OnyxTowers

My Author Journey - Feb. 18, 2023- No wait, May 1, 2023 - THE DRASTIC CHANGES

noreply@blogger.com (Onyx Towers) — Tue, 02 May 2023 23:35:00 +0000

GREETINGS, AND SALUTATIONS!

Been a minute! I'll explain in brief, my entire 2022, half of 2023,

and future plans...

THIS IS A LONG ONE, BUCKLE UP BUCKAROOS!

*grabs toilet paper to wad up

Because I began writing this long awaited post, about, hmm, 4 times, and didn't finish, because they ended up getting TOO LONG, I'll try a bulleted format. To keep it short.

Short? Yeah right.

Mind you, this is on top of my already daily schedule of:

☒ Going walking/jogging before sunrise (I have Lupus- we cannot be out in the sun)

☒ Changing my disabled mother's adult diapers

☒ Cleaning her up

☒ Crushing her pills and distributing into her breakfast yogurt

☒ Spoon feeding her

☒ Getting breakfast ready for the household (1 adult, 2 elderly)

☒ The following are as needed: Scheduling doctor's appts./refills/making grocery lists/sweeping/tidying up after my mother/changing bed sheets/laundry/calling handiman to fix various parts of house/complain to cable-internet company's tech support over intermittent wifi signal/fixing bill discrepancies/ renewing or adjusting various insurance policies/ washing dishes/ cleaning & seasoning meats & packaging them for freezer/ cleaning surfaces/ recycling garbage

☒ Looking for government grants (I'll make a separate post on this at some point)

☒ Preparing dinner

☒ Getting my mother to bed

☐ MAYBE I get around to completing at least 50% of one thing of mine!

**This is already 6-8 hours of my entire day**

**No, the government doesn't pay me for this, because my mother is still on Medicare, and not Medicaid**

So, I will list it like this:

February-July 2022:

Finished up filing necessary documents for my business. It was much more complicated than necessary, as government websites are full of broken links and redundant, wild goose chases. They also take their sweet-ass time to process. Do they ever answer the freaking phone lines they post publicly? Once in a while, maybe. Now ain't nobody got time for that shit! I'm still rolling my eyes a full year later.

Business Documents I Filed for my publishing label

Filed for an EIN and a DBA (more on that in another post)
Acquired an S-Corp classification

IRS Form 2553 allows you to apply S-Corp status to your Corporation. EFTPS (Electronic Federal Tax Payment System) gives you a PIN to efile your business taxes, after you acquire an EIN (Employer Identification Number)

Opened a business bank account with my EIN
Business Bank account, presented by one, very enthusiastic Carlson.
Got a virtual mail box for my business (jumped the gun on that one)
Oh, and I took minutes in a meeting with myself, and recorded them. Crush it! 🤜🌟🤛

I'm on my way! Right?

- Then All This Shit Happened -

July-October 2022:

Well, several things happened. At once. Such as, I finally broke my Wordpress cherry and pulled the trigger. I first bought the web hosting (at discount), then I purchased a Wordpress template site builder, to finally build my publishing house's label. I got the lifetime deal, simply because all other sites offer yearly subscriptions, which I loathe, and this comes with extras and live customer service support. Other services may or may not provide any of these amenitites. It took about a month of comparing site, after site, after site...dollar for dollar, this made sense at the time, to fit my needs.

Which wouldn't have been awesome, except for the damn sinkhole...

I believe this shitbox housed the two cable/internet boxes. Saw it floating up & down the street during many a flood.

How it started; a year ago.

What it looks life today, actually, this afternoon. :( That green one on left is my lifeline to the internet

THE SINKHOLE. (add this to the unpredictable outliers that co$t any business many moneys)

A sinkhole opened up out on the street, by the curb. Right in front of my house.

Of course.

Right where the street cable box feeds these 4 consecutive houses their cable/internet.

Of course.

As a result, my internet reception was spotty, on & off FOR MONTHS. (a full year to the day) Man, what a great time to sink $225 into a lifetime deal for a customizeable website builder, that is completely dependent on a desktop browser! What bad timing.

Did the cable company send van monkeys to fiddle with the box? Yes.

My boy here chilling next to a dome-shaped hole big enough to fit an elephant.

Did the town send construction workers to drill a hole in the middle of the street, bury a riveted, steel metal pod into the ground, like some steampunk submarine, hit shallow water, concrete and asphalt all over it, to divert the low water table drainage problem that has existed on this street since I was a kid? Also yes.


LOL, they told me they dig these all over NY but here, the water table was 'unusually high'. Gotta buy a kayak on Amazon Prime now.

In 2022, because the heavy rain falls kept shifting the walls and sand around, causing the green cable box to shift so much the lid came away?

Did it permanently ruin our streetlight, causing it to dim, then ✘ blackout ✘ for days into a dark street?

Did it cause the cables attached to loosen, screwing up the wifi signals?⛔📲⛔Yes to all!

And did I finish building the website? No, due to the on & off lack of internet. Wifi now intermittent. Also, more problems ensued.

August 2022, when I became the 'man of the house':

Jesus,Mary, & Joseph- say, this is some Egyptian biblical-level plague bullsheet!

THE FLY PROBLEM. During an impossible week of heatwave, 26 house flies were swarming over the kitchen windows inside our house, escaping for cool shade. Apparently, the window brush pile wore down so damn much, revealing a huge gap where all manner of insects were coming and going like some damn, afternoon rush-hour housefly expressway. After 2 straight days of that shit, I took out the window, measured the brush pile, ordered it on Amazon from an obscure store in Canada, removed the old and replaced it. It was TEDIOUS. Time consuming. As in, I don't have time for all of this nonsense! Redoing 4 sides on 6 window panes/2 full windows, took me about 2 weeks, split with other daily obligations. Had to take out a sample from the window and measure it with calipers to get the correct size, jeez.

Mind you, I had NO idea about any of this crap when I first began. Do I have a dad who never taught me how to fix anything? Yes! Did I squander days looking up whatever the hell this thing is even called, and find answers on several YouTube tutorials? Also yes!

Be prepared to do some advanced math if your windows don't have these measurements labeled. Also, take all the panes out and find out how many sides have these suckers in.

⮞FUN FACT: This eroded brush pile was also partly the ongoing reason rain leaked around the kitchen windows. Been leaking for years! A contractor told us our window flashing was fine, but put a sheet of aluminium above it, just in case. (for $400) Didn't even improve the situation. However, once I fixed the brush pile, no more watery window frame! Figures.

God help you if you have tendonitis peeling the old brush pile. It's really wedged in there!

What I wear to keep the pain away. This, and some Tylenol. (Paracetamol, in Europe)

September 2022-ON TO MORE REPAIRS:

Changed a door knob, because my mother began a habit of walking into rooms and removing their contents. Note, this is the first time in my dumbass life I have ever needed to do this. Damn doorknobs were so old, it took more than an hour to get them unstuck from their position. I went at it with a rubber mallet, to wedge it loose. Once I was done, I realized I put it in backwards. *sigh* Of course I did! 4hrs. total. By the end, my hands hurt bad.

These were the knobs we put in when we bought the house, way back when Ghostbusters first came out in theaters.

Added new weather strip to the back screen door. To the first floor door. To the front door, door. Drafty winds and insects were getting in through gaps, namely wasps and crickets. There was a hole in the interior wooden door frame where the wasps were beginning a nest, I covered it in silicone caulk, bye bye waspys! Then I spent an entire week catching those chunky fuckers and tossing them outside. They're big, but they move fast!

Had to line these top & bottom. Also trimmed and glued a vinyl door guard along the bottom to block the 1 1/2" gap along the floor

Fixed the leaky kitchen faucet, again. Left it a bit loose last time, in case it began leaking again. My father told me the handiman tightened it. I pointed out he did a bang up job, while we both watched it leak again. I took everything apart, retightened everything. Problem solved.

Again, I've never done this a day in my life, until I got fed up and started tinkering with it. The worst part was finding the right size hex key, because my elderly father has too many toolboxes scattered everywhere in the house, all have diff. sized hex keys, and some have rusted files and blades just sitting inside with many loose gaskets and screws unorganized. What a mess to sift through! Also, mental note to get myself a tetanus shot soon 💉

Only 2 tools to fix this style of pull-down faucet: A hex key, and a wrench to tighten. A cartridge goes inside it, but it was still in good condition, no need to replace.

Fixed printer error. PRINTER ERRORS ARE FUN! *not really* It's an inkjet piece of shit. Got an arbitrary error message about a fictitious paper jam. Followed a simple online tutorial, problem solved. Until February 2023, when it rears it's ugly head again. Turns out, it's caused by a scanner problem.

To fix it, you must first take it all apart, and one needs a set of special Torx screwdriver tools because all 12 screws are star-shaped, so no Philips, and no Stanley flathead screwdrivers can remove these. Fun! Just start at that circled hinge, then CAREFULLLY perform electronics surgery, without damaging the ribbon cables stuck behind the screen, which apparently must also be removed? This reminds me of removing the lint trap in the dryer, because after you unscrew it, there's wires attached, and you better NOT damage these while you vacuum out the deep lint in the cavity!

Mind you, I have zero time to add to my schedule, and very limited fixer-upper expertise on this level. This is still an ongoing project. Time to order a kit on Amazon! Well, I just LOVE LOVE love, spending money I don't have, to work on projects I have no time for, it's so much fun! WHEEE!

Error message 0x610***** on the screen of my printer. No fix that the company offers, actually fixes it. Have to fix this shit on my own, or cough up a few hundred for a laser printer. #righttorepair

October 2022-January 2023 - Health Issues & Malfunctions:

The Lupus reared it's ugly head over the last few months, but MAN, was I feeling it these last six! I was in bed, on & off, putting myself at bed rest in the afternoon like my elderly parents. It's kinda humiliating, not gonna lie. I have a million things to do, stress to keep away, and body needs huge rest after lugging up the stairs all those HEAVY-ASS COSTCO GROCERIES (it's a 2 floor house and two refrigerators)

Because the Lupus has me running on a low battery, the amount of responsibilities haven't lessened, but I cannot physically keep up. So less is getting done. The house is looking dirtier. So less blogging, less social media, less writing- this seems to be put on the back end most times

After many times that the cable/internet company fixed the sinking green box out in the street, the wifi signal finally steadied enough for me to use the website builder. I did tweak and add stuff to it. It's still not done. I still have to connect Mailerlite to it, which I've been setting up too. But I've been weak and sick, and still prioritizing my mother's needs

Speaking of which, my mother fell down the damn stairs! The same stairs she hates walking on! Just one night, she decided to go for it. I was on webcam talking to friends downstairs, when she got away from my dad from the bedroom, then we all heard the THUMP! My friends heard it on cam, it was that loud!

Poor mom! I tell you I almost ugly cried that night, like at the end of ToyStory 3. She's fully recovered now, thankfully.

She did NOT break, nor fracture anything, and no brain bleed, miracle of miracles! I attribute it to the calcium in her morning yogurt we feed her daily

But we spend 45 consecutive days rehabbing her. Man, December and January sucked ass, hard! Bleeding from her left eye, bed wetting, eyes swollen shut from landing on the landing face first, barely walking from all the pain. Oh yeah, I'm still weak and tired during this time, lost a lot of sleep, rehabbing my poor mother. I lost 30 lbs/13.6 kilos from December to end of January, and only realized it at the rheumatologist's office in early February when they weighed me

So our heating unit, powered by electricity, powered by heating oil, decided to not work. Right before New Year's Eve. In Winter. In New York. For about 2 days. I should mention this eco-unfriendly mechanical hunk of junk also heats up the water in the house. No hot water and no heat means terrible conditions for caring for the elderly and disabled. 38°F/ 3.3°C inside the house are frosty conditions to bear!

Old, busted-ass boiler. Costs as much to replace as the oil to gas conversion.

The day after, the dude who fixed this thing, told us the water valve was constantly leaking. In fact, it hade been leaking for a loooong period of time! Nobody knew because it was dripping from that there gasket, and dripping very slightly, over who knows how long. The original gasket was corroded; I was instructed to call the water authority, they sent a guy in less than 10 min. who replaced it with a new shiny brass gasket you see there. FYI water damage like that causes irreparable deep damage to a property, luckily it was in a part of our house where it did no harm, and adequate drainage, at least that's what the guy told us.
The new gasket that replaced the water-oxidized one. You can see the corrosion from previous damage.

Raised Utility Costs Across the Nation $$$

We spent in our household $1500 for heating oil in one month, then $1200 in another, then finally back down to $800+ the last two months. The electric also rose from a typical $250 to $350/mo. We are so skin flint, and absolutely cannot keep going with these high costs, in addition to the rising food costs. It prompted me to give serious consideration to converting our home from oil heated, to gas (home renovations have always been a HUGE deal in our cash-strapped house) and finding ways for the government to pay for it. I needed grants for my business anyway, so I signed up for a program that lasts 6 months. I was able to uncover quite a bit of help!

We qualified because we are woefully below income for our state, by about $25,000.00 They sent a contractor to our home, who did an audit, found our home largely 'energy inefficient' and so we qualified for energy efficient freebies. Mid month, they are hooking us up with a FREE Google Nest thermostat, ($129.00 value) and a FREE stainless steel refrigerator. (no idea the cost) No, no ice maker on this one. But FREE is FREE. We qualified for a new fridge! I was told they assemble those at the factory and send them to the needy in the program, which is terrific. Our large refrigerator barely keeps food cold, shelves are broken has a busted icemaker, deactivated water dispenser and busted freezer light, makes our food green and moldy 4 months out of the year, and it's from 1989. It's why we got the 1970s fridge as a backup, but now that backup is busted.

1970's leaky refrigerator, with rust stains and mold, I believe it's a General Electric? I put a painter's tray underneath to catch the water drainage. It rusted the linoleum tiles underneath. Good thing I have extras for replacement.

1970s thermostat. The arrow indicator is broken so we take guesses as to what the temperature is

Same day, we were given 8 free LED lightbulbs, (valued @ $1.98 ea.) free brand new air conditioner, (worth $169.00) new air purifier, (worth $210.00) free power strip with auto shut-off switch, (valued at $52.99) and free night light, so my mom with her cataracts doesn't trip and fall again

Not hot enough for the A/C but we're getting there. They took away our old one, which weighed a ton of bricks, and required 2 people to lift. I'm able to lift this box by myself.

Pollen season is upon us, i got this bad boy running on an 8hr timer.

It's called the REAP program, offered by PSEG (our electric co.) They also offer it in New Jersey, it's called something else there. This is their website: https://homeenergy.pseg.com/homeweatherization You can call them up and they'll send you to the correct number that services your state

The dude also gave me a list of other programs that can get us free home repairs as well. He mentioned one customer was able to get free brand new windows and roofing and other things, it was like she almost got a new house in the deal. A brand new refrigerator delivered and installed by them tomorrow, because our 1970's refrigerator is nowhere near 'energy efficient' according to them

If you live in a different state, or have a different utility company, just look up the search terms "home energy efficiency weatherization" on any web browser EXCEPT Google, because they first search results are paid ads for premium services and you don't want that

February 2023

I paid the piper, and spent $75 of what's drying up from my stimulus check for a 6 month program that gives coaching, guidance, and a myriad of sources for government programs, assistance and grants. Been using it for a few weeks, so far it's interesting. You can see for yourself, this is the program: https://www.facebook.com/groups/leskohelp (no, I don't get sponsored from this) It's what helped me find the REAP program. I figure I needed the extra help, because I am getting nowhere fast; needed to make a drastic change to get different results here.

As a result, I am making a giant list of business grants to apply for. I'll make a post on this at a later point, but I will share it eventually. Basically, you have to already be in business to even qualify, so there's no time like right now to get your enterprise started

I finally found a counselor and eldercare law firm to see if we can set up a 'Medicaid Managed Trust' for my mom. We need her on Medicaid, stat. I was gonna call up the lawyer back in February after my mother healed, but my father brought home a flu, then we got infected. Then things started leaking and breaking in the house; my father no longer fixes things, busted his arm shoveling snow, and I am left to deal with everything-man, I am EXHAUSTED

Been unbearably cranky and twitchy for the last 2 months, a nasty result from rationing my ADHD medication due to the stupid, ongoing nationwide shortage. People who used to take Adderall now switched to my Ritalin, and now it's shorter in supply, good grief. Been on moody, highly irritable, shaky ground because of it

Still looking for business grants. Already compiled a long list on that too, just haven't had enough time to sift through all of it. I am woefully behind in all of my business obligations because of my mother's rehabbing and only getting caught up right now.

Uh oh, something smells like a fire! Is it the Playstation? Is it the lamp? Is it the electrical outlet? I unplugged everything around the computer to be sure. After 4 days of scoobydoing this mystery smell, I come to realize it was our old energy efficient light bulb! It's plastic base burnt dark, who knew that could happen?

March 2023

It rained inside the kitchen. Found a puddle in front of the stove (a HOB, if you're in the UK) Water dripping around the canned light in the kitchen ceiling. Fearful of a house fire, I called the handiman, who had that section of the roof removed and replaced altogether with something called 'Architectural Shingles'. He said that section of roofing, the original shingles were curled and some missing; the roof sagged there. $3,500.00 USD fixed it. We had to take the hit, it was detrimental, but spending anything north of $1000.00 means we feel that loss deeply, usually by shaving down our food budget. :(

Those are the wet shingles removed from the roof, in addition to the wet wood underneath.

Got a letter from those jury duty people, despite having them remove my name from their register 6 years ago, due to being a caretaker for my disabled mother, and for that, they forced me to show up with her and demonstrate her condition to the front desk lady. It was stressful! That was then, this is now. And on this letter, they mispelled my name entirely. Straightened it out after 2 phone calls with a very cranky lady on the phone who probably hates the people that call her up. She let me know in case I do get a summons, there is now a caretaker exemption on the summons, should I wish to elect it, and I will.

The virtual mailbox people went ahead and renewed me without consent for another year of membership. Previously, I paid annually for their service, and am annoyed to find later on that there's no option for removing my card details from their service! I had used Privacy.com as a shield when I first paid for it. It struck an insufficient fee charge, but my bank waived that anyway. But they didn't waive the $4.70 for covering the insufficient fee protection. The virtual mailbox folks did refund me the money back through Privacy.com but, Privacy.com decided to keep my $100.00 anyway. It's stupid, because their service is meant to protect against unscrupulous merchants from overcharging you, or hitting you with random or anonymous fees after the fact. They failed at the one thing they advertised they prevent. Unreal. Someone's being a jerk...Still fighting for it. Next time I will just use my business bank card, and cut them out of the picture altogether. Can't win 'em all!

I also got Amazon to refund me for some ebooks I accidentally ordered. They charged it to my giftcard, then reimbursed me later that night. (they make the process difficult) While I was scrolling on my phone, the BUY-NOW big, orange button would activate on it's own, even with my finger not touching it! (this was while scrolling!) Another nuisance is that I realized that BUY button is pretty close to the X on the tab to close out of that window, so it's easy to misclick on either one. Very sneaky, Amazon. I read on some forums that people find you cannot put ebooks in a shopping cart on Amazon, and now I realize, because it is more profitable. People don't pay attention to what they buy, especially in a hurry or a multiple order. The ones that do, their complaints are negligible to a company's bottom line. I had to go through an agonizing process to get reimbursed where their final live chat bubble mandatorily states "We cannot refund at this time" and "What else can we help you with?" I finally got a live agent to fix this through customer service, and handed them the item number, then got most of them refunded. (they shorted me $5) Next time, I download from the tablet or desktop instead, lesson learned. I found this summary of the refund process for Amazon in 2023 more or less.

April 2023

Never in my life, have I fixed so, so many things, made so many repairs. This is because this year marks the first time my father has fulfilled his senility, we're up to 50% now. He will have to quit driving in the next year, and confessed to me that even if I were to leave town for a few days to stay with friends, he couldn't spend one single day taking care of my mom by himself. If we ever needed the eldercare lawyer to set up his estate and Medicaid filing, IT'S NOW

After doing my taxes, putting together my parent's documents for their own tax filing, filing their other much needed government papers, switching their primary doctors due to an insurance screw-up, and fixing the major home repairs, we're finally more or less back to normal-ish. But man, am I beat. Now would be a good time to become Harry Potter. Abracadabra, e-file!

Paying the property taxes, bi-annual house insurance is next on our list of major things to get taken care of in 2023, that then leaves us back at the hiring the eldercare lawyer. Couple thousand dollars will go in those transactions. :(

Summation

Well, that's pretty much me, getting all caught up here. Yes, I HAVE been getting things done, just in random fucking order. I blame my ADHD brain, since we have no executive function -it is what it is.

I can get things done, though my brain has no idea what takes priority, so everything gets a random bit of attention simultaneously; tasks end up looking like a see-saw bar graph from hell. But hey, at least some things are getting done! Sort of.

I still continue to write

I have everything on the backend, many unfinished stories, articles I wanna launch, but first I must make the transition from my author blog on blogger to wordpress, and many other BIG changes.

I am just one person, struggling with running a household that isn't mine, a body that has weakened over time, a mind I cannot fully control, and far too many responsibilities to juggle, beyond what my brain is capable of handling. Responsibilities that belong to other people who have long since checked out on them, and the eternal struggle to not give up on personal dreams.

Well aware, I am not alone on this

I believe there are many people in the throes of similarly difficult family/career struggles, and I do wish I could be reading about it. Everyone in this country seems so prideful and arrogant that we only highlight success. That veneer of 'success' that just doesn't quite tell the full story.

We keep our internal struggles quiet, too ashamed to speak on the myriad of things holding us back, on the things that are internally destroying us, the challenges far too unsurmountable to overcome without help.

So much shame in asking for help, as we are preconditioned that way, by the last 3 generations that came before us. Those people who suffered the unimaginable hardships of early 20th century wars, learned to internalize these horrors quietly- a mentality necessary for getting through the dark times, but wrongfully interpreted! As such, those very same generations also grew irrational impatience with the modern struggles of their offspring. They were too busy surviving, that there was no time for day-to-day living! They, came up with the misguided notion of wearing trauma as a badge of honor, and so, we must NEVER ASK FOR HELP. This is an illogical, foolish notion!

I say, this, is plainly stupid. STUPID.

Drowning in fear and shame is very stupid. Placing pride above your very need for survival is fucking stupid! There is just no other way to say it.

Lack of communication within families is killing the American way of life. No coincidence we rely on open and honest communication and support from complete strangers, when we cannot even come to rely on our own family members, it's become so sad. If you need help, ask for it. If you get turned away, ask others, and don't stop until you get answers.

There is a lot of value in learning from the mistakes of others. Trauma bonding, while very eye opening, should be treated as an important reference, but not as an emotional place to settle in, not conducive towards progress. Resolution is always life changing, and tantamount to progress.

There is also comfort in realizing struggle is not a concept to fear or ridicule, that undergoing it is a natural part of life, as we all experience it in some form. We are all in this together, this life struggle, even if it feels like we are alone.

Truth be told, I have never learned anything from perfection, nor the fear of failure.

Failure, is exactly how we learn.

Falling, and scraping our knees is exactly how we learn to walk upright. Shaming people for failing is wrong. We should all get in the habit of openly discussing our challenges, from where we get stuck, to sharing solutions. I believe this is why Reddit is full of so many questions from people who are stuck.

This is the major reason I document my struggles getting through this newfound career. Not to gloat, beg, or whine about my life, but so that others may see, that despite 'life' trampling on your plans, or delaying them for whatever reason, you can still find your way back to the path.

I know others have worn the much too tight shoes of struggle, and despaired in the darkness of solitude, myself included. But if there are many more unsure people out there trying to get their writing off the ground, or any other dreams, remember it's not impossible. Hope is a thing! It illuminates the path in abject darkness.

There have been people to drop out of college due to having kids, then go back and get their degree later, so it is not impossible, just more challenging. It is 100% possible, with some creative juggling/financing, and supportive friends. I know, I personally know people who have dropped out of college then complete their degree years later.

When I was 19, there was a 55 year old dental surgeon in my master's illustration class, also learning industrial design. He said he wanted a career change, and this dude was plenty wealthy from his medical career already. So when you know, you know. And if you already know, and feel it in your bones that it's time for major change, every bump in the road isn't a thing that will completely stop you.

Some people are naturally hard wired to fulfill a mission in life.

Some get there faster, others later.

For those that want it bad enough, 'life' will not stop you, just slow you down. And that's temporary. Please remember that. ✔

Business purchases made for book publishing - pt. 2 - Jan 29, 2022

noreply@blogger.com (Onyx Towers) — Sun, 27 Feb 2022 19:12:00 +0000

Ah, the small business headaches. I heard of many over the years, now I get the full experience! Back in the seat, baby! *woohoo*

Began writing this on Jan. 29, but family obligations and attempting a launch at a 2nd business I'm starting has made veer off the path, forgive me for the supreme tardiness.

Any products mentioned here, I do not take commissions for. All info is for educational purposes only.

The Blogger platform recently made changes that seem to prevent anybody from linking out, with misguided accusations of "Spamming". *sigh* More on that in next post.

Okay, so back to where I left off...

BTW, it's a long read...with, memes!

Current state of health:

Me neither.

I'm done with all the dental surgeries, EKG's, MRI's, Chest imaging, 3x bloodwork, testing for Lyme disease (prevalent where I live), both Covid vaccines and booster shot, all out of the way for now. Done and done. No need for another full body tune up for maybe another 20yrs.

Then...

Booster fucked me up hard, because of the lupus. I had to put my cellphone under my pillow, because I thought I would have to call an ambulance for myself; it felt like I was going to DIE that night!

I was convulsing HARD, lower spine was in motherfucking PAIIIIN, teeth chattering and grinding hard, burned up so bad I had to rip my clothes off down to the underwear, then 20min. later, put them back on because now I was freezing, even under 3 heavy winter blankets, drenched in the sweats.

Had trouble breathing from congestion. I was in A LOT OF PHYSICAL FUCKING PAIN -so bad! My teeth hurt, my ocular orbit hurt, my thoughts hurt! So like an idiot, I downed 4 ibuprofen in a day.

Bone crunching pain (caused by body churning out white bloodcells in a short amount of time to fight infection) had now been replaced with a massive dose of gastritis! It was bad.

How bad, you say?

I was curled over, while standing. For hours. For days. Went on a diet that only toothless people can live on. Became terrified of oranges, coffee, anything with vinegar, anything fun...

Fun things I learned through blistering pain!:

I had to use an antacid called Famotidine, instead of Omeprazole, which is DR. (delayed release) Which kicks in after 4 days of use. Screw that. Relief! Now!

Nearly 2 weeks later, I can finally eat normally, but can never use Ibuprofen or Acetaminophen ever again, lest I risk ulcers. I will now endure shoulder pain, back pain, toothaches, headaches, and any other pain for the rest of my life to avoid the possibility of internal bleeding in the foreseeable future.

Doom Scrolling

(for the definition--> https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=doomscrolling )

This one's not even my fault. Being neurodivergent means I hyperfocus on subjects one at a time.

Sometimes I try to look up things necessary to me at the time, then unintentionally branch off in multiple different directions. Before I know it, I have 256 open tabs on my tablet's browser. Good grief! Yes, it did make my computer crash.

Like a horse with blinders on, I chose to work endlessly in order to keep from straying off my tasks. That doesn't help either. I hyperfocus again, overwork, forget to take my medication, forget eating, forget to sleep enough. I was a mess for two weeks, exhausted and brainless. Didn't know whether I was coming or going. In a daze, to say the least.

So I chose to take a minor break, eat a plate of food and watch a youtube video. That's how I found out Betty White and Meatloaf died, jeez, what a rude awakening! Imagine reading nothing but website code for days, then get slapped with these sad news!

ALL HAIL THE SHIELD MAIDEN.

It's so easy to slip into a habit of doomscrolling. Especially if life is kicking you while you are lying down...

And seeing so much sad shit in the news amplifies all the garbage feelings. None of which is conducive to progress.

It's just not a 'Winning' attitude to have!

-*ppst! Put the phone down.*

Building up my small indie publishing label, on a micro budget:

Things I've done since 2022 began ~~29 days ago~~...2 months ago:

The Virtual Business Address thing

Wanted to file for the virtual business address. Emailed the company, who assured me I can do it in person. Show up, it's inside a Staples store, and two dudes working there in the printing dept. are clueless, then tell me some lady who is on a conference call is the only one in the entire store who can help me. They tell me to wait an hour.

I show up later, she tells me she doesn't do this here, and I have to do it online. I explain I was given the go-ahead from the company.

She is confused, tells me she'll confirm with the company, goes to the back room to pretend call them. (I was watching her, she had no idea she was within view) She comes back out not even a full 5 min. to tell me Yup, they said to do it online! Sorry! No Kim, you're not. And your show, much like your breath, stinks.

I had to wait 2 weeks to get my friend to give me a ride to this place, (have no car since I'm home caring for my folks 24/hrs) and all for nothing. So much time lost on this little jaunt is frustrating. So now I gotta look for yet another service; it's complicated finding these addresses as they have varying zip codes/prices.

Update: The other services either charge more, or have no locations near me. Sucks. I went with the original and filed online. Did it ~~yesterday~~; Feb. 3. They assured me I can go ahead and use this address on forms now. I'll make a separate post about this later.

Did you know?
There's also a major difference between a Virtual Business Address, and a Virtual Office. The difference?

The Office comes with Fax number + phone number + live person to handle phone calls. All for about $39.00/mo on top of the regular price of a VBA.

Most times these are unnecessary add-ons, unless you want to give the impression of a medium tier business without the brick and mortar setup.

How much will this cost me? One year will cost me around $120.00 but, that's only because the zip codes here are sky high. Paying annually got me 2 months free though.

If you live outside New York, real estate is generally cheaper and so is this cost, so shop around. I only got mine closer to my zip code because it's a short drive from my house.

Now I could've gotten one in New York City, as I am only required to live and work within the state. However, if I were to file a DBA (Doing Business As) then the price for filing within NYC would skyrocket by about $100 more. And for me to do in person pickups of my mail and packages would require me to take a taxi to the train station, and a round trip train ticket. That one-way ticket is now over $20.00 + $2.75 subway + $15.00 for a taxi, and multiply that by 2X. Eff that. For about $6 they mail you your snail mail, and for a little more, they ship you any packages you get, based on their weight. All these services do it that way.

Buying Office Supplies - only the ones I actually need

Getting organized is absolutely important when you have ADHD! With no organization regimen, we tend to wallow in a room full of garbage, because we have trouble 'starting'.

No joke, I'm struggling just to put together a game plan for beginning this venture. Wished I had a buddy or something to talk me though it, but alas, when you ghetto, you don't know any successful people who do important shit. You only know who to ask for weed, lol! I type this, as I just took some CBD oil for my joints.

So in the beginning of January, I set on a quest to purchase office supplies. I was about to head into Staples, but decided to go make a pit stop first at Dollar Tree next door.

GLAD I DID. Got 6 one-inch binders @ $1.25/ea. Staples had them for $5.99 each. And if those stripes are too fruity, I got a roll of blue painter's tape I can cover it with.

Also bought at Dollar Tree for $1.25 each:

File folders
Index dividers
Scented candles and lighter (can't open the window during the Winter/stale air gets the room stuffy/sometimes it be smelling like hoof and ass in here)
A 2022 day journal
4 Scotch tapes (we run through them fast in this household)
Set of 3 desk trays like the blue one above, to hold my mini stapler, Post-Its, eye drops, favorite gel pens. Before this haul, these items rolled all over my desk with me losing my mind, trying to find them.

Bought a package of 12 gel pens at Costco, the nice kind, for $11.95. Black, and included like 3 in blue too. That red pen is super necessary for editing, and I bought it in a 2 pack from ebay. All our pens in our house are dried up ballpoint pens from years ago, usually from doctor's offices. Either they're totally dry, or leaking all over. As a result, I now have 3 black splotches from those old shitty pens on my brand new gray hoodie I cannot remove.

Oxyclean only faded the spots :-(

Turned one of those binder into an 'Expenses' notebook. Hole punched some printer paper and index tabs,(bought my standard hole puncher years ago for $13.95) popped one in, and voilà! Printed out receipts for all expenses purchased in the pursuit of growing this business, and ready to present for the write-off of tax purposes.

Here's one I turned into a 'To Do List'. I used to write on little bits of paper, but I tend to scribble off the page. My handwriting looks like a disturbed person, good lord. This is why I type everything. And my ADHD is the reason I write down every, single, thought.

If it doesn't get written down, it disappears forever.

Bought a journal online, cost $18. This was for two reasons.

One, I always need to jot down, lest I forget things. My ADHD has me such a mess in my head, that it's super easy to mess everything else in front of me, lose things, lose track of important calendar events and deadlines.
Two, I fully intend on releasing my own journals, and needed to see a working prototype. I love the material made on this one, will seeek out where their supplier is.
Came with free vinyl sticker. Great idea!

Fixing my business Facebook

Facebook is notorious for putting people in 'Facebook jail' and so, to avoid having my online presence blacked out for an undetermined date, I've set up my author FB and my business FB as two separate, and distinct accounts. If I created my label FB to my author FB and I get put into FB jail, then both go out like burnt lightbulbs until FB comes around, whenever that may be.

Screw that.

It took a while to figure it out, and there's no updated way to fix this.

Luckily I figured it out...I will make a separate post for this.

So a while ago, I opened my FB author profile, back before they began asking for phone numbers. Later on, I opened a separate FB for my independent book publishing label, after they began asking for phone numbers.

Annoying, right?

And yet, FB wouldn't let me put in my company's user name so the name reads as the title in the URL instead of 54903869548403 or whatever random digits they assign.

How stupid and pointless! And these clowns want my advertising dollars? Get real!

I've put up a tutorial on my Twitter and Instagram detailing what you have to do, and it does require having two separate accounts with different email/logins which you can later link up if you choose to.

DM me if you need help with this.

Designing my Logo

I am incredibly indecisive, another reason I chose not to do art as a career. It takes me days and weeks to make a decision on composition alone, besides all other components, such as color, shadow, light source, layering, which fonts do I use, filters, brushes, etc.

So it took me 2 iterations to come up with my logo, then nearly 3 weeks to choose an online font I wished to buy. Yes, you must buy these.

Fonts have separate commercial licenses, so you must ask the author before you purchase. If you intend on using as a logo, that license will cost more than say, a commercial license for a POD store. (print on demand)

I had to fire off emails, wait for slow responses, get murky answers. But I finally settled on two fonts, both by the same designer, who I received email confirmation that yes, I can use both for a logo. Best part? They're free to use in any capacity. Woohoo!

Here's what that looks like:

Designing the Website

I bought two web templates, and they were both a bust. Originally I planned on buying more from the lady who made the one that I previously started off with on this site, but she started another business and her web design stuff seemed to go offline? Not sure, but she is hard to reach.

But running a business means I have no time to lose, so I went to search for elegant, affordable Blogger templates. Bought two sold through Gumroad. Uploaded them. Guess what? All the features they come with, barely work. Oh hey, no refunds! Terrific.

And after 2-3 weeks of trying to tweak this thing, this is what it looks like now:

2nd iteration of www.redfluidpress.com

The person who sold it to me wouldn't tell me how to turn the white background to black. It took me several days to really pour over all the code and find where to make the adjustment, using software called Notepad++, which allows you to write and edit HTML code.

This template was more complicated than the others I've used in the past because the author used something called "shortcodes", something I recently learned of. But it's such an unusable mess. I cannot tile a background, and I can't easily change the background color, even though it's supposed to be an easy feature.

The sidebar background is still white, and I thought it was supposed to be a responsive template, on mobile devices, it looks like lopsided shit. The header gets tossed all the way to the right.

Just trying to fix this I wasted nearly half this month. TIME WASTER.

I devoted far too much time into fixing an unfixable situation. Should've searched for better alternatives, but, we learn costly lessons here. Costly, because if I'm not making sales, it puts me in the red.

Finally the author said I could pick replacement templates, after I asked him why nothing works and can he fix it, since these templates come with some premium customer support. Guess he doesn't want to, since manually adjusting it is another side business for him, which he charges upwards of $500 or more. Dude, people who use Blogger are BROKE. If I'm gonna pay that much, i'd rather go get a subscription with Wordpress, good grief man, know your audience!

Well, I'm still waiting for him to deliver, but if not, I'll upload the previous template and call it a $20.00 loss.

Update: He let me pick out 2 more, and I recently redid the site/s all over again. (I have another site for something entirely different.) It was still difficult to tweak though. Because of Blogger's recent TOS changes, I am forced to shift over to Wordpress finally. More on that in the next post.

Replacing technology

And here's the unforeseen expenses...

My HDMI splitter just died, I need a new one. I never even peeled the plastic off my current one, and it's not even a year old. Already bought two shitty ones, hello number three!

And I need new accompanying cables. I assume this will top out upper $50.00 total.

Guess what else? My micro SD card in my phone got corrupted! For no reason! Now I need a card reader I can attach to my computer, in order to recover the files. Another $10.00 to spend. *sigh*
Actually spent $9.11 on it, close enough.

Also, my computer has been giving me the blink of death, crashing, slowing down...I wanted to wait after filing taxes to buy a replacement, so that I can take the deduction for the following year, if it survives the next few months. Fingers crossed.

Wasted so much time on problem solving

Spent nearly two weeks customizing these defective templates.

Waste of time.

Time management is CRUCIAL to running a business, something I'd forgotten since I haven't been in a working office environment for many years.

So I was foolishly beating myself up for not getting this thing up and running fast, when in fact, it was the other guy's fault for selling me a shoddy product. However, I must make a managerial decision over this snafu, and fast!

As the business owner, that responsibility falls squarely on my shoulders.

I needed to hear that. Thanks Captain!

As an ADHD'er, I hyperfocused on fixing this one thing, completely blocking out the other aspects of this business that required more immediate attention.

I got mad at myself.

I felt like I was failing at something big in life again.

I lost perspective, and I lost sleep.

I was out of it, and snapping at all the wrong people.

I was half slurring my words, exhausted from lack of sleep, on 16hr. days, due to devoting far too much time on one thing, instead of moving to the next task.

I forgot the cardinal rule for running a smooth business, and that is, if there is no way to quickly fix the problem, cut your losses. Move to the next objective. Come back to this problem later with adjusted eyes, and relaxed health.

Time wasters are money wasters.

Everything has a cost. Labor has a cost. Time has a cost.

Those 2 weeks wasted on fixing that broken shit could've gone to refining and uploading product. That is something that makes money. This does not.

So to better evaluate this case, I've decided that, if the next two replacement templates don't work fast, I'm moving on with the previous template and making smaller adjustments to that one. I just need my platform in full working order, so that I can finally upload some product here, which I am way behind on as it is.

Update: They work slightly better, but not good enough for running a full site. Wordpress, here I come!

Breakdown of all the business' moving parts:

CEO - Responsible for overseeing all aspects of innovation, production, research and development, interviews, book launches

Office Admin - Keeps office running, includes phone calls, emails, shipping, receiving, setting calendar, appointments, orders, filings, coordinating and liasing with employees and vendors, misc.

Web Manager - Handles cyber security, server issues, website functionality, uploads, ecommerce, hosting, maintenance of all technology in and out of the office

Marketing Director - Handles promotions, ads, social media, events

Book keeper - Accounts payable and receivables. Keeps the books. Ledger that compiles gross/net revenue spreadsheets for taxation + documents expenses/ compiles receipts

Graphic designer - Designs logos, templates, merchandise, book covers, interior book design, mailers, flyers, packaging, web promotional materials included in newsletters, all social media banners and ads, web graphics

Writer - Writing ad copy for promotional materials and their social media, writing stories for the books

Yes, all of this is necessary for any business. This is bare minimum what it takes to run any business today.

And before many of you freak out, know that more than half of these obligations can be outsourced to anyone mildly competent on Fiverr, Upwork, Freelancer, PeoplePerHour, TopTal or any other work-for-hire platforms.

If you are bootstrapping this venture, it's necessary to keep your needs minimal in the beginning. This minimizes cost. Upgrade as you go along.

Dave from Kindlepreneur said sometime ago that you should form your homemade self publishing business once you have attained $2,000.00 USD in revenue.

So make the money first. That sounds like a good roundabout number to begin.

I began this jaunt with around $3210.00 which all came from stimulus money. Nearly half of this went to purchasing personal items, like shirts to replace the ones with holes. I have pants and shirts so worn in, if you hold up to the light, you see the fabric thinned and littered with many micro holes. It's pathetic. (haven't gone clothes shopping in 12 years)

The business expenses I've kept many of them low, by taking advantage of cheap goods, online sales, and Black Friday shopping events. Right now I am left with $1407.60. Of that figure, I have to capitalize my business, because the taxation department requires it. Otherwise they think you've set up a shell corporation to evade taxes. So, around 1K for that?

Why did I start my small business now?

A friend of mine once said "You'll never save enough money to have kids, so you may as well get started now."

I see starting a business in the same way.

You'll never have enough money.

You'l always be too tired,

too broke,

never in the 'right' mindset,

too busy,

too unsure of yourself,

you don't have enough resources,

you don't know any people in the game,

not enough time in the day...

The list goes on and on.

So you might as well start now anyway.

Whatever it takes?! *shrugs*

Starting A Business When Family and Friends Are Against You

The main reason I began now was purely a financial one.

I've always been hungry for business, even as a kid. But I was raised by religiously devout people who demonized money and success, and prioritized being humble and below your means. It's why they never had any hurry or hunger for success the way I do. It gives way to the Scarcity Mentality, and it is a very perturbed way of thinking, and to just break out of that mindset requires a radical approach, and sadly, many arguments.

But I'm just naturally built in with an entrepreneurial mindset, an overwhelming one, so my busy bee modality is basically, Help me, or get out of my way!

No, family and friends were not sure of my confidence, a few tried convincing me to just try harder to get a good job, and a good third went out of their way to tell me not to even try, because I'll fail, because it's been done...

*eyeroll*

And of course, the 'experts' touting their misguided advice. The broke-ass experts, hmm.

*2nd eyeroll*

Nobody takes advice on their investment portfolio from people in debt, so why take advice from people who are living paycheck-to-paycheck, with around $15,000 in credit card debt? Why would you listen to people who have never even started a business?

Get all that useless noise out of your head; eyes on the prize, baby!

Takes money to make money

It really does takes money to make money, and I never had any during the 12 years of being my parent's caretaker.

It's unpaid, exhaustive work, and it's 24/7 round-the-clock as emergencies arise.

Certainly not worth the free room and board, because any day of the week, I'd rather get paid to do this, and still have choices, and still have my own apartment again.

I like working, and earning my way in life.

I abhor the sloth lifestyle.

I need to keep busy, in a way that builds up to something significant in life.

So this arrangement, (which was supposed to be temporary) is not the greatest situation. No, it is not-

a tribute.

And they said!

Think of all, the reasons in the world, to never even start a business! Then I'll eat your soul!... j/k

So I'm always gonna be broke, depressed, blah blah, and the only thing that keeps moving forward is time.

What's gonna change for me tomorrow? My fortune? My popularity? My absent sunny disposition? No. A patch of white hair spreading beyond my temples every month? Three more white pubic hairs to match? You bet!

Well I'm much older, more tired now, less optimistic, and have less people in my corner cheering me on, so I got that going for me.

Fuck that, I'll be my own cheerleader!

And I ain't waiting around no more.

Starting...nnn-now.

How Much Money Did I Have To Begin My Small Business

So I checked my Paypal to see how many back royalties had gathered. And three year's worth of piddly amounts just pushed it that it was enough.

This time around, I finally qualified to file for income tax.

I had not had any income for a very long time, but I added up royalties from my former tshirt graphics side gig; a very abysmal number, think upper 40's, but it was enough for me to file.

That's $14.95 to file for income tax returns in late October, right before the cut-off for 2021. So it cost me $14.95 to file, got $3.00 back in refund from the State of New York, got $1400.00 in back stimulus, and a second stimulus later.

Jackpot!

Since I officially incorporated, I had to show the papers with the state seal to my family, since they didn't really believe me. So much for support! And with that, comes great responsibilities. Now I sharply divide my family time and business time. The calendar is already marked for book launches and forms to submit.

The biggest delay in everything I do, is the fact that I have zero "Executive Function" so, making big money decisions is extremely goddamn difficult. It can take me several days just to make one, solid decision. It's debilitating, and grating on my nerves.

Filling out forms

So these are the ones left to file, in order:

~~PS Form 1583 for virtual address (send Certified Mail)- FREE~~
~~File form 1338 for DBA (doing business as; send Certified Mail) and accompanying form 1515 to pay for it~~
File Form SS-4 for EIN (tried to do this before, but the IRS website was down for maintenance for days) - FREE
File Form 2553 for S-Corp status WITHIN 75 DAYS OF BUSINESS FORMATION (you must already have acquired your EIN)- FREE

Still have to have $1,000 squared away for infusing this company with capital, which you must do by law, and less than $300 socked away for web hosting, marketing, trademark and copyrights. As long as my crappy computer doesn't die, I'll be just above margin. Stay tuned.

My Author Journey - Jan 09, 2022 - Gathering my documents for establishing my Corporation

noreply@blogger.com (Onyx Towers) — Sun, 09 Jan 2022 08:19:00 +0000

Man, I am burned out! Brain...all gooey...

Hope everyone's holidays were mild. I say that, because so many families are broken, and December is fraught with trigger words like, 'family', 'holidays', and 'baby Jesus'. A mild holiday is just what everybody needs right now. And maybe some indica.

I was so damn busy and burnt out from everything, I didn't even put up decorations. I'm still stuck on getting a Virtual Business Address. It's different from a Virtual Business Office, by about $30/mo. and includes an actual person that answers a phone, a telephone number to use, and a fax machine, in addition to getting the Virtual Business Address.

Hey, I only need the address.

That is all. No need for fancy things.

I was stuck on this because I kept asking around if I am able to use a Virtual Business Address on DBA forms and EIN forms. Yes, I asked on Reddit, to more confusion. I got a variety of mixed answers on that one. I won't go into too much detail yet, until my part 2 of my Business Costs post. Lets just say it had me waiting around much too long.

I finally finished up with all the damn doctors appointments. I have one left, and it's to get checked out for my many moles, in varying sizes and colors. Because I don't want a surprise cancer later down the road. Get it out of the way now, so I can focus on business.

I absolutely HATE anything that disrupts my flow. Because when I get back to it, honest to god, I don't remember where I left off.

What else? Hmm. Bought some clothes on xmas sales to replace the ones with embarrassing holes in them.

Bought a bunch of office supplies from Dollar Tree, because I ain't paying Staples $5.99 for a 1-inch binder, when the same thing is $1.25 at DT! Shop clearance rack; shop smart friends! Also, Staples has a clearance rack that is the back wall of the store, fyi.

I also bought a hardcover book. This was a "treat-myself" moment. Because 2021 was a dumpster fire, different to 2020 but in equal measure to it's horrific saturation.

So I bought it at B&N, just came out, so it wasn't up front and I had to ask the only 2 people working there, and I swear that place runs itself. Like it's self serving, doesn't need human people. And only 1 person running the Starbucks there, it's weird.

Also, it was $40 instead of the sale price of $32.99 they advertised on it's website. I showed them my phone screen at the register and they price matched it! Hooray! Victory tastes like candy!

It was the new illustrated The Witcher book. I love, love, loooove how easy it is to get into this book! No alienating pretenses! Just pure story, let's jump right in, of a dark traveler, who easily flays monsters.

This book inspired me to add illustrations to my book too. I may run out of time, depending on how much I get done from now until Valentine's Day. I keep pushing book launches up, and up...over things out of my control. Damnit. Well, I'm already incorporated, and half the paperwork is done. Now to finish that shit up, update my websites, my stores, my Paypal info, and get going on the books.

Keep reading, it gets saucier every time.

Oh Yuletide tree, Oh Kwanzaa tree, your leaves look denominational.

noreply@blogger.com (Onyx Towers) — Thu, 23 Dec 2021 09:06:00 +0000

🎄🎅🎇 Peace to all to close out this eventful year. 🎄🎅🎇

My Author Journey - Dec 22, 2021

noreply@blogger.com (Onyx Towers) — Wed, 22 Dec 2021 18:15:00 +0000

Ho, ho, ho, merry fuckmas! Or whatever you celebrate this time of year. Or none at all.

Been so wiped out, I haven't had any energy to put up Xmas decorations this year, truly a first.

Greetings and salutations! I don't have much time lately, so here's a list of things I accomplished since I first broke my tooth in late August of this year:

Registered my domain names I ordered for Black Friday sales; notice onyxtowers.blogspot.com is now just onyxtowers.com
Bought SSL certificates and applied them, albeit incorrectly, don't have time right now to correct it
Incorporated and registered my book publishing label with the state of New York (pricey!)
Bought Publisher Rocker AND KDSPY on sale for Black Friday
Got Wave accounting software for small business - it's FREE
Made several tweaks to my publisher site
Updated all my Facebooks (for different disciplines)
Updated my Linktrees (something with Facebook and had a complicated time acquiring a password as I didn't need one when the account was created)
Got 2 root canals, 2 crowns, 7 fillings done ; broken hopeless molar is now functioning at 90%
Got 2 MRI brain scans, 2 EKG's, 3 bloodwork tests, sonogram
Brain is showing up as okay on scans, but ridiculously forgetful and keep getting dizzy spells, made appt. with neurologist at doctor's behest
Tired of running to doctors
Waiting on answer on Reddit question I posed about DBA's
Still need to file DBA, EIN, S-Corp form
Still need to pick a virtual office (don't want freaks looking up my home address on Google Maps)
Far, Far behind on my book, which I planned to release for Thanksgiving weekend, now it seems I'll be launching for El Dia de los Reyes Magos
Been looking up websites to do some side hustles, as this startup is draining my money fast
Got a Paypal for doing said hustles (my other Paypals are 'locked' until I show my EIN since they are for business)

Luckily, half of these things are one-time costs, and all are tax reimbursements, praise jeebus! Our family accountant told me he no longer does taxes for businesses, just my luck. I will need to hire a CPA though, and I hear they're not cheap. I ain't doing that shit myself, as me and numbers have never been great friends.

As someone with ADHD, I can tell you that getting organized and doing all this corporation paperwork shit has been agonizing! Especially with my worrisome forgetfulness. I haven't been eating more than a meal and a half, and have trouble sleeping since all this began.

Kinda knew this was coming though. The forgetting part, that's what fucks me the most. I lose momentum when I am pulled away from these tasks to cater to whatever emergency, then I have to return to a state of a completely blank slate, because I don't remember where I left off. I don't remember a lot of things lately! I end up look like a crazy person, walking then stopping abruptly, taking a moment to look dazed and confused, then doing an about face to walk back my steps just so I can remember again why I was walking that way?

Note: Will need to discuss that with my shrink.

But that fucking problem is the sticking point with me now. I've fallen far, far away from my goals and it's hard not to kick myself when I am down. But instead of self condemnation, I furiously get back on track and hit the warp drive on whatever it is I am doing at the time. I can't do anything about the forgetfulness, because I ain't a neurologist, so maybe, stop freaking out? - I tell myself several times a week. Do I believe it? I don't know, and I don't pay attention because I'm too busy trying to finish things up here.

I feel I'll get most of this business shit out of the way before year's end, and i already got the medical shit taken care of, except the booster shot which is on the last day of 2021. The moment I finish up all my paperwork, I will write about it. I also plan on writing about the side hustle gigs i'm about to take on this coming year. And catch up on my book, which I keep delaying, goddamit.

Also, Happy Holidays everybody! Eat lots of food and drink, and get cozy by the space heater. See you all next year!

Business purchases made for book publishing - pt. 1

noreply@blogger.com (Onyx Towers) — Sat, 13 Nov 2021 03:25:00 +0000

Been burning dat bitch-ass midnight oil, waking up too damn late in the day to go outside.

Photo by Eli Sommer from Pexels

Photo by Andrea Davis from Pexels

Damn, wish I could afford that fancy ass West Elm artisinal crap.
Soon, my pretty...

Well it's me again, ahoy! Here to regale you with more of my shenanigans! Because right now you are taking a quick break from your work-at-home, or you are simply taking a generous shit! Either way, glad you are here.

I should state that, since I've abandoned my tshirt merch shop some 4-5yrs back to care for my mother with Alzheimer's, I stopped looking in on it, assuming I stopped earning royalties on any of the designs. I was delightfully wrong, earning some $44? since 2019, so I was finally able to file for taxes again. Sure it was FREE, to file for Federal taxes, however, State taxes cost me about $14. Best $14 I ever spent, if it got me these government relief checks! And they came in at the right time in my life too!

So! I've been running around like a chicken with my damn head cut off the last few days. It's been so hectic, last Saturday, I was awake for 21 straight hours. You heard correctly. No, I don't do recreational drugs.

It's just once the tax refund came in, I got cracking, taking account of my book publishing start-up costs. I made a detailed list of costs all pertaning to services and hardware I will need to begin, and on a shoestring budget. Takes some money to make even more!

Lots of people want to throw up an ebook and walk away, assuming even one copy will sell. With such an oversaturated marketplace, and thousands of competitors, I don't see how any eyeballs will get on any product in the Kindle marketplace. Since I've been paying attention to trends, ever changing TOS of the book publishing ecommerce side of things, webinars, videos, newsletters, and author interviews since 2015, I feel I am ready to finally throw my hat in the ring.

So here's where I have already spent some of this money <$1,800.00> already:

$139.98 ❒ 2 cell phones - One for my elderly father, whose old car keeps stalling out on the road; one for me, because I haven't had a working cell phone since my Verizon Blackberry, the one with the keyboard, and I leave the house now to various doctor/dentist apppointments. Also, all these new accounts I'm opening requires 2FA authentication only avail. with smartphone apps
$20 ❒ Two cell phone cases with the screen protectors - Here we tend to drop things often. We protect our expensive electronics from ruin!
$4.95 ❒ A clip-on ringlight, to make proper videos and take pics in low light - light fixtures in this house come out dim, an effect of living with the elderly
$175.38 ❒ Domain names - Had to park them now because I ran the risk of losing them, and they are crucial to my branding; one went as far back as 2009 to a tech blog I only recently reactivated from abandonment in the early aughts
$79.00 ❒ Publishing Business In A Box - This is several ebooks on all the legal ramifications of the world of publishing, including copyright, trademark, infringement, establishing your business as an LLC, etc. I wanna get this right. Formerly called Author in a Box.
$124.99 ❒ Keyboard & Mouse - My mouse is crapping out now, had it since 2009. Keyboard works but it's old and doesn't light up, which I find cumbersome when I type in the dark at night by low light. Also, it's a Black Friday Sale item.
$169.99 ❒ 8 TB Hard Drive - Storage off-computer. I have 2 already, and still running out of space, because they carry files from the mid-90's-Now. :-P Another Black Friday Sale item; orig. $199.88, but I've seen it currently as high as $249.00.
$49.99 ❒ Playstation controller. Nothing to do with business, just dropped mine too many times :-( But I did get the last one at cheapest price!

Now here's where I plan to spend money on these upfront publishing business expenses, because my stimulus check rolled in 2 days ago <$1,400.00>:

$130.00 + $9.00 bi-annual filing fee ❒ S Corp filing - For a myriad of valid reasons, but mostly because I wish to stay as anonymous on the internet as possible, and limit my liabilities operating a legit business (cost varies from state to state)
$00.00 /yr one time fee ❒ EIN (Employer Identification Number) - This is FREE with a social security number (for American citizens) but even foreigners can apply for one, with sufficient business paperwork and a filing fee
$119.40 + taxes ($9.95 month) ❒ Virtual Office - This pricing is for an affordable one I found near my geographical area, and the closer you get to NYC, the prices jump drastically. When you file for a business registration, you need an actual brick and mortar address by law, for your documentation. Virtual offices let you do use theirs legally while retaining anonymity, and charge extra if you want your snail mail forwarded to you. Prices vary by location.
$120.00 /yr ($9.99/mo.) ❒ MailChimp - It's imperative to have your newsletter service ready to go right before launch. Thsese services include lead capture, which picks up your customer's email addresses should they sign up, then you retarget them over and over, with new products and discounts. Customer email addresses = Client list.
$97.00 /yr one time fee ❒ Publisher Rocket - This software helps you pick correct categories and tags for your book, lets you see how your competitors rank & more. Here's how that works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QB9t34eKbUk
$5.00 /yr one time fee ❒ Business Bank Account - My bank stated this is the absolute minimum to keep in the account, and no overhead fees. Varies from bank to bank. You don't have to use your current bank, so shop around for better rates!
$20.00 /yr one time fee ❒ Book Funnel - Where everyone can download my ARC and develop reviews before it hits the Kindle marketplace

Photo by Ken Tomita from Pexels

This is assuming I still don't need that $495.00 dental operation on my broken molar, sheesh! Fortunately for me, Medicaid has covered all dental surgeries, fillings, visits, xrays. All my medications and doctors visits/televisits, bloodwork, EKG, vaccinations, MRI's (2x), have also been fully covered. (glad to live in a blue state!) But if I still have enough cash left over, I may consider getting these things now, rather than later:

$119.00 /yr one time fee ❒ Book Design Template - The interior design of the book, a template with adjusted margins, page styles programmed into it, dropcaps and fonts, already set up for you
$8.00 xtra small size/ monthly (for my zipcode) ❒ P.O.Box - This will not mask your identity, but will also meet the address registration requirement for business filings, and newsletters like Mailchimp, Convertkit, Sendinblue, etc. This is the absolute smallest size I found.
$42.00/yr ($3.50/mo.) (on sale now) ❒ Evernote - I've been using this cloud storage since it first came out. This is where I keep recent backups of WIP. The free version lets you upload 60MB monthly + 2 devices, personal version 10GB + unimited devices
$348/yr ($29/mo) ❒ Creative Fabrica - This is just for myself, for other creative endeavors. This license covers all commercial outlets from what I understand, and includes graphics and fonts, so no need to purchase separately. Been thinking of revamping my old merch store, so I'd like to segregate that from the book publishing thing, then outsource merchandise related stuff to there instead
$129.00 /yr one time fee ❒ fonts - Commercial license to use epub fonts for books worldwide rights usage. Unless you're a graphics designer, many of you will never need this.
$49 one time fee ❒ Scrivener - Word processing software.
$295 ❒ for 10 ISBN numbers - Each book you publish requires one. So one title with an ebook, a print book, and an audio book will require 3 of these numbers. The link is for United States only. There's separate website for Canada & UK.
$660 ❒ Gaming PC - I promise this isn't a frivolous purchase! I have a 14yr. old PC, it's beginning to crap out, and rather than buy a cheap PC laptop to fulfill the writing stuff + top of the line PC to handle all my art & design software that hogs all the memory, one gaming PC will work for both needs, as the parts are high end. I did not include the cost of the graphics card as there is a worldwide shortage right now, thanks to Covid and Bitcoin mining. >:-(
Instagram ads - Not sure how much I'll pony up in the beginning of this business venture.
Misc. book marketing expenses - Not sure how many other services I will use for my debut novel. Many of them will not let you purchase their services until AFTER you have a minimum of 10 Amazon reviews up. Have been keeping a long-ass list of these services, will post soon.

MUST REMEMBER: The book publishing business is 1/3 advertising & marketing, so a generous portion of this budget MUST go to that!

There will be an additional number of various services I will be using that are actually FREE of charge. Life is looking quite interesting as of late! Once I upload my book, I'll make a post with a long detailed list. Stay tuned.

My Author Journey - April 5, 2021 to now, and I will explain

noreply@blogger.com (Onyx Towers) — Tue, 19 Oct 2021 19:23:00 +0000

Ah, the absence of words, replaced by medication.

Salutations!

Accurate depiction of my health in 2021.

(wrote this back in April, then kept adding to it over time; apologies for lateness)

Welcome to another installment of what the hell is happening to my life?! Well, I had a good health run, but my life now is steadily erroding, and picking up speed.

My ADHD Is Completely Out Of Control

Or, more accurately, the absence of all the monkey chatter compounding daily in my brain, alongside what should be a very straightforward linear train of thought, that has finally dissipated.

Why? Because I am finally on medication for the very first time in my life!!! Took four decades, but we're finally here! Two separate streams of information turned into one.Monkey chatter erased. Nice.

One is linear, the normal process of step by step. The, "I have X amount of things to do today. The, I have many appointments and reordering things and shuffling my calendar" thing.

The other, is a zig zag, forever zig zagging off like a fractal pattern comprised of mish mash information, about everything and nothing.

That chaos looks like this:

What time is that show> do we need more milk> what year did Walt Disney release that motion picture with the nazi scientist that talked about science and rockets> what was the name of that bad dude who plays bad guys frequently and everyone recognizes his face but never his name> is this milk gone bad? >what was the name of the female Fraggle with the pom-pom hair in Fragglerock, because I forget> why does Willie Nelson look like a stand in for Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem> who can smoke more weed- Willie or Snoop Dog> oh shit I forgot to add cbd oil to the shopping list next to the toaster> did I burn the toast just now-what's that smell> I actually forgot to put toast into the toaster> I should go change the bed sheets before I forget that too> oh right his name was Wernher Von Braun> is there a YouTube documentary on him> OK this one documentary is 7 min. but that one is 45 min. and much more detailed- oh damn, HAS IT BEEN FOUR HOURS ALREADY? And, now the offices are closed so I can't make an appointment, oh right, it's Thursday and they weren't open to begin with> hey look, a video on catastrophic earthquake footage!> I haven't eaten all day, do we have snacks?> IT'S DINNER TIME ALREADY?!

Both are fighting one another for attention; yin and yang. ☯

Now this torture is constant. This is exhausting. This always has me on edge. I cannot shut this off. There is no ability to do so. Biologically impossible.

The "normal" thought train is the one that leaves the station, satisfied in the knowledge of knowing it has picked up new information and taken off for its next destination, without getting constantly derailed.

Well, that has never existed for me.

It's how I've always imagined how regular people synthesize information.

The medication I am currently taking, Ritalin, is muffling out all the zig zag noises. It is, pleasant. It's finally brought me peace of mind. It's only been ~~two weeks~~ two months now, but so far, I quite enjoy it.

Hey, no more competing with excessive background zig zag noises! I am calm, at last.

I do space out still, but not with the excessively potent frequency that had my friends and family looking at me like I'm a loon. I must still excercise some degree of personal responsibility to stay on my tasks, and now without the excess noise competing with my thoughts, I can finally achieve that. Pills only fix half the problem, yet the changes are apparent.

Recently I spoke to my brother over the phone once every few months, and this man of few words spoke up and said to me "You sound normal." Yep. It's that noticeable.

It has taken me far too long to correct my ADHD, for a myriad of reasons all out of my control. Or perhaps 'correct' isn't the correct word? ...still, I beat myself up over the many years for things beyond my control, like lack of affordable health care, (welcome to 'Murrica!) and deluding myself into thinking that sheer willpower could steer this long horn of a neurodevelopmental disorder into something useful. As in, hey! Let's turn this pile of constant hindrance crap into a superpower we can harness! Into a tool that furthers our career efforts!

Yeah, that strategy never worked. Cue an endless stream of feelings of failure.

However.

While ADHD's only merit is it's unrelenting hyper focus, which yes, I have used to prolong lengthy writing marathons, sadly that is a short lived superpower. ADHD makes you zoom in on something, anything, at very random times.

It controls you, and not the other way around.

That is why we, the afflicted, have so much trouble thriving in life.

Most useless advice I have heard over, and over, is to "Try harder!" As if it could be controlled. *eye roll*

The constant fighting with both sides of this coin is tiresome, and adds layers of unwanted anxiety. It can be agonizing on a good day, and sheer torture during high stress situations, like, oh, I dunno, surviving a fucking global pandemic?!☣️

Dealing With ADHD During The Covid Years

My entire year post-covid has been focused on my health, which I've ignored since I was old enough to vote.

It's like having a car for 12 years, but it's actually over 25 years old, and you're only taking it in for an inspection now. Gotta look under the hood, shit!

So, so many things I have learned...

This past year was unkind to a lot of close family and friends; I personally know three people who died last year, and couldn't attend the funerals. We rationed out food cans because of shortages and inconvenienced by weird closing store hours. This did not bode well in ol' casa de Onyx. My elderly father freaked out and refused to even buy food, he was that terrified of catching it. It got so bad, he was feeding my mother expired green beans from a can, expired by 8 years. I had to call our trusted church choir friends, my brother in the west coast, and the church pastor for an intervention, as my father is too proud to ask for help, and sometimes dangerously so.

I endured about three massive panic attacks all during 2020, surprise! one of which had me reeling for three straight days. I woke up from a very deep sleep, around 2:00 AM, breathing hard like I ran a marathon in my bed, with the sweats. Became quick friends with melatonin and whatever alcohol I could find to send me off to dreamland. Sigh. More nights of this, and it got so bad I had to ask my therapist for anti-anxiety meds for a while, which did the trick.

But eventually I had to give myself permission NOT to overworry anymore over things out of my control.

How did you survive the pandem- yikes! Never mind.

Eventually, I found my way back into long term therapy, and I had to fight for it. The process alone, just to find any mental health doctors that even accept Medicaid was cumbersome, then to select one that specializes in my particular mental health issue posed another problem, then to have them withhold medication until I got bloodwork done was a several months long process exacerbated by all patients over cramming into all doctors offices at once, overbooked laboratories with endless patients and long-ass wait times. Just a delightful leftover from 2020.

'Murrica, amirite ?! 😅

One flabbergasted nurse who took one of my appointments said this was happening all across the board, at various doctors, ophthalmologists, dentists, psychiatrists- they all have a tremendous backlog of patients! On average, in 2021, everyody had scheduled appointments about three-four months apart. Exactly where I stood.

That's about a quarter of a year. :-(

Dealing With Dental Problems

It is now the beginning of September (well, October now) and I can recall the entire year of 2021 thus far by every appointment, MRI scan/s, medication, referrals, blood work, EKG, and nearly 20 pages of results of current health.

Next week, my very first root canal* because I broke a molar, because evidently, fillings weaken after 30+ years, then crumble. Right on the clock! Then the pain that races back & forth along the affected jawline like an electric current from hell, boy oh boy, so much fun! Now it's branched to nerves that wrap around my fucking cranium! Wee! Additionally, the misadventure of navigating through the wacky world of dental insurance alone is enough of a challenge, while adjusting to the new medication. I was given a referral to only one, solitary endodontist, because he was 1 of 6 that took my dental plan.

*Already had the RC done +4 fillings and several xrays, more to come...

Then I looked up on Google Maps his address. Then his business details and contact info popped up on the left side of the screen. Also, his 1 star⭐ ratings. Also, his TERRIBLE REVIEWS below his star ratings, followed by descriptive complaints. Not one or two, but several paragraphs worth of very specific horror stories. Yikes. Went through many phone calls and finally found a decent one a half hour away willing to root canal the other tooth. To recap, one ondodontist for one pre-molar tooth, another one from a different dental practice for the back molar. All because of insurance coverage being picky.

This whole thing was so tiresome. 😑🦷💢

He explained dental insurance reps never want to give permission to operate on back teeth, their argument being you need your front teeth to smile and go to work, so they always try to get out of funding molar procedures.

I was also told I may need an additional procedure post-root canal called a "crown lengthening" in case they find my dead root is way too close to my jaw bone. They'd have to shave off some bone and extend that crown down. Also, insurance never covers this procedure, because hey, it's cheaper to just remove that tooth; save money! But then, the top teeth begin sagging down. Not their problem though!

Haha, America! You suck ass!

I need a vacation from being me.

However...

A week after that appointment, I began having stinging headaches. Then I got a hideous, itchy rash all over my neck. Then out of nowhere, dizziness, lightheadedness, lethargy, you name it. I could be in the middle of cooking and WHAM! Gotta go crawl into bed, at 1:30 in the afternoon, and nap like an old person.

What began as 2 acetaminophen,

became 2 250mg ibuprofen, and discovered you cannot consume this with Ritalin at the same time as it makes your heart race like a horse, so spaced each apart about 1-2hrs.

Then it became 1 600mg ibuprofen,

then became 1 600mg ibuprofen + 1 500mg acetaminophen,

then became 4 500mg acetaminophen,

And then I threw up. 2 straight days of stomach pain. Felt undigested pills sitting there in my stomach folds.

Then back to 1 500mg acetaminophen one hour, another an hour later. Ritalin on the 3rd hour.

Damn, my life has GOT to stop being so much fun!

Finally going on medication for the first time in middle age

So I'm middle aged, and I finally pulled the trigger on this choice.

The photo up there is selected because I've been taking medication. And oranges. Why I just ate an orange a minute ago, as I have been for months. For the vitamin C. C, for (avoiding) Covid. However, I just learned acid foods tend to interfere with Ritalin medication, so I have to time it to consume way after taking the pills, and never right before. This dietary restriction is a new thing for me and still getting used to it. Also, the stringent schedule of taking my meds at certain times of day, I find a nuisance, so that's new.

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMR3wgWum/

The Ritalin was just the icing on the cake, because the other medical procedures I've procured on my bountiful medicaid has had me thriving.

Finding out I have Lupus

Lupus is an autoimmune disease. Autoimmune diseases tend to attack the healthy body tissues. In severe cases, needing to replace vital organs like kidneys (see Selena Gomez) lungs, liver... Chemo can be a remedy if it progresses bad enough. The rheumatologist who tested me, found that I have all the markers for Lupus, since my joints have been hurting like a mofo, and struggle carrying one bag of groceries. It's that bad, and I feel drained of energy all the time. Had the butterfly rash on my face for about 4 years, and always wondered why my brown ass be having rosacea. Fatigue, rashes and hair loss are a thing, and I've seen a few tiktoks of Lupus suffers to get a picture. https://vm.tiktok.com/ZM8hHjgNU/ and https://vm.tiktok.com/ZM8hH8uc4/ and man, I too, have trouble opening those juice bottles! Felt that in my soul!

Doctor said she was gonna retest me in December to rule out a false positive, so, we'll see.

The Lupus thing is harsh, more than I first realized. It's knocking my ass down lately. I've been scouring the internets for advice and solutions. What I've gathered so far, is that a drastic dietary change needs to happen. No more potatoes/tomatos/eggplants/peppers/processed meats. Being of Latino heritage, this is goddamn hard, as these foods are in our everyday diets.

I'm experimenting with substitutions and eliminations in my diet right now, but it's difficult to do when you're in physical pain from dental problems and joint problems and all the fatigue from the Lupus. I'm almost afraid to eat now.

I have very little clarity to get things done lately.

I have a friend who also has Lupus, mentioned a product to me called POMI that is basically skinned/seedless tomatos in a box. The skin and seeds is what causes Lupus flareups, according to her. I'll have to look into that. Basically, shifting to an auto-immune diet is really freaking hard.

Did I mention the sun causes flareups? Yeah. Had the window in the shower open, sun began cooking my body while I was covered in shampoo. Coming out of the shower, my neck was all red and itchy. This adjustment period is a complete asshole in my life right now.

When I crawl back under the covers from a Lupus shakedown, I too, turn into a whimpering puppy dog.

In this month of 👹SPOOKTOBER👹 I am almost done with dental works, and beginning to work on managing my Lupus. I am at my wits end with all of the physical pains, yes. But also, giving myself permission to not freak out over any level of stress life throws my way. Managing my time better. Prioritizing health. Heading back into the writing game. ✔️

My Author Journey - Feb 1, 2021

noreply@blogger.com (Onyx Towers) — Sat, 06 Mar 2021 13:38:00 +0000

UPDATES! With, some memes!

So I started writing this on February 4, now March 6. Lol!

Made and ate a BLT (bacon/lettuce/tomato) sandwich, and slapped a fried egg, some melted cheese and mayo, for the extra calories. (see Pic 1)

It snowed heavily all of February. We were deeply snowed in. Had to hire a crew to unbury us, twice, with shovels and a pickup truck with a snowplow in front. Cost over $200, but absolutely necessary for a 504 sq.ft. driveway and concrete path encircling the house. One time, we mistakenly waited it out, so that the sun would melt us out of the glacier front on our lawn, but forgot that the snow melts our backyard, not our front. We were stuck indoors for 3 days, before we were able to reach the front gate, true story.

Then, it snowed a third time, and the neighbors were kind enough to shovel us out, bless their hearts.

The night of the first snow that damned us :-p

But before that, on January 6, 2021, some rejects you find in a Walmart parking lot dumpster decided to attack the Capitol building of the United States, citing a pre-planned insurrection. This highlighted Trump's reign of terror, and many shady things came to light. So many of those imbeciles have been arrested by the F.B.I., including one of Trump's former aides.

The country and the world has woken up to the corruption, delusions, and retardation of our 'elected' leaders, with the public clamoring for pressing forward with TERM LIMITS for our old congressmen (I heard a rumor floating around that one of them currently has Alzheimers, geez) and Democrats calling for the demise of the useless action of Filibusters during congressional hearings. What is the political equivalent of 'kangaroo court'?

Meanwhile, when President Joe Biden took office, he had a light up memorial commemorating over 400,000 dead United States citizens from Covid-19. The orange goon took his former predecessor's outlined playbook of pandemic protocols and wiped his cheezburger fat asshole with it. Unreal. My area is the hardest hit in New York, and vaccines ran out days ago. Our household hasn't even had the first dose yet, even with elderly people.

The Covid-19 worldwide pandemic began in January of 2020. We're now in March 6, 2021 and not everyone can access the myriad of vaccines still. In the country that produces the biggest amount of billionaires per capita. Christ almighty...

And just the other day, many Republicans shot down a bill raising the minimum wage from $7.15 to $15. Rich people, who are so far removed from the tier of the working class, who cannot fathom what it's like to earn a NON-LIVEABLE WAGE decided poor people need to stay even more poor.

They also bitched and moaned about dispatching $1200 in funds to every household in the United States to help those who lost jobs and homes during the 2020 pandemic. Truly despicable, their lack of humanity.

Biden is moving forward to undo all the damage the orange goon has done. If I remember correctly, he has the goal of wiping out student loan debt on his list, so I hope it happens soon. Student loan debt is my only consumer debt, but is is hefty.

And with every person in the country pissed off by now, while watching the shit show of loonies making America look bad, who keep allowing themselves to be kicked around by the rich elite with lies of 'leftist propaganda', make the educated and rationally sane question just how stupid can humanity be??! Because it's that easy to pull the wool over the eyes of the hatefully ignorant. They're a powder keg waiting to go off, awaiting instructions through the form of a whisper in the ear, repeating what angers them, then it's just a slam dunk to tell them where the root of their anger comes from.

DEM LIBERALS! CAN'T TELL ME TO WEAR A MASK! COVID'S A LIBERAL LIE.

And other such garbage nonsense.

(my head has been hurting since this debacle began weeks ago, I don't think it's a coincidence)

The people they already hate are trying to control them!

Also, vote for me!

(just an observation, but sure sounds to me similarly to WWII nazi propaganda campaigns...)

When citizens deliberately choose to surrender their freedom of control, their own voices, and make room in their heads and hearts for an aggressive, overbearing power to use their persons as megaphones for their hatred and lies, it facilitates the process of brainwashing much faster. This, this is how people get sucked into cults. Because they surrender their control. They no longer want to 'think'. They're trusting that overconfident guy over there to do it for them. Surely they can be trusted?!

. . .

So naturally, all this acidic, bad behavior finally got everyone in the United States angry and loathesome. A small group of investors, as an experiment (as I understand it) decided to stick it to the (rich) man by over investing in stocks they put options on. Rich man placed bets on the bankrupting of Gamestop stock, and small investors bought up as much of that stock as possible, raising the value and screwing over the shorting of said stock.

It disrupted the system successfully. The poor used the same system the rich man has been using this whole time to bankrupt them, and instead turned the tables on them. But some investing platforms chose to save the (rich) men who placed the options and halted any more investing in those transactions. Talk about hypocritical.

Watching this circus of stupidity and fuckwits made me embarassed to be an American citizen. Not sure how you guys feel, but I am deeply ashamed. I've had European friends ask me what the hell is going on here. It's difficult explaining generational retardation to those with better educational systems.

Also...

The window was leaking, and we had it fixed. Then it leaked again. We had it fixed yet again. Then the toilet broke. We had it replaced. Then we replaced the dead microwave too. Because when it rains, it pours. At the same damn time.

Sigh.

Meanwhile...

ALL OF MY PROJECTS ARE UNFINISHED. So to the point, I can't even bring myself to open Instagram and update it. I have been morose, and tired, and depleted. My head is foggy and I cannot think straight, form sentences. My family and friends have noticed and describe me as 'zoned out'.

I thought it was from all this political strife happening on the national level, so I stopped reading the news hoping to recharge my batteries. Nope! Seems something else is going on.

I would pay all the monies if this kind of support was a thing!

And now, a short break from our potato overlords...

I feel that I am psychologically the very best version of me that ever was, at this point, and that's when I realized the meaning of the phrase, "Youth is wasted on the young."

Because now my physical body seems to be not keeping up.

Evidently, a writer's strike ensued during the first half of my life.

No, I'm not getting enough rest. Half the time, I'm awake on Tokyo time because of, well, anything. I wake up when I wake up. It's usually due to staying awake 18 hours on one day, and waking at 2 AM the next. Pretty sure my circadian rhythm is blown to hell at this point.

And whenever I have just a few minutes to myself, do I spend it writing? At all? NO! I doom scroll on my tablet, past all the shaky-American-government-shenanigan headlines on my news app that fill me with rage, only to discover celebrities dying out of nowwhere (RIP Cloris Leachman :-( -but we still have Betty White, so best 1/2? ) and civil unrest in yet another part of the world. Sigh.

I feel old and tired.

Speaking of which...

I cannot tell you how much this hurts me on a very deep, deep level.

And of course, my SADS (seasonal affective disorder) kicked in right on cue, so my body has been struggling in the harshness of this frosty season.

In warm weather, I rise early and zip around knocking off everything in my To Do list. In Winter, I yawn a lot, wanna sleep more hours, and eat carb rich foods I normally do not consume. Also, more bummed out, despite the vitamin D gummies I've been eating. I guess I'm just solar powered.

Sure, I wanna hibernate until Spring, like a mountain bear, but no, something else is happening here. I wrote lists to sort myself out. I tried over sleeping. Still addle headed. Consuming more daily vitamins. Adding extra fresh fruit to diet. Nope. Same problem. Yawning all hours of the day still.

So enough is enough. I went to the Obamacare website, actually called the Affordable Care Act, because my friend is 100% covered through it, even though he owns a business and a car and two houses. I thought you had to be a complete broke-ass bitch to get any help from it. He told me as long as you can prove any source of livable income, you qualify.

Actually, that was incorrect.

I went to the website, but because I selected New York state (where I live) it redirected me to the NY government site, (NY has the best welfare package in all the country) and there was a convoluted site for signing up for poor people's healthcare (called Medicaid, when you are completely broke-ass). I had the people on the phone tell me EXACTLY what to click on because it's not a user-friendly website. They were kind, and agreed with me about the abysmal website navigation.

The last time I had Medicaid, it did not cover labwork, and I got a mystery bill of $150.00 for something I didn't even order from some mystery company. Kept showing up as a debt on my credit report for years. I didn't trust it after that.

Now, in 2021, it covers everything: Labwork, physical therapy, eye glasses, dental. But back then, it didn't. Problem is, not a lot of doctors accept this Medicaid. I had to go through an entire directory listing of doctors for days and days, looking for one freaking doctor to help me. Finally found a medical outfit in NYC that did televisits. That doctor wanted me to get a physical and bloodwork, and a thyroid panel, to explain my lethargy, but did prescribe my very first anti-depressant. Murrica, amirite?

Back to the search for more doctors. They never call you back, even if you leave a message. Of the ones that do, many do not accept new patients. Hey doctors, can you please put taht info clearly visible on your websites?? Sigh. Finally, after 3 weeks of searching, found one who would see me, but not until end of this month. Stupid American healthcare. Hopefully they can figure out why I've been so, so, so goddamn exhausted. Seriously, haven't been this tired since I used to pull all nighters studying during my university days.

But I am happy I finally got some effing health care, after so many years of going without. Gotta do whatcha gotta do.

I also got my state ID card renewed, so that I may be able to hop on a plane, and not get my new medical coverage revoked, where it's required. They call it, the 'Enhanced Card' and they charge you more money for it. The line at the DMV was fast, but there was a screw up with the spelling of my name, as it is a compound word of two first names, and some documents spell it with a space in between, others as one whole name. I just told the chick behind the glass counter to spell it whatever way gets me home faster. She laughed. Glad I finally got it overwith. It expired back in 2016 and hadn't any cash to renew it then.

Make lemonade with those lemons! As much as I wanna get back into the writing swing of things, I gotta check my health first. Been ignoring it for 22 years from lack of coverage, so it's finally hit fever pitch. Cannot wait any longer. I will try to sneak in some writing in between, but it will be quite sparsely I'm afraid.

Something's better than nothing, eh?

Need to polish my writing skills to be this top notch. So jealous. Keep writing, everyone!

How Men Describe Women In Books

noreply@blogger.com (Onyx Towers) — Sat, 26 Dec 2020 23:37:00 +0000

Astounding, the amount of adjectives used to illustrate a woman's nipple. Dark areolas? Really? Do women go into full detail on men's apparatuses? Like, how the vein is in the shape of Florida so it's uniquely distinguishable from the last boyfriend, or something...?

BTW, this is the Reddit thread where this gem came from:

https://www.reddit.com/r/menwritingwomen/

List Of Online Book Shops Stores Retailers Independent

noreply@blogger.com (Onyx Towers) — Tue, 18 Aug 2020 00:44:00 +0000

Behold! A megalist of book shops!

This list is ever growing; will be continuously updating this list. If you wish to nominate a book shop for the list, send me a DM thru Twitter, Instagram, or any of my social media handles, and I will happily add it on :-)

Last updated: Oct. 3, 2020

A List Of Independent Bookshops To Rival Amazon

So! I've compiled a big ass list of online book retailers, if any of you feel like maybe giving your hard earned money to independent book stores, instead of the Amazon giant who already has enough cash in their coffers.

Money Rich GIF from Money GIFs

Use Bookshops To Print Out Copies for Yourself

This is also helpful if you want to sell your books there. Remember to use your own ISBN number, and not the FREE ISBN that you get from Amazon, Kobo, or other book selling platforms, as book shops will not permit your book to sell there with it.

Here is a great write up of what that entails: https://newshelves.com/2017/08/04/how-to-find-stores-that-will-sell-your-book/

As I understand it, sometimes you may ask the book shops, whether online or brick and mortar, if they'll agree to let you order your own books in print on reserve, so you can buy a couple hundred print copies of your own book, at retail pricing, and then pick them up. Some stores will agree to it, as they profit from the difference. It bumps up your numbers for the best seller lists from the participating stores, then that store makes a tidy guaranteed profit upfront, and now you have enough print copies to sell at book signings, book conventions, state fairs, and anywhere else.

Remember, to sell your book outside of Amazon and other online platforms, and get it into actual brick and mortar book shops, and libraries, you need to purchase your own ISBN. Here's a video that explains that better:

Also, I found a place that does fulfillment on a much larger scale: https://secure.mybookorders.com/fulfillment.php

So I'll list them below and you can check them out. If they are in a different country, I'll make a note. None of these are listed in any particular order.

thriftbooks.com

List of Online Book Shop Retailers, Domestic and International

https://www.hpb.com/home/

https://forbiddenplanet.co.uk (UK)

https://mrbsemporium.com/contact/ (UK)
https://www.abebooks.co.uk/ (England; they also have stores in Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Australia, France, Canada, United States)
https://us.gestalten.com/pages/about (Non-Fiction and art & design; In Germany, but ships to USA, Swiss, Norway, EU)
https://www.ark.no/ (In Norway)
https://bazarow.com/ (in Netherlands)
https://www.bol.com/nl/ (Netherlands & Germany)
https://www.bookdepository.com/
https://bookoutlet.com/
https://bookrebel.com/
https://booksamillion.com/
https://bookshop.org/
https://www.booktopia.com.au/ (Australia)
https://www.angusrobertson.com.au/ (Australia)
https://www.thalia.de/shop/home/show/ (Germany)
https://www.genialokal.de/ (Germany)
https://www.kennys.ie/ (Ireland)
https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/ (Toronto, CA; site is also in French for Quebec residents)
https://www.betterworldbooks.com (US & UK; ships to multiple countries but suspended service to some of them, due to COVID-19)
http://www.feedbooks.com/about (strictly ebooks)
https://www.hive.co.uk/ (England)
https://www.mightyape.co.nz/books (New Zealand)
http://thepolishbookstore.com (In USA, but site is in Polish)
https://www.mondadoristore.it/ (Italy)

Book Stores Shops Buying Selling Recycled Books

List of Independent Book Stores Shops

https://www.waterstones.com/bookshops (UK & EU)

https://shakespeareandcompany.com/15/online-store/16/bookstore (France)

http://www.hay-on-wyebooks.com/ (UK)

http://www.boothbooks.co.uk/ (UK)

https://www.gladdaybookshop.com/ (CAN)

http://commonwealthbooks.com/ (Massachussetts, USA)

http://www.dicksonstreetbooks.com/#dsbs-set (Arkansas, USA)

https://www.ilovedogear.com/ (Arkansas, USA)

https://www.brightsidebookshop.com/ (Arizona, USA)

http://www.mostlybooksaz.com/ (Arizona, USA)

https://poisonedpen.com/ (Arizona, USA)

https://www.tatteredcover.com/ (Colorado, USA)

https://www.banksquarebooks.com/ (Connecticut, USA)

https://www.bethanybeachbooks.com/ (Delaware, USA)

https://camelotbooks.com/ (Florida, USA)

The Bookshelf (Georgia, USA)

Avid Bookshop (Georgia, USA)

https://www.ravenbookstore.com/ (Kansas, USA)

https://pyramidbooks.indielite.org/ (Massachussetts, USA)

dreamhavenbooks.com/ (Minnesota, USA)

https://www.astoriabookshop.com/?q=h (New York, USA)

Timbuktu (New York, USA)

Anna Grace (New York, USA)

The River’s End (New York, USA)

Sissy’s Cafe (New York, USA)

https://whitepawbookscuriosities.wordpress.com/ (New York, USA)

One Grand Books (New York, USA)

Elizabeth Boutique (New York, USA)

Books Are Magic (New York, USA)

Habit (New York, USA)

Word Bookstore (New York, USA)

Spoonbill and Sugartown Books (New York, USA)

Book Culture (New York, USA)

https://forbiddenplanet.com (New York, USA)

https://www.broadwaybooks.net/ (Oregon, USA)

Savoy Bookshop & Cafe (Rhode Island, USA)

https://www.bookpeople.com/about-us (Texas, USA)

https://www.benningtonbookshop.com/ (Vermont, USA)

https://www.northshire.com/ (Vermont, USA)

https://www.facebook.com/pg/ebenezerbooks/about/?ref=page_internal (Vermont, USA)

http://leftbankbooks.com/ (Washington, USA)

https://www.ubookstore.com/contact-us (Washington, USA)

Comprehensive Lists of Book Stores Shops

http://www.bookfinder4u.com/member/store_reviews/store_list.aspx (USA)

https://www.newpages.com/independent-bookstores (USA & Canada)

https://www.allbookstores.com/stores (All over the world)

My Author Journey - July 28, 2020

noreply@blogger.com (Onyx Towers) — Sun, 16 Aug 2020 19:49:00 +0000

So, I've shifted gears since last post.

(I wrote this a few days ago, so now it's just rainy and humid like swamp ass...)

Bear with me, we're undergoing a goddam heatwave in the Northeast, and the second floor of my house always turns into a yearly summer hotbox. Because my dad doesn't think it's important to have a screen on the front door, it's too much money. Because he picked a bay window during the last renovation that opens vertically, and only two windows of six open. And because the sun bakes that corner of the house, where the damn kitchen is at, and he says it's too expensive to put another air conditioner in. He'd rather save money and kill us in the process. Yeah, he's one of those 'thermostat dads'. *insert eyeroll*

Thank GOD almighty we're Carribean folk and have amazing heat tolerance powers, because right now, it is like the surface of freaking Hoth, or the sun's butthole! Just today temperatures climbed to 94F°/34.4C°!

via GIPHY

Because of COVID-19 fucking up the entire planet, and my best laid plans, we were not able to sell the house this year. It's beginning to look like maybe next Spring is it. However, I'm moving my dumpy ass down south much sooner. All of our plans were postponed due to the ongoing pandemic. We're only beginning to get some semblance of normality, and I know this, because yesterday my father returned from Costco with the first batch of toilet paper stack that we haven't been able to shop for, since January. We live in New York, so luckily, not in one of those heehaw states with the bumblefuck governors that have one hand on their baby dick, and another scratching their collective talking heads going "DUH-HAW?!" everytime a reporter asks them about public safety measures regarding COVID-19. We're pretty good at keeping this thing at bay here. I am worried once I move though.

Last time...

So, since last I wrote, our kitchen window was getting fixed, as well as the leak in the bathtub faucet. Handy capable dude from our church fixed that, finally, including the giant cranium-sized hole in the sheetrock my mother put in with her skull when she fell over. Now the wall is smooth like buttah. Also, I no longer have to plug paper towels around the window frame every time it rains. He gave a huge discount as he got furloughed from work, so I didn't need to get angry like I usually do when my father hires morons who are unlicensed that charge full price. This time, life gave our family a break.

The car was amazingly resurrected from the dead, just in time to get the inspection sticker on, but with much difficulty, as the repair guy informed us. He says it's the car model, it's known for a defect that makes the engine light come on regardless of anything. Terrific. I also renewed the plates online for my dad, (first time registering online for him, for ANYTHING) so he could avoid the crowded Department of Motor Vehicles and not get infected with COVID-19. Amusingly, he was amazed when I told him he could find the VIN number (vehicle identification) on the side of the car door, (he's in his 80s and only learned now) and he equally schooled me by telling me it's also located on the corner of the windshield, (I'm middle aged and just learned that) only it was so faded by sunlight so he couldn't read it. Look at that, we learn something new every damn day!

He doesn't know it, and most likely throw a fit about it if he were the wiser, but I keep a file of all important account numbers for him, as he is very unorganized. And a calendar for him as well. And a list of medications. Yes, these are all important for old people. These admin tasks also take away from valuable writing time for me.

My new moving plans

Since COVID-19 blew all our plans to hell, I had to make new ones. Me and my brother came to an agreement, that sometime this Winter we would escort my mother to the nursing home. But first, we had to have a long talk that involved becoming reasonable, and amicable, despite our many differences. Diplomacy will get us through this! 😰 So I'm going down to the Carribean, then up to North Carolina, and not returning to this house, ever.

I also divorced myself from the selling and emptying of the house. I'm setting an entire room with boxed up documents that need shredding, and either I will handle this myself, or hire someone to do this. With so many people furloughed in our church, shouldn't be difficult to find people.

A lady from our church will handle the logistics of removing furniture from our house, cuz I ain't emptying shit. I just don't have the strength. My mind is solid, my body, flimsy like cling-wrap. Just lifted groceries two days ago up the stairs, and hurt the tendons from three fingers so bad, it hurt brushing my teeth, for two days straight. Hurt my knees, hurt my ankles, well I'm clearly a goddamn mess! Being middle-aged sucks a big bag of dicks!

via GIPHY

Accurate representation of my life right now, with a refreshed perspective! We put some lip gloss on that there piggy:

via GIPHY

What have I been doing in terms of writing?

A couple of things, actually! It may not seem that way, because I have been taking extensive breaks from Instagram to get things done (and to some degree, abandoning gaming too) but yeah, slowly but surely, this tortoise is building momentum.

MEANWHILE, I've relocated that energy towards opening a new online store! It'll have all the bookish merchandise I just cannot find online. I already opened it two days ago, but haven't begun advertising yet.

I removed the slider javascript on my site that malfunctioned a while ago, that looked like a big, boring, empty gray box. Luckily I remembered some HTML/CSS and pilfered through all that fucking code, line by line, because Blogger changed their look and now F3 doesn't work. Thanks google! *sarcasm* Anyway, took a while, but I finally ripped it outta there!

Forgive me for using many expletives, this heat has me cranky and murderous. 🔥😡🔥

I built an animated ad

Next, I decided to use that area to fill with banner ads. Ads of my own merch store, that is. So for the last 48hrs, I retaught myself to do animations after many years of not. Like riding a bike! The only tricky thing was remembering formatting, and applying hyperlinks, which I did, easy squeezy. So I finally put it up. And tested it across devices.

If you'll notice the banner ad on the front page of my blog, that looks like that one below, it'll take you to the store if you click on the right place:

Originally I titled it "Red Ink Press" but there's some sites that go by that name already, and other derivatives of. I had to scrap that name fast, create a new one, and park that across all social media. It was exhausting, and took about 4 hours of my time.

Also, I had to redo this animated ad to include the new name. It involved a minor tweak, but I did have to rewrite the code. Yes, animated banner ads have code, surprise, surprise.

I finally created my own publishing label

Red Fluid Press is my label now. Red fluid is obviously incinuating blood. Or ink, if you're much too timid.

The "Coming Soon" portion is due to the fact that I haven't launched my books yet. It does make me sad, but I'm about done with at least one, and I can actually send some of my stories from my anthology off to beta readers now.

(it's been over a week, so I just continued this post so much later on)

My debut novel will be FREE.

Not KU free, but just plain ol' permafree. You're welcome! I will be making animated instagram announcements and also, on my facebook. Stay tuned.

Speaking of Beta Readers...

I have been formulating a giant fucking spreadsheet of all places I can pimp my books to, and some of those groups are beta reader groups. One column I dedicated to only Facebook groups. That list keeps growing. It's exhaustive to build this list, but necessary when the time comes to pimp it out.

That there spread sheet also has comprehensive lists of book tubers, (youtube channels that review books) book marketers, and the like. I split them into paid and FREE.

I do this because, when the time comes to do my pimping, I'm not gonna remember all of the places I learned about. I'll just go straight down the list, so I don't have to rebuild the wheel here. Target this group and that. Badaboom.

I've also been drawing illustrations for my horror book anthology, one per story. You're welcome ;-)

So, here is all I've been doing so far:

Unfinished illustrations for my adjoining horror story.

How my ebook template looks so far, for my debut horror novel.

Well, that's all I have so far. My back hurts, cuz I'm a pansy with a very weak skeleton. Or maybe it's because I recaulked both kitchen window frames to keep seasonal ants from swarming in, I dunno. Maybe I'll write a horror story about that, since I'm already feeling the horror every day, owwie. 💢

My Author Journey So Far - April 22, 2020

noreply@blogger.com (Onyx Towers) — Tue, 28 Jul 2020 09:48:00 +0000

COVID-19 AND WRITING
...wth???

Yes, I wrote this back in late April. Been hella busy, but try catching up.

Well, so many things have happened during this trying time!

Spotted at the anti corruption protests in Bucharest, Romania

I have listed all the major things that have happened since the beginning of the 2020 plague year, beginning to ~~end~~ now. No, I will not post links that you can google yourself, I don't have that kind of time.

LONG READ, as it, worth reading over the toilet for a while, kinda read!

You've been warned.

Timeline of COVID-19 NOVEL CORONAVIRUS

Beginning March 2020

Our nation's leader keeps spreading lies and misinformation over the first reports, but this is typical for the emperor with the baby fists
Our country allowed infected passengers from Wuhan, China to come into the country, with zero investigation
The virus they brought over spread all over the United States, beginning in the state of Washington, specifically the Seattle area
That same virus spread globally
A mass hysteria began of people ransacking stores for toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and non-perishable items
Quarantine orders went into effect, but not federally. Only some states and some counties are following orders
We discovered all mask & ventilator stockpiles were removed by our current president a few years ago
Our president is being investigated for secret dealings with communist ties
People at random began getting flu-like symptoms
Our idiot president blurted out to the public that this was a 'flu', and so the public didn't take it seriously, because most had already gotten their flu shots, misinterpreting their effectiveness.
We learned that for some reason, the immunocompromised and the elderly were easily affected, but we still don't know why

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's foremost expert on diseases control is held with high regard. Citizens are following his lead and his words on any latest news of this disease

People began dying from this virus
All health professionals panicked as there are not enough ventilators across the United States
Bad government spending and coverup stories are hitting the respected news journals

Anybody who needs to get tested is finding a wild goosechase of INEFFCTIVE phone setup by the government. One person called the hotline provided, told to call their doctor, told to call the hospital, told to call the hotline again. The story made national headlines as an embarassment to how little prepared the United States really is

All current tests for this virus are malfunctioning, and those that do, are at best offering only 50% effective results
All the hospital gowns ordered from China fell apart like tissue paper
Doctors and nurses are using garbage bags because there are NO masks or protective equipment to purchase by hospitals
Hospitals are firing those same health professionals for speaking out against the hospitals for forcing them to work with ZERO protective equipment.
We learned through the media that China is giving misinformation about how the virus spread, stating that the U.S. was responsible for it, despite that there is a virus testing laboratory a few yards away from ground zero of the virus spread
China ordered a few thousand crematory urns for the dead

People who ignored stay-at-home orders and went to the beaches in Florida and elsewhere, are now contaminated, some sick in hospitals
Businesses were now labeled as having essential, and non-essential workers. Some private non-essential businesses like Gamestop supposedly told their employees to come into work,and that they are essential. The governor reclassified what it means to be essential, such as doctors, nurses, water treatment, garbage collection, etc.
A new presidential campaign is underway for the November elections, and everybody worries the current occupier of the oval office will remain

The buzzword on healthcare reform is taking root, getting louder and louder

National tax deadlines have been pushed up from April to July, for both personal income and property tax

Every village idiot within United States borders are now bitching and protesting about opening up all businesses against quarantine orders, and gathering en masse in public squares, and the steps of every capitol building
Some of those same idiots are getting sick now, and some have already died in hospitals
Authorities are saying we are now flattening the curve, or spike, of infected people. However, just because you already caught covid-19 and overcame it, doesn't mean you cannot get reinfected

We are learning that some people who show no signs are 'asymptomatic' which means they are silent carriers. Some of them are egomaniacal and continue spreading and heading outdoors
People have grown weary of coronavirus headlines, hip to the fact that much of it is right wing retoric/ fake headlines disguised as factual evidence

The entire country has noticed that the Anti-Vaxxer movement has remained unusually silent over this global plague (surprise, surprise)

small businesses deemed non-essential, now have the option to qualify for financial relief through government loans. In minutes, they were gone. Many kept retrying for hours and days, just to find out the money ran out for the state they lived in. No one knows if they'll get more money to fund them, worrying about how many mom & pop shops will go under
Big name corporations took advantage of this financial relief, and got the money even if they have HUNDREDS of employees, to the rage of many small business owners

The White House is lifting quarantine restrictions soon, insisting that we're all OK now. Some experts speculate this is a calculated move to stop the financial hemorrhage of president babyfists' personal businesses, many of which are fancy hotels

False Prophet

And that brings us to now...

Some men just want to watch the world burn

This happened to our household while the world burned...

So, on March 10, 2020, our water heater got damaged.

That meant no hot water, and no heat for the entire house. That was bad, with temperatures dropping to 33F/0.5C at night.

We spent days trying to figure out if it was the thermostat that was busted, or the alternator. I also learned of how most old houses run on 120V currents, and how new thermostats do not work with that. AND, if you buy a digital thermostat for 120V (many modern thermostats use more voltage than that) that you can cause an electrical fire! Yikes!

We finally figured out we needed to replace the damn alternator, (the problem occurred only upstairs) and the local hardware chain store only sold the entire piece, for over $100 when the only part I needed only costs a few dollars. Hmm. Not only did I learn that plumbing stores carry that part, but also found that price set because I walked the quarter mile up the road to the hardware store, amidst the first week of the corona virus news.

Mind you, nobody was wearing masks yet, as we had no national information on it, and at the time, we understood it as a Wuhan-specific problem.

A family friend offered to change it for FREE, and he'd get an extra piece from his job, as he is an HVAC tech at a very prominent hospital. I trust his expertise, and you cannot beat a $0.00 repair job that normally costs $600.00, you just can't.

So we spent a week baking in too much heat, and freezing with the heat shut off, until our friend finally fixed the problem. The machinery was inside a closet downstairs where our tenant rents out a small room. He was already wearing a mask, but we understood this to be an effect of his ongoing heart condition.

However.

Did we catch corona virus?

FYI

The very next day, still in March, my elderly father got sick. Coughs and runny nose, like a regular flu. I had to monitor him closely, as he is diabetic. He never gets sick, so this was unprecedented.

The day after that, I got sick. Same symptoms as above, but not too bad. Last year's multiple flus were so much worse, and this was a cake walk. This was manageable. I did notify my friend by text, just in case. He did get early tested and came out negative.

In that first week, for one day, everything tasted weird. Like, my coffee tasted disgusting, and I almost spit it out. Thought the milk went bad, but it didn't curdle or smell. Weird. All other food lost it's taste too. I lost my appetite.

At this time, we didn't know what symptoms coronavirus gave off, because nobody knew just yet, so we weren't fully panicking.

A day or two after that, for a whole 24hrs my chest felt like I smoked four cartons of cigarettes back to back. It was heavy, and yucky. But the very next day, that feeling went away.

The next couple of days were annoying.

I had a splitting headache for over a week straight.

Now I am not a person who succumbs to headaches at all, so this was indredibly alarming. Originally I thought it was because I needed caffeine, as in, if i don't get my daily 3 cups, I get a headache. So I drank caffeinated coffee, lots of it. Headache did not go away.

Now in the news they're reporting Ibuprofen with COVID-19 is bad news, so I switched to acetaminophen for the first time in 3 decades. This time, it actually had an effect, to my surprise, since it never did before. Perhaps I have evolved/mutated?

A few days later, I began over-the-counter taking flu meds, making home made chicken bone broth soup, adding powdered turmeric in large doses, upping our ginger tea count, and sprinkling minced garlic into every dish I could think of.

I guess it worked, we weren't as sick as with last year's flu, but I did offer hot water bottles to my father, and the heating pad. My mother is largely unaffected by flu, ever, and certainly not by this. Evidently, she had a cough that came and went, and one day, her normally cold hands were burning hot, like hot irons, which was strange for her low blood pressure. They were dry, and freaky bright red. It looked like she took them out of a nuclear reactor!☢

I have no idea if we succumbed to corona virus, because we have no thermometers in the house. Last time my father went to the pharmacy for my mother's meds I asked him to pick one up. Instead, full of fear of contamination, he ran like hellfire though the pharmacy, all the way up to the counter, now shielded in bulletproof glass, taking the meds fast, and according to him, sprinting right out through the most direct line possible, all the way to the car, in his surgery mask. He's utterly terrified of this, and in a high risk group, so I can't blame him. The thought of him moving so fast is comical though.😂

Where are we now with covid-19 still lurking about?

It is now the end of April.
My household is in full blown crisis.

It has been a perfect storm. A perfect storm of caca happening here.

We have physically recovered from that one sickly week, but I have spent it since monitoring my parent's health and my own (I haven't had health insurance in 22 years so it's crucial I do not get ill) and now dangerously low on food. I've been asking any friends to help us out, as the car has now died in our driveway from inactivity. When it rains, it pours! Even if we wanted to, now we really cannot go pick up food from the grocery store! My father disconnected the car battery in a weak attempt to keep it lasting longer, not sure if that will work, but he keeps busy.

Meanwhile, we were finally able to see the back wall of our refrigerator in a very, very long time. This is cause for alarm.

Cleaned out all the expired food from my fridge. What is this life I lead?

One friend from the church choir came to our aid, but only because I asked via text message, so we now have a week's work of scrap food to consume. Lasagna noodles and marinara? Sure, why not? I haven't cooked a lasagna since 1994, but ok, better than starving. Oh, gotta make it veggie, since we have no minced meat.

The most disappointing part of this year, is that all of my plans to move forward with my life have been put on hold yet again.

My mother's surgery was cancelled as elective, and we had to put off selling the house next month. I thought I was finally done with living in NY and taking care of the old folks, but NO.

We also had to cancel the trip to the DMV (needed upgraded license to fly in airplanes), put my passport shit on hold, redo my birth certificate also on hold, and postpone my dad's minor surgery. All the major preparations we were to do earlier this year on hold yet again.
Sigh.

Stumbling onto my father's newly senile state

I tell you, the timing for this could not be worse! The absolute worst came this past week, because I have been asking around for help, and we're so low on food, I have taken to asking around. My father showed a very nasty side of him I have never seen in four decades of knowing him. He went absolutely apeshit because I dared ask strangers for help. He is a very proud man, who will let his family go right to hell rather than ask for much needed help.

The catalyst?
I set up online accounts with his favorite grocery stores to order online, then asked him for his bank card to place the order. He became largely uncomfortable, as most old folks are around computer shit, and told me we still have food, and whined about why I'm even doing this to him! Why? Because he cannot go out into public, that's why.
?!

The food we do have?
Expired cans of string beans from 8 years ago.
Cans of various sauces such as marinara, and alfredo, a random jar of mushrooms, multiple bottles of ranch dressing, a third of expired refrigerated food that I just finished putting out for trash collection, frozen veggie burgers, frozen sausages, and the rest, all condiments.

He's sensational enough that he believes we can live on this for another few weeks. Why yes, let's put a little ranch dressing into our sweet condensed milk and call it a breakfast shake, I mean, what the freaking hell, right?!

According to my father, I am not allowed to ask for help/ not allowed to order groceries online/ not allowed to order take-out food for delivery/ not allowed to ask people to donate food to us. I have been instructed as much.

Also according to him, he will NOT fix the car anytime soon. But what about the bills piling up? Just pay them late, via snail mail! Well I smell a buncha late fees being tackled on, which he will surely bitch into my ear about later on.

But what about the leaky faucet in the bathroom tub that began months ago? It fills a bucket full every hour? Why, we'll just dump the water into the toilet and NOT flush! Two birds, one stone!

I wish I was kidding. I am not kidding.

My head hurts yet again.😵

BUT WAIT, he's choosing to replace the entire leaky kitchen window tomorrow! Out of nowhere, expensive home repairs!

Because things like food and transportation are NOT NECESSARY, but yes! We must fix that leaky window! Let's run up several thousand dollars worth of unnecessary home repairs RIGHT FUCKING NOW, two months before the property tax of $6,000.00+ is due, for a married couple on limited benefits totalling less than $1,400/mo.
YES, because that makes all the sense in the world! Let's choose this detrimental point in time to do this!

????????????????

False Prophet

When the car was working, we assumed he wasn't going to try to go into public for anything. Now that it's not working, (GREAT FREAKING TIMING) he insists he can take the patio cart we have for collecting weeds, and go all the way to the Chinese take-out restaurant, and haul it back. Mind you, he is in his eighties, doesn't walk much, and that place is all the way on the other side of town, about 45 min. walking one way. I reminded him we can order for delivery, as it is a take-out restaurant. He flipped out on me, insisting he can walk, so why should he get delivery?

In his mind, getting take-out delivery is the same as asking for help/expensive/implies weakness.

Again, what the hell?!

Now the car is dead. TOTALLY DEAD. RIP Toyota, you were a decent car, with a spectacular moon roof.

According to my father, now I'm supposed to go into public and retrieve food, but on foot. Imagine me, carrying a month's worth of food for over a mile on foot. And oh no, I cannot at any cost, ask the neighbors for a ride. No! I must go by foot like some Berber crossing the Sahara for a rather large bucket of water.

Yeah, I'm not doing that.
I have had childhood bronchitis several times, so that's weakened my lungs considerably, and he's aware I have no health coverage. The last thing I want to do with my meager life, is to become bait for a highly infectious disease, just because someone needs to be right, and placate their own ego. Trump, anyone?

One more time, WTH??!

But wait, it gets better!

Because I asked his church choir friends for help, and the one guy dropped off food for us, he went batshit crazy on me upon my confession that it was my doing. He thought they were visiting him out of nowwhere, but stupid me, I confessed I asked for that dude's help, and my father lost it. How dare I, ask people for help?! What a horrible willful, lazy child I am! Yep, he said all of these words to me.

What am I doing with my life? Is it my writing? No.

Look, my mother is defenseless, and we must provide for her, as she is in the last stages of her Alzheimers. My father, he's been going senile for the last few years, but I cannot believe that now, DURING A QUARANTINE DUE TO A PLAGUE, senility went full throttle.
Now? Really?!

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck you, mother nature, you bad bitch! Bad, bad timing!

My brother, who I am estranged to, I have been contacting desperately over the last few days to send us some much needed food, or money to get food from. I don't make any money as a full time caregiver, with my parents on medicare, otherwise I would've handled the food situation myself. If they were on medicaid, it would be a much different story, where I would get paid by the government. However. Being on medicare means, you're too poor to afford the high rates that give you full coverage, but not poor enough to qualify for medicaid. Stuck in the bad zone.

The American government is all like, Yep, you have one car (16yo, keeps stalling out) and one house (in a low rent neighborhood, in need of renovations soon) therefore, you are clearly super rich. No help for you!

Government is also like, Several billions in grant funds for millionaire corporations, or course, without a doubt!

But poor civilians asking for weekly allowances after they lost their jobs due to Covid-19? How dare they ask for money from the American government?! They're clearly libtards! Demanding livable wages and affordable health care, how dare they!

This, this is a highly tenuous situation.

Yikes for me! Yikes for all of us!

2020 has definitely shifted me out of all of my comfort zones.
Personally, I'm poor and I suck. I know. I get it. Shut up. One order of major life change, coming right up!

Deep breath. Very long sigh.

We're drowning. In madness and despair.

Somebody hit the OFF button on 2020 already!

Maybe someone will find me hunched over this keyboard dead of hunger, and flies and ants swarming my carcass, eyeballs first. If so, take my written notes of upcoming books and get them ghostwritten, for the sake of the universe!

I struggle with prioritizing

I don't mean to disparrage my family in any way in saying all of this. But I do know the struggle of trying to choose which events to prioritize in life. Most people give up and put their family ahead of their needs, abandoning self-care in the process. I'm on call 24/day, and have to spring to every emergency that comes my way. Therefore, the only way to remove myself from this situation is to move the fuck out. That was the plan, before the plague hit, and all the shit hit the fan.

Can't do anything about plague, can redirect my own life though. Time to re-plan.

Asking the real questions here

What's more important right now? My lifelong happiness/career/aspirations/realizing dreams, or cleaning the floor they dropped food on for the millionth time, before we get ants? Decisions, decisions.

It's the same with writing. I have several unfinished books written, some halfway, some almost done, some only exist in outline. Some books I have formatted in Notepad, some in InDesign, some in Open Office. I just cannot pick and choose which is the best way, or what sort of schedule works for me in terms of writing.

Picking and choosing has long been my kryptonite, and without external involvement, I am left to stew in my juices of contemplation/confusion.

I get stuck. For days. For weeks.

This, is is why I never get done with anything. Because I don't know how to choose. What's more important, A or B? I don't know!

I cannot be the only writer who gets stuck like this?!

My plans have changed irreparably

I mean, dammit! I was so close! So very close!
Then COVID-19 fucked up my fucking plans!
FUCK.
I will say this. I have no intention of staying in New York past this winter.

I had no clue I was going to deal with such as serious situation this year, like my father losing his cool during a goddamn pandemic, of all instances! And even though I offered to see their affairs all the way though, to the bringing of my mother to a nursing home in the Carribean, where her sister now receives adequate care, all the way to the eventual sale of the house, I may have to politely bow out. But, I am afraid I may have to leave much sooner than that.

I have to save myself first. Self love, baby!

I have to peel myself away from other people's affairs and instability. They're not bad people, they're sweet and kind, and have always been good to me. It's just that they're ineffective at executing decisions, and poor planners. They wing it, all of life's problems. They've been lucky for decades with that method, but now the luck has run out. Their poor planning is their responsibility, not mine. I did my part, now if they choose to jump into the fire pit, I will not follow.

Watching the entire progression of two adults become old, crippled, exhausted, and lose grip on reality, well...it's like watching a train wreck. Can't look away. Add to that personal heart break. The mental anguish is what really gets ya.

I've been their personal guard dog at the gates since 2009, protecting them from identity theft, price gouging, illness, obtaining a cell phone for emergencies (they fought me on it), adjusting their bills, filling out their doctor's forms with the tiny print, filling out the insurance forms with the teensy, tiny fonts for when their cars got totalled by other idiot drivers, (twice) and calling the ambulance as needed, but I am so, so tired now.

So very tired.😓

My patience is completely gone. Everything is an opposing argument where I flare up fast. Shortest fuse, ever. Takes me hours to calm my ass down. Not a psychologically healthy mindset. I hide downstairs for hours to regain my sense of self, and remember to get writing again. It's difficult, to regain my previous momentum, especially with no one to talk to.

And in the back of my mind, I am reminded that I have no income to speak of, and how it's pathetic for someone my age. I have had to shutter my graphic design store five years back, knowing I'd never pick up that business run momentum ever again, in lieu of placing my parent's health concerns above my personal ambitions, their ever growing needs completely replacing my income altogether. I said as much to my brother last winter, who suggested I stay even longer to watch them. No.
Hell no.

Huge battle of wills going on here in this family!

A while back I mentioned to my father that, if his mind goes, I won't be strong enough to deal with the both of them, as I was already burning out from my mother's ever growing needs. I'm aware of my limitations, and dealing with two sick people is way above what I can safely handle. In my particular situation, we are competely isolated from our family, which are habituated at least 1,000 miles in every given direction. Having them around would help more, as living by ourselves, we cannot have the very necessary interventions that would benefit my parent's current state of mind. If we did, I'm sure I wouldn't be drowning in this everlasting solitude and despair. We could've probably achieved more with family intervention. I"m sure of it.

I really do envy people who have cousins and siblings in town that come on by, at the drop of a hat to help you move a sofa.

This lack of support is something I knew was coming, but prayed I wouldn't have to face. I was seriously banking on the house sale to finally be done with all of this, and start my life in a new state. Who knew this PANDEMIC would happen now, at this moment in history?

Can't ever worry over things outside your scope of control. I keep forgetting that.

But now I am finally choosing myself again, for the first time, in a very long time.

In my head, I am finally okay with it. With choosing my own life, over someone elses.

Yes, fully aware I'm taking the tone of voice of some teenage girl's tumblr. Also, lol!

In middle age, I need to restart my life yet again

Now I have to go make money again.💲 Me, make money?! Oh shit! 💲 I wasn't good at it to begin with, but now?!!!

Dear baby Jesus, I do NOT need any more fucking challenges! Ease off already, universe!

This dog. I wish to become it. A furry OG, if you will.

I have to rebuild my life anew.
And I have to do it during a time of global crisis, of all things! You know, I haven't earned income in so long, that the dollar bills changed their design and I did not know about it until I saw my dad counting out cash to pay the auto repair guy. Wow.

Not gonna lie, being older, having no emergecy fund, having an outdated resume, and a network of contacts I have long forgotten is absolutely frightening. The idea of rebuilding my life for the third time is extremely unappealing, but I know to be necessary. And terrifying, my god! Everytime I fall, I break. I never have anyone to help me through anything, or pick me up. I'm a person who falls through cracks, so what will become of me?!

Duhn-duuuuhn!

Some files, mo**erfu**er

Surviving from weak job to weak job in my twenties, in one of the most expensive parts of the world, was hard enough, but to try it again at twice the age, with half the energy, and even less resources? Holy shit!

Man, I need for life to quit kicking me in the gonads. I need a Snickers bar or something. And steady income. I really miss that. Shit. Sorry, just planning out loud here.

The reason I have been saying all of these things is that, isolation, it's been killing us as a family unit. And it's killing my dreams of writing.

And I am no closer to my writing goals now than I was four, six, ten years ago! Nothing is getting completed! It is all a waste of time! My isolation isn't voluntary, and it keeps adding to my depression. My ADHD continues to go untreated, and now I have mysterious hip pains that without any health insurance, will not go away.

Living solitary lives means being cut off from anything that makes you feel human. You go a little crazy, and you start believing your own self-delusions. The brain lies to you more. Humans are meant to be social animals, and lengthy periods of solitude increase erratic behaviors. I mention this, because writers by nature, have jobs that require some form of solitude, and it's difficult to carve out some alone time if you don't have that luxury, and it's difficult to seek out companionship if your job demands the opposite.

Living in solitude, as I have come to realize, means having zero support network, and zero access to resources, or other human beings, unless you are one of those very rare human beings that are exeptional at networking. I'm currently in a lose-lose situation, and that has to change. I have to change. Every hour I dedicate to sweeping the floors in this large house, pulling up weeds, getting clawed by my combative mother in her hectic frame of mind, simply because I must wash her, this is all for what? This cannot be how I spend what remains of my best years.

50 isn't too far away, and I have friends that have openly stated they will welcome me with open arms should I choose to move closer to them. A fresh start, and with an affordable cost of living awaits me in the south. So why stay here? Where is the benefit for me? Should I continue wasting my life, with no pay, so somebody else can live in comfort? Or chance it, and start over from scratch, with outdated equipment, hope and a lean wallet?

Any fresh start in the real world is better than what I am going through now, even in this current political climate. Everything here is stale, cost of living is exorbitant, and opportunities have stalled out for me. I've done it before, living on my own, and I know I can do it again. I must. I'm not comfortable here; I don't get any of my shit done, and it's high time to break away from these worthless endeavors. Anything that doesn't bring me happiness, or put money in my bank account, is garbage.

It is the battle cry that anybody right on the cusp of excellence never bothers to highlight. It must be said. Because true works of art are at the fingertips of many genius creators who are also being strangled by terrible situations that bear no fruit. This is the a-ha moment no one ever talks about in magnanimity.

I put off the writing to take care of every aspect of my elderly paren't lives.
And now, I am choosing to walk away. 11 years is quite enough.

This was supposed to be a temporary situation. We simply didn't expect my mother to outlive her prognosis. I didn't expect my father to perpetually put off all the major life arrangements we needed to make, so he could simply avoid major life change altogether. I didn't expect to age out while waiting for them to move their collective behinds.

I, every aspect of my life, I give away too much, or too little, to every 'To Do' pile in my life. So I gave too much of myself to my family: My time, my billable hours, my knee joints functionality, to somebody else's needs.

That's on me, for giving myself away too much.

Yes, there is a limit. And in the noise of the illness, the hurricane and flood damage, I forgot where the damn cutoff was.

My fault!

This is in no way an easy decision to make, made all the more reasonable by bearing witness to my father's irrational behavior, emphasized by years and years of making poor choices. Any human being would get tired by now, of having to spend every waking hour preventing someone from self-harming with their voluntary ineptitude, for the umpteenth time in as many years.

I feel like I want to say that I am truly sorry that this situation has turned out this way, that is has culminated into a deep pool of gloppy resentment, mixed and bitter feelings that will most likely go unresolved, but I am in no way sorry for wanting to change my life.
I will never be sorry for that!

For what does it take to bring all of the helpful information in the world right under the noses of those that need it, only to watch them walk away from it in sheer hubris? That, "I know better!" attitude, that is condescending and remarkably out of touch with modern society?
How does this equalize, all the hard work and effort, and hours of researching government programs, applications for low income households, all so the afflicted can toss it aside, and not give one more though to it? What does it mean when the devastated poor reject help, because it involves a process of filling out forms, or some other paltry reason? Two fully grown people, making their choices, (albeit poor choices) and standing by it, in their confusion? Waltzing around the kitchen floor and preaching about "Jesus will stand by us" and counting on magic help from the divine to erase their pending problems? Good to have faith, but blind faith doesn't fix actual human problems, at least be realistic here, because you have to do your own part!

To me, it is no different than the simple-mindedness of those misguided hillbillies we see on the news channels marching up the capitol steps, marching up to city hall, loudly demanding for the quarantine to be lifted because of 'stupid liberals' and 'our rights being trampled on' for being forced to wear masks in public that stave off the spread of covid-19, good grief.The wanton egotism of people is something that I am highly allergic to. That, and willful ignorance.

Regardless, I have long, long struggled with this decision for the last several years. To be stuck in a losing situation for so long, and to finally kick over that hornets nest, is something incredibly hard to do. Shifting your mindset to fit another agenda, seeing that you've outgrown your current 'nest', these are major life changes, and never do they come easily, or do you go quietly. Courage and strength. Nothing is easy.

I counted myself selfish too often for thinking about developing a career when my folks were ailing. But I will now take my dear mother upon her words, words she told me six years ago early on in her illness:

"You need to go build your life, and we understand. But don't you worry about us, just go. I know you will be successful."

While that outcome remains to be seen, I do agree, it's high time I got started.

"Accept the things I cannot change, and wisdom to know the difference."

Acceptance.✔

Professor Farnsworth is never not funny! That, is an acceptable factoid.

And I kept putting off my book writing for every fucking emergency that came across our path. But it's time to sink or swim, and myself too. All grown adults need to be responsible for their personal choices and plan ahead for their needs. Most assuredly, they will continue making poor decisions onward, of that I have no doubt. The old dog doesn't wanna learn new tricks, just sit around lazily. And that dog will miss supper and go hungry, and maybe that hunger will make it change, we shall see.

Though I care deeply for my family (and it shows especially within the most erroneous of arguments) I feel it is best we all went our separate ways. We cannot remain stuck in this time stasis field. This ship must continue flowing forwards in time.

Zoom.

Zoom, zoom!

Me? I'm going to finally finish this book without all the useless catholic guilt. I started writing this murder-mystery book three years ago, and wouldn't you know it? It has a theme of a highly infectious disease, haha! If it isn't serendipity that this is all happening now, and I'd be a fool not to take advantage! *furiously scribbling notes*

- - - - - - - - -

Part 2 coming right up.

What Is An Author Platform

noreply@blogger.com (Onyx Towers) — Wed, 12 Feb 2020 16:08:00 +0000

Do I need an author platform?

Yes.

What is an author platform?

Read on, and I will tell you, my confused little chicken.

What is an author platform?

An author platform is basically a landing pad

for all your author information

all over the internet.

As in, if I was trying to look you up on the internet, where can I find you?

Do you have a website?
A blog?
A facebook?
A twitter?
Does your publisher have an author bio (biography) on their website that I can read about you, and your list of published books/
Do you have any press release materials on your books online?
Where on the internet are people talking about you?

Why are author platforms important?

Because your readers will want to know more about your stories, characters, your background as a writer, where & when you are coming out with the next book in the series, etc.

People are fickle and hop onto the hottest products out there. As a self-publisher, you are required to keep updating this info, and provide continuous service to your ~~readers~~ customers. Yes, self-publishing is essentially running your own home based business. Keep posting, and keep reminding people you are still selling books.

It's important not to discourage or turn away your readership. Keep posting notices, reviews, and news on your books and any other writings you do.

If you have a traditional publisher, they usually spend money setting this up for you, if they are not a tiny imprint publisher with a limited budget. The bigger they are, the more of these costly services they do to market your brand. They do however, take it from your future earnings, so keep that in mind.

So! Either your publisher has this info up on the world wide web, or you do.

If you are self publishing, you must do the leg work. Yes, you must open all of these accounts yourself.
Start small. Let me tell you how.

Get A Free Blog

Start with a FREE blog, like blogger.com or wix.com or wordpress.com (don't confuse with wordpress.org which is NOT FREE)

There is also weebly but I've never used them, so I cannot tell you about their effectiveness, sorry.

Use YouTube videos and look up some tutorials to help you set it up easily.

There are full shop services that do all of the setup for you. I cannot vouch for them, but feel free to check them out.

Here's an example of one: https://www.stormhillmedia.com/about-us/

What is a blog?

If you don't know what a blog is, you have not been paying attention since the late 1990's. Blog is short 'web log'. It's a computer version of dated journal entries.

A website is a fully functional online site. Websites contain data you fill it with, like photos, excerpts, links, videos, and anything else.

Websites have three basic $$ annual costs $$ (yes, you pay these every year except the template, just swap that out for a new one when you wanna give the site a facelift):

Domain name (which is the name you purchase to register, so you can get your custom author name on it, and .com or .net attached at the end)
Website templates (the look of your website, which is always customizable)
Web hosting (which is renting space on a business server; servers hold all of your website data, so people can look at it from around the world at various time zones, it remains active and running while you turn on and shut off your home computer) Services like Bluehost or Squarespace offer webhosting

Fully functioning websites have many bells and whistles, such as plugins, and as a newbie author, you don't need all that jazz. Unless you have an immense backlog of published books, it may not be necessary to implement just yet.

Keep it simple.

Either your website or your blog will become your home-base for all of your books and writings. You can make it link out to your social media like Facebook or Twitter.

What is analytics, and why do I need it?

After you get your blog or website up and running, go immediately to Google Analytics and sign up. You need to apply analytics to your web or blog address, stat.

Analytics offers pie charts and graphs of information as to where the traffic comes from on the internet, that goes to your blog/website. This is important. This will help figure out where to advertise more, and where to not advertise so frequently.

I just clicked on my stats for today, and these are some of what came up:

Because this service is free, it doesn't give detailed stats, just generalized results, but there are services like Kissmetrics that offer comprehensive data analytics for a premium.

As a writer, what do I put on my blog?

But instead of writing your feelings into each dated entry like some teenage girl, you, as a writer, are going to use it to journal your experiences with the following:

self-publishing,
meeting other writers at that writing convention,
famous author signed your copy of new book, (and here's a photo of that!)
going to a writer's retreat,
your next book launch date,
you are dropping the price on that beloved book everybody's been asking about,
you are starting a new book series,
just found out kindle changed their criteria! And maybe it's a bummer/relief
or the printers you hired screwed up your book order run
which book convention you will be attending coming up
where you plan to do your next book signing
basically anything related to writing

At base minimum, this is what you need to put on your blog or website:

You put up your author bio and keep it brief. (describe yourself; where you live, what type of fiction do you write, how many dogs you have)
List if you are currently a member of any writing guilds, or if you have won writing awards.
List your social media accounts where fans can look you up. (skip ahead to the section that shows you how to set up Facebook for authors)
MOST IMPORTANT: List your entire bibliography of published books, including a link to where people can purchase them (like Nook, Kobo, Kindle, your publisher's website, etc.)
Your contact info; email address/ business phone number/ fax number (if applicable)

6. Your site's Terms and Conditions, and any legal disclaimers. This is crucial if you have any links to affiliate sites, if you are offering paid courses, and if you have any email lists where people offer their email address. Some people get a lawyer to write one up, but you can find a generic template or generator that builds you one to cut & paste into your site easily.

And that's pretty much it.

Where Can I Set Up My Author Platform Without A Blog Website

BookLikes.com

There are many other places people set up this info without having their own website. It's professional to use a website or blog as your homebase, and use the following to link back to your homebase. This creates very important backlinks all over the internet, that search engines like Google use to index, then mine the data from those users. In other words, it raises the clout on your visibility as an author.

I'm gonna list them all here, so you don't have to spend hours and hours looking for this crap, as your eyeballs melt out of your sockets. You're welcome ;-)

I will be updating this section over time, so stay tuned.

How To Create A Facebook Account For Writers Authors

A little warning first.
Some authors use their personal facebook instead of creating a separate author facebook, this is a NO-NO. Doesn't matter if your books have your author pseudonym on them, if your Facebook profile uses your real name and links to those books. Remember people on the internet are weird stalkers and you don't want any of them finding out your private info, because they saw you have a daughter in your friends list, on account you both have the same last name. She hasn't set her profile to PRIVATE, so they 'Friend' her. Now they can access all of her photos, where she went to college, where she works, who her mom & dad are in her photo list. Your daughter posts everything on her Facebook profile, including your real name. Now this person knows you like going to Chipotle off the highway in Albuquerque. Since there's only one in town, now they can hang out incessantly, until you show up.

CREEEEEEPYY!!!

How To Remedy This

Facebook allows you to create another profile parallel to your real one, and you can keep one private and away from the other, using the same login. Or, go through the steps of making a business Facebook page, with an alternate email address, so Facebook doesn't associate your personal profile with this one.

Go to facebook and at the bottom right, where it says Create a Page for a celebrity, band or business. Go ahead and click on that,
Click on Business or Brand
It takes you to a few options, and you want to click on the dropdown menu, and choose Author, then go from there
Begin customizing your Facebook Page

What Are Social Media Accounts?

Being in the year 2020 you should already know this by now, unless you are over the age of 70, then I will cut you some slack. Your social media presence accounts for maybe a third of your overall marketable presence in the world of writing.

Social media includes the following, and not order specific:

Twitter
Facebook
Instagram (this only works in tablets or smartphones, so download the app through the Google Play store, or iTunes store)
Pinterest
Snapchat (only on smartphones or tablet devices; download the app)
TikTok (only on smartphones or tablet devices; download the app)
Meerkat (only on smartphones or tablet devices; download the app)
Periscope (only on smartphones or tablet devices; download the app)

Which social media do I need to be an author?

The first three should suffice for now, as you will be posting book ads on them, and buying additional ad space on these.

You can purchase an ad on Facebook Ads and it offers an option to deliver that ad onto Instagram, even if you don't have any Instagram profiles up, but I'd have both just to park your author name on the Instagram platform. Because if you don't, someone else will start an account with that name, your name, and Instagram won't hand it over so easy.

Make sure you take out accounts with the same author name, whatever name you plan on putting on those book covers (your real name or pseudonym) and do it at the same time. People can take up popular names on social media as new accounts for no reason, as these are not reserved parking spots and there is no rule about this. Then they try to sell it back to you. It's scummy but not illegal, though it may break terms of service with that platform. You can contest it after the fact, but results are not guaranteed. So just take care of it in the beginning.

You can leverage Pinterest as an author, if you learn how, but that's another tutorial for another day.

The rest are for presenting live author Q & A sessions, or broadcasting live from a location like a writing awards ceremony, a writing retreat, or a live feed of the Book Con tradeshow if you're into that.

What else do I need to beef up my author platform?

Post all of your hard earned accolades on your blog/website.

Post significant book reviews in quotes, your Kindle Top 100 seller's badge screenshot, a screenshot of the first time you made it to a top seller list like the USA Today bestseller list, any writing awards, any newspaper interviews, any podcast interviews, etc.

So that's pretty much it. Make it real easy for people to find your written works on the internet and you are good to go.

Author No-no's

noreply@blogger.com (Onyx Towers) — Sat, 16 Nov 2019 08:29:00 +0000

This was an interesting video. Learn on!

Writing Research - Interesting Fact Real Stories Websites

noreply@blogger.com (Onyx Towers) — Sun, 01 Sep 2019 03:30:00 +0000

WRITER'S BLOCK...it happens.

Luckily, you don't have to rebuild the wheel. Ask me how!

If I can think of more websites, I'll continue adding them to the list.
Last updated: March 9, 2022

If you run into a mental roadblock, and you have no idea where to get ideas, or quick facts for #writingresearch then you are in luck.

I have found these websites, which are based on real facts, to provide never ending inspirational nuggets of ideas. I have read through all of them, and believe me, you get lost in these as easily as a Reddit forum, lol! You've been warned! ;-)

Perhaps it can also help with your own writing roadblock:

Good luck, fellow writers!

My Author Journey So Far - May 10, 2019

noreply@blogger.com (Onyx Towers) — Sat, 11 May 2019 03:53:00 +0000

If I said that everything is fucked, I'd have to say it a few times.

LOL, this doggy reminds me of this song ⇒ ⇒: https://youtu.be/QMYKc1J_YCo

Twice since January (we're mid May now) my poor mom was hospitalized for passing out. First time, we realized it was because of something called Collitis, so welcome new illness! Please follow Alzheimers to the lounge area, where they are serving snacks...
via GIPHY

So major diet adjustments had to be made, taking more time away from me, since I'm the only cook around here.

2nd hospitalization was due to some bad reaction with a prescribed sedative. Sedatives, because now she hallucinates, after 10yrs with the damn disease. It's so much fun, watching her demonize her family and scream and pound the walls. *sarcasm*
Wee! At all hours of the day/night! ARE WE HAVING FUN YET?! Jeez.

Sleep? What's that? I have a vague recollection, but nothing comes to mind.

Life is just, a dumpsterfire right now.

via GIPHY

Then coming out of the hospital that second time, wouldn't you guess it? I guess my father and I picked up a horrific flu virus- an offshoot of ebola I think? Our generous coating of hospital Purell did shit for us! This fucking flu kept us bedridden for 5-7 days, coughing and hacking FOR AN ENTIRE MONTH. It began on April Fool's Day, and I'm not kidding. (yeah, very funny joke, you illuminati-satanist scum) April will forever burn in our minds as a cursed month in this house. Right now I'm still vaguely coughing here and there, and it's now mid May! I'm sure it'll clear up by September. However, during this sick storm, I still had to drag my half-dead feverish ass out of bed to check on my sickly father, because influenza can kill octogenarians effortlessly.

via GIPHY

This virus resulted in teeth chattering, feverchills, bone crunching-YES, BONE CRUNCHING - this is your bone marrow working overtime to produce white blood cells, AND IT HURTS LIKE A VENOM COATED ASSHOLE! Plus other hits such as the following: Massive phlegm, freezing while my body is sweating profusely from neck to ankles, (I had to change my clothes and sheets often (never sweated so much in my entire life, and it was disturbing) having all of my trachea go bone-dry for days, both sinus cavities completely plugged up with mucus-cement, and sleeping in the fetal position, because of all the physical pain I endured. I even hurt my knee - I know not how!


Some dark web government funded, black budget military engineered virus straight from Satan's butthole

I took every, single, miscellaneous flu or cold tablet I could get a hold of. One of them made me vomit. A few were expired.
Also, I have never chewed so much Ibuprofen in my entire life. No joke.
Here's the stupid part: We all had our flu shots months ago. FML, right?

via GIPHY

I looked up on YouTube something called a 'flu bomb' and it worked! Fuck all that medicine I took, because THIS HOMEMADE REMEDY was the only thing that kicked half the flu out of our system in one go! Totally recommend it.

Then there's the new problem.
My mother wants to escape out into the street in the middle of the night (this started happening this month) to help her mother (who died years ago) and take her to the hospital, because the angry lady (invisible person only she can see) attacked her, and steals her clothes all the time.
?!

I began staying up on vampire hours to watch her. My father scolds me for it. No, I must be awake during normal hours, like a normal person, he says. Jesus. Then who's gonna watch her? Who watches the watchers?

via GIPHY

Me and my father need to discuss switching to Medicaid, setting up a family trust, setting up their estate, and getting an elder care lawyer to counsel him. But he refuses. This. This is the core problem in our family right now. Ever try to take the horse to the watering hole, AND make it drink?? Heck, he even shut me down when I tried telling him to purchase a grave plot now, before they're dead, so it's not so complicated and expensive. NOPE. No talk of death here! More mule stubbornness. Macho ego never actually resolved anything in history, has it?

Though my dad means well, I commend him for wanting to own to the responsibility of taking care of his spouse in her time of need. Certainly it is noble, but this situation is only now getting out of our capable hands. I feel we've done as much as we could and that there is no shame in asking for help. He feels 'we' can keep going, and should. I feel I could get more resolved by banging my head on the table.

This writer has hit the limit. Our family & friends are urging him to get more help. Nope. Doesn't want to hear it. Lalalala!

Denial - Not just a river in Egypt!

Family. Can't live with them. Can't live without them.

via GIPHY

This is all killing me! So stressed, I've taken to emptying the shitty liquor downstairs. Warm can of Bud? I'll take it! My own friends felt so sorry for me, they offered me hits off their vapes. God bless them for their kindnesses.
Lately I've had to divide more ~~baby~~momsitting time, with 'taking care of their house & responsibilities' time. I have no time for me. At all. Where is my time? Disappeared, like D.B. Cooper and the money. Time is just a human construct here.

Somewhere in this mess, I am supposed to eek out some time to put together my novels. Somehow.

Now a while back, I agreed to stay longer with them a while ago, because of the hurricanes - blizzards - flood that plagued their home. But now? Now my battery is low.
And I need a vacation.
And I need a tequila. Or three.
Tequileese?
Jeez.
Does Amazon Prime sell phone chargers made for human bodies?

It's difficult not to feel exhaustion or resentment by this point. After all, I'm only human. Ish.
If we had any family in this side of the country, I would've hightailed it years ago, but they don't, and cannot be left living alone anymore. That's similar to what I wrote on the jury duty form to get excused, and hopefully they will since I only have $15.00 in the bank left to my name and no vehicle.
But seriously, there really is no one else to watch them. Huge responsibility!

via GIPHY

YEARS FROM NOW, I will look back upon this period as, How did I get myself together enough to get out of the hole? and other such tales of the struggle to infamy!

Maybe I'll laugh it off too, as I see my 3rd book series translated into an HBO special. Right now though, I'm not laughing. I am drinking orange juice though, because it's something I never drink in my life. Had to get it. Even if it's a small thing. Treat yo' self! Gotta keep shifting those gears, keep it interesting. Try new things! Healthy distractions! Like this chocolate toffee bar I'm eating! *cries in muffled chocolate*

via GIPHY

Will I ever get around to finishing my book?

Yes, of course! Don't think for a second that I'm not crossing my T's and dotting my I's. I have been working behind the scenes diligently to finish up. My book series consists of four books, they go according to the weather seasons. I've already lost Spring, thanks to these aforementioned problems, but heading now towards Summer. The stories are already written, but disjointed. I've been shifting them around so I can fit enough of them all into one book.

I've even got my book marketing plan sorted out. I'm not just posting to my Instagram for absolutely no reason. This is part of raising my SEO profile out there. The plan will come together.

Dramatization of my plan, coming together

Basically, I am hardwired to be a writer, so there is no way I will not pursue this occupation. God willing, that I can bring out the first book into this year.

What are your real Writing Distractions?

Go completely shut off your phone, put your Netflix subscription on hold, and go write wheresover the hell it is quiet enough for ya. Use noise cancellation headphones. Go to the library. Go to Starbucks, they have a policy where even if you don't order anything, they cannot kick you out, and I think they have free wifi. Panera has free wifi but u have to order something. Stop whining.

You will never have time or money to start that multi-million dollar dream project, so you might as well get going on it now.

Get started already!

Cry me a river if you keep insisting that you have no time! Answering friendship drama texts is NOT a hardship, ok ponytail? You don't know what hardship is until you have to clean human shit off the floor, and the staircase, and not even get paid for it!

People, if you have zero dependents, and you say you have too many writing distractions, you are full of shit. If your 'hardships' revolve around your iphone, you are seriously full of flagrantly egotistical, hollow excuses.

Go write. Go actually write. Jot it down.
If you only have yourself to take care of, and you have your health, then you don't have any writing distractions. Now don't you make me kick you in your hipster ponytail, and hold up a mirror to your whiny faces, buncha overly sensitive pansies. Get going already!

* * *

Some days I really wish I had my old life back where I was on my own, paying my own bills, and needy loved ones didn't weigh down on me, but here we are. Welcome to Life. Shit happens, and you navigate through it.
And sometimes, we are completely alone in this pursuit of greatness.

Lone wolf - Brave Barge

And this is just another life challenge.
As frail human beings, we do the very best we can. That is all we can do.

Now please excuse me, while I go print out my neglected book outlines, and go give my poor mom her meds. ✌

How To Draw A Map For Your Novel Story Book

noreply@blogger.com (Onyx Towers) — Thu, 17 Jan 2019 18:29:00 +0000

I've been seeing many facebook inquiries on this. And I too, wanted to know.

So I looked it up.

Behold! My findings!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Make a free map with Mipui map making generator software.

HOW TO DRAW A MAP

Will continue updating this list as needed. Updated March 9, 2022.

How to actually draw a map for dummies

Before I continue, it's important to state that I do not receive any compensation at this time for any listings on this blogpost. I merely find the information, and share it with the world.

Please note: It's your personal responsibility to evaluate any softwares you decide to use, so exercise caution, and run a malware scan and anti-virus scan on each software you choose to download to your computer or device.

In case you're a complete novice, and you've never made a map before, and find yourself asking "Where do I even begin?" Well buddy, have I got tips for you!

How to draw a map

Fantasy Map - Making for the Artistically Challenged

Grid worldbuilding (scroll down halfway)

I am also including this information so you can learn many of the nuances of creating a map.

Keep in mind that much of the software outlined below is made for PC (Windows) computers only, unless it clearly states available for Mac (read all documentation & tabs on these websites). If it has an app version available, I'll make a note of it.

I've included this comprehensive list of map making software for your research.

Who would need this?

Some writers like me, who need to see things visually. Some writers who need a frame of reference they can tack up on a bulletin board. Story tellers. TV show writers. Film makers who map out story boards. Grandmothers who tell their grandchildren stories and want to demonstrate visual cues. You get the idea.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Map made in Hexographer free map making software, tiled map software

REAL-WORLD MAP MAKING SOFTWARE

Some free, some not.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Map made in Hexographer free map making software, tiled map software

PREMIUM MAP MAKING SOFTWARE

In USD currency:

$5.00/mo ; $25/yr. - Inkarnate Pro
$14.99 - Dungeon Painter Studio (on Steam)
? (see licenses) - Dungeon Builder (Mac, PC, Linux)
$39.95+ - ProFantasy Software (various types)
$79.95+ - Inkwell Complete Bundle
$31.95+ - Worldographer – Download (Hexographer 2)
$31.95 - Dungeonographer Pro Version
$34.95 - AstroSynthesis 3.0 - mapping outerspace colonies
$34.95 - Fractal Mapper 8.0
$2.95+ - RPG Now (ready-made printable maps)
$2.95+ - Paizo maps (ready-made printable maps)
$19.00 - Map Generator (a Photoshop action)
$2.99+ - Worldbuilding School
$149./yr; $399./forever - MapDiva (Mac only)
$4.90/mo; $49.90/yr - Dungeonfog
$39.95 (free demo) - Dundjinni
$29.00 - Lunar Cell Bundle (make surfaced planets & such; Mac & PC)
$29.00 - Glitterato (make outerspace, stars, nebulas)
$59.00 - Space Bundle
$29.00 - Solar Cell

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Tiamat free map making software. No need to download.

FREE MAP MAKING SOFTWARE

Tiamat
Deepknight
Mipui
Wonderdraft (Freemium & Premium)
Inkarnate (Freemium & Premium) Please note: ONLY exists online on the cloud, no software to download
Hextml
Gridmapper
Dungeon Sketch
RPG Editor
DJ's Dungeon Mapper (pick a map from the list, click Edit, Save Map at bottom)
Inkarnate Pro (Free plan avail. with signup)
Worldspinner
MapForge (Mac, PC)
AutoRealm - Vector based drawing software designed for RPGs
Floor Plan Creator (Exporting image files is $4.00; Android only)
Fantastic Maps - Free Maps
RPTool (Map Tool, Token Tool, Init Tool, Char Tool, Dice Tool)
Wilbur (Fracterra)
Dungeonfog
It's Full Of Stars (PC only)
RPG Maker VX Ace Lite
Ye Old Map Maker (for tablet too)
Skywyre (for tablet too)
Planet Genesis (makes models of planets and landscapes)
Terraform
Texture Maker (a tile map editor; makes textured tiles for use in map softwares)
Tiled (Mac, PC, Linux)
RPTools
ANA Map
Greenfish Relief Map Generator
Hexographer | Free Version (software has bugs, no more updates avail. for it; get Worldographer instead)
Worldographer (basically Hexographer2; Mac & PC)
Pyromancers - Dungeon maps for RPG. Create maps online, download as PDF and PNG.

Entering NanoWriMo In 2018

noreply@blogger.com (Onyx Towers) — Fri, 02 Nov 2018 16:38:00 +0000

I entered and won in 2015.
I entered and had to drop out in 2017 because my dog became extremely ill.
I'm entering yet again. This time, I got over 10,000 words in on day 2.
But so much shit happened right before this entry...

A little primer: I am one month behind on my book. The spooky anthology that I planned on releasing at the end of October. Last month, that is. Then this happened...

My poor mother. She woke me up around 8:36 in the morning, crying. She cannot verbalize her needs half the time, so I had to guess her condition. Her foot was reddened and so I thought it was that maybe she dropped something heavy on it by accident? I mistakenly treated it with an ice pack. By next evening, the blister took over. That's when I realized it was a burn. Unfortunately, she burned off the entire top half of her foot, while everyone was still asleep in the house. She tried to wash her foot in the tub, but used scalding water instead. People with Alzheimer's do not react quickly and get confused.

I just wasted the last 2 weeks changing gauze, keeping area clean and dry, applying antibacterial stuff, handing out pain reliever, hearing about how much it all hurts, and making trips to the doctor. Every. Day. For 2 weeks. I have never seen a blister so damn big! I coulda sold tickets to that show, it was a marvel of the world! It covered the entire foot right up to the toes! I do have a photo, but I'll spare you the yuk. I mean, goddammit. My reason for being this overprotective is to avoid infection. Most hospitals are covered in MRSA staph infections, so any unnecessary trip there would be a bad idea, especially for old people with so & so immune systems.

I swear to god, there is like a freakin' crisis in this household every-single-month. Old people (the confused ones) are EXACTLY like children, in that they get themselves into trouble. Actually, both of them, now that I think about it. And I, I am like a part-time nurse that doesn't get paid at all. And I have to hear all the time "Why don't you work?" Well I do, but you guys don't pay me. Sheesh.

Then the house began to fall apart.
Also, since my last post, right before the burn incident the kitchen window had a mysterious leak that appeared on rainy days. Then it rained inside my kitchen, because another leak formed all the way above in the attic crawl space. Guess who, had to clean that whole mess?! See, leaks are bad in this part of the country where we get monster snow blizzards. I mean, all that snow on the roof has to melt and go somewhere. So I had to arrange for someone to tar the roof, (after many phone calls, 'cuz some people didn't have the space in their appt. calendar) as I babysat my poor mother. It's a huge juggling act since someone has to stay with her, and someone else has to tend to the repairmen.

Sometimes you hafta laugh, because what the hell else you gonna do?

There. My legit reasons for never quite finishing my books. I call these 'distractions' but they are more like moderate emergencies.

Every month brings a new fresh hell, while life

laughs in my tired face. Terrific.

What I look like by the time I extinguish the flames and bet back to writing.

Troubles aside, I was able to get my print book cover finished, and the second as well. See, this book is gonna run in a series, for 4 books. I guess that's progress:

Bad news though. I found out CreateSpace is no longer accepting new accounts. That is because Amazon wants to kill it, phasing it out quickly by year's end. Everyone now has to do it directly from Kindle itself, with existing CS accounts getting notice that they're being migrated over to Amazon. Lots of people complaining about that, because the book cover upload function seems to not be accurate? Man, that's gonna suck a whole lot of ass if that's true. I hope they get that fixed by the time I upload.

Slightly better news. If I complete my book before NanoWriMo is over, I can go ahead and enlist my Beta Reader army. I will be hitting up people on my Instagram, but if you wanna reach me over any other social media, I'm totally up for it. Thing is, I'm gonna be a #horror writer, and not many beta readers exist for this genre. Ditto on Facebook groups.

Pretty good news! As soon as I get 5-10 decent reviews (not necessarily stellar; I set that bar low) I'm gonna release the ebook for free until end of November. Pretty sweet, right??

Everybody loves FREE shit!

NanoWrimo 2018 participation

So here are a few screenshots of my NanoWriMo 2018 progress so far. It's only day 2, so not too shabby for me.

I did this shitty drawing on MS Paint for the novel's image upload:

Now here are all my NanoWriMo entries thus far:

Day 2 - My achievements, including word count thus far:

I certainly hope many of you are entering this year! So yeah, we'll see how far it goes this year. I've been up all night preparing food for the next 3 days, so already I'm pretty damn tired. I'll continue updating my progress, so stay tuned. Meanwhile, pray to god the house doesn't get smothered by an asteroid, or Big Foot out of nowhere kicks my fat ass, thereby distracting me yet again - stupid micro-emergencies!

Ultimate List of Writing Software For Writers

noreply@blogger.com (Onyx Towers) — Sat, 06 Oct 2018 14:00:00 +0000

We all need to write shit down on the computer, but sometimes we get tired of just Microsoft Word as the only option. Actually, it isn't.

What if I want to check my book stats? How do I get my book formatted?

BEHOLD...

A list of all the writing software your keyboard can clickety-clack to!

This list below is a cumulative collection of all that information. Will be constantly updating it.

Some are listed as FREE, but may become paid services in the future. Some that aren't labeled FREE may already be, so check the current developer's website.

Please note:
-None of these products are in any order of importance.

-I only find the services and add to this list, I do not vet them. I have no way of knowing their level of efficacy, compliance, excellence in customer service, and ethics.

-It is your responsibility to do an extensive background check.

-Try at your own peril.

-Do a Google search by typing "name-of-service scam complaints" and see if they come up clean. Also put their name into the Writer's Beware site to see if they're scammy.
-I have only tried a very small handful of these services, with decent results. Not sure about all the rest.

-Though I do my very best to keep the list updated, and only recommend worthwhile products, it becomes impossible to keep up with how well companies do in the long term. If anybody notices dead links, old information, or a business that is no longer in service, please notify me through Twitter to make the necessary changes: @onyxtowers

*At this time, I am not receiving compensation for any of these products or services mentioned.

If you jibbery little monkeys pay any attention to my blog, you have realized that the Pinterest collection I have been curating for the last 3 years, is now a cache of wealth for writers.
Go check out my Pinterest!

Anyway! One of those nuggets of wisdom is a pearl that includes all the software EVER CREATED made specific to writers of all kinds.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask on my facebook, twitter or any of my social media.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Updated: March 09, 2022

Writing Scams - Watch out!

Example of fake publishing house ripping off writers - karma included

How many units of books you need to sell to break even

Getting your publishing rights back from a publishing label going bankrupt

DO NOT GIVE YOUR PRODUCTION FILES TO ANY PUBLISHER/ Print-On-Demand paper mill, especially if they include it in an iron clad contract

Your actual RIGHTS as an author

Literary Agency Contracts - What to watch out for

How and Where to Submit Your Query for a Literary Agency

Writing Software for Checking Book Stats, Book Analytics

and Book Sales

eBookTracker (offered by Kindlenationdaily.com)
NovelRank
TrackerBox (for Windows & OSX)
Book Report
WriterStat BookStats
Sales Rank Express
Magic Bake Shop
BookCore
Nisus Writer Pro (for Mac OSX only)
Bublish
AdExpresso Facebook Ads analyzer
Scribe Count

Writing Software for Writing Screenplays

WriterDuet - FREE (backs up to cloud or computer; use on devices; Premium version avail.)
StoryBoard Quick (Mac & PC)
ScriptStudio (Mac & PC)
MasterWriter 3.0
Final Draft 11 (Mac & PC)
Mariner Writer's Suite (Mac only)
Movie Magic Screenwriter 6 (Mac & PC)
Streamline (plugin for the above mentioned MMS 6)
Movie Magic Budgeting If you've ever looked at the budget on a music video, (or indie film) trust me when I say you will DEFINITELY need this!
Movie Forms Pro Interactive (sets of standard business forms for movie filming)

Web Browsers for looking up stuff on the internet

Writing Software for Writing Books (text editing software)

Writer Software & Apps for Writing Faster

Writer Sprints
Byword
Fighter's Block
GingkoApp
Write Or Die
Freedom (Mac, iOS & PC, coming soon to Android)
Toggl
Self Control (Mac only)
News Feed Eradicator for FB (Chrome applet)

Writer Software for Playing Ambient Music in Background

*Take with a grain of salt. :-)

Writing Software for Keywords/ Analytics / Categories / SEO / Google ranking

K-Lytics
KDP Spy
KDP Rocket
KDROI
Amazon Book Description Generator by Dave Chesson
Neil Patel keyword finder (FREE)
Publisher Rocket
SEO Powersuite
Jasper (formerly Jarvis)
Soovle
LongtailPro
Ubersuggest (formerly Kissmetrics)

Writing Software for Editing Grammar

After The Deadline
WriteWords - Phrase Frequency Counter
Grammar Monster (website)
Ginger
Slick Write
yWriter (for Mac, Linux & PC)
NounPlus
Grammarly
MasterEdit (PC only)
Hemingway Editor (for Mac & PC)
ProWritingAid Grammar Checking
WebSpellChecker (Proofreader, Cloud, Server)
AutoCrit Online Editing
PaperRater
Smart Edit (an MSWord add-in)
Perfectit (an MSWord add-in)
WordRake (an MSWord add-in) (for Mac & PC)

Writing Software for Dictating (text to speech)

GoogleDocs Voice Typing: Go to Google Docs but use the Chrome browser > open one of your documents there, OR, create a new one and paste your content into it > go to Tools at the top > select Voice Typing)
Use Voice Typing with the Gboard (Google's keyboard) on any iOs or Android device
iPhone: Settings > Keyboard or, Language and Input > Dictation. The little microphone icon shows up, so tap it to begin.
Mac computer: Go to System Preferences > turn on Dictation and Speech. (could also be found under 'Keyboard' depending which iOS version you have)
Dragon Software
Speechify

Writing Software for Conversion To Ebook

Draft2Digital (offers FREE formatting conversion)
Calibre - FREE (PC, Mac, Linux) (epub, mobi, PDF)
Sigil (epub)
InDesign (Mac & PC) (epub, mobi, indd)
PressBooks (epub, mobi, PDF, XML)
Bookow
Reedsy Book Editor - FREE (epub, mobi, PDF)
Creatavist (enrollment period is temp. closed)
Jutoh (Linux, Mac & PC) (epub, mobi, PDF, HTML)
Book Design Templates
Vellum (Mac only) (epub, mobi, PDF)
iTunes Connect (Mac only)
iBooks Author- FREE (epub, PDF, iBooks)
Scrivener (Windows, OS X, iOS) (epub, mobi, PDF, HTML & more)
Flip Book Maker (epub, mobi, PDF)
Epubor - (PC, Mac, Linux)
DocsPal - FREE (file converter & viewer)
FoxyUtils (for PDFing)
Any Ebook Converter
Convert Files

Book Interior Design Templates

Writing Software for Newsletters, Automation of Messages, and Leadcapture of Email Addresses

Sendlane
Active Campaign
Infusionsoft
Klaviyo
Drip
Infusionsoft
Sendinblue
Mailerlite
Mail Tester ( neat tool to check if your newsletter ad copy seems spammy)
MadMimi
Mailchimp

Writing Software for Sales Funnels

Hiring Virtual Assistants

Fancy Hands

Book Advertising Places

(please purchase a book, or a course on how to use these, as it is very easy to get lost, and easy to overspend more than you intend)

Writing Software for Book Submitting

eBook Submission Tool (submits your book to multiple sites in one go)

Writing Software for Trending (your book)

Hashtagify
HARO
Answer the Public
Google Trends (needs an active Google acct. login)
Add Me Fast
Tweepi
Twiends

Writing Courses and Coaching

Using social media to grow your email list
Kotobee
Self Publishing by Chandler Bolt
Self Publishing Formula by Mark Dawson
Adespresso coaching
Author's Publish (variety of courses)

Writing Software for Checking Plagiarism

Creating Websites For Your Author Platform

Please note: Some are "drag & drop" that you can customize yourselves. Some are already made for you, ready to go.

It's a lot of work to customize, so ask yourself: "Do I want to spend hours on this?" "Would I rather spend hours writing my novel instead?"

Web Hosting For Your (Wordpress) Author Platform

Wordpress Plugins for Writer's Wordpress websites

Please note: Whatever Wordpress hosting service you use, check to see the availble plugins they let you use for FREE with their service, BEFORE buying these separately.

Please note: Some hosting services do not use all Wordpress plugins, as some cause conflicting issues. Check with them if they have a similarly compatible plugin that they offer, and if the ones on this list cause any issues.

Pixel Caffeine (Facebook Pixel plugin)
MyBookTable
MyBookProgress
Imperfect Quotes
Pinterest Pro for WordPress by TylerQuinn | CodeCanyon
Post Gopher WordPress Plugin POST GOPHER – PKS - Post Gopher WordPress Plugin
Jetpack by WordPress.com
Wordfence Security
WP Super Cache
Akismet
Copyright Proof (protect your works from site scrapers)
WP-Optimize
Broken Link Checker
Dark Mode
Hide My WP Ghost

Writing Software for Scheduling Posts, or Announcements to

Social Media At A Later Date (Automation)

Writing Software for Creating Book Links

Writing Software for Creating Forms

Writing Software for ISBN (International Standard Book Number)

(Note: Each book format needs it's own separate ISBN; example: the epub, mobi, and print version of same book needs 3 different ISBN'S. An ISBN made within CreateSpace is not acceptable in brick and mortar stores, as they are widely considered an Amazon published entity, you must purchase your own.)

My Identifiers (United States)
Canadian ISBN Service System (CISS)
Nielsen Book Data (UK)
Check to see if your ISBN is being resold, or already exists

Writing Software for Bar Codes

Writing Software for Business Accounting

Writing Software forEcommerce Shopping Carts

These are in no particular order; please do your own research, I cannot guarantee their functionality.

Payment processors (a.k.a. POP = Point of Purchase) at the time of sale of your own books on your own website, or at your table at any conventions.

Paypal
eJunkie
Stripe
QIWI "QIWI plc is a Russian company that provides payment and financial services in Russia and CIS countries." QIWI Google app
Amazon Payments
Zelle
Clickbank
ebookJunkie
CashApp
Payhip
Square
WebMoney
Unitypay (for payments between English and Russian speaking countries)
Cydec
Infusionsoft
JCB
Skrill
Sage
Google Wallet
Payoneer - "great service for people who live outside the United States to get their payments as direct deposits"- www.lifemastery.com
Patreon ( https://patreon.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/204606125-How-do-you-calculate-fees- )
Authorize.net
Braintree
Ko-Fi (donations)
Ogone
DocData
Payments Gateway
Shop2Mobi (QR codes; popup stores)
JotForm (for payment purchase forms)
WePay
BluePay
Chargify
Square
DWOLLA
Klarna (Klarna is mostly for southeast Asia, AUS, Scandinavia)
Azlo

Writing Apps for Backing Up To Cloud

Evernote
Dropbox
Box
Google Drive
SugarSync
Microsoft OneDrive (usually bundled FREE with Windows 10)
iCloud (usually comes bundled FREE with Mac)

Writing Apps for Writing

Hemingway App- FREE & paid
Simplenote - FREE (syncs with Scrivener)
Wunderlist (Mac, PC, iPhone, iPad, Android, Kindle Fire, Chromebook)
yWriter (for iOS & Android)
Gingko App

My Author Journey So Far - July 15, 2018

noreply@blogger.com (Onyx Towers) — Mon, 16 Jul 2018 01:58:00 +0000

What my left foot ballooned to. I'm not entirely sure what shape this is either.

Well isn't that a fine howdy-a-do. It's mighty morphine update time!

So let's start at the top.
With pictures! Because they scream a thousand words!

Remember a few yrs ago I wrote in a blog post about how this foot hurt like hell? Yep. Back again, and now it took it's revenge (a horror movie should be made for this) #myleftfoot

A post shared by onyxtowers (@onyx_towers) on Jul 15, 2018 at 1:22pm PDT

That old pain came back, in a very big way.
I was bedridden for 2 days.

And bonus, that happened during the ungodly heatwave.

The temp read 95F just in my bedroom alone!

via GIPHY

I was hobbling on crutches for another two days.
Until you do that, you never notice how freaking narrow the hallways are.
I had to keep that foot in warm epsom salt water every single day for a week.

You don't even know! I couldn't even sit upright at my computer desk. My only recourse was to lie down flat. Edema was my #1 enemy at the time.

Hopelessness kicked in.
Even with two fans going on at the same time, my room was a suffocating pit of heat. I was sticking to the bed sheets, like throwing a wet calamari onto plastic wrap.
Mobility was a long forgotten dream...
Now here I am!

Hobbling like a penguin, but at least I can (barely) walk again.

And I had to play a really fast game of catch-up.
Hard to do on crutches. You try carrying a cup of coffee and walking on crutches - IMPOSSIBLE.
So for the next few days I had no choice but to let the house get untidy and grimy, because I am the cook/ maid/ admin/ secretary/ figurer out of bills/ etc.
Have you ever tried cooking a full meal swinging around on one foot in the kitchen? I have! What a painful mistake!

I'm just like, "Shit's gotta get done!" then I go, "OWWIE, OWWIE!"

Yep, that delayed the healing process by another week and a half. :-P
Now I'm taking it easy. Being a cripple with no health care sucks ass!

Still, I was able to very carefully walk down each staircase step, slooowly, to go sit on the stoop and watch the fireworks. I took this photo before June bugs buzzed inside my shirt and irked me right back indoors, sending me into a frenzy of shaking the contents of my shirt in pure paranoia.
Happy Independence Day 'Murrica!

'MURRICA, staring atcha directly in your face!
via GIPHY

So that was on the 4th. Now it's the 15th.
It's only now, that my foot is good enough for me to walk around outside. For short spurts. But I cannot remain standing on my feet for any more than 20min. Then my foot begins throbbing.
I truly envy those with health insurance:-P

Which means I'm gonna hafta play catch-up again.
Catch up on all my personal obligations...
Man, I've gotta make it big with this writing thing! Time is money!

What Have I Been Doing Writing-Wise?

So!
I have been plotting a course for a book launch for some time.

I've been printing blank calendar pages and writing in them.
Like so:

I'm gonna attempt to launch my first book ever (a spooky story anthology) far sooner than October. Why do you ask?

Because of the Amazon writing contest!

Yessir, Amazon held this contest last year, and I wrote in a post about how I wasn't able to participate due to unforeseen family circumstances. Well the road is clear now.
I'm gonna give it a shot this year.

Which means I have to reverse engineer the book marketing process, hence the plotting and the calendar dates.

Reading Up On Book Marketing

I've also been studying free webinars on how to use Facebook ads and Amazon ads. Very, very interesting stuff! When I'm about 3 books into my store, I will begin using these promotion tactics. One of the most important things they highlight is the importance of 're-targeting' your current audience.
It is hard convincing complete strangers to take a chance on your books, but much easier to ask your current followers and fans to buy your latest books.
Makes sense.

And so, because I wasn't able to physically do much lately, I have been fervently reading and studying and practically eating up anything talking about book marketing. Time will tell if it works for me at all.

BOOK MARKETING'S NEW RULES

(last edited July 22, 2018)
In no particular order:

Don't throw $$ MONEY $$ at ads without your book having a minimum of 10-20 good reviews

Ads only work when paired with a strong book launch

Book reviews help strengthen book ads, one cannot exist without the other

Put your book offer in the beginning of the book, and at the end too

Amazon recently changed their rules when it comes to book reviews. You can no longer 'ask' for a review when supplying an ARC copy

"To contribute to Customer Reviews or Customer Answers, Spark, or to follow other contributors, you must have spent at least $50 on Amazon.com using a valid credit or debit card."* This rule was supposedly always around, just not enforced until recently**

Another reason for the crackdown on reviews was to reduce the amount of scammers cheating the Kindle Unlimited pot of money, and more cheater gimmicks that faithful customers/sellers complained about (feel free to google 'kindle scams')

Inserting your book offers inside the book are called 'Call To Action'. They're basically neon signs you use to flag people's attention. You can even put a couple up on your websites, or wherever you want people to see your offer

Your book reviewers can say something along the lines of, "I received this ARC at no cost" or something similar. As long as it's clear there was no obligation to put up a review for it

CTA example: Like putting this at the beginning of the book--> "Hey, thanks for buying this book! Want another one for FREE/ At discount?/ Want to be included in a $20 Kindle gift card drawing?/ Wanna know when the 3rd book in this series drops? - Then SIGN UP to get my newsletter (they supply their email address) so I can tell you when that is happening!"

The rule with CTA's is, that you cannot demand a review for it. So wording your offer becomes tricky

Every FREE or 0.99¢ book you give away is for PROMOTIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. Do not expect that these will bring in any money. The goal is to bring you all the traffic, garnering interest in your other paid books. This is good for no-name authors to gain traction

Your email list that people sign on to get your newsletter, is also your CUSTOMER DATABASE

Re-target the same customers when you launch each new book

You captivate email addresses because those are your current customers, and will be your faithful future customers!

Amazon sponsored ads (the ones that say Customers who bought this item also bought) seem to do better than the motion graphics Amazon banner ads on the right side of the screen, from what I understand

Supposedly KDP Select authors are given preference (or leniency) on their 'vanishing' book reviews, but this seems more conjecture. Haven't seen solid evidence yet; just reporting what I've read on the internetz

Images inside ebooks increase the file's megabyte size, so during download, it uses more server download resources than a regular text-based ebook. In turn, they deduct that cost out any of your royalties (I just learned this one)

Facebook Ads is still too tricky for me, so I started reading Mark Dawson's Mastering Simple Facebook Ads For Authors which is FREE and comes with a FREE video too (he also has a podcast f.y.i.)

One needs to have about 1000-5000 minimum keywords stuffed in their ads. Most self publishers use KDP Rocket software to help with this

book bloggers need good book cover, good reviews & good author platform, or they'll ignore you

It's pointless to do ads on a Pre-Order. That's a new book. It has no traction on the marketplace yet. Save the ads for books released weeks and months ago - this is called retargeting

Amazon Ads and Facebook ads are good for a book launch. A 3-day window of ads should be mandatory for each launch, DURING the launch

UNLINK your Amazon profile from your Twitter, Facebook, etc. and any other social media! This is a new one I learned...because, supposedly, Amazon has new fraud detection software that cannot distinguish readers from your email list tribe, or from your family & friends, and confuses both. That is why your social media followers will get their reviews removed, and branded as 'family & friends' that aren't allowed to post reviews

Readers can download your book for FREE through Amazon.in or other foreign amazon stores, but may be subject to taxes from such countries

You only get 30% royalty rate from book sales in Brazil-Japan-India-Mexico if you're NOT enrolled in KDP Select

FREE book campaigns with zero reviews are unsuccessful

Do not put Amazon affiliate links in emails (newsletters) because it's against their TOS and will get your ass banned

Amazon doesn't let you put affiliate links into newsletter or emails, so you can use BookLinker.net (FREE) or ReaderLinks.com (paid; also gives you detailed stats)

Check your book's stats with Book Report (FREE) and Novel Rank (FREE)

Get the Book Report applet for your web browser so you can track book sales. It's FREE: https://www.getbookreport.com/ Novel Rank makes one too: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/novelrank/

'Twitter blasts' can get you more followers, but they don't necessarily convert into 'readers'

The first book you publish is the hook to get more readers and interest in your works. It is not the book that makes you money. Not yet.

THE ONLY WAY TO SELL BOOKS: Great Title-Great Cover-Great Description-Great Reviews-Great Demand For That Particular Content-Put it in front of people

Well that's about that for now. There is more, and I will cover it in a separate future post on book marketing, and future methods I will employ. Stay tuned.

*Here is a link to updated Amazon terms: https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201929730

** It has been long suspected that the self-publishing division of Amazon isn't a moneymaker for them since that market is overly saturated now, hence the shift in their priorities as Amazon makes more money selling other items
(Source)

How To Make A Book Cover - Part 3 - Custom and Premade Book Covers

noreply@blogger.com (Onyx Towers) — Fri, 01 Jun 2018 14:51:00 +0000

WELCOME TO PART THREE OF MY BOOK COVER SERIES!!! *WHEEeeeEEEee
(quit shouting, alter ego!)

(For my previous How To Make A Book Cover articles, click on Part 1 and Part 2 and enrich your mind.)

Updated: ~~July 15, 2018.~~ ~~June 25, 2020.~~ November 12, 2021

As you very well know, I have stressed over & over again that you shouldn't attempt to create your own book cover from scratch. Why? Because that sort of thing falls under the domain of graphic design, which is a completely separate career that takes 2-4 years to master, and I am 100% sure many of you do not have graphic design listed as your day job.

It is incredibly complex, involving things like typography and CAD software, and thus I always discourage doing this yourself. Leave it to professionals.

Excellent! Now how do I leave it to professionals?
Glad you asked!

How To Make A Book Cover With PreMade And Custom Book Covers

So by now, you must have some idea that commissioning an illustrator or graphic designer isn't the only two options.
Because Surprise! You can purchase premade book covers!

What Are Premade Book Covers?

Premade book covers are already assembled, finished with photos, fonts, imagery, blank space to insert barcode, etc. that you can upload it to your Amazon or Smashwords account (or wherever you plan to sell it) along with your formatted book.

How does buying a book cover go?

You purchase the cover.
There is usually an order form on your computer screen, and a place to type out the title of your book cover, publisher info, your author name, etc.
Then you wait until they apply the title and all this information you entered.
Then it gets sent to your email inbox, as an attachment file that you download to your computer.
Done.

It truely cannot get easier than that.

Lemme show you what an example looks like:

Example of a premade book cover

So that little shitty cover took me about 15min to make. On Microsoft Paint, no less. Yeah, not so good, I'm afraid. But you get the idea.

The title and name are blanks because once you make your purchase, the people who sell them go back in and type in that information.

Well, can't I type in the title and author name myself?
No, because you need special software to do so.

Like Microsoft Paint?
Nope. God, no!

Conserve your precious time and sanity, and just purchase a premade cover. Get professional with your writing pursuits, don't just treat it like some hobby in which your efforts are half-assed.

How Do I Pay For A Premade Book Cover?

So most of these sellers take Paypal or other similar online payment processors, not just credit cards. Put some cash in your Paypal and use it to make your purchase.

What for? Why bother with Paypal?
Paypal allows you to download your buyer/seller transactions into spreadsheets, so you can print it out and present it to your accountant if you wish to detail this as a business related expenditure, for the tax reimbursement. Also, they have a generous protection policy, so no worries.

So, for the record, here's Kindle's guidelines on book cover art:

⦁ Cover creator (use this as a placeholder before uploading a professional cover, but not as a book cover itself) https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G201113520

⦁ What they allow on a book cover & what they don't https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G200672390

So I should just google any ol' premade book cover website?

No. They are all not that good.
Surprise!

I made a list below of some sites whose work I thought was stellar. Those seem to operate as full fledged businesses. But there are some that operate as independent sellers, and while some are more than decent, some are also terrible looking.

Don't go in blindly into purchasing book covers

I won't rat them out, 'cuz everyone needs to pay the rent. Just take a look before you buy. Now this exact reason is why I will not put independent sellers on the list. This all goes back to that discussion I wrote about where people think that they can manipulate the Character window in Photoshop and suddenly they fancy themselves graphic designers. And just because you know how to apply Shadow to fonts does not make you a graphic designer. Um, no.

What you can do is have a basic eye for detail. Know what to look for.

Remember, it's the designer's job to make your book cover sellable, not just pretty.

Before You Purchase

Go in with some idea of what to spot as a no-no.
Just as if you were buying a house. You know that cracked joists, mold and moisture problems, and outdated appliances are a no-no even if you're not a licensed contractor.
So!
Look out for these obvious signs:

Title and Author should be kept far away from each other

blurry images or lettering of any sort

Title and Author should be in different fonts

Tag line and/or quotes should also be in a separate font

Every different font should be in different color

Misalignment of fonts

Misalignment of imagery, or lack of centering properly

All image elements look like obvious cut & paste collage effects, because the 'designer' has no understanding of lights and shadows, and blending

Fonts that seem to camouflage or disappear into the book cover. It's better to have the lettering stand out like crazy, than to have it vanish and force viewers to squint while they scroll up & down the Kindle store looking at your competition

If a seller has obviously crappy covers on their site, you will know.
Because things are gonna look wonky, and you can't quite put your finger on it. Your instinct says something is off. Go with that instinct. Because if you don't, your readers/buyers will.
And that's a lost sale buddy!

Side note: Remember with any custom jobs, you will pay a generous premium, as those book covers cannot be resold if the author backs out. It also takes longer man-hours to construct. Time and labor!

Side side note: Remember with any Fantasy or Science Fiction covers, you pay more. This is because those elements aren't things that exist that can be photographed, such as, an existing space war ship. Or a supernova explosion in outer space. So they must be created from scratch via illustration or CGI.

What looks like hot garbage

Just a reminder of what terrible, confusing and outright crappy book covers looks like:

Facebook Groups Of Book Cover Sellers

⦁ https://www.facebook.com/groups/1253110551382543/

I don't really need to put up more, as you find one group, there are so many more listed on the right side panel inside Facebook.

Premade Book Cover Sellers List

Premade Book Cover Sellers

Here's another lengthy list, by Creativepenn: https://www.thecreativepenn.com/bookcoverdesign/

You may need to supply this information if the book cover maker doesn't already know.
Book Sizing
⦁    http://www.adazing.com/createspace-spine-calculator/
⦁    http://www.ebookcoversize.com/

If you really want to do this yourself, proceed with caution.

Software to make book covers (if you really wanna drag & drop the elements all over the screen)
⦁    https://www.myecovermaker.com/
⦁    http://www.diybookcovers.com/covercreator/
⦁    https://www.coverdesignstudio.com/product-category/cover-designs/
⦁    https://www.designonclick.com/preise/

You will need a box shot to apply to Twitter ads, Facebook ads, Instagram, etc. This is either already included in your book cover sticker price, or they will sell it to you for an additional fee. Or you can try your luck below.

Box Shot
⦁    http://diybookcovers.com/3Dmockups/
⦁    https://boxshot.com/3d-pack/3d-book/
⦁    http://boxshotmaker.com/
⦁    http://www.supershareware.com/3d-ecover-free/
⦁    https://online.boxshot.com/shapes/3d-hard-cover-book

These are separate businesses that work specifically doing custom jobs. Some of the ones I listed above may do custom work too, check their FAQ's section.

Custom book covers
⦁    https://www.bookflydesign.com/
⦁    https://www.rockingbookcovers.com/pricing-services/
⦁    https://bookcoverforyou.com/#pricing
⦁    https://www.coverdesignstudio.com/product-category/premium-designs/
⦁    https://bookcoverscre8tive.com/custom-orders/

In Conclusion

And that about wraps up Part 3 of my How To Make Book Covers series of articles.
Here is click on Part 1 and Part 2 if you missed it from before.

Hope that all of the wisdom I have imparted upon you has you plenty educated by now. If any of you have more questions I haven't covered, send me a direct message on Twitter: https://twitter.com/OnyxTowers

And here is an interesting article about a book cover designer: https://lithub.com/secrets-of-the-book-designer-my-job-isnt-to-make-things-pretty/

My Author Journey So Far - May 28, 2018

noreply@blogger.com (Onyx Towers) — Mon, 28 May 2018 09:22:00 +0000

Proof that I am indeed writing my book, lies ahead! And I have screenshots! Evidence!

And major problems with Instagram! Let's go!

It is almost 3:30am. This is the only time I can write without being hassled by my family. Man, are they good at that!

So yeah, been working on my book, and book cover. The book cover I have is created by somebody who went to my college, also an alumnus.

The book itself, sprung from an idea I had from pitching my entry to the 2017 Lulu Halloween Writing Contest. (I didn't win) It was for a story less than 5,000 words long. I wrote it in such a hurry that I made obvious editing errors. *cringe

But I decided that I loved my story so much, why not put it together with others and make an anthology?

Brilliant, right?

And so, it will be a collection of spooky stories, about 10 chapters each. I already edited that contest entry story, as it currently serves as my first chapter. I'm thinking once I am done, I'll post that chapter up for free somewhere, maybe my Wattpad account?

Here is what the book and book cover look like so far:

That there, is a pre-made ebook template. It's FREE. Go get you one @ http://diybookformats.com/

One chapter down, nine more to go!

In other news...

How To Remove Facebook From Your Instagram On Your Mobile Device

This is very important. Do this if the "Unlink" option doesn't work.

This, was the horrible nightmare I had to deal with for almost 2 months.

Instagram never sends support tickets, so all your inquiries go directly into a black hole from within the world wide web ecosphere. You will NEVER get a response! Good luck.

Please note:
It's important to know Facebook purchased Instagram for a couple million dollars. So they're in bed with one another, so to speak. Instagram Ads links up with Facebook Ads, which is FB's bread and butter. That's really how they make the bulk of their fortune. They are both connected to one another.

Now then.

What happens is that I have Instagram for my Android device.
In that Instagram, I began two accounts.
One is for my Facebook Page for gaming, something I do other than writing.
One is for my author Facebook profile.

Please note:
Facebook Page and Facebook Profiles are two vastly different things.
Profiles are personal.
Pages are professional.

Anyhoo.

I was logging in and out of both my Instagram profiles. Why? Mostly my Instagram was to pimp my Page stuff which has to do with gaming. HOWEVER, now I've decided to pimp my writing stuff instead.

Please note: This is how you find Instagram inside Facebook on your computer. Doesn't matter if it's a FB Profile or FB Page.

Please note: Instagram isn't listed in the list of apps. It's integrated into Facebook now as a feature.

Click on your own profile
Click on the More tab
Click on Instagram. Done.

Hang on. Here comes the hiccup.

When I logged in as my author name in Instagram, I made a post that I chose to send to my author Facebook.
But it sent to my gaming Facebook instead.
Whoopsy.
I only found out because one of my real life friends liked that Facebook post. I didn't want him to know of my secretive author life. And now he probably knows. That is, if he bothered to look at the little strip of info that states the post was sent from Instagram. I doubt it though, he's such a stoner, lol!
Yes, I deleted the post IMMEDIATELY.
Yes, I am mortified.
MORTIFIED.
I think another buddy saw it, and he's the kind of big mouth asshole you don't want to know about your secretive anythings going on. Man, am I livid!

But what did I end up doing?
I panicked so much, I unlinked from Facebook while logged into my Instagram. Then I went into both Facebook accounts on my computer and deactivated Instagram from it.

Did that fix the problem?
Nah, bitch! It most certainly did not!

Try logging in WITH your author Facebook ID into Instagram.
I did, and it just keeps reading my gaming Facebook login, instead of my author Facebook login.
FUCK!

Try Googling the following: "instagram to facebook link"
No stupid, I want to "Facebook to Instagram unlink". UN-link!
Also, no similar articles covered my unique problem at all.
Also, say no to Google, and yes to DuckDuckGo. They don't track your internet browsing. They respect your privacy.

HOW DOES THE INTERNET NOT HAVE THE ANSWERS I AM LOOKING FOR!!!
How is this even possible?!

Try reporting the problem to Instagram.
I did, twice already! It's been over a month! No response! Pretty sure I covered this earlier!

Try looking through the Instagram forums for a solution.
THIS PROBLEM ISN'T COVERED BY INSTAGRAM. WHY??? IT'S WEIRD, HUH???!

Try curling into a ball and muffling the cries of despair.
I did that already! Damn, you just don't listen, do you alter ego? Also, leg cramp! *owie Also, dust bunnies! *achoo!

Then how the hell did you fix your convoluted problem?
Glad you asked! Also, stow the attitude missy!
Not even Instagram knows this, so pay attention...

I have Instagram on my Android, but I also have Facebook on my Android.

Understand that they were both cross-linked. Together. Both of these apps were linked up to each other somehow, a fact that neither ever mentions anywhere.
That, is not covered anywhere in Instagram's forums, nor Facebooks.

Here comes the A-Ha! moment
I was logged into the Facebook app under my gaming username.
So despite that I was logged into the Instagram app under my author username, it was connecting directly into my gaming Facebook app.
Whoopsy.

And this is how you fix it

While logged into all your Facebook profiles on your computer, disconnect your Instagrams, then log out.
Get on your mobile device now.
Log out of your Facebook app.
Log in to your Instagram app. Then you can see there is no Facebook connected to it at all.
Then log into your Facebook app. Instagram will automatically detect it, no matter what username you use on Instagram. Automatically linked!
You can now go on the computer and reconnect any of your active Instagrams from inside your Facebook. Because what happens in Facebook, stays in the Facebook ecosystem, and Instagram don't care.

Please note:
Instagram on the computer doesn't give you all the custom controls and interface you get from guiding it inside your mobile device. Facebook on the computer cannot control Instagram, only it's privacy and notification options. You want to do some serious customization, you need to log into the Instagram app itself.

AAAand, that is it! Thanks for playing!
Any other questions you have, just DM me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/OnyxTowers

Yes, I will post part 3 of my book cover articles this week. Pinky swear.

#unlinkfacebook #unlinkinstagram #removefacebookfrominstagram

How To Make A Book Cover - Part 2 - Legalities

noreply@blogger.com (Onyx Towers) — Wed, 23 May 2018 10:36:00 +0000

The Basics Of How To Make

A Book Cover - Legalities

Let us explore the legalities of making a book cover, shall we?

*You are 100% responsible for anything that you do. Though I try to cover in broad terms the legalities surrounding photo and image use, this article is by no means complete, nor foolproof. Exercise caution and common sense, as the law is ever changing. Do your own research surrounding legal terms and prohibitions in image and photo usage rights both domestic and international.

A book cover design consists of usually the following materials that require a license to purchase for commercial use:

Fonts (the lettering)
A photograph (may or may not be enhanced, or edited)
An illustration (a drawing or painting of people, animals, buildings, things, etc.)
A background (either solid color, photo, digital painting, blank, etc.)

So here are the things that usually must be purchased:

Fonts (each style of font is sold at different pricing)
Illustration images (some are pre-sold, some are custom made)
Background image (unless you use a personal photo, or leave it blank)
The designer's time & labor costs

Consider your budget first.

Professional graphic designers already have a ready to go stock of photos, illustrations, images, clip art, vector art, fonts and brush styles they usually purchase on their own, for commercial uses. You can go and buy these things separately, but it is time consuming and can drive up price. As far as legal matters are concerned, yes, they are taught this stuff at whatever university they attended. They know to keep everything legit for the sake of their client. It does their reputation no good to put their clients in legal hot water.

When putting your book cover elements together, let your graphic designer choose the images and fonts since they already know what's in their arsenal. And if you don't like a particular image or font, speak up, and show them one you like, so they can swap it out. They can find the exact one and purchase a license for it, or another very closely similar. Trust me, you really don't want to look through 27 pages of art you cannot make up your mind on. Imagine doing that at a tattoo shop!
Especially if you're as indecisive as I am, then it becomes hours, and days of brain-scrambled tediousness. It's like, you go in having some idea, then come out with less than zero idea of what you wanted in the first place!

Example:
You buy a pretty font to use for the lettering. But you have no Photoshop or any other photo editing software to put it into.
Or you underestimated how complex Photoshop is to learn.
Or you realize how expensive the software is, and you did not calculate for it into your budget.
Or you change your mind, and another prettier font comes along, at $60.00 a pop. You yank your hair out of frustration.

Save yourselves the troubles, and let the professionals handle it.

On some occasions, if you want a certain look or effect, they'll ask you to consider downgrading, or they will buy the necessary tool to achieve it and pass the cost difference on to your total cost. It all depends what your needs/ wants are. Don't freak out! It may actually come out to something very affordable in the end. Price projection may not be as high as originally estimated, if you can both brainstorm a simpler vision of your idea.

I know what you're thinking...

'But I can take free images off the internet! Why pay for it? How is anybody gonna know?"

I Took An Image From The Internet, How Are They Gonna Find Me?

It's real easy to look through the internet to see where an artwork is posted without the creator's permission. Especially if it's been shared over the internet!

All digital photos have what is 'Exif Data' and through it, it becomes easy to backtrack through the internet wherever that image is being promoted. See?

Don't attempt to steal. You will be found out! Thanks to simple data, anything posted to the internet can be traced back to the thieves source.
Here is a terrific example:

https://improvephotography.com/1544/4-tools-to-find-who-is-stealing-your-photos/

Here are some examples on how to find an image all over the internet:

This is not like downloading a really cool wallpaper for your computer's desktop. That's for personal use.
See, if you use that same wallpaper in any pursuit of a commercial transaction, you can face legal action, whether you profit or not.

Just because it's on the internet doesn't mean you can simply take it.

Can I get sued for using an image I didn't pay for?

Yes.
There are real life cases of litigation against businesses of whom their employees have taken copyrighted images and posted them as their own.
Don't be stupid; just don't do it.

Here are some fine examples of legal screwups:

Can I just take images from Google and use them?

No! Hell fucking no!

UNDERSTAND THE DIFFERENCE between Free and Royalty Free.

You will need to know this, to avoid getting sued. Or outed in public forums, which is much worse!

via GIPHY

Selling a book, is a commercial transaction. Anyone can argue you're doing it for money, fame, or some other form of compensation.

In the eyes of the law, this constitutes as a business dealing, even if you earned very little revenue from this theft.

You cannot grab images from Google and use them as you please. Many images are unique, copyrighted works, and owned by their copyright holders. Usually it's websites, photographers, artists, publishing houses, news sites, etc. but they've already hired designers to create these unique designs for them, so it becomes their property.

That's like taking a news image and using it on your blog that you've monetized, and later find out it's up on the CNN website or something. Whoops.

Don't steal other people's property!

What Is The Difference Between

Free and Royalty Free?

(this goes for photos, images, clip art, fonts, etc.)

Aaand, here we go.

Free means they don't charge you a price for the photos/ images. The person who created that photo/ image will put a notice next to that image informing the public it is FREE under very specific conditions. For example, a Creative Commons license next to the image, to let you know how it can be used.

When it says FREE, it usually implies "FREE for personal use".

Sometimes it's free to use in a promotional or commercial capacity, but you must put their name along with the image (attribution), and/ or supply a link back to their website. It should say somewhere on the webpage, or included as text in the free download.

They hold the right to charge royalties (if they wish) on each image you use, every single time it is used in a transaction. (And this is rare, btw)

(Imagine paying $.35 for every download or click of your book using a 'free' image. It adds up fast.)

Being the original copyright holder, they also reserve the right to issue DMCA take-down notices wherever you use that image/ photo, or a Cease-And-Desist letter from a lawyer, if these conditions are not met.Or even sue for punitive damages in civil court.

Royalty Free means you don't pay any royalties. But, you do pay an annual flat license, or subscription service, to use all of the stock photos/ images you want as many times as you need.

Beware: Licensing terms are very specific, so read carefully. They may give you full reign to use all over websites, books, pamphlets, but no permission to use in any merchandising. Always read the licensing terms.

Buying an annual license is the most popular, hassle-free option for many entrepreneurs.

(For example, you pay some online stock photo website a yearly fee of $65 or whatever they charge, and you can use ALL images as many as you want at no extra cost)

Can you imagine if you had to pay a royalty on an image on your website, every time somebody clicks on it? That could get expensive!

That's why many customers usually buy yearly licenses from stock photo websites, to use an unlimited number of photos as often as they please. This is a much cheaper alternative in the long run.

Example:
Shutterstock is a website that sells flat licenses for access to unlimited photos. Here is an example of their terms and limitations how you can use their images:

Please understand how this works.

It's a legally tricky area, and you don't want to incur the wrath of a stock photo business sending you a cease-and-desist,from a mountain of lawyers. Nor do you wish to piss off a scorned photographer, who probably legally registered their works with the copyright office in Washington, D.C. This entitles them to claim monetary damages in court against you. Especially if you have profited from their work. Did you make any amount of money on tee-shirt sales with stolen artwork? Whoops! That's a lawsuit!

And yes, you can get subpoenaed for illegal use of another person's intellectual property.

Here is a website displaying 'free' commercial fonts.
Each font shows next to it whether it's available for commercial purposes, or if the creator sells a license for it. I've downloaded some, and each folder contains the font and a "READ ME" text document that lays out the terms of licensing.

I already did it months ago. No one's busted me yet.

Ok stupid, here's something you haven't considered: The Digital Millenium Copyright Act.

The original copyright holder gets a hold of Google or some other search engine, informs them that you are holding their photo hostage over at www.Iamastupidthief.com/Istolephotos, and Google issues a strike against your website.

Google can penalize your website by removing it from their search results. That means ZERO visibility for your website; zero visibility through anything Google related. People cannot look you up. Maybe Bing does the same thing. If the offensive stolen material is still up on your site, you lose all the SEO you poured into your website this whole time. Your Google Analytics will probably show a huge decline in visitors, dropping your rating to the floor. Suddenly, advertisers drop you like a hot potato because your pages aren't converting, and your popularity rank is in the toilet.

Whoops!

Here is another scenario:
The copyright holder contacts your webhost, informs them you are in direct violation of the DMCA, and instead of asking you about the suspicious activity in question, they just shut down your website. And if you read their Terms Of Service, they are most likely in the right because you're theft is in direct violation of their service, and of the DMCA. Yeah, you're not getting a refund there pal.
Whoops!

Where To Find Free Photos

I wrote this the other day, so take a look: https://onyxtowers.blogspot.com/2017/12/where-to-get-royalty-free-pics-stock.html

I don't recommend this for book covers, for one simple reason:

Images are FREE for everybody to use
Everyone can use them
But these images and photos are NOT retired! (surprise, surprise...your book cover photo is the same as another author's book cover photo)
They will continue to stay up there, for anybody else to use!

If you want exclusivity, just purchase a license already! Don't be a cheapskate!

Why Is Using FREE Images And Photos Bad?

Because you risk the humiliation of using an image for your book cover, only to find it up on someone else' website.
You don't know if that could be a p o r n site, or what.
And what if that same image is used on a club pass, a party banner, a scammy website ad? It creates confusion, sending your audience to that scammy website. Think about it.They'll think you're involved.

I suppose it's great for your very first book, when you have absolutely no money to put into it. And you can swap out the book cover at any time, later on. In fact, I INSIST you swap out that cover as soon as possible! But do invest in a professional book cover immediately as you can procure the funds.

To summarize: Get images (for book cover) that are both FREE and Royalty-Free. Make sure the license terms spell out word-for-word that you can use it for paper/print/publishing/pamphlet materials. Launch that book. As soon as you can make any kind of cash from book sales, purchase a license for a photo stock website and swap out that cover as fast as you can. Make it look professional.

For now, your broke butt needs to rush the product out to market fast.
So!
Do get an image or photo that is BOTH free and royalty-free.
Here is another method:

Free and Royalty Free Images on Google

Pro Tip: Always look for photos whose licenses have fallen into the public domain.

Example: Here is a photo website with clearly defined licensing terms: https://www.freeimages.com/license

Look for the following permissions attached to each photo:

Free to use, royalty free,
Free to use in personal works,
Free to use in commercial works,
Free to use in personal works or commercial works with attribution,
Free to use in multi media,
Free to modify,
Creative Commons attributes (read up on the various licenses; see https://creativecommons.org/licenses/)
Photos that have fallen exclusively into public domain.
Example 1: http://publicdomainarchive.com/free-stock-photos/
Example 2: https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/6-free-websites-public-domain-images-free-stock-photos/

Photos posted online are not up for grabs.

They are privately copyrighted works, and you should lay off. When there is licensing information next to a photo, it is usually to let people know the limitations of sharing or using that photo, be it for personal or commercial usage.
If there is no existing info, always assume it is off limits.
DO NOT STEAL. End of story.

I Don't Understand These Big Words You Just Said

Here is a good legalese-to-layman's terms write-up: https://blog.kenkaminesky.com/photography-copyright-and-the-law/

Always look for the limitations attached to each photo! All permissions vary!

Each website broadly states their licensing terms of service, which you should always read before downloading.

This has been part 2 of my How To Make A Book Cover series. Hope you learned something valuable here today!

Here is part 1 of my How To Make A Book Cover series.

Next up is part 3! Services That Sell Ready-Made Book Covers.

How To Make A Book Cover - Part 1 - Commissioning An Illustrator Or Graphic Designer

noreply@blogger.com (Onyx Towers) — Wed, 16 May 2018 21:52:00 +0000

Bob Ross, we are nots.

I keep seeing in many Facebook forums where fellow writers display doubtful book covers, which, IMHO, could easily be corrected with just one very good element.
Many are not artists, nor designers. Obviously.

Writers should write, and not obsess over their lack of artistic mastery.

Otherwise, they would've enrolled in art school.

(Disclaimer: I mention some websites in this article, but in no way am I representing or recommending them, sponsored by them, of have used their services in any way. Please do your own research.)

Hang onto your pleated slacks, because this is a long, long read! Lots of information to sift through, kiddies!

via GIPHY

Making A Book Cover 101 - Commissioning An Illustrator

Or Graphic Designer

This topic is a very comprehensive write up on everything involved in the process of getting book covers made. Legal issues, hiring professionals, finding free resources, software, and everything in between will be covered in 3 articles.

This article discusses contracting commercial artists.

I write this from the viewpoint of being a once, scorned freelance designer. Those days are past behind me but the lifestyle and headaches are still there. It leaves a mark, very much in the same way customer service burns you out. And this was long before Yelp and Twitter were invented! Trust me when I say that I have much expertise in this area.

Moving on.

Many of you are writers. Designing is a completely different profession. And you are not here to learn a completely different practice. No. You have writing to do.

I'm going to cover all the different points so that we can dispel the mysteries surrounding the practice of making book covers.

Making A Book Cover - The Basics

What Should I Know About Making My Own Book Cover?

It is one big ADVERTISEMENT:

The book cover acts as the Point Of Sale

Book covers act as the main point of advertising

Do not use this as a chance to 'doodle some art for fun!'

No one will pay hard ca$h for a book that looks like a retarded monkey scribbled it

Even publishing houses understand the importance of a great book cover!

A great book cover is a method of advertising that is very calculated by big publishing houses. They have in-house graphic art departments hand pick design elements that are in line with current trends. They submit it to focus groups for evaluation. They do a short run on a test market, before they submit the final book jacket design world wide. They do limited edition variant covers. They create different covers where the book is distributed in different countries.

Everything about a book cover is calculated.

The whole point of the book cover is to grab the attention of the buyer. Remember that it's tricky to do when they're scrolling up & down the Amazon pages, competing with other books in the same category. This is where the book cover needs to stand out among the competitors. Competition is fierce.

A book cover design isn't the place for you to practice your art skills!

Basically put, get an actual graphic designer to do this. They understand this practice, and it's many intricacies. There are singular freelance designers out there, and also full-service companies that work with your budget. Also, there is actual software that allows you to drag & drop title and image elements all over the computer screen to make your own cover. (I will cover that later)

With so many options to choose from, why risk a shitty cover that will hamper book sales??

That is why authors are called "Best Selling Author", and not "Best Writing Author" , or "Best Designing Author"!

How Do I Know If I Need To Get A Professional Graphic Artist To Design My Book Cover?

When you answer 'No' to the following questions:

Have you graduated from an accredited art school?
Do you have full mastery of CAD programs?
Are you writing as a hobby only?
Do you have full comprehension of any of this: https://bit.ly/1QN8wPt

Then YES, you are definitely going to need a professional book cover made! By a professional!

You don't have the time to learn Photoshop, an art program so complex it takes three college years to master.

Photoshop keeps getting more complex, with more and more windows and features added yearly. This is made with professional graphic artists in mind, not homebodies who just wanna screw around with the program. In Design, the book making version of Photoshop (also by the same company) is also tricky if you've never worked with CAD software in your entire life.

Similar programs like Gimp, or Corel Draw also have a steep learning curve.These take a couple of months to learn, just to do very basic maneuvers.

You can try Fire Alapaca, Krita, Canva, or other simplified software but again, everything takes time to learn. Just to learn basic shit, you may spend hours watching several 20 min. length tutorials on YouTube.
That's time you should dedicate to writing and book marketing. Don't bother trying to do book cover art yourself. It's not a great idea.

Let's discuss the cost of CAD software purchase

A singular annual Photoshop license costs around $600.00 at last count. I believe they now rent it out for $20/mo.? Not sure. Still costly, IMHO.
Do you have that kind of time and money?
Most of you will shout 'Of course not!'
Again, this kind of software is made for professionals and design studios in mind, hence the exorbitant cost.

Look, you wanna write. You envision yourself as an author. You don't care anything about becoming an artist. Becoming an artist was not the career you chose.
So leave this hard job to someone who makes their living actually making book covers!

Don't micro-manage...simplify the processes! - Onyx Towers

I Already Designed My Own Book Cover. Do I Really Need A Designer Now?

Only if your book cover's quality is on par with these: http://lousybookcovers.com/

If you looked at these and said to yourself, "Gee, they're not that bad";
"Well what's wrong with them?" then you REALLY need to hire a professional designer!

Pro Tip: You can change your book cover at any time, even after selling your book in your store for a while: https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G200965970

Let's Talk About What Graphic Design Isn't

It is not 'doodling' pretty images.
It is most certainly NOT a digital version of scrapbooking! If you think that, your over-simplification degrades this noble profession. Most likely, you may need your head checked as well.
There is a valid reason this profession takes 2-4 years to master at the university level.
No, that one introductory course you took back in high school, or the learning annex doesn't count.

If it is so easy to do, everyone would be doing it- hang on, Doing it correctly. But no.

What Can I Expect When Approaching A Professional Commercial Graphic Designer To Design My Book Cover?

One major problem of freelance professionals is the ever belittling of their industry. It's something that poisons the relationship between vendor and clientele, and it's not a great start towards contracting services.

Yes, you would be signing a contract and laying down a deposit, in order for the designer to get started on your project. This is an industry standard, so expect it. This is completely routine and professional. If contracts aren't signed, and deposits aren't dropped off, nothing gets started. Too bad if you need it 4 days from now.

You can expect for them to ask many questions about your story, when you need it by, what your budget limit is, what you want to see on the cover, how big the book dimensions are, etc.

You don't necessarily need to know dimensions right away, because you must first know which online book store you will be selling your ebook in. Are you selling in Nook, Kobo, Kindle? Tell your designer, so they can get the most updated required specs.

Pro tip:
Remember that each market has different size requirements. Click this link to find out each specific book size for each online book store: http://www.ebookcoversize.com/

So What Is The Etiquette In Approaching A Designer?

First off, don't be a colossal asshole. It goes without saying.
Here is what an asshole client looks like: https://clientsfromhell.net/

You are approaching a professional who makes their living earning around $30/hr. at entry level, because this shit is complex.

You are not ordering a crappy burger and fries here. You are not merely ordering a pizza, or placing an order with your local dry cleaner who knows you by name. Please demonstrate some respect and courtesy when ordering such professional services.

I stress this because many of these folks already make a very well living, many have well-paying corporate clients, and thus, they don't really need your business. They are free to reject your proposal.
THESE ARE NOT STARVING ARTISTS.
Don't think that they need you, as much as you need them.
And to answer your question...
Here we go:

Have a budget already separated for this project. Don't be wishy washy saying you'll get the money later. Everything is 'typically' half down up front {the overall cost - that is your deposit} and half down upon completion of project.
Have an idea of what you wish to see on your book cover
Then have an idea of what your book is actually about
It helps if you give them links to actual books in the Kindle store that share your vision
Tell them which online stores you will upload your book to be sold in, because each store has different sizing requirements
Your book better damn well be finished when you reach this step!

That last step is crucial.
This is why.

Edits and rewrites result in removing paragraphs, sentences, and even entire chapters out of a book. This shortens pages. This shortens word counts. Your book gets shorter in story. It gets smaller in the spline size. Smaller spline means that the book cover length changes in size. So the artwork needs to be adjusted.
That adjustment will cost extra.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$-Too much money leaving dem pockets!

Get it now?

Pro-tip:
Use this link to calculate the spline size so you know what your book cover dimensions are: ⦁ http://www.adazing.com/createspace-spine-calculator/

Book Ahead, Months In Advance. Especially Around Holidays.

Just Like Renting A Place For A Wedding Reception.

Assume that at any given time of year, they are booked solid, so if they take a risk on taking on your project, you better approach them with nothing but utmost professionalism. Come prepared.
They can always agree to bow out of your project midway if you show you are sloppy, or unprepared. In addition to being booked for several months, assume that at peak holiday times of the year they are on far better-paying projects, or some long-term project, or currently working on one, or in the middle of making a deadline.

Always ask if their calendar can accommodate your deadline.

So in theory, a little conversation goes like this:

Writer: Hi designer, my book launch is the first day of December. But, I need it no later than November 13th. I cannot stretch that deadline any further.

Designer: Lemme see what we can do. I will check my calendar.

One more thing.
Get off your high horse. No one is going to drop a well paying project that can lead to larger clients, just so you can order all the bells and whistles for your vanity publishing project, only then to turn around and complain about pricing and, why the designer can't make you such elaborate fancy artwork.

In a short deadline, you cannot pack a 3-6 month project into a 3 week window. Doesn't matter if you are paying $350.00. Be realistic about calendar days.

The fancier you get > The higher the costs > The project timeline gets longer.

Writer: But I want a masterpiece in nine days!

Designer: And I want a winning lotto ticket, but neither of us are getting our way here. *wah-wah-waaap*

Don't expect miracles

What Do I Need Before Approaching A Designer?

You definitely need to have some idea about what you want your cover to look like.

I worked at a costume shop years ago, and we had this one kind of customer always come in. Because it was in a ritzy part of town, they thought they could get away with treating 'the help' like garbage. Like working as a store clerk wasn't already difficult, but they felt entitled to extra dehumanize us further, atop our meager pay. The straw that broke the camel's back was when they'd wander into the store, ask a million questions going nowhere, because they were tripping on eccstasy or some shit, and taking everything off the racks tossing it anywhere, then this sort of thing happened:

Crappy Customer: Oh, teehee! I dunno! What do you think? I dunno what I want! Hee!

Me: What is it you need for your costume? Wings? A tiara? (this was for a formal costume party)(boss is giving me the stink eye, like 'go make a sale already!')

Crappy Customer: Hee! *snort* You pick for me! (yes, she really said that; hey lady, I'm not a frickin' mind reader- wth?!)

Please don't order services when you're intoxicated. Clearly that should go without saying.

Make sure you are old enough, and legally, and mentally competent to make financial transactions, or place orders on services requiring contracts. Years of abysmal customer service experience is forcing me to type this now.
I'm being overly cautious, I know.

Designers can get a pretty good idea of where you are going with your book, but they are not psychics! Communicate efficiently what it is that you envision for your book series.

Pro-tip:
Please have your deposit ready to go.
Don't keep this professional on the phone over an hour, discussing your elegant vision (because you just loooove hearing yourself talk) if you don't even know where the heck you will get the money to pay for any of this. (out of your rump, perhaps?)

Time is money. Don't be a time suck.
Proposals are bullshit, without the cash to back it up. With cash, it's a legit project.

This is why one of the first questions they always ask, is 'What is your budget?'. Believe it or not, they can find a way to work around flimsy budgets, but the cheapskate needs to have an open mind.

Know Before You Order:
Cheap gets you simple looking. Not terrible looking, but simple. Think vector shapes and silhouettes. Expensive gets you sleek, with all the bells & whistles. As a newbie, try aiming for the middle, see where it lead you.

Writer: I don't know what you mean!

Here is a terrific example of varied covers of award winning books from last year.

To err on the side of cautious, your budget should be anywhere between $80.00-$350.00 USD. Usually it will fall in the middle there.

I'd say less if it's for a one-off book or a simple ebook, but for an entire series, paperback or harcover, you want more negotiating power since it's a lot of damn work to construct. Make a deal for a lower price since you're buying multiple covers in bulk, and back it up with actual cash for a deposit.

When you find a designer's website or online profile, look around. They usually put up their pricing structure in obvious terms.

But What If I Don't Know What To Ask For When Getting A Book Cover Made?

Don't worry, no writer ever really does.
Luckily for you, I made a fill-out form you can use to narrow down your choices, and propose questions you wouldn't think to ask otherwise.

This is just for practice, to get a sense of all the possible questions you may ask. Feel free to share forward. This helps out everybody.

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How Do I Know If I'm Being A Client From Hell?

Please do not patronize professional designers with the following nonsense:

Talk their ear off for over and hour, just to whine about pricing (people who do this are unprofessional/ have zero idea what services actually cost). Ask around first; get an idea what typical going rates are before contacting anybody
Do not demean their profession. Don't you dare tell them "Why should I pay you? I can just get my 14 year old nephew to draw something up on the computer!" Then stop wasting their valuable time, hang up the phone, and go hit up weed-smoking Johnny to screw up your entrepreneurial efforts. Sheesh!
The designer will make your book as appealing to your market as possible, not necessarily cater to your personal tastes. Who cares about your personal flavor? He's not gonna put a '67 Chevrolet on that cover that your grandpappy had back in the day, if your story is about misunderstood teenagers in a boarding school in France after World War II. They will talk you out of making such an obvious error, one that will jeopardize future book sales by confusing readers. Here is a good write-up on that very subject. Be realistic where you want to go with this. Understand that they will make a book cover based on the story's content, as close to your specifications, and as appealing to the market as possible. Don't second guess them. They've been doing this longer than you've had this recently brief desire to get into publishing
Do not ask for a designer to copy an existing image exactly down to the last detail. No one will volunteer to be a part of a legal mess for you, just because you have zero imagination. Don't steal someone else's concept art! Here's an idea of what ripping off designs look like, and here is another, to give you an idea. Nevermind that it's a legal liability, it is also incredibly tacky to boot
Do not ask for a designer to use actual photos that do not belong to you. It belongs to your sister-in-law and she said it was cool? Get it in writing then, because she owns the copyright. This kind of thing where money passes hands will create new enemies where there were none before.
Understand that when the designer emails you a digital file, you can go into that email and download it as many times as you need. If you don't know how download an attachment in 2018, but you have a computer, you may be in fact, a complete idiot. Or over the age of 70.
Do not demand endless changes to your book cover because in reality, you have NO idea what you want! When you're going in blind like this, never having done this before, they're gonna know. Especially when you're pretending to know what's going on. Trust me, they will work with whatever your needs! No need to put on airs, or waste their time.
Every revision co$t$ money! Have some goddamn idea of what you want! You don't hire a contractor to renovate your kitchen, look at the finished product, then tell them to re-do it all over again, because "The backsplash is too dark; the paint on the cabinets is too washed out". Sure, I'll just charge you for yet another full kitchen renovation. Oh, you think you can live with it now? By all means.
Trust that the professional knows what the hell they are doing. There are many design elements in a composition that become critical in a book cover. Designers study years of design theory to learn all the significant details in arranging and creating aesthetically pleasing works. Hues, tonality, kerning, etc. This isn't something average Joes can or should do.
Expect to receive a contract you must sign before work gets started. Yes, this is exactly how professionals begin a contract job! Emailing back and forth doesn't constitute a contract no matter what is said, only a piece of paper that is signed and dated. Deposits have to be disbursed too. Verbal agreements are as worthless as the paper they are written on!
If you get quoted a low price, expect a low, low quality. I'm talking 'too good to be true' pricing.
If you get quoted a high price, you will get high quality. Or you should. A good professional will submit the finished work as a large file, at over 300dpi. Anything less will be too low quality for Amazon to allow for an upload.
You cannot enlarge tiny images. If you do, they become more and more pixelated the larger you stretch them. In other words, blurry. That is why a finished image is turned in as a much larger file size.
Every sample-proof the designer delivers you gets sent at 72dpi. That's a small image, to deter the client from running away with the finished product before payment is disbursed. This is a standard practice in this industry, so expect it
THEY DO NOT WORK FOR FREE.They do not need 'the exposure' because they have enough clients on their roster! They do need to pay the damn rent and electricity bills!
THEY DO NOT WORK FOR FREE. These are not novices, starving artists, or bumbling idiots! They work on projects that take days and weeks to complete! This is contract work!

THEY DO NOT WORK FOR FREE. Nobody cares about the charity you're running! Harsh, but true. If you really want to leverage this info, ask politely if they can offer a discount. In rare instances, some designers may give you a reduced fee, as long as you can provide a copy of your 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status, so the designer can claim the Charitable Contribution Deduction. If you cannot offer this, then don't bother asking.

Please note: If you are not legitimately registered as a 501(c)(3) with the county clerk's office, then you are not a legally registered charity, in which case, you should quit pretending that you are, as this borders on fraud.

AND DON'T BEHAVE LIKE THIS JACKASS CLIENT!!!

Be polite, be courteous when negotiating with them. A good practice for any service industry, actually.

Designers have constant jobs on queue, in their calendar year, so they're not gonna waste time and surrender valuable jobs in lieu of your project, especially if you keep screwing around with fifty million questions, (you really should've written down your questions before picking up the phone) and balk at the thought of payment.

This is why they ask all the questions up front about your project, in order to suss out exactly what your needs are, what kind of client you are, and either you will become a waste of their resources, or a return paying client. It is in their best interest to have non-fussy, returning paying clients. It is a bad idea to keep a stingy client who is pushy, shouts frequently, and asks for impossible nonsense things.

Ask yourself if you are truly worth the $125.00

the project is slated for?

Just remember, these people belong to web forums and Facebook groups within their chosen trade. Word gets around with all merchants, whether stores are online or brick and mortar. Terrible actions become legendary, and people warn one another. Behave!

Do approach a graphic designer the right way
Don't be like these massive jerks: https://dangerousminds.net/comments/illustrations_of_the_people_who_want_artists_to_work_for_free

What Is The Process Of Hiring A Professional Graphic Artist To Design My Book Cover?

You pitch a project. Be as detailed as possible. It's not their sole job to pull details out of you. Many will help narrow down your choices, but if you have zero idea of what it is you need, you come off as a person who has no idea where they are going. Clients who are clueless translate into clients who are whiny, who ask for too many revisions because they are indecisive/ mistrusting/ or embarrassed to say they simply don't know, or bitch about pricing.

Clueless clients are a clear demonstration of a penniless time-suck. They are the worst. Not worth all the headaches, and they never pay.

So don't be clueless like these characters!

People are more understanding than you think.

You are a writer. Of course you have no idea what services you need, since you've never ordered them before! And that's fine too. Believe me when I say, professionals will help you narrow down your choices, and pose questions you wouldn't remember to ask. Supply them with all the basic things you need to see on that front cover, and they'll take it from there.
If you still forget to ask important stuff, go check out this Google Form I created.

How Do I Hire A Professional Graphic Artist Designer To Design My Book Cover?

You must commission them first. Here is a fantastic write-up everyone must read: https://www.hireanillustrator.com/how-to-commission-an-illustrator.pdf
(page 3 is exceptionally remarkable)

Do I Need An Illustrator, Or A Graphic Designer?

Realize what it is you really need on your book cover. Some stuff cannot be photographed, so it must be illustrated from scratched.

For example:
You need a slick book cover for your dragon/knight epic. So you need an illustrator to give you top quality photo-realistic illustration depicting your hero riding a scaly fire-breathing dragon. You want this to look like a professionally made comic book cover, or better.

Another example:
You're book is 1940's style noir, murder mystery. A graphic designer with a terrific eye for detail can get stock photography of models posing in vintage clothing, run a sepia filter or play with the lighting on the photo, and place a few art deco fonts on that cover.

Here's a few links to help:

⦁    https://www.hireanillustrator.com/i/
⦁    https://www.hireanillustrator.com/how-to-commission-an-illustrator.pdf
⦁    https://www.hireanillustrator.com/i/blog/1140/contact-an-illustrator/

Where Do I Find A Professional Graphic Artist To Design My Book Cover?

There are so many places to hire a professional illustrator, and/or graphic designer. One of my favorite places is always Pinterest, due to it's tight keywords and algorithms making it super easy to find things. Feel free to check out my Pinterest folder on book covers if you wish to get ideas.

These are some of my top favorite places to hit up:

And I just discovered this facebook group you may find useful: Roxy's Book Service Promotions

So you made it all the way to the bottom! Good for you! Next time, I will talk about the legalities of making book covers the right way, in part 2 of this series.

Stay tuned.

Here is Part 2.

My Author Journey So Far - May 01, 2018

noreply@blogger.com (Onyx Towers) — Tue, 01 May 2018 18:49:00 +0000

No explanation needed; see pic above.

I've been a no-show for all other daily activities in my life. Everything picks up super fast as soon as the first flowers shoot outta the ground; with fury and fire and spiteful will. WILL.

I believe I do have Seasonal Affective Disorder, because I overreact to even minor weather changes. Whenever Spring rolls around, it's almost like an alarm goes off LOUDLY in my body's rhythm, and suddenly, I want to make beautiful love, run a mile, and hang up some sheetrock. Shit is bananas, lemme tell ya!

Things I've been up to:

Been driving myself crazy with my indecisiveness, not picking a book to finish. Some days I think, Mebbe that book, or that other one because the time of year is right. I can't choose, so I can't finish. I have no idea which one to finish and launch. I'm stuck in indecisive hell. Such is the ADHD mind. *sigh

And I went crazy planting seeds into pots, 'cuz April is the time of year to do that. With gardening, temperature and timing is everything. Last years' stuff came in quite nicely this year:

And in the middle of this mad race to plant, plant, plant, I began working on a Free eBook so I can do a giveaway for people who sign up for my email list.

So far, it kinda looks like this:

Once I finish, I'll upload it and broadcast it to social media. I have a feeling this book's gonna be a tad long, but only necessarily so.

Since last blog post, my poor mother suffered two maladies, sending me into a panic mode, running towards homeopathic relief methods. I tell ya, when you're desperate, you look for any solutions. I finally found some miracle oil online, started incorporating it into her food and voila! No more fighting with us, or painful headaches, or other such nonsense. And she's more calm than before. Thank god for the internets, right? At least it brings me some peace of mind, and more for her.

AAaand my poor father suffered a painful stretch of the sciatica nerve, bad enough to keep him homebound for over a week. This guy never gets sick or injured, so it's become a huge problem. I YouTubed some videos on stretching the piriformis, helping him a little. They're both so old, they don't understand the internet, or how to 'swipe' up to accept a What's App phone call. It's cute to others, to me it's a tedious pain in the rump, repeating over & over...the hits, they keep on coming!

Well, I was gonna enter a writing contest, but exhaustion won this round. Luckily for me, they always have more ongoing: https://medium.com/lore-fiction/submit-to-lore-b0f073ba4bf7

Well, that's all i hafta report for now. Stay tuned as always. I'll make a better effort at uploading more stories to Wattpad this summer. Ciao.


1970s thermostat. The arrow indicator is broken so we take guesses as to what the temperature is

OnyxTowers

My Author Journey - Feb. 18, 2023- No wait, May 1, 2023 - THE DRASTIC CHANGES

February-July 2022:

Business Documents I Filed for my publishing label

- Then All This Shit Happened -

July-October 2022:

August 2022, when I became the 'man of the house':

September 2022-ON TO MORE REPAIRS:

October 2022-January 2023 - Health Issues & Malfunctions:

Raised Utility Costs Across the Nation $$$

February 2023

March 2023

April 2023

Summation

I still continue to write

Well aware, I am not alone on this

Business purchases made for book publishing - pt. 2 - Jan 29, 2022

Current state of health:

Doom Scrolling

Building up my small indie publishing label, on a micro budget:

The Virtual Business Address thing

Buying Office Supplies - only the ones I actually need

Fixing my business Facebook

Designing my Logo

Designing the Website

Replacing technology

Wasted so much time on problem solving

Why did I start my small business now?

You'll never have enough money.

Starting A Business When Family and Friends Are Against You

Takes money to make money

How Much Money Did I Have To Begin My Small Business

Filling out forms

My Author Journey - Jan 09, 2022 - Gathering my documents for establishing my Corporation

Oh Yuletide tree, Oh Kwanzaa tree, your leaves look denominational.

My Author Journey - Dec 22, 2021

Business purchases made for book publishing - pt. 1

My Author Journey - April 5, 2021 to now, and I will explain

My ADHD Is Completely Out Of Control

Dealing With ADHD During The Covid Years

Dealing With Dental Problems

Finally going on medication for the first time in middle age

Finding out I have Lupus

My Author Journey - Feb 1, 2021

How Men Describe Women In Books

List Of Online Book Shops Stores Retailers Independent

A List Of Independent Bookshops To Rival Amazon

Use Bookshops To Print Out Copies for Yourself

List of Online Book Shop Retailers, Domestic and International

https://www.abebooks.co.uk/ (England; they also have stores in Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Australia, France, Canada, United States)

https://us.gestalten.com/pages/about (Non-Fiction and art & design; In Germany, but ships to USA, Swiss, Norway, EU)

https://www.ark.no/ (In Norway)

https://bazarow.com/ (in Netherlands)

https://www.bol.com/nl/ (Netherlands & Germany)

https://www.booktopia.com.au/ (Australia)

https://www.angusrobertson.com.au/ (Australia)

https://www.thalia.de/shop/home/show/ (Germany)

https://www.genialokal.de/ (Germany)

https://www.kennys.ie/ (Ireland)

https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/ (Toronto, CA; site is also in French for Quebec residents)

https://www.betterworldbooks.com (US & UK; ships to multiple countries but suspended service to some of them, due to COVID-19)

http://www.feedbooks.com/about (strictly ebooks)

https://www.hive.co.uk/ (England)

https://www.mightyape.co.nz/books (New Zealand)

http://thepolishbookstore.com (In USA, but site is in Polish)

https://www.mondadoristore.it/ (Italy)

Book Stores Shops Buying Selling Recycled Books

List of Independent Book Stores Shops

Comprehensive Lists of Book Stores Shops

My Author Journey - July 28, 2020

Last time...

My new moving plans

What have I been doing in terms of writing?

I built an animated ad

I finally created my own publishing label

My debut novel will be FREE.

Speaking of Beta Readers...

My Author Journey So Far - April 22, 2020

Timeline of COVID-19 NOVEL CORONAVIRUS

Beginning March 2020