IWSG: Catching Up; Books as Their Own Worlds

It's the first Wednesday of the month and so it’s time for another Insecure Writer’s Support Group (IWSG) post! In an IWSG post, we writers bring our writing challenges and problems out into the open to share with each other and try to offer solutions.

I’ll admit, I just started writing this post today even though I knew that IWSG Day was coming. I meant to get started on it yesterday but I had stayed up late the night before for my family’s Fourth of July celebration (for those who don’t live in the US, that’s our national Independence Day). So, I didn’t get the sleep I should have and so was tired when I got home from my day job the next day. I sacked out for at least two hours on the couch! But besides the holiday, I’ve been really busy with my writing projects, including my current book of short fiction I’m working on, my newsletter and preparing my books for Smashwords’ big book sale. 

Question for July: Living in a Book World

Before I go on with these other things, let’s first start with the voluntary question of the month: If you could live in any book world, which one would you choose? I really never thought of what book world I'd like to live in. I mean, if I had to choose it would probably be a more optimistic book world such as Tolkien’s Middle Earth or L. Frank Baum's Oz. I just think of books, especially fiction, as worlds of their own that we can travel to and learn about anytime we read them but not as any one place I'd like to live in. I mean, anytime I read a work of fiction, I imagine myself living in the world of it and experiencing the events as the characters are experiencing them. Ever since I was a kid, reading for me has always been an escape from our own complex, often chaotic, world. But in real life I sure wouldn’t want to go through the problems that many of those characters go through. I guess that’s the other reason I like reading so much: it’s always a safe adventure.

Author Newsletter and Upcoming Short Fiction Collection

I've been a little worn out from my writing. This is especially due to trying to work it around my day job, as much as I like my day job (I’m a library technician). I just barely got out my newsletter, "Night Creatures' Call”, the 10th issue, last week. It was supposed to be a May-June issue but I didn't get it out until the first of this month. I still have a way to go on my book of short fiction, "Bad Apps", even though I’m making some progress. I haven't even completed the concept sketch for its book cover, which I meant to release three weeks ago. I sometimes think deadlines don't work for me and are a waste of time. All they seem to do is just accumulate and so just pass you up. That’s why I’m a self-publishing author.

Smashwords Book Sale

The other thing that kept me busy last week was preparing my books for Smashwords’ annual Summer/Winter Sale. It’s called a “Summer/Winter” sale because while its summer here in the western hemisphere it’s winter in the southern hemisphere. So, since Smashwords, like Amazon, caters to customers from all over the globe, the company likes to reflect the culture and geography of all of them. I gave my books some big discounts this year. Smashwords’ Summer/Winter Sale last all of July but I’m not sure if I’ll offer all of my books on discount for the entire month. So, if you haven’t checked out the sale then I would do so very soon. Thousands of other authors are offering good discounts on their books as well so check it out! 

I hope I’m all caught up on my sleep so I can work on my writing more efficiently. I really want to get my book launched before the summer ends and I still have to distribute beta copies before I do the official ones. If any of you are interested in being beta readers, please let me know. I’m also still looking for some guest bloggers. So far, we’ve had one person say they’re interested in guest blogging here at the Fantastic Site, in which I really appreciate. We haven’t set up a time for her posting yet, but as soon as I can get caught up on some things we definitely will if she’s still interested. So, if anyone is interested in guest blogging or in being a beta reader for my upcoming short fiction collection either leave a comment below or you can email me at SArellanoRose@gmail.com. Also, if you haven’t signed up for my free author newsletter you can do so here. 

That’s all for this month’s IWSG post. Be sure to check out the other IWSG posts, including ones by our co-hosts for this month (please see below).  Will you be checking out Smashwords’ Summer/Winter Sale? Is there a book world you’d like to live in? If so which one?

Today’s IWSG is brought to you by these super co-hosts:  J Lenni Dorner, Janet Alcorn, PJ Colando, Jenni Enzor, and Diane Burton! IWSG was founded by awesome author Alex Cavanaugh, writer of the Cassa Series of novels! 

Until next time . . .