Feathers and Ink

  Yesterday, I finished designing and uploading the contents for my little poetry collection, which will be the second book I am self-publishing. I am just experimenting to see what works and what does not, so I have a better idea about which publishing path I want to take once my first novel is done. The project is done, and I ordered a test print because I'll publish the book as "print on demand" this time. Once I've received the test print, I'll check what it looks like, and if the quality is okay, I'll press the "publish" button. I don't talk much about my writing on Facebook or other social media, but yesterday, I decided I'd like to see how other people would react if I shared the cover of my poetry collection, just with the words "Coming soon".  I received only one reaction - the emoji you use when you find something "funny". I am not quite sure what to make of this. A while ago, I would have been really depressed a...

  I originally planned to spend this afternoon by continuing an online course for novel-writing that I started a couple of days ago. But I just can't stand how the information is presented in that one. It's good information; it is stuff writers need to know (and I know a lot of it already). If only the course's creator would have made sure she knew what is essential for online courses. In addition, some of the things included in the course simply do NOT work. One example is the Facebook group, in which you are supposed to be able to ask questions and connect with other writers. The link leads to an error page. I asked a question in the course's comment sections. Then, in a later part of the course, I looked at the other comment section, and someone asked the same thing - TWO YEARS before I did. So this has been broken for two years. Fine, I could deal with that, even though it is not a good thing to take people's money and then abandon your course, hoping that peopl...

  I have just recently started to write on my own projects again. After over 10 years of freelance writing, translating, and reviewing, I decided it was time to take the risk - and after one week of it, I already feel that it has done wonders for my mood. It all started when I received an email from Infostack about a new writer's bundle being available. I thought the timing was interesting because I was in the middle of a rather frustrating freelancing experience. I bought the bundle and thought I'd just use it to improve my skills and for the included software. It was a good deal. What really happened when I looked at the list of offerings after I bought it was this, though: I saw a course by Carissa Andrews included in the bundle, and it looked interesting but also a bit uncomfortable to me (because it reminded me of what I was not doing). It was only a short course for about half an hour each day. Nothing to lose. Just the first couple of days changed my attitude towards my...