposed to be a themed book to start with.
All of that being said… Muse’s Masterpiece seems to be mostly about answering the call of the creative muse.
Muse’s Masterpiece is scheduled for publishing in November (Link when I get it). And I will be writing on Echoes into the Void starting tomorrow. Maybe this one will not gather a theme on me.
Fae Corps Publishing is releasing two new anthologies. My poetry will be in Dark Dreams: Ready for the Day along with a new story from Serena.
Serena will have poetry in Dark Dreams: Letting in the Night. I don’t have links for both yet…but I will get them posted here as soon as I do. (The link for Day is giving me trouble. I have the one for Night…) Come back in a week to see the pretty covers I designed for these two anthologies.
As Of today… I am 15 poems from completion of Muse’s Masterpiece. I have my doubts that it will take me the rest of the week to finish writing it. I may be wrong. I have several “Themed” volumes in progress but I want a non theme volume for writing as usual. The six covers above are all non themed. Help me pick the next one?
Especially writing for either self publishing or indie/small publishing firms. When you think of children’s books…the first thing that comes to mind is golden books. Trust me…that is an unrealistic view of what you will be able to publish.
Amazon has the strictest regulations here, but the others are not far from it. In order to have even a Paperback book you need 24 pages. That is not as easy as you think. For Hardcover the requirements jump to 75 pages. For a kid’s book that is nearly impossible.
This is done I am sure due to the cost of printing each book. You also need to consider the cost of each book if you were to set it up as a Hard back. That often adds a factor of almost $10 to a book. How many parents are going to be willing to buy a book from a new author at such a high cost?
Sometimes it is better to start smaller and work your way big. Paperback for an initial release if it is done right can still look nice.
Pattimouse 