Wonder what your book will cost before you’re even finished with it? Createspace (Amazon affiliate) has a handy Cost calculator so you can determine how much your book will cost to help you make decisions such as, should my page count be shorter? Should I use a smaller trim size? Or is it at all cost-effective to make it a hardcover?
Medical Mondays: Continuation of the Finger
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| 3rd Surgery 12/04/13 |
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| Putting on the Digit Widget 12/09/13 |
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| Added therapy 12/17/13 1/3 |
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| 2/3 |
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| 3/3 |
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| 1/21/14 |
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| 1/23/14 |
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| 1/23/14 |
Foodie Fridays: Rachel Barnard Without Sugar Blog
I started a new challenge and a new blog to document the challenge. Until my birthday I will eat nothing with processed sugars. You can read about it here:
http://rachelbarnardwithoutsugar.blogspot.com/
Find out what the parameters of the challenge are, how difficult I think it will be, the challenges I face along the way, and healthy alternative substitutes for foods rich with processed sugars.
Author Thursdays: AUTHOR WORKSHOP Round table on Self-Publishing Ins and Outs of Self Publishing from Those Who have Been There Done That?
Tuesday January 28, 2014 1:10 PM – 9:30 PM
101 W North Bend Way, North Bend, WA 98045
The Authors of FreeValley Publishing tell all from their Choice of Publishing Sites, Services and Formats to Negotiating the World of Sales and Promotions. Discuss options and Learn from the experience of those who have gone before you!
Don’t miss your chance to attend this Information-packed session.
>Choices of Publishing
sites and Marketers
> Selecting binding options
> Price points pros & cons
> Formatting Variations
> When to Employ Services
vs. Do It Yourself
> ISBNs and eBooks
> Marketing Options
Toiling Tuesdays: An Evening of Stories – Live at The Black Dog
An Evening of Stories – Live at The Black Dog
FreeValley Publishing’s authors will be at The Black Dog in Snoqualmie, WA on January 23, 2014 6-7:30pm for a Meet the Author’s event. Our authors will read excerpts from their published works and give short commentary on different aspects of self-publishing. We will then be available to chat and sign books for you.
This is in league with local chap book makers who will also have works available that evening. Paul Green will play Jazz at 7:30 onward, so you can make it a complete entertainment outing. Come an see us!
http://freevalleypublishing.com/2013/12/16/an-evening-of-stories-live-at-the-black-dog/
Medical Mondays: Hospital Smartphone App with Personal Map
Have you ever gotten lost in a hospital?
Some of them are so large and convoluted, they would make for an excellent relay race location. Seriously, you can go round and round in them.
I propose a new app for smartphones that has maps for hospitals, where you can input your destination (surgery center for example) and they will direct you. Even better would be a holographic/HUD type display that projected outward from the phone to lead you in the right direction. Or perhaps hospitals could employ color coded floor lines (a la Ender’s Game) for common destinations in their building.
Please make this happen!
Also, parking garages could use them. I’m tired of getting lost in those. Or if they could have directions to the nearest open spot, that would be great.
Sarasota Specific Saturday: Amazing Sarasota Scavenger Hunt
The Amazing Scavenger Hunt: Sarasota Edition
Photo documentation of:
People:
Pregnant lady
Arm wrestling a stranger
Dancing with a stranger
Sign spinner (extra point for costume)
Things:
A photoboth
An alligator
Classic/exotic car
Miscellaneous
Kissing under Unconditional Surrender
Actions:
planking
public pillow fight
headphone dance party
fake picketing (your choice)
poetry recitation
donating money
acting out a Monty Python skit
To bring back:
A geocache prize
Fortune cookie
Foodie Fridays: Treat Yourself to Balsamic Vinegar
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| Olive Branch Tuscan Estate Balsamic Vinegar
No sugar added to the original balsamic, it is super delicious, thick, and bitter-sweet. I highly recommend this balsamic. The only shortcoming is the packaging as I didn’t care for the cork style top. To find this product and more like it, visit: |
Toiling Tuesday: Maple Valley Writers December Workshop – Goals and Resolutions
Goals vs. Resolutions
Do you write out goals with deadlines in mind?
Do you have daily goals? Weekly goals? Monthly goals?
Your goals should:
- Be something you can control (not just “make lots of money” but “send out three query letters a month)
- Inspire you
How to define these goals:
- They should be measurable (not “be a better writer” but “write daily”)
- They should be attainable (not “be the number one writer” but “get an article published in the local newspaper”)
- They should be meaningful
Short term vs. long term measures of success
- Do you want to measure success in terms of hours spent writing per day (or per week)?
- Do you want to measure success in terms of pages produced or words produced per day (or week)?
- Do you want to measure success in terms of queries submitted per week or month?
- Do you want to measure success in terms of projects (articles, stories, or chapters) written per month or year?
What’s your writer’s bucket list?
Here is mine fantastical bucket list:
- Become rich and famous
- Write a book in every genre/type
- Publish my own anthology of poetry
- Write my autobiography
- Have one of my stories made into a movie
- Write a screenplay
- Write a one-hit wonder
- Be a top-selling, name-known author
- Be on talk shows about my books, as an author
- Sell a million copies of one of my own novels
- Be an inspiration to other authors
- Win an award
- Travel and do talks in other countries
Don’t forget your support! The people who can support and motivate you along the way.
Also, don’t forget about what resources you will need to accomplish your goals!
Are you self-publishing? Take the author self-assessment worksheet to help you as you progress through your publishing experience:
Socializing Sundays: ACME After Dark Bowling
Bowling: Can be done in groups, as a date, double date, or in a league. If you catch them on a special, it can be less than a movie ticket in price.
Some alleys have a bar, restaurant, arcade etc. They are usually located near other shops.
My assessment: You don’t have to be good to have fun but as I like to say, “I’m not competitive, I just like to win.”
Rachel Author Barnard 