On July 21, 2018 I am scheduled to appear at the Middle Georgia Indie Book Festival and I am excited for the opportunity to participate. For this to be a successful event I am respectfully requesting support by conducting a fund-raising campaign, and your support would be greatly appreciated. As a special thank you gift, I am giving copies of “Stories outside the Box” to anyone making donations toward the project. If you would like to support this campaign, you may do so in two ways. You can either visit http://www.ko-fi.com/annbarnes to “buy a coffee” for $3 or you can make a donation of any amount directly to my paypal account by visiting paypal.me/annHarrisonBarnes. Your support is much appreciated.
7 Ways You Can Promote Your Blog For Free
via 7 Ways You Can Promote Your Blog For Free
To answer the questions at the end of the linked post: I do the following things to help promote my blog:
First of all, I automatically share my post on my social media platforms, as well as my tumblr blog.
I often times take part in Cee’s share your world challenge, if I have relevant answers to the questions that are posed there, and I leave a ping back to the post. I also take part in the Cherished blog fest every fall, which has helped me gain more blog followers, and I find posts that I really love in the process as well.
I also press posts like this one, and add tags and categorize them, so as to leave a pingback to the original poster. Since I am an author, I like to do author interviews, either on other blogs, with a link directly to my website, or ask other authors to do interviews on my site so I can share a link to theirs.
For those of you reading my post as well as the original post, please share your blog promotional tips in the comments below.
This Might Be the Real Reason You Keep Procrastinating
Sometimes I’m that way. I was trying to finish a story a few mintes ago, when this happened. I try to get in a couple thousand words today, but as I came to the end of the story I ran out of steam. Thanks for sharing these words of encouragement and letting me know that I’m not the only one who struggles with getting things done.
It took me years to learn that procrastination isn’t something you have to stop doing.
But it took me even longer to figure out WHY I couldn’t get my destructive habit under better control.
Constant flare-ups of anxiety and panic could have been avoided if I’d just start things earlier, instead of waiting until the last minute.
Why was that so hard?
It turns out there’s a reason I still struggle. And it might be the reason you’re struggling, too.
I can’t break up big projects into small pieces. At least, not very well.
It’s one of my top writing productivity tips, yet I still struggle with it almost daily.
If I’m going to sit down to work on a 10-page story, for example, I want to sit down, write those 10 pages in one sitting or one day, and be done with it. I don’t want to keep…
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What to Do When You Think You’ve Run Out of Things to Write About
I don’t usually write every single day, simply because that doesn’t work for me, but when I do write, I always start out the way you do.
When you post on the same blog daily for a year or more, you have moments when you start to doubt your ability to come up with new ideas.
It happens to all of us, whether we’re looking for an excuse to write or we know we have to get it done, but don’t know where to start.
Sometimes it feels like everyone else has some kind of superpower you don’t, always coming up with ideas you never would have thought of seemingly out of nowhere.
How do they do that?
It’s not a secret. And the truth is, you can do it, too.
Yes, there are going to be days the words just don’t come and you have other things to deal with and writing just won’t happen the way you want it to, or at all.
But I can guarantee that if you don’t let yourself give up…
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Announcement about my new book!
NEWSFLASH!
Hello everyone, today I am proud to announce the release of my brand new Electric Eclectic Book entitled Inner Vision, an Electric Eclectic Book.
If you think you don’t have time to read, think again! This is one of many charming little books that you can read on your kindle, or the kindle app on your phone, no matter whether you have five minutes, or five hours to yourself. Here’s a bit about the book, and I’ll follow this blurb with a link where the book can be purchased, and I’ll even throw in the cover for your viewing pleasure!
Happy reading and writing, and have a Blessed Friday afternoon everybody.
“The past is but a whirlwind of memories,
there are those you want to capture,
and those you want to forget.
Hold on to the precious ones and let the rest spin away into the abyss.”
These are the words Kelly Dobson wrote after learning how to use her Inner Vision in order to do the creative work God has called her to do.
After awakening in an unusual hospital from an operation she never had, Kelly and her physician, DR. Markey Andrews, work together to find the reason why she ended up in a hospital resembling a hotel, rather than a medical facility.
During the process of solving the mystery at hand, Kelly has strange dreams of being carried away in a whirlwind to places which hold memories she’d rather not relive. In order for her to face her fear of her Charles Bonnet syndrome and the accident that caused her blindness six years before.
After being released from the hospital, Kelly gets a brilliant idea to draw the images she sees in her heart and mind. As she does so, her mother stands in awe as the talent her daughter once had as a child returns in full swing, regardless of her blindness.
Even though Kelly’s father doesn’t want to believe in her talent at first, through the power of prayer and her faith in God, she teaches him how to use his own inner vision.
Available now on amazon at the following link:
Interview with Guest Author Mur Lafferty
Hello readers and fellow writers, today I have the pleasure of speaking with my special guest Mur Lafferty, who is an author, podcaster and editor. Before I begin my interview with her, let me give you a little introduction.
Mur Lafferty is an award-winning author (Shambling Guide to New York City, Ghost Train to New Orleans) of urban fantasy, science fiction thrillers, and nonfiction. Her latest book, Six Wakes, has been nominated for the Hugo and Nebula Awards for Best Novel and the Philip K. Dick and Manly Wade Wellman Awards. She has written for Star Wars (short fiction and the upcoming Solo novelization). Her nonfiction book I Should Be Writing is based off her award-winning podcast of the same name. Her other podcast, Ditch Diggers (with cohost Matt Wallace) is a two-time nominee for the Hugo Award for Best Fancast. In 2015 she was inducted into the Podcast Academy Hall of Fame.
Ann: Please tell us a little about yourself.
Mur: I’m a writer, podcaster, and editor. I’m always doing a number of projects. I live in Durham, NC with my family, two dogs and a bunch of board games. I enjoy running but only when zombies are behind me.
Ann: When did you decide that you wanted to become a writer, and what was your source of inspiration?
Mur: I always enjoyed writing, but it wasn’t until reading Anne McCaffrey’s Pern novels and Madeline L’Engle’s Wrinkle in Time series did I think it was a job I could have. But they were women writing about women and girls having SF/fantasy adventures, and I wanted to do that.
Ann: What tips and tricks did you learn throughout your writing journey? How have these little gems of advice helped you improve your writing or enhance your writing career?
Mur: I took some time off where I wasn’t sure I could ever improve, which was naïve and wasteful. I’ve discovered almost every cliché is true (for me, anyway.) Writing frequently is better than intermittently. Don’t edit until you’re done with the story. Writing terrible stories will still teach you things. And wisdom from the first ghostbusters movie: When someone asks you if you’re a god, you say yes. (Which is what I tell myself when someone has asked me if I can handle an exciting project that I doubt myself over).
Ann: Tell us a little about your most recently published book(s).
Mur: Last year I published Six Wakes, a science fiction murder mystery about clones. It’s been nominated for the Hugo and Nebula awards, among others. I also published a nonfic book about writing based on my podcast, I Should Be Writing.
Ann: Which is harder, writing or editing? Why?
Mur: Editing, totally. I feel like I enter a sort of zone while writing and can stream story, and editing requires slowing down, focusing, and looking for problems and pondering solutions. Writing is fun. Editing is work.
Ann: Do you have any current or upcoming projects you’d like to share with us?
Mur: The novelization for the movie Solo: A Star Wars story comes out September 4!
Ann: What advice do you have for inspiring authors and new writers?
Mur: Keep writing and don’t quit. Every crappy story you write is like a step up the staircase toward being a better writer. Hard work beats talent, because talent will often quit once things stop being easy.
Ann: What are your reading habits and how have they influenced your writing career today?
Mur: I listen to audiobooks mostly, ever since I started listening to audio fiction via podcasts in 2005. I’m not sure how they directly influence my writing, except that I know that stopping reading will make my writing worse. You always need to “fill the well,” as it were.
Ann: If my readers are meeting you for the first time and want to follow you and learn about your work, where can they find you online?
Mur: People can find me via my website at
and they can follow me on twitter at
Thanks for stopping by my blog for a brief Chat, Mur. I know you are a very busy woman, and I wish you much success.
As for you readers out there, all I can say is check out I should be writing and Ditch Diggers, I love these podcasts myself. If you’d like to be a guest on my blog, simply fill out the contact form, which is the third page you’ll see when you hop onto my site. Send me your name, email address, a link to your website if you have one, and let me know what type of writing you love to do, and I will send you the same interview questions, so you and I can have a virtual cup of coffee while we chat.
Happy writing, and God bless.
Photo: curtesy of JR Blackwell
Posted in author interviews, Uncategorized
Tagged authors, editors, Mur Lafferty, podcasters, readers, writers
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Grow Your Author Mailing List with These 7 Essential Tools
via Grow Your Author Mailing List with These 7 Essential Tools
Helpful tips for growing your mailing lists.
